mysmallsociety

a depressing ps to today

2012-03-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

I have just had a chat with my asylum seeking friend, she has just completed a two week placement in an old people's day centre as part of her college course. More than ever this is want she wants to do. Why, given the lack of people who seem to want to work with old people and offer them the dignity that she does, why, given all she has been through and all she has to offer can she not be given the right to stay here?

a supertask in the mire then 3 people in 3 welcoming homes

2012-03-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

Every so often Coasties and the other voluntary groups get together in a 'Supertask', yesterday was one of these. The National Park, http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/ and Natural England http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ had organised us to clear a mire, this is a swampy area with many rare species, as opposed to a bog, we are told, which only has a few. Anyway this mire, (which is an SSSI), in a valley below Newton Rawcliffe and adjacent to the North York Moors Railway, www.nymr.co.uk/, has become overwhelmed with willow, which is not only sucking the wet out but shading out the rarer plant species, so away with it! As usual saws and loppers are the tools of choice, this is not the hard bit, because the only way to dispose of the willow is to burn it, too far and too expensive to remove from the site. And, the only area that can be used for a fire is uphill from the mire, so dragging the cut willow is hard, back breaking work. Over lunch we discuss walking, holidays and absent colleagues, gossip I suppose, oh dear!

The fire burns slowly to start with, the willow is fresh and the sap already rising, but a gusty wind soon gets it going and eventually all the willow, along with some gorse and the ubiquitous blackthorn is well away.

We chat to the Natural England person about the possibility of getting some grazing going to keep the scrub down, that would be the best, but finding a grazier prepared to do the necessary fencing is unlikely and neither Natural England nor the privatised utility company which owns the land can afford to, well the utility company can probably afford to, but wouldn't want to dent their profits.

Finally the task is done, we climb a very long steep hill back to the mini bus and home to (for me) a hot shower. How soon before we are back to clear the willow again we wonder, these tasks are fun, but there are times when the job seems a bit like a labour of Hercules. Some volunteers are coming less often, but no new ones can be recruited to take their place unless they actually leave the group. Something else we discuss, but there seems no good answer.

the mire being cleared

the cleared mire

yet another fire

Readers must think we must be a bunch of pyromaniacs, but unless there is a good track and the brash is worth transporting away to burn in a stove, there is usually no alternative, there is a
limit to making habitat heaps!

Today is Short Stop, a couple of men I have placed before and then a young woman, unusual, but sometimes easier to place as we have several hosts who are single women themselves and have agreed to just take a single woman. Unlike the men she speaks very little English, but luckily there is someone to take her to the kind host. Mostly they need to take a bus; as I have posted before I struggle at times with the buses in Leeds and other places that are not familiar to me, how do they manage? One host is concerned that the guest will not be able to use their living room in the evening, as they have a crowded meeting there, I assure them that the guest will be happy in their bedroom, after their previous night in a night shelter I imagine the peace and privacy will be most welcome. Short Stop organised by Lassn lassn.pir2.info and referrals from http://www.pafras.org.uk/. As I am typing this two hosts respond to the voicemails I left and say that are free if necessary, how lovely people are.

Two very different days, the sun has shone both days and spring is almost on the way, all is not well with the world, but I hope a little better than it might have been for 3 lonely people tonight.

I have also rearranged my holidays, sadly not the middle east as we had hoped, maybe another year or two or three.............

putting faces to the voices and an award for the blog!

2012-02-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

Last week was a meal in Leeds, where I was able to meet several of the hosts, people I phone up to ask if they will put vulnerable asylum seekers up for a night. It was good to be able to put faces to the names and to explain why I sometimes might seem a little abrupt, it's because I'm running out of 'free' minutes on my phone and nothing to do with them! So yesterday when I was co-ordinating Short Stop I knew at least one of the names on the list I was phoning, maybe more next week. Thanks to Lassn for organising the meal. lassn.pir2.info/

Today is Coasties, Ravenscar with the National Trust, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ and several different jobs; moving piles of previously cut gorse, broom and bramble from a small quarry area to somewhere it can be burned later in the year, clearing out a very clogged up ditch, but satisfaction when the water starts to flow (I confess I was not involved with this job) and cutting back the ever present blackthorn. The mud and blackthorn also has to be moved, a heavy and difficult task! Whilst we work one of the Coasties 'admits' he will be 60 later in the year, those of us who already have our bus passes tell him of the extra treats, like cheap fish and chips in many cafes, that we already benefit from.

I have forgotten my camera, but never mind, I get an 'award' for my blog and here are pics of my 'prizes' a lovely certificate and a set of quill pens for when my internet connection is down. One of the quills has a new fangled biro in the end, the others will need some real ink!

the new addition to
my stationery

the Coasties award
certificate

At the end of the afternoon we all decide that we have increased our heart rates by more than enough going by the new guidelines on keeping fit, published recently. So thanks to the North York Moors national Park for keeping us in good health, and mostly in good spirits. http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

Free keep fit and a (small) mileage allowance too!

better access to parts of the North York Moors

2012-02-28T03:58:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I did a voluntary ranger patrol from Rosedale. Several sections of the paths I walked along, checking for any problems, had been improved under the leader programme.
The North York Moors, Coast and Hills LEADER Programme is a partnership of local organisations, community groups and individuals who have secured £3.1 million in total from Defra and the European Union through Yorkshire Forward and One North East as part of the Rural Development Programme for England.

the sign to look

Under this scheme paths are made more accessible, seats provided where necessary and signing improved. The pictures below show where a stile, a very difficult one made of stones, has been replaced by a gate. Although there were some parts of this particular path that were not flat it was certainly earlier to use than others in the national park.
www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/leader

the new gate

the original stone stile

People may wonder why this expenditure in a time of cut backs; but walking has been shown to be so good for our mental and physical health that in the long run this could save the Health Service far more money than has been spent. Besides, everyone is entitled to use the paths we all contribute to through our taxes, so making some easier to use is surely only fair.

Later on I am watched by some very curious goats and an unusual pig.

The goats run after me, it's a bit early for milking, perhaps they think I might have some food, if so they are disappointed!

time for lunch

After a wonderful mix of paths and scenery, stream side, field edge, moor land and the old ironstone railway, I finish my patrol. A broken stile and a few misleading signs to report when I get home and then off to hear Joan Baez in York, a lovely end to a very good day.

off again after a stressful Thursday and success today

2012-02-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

Well Thursday was another reporting day for my friend in Leeds. I posted about this on December 23rd and this time was even worse, after the checking in we were told that her new case worker wanted to see her, just routine, he said. Well may be for him, but this was a new part of the routine for us and not an easy one for my friend, convinced that it was not routine at all. After a difficult twenty minutes? it seemed more like twenty hours, we were out and on the bus back to her flat. We looked at my latest photos and she smiled a little at my grandsons' antics. She assured me that she would bury herself in work at the college library and also prepare for her placement next week, she agrees that as long as she is busy she doesn't worry so much. Thank you to Lassn lassn.pir2.info for ensuring that someone goes with my friend to the reporting centre.

Today was a walk in the National Park where last April I had had to report a very dangerous stile, now it has been replaced with a splendid kissing gate, a great sense of satisfaction all round. My reporting as a volunteer, and work done by the Park's staff to make the footpath safer and easier for all to use, a good combination I think.

last April, a dangerous stile
and below the new kissing gate

Tomorrow I am off on Granny duties again, back at the end of the week for the beginning of Fairtrade fortnight http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/, and then a patrol as a voluntary ranger up on the moors above Rosedale. www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/.

Is there a moral to this post? Maybe for volunteers that the bad stuff can be born more easily when there is good stuff too.

Watch out for a further post in a week's time.

Coasties go extreme, over the edge we go

2012-02-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

Today we are clearing a 'path' on the strange piece of land below the main cliffs at Ravenscar, Beast Cliff it is called, why? who knows? There really is a public footpath amongst the trees and beneath the bramble and other overgrowth; there are also tracks used by fishermen and other used by badgers. First we scramble down, cutting and clearing as we go, then we zig zag along to reduce the slope of the path. All the time we can hear the waves on the shore and the scream of the disturbed sea birds.

I joke with our ranger about the times I have moaned about being so far from the sea, today we are close to it all day. This really is my favourite bit of the park.http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

We move along a slightly flatter section, lots of willow trees here and bramble in profusion. Someone points out walkers on the Cleveland Way, high above us, they are watching us, unfortunately they are too far away to see the expression on their faces. We wonder if a circular walk could be devised from the Cleveland Way to incorporate this path, we think not, this path is for hard core or mad walkers only. www.nationaltrail.co.uk/clevelandway

there is a path here,
honest

The flatter bit, some of the 'A'
team and the sea beyond

Towards the end of the day we clear a whole woodland, to reveal a mass of rusting metal from a car and loads of empty bottles, sadly all tipped over the edge by people too lazy to dispose of their rubbish properly. Then the hardest bit, scrambling back up, even steeper than the descent, on hands and knees at times, still clearing and cutting as we go. It is blowing a gale at the top, we have been out of the wind all day.

A hugely challenging and rewarding day. We are promised that the next section of Beast Cliff could be in a future work programme, this I am really excited about, a cousin took me down there fifty years ago, how much will have changed!?

Three volunteering days so far this week, all with their own challenges, but all equally rewarding, all requiring professional back up and all, I believe, useful in their own ways. Today I have also burnt off some of the good, but because I'm greedy, too much food from Monday.

multi friends then multi tasking

2012-02-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

Off on the bus to Leeds yesterday to see both my friends. There were several of us at my asylum seeking friend's flat, she was giving some of us who support her in many ways a lovely lunch, jolof rice, spicey potatoes, samosas and beans in a sort of batter. We ate and chatted and caught up and then ate some more, so busy that we never got round to my latest photos! Eventually we all had to go our various ways, my friend insisted that we took food home with us to share with family members. My husband had his for lunch today and was delighted that there had been enough for him. What ever our circumstance and our backgrounds food remains one of the ways we all say thank you and join together in friendship. Colleagues at LASSN, SOLACE and the Poppy project will be sorry they missed the feast.lassn.pir2.info, http://www.solace-uk.org.uk/ ,http://www.eaves4women.co.uk/

Off I went into the city centre to meet my gadding friend, we only gadded our way to a cafe and a hot drink today, but she had much to tell me about a wonderful wedding and then a baptism. I told her about my lunch and we agreed that if only all volunteering was so easy; she also does her bit in many ways for the small society.

Today was Short Stop, nothing at all until after 3pm, I tidied up in the garden, the last of the summer bedding had finally succumbed to the frost and snow. I dusted! and redid the freezer inventory. I even sorted out some family photos.Then two referrals on top of each other, both couples, very unusual for me, I usually get single men referred. As usual several calls to voicemail, if I was desperate some one could have them, but not until 8.30 this evening. Then again as usual I struck gold, two people in succession could have them. I rang back and gave the details to the agencies, The Refugee Council and St George's Crypt, http://www.stgeorgescrypt.org.uk/ . Signed off and sent the details into LASSN. Next week I may meet some of these lovely people, another sharing of food in a restaurant in Leeds city centre, to meet, share experiences and exchange ideas. Excellent.

from the Baltic Sea to Boulby potash mine

2012-02-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

Well Tallinn was cold, minus 20 to be precise, but we rose to the challenge. The Leonardo was wonderful too. First day back was a funeral, a Humanist one, very moving, it felt a privilege to be there, except that Dave would not have wanted any one to be privileged over any one else.

