Happy New Year

So much has happened since I last wrote, which I suppose is not surprising given the time of year but where to start is a problem. So many highlights and lots of good times in the past two weeks and this morning my niece gave birth to a healthy second son who’s going to be called Teddy. His dad had a heart transplant not quite four years ago so that makes Teddy and his big brother Liam very special indeed.                                                                                                                              

I’ve really enjoyed all the celebrations especially ChristmasDay in Harrogate, walks with friends (one of whom was a past student who I hadn’t seen for twelve years), ten pin bowling with my son and his three children, spending time with my amazing aunty, her daughter (she was one of my bridesmaids) and youngest son and my niece, all of whom I’d not seen for ages. I’ve not enjoyed all the rain but today is dry and so was yesterday. Of course there were times when I felt sad, usually when I was driving and alone in the car.

It would have been Simon’s 65^th birthday on Friday so Eve and family decided to walk up his favourite hill, Simon’s Seat. It was drizzly, very boggy underfoot and misty on top but the boys sped up and down with no difficulty and in record time. Granddad would have been very proud of them, especially Daniel who is only three. He would have enjoyed being with them on Christmas Day too as they played very happily with their Lego all day.

Continuing the theme of walking, here’s a challenge for all the females and males too maybe. It’s called Walk in Her Shoes and the challenge from 4 to10 March, to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 10^th, is to walk 10,000 steps a day in solidarity with African women and girls who walk many miles each day to collect water and other necessities. For example, each morning 14yr old Ayanna, from Ethiopia, sets out on a 6 hour, 22km round trip to collect water for her family – that’s half a marathon. Collecting water is time-consuming, exhausting and dangerous and limits the time that women and girls like her can spend attending school or working. Everyone taking part is sent a pedometer to track their steps. By experiencing just part of what women and girls like Ayanna endure on a daily basis and raising £100 along the way will help to build boreholes and taps in communities, giving women and girls the time to fulfil their potential and providing clean water to thousands.
It’s a great challenge to take on with friends or colleagues, so please spread the word and form a team! I’m hoping to.For more information and to register go to www.careinternational.org.uk/walkinhershoes

My youngest daughter was in the US for Christmas and had a brilliant time. She continues to train hard for the London Marathon and needs more promises of sponsorship (for the Multiple System Atrophy Trust) to keep her going on dark wet evenings when she runs after work. If you can sponsor her please go to http://www.justgiving.com/Grace-Roodhouse

Sorry no photographs today. I've tried to upload without success. I promise to try harder next time.

Christmas wishes

The Advent candle is lit, most of my cards are now up, I have a roaring fire, just two sleeps until Jesus’ birthday and it’s not raining! What more could a girl want?

So many cards I have received have contained thoughtful messages which I really appreciate. A few cards were addressed to Mr and Mrs and one or two to just Simon so I’ve been writing letters and doing some detective work to find contact details. I was particularly pleased to receive this response from Michael Diamond who was Chair of the Yorkshire Arts Visual Arts Panel for part of the time when Simon was the Visual Arts Officer for Yorkshire Arts from 1978 to 1985 (Michael’s ‘real job at the time was Director of Bradford Museums).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

‘As you know, Simon and I had become just Christmas card friends over the years, but our initial contact was, I think, important to both of us and certainly left a huge impression in my mind. I was of course, as others witness, immediately impressed by his imagination and enthusiasm, and by the way he constantly came up with that extra little dimension for everything he dealt with. Our ‘big moment’ came when Peter Murray at Bretton Hall College submitted a grant application for £1000 to pay for a sculpture trail to be installed in the grounds at Bretton the following summer. Simon and I looked at each other and both said ‘this could be much more than just a one-off job’. We went to Bretton to talk to Peter, and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was born. So there you are – it was me and Simon wot did it! I left Yorkshire in 1980 to become Director of Birmingham Museums, so we drifted somewhat apart. But although we never became close buddies I always remembered that ‘big moment’, and Simon’s huge contribution to it. I am really saddened that such a huge talent is no longer with us’.

