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.

Album on my Facebook profile

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.

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

Press Coverage

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.

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.

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!

Image from York College web site

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

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.