Tuesday was a Short Stop day, it was bitterly cold, not a day to wonder where you would sleep tonight, thank you LASSN for organising this service. lassn.pir2.info. Only two referrals, both from PAFRAS, http://www.pafras.org.uk/, my usual contact, must try to meet him sometime! I place the first one very quickly, he is able to go back to where he has been all weekend, "no need to change the bedding", the voice on the phone says. I start to worry about the second, first lots of phones go to voicemail, then people are going to be out, eventually someone says "yes", she must hear the relief in my voice, apparently she has done this coordinating role herself. I wait for more referrals, there are none; I still worry, I do hope no one will be out this evening. One of my messages rings back, they are free if necessary. I thank her, my coordinating role seems easy to me, compared to taking a stranger into one's home.

You may be wondering what has happened to my friend in Leeds, well I have been over to see her several times this new year, but more detail could intrude on her privacy at the moment. She had a flood in her flat from upstairs, but the landlords sorted that out quickly, her college work gets harder, but she keeps going. Next week is another reporting, so I will be phoning during the week to keep her spirits up.

Yesterday was Coasties, but if you are expecting a pretty picture of moors under snow, think again, hardly any snow on the coast and we are working under the shadow of the Boulby Potash Mine; yes it is in the National Park, it does provide a lot of employment and most people think the potash is necessary for our modern life. People tend to assume that land in National Parks is owned by the Park, not so, only a miniscule amount, the rest is owned by the usual sort of people, farmers, big landowners, householders, utility companies, charities, etc, etc. http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

the potash mine

Today we are replacing three stiles with gates and clearing a path through the woods. Our ranger has had to negotiate with two land owners, a tenant farmer, a shoot tenant and a gamekeeper before we can do this work; all were helpful, but it takes time, and we volunteers don't have the authority or the knowledge to do it. Another reason why volunteers need the professional staff.

a decrepit stile,you
also need long legs!

now there is a path
through the wood

As usual we saw and lop and then use some of the trees trunks to try to mark out the line of the path, some lengths are clearer than others. At least one way mark will be required. I wonder, not for the first time, why we don't do paint way marking as they do in France; oten walking there I have had reason to bless these paint assurances on trees like this.

Finally this morning I meet someone from the East Yorkshire Chalk Rivers Trust, http://www.eastyorkshirechalkriverstrust.org/ to draw their attention to the growing area of Japanese Knotweed on the Derwent near our home. Although she is depressed by the sight of it, she needs to know it is there and is pleased we have noticed it and done some thing about it.

this logo will be in the window
of our participating shops

I then talk to the last two shops we want to participate in our Fair Trade Town Trail during Fair Trade fortnight, they both agree and we talk about not just encouraging Fair Trade for farmers in developing countries, but at the same time supporting smaller shops in our local towns.

off again

2012-01-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

My small society is shutting down for almost a week, not Granny duties this time, but a holiday, we are off to the Baltics, Tallinn to be precise, via London and the Leonardo exhibition. So the thermals are packed and the Euros are purchased. This is what volunteers do, push off and enjoy them selves! However I have done a bit for Fairtrade fortnight today, books taken to one local shop for a window display and another one asked about participating in our local Fairtrade Quiz trail, they said yes; watch this space.
www.fairtrade.org.uk

kippered Coasties and yes the sun did shine

2012-01-26T05:03:00.000-08:00

sunshine over Robin Hood's Bay, the view
as we work

How lucky am I. Ravenscar, lots of happy childhood memories, the sun shining and it's my birthday. Tuesday was miserable, today a little better,but yesterday................

Today is a bonfire day with the National Trust. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/, the last Wednesday in the month and Coasties help them out. As landowners in the Park they are one of the Park's partners. http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

There is a huge pile of brash, undergrowth, trees and other 'stuff' that was cut last autumn and is now dry enough to burn. Some brash can be left to decompose, but good habitat management means that some must be burnt. The dryness of the wood and the skill of the National Park staff member means that a roaring fire is soon demanding to be fed. There is a stronger wind than we had realised and at times we are engulfed by the smoke, kippering our clothes, our hair and our faces. Much of the stuff is too big to go straight onto the fire, so we lop and saw to make manageable pieces which can then be dragged across the wet grass to the fire.

some of the brash to be burnt,
but not my fleece or gloves!

the heart of the fire

Over lunch I pass round slices of fruit cake. We are doing well today, another Coastie had given us freshly baked scones before we even started! As we eat the talk turns to travel expenses and volunteering. There is still concern that the 'highers up' think that we need less back up from the paid staff than we know we do. There is the AGM of the voluntary ranger service, to which I also belong, coming up, we shall have to see what is said there. It really cannot be stressed too often that this practical kind of volunteering can only work if there is technical back up to support and lead us. On a positive side I read in the local paper that the Park is taking on more apprentices this year, a drop in the ocean for unemployed young people, but a brave move for the Park in 'hard' times.

Finally all the brash is burnt. We go to help others in the group who are working to make a small local quarry safe to use, much better to use local materials when hard surfacing is required than ship it in from outside. Before we head off home the smouldering fire is checked, it is dying down well and the ground around it is very wet. Another very satisfactory day.

End of the blog for today, I need to finish off the Fairtrade Fortnight mail out to schools and then get them to the post. I also need to empty the kitchen compost bucket, we bought a new huge one and still it fills up!

everyone housed on a cold wet day, some Fairtrade stuff too

2012-01-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

The weather is miserable, cold and wet, so it is with great relief that all five Short Stop referrals are found somewhere for the night. One poor man had spent last night on the streets, the very day he had heard that he could stay in this country for the next three years, not a pleasant way to celebrate. Tonight he is in the home town of the Comic Relief bear, Pudsey. Someone else offered a room for three nights, the guest had stayed before and they knew how sad and desperate he was. Thank you to all our wonderful hosts. They are recruited and trained, as I am by LASSN, lassn.pir2.info. The referrals today are from PAFRAS, http://www.pafras.org.uk/ and the local Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org.uk/.

As usual I try to multi task. A Fairtrade colleague and I are organising things for Fairtrade fortnight; she does the design of a schools' leaflet, emails it to me to print off, put into envelopes and then post out to local schools. I get the printing done and the envelopes; now as soon as the packs arrive from the Fairtrade Foundation I can post them off. http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/. We are also planning a local Fairtrade Quiz trail, the emails and designs whiz to and fro over the ether as she produces leaflets and I comment back. None of this could be done without the internet; I am largely self taught, how I wish I had paid more attention when I was still working and had the opportunity to learn more!

I check the weather forecast for Coasties tomorrow, hurrah it promises dry and even maybe some sun. Wednesdays are often better than the rest of the week, the sun does indeed shine on the righteous. Ravenscar here I come.
www.northyorkmoors.org.uk

my small society spreads its wings

2012-01-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

My latest post and a previous one is in the on line edition of the northern Guardian, regionalism rules! www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner. How exciting! and useful I hope for the organisations I volunteer with, and the plight of asylum seekers. Posting this from York library, an invaluable local resource and one provided by an essential local government. As I have posted before volunteering is the spread on the bread, see previous post of 19/11/11.

Indoors stuck to the phone and outdoors with the loppers

2012-01-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Short Stop, lassn.pir2.info, so although my mobile can obviously go outside, my PC to record the data won't, and LASSN need the data to apply for much needed funding. As usual the first, and yesterday all the referrals are from PAFRAS, http://www.pafras.org.uk/. I now have most of their volunteers' numbers in my phone, so at least I can greet them by name. We may never have met but I like to think of them as friends as well as sort of colleagues. Three guests, as we call the people we help, today; two of them have been with Short Stop before, one several times. The first one I place quite quickly, but then the familiar worry sets in; as phones go to voicemail, possible hosts have people already staying, someone has a sick partner. However, as usual, all three are eventually placed, the kindness of strangers has once again prevailed and no-one who has contacted any of the referring agencies should have been sleeping last night in one of the parks of Leeds. So once again I close down and email my records into the office. Less multi-tasking today, a casserole in the slow cooker, a pile of ironing and a bed changed, oh and back ache from sitting in one position for too long.

Today is something so different, Coasties. We are a bit inland actually, above West Ayton, clearing a bridleway of the usual blackthorn and bramble. We look at the almost completely overgrown path, see the picture below on the left, and as usual wonder if we will ever get it done. However as you can also see it is jackets off and down to work, loppers and bow saws make almost light work of the task, the hardest work is 'loosing' the cut down vegetation. Now this is easy on the coast, we chuck it over the edge (I did once lose a glove doing this), but here we have to find and make gaps in the hedge and put it carefully where it will not get in the local farmer's way. By lunch time we are half way through, as we eat we catch up, and remember how last year's weather was so different to the mildness of today. Our usual Park Ranger is leading us again after a gap, so a sense that the normal routine is back is good. By 3 o'clock the target length of the bridleway is now fit for purpose, although we do wonder how tall the average horse and rider is as we cut down some high stuff. See the right hand picture below for the finished bridleway. We look at the Ranger's photos of our work and are thanked for a job well done. http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/, the National Park, like so many similar organisations is increasingly dependent on volunteers for this kind of routine maintenance, and yet because of cuts to the full time staff cannot take on any more volunteers, Big Society or shrinking society?

Fit for a horse?

Jackets off, just
starting work

I won't be posting for two weeks, off on my travels again, friends and then my grandsons. After all that is the point of volunteering, you can stop and start as you please, you can't do that in a 'proper' job, which is why volunteers can't do the essential work in our society.

No back ache today, too much exercise for that!

Hello, I'm back and it's a Short Stop day

2012-01-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well a nasty cold wind and pouring rain, not a night to spend on the streets, or even in the bus station, so when PAFRAS make their first referral just after 10am and then two more in quick succession I am worried. As usual it is noisy in their drop in and I struggle to get down all the details.
www.pafras.org.uk/

A couple of our regular hosts are away and to start with my heart sinks,but then very quickly two lovely, lovely people say yes, of course they have a free room tonight. Some more calls go to voicemail and then the third one is placed and the hosts can pick him up in Leeds city centre, no need to struggle with unfamiliar buses. Last summer I made four journeys on local buses in Slovakia, and how I struggled with a strange language, an unfamiliar system and a worry about where to get off. How much harder in the dark and the rain, at least I could see where I was going and I had spare money if I got off in the wrong place, I could even have caught a taxi!

A fourth referral from the Red Cross, I warn them there may be problems, but once again the kindness of strangers manifests its self and I can close down knowing that four more people are warm and dry tonight.

I send my notes into LASSN and put on the heating. lassn.pir2.info They need the notes for their statistics and to help in their bids for much needed funding.

Have I multi tasked today? Of course, some ironing, a bed made up for visitors at the weekend, and, most exciting, some French and Italian train journey research done. Watch this space.

No Coasties tomorrow, yesterday's Bank Holiday means no staff to organise us, a pity as I could do with some exercise, but I do not begrudge them a hard earned holiday, we retired people can have a break when ever we want. That's why we volunteers can't replace the paid people who sort us all out.

another reporting and probably the final post for 2011

2011-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went with my friend to the UKBA offices in Leeds to 'report'. This proves that she is still alive and still in Leeds, heaven forbid she should move else where. The staff individually try to be kind, but the fact is that if it is decided that you should be deported that this is where they take you from, they don't have to look for you, as you are there waiting. Never mind that it has been agreed that for what ever reason you can't be returned, your health, the state of your original country, the bottom line is that you don't, yet, have the right to stay, so the terror mounts. I have seen it in my friend, and my previous friends, and I almost feel it too, the shaking, the constricting throat, the inability to speak or think coherently, but I don't need to, I have a British passport. My passport though is almost an act of luck, my Indian father chose British citizenship the year before I was born, my British mother was always entitled to one, such are the accidents of birth and choice and place.
Actually I like the fact that my passport is firstly a European Union passport, the wording is small, but it is the top line on the cover!

