Issue 345 18th July 2014

Rising Brook/

Holmcroft/

Baswich/Gnosall

Libraries under

threat.

A LITTLE DITTY - THE GEEK! If I am here and you are there, and we‟re locked together in a stare I wonder as you look through me, who it is you‟re longing to see Somebody often very bright? As her spirit is in her mind Quiet through and through as can be? There is no impulsiveness inside of me Do you want the dawky type? Dragged up through the science hype? Biology and chemistry? And not the chemistry you‟d love from me! Dowdy clothing? Average shoe? Make up I shall never do! Artificial madness seeps, from people worlds apart from me Do you want the awkward one? who forever tries to be alone? As people fear my manic mind, I fear the ordinary kind I look at you a moment more, to make sure interested you are no more Good luck getting close to me, because I‟m too wrapped up in my PHD.

2

Why do weeds always grow more vigorously than plants?

Singing is a wonderful way to make friends, stave off loneliness and keep healthy.

Going to the gym costs money. Doing a few hours volunteering a couple of times a week costs nothing, gets one out of the house talking to people and the gentle exercise helps one become fitter. Win, win.

Football: At last, it‟s all over ... next it‟s the Glasgow Games ... Well, Whoopy Do!

I‟ll try to contain over-brimming excitement. Yawn ... (I know the theory that bread-and-circuses are important to world peace by distracting the masses but do narcissistic, gladia-torial sporting events have to be consecutive and shown on so many channels? Is this

mind numbing on some level?)

Random words : Scotland, Jean, deacon, union, ship, mathematics, comfort Assignment : Participation

Tom Wyre : WW1 Recital Poems in

Issue 347

Poetry International! From Thursday 17 July until Monday 21 July, Southbank Centre plays host to a di-verse and exciting festival that celebrates poetry as a global. - Enjoy hearing great work performed such as in 50 Greatest Love Poems and Do Write Immediately: Poets' Love Letters; http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/love-each-other-or-perish-82934?intro&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LitPIfinalpushT4-lit140714&utm_content=version_A http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/do-write-immediately-poets-l-83685?intro&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LitPIfinalpushT4-lit140714&utm_content=version_A - Re-discover old favourites such as in Brecht and Steffin: Love in a time of exile and war and What if not transformation: Poetry After Rilke; http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/brecht-steffin-love-in-a-ti-83671?intro&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LitPIfinalpushT4-lit140714&utm_content=version_Ahttp://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/what-if-not-transformation-po-83797?

intro&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LitPIfinalpushT4-lit140714&utm_content=version_A- See great international poets in the Poetry International Launch and Finale; http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/poetry-international-launch-83757?intro&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LitPIfinalpushT4-lit140714&utm_content=version_Ahttp://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/poetry-international-finale-83927?intro&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LitPIfinalpushT4-lit140714&utm_content=version_A - Explore film poetry events including our international competition prize giving; http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/shot-through-the-heart-83879?intro&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LitPIfinalpushT4-lit140714&utm_content=version_A

www.issuu.com/risingbrookwriters

NEW: 2015 poetry collection

“Defying Gravity” Submissions now open

LIBRARY CONSULTATION

Help shape library services

Library users and residents across Staffordshire will be invited to help shape

the future direction of their local library in a major consultation starting on

Wednesday 16th July.

Mike Lawrence, Staffordshire County Council‟s Cabinet member for Communities and Lo-

calism, said: “Libraries have changed considerably in the last decade as technology and soci-

ety have changed and this is about finding the best way to provide a service that is valued and

used by more people, copes with changing demand, and is one that we can afford.

“Our second round of consultation begins next week and lasts for three months. We will cover

the length and breadth of the county and provide people with the opportunity to have their say

in person, by post and online.

“We‟ve already amended the suggestions in light of initial feedback. Now we want to discuss

the different options for each of our 43 libraries and we want users and non-users to think

about what they want for the future.

“This is a three year programme and it‟s not driven by financial pressures, so there‟s no rush.

I want to make sure we reach the right decision for each community.”

Mike Lawrence was speaking after the council‟s Corporate Review Committee considered

criticisms of the proposals before voting by majority in favour of the consultation launching.

He said: “I was pleased to have had another opportunity to discuss the aims of the libraries

consultation programme and to emphasise it‟s not a closure programme.

“This is about acting while we don‟t have to make cash-driven changes to create a service that

meets local demand and is sustainable for the future, while we also look to expand our online

service to meet rising demand.”

