Paul Mingard writes in with a lyrical essay on the joys of the rural bus route: “For some people riding the 688 bus is so mundane they hardly think about it. For others who never travel by bus, the trials…
Year: 2019
Last of the summer term at Allendale Primary School
It wasn’t until, as a substitute teacher, I was finally assigned a whole half-term in one place, that I realised more or less how the school year is organised into six, six week half-terms, or three full terms with a…
Allen Valley Churches Together . . .
Ann Potter writes to chat about a walk organised by AVCT recently: ” Allen Valley Churches Together organised a local walk from Allendale to Sinderhope last month. The total route was 7.5 miles and, to ensure accessibility for walkers able…
“Where’s the nearest petrol station?”
It’s probably the most common question asked at the Post Office/MarketPlace. So let’s be absolutely definitive, using Googlemaps as a guide, to mapping the distance from Allendale’s Market Square to the nearest petrol stations around the place: MarketPlace/Post Office NE47…
The Allen Valleys Circle Dance Group
Marjorie Anderson writes in with a piece about the Circle Dance Group she founded some time ago [I’d have thought it at least a decade ago, actually Marjorie?]: “Should you chance to pass by the Sinderhope High Forest Community Centre…
Oh yeah, the MEP election
This was the second election process this year, so we’d better at least mention it in the diary, even though it actually happened a week ago. That’s the way it kinda goes in Allendale anyway — the world catches us…
Where’d Allendale’s music come from?
Effectively, music has always been in Allendale, probably courtesy of the churches, and certainly courtesy of the Silver Bands that were a socially cohesive force in most mining communities throughout the 19th century. But for some of us, anything prior…
Pilates with Pat
Pat Waters has been running a Pilates session at Allendale Village Hall for the past eight years, and she sends along some notes about the Tuesday morning courses (11-12): “My Pilates class has been going relentlessly for the last 8…
The middle lane, and edging slower
I’m juggling two parallel concepts today (I imagine an extended hospital stay exerts kind of a philosophical tug on the old heartstrings — at least it did on mine). I remember so well, some 35 years ago, when suddenly we…
Deneholme Wood Volunteers
Melanie Pepper writes through a migraine to get these notes to me for publishing during my hospital hiatus — thanks Mel! “The North Pennines AONB Partnership opened up permissive access to the woods, and installed a new bridge and new…