Sunday 27 July 2014

The Winner Is...............

Hello friends

Hope you are all having a great weekend. We had some rain last night so it's a bit cooler here and much more comfortable.

The names of all who entered my 100 post give away were placed in a hat and with the help of my assistant, L, the names were shuffled.



Do you like the bracelet? L made it this morning with her loom bands (latest craze) and it's called A Ladder.

Anyway I guess you want to know whose name she pulled out. Are you ready.


Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


It's

Are you ready

I can feel the anticipation




Alison from Heavenly Handmade!

Alison please will you email me your full postal address so that I can put your parcel in the post.

Carolx

Monday 21 July 2014

100....

Hello friends

This is my 100th blog post and I've something special for you but you'll have to wait until the end.

The town where I live used to cover a much bigger area when it was mentioned in the Doomsday book (1086) and centuries later it was divided into smaller areas creating villages/townships. The area within which I live became a village and had only few residents but with continuous house building over very many years the number of residents have grown and is now a town.

Today I wanted to show you some buildings that I find interesting around where I live. On the left is Marsh Mill (I can see the top when I look out of my front door) This was built in 1794 by Ralph Slater and was commissioned by Bold Hesketh (there is a lot of history regarding Bold Hesketh that can be found all over the internet and is quite interesting) The windmill was used to ground corn/wheat for flour up until 1922 then in 1928 the 1st and 2nd floors were used as a tea room until 1935 and was then left empty. In 1957 it bought by the council and has gone through a few restorations, mainly to the sails and is open to the public at weekends.

Just a little way beyond the mill is a little village of shops, apartments, a pub, a posh restaurant and one or two offices with a lovely cobbled courtyard. Once a month there is a popular farmers market.

When I go to my craft club,at the library, I walk though this village. This foot path looks as though it's a lovely country walk but on either side of them bushes and trees are parking bays for the village and pub and comes out at another car park behind the library and the Little Theatre.
The library and theatre was opened in 1938 by Sir Percy Meadon, who was the director of education for Lancashire at the time; is owned by Lancashire county council.
The theatre, however, now owned and look after by the local council and a few years back was renovated inside and brought up to date this has made it more versatile and can be used for all kinds of events. You can't see from the pictures I've taken but there's a beautiful garden at the front of these two buildings.

A little further down the road is the Methodist church. This part (on the right) was built in 1812 at the cost of £150 and then in 1905 the church next door was built and the old church then became the church hall.
In 2011 the church went through a huge refurbishment to modernise the interior which made it more accessible to both the Church and the wider community.

This next picture doesn't look very interesting but it has gone through a few changes. Built in 1876 by Earnest Thornton as a private house until 1949 when it was bought by the sisters of the religious order of mercy in Burnley and for 28 years was a holiday home for the nuns. It was then empty for many years, and this is when I got to know of this house, before being turned into a restaurant, first the Linden Tree then The Victorian House. I worked there when it was the Victorian House and had a ghostly experience there. Now it's owned by a brewery who erected and ugly extension onto the side and made it the front door. The view you can see on the picture is of the original front door.

Across the road from the pub is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. It was built in 1899 and designed by Pugin  & Pugin and became a listed building in 2006. Looking at the records this does not appear to include the priests home that's attached to the side. There is a school linked to the church but it's a modern school, however a short walk down this road and you will come to one of the second oldest schools in the area. It was opened in September 1914 as a fresh air school. It was a new idea and was designed so that there should be plenty of fresh air available to prevent getting TB. The school is planning big celebrations for the coming year.



The next picture (on the right) is known as The Old Smithe. It was built in 1804 and is a listed building. It looks well preserved and under that solid roof is a thatched roof and that is all I know about it.

And now for the final picture. This is Raikes Farm also known as Primrose Cottage. This is also a listed building. It has a date stone winch reads 1692 but records show that there was a death at this address in 1595 and a baptism in 1601. It was built of cobble stones similar to the garden wall but has since been pebble dashed. The farm house is L shaped with the leg going behind the building. I grew up near this farm and knew the family. It's up for sale £450,00 for the house and two run down barns that have planning permission for conversion.
Hope you enjoyed your trip seeing some of the old buildings in my area.