The more detailed suggestions follow an initial consultation with library users, staff and inter-

ested groups across the county and will include an improved online offering so that people

can access services at a time and place that suits them.

There are no plans to close any libraries and these changes are not simply about saving

money. It‟s fair to say that across the council we need to find new, more efficient ways of

working, and we think the new approach will help to cut some costs. However, these propos-

als are about moving with the times so that we safeguard a much-loved service."

Sign up now to receive an email when the consultation starts. PUBLICITY RELEASE

http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/librariesnew/Shape-your-library-service/Help-

shape-library-service.aspx

You have to register online to take part in the

consultation process. OR you can pick up a

Consultation Form in any library. The forms

are tricky and no tick boxes for “leave our

libraries alone” but there are boxes for opinions ...

FACTS: Consultation would begin on July 16th. Further details of the

consultation programme and the various ways in which Staffordshire

people can take part will be provided ahead of the start date.

The proposal for the 43 locations suggests four „library extra‟,

15 „library core‟ and 24 „library local‟.

The four types are:

Library Extra – Centres of Excellence, with the widest range of services. They have the

greatest capacity for sharing space with a wide range of partners and for access to addi-

tional services. SCC will continue to deliver the full library offer.

Library Core - Buildings with a range of services provided by the County Council. There

will be potential to share premises and opportunities to be more flexible to the needs of in-

dividual communities. SCC will continue to deliver the full library offer.

Library Local – 24 locations where we‟ll explore a range of options including opportunities

for community organisations to lead, manage and deliver the library offer, giving them the

opportunity to maintain or introduce services to meet local need. SCC will support commu-

nities to take on this role, but won‟t be directly involved in the management or staffing.

Library Plus – an enhanced online offer, ensuring people can access library services at a

time and place that suits them best.

A full list of libraries is available at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/libraries/connectedlibraries

The Library Service currently has 388 members of staff, whose hours are equivalent to 225

full time posts.

COMMENT: When libraries are taken over by well meaning amateur volun-teers they soon run into difficulties and often have to close. Library staff are trained professionals ... their expertise cannot easily be transferred to the voluntary sector with out problems. Some may think transfer to voluntary is merely slow closure by stealth ... One single central library is not „social inclusion‟ : local communities (especially in areas of deprivation) need local libraries ... however, including other community services within libraries would be greatly welcomed

6

The Gardening Tips series was produced by well known local gardening expert Mrs. FM Hartley as monthly gardening items which featured on an audio news-tape produced locally for partially sighted people. (Link To Stafford & Stone Talking Newspaper. Link To R.N.I.B.)

As such the articles are meant to be read individu-ally and not as chapters of a book. The articles were written over a period of some 7 years. RBW is absolutely delighted that Mrs Hartley has agreed to some of her words of gardening wisdom gathered over nine decades being reproduced for our benefit by son Alan.

Gardening Tips June 2007

We have had such a long dry windy spell the soil was so hard I couldn‟t put a fork in

my garden, but it is gradually improving now with the addition of lots of home

made compost. My water tubs were all empty so I was glad to see some rain. The

only problem is that the rain brings out the slugs and if you have trouble with slugs

and snails crawling up planted tubs there is now something to stop them; it is called

“Slug barrier copper tape” and is easy to stick round tubs and troughs. I tried it last

year with success and have put fresh on again this year. The tape can be bought

from most garden centres and probably from all sorts of other garden shops. It

comes in 4 metre rolls, (roughly 12 ½ foot) priced at £4.99.

The Rowan or Mountain Ash trees have been smothered in flowers this year so

there should be plenty of berries for the birds later on in the Autumn and Winter.

The trees are suitable for a small garden and the flowers are highly scented. Every-

body knows of the red-berried variety, but I also have a yellow berried and white-

berried one that has pale pink flowers. We have about a dozen Rowans growing

down the length of our short road that I have grown from the berries since we

moved in 14 years ago. The different coloured berries look attractive on the trees in

the Autumn, but they are not only good for the birds to eat, because if they are

boiled with apple they make a tasty jelly.

It should be all right to put hanging baskets out now and you can also get your

tubs planted up because the danger of frost should have passed. Runner Beans, Let-

tuce, Courgettes and any other vegetables will be all right to plant out as

well. I am trying Squash outside this year and have also put out some

Golden Berry plants. In case they are not very well known the fruit is sold in

small packets in supermarkets just labelled as Physallis. This is a bit mis-

leading as the Chinese Lanterns are also called Physallis. They are all the

same family but different varieties, with the ones you can eat called Physal-

lis Edula. Some restaurants now put a few of the berries in with things like

fruit salads and round the plates as a garnish with things like sliced melon.

