Spotlight Nor'East
York members at La Tasca, a tapas restaurant in York, at the moment that Spain were qualifying for the World Cup Finals. Photo by Joy Lambert
In the September Edition of the Newsletter:
- Chenda Chats
- Regional Wayzgoose
- Where was Geoff?
- Setting the Pace in Saltaire by Marilyn Heron
- Yorkshire Wildlife Park by Tricia Thomas
- Philip Pullman's "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" - Book review by Kathy Lewis
- PLUS Crossword
Chenda Chats
I seem to be making a bit of a career as a disaster looking for somewhere to happen. In June I happened in Shetland. Whilst on the waiting list between one op and the next, it was generally agreed, by those who reckon to know about these things, that it would be OK to go ahead with my planned holiday in Shetland and Orkney. I didn't disagree because I felt fine.
By the time the ferry from Aberdeen arrived in Lerwick (Shetland), I didn't feel fine. I had what's technically described as abdo pain. We toured around for a couple of hours to see if things would improve, but things were definitely not improving, so we went in search of A&E. During the next hour, I was informed that I would have to be admitted, I had a drip inserted in my arm and was being dosed with morphine (again). Some holiday.
When I got to the ward, the staff nurse admitting me started asking me all sorts of questions, then discovered she didn't have a pen to write down the answers, so I gave her one of my pens, for which she seemed very grateful. When she'd finished, she popped the pen down the front of her blouse. My eyes must have followed this, because she winked at me and, in her lovely, lilting Shetland accent said, 'Tha's ma pencil case'. It reminded me of my friend Julie, who I used to go clubbing with. She was so well endowed she could conceal a quarter bottle of gin in her bra, which saved us lots of money on nightclub-price drinks.
Whilst on the subject of bras, bras are a bit of a problem at the moment. In fact, wearing clothes at all is difficult. My midriff looks like it's been used for target practice. There's a couple of wounds where the waist of my trousers would go, so that's no good, and there's one where the centre front of my bra would go, so that's no good, either. Shame I didn't keep all those lovely embroidered smocks from the flower power days. I've wandered from the plot, again. I blame the morphine.
After a few days of tests and scans and stuff it was decided that I had an infected gall bladder and peritonitis, and the only option was urgent surgery. At St James' in Leeds, the urgent waiting list is ten weeks. In Shetland urgent means the day after tomorrow. And it only took that long because my consultant wanted the theatre for the whole afternoon. If I'd been quick and simple and straightforward it would have happened the same day.
So if you should happen to be in need of surgery and don't like the size of the waiting list at your local hospital, I can thoroughly recommend health tourism to Shetland. We do, technically, have the right to choose which hospital we are referred to, and it's a fantastic hospital. Apart from important things like the personal attention (twice a day on ward rounds, as well as in the operating theatre) of your designated consultant, and very high standards of cleanliness and hygiene, the nursing staff are so lovely and friendly and the views are fantastic. The hospital overlooks the bay next to Lerwick harbour and there are huge picture windows in the wards. And ... during the day, they open the windows, so you get fresh sea air delivered straight to your bed. As it was midsummer, it was light all night as well as all day, but I never tired of my view.
Sorry, that's all I've got space for this month, so I'll conclude this epic saga next month. I'm away to design a frontless bra now, then I can maybe add it to my oxymoron collection.
Look forward to seeing you.
I'm Chenda Appleyard
Where Was Geoff?
Last month Geoff was at Gainsborough Old Hall, which was built in about 1460 and has connections with the Pilgrim Fathers.
Regional Wayzgoose
Our next Regional Wayzgoose (day out) is on Saturday 16th October at The Empress on the Stray in Harrogate. The address is 10 Church Square, HG1 4SP and it is on the A59, near a roundabout, on the edge of the town centre.
Our guests will be the Yangchin Group. These are a group of young musicians who play unusual instruments and music from all over the world. We will be able to learn a bit about their various instruments and hear some examples of a wide range of world music.
As usual, we will have planned activities during the morning, followed by a free buffet lunch, and then opportunities to informally explore Harrogate and/or the surrounding area during the afternoon. More details in next month's Spotlight.
Book with Chenda
Setting the Pace in Saltaire
You may well have heard of the model village of Saltaire near Bradford. Here, Sir Titus Salt built his woollen mill on the banks of the river Aire in the mid 19th century, and around it a village for his workers. At the time it was the biggest factory in Europe and produced miles of cloth per day.
Industry in Salt's Mill has been alive and well these past 20 years too. Pace plc makes set-top boxes for digital television and the company is now number one in the world in this field, ahead of companies like Motorola and Technicolor (formerly Thomson). It has won Queen's Awards for the past 3 years.
To add a few figures, last year Pace sold over 17 million set-top boxes and its turnover exceeded £1 billion. It employs over 1400 people world wide, nearly 500 of whom are at the HQ in Salt's Mill. There are large offices/labs in Boca Raton, Florida, Bangalore and Paris. The Paris offices have come from the recent acquisitions of Philips set-top box business and networks company Bewan.
