back after a solstice break

Some may call it Christmas and the New Year, some may call it the winter solstice and the feast of Saturnalia; whatever your choice we volunteers take a break. None of my activities are involved with the emergency services so I stop for a while, huddle indoors in the dark and feed and water my family. My last activity was a food bank run, hopefully with supplies to last whilst even the food bank was closed, ryedale.foodbank.org.uk/. Just before the break I met a friend in Leeds who said to me in disbelief, "you're telling me you have a food bank in Ryedale!" Indeed we do, we would rather not, but that is the reality of life in the apparent prosperity of my home town.

lunch break

the view back as we left

First back were the Coasties, but on a Thursday and with all the rest of the North York Moors volunteers, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/ , it was our annual Supertask. We were planting oak trees on a slope cleared from its previous cover of conifers. Or rather not completely cleared; we dug and stumbled amongst the brash left by the felling contractors, but the sun shone and we chatted and planted. By the end of the day we had planted over 1000 trees. If you travel on the North York Moors Railway you can see the hill side between Pickering and Levisham stations www.nymr.co.uk/. 

an old privy?

Then I did a Ranger patrol between Thornton Dale and Dalby forest, does anyone know what this curious brick structure is just south of Sand Dale? The forest may seem rather dull in the winter, but then this amazing lichen comes along to liven it up, the picture on the right. 





Next up was the AGM of LASSN, Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network, lassn.org.uk/. I have ?rashly? agreed to become a Trustee, a member of a committee, how mad am I? After years of committee work I had said never again, but it is very good cause and only six meetings a year, so..................here we go. Before the meeting I meet a new person to befriend, she is lonely as she has been sent here from London where all her friends are. We chat for an hour and I agree to come back next week. I also manage to see my 'leave to remain' friend, who is still having the most bizarre struggles with her gas provider. They want her to pay less each month to pay off the debt that their incompetence led her into. I persuade them that she can, just, afford to go on paying the higher amount and wants to. Words fail me.



At one of the social evenings that are our local Fairtrade meetings, in a pub, of course, we sort out our now annual local and Fairtrade Craft Fair. We are also excited that very soon we will have our very own website, watch this space. Meanwhile here is the snazzy poster for our craft fair. We also plan our activities and displays for Fairtrade Fortnight, end of February and beginning of March. www.fairtrade.org.uk/

my long shadow in
the winter sun

packing up, job done

Lastly another day in the sun for Coasties, but very cold. We are cutting back overgrowing hedges on the Cleveland Way north of Cloughton, www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cleveland-way. However the work makes me warm enough to have to take off my hat and scarf. We even find a sheltered place for lunch, the views are stupendous, all the way to Flamborough head.
 

Lots of Fairtrade stalls and a goodbye

A very hectic few weeks with Fairtrade stalls at two local schools, West Heslerton and St Mary's in Malton, lots of pocket money priced toys and gifts for parents. Both schools excelled themselves and raised more in previous years, both for Fairtrade producers and in a small way for their own funds. We also had stalls at the local council offices and at a concert at Saville Street Methodist church, where over £100 worth of goods was sold in about half an hour. A lot of hard work, but in the end a success. Thanks again to Fairer World shop in York, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk/.

I said 'goodbye' to one of our National Park rangers, once at lunch after a hard morning's work at Hayburn Wyke, then a smarter occasion when the Voluntary Rangers had a 'posh' meal. Both sad, particularly so as it should never have happened. Maintenance of the footpath and bridleway network will inevitably suffer, so fewer people will visit the Park which will then mean less income for local small businesses etc, and so we go on.

On a cold, but sunny morning we 'dressed' the trees in Malton Castle Garden, www.maltoncastlegarden.org.uk . Local Brownie groups came along and using biodegradable coloured rice paper, kindly donated by our local Scoops shop, coloured and cut and made these lovely decorations. We agreed to do it again next year and one of the Guide leaders offered to do hot drinks, an excellent idea. The children had a wonderful time, running about in the open space and scuffling through the leaves.

I did my first 'run' taking food for the local food bank to the distribution centre; very timely as it was the week that the national press featured an important report on the dreadful fact that food banks are now a feature of life in almost every town in the country. I used my winter fuel allowance to add my own contribution, really this nonsense of pensioners being treated with kid gloves whilst younger people in work have all their benefits effectively cut, has to stop.ryedale.foodbank.org.uk/



building the frame of
the board walk

Coasties,  www.northyorkmoors.org.uk, seems to have been in the far north for several weeks, first building a board walk across an incredibly boggy area north of Scaling Dam, then repairing steps and cutting back gorse on the Cleveland Way www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cleveland-way, at Skinningrove.

the sun on pigeon lofts
 above Skinningrove

 
 


 Earlier in the month we
 had been in these magical woods at Hayburn Wyke (left).







This is the season for parties and volunteers are no exception. LASSN, lassn.org.uk, had theirs on a very wet evening in Leeds. However the atmosphere was cheerful as we shared a meal and exchanged tips and stories about our friends who are either seeking refuge or have gained the right to stay in this country.

