my small society affected by weather and illness

Not a good month, February, I think most years, and this year certainly lived up to my billing of it. The first Coasties of the month was cancelled, the second one I felt too unwell to go to. Fortunately I was still well enough to sit by the phone and the computer. In the old days when I went to paid work the rule was too ill to go to work, too ill for anything else. Now as a volunteer I can pick and choose my levels of illness, another good thing about having a pension not a salary.

So there have been two Tuesdays of Short Stop since I last blogged, www.lassn.org.uk. Only a couple of potentially homeless asylum seekers, Guinea and Pakistan this time, both  found shelter from the cold and the wet quite quickly. I have a chat with one of the hosts about his email address, I assume it is to do with viniculture, but no it is a Christian organisation. So I learn something new. Another host and I discuss halal meals. It is the beginning of the horsemeat incidents, so all labelling is becoming suspect and  so we agree a non meat meal is safest. My local butcher is profiting from all this I am pleased to say.

I am also able to catch up on the organising of our local Fairtrade Craft Fair. We  have several local craft people coming as well as the Fairtrade stalls. Some of them will be making their craft items as well as, hopefully, selling. If you live nearby it's Saturday March 9th, 10am to 4pm at the Friends' Meeting House, Greengate Malton YO17 7EN. Free entry! There is a photo shoot for our local paper to be sorted out and one or two people to be chased up.

The Malton and Norton Fairtrade group is participating in the Yorkshire Fairtrade www.fairtradeyorkshire.org.uk  'sell a tonne of Fairtrade rice in Fairtrade fortnight challenge'. As a small group we are trying to sell 45kg, bigger groups 90kg. Contact Yorkshire Fairtrade to find your nearest stockist.

Before I was unwell I pay my friend in Leeds a flying visit. One of her local friends is there too. We talk about how we hope to be able to use a van and a driver to help to move her stuff when she has to move again. Her wonderful collecting of unwanted stuff dumped on waste land has gleaned her a bed, a fridge freezer and a table. She may have to go into a hostel for a short time before going into an unfurnished flat, so none of this must be lost. Luckily a friend of mine has offered some space in her garage to store her precious things. On the bus back I become so engrossed in my book that I almost miss my stop!

Hopefully I will be back to Coasties next Wednesday, although I think I shall have to give a Supertask, back in the Mire (see 6th March 2012), a miss this year. I am off on Granny duties after Coasties and need to keep my strength up for that!

A very average week, but then Coasties go out for lunch

A bit of everything this week. Short Stop, lassn.org.uk, first; only two referrals, but a lot of hosts have a Long Stop guest, two hosts were ill and it was obviously a busy evening in Leeds as several were going out. So it was touch and go, but eventually both young men were placed in warm and welcoming homes with a hot meal to look forward to. One young man from Eritrea had not turned up on Monday night, we all worried about him, hopefully I will find out next Tuesday where he went.

we struggle in the mud, thanks
to Tristan for the picture

Wednesday was Coasties, the roads were clear and so were the alum works at Ravenscar. So it was continuing with the Cleveland Way alternative route. www.nationaltrail.co.uk/clevelandway. Mud was the order of the day, all over the place. Some people ingeniously devised a drain to take a newly discovered spring away from the steps, whilst I and a colleague moved bigger and bigger pieces of stone from the site of the new path to a storage area. They must be saved, they are archaeological treasures from long lost parts of the alum workings.

a drain to take the spring
water away from the steps

it looks good, but the hail
wasn't!

Suddenly we looked up to see a perfect rainbow, but it was the harbinger of a dreadful hail and rain storm, we got to the barn just in time, early lunch we decided.

Thursday I finally got to Leeds. Unfortunately my friend was not in the mood to really celebrate her permission to stay in this country; her boiler still not fixed and no running water in the kitchen. However after I had made various phone calls she relaxed and we pored over the letter from the Home Office. It is such a flat sort of letter, one feels it should be in gilt letters! However, there it is in black and white, her 'status' as asylum seekers call it. We talked about the fact that she will have to move again and all the rest of the hoops she will have to jump through. She know it will be tough, but of course she doesn't mind.

On and off during the week I have been emailing about our Fairtrade Craft Fair in March, it is gradually coming together, stalls and publicity. We have made a link with the regional Fairtrade group, www.fairtradeyorkshire.org.uk, so that is another way to publicise our event. Yorkshire is the first region in England to achieve Fairtrade status and our small group in Malton and Norton is part of that.

Yesterday was the social highlight of Coasties' year. We take off our muddy boots, our T shirts and fleeces, put on our smart clothes and go out for lunch. Some of us bring our partners, usually left at home in the warm and the dry. I's not just hard work and fun, it's also a good meal and fun.



What are these sheep?



