The lengths my daughters, especially my elder daughter, go to to not be with me on Mothering Sunday is quite a thing, two years ago elder daughter went for lunch with D's mum, last year both girls were in Australia this year both girls in China! Is it something I did..?! Thank the Lord they LIVE in this country. Wedding plans are fun, most of them anyway, the Bride-to-be finds something or someone and we write the cheque what could be better than that! We are looking into all sorts of new areas, caterer (local) disco (local) flowers (local) church (local) then in depth things like hire of toilets and we could have luxury cubicles with fresh flowers, fluffy towels, liquid soap and hand cream but we could nearly go around the world on the cost! I have promised the "extras" in a less fancy we cubicle, just one thing, how, without buying new ones, do I get really "fluffy" towels? Then the accommodation for quests coming to the wedding and we hope to "book-up" the village, why stay anywhere else when they can stay in the best place on earth?
  There are certain topics that I am not allowed to write about here, younger
daughter being one of them, so you see how obedient I am. However, on the finer details of the wedding my lips are sealed, wait and see! July 22nd noon at New St Chapel. Cleo is now the grand age of 14, some days she has a problem getting her back-end out of her bed, other days she gallops around the garden as if she is a puppy. My brother gives her a brush every day and dutifully lets her out, and in, and out, and so on, he shares his chair with Mitts and talks to them both in such a lovely way, they both adore him, and why not, I always have, my memories of him when I was little, he was 11 when I arrived, are of a brother with time to play and listen. To me the most natural task in the world is to look after your own and we are pleased to be able to do so for him, recently we have been looking at electric scooters to help him be more independent, what a lot there are. One shop has its own "race-track" to try them on, do you think we could try one each? Just as long as I can actually get in it, as like Cleo I have a bit of a problem with my body, for me it's the circumference not the back end! What the heck, I am in good shape and the shape is round! A good all- rounder what could be better! (Yep, round the bend as well!)

In the Northern Pennines - 50 years of change.
  Many people think that the bird life of our part of North West England is as unchanging and constant as the hills and valleys that it inhabits. However this is far from the case and I would like to demonstrate this by calling upon my experiences in over fifty years of observing and recording ornithology in the region. A few species of birds have increased their numbers and are now seen more often than before, but many more have declined, some markedly so. The reasons for this state of affairs are numerous, ranging from loss of habitats, changes in climate and farming practice and the intrusion of human activity into unspoilt areas of the countryside. This has reached the stage where some species - those that struggle to exist alongside human beings - now have to be given special protection on reserves set aside for the purpose. The trouble with this approach is that it inevitably leads to the idea that the rest of the countryside needs less protection, and I feel that this has allowed some of the causes of population decline mentioned above to occur; the various authorities having taken their eye off the ball as it were.
  As a youngster, I spent a lot of time on a farm in Kingsdale, where a friend of mine lived, and we became familiar with the birds and animals to be found there. In the nineteen fifties farming was far less mechanised than today which meant that ground nesting birds were much less vulnerable. Among species that have declined because of the change from hay- making to early silage - which can destroy eggs, nest and young - includes Corncrake, Curlew, Grey Partridge, Yellow Wagtail and Skylark. From being a relatively common nesting bird in Victorian times, the Corncrake had by the fifties become quite scarce and is now extinct as a breeding bird in our area. It is now confined to the west of Scotland, the Orkneys and Ireland but there have been signs in recent years that - because of conservation work - a slight revival may be underway. Although still a familiar sight on the Pennine moors, the Curlew is much reduced in number, the young, not being able to fly for about five weeks, are very vulnerable to cutter blades and wheels.
  The drainage of wet ground and the "improvement" of rough pasture have also had detrimental effects on several other ground nesting species. Four of these are Lapwing, Redshank, Snipe and Teal, all of which have declined in the last fifty years. Many rush covered pastures that provided excellent nesting habitat for waders and duck disappeared following the drive for higher food production after the Second World War. The Lapwing also seems to have suffered from the rapid recent rise in the Peregrine population. During the nineteen sixties and seventies the Peregrine Falcon population fell to a very low level. The reason for this was eventually shown to be persistent chemicals, used mainly in sheep dip and seed dressings, which built up in the Peregrine - it being at the end of the food chain. When these deadly chemicals were banned, numbers of this fine falcon soon began to increase and this, together with other conservation measures, has meant that now the Peregrine is present in higher numbers than at any time since records have been kept. This has been bad news for the Lapwing. A ten year study in Sussex has shown that this wader forms six per cent of a Peregrine's diet, which, as the British breeding population of the falcon is about two thousand pairs, is a considerable toll. This is borne out by the number of little piles of black and white feathers that you come across while walking the Pennine uplands. The Redshank does not nest in the numbers in the Dales that it did fifty years ago but is still a common breeder on coastal shingle and salt marshes. This is the complete opposite to the position of the Oystercatcher which fifty years ago was just beginning to move inland as a breeding bird, spreading gradually up river valleys and onto various types of farmland. Now the bird is found breeding over most of Northwest England, north of the Ribble estuary.