Yes of course I am missing Simon lots and last week I had some days when I felt really low and certainly not peaceful in mind and spirit but I went to witness a wedding of a local girl who I used to teach on Friday lunch time and then had a lovely time at the Smiley Faces Christmas party – also in church as that’s where the mum/baby/toddler/grandparent group that I help to lead every Friday afternoon meets – and my spirits lifted. The couple getting married were bubbling over with happiness and I have rarely seen a bridegroom so excited. It was lovely to hear him say that it was the most right thing he’d ever done in his life. Yesterday afternoon was also special as I was invited to join the Malhamdale ladies and a group of Muslim ladies and their daughters in the Quaker Meeting House in Airton. After lunch together, lamb or vegetable hotpot and red cabbage, we made 150 Christingles which we later took to Kirkby Malham church (after tea or fruit punch, Christmas cake and Wensleydale cheese, scones and Stollen) where they were distributed this afternoon during a special Christingle service. I worked with a lovely lady and her two daughters and niece from Bradford and a Dutch lady, who had just arrived to spend Christmas with her sister who lives at High Trenhouse on Malham Moor.

My daughter’s words in her Christmas newsletter ring true with me too so I’d like to finish with them. I hope this Christmas finds you healthy, happy and not far away from someone you love. I will be with Eve and her family on Christmas Day so I will certainly be near to four people I love very much.

Hope

I’m just back from a walk on Barden Moor followed by an amazing cake and cappuccino in a little cafe at the entrance to Strid Wood. What a treat being out with good friends and enjoying spectacular views in all directions and all of it almost on my doorstep. It’s the third walk I’ve done in the cold, crisp, bright weather we’ve been enjoying. On Wednesday and Thursday I went exploring on my own and discovered some footpaths and a lane I’ve never walked before. On both occasions I was out for about an hour and a half and only saw two other people and they were in the distance. All the time Simon’s Seat was in view above me – that was Simon’s favourite hill. When he was fit and healthy he walked up it every weekend often with a rucsac filled with bricks and large books if he was training for one of his ‘big’ Sherpa expeditions. There is a short steep ascent and a more gradual one – of course Simon opted for the challenging one. I sometimes went with him but more often than not he left me ironing or doing schoolwork. When I did go with him we both loved the scramble to the top and the views across to Parcevall Hall and down to Skyreholme. It was easy to imagine him standing at the top looking down on me as I walked along Skyreholme Bank – a warm feeling like the wintry sunshine.

Simon's Seat  is the rocky outcrop in the distance

 I was finding November difficult so decided on the spur of the moment to see if I could book a couple of days in Parcevall Hall, the Bradford Diocesan Retreat Centre. It turned out to be a good decision as the two days away were peaceful and very refreshing. The staff at Parcevall Hall are so caring, the food is delicious and it is lovely and warm which is not always the case at home. I wrote letters to go with Christmas cards abroad and did a lot of thinking. I have decisions to make but decided not to make them. I’ve never been on a personal retreat before. I can definitely recommend it and hope to do it again soon.



Can you see a glimpse of Parceval Hall through the trees?



 I’ve just lit my Advent candle – no calendar this year. I wonder if my grandsons have opened most of their calendar doors already when I arrive tomorrow morning. Perhaps they will have more self discipline this year but when there’s chocolate it’s very tempting. I’ve got a lovely Christmas story book to read them. It’s so easy to forget the real meaning of Christmas isn’t it? I’m going for a minimalist approach this year and hopefully all the razzmatazz of Christmas won’t blur the real message of hope and love.

Challenges

What a lovely week we’ve had weather wise in Yorkshire.  What's it been like for you?

Grace’s first week at work in London has been a long one and I think it’s going to take her a while to get used to getting up at 6.30am and starting her commute three quarters of an hour later and not getting back to my friend’s home in Laleham until 6.45pm. So far she’s most impressed by the free tea, coffee, cold drinks, soup and fresh fruit which she can help herself to all day long. The team she’s working with are very welcoming – they’ve already taken her out to lunch and drinks are planned after work tonight. So I guess I don’t need to worry about her.