So a happy end to this post, the last of 2014. I will share more thoughts with you next year.



  

 

 



some additions to my small society

Before I come on to the item in the title I thought you might like to see the audience for a recent Coasties task www.northyorkmoors.org.uk. Whilst we cut back the trees encroaching on a bridleway next to their field they watched and watched and watched. They say cattle are curious, well these certainly were. It was earlier this month, when there were still some sunny days and I took this picture on the right on the way home. Not for the first time I thought how lucky I am to be able to volunteer in such a beautiful area. It seems to have been a month for bridleways, until last week when we had the most wonderful bonfire, working with the National Trust www.nationaltrust.org.uk at Ravenscar, alas I forgot my camera, so you will have to take my word for it.

The addition is a truly shocking fact, that here in a comparatively wealthy part of the country we have a food bank, ryedale.foodbank.org.uk. And no you can't just get a parcel if you feel like it, or don't want to go shopping. You have to fulfil strict criteria and then be referred by someone like a health visitor or a doctor. I am going to be helping by moving donated food from the collecting places to the 'warehouse' where it is checked for dates, sorted and packed into suitable packs for families, single people etc. I had a long chat with the organiser, whose dearest aim is not to have a job, but we both thought that, sadly, that might be a long term aim. I have slight issues with the fact, that, like most food banks, it is part of the Trussell Trust www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects, which is a Christian based organisation, but as they are happy to have Humanists like me involved I won't moan any more. What a disgrace it is that one of the richest countries in the world has reduced some of its citizens to having to rely on food parcels.

I had a good evening at the LASSN lassn.org.uk offices; after meeting my friend and once again spending time on the phone trying to sort out the endless saga of her fuel bill. I gave  up trying to understand when a helpful young man told me that, despite the bill showing an increased amount, actually she could now pay less each month. Later several of the volunteers had a useful hour discussing how we could meet up more often and share ideas and good practice. I have agreed to become a Trustee (if I am elected at the AGM), in the New Year, having said no committees when I retired, we shall see how long I last!

There have been several Fairtrade www.fairtrade.org.uk/ stalls since I last blogged. At this time of the year the crafts always sell well; people still surprised that Fairtrade now goes well beyond the original coffee, tea and chocolate. Our latest venture was at a craft fair in the Milton Rooms in Malton www.themiltonrooms.com/. A bigger picture than usual so you can see some of the crafts available. Tomorrow I will be taking some of these and other pocket money items to two local schools so that their pupils can buy presents for their families and help families in developing countries at the same time. Thank you to West Heslerton and St Mary's Malton. Trade is better than Aid. thanks to Fairer World in York for providing the goods www.fairerworldyork.co.uk/

A bit of a sad week ahead as Coasties says goodbye to one of our Rangers; a victim of the wholly unnecessary cuts that are decimating out public services for vindictive political reasons that have nothing to do with any sensible economic policies. 

the blog has returned

Why has the blog come back now? This beautiful wind turbine is on a farm between Ravenscar and Staintondale; yesterday there was hardly a breath of wind and yet it was turning and generating clean power for the farmer. So well done the farmer and well done to the National Park www.northyorkmoors.org.uk for giving it planning permission. I felt that the latest report on climate change meant that those of us who know that climate change is largely human made and support renewables needed to stand up and be counted. So as well as my reporting on the usual aspects of my small society I am now adding what I have done or seen to help in the struggle for increased renewable energy supplies. Just behind this farm is a small building which belongs to the Society of Friends www.quaker.org.uk, as well as its own wind turbine it also has a solar panel in the garden.

a recycled Fairtrade  reindeer
watches over Christmas gifts

fairly traded toys

Many of the farmers that Fairtrade, www.fairtrade.org.uk/, supports are at risk of  rising sea levels, others are at risk of the desert creeping closer; so our annual shop in Malton is important in both raising the profile of Fairtrade and increasing their sales. Over two days and despite dreadful weather we sold over £1600 worth of Fairtrade food, gifts and Christmas cards. Thank you to Fairer World www.fairerworldyork.co.uk/ in York for providing us with all the shop's stock.

This afternoon I took some Fairtrade food and Christmas items to a meeting of the local Sight Savers group, sightsupportryedale.org/, thank you to them for inviting me and buying so generously.

Tomorrow I am off to Leeds to see my 'leave to stay' friend and meet other volunteers at LASSN, lassn.org.uk/. Over tea and coffee we will catch up with new ideas and exchange helpful thoughts with other people also trying to support these very vulnerable, and at times wrongly maligned, small group of people living amongst us.

Coasties as usual on Wednesday, so now that the blog has returned you will be able to catch up with the cutting back and drain clearing next week.
 

au revoir, auf wiedersehn or arrivederci but not goodbye

Other languages have a word for something that says "I'll see you again", we only seem to have "Goodbye". It's not goodbye, but it might be a while.

Until now writing the Blog was fun, suddenly it seems a chore. Maybe it's the long summer evenings, so much nicer to be out doing things in the garden; but maybe it's the cracks showing even in my small society.

