Winter Break 2

 

Our second winter break took us to Cumbria.

En route we stopped at Kirkby Lonsdale

The roads to our final destination of Millom were winding and went up hill and down dale allowing us vistas of the beautiful countryside. We didn’t know until after our visit that this is the birthplace of the poet Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson OBE (8 January 1914 – 30 May 1987) whose writing career spanned from the 1930s until his death in 1987. Nicholson is best remebered for his poetry but he also wrote novels and plays. He wrote in his attic of his home, a Victorian terraced house and tailoring shop at 14 St George's Terrace in Millom and is known for the straightforward language and his content which reflects the local industries and culture of his area mining, quarrying, and ironworks—the dominant industries in Millom at the time.

This abandoned house was opposite our guest house

Also in Millom is the Hodbarrow RSPB Nature Reserve situated on a coastal lagoon which is located on the site of a former iron mine but the approach was too muddy.

Just down from Millom is the village of Haverigg, which lies on the Duddon. The small seaside fishing village with its dunes and waterpark has a restored lighthouse.

We took a picnic Lake Coniston where we spent a day

On our way home we stopped at Morecambe

and Clapham

and at a retro tearoom at Gargrave

We were lucky with the weather in North West UK in February.  The rain mostly held off and, from time to time, the sun even peeped through!

Friends, family, festival and flowers

Enjoyed the 40^th Wedding Anniversary celebrations of a lovely couple in Clapham, North Yorkshire, birthplace of The Dalesman. Mazeltov Jackie and David. Great atmosphere. We met up with longstanding friends, ate wonderful food and danced the night away at the Ceilidh.

L to R Dave, Ronnie, me, Joy, Andy and Kath

Spring Judging for Yorkshire in Bloom took place this month and, as always, it is a real pleasure and privilege to visit and mark the entries. We were lucky with the weather too. Always inspiring to see what volunteers can achieve as was a regular visit to RHS Harlow Carr Gardens, Harrogate

Now that's what I call a potting shed

We knew that the weather forecast was bleak when we set off for the coast, and when the heavens opened and the wind rocked the caravan and we could hear the roar of the waves, we felt as if we were on a boat. Our visitors who were coming the next day phoned to say they were snowed in!
However we managed a visit to Flamborough before the weather took a turn for the worst.

The old lighthouse in which a fire would be lit

The headland

The theme for this session’s class of flower arranging was cupcakes and here is a picture of my lemon and raspberry ones which will grace my table on Seder Night. (There will be a pic when I work out how to download from my mobile!)

All prepared for Pesach (Passover) and ready for the Seder (when we tell the story of Pesach and have a meal). It is, as usual, a boisterous affair with much singing, debate and reminiscing. The grandchildren participate more each year and we pass on generations of tunes and customs and they add to the family tradition by teaching us new songs they have learnt.

Our annual Pesach picnic took place at Saltaire. We visited the heritage village, park and Salts Mill, set up by a friend from my youth, and enjoyed the Hockney portrayals of East Yorkshire. We bought some small prints of Sledmere and the Yorkshire Wolds which are now hung in the dining room.

Our small, garden pond is now relined and, too late for frog spawn, I brought some tadpoles from a friend’s pond.

I went over the Pennines to visit my sister and her family from London with my other sister and my aunt and uncle. It was nice to see the children again as they grow and change so quickly.

I attended a book launch for local writer Linda Lewis and learnt some useful tips. She delivered an interesting and fluent talk and I wondered if I could do that. What was I thinking about! I should be so lucky to be in that situation.

Recently I have read (a displacement activity for writing?):

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Room by Emma Donoghue; both excellent reads and recommended to me as I would recommend to you.

I am currently reading the Book of Tomorrow an easy read by Cecilia Alhern, whose life story to date sounds like a book in itself.

Other bits and bobs:

Finally the sign has been erected at the coast

Hat trick - certificate, medal and trophy

Her first attempt at flower arranging - not bad?

June and July; wow how time flies when you're enjoying yourself.

