tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37231855229958169842024-02-19T13:26:53.453+00:00Anne NicholsPersonal blog of author, artist & crafter, Anne Nichols. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-35095636877591961162019-08-09T14:08:00.002+01:002019-08-09T14:09:59.862+01:00Highly recommended: Lost For Words by Stephanie Butland<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34320324-lost-for-words" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Lost For Words" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1487251541l/34320324._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34320324-lost-for-words">Lost For Words</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5276201.Stephanie_Butland">Stephanie Butland</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2928900911">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I have just finished listening to the audiobook of <i><b>Lost for Words</b></i> and I loved it. Such an engaging story, that made me both laugh and cry. It's well-written, and it reads almost as an autobiography rather than as a novel, such is the depth of emotion and the sense of personal experience that I was surprised by the notes at the end acknowledging the help from social workers and others in creating the details of the story. Highly recommended!<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne" target="_blank">View all my reviews</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-17275406947755410752018-11-09T10:00:00.000+00:002019-02-14T01:29:48.952+00:002018 Remembrance - Woodbine Willie: "Mates<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="f0hgc" data-offset-key="b2ufk-0-0">
I would like to share a war poem that has always resonated with me. It's by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25349294">Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy MC</a>, who probably isn't as familiar a name as Rupert Brooke, Wilfrid Owen or Siegried Sassoon, but who wrote some powerful pieces. I first came across mention of him in a book called <a href="http://www.hayloft.eu/it%27s%20only%20me.html"><i>It's Only Me</i></a>, the story of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Hardy">Theodore Bayley Hardy VC</a>, <a href="http://www.huttonroof.org.uk/church/index.html">vicar of Hutton Roof</a>, which was written by David Raw who I heard give a very interesting talk about Hardy some years back. Hardy was a fellow chaplain and friend of <a href="https://www.poemhunter.com/geoffrey-anketell-studdert-kennedy/poems/" target="_blank">Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy</a>.<br />
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Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy was born and raised in Leeds, the son of the vicar of St Mary's Quarry Hill, a poor area of the city in which he became familiar with the lives of working people and how poverty and poor living conditions were a normal part of their lives. After attending Leeds Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin, and then training for the clergy, he became vicar of St. Paul's, Worcester in 1914 but volunteered as an army chaplain on the outbreak of WW1, when he was sent to France and instead of staying behind the lines he was wherever the men he cared for were. I read one story that said part way along a trench some soldiers came across a sign by an entry that read The Vicarage. The soldiers commented about "The bloody vicarage being here" and Kennedy popped his head out and said that not only that but that "the bloody vicar" was here too! Kennedy was known as <i>Woodbine Willie</i> due to his habit of giving out Woodbine cigarettes along with Bibles to men in the trenches. Like Hardy, Kennedy was on the frontline in the trenches with the soldiers, and provided what comfort he could to them.<br />
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Becoming a Christian Socialist and pacifist during the war, Kennedy was appointed vicar of St Edmund, King and Martyr in London on his return to civilian life, and wrote <i>Lies</i> (1919), <i>Democracy and the Dog-Collar</i> (1921), <i>Food for the Fed Up</i> (1921), <i>The Wicket Gate</i> (1923), and <i>The Word and the Work</i> (1925). He then went to work for the Industrial Christian Fellowship, for whom he went on speaking tours around the country during which he became an outspoken advocate for the working classes. One of his celebrated quotes was:<br />
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<i>If finding God in our churches leads to us losing Him in our factories, then better we tear down those churches for God must hate the sight of them.</i></blockquote>
Because of his empathy with ordinary working class people he gained huge respect from them, which was reflected by the response to his death from exhaustion at an early age in 1929. However, the Dean of Westminster refused to allow him to be buried in Westminster Abbey because, he said, Kennedy was a "socialist"! <br />
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Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy's poems reflect his experiences in the trenches and in his working life, this poem <i>Mates</i> sums him up for me...<br />
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<i><b>A Soldiers Mate…</b></i><br />
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<i>There's a broken, battered village </i><br />
<i>Somewhere up behind the line, </i><br />
<i>There's a dug-out and a bunk there </i><br />
<i>That I used to say were mine. </i><br />
<i>I remember how I reached them, </i><br />
<i>Dripping wet and all forlorn, </i><br />
<i>In the dim and dreary twilight </i><br />
<i>Of a weeping summer morn. </i><br />
<i>All that week I'd buried brothers, </i><br />
<i>In one bitter battle slain, </i><br />
<i>In one grave I laid two hundred. </i><br />
<i>God! What sorrow and what rain! </i><br />
<i>And that night I'd been in trenches, </i><br />
<i>Seeking out the sodden dead, </i><br />
<i>And just dropping them in shell-holes, </i><br />
<i>With a service swiftly said. </i><br />
<i>For the bullets rattled round me, </i><br />
<i>But I couldn't leave them there, </i><br />
<i>Water-soaked in flooded shell-holes, </i><br />
<i>Reft of common Christian prayer. </i><br />
<i>So I crawled round on my belly, </i><br />
<i>And I listened to the roar </i><br />
<i>Of the guns that hammered Thiepval, </i><br />
<i>Like big breakers on the shore. </i><br />
<i>Then there spoke a dripping sergeant, </i><br />
<i>When the time was growing late, </i><br />
<i>"Would you please to bury this one, </i><br />
<i>'Cause e' used to be my mate? " </i><br />
<i>So we groped our way in darkness </i><br />
<i>To a body lying there, </i><br />
<i>Just a blacker lump of blackness, </i><br />
<i>With a red blotch on his hair. </i><br />
<i>Though we turned him gently over, </i><br />
<i>Yet I still can hear the thud, </i><br />
<i>As the body fell face forward, </i><br />
<i>And then settled in the mud. </i><br />
<i>We went down upon our faces, </i><br />
<i>And I said the service through, </i><br />
<i>From "I am the Resurrection" </i><br />
<i>To the last, the great "adieu." </i><br />
<i>We stood up to give the Blessing, </i><br />
<i>And commend him to the Lord, </i><br />
<i>When a sudden light shot soaring </i><br />
<i>Silver swift and like a sword. </i><br />
<i>At a stroke it slew the darkness, </i><br />
<i>Flashed its glory on the mud, </i><br />
<i>And I saw the sergeant staring </i><br />
<i>At a crimson clot of blood. </i><br />
<i>There are many kinds of sorrow </i><br />
<i>In this world of Love and Hate, </i><br />
<i>But there is no sterner sorrow </i><br />
<i>Than a soldier's for his mate.</i><br />
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GA Studdert Kennedy MC ("Woodbine Willie")<br />
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<b>Further reading</b>:</div>
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<i>The Unutterable Beauty: The Collected Poetry of G. A. Studdert Kennedy</i>, [1927 Diggory Press]</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-35447118573216144402018-11-08T22:08:00.003+00:002019-02-14T01:36:49.613+00:00Grandpa<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="f0hgc" data-offset-key="b2ufk-0-0">
As we approach <a href="https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/community/calendar/remembrance-services-and-events/remembrance-sunday-2018/">Remembrance Day</a> and the centenary of the end of WW1 many of us are remembering both lost relatives and those who fought and returned home, but often to suffer the awful consequences of war. As a child I spent much time keeping company with a bedridden Grandpa whose lungs were wrecked by exposure to mustard gas, in 1918 at the age of just 18, the effects of which took many years to emerge but which resulted in him wasting away to a skeletal figure until he died when I was 9 years old. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rjrzn-bQZxgNGLQPrB1YHK-JCQNtkCGooQ3KYZKQjXVhoIKi1lFXBkgjBiw3Jj3ArVXxG_jRiWm6s4FNnqPcfHF59kDbx8F1tYyBoUeanplLBEP8At4x4zZQK9hTNI_ErZJSjUx6UZ4/s1600/Joseph_William_Schofield_b1899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="573" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rjrzn-bQZxgNGLQPrB1YHK-JCQNtkCGooQ3KYZKQjXVhoIKi1lFXBkgjBiw3Jj3ArVXxG_jRiWm6s4FNnqPcfHF59kDbx8F1tYyBoUeanplLBEP8At4x4zZQK9hTNI_ErZJSjUx6UZ4/s320/Joseph_William_Schofield_b1899.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joseph William Schofield 1899-1967 Photo taken 1917</td></tr>
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Grandpa signed up to the <a href="https://www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk/" target="_blank">Lancashire Fusiliers</a> on 9th October 1915, aged 16 years and 4 months. He was posted to 4/5th Battalion which had been formed at Southport in Spring 1915 as a home service depot or training ("fourth line") unit. He would never talk about his wartime experiences but his service records for his second period of service give some of the missing details. His first period of service is unrecorded in the archives as he was under age when he signed up in 1915 and, as with the records of others like him the details of that previous period were destroyed on his discharge. He served until 6th June 1916 before being discovered to be under age and sent home: my only evidence of this is part of a letter that survived in his service records file in the <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/" target="_blank">National Archives</a> (in the burnt records, so only fragments of each sheet survived) in which he wrote to the army in 1919 querying his entitlement to a gratuity in which he had been short-changed by £4 and in which he gave the dates of his previous period of service.</div>
