Err, Lent is supposed to be finished by Easter Sunday. That is to say, having gone through the rituals of self-abnegation and small or large tortures inflicted upon ourselves to represent the sins we all carry with us, Christians are…
Month: April 2019
Old and getting older
There’s something about the ‘Valuation Evening’ at Allendale Village Hall tonight that’s frightening. Not in the sense of ‘family treasures’ . . . nah, that’s just a hoot — nothing we own could be said to have any more intrinsic…
The neglected garden . . . is there any chance of redemption?
From the very start of our sojourn up in the hills, I wanted to develop a garden that, when mature, would require very little upkeep, but that would still, recognisably, be a kept garden, and not a wilderness. It was…
Sparty Lea Poetry Festival . . . piqued!
Anjelica Falterfoot makes an enquiry about the (in)famous Sparty Lea Poetry Festival, held over the Easter holiday in 1967: “For many years the story piqued my imagination; my partner introduced me to Barry MacSweeney’s poetry and by chance I got…
Suddenly . . . everything!
As if the Easter weekend were the dam holding back the waters of activity, this week has flung open the sluice gates and there are things galore to be doing, starting, participating in, enjoying, throughout the Allen Valleys. It’s more…
The first mowing, and again
Down in Allendale, I’m sure folks started mowing their lawns some weeks ago now, but up on the fellsides of Sparty Lea, the week running up to this past glorious weekend was the first opportunity for mowing this year. I…
AVH&RG: AGM notes
Catherine Stirling-Hill sends some notes our way to chat about the charity’s Annual General Meeting, scheduled for today Wednesday the 24th of April, 7:30pm in the Main Hall (while the Gardening Society holds their quarterly meeting in the New Hall):…
Letting go . . . finding more
I was told how to trap monkeys at a very early age. Not that we had many monkeys in Canada, but still, even then I knew it was an object lesson, and naturally I would be smarter than any monkey,…
The Dales Gardening Society
When I arrived at the Tea Rooms for a little meeting with representatives of the Garden Society, who were eager to help feature their group in the diary, Emma Harrison ushered me into the side dining room with a table…
Easter Sunday
It was the late Bishop of Durham, the Reverend David Jenkins, who opined that the resurrection which encapsulates Christianity was “not just a conjuring trick with a bag of bones”. Blunt, but frank, at least. How he loved controversy, yet…