Grassmoor Finale!

Sadly our Reading Detectives is coming to an end…but what an exciting time it has been!
We have chatted to so many people in the village and learnt about its history and discovered a number of authors along the way, right here in Derbyshire!

To celebrate, we are having our Grand Finale on 2nd April at Grassmoor Community Centre, 10.30am-12.30pm. There will be an excellent performance of ‘Strikers’ by the Pomegranate Players, poetry readings by local members of the community, displays by Grassmoor Primary and Alice’s View Children’s Centre and a quiz with prizes to test your selves on.

So come along and find out how we did ‘Mining your Memories’!

Getting crafty!

During our Reading Detectives launch we were lucky enough to meet resident craft expert and author Sandra Whitehead. She has been making miniature needlepoint kits for over 10 years, specialising in 1/12th scale kits suitable for dolls’ house wallhangings. The designs are based mainly on Celtic, medieval, and Tudor artwork. Her two books, ‘Celtic, Medieval and Tudor Wall Hangings in 1/12 Scale Needlepoint’ and ‘Medieval and Tudor Needlecraft: Knights and Ladies in 1/12 Scale’ have been well recieved by the public, which reviews on amazon calling it ‘A highly recommended book’ and warning readers ‘You will be spoilt deciding which one to work first’.
Time to get the needles out I think!

One for bear lovers of all ages!

Leoanard Ingram of Holmewood has been writing poems for many years and, like a lot of people, “hides his light (and his poems!) under a bushel”. Here however, is one that young and old alike can enjoy together and if you would like to hear more, just visit Holmewood Library and talk to the staff.

TED

Soft and cuddly is my Ted
I hug him tightly when I’m in bed
He doesn’t take up too much space
And I adore his furry face.
He has a chair to call his own
-a little one that I’ve outgrown
But if at times I put him there
All he does is sit and stare.

When I take Ted for a walk
How I wish that he could talk!
It would be nice to hear him say
“Isn’t it a lovely day”.
The only time Ted isn’t “mum”
Is when i press his portly tum
As then he gives a grizzly groan
One I call a Teddy Tone.

He has a waistcoat colour blue
And also matching trousers, too
But sadly he’s a trifle bare
In some places here and there.
My little friend has lots of charm
I’ll never let him come to harm.

Now as I’m told it’s time for bed
I’ll go and snuggle up with Ted.
I usually sing a nursery rhyme
Knowing that in record time
From us there’ll not be one small peep
As we shall both be fast asleep!

I hope my Ted will still be there
Just sitting in his little chair
That I’ll still hear that grizzly groan
When I am old and all alone.
Leonard Ingram

Harriet and her grandchildren

One of the pleasures of being a reading detective is the people you get to meet and chat with and Mrs Bedford is a lady with so many stories to tell about Grassmoor's history that she is a real "find". She has always written poetry and kept a biographical record of her life in the village that shows just how fast communities can change. Here is a poem about one of her passions, her grandchildren:

My Grandchildren
I’m a millionaire with wealth untold

Not in jewels, money, property or gold

But when my grandchildren take my hand it feels like a million grand.

When they visit and say hello

These are all the treasures I know.

I’ve had money, possessions and travelled far

But my children are my lodestar.

I wouldn’t trade my life for sheik or king

Compared to me they haven’t anything.

Contentment, I’ve found, is all within my family.

Every day I wake, prayer at night for their dear sake

I thank God for all my days

And hope it’s like this always.

By Harriet Bedford of Grassmoor

My Marathon