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His second period of service began on 31st January 1917, at the age of 17 years 7 months (but he declared on his enlistment sheet that his age was 18 years 1 month!) so presumably he was still under age. This probably explains why, in the this second enlistment, he joined a different regiment where he wouldn't have been recognised: the South Wales Borderers, being initially put into the 57th training battalion based at Kinmel in Wales. He later transferred into the <a href="http://royalwelsh.org.uk/regimental-museum-of-the-royal-welsh.shtml" target="_blank">Royal Welch Fusiliers</a> - it's the RWF cap badge he is wearing in my precious photo above. He was sent to France in early April 1918 where he was gassed the following month, resulting in his being shipped back to hospital where he remained until 9th September.<br />
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On release from hospital he was transferred to the Army Service Corps as a Driver, where he remained until eventual demob in January 1919. This last period of service in WW1 saw him posted firstly to the ASC at Willesden and then onto the 666 Horsed Transport Depot Company who were based at Blackheath in London, having been flagged as unsuitable for overseas service after being gassed. Grandpa had, as a youngster, worked on a farm so was presumably familiar with horses.<br />
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He suffered recurrent bouts of pain as a result of the gassing, and appears to have been hospitalised again between 24th September and 16th October, although he was able to resume work after the war - as a tram conductor and then tram driver, and went on to marry in 1922 and raise a family of four children. Despite his health he worked as an RAF civilian driver in WW2, driving a long transporter vehicle known as a Queen Mary, collecting and delivering aircraft parts to bases across the country. His health continued to decline and by the time I was born he was bedridden. He died on 15th March 1967, aged 67. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A WW2 Queen Mary of the type driven by Grandpa in WW2</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-81021793689162510262018-09-08T13:42:00.001+01:002018-09-08T13:42:26.006+01:00Campaigning for Grange Lido<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIK2TgaJ27dz_uNTDoENfYu5cyHrpzT-Hq8Iex3SqvxyLd1t7KT56wva61ftc8EpFFtNfaq7-f58YVWTccYtIiLqOSXdkdlH5aWR3N6OG3vVO298j8G34hTEZRTjVVJT7yWt8IYEm-bco/s1600/lancashire-grange-over-sands-outdoor-1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIK2TgaJ27dz_uNTDoENfYu5cyHrpzT-Hq8Iex3SqvxyLd1t7KT56wva61ftc8EpFFtNfaq7-f58YVWTccYtIiLqOSXdkdlH5aWR3N6OG3vVO298j8G34hTEZRTjVVJT7yWt8IYEm-bco/s320/lancashire-grange-over-sands-outdoor-1.jpg" /></a></div>
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I am supporting the campaign call for the restoration of the currently derelict Grade 2 Listed Lido at Grange-over-Sands which LibDem-controlled South Lakeland District Council has left to rot since they closed in in 1993. That this is a disgrace is incontestable, that the Lido could be restored for swimming with additional facilities is provable, and that it could therefore be a major attraction on Morecambe Bay is credible.
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Outdoor swimming has become hugely popular and Lidos are seeing booming business across the country - Ponypridd Lido in Wales, which opened in March this year, has seen more than 64,000 visitors already (an average of more than 500 per day). Most Lidos were built in the 1920s and 1930s to help promote good health and well-being for working people, a role they can still perform today, along with boosting local economies, providing employment, supporting social inclusion and community, and attracting both day and longer stay visitors. A restored Grange Lido would become another really good reason to come to the Morecambe Bay area. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0MhHbFl2drEVXC-SOPr4sBHPndyG0ROAp7B0TOn1xtVCYtKCR-LR7r0CVfoRE74O_KJ7d8HaK6U05OS0MQXC8lplxtnxzmfbwxkVdNAipwHCXyeHwm2USOnAtAsm_qdHfI20MNsJlig/s1600/The-Bathing-Pool-GRANGE-OVER-SANDS-Lancashire.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0MhHbFl2drEVXC-SOPr4sBHPndyG0ROAp7B0TOn1xtVCYtKCR-LR7r0CVfoRE74O_KJ7d8HaK6U05OS0MQXC8lplxtnxzmfbwxkVdNAipwHCXyeHwm2USOnAtAsm_qdHfI20MNsJlig/s320/The-Bathing-Pool-GRANGE-OVER-SANDS-Lancashire.jpg" /></a><br />
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The campaign group Save Grange Lido has set up a petition calling on SLDC to abandon its planned infilling of the Lido with concrete (which would make it just a flat extension of the existing Promenade) or, as they now state, just decking over it with some sort of cover like timber (not sure how that's going to work, but hey ho!)<br />
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It is known that people are willing to travel considerable distances to swim in Lidos, and Grange is the only remaining coastal Lido in the north of England. It would be a tragedy if it was destroyed.<br />
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The petition is now over 11,000 signatures. There is also a paper version in many shops in Grange, and surrounding villages which so far has almost 500 signatures. A petition with more than 1,000 verified local signatures (i.e. those of people who live, work or study with the SLDC area) will be discussed at a full meeting of the Council.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDH6RMV4Mvkyyxx-Zs1wbKulUPpIW3HFjqGyrogARCbYlOUhzEZhvyfNXkBnBrYxA0dKtbQCm0bnuobTYE1tIu097Ey9MZGHe1Vj15xikn0FjT2u22bgexUAkr5uaFudTnKDRBlZNF5aw/s1600/outdoor-bathing-pool-grange-over_sands.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDH6RMV4Mvkyyxx-Zs1wbKulUPpIW3HFjqGyrogARCbYlOUhzEZhvyfNXkBnBrYxA0dKtbQCm0bnuobTYE1tIu097Ey9MZGHe1Vj15xikn0FjT2u22bgexUAkr5uaFudTnKDRBlZNF5aw/s320/outdoor-bathing-pool-grange-over_sands.jpg" /></a><br />
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With the coming of the <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/eden-project-cornwall-morecambe-lancashire-blackpool-plans/">Eden Project to Morecambe</a> the focus will be on regenerating tourism in the whole bay area, to the benefit of communities both sides of the county border. If readers could please share the petition and encourage signatures that would be wonderful, the local signers guarantee the debate at Council, those from further afield demonstrate support for restoration of the Lido as a tourist attraction with a wider catchment area. Thank you.<br />
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<a href="https://www.change.org/p/south-lakeland-district-council-save-grange-lido">https://www.change.org/p/south-lakeland-district-council-save-grange-lido</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-36269350577851455482018-08-02T22:23:00.000+01:002018-08-02T22:23:12.622+01:00Saving Grange Lido<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm supporting the campaign to save the last surviving coastal Lido in the north of England from being filled in. Will you help me? Signing the petition will help send a strong message to SLDC that they are being shortsighted in disposing of this Grade 2 Listed Lido, which, although closed in 1993, could become one of the jewels of the South Lakes if restored and developed with creativity and ambition.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Grange-over-Sands, UK54.191009 -2.910687999999936454.1538475 -2.9913689999999367 54.228170500000004 -2.8300069999999362tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-90575098091058558512018-04-29T14:29:00.000+01:002018-04-29T14:29:10.589+01:00Review: The Garden, by Gillian Linscott<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18231609-the-garden" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Garden" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1374604261m/18231609.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18231609-the-garden">The Garden</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/383913.Gillian_Linscott">Gillian Linscott</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2372050738">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I really enjoyed this book. Despite the title it isn't just about gardening! The garden sets the scene and is the thread that runs through the story, which progresses from 1907 to 2001, via pre-war Herefordshire, WW1, the anger of the post-war pit lockouts in the Rhondda and the struggle of the miners for decent wages. In between there is love, sorrow, passion and hatred. The early parts where the garden is being created I found fascinating, seeing how the planting was laid out to create illusions and effects - I might try some ideas on a much smaller scale in my own jungle, sorry, garden! The politics of the pit lockouts, as the mines were returned to private ownership after wartime government control, show the depths of hardship faced by the colliers, seeing armed soldiers at the pit gates, hearing the Riot Act read as they try to prevent the use of blackleg labour, fighting for their jobs and their families' futures. (Who would have thought that similar scenes would recur in the 1980s?!)<br />
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My only criticism of the book, and it's why it's only getting a 4 star not a 5 star rating, is the number of silly mistakes throughout the book, e.g. countless instances of "bur" instead of "but": the letter "r" seems especially problematical as it appears in many places where there should be the letter "t", the same applies where "m" appears instead of "in". Other silly spelling errors also appear, and these should have been picked up by the proofreader. <br />
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However, it's a great story and well-worth reading, if you can manage to ignore the errors!
