Daffodils, Fairtrade and hospital

Well I've been back for some weeks, but busy, busy, busy.

daffodils by the river

The daffodils are coming out at Farndale, so the National Park, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk, has a Mobile Display Unit at Low Mills, the bottom of the Dale, to help visitors enjoy the daffodils and give out information about other aspect of the National Park. Most days three Voluntary Rangers staff it; as well as being in the Unit to help visitors, we walk along the path, doing a bit of litter picking (there is very little) and closing the gates properly. Most of the gates have a latch and if these aren't clicked in place sheep can lean on the gate and hey presto they are in the next field! Unfortunately we also have to ask dog owners to keep their dogs on the lead, only a few thoughtless people, but one loose dog can do a lot of harm to lambs and ewes.


the hills above the dale

 Many of the visitors have been coming back year after year, but every year is different they say. About half the daffodils are out so far, I have one more day there, so hopefully they will all be out for my last visit. The wild garlic is also coming through, so soon there will be white as well as yellow flowers, and finally the bluebells. On my last walk along the river I hear the cry of a curlew, my day is complete.

Our local Fairtrade group has been busy filling in forms in order that we can renew our status as a Fairtrade town, www.fairtrade.org.uk/. Some of the cafes that were using Fairtrade products at our last renewal have closed, but we have other outlets to replace them. More shops are stocking Fairtrade goods, largely because so many big national firms are now making more of their products, like chocolate and sugar, Fairtrade. We look back over the last two years and are quite surprised as to how many different things our small group has been involved in, craft fairs, shops, chocolate tastings, stalls big and small, even a presence at our local Folk Festival. More farmers and their families in developing countries are able to have a better quality of life by their own efforts, not from hand-outs. Surely every one, what ever their political outlook must approve of that?

My friend in Leeds has been hospitalised whilst I was away, complications from a condition that is waiting to be operated on. I go over twice and on one occasion have to be a bit more forceful with staff than I would want to be. It works and she and I get the information that she needs, but why should I have to act like that?

Finally Coasties, www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cleveland-way,

cleaned and restoned

the view as we worked,
not bad

was steps again, this time at Boggle Hole. We cleaned them of grass and mud, put new stones from the beach on them and some of them had to be replaced completely. Towards the end I also got to cut some blackthorn back; it was my first week back after my holidays and I felt that I hadn't been away!


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Forge Valley board walk - job done

the board walk in the sun

I have blogged previously about 'cleaning' the board walk in Forge Valley. Well last Sunday the sun shone and I completed scraping the edges and trying to clear as much as possible of the detritus between the boards. After my comments earlier in the year about gaps between boards I have had a positive response from the 'powers that be', so I am hoping that new board walks will drain better and thus last longer. It was a lovely day and I had to take off my coat and woolly hat!

Earlier in the week Coasties, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/ , had got very cold and wet at Sandsend. We were repairing steps on the Cleveland Way and in a lovely circular walk off the Way through old quarries. However by 2pm it was not just raining, we can cope with that, but blowing a gale too, so tools away and home for a hot shower. Before the rain has really got going two of us had cut back a tall hedge of gorse that was blocking a lovely view point from a memorial bench. No photos though, by the time we had finished it was pouring with rain and my hands were far too cold to take photos.

Yesterday was my last week as a Coordinator for Short Stop, lassn.org.uk/‎ . I have been doing it for about two years and felt it was time for a break. Numbers are dropping as I have referred to in previous posts, and I am hoping to have a new person to befriend in the next couple of months. So if any of you lovely hosts are reading this it has been an honour to work with you.

No more posts for nearly a month, we are off on holiday (again you may well say). I cannot say too many times that that is why essential public services cannot be run by volunteers.

same old stuff, but boring, never

The usual topics, but never the same every week. Short Stop, lassn.org.uk/,  is suddenly busy, three referrals, all from Iran. Does a regime there which looks to us in the west, a little more free, mean that it is easier for people to escape, or is it all an illusion? I manage to place them all, the first two with just one call each, the other takes longer, but finally I strike lucky. One host agonises over saying no, eventually I convince her that I will ring her back if there is any chance he will have to sleep on the street. I don't need to and all is well.

