I promised I’d get back to chat about the Drama Group in time for their AGM, and I’ve kept the lovely Sleeping Beauty programme from this year’s show close to hand for this past month and a half, all ready…
Month: March 2019
Like a bridge
The road up to Catton at Five Lane Ends has been blocked, on Monday and Tuesday of this week, for crucial repairs to the Allen Mill Bridge abutments which suffered damage from an accident some weeks ago. The job was…
Allen Valley Velo
I was young once, and cycling was my passion. But it was a solitary endeavour, on the back streets of Philadelphia, through the extensive park system, and on into the university. How I would have loved to have been able…
North Pennines Observatory
I went along to the last Members’ Evening of the season at the observatory up at Allenheads, housed in the premises of Allenheads Contemporary Arts (the old school) yesterday evening, courtesy of the organiser Chris Welton representing AVEL (Allen Valleys…
Keenley Methodist Chapel, the oldest of them all
Today at 2:30pm, a faithful congregation of some five souls will gather at Keenley Methodist Chapel, keeping the tradition and the faith alive in the deep countryside. Services are every fortnight — today Rev’d Alex Dunstan leads the service of…
Isaac Holden, a very odd and wonderful person
Isaac Holden is probably older than the ‘guysers’ and the bonfire on New Year’s Eve in Allendale’s Market Square, though he must have seen them during his last decade, but he’s maybe not quite as famous as Allendale’s Tar Bar’l…
Pubs in transition
Sometimes the experience of living, and latterly working here for nigh-on thirty years, can convey a real sense of understanding of how local businesses work. It helps to have set up a new business, a new kind of café for…
Handbells make a cheerful sound
I’m not quite sure where or how Elizabeth Beardsley found the old bronze handbells, still in immaculate ringing condition, but she brought the seventeen in her collection north to form a distinctive organisation and to contribute a joyful sound to…
Curlews, lapwings — later black grouse, and more
[Sketches derived from apparently royalty-free images on the internet] So the large curlew is back on the Sparty Lea fellside, gliding through the air, and the lapwings have been skirling in the sky for some time now. Only after we’d…
Allenheads Inn . . .
We’ve seen a few landlords come and go at the Allenheads Inn, over the years. Since the bus service was curtailed several years ago now, we don’t ourselves get up there any longer, but some regulars are still very faithful,…