Not just the cuts, but now people in the National Park I have worked with for over five years being made redundant. Not because their job suddenly doesn't need doing, but because an ideologically driven Government hates anything that the public sector does. The nagging worry that my volunteering is replacing their paid work.

People today at my local Council not buying their usual small things at the twice yearly Fairtrade stall because it's so close to payday and yes I did believe them because whilst prices go up they are on a pay freeze.

My new asylum seeking friends prevented from doing the care work that they would willingly do that no-one else wants to do, because uniquely amongst people on benefits the Government thinks that they should sit at home and twiddle their thumbs. Meanwhile other claimants with extreme disabilities or life threatening illnesses are supposed to go out to work.

It is disheartening and maybe in the autumn I will come back to the Blog, we shall see.

In the meantime I will carry on doing my various stuff, I just won't be blogging about it.

Mostly on the Moors and some Fairtrade

In my last post in May I mentioned that I would be doing a voluntary ranger patrol in the Ravenscar area www.northyorkmoors.org.uk; well the bad news was a large amount of litter in a car park near the radio mast on the road to Stoupe Beck but the good news was several groups of enthusiastic young people doing a Duke of Edinburgh weekend walk. I chatted to them and their leaders, they were all enjoying it and were really keen to come back to the area again. Apart from the litter and a lot of muddy paths I had a lovely day in some warm sunshine.

the beach at Saltburn

Coasties has been to far flung places in June, twice out of the National Park, but doing repair work on the Cleveland Way for which the National Park is responsible. www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cleveland-way. First we were at Saltburn, step repair work in glorious sunshine. Then we were inland above Slapeworth quarry near Guisborough, one of the very first alum works after the secret of alum processing was 'stolen' from the Vatican early in the seventeenth century. Usually if it is the alum works we are by the coast at Ravenscar, but this was very different. However, here is a view of one of the old industrial buildings on the other side of the valley at Newgate Bank. www.teeswildlife.org/what-we-do/...to.../alum.../slapewath-works/. It was another hot day as we cleaned steps and cut back huge piles of gorse.

on the spot drainage

Earlier in the month we had been laying drains near Falling Foss, part of the Coast to Coast walk, it is an incredibly muddy area and these made on the spot drains will help to make the path a bit drier. They are very ingenious, two planks of wood held apart to make an open sort of gully. Here is one. It was a most unpleasant day, warm, damp and muddy, so despite every insect repellent known to human we were all plagued by midges and other biting insects. We finished early, enough was enough.

Last week our local Fairtrade group met to discuss plans for the next few months. It will be quiet as we are into the holidays. Just one stall in the next few months, but our website is making good progress and we discussed plans for next year's Food Festival and Folk Festival. Both were successes this year, but we have ideas on how to improve for next year.

Later this week I am off to Leeds to meet my new friends again, lassn.org.uk, more news on that next month.

I have had some feedback from my previous post about the threats to the footpaths and bridleways in the National Park, sadly mostly along the lines, that, somehow, like the tides it is all inevitable. Actually it isn't, but that is what the Government wants you to think and too many of us have  accepted that propaganda.

North York Moors footpaths and bridleways under threat

Only one item in this post. I have just emailed this to local MPs, press, ramblers etc. I don't suppose it will have any effect, but at least they can't say they didn't know.

For over 40 years the North York Moors National Park has managed the footpaths and bridleways on the Moors. There are over 2000 kilometres of these rights of way and a dedicated team of rangers, apprentices, field staff and hundreds of volunteers (probably thousands over the 40 years) has worked incredibly hard to maintain and improve them. Hedges have been cut back, steps built and cleaned, stiles, bridges and gates replaced and repaired, muddy areas drained and signing improved.

There has been a 2% improvement every year so that now there is a satisfaction rate by users of the paths of 96%.

Now all this is at risk. The Park only manages these paths on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council and it has decided that, because of the cuts imposed by the Government, it can no longer afford to do so. The Park has to put in its own money to maintain the paths at the level that visitors expect. It is very unlikely that the County Council, faced with its own budget restrictions, will be able to continue to maintain the paths at their current level. The agreement could end early next year.

Walking is the cheapest and most accessible way of exercising, an increasing need in our over weight society; it is also a help in cases of mild depression. Visitors to the Park, many of whom come to walk or cycle, bring hundreds of thousands of pounds into the area and support hundreds of local jobs.

The teams of volunteers who do much of the day to day maintenance give of their time willingly and with enthusiasm, I am one of them. But we are volunteers, we need the paid staff to lead us, provide the tools and other equipment and decide the priorities week after week. Most of us are retired, we are very happy to volunteer; we do not want the job of being responsible for what I have just outlined.

I am not criticising the National Park or even the County Council, but rather the Government whose short sighted cuts are going to cost more in the long term than they will save in the short term. As I have said they will affect people’s health, the local economy and put another nail in the coffin of what was laughingly called the Big Society. These cuts are not for any economic reason, they are driven by an ideological obsession with reducing anything done by public bodies.