Wednesday is Coasties, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/,  it starts wet, but the drizzle soon eases, just as an easterly wind gets up and we are on the beach. The task is litter picking for the National Trust at Hayburn Wyke.

Hayburn Wyke waterfall

The usually quite placid waterfall is pouring over the edge and two of my colleagues cross the beck with great caution to collect all the large plastic containers that the recent high tides have thrown up. We pick up the usual dreadful detritus: bottles, cans, old rusting bolts, a large tyre, an old car seat and more polystyrene that can be imagined. Most of it has obviously come in from the sea, either dumped by shipping or dropped on another beach along the coast.
After a quick, cold lunch sitting on the huge boulders that pass for beach here, we do a bit more litter picking as the tide starts to come in.

look what we have here

Then we pile it into large dumpy bags and drag it up the hill to where a quad bike can tow the bags further up to the car park. We survey what we have collected with a mixture of horror and pride. There are still masses of tiny pieces of polystyrene on the beach and the ground at the top of the beach, it is almost impossible to pick up. Future archaeologists will call this time the polystyrene age, from the layer they will find fossilised on the beach!

On Monday I had gone over to Leeds on the bus, my friend had a break in recently and the council have fitted her a lovely security gate at the side of the house. Well it would be lovely if it hadn't been installed where any future intruders can hop over into her garden from next door over a one metre fence. She did ask them to move it back, but no that would be too sensible. I make various phone calls and arrange to ring her next week to check on progress. Her phone is pay as you go, and constant hanging on is costing her a fortune, mine is a contract and is much cheaper, but until she can get a credit history she has to continue with this huge expense.

come to the Fair

Every day I am busy emailing and phoning to sort out our local and Fairtrade Craft Fair, the posters have been done by a very talented new member of our group and the stalls are now finalised.
Unfortunately I am away for the Fair, so I am trying to sort it all well in advance.

I now just need to email one of our suppliers, Fairer World in York, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk about the things we would like for one of the stalls.

Tomorrow after Coasties I am off again, family this time, but I will be back in time for Short Stop next Tuesday.
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this time we lunch with a cormorant

Two weeks ago we lunched with the porpoises, this time it was just as sunny, but there was only a cormorant to keep us company. Rain had been forecast for the morning and there was a thick mist as I drove over the Moors, but once again the luck of the Coasties, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk, held and as we parked at Runswick Bay the sun came out. First we carried about fifty step boards and several packs of stubs (the short pieces of wood which hold the step board in place), up a muddy, slippery path for a job to be done in a few weeks time. We were out of the wind and I was soon shedding layers of clothes.

can you see the acorn, the
National Trail sign, pointing
up the beck?

the cormorant drying
its wings

Then we carried on along the beach to Hob Holes, where the Cleveland Way leaves the beach, along, or even in, the beck, up stone steps and then up the steps that needed cleaning and repairing. www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cleveland-way. It was hard work, scraping off the grass, mud and shale to try to get the steps back to their original width and also to give the wooden step boards a chance to dry out. Some needed replacing, a job I always leave to others. We sat on the edge of the beach for lunch, watching the cormorant drying its wings, and all the dog walkers enjoying the winter sun. Not a bad way to spend a winter Wednesday we all agreed.

The previous day had been another Short Stop, lassn.org.uk/, day, but once again no referrals. However the evening was very busy as we had a local Fairtrade group meeting to discuss our plans for Fairtrade Fortnight, foncho.fairtrade.org.uk. As well as the usual run of stalls we also have a banana producer visiting and we are organising another of our Fairtrade and local craft fairs. So the usual discussion about tables, posters and stalls. We seem to sort it all out and various tasks allocated out between ourselves. if you are nearby it is Saturday March 1st at the Friends' Meeting House in Malton, from 10am to 4pm, www.quaker.org.uk/malton.‎


On Friday it was the annual Fairer World, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk, social. All the volunteers and local stall promoters meet in York; we bring food, Charlie and Moira lay on wine, soft drinks, tea and coffee and we have a chance to meet some of the other volunteers. A lovely evening and an opportunity to chat with people I usually just meet in passing.

Yesterday in Manchester I visited a wonderful museum, www.phm.org.uk/, the Peoples' History Museum, which gives the history of how the rights we now take for granted have had to be struggled for over the centuries. Yes there are still changes we need to continue to push for, but this reminded me of how much has been achieved by people working together.

