shotleyfieldsforever

From 2000 until 2007 I worked as the CEO of a Charity called Toc H. It proved to be an interesting seven years with much variety, many good people and an awful lot of driving. Toc H had been founded in 1915 in Poperinge in Belgium by an army chaplain The Revd Tubby Clayton and had grown to be a major volunteer organisation in the UK. In Belgium the house where Toc H had its beginnings, Talbot House (Toc H being signallers code) continued to provide a place of rest and recreation and hosted many battlefield tours. The house has since been developed into a Museum highlighting not only the work of the House and the Chaplains but also an insight into the First World War. Close by Talbot House is the St Sixtus Trappist Monastery where Beer has been brewed since 1838. The Monastery is in Westvleteran and beer can be bought at the Monastery gate although there is now a Cafe and Visitors Centre (in de Vrede) in the Abbey grounds where Beer, Bread, Pate and Cheese can be bought for...

The picture, like every picture, tells a story. A fifteen year old girl sitting alone outside the Swedish Parliament Building with a placard saying 'school strike for climate change' Greta Thunberg has not only unleashed a powerful desire for action amongst young people across the world in order to address the existential crisis of climate change which the world faces but she has risen to challenge world leaders to address the crisis facing us as human activity continues to degrade the planet we depend on for life. On Friday the 20th September I attended a meeting in Hexham on the subject of climate change organised by the Hexham Council of Churches. A Christian response to climate change aimed at responding with faith, hope and action. Friday was also the day when the world or indeed a large part of the world including here in the  North East went on strike to protest the need for more action on the impact of human activity on the climate and a sustainable future for ...

Snods Edge was in the news today. Cycling's tour of Britain swept through the village which featured in in the SkodaUK King of the Mountains stage of the race. The riders raced up the hill from Shotley Bridge down through Devil's Dip before climbing again up and  through Snods Edge before racing on towards Cumbria and the finishing post for this stage in Kendal. Cycling was a great hobby when I was young. I was a member of the Cyclists Touring Club and a local Potteries Cycling Club when I lived in Stoke on Trent and would with the clubs and with friends cycle most days and most weekends. My bicycle was fitted with a 72" fixed wheel on one hub and a 100" fixed wheel on the other so that the wheel could be turned around to adjust to the gradients, it took a bit longer than changing gear but it made a statement. There was a cycle track in Stoke on Trent and some evenings friends would gather there, cycling from home and then stripping the bikes down to racing...

We took the narrow road to the deep north last week. Not so much following in the footsteps of Basho but in search of Beehives. There were certain Haiku moments en route. Stopping, shopping, losing our way and finding new ways and the sixteen year old Freelander with 160 000 miles on the clock ran like a ten bob watch. We pulled off the narrow road, AKA the A9, and turned into Faskally Woods to release the dogs into the freedom of a walk after being cooped up in the back of the car. Faskally Woods wind their ways around two lakes where ducks and moorhens share the water with Perch and patient fishermen. The paths are well trodden by walkers and their dogs. Our purposes were twofold, first a little of what might be called R&R, the stresses and strains of life in Shotley are not so great but nevertheless they are and the pilgrimage to the deep north represented a change of pace and a change of scene. But we were also there for the more practical purpose of buying Bee...