Probably this is the last post of this year. My family arrives next week, so, as I have posted before, we volunteers can and do give it all up just as and when we choose. Which is why my small society can, and never should, replace quality, paid for public service.

new life in the
dovecote

last year, lighting up
the shortest day

A couple of cheery photos (well I think so). This year we will first light the candles tomorrow; these doves now probably have babies of their own! May have to get another dovecote in the spring.

re-cycling: beds in Leeds and industrial spoil on the Cleveland Way

2011-12-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my day co-ordinating Short Stop for LASSN, lassn.pir2.info, so thus the re-cycling beds. Many of our hosts have a different guest on two or more consecutive nights, in one of the big shared houses if one of the hosts is away guests may even use their rooms. I had two requests yesterday and after several phone calls managed to place both of them, people are away or out and are really concerned that they can't help. One man answers his phone full of apologies, he is in Poland and has forgotten to let LASSN know, never mind I tell him, last time he was in Spain!

Before and after the calls I decorate our tree, including the candles, which this year are actually labelled as tree candles! We will have the first burn on Saturday and then see how the candles go; need to save a set for the family next week.

Today was Coasties. The Park, http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/, is now responsible for all the Cleveland Way maintenance and that was our task for today. We were right on the coast, in fact we actually walked along the beach, at Skinningrove, not actually in the Park, but we Coasties get around. We were cleaning, repairing and re-stoning steps; thus the re-cycling, this time of industrial waste from the old ironstone mines, piled in huge heaps above the sand dunes. The waste was just the right size to re-stone the cleaned steps, much better than bringing in new material. Lunch at the local fish and chip cafe, mulled wine and mince pies completed the festive meal. (On the way home I ate my fruit and pretended to be healthy). Another feeling of satisfaction at a job well done, we slide down the dunes like kids in a playground and back to the mini-bus.

the spoil heap,
can you see my
pink gloves?

the spoil now on the
steps, much more useful

well, my secular comments are proving popular

2011-12-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

My most recent post, 'Just because I'm secular......' has had the most page views of any of my posts so far. Interesting.

just because I'm secular doesn't mean I don't know right from wrong!

2011-12-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

When a 10 year old asked me how I could be good if I didn't believe in God I was prepared to explain to her, when the Prime Minister asks a similar question I really do wonder where he is coming from! This from the man who is about to preside over the largest increase in child poverty in over 60 years. I could go on, but a couple of glasses of red wine might make my arguments less than coherent. All I would say to David Cameron and his cronies is this, my small society exists because I was brought up to help people who had less than me in many ways, not just in monetary terms; and that I was expected to be kind to people. Not because a god told me to, but because my conscience told me to. As I said to that 10 year old, hell is not a burning furnace under the ground it is inside you when you have done the wrong thing.

Here endeth today's lesson.

my smallsociety goes national, well northerner

2011-12-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

So exciting, well it is for me, once a month the online Guardian, The Northerner, is going to take an edition of my blog!
www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner So now you can read all about it twice.

Seriously though, I am hoping that the local charities I volunteer with may get some positive spin off from the extra exposure; also that the sometimes serious comments I make about the need for paid, professional back up that all volunteers need will be noted by those mysterious powers that be. On that note many thanks to the NYMNP staff who got expenses sorted before Christmas, thanks when it's due.
www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

quick short stop solutions

2011-12-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well, the quickest placements for Short Stop I've ever done. Three referrals, one a couple which is always harder, three phone calls for them, one for the next and then someone rings me back and can take the third one. Someone else then rings me back and says they already have a visitor tonight, but if I am desperate................... lovely people.

LASSN do the organising and one of my good (phone) friends from PAFRAS has made two of the referrals.
lassn.pir2.info/ www.pafras.org.uk/

It is miserable where I live, some fifty miles east of Leeds, must be miserable there too, so I am doubly glad that four more people have a warm place for the night.

Meanwhile, multi tasking, I have written a mass of Christmas cards, tried to sort out next year's holiday and planned a menu (how grand) for the friends coming for dinner on Thursday evening.

No Coasties tomorrow, we have a flying visit to Bedford to celebrate twenty years of the Marston Vale Community Forest, we were in at the beginning of it, the planning stage, nice to see how much has happened in those years.
www.marstonvale.org

cold and wet at the mill, a warm welcome in Leeds

2011-12-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my Fair Trade stall at the Howsham Mill craft fair, it was wet and cold, but a few hardy souls came and bought a variety of fairly traded craft items and food. As well as starting to restore the mill building the group installed an Archimedes screw some years ago and are feeding power into the grid; when installed it was one of the first in the country. Many years ago I and a class of 10 years old made model Archimedes screws and watched as the water turned the screw, no we didn't generate any electricity!

Here is the link, please go and see it if you can, this time next year they hope the building will be restored, the water wheel already is. howshammill.ning.com

the FT stall in the unrestored mill

the Archimedes screw

For new comers to the blog I only link to charities or other non-profit making organisations and I only give recommendations to social businesses like Fairer World in York, who provide us with the goods for our Fair Trade stalls.

Got off the bus this morning to a warm welcome from my gadding friend (for the uninitiated she is my Leeds friend with the maroon booklet known as a British passport). More about my other friend later. We think we set the world to rights, her husband thinks we just 'gad'! We have a good lunch and set the world to rights; then I get the bus to SOLACE, an inspiring charity that cares for traumatised people from all over the world.
www.solace-uk.org.uk

I meet my other friend there, she is an asylum seeker who has had a bad time and is now doing her best to put it behind her. We chat about her college course, it's hard work, but good stress she calls it; one day she hopes to work in a caring profession to pay back the help she had had, but first she needs her status. I remind her that I will go with her to the UKBA for reporting next week. More news on what I know will be a stressful time next week.
We then have lots of laughs about my grandsons' antics, I was there last week, she especially likes the "go way Granny" when the older one is up to no good. She then goes off to have some therapy to relieve the stress she still suffers from, later a volunteer leads a poetry reading group to help her and others in the same boat to improve their English.I tell her that her English has improved in the two years we have been friends, she is delighted I think so.

We were introduced by another local charity, LASSN, Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network. lassn.pir2.info

I have a chat to the SOLACE staff about the possibility of a trip to the seaside for their clients next summer, if finance can be found for the transport we will try to organise something.

Get the bus home, my pass has been well used today. A couple of good days in very different ways, tomorrow is Short Stop, which can be very difficult, fingers crossed not too many homeless asylum seekers tomorrow.

When I get home, do I feel a little smug, yes OK I do................

selling stuff

2011-12-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

at a Fairtrade stall at Ryedale House, the HQ of Ryedale District Council. This is the third stall we've run there, just a few tables in the canteen. The council now serves Fairtrade tea and coffee in all their vending machines and also has other Fairtrade snacks for sale.

You can never tell what is going to sell well, in previous years it has been the small Divine chocolate bars and snack bars like flapjack, not so this year! Last year people were almost fighting over the garland Christmas decorations, this year I think I sold 4!

So what were the hot items this year, well it was the bigger Divine bars, the earrings and the bangles. People in a more healthy eating mood and a present buying mood. We took twice the money we had last year, so that is good for Fairer World, in Gillygate, York, where we get all the things for the various stalls we run over the year.

What was good was the number of people buying craft items who had specifically been looking for fairly traded items, the word is spreading.

As I packed up I sorted things out for my next stall on Sunday, at Howsham Mill, OUTDOORS! yes you read that right; I have my thermals ready and also some fleece lined fingerless mittens, easier for handling money. So if you live locally come along between 11 and 4 and keep us warm by buying our wares.
howshammill.ning.com

if you go down in the woods and pink gloves

2011-12-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

Back in Yorkshire after a week being a Granny and it's a cold and strong wind on the Cleveland Way near Hayburn Wyke, one of my favourite places to be working. I have some warmish lined new gloves, my last pair went over the cliffs with some blackthorn last winter and the regular pair protect my hands, but don't keep them warm; I have to put up with some teasing as they are partly pink! First we have an old fence to remove, rusting wire and damaged posts, some of them very close to the cliff edge (and the wind is blowing from the land!). It is not only unsightly, but the rusty wire is dangerous to both walkers and wildlife, two years ago I startled two deer in this same place.

After an early lunch we move down into the shelter of the woods. Stone steps to clean, ditches to clear and culverts to clean out. All on the Cleveland Way, it's a national trail so has to be maintained to a very high standard. Coasties usually work on it once a month. When I lived in the London I walked the Thames Path, also a national trail, that was three years ago, and I'm afraid they didn't have the same high standards that we manage to maintain in much more rugged terrain. Perhaps I am biaised!

So if you go down to the woods today, the steps that you might have thought were mud are actually stone.

All in all a most satisfactory day, good work done, sunshine, some beautiful scenery and good company. Sorry if I sound smug, regular blog readers will know that some of my volunteering work is much more stressful, so this is a lovely and welcome antidote. Perhaps all volunteers should try for the sort of mix I have?

the pink gloves on some cleared steps

the old fence, now gone

a big bonfire and can volunteers go on strike?

2011-11-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

It is the day of the public service strike, I was a union member all my working life and would have been on strike today had I still been working, but can a volunteer go on strike? I decide that as we are working for the National Trust today, a charity, not a public service body, that I will go, no picket line to cross, some habits die hard.

Two big tasks today, a massive step and revetment job, clearly not for me! and loads of dead wood to clear and then burn. The National Trust have to get permission from Natural England as the area is an SSSI, all is OK and the wood is sorted and piled ready for the off.

the small stuff is ready to burn first

it's going, it gets much bigger later!

The fire gets going quickly, thanks to the skill of the fire starter, much practice over the years. We pile on more and more and by lunch time there is a big blaze going. The National Trust staff have made us wonderful flapjack and mince pies, then another treat, hot mulled wine, heated with the fire's ashes. It is the last task with them of this year, so an early Christmas thank you. We struggle to go on working after such a feast, but the fire is a hungry beast and must be kept fed.

At 2 o'clock we start to let it die down, then water is fetched from the stream and the ashes well doused. The climb back up seems much steeper than on the way down, but another good day, lovely woodland, some sunshine and good company.

Over lunch it is clear that views on the strike are very mixed, sensibly we all change the subject, that is volunteering.

Another positive outcome of my blog came out in a conversation I have about the possibility of some asylum seekers coming over in the summer to have a day with the National Trust on the coast.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

two LASSN days

2011-11-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was in Leeds, luckily it was not like today, pouring with rain much of the afternoon. My friend gave me a lovely lunch of chicken and jolof rice, as usual I ate too much and as usual almost missed my bus stop as I had fallen asleep. Oh dear the trials of being a volunteer. We had had a busy afternoon, looking at her college assignments, the maths is still proving the hardest. Most weeks she goes back into college on a Saturday to work in the library all morning, she is determined to pass the courses so she can continue to work for a qualification in some kind of health care.

Today is Short Stop, very frustrating, every one's phone seems to go straight to voicemail, but then several people ring me back at once, and I struggle to switch between calls, I cut some people off, but they are very understanding and phone me back! My old phone couldn't do that, it might be better if the new one didn't either. I manage to place three people, one, another pregnant lady, for several days.
http://www.lassn.org.uk/
The weather is miserable, I refuse to put the heating on, so sitting in front of the computer I have to put on another layer. I cheer myself up by looking at pictures of my grandsons on Facebook and then filling in my availability for Coasties for December. I tell myself firmly that I have nothing to need cheering up about and should be grateful etc etc................... A cup of real and Fairtrade coffee will help and some cookies I bought for visitors this morning. Too early for the sloe gin!

Just before I close down for the day two more potential hosts ring me back, this week I don't need them, but another week I will, all's well.

Fill in my expenses form for Coasties this month, 5 Wednesdays and an extra task, ready to post on the way home tomorrow.

Multi tasking while I do Short Stop, sometimes works, sometimes not.

