after a long time...................

please on Thursday Vote Remain

what happened to April and May?

So what did happen to April and May, first we went away for two weeks. Then there was the General Election, I delivered leaflets for my local Green candidate and for a few, carefully selected Lib Dem local candidates in another town and for one LD parliamentary candidate in another place entirely. Then the aftermath, plunged into gloom about continuing austerity, always hitting the poorest hardest and now almost only them, Human Rights and Europe and of course renewable energy (or not, under the current regime).

Now the sun is out, the garden needs attention and the lovely long northern evenings weigh against spending the time on my computer.

However life in my small society has continued.

the front group coming
up the hill

the Alzheimer's van

I had a most successful two days during the Tour de Yorkshire. First at Sledgate, or Cote de Robin Hood's Bay, with the National Park, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/ and here is one to prove it. As well as the National Park presence the local Alzheimer's society were raising awareness with this pink decorated van, www.alzheimers.org.uk/.

If you're wondering about the
horse, well horse racing is
a big part of the local economy

The next day our local Fairtrade group, maltonandnortonfairtrade.org/, had a stall in Norton library, we sold lots of cycling related items, like bike earrings and pin badges. The library and our stall were especially decorated for the day. The knitted jumpers were from the local knit and natter group, thanks to them for lending us some of their art work.





The Fairtrade group also had a stall at the Folk Festival and at St Michael's Church (many thanks) during the Food Lovers' Festival. Flying the flag for Fairtrade food as often as we can.



the dreaded stuff!

Coasties, also North York Moors, has had its usual variety of tasks and weather. Cutting back, clearing thickets to reveal a long lost path, cleaning wooden framed steps (quite easy) and stone pitching (not at all easy). One day we were clearing a way through almost impenetrable gorse so that local researchers could try out a new treatment to try to weaken the invasive Himalayan Balsam.

And then, out for a walk, one lovely late afternoon, a sign I had been waiting for, on the right, at the new length of the Cleveland Way through the alum works at Ravenscar. On the left you can see part of the 'project'.
 www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cleveland-way, and
www.coast-alive.eu/content/ravenscar-rags-riches.
Thanks to the Park staff who organised and erected this sign, and one the other end of the new section.

Meanwhile over in Leeds my new role as a Trustee of LASSN, lassn.org.uk/, has proved to be busy and sad. Because funds are now less than they were we have had to make two members of staff redundant. I have been involved in helping to transfer their work to other members of staff and to volunteers. Some services have had to be closed down, hopefully only temporarily. Such essential work, helping some very vulnerable people in our society. Volunteers will only be able to keep things ticking over, no new people can be helped, once again it shows how some paid staff are essential for any charity or community organisation.  I have also been visiting my two 'befriendees', chatting, making phone calls and simply being a friend.

Sadly too the need for a Food Bank continues in Ryedale (friends in the big cities cannot believe it, nor can I), the sooner they can all close through lack of need, the better. I have taken donated food to the local warehouse and then required food to the distribution centre.ryedale.foodbank.org.uk/, and once again, you can't just walk in and pick up a bag of goodies, you HAVE to be referred by a specific agency.

Finally, just to show that my demonstrating days are not over, here is a picture of people outside

Yarlswood detention centre, Bedfordshire, showing solidarity for the detainees and asking that this appalling place be closed down. www.movementforjustice.org/, you can find out more here or just google Yarlswood.




OK, signing off, and I will try to post in July, but no promises.

job replacement or volunteers can do it just as well?

Since I last posted the topic of volunteers replacing paid staff has come up several times.

My local library is about to close, unless it can be run entirely by volunteers; apparently there will be a paid member of staff a phone call away, but what if they are on leave or just at lunch? Apart from the obvious that being a librarian is a lot more than stamping books, there is the problem that I have referred to time and again; if a family crisis or even a minor illness happens a volunteer may have different priorities to those of a paid member of staff. if a library is deemed to be a necessary part of a civilised society then people should be paid to run it. Volunteers can perform many tasks, taking books selected by library staff to housebound people is one, but actually running front line services should not be one.

Another example came at the AGM of the Voluntary Ranger service of the North York Moors National Park, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/ . In a presentation on the Public Rights of Way network, footpaths and bridleways to most of us, it was made quite clear that volunteers would have to do far more than they had before. No longer just cutting back, cleaning steps, unblocking drains and sorting out board walks, now it is to be hanging gates, building stiles, all jobs previously done by redundant field staff. Some of us will not do this, but enough will that the jobs will get done and no one will notice that some people are now looking for jobs whilst others with pensions do their jobs for them. In another National Park, quite ridiculously, some people are now doing work as self employed contractors that could probably be done more cheaply if they were still to be employed! Will the same happen here?