Tomorrow I am off to Leeds to meet my now settled friend. I haven't seen her since Christmas so a good chance to catch up, share some food and meet some of her other friends too.

 

lunching with the porpoises

the Cleveland Way climbing
the hill in the January sun

Well OK, we were sitting on a high cliff at Cloughton and the porpoises (about four) were in the sea beneath us, but still it was a lovely Coasties  www.northyorkmoors.org.uk lunch break. I know they weren't, but it really did look as though they were playing. It was the first Coasties of 2014 and we were doing a really big cut back of blackthorn along the sea ward side of the Cleveland Way. The weather for early January was perfect, sunny, not much wind and not too cold, by lunch time I had even taken off my thick fleece! A colleague and I had been asked to cut right through the hedge to open up a view of a headland as walkers climbed up the steps; "don't fall over," the Park Ranger asked us, we thought maybe we wouldn't.

the view and the barrier

Eventually we had cut through to the cliff edge and made the view asked for, but then it was decided that perhaps a barrier of some of the cut branches would avoid loosing walkers as they admired the view, so this is what it now looks like. If you read this and then walk this section, please do admire the view, it is lovely and it was hard work. I was too nervous to do the very edge bit, my colleague must have nerves of steel.

The previous day, in theory, was Short Stop, lassn.org.uk/, but there were no referrals at all. This always worries me, is there really no one destitute, do they all have friends they can stay with? Several of the referring agencies have had to close some of their drop in facilities, making it harder for destitute asylum seekers to access their help.

Today the person who organises LASSN's befriending scheme rings me, she is wondering whether my friend would help someone in a similar position to her, who has just moved to the same area of Leeds. I say that I am sure she would be delighted, what a lovely idea to go from being supported to being a befriender.

Last Saturday another Voluntary Ranger and I continued cleaning up the board walk in the Forge Valley. If the gap between the boards is not kept clear for water to drain away they will rot, as some of the boards already have. We discuss how far apart they ought to be for this drainage to happen, a lot have been put in almost touching, our hoes do not stand a chance. I even try with a penknife, hopeless. Later I email one of the senior people at the National Park, these boards are very expensive, if they can't be properly maintained it is money wasted. He replies in some agreement and says he will check the standards that are being used, a small triumph for we amateurs? I hope so. After all if volunteers are being used for essential maintenance then it is only right that we can and will have an opinion as to the original construction.

Finally to Fairtrade; last week I gave a talk to a group in Pickering, Sight Support Ryedale, sightsupportryedale.org/. We had a good discussion, the question of fairness for UK farmers came up, I said I agreed, but that was for another pressure group and we could only do so much. I sold a lot of chocolate and snacks and came home feeling that at least a few farmers in developing countries had had their case heard and supported. As usual thanks to Fairer World, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk, for supplying the goods.

I am off on my travels tomorrow, to Bath to stay with an old friend, so once again My Small Society is taking a rest, good thing it doesn't run really essential services.



last post for 2013 - or only post in December!

wooden animals on sale at
Ryedale House

Time flies, they say, when you are enjoying yourself. If that is so then December must have been a most enjoyable month. Much of it was taken up in organising Fairtrade stalls at several different venues. The goods had to be collected from Fairer World in York, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk/‎, taken to the venue, usually a school, and then the things left over, as well as the takings, picked up several days later. I did my best to minimise my mileage and usually managed to pick up or drop off at two places in one journey. One school ran out of jelly beans (yes Fairtrade) and earrings, but a friend in York picked  more of those up for me. I ran a stall myself at the local Council offices, the lovely staff in the canteen invite us there twice a year. This year shiny pens and children's toys were the most popular items. Last year it was earrings and bangles.

After the last few boxes of goods were returned to York and the money counted we had sold over £850 of Fairtrade goods. The schools keep something for their funds and the rest will help Fairer World continue to promote Fairtrade goods in York and its wider neighbourhood.



