Saturday 29 December 2007

Freecycle


I had my first freecycle experience today. I've been meaning to investigate how freecycle works and use it to get rid of a surplus bed for ages but simply haven't had the time. It turned out that it didn't take any time at all, just a quick google search, set up an account and post an e-mail on Thursday evening. As a freecycle newby my post had to be moderated so it didn't appear on the web site of the Selby freecycle group until Friday morning. By lunch time I had two takers and was able to amek arrangements by e-mail for someone to collect the bed on Saturday morning. Very easy and very quick. So much easier than trying to sell the bed via the local paper or postcards in local supermarkets.

Click here to join freecycleselby
Click to join freecycleselby

Friday 21 December 2007

More Mitford stuff

There was a Channel 4 documentary about Unity Mitford on TV last night. It was part of the High Society season. I hadn't seen any trailers on the TV but spotted a posting on Facebook. I'm a member of a Facebook group called 'The Mitford Sisters Were Incredible'.

It was lovely to see the old news footage of Unity and her parents, Lord and Lady Redesdale, returning to the UK in 1939 after Unity's failed suicide attempt. The highlight for me was the interview with Diana Mosely filmed in 1999. Diana, like her younger sister Unity, was a friend and supporter of Hitler before and during the second world war. Diana died in 2003 and was 89 at the time of the interview. The main premise of the documentary, outlined by the presented Martin Bright in his New Statesman Blog, was that Unity was pregnant with Hitler's baby when she returned to the UK. Unfortunately for the documentary makers the only eye witness who consented to be interviewed said that Unity didn't have a baby.

You can view the complete documentary on 4 on Demand. It is free for 30 days after transmission but may well continue to be available for free after that. I have a copy on my Sky+.
Picture from the Daily Mail

Sunday 2 December 2007

Christmas at Chatsworth

Chatsworth House is open for Christmas from 3rd November to 23rd December with the rooms decorated for Christmas, a Christmas market and a great Christmas lunch in the restaurant. I was particularly keen to go before the house closed for the season (it re-opens in March 2008) because I wanted to see the exhibition about the 11th Duke of Devonshire 'An extraordinary 20th century life' . The 11th Duke was married to one of the Mitford sisters 'Debo' and I've been reading various Mitford biographies, autobiographies (Hons and Rebels) and letters (Decca) since reading a book review of 'Decca' in the Times last year.


When we arrived at Chatsworth the programme for the day had a photocopied insert saying that the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire would be signing books in the restaurant after lunch. It was the highlight of my day. I bought two copies of the most recent book of letters between the six sisters, one for myself and one for my Dad, and had them both dedicated and signed by the Dowager Duchess who is the only survivingMitford sister.


One of the most startling features of the house is the enormous Damien Hirst statue of the Virgin Mother which is over two storeys high and towers over the visitor entrance to the house. I'm not sure if it is a permanent or temporary feature but I'd like to go back to Chatsworth next summer when the weather is a bit more conducive to exploring the sculpures in the garden.

Thursday 22 November 2007

Chris courts controversy and posts his first blog comment

Chris had a book review 'A sixth mass extinction?' published in Nature last week. His review has been misquoted as 'Nature endorses human extinction' on a blog hosted by the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. Only one of the many people have who have commented on the blog recognise the quoted text (see below) as dry wit.
"Humans will presumably be gone within a few million years, perhaps sooner. If the past that Novacek describes is a guide to the future, global ecosystem processes will be restored some tens of thousands to a million years after our demise, and new forms of life over the ensuing millions of years will exploit the denuded planet we leave behind. Thirty million years on, things will be back to normal, albeit a very different `normal' from before. It is good to be optimistic. The problem is living here in the meantime".
But then Chis is often the only one who laughs at his own jokes.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Cambridge Networking Lunch

I hadn't been back to Cambridge, the University or Newnham College since the day I graduated in June 82. Just over 25 years later very little had changed. Newnham has a new library, buttery and extra residential wing but the main victorian buildings and garden were unchanged except for some garden lighting and the loss of a few trees. The new wing is named after Rosalind Franklin and is one of the many examples of posthumous recognition awarded to Rosalind for her contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA

Lucy, Alice, Hannah, Rose and Justine were suitably impressed and posed for this photo outside the room I had in Sidgewick Hall in my final year.
Whilst the girls went shopping, visited some of the other colleges and generally gained an impression of the University and town, I met up with Newnham Natural Scientists past and present over lunch. Although one of the main aims of the lunch was to enable current students to meet women scientists at a later stage in their careers very few current students attended. Despite that us 'old girls' enjoyed sharing memories of the college and catching up on what people were doing now.

Where are they now?