Did I mention I have just read Jo Nesbo's The Devil’sStar; a kind of norwegian Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?  I am now reading History of Love by Nicole Krauss.   Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And though Leo doesn't know it, that book survived, inspiring fabulous circumstances, even love. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that very book. And although she has her hands full--keeping track of her brother, Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah), and taking copious notes on How to Survive in the Wild--she undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. 
The novel was inspired by the author's four grandparents and I think it  is being made into a film too.

 I was blown away by the gardens at Chelsea this year although I was too late for tickets and had to watch on the television.  Really inspiring.

Freya leaves the country, but not before losing a shoe.  Broken tooth required painful dental work and more to come.  Bad thing usually come in threes .....

Made a fabulous, fattening cheesecake for Shavuoth, though I say so myself. Took the kids to the children's service where they were treated to icecream.

Sean had a holy communion/8th birthday garden party where we enjoyed chatting with the neighbours.  As it turned out that was the last dry day for a while.

Grandchildren back at school (Hurray!) and I had to take Ellie to the nurse for a booster, which didn't go down well.

Celebrated my birthday at the caravan with special guests visiting for the day.  Weather not too good but managed a ride out to Bridlington.

 cupcakes made and iced by me and Ellie

 Uncle Jack at Topham's

Went to see some of the Chelsea exhibits by Leeds City Council, now housed permanently at Roundhay Park.

and seeing Harlow Carr at its peak



We had a lovely family weekend attending some of the events at the International Jewish Performing Arts Festival held at the Northern Ballet, Leeds.

The play 'They came to Leeds' is set at the end of the nineteenth century and Leeds is throbbing with the influx of Eastern European Jews fleeing the pogroms that are destroying their communities.


In Avram Behr's yard, in Bridge Street, preparations are underway for the wedding of neighbours and childhood sweethearts, Jack Simon and Rose Benjamin.

But not everyone in Leeds views the influx of Jews as a positive move and the celebrations are threatened by violence on the streets.

A classic from the pens of Alec Baron and Louis Saipe, this play was first produced to great acclaim in 1950 and brings to life a colourful and uplifting period in the city's history.

This production was adapted especially for the Festival by Harry Venet as a part of the celebration of '150 Years of Jewish Life in Leeds' and directed by Alfie Israel and none other than my nephew Simon Glass, who also played the bridegroom, Jack Simon.

It was very well received and we all went off to eat a huge amount and, in some cases, drink a huge amount, at Casa Mia in Millennium Square

The next night there was a short film 'Where Have All The Bagels Gone?' by The Zone's Young Filmmakers, decrying the complete loss of jewish bakeries in Leeds.
This was followed by Simon's film and starring many of my relatives and Ben, dressed as a polish immigrant. The film tells the story of a community at a cross-roads, as it celebrates its contributions to a city, whilst preparing to face the challenges of the future.  It certainly made the audience reflect on the future of the Leeds Jewish community.


150 years after escaping poverty and persecution at the hands of the Russian Empire, the sons and daughters of the Jewish immigrants who settled in Leeds are preparing to face their toughest challenge yet. Once housing the largest proportion of Jews in England, the face of Leeds' Jewry has changed dramatically over the past few decades.



Charting the history of the Leeds Jewish community from the slums of the inner city, along their social and economic climb to the leafy suburbs of Moortown and Alwoodley.

Super weekend at Dave and Jacky's at Clapham.  Although retired from providing accommodation to the public, no hospitality could have been better.  Excellent food, convivial company and perfect weather. 
Clapham is situated at the base of Ingleborough mountain one of  theThree Peaks.
Running through the village is Clapham Beck which is fed from Fell Beck which starts on the slopes of Ingleborough and sinks into Gaping Gill, England's highest waterfall, where Fell Beck drops 110 metres vertically down a pothole, and exits via Ingleborough Cave into Clapham Beck. 
Above the village is a man-made lake built and expanded in the 19th century. This provided pressure for the water turbines and the drinking water supply, while the outflow fed an artificial waterfall at the top of the village.