Sorry it's all gone

Meanwhile Coasties continued as usual, and I squeezed in a trip to see my grandsons. The last Coasties of the year was at Ravenscar, but not above Robin Hood's Bay as we usually are, but slightly further south, right by the 'centre' of the village. Those of you who know Ravenscar will understand the humour of the work centre! In a howling gale and some sharp showers we were cutting back the ever present blackthorn, a helpful off shore wind blew the cuttings far out to sea. However the best was at lunch time, warm mulled wine, mince pies and Christmas chocolate ginger biscuits as a thanks for all our work, thank you Bill and Andrew. www.northyorkmoors.org.uk

I had a trip to Leeds to see my friend, she has had a few problems in her new home, a break in and some precious things taken. Her friends have rallied round and I made several phone calls to try to sort other things out. Her phone is pay as you go, luckily I have a contract with masses of spare minutes; just as well as one call to her housing provider lasted over thirty minutes. We ate together, and I left her a little happier than when I had arrived.

So to the holidays. Short Stop is closed until the New Year, lassn.org.uk/, several of the long term homeless asylum seekers have been found a place to stay for the whole period, others have friends who can cope for the holidays with an extra mouth to feed, but it will not be easy.

As usual much voluntary activity will close down until the New Year, once again I must point out that we are the icing on the cake, essential services cannot and must not be run by the likes of me and my colleagues.

Lastly I remember the Palestinians in Bethlehem; Christians, Muslims and the few non religious people, hemmed in, suffering from power cuts and water shortages, not much holiday fun for them. They are still occupied by a foreign power, just as they were 2000 years ago. So, no change there.

Coasties is mud again, but lots of sunshine too

A few days away with a friend, then family to stay and now back to the usual round of mud, sun and the phone.

Coasties, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk, last week was at Falling Foss, a massive task which will probably take several weeks to complete. Part of the internationally famous Coast to Coast path goes through here and crosses the stream at a ford. Recently there has been a spate of accidents in the wet and the mud so the solution is a very long and, despite ups and downs, level board walk. It is near a well known beauty spot so the plan is to make it suitable for all ages as well as long distance walkers. The engineering and practical skills required are beyond my capabilities, but there are hundreds of pieces of timber to be moved, all across the swamp that is to be bridged. No-one wants to fall over, or lose their boots in the mud, so we set up a chain gang and hand each piece across the worst of the mud and carry them where is it slightly less wet.

Eventually the builders have all they need for several days and some of us set off to do some ditch clearing and then some path clearing. Luckily the sun is shining and we are surrounded by a fabulous woodland, unfortunately I have left my camera at home, so you will have to take my word for it!

Short Stop, lassn.org.uk, has been very quiet for the last few weeks. I am afraid that this is because several of the referring agencies have reduced their opening hours (because of cuts to their funding), rather than a reduction in the numbers of destitute asylum seekers. So more people are probably sleeping on the streets and also not receiving the advice and help that these agencies can give them. I have one referral one week and just two the following week, both placed fairly easily.

One evening I run a Fairtrade stall, www.fairtrade.org.uk, at a craft evening organised by Sight Support Ryedale, sightsupportryedale.org/. I don't sell a lot, but several people come up to tell me that they bought things at our big shop just a few weeks ago. it is a lovely evening, so thanks to Sight Support for inviting us. Still with Fairtrade, at the beginning of this week I take delivery from Fairer World, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk, of several boxes of Christmas things, food and crafts for West Heslerton School, www.westheslertonschool.co.uk. They are having a stall all week and I will collect what is left next Monday, thank you West Heslerton for spreading the word about Fairtrade. By special request there are lots of chocolate coins!




just starting

some of the wood
to be burned

Finally Coasties is back by the seaside at Hayburn Wyke, working with the National Trust. There were two main tasks, burning a lot of dead wood, far too much for habitat piles, and pulling out the invasive  rhododendron that the Victorians planted as a visitor attraction. I opted to help with the fire and got very hot. By mid afternoon most of the wood was burnt and a lot of rhododendron pulled out and cut down, again the sun had shone, but very little mud this week. Finally we used water from a nearby stream to damp down the fire and went home, smoky and tired.

Another good two weeks for me, and, I hope, for the wider society I live in. Certainly the homeless asylum seekers and the walkers in the woods seemed pleased with our activities. Next year in Fairtrade Fortnight I hope to meet a Fairtrade banana producer to find out more about how Fairtrade is helping them. Earlier this year I met an olive farmer from Palestine who produces olive oil for Zaytoun, www.zaytoun.org, Fairtrade and sometimes organic too.