My family have been eating Physallis berries for years and they can be

eaten fresh as a fruit but they can also be cooked and used in pies.

Well that's all for now, cheerio Frances Hartley.

RBW 2015 poetry

collection

“Defying Gravity”

Submissions now open.

DO NOT DELAY

Once we’re full, we’re full.

THE ROMANCE OF THE ASHES

On a miserably wet and cold day at the Oval cricket ground in August 1882, the England

team, set a mere 85 runs to beat the Australians, were skittled out by Frederick Spof-forth, the original “demon bowler”, and lost the match. In this debacle the great W. G.

Grace scored 32, but the other ten Englishmen managed just 41 between them. A few days later, the following mock obituary notice appeared in the “Sporting Times”:-

“In affectionate memory of English Cricket, which died at the Oval on 29th August 1882, deeply lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. R.I.P. (N.B. The

body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia)" (Like all good humorists, the author managed to combine two separate issues cur-rently in the news; cremation of the dead being a controversial matter of doubtful legal-

ity, bitterly opposed by many in the Church)

Thus began the most famous tradition in cricket: the contest between England and Australia for the “Ashes”. The 1882 match was not the first between the two countries,

but it stirred the popular imagination as never before. But the “Ashes” did not yet actu-ally exist. This is the romantic story of how they began. The victorious Australians were still playing in England when an English team set

sail for Australia on September 14th. It consisted of just twelve players; an absurdly small squad by today‟s standards, which was reduced even further when their fast

bowler, Fred Morley, broke a rib in an accident. Only three men from the Oval match were included; the most notable absentee being W. G. Grace. The captain was a tall,

handsome young aristocrat: the Honourable Ivo Bligh, second son of the Earl of Darnley.

This is Bligh's team. Standing: Barnes, Morley, C.T.Studd, Vernon, Leslie. Seated: G.B.Studd, Tylecote, Bligh, Steel, Read. In front: Barlow, Bates. Of these, Barnes, Bar-

low, Bates and Morley were professional cricketers from working-class backgrounds; the rest were gentleman amateurs from the great public (independent) schools and univer-sities. In no other sport at that time would amateurs and professionals have played to-

gether for their country. Bligh was an odd choice in many ways. He was just 23 years old, and had never

played international cricket (the term “Test Matches” did not come into use until many years later). At Eton and Cambridge University he had excelled at tennis and racquets as well as cricket, and had scored over a thousand runs for Kent in the 1880 season. But

he would never have been rated as one of the best batsmen in England, and although clearly a fine athlete, his health was never good. Nor would he make any significant

contribution with the bat on this tour: his attainment of immortality came from a differ-ent source.

On the voyage out, which lasted two months, the team made the acquaintance of Sir William and Lady Janet Clarke. Sir William, a great philanthropist and past president of the Melbourne Cricket Club, was said to be the richest man in Australia. He invited them 8

to spend Christmas at Rupertswood, his very grand country house outside Melbourne. This was to be

a momentous event both in the life of Ivo Bligh and in the history of cricket, because the Clarke household included a young lady who acted as the children‟s governess and music teacher as well as

a friend of Lady Janet. She was Miss Florence Morphy, aged 22, an orphan; the seventh and youngest child of a police magistrate of Irish extraction. Bligh was immediately smitten with her.

Meanwhile there were matches to be played. It was an unusually wet summer in Australia, with results being affected by rain on uncovered pitches; but large crowds attended, often running to 20,000 or more per day. The first match against William Murdoch‟s Australian team took place at Mel-

bourne at the end of December, and resulted in England losing by 9 wickets after succumbing to the off-spin of George Palmer and being forced to follow on. The second match, also at Melbourne, began

on January 19th, and this time there was a comprehensive victory for England, by an innings and 27 runs. William Bates took 14 wickets in the match, including a hat-trick. It would be all to play for in the third match at Sydney a week later.