 Alan Bennett has a country cottage in the village. The notable botanist Reginald Farrer (1880-1920) was born and lived in Clapham.  Up until 2000 the Dalesman magazine was based in the village.

Based in the village is the Cave Rescue Organisation which serves people and animals above and below ground across a wide area of the Dales.

We took a stroll through the woods towards the caves.

We saw a performance by the Harrogate Gilbert and Sullivan Society who sang various songs from well-known musicals in the first half followed by Trial by Jury which the cast enjoyed just as much as we did.

We watched Dave bell ringing; the only jewish campanologist that I know of!  Very interesting.

We all agreed it was a weekend for the memory box.

The beautiful weather continued as we made our way through the stunning countryside of the Trough of Bowland, known as Lancashire's hidden gem, before descending to Morecambe Bay and a scrumptious afternoon tea at the newly renovated Midland Hotel.

 the spiral staircase with its ornate ceiling

Judged some amazing entries for Yorkshire in Bloom this week; it is a real privilege to get to see some of these gardens.

On the way to the coast we stopped off at Aldby Gardens Plant Centre which is situated in a Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden at Buttercrambe near Stamford Bridge. It once served the large country estate house Aldby Park.   Full of interesting plants and quirky art work and artifacts, Ann Lloyd, the proprietor, told us of the history of the estate and of her father, James Lloyd, who had work in the Tate Gallery and mentioned many well known artists who he knew well, for example Lowry.

 Cat and Mouse by John Lloyd in the Tate Gallery

James Lloyd (British, 1905-1974)



"The work of James Lloyd I found most interesting and unusual...owing to its individual style, its sincerity of approach and its care in execution. It is the result of perceptive observation of certain everyday things which appeal to the artist, revealed in his own personal way." ( L.S.Lowry, 1971.)


James Lloyd was born in Cheshire and grew up on his father’s farm. He had some interest in art in his younger days, doing small black and white ink drawings, but it wasn’t something he pursued as he worked in a number of careers, including farm laborer, builder’s laborer, lamp lighter, stoker, bus conductor, and policeman. Lloyd was in his forties when he married his second wife, Nancy, and as she relates, it was after the birth of their first child that he seriously took up painting. “It happened one Christmas; there was no money to buy Christmas cards at Woolworths, so James said he would paint them.”






Lloyd appreciated the works of the English artists Turner and Constable, and studied reproductions in books. Upon very close examination, he realized that the pictures were formed of tiny dots as a result of the printing process. It was this discovery that set him on the path of his pointillist technique.



Many of the subjects Lloyd chose for his compositions were scenes of life in the English countryside.



Sir Herbert Read the poet, scholar, literary and art critic, was the same man who helped Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Ben Nicholson establish their work. Along with fellow critic John Berger, they bought some of Lloyd’s work, encouraged him to do more, and brought him to the attention of London art dealers.


James Lloyd was eventually introduced to filmmaker Ken Russell. A television documentary was made about his life and work, titled “The Dotty World of James Lloyd”. He was also cast to play the French painter, Douanier Rousseau in another Russell film.






In 1974, James Lloyd died of a heart attack in Skirpenbeck, near York. He was 69 years old.

 His painting Cat and Mouse is held at the Tate Gallery. At the time, he was the only living artist to have a painting at the Tate. The Anthony Petullo Collection of Outsider Art in Milwaukee has a number of works by Lloyd. Leeds City Art Gallery, Bowes Museum and Thomas's College, York hold work. His work was collected by museums as far apart as Caracas, Venezuela, and Zacreb, Yugoslavia. He won the coveted International Best Primitive Painter Award in 1973, with his painting Boy with Horse.



(Cambridge book and print gallery)


Thus endeth my blog. 

My plan was to write a blog for a year and doesn't time fly when you're having fun?  I have completed much of what I set out to do, and more.  However there are still many ticks to complete on my wish list.

My thanks go out to all those people from countries all over the world, if the stats function on my blogger dashboard is to be believed, who have taken the trouble to read my thoughts.

Comments and other forms of communication are, as always, very appreciated x