I am a subscriber to Lookaround and have also been a contributor. As the years pass by and memories become greater and more important I wondered if there are any of my old school friends still out there in the wider worlds. I lived originally on Maryfell estate at a time when the area was "prefabs". We moved in to number 2 Thornsbank when it was originally built (although in those days the structure had to stand for over a year to enable the plaster to dry out). I went to the British School in the days of Mr Downhill and then went to QES, Kirkby Lonsdale. I certainly achieved little at school except for the odd GCE! On leaving school I joined the Gas Board in Kendal. this was a strange choice because it involved in working in a laboratory...and I was terrible at sciences of any sort!!
  National service began in the Royal Air Force in 1955 and I finished my career with the RAF in 1957. A short resumption at the Gas Board found me most unsettled and, having been trained in accounting in the RAF, a correspondence school I was studying with obtained an interview for me in St James Street, London W1.
  My career in accounting started with an insurance company then progressed to the AEI in Enfield, Lotus Cars in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire then to an Electronics firm in Holloway Road in London. Eventually I joined the newspaper industry .. Welwyn Times division of Westminster Press, moving from here to the Evening Press in York (same newspaper group.) I changed companies to Northcliffe Newspapers in 1979 and moved to Lincoln ..Lincolnshire Echo .. and retired in 1997 as Finance Director.
  I married Margaret (daughter of a London policeman) in 1961 and we have three sons and eight grandchildren.
  Since retiring life has stepped up a gear!! I am a Rotarian, member of Probus, President of Lincolnshire YMCA, Trustee of a charity called Break and chairman of Lincolnshire Association for the Elderly Housing Association. I remain a trustee director of my company pension scheme and treasurer to a variety of organisations. We are practicing Christians.
  Sadly, our eldest grandson (aged 9) is severely affected by autism so I am grateful that I am a trustee of Break - a charity providing holidays for mentally and physically handicapped children
  I don't know if this little epistle is of any use but I thought it would be lovely to hear from anyone in Sedbergh or further afield who may remember me be it from St Andrew's Church choir (from 8-15), the Youth Club at Settlebeck or any other capacity .. perhaps playing in the stream up Thorns Lane or even memories of Eric (Dad) who worked for Braithwaite's and was a friend of Sid and Doris Braithwaite. Mum was Florence Bainbridge and Uncle Billy (William Bainbridge) is remembered on the war memorial. Dad was a keen gardener and rented the old walled garden from Sedbergh School - at Akay .. memories of the Pepper Pot when it was complete. To complete the family was big sister Cynthia and little brother Brian.
  I am also trying to make contact with Maurice and Janet Dixon. Maurice was an old school friend in the fifties and I have lost touch with him. This year he has sent me a Christmas Card and I am unable to reply. Last time I heard from him he was in Locksheath area of Southampton. 

Philip Hutchings

  If anyone has an address, could you please drop details off at The Lookaround Office.

Lookaround 20th Birthday.  Band Chairman Sandra Waters and Committee member Gerry Blackwell were privileged to accept Lookaround's invitation to the Band to send two representatives to their celebration of twenty years producing this invaluable local news magazine.
  Our congratulations go to Dennis, Jacky and John Whicker and all who are responsible for the eagerly awaited appearance of this publication.  Our thanks are particularly due to them for providing us, and other local organisations, with the means of recording our activities for the perusal of the Sedbergh and District readership.  There is no doubt that much of the Band's success in terms of well attended concerts and an increase in playing membership is thanks to the publicity achieved through the Lookaround's  pages.
  The positive enthusiasm expressed by all who attended an excellent celebratory tea party in Sedbergh School's Queen's Hall demonstrated admirably the high esteem in which the magazine is held.

  Brochures are now available giving details of all the concerts and events.  Thanks to the generosity of Patrons and Sponsors the cost of each event has been kept to the very minimum.  Overall the Festival presents a wide variety of music making to suit all tastes.
  One of the major concerts will be given by the Edinburgh Camerata.  It has always been the policy to make the Festival as local as possible and most of those taking part have some local connection.  In the case of the Edinburgh Camerata one of the members is Hugh Thomas, born and brought up in Sedbergh and son of Richard and Dorcas Thomas.
  The Camerata was founded in 2000 when Will Dawes organised a group of friends to sing in Turin at the invitation of the city's university.  Since then the choir has attracted some of the foremost singers in Scotland's capital and given many more concerts, performing a diverse repertoire from Palestrina to Penderecki and various commissioned works.  Camerata feature regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival specialising in large scale projects such as the All Night Vigil (Rachmaninov), Spem in Alium (Tallis) and Requiem (Duruflé).  This year they will perform the 1605 Requiem by Victoria, along with works by Howells and Mäntyjärvi.  Further afield the Choir has ventured to Dunkeld, Greenock and Tenby, and they are delighted to be making their second appearance at the Sedbergh Festival - having performed Leighton's Mass for double choir in Dent Parish Church in 2004.
  The programme for Sedbergh this year will include Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir, Howells Requiem and Allergri's Miserere.
  The Camerata's Conductor is Will Dawes who studied music at Edinburgh University where he directed and performed with numerous choirs, orchestras and ensembles, as well as being a choral scholar at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral.  His achievements as an undergraduate won him the Keasbey Bursary 'for outstanding contribution to the musical life of Edinburgh University and the city as a whole'.  In 2004 Will took up his place at the Royal Academy of Music to study Choral Direction, participating in masterclasses with Stephen Layton, David Hill, Timo Nuorane and the BBC Singers.  Will also maintains close connections with the institutions through which he trained, such as being a member of staff on the Eton Choral Courses and as Associate Conductor of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.
  Judging by their performance in Dent in 2004 this will be an evening to remember.
  All the Sedbergh organs were featured in the 2004 Festival:  St. Andrew's, the Methodist, the URC, Powell Hall, Sedbergh School Chapel and Cautley PC.  In the coming Festival there will be two organ recitals, both in St. Andrew's Church.  The first by Ian Pattinson who is organist of Lancaster Priory.  The second by Dorothy Davis. Dorothy will be known to many in Sedbergh as the daughter of Mr. Hunter.  She was brought up in Sedbergh and has since studied the organ with Walter Hillsman at University College Oxford and later as a pupil of Simon Lindley.  Dorothy is based in Sheffield and has given recitals in Chester, Blackburn and St. Giles Cathedrals, Leeds Oxford and Sheffield Town Halls and she plays regularly at Sheffield Cathedral.
  The organ will also be heard to good effect in Faure's Requiem and Britten's St. Nicolas.
  This year the musical world celebrates the lives of Mozart and Shostakovich and the music of both these composers will be featured in the Festival.
  During the Festival there will be five Lunchtime Recitals with lunch available from 12 noon and music at 1 pm.  Before four of the evening concerts dinner will be on offer.  Dinner places will be limited to 30 and should be booked in advance at the Tourist Information Office.  No tickets are needed for any event, just turn up at the door.                                                                                                                                                                    D. H. Cox