I was in London myself last week for a Think Global Conference and also stayed with my friends Anne and Bill in Laleham. The conference was in the same area of Central London where Grace is now working so I did the same commute – once was enough for me. I am too old for commuter trains when you have to stand for the entire journey packed in like sardines. Travelling to and around London made me sad as Simon used to do it so often. I came home very weary and to be honest I’ve felt weary ever since so perhaps it’s time I gave myself a break. I had a great evening last night though at a Fairtrade Fashion Show at Skipton Girls' High where I used to teach. The school band helped to create a lovely atmosphere and there were lots of interesting stalls so I did some Christmas shopping. My favourite buy is a shopping bag made by artisans with disabilities in Tanzania using a recycled flour bag, lined with fabric and with a recycled rubber long shoulder strap. Somehow I think I won’t be giving that away.

Just watched Team Rickshaw complete their 411mile journey for Children in Need and I’m so impressed by their achievement. The challenge for them was enormous but with the support of the team, their families and all the people they met along the way they’ve made it and raised well over £1m. Fantastic! The film of the best bits of the 8 day journey from Llandudno and London were brilliant and I’m sure that all of them are now brimming with confidence and ready for more challenges in the future.

Come to think of it that’s exactly what I need, a physical challenge. A friend and his wife have just returned from trekking in the Himalayas and spending some time in India. He couldn’t stop talking about it when I saw him, he was really buzzing. However, I think something simpler for me - maybe learning to swim. I never learnt when I was young because I had constant ear problems and there was no swimming pool nearby. For me that would be really scary. Simon on the other hand was a really good swimmer and two of my grandsons are brilliant in the water.

Changes

My laptop in the house is playing up so I’m sitting in what was Simon’s barn office using his computer. Apart from a few small things everything is as it was. As yet I don’t feel able to deal with deciding what to keep and what to throw out even though I know that it would make so much more sense to move my work things over here instead of having them cluttering up the house. The barn, its contents and their organisation represent a large chunk of who Simon was and I'm obviously not ready to dismantle it yet.

Who can resist kicking up a pile of leaves at this time of year?

I can’t believe that it’s three weeks since I last wrote. Since then autumn has definitely arrived and the Sierra Leone trip I was getting so excited about has had to be cancelled due to the SL national elections being held in November. Schools are closing next week and will stay closed until after the elections or longer if there is any trouble. Hopefully there will be another opportunity to arrange something in the spring. Both daughters have had disappointments too and I am proud of how they are dealing with them. Grace didn’t get offered the job in Scotland and has had another interview since which she also didn’t get but on Tuesday this week she’s going up to Scotland again to be interviewed for a research assistant job with a MEP -  we’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed for that one. I do love having her at home though; the delicious evening meals she makes and of course the company and someone to come home to. In Eve’s case the extension work has stalled because of the company who were supplying and fitting the windows going bankrupt and lots of little problems constantly need sorting out.

Two things have given me a real buzz recently. I went to Bradford University and ran a workshop on food ethics, mostly in relation to Fairtrade and food miles for second year undergrads on a BSc course. The students were an eclectic group and very appropriate for One World Week. The free One World Week event in Skipton I help to plan every year was all day yesterday. It was a great success and for the first time it looks as if we will have covered all our overheads through the lunch, coffee and tea sales. We had a speaker from OXFAM who was talking about the Birth Rights Campaign – despite free antenatal care for pregnant women in their country since 2008, 75 women per week are still dying in child birth in Ghana. We also started a book of messages for Malala, the 14 yr old schoolgirl from Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for education for girls, and who is now recovering in a hospital in Birmingham. Lots of people wrote messages and children drew pictures for her. Let’s hope she makes a full recovery and is able to resume her education soon.

I am reminded of Margaret Meade’s words ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has’.  What do you think?

Plenteousness

How many pencils and pens do you have in your house, more than ten, more than twenty, more than fifty? I had more than fifty and still have lots even after Grace and I went through drawers, pots and pencil cases this week to find some to go into the two backpacks we’ve been putting together. We’ve also had lots of fun trawling charity shops in Harrogate and Ilkley looking for metal spoons, children’s shorts, t-shirts and dresses. All this because our vicar decided that this Harvest, as well as fresh produce and non-perishable foods, we would collect items for the Backpack Project, a simple way to help children from poor families in Liberia and Malawi get an education that will help them escape poverty in later life. The whole idea obviously caught the imagination of many  people in the congregation and the ‘Smiley Faces’ group I help to lead on Friday afternoons, as we got loads of items this morning and we’re going to have lots of fun making up the backpacks this week.