Small things cheer one up:- find a largish slice of apple cake in the freezer, ah, a healthy sort of cake to take to Coasties.

it's steps again, after a coincidence yesterday

2011-11-23T12:57:00.000-08:00

Two referrals yesterday, one is someone from Palestine, a coincidence because as I am taking the call my husband is talking to a local church group about his trip to Palestine two years ago; he and others from York and North Yorkshire joined a large humanitarian convoy and drove an ambulance to Gaza. Anyone who wants more details please contact me. I find rooms for the night for both referrals very quickly and once again am touched by the kindness of strangers. ( I know I am boring on this subject, but every week I am amazed by our hosts' generosity, I know I couldn't do it).

Today there is a slight hiccup in the usual smooth running of Coasties, the person who was to have organised us is suddenly unwell, so other staff re-organise their day so that we volunteers will not be left with nothing to do. It is a mixed bag today, a bit more wall repair, but two others do that, whilst I cut back at the side of the path and then spend the afternoon clearing slippery moss off a board walk and cleaning up some very overgrown steps. One of the others helped to put in the steps several years ago, he is delighted they have lasted so well. At one stage a very noisy group of cattle come to the fence to investigate, but after a lot more noise they leave us in peace.

Thanks to the staff who stepped into the breach another section of path is cleared and a group of volunteers left feeling a job well done.

three steps cleared, lots more to go

the ambulance that went to Gaza

the thing about volunteering (or the spread on the bread)

2011-11-19T06:20:00.000-08:00

is that it comes in bursts, then several quiet days, when I suppose I can catch up on other things, but really life's not like that. Everything I need to do seems to be on the same days that I am involved with the volunteering. Am also reminded of the discussion that we often have, which ever groups of people that I am with. Which is that volunteering, as we see it, can never take the place of high quality, paid staff, for the very simple reason, that we volunteers come and go; we take breaks when we feel like it, we visit our families, we go on holidays, if we are a little under the weather we may stay at home, we wouldn't have done that when we were employed. So, it's not the icing on the cake, because, much as we like it, cake is not absolutely necessary. It's the spread on the bread, because as my grandson knows, if he's still hungry after a meal, "I need plain bread, Granny."

a missing bus on Monday, a quiet Tuesday and then dry stone walling

2011-11-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

I usually travel to Leeds on the bus, it's free, so I save LASSN my fare; however, after a good gad and then lots of laughter over my grandsons' photos and antics, almost an hour wait for the bus, one had broken down! Had it been the train there would probably have been an announcement, but bus travellers are expected to just wait in patience.Can it be because on average bus passengers are poorer, older and more likely to be women? Well at least I had had fun with both my friends. www.lassn.org.uk/

Yesterday was a quiet day for Short Stop, just one referral, this time an elderly lady. I managed to make two more bottles of sloe gin, these are for us, and finished typing up my journal about our journey to Istanbul and then our stay there. A grey, damp day, not good for the spirits at all (and I'm not referring to the sloe gin). At least writing about Istanbul brought back the excitement of the journey and the wonderful time we had in The City, as it used to be called.

Today, however was the big excitement, dry stone wall repairs, something new for me. Coasties have done walling before, but I have always been away. These lovely walls are a familiar part of the local scenery, several different types of stone walls even in the relatively small area of the National Park. Today we were repairing a wall for a farmer who is involved in one of the schemes which aims to preserve fauna and flora by using traditional methods of farming, one of which is retaining dry stone walls rather than replacing them with wire fences.

We worked in small groups, I was with the Park Leader who showed me how to lay the stones and then 'heart' the two sections with small pieces of rubble. Four of us kept going, there was a lot of trial and error with different size stones; at the end another colleague joined us who had a really good eye for which stone would be the right piece for our stone jigsaw puzzle. Finally we re-laid the 'coping' stones and stood back to admire our handiwork.

one repaired wall, job well done

we are about to start work

http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/ A good day for volunteering, but before any of you get carried away, remember all the paid staff who are required to enable our voluntary efforts to take place!

more sunshine and wish I knew about fungi

2011-11-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

Did a ranger patrol yesterday, the warm sunshine still continuing, by midday I had discarded my fleece and was noticing the insect bites I got on Thursday. How I wish I was really confident about picking fungi, there was such a range, at least five different sorts, from tiny pale brown ones to huge ones which glowed purple (I'm not joking) at their broken edges, unfortunately the light was too poor for my camera and the flash distorted the colour. Saw a beautiful flock of milking goats and this truly wonderful front gate!

I really can't say where it is, but I was on a public footpath when I took the picture!

Cannot show you the goats, they ran away when they saw the camera!

Sadly I then spent over fifteen minutes litter picking round where I had parked my car, all the litter within a five minute walk of the car park, obviously longer distance walkers mostly don't leave litter! If you can carry a full can there it must be lighter to carry it back? No cutting back at all today, stuff has stopped growing?

Coasties go inland

2011-11-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

Coasties have left their normal seaside habitat for a trip to Goathland; yesterday and today, with members of other volunteer groups, we have repaired steps, cleared overhanging foliage and cut a way through woodland for a new fence. Although we mostly prefer the coastal areas that we usually work in there are times when our labour is required in inland parishes and so it has been this week.

As usual I opted out of the step repair and building work, so it was the new fence line that I worked at. A wooded hillside above a beck is a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), alas some dog owners are allowing their pets to run in the wood and damage the undergrowth, so a fence is required. There was one once, so where we could we found bits of wire and cleared a way along the old line, where we could not find anything we used our imagination; others more skilled than us will put in the new fence. The cleared wood was made into piles for insects and small mammals to nest and hibernate in. The sun shone and we ate our lunch on an old wall basking in the unseasonal warmth.

For a short while I was promoted to the carrier of the first aid kit, this could go to my head!

Looking for the old fence line

I'm sure it goes through here

Driving there I listened to the incomparable voice of Joan Baez, usually it's Radio 4, but sorry Melvyn Bragg, too early in the morning for philosophy. Some very appropriate tracks for my other voluntary activities, one on Mexican fruit pickers being deported from the USA after the harvest was in (the work that no-one else will do), and one, Jerusalem which always reduces me to tears, so I have to pause it until I can pull into a layby. I reflect again on the beauty of the autumn scenery and how lucky I am to have the time and the health to do this sort of activity.

the fruit cake

2011-11-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

Although I say it myself, it is excellent, light, moist and full of fruit. One quarter left out to eat straight away and the rest in the freezer.

short stop, sloe gin, a fruit cake and a slow-cooked casserole

2011-11-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

Another Tuesday, another Short Stop day, last Tuesday was a day to be in the garden and between calls I was; today is grey and damp so I set myself up in the kitchen. Only problem with this is that the computer on which I log the calls is three floors up, oh well it's good exercise. I make the casserole and two bottles of sloe gin before the first call. I know it's from PAFRAS even before the caller speaks, the noisy back ground gives it away, and today as well as the chatting there is a piano playing. They are based in a stone floored church, I've been with my friend and a previous friend who went to English classes there. A young man in need of a room, just one phone call to one of the regular hosts and I am able to place him, I ask the volunteer if I can link PAFRAS in, he agrees.
http://www.pafras.org.uk/

After lunch a second call, a young pregnant lady, not far off having the baby, needs a room. I am as appalled as I was several weeks ago when I had to place a lady with two small children. Even if she wants to go back to the country she has fled from, it is too late to fly, and enthusiastic as I am about trains, central Africa is just too far. My husband is furious and wants to phone the BBC, of course we can't, everything is confidential. But as I blogged then and it will bear repeating ' we call ourselves a civilised country'! A lovely person agrees to take her in and I stress to the referring agency that she must tell the host if she thinks the baby may be coming.

I live too far from Leeds to be a host, which is just as well, as to be honest I'm not sure that I could do what our hosts do, many of them week after week. I really appreciate them, so if they're reading this...............

http://www.lassn.org.uk/

In between calls, and whilst I prick the sloes, I listen to a radio 4 programme about the Church of England prompted by the Occupy camp outside St Paul's. I have no faith in a God, but many of our hosts have, and I do admire the Christian Aid moto of 'Life before Death'. When I taught in East London many of the children wondered "how you can be good, Miss, as you don't believe in God!" it did worry me how they might not be good if they ever lost their faith. Oh dear that's quite enough philosophy for today.

Two more bottles of sloe gin, that's the presents, next week will be for us. Then I go slightly mad and decide to make a fruit cake with the fruit I bought at the Fair Trade shop at the weekend. It can't just sit in the cupboard.

the cake

Yes, I know, proof of pudding in eating etc etc, will report back when eaten! or not.

Last year's sloe gin

A glass of last year's sloe gin, a reward to my self for a successful day; we shouldn't have to be placing asylum seekers or any other people like this, but as we have to at least two people have a bed for the night. Please note Palestinian bowls in the background, the small one about to be filled with Fair Trade Bombay mix, the best.

another ps, this time to our Fair Trade shop

2011-11-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

WOW, we have taken more than last year, nearly £2100! We have very little expenses, as the Friends only ask for heating and lighting, so a bonus for the Fairer World shop in York, something to help us to spread the word locally and more people buying into Fair Trade.

Another annual Fair Trade shop in Malton

2011-11-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the second day of what is now an annual event in the Malton and Norton Fair Trade group's calendar, THE SHOP. A transit van full of everyday and seasonal goodies, yummy food, Christmas cards, beautiful craft items, clothes and some musical instruments. We set up in the Friends' Meeting House and each morning a colleague and I tie arrows and posters around the town centre to advertise the shop.

On both days we have a steady flow of customers, many are now regulars, after shopping people have a hot drink and a piece of home made fruit cake and chat.

We all have a go at the till and one brave person uses the pricing machine.

I buy stocking fillers for my daughters and grandsons, as well as chocolate for me. I also get sugar for my sloe gin, demerara as recommended by my niece (via this blog!). I then indulge with a scarf, it's Fair Trade I tell myself, so all in a good cause, a present for my friend in Leeds completes the day's shopping.

At the end we pack up, load things into a car and walk wearily home, but a good weariness after a successful day.

Thank you to Fairer World in York who provides us with all the goods, as well as the till and the pricing machine. Do visit them to see even more lovely things, 84 Gillygate, YO31 7EG.

Anyone wanting to know more about Fair Trade please visit:-
www.fairtrade.org.uk

thoughts from above Boggle Hole

2011-11-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, for those of you not au fait with the North Yorkshire coast it is a real place, and very beautiful it was today too. I drove there and back by a quiet route through dales and woodlands blazing in the sunshine, and on the way back saw three fields full of flocks of black sheep. The phrase 'what do they know of England who only England know' came to mind, I would never appreciate the beauty of this part of the country if I had not seen other, beautiful and different places.

On the Cleveland Way it was the usual autumn task of cutting back the blackthorn, if only some of the plants in my garden would grow so prolifically. It was so dense in some places that for a while we had to put up with the noise of the chain saw. However most of the time it was lopping, sawing, dragging and throwing by hand, it was a year ago that I lost a new glove throwing it over the edge with the blackthorn!

A depressing conversation with other volunteers about the financial pressures on the National Park, the expenses budget for the volunteers under pressure, we only get 25p a mile as it is; and the full time staff having to take on more work, so less time to lead volunteer tasks. Once again one can only conclude that the tiny brained person who thought up the 'Big Society' (hollow laughter) had never really volunteered or worked for an organisation which depends as much on volunteers as the park does. It doesn't happen by itself. Heh hoh, back to the lopping.

it wil look better in the spring!

tidying up

ps from the GOL

2011-11-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Lovely, kind people. A third referral this time from St George's Crypt, a young woman just evicted from her accomodation can I find her somewhere? I do hope so. After four phone calls I strike gold, they are out but can pick her up from the Crypt and take her back to their home. The Crypt can give her a meal. All is not well with the world, but better for this young woman than it might have been.
http://www.stgeorgescrypt.org.uk/

the grumpy old lady in the late autumn sunshine

2011-11-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was off to Leeds, my asylum seeking friend now has courses all day on a Thursday (when I used to see her), but has none on a Monday; she still has loads of assignments to do, but told me she would welcome a break for us to chat. She was very tired, partly, she said, because she is determined to come off various medication, however the good thing is that her appetite is now coming back. I told her about my toddler grandson's latest antics and sayings and we laughed together over his bossiness to all of us. I promised her some pictures of both of them when I see her again in a fortnight.