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-72285521156845247752018-01-07T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-07T10:00:30.966+00:00Review: Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713524-just-one-damned-thing-after-another" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St Mary's)" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384805713m/18713524.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713524-just-one-damned-thing-after-another">Just One Damned Thing After Another</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7176787.Jodi_Taylor">Jodi Taylor</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2244424593">5 of 5 stars</a> (I wish I could give it more!)<br />
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It's not often I find a book that makes me giggle through most of it. This one does! I love the writing style, the quirky humour, and the whole oddball off-the-wall concept of St Mary's. It has history, it has science, it has romance, it has danger, it has more eccentrics than you can shake a stick at and... it has dinosaurs... oh yes! Now I find it's the first in a series and I can't wait to start on Book 2, 3, 4, 5... you get the idea! I predict lots of giggling over the next few months! 5 stars isn't enough for this.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-27688866716235148612018-01-06T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-06T10:01:08.316+00:00Review: The Taste of Summer by Kate Lord Brown<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29486901-the-taste-of-summer" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Taste of Summer" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467189877m/29486901.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29486901-the-taste-of-summer">The Taste of Summer</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4703645.Kate_Lord_Brown">Kate Lord Brown</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2241623651">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I listened to the audio version of this book whilst cooking and baking in the run up to Christmas, it was the perfect accompaniment to my culinary efforts! It's a lovely story, well told with interesting characters. Who could fail to fall in love with the lovely chef Connor with his Irish brogue? And as for that baggage Bea, I wanted to beat her round the ears with a rolling pin for all the horrible things she did! The recipes that are peppered (see what I did there?!) throughout the book are great too. I'll have to buy a Kindle or printed version now to be able to try them out!
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-50889305109431156972018-01-05T10:00:00.000+00:002018-01-05T10:00:23.304+00:00Review: The House on Bellevue Gardens by Rachel Hore<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28673096-the-house-on-bellevue-gardens" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The House on Bellevue Gardens" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1453466598m/28673096.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28673096-the-house-on-bellevue-gardens">The House on Bellevue Gardens</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/767069.Rachel_Hore">Rachel Hore</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2241534597">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I enjoyed this book. It tells the story of several people via or because of their connection with the house. The characters have almost all experienced some trauma in their lives, whether domestic abuse, loss of loved ones, mental health difficulties etc... which makes it sound dreadfully serious and dull, and it isn't. Far from it, it's a fascinating series of stories about the characters, with whom I laughed, sympathised, empathised, and at times cried. It's a people book, looking at humanity: the best and the worst that happens to them. Well worth reading!
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-27423711506398551592018-01-04T01:22:00.000+00:002018-01-04T01:22:20.441+00:00Review: Tim Vicary's Trials of Sarah Newby, book 4<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31115180-broken-alibi" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Broken Alibi: Lies, Memory and Justice (The Trials of Sarah Newby, 4)" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1468431851m/31115180.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31115180-broken-alibi">Broken Alibi: Lies, Memory and Justice</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/87104.Tim_Vicary">Tim Vicary</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2241508544">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I've now read all four of the Sarah Newby Trials books and I love them. Sarah is a complex character, not always likeable but eminently tough and capable as a barrister, yet just as vulnerable and afraid as most of us would be when faced with something that threatens her family or her safety. The stories are complex too, this fourth book is probably the most complicated plot so far, but if you spot them the clues are there as you read through it. I became increasingly nervous as the story moved towards the final outcome - will it all end OK? No spoilers from me though, if you want to know what happens you'll have to read it yourself!<br />
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Just a wee note to the author: in each of the four I have spotted small grammatical errors and in a couple of instances some minor continuity errors and a couple of errors of fact, hence the 4* not 5* rating.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-16516276716218649102017-05-18T19:56:00.000+01:002017-05-21T18:28:32.781+01:00The Bad Theresa May RapI'm not a rap artist but the words came to me this afternoon accompanied by a rap-like rhythm, so I figured I should write them down and share them... if (on the off-chance) any rap artists do want to record it please get in touch! 😎 <br />
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<b>The Bad Theresa May Rap</b></div>
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<i>Theresa May's so strong and stable,<br />Her government snatches food from the table<br />Of working families whenever they are able <br />By saying that benefits just aren't available.<br /><br />Theresa May's so stable and strong,<br />Says free school lunches are just wrong,<br />Just like Maggie who, when she came along,<br />Stole free school milk from the very very young.<br /><br />Theresa May's so strong and stable,<br />Her DWP says all to work who're able, <br />Even the dying & those clearly incapable,<br />Assessed by ATOS even when unable. <br /><br />Theresa May's so stable and strong,<br />Pensioners attacked on multiple prongs:<br />Bang goes the triple lock, that's just wrong,<br />Bye-bye winter fuel payment, going going gone.<br /><br />Theresa May's so strong and stable,<br />Own all your own house - hah! whilst you're able,<br />Paying for social care might leave you a gable<br />And maybe even three legs on your table.<br /><br />Theresa May's so stable and strong, <br />Selling off the NHS bits one by one,<br />To the highest bidder who has come along<br />Enforced private healthcare is wrong, wrong, wrong.<br /><br />Theresa May's so strong and stable,<br />Wants to build grammar schools for the academically able, <br />Everyone else gets the scraps from the table, <br />Equality in education? Now that is a fable!<br /><br />Theresa May's so stable and strong, </i><br />
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<i>Watched homeless figures rise for so long,<br />Did nowt about it, just ignore them among<br />All the others suffering cos they ain't strong.<br /><br />Theresa May's so strong and stable,<br />In favour of hunters killing foxes when they're able<br />Chased to exhaustion by horses from the stable,<br />Hounds tearing them apart just like a rabble.<br /><br />Theresa May's so stable and strong, <br />Published her manifesto, it's 88 pages long,<br />Nothing of substance in it hidden in among<br />The oft repeated words that she's stable and strong.</i></div>
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<i>© Anne Nichols, 2017</i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-1245721453607648662017-02-28T16:11:00.004+00:002018-01-06T02:36:19.563+00:00Review: A Barnstorming Saga! The Rowan Tree by Robert W Fuller<a href="http://amzn.eu/00nEwzg" target="_blank">The Rowan Tree, by Robert W Fuller</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdiRLCV02B4Tj3GwYVxEBuL-Cs059PE4-hWbIHTXPx4UBTyCUubyuP39RWQH5pizpZ5gbQmeeZ2bE04CE2W2zKjbJGJcECd9u59XeGHnr5EqY6Nmw54dYMxaq3_yLOJVGR_fCnl-a2t-I/s1600/the-rowan-tree.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdiRLCV02B4Tj3GwYVxEBuL-Cs059PE4-hWbIHTXPx4UBTyCUubyuP39RWQH5pizpZ5gbQmeeZ2bE04CE2W2zKjbJGJcECd9u59XeGHnr5EqY6Nmw54dYMxaq3_yLOJVGR_fCnl-a2t-I/s320/the-rowan-tree.png" width="211" /></a></div>
