A Half Day Out in Pateley Bridge

So there we were all packed up and ready to venture out into the big wide world.The sun had been shining all morning and we were all ready to set off for a half day out!

I had been down to church to let the service engineer in to service the organ blower, and after returning home we packed all the necessary in the car (Ruby's food, water, dishes etc) and were just about to set off when it started to spit with rain. We decided that the weather was likely to take up, and the spots of rain cease, so off we set.

On arrival in Pateley Bridge we parked the car in the car park and headed for a small cafe in King's Court. We had discovered this place sometime previously when we had been up to How Stean Gorge and the cafe there was shut.

The noticeboard in the entrance to King's Court advertising the shop part of the cafe.

 The Coffee House.

This is where we ate - cheese and cranberry sandwiches in brown bread with a delicious side salad. Dot followed up with a slice of plum pie and cream and I had an almond slice. All the food is home baked and very tasty!

Whilst Dot went off to explore the shops in the High Street, I took some photos of the Union Jack bedecked King's Court and High Street. All put up to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The Entrance to King's Court.

 Inside the entrance to King's Court

Below are some views of the High Street

Our Journey up to Ardrossan

The route we take to the Isle of Arran is fairly straight forward (no need for Sat Nav's!). 

Firstly we head to Skipton and then take the A65 to the M6 Motorway, which we join and then head northwards. We usually take a break at the Southwaite Services, which is situated between J41 and J42. By now we have travelled approximately ninety five and a half miles. We usually arrive hear about 1 hour and 40 minutes after we have left home. Dot & I will have a walk round the W H Smith shop, to stretch our legs, whilst Ruby has chance to stretch her legs and, if necessary, relieve her bladder!

Eighteen miles further north we join the A75 approaching the village of Gretna Green, which was famed as the place where runaway couples could be married by the village blacksmith over the anvil. (This is in Scotland, and in olden times the marriage laws were quite different to those in England!)

The Gretna Green Blacksmith's Shop

Close up of the Blacksmith's Shop

We continue on the A75 to Dumfries, where we then join the A76, for about sixty three miles, passing through some beautiful Scottish Borders Scenery, before arriving on the outskirts of Kilmarnock. The town is famous for at least two reasons.

The farming community of the early fifties will remember the "Little Grey Fergie" a tractor held in high repute by farmers everywhere. From 1946 these tractors were built in Kilmarnock, with a large Massey-Harris factory present on the outskirts of the town. It later became Massey-Ferguson, before closing in 1978.

The Little Grey Fergie

The other reason for Kilmarnock's fame is a famous whisky brand - Johnny Walker, which was manufactured and bottled here until the end of 2011. When Diego - the present owners announced the closure of the bottling plant

Johnny Walker Red label

Our journey continues on the A71 to Irvine, Saltcoats and Ardrossan, where we pick up the ferry.

It's Only Four Months To Our Holidays!

It's got round to that time of year when thoughts turn towards holidays. I do promise you that they had turned to holidays before the warm sunny weather appeared on the horizon, in fact I have left our holiday booking a little bit late this year, but fortunately the weeks we wanted and the places we wanted were still available.

It is always a bit of a problem sorting out when we go away on holiday due to the fact that from now until the end of September I seem to always have dozens of weddings to play for.

So the first job is a careful look in the diary to try and find two consecutive weeks when I don't have any weddings to play for. This is easier said than done. During the month of July I have at least two weddings to play for each week, and sometimes three. August and September are no better! However with one wedding booked for Saturday 29th September, the next wedding I have booked is not until Saturday 20th October, so by asking my deputy to play for the September wedding I can get a clear fortnight.

Next problem is, are the two self self catering establishments available for the consecutive weeks we require? A quick look on their websites confirms that they are, so telephone calls to each reserves the weeks we require at the appropriate establishments! An e mail booking with Caledonian MacBrayne, running their car ferry on the Ardrossan - Brodick route completes the necessary arrangements!