We are at the end now so it's time for the something special to celebrate my 100th blog post. I can't believe I've actually stuck with it for so long. I did keep a diary for two years , the year up to the millennium and the year after. I've put a few things together to do a give away, a small blank wooden picture frame just waiting for you to decorate along with a hanging wooden butterfly and an egg shape, there are some fluffy flower seeds (might want to save them until next year) a packet of salad leave to grow, a mini scented candle and some chocolates.  All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is. be a follower and leave a comment and all names will go in a hat and the winner will be drawn and announced on Sunday.

Best of luck

Carolx

Sunday 13 July 2014

I'm Back

Hi everyone

I'm back. From where I hear you ask. Well, I'll tell you but first I think you better get some refreshments as this could take a while.

I've been quite busy again with exam invigilating for GCSE's and A levels and although they finished a couple of weeks ago I was asked to stay on and do the year 9's and 10's exams which finished earlier this week.  I worked on the days that mum was at day care and I tried to get ahead at the weekends but by Friday I just got behind in everything.

I'm still working on the twiddlemuffs and have fourteen ready for picking up, from my local library, next Thursday. I will do a photo next week. I made two muffs from scratch for relatives of two friends and one more to make.
I've had so much support, from the library craft club, the fourteen that are ready were knitted by them and today I was given a further seventeen. Whilst I have been away from the club it was decided to set a target of one hundred muffs before Christmas. We are half way there. I can't thank, all the ladies and one gent, enough for their help and dedication and the difference they will make to people with dementia. I will have to make them some cakes when we reach our target.

After the rainy gala at Poulton we had one more to do the following week and that was our local one and what an amazing day that was. The committee managed to arrange for the procession to include some of the old route (this procession was the 115th) which made it three miles long in total and I walked it in the blazing sunshine and got quite burnt. The atmosphere was the best it had been for a long time and the procession was the longest it had been for ten yeas. L retired from being the Prince Charming so we've not attend any other galas. yeah. Afterwards we called in home to freshen up (we live near by) and return to the gala field for L and her friend to go on some of the fairground rides. I didn't take any photos this year because we have so many from last year.

At the end of June I had the second injection (out of three) in my eye, the following day it was my birthday and the day after that I was at the dentist having preparations done ready for a crown followed by a trip to the beach with the guides, that was a lovely night watching the guides having so much fun and the best bit was when some of the girls came up to us and said, Thank you. Next Monday we break up for the summer.

We've been to Cleveleys beach M and L climbed on the new rocks (the hills in the background are part of the Lake District) and I played with my new camera and then we walked back along the sand It was a lovely day and something we should do more often. We live close enough but I don't think we appreciate it enough.

We've also Been to Fleetwood beach having fun flying a kite, eating ice-cream. watching the boats and walking on the sand. Behind that nice boat, in the distance is Heysham power station.

Dad had a much needed break in Tenerife for a week and came back much refreshed and mum went into a home that specialised in dementia care. The staff there were very caring and had time to spend with the residents. There were activities on every day and the residents were encouraged to join in but could leave if they wanted to to. I visited as often as I could but that was my busy week and only managed to see mum about four times in nine days. I did have one complaint and that was although all her clothes had her name in them some still went missing and she had other peoples in her draws. I understand that this is quite often the case in most homes. Dad had to take some things back to the home and collect some of mums. The strangest thing to go missing was one of her slippers, it disappeared a couple of days after she arrived and its still not turned up. (She does need some new ones). Dad is looking at his next break at around October/November and the next one after I think he's planning for February/March.

Well I think that's me caught up now. Hope you are still awake. I'm afraid I had a few sleeps whilst writing this as I didn't have enough time to do it all in one go.

Carolx













Farewell

I've taken some time to think this through and decided to stop blogging. I'm not getting out of it as much as I did when I first sta...