Some of the backpacks in the process of filling

Africa has always had a special place in my heart since Simon and I spent two years in Sierra Leone and I’m so excited because I have the opportunity to go back for the first time next month. If all works out I will be travelling with a teacher from a local Dales primary school to Bo, the second largest city in Sierra Leone, to visit some of the schools there that have links with Craven schools. It will only be a short visit but hopefully the precursor of a future visit longer visit.

When we were working in Sierra Leone one of my very good friends was married and next weekend is her Ruby Wedding Anniversary. Today (Sunday) I drove across to Pilling, on the Fylde Coast of Lancashire where I grew up, to celebrate this milestone. The party was a surprise and at a daughter’s home, a farm that specialises in breeding dairy cattle - as soon as the heifers calve they are sold and their female selected calves are reared until they themselves have their first calf. After a delicious lunch some of us borrowed wellies and were taken on a tour of the farm. When I was a teenager I used to help my granddad milk whenever I could so I really enjoyed being up close and personal with the cattle, especially as nearly all the farms that used to have dairy cows in our village now only have sheep.  Whilst we were walking around hundreds of Pink Footed geese flew over in several V shaped formations back to their roosting places on the marsh after feeding on the rotting potatoes and corn yet to be harvested on the moss land. A wonderful sight and very common in Pilling at this time of year.



Just a few of the geese



Anniversaries

Today is my wedding anniversary and this afternoon one of the lovely girls I taught at Skipton Girls’ High was married in the village church in Embsay. It doesn’t seem very long since she was sitting in my classroom! Today is a beautiful autumnal day but it was showery, cool and dull 39 years ago when I was married. The weather didn’t dampen our spirits though - Simon was terribly nervous and even signed the marriage certificate in the wrong place - I was very excited. Back then I had ginger hair and lots of freckles in the summer so a cream dress was a must, but in 1973 everyone wore white and choosing not to wear white had connotations. Since Thursday my hair has been temporarily (it will wash out in 12 weeks or so) restored to almost its former colour. I felt like a change.

Although Simon isn’t here to reminisce with me or make cheeky comments about my hair I haven’t felt sad all day, only grateful that we had so many adventures together and pleased that I have lots and lots of happy memories. We have a living legacy in the shape of our children and grandchildren who never fail to delight me (frustrate me too at times!) yet also remind me of the huge challenges of family life – hard work but so worthwhile.

Sorry I can't get this image to be the right way up! I think the sculpture could reflect the characteristics of a successful  marriage. If each pebble respresents one year we didn't manage to complete this arch. Constructing this must have needed a lot of patience and a knowledge of mathematics so on that basis I couldn't have done it.

Thank you to the friends who have remembered and sent messages. It seems very strange ngetting any anniversary cards although we didn’t usually get many but it’s still my wedding anniversary and  I appreciated the two pretty cards I received earlier this week. I have worn the heart shaped felt brooch Simon chose for me all day.  I joined his mum for a delicious lunch which she had made for us both. My contribution was fresh Scottish raspberries. I wonder how much longer they will be around as the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness gathers pace – yes I’m fan of Keats’ poetry.

I love having Grace at home although I don’t expect that it will be for very long. She has a final stage interview next week in London and if that doesn’t come to anything she will be making sure that there are other opportunities to go for. She is finding the Yorkshire weather a bit depressing and doesn’t like running in the rain so that has posed a few problems on most days.  Wearing new running shoes with a special insole to correct her flat footedness is working and she has already set up a Virgin Money Giving account to collect sponsorship for the MSA Trust when she runs in the London Marathon next year.  Here is the link if you would like to sponsor her www.virginmoneygiving.com/GraceRoodhouse

Just heard that Volume 5 of the Creative Industries Journal (CIJ - Simon was its Founding Editor) will include a celebration of Simon’s work. I’m looking forward to reading that because Simon considered each issue of the CIJ to have the potential to introduce new ideas, explore new areas and introduce new voices not previously heard so I am wondering  what will be said about his contribution to the Creative Industries.