To my relief she is giving up on the physics for the moment, a course that starts at 5pm seems too much for anyone. There is a further delay in submitting her new claim, it appears that her papers are 'lost' in the chaos surrounding the closure of her previous solicitors. Once again the stress is piling up, some of it the good stress of the college course, but too much the bad stress of the past memories.

Before we met my gadding friend and I had a lovely walk in the sunshine round the lake in Roundhay Park. What foresight Councils all over the country had when these wonderful municipal parks were laid out. I hope that trying to sell them off today would result in the same storm that arose over the incredibly ill-advised plans to sell off our forests.

When I am in Bedford with my grandsons we spend many happy times in their local park, again an inheritance from wiser, more farseeing politicians than we are 'blessed' with today.

Oh dear the grumpy old lady is here again! Still, looking out at the autumn colours takes away some of the grump. Thinking about Coasties tomorrow, by the sea, also lifts my spirits.

Short Stop today, two referrals so far, both placed with not too many calls.

a quiet referral day, an old skill and some memories

2011-10-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

Only two referrals by lunch time, but it takes several phone calls before I find a room for the young man from Somalia, a young woman from Zimbabwe is a little easier to place. His name reminds me of some of the many Somali children I taught in London. I find I still have the photos of the dual language book we made, and I remember my delight when I discovered that Aesop's fables are as familiar in Somalia as they are here. Here are three of the pages, the drawings are by an ex-pupil who was about 13 when she did them. We also recorded the books, in both languages, if any one out there wants more details let me know.

the beginning

the end of the race

finger puppets, the turtle and the fox

There was also a gruesome one about a lion, a zebra and that fox again!

The end of the story and of the fox

And the old skill, well all my socks get holes on the ankle bone, so this morning I have darned two, have not yet got a wooden mushroom, a step too far!

Blogging off for a week, as I am on Granny duty again, not a duty of course, a delight.

Sloe, sloe, quick pick sloe and a ps

2011-10-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry could not resist, I have only been picking sloes for sloe gin for 5 years, but this year they were fatter and more of them than I have ever seen in those 5 years. I picked enough for 5 750 ml bottles, assuming I can squeeze 500 ml of gin on top of the sloes! Now just needs loads of sugar (Fairtrade).

Had a lovely walk in the sunshine, round some little used paths and then along the coast and back by the old railway line, the easy way back, although I was going north and therefore slightly up hill. The solar panels and the small wind turbine on a property by the Ravenscar road were doing their bit for renewable energy, the panels catching all the sun and the wind turbine whizzing round. Lots of walkers on the old railway line, just a few on the coast.

sun and wind power

the view from the coast path

ps am not neglecting my support work for LASSN, but last week I had no referrals, and my friend is, I am pleased to tell you all, so busy with college that at present she only needs my support over the phone.

www.lassn.org.uk

"They shut the road through the woods..........before they planted the trees" Rudyard Kipling

2011-10-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well it felt a bit like that yesterday at Coasties, we were shown on the GPS where the bridleway should go and so we cut and pulled and chopped and made a path again. Young birch, conifers which had self seeded from the ones planted as a crop in the rest of the wood, solid root balls of ferns, bilberry and heather. Huge trunks of fallen trees across the route, smaller ones rotting in the ground, everything more than a few inches high was cleared. Now we need a mass ride and walk along the bridleway to show that the path is open again and to keep it open, or else it will be all to do again in a few years, or as Kipling ended "but there is no road through the woods".

before we cleared the young growth

now there is path through the woods

Yes, the trains did connect

2011-10-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

What a fabulous way to travel, go to sleep in Paris, wake up call and breakfast on our beds as we pull in to Munich. Then an Austrian train with the most amazing just in time information, maps, speeds etc all the way to Budapest. Another night and I awake to the sun rolling away the mist in the Carpathian hills, some quite poor villages, and at every station a smart station master standing to attention, the same in Bulgaria.

Two half days in Bucharest, masses of pavement repairs and an excellent metro, with interconnecting carriages and a guard, yes that's right, on the train. A really wonderful 'folk' museum and another one like the Ryedale museum, old vernacular buildings. An excellent meal, sitting outside, the heatwave continuing. The next day we arrive at the only station to truly disappoint, Sofia, a Soviet era, concrete edifice. However Sofia, despite more pavement re-building, enchants with very old churches, a mosque and a Presidential palace only guarded by two low keys soldiers. A wonderful lunch at an Armenian restaurant. Still the heatwave continues as we wait at Sofia station for the delayed train from Belgrade that is going to take us on to Istanbul. At every station until the border the wheels are tapped, why is it only in Bulgaria that this happens with such solemnity?

Even getting up at 3am to get our Turkish visas couldn't spoil the magic. It is light as we travel from the border through woodland and farm land, then massive new developments into the city, along the coast of the Sea of Marmara and then through the ancient, crumbling city walls and along still standing sections of the sea walls. As we pull into the station we realise that alongside the platform is The Orient Express Restaurant, the first of many cups of Turkish coffee.

Would we do it again, maybe; as long as we could have a sleeper not the final couchette, and if we could be a little more confident about being able to get a meal, not just a filled roll, at all the stations.

It was also a reminder of the past having to change money at the last few borders and having our passports checked in Europe, roll on the Euro and Schengen I say.

Istanbul? it was wonderful, a magical city to rival Venice, whose rival it was so many centuries ago.

off on my travels, again

2011-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

No blogging for a while, we are off to Istanbul by train, no not the Orient Express, via Bucharest and Sophia. Returning by budget airline though.

If the trains all work OK I will report back, so watch this space.

2 lots of stress but both with successful outcomes

2011-10-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

It starts at 6am on Thursday morning when I get up to catch an early, very early, train to Leeds. My friend has to report to the Borders Agency, she is always convinced that this is going to lead to deportation and who am I with a British passport, a bank account and a regular, quite good, income, to imagine how she must feel. It starts off badly with both if us having mobile phone problems, but all goes OK (I can't say well,she gets too upset for that)and we stand in the sun to catch the bus back to the city centre.

Later that morning I help her with her physics homework and I enlist the help of some very confused other asylum seekers to show her my patent method of explaining the particle theory of solids, liquids and gases. (Perfected with excitable 10 year olds). This makes her laugh and several pennies drop about conduction, convection and insulation. So a successful ending as she goes off to college and as she puts it "the good stress of struggling with new topics in maths and science". I meet my gadding friend for a long lunch in the sun by the lake in Roundhay Park.

Friday, another hot and sunny day, the DAY of the Fairtrade Clothes Show; will any one come, will the models, (some one's daughter and her friends, mothers of said friends, colleagues of group members and group members as well) all turn up, will there be enough/too much food? and so more and more questions in my mind. By chance I meet a fellow group member at lunch in the Kingfisher cafe, we probably make each other worse!

At 5pm we start setting up and those of us modelling try on the clothes, the organisation by 2 of the group is wonderful, nothing it seems has been forgotten. Stalls are set up, floats gathered, the raffle sorted and also the refreshments. Chocolate is broken up for the chocolate tasting.
Music starts, we have a rehearsal of how to walk down the catwalk and then the audience starts to arrive. Then we are off, in 2's and 3's we show off the clothes, the audience are wonderfully supportive, smiling and clapping. Amazingly no-one even trips, we even enjoy it!

Afterwards the refreshments seem just right, people seem happy, a good sized audience and a truly successful evening.

The clothes we modelled, all Fairtrade were from
www.bishopstontrading.co.uk
www.blackyak.co.uk/
www.namaste-uk.com so many thanks to all of them, and also to Fairer World shop, who donated the chocolate for the chocolate tasting.
84 Gillygate
York
YO31 7EQ
Thanks also to the pianist before the show, the arranger of the music during the show and the folk group after the show. (If you want a personal mention in this blog let your FT contact know!)

Finally we should be able to send a donation to Water Aid, who we agreed would benefit if we managed to make a profit.
www.wateraid.org

on the beach in the sun with a litter picker

2011-09-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

Not rhododendron pulling as I had thought, but litter picking on a beautiful little stony beach at Hayburn Wyke for the National Trust, Coasties works for the NT on their land in the National Park once a month. It was very hot and, incredibly for this bit of the coast, only a very light breeze. I am all for the National Trust at present, they are helping to lead the fight against the latest awful planning ideas from the Government.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

Much of the litter probably comes from the sea, thrown overboard from boats or in the case of cotton wool buds from sewage discharges, the germs may be destroyed but the plastic of the bud lingers on, please put yours in a bin! There is some however which has been left by people picnicking on the beach, a stack of empty yogurt cartons for example. Oh dear, why can't people take it home! This beach and marine litter is not just unsightly but a real danger to all marine life, one colleague told me how she had seen the contents of a dead young porpoise's stomach, all plastic bits.

at the end of the litter pick

However the depression of the stuff we were picking up was easily balanced out by the beauty of the bay and the cliffs and the usual cheery company of the other Coasties. Some people were pulling out rhododendron and others were cutting back the bracken and long grass to make the path clearer and drier, very necessary where there are stone steps.

Over lunch we talked about the Alan Ayckbourn play I had seen last night and a couple of walkers passing by asked for details of the theatre in Scarborough where it was on, they were on holiday and thought a theatre trip would finish off their week really well.

on the beach

the view from the path

call ourselves a civilised society or the kindness of strangers

2011-09-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Short Stop today and at 3.30 the phone rang, a lovely man from the Refugee Council wondered if I could place a lady and her children, aged 5 and 6. They had been sent to Leeds from London by the relevant Government agency to make a claim and tomorrow, maybe, they would be deemed vulnerable and given some accomodation (it will be in a hard to let high rise flat). Surely the most bigotted must see that whatever you are escaping from must be really bad if you also have 2 small children with you. So we come to the kindness of strangers; of course they would take them in, when I said that there might be a need for a plastic sheet (the hosts are young people without children) that could also be arranged. I cried when I thought of what that mother and her children must be going through.

In between that call and others I gardened in the sun, cutting grass, weeding and clearing the pond of detritus. Wondering as I did so how one of the richest societies in the world could be like this. Only yesterday I was reading about the hundreds of thousands of refugees that Kenya has taken in from Somalia.

Tomorrow I will be pulling out rhodedendron on the coast, I can imagine who I would like to be pulling out!

lots of Highland cattle and some irritating cyclists

2011-09-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Off to be a Voluntary Ranger yesterday, the forecast had confidently promised sun, but it drizzled most of the morning and rained in the afternoon. However my new breathing waterproof breathed and kept out the rain.

A large herd of golden brown Highland cattle on Levisham Bottoms gazing at me through their fringes. Several walkers admiring them, but from a sensible distance as there were a couple of youngish ones.

Then the irritating cyclists, at huge speed down a steep footpath! I did not dare speak to them as they might have fallen off and then who would have been blamed? Even more irritating as there was a very clear sign at the top showing the bridleway quite clearly another way. Why do they do it? In Norton and Malton I ride my bike on the road, but more and more cyclists are riding on the pavement, I do my grumpy old lady bit and get in their way.

However I then had a lovely chat with a couple from the Peak District who thought that £2 for the car park was good value. Even in the drizzle the autumn colours in the valleys looking lovely. Wandered back through the Hole of Horcum to a late lunch in the car park.