In his capacity as captain, Bligh was often called upon to make speeches. He generally spoke of his goal being “to beard the kangaroo in its den” and “to bring back the ashes”. He was of course re-

ferring to something which did not actually exist, and must initially have puzzled his audiences, but Murdoch‟s Australian team understood the reference to the “Sporting Times” joke, and were able to

reply in kind. Very soon, Australian papers were taking up the theme: who could claim possession of the ashes? The Sydney match ran into four days. After the first innings it was evenly balanced, with England

holding a lead of just 29 runs. On the third day a huge crowd turned up to watch Spofforth bowl out England. 7 for 44 to the dreaded demon bowler; England dismissed for a paltry 123: the match and

the ashes were surely Australia‟s. But no! Richard Barlow, bowling slow-medium left-arm, did even better than Spofforth: 7 for 40; Australia collapsing to 83 all out, with only two men reaching double

figures: an easy win for England! Unlike the popular image of Victorian cricket, the match was an ill-tempered affair, with each side accusing the other of deliberately cutting up the pitch to aid the bowl-ing of Spofforth and Barlow, and some of the players reportedly almost coming to blows at one point.

There followed a fourth match in mid-February against a “Combined XI”, when not even a cen-tury by Allan Steel (the only one of the series) could prevent an Australian victory. It has been dis-

puted ever since whether this constituted a “proper test match”; but at the time no-one appeared to question that England had won the right to “take back the ashes”. Bligh had contributed very little as a player (his highest score was only 19, and he did not bowl); the victories resulting from the bowling

of the northern professionals; Bates of Yorkshire and Barlow of Lancashire. But as captain, Bligh was given the publicity and much of the credit.

He had other matters on his mind. On January 3rd he wrote to his parents requesting permission to marry Florence Morphy. Lady Janet Clarke had already warned him that Lord and Lady Darnley

would not be happy about a son of theirs attaching himself to a penniless girl of no family; and she was of course quite right: parental consent was not given. This whole episode puts us firmly back into the Victorian period. Here we have a highly educated man, on the verge of his 24th birthday, in the

process of achieving great international sporting fame and success, yet feeling he could not become engaged to be married without the approval of his parents - and the approval being denied, appar-

ently for reasons of pure snobbery! Bligh pondered his next step. But what of the Ashes themselves? Here, unfortunately, the evidence is confused and contradic-

tory. At some stage, presumably at Rupertswood, Bligh was presented with a tiny urn; such as might have stood on a lady‟s dressing table holding perfume; but now containing ashes. Ashes of what? It is usually believed to be the ashes from burning a bail, or a stump; but it is sometimes said to be the

ashes of the leather casing of a cricket ball. And when exactly was it presented? After the third match the Melbourne magazine “Punch” published some execrable verses about the return of the “urn” to

England. Does this mean that the urn had already been presented, and furthermore that this was common knowledge? Or was the magazine speaking purely metaphorically? Maybe more than one urn was presented? These puzzles are unlikely ever to be solved. Quite separately, a Queensland lady in

February gave Bligh a small velvet bag to hold the urn. He sailed back to England in May 1883, taking the urn with him. It would stand on his mantelpiece for the rest of his life. What ranked highest in his

mind, however, was winning his parents‟ consent to his marriage. He went about the task with great determination, as befitted an international sporting captain. He

told his father that, rather than give up Florence, he would settle permanently in Australia. After six

weeks, Lord Darnley abandoned the struggle, and wrote to Florence agreeing to the match, though with no great enthusiasm.

Ivo Bligh returned to Australia to marry Florence Morphy in February 1884. The bride was given away by Sir William Clarke, and the wedding breakfast was held at Rupertswood. None of Bligh's fam-

ily attended. The Melbourne “Punch” celebrated the event in yet more extremely bad poetry. After a honeymoon in New Zealand the happy couple returned to England. Ill health meant that Bligh played little cricket after this, and he never represented England

again. Indeed, for the rest of his life he comes across as a curiously diffident personality. It was al-most as if he had exhausted his entire life‟s supply of energy and initiative in winning the Ashes and

gaining his father‟s consent to his marriage. (Alternatively, like many sportsmen since, he simply did not know what to do with himself after retiring) He tried working as a stockbroker, but soon gave up. He moved to Melbourne for a couple of years, but that didn‟t work out either. It was Florence who

emerged as the stronger personality, and she must have found these years frustrating. They had three children, but money was short and there was little prospect of improvement.

Lord Darnley died in 1896, and Ivo Bligh‟s elder brother, Edward, succeeded to the title. He was a highly eccentric personality, and had not managed to father a male heir when he died suddenly in

1900. So, unexpectedly, Ivo and Florence found themselves the 8th Earl and Countess of Darnley and owners of the family home of Cobham Hall in Kent. In many ways this was less good than it sounded. The great house was very expensive to run, a combination of death duties and collapsing agricultural

prices meant that the estate was heavily encumbered with debt, and any wealth had to be shared with brother Edward‟s widow.