Caledonian MacBrayne is an important element of the Scottish scene. It runs a ferry service to many of the West Coast islands.

This is the current CalMac Network of ferries.



We have visited the Isle of Arran for nigh on twenty years now, and the first CalMac ferry we sailed on was called the Isle of Arran.

The MV Isle of Arran

As passenger numbers grew, and particularly during the Summer Months a second smaller ferry was introduced to run between the Isle of Arran sailings, but eventually a newer larger boat was introduced to the Ardrossan - Brodick run. This is the Caledonian Isles.

The Caledonian Isles at Ardrossan Harbour



The Caledonian Isles en route for Brodick

The Caledonian Isles approaching Brodick Pier

Garden Makers & Yet More About Books

It was such a lovely day on Tuesday that Dot & I decided to go out for the afternoon. We headed towards Skipton, then turned left off the A65 to a tiny village called Wigglesworth. About a mile out the village is a Garden Centre called Garden Makers. The last time we visited I remember that the wife of the owner cooked all her own food for the cafe, and I tasted the most delicious bread I had ever had in my life.

The Garden Makers Logo

The Plant Centre, and the Cafe in the background.

A huge stone carving of a Great Dane greets you at the entrance.

Dot, with Ruby, the Great Dane & her puppies!

We sat down at one of the outside circular tables, under the shade of a sun umbrella, to a delicious home made lasagne, salad and garlic bread, followed by cups of coffee. (I say cups, because we each had our cup refilled twice after the initial cup!) Dot had a slice of Lemon cake and I had a slice of Coffee & Walnut cake.

It was then time to explore the plants and flowers on display. Needless to say we did not leave empty handed!

Back to Books.........

I have just finished reading "Northumberland and Land of the Prince Bishops", by Ed Geldard. Ed is a landscape photographer, and he has compiled his book in four sections, each taking in a River Valley. The four sections are:- Tees Valley, Tyne Valley, Coquet Valley, and Tweed Valley. 

The book looks at Prehistoric sites, Roman sites, Medieval sites, Castles, Pele Towers, Bastle Houses and other fortified dwellings and all manner of interesting places and sites. It is beautifully illustrated with Ed's original photography.

As I have mentioned previously I use the services of four book sales companies, and I have just put in an order with Bibliophile. Bibliophile has the honour of being "By appointment to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh" and its collection of books for sale are listed under 52 different categories!

These are the ones I am eagerly awaiting at the moment......

An 810 page biography of the man who created such classic films as Dr Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, A Passage to India, Ryan's Daughter, Great Expectations and many more.

A 310 page softback autobiography of Ken Russell (the L'Enfant Terrible of British Cinema) with a complete filmography

 Two Hundred and Fifty quintessentially British Lists of Top Tens!

This 112 page softback  book published by David and Charles  and written by Norman Newton covers the beauty, historical significance and scenery of the North West Highlands of Scotland - an area we visited for an extended holiday a number of years ago.

The next book I will be reading is "The Classic fM Hall of Fame" which contains descriptions about the top 300 favourite classical pieces of music voted for by Classic fM listeners

This book was bought with book tokens which I received over the Christmas period, and I waited until Waterstones had their post Christmas sale, obtaining the book for £9.99 as opposed to the asking price of £25.00!

Books, Books and More Books!

Over the years I have been an avid collector and reader of books. I keep these catalogued on my computer, as a means of easily finding any book. A look at this catalogue will give you an idea of my interests and hobbies.



You will find books listed on such subjects as Scotland – Wester Ross, Sutherland, Arran, Mull, Iona, Skye, The Outer Hebrides:- Uist, Barra, Harris & Lewis, Benbecula, Barra, Stirling, The Borders, and Edinburgh.