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Powerful, thought-provoking, political, with a splash of romance, and the constancy of love and devotion to a cause: just the sort of book I love reading. This is, in my opinion, up there with the best. It was so absorbing that it has taken over my every spare moment this last week. As a Brit I had only a rudimentary knowledge of American politics, and found the detail fascinating and the whole very well-written. I know the author has written non-fiction before, but if this is his first fiction title I cannot wait to read his next one. I enjoyed being able to follow the whole narrative through a sixty-plus year timespan, seeing how each generation took the story forward. I could see this making a very good movie or TV mini-series. If I could give this more than 5 stars I would do!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-35439289632927812842017-02-09T04:37:00.000+00:002017-02-09T04:37:43.709+00:00Do you remember those plastic tulips with soap powder? A chance sighting whilst searching the old census on a family history hunt triggered a memory from my childhood. The entry was for a man in St Luke's, Finsbury, Middlesex and his occupation was shown as <b>Traveller Artificial Flowers</b>. I was instantly transported back to my grannie's kitchen over 50 years ago. Grannie loved flowers and used to go to the town's annual flower show and buy up as many as she could afford. She adored dahlias and chrysanthemums best of all and would arrive home with armfuls of pompoms, buttons, and queen mum's hats (as we used to call them). I would be pressed into service sat at the big kitchen table covered in newspaper to protect it from the damp of the flowers, removing the string and paper they were wrapped in, snipping the stems the right length for her big vases - always with a diagonal cut at the bottom of the stem to allow more water to be absorbed by each bloom. Sometimes an earwig would run out from amongst the petals and I would shriek. She'd laugh and tell me not to be "ser daft", it wouldn't harm me, it'd be more "frit" (frightened) of me than I was of it. I was never convinced and still dislike earwigs in the house. Once all the stems were trimmed and the blooms were arranged in their vases they would be displayed with great pride on the sideboard, and all the wrappings would be burned in the open fire. <br />
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Grannie only bought flowers when they were cheap, she'd go at the end of the show and buy up what other folks didn't want. In between times she had vases of plastic tulips on display instead. Although I loved real flowers, especially the silky feel of the petals as I was trimming and preparing each stem, I didn't like the plastic tulips. Back then artificial flowers were nothing like our modern ones. Now it is hard to tell fake from real at times, so much have they developed, but the plastic ones were a horrible thick plastic. Yet, when I was a child they were everywhere, apparently women used to buy the soap powder just to get another tulip. I really disliked them!<br />
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I have been searching everywhere online for a picture of the tulips, and the only one I have found is this one, which makes them look nicer than I remember them... I suspect these are later versions, not the very early 1960's ones I remember! There were also plastic daffodils, which must have been even worse as I don't remember Grannie having those at all!<br />
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However, I was incredibly surprised to discover, when reading an <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/andrew-thomson-economist-and-author-who-published-definitive-works-on-management-practice-and-10062652.html" target="_blank">obituary online</a> for the late husband of my friend Angela in New Zealand, that it was he who introduced these things to the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/when-plastic-flowers-ruled-the-earth-1579961.html" target="_blank">world of marketing</a> via his job at Lever Brothers in the early 1960's. I had met Andrew, decades after his Lever Bros. days, when he was back in the UK for a family wedding and he and Angela stayed with us for a couple of days. Andrew and I enjoyed great political discussions during their stay, but there was no hint that he was the man responsible for those childhood horrors!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-19173001841949133332016-10-12T21:18:00.000+01:002016-10-13T00:28:19.909+01:00Oh Twiddlemuffs! <b>Oh Twiddlemuffs!</b><br />
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No, it's not a new swear word, but it sounds like it could be! :)<br />
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A <a href="http://www.yours.co.uk/2015/08/make-a-twiddlemuff-for-dementia-patients" target="_blank">twiddlemuff</a> is a double thickness hand muff with bits and bobs attached inside and out. It is designed to provide a stimulation activity for restless hands for patients suffering from dementia. Various folks in the village have been chatting about making twiddlemuffs, and it occurred to us that as crafters we could support this, either by making and donating a twiddlemuff or by donating oddments of yarn or embellishments that could be used by volunteers to make twiddlemuffs.<br />
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So, the plan is to have a table in the entrance foyer at <b>CraftMarket</b>, with some simple information about how twiddlemuffs help patients, along with a couple of baskets for donations of yarn and attachments (e.g. buttons, toggles, ribbons, etc), some <a href="http://www.knitforpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Twiddlemuff-Pattern.pdf" target="_blank">easy to follow free patterns</a>, and a few examples of twiddlemuffs for you to see and handle.<br />
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We will also be accepting completed twiddlemuffs that will then be donated to supporting organisations. </div>
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This year's <b>CraftMarket</b> is again in aid of Hall funds and it will take place over the weekend of Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BurtonMemorialHall/">Burton Memorial Hall</a>. Open from 10am - 4pm both days, the event will have quality crafts on sale from some 26 crafters. You can see the list of which crafters will be there on the Hall's website: <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbmh.burtonweb.org.uk%2F&h=TAQHcqldKAQHVipd0JSsi6g2GrCvr44L7XdInGy8lPrn7Eg&enc=AZO9Z6KT3bM3j3HyBOtneKgUhtotK24NJOHs5BLF3pFfsmi7lt9_oIq94V8o_1kiQgdipaP3dmSNIjdqww5tRz1WpXrMqkEHW_oq11bHoLqts1KioRJ0Be6ufYyMX6u541yfeucE-n9Rv-n8nB_LnWq10GTXSpXI0I4N6aqj67riFfIjtf0B5IW4ol69uBKomD3j8aShLdWMc0HBYz_eopPg&s=1">bmh.burtonweb.org.uk</a> and on the CraftMarket Facebook page:<br />
www. <a href="https://facebook.com/BurtonCraftmarket/">facebook.com/BurtonCraftmarket/</a>.</div>
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Up on the stage Zoe will be doing her crafts for kids sessions throughout the weekend, so parents and grandparents can browse in peace knowing the kids are safely occupied doing something creative and fun!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIjJcdWFkcFyqvlFB0K2lVCdcpLRklED0lvsqlwMxcEqa6CYmaiT-50RGbvOjg5iYi1LqFBAalzIZ1rgFTB7vXYkyVSnjNa2fsN_nR5IOP258Wk1kUqDThhkH-RD6ctdbH00PvjXdmvw/s1600/rachel-and-ann-marie_vintage-village-hall.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIjJcdWFkcFyqvlFB0K2lVCdcpLRklED0lvsqlwMxcEqa6CYmaiT-50RGbvOjg5iYi1LqFBAalzIZ1rgFTB7vXYkyVSnjNa2fsN_nR5IOP258Wk1kUqDThhkH-RD6ctdbH00PvjXdmvw/s320/rachel-and-ann-marie_vintage-village-hall.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Refreshments will be on sale in Rachel's Vintage Village Tearoom, where hot and cold drinks, scrumptious home made cakes and sandwiches will be on offer throughout both days. Come along and indulge yourselves!<b><br /></b>
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<b>CraftMarket 2016 at Burton Memorial Hall </b></div>
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<b>Main Street, Burton, Cumbria LA6 1HU</b></div>
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<b>Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd October 2016 </b></div>
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<b>10am-4pm both days</b></div>
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<b>Admission: £1, under 16's free.</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJHz4fle2Lo0IbSfIZ50-V3fFV9Qz1kgtbIntsGroKKdjrdRWM9vwIHuAwiUtIy-BWw43l80dd2RP3X5EZ-NfHM3oCrXhXQViWxw04BCWQHokqU155PfqP6fIpDHKH-LZMoLYISNWPlU/s1600/BMH_Poster_2016_web_800px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJHz4fle2Lo0IbSfIZ50-V3fFV9Qz1kgtbIntsGroKKdjrdRWM9vwIHuAwiUtIy-BWw43l80dd2RP3X5EZ-NfHM3oCrXhXQViWxw04BCWQHokqU155PfqP6fIpDHKH-LZMoLYISNWPlU/s320/BMH_Poster_2016_web_800px.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-45205189604841950022016-10-12T20:56:00.003+01:002016-10-12T20:56:52.508+01:00Creatives and crafters, what makes them tick?One of the things I love about crafting is meeting other crafters and see what they make. Whatever the medium in which they work, the variety of design and style thrills me. <br />