I've tried to remember, and track down, the other Biological Natural Science students who were in my year at Newnham

Helen Billington - University of Leeds

Fiona Catchpole

Anne Clift-Hill

Sarah Guthrie - Kings College, London

Kate Hardy - Imperial College, London

Anne-Marie Lloyd Williams

Sarah Millar - University of Pennsylvania

Dorothy Newsholme

Ros Sawyer - South Tyneside NHS Trust

Rebecca Short

Olivia Webley

Lucy Wedderburn - University College, London

Sunday 11 November 2007

Bonfire Party


We had a great bonfire party on Saturday with members of Chris' research group at York plus some of Rose and Alice's friends. Everyone was invited to bring old clothes to make a guy. This one was made from some of Chris' old decorating clothes and was an uncanny likeness.

The bonfire was spectacular. We had cut down some cuppressus trees and Chris had cleared the garage of all the pieces of wood he was keeping in case they came in useful. It was nice to meet so many of Chris' new research students and their families.

Saturday 3 November 2007

Selby Olympia Under 13s

Chris was away this weekend so I took Jack to his away match at Wheldrake. I hadn't watch Jack play football for over a year and he was very please that I was going to watch him play. Chris usually acts as linesman but another one of the Selby Olympia parent's picked up the flag so I didn't have to volunteer.

I was amazed by how many teams were playing at Wheldrake. They must had had Under 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 10s, and either U11s or U12s as well as the U13s since there were 7 pitches of vaying sizes in use.

The League Table can be viewed on line. At the moment they are 7th out of 13.

Wednesday 31 October 2007

Grease is the word

Tonight was the opening night of Selby High School's production of Grease. It was the culmination of 8 months of speculation (who will get which part), rehersals and nervousness for Alice who auditioned for, and got, the role of Sandy. There was that wonderful mix of extraordinary talent, energy, wobbly scenery and loud stage direction whispers that makes up a successful school production. My Mum, Dad, Sister and her family all travelled up from Nottingham to see the performance. Alice's normal Tuesday evening Rangers group came along too. There are two more sold out evening performances this week.

It was fantastic to see Alice so animated and healthy. It is a year to the day that Alice had her first MRI scan and her Arnold Chairi brain malformation and Syringomyelia were diagnosed. She had a decompression operation at Leeds General Infirmary last December and has made such a remarkable recovery showing enormous strength of character. Chris, Rose, Jack, Lucy and I are very proud of all that Alice has achieved in the last twelve months.

Sunday 28 October 2007

Friends and Dungeons

Our friends 'The Morgans' stayed for a couple of days over half term. We met the Morgans at the Izer Beach Hotel in Torba near Bodrum, Turkey in May. The children madefirm friendships. Ryan is the same age as Rose and Alice. Lauren and Ben are the same age as Jack and Lucy (and share Rose and Alice's birthday!).
We went to York Dungeon for a scary, pre-Halloween trip. It was a cold and grey day in York in direct contrast to the sunshine in Turkey in May.
Whilst the teenagers watched TV (High School Musical 2), Lorraine and I spent the evening updating and adding to our Facebook profiles. So much for stereotypes.

Thursday 18 October 2007

Governor's Awards evening, Selby Abbey


After 5 years as a parent at Selby High School I have finally made it to the Governor's Awards evening in Selby Abbey. In fact I had two invitations this year; once because Alice won the prize for performing arts and once because I'm now a parent-governor. Chris missed out because he was away at a meeting on climate change research funding in Cambridge. Since Alice was getting the Carentan Cup for Excellence in Music she was also singing a solo. The acoustics in the abbey, the song 'Castle on Cloud' from Les Miserables, and Alice's voice were all excellent. Unfortunately the pianist forgot to play the repeats and suffered a glowering look from Alice which detracted slightly from the performance. On the positive side, Alice felt that she recieved more compliments because the performance went wrong.

Selby is twinned with Carentan, France hence the name of the trophy. Carentan is also notable for the Battle of Carentan during World War II.





Picture: Alice's cup, medal and certificate



Wednesday 17 October 2007

Time to visit Selby College


It was Selby College open evening on Tuesday. I think if we had been to see the College before we visited York College we would have been very impressed. Most of the A Level courses are taught in the new Academy Building which is well equipped and feels like a great place to study. Rose and Alice weren't impressed and now have their sights set on York even though it will mean alot more travelling. Many of their friends seem set on York too. I'm quite keen because I see it as more of a half way house between School and University.

Saturday 13 October 2007

Do glasses make you look more intelligent

Rose collected her new glasses today. She has had glasses for five years but rarely wears them. Her new glasses are not just a viewing aid but a fashion statement with the added advantage of making her feel as though she looks more intelligent. Do glasses make people look more intelligent? What do you think? BBC viewers and CBBC viewers have their say.

