As someone once said, time is that quality of nature which keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn’t seem to be working. Life at Smithy Close has been running at a frenetic pace recently and there have been too few spare minutes grouped together to review the year, but I’ve done it at last.
When I do think back, however, it is overlaid with sadness since in March, Geraldine’s father passed away very suddenly, after a short illness. It was a great shock to everyone, but looking back it might have been the way Louis would have preferred, since he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer with bone secondaries. He faced months of uncomfortable treatments without a realistic expectation of a full recovery. Since then, everything we do seems to hold a gentle reminder of a much loved Dad and Granddad.
But moving to happier themes, the year has been as full as ever, with a major change of routine when Emily started at secondary school. Brownedge St Mary’s has opened up a whole new world for her, giving her the opportunity (which she has wisely embraced) of taking part in drama (got a part in Hello Dolly in Spring 2004), music (choir and flute), football (not keen, but who can blame her?) cross country running (in the South Ribble championships on 29th November) and many other activities. Going to school on a bus alone was novel at first, but this is wearing off as the routine takes hold. Many of her friends are at the same school so it has been a very smooth transition.
Emily’s continuing hobby is dancing, and just now she is rehearsing for a part in a very big show at the Blackpool Opera House in December. She took part in the February 2003 pantomime production of Aladdin at the local St James’ Players, and this year she is involved once more, even encouraging Laurie to audition for the 2004 production. He has secured a good part in the chorus, and since he is one of only two boys, he always seems to be in the centre of the front row.
He still enjoys Cubs, and is now in his last six months before he is thrown out and becomes a Scout (probably). I am also looking forward to him leaving Cubs, since I promised that I would remain as a Leader until Laurie left, so this is also my cue to retire.
Laurie is very likely to join Emily in the Scouts since the group is buzzing just now. Emily went on a winter camp in March (sub-zero temperatures and a danger of being trampled by polar bears), got through to the final of the District Backwoods Cooking competition (the food poisoning expert at Royal Preston Hospital not needed) and is now training for the Bowland Hike (3-day tramp through the Trough of Bowland in the spring).
We all went on a terrific camp during September, when the sunshine forgot the date and replayed summer once more. I say ‘all’, but of course we exclude Mum from these expeditions, since there was no Travel Inn near enough for Geraldine to stay and still take part. She cannot understand why anyone with a perfectly good house and bathroom would want to sleep in a tent in a field and share washing facilities with 200 others. When put like that, I begin to wonder myself.
We held a campfire (you must do this or it isn’t a real camp) in which everyone was invited to ‘do a turn’. It ended with a game of charades, and some fiendishly difficult titles to deduce. I still chuckle at one leader’s comments who was trying to get the children to concentrate on the mime being performed. “Now children, just listen, please!” They were listening hard, but there was nothing to hear! Another slight problem was that they couldn’t see either, since it had gone dark. Ever played charades in the dark? It’s a challenge!
I still enjoy Cubs on the whole. We took them on a trip to a Wildlife Park in the Lake District on a lovely September day. The little monkeys really appreciated the glorious weather, although they complained that their Cub tops were too hot.
Our summer holiday was once more in St Ives, which we cleverly took in the midst of the summer heat wave. Except that in the southern tip of Cornwall it was cool and misty. We were grateful for the car’s air-con on the journey down, but 5 miles from our destination, we had to turn it off when we realised with a shock that the temperature had dropped 12 degrees to about 18°C. We had a great time despite the weather[1], especially since Geraldine’s Mum and brother had also come down to spend a week with us.
Apart from these few days, we have been particularly lucky with the weather this year. We spent a very fine weekend at the end of April when we visited the Alnwick Garden in Northumberland. The sunlight was beautiful, although the garden really ought to be seen in late spring or summer to fully appreciate it. We also spent some time re-visiting old haunts of Holy Island and Bamburgh. On another occasion we chose to visit Portmeirion in North Wales which is a magical place, especially so when seen beneath a blue sky reminiscent of Dali.
Laurence is still just about part of the local Gregson Lane football team. The under 10s play 7-a-side, and Laurie didn’t always make the team selection, since there are 18 in the squad. When the training night was moved to Tuesday (Cub night), Laurie was unable to attend regularly, and so we had to negotiate new terms with his manager. We agreed that he will remain on the team books, so that next year when they move to 11-a-side, he will be much more likely to get on the team, playing left back. He regularly plays for the school team, however, and so still keeps up with training.
I have been roped in to chair the school PTFA meetings, a task I do not appreciate, but which needs doing. We have put on about 8 events through the year, raising well over £3000. Some have been hard work (summer fête) some very successful (selling nearly £1000 worth of spring-flowering bulbs) some very popular (walking trip in the Grizedale Forest), and others, whilst financially successful, left an unfortunate aftertaste (tabletop sale). The latter event was widely advertised, and 28 people hired tables for £5 each. Unfortunately, they were just about the only people who turned up on the day! So the school made money, but we had quite a few disgruntled (would-be) traders to pacify.
It might just be me getting older, but is history getting more interesting? It appears so to me, and this is how I ended up joining the Brindle Historical Society. This is a new group that meet in the village each month, and I went along one night to be nosey, and found I thoroughly enjoyed it. One historical episode this year was that the Community Hall enjoyed its 80th birthday. The Historical Society staged a re-enactment of the opening ceremony, with people dressed in period costume for the afternoon tea, and a wonderful Jazz band provided the evening dancing. The children came along too, and Laurie got the job of cutting the cake, being the youngest one there. But, as an old friend of mine used to say, for every silver lining, there is a cloud[2], and for me, it was getting myself noticed by the Community Hall Management Team, who have now voted me back on the committee after a nine year absence. We are intending to build a new hall next year, so there’s much work to be done.
I’m still spending summer Sundays as a guide at Hoghton Tower, which this year has been much in the news. The house has a connection with Shakespeare (there is an oral tradition that he lived for a couple of years at the Tower in his mid teens) and when the BBC ran a four-week documentary on Shakespeare, Hoghton Tower received some good publicity. On the strength of this, the Preservation Trust decided to put on a Shakespeare season for 2½ weeks in early summer. A play (Twelfth Night) was performed in the grounds by a professional theatre company and was very well received. I was in demand as a steward on any afternoon or evening I could manage. Laurence also helped out, offering to carry picnic hampers or seats from the car park for people. He was delighted to earn himself a few pounds through this impromptu piece of commerce.
Geraldine and I were also invited to the opening night when we were greeted with wine on arrival and a complimentary picnic supper during the interval. There are some perks of the job. The Tower is planning another performance next year, so I’m anticipating another cultured summer.
The best theatre of the year has to be the production of The Hobbit at the Blackpool Grand. We had great seats, and the cast were wonderful. Emily especially liked the way Bilbo managed to wiggle his hairy toes! Laurie just liked all the realistic battle scenes, and I loved the ingenious circular set which rotated every few minutes to give a different perspective on the journey. Better than Lord of the Rings any day.
That’s just about it for this year. I do hope that you are keeping well and have a lovely festive season.
[1] Have you noticed that other countries have ‘climate’, whilst we in England only have weather?
[2] This same friend also used to say “You know, Bernie, there’s no limit to how bad things can get.” He was a cheery soul.