After that a short walk down the quaintly named Old Wives Way and a fight against a very strong wind for the last mile back.

A wobbly stile, a missing 'dogs on leads' sign (I suspect removed by an irresponsible dog owner) and a broken finger post to report.

Agood day even in the rain, the sun came out on the way home! Walking on grass, even not all the time, was such a relief after the relentless stone of the Tatras.

a busy Tuesday and a busier Wednesday

2011-09-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

A first yesterday when I was Short Stop coordinating; a young man from Iran so traumatised that he could not cope with the idea of going to one of our lovely hosts, he would find someone at a drop-in or sleep again in the park. I worried a lot, but then had to stop or it would take me over and I would have to stop coordinating. Sometimes when I was teaching this would happen and I would need to remind myself that I had done all I could, and could do no more. Usually I can switch off fairly quickly, but not always.

So, sawing down trees today in the sun with a fabulous view at times was immensely cathartic. If I believed in corporal or capital punishment - which I don't!- I could have let my imagination run riot as I sawed and lopped. We were clearing a bridleway on the edge of the Dalby forest, only the oaks were spared, there weren't many and luckily they were far enough off the line of the path to be left alone. A lot of easy inconsequential chatter added to the relaxed enjoyment of the day. I came home via coffee and a delicious scone at the Kingfisher cafe in Malton (Fairtrade and Social Enterprise).

Then off to a meeting of our local Fairtrade group; we are planning a Clothes Show at the end of the month, I only have a small part to play, sourcing the chocolate for our chocolate tasting, part of the extra entertainment whilst we watch the Fairtrade clothes being modelled.

Race home to catch a phone call from a friend. A good end to a good day.

back from Slovakia and off to Leeds

2011-09-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

Back to the routine, well sort of. Continung my public transport experiences, today it was the lovely Coastliner to Leeds, our fab local bus service; buses in Slovakia were cheap and well used, but not as shiny as our Coastliners, although out of the towns they went just as fast. Any way enough of this raving, my asylum seeking friend has been accepted on several courses at a college in Leeds, a Level 2 in health care, a maths course and a science course. They are now able to fund her, probably after a change of heart about the way funding works in FE colleges. However the fact that she has been accepted is down to all her hard work last year, she is delighted and so are all her friends. One of the courses involves 3 evenings, but this she says is good as the evenings are when she can dwell too much on her status and the bad things from the past. We are collecting letters about her activities in various communities in Leeds, to help her latest application to be allowed to stay; the list is amazing, truly she is part of the local community on so many levels. I leave her with a couple of her favourite pictures of my grandson in the puddles at his local park.

Then off for coffee and cakes with my gadding friend, we catch up on things from the last few weeks (we puzzle over why we have to pay for glasses when hearing aids are free), before I get the bus home. My bus pass is lovely, but I still feel that if we are all to share in the hard times, then we could pay something for it.

Render unto Caesar

2011-08-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

Had not intended to blog until return, but as THE BIG SOCIETY seems to be in danger of being high-jacked by the Christian right, I thought I had better emphasise how secular my small society is; as the heading says 'render unto Caesar...........................'. I too can quote holy books, even if I don't follow them in their entirety.

last blog for a bit

2011-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

I am taking a break from My Small Society, first a Granny visit then walking in the High Tatras in Slovakia. Feeling very smug as the journey there and back is by train, actually quite a lot of trains.

gorse, gorse and more gorse and then some bramble too

2011-08-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

A surprisingly hot day on the Cleveland Way, surprising as it had been cool and misty to start with.

The path had been reduced to well under a metre in places by huge amounts of gorse, amongst which was bramble, the nightmare scenario. Possibly only bramble and ivy in twisted blackthorn is harder to cut back. We hacked and hacked and chucked and chucked (over the edge into the undergrowth in the cliffs below), I once lost a new glove doing this so am extra careful now.

For once I welcomed the intrusive noise of the strimmer, it made the hot, backbreaking work a little easier. Several groups of walkers went by, all grateful for the clearing that we were doing. For a while as the picture below shows the path was totally blocked, we needed to cut a gap in the hedge to throw the cut stuff through.

Over lunch, on and around a bench with a wonderful view down the coast, well beyond Scarborough, we caught up with weddings, holidays and illnesses. I had brought a box of Mirabelle plums which were passed round and eventually finished.

By 2.30 even the fittest were exhausted and we did a final clear up and headed back to the van and then our cars. A final look back to admire our handiwork made it all worthwhile.

Free outdoor gym, a lovely view and some fun and laughs.

ps something wrong with the background last time

2011-08-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

I obviously clicked something I shouldn't have done in the previous post, so yes I know there's a funny white background, we can't all be perfect can we?

I blame the white doves, four today, sitting outside the window whilst I work.

wine, friends and good hosts

2011-08-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Leeds started well on Sunday afternoon, a wine tasting in the garden of my gadding friend, some new friends as well. The talk ranged far and wide, Palestine, religion (several), FGM, travelling and of course the wine. Then some good food and of course more talking; as usual I was told off for talking too much and not taking the wine seriously. Everyone there, it seemed, made their own contribution to their own version of my small society.

Monday morning on the bus to visit my other Leeds friend, she was cooking again when I arrived, just for us two this week. As I had dreaded the visit to the solicitor had brought all the past (that she had done so well to forget) flooding back. I tried to talk seriously about how things might get better, that didn't work, it rarely does; so I turned to joking and tales of my grandsons. Soon we were both laughing whilst we ate, fried plantain and omelette; she can't forget so best to talk of other things altogether.

She told me about her weekend in the Lakes, she and other friends from WAST had stayed in a guest house that belongs to the Society of Friends, amazingly I had stayed there last summer when I was doing the Coast to Coast, as a paying guest. They had had a lovely time including a cruise on Lake Windermere, thank you to the Quakers.
http://www.glenthorne.org/

I had done some notes to give to friends and colleagues about supportive letters (the new solicitor's idea), talking about that also cheered her up, so many things she does in the community (her small society). We walked down in the sun to Solace together, they do so much to help traumatised asylum seekers. Talk to staff and other people there, eat some lovely plums and get the bus home. (It is the year of the plum- our Mirabelle is fruiting like never before).
www.solace-uk.org.uk/

Today was Short Stop again, luckily just one couple as I had to make several calls before I found them some good hosts. It is the holidays and many of our wonderful hosts are away, it makes me realise how lucky most of us are to know where we will sleep tonight. Even when I have wondered on some of our holidays whether we will find a camp site or B & B, the bank cards in our pockets mean that when, as usually we do, we can prove that we can pay for it.

coasties and then an old caravan

2011-08-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Near the Mallyan Spout Hotel in Goathland is a very steep flight of steps, every year the rain washes away the stone in the steps and every year we replace it, last year it was on one of the hottest days of the year, this year it was sunny but cooler.

However, this year was to be different, a new plan that might (we can hope) prove more permanent. Sections of drain were dug, one with Herculean efforts at moving a very large stone. The steps were filled not just with small stones, but also larger pieces of local sandstone, see pictures below for steps and one of the new drainage channels.

Being of an unimaginative mind when it comes to engineering I laboured long and hard carrying the large and small stone down the steps to where it was needed; there it was carefully laid after further digging out of the steps. Along the side of the steps a sort of rockery was built and then covered with turf in the hope that the whole might bind together.

A most satisfying day, we all hope NOT to have to return next summer!

blocks of sandstone laid against the step board

part of the longest flight of steps almost finished

a newly dug drain and some of the blocks of sandstone waiting for a home

Today was one of the Park's information unit, to be found in an old caravan in the car park at Robin Hood's Bay; however the quality of the staff (myself and another voluntary ranger), the quality of the information (ours) and the quality of the leaflets and brochures is of such a high standard that the surroundings matter little.

Nearly 100 visitors came in, browsed amongst the publications, asked about local walks and cycling opportunities and chatted about the fossil display and where they could find some themselves. Fortunately my colleague is something of a fossil expert and could really help them, I would have had to bluff a little. We each had a stroll down to the beach and an ice cream as a treat. The sun came out and we sat outside for a while, admiring the view of the cliffs, sea and in the distance some purple heather.

Another satisfying day, a place I love and am proud to be able to help other people enjoy.

failed

2011-08-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

A short stop day and very busy, 3 by 2pm, placed them all after loads of phone calls, it's the holidays and people are away or have visitors. Then late afternoon 3 more, I knew I would have to say no as I had exhausted the list, but one organisation, with 2 of them, did say they had other places of their own still to ring, so here's hoping.

I also failed to get the cooker cleaned, although I did tax the car and made a damson streusel. On the plus side I arranged to meet a good friend for lunch on Friday, she is off to Palestine soon, so we will have lots to talk about.

Will ring my friend this evening and see how the meeting with the solicitor went.

It's also grey and windy. Never mind, 2 weeks today and I will be on the train on the way to Cologne and the night sleeper to Vienna, then Bratislava and the High Tatras.

Must get myself into a 'count your blessings' mode.

please pass this on

2011-08-16T02:36:00.000-07:00

A couple of blog readers have asked me if it's all right to pass it on, please do, even if as an example of how not to blog!

If you can link it to anything else that's fine too.

a friends' day in Leeds

2011-08-16T02:33:00.000-07:00

First I go to my asylum seeking friend. She is incredibly busy cooking for a leaving party for one of the people who have helped her over the last year. She is blending a mix of beans, onions and tomatoes when I arrive, we laugh at how the blender is struggling, but how much quicker than a traditional pestle and mortar. She is so happy doing things to honour people who have helped her. Then minute fish bones to be removed from a very bony fish and plantain leaves to be chopped very small, I worry about her fingers so close to the sharp knife, I would never dare to chop like that.

In the middle of this activity a nun from her church calls with children's things that are about to be thrown out by another parishioner! My friend has a friend with a little girl, these are for her. I am most shocked at the box of Duplo bricks, at least £30 worth, surely they could have gone to a charity shop not landfill, but now a charity shop's loss is that little girl's gain.

The cooking continues, I am not allowed to help, so we chat about the food, my grandson having his plaster off and the party this afternoon. One low note is when we have a quick talk about her visit to a new solicitor, it will bring all the bad things back that she is trying to forget, the nightmares will start again. All because the charitable firm of solicitors she was with have gone bust, they and the government can argue about how and why this happened, the results for people like my friend are uniformly devastating.

We cheer ourselves up when, laughing, she presses some of the food on to me, I am to take it home and will have it for supper tonight. The fish dish and two portions of the bean dish. Yummy. How important sharing food is across all cultures.

Walking down to meet my other friend, the gadding one, I see an area of burnt out tarmac. There was little trouble in Leeds, but here some road bollards were burnt and a few cars mugged (so I learn later). I cannot condone the violence and thieving, but are not bankers' bonuses a form of theft? When I was young I went through the 'all property is theft' phase, now I am older and have some property ........................ but even now I do believe there should be a limit on how much any one person can earn or own, or at least a 99% tax rate above that limit.

My gadding friend and I have a lovely gad in the Lakeside Cafe in the park, and even mange a snack in between the chatting.

Home, and a Fair Trade group meeting in the evening, we are arranging a clothes show in September and need to sort out models, stalls selling things, refreshments etc. We have also decided to have a chocolate tasting and have a slightly (for us) heated debate about which varieties of chocolate to use.