However my small society has carried on, trying to distinguish between genuine voluntary things and job replacement. I have been to Leeds several times, for lassn.org.uk. Several phone calls, the first to the housing provider of one of my clients to a problem she had already reported. Water pouring down the side of the bath into the kitchen below, not just a nuisance for her, but not good for their property. My call resulted in a repair within six hours, why? what was different about my phone call? My other call for my friend was about the long running saga of the gas bill, this time they have agreed to increase the time that her debt (caused by their inability to bill) can suddenly be spread over many more months, again why?


glug glug

Coasties has also carried on, one of the best tasks was drain clearing on a lovely sunny day at Ravenscar for the National Trust, www.nationaltrust.org.uk. Huge satisfaction when I found and cleared the entrance to a culvert under a field entrance, what a lovely glug glug as the muddy water drained away. 

storing the gravel half way down

the start of the chute

Last Wednesday we were on the Cleveland Way south of Scarborough. More sunshine in the morning and an ingenious way of getting the gravel we use for steps and in muddy areas to the site; many, many steep steps from the road. Two lengths of culvert as an improvised chute, then the gravel was stored in a temporary area, the sections moved down and the gravel moved further down. Although this section is close to a large town access for materials is very hard, steep slopes and crumbling woodland means every thing has to be brought in by hand. 

Our Fairtrade,www.fairtrade.org.uk/ and local craft fair was a big success, the Fairtrade stall of international crafts did well as did the local crafts, from wood turning to shawls knitted from dog hair,

the Noddies, popular
with all ages.

everyone was pleased and will come again. I was so busy I forgot to take any photos, so here is one from a previous year! Thanks again to the Friends for making us so welcome at their Meeting House.

During Fairtrade fortnight I also spoke to several local schools about Fairtrade, led a workshop on how a village might decide to use their FT premium and helped two schools with their stalls of FT goods. If anyone out there wants to do the same please let me know.

Sadly the Foodbank, ryedale.foodbank.org.uk/ continues, I help by moving donated food to our warehouse and then take some bags of selected good to various distribution places. Thanks to those who donate and shame on those in power that have made them necessary. 

The end of a mixed bag, some good, some sad and some bad.







 

much of the same

One Saturday I am off to Helmsley for a first aid course, it is just a short one to renew my certificate, I am supposed to have one as a Voluntary Ranger, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/, I actually manage to do the chest compressions fast enough. The course leader seems to live in an unreal world though, just a few days ago the news was about waits for ambulances, but she seems to think one would arrive in minutes, when ever or where ever we called them. Heh hoh!

Monday morning is my food bank run, from one of the main collection points to the 'warehouse'; I gather that one of the shortages is of toilet paper. I have a supermarket voucher that will offer me cheaper petrol if I spend so much on paper goods, so I make a note to buy extra for the food bank and get cheaper petrol too.ryedale.foodbank.org.uk. Have a chat about how this in my only voluntary activity that I wish didn't exist.

That evening I speak to an anti-fracking motion that I have asked my local Town Council to debate, I am delighted that it is passed unanimously. www.nortononderwent.co.uk/town-council/, thank you to the Town councillors. We should be looking to use less carbon fuels not more, reducing the need for power and generating far more from renewables.

this is not a hedge, it's the
stuff we've cut back


 

'sweeping' up the gorse
with a gorse broom












 

Coasties has been out and about, cutting back a totally overgrown path in the north of the Park and then helping the National Trust cut back and move a mountain of gorse. www.nationaltrust.org.uk.




 
Over in Leeds I take my new 'befriendee' to a drop in with Manuel Bravo, www.manuelbravo.org.uk/ to see if they can help her find a solicitor for her new asylum claim. They listen carefully and agree that they can! I ring the befriending manager at LASSN, lassn.org.uk/ with the good news and race to the bus station to get my bus home.

One evening we go to a meeting locally about our local library becoming a 'community' library, they pretend this is a good idea, no it's not, it's about pretending that essential local services can be run by volunteers. I refuse to take part, it is applying a small sticking plaster to the unnecessary and appalling cuts to public services, a blood transfusion is needed. People need to see the effect of the cuts to public services, not let them be propped up this way. I am even more shocked that a service that is often used by vulnerable people will be staffed by people who will not have had any sort of back ground check.


On a more cheerful note here is a picture of a still snowy landscape on a very sunny day near Stape. Even this peaceful rural scene has been spoiled over the last few days by a motor bike roaring across the woodland, the tyre tracks are still plain to see.

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.

a solitary llama and lots more

watched by a llama

Early in the month I was doing a voluntary ranger patrol near Saltergate on the North York Moors, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/, when I came across this beautiful animal, all on its own in a very large field. It gazed at me, posing for the photo, then went on grazing. Earlier I had heard my first cuckoo of the season. Alas, I had also had to ask large numbers of dog owners to put their dogs on a lead. One man whose dog was quite out of control told me that yes he had seen the notices that the Police have put up, about dogs being under control.....................obviously not his dog though! I am afraid that this will be the pattern for the summer; how I wish a farmer with a shotgun would appear, the lambs threatened by the dogs are their livelihood.