As a nobleman, Bligh had a part to play in the nation. The Darnley title was an Irish one, so he sat in the House of Lords as an Irish representative peer, and occasionally spoke in debates. He also

served as a Deputy Lord-Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace, but he still appeared a shy, diffident character. Florence, by contrast, relished her new status as a great lady. She became a close friend of Queen Mary, and she received the Australian Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, when he came to England.

In the First World War she opened Cobham Hall as a nursing home for wounded Australian service-men, with herself acting as Matron, and was created a Dame of the British Empire (D.B.E.) for her war

work. She had indeed come a very long way from her life as an orphan music teacher in Melbourne! Financial worries continued, however. Much of the Darnley estates had to be sold, and in 1925 the family‟s magnificent collection of paintings was auctioned off. This raised over £70,000, but since

it included works by Titian, Poussin, Lely, Canaletto, Gainsborough and others, one can only guess at how many millions such a sale would fetch today! In 1923 Cobham Hall was rented out to an Ameri-

can, and the family moved to a smaller house in the grounds. Such a decline was not atypical of the old aristocracy at that time. (Cobham Hall is now a girls' school)

Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley, died in 1927, aged only 68. The little urn with the Ashes was pre-sented to the M.C.C., and it has remained at Lord‟s ever since. Florence, now Dowager Countess of Darnley, managed to further confuse the story of the Ashes when she told Bill Woodfull, the captain of

the 1930 Australian team in England, that Lady Janet Clarke had burnt a stump and presented it to Bligh in a little wooden urn - whereas the existing urn is made of terra-cotta. One imagines her as a

formidable matriarch in her later years: her daughter once referred to her as "the old dragon"! She died in 1944: the last direct link with the story of the Ashes.

The words pasted on the little urn are taken from the inimitable verse of the Melbourne "Punch":-

"When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn; Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;

The welkin will ring loud, The great crowd will feel proud, Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;

And the rest coming home with the urn".

(Sources: "Wisden Book of Test Cricket, 1876-77 to 1977-78": "Wisden Book of Cricketers' Lives": Illingworth and

Gregory, "The Ashes": Berry and Peploe, "Cricket's Burning Passion")

At That Hour At that hour when all things have repose, O lonely watcher of the skies, Do you hear the night wind and the sighs Of harps playing unto Love to unclose The pale gates of sunrise? When all things repose, do you alone Awake to hear the sweet harps play To Love before him on his way, And the night wind answering in antiphon Till night is over gone? Play on, invisible harps, unto Love, Whose way in heaven is aglow At that hour when soft lights come and go, Soft sweet music in the air above And in the earth below. James Joyce, Irish author and poet

RANDOM WORDS - MAKING A POINT (MD) To gain such an achievement and receive very little recognition these days is the most common occurrence. Is it any wonder that the world is as how it is today? Whatever happened to good old praise and encouragement? For many years of hard work and commitment that lead me into rocket science, passing at distinction, hardly anything was said about my well earned status of genius. I‟d have had far more pats on the back from the rats underground than from anybody here above water. I could stamp and scream, or simply cheer, yet nobody could ever hear. Nothing I can think of would get me the slightest bit of attention for my excellence. One day, I could be an engineer working for NASA, I could turn red roses blue, or cure all fatal illnesses of the world by using my mind to solve the problem. However, maybe instead I should declare a world war? Or perhaps simply pose a threat to the general public . . . the media coverage would be enormous! But, being a genius who could change the world positively . . . I‟ll just slip into the background!

12

http://www.risingbrookwriters.org.uk/DynamicPage.aspx?PageID=84

www.issuu.com/risingbrookwriters And on our Facebook page

Kit Marlowe and Rick Fallon span the centuries on the trail of murder and

mayhem surrounding the mysterious silver chalice which appears

and disappears every 500 years

RBW Library Workshop group are working on a script for the next book. Anyone registered with RBW wanting to join in please come to group or let us know by email asap. The ideas so far include a hotel in the 1890s with as diverse a mix of travellers about to depart by clip-per for the far east as it is possi-ble to squeeze into the plot. Obviously the action will take place in Trentby-on-Sea, twinned with Murmansk, and the establish-ment will be owned by Basil Bluddschott and his new wife Cynthia. If you‟ve ever watched a Carry On film you will have had all the training you‟d need to join in.

The annual joint project ...