I have to bike home on the footpath as I have forgotten my lights, however there are no pedestrians so I don't feel so bad.

a yomping day

2011-08-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

A voluntary ranger day and I had company. We cut back overhanging paths, only secateurs and a folding saw, bigger tools are too heavy and besides they could frighten other walkers! Then yomped across the moors, not much wild life, a few grouse, some swallows still here and a flock of very pretty black sheep, may be Hebridean? A couple of requests to dog owners to put their dogs on leads, PLEASE! Don't these dog owners CARE?
Then a field with three beautiful belted Galloways (they're cows!), two still slightly fluffy with fluffy ears, but huge.
Finished off the walk with lots of slashing back of bracken and nettles, our walking sticks came in very handy.
An ice cream from a Yorkshire creamery and home, quite tired, but happy.

please claim your travel expenses

2011-08-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yippee, got my June travel expenses for Coasties, this time we had been warned they would be late.

Volunteeers should always claim their travel expenses, the organisation needs to know how much volunteering costs, and if you don't the idea will get around that you shouldn't and then only rich people will volunteer.

You can always give it back as a donation. In fact this can be better for a charity, because donations are unrestricted, i.e. the charity can use them in any way that their aims permit, a lot of any charity's income is restricted to a specific use by the grant giving body.

Most of my visits to Leeds are on the bus, with my trusty bus pass, but getting to remote parts of the North Yorks Moors is not so easy by bus, so the car it is. Still at 25p a mile it's not exactly making you drive if you don't need to!

a good sort of cuts!

2011-08-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today I realised that there are cuts and there are cuts and today was the good sort.

A bridleway to clear, barely room for a person, let alone a horse. The rain cleared quickly, then a bit of sun and so we cut and cut and cut. Gorse, willow, bramble, some larch where they really were blocking the way. Some especially huge gorse which needed sawing, all mixed up with brambles. Then suddenly a great view where a group of willows had been felled, over towards Saltergate where I had been on Sunday, some purple heather glowing in the sunshine with greenery around. One of the Rangers pointed out some primrose leaves, now exposed where we had cut back, the extra light will help them to spread next spring.

A most satisfying day, lots of light hearted chat, nothing serious, just what I need after a Short Stop day, that is satisfying too, but stressful as well. Coasties just tires me out!

a short stop day and other stuff

2011-08-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Short Stop today, will be in, so have arranged for the digital TV to be delivered (we have moved into 21st century) and some window measuring men to come. We also have people for a meal this evening, so I can bake (yes it's true) and prepare vegetables at the same time.

Two referrals almost immediately, the Refugee Council are effectively closed on a Wednesday so please can I try to sort out the guests for two nights. Quite quickly I find places for both of them for both nights, mainly because two lovely couples will take them for two and in one case, three nights. I worry that I might put too much pressure on, I always try not to, but all our hosts are such accommodating people that it would be very easy to pressurise them. One potential host can't as she has a family crisis, but we still have a chat about this and that.

In between, the frangipane is in and out of the oven (our own red currants), courgettes and sweet potatoes prepared. One of our guests doesn't do marrows, one of the courgettes has been a bit too long in the garden, is it a marrow? I decide not. My husband comes in with the runner beans.

I weed, for the umpteenth time this week under the dovecote, next year I have plans to pave this area. I am muddy up to my wrists when I get another referral, this time from the Crypt. Luckily one of my earlier calls has resulted in a host being available without a guest, she is still available, but please not till 8.30 as she is going away tomorrow! I check that it really is OK for her to host, of course she says.

An email from another charity in Leeds which helps my friend, they have found her a solicitor in Rotheram, yes Rotheram. If no one else can I will go with her next Tuesday, but then some one else will have to do short Stop. All these ramifications from the closure of IAS. If I do go I will blog on our visit next week, this is going to be so difficult for her, reliving the horrors all over again.

LASSN would like me to blog for them on their blog, I say I can't as it would be too much pressure to feel I had to do a blog regularly, but am flattered and delighted that they will link this blog to theirs.
www.lassn.org.uk

Sorry to all my readers, (is that what you are?) this is a bit scrambled, but I wanted to do it before the food and the wine got going!

my small society as a part of the whole

2011-08-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

The Guardian today highlights the dreadful cuts to the voluntary sector, imposed by local government directly, but indirectly by the government, more particularly by idiot Pickles. My two voluntary efforts have been affected for some time now and it will get worse.

Here is a quote from the National Park press release:-
For future years, the amount spent on rights of way will be reduced with the aim of maintaining existing high standards rather than further improvement.
From 2013, only the very highest priority work on the definitive map of rights of way will take place.
www.northyorkmoors.org.uk

These rights of ways are statutory paths, walking is good for physical and mental health, but there is no choice as the money won't be there. Already none of the volunteer groups are taking on more people as there are not enough paid staff to safely supervise more of us. So, however much you feel moved to be part of The Big Society please don't try to do it with the North York Moors National Park. Don't blame them, this wasn't part of their planning.

I had hoped that a mark of a civilised society would be how we treated people like asylum seekers who flee from hardships we cannot even imagine, but not so. LASSN, like other charities trying to help asylum seekers, has lost funding this year from a variety of sources. Wonderful individual donors have rallied round, but with the cost of living increasing for how much longer?
http://www.lassn.org.uk/

I am not sorry that this is bit of a rant, the idea that vulnerable people and vulnerable countryside can be help together by the people equivalent of a small sticking plaster when a proper plaster cast is required is just laughable, or it would be if it wasn't so tragic. These organisations did not borrow money beyond their means, or live a life of bonuses, yet they are taking the punishment.

3 referrals, a good MOT and no Coasties

2011-08-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

A busy referral day, 3, all in the space of an hour. All are eventually placed, but with a few regular hosts away I was getting a bit worried. It's the first time I've done Short Stop during Ramadan and with sunset still quite late it's a long day, but the relevant hosts are OK with a late night snack for their guest to break their fast. While I wait for more calls, there are none, I do some gardening and chat to neighbours.

Yippee, my car passes its MOT with no need for any work! I don't need it for LASSN, but I do for my volunteering with the Park. However, Coasties is as far away as it can be tomorrow, I also have family reasons tugging me to stay at home, so I email my absence and apologies. Easy for a volunteer to do, especially as I am not letting an individual down, if it was paid work I would have gone. I like to think the group will miss me, but that is vanity, none of us is indispensable.

more bad news

2011-07-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

The only solicitor in the whole of Leeds doing legal aid immigration work cannot take on my friend; I suppose this was inevitable, he is very busy and her case is complex. This means finding a solicitor outside Leeds; with the need for her, and possibly some one to support her, having to travel to see them. Her previous solicitor was in Sheffield, a large charitable firm which has recently collapsed, more work and less money, the circle cannot be squared. In medieval Venice all lawyers had to do a fixed amount of pro bono work, but that was the good old days.

another lunch in Leeds

2011-07-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Off to Leeds again to meet my friend; my other friend, the one I gad with, has gadded off to Flamingoland with her granddaughter. We buy plantain for lunch, I'm a bit worried as I really don't like banana, but fried plantain is nothing like banana and is delicious, we have it with omlette and another dish whose name I foolishly don't write down. Once again I eat too much, but at least my friend has a good meal, she tells me she really only eats when she has someone to eat with. Luckily a volunteer from another group is coming round this evening. I offer to help with the food preparation, but no she would do it for her mother, so she will do it for me; I am very moved as I know her mother is dead, we joke sometimes that I am her aunty, but this is different.

We look at more photos of my grandson, she is very concerned about the broken leg, I tell her that he is now so active on it that we have almost forgotten it!

She is finding the break from college difficult, too much time to think; so I am delighted to hear that she is going on a course about craft work for 2 weeks. If only she were allowed to work, she could make a contribution to society through taxes and feel so much better as well. Oh well, when the revolution comes, as we used to say when I was a student!

who reads this blog

2011-07-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

I know the number of page views from the stats, but it's nice to meet people who actually read it. A friend of my daughter's tells me that she enjoys my 'little' blog, I am touched and delighted. Then today, one of the National Park staff asks me about my other volunteering with short stop for LASSN. We have an interesting chat about this and again I am delighted, this time that two very different activities have in a small way come together. So thanks to those two people, if you're reading this you know who you are!

a day in the bracken

2011-07-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Back from Granny duty last night; the older one's 2nd birthday, a bit of nostalgia looking back over 2 years, thinking that this time 2 years forward he will be getting ready for 'big'school!

Spend an exhausting but satisfying day pulling Himalayan balsam out of first a bracken and gorse covered hillside, then out of what is Ravenscar's answer to wet jungle. The wild beasts were the maddening insects. However, looking back at where the bright pink was no more we all felt a task well done.

Left. In the jungle, another invasive plant about to bite the dust, caught before it seeds.

Right. Himalayan balsam hung out to dry on the gorse bushes, for once the bracken is useful as it seems to be smothering some of the HB.

Today we have been dependent on staff from both the National Park and the National Trust, a partnership of a statutory body, a charity and the volunteers. None of us would be of much use without the others.

best steps ever and a pink vacuum cleaner

2011-07-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Well the main news from yesterday's Coasties is that the coast was the only bit of North Yorkshire, it seems, where there was no rain, in fact it was so hot that we wished for a breeze! We carried on the task of clearing and repairing steps, I do think the steps on the Cleveland Way must be the best steps ever.

Today off to Leeds. We admired each other's photographs, my friend had been away to Horton in Ribblesdale with a local support group, although it had rained they had had a lot of fun and she had slept in the top bunk!

We had lunch together in her flat, lovely jolof rice and chicken.

I think I have mentioned before how she and her friends salvage discarded items, clean them up and then use them, well here is the latest.

A bright pink vacuum cleaner, and it works! Why was it thrown away?

She has also retrieved a bed that being thrown out and is storing it for a friend, how she got it in the lift I do not know.

May be Leeds City Council should pay them for reducing the amount of fly tipping on the streets, only joking.

no referrals again and a lot of organising

2011-07-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

A second week of no referrals, next week I am not doing short stop, but if there are none the following week I will ask round the other coordinators to see what they think.

I have used the time productively, well I think so anyway. Tidied the garden, lots of stuff flopping over because of the heavy rain, it makes a change from the drought earlier in the year. Done some ironing (boring I know). Mostly did not listen to the wretched Murdochs on TV, my blood pressure is quite good, let's keep it that way! Made some berry/currant crumbles to use up last year's crop as we have a bumper crop this year. Yum yum, luck us.

at the beach

Rang my asylum seeking friend in Leeds, despite the rain she had a good weekend away, so I am going to see her on Thursday. She borrowed a camera and I have my photos from the beach hut, so we can look at each others' pictures and hopefully have a laugh together. One of the nuns from her church is very kind and lends her a camera to record the happy times. I will miss some bracken bashing on the Moors on Thursday, but I think the visit is more important, hopefully enough other people will rescue the young trees from the bracken. This is another dilemma in my small society, we can't be in two places at once!

Rearranged which day to go surveying Himalayan Balsam near Helmsley, it is a very invasive species, which is stifling biodiversity wherever it grows; we will survey where it is worse, then the National Park will decide how to try to get rid of it. It is ironic that many invasive plant species (incomers) can completely wipe out local indigenous plants, whereas contrary to tabloid scare stories human incomers to these shores do not do so. People are obviously more sensitive to others' feelings than plants are! OK so this is very simplistic, but sometimes that is best.

Due to its vigorous growth, Himalayan Balsam soon dominates and suffocates all other plants within its vicinity. On river banks this can cause major problems of erosion.

some bad news and a wet walk

2011-07-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Had some bad news yesterday, a possible new solicitor for my friend in Leeds has said he is unable to take on her case. I don't yet know the reason why, is he too busy, quite likely as he works for a Law Centre, or does he think her case is hopeless? The country she comes from is supposed to have charities that could help her, but there is little evidence that this is so. She is away for the weekend with a local self help group, I must speak to her when she gets back.