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How does a crafter come up with an idea? What makes them want to turn a sheet of paper into a work of art, a lump of clay into a fabulous pot, a chunk of tree into a bowl, a glob of glass into a delicate vase, or a strip of precious metal into a piece of bespoke jewellery? How do they get their ideas and inspiration? <br />
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If we see a leaf, how does <a href="http://passionflowerstudio.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">a jeweller like Amanda Hunter</a> see an earring? How does she turn a sheet of silver into something so beautiful and timeless: leaves that will last forever, giving endless pleasure, and linking to the natural environment around us.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxblvYHuf989xFy1h_sRRCTT3mN7tyVK5ITseGaYRZigncYtRqH9DlZLLa3I8DzqKB5tW6cIXB2dx8xA-VGVReHSVm-AMLmSGXvOiGfJfW63dHaERv1TJyWOIlk9CWYTfEMcaC8hNhvU/s1600/Amanda+Silver25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxblvYHuf989xFy1h_sRRCTT3mN7tyVK5ITseGaYRZigncYtRqH9DlZLLa3I8DzqKB5tW6cIXB2dx8xA-VGVReHSVm-AMLmSGXvOiGfJfW63dHaERv1TJyWOIlk9CWYTfEMcaC8hNhvU/s320/Amanda+Silver25.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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How does artist Helen Pateman combine a sheet of paper and a pencil into such a fabulous image as this one? </div>
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<a href="http://helenpateman.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/9/5/24956917/b2643461-66f8-427d-a748-13d0ebc5b4ef-209-0000007b1c555edb_2_orig.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://helenpateman.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/9/5/24956917/b2643461-66f8-427d-a748-13d0ebc5b4ef-209-0000007b1c555edb_2_orig.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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How does woodturner Mike Booth produce something as beautiful and varied as these items out of bits of log? </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgitBMu3nMNFhhaWgKJ8-rE7uDcG7GYZa6GYWhdmP7BgBxShO0uIcwqQ2ZRRSzCjE0mb1iPKnIRhIxo6juAA0UTILSgiTA0MEHOQ4zFYcW2-cVUkUTqJvcj5lmZMT4DJPxA1ZEw52hjw/s1600/mike_booth_01_800px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgitBMu3nMNFhhaWgKJ8-rE7uDcG7GYZa6GYWhdmP7BgBxShO0uIcwqQ2ZRRSzCjE0mb1iPKnIRhIxo6juAA0UTILSgiTA0MEHOQ4zFYcW2-cVUkUTqJvcj5lmZMT4DJPxA1ZEw52hjw/s320/mike_booth_01_800px.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The creative mind is more than just the physical ability to produce an item, it is the creative process of imagining it to begin with, to have an idea and to turn that idea into a reality. Whilst some look at a sheet of paper and wonder what to do with it, creatives are already filling the space with designs, doodles, outlines or ideas. </div>
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The world needs creative minds, we need the people who can take something and make something out of it by using their own imagination and skill, and to think of new uses for old and new materials. </div>
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Creative people are the "inventors" of the arts and crafts world - not for us the mechanics of making a faster engine, or a more productive solar panel, but we invent new designs for jewellery, glass, pottery, wood, fabric, yarn, even plastics. </div>
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Creatives and crafters are all designers with our own unique way of looking at the world and at using the materials we find within it to make things of beauty. I don't know how we do it, but I am very glad that we can do it! </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-28725229032407767832016-10-05T17:53:00.000+01:002016-10-05T18:11:10.326+01:00Elena Ferrante, outing or outrage?Should authors, artists and other creatives be allowed privacy by working under a pseudonym, and is it acceptable for that to be <a href="https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/elena-ferrante-the-story-of-a-new-name/" target="_blank">breached by journalists</a> in search of a story?<br />
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Authors have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pen_names" target="_blank">written under pen-names</a> for almost as long as books have existed: Stendahl, the Brontë sisters, George Eliot, Boz, George Sand, and many many more.<br />
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Over recent years we have seen various creatives working under an alias "outed" by the media. The ongoing hunt to pin down who is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy" target="_blank">Banksy</a> is one of the best-known examples, with frequent suggestions as to the possible identity of this <i>"England-based graffiti artist and political activist." </i><br />
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Robert Galbraith's first crime novel <i>The Cuckoo's Calling</i> (2013) was revealed as having been written under that pseudonym by JK Rowling, despite <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/how-jk-rowling-was-revealed-as-the-true-author-behind-the-robert-galbraith-novels-a6696576.html" target="_blank">her intention for it to not be connected with her previous success</a> with the <i>Harry Potter</i> series. The latest revelation appearing is the naming of the acclaimed Italian novelist, Elena Ferrante, by investigative journalist Claudio Gatti. <br />
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Do authors have the right to write under a <i>nom de plume</i> or are readers entitled to know the real identity of who created the book they are currently reading? <i>BBC Magazine</i> explores the latest row in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37556183" target="_blank">Why is the exposure of Elena Ferrante causing such outrage?</a> Meanwhile, in an interview with <i>Guardian</i> writer Deborah Orr, Elena Ferrante gives her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/19/elena-ferrante-anonymity-lets-me-concentrate-exclusively-on-writing" target="_blank">thoughts on writing under an assumed name</a> and why it is important to her. <br />
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Thinking back to my teenage years when I read <i>The Eiger Sanction</i> by <a href="http://www.trevanian.com/" target="_blank">Trevanian</a> (published in 1972 and later made into a hugely popular film starring Clint Eastwood), there was no clue as to the identity of the author as he (Rodney William Whitaker 1931 – 2005) refused all interviews and publicity work for his publishers until many years later. Did it spoil my enjoyment of the book? Not at all. In a way it enhanced it: there is something about reading an anonymous author's work that does away with any preconceptions that you might have about the person who wrote it and what may have influenced them.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-83200990798731102562016-08-18T16:00:00.000+01:002016-08-20T07:38:51.844+01:00Our Kindle book offer, starts 18th August!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZ7HYQ7mjoCfUsiEMx4bJ7FeaQpWkDaY0QRpP4Wtd7tTdW30a6yIdwm3TQ7QLcwDPjJqHpAF4pRvowRnYfvzrPA57PVZBr9JjTfMXTCzby9GbISEldwpdcamktxACgWX_89sgZOSPuEM/s1600/navvies_cook_cover_250x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZ7HYQ7mjoCfUsiEMx4bJ7FeaQpWkDaY0QRpP4Wtd7tTdW30a6yIdwm3TQ7QLcwDPjJqHpAF4pRvowRnYfvzrPA57PVZBr9JjTfMXTCzby9GbISEldwpdcamktxACgWX_89sgZOSPuEM/s200/navvies_cook_cover_250x400.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
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<b>Summer Special Discount Offer!</b></h3>
Starting at 08:00am PST* on 18th August 2016 <u>for just 7 days</u>, you can pick up <i><b>fancy a dirty weekend? the travels of a navvies' cook</b> </i>for Kindle for just $0.99, that's a massive 57% discount!<br />
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The offer price will last for just a week, so make the most of it and grab your copy before the promo ends. Original list price was $3.00.<br />
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Price is valid until 25th August 2016 at 12:00am PST and only on Amazon.com! <br />
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* (that is 4pm in the UK)<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AR154RQ"><b>https://www.amazon.com/d/B00AR154RQ</b></a><br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">fancy a dirty weekend? the travels of a navvies' cook </i>by Anne Nichols</h3>
