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COMMUNITY OFFICE NEWS
Electric Blanket Safety Tests
Cumbria Trading Standards will be carrying out FREE examinations and safety checks on electric blankets on the week beginning 9th October. If you have a blanket that you would like testing, please bring it in to the Community Office before then and they will be collected, checked and returned here during that week to pick up from the 16th October.
Environmentally friendly products
We are now selling environmentally cleaning products and recycled goods including - washing powder, washing liquid, toilet rolls / cleaners, dishwasher tablets, bin bags, food bags, kitchen rolls and more. There is also opportunity to order in bulk, consider other products and be part of a community ordering scheme. So please call in to explore and ask about this exciting new venture.
Community Cinema
We have had a very positive response to this idea and are now looking into grant possibilities. If you would like to get involved, please call in on a Thursday afternoon and speak to Deyna - particularly if you have technical expertise to offer!
Camcorder hire
We have a modern camcorder for hire if you want to record the activities of your club for funding or promotional purposes. The cost will be £5 per day and it is available for community groups only. We will require a deposit of £50, returnable unless there is damage to the camcorder.
Books
Due to good book sales over summer we would now be grateful for more book donations. So if you have any novels / children's books lying around (in good condition please), please bring them in.
Jigsaws
We have had several requests for jigsaws so if you have any spare lying around, please bring them in.
Homeopathy
You can still obtain individual homeopathic advice and dispensation that is a unique chance to look at not just physical symptoms but the whole of your being. Wednesday mornings 10 until 12 noon on a drop-in basis.
Recycling
You can now recycle old batteries at the Community Office! If you are not yet using rechargeable batteries, please drop used disposable ones here and we will keep them out of landfill. Thank you.
Does anybody have any contacts or knowledge of CD recycling? Does anybody have any creative ideas we can use to recycle more of our household waste? Maybe a business opportunity? There are plenty of grants to support recycling ideas so please call in to discuss possibilities.
Dear Sir,
On Monday 28th August my partner and I decided to have a short walk to Cautley Spout, parking our car at Cross Keys.
Upon returning we anticipated enjoying some refreshment at the Cross Keys Inn, only to find together with others, a "CLOSED" notice on the door. We overheard a family asking for "just a pot of tea" but this was refused, the girl explaining that they closed at four o'clock. (The time was actually five minutes to four).
I would have thought that in an area anxious to encourage tourists, the opening hours would be a little more flexible and the attitude to visitors a little more accommodating.
It was, after all, the afternoon of August Bank Holiday Monday. Mrs. J. I'Anson
CUMBRIA IN BLOOM
Millthrop has won jointly with 'Blindcrake' Nr., Cockermouth, the Hamlet category at the Cumbria in Bloom ceremony in Barrow on the 4th September.
Many thanks to John and Gill for the wheel at the entrance to Millthrop, Katie and Judith for the weeding of the verges and all who made the effort for us to win.
The sad loss of Carol Dawbarn, who did our booklet on Millthrop dampened the win of the Hamlet. She died a week before the results were announced. M.M
CUMBRIA WILDLIFE TRUST
Life in the Undergrowth
When we think of the animal kingdom, we tend to picture great big beautiful things (or even just great big things) that catch our attention: a Buzzard ranging above us, a Deer skirting a hedge and leaping gracefully over a gate, a Fox running along a covert or a Badger following its usual nocturnal path-way. Sometimes we might notice a Frog or a Mouse, but that takes effort ... they are really getting rather small.
Compared, however, to the some of the really small animals, these are all just rather large but uninspired folk. When our fellow-creatures get really small, they frighten us ... They might slip inside our clothes when we aren't looking and bite us. They simply don't know how to behave with proper respect for us humans, so we teach them a lesson by squashing them, flicking them, swatting them, squirting them ... at any rate, we get rid of them; after all, they are puny, unintelligent, uninteresting and well below our interest ... or so we think (if think is the right word here). How wrong can we be? The skills and relationships of these tiny creatures are often infinitely more advanced and complex than those of the large assertive mammals ... even such superior creatures as us.
Take for instance the spiders; it is some measure of these extraordinary animals that many humans are so terrified of such these tiny things ... and they are so common. Who hasn't marvelled on a dewy morning at the lacework covering bushes and grasses? Who hasn't stumbled into a single strand of web?