Was on voluntary ranger duty today at Hutton le Hole, had a very wet walk round the village; woods, moors and field edges, only 2 other people walking! The sheep looked very miserable. I am glad I do the VR tasks, even when it is wet I get out into lovely places and the people I do meet, except a few thoughtless dog owners (a minority), are always pleased to see me! Why do this minority of dog owners think that their dogs, uniquely, will not disturb nesting birds or frighten sheep? Even when I warned one couple a few weeks ago about the risk of adders I was told that their dog was friendly and I shouldn't worry!!!!!!!!!!

You may often see adders in spring when they bask in the sunshine on paths and walls. At this time of year they are sluggish and less able to move out of the way of people and dogs quickly. It is advisable to wear stout footwear and long socks or trousers and keep your dog from investigating basking adders. In the unlikely event of being bitten, it is wise to seek medical advice as adder bites can be quite serious. If a dog is bitten, it should be picked up and taken to a vet.

http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/

no referrals

2011-07-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm, no referrals for short stop today, does this really mean that the UKBA has housed every single asylum seeker in Leeds, or does it mean that the cuts to the referring agencies has prevented some homeless asylum seekers from finding a room for the night? I truly hope the former, but fear the latter. Will email results back to lassn and close the paper work until tomorrow week.

www.lassn.org.uk

Feeling smug

2011-07-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

OK, let's be honest, sitting watching the small frogs skittering across the pond amongst the water lilies, reading the Guardian, drinking Fairtrade coffee and it's sunny, I do feel smug. More revelations about phone hacking, were The Met involved? the demise and disgrace of a paper that too often hated and lied about the things I care about, what's not to feel a bit smug about? Volunteering is about working with people that the tabloids denigrate as well as the soft easy stuff. We sixties baby boomers with our index linked pensions do have a lot to be grateful for, but without us where would my small society be?

back again

2011-07-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well the Granny days have been and gone, although here too we grandparents keep the wheels of society going; not me personally, I am the gilt on the gingerbread, but masses of grandparents keep parents in work by giving free child care. My grandson benefits from this, as do thousands of others.

I get the 'paper' work ready for short stop tomorrow, we file on line, to reduce the actual paper, but the Luddite in me still calls it paper work! How lucky that we self taught retirees can operate in this way. There have been fewer referrals this last week, is this because the main referring agency has had to close their face to face operation? The CUTS you see. The people that they referred before needing a bed for the night are presumably on someone's sofa or floor or worse?

ps volunteering logging off

2011-06-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

it's Granny time again, a beach hut at Scarborough booked for next week!

an award ceremony, a rather noisy day and a day of friends

2011-06-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

I went to my friend's award ceremony in Leeds on Tuesday, I was so proud of her, she has finished the course and now achieved her award, it was lovely to join her and her class mates, laughing, hugging and lots of photos. I know how difficult she has found it at times, yet despite illness and sadness she has kept going. It is a pity that some newspapers cannot see how hard asylum seekers, and she was not the only one there, work, so that they can make themselves useful citizens, if only they were allowed to stay. We can hope.

Yesterday at Coasties we were clearing a track by a beautiful wild flower meadow near Ravenscar; unfortunately 2 colleagues needed to use a strimmer, I know it's quicker, but selfishly I like our usual peace and quiet. Hah some will say, only so you can chat more as you work, maybe!

Back to Leeds to meet my friend and my fellow 'gadder'. Also phone calls to my 'manager' in LASSN, the paid person who supports and advises me, without her and her colleagues I and the other volunteers could not be as useful as I hope we are. My friend and I have a long chat, I tell her how my mother had dementia for several years before she died, but now I remember the good times we had and she will one day do the same about her family. She tells me she will try, and recounts a childhood misdemeanor which has us both in stitches.

a very hot walk

2011-06-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today I was on voluntary ranger duty, based in Thornton le Dale. After a brief litter pick, very little litter, and a chat about what I was doing with some appreciative visitors, I set off on a circular 6 mile walk. It got hotter and hotter, I had to cut back quite a lot of vegetation round stiles and overhanging in the woods. I only carry secateurs and a small folding saw, but it is surprising what can still be done to clear the way. Last week up on the open moor there were curlews and lapwings a plenty, but today all the birds seemed to have settled down in the trees to see out the heat. On the last lap there were some unfriendly bullocks, so I warned several dog owners coming the other way to take care; everyone said they would and was pleased with the warning, some dog owners are not always so grateful! Back in time to do another litter pick. Tomorrow I need to email the professional Rangers with details of missing signs and blocked paths, once again volunteers can only operate with professional, full time and paid back up!

more days without my small society

2011-06-23T03:15:00.000-07:00

This is also what happens to my small society, friends come to stay. I like this, after all friends are important, but the small society is put on hold. I manage short stop, we both potter round my garden waiting for the phone and continue our chatting. But no Coasties, instead I meet another friend, more chatting, or gadding as her husband calls it! So the footpaths will be slightly less cleared this week. None of this will cause the world to stop, but when you add up all the volunteers who have friends to visit it will slow things down, won't it?

extra extra

2011-06-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Went to Leeds yesterday to meet my friend. She has got me a ticket for the awards ceremony at her college, I am so pleased she wants me to go, sometimes I tell her I am like an aunty to her, so at least we can pretend she will have family there. We both hope that she has done well in her latest assignment. She went to meet a possible new solicitor earlier in the week, fingers crossed this firm will take her on for a new asylum application. Her country is supposed to be safe; huh, when my daughter went there for a week for work her organisation sent her on a personal survival course!

Today a training course on surveying for Himalayan Balsam in the National Park, a pretty, but very invasive species of flower, that as well as preventing a variety of other plants from surviving could lead to flood damage. In the next couple of weeks I will be surveying a length of river with a view to it being removed. It is smothering the river bank where I live, but this section is not in the National Park, so other people need to sort it out. At least if we can help get it removed upstream it might be a start. Volunteers will survey and pull it out if there is just a little, but paid contractors will be required if there is lots. We have our limitations.

back to the volunteering

2011-06-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

A quiet Short Stop day yesterday, just one referral, just as well as I had a dreadful cough which doesn't do much for my friendly phone manner! A lovely couple say they will be out til late but if I am desperate........ then I find some one who can take him in the early evening. I am still worrying about the two pregnant women from last week, how dreadful, in a strange country, to have no where settled to bring your baby home to; you would only do that if things at home were so bad that this was the only alternative.

Against my better judgement, having coughed all night, I go to Coasties. However although it is hot and muggy how glad that I did. Clearing steps, ready for their repair, above the shining sea, makes me feel so much better and I don't cough at all. Masses of walkers, all pleased with our handiwork, makes us all feel satisfied and may be a little smug? Look how good we are!

The cleared steps contrast with the overgrown ones.

back to my small society

2011-06-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back and ready for small society things, tomorrow (short stop) and Wednesday (Coasties). BUT I have now realised another downside to expecting volunteers to run things that really we shouldn't, not my small society things but proper BIG society things. We go away and do things like Granny stuff. When I worked for an employer who paid me it was only family emergencies that took me away, not now, it doesn't have to be an emergency and off I go. I'm afraid that's what volunteers do, always have, always will. Is this what is planned?

time off for two weeks

2011-06-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

Off to do Granny duty next week, so the blog will be on hold until I return.

indoors and outdoors

2011-06-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did my day as co-ordinator for the emergency short stay accomodation organised by LASSN for homeless asylum seekers in Leeds. 2 young women needed somewhere for the night and after just a few phone calls 2 lovely people said of course. It still moves me so much that people will take a stranger into their homes, give them a meal and a bed for the night. Last week an MP's assistant rang me, I could not resist pointing out the effect the cuts were having on charities that exist to help the person sat opposite him in his office. After all even charities have to pay their bills, even if their staff live on air! I will admit I did not spend all day indoors, my garden beckoned.

The board walk with its new nonslip strips.

Today was Coasties and was all outdoors, cutting back the foliage in lush woodland on a path which is the last day of the Coast to Coast walk. When I did the C2C last year this section was very wet, today only damp in places. As well as cutting back to keep the path clear a slippery board walk was made safer, see the picture left. Many thanks from long distance walkers and families enjoying the woods in half term. Most people are amazed that we do this as a voluntary activity; we learned recently that 25% of path maintainance in the North York Moors National Park is done by volunteers. Nuff said.

birds, badgers and a blot on the landscape?

2011-05-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

Did a volunteer ranger patrol yesterday in the parish of Staintondale. The birds were swallows and swifts, screaming and whirling in the gale over the cliffs whilst I walked a section of the Cleveland Way. For more details see:-

http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/cleveland-way-national-trail/

I didn't see any badgers, but some huge setts on the outskirts of Ravenscar. I belong to the Badger Trust, so it's good to see evidence of a local badger population.
http://www.badgertrust.org.uk/content/news.asp

The blot on the landscape, well views differ, this is it. It's a WW2 coastguard lookout, now an Ancient Monument. The board and seat next to it, celebrate amongst other things early radar and the North Sea Trail, http://www.northseatrail.org/index.php/en/about_the_north_sea_trail

The board is a curious mixture of WW2 history and talk of the common heritage of the countries round the North Sea, reminds me of the song by either Dylan or Baez, 'we fought the Germans and now they're our friends'; not to mention all the other invaders (who then settled here) from the North Sea. Perhaps one day we'll have a trail that celebrates all the other settlers to this country, a world wide trail, I can dream. My mother's family, probably of Viking heritage; my father's, they came here over 80 years ago from West Bengal.

A section of the board

The seat, with my best friends, my walking poles.

Time for a snack above Hayburn Wyke

At Hayburn Wyke the sun came out, I turned and walked back on field paths and the old railway line, the story of that is for another day.

The moral of today's blog, walking on your own gives you chance to think, this is usually good. So was the coffee and lemon drizzle cake at the Tea Rooms in Ravenscar.

today's moral

2011-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

What I forgot to add to 'my friend in Leeds' is that behind my volunteering are the paid people, giving me support, advice and training so that I can do my bit with confidence.

So the moral is volunteers can't operate alone.

my friend in Leeds

2011-05-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

A year ago LASSN asked me to befriend a lady in Leeds, I see her about once in 3 weeks and we chat on the phone in between, she has a busy life now at college and her church, but I think I am different, easier than college anyway! Things were not always like that, we have had some difficult times. Now though we laugh over the antics of my grandsons and I admonish her for not having breakfast. One of the things I most admire her for is the way she and her friends find 'stuff' that has been thrown out, clean it and repair and then use; a bag for her books, 2 chairs in her flat and her friend has a microwave, all found within walking distance of their homes. Today I admire a new hair style and I bring her up to date on my grandsons and when I will be seeing them next.

Coasties

2011-05-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, at Hayburn Wyke, path making and path clearing, I know my limitations when it comes to making, so opt for clearing. A colleague and I cut back along a network of paths in these lovely woods, meet the others for lunch and catch up on people's lives whilst we eat. About a dozen volunteers, 2 paid staff and back in the office someone has emailed us where to go and will sort out our travel expenses, someone else has checked the tools and made sure we have enough of everything. Several walkers thank us for what we have done. At the end of day I feel fitter, the path makers have done an amazing job and the paths are now easier to walk along.

what is my small society?

2011-05-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

My small society is an attempt to show what I do, as a volunteer, in the area that I live in. I will admit it is being written partly in response to the everchanging concept of THE BIG SOCIETY, I do not know what that is, does any one?
All I know is that it is easy for me to volunteer, I am retired, physically fit, fairly computer literate, have good public transport links and my bus pass, a car and enough spare money to pay for petrol before I am reimbursed. I am sure I could volunteer without any or all of these things, but I know I would find it much harder.
I also know that my main volunteering, on the North Yorkshire Moors and with a charity helping asylum seekers can only happen because both those very different organisations have paid staff and provide me with training (free) and back up when I need it.
So the moral of the first lesson is that volunteers need paid people behind them.