Chris wins Nobel Peace Prize

Chris is delighted that Al Gore and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) have been recognised by the Nobel Prize Committee for their work on climate change. Since the prize is to be shared by Al Gore and the 'over 2000' scientists that have contributed to the work of the IPCC, Chris reckons his contribution is about 0.002%. The $1.5 million prize money is going to the IPCC and will enable more research and education on climate change.

Chris' most high profile contribution to the climate change debate was published in Nature in January 2004. He is currently working at the University of York on climate change, conservation and butterfly ecology.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Visit to York College

Rose and Alice are in their final year at Selby High School. It doesn't seem any time at all since we were choosing High Schools and now we (or should I say they) have to decide where to study their A levels. Thursday night was the York College open evening. The College is now housed in one brand new building with four wings on four floors round a very impressive central atrium. Chris and I were most impressed by the small size of the new classrooms. None of them would comfortably fit more than 25. Listening to staff we realised that the A level sets are almost always less than 20. At the moment Alice is planning to do Maths, Chemistry and Geography A level plus a BTEC Award (I A level equivalent) in Performing Arts (Musical Theatre). Rose also wants to do Maths and Chemistry but with Philosophy and Psychology. We are going to visit Selby College open evening on Tuesday to see what they have to offer. If they want to do A levels that aren't offered at Selby College they will get subsidised travel (£300 a year) to York College.

On the way home Alice was worrying that she wouldn't get into the Musical Theatre class because there are only 20 places and students have to audition!



Monday 8 October 2007

Raising the flag in Selby

At lunch time today Alice and a friend from Selby High School were invited to raise the Union flag outside the Civic Centre in Selby. One of the first things Gordon Brown did when he became Prime Minister was to scrap the strange rule that flags could only be flown for 18 days a year. Nigel Adams, the prospective conservative parliamentary candidate for Selby and Ainsty had lobbied Selby District Council to get them to arrange for a flag to be flown outside the Civic Centre. Alice and her friend had been nominated by their Head teacher. The publicity was distinctly low key with the photographer from the Selby Times as the sole representative from the press. Presumably there would have been a bigger crowd if Gordon Brown had called an election at the weekend. It would have been a nice photo opportunity for the launch of a parliamentary election campaign.

Press coverage

Tuesday 2 October 2007

80 days around the world


The Logik Centre lifestyle group have started on a very long trek ( approximately 25,000 miles) around the world. We aim to enlist as many colleagues from the University of Leeds, plus friends and family as possible, in order to cover the same mileage as Phinneas Fogg in 80 days. Phinneas set off on his journey on 2nd October 1872. We had to set off on the 1st because we don't want to complete our journey on a Saturday. Follow the progress of the travellers at the 80days blog. You can find instructions about joining the project there.

Tuesday 25 September 2007

Doctors in the Death Zone



Horizon was family viewing last night. It was the first of a two part programme on an expedition to Everest by a group of UK doctors. It was nice to see that the 'medic madness' that you see among medic undergraduates at University does persist. It's just the shirt and tie and doctorly 'on duty' demeanor that makes you wonder how student medics change into family GPs, consultants, house officers etc. These doctors were sampling their own blood after exercising on an exercise bike at different altitudes as they climbed Everest.


The family interest was mainly due to the fact that my nephew, Ben Dempsey, was the assistant producer and we had followed the progress of the production via the Horizon on Everest blog.

Saturday 15 September 2007

Can I walk 13 miles?


The short answer is yes. I walked from Bingley to Skipton today along the canal towpath. Its flat (except for the 5 locks and 3 locks rises) and an easy surface to walk on. Even so 13 miles is a long way for someone as inactive as me. Fortunately I had some equally inactive friends to walk with (and some active ones too). The walk was organised by the Logik Centre Lifestyle group at the University of Leeds. The University is very keen on staff wellbeing and this is one of their projects. I joined over the summer because I need to get in shape for my trip to the Galapagos in January. I have to admit I am a bit sore today!

Saturday 7 April 2007

First Blog

This is my first Blog.

I've been inspired to start blogging because I have teenage children who are constantly using msn and myspace to communicate with friends and strangers. I don't want to use either of those forms of web / instant communication but I'd like to be part of an on-line community, particularly one where people know how to spell!

I'm just about to start a new role as a parent govenor. I've received a letter from the Clerk to Govenors inviting me to the next meeting of the full governing body to introduce myself. Note: This isn't the sort of school where parent's compete to be on the governing body.

I'm not sure what is expected (or how long the meeting will be). I'll e-mail the Clerk, confirm my attendance and ask how long the meeting will be.

Helen