Why do we do it? I hear you ask and I‟ve often wondered myself ... But seriously the joint comedy is good practice in group co-operation,

character building, plotting, dialogue, storyline arc etc and besides it‟s hilarious to write.

What is more people actually read our free e-books ...

Some brave souls even give us LIKES on Facebook How unexpected was that ...

Once you‟ve written in one of our comedies you should be able to write

anything equally as challenging on your own.

Thoughts on Downsizing ...

With mid seventies looming up, and near ten years beyond where most folk have retired we have now

found a house to retire to next door but two from the farm, (if you count the local pub as a house,) which

over looks some of the fields we now farm.

It will be a tremendous down sizing of all house hold items, and can envisage a huge bonfire in the

back garden of large old fashioned furniture that has been so lovingly cared for all the years we have lived

here.

There are items in the cupboards and on the shelves that have been handed down from grand mothers

and grandfathers on both side of the family, who when they themselves retired were only too pleased to

find somewhere to unload their surplus memorabilia for safe keeping for the next younger generation. (A

policy we would like to repeat for our younger generation, but !!!).

In the wardrobes there are cloths that are well out dated in some cases by forty years, best suits that

no longer fit, and only worn a weddings and funerals, out grown and out dated. With a large double ward-

robe for all four main bedrooms and the accompanying smaller wardrobe in three of them as well, there has

been no need to chuck perfectly good and “as new” clothing away.

It has always been the policy in our house to wear clothing out until it is not worth mending or wash-

ing any more, but to wear an old NEW suit to go to market in, or to go about the farm in just to wear it out,

would be sacrilege. In the back of your mind is what it cost to buy, and it would make you feel guilty, and it

would look to the neighbours as if you were a spendthrift, working in a suit, so it‟s kept for BEST, until one

day you find out it‟s too small.

Best shoes are the same, some still have long pointed toes, not the extreme ones you used to see in

the 50s and 60s, but most of them still fit, but hardly any of them have been properly “run in”. With our

working boots, they have gradually got wider with wear, and just as they are at there most comfortable,

they, after continual daily use, (for years if I had my way) they finally wear out.

The bathroom upstairs here in the farmhouse, would, if you had a seating plan seat upwards of fifteen

people. The bathroom in the new (1950's) house will only barely seat one and that in the conventional tradi-

tional way. I will, I have no doubt, get claustrophobia if that door were to be shut.

This bathroom we are expected to have to use, standing (or seating) room only for one, you can turn

every tap on and off, open and shut the door and the window almost all at the same time, pull the pull

switch to turn the light on and off, all this without moving ya feet. All I can say is it wonna cost much to put

new lino down, and if ya turn round a bit too quick with the door shut you will find ya cloths hanging on

the peg on the back of the door, with you still in them. It will certainly be a steep learning curve for us.

No more having to open six or eight sets of curtains every morning, and from the bed to the bath-

room and then down to the kettle in the kitchen is quite literally a sixty yards (or paces, I did count them)

trek before ya get ya first cup of tea.

Then in this old farm house, the first pace you take outside the back door and you have arrived at

work, a back door that has been opened and shut as many as hundred

times every day, over the last hundred and fifty years.

This pair of hinges is never oiled, we find that this way we have

an early warning of anyone coming through that door by a loud squeak

of the hinge, we can hear it right through to the sitting room. Its old

hook and eye hinges have worn down almost half way through the leg

of the hook, and corresponding ware in the bottom of the eye as well.

Only once, in my time here, have I had to lift it off to cut a bit off

the bottom of the door to allow for the hinge wear, a process that would

imagine only take place once in every generation over all those years.

What has been cut off the bottom of the door is reflected in the

gap now appearing at the top, a fly or a wasp can get through, and the

draught, but not quite big enough for the swallows and sparrows to

come in to nest.

What a difference there will be to close a “plastic” door, with its

delicate catch and locking system, after being used to closing an old oak

door, and throwing a big blacksmith made twelve inch bolt every night.

A bolt that is bright in its shank with once daily use, a door that is rarely

if ever bolted during the day. I remember as a kid the back door at home never ever locked all the years I

grew up, even when we all went out together at the same time.

I will be looking out through double glazed windows, sound proof, mist proof, rot proof. Walls that

have cavity insulation, and a loft, what bit there is compared to the farm house, that are insulated as well.

After being used to waking on a winter morning to a hard frost, with frost on the inside of the wid-

ows, this will be a sauna, but I can well do without the damp these days, it gets into ya bones, so on that

count alone it will be nice to move to a smaller and warmer house, even if we‟ve been a bit late getting to

it.

