This is a kind of lateral-minded Valentine, but it still comes straight from the heart. Today I’m writing about the small, informal, unobtrusive, almost secret and yet perfectly open, logistics network that works throughout these valleys. It’s not the same…
Year: 2019
‘My life as a farmer’
I was so hoping to be there, at last night’s crowded event in the Sinderhope Community Centre where Robert Philipson chatted about his life as a farmer in this valley, for the Allen Valleys Wildlife Group’s regular meeting. Unfortunately for…
Getting older with the Lions
Of course it was meant to be the first Monday, but every February the final rehearsals for the Pantomime take precedence for several members, shifting the monthly Lions Club business meeting on a week. So the 167th meeting of the…
Station Garage keeps us moving
If it weren’t for the perspicacity and patience of Howard Pringle and Thomas Robinson at Station Garage, early last autumn, we’d never have got away on our extended holiday in our ancient motorhome. First there was the matter of the…
I’m fixing a hole . . .
. . . where the rain gets in. The friendly gent organising the removal of the scaffolding around Trinity Methodist Church was happy to tell me what the job had been about. Apparently the very long lintel, which extends from…
Oh No — it isn’t . . .
. . . Oh Yes — it is! The annual Pantomime is upon us, with a vengeance as it were, this year, wreaking havoc at every turn, as the grand dame(s) fling themselves around the trembling stage and everyone tries…
Forging ahead . . .
Welcome… The friendly website of Allendale Forge Studios really does convince new browsers that this is a very welcoming place. I’m speaking with Zoë Bell, who runs the Forge Café as her own business, and is also one of the…
Timber stacks at Redwell Corner
It’s a cash crop, of course, but even so the harvesting of a plantation, especially one as mature as this one, comes as something of a shock. What a wide open space there is behind the stone wall, which is…
Au revoir to Steven Blair at the Allendale . . .
During the past couple of days, I’ve had some friendly chats with Steven Blair, who has managed the Allendale Inn for two and a half years now, and I’ve cobbled together a few notes to present here. I caught up…
The joy of singing together
I asked members of the Dale Singers for a reflection on what this community choir means to them, and after a period of cajoling, I managed to prevail upon Carrie Winger to write something about her experiences . . ….