Although at one time Pace actually had its own production lines in Salt's Mill, for the past nine years manufacturing has been outsourced to China, Mexico, Ukraine and Malaysia.
The company was founded in 1982 by David Hood, and, although he is no longer on the board, he is still a major shareholder. The current CEO is Neil Gaydon, who has brought Pace back from tough times a few years ago to its very successful position today.
Pace sells throughout the world and has been at the forefront of innovations in TV technology. First there was the move from analogue TV to digital (Pace made the world's first digital set-top box in 1995), then came PVR boxes (with a hard disk in them for recording programmes), then came high-definition TV. Most recently there is "Multidweller" for use in apartment blocks and "Home content sharing" for home networks.
Pace is definitely one to watch!
Marilyn Heron
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
You may have seen in the news earlier this year about some lions being rescued from a Romanian zoo and coming to Yorkshire. We thought we'd go to see them.
The Yorkshire Wildlife park is near Doncaster, between junctions 3 and 4 of the M18. We left the M18 at J3 and followed the circuitous route detailed on the website (http://www.yorkshirewildlifepark.net/). There are no signs until you get quite close so it's a good idea to look up the directions before you set out. It's down the wonderfully named Warning Tongue Lane.
The 13 lions from arrived from Oradea zoo in February. Their ages range from 18 months to 27 years - very old for a lion. Having lived all their lives in cages they were in poor condition and so underwent a period of rehabilitation whilst their new accommodation 'Lion Country' was prepared. It opened in May and is believed to be the largest non-drive through lion reserve in the country and possibly the world. The lions are in 3 enclosures with a 800m long path weaving between. The enclosures are hills, the tops of which are on the same level as the path with a high fence in the dip between. When we were there the grass hadn't yet grown so the lions were lazing about on dirt heaps.
Other wildlife at the park includes Lechwe, Zebra, Ostrich and Ankole Cattle in the 'African Plains', Painted Hunting Dogs - the most endangered carnivore in Africa, Meerkats, Raccoon dogs and Llama. There are 2 'walk through' enclosures, one for wallabies and one for lemurs, which contains 3 different species. We were fortunate to arrive at the latter at feeding time and so were entertained by the antics of the lemurs chasing the treats whilst listening to a very interesting talk by the keeper.
There are also a number of more domesticated animals at the park: Donkeys, Goats, Chickens, Guinea fowl, Geese, and Ducks; and a petting area, betraying its origins as a Farm Visitor Centre.
The wildlife park only opened in the spring of '09 and has the air of being a work in progress. My only complaint is that the paths are gravel and I was wearing sandals!
There are the usual money spending opportunities in the cafe and shop and there is also a play barn for young visitors.
All in all an interesting and enjoyable afternoon.
Tricia Thomas
Photos by Beth Thomas
Book review: "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" by Philip Pullman
Pullman is anti-religion, apparently. This little piece of background knowledge led me to his most recent novel with great interest, wondering whether this would prove to be the blunt, more forceful brother to "His Dark Materials"; certainly the screams of "blasphemy" I had already read suggested this might be the case.
While following the familiar story of Jesus' life, Pullman adds a new twist by introducing a twin brother who watches and chronicles every happening in the hope of drawing an inner truth from potentially misunderstood events. Guided by a mysterious character who could potentially be an angel or a demon, the twin Christ wrestles with his conscience while his more charismatic brother Jesus draws the wrathful attention of the authorities with his own brand of faith.
This is a short book, unnaturally elongated by the deceptively large type, which initially made me wonder if it was intended for adults or children. The latter was suggested by the large gold lettering on the back proclaiming "This is a STORY", which left me slightly affronted. Gee, Phil, thanks for pointing that out, but if I survived "The Da Vinci Code" I think I can work it out on my lonesome.
Pullman is known for the simplicity of his language, but the degree of simplicity used here is unusual even for him. I assume this is in imitation of the gospels, but in many cases the descriptions become bald statements of fact, lacking the vividness that usually brings his writing to life.
This shows itself most clearly in the novel's characters, of which only two are fully developed - unsurprisingly those of Jesus and Christ, who are presented as two sides of the same coin. Jesus is the visionary rebel, blinded by his own passion for God's work; Christ is the thoughtful observer, in touch with the realities of life but constantly beset by doubts. Here I found a return to Pullman's form, breathing life into two characters sketched in a few effective words; emotions are often told rather than shown, yet the forceful energy of one and the quiet strength of the other drew me into the story.
And what of the screams?
Unsurprisingly, the changes made to the traditional story - in particular the denouement - will not be to everyone's taste. For me, it was interesting, thought-provoking while still reading, but gone from my mind within a day of finishing. Controversial? I'd have to say any attention it gathers will be less because of its subject matter and more because of the loudly expressed indignation.
I may keep reading, but I won't be screaming.
Kathy Lewis