14

Random words: achievement, underground, stamp, rocket, fatal, rose It was quite an achievement to be chosen by the boss to head up the new design team, and Peter thought he rose to the challenge pretty well. He decided to stamp his personality on everything the team came up with, but sadly, it hadn‟t met with Caro-line‟s approval. Indeed, it had resulted in a humiliating rocket in front of all his col-leagues, and he felt sure it had been a fatal mistake career-wise. He resolved that in future, all traces of personal taste and prejudices would be kept firmly underground.

Assignment : When it’s gone, it’s gone. When I was young, I was nice and slim. I went dancing a lot, which helped keep me trim. But as I got older, I grew more sedate, And piled up the food on my dinner plate. I used to walk and ride a bike, On a nice sunny day, I‟d go for a hike. I ate lettuce and carrot and good, healthy food, But these days the ounces and pounds have accrued. I‟ve a generous spare tyre and a big double chin, I‟ve pimples and bunions and wrinkly skin. It‟s true what they say about girls who eat chips, Be careful or they will go straight to your hips. And now I‟m feeling quite down in the mouth, For my youthful figure, you‟ve guessed, it went south. So to all you young ones with time on your side, Look after your bodies and treat them with pride. Or before you know it, you‟ll share my plight, When you look in the mirror, it will give you a fright. Remember my warning, “When it‟s gone, girl, it‟s gone!” And resolve to say „no‟ to that second croissant!

The true cost of AUSTERITY, kiddies searching through rubbish bins for food in Stoke ... writes SMS Some readers of RBW Online may already know that for over a decade and a half I was a volun-

tary campaigner with the charity Milk For Schools. During this time the charity had enormous suc-cess in securing and promoting the EU School Milk Subsidy Scheme and the DoH nursery milk pro-gramme. Internationally school milk and school feeding programmes were set up across the world

by the United Nations School Food Programme. Why am I mentioning this? This report saddened me deeply: Stoke on Trent Sentinel: recent article:- Hollings Street and Brocksford Street area of Fenton: On their way to school kids are bin-dipping for food. This even though dozens of hungry families are referred to Fenton's food bank every week. The only reason this came to light was because the residents of these streets complained to the police about the mess of the rub-bish strewn on the streets by these starving kids, rooting in the bins for food. The police said they could do nothing as it was a problem for social services. It begs the question why aren‟t their schools providing a FREE breakfast club? Didn't the government recently promise free school meals for primary school pupils? Eventually!

And even a partial return of some free school milk (conditions apply, don‟t get your hopes up too high: this is after all a pre-election promise and these often evaporate after votes are counted). What about Food Banks for families with hungry children? In some parts of Europe, food

banks are local authority run kitchens that provide the destitute with free cooked meals open 7 days a week. It has been reported that the UK government refused to take up an EU offer of fund-

ing for food banks. This is not unusual: because of the UK rebate, Britain secures very little of the EU social benefits other member states enjoy, for instance, historically French children munched their way through a virtual mountain of EU subsidised cheese in their school meals while our gov-

ernment opted out of that benefit and even removed secondary school milk subsidies so they could get their precious rebate to be swallowed by the Treasury. So no EU cash for food banks and it is reported that Fareshare (the supplier to food banks) receives only 5,000 tonnes of the

400,000 tonnes of surplus food from UK food industries. The rest presumably goes to landfill or is burned.

So why did Milk For Schools close in the Spring of 2007, you may wonder? The Labour gov-ernment had set up the quango the School Food Trust which had real teeth and was nutritionally improving school meals; Cool Milk at School was providing school milk across large swathes of the

country not yet covered by LEA schemes; the Women‟s Food & Farming Union via the Milk Devel-opment Council had teams going into schools to help set up milk schemes; breakfast clubs were

rolling out, some of which were free; free school meals were being improved from the bad old days of bags of „dry biscuits and spam‟ we‟d found in the 1990s. 1.1 million children moved out of poverty ... All was looking very positive when our aged MFS team finally retired.