Finally today I did a voluntary ranger patrol, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk. checking out various footpaths in the Staintondale area. Except for the mud everwhere, most things were fine, gates, signs and stiles all in good order. Although the mild weather earlier in the winter seems to have encouraged the bramble to keep growing so I will need my secateurs next time. Towards the end of the afternoon I came across the biggest sheep I had ever seen, the ram had two sets of fine horns. Are they Manx Loaghtan?

An average week, but to my mind a very balanced one.

Snow stops Coasties

For two weeks now Coasties www.northyorkmoors.org.uk has been cancelled. The roads were mostly clear, but we would be unable to get to where we were going to work. This is particularly frustrating as the new section of the Cleveland Way www.nationaltrail.co.uk/clevelandway still needs a lot of work to be done before it is completed. There is talk of an opening at the end of March, before the Easter weekend; so fingers crossed for warmer and drier weather.

I had planned to go to Leeds for a belated celebration with my friend, but a heavy cold and cough (mine), meant that will be put off for a week. No need for everyone to suffer.

So I have been indoors doing my small society work.

Quite a lot for Fairtrade www.fairtrade.org.uk/, both locally and in York.

Locally we are busy planning for Fairtrade fortnight, February 25th to March 9th. Various local shops will be asked about displays, but our biggest event is another craft fair, on March 9th in Malton at the Friends' Meeting House. It will showcase local crafts; several people will be doing displays of how they make their items, as well as fairly traded crafts. Below you can see some of the small craft items and jewellery that we will be selling.

we packed these .......

In York, Fairer World www.fairerworldyork.co.uk/ is having to close for about three weeks whilst essential work is carried out on the front of the building. This means that everything has to be packed up and moved to temporary warehousing. Food and fine craft items do not mix with dust and dirt from what will be a building site!  It seems like chaos as we make up boxes, pack and label, but gradually a system emerges and there may be light at the end of a dusty tunnel. This evening is their annual social, where all the various volunteers who help staff the shop get to meet the other volunteers who run the out of shop stalls at schools, village halls and local churches. It is one of those socials where you take a main course or dessert and hope that there is some sort of balance when you get there. It should be fun, but more snow is forecast...................... Watch next week's blog for what happens.



..........and these



Fantastic news

Just after lunch my phone goes, private number, so shall I answer? I do and it is my asylum seeking friend, she is crying and I become desperately worried, why isn't she using her own phone? She explains that the phone is at Solace www.solace-uk.org.uk and hands me over. It is the best news in the world, she has been given leave to stay for 5 years, no wonder she is crying. I speak to her again and amidst the joy and the tears remember to check on her boiler; someone has been round and has ordered a part.

It has been just over 3 years since we first met, through LASSN lassn.org.uk/ . She was incredibly vulnerable, there have been so many downs and only a few ups. But in all that time she has helped as many people as have helped her, a true friend to many. They all wrote to the Home Office supporting her claim, perhaps some of that helped, we shall never know.

The weeks ahead will not be easy; she will have to move again and work her way through the labyrinth that is today's social security system. However I know that as soon as she can she will be contributing back to the community in Leeds that has given her so much support.

my battered UK passport,
maybe one day my friend will have one too

New year, still same small society

Well apparently the Big society is now over, at least it is according to the Torygraph, aka The Telegraph, www.telegraph.co.uk, but as I don't read it I can't vouch for the accuracy of this statement! However my small society will be continuing, as will the blog, now read in Serbia and Egypt, as well as quite a following in Latvia.

Anyway, down to the actuality of what my small society has been up to since the break for Christmas and the New Year. 

A very normal week really, Tuesday and Thursday was LASSN stuff lassn.org.uk . Short Stop was very quiet, the young man from Iranian Kurdistan whom I've placed before and an older man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; I used to teach children from DRC, traumatised by the violence they had seen, they mostly still tried to work hard and do well in their studies. I placed both of them quite quickly and carried on with the tidying up and general household tasks that have been let slip over the holiday. Then I got a lovely text from some hosts who are away but who could have the man from DRC over the weekend (they are fluent French speakers and it is his main language). Thursday I went over to Leeds on the bus, had lunch with my gadding friend and as usual put the world to rights and then dropped in to see my other friend. She has had a lovely Christmas, many friends at church, some of whom stayed over in her new home. However she is desperately worried about a friend who is refusing to answer her phone, although she is in her flat.The friend has had a lot of mental health issues and is obviously not well again. My friend cares enough to put her own worries to one side and worry about a friend in need. There are problems with her boiler, so I phone the housing provider and arrange to check on Monday if anything has been done; it is leaking badly, ours did this before it failed altogether!

not a pond, it's quite deep

it might look muddy but
it's easier to navigate

Wednesday was back to Coasties www.northyorkmoors.org.uk, a fabulous day, sunny, no wind and in the sun we almost got hot as we worked to clear overgrowth from a bridleway. Although we were about four miles inland we were on the edge of a high ridge and could see clearly as far as Filey Brigg and possibly Flamborough Head. As well as the overgrowth, the path was flooded in several places, so blocked drainage ditches were cleared and the floods started to drain away.