One woman's story of her life amongst a group of waterways restoration enthusiasts, known as navvies. Unsuited to the physical activities of navvying, she offered her catering skills to the group, travelling round the country in the back of a van, feeding anything from 6 to 1000 people at a time. It offers an insight into the world of the volunteer movement on the canal network as seen through the eyes of the woman who kept them very well fed.<br />
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<b>Technical Details: </b></h3>
Format: Kindle Edition<br />
File Size: 354 KB<br />
Print Length: 121 pages<br />
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited<br />
Publisher: Yobunny Enterprises (20 Dec. 2012)<br />
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.<br />
Language: English<br />
ASIN: B00AR154RQ<br />
Text-to-Speech: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/d/B00AR154RQ#">Enabled <img src="https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/common/carrot._CB192561957_.gif" /></a><br />
X-Ray:<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AR154RQ#">Not Enabled <img src="https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/common/carrot._CB192561957_.gif" /></a><br />
Word Wise: Enabled<br />
Enhanced Typesetting: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AR154RQ#">Enabled <img src="https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/common/carrot._CB192561957_.gif" /></a></div>
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<b>Reviews:</b></h3>
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<div class="a-icon-row a-spacing-none" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 1px;">
<a class="a-link-normal a-text-normal" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AR154RQ#" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0066c0; text-decoration: none;" title="5.0 out of 5 stars"><i class="a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5" style="background-image: url("https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/AUIClients/AmazonUIBaseCSS-sprite_1x-a45c662e707240b03417f6ca8b97bcb486f27428._V2_.png"); background-position: -5px -368px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 400px 650px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-top; width: 80px;"><span class="a-icon-alt" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-size: 1px; height: 1px; left: -9999px; line-height: 1px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: auto; width: 1px;">5.0 out of 5 stars</span></i> </a><span class="a-letter-space" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; width: 0.385em;"></span><span class="a-size-base a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700 !important; line-height: 19px !important;">Fascinating stories and great recipes</span> <span class="a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85 , 85 , 85);">13 Feb. 2013</span></div>
<div class="a-row a-spacing-none" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; width: 801.797px;">
<span class="a-size-normal" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85 , 85 , 85);">By </span>Angela Bowey </span>- <span class="a-color-success a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0 , 138 , 0); font-weight: 700;">Published on Amazon.com</span></div>
<div class="a-row a-spacing-small" id="revData-dpForeignMktReviewsAUI-R1K3NDXSP9VRIL" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px !important; width: 801.797px;">
<span class="a-size-mini a-color-secondary" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(85 , 85 , 85); font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.465;">Format: Kindle Edition</span></div>
<i>The author describes some hilarious experiences with a canal restoration "flying squad" of expert fixers on some of Britain's derelict canals. She also shares some great recipes from those days. A really good read.</i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-3357627972836345792016-06-17T14:40:00.001+01:002016-07-17T20:36:04.554+01:00All six of us, and the cat...I don't normally post my creative writing on my <a href="http://awake-the-dragon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/all-six-of-us-and-cat.html" target="_blank">political / campaigning blog</a>, but due to the nature of the piece this was first posted in <i>the other place</i> (to borrow a political term!)
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I'm reproducing it here, where it belongs as part of my canon.<br />
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<i>All six of us, and the cat...</i></h3>
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<i>We sit sipping a latte whilst watching the news<br />Of kids with no water stood in long queues<br />Holding their plastic cans and waiting their turns<br />For ten litres of water whilst the sun, overhead, burns.<br /><br />We all tut, "how dreadful" and "it's such a shame"<br />Yet moan that our government sends cash to them in our name.<br />"Why are we paying them when we need it here instead?"<br />Demand well-fed citizens snuggling in a warm comfy bed.<br /><br />"We're only a poor country" is one of our laments<br />Whilst planning our Summer holidays for kids and parents.<br />Meanwhile, across the globe in many hundred places<br />Families starve and children thirst, despair etched in their faces.<br /><br />Not for them a comfy bed or latte on demand,<br />Not for them an education and career to be planned;<br />A place to live and grow without the fear of bombs<br />And air strikes turning their homes into simple tombs.<br /><br />A carefree childhood, a happy life, to many is denied,<br />Whilst aid agencies and peace protesters are derided.<br />By creating hunger, pestilence or war<br />Big business and state exploitation is going way too far.<br /><br />Yet still we sip our lattes in our homes with central heating,<br />Whilst far away some dissidents endure yet another beating:<br />Their crime is asking just for basic human rights,<br />For speaking out against abuse they face most days and nights.<br /><br />Religions, states and corporations all must take some blame<br />For treating people badly, have they no shame?<br />But are we any better when we constantly complain<br />About the cost of foreign aid that helps to ease their pain?<br /><br />Would it be so very bad if we had a fraction less<br />So others who have nothing can be helped out from that mess?<br />Do we need ten pairs of shoes when some women have one?<br />Do we need the latest iPhone when some folks don't have one?<br /><br />Do we need a gas barbecue or a big double oven<br />When some must cook on open fires beneath a searing sun?<br />Do we need that Netflix sub or Sky Sports on the box?<br />Or could we help our fellow humans eradicate smallpox?<br /><br />Are power hungry electricals really such a need?<br />If we each cut back our consumption then would it help to feed<br />Those hungry refugees in camps where they have fled<br />In fear of enslavement, or rape or their deathbed;<br /><br />To get away from air-strikes, bombs and shells<br />That turned their previous lives into living hells.<br />Our government caused their misery and pain<br />Yet we say, "Not giving cash or refuge to them again."<br /><br />Despite wrecking their homelands for political reasons<br />We refuse them safe harbour as if they committed the treasons.<br />We created most of the problems the world faces<br />And we benefited from them throughout the ages.<br /><br />Yet when those who are suffering ask for some aid<br />We look quite affronted or sorely afraid.<br />That by helping out those with the biggest needs<br />It will weaken our hearts and make us into weeds.<br /><br />That simply by showing humanity and compassion<br />Our nation will be overrun in storm-trooper fashion<br />By millions of immigrants "all on the make"<br />Who will claim all our benefits and eat all our cake.<br /><br />They'll rape all our women and some of the men<br />And sell into slavery all of our children.<br />They'll bring all their weird customs, their rites, and their wrongs<br />And bury us in cous cous and surround us with bongs.<br /><br />"They don't have our standards" we say to each other<br />Whilst sipping our lattes and watching Big Brother.<br />"They come over here and take all of jobs,<br />"And claim all our benefits - what rotten knobs."<br /><br />"Use all our roads, our schools and our NHS,<br />"And leave nought for us born here, oh what a mess."<br />If we stopped up our borders so no more can invade<br />And choose with which places we want to do trade,<br /><br />Then the overseas aid that our government "wastes"<br />Will help us to prosper and improve our tastes,<br />And those of us left here will be able to claim<br />That we're native English and proud of the name.<br /><br />All six of us, and the cat...</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-19099581021074116822016-06-11T18:00:00.000+01:002016-06-11T18:00:19.481+01:00Book Review: The Lost Library, A.M. Dean<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13640945-the-lost-library" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Lost Library" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336584845m/13640945.