The next day we were able to see how other volunteers operate. We went on an evening guided walk round Georgian Leeds with the Leeds Civic Trust, www.leedscivictrust.org.uk/. The walk, led by a volunteer, was fascinating, hidden corners that even local people were surprised by, and then an excellent light meal, also done by volunteers. It was good to be on the 'receiving' end of some else's 'small society'.

lunch time view

Later in the month Coasties was in the beautiful woods at Littlebeck, we were repairing and cleaning steps and board walks. It is a very popular path as it forms part of the Coast to Coast walk, so it is important that we keep it in good condition. Lunch was sitting in the sun looking down at this lovely view of the stream. It was the first dry day for some time, much of the path was thick with mud, so we really appreciated the dry spot we found for our break.

outside the church

all our goodies

Another Fairtrade event, this time a stall in St Michael's Church, stmichaelsmalton.org.uk, to coincide with Malton's Fine Food Festival.maltonyorkshire.co.uk/food-lovers-festival-2/. The weather was wet, again, so we were glad to be indoors. We had a range of different Fairtrade food as well as the usual coffee, tea and chocolate. Chutneys, marmalades, cooking sauces, quinoa, peanut butter and plantain crisps to name but a few. Many of our customers were amazed at the range of Fairtrade goods now available. Thanks to Fairer World in York for once again providing us with the items to sell, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk/.

LASSN, lassn.org.uk/ has asked me to befriend a young couple, asylum seekers from east Africa; I meet then for the first time on Thursday, two lovely people whom I am sure it will be as easy to be friends with as my previous 'befriendee' was. She and I are now 'normal' friends, and even though she has leave to remain I still see her on a regular basis. Hopefully this might be the same with my new friends.

Tomorrow I am doing another voluntary ranger patrol, this time in the Ravenscar area, the forecast is good, so I should have an enjoyable day. More in the next blog.

what happened to April?

Well I don't know, I was not well, we were away and getting on with my various activities seemed to take up all my energy. So May is here and I am posting at last.

So, in no very particular order. I have been a couple of times to Leeds, once to see my now given leave to stay and therefore no-longer-an-asylum-seeker friend and once to see two other friends. Both times, lots of chatting and laughing, however I also have to spend hours on the phone for my 'given leave to stay' friend. She only has a pay as you go phone and she needs to cancel a hospital appointment, (she is conscientious and won't just not turn up), and speak to her housing provider. It takes forty five minutes altogether for me to finally speak to someone, on my contract that costs nothing, but on pay as you go................! I am glad that LASSN, lassn.org.uk, has not yet found me a new person to befriend, this friend still needs loads of support.



there is a path under all this

We have had a variety of Coasties, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk, tasks. The usual of repairing steps and cutting back blackthorn along footpaths, but a couple of different jobs too. One sunny day we were clearing paths near Reasty Bank where logging operations had left them blocked with felled trees and branches. The ranger needed to power saw them first then we were able to hand saw them into smaller pieces and drag them off the path. It was hard work, but satisfying when we could walk along the whole path that we had cleared.

the new paving

As usual the last Wednesday of the month we were with National Trust, www.nationaltrust.org.uk, this month at Hayburn Wyke, repairing a path that was eroding into the stream. The woods were really beautiful, a faery glen. But the work was hard and potentially wet and muddy, getting flat stones out of the stream to lay on the muddiest part of the path and then covering them with sand and gravel, also from the stream bed, to bed them in and also make them less slippery when wet.

keeping dry.

One Sunday I did a Voluntary Ranger patrol in the damp in Rosedale, the weather meant that I saw very few people, but I cut back some shrubs obscuring foot path signs and had a chat to a farmer about thoughtless dog owners allowing their dogs to worry sheep. I also spotted this retired goat, keeping dry in a brand new coat.

Two dancers decide what to buy

Finally yesterday, after  a cold start the sun shone, and Morris and other traditional dancing groups kicked off the Malton and Norton Folk Festival www.maltonfolk.co.uk in grand style. Our local Fairtrade group, www.fairtrade.org.uk/ had a stall of snacks, chocolate and crafts next to the dancing area and we did a brisk trade. Then in the evening most of us took the stall to the concert at a local pub, a fine end to the day. Our takings were significantly up on last year, a bonus for the Fairtrade producers, Fairer World in York, www.fairerworldyork.co.uk and the Folk Festival who will get a share of the takings.

So now my small society is back again the public domain, it always was functioning, just not on the blog.

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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