More Christmas Fun

Ron (Tracy's Dad) always brings Santa to join us for the day after he has entertained his customers in his 'Bargain Booze' shop. Then he goes back to his loft for his well earned rest until next year. And you always thought he came from Lapland!

Christmas Fun

Thought I would like to share some of our fun on Christmas Day. My elder son Jamie (on right) is cook- in- charge with his trusty assistant ( posh name sous chef!) younger son Graham. This was taken before the chestnuts started exploding in the oven! After all the excitment the meal was as superb as ever. The cooking 'genes' come their Dad who always did Christmas dinner. My role is one of clearing up afterwards - I know my place!

Christmas Eve Festivities

Grandparents, parents and children - 3 generations sitting down together to enjoy Christmas Eve festivities at New Life Church. A good mix of religious and secular with carols and Christmas songs washed down with mulled wine!

Christmas Eve Walk

Here I am sitting in the sunshine on the Marton field walk, having gathered the holly and the ivy on an unseasonably warm Christmas Eve. This beats queuing in the Supermarkets and getting stuck in traffic on the way home.

A Happy Christmas to my follower - eldest son!

Frosty Garden

I took this image in my unheated conservatory last week during the cold snap. I had to be quick as my breath steamed up the window! I used the macro setting on my camera to get the crystals in focus. Would have also liked the seat in focus too!

Congleton and Feng Shui

Last week I attended a meeting in the Town Hall on a Feng Shui (pronounced 'fung shway'). The report was given by Simon Brown at http://www.chienergy.co.uk/ The event was commissioned and sponsored by local, national and global business person Dawn Gibbins http://www.barefoot-fengshui.com/ whose energy levels are a good advert for her beliefs. Basically her mission is to make Britain a happy, healthy and prosperous nation with Feng Shui. Congleton is to be the first ambassadour! We are certainly a happy and healthy town but perhaps with Dawn's enthusiasm we could become more prosperous. Simon presented to us what he felt about the town on a short visit and told us what we know already , but it is the first time I've come out of a meeting laughing!

You can get the report on Congleton on Dawn's website

Weddings of the year

In September my eldest son Jamie and his partner Tracy had a lovely wedding at Astbury church. Against all odds the sun shone and we all had a great time.

However they were outshone by a later wedding in Congleton in October. Check out the article in the Daily Mail.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/femail/article-1081355/The-100-000-white-wedding-16-year-old-girl-lives-caravan.html

Quote from Jamie

"When Congleton makes the headlines you always know its gonna be a classic!!"

Garden Autumn colours

The leaves are falling fast and furious now and when the sun shines we have some colour left to enjoy before the starkness of winter sets in next month. The red bush is Cotinus coggria.

LATE LEAVES

The leaves are falling; so am I;

The few late flowers have moisture in the eye;

So have I too.

Scarcely on any bough is heard

Joyous, or even unjoyous bird

The whole wood through.

Walter Savage Landor

Sorry Walter - did see a wren and treecreeper in garden to gladden my heart.

West Heath detectives

Since post of 26 Oct about The Quinta House now demolished from Sandbach Rd Congleton, I have been asking my local history chums about the area. The house was built 1890/91 and called 'Highfield Lodge', then from 1902 -1914 the wealthy Miss Eleanor Faulder lived there and it was called 'The Quinta'. It was this lady who married the Rector of Swettenham and had the house built of the same name at Swettenham, now occupied by Sir Bernard Lovell.


I remember in the late 1960's the only shop in West Heath was called The Lodge, a general store located at the corner of Sandbach Rd and Heath Rd. This was a flat-roofed building which became Lennon's wine shop until the roof became unsafe and it was demolished to make way for 2 bungalows.

In Congleton library there is a map of 1911 (OS 6'' - F8/7) showing a previous lodge on this land in the same location. Also in the middle of what is now Heath Rd another building called 'West Heath House'. A map of 1938 revealed that these 2 buildings had disappeared to make way for Heath rd and Blythe Ave.