  Elections are always a busy time for politicians and the local elections taking place on 4^th May are no different. I have been out helping our candidates on the doorsteps. We have even seen a visit from my new boss, Ming Campbell, to the constituency to lend his support. He very kindly interrupted his holiday on Ullswater for a walk around Ambleside to chat to people, meet some of our candidates and have a look at a rather exciting affordable housing development in the centre of the town.
  I do believe, however, that to be successful at an election you have to have been working hard for the electors for several years prior to the big day. The task of the election itself should be simply to remind people what you have achieved so far and communicate what you hope to achieve if they vote for you.
  To this end I have been careful not to allow the elections to distract me from the day job.
  The past month has been particularly busy as the Single Farm Payment scheme introduced by the Government has moved from being a problem to becoming a crisis; particularly so for the hill farmers that work up on the fells above Sedbergh and Dent. In addition to not receiving the single farm payment that is due from the Government they are also suffering from delays in receiving the hill farm allowance.
  I have written to Defra to ask that they receive particular priority for payment as their finances are in such a dire situation. I have also written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask that he gives farmers a tax allowance to compensate for the additional interest payments that they have had to make as they extend their overdrafts even further whilst they struggle to keep their farms going in the face of this Government bureaucracy and incompetence.
  The only people to come out of this appalling situation well are the banks whose agricultural advisers must be well up on their targets for this year.
  The way that the Government has managed to create this situation out of a well intentioned development is beyond belief. Much of the problem seems to stem from their belief in ambitious IT solutions to issues. We are seeing a similar approach in the National Health Service and I worry that we may see the same chaotic results. The sooner that they learn that IT solutions take much longer to implement than they think and will inevitably cost more than they budget for, the better for all of us.
  If I can help you with these or any other issues then please don't hesitate to contact me. According to our most recent figures we have had 10,000 letters into the office over the past year, all of them valuable in keeping me in touch with what really matters to you.
  You can contact me either at Tim Farron MP, Yard 2, Stricklandgate, Kendal LA9 4ND or by email at tim@timfarron.co.uk
Thanks for your support                                                                                                                                                                                 Tim Farron MP

  I have recently been involved with a new programme developed by the UK Taiji Qigong Foundation (www.uktqf.co.uk), promoting specific exercises for women's health, with special emphasis on breast care. I am hopeful that there will be sufficient local interest to be able to organise a weekend seminar in Sedbergh or Dent soon. (An attempt to run an event in Lancaster faltered because of lack of a suitable venue.)
  In Chinese medicine causes of breast disease can be:

• Emotional: sadness and grief affect the heart and the lungs causing contraction in the chest and hindering free flow of Qi (energy, pronounced "chee") and blood. Anger, frustration and resentment affect the Liver, which disrupts the flow of Qi and Blood in the whole body and, in particular, can cause tightness of the shoulder muscles. The acupuncture point on the top of the shoulders, between the base of the neck and the shoulder joint, is one of the main points for treating the breasts. Release of tension from this area allows a better flow of Qi down into the chest.
  
• Dietary: Jane Plant, in her book "Your Life in Your Hands", identified dairy produce as being a major factor in breast disease. This ties in with traditional Chinese medicine, which recognises that over-consumption of dairy produce can lead to the formation of soft lumps (not only in the breast). The breast cancer rate in China is higher amongst that section of the population, which has adopted a Western-style diet.
  
• Lack of exercise: this means that any small blockages, which would normally be cleared by adequate movement, can remain. The Chinese use the analogy of a river silting up, causing the flow to become sluggish, which in turn leads to the deposit of more silt. Some women are more susceptible to this process in their pre-menstrual phase and may notice lumps which appear at this time, then disappear again.
  
• In older women, a decrease in the body's vital substances also plays a role.
  

June Parker