  The two species of Grouse that inhabit the Northern Pennines have both declined in numbers in recent decades. The Red Grouse is found locally on the heather moors where it is sometimes managed for sport. However overgrazing by sheep, afforestation, heather beetle and changing climate have all reduced the amount of heather cover. This has resulted in Red Grouse numbers falling by at least half since 1930. The bird has also almost disappeared from several moors in the Northern Pennines. The Black Grouse has declined even more than the Red, countrywide, but in the Northern Pennines things have not been so grim and numbers have been maintained, helped by afforestation. However the bird has become very scarce south of the Sedbergh area. Fifty years ago, I can remember watching twelve cock birds displaying to females in Kingsdale but it is now many years since I saw even a single bird in the dale.
  Another upland bird that has declined in my lifetime is the Ring Ouzel. This mountain Blackbird - a summer visitor to our hills - now nests in considerably smaller numbers than in the past. The reasons for this change are not clear and it may be that problems in its winter quarters may be to blame. Once again, in Kingsdale, just the occasional pair of birds is now seen. I can remember a heavy snowfall in late May, during the sixties, when a wood near Ingleton was alive with dozens of Ring Ouzels which had come down from the higher ground to find shelter.
  The Barn Owl population of the British Isles has declined markedly in the last fifty years and the Northern Pennines is no different. This beautiful bird has suffered from the pesticide problems mentioned earlier as well as the loss of suitable farm buildings for breeding, roosting and feeding. Very thinly distributed in our area, this bird has responded very well to conservation measures in other parts of the country and it may be that the same results could be achieved here.
  It is said that the only thing that is certain is change and I hope that I have shown that this is true of one aspect of the natural history of our countryside. Some parts of that change are the result of the actions of man and others are not. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next fifty years as a result of the predicted global warming. Pity I will not be around to witness how it turns out!

A.G.M.  This year's AGM was held on Wednesday 22nd February at the Black Bull Inn, Nateby at 7 pm.  As The Bull was the venue for the Annual Dinner it was deemed appropriate to combine the two events, thus the AGM became the curtain-raiser to the dinner.
  The Chairman, Sandra Waters, opened the proceedings by giving a resume of the band's activities and engagements in the course of the last twelve months.
  She observed that last year's dinner at the Whitewalls Restaurant, Hest Bank, fell on the indentical date as this years.  Virtually every month saw that band participating in some significant activity.  In March there was an auction of promises at The Bull, Sedbergh, to help raise funds for the Settlebeck trips to our twin town Zrece, an occasion when Alan Lewis's specially composed piece of music raised a substantial sum.  Aril saw a third concert to be performed in Dent, as last year, in St. Andrew's.  Later in the month a band team competed in a quiz night which was again a fund raising venture on behalf of Settlebeck's Zrece connection.  In May the band led the Gala Parade, gave a summer concert in the People's Hall and made a contribution to the musical celebrations to mark the completion of restoration work in the Parish Church.  June was quieter with just a social gathering in The Bull to enjoy a pea and pie supper and view videos of the band's activities.
  July was dominated by the wonderful trip to Slovenia whilst August saw the band serenading the revellers at The Dalesman on the evening of the annual visit of the Shire horses.  In September the band were significant performers in the Sedbergh Brass Band Festival:  Remembrance Sunday was kept and the income from the concert held at Settlebeck went to the school Zrece travel fund.  2005 ended on a high note in December with a splendid, sell-out Christmas Concert, successful carol playing at leading Kendal stores and an appearance on Border T.V.'s Lookaround programme.
  Sandra concluded by thanking Alan Lewis for facilitating all the band's activities; Tony Croft for all his work in coaching and organising the carol playing so efficiently, the committee and all band members for their support and commitment to the cause of the Town Band.
  The Treasurer, Carl Storer, reported a successful financial year, that this was the seventh presentation of band accounts, the first being in 1999.  Membership subscriptions, patrons' gifts, generous donations and a healthy concert income have combined to put he band in a sound financial situation.  A most welcome and much appreciated lottery grant of £5,000 enabled £7,157 to be spent on new instruments which with the existing stock means that all players are equipped with instruments of good quality.
  Carl finished his report with a series of thanks: major gratitude was due to Secretary Hilary Hodge in acknowledgement of her enormous work on behalf of the band in organising the Zrece trip.  He paid tribute to the prudence and wise planning of the committee and closed by expressing the appreciation felt by all the very real and valuable support given to the band by Sedbergh School.
  Bandmaster Alan Lewis then presented his report in which he observed that the band continues to make good progress, though he checked swelling egos by pointing out that room existed for more.  He expressed his thanks to all who have contributed to the success of the band, in particular Tony Croft.
  He concluded this part of the evening by awarding the cup for the most significant musical progress over the year to the percussion player Samantha Bottomley.  Her progress has been so spectacular that the decision to award it to her was one requiring no deliberation.
  The officers and committee were returned en bloc to serve a further year.
Annual Dinner  Some forty members of the band enjoyed an excellent meal in the most convivial surroundings of the Black Bull, Nateby.  The Inn's proximity to Kirkby Stephen meant that our much valued members of the band who travel so uncomplainingly and reliably to all rehearsals and events from that town for once were confronted by a minimal journey.