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13640945-the-lost-library">The Lost Library</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5832502.A_M_Dean">A.M. Dean</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1659459195">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I found this book fascinating and very enjoyable. I was totally immersed in the plot, engaged with the lead characters, and shivered whenever the bad guys appeared. <b>The Lost Library</b> has none of the dryness or stuffiness that often appears in novels by academics. It does give the flavour of the unique nature of academics at Oxford without making them into boring characters. It does have a wealth of background and historic detail but they are presented as an essential part of the narrative. I was able to clearly visualise the locations described and felt myself making the journey with Dr Wess, willing her to succeed. The whole concept of <b>The Lost Library</b> is fascinating: a superb story extremely well-told - I love the blend of history and thriller. I am looking forward to reading <b>A.M. Dean</b>'s next book with eager anticipation.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-22468977989321446112016-06-11T17:10:00.002+01:002016-06-11T17:10:55.799+01:00Book review: Citadel, by Kate Mosse<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6952554-citadel" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Citadel (Languedoc, #3)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327958453m/6952554.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6952554-citadel">Citadel</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9343.Kate_Mosse">Kate Mosse</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/487746557">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I love this book! It reminded me just how brutal the Nazi occupation of France was, how much suffering was endured by communities throughout France, how brave those who served in the various Resistance groups were, and the ultimate price that so many of them paid. It's a story which needed to be told, and who better than <b>Kate Mosse</b> to do so. It interweaves that more recent history with the ancient stories of the ghost army and the legends of the Languedoc, which add an extra dimension to what could be an overwhelmingly sad account of life during the occupation. It is a fact that the Nazis searched for ancient relics during the Second World War, and it is also a fact that the Midi has a long history of Christian and Cathar legends and links, so combining aspects of these into Citadel enriches the story rather than detracts from it. The people are, after all, the results of their historical experiences. As those who endured such horrors become fewer in number, it is vital that stories such as Citadel keep their history alive and in our collective memories... if we do not learn the lessons of history we are condemned to repeated its mistakes.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/15855691-anne">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-90399481071329727332016-06-04T15:00:00.000+01:002016-06-04T15:00:09.470+01:00Card2Kendal Exhibition & Sale - 18th June 2016 at K Village, Kendal<b>Diary Date: </b>My long-time friend and local artist Helen Pateman has been deeply involved in bringing the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Card2Kendal/">Card2Kendal</a> exhibition to fruition, so please do go along and see it, and pick up a special piece of artwork for a small sum of money. The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1122928541093373.1073741831.1071118666274361&type=3">artworks are fab</a> - a <a href="https://uk.pinterest.com/changthaikendal/card2kendal/">whole range of designs and themes</a> by both professional and amateur artists, and some from famous name celebrities. <br /><br />All funds raised will go to the flood appeal to help those who were flooded out in last December's Storm Desmond flooding.<br /><br />The exhibition preview is 11th June, and the main exhibition and sale will take place on 18th June, at K Village in Kendal.<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCWa0eNXsgbMLc7FphLoJWxizip4l6CwrnmchtzkCmvuIzdPaJH5ql1oYeo4Vk5BkiEaEvi12E0i6xcoECvVrhP0hIrCsQBp9gN9oNnn8m8eqOSCpqf2_gF_mlm6CyouviTOjgJm81YfC/s1600/Card2Kendal_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCWa0eNXsgbMLc7FphLoJWxizip4l6CwrnmchtzkCmvuIzdPaJH5ql1oYeo4Vk5BkiEaEvi12E0i6xcoECvVrhP0hIrCsQBp9gN9oNnn8m8eqOSCpqf2_gF_mlm6CyouviTOjgJm81YfC/s320/Card2Kendal_poster.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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and you can if you want still send in a postcard for the exhibition and sale, here's how:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOe8q2UVzEfaMO53ozNiZKnfYB6TC3-FYRHjDMOd7xCBFhGQY4YE2cv3OKzUT9TfnQBGsDWkItqxAnAgbRrZkJf5qhSGMwwUPEhyphenhyphensihvGLZNj2gJw5YgxIAczx1hBD7qgTpNY2EXapovN/s1600/Card2Kendal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOe8q2UVzEfaMO53ozNiZKnfYB6TC3-FYRHjDMOd7xCBFhGQY4YE2cv3OKzUT9TfnQBGsDWkItqxAnAgbRrZkJf5qhSGMwwUPEhyphenhyphensihvGLZNj2gJw5YgxIAczx1hBD7qgTpNY2EXapovN/s320/Card2Kendal.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-88787995838504926722016-06-04T13:41:00.001+01:002016-06-04T13:41:04.013+01:00Burton-in-Kendal Art & Craft Exhibition this weekend Burton-in-Kendal Art & Craft Exhibition this weekend 4th & 5th June 10am - 4pm both days at Burton Memorial Hall, Main Street, Burton LA6 1NA<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKV3BFK_eR-LHFqKgJm_2iX1devFbPswdx6M7mDe4dpizcc9PB_otpIjw1qR88njQnhDr9-t_aTaRxaqbKWiHxZmBkv3WAOFoIGjhGFsFHBKe3T5BpHryyz3jDTCRQZk2ESQF8HCG_mk/s1600/art-show-poster_web.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKV3BFK_eR-LHFqKgJm_2iX1devFbPswdx6M7mDe4dpizcc9PB_otpIjw1qR88njQnhDr9-t_aTaRxaqbKWiHxZmBkv3WAOFoIGjhGFsFHBKe3T5BpHryyz3jDTCRQZk2ESQF8HCG_mk/s320/art-show-poster_web.png" width="255" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-13998153988028601342016-03-23T23:22:00.003+00:002016-03-23T23:22:35.725+00:00Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail 24 -26 June 2016<b>Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail 24 -26 June 2016</b><br />
<b>Friday 1 – 8 pm (selected venues) Saturday and Sunday 10.30 – 5.30 </b> <br />
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Welcome to all our local supporters to the trail.<br />
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This year we have over 30 venues, including some new ones in both villages.<br />
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In addition to painters, printers, potters, photographers, jewellers and much more, there is definitely a growing interest in textiles – from shearing, spinning and transforming to scarves at Silverdale School, as well as many felters, upholsterers, and fabric printers in other venues.<br />
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On Redhills Road at Arnside we welcome a new venue, which is an exciting chance to see more spinning and amazing felt creatures and pictures being created.<br />
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There will be an abundance of family activities at the Guide Field, Eaves Wood, Silverdale Village Institute, Methodist Hall, and Leeds Children's Centre<br />
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Sound is a growing part of the Trail and the 'bard' inspires this years Community Concert in St. John's Church with 'If music be the food of Love'', Saturday evening 7:30pm -10pm.<br />
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We welcome the Guides providing campfire food and sing-song on Friday evening and Ann Bond's music room opening Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Open mic. will happen up on the Institute Field attracting young and old alike.<br />
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The Park and Ride Trail Bus will run on Saturday and Sunday, so please support this to reduce traffic, and make the trail relaxing for all of us.<br />
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We would welcome more volunteers to act as 'Bus conductors' – a 2 hour shift with free tickets and catalogue – good fun, relaxing journey and a great help to the trail Co-ordinators!<br />
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<b>If you can help in any way, please contact:</b><br />
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<b>Clare Martin 01524 701271 </b><br />
<b>Debbie Copley 01524 702563</b><br />
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E Mail: <a href="mailto:trail@silverdalearttrail.co.uk">trail@silverdalearttrail.co.uk</a><br />
