Three Sparky Individuals, Two Lectures, One Amazing Day

Out on the road with Donna Williams in Burnley and Aintree.

Friday 19th September 2008 will go down as one of my greatest days in the near three decades of my existence on this planet of ours.

Ewing School: 40 Years On And Still Going Strong

A West Didsbury special school comes of age

The year 1968 was best remembered for Manchester United being the first English team to lift the European Cup,

The Spirit of ‘Monkey Tennis’ Is Alive And Well

On ITV2

Several years back, we used to have a jolly old pop at what daft stuff our neighbours across the English Channel were producing. We laughed at daft brand names on ‘That’s Life’,

The Not So Perfect 10: Bus Boarding Peeves

Having focused on the things I have most missed about buses in the Greater Manchester area, this topic focuses on the things which nark me off the most.

Doctor Strangeroute (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bus)

How the local bus (almost) saved me from commuting worries

In the last two weeks, most of us UK residents will have known about the flood affecting the North West and Yorkshire areas. This has obviously had a profound effect on the railways within Lancashire and Yorkshire

The Alternative Christmas Reading List

Christmas is coming, repeats are fast looming, as people in Argos are still queueing and awaiting their number - some twenty minutes later…

As eventual as death and taxation, the terrestrial television will face another repetition of Bonds from Moore to Dalton, and furniture adverts.

“…Remember, pavements are more important than your children.*”

600 more face court for feet on seats

Is dirtying a train seat as heinous a crime as murder, rape, assault or robbery? In the eyes of one rail franchise, this seems to be the case.

C30, C60, C90, Woah…!

The joys of composing a mixtape

It is hard to believe that the compact cassette format is over 40 years old. Invented by Philips in 1963, it was, in conjunction with the Sony Walkman, the iPod of its day by the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“Don’t be a Plonker if you can be a Stonker…”

Yes folks, it’s that time of the year again, ‘Comic Relief’.

What started off a ninety minute programme has mushroomed into an evening long telethon, with linked programmes.  For the purpose of this post, I would like to hear your memories of previous Comic Relief years.  I shall start off with my memories.

For me, 2001 was the best year, as I spent an hour outside the Stalybridge branch of Tescos, collecting for Comic Relief, dressed as an overweight Emily Howard lookalike!  Ten years earlier, I was at school, and took part in a ‘talent contest’ singing the then popular Right Said Fred song ‘I’m Too Sexy’, followed by ‘The Stonk’ by Hale and Pace.  In the same year, I brought the house down at the school hall with an impression of a washing machine for a version of ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’, organised by some sixth formers.

For the next part of this post, I shall make reference to the Comic Relief songs.

My favourite was the first ever single for the said charity, ‘Living Doll’.  This was a version by Cliff Richard and The Young Ones (yes, Rik, Vyvian, Mike and Neil of the 1982 - 4 sitcom… heavv-vee!) from 1986.  The most cheesiest one has to be ‘The Stonk’ by Hale and Pace and the Stonkers (which was a more blatant single; a trend followed by Right Said Fred with ‘Stick It Out’).  This is due to the talent contest mentioned earlier.

The Singles (note, this is not a complete list; any additions welcome):

• 1986: ‘Living Doll’, Cliff Richard and the Young Ones;
• 1987-8: ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’, Mel (Smith) and Kim (Wilde);
• 1989: ‘Help’, Bananarama and La Na Ne Na Na Noo (a.k.a French and Saunders);
• 1991: ‘The Stonk’, Hale and Pace and the Stonkers;
• 1993: ‘Stick It Out’, Right Said Fred;
• 1997: ‘Mama/Who Do You Think You Are?’, The Spice Girls;
• 2007: ‘Walk This Way’, Girls Aloud.

Your comments please…

The Adventures of Dill and Linby: Home Farm revisited

Before I begin this posting, I must point out that this posting is not going to be some fairy tale of two goats in the Ilkeston area.

This time seventeen years ago, I was staying at a farm between Heanor and Ilkeston. This was with my primary school at the time, and part of the five day holiday involved helping out on the farm from milking goats to mucking out.

On land once owned by the Miller Mundy family, Home Farm in Shipley is part of the Shipley Country Park. On one side was the now closed American Adventure theme park and the remains of Shipley Hall. On the other was Osborne’s lake, nearest to Heanor.

In 1990, when I went, most of Home Farm was used for farming holidays. Under the name of ‘Farmcraft’, families and school parties were encourage to muck out the goat pens and milk goats, as well as learn about the history of the Miller Mundy family. The hubris of Home Farm was a square, where in front of the entrance were kitchens and dining facilities. On the left hand side was the main goat pen, a smaller goat pen, and four pig sties. On the right hand was living accommodation, horse stables and a separate goat pen. At the front was further accommodation for human visitors, and the second part of the main goat pen. Behind the pig sties were rabbit hutches and a barn which was the preserve of Bully and (how original) Bull. Behind the main farm was a water tower and the former dairy. This was used as a gift shop.

Human accommodation blocks were named after rivers in Derbyshire, such as ‘Derwent’, ‘Soar’ and ‘Erewash’. I, along with three others stayed in ‘Soar’, overlooking the road into Mapperley and Heanor.

The routine involved getting up early [0700 hours] for breakfast (no change there; I did just that in 1990 as I do now for work in 2007), feeding the animals and feeding myself. After the humans’ breakfast came the mucking out duties - which seemed a better alternative to the washing up. After that we would go out for the rest of the day till there evening feeding session.

My favourite part of the holiday was working with the animals, milking the goats.  Though dirty work, it was a change from seeing my more mundane surroundings - and certainly a change from my current job, in a city centre office block.  The country park itself was lovely and peaceful, despite being a few minutes away from the A6007 Ilkeston Road and A609 Derby Road.

Within full view of the remains of Shipley Hall was the American Adventure theme park.  Both Farmcraft and the American Adventure theme park had featured on children’s television programmes - both presented by Ross King between 1988 - 90.  The former attraction, where I stayed, appeared on ‘The 8.15 From Manchester’ a Summer Saturday morning magazine programme on BBC1 (the Autumn/Winter equivalent that year was ‘Going Live’).  The latter was used for ‘Young Krypton’, a children’s version of ‘The Krypton Factor’, between 1988 - 89 presented by Ross King.

If you click on this link below, you will find a picture of Home Farm itself. To the right hand side of the circular tower was/is the Soar apartment where I stayed for five days in 1990.

Home Farm, Shipley, Derbyshire

S.V., 14th March 2007