Processing blinds us to the wonderful things that nature produces. We think that we're the clever ones and we tend to forget that plants and creatures produce with a minimum of fuss many of the most wonderful materials that we use. In this case silk. It is not just the commercialised silkworm moth that produces that exotic fibre that has been being turned into luxurious cloth for centuries, our common spider also makes her web out of it. Admittedly one tenth the thickness, but then she produces it in several different varieties ... and it is stronger than steel. Not only stronger but she gives it different qualities depending on her purpose. First she spins an infinitely fine guide-line that the breeze carries to some other anchor point as she lowers it from her perch. When she has hauled this taught, she makes her way along it, eating it as she goes and leaving behind her a much stronger, thicker rigid thread: the anchor-line of her web. She climbs back up and lowers herself down on a strong filament until she reaches a point on the anchor line. This becomes the centre of her web ... on she works until the spokes lead in all directions ... then spiralling out from a point a little way from this centre she lays another fine guide-line connected to all the spokes. She then turns back and replaces this guide line with the capture web. This must be sticky and slightly elastic: neither so bouncy that her prey rebounds nor so slack that the thread droops and becomes entangled in the rest of the web ... it must keep its shape or her prey will escape her.
All this she does before sunrise ... often every morning; then she sits and waits for an insect to land. Like an angler she feels the line go tight and she strikes. What an interesting place our world would be if she were very much larger or we were very much smaller.
David Attenborough's book "Life in the Undergrowth" is an eye-opener in the most fascinating way. As he asserted in the television programme of that name, nature could manage quite nicely without any of us Higher Animals, but without the tiny creatures that we either do not notice or that are too small for us to see, the whole natural world would crumble. All very humbling.
PROMISE AUCTION
Friends of Dent Primary School will once again hold this event on Friday 24th November. Viewing of promises in the Sun Inn at Dent will be from 6.30pm. Auction to commence at 7.00pm.
This is a very important fund raising event for our school, and has been supported extremely well in previous years with very generous and varies donations. Money raised on the evening enables us to contribute to the school items that would not normally be available within their ever -tightening budgets.
Therefore, if you feel you would like to donate anything to our Promise Auction, please contact either Julie Middleton on 25004, or collection can be arranged via Helen Winn at 5 Flintergill Close, Dent. All donations will be greatly appreciated. Closing date for promises is the 25th October to enable us to print the brochure, which will be distributed in and around Dent and Sedbergh early November.
Our committee would also like to take this opportunity of welcoming our new Head, Mrs Phillipa Summers to our school and community. We hope you will enjoy this, your first Promise Auction in Dent. JM
DENTDALE FELL RACE
(A Hell of a Rise Hill)
The resurrected race attracted 35 runners and was an excellent spectacle as part of the first Dentdale Show which was a great success.
The race was won in an amazing time of 28 minutes 37 seconds by John Heneghan from Sheffield, second Jon Deegan, 30 minutes, Staveley and third Francis Blunt in 30 minutes, 31 seconds, from Firbank. First Lady was Jenn Mattinson in 43 minutes, 7 seconds, from Sedbergh. The First Veteran Lady was Miriam Rosen in 56 minutes, 9 seconds, from Lancaster. The First Veteran Man was William Procter in 31 minutes, 39 seconds from Kendal.
All the above received prizes donated by the sponsor Lyon Equipment who also presented the Annual Shield to the winner.
The Hartley Prize for the oldest competitor to finish was won by David Spedding in 31 minutes, 55 seconds who was from Keswick and aged 61.
The race will be run again next year on August Bank Holiday Saturday.
Thank you to Bill Allen for the photo, when he won the race in 1939. Does anyone else have any photos or records, please. Contact John Hyde on 015396-25503.
DENT GALA
What an amazing day, forget the weather it could not dampen anyone's spirits, many thanks to EVERYONE who helped in any way, the "Piggery Team" who worked hard at each end of the day and in-between, all those who helped run the stalls and sideshows, set them up and clear away. Those who organised and over-saw the races and other sports like Pillow Fighting, those ladies who made and served lovely Teas in the hall ie the WI, and their hubbys who got roped in to fetch and carry! All those who ran/helped/etc with the Dog Agility and Dog show, those who loaned this-and-that. To Shirley and helpers for providing a glimpse of Dentdale in the past also Elizabeth the "Dent Knitter" and to First Responders for providing the opportunity for folks, mainly gents, to try their resuscitation skills! A great family day out set right in the centre of the village, many thanks from the Gala Committee.