I now wonder who lived in West Heath House? Perhaps Mr Solly of Mill fame as the other road in this area is of this name.

There is a splendid book on Mills of Congleton by Mr Lyndon Murgatroyd entitled
' Mill Walks and Industrial Yarns'

Big Skies over Marton

A few years ago when I saw this newly created path round a big field whilst cycling down Messuage lane near Marton, I thought "How boring". Now I am older and not so nimble, I love this 40 minute walk and can always find something of interest. If it has been very wet and let's face it we do live in rain-soaked Cheshire this hard surface is ideal. It was created by DEFRA (Dept for Environment, Food and Rural affairs) for those with a disability and to protect certain habitats - in this place the hay meadow) . The notice says access ends in 2011 with only 2 years to go should we start campaigning now I wonder?

A couple of weekends ago I set off from the car park at Messuage Farm in an anti - clockwise direction. Visibility was good and on the eastern horizon familiar landmarks of the Gritstone trail were scanned - Shutlingsloe, Sutton bank with post office tower, The Cloud and Mow cop. Black cattle (Aberdeen Angus?) are overwintered here on the cropped hay meadow, home to lush grasses and Ox-eye daisies in the summer. A couple of skylarks were lingering overhead and a Buzzard was lurking in the wood.

Here skies are big and great for cloud spotting. After reading Gavin Pretor-Pinney's book

'The Cloudspotters Guide', looking up will never be the same again!

There is a website at http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/

Other than 1 memorial seat, all other seats around the field are in poor condition. However there was no time to linger today as storm clouds chased me back to the car for hot chocolate and Classic FM.

Canal walk

Last weekend I took a local walk in the sunshine along the Macclesfield canal. It was a linear route parking in a layby where the road goes over the canal at Dodds lane on the Astbury / Mow Cop road. I didn't have my camera at the ready and missed a wonderful sight of a herd of bullocks stampeding down the bank to the canal ( on opposite side !) . However I did notice they made some interesting reflections in the water together with tree in it's autumn glory.

You are never alone walking along the canal as boat owners are cheery folk but one can only exchange one - liner remarks! The boats also have interesting names like 'Why Hurry' and bits of philosophy posted in the windows. Today I spotted 'All that wander are not lost' , which I found most comforting. After a couple of miles my hot chocolate stop was by Ramsdell Hall where a stretch of Cheshire black and white railings had been recently restored. Apparently the original owner of the house had the railings installed to improve the view across the plain instead of the usual hawthorn hedge.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/76758 for a photo of Ramsdell Hall

This site has an article on the railing in 2006

http://adkins-family.org.uk/macclesfieldcanal/scholargreen_railings.htm

Prize Pumpkin

This is John with an enormous pumpkin, weighing in at 6 stone with a diametre of 2 foot. The plant itself spread over nearly half the vegetable garden - 11 metres long. The story is my eldest son Jamie is learning how to grow veggies and needed a courgette plant. A gardening friend donated a plant to me but wasn't sure what it was. Turned out to be said pumpkin which grew and grew - was never fed but was in a bed that had lain fallow for a few years. Jamie has the awesome task of dealing with the yellow beast!

Spooky music

I like Halloween night when all the local kids dress up to scare away the evil spirits. However this year I missed the local fun as I was out in Manchester - and there were sights there that would scare old 'Lucifer' himself. Graham and I got tickets for a 'Halloween Spooktacular' at The Bridgewater Hall. I had picked up a flyer a few weeks ago whilst at the Halle concert with a local organised group and thought how am I going to get to this concert? Well what does raise sons for if not taking their Mum out occasionally, especially as one has returned temporarily to the home nest?

We got our money's worth with the opener 'O Fortuna' from Carmina Burana - with the 100 strong Halifax Choir and The Manchester Concert Orchestra, the sound was stunning especially as we had circle seats overlooking the platform. It was Gray's first visit to the concert hall and he was impressed. Music from 'The Omen' at the end was counteracted by 'ET' for an encore. The 'ghouls' and 'girlies' thronging the streets still looked frightening at 10.30pm - I dread to think what it was like after midnight!