Web site: <a href="http://www.silverdalearttrail.co.uk/">www.silverdalearttrail.co.uk</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-79553099499226604932016-03-16T15:21:00.002+00:002016-03-16T15:21:49.060+00:00Card2Kendal appeal in aid of Kendal's Storm Desmond flood victimsMy <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DOODLECREWKENDAL/" target="_blank"><b>very talented artist friend Helen</b></a>, who has been involved in all sorts of artistic ventures in Kendal, has sent details of <b><span style="color: red;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/card2kendal?source=feed_text&story_id=1071175442935350">#card2kendal</a> </span></b>a big event for this year, which is to help raise funds for flooded families in the area. In December 2015 <b>Storm Desmond</b> caused much damage to residential and business properties and many properties are still unoccupiable with families living in temporary accommodation.<br />
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Anyone who would like to help is more than welcome to create and donate to this event.<br />
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<i><b>Card2Kendal appeal</b></i></blockquote>
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<i>We need your help to spread the word about an exciting new project.</i></blockquote>
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<i>We want to contact people from around the world to invite them to send a post-card sized artwork to Kendal to be sold to raise money to help the town’s recovery from devastating floods.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>Organisers, Kendal Arts Community, emphasise anyone from a world famous artist to a complete beginner can contribute.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>All they have to do is put their painting, drawing, collage or photograph on one side of a plain postcard, and send to <b>Kendal Flood Relief Centre at Westmorland Shopping Centre, Stricklandgate, Kendal, LA9 4LR.</b></i><b> </b></blockquote>
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<i>Visitors, locals and others who want to donate a post-card sized artwork in any other medium can deliver it in person to the support centre, where they will be stored and displayed.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>They will then be displayed in KAC’s unit at K Village in Lound Road and online at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kendalartscommunity" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">www.facebook.com/kendalartscommunity</a>, from June 11 to June 18, the day of Kendal Summer Arts at the same venue.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>As part of the festival, the post-cards will all be sold off for a flat fee of £20, regardless of the artist, famous or unknown, professional or amateur, young or old. Any postcards left over after the event will be displayed and go on sale at the Relief Centre.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>The post-cards or similar sized artworks can be signed by the artist or left anonymous.<br />All the money raised will go towards the cost of helping people recover from the floods. Cheques should be made payable to Kings Food Bank, which has administered the Kendal Flood Relief Centre since it was set up the day after Storm Desmond hit on December 5.</i></blockquote>
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<i>Rachel Ellis, who has managed Kendal’s Flood Relief effort from Kendal Town Hall and then the unit in Westmorland Shopping Centre since the storm said: “It is a fantastic idea.”</i> </blockquote>
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<i>Cumbria Community Foundation Flood Recovery Appeal announced in March that it had given £2 million to people across the county.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>It has also given £300,000 to community groups to help rebuild and replace sporting equipment and provide practical and emotional support.</i> </blockquote>
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<i>But they now believe they will need more than £9 million to meet the demand, which is expected to last 18 months from the date of the storms, so increased their target to £7 million.</i></blockquote>
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<i>More than 5,000 homes and hundreds of businesses and community buildings were flooded when rivers including the Kent in Kendal, the Eden in Appleby and Carlisle, and the Derwent in Keswick burst their banks.</i></blockquote>
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<i>Kendal was the worst hit with more than 2,000 homes inundated. Many householders are still in temporary accommodation or suffering hardship following the floods.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<i>KAC co-ordinator, Zoe Baker, said: “Several artists in Kendal were among those whose homes were affected by the floods, so we understand what a traumatic time it has been. We thought the postcard sale was a way of offering practical help and also having fun and boosting creativity."</i></blockquote>
<b>More details at w<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Card2Kendal/" target="_blank">ww.facebook.com/Card2Kendal</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kendalartscommunity" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">www.facebook.com/kendalartscommunity</a></b><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723185522995816984.post-87212856008286626882016-03-05T18:54:00.000+00:002016-03-05T18:55:41.833+00:00R.I.P Barney the cemetery catAlmost two years ago, after reading a news story about a marmalade cat called Bob who adopted a homeless drug-addicted busker, I wrote a blog post called <b><a href="http://anne-nichols-author.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-empathy-of-marmalade-cats.html" target="_blank">The empathy of marmalade cats</a></b> about the marmalade cat who lives near us and who befriended our old, blind and senile family dog during the last months of her life. Today I read <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/barney-cemetery-cat-buried-plot-7500736" target="_blank"><b>a story in the Mirror newspaper</b></a> of yet another marmalade cat, this one was called Barney, who lived in the grounds of St Sampson's Cemetery on Guernsey and who, over the last 20 years, befriended and gave comfort to those attending funerals or visiting graves there. That he was a much-loved presence in the cemetery grounds seems obvious from the story and the comments on social media, but it made me wonder once more about why <a href="http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-marmalade-cats.htm" target="_blank">marmalade cats</a> seem to feature in these stories, and if there is something different about them, as against other cats.<br />
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A Telegraph article from 2 years ago, entitled <b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/pets/10690195/Why-a-ginger-tom-might-just-inherit-the-Earth.html" target="_blank">Why a ginger tom might just inherit the Earth</a> </b>offered up the information that, <i>"...recent research conducted by the University of California showed that ginger felines are the most popular among cat owners, because they are perceived as friendly and lovable." </i> But surely the empathy and the connection with the suffering of other creatures must be more than just simple friendliness? The <a href="http://www.felinecare.org.uk/node/184" target="_blank"><b>Feline Care website</b></a> carries a story about a marmalade tom living on the streets of Attleborough - they do seem to like doing their own thing! - whilst Wavell, the marmalade cat mentioned in the Telegraph story appears to have an adventurous spirit and a love of travel. Cats are, of course, known for their curiosity, independence and, it has to be said, selfishness at times, which is why the empathy apparently shown by marmalade cats is so intriguing to me. <br />
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Leslie Darling, in her blog post <a href="http://pets.thenest.com/ginger-tabby-personality-10180.html" target="_blank"><b>Ginger Tabby Personality</b></a>, comments that, <i>"In some species, a link between color and personality has been established". She also says, "How much of this is perception and how much genetics is hard to determine, but certain breeds of cat do have personality traits that are linked to the breed." </i>It would be interesting to see a large scale study of this aspect of cat genetics - perhaps it would attract someone doing research for a thesis or similar!<br />
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Meanwhile, the popularity of marmalade cats is undoubted, as those which feature in literature, cartoon strips and on the big and small screen demonstrate: <b><a href="http://www.gingercatpage.com/famous.htm">http://www.gingercatpage.com/famous.htm</a> - </b>who doesn't love such characters as Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) or Garfield, the pizza loving fat cat pal of Odie and Jon!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0