DENT MEMORIAL HALL
The weather treated the Dent Gala on Bank Holiday Monday much more kindly than some local events this summer.
A sharp but brief downpour 15 minutes before the advertised start failed to deter locals and visitors pouring through the gate onto the school yard and field, to enjoy a bright warm afternoon of festivities.
A large number of hard working helpers and some generous donations raised £1,964 for Memorial Hall funds. Many thanks to all involved. Next year might see £2,000 reached for the first time. This income is essential to maintain the charges for the Sedgwick and Haygarth rooms, the main hall and kitchen, at a low level.
The summer holidays have seen work on the Hall undertaken by Dent Primary School, including a new ceiling and improved roof insulation, damp proof injection to exterior walls, and double glazed replacements to all the windows, to improve the fabric of the building. The Hall Committee has installed a new low energy lighting system, towards which grants have kindly been made by the Cumbria Community Foundation (£1,000) and Cumbria County Council Neighbourhood Forum (£500), and a South Lakeland District Council Community Leisure grant (£150). The late Leslie and Elsie Haygarth kindly gave the hall a legacy of £100 which has gone towards the cost. The dual lighting system of ceiling and wall lights will give a more versatile space, where the ambience can be altered to suit different users.
The Hall cannot be redecorated until the half term holiday, but is for hire as usual. From November a far brighter and more attractive venue, with a modern flexible lighting system, will be available for social and community use.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Sir,
On Monday 28th August my partner and I decided to have a short walk to Cautley Spout, parking our car at Cross Keys.
Upon returning we anticipated enjoying some refreshment at the Cross Keys Inn, only to find together with others, a "CLOSED" notice on the door. We overheard a family asking for "just a pot of tea" but this was refused, the girl explaining that they closed at four o'clock. (The time was actually five minutes to four).
I would have thought that in an area anxious to encourage tourists, the opening hours would be a little more flexible and the attitude to visitors a little more accommodating.
It was, after all, the afternoon of August Bank Holiday Monday. Mrs. J. I'Anson
Dear Editor
May I reply to Brian Wright's comments in last month's LOOKAROUND, and also make a couple of observations relating to Edwin Bateman's letter in the same issue?
The point I was making in response to Mr Wright's first letter was that Craig Stephenson was elected to attend to local issues, not national political ones. Whilst national politics clearly have an impact on local concerns, it is on how Mr Stephenson performs with regard to local matters that he should and. no doubt, will be judged by the electorate. If we, as voters, were to decide which way to vote for our local representatives almost exclusively on the basis of the national policies of their respective parties we may as well give up on local democracy. When I vote in local elections, I place my mark against the candidate I think will do the best job for the local community, irrespective of his or her political affiliation, and I hope and believe that is how the vast majority of voters approach the matter.
The question of whether Mr Stephenson will be able to balance successfully his duties as a Councillor with the demands of his employment is indeed an important one, and only time will tell if he achieves this. If people were to be disbarred from standing for the Council because they had day jobs, or ran their own businesses (which would be the logical outcome of Mr Wright's argument), the choice of candidates would inevitably be limited to retired people and the privileged few with no other calls on their time. This would be bad for local democracy, which needs as broad a range of representation of the community as possible if it is to function properly. So, instead of condemning Mr Stephenson out of hand before he has barely had a chance to show what he can do, why does not Mr Wright wait just a little longer before rushing to judgment? Perhaps he could also fight his battles against the EU in a more appropriate context.
Incidentally, Mr Wright has his facts wrong about the requirements for standing for election to the House of Commons. A person is not required to join a party to be a candidate, as at least three high-profile Independent MPs elected in recent years (starting with Martin Bell) amply demonstrate.
Turning to Mr Bateman's letter, his reference to France and Germany being "erstwhile enemies of the UK" is deeply troubling. Both have been friends of the
UK for many years - Germany for more than 60 years now, and France for nearly 200 years. How far back into history does one have to go to find a country that Mr Bateman will not condemn as an "erstwhile enemy"? After all, we fought a war against the USA in 1812 (only three years before we last fought against France) and in the 17th and 18th Centuries we were at war (at various times) with virtually every European nation other than Portugal! I would take Mr Bateman's views on the EU more seriously if they did not appear to be informed by so much isolationist prejudice. There is a very serious, rational debate to be had about the direction of the EU, its failings and its benefits, and the UK's place in (or outside of) it, but to approach the matter from such an extremely parochial standpoint will get us nowhere. Yours faithfully, Nick Lamb
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