Calendar Girl!

This was the image I submitted to Congleton Museum calendar competition, after our day out on location with the U3A Photo group in June. The title is 'Caught in the rain' and it was

selected for the month of August in the calendar.

Proud competition winners posing for the Congleton Chronicle photographer.

Me with Dennis Murphy the Town Mayor with the display in the library.

Visit Congleton Museum at http://www.congletonmuseum.co.uk/

Iona holiday talk

Today I gave a talk on my trip to Iona in June of this year to my retired friends in Congleton U3A. It was very enjoyable to share the joys and tribulations of my holiday with the 'Wish you were here ' group. Graham who has returned temporarily to 'the nest' showed me how to put my images into a Powerpoint presentation. Then in the afternoon I played 'Mahjong', which is also part of the same organisation. We have a lot of laughs and all support each other in our '3rd Age'.

http://www.congletonu3a.org.uk/

Teggs Trail

The last time I walked this route was earlier this year in March. Then I soared with buzzards on the summit of Teggs Nose . This time I ascended with a lark - Vaughan Williams 'Lark Ascending' on my ipod!

At the top of the hill there is an attractive stone seat dedicated to a lady called Fiona McWilliams who was an air traffic controller and had died at the age of 34 years. There is an inscription from the poem 'High Flight' by a pilot in the 2nd World War.

'Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings'

Millstone grit was quarried here in the early 1900's and was used to pave the streets of nearby Macclesfield. There is a small heritage site with equipment.

The visitor centre is cosily all enclosed and includes some beautiful modern stained glass in the windows.

Rough cobbles of the Saddlers way was originally used by packhorses carrying salt from Middlewich area into Derbyshires. This was the descent back to the car park at the back of Teggs Nose Reservoir, accessed by Holehouse Lane in Langley. Although the walk was only 3 miles it seems longer with the initial 200m rise to the summit.

The Quinta House

Thoughts of The Quinta House Congleton have been circulating in my brain since yesterday's blog. I knew I had taken photos before it was demolished 5 years ago to make way for a new housing development. Now I will have to snoop around the house at Swettenham to see if it really is a copy. The Congleton version had an intriguing room in between the roof gables that could be seen from my bedroom window.

And who was the Rev. Banner? Was he a vicar at Swettenham church?

Swettenham Bridleway

Yesterday with a couple of friends in sunshine, I walked along the Swettenham Bridleway from Brereton Heath country park to The Swettenham Arms pub for refreshments, where we were greeted with crackling log fires. This is one of my favourite jaunts as the surface is always good whatever the weather and there are splendid views across the Dane Valley, where the river makes it's many meanders in the Cheshire countryside. In the image the horse riders are approaching the bridge over the river and this is the only crossing between Radnor and Holmes chapel about 5 -6 miles as the crow flies.

There is a good map showing the route plus an extra loop at

http://www.discovercheshire.co.uk/files/PDF/routepacks/dane_valley.pdf

We also visited The Quinta arboretum accessed behind the pub. As well as seeing the many unusual trees in autumnal glory we also spotted Sir Bernard Lovell pottering around his estate.

The history and arboreal details can be found at

www.swettenhamarms.co.uk/arboretum.php

I love taking photos of the reflections in the pool.

The arboretum takes it's name from the house built by a Rev Banner whose fiance had agreed to marry him on condition that he built a copy of her Congleton home named 'The Quinta' - the name derived from the Portugese for 'house'. This must have been the one on Sandbach Rd that was demolished a few years ago.

Sophia's Party

Last weekend was my youngest granddaughter Sophia's 3rd birthday. After bouncing energetically on the Leisure Centres' bouncy castle she had lots of puff for the candles on her cake. In fact she couldn't wait until we finished singing 'Happy Birthday' and they had to be relit again!

She made me laugh today when I was leaving her house saying "Grandma work?" . My reply was "Oh no - Grandma play!" I was off to my U3A group games session of Mahjong.