a section of the collapsed path



Today I was doing a patrol on the Cleveland Way south of Scarborough, along the coast, www.nationaltrail.co.uk/clevelandway. There have been a lot of land slips, probably caused by the wet weather and they need to be checked. I phone in about a couple, it seems that they are probably no worse than a week ago, but the professionals will check them again next week. It is incredibly muddy and I slip and slide, fortunately not where the path has fallen into the sea. One section of the Cleveland Way that was diverted some years ago now goes through some lovely woods, fallen logs covered with moss make this look like a gateway.

a surreal landscape

As I drive home I realise how lucky I am. Two good days in beautiful countryside, less than an hour from my home, almost on my doorstep. And as a by product I've got fitter in the process, well my heart rate went up and I think that's what supposed to happen.

Not the streets tonight, mulled wine and mince pies

A very average week, Tuesday was Short Stop, or the Grace project as I must learn to call it, lassn.org.uk. Only one referral today, but sadly it is the same very young man from Iran whom I have placed before; he is, like many other  young people barely out of childhood, a bit disorganised, and doesn't always make it to the bed that has been found for him. So last night he spent on the streets of Leeds, the kind host today will meet him at the bus stop, let's hope he makes it that far.

Wednesday is the last Coasties of the year www.northyorkmoors.org.uk, it's not raining, we are on the coast near Cloughton and there will be mulled wine and mince pies at lunch time, so three reasons to be cheerful. Steps are cleaned, ditches dug and blackthorn cut back, the Cleveland Way is more passable than it was yesterday. Two flights of stone steps are now three times the width they were yesterday and many months before that.


ready to heat the mulled wine


After the lunch time treats we all slow down a little, well I do, but the fine weather spurs us on and we carry on until our usual finishing time of 3 o'clock. We are still dry, which is a massive change from the last few weeks. I however am rather muddy, having done a graceful slide into the mud before a ditch was re-dug. I drive home, my usual feeling of smug satisfaction with another job well done. Really this is win win, I get some exercise, the path gets maintained and I get the cost of my petrol covered as well. There is also the good company of the rest of the group. Short Stop can get a little lonely at times, the phone calls all going to voicemail, so Wednesday is a good counterpoint to that.



The next day, in the pouring rain I get the bus to Leeds. It never ceases to amaze me that a modern bus cannot have some sort of ventilation that would prevent all the windows running with condensation the minute it is raining or cold! My friend and I exchange cards and I give her a gift for Christmas, a nun from her church is also visiting as well as another friend and there is a lot of laughter and chatting. It all seems like any other gathering of young women (and me) until the others leave and we talk about the latest stage of her appeal to be allowed to stay in this country. A shadow falls and again I think what as asset she would be to all of us and particularly the community she is part of in Leeds.

So my small society ends another year, it did not occur to me when I started that it would keep going for so long. But the need for the blog is still there, there are enough people viewing it for me to go on writing it, and the number of viewings from different countries is growing.

The next post will be in another year, the days will have started to lengthen and we can dream of certainties, like the daffodils at Farndale, and hopes, like my friend's permission to stay.

Saturday in the warm, Sunday out in the mist

Late on Friday I returned from my short holiday and plunged straight back into my small society. 

But first a tale from north Norway; a young guide in telling us about his country, says how  settled asylum seekers are welcomed with lessons in Norwegian, a job and somewhere to live. He obviously approves of this and has no hesitation in telling a coach full of (mostly) British people how it is here in Norway. How refreshing and sadly unlikely to happen here, even if a guide like him felt the same way, would they say so?

So on Saturday I help a friend with her Fairtrade stall in her village hall, it is a regular monthly event in Huttons Ambo, there are also children's activities, a book swap as well as hot drinks and wonderful cakes. Every body seems to know every one else, even I see some old friends and a lovely sociable afternoon passes very quickly, we even make quite a lot of money! And Father Christmas arrives. huttonsambo.blogspot.com/ As usual all the produce from Fairer World www.fairerworldyork.co.uk/.

So, please keep your dog on a lead

Today I was in the mist and the mud on the southern edge of the North York Moors, doing my last Voluntary Ranger patrol of the year. www.northyorkmoors.org.uk There was no open moorland, but a lovely mixture of field edges, woodland and the ever present river Seven, seen here from a most welcome bridge, I really didn't fancy the ford just downstream!

the river Seven, December mist

At the entrance to a nearby meadow, where people are able to wander down to the river's edge, even though it is not a public right of way, there was a terrible warning about what can go wrong.

I squelched back through leaf mould and deep mud, grateful for my new super wellington boots, warm and waterproof.

I am glad I do a variety of different activities for my small society; I enjoyed the solitude of today's winter ranger patrol,  but the warmth and friendliness in the village hall gave a lovely balance to the weekend back at home.