Then the 2008 CRASH happened. Tories were elected. Austerity began: The Milk Develop-ment Council gone! WFU school teams gone! School Food Trust now toothless and moved out of government control! Academies not covered by nutritional standards! Families on benefits under

incredible pressure etc ... And now there are 3.5 million* UK children living on, or below, the breadline and according

to the local media desperate little kiddies are scavenging for food in rubbish bins in Stoke which is the 16th most deprived area in England, with 29.9 per cent of Stoke-on-Trent's children living in poverty, compared with 21.4 per cent nationally. Some wards in inner cities have 50/70% of chil-

dren facing destitution. Under current government policies, child poverty is projected to rise from 2013 with an ex-

pected 600,000 more children to be living in poverty by 2015. This upward trend is expected to continue with 4.7 million children projected to be living in poverty by 2020.

Pardon old tears while my broken heart bleeds ...

* child poverty action group http://www.cpag.org.uk/child-poverty-facts-and-figures http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Martin-Tideswell-turn-desperate-children/story-21326876-detail/story.html http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Experts-brought-tackle-poverty-Stoke-Trent/story-21320564-detail/story.html NASUWT teacher's union annual conference had a collection for food banks. http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/Whatsnew/NASUWTNews/PressReleases/TeachersGatherForConference2014 Survey of teachers about children arriving at school hungry: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/a-quarter-of-teachers-bring-food-into-school-to-help-hungry-pupils-9270143.html http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Help-starving-kids/story-21314618-detail/story.html

16

UK Child Poverty Statistics and Facts

There are currently 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK. That’s almost a third of all children. 1.6 million of these children live in severe poverty. In the UK 63% of children living in poverty are in a family where someone works.

These child poverty statistics and facts will give an idea of the scale of UK child poverty and the affect on:

a child's education

a child's health and the day to day lives of families. Does child poverty affect children's health?

Three-year-olds in households with incomes below about £10,000 are 2.5 times more likely to suffer chronic ill-ness than children in households with incomes above £52,000. Infant mortality is 10% higher for infants in the lower social group than the average.

Does poverty affect a child's education?

Only 48 per cent of 5 year olds entitled to free school meals have a good level of development at the end of their reception year, compared to 67 per cent of all other pupils. Less than half of pupils entitled to free school meals (36 per cent) achieve 5 GCSEs at C or above, including English and Maths, this compares to 63 per cent of pupils who are not eligible for free school meals.

How much money do families living in poverty have?

Families living in poverty can have as little as £12 per day per person to buy everything they need such as food, heating, toys, clothes, electricity and transport.

How does poverty affect families?

1.6 million children are growing up in homes which are too cold 41% of children in the poorest fifth of house-holds are in families who can‟t afford to replace broken electrical goods, compared with just 3% of children in the richest households.

59 per cent of children in the poorest fifth of households have parents who would like to, but cannot afford to take their children for a holiday away from home for one week a year.

The Government has a statutory requirement, enshrined in the Child Poverty Act 2010 , to end child poverty by 2020. However, it is predicated that by 2020/21 another 1 million children will be pushed into poverty as a result of the Coalition Government‟s (austerity) policies. SOURCE STATS: http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/our_work/child_poverty/child_poverty_what_is_poverty/child_poverty_statistics_facts.htm

Breakfast At School I had porridge at school today,

It was hot and sweet and creamy, The nice lady gave me seconds, I was warm and cosy in my tummy.

I‟d never had porridge before. My mum goes to work, I go to school real early,

Sometimes I get wet and cold, And the big boys are nasty.

The lady was all jolly In a white and pink apron.

She looked at my grazed knee. And she gave me toast. And some milk.

With its own straw. She said, „It‟s EEC,‟ But, it tasted alright to me.

My mum‟s on her own.

She works very hard. I never see her in a morning, I‟d never had breakfast before,

Except on Sunday sometimes, If grandpa comes to stay.

He‟s nice my Poppa, He doesn‟t shout at all, My dad shouted all the time,

Before he went away. I drew a picture of the breakfast lady,

She was nice and kind. I‟m going again tomorrow, I can‟t wait to see.

She might let me have cornflakes, Or, Weetabix or a flapjack. They looked really yummy,

All covered in funny sugar, With fruit in, Like at Christmas.

I‟m going to tell that lady,

„I love you Mrs Dinnerlady.‟ My tummy used to rumble, And be all cold inside,

Sometimes I went to sleep, In the classroom.

Mrs Grimble covered me up With her cardigan. It smelled of chalk.

I love Mrs Grimble, too. She shares her sandwiches.

Perhaps if I ask Jesus, He might let me have breakfast on Saturday.

Mum works on Saturday. She goes cleaning at the pub, she brings home lots of crisps,

but never porridge hot and steamy. Never buttery toast and milk, never fruity flapjacks

with sugar like at Christmas.

1996 S

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