The North East – Northumbria, Durham, Alnwick, Bamburgh, Beamish, Belford, Berwick upon Tweed, Ford & Etal Estate, Farne Islands, Hadrian’s Wall, Hexham, Holy Island (or Lindisfarne), Morpeth, Newcastle, Seahouses, Wallington, and Warkworth.


The Lake District, The Yorkshire Coast, The Yorkshire Dales, The Peak District, Warwickshire, Cotswold, London,Devon, Cornwall, Jersey.


Heritage – Abbey Buildings, Cathedrals, Monasteries, Churches, Castles etc. Northern Saints.


Tape Recording & Hi Fi, Audio Visual, Film & TV, Video & Still Photography


Fiction – crime, murder, mystery


Computing.


James Herriott Books,

Gavin Maxwell Books,

Loch Ness Monster/Paranormal/Mystery


Books on Humour, Music, Ornithology, Nature, Wild Life.

I purchase quite a number of books from book club type sources. These offer cut price books, and no minimum purchase. The ones I use are Postscript Books, Bibliophile Books, The Book People and Selections. They all offer a wide variety of books at very reasonable prices.

I recently purchased books priced between £17.99 - £18.99 for £5.99, and these were not books which had been published years ago, and out of date!!

Here is a selection of the books I have purchased recently.....

Written by a local man, Bill Mitchell, who used to work for the local paper (The Craven Herald & Pioneer) and full of interesting stories about the people and the area.

A fascinating look at Berwick, Holy Island, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Alnwick and Warkworth Castles. Full of glorious photographs.

Dr. Stan Beckensall was a tutor at the Teacher Training College which used to be housed in Alnwick Castle. He specialises in Northumberland Rock Art.

In this hardback book, Rupert Matthews recounts the many mysterious going-on in Northumberland.

A book of evocative photographs of Mull and Iona, taken by John Macpherson, with an introduction by Lorn Macintyre, who was the son of the manager of the Clydesdale Bank on Tobermory Main Street.

 John Potter's hardback book of photographs on Yorkshire.

A paperback book with photographs and short descriptions of Yorkshire Dales Villages.



Gareth Owen was employed at Shepperton Studios and he tells the story of the studios with lots of his own photographs.

I did say at the outset of this blog that I was an avid reader, and with the exception of the two books on Yorkshire, I have read all the other books within the last two months!

A Mixed Bag This Week!

The previous week has been a bit of a mixed bag. Last Monday (7th) was the Early Spring Bank Holiday, so the Male Voice choir had an "evening off."

During the previous week we had been told that one of our ex next door neighbour's husband had died, and his funeral was taking place on the Tuesday.

We also learnt that one of our previous Doctors had died, and we attended her funeral, as she had become a family friend. We met up with one of Dot's nursing colleagues and her husband, who was head of the practice some years ago.

On Thursday I had another talk booked on My Kind of Music - Classical Music used in Advertising which I gave to the local Bingley Inner Wheel. I had mentioned a couple of the pieces of music and adverts that were used in my last week's blog, so let me jog your memory and see if you recall the music used in "I'm a Cadbury's Fruit and Nut Case" - of course it's that tune from the Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite.Did you know that Frank Muir did the voice over, and he concluded the advert with "We make these up as we go along you know!" 

Who can forget the music which featured in the Hovis Advert, where a young boy pushes a bicycle, complete with a front pannier up a steep cobble stoned hill? [It's supposed to be in Yorkshire, but it was filmed at Gold Hill, Shaftsbury, Dorset, and featured a Brass Band] I wonder if you remember the baker in the advert. It was the actor Bill Maynard.

Now what about Walls Ice Cream, and in particular "Just one Cornetto, Give it to me. Delicious Ice Cream from Italee!" The music used in this advert was an Italian Neapolitan Love Song called O Sole Mio, but you may remember it better as the song that Elvis Presley sang - It's Now or Never - which just proves you can't keep a good melody down!

On Friday I had to play for a funeral at St Lawrence Pudsey, and on Saturday I had to play for a wedding at my "Home Church" - Bingley All Saints.

Apart from the usual Sunday Morning Service, I had to play for an evening service which was to launch Christian Aid Week.

Another Fun Filled Week

As I said last week, "Glancing ahead on my calendar I see that it looks to be another busy week!" I wasn't mistaken.

On Monday afternoon I had a visit from our new vicar and we spent a couple of hours sorting all the hymns out for the Sunday Services in May, and two mid week Eucharist services as well. [Ascension Day and Corpus Christi]

I followed this up with a practice for my Male Voice Choir in the evening, and as we had not changed the music in our folders for some time, I decided that we would remove all the copies from our folders, replace them in the music library and then each member could choose a favourite song which we would look at over the next few weeks.


Tuesday morning I was down at church to play for a Toddler's Praise service (which are held once a month) and I usually have to prepare the music (ie write it out) for these services as there are no copies of printed music for the songs the Toddlers Sing. Fortunately the music usually consists of nursery rhyme tunes to simple religious ditties.

Tuesday evening I was back at church taking a choir practice (they are usually on Thursday evenings, but some forgetful soul had arranged a concert in church on the Thursday evening!) Se rehearsed the hymns for the next three weeks and the hymns and music for Ascension Day, which I will not be able to play for. Long before a new vicar appeared on the horizon I had arranged to talk to a Ladies Groups at the Grove Church in Horsforth, so I have had to find someone to play the service for me. Luckily  for me the accompanist at the male voice choir is also an organist who doesn't have a regular commitment so he can play the service for me! 

Wednesday I had to take the car in to the local Vauxhall garage for a change of brake pads, and as they had no courtesy car available I thought I was going to have to wait for it, but luckily the manager got me a lift home and had me collected when my car was ready!

Thursday afternoon I was out talking about classical music used in advertising, to a retired group in the nearby village of Wilsden. Remember the Esso advert "Esso Sign means Happy motoring, Esso Sign Happy motoring" sung to the tune of the Toreadors Song from Carmen, or Walls Cornetto, sung to the Italian Neapolitan Love Song "O Sole Mio"? - You can't keep a good tune down - Elvis Presley recorded it as "It's Now or Never!" 


Friday I was at Rudding Park in Harrogate playing for a wedding in the estate chapel.

 Rudding Park Chapel

Rudding Park Hotel on the left and the chapel on the right

On Saturday Dot had arranged to take Mollie to Harrogate. (Mollie had had a birthday a few days previously and was wanting to visit Harrogate to spend some of her birthday money!) So I took the two of them to Bingley station, and collected them from the 6.20 pm train, when they returned to Bingley station. Dot and I were going to a concert at Bingley Parish Church at 7.00 pm, which was in aid of he Children's Society, so it was a bit of a rush!

A local junior school choir, a brass quartet and the Bingley St Clare Singers took part, and the concert proved to be very enjoyable.

With Bank Holiday Monday next week things should be a bit quieter!

A Fun Filled Week - Well, Pretty Busy Anyway!

It's been one of those weeks last week.

Let me explain. At 10.15 on Wednesday morning I was due to give a talk to the Shipley Retired Men's Forum in Shipley Library. As there is very restricted parking by the library and I had some equipment to off load I asked the booking secretary if I would be able to park near the library. "Yes", he said, "Just go into the library and explain that you are giving us a talk and they will issue you with a parking permit." 

This would have been fine, if the Shipley Retired Mens Forum was the only group meeting there at 10.15, but when I arrived at 10.00 the parking area looked to be already full. There were two taxis parked by the side of the library, occupying enough space for a double decker bus, so I asked one of the taxi drivers if he could move to one side so that I could park. He did so, but when I pulled into the very restricted space I couldn't fully open my door, and get out!

I eventually parked in the space reserved for the library staff, blocking in two of their cars, but fortunately none of them needed to move their cars during my talk. Shortly after the end of my talk I had to play for a funeral at St Margaret's Church Frizinghall. 

Thursday afternoon I had another funeral to play for at St Margaret's Frizinghall, and a combined choir practice was scheduled at Bingley All Saints church on Thursday evening. This was so that all the singers who would be making up the choir for the new Vicars induction service could have a practice of Panis Angelicus and the five hymns to be sung during the service.

Two elderly ladies had requested that I give them a lift, and before I collected them I went down to church to make sure that the heating was on for the practice. If it isn't, the best description of the church would be - think freezer!

I had tried to ascertain exactly how many members would be making up the choir, and which voices they would be, but like the best laid plans of mice and men....... some choirs just supplied me with a number of people who would be attending, and to make life more complicated one choir couldn't attend the joint practice, and had, at the last minute, pulled out of singing Panis Angelicus. I had worked out a processional plan, and a seating plan on the numbers I had been supplied with, and just to complicate matters, three extra bodies turned up for the practice - I now had 37 bodies to fit into the choir stalls. A huge shoe horn would have been of great assistance at this point! I added extra seats to one end of the four choir pews and we just about got everybody seated!

Earlier on in the week my Meriva had been showing InSP on the milometer which tells me that the car is "In Service Period" - ie it needs its annual service. So at 08.30 on Friday morning I was down at JCT600 in Shipley, and as they didn't have a courtesy car available I had to wait until my car had had its service.

At 19.30 on Friday evening there was a practice arranged for all those involved in the Induction Service. At the end of this practice I had gathered all the information I needed to know how and where I could seat the various voices in the choir stalls, but as a communion service was involved it meant that all the choir members would have to vacate their places to receive communion and then get back into the same places ready to sing Panis Angelicus. This was not quite as straight forward as you may think, due to the fact that the front choir stalls have access at both ends, whislt the rear choir stalls only have access at the altar end.

I carefully arranged that the first person out of the choir pew was the last person to receive communion (and consequently the last person out of the choir pew was the first person to receive communion) so that they returned to their original seats.

The new vicar then suggested that it would be rather nice if we had a crucifer (Cross bearer) to carry the processional cross and lead the choir in. This person would have to be drawn from the ranks of the combined choir.

Brilliant idea! Choose one of the last people who were to be seated so they could still occupy their correct place in the choir stalls when all the choir had filled into the seats.

Leading out of the choir stalls for the recessional hymn would entail a different order, due to the fact that the ladies could exit from the congregation end of their stalls, whilst the men could only exit from the altar end. Again, careful planning ensured that the sopranos, were followed by the altos, who in turn were followed by the tenors and eventually the basses.

All would have been fine except on Saturday, 30 minutes before the service was due to start four extra choir members turned up, and I only had space to seat three of them, by adding yet more chairs on one end of the choir pews.

I lined the choir up in their processional order, gave out the copies of the music to the hymns, and the copies of Panis Angelicus, and left my deputy organist to send them merrily on their way, whilst I played some voluntaries for 20 minutes before the commencement of the service. My deputy was accompanying the Communion Hymn and Panis Angelicus whilst I conducted.

We had a full church, with a forty strong choir, about thirty supporting clergy and a congregation of 250+. A coach full of the new Vicars previous parishioners from Upper Norwood in London made the journey to her induction.

The Bishop of Bradfod (The Very Reverend Nick Baines) instituted the Rev Beverely Mason as priest in charge of Bingley All Saints and St Aidan's Crossflatts.

The Rev. Beverley Mason

Licensing Service Booklet

A superb spread of food, tea, coffee and wine was available for all in the Parish Hall at the conclusion of the service, and it was almost 19.00 before Dot and I left!

I played for the usual Sunday Service, and we had arranged to go out for a meal with our next door neighbours, so we visited a local Toby Jug Inn (The Beeches) in Keighley for Sunday lunch - which we managed to eat at tea time! 

Glancing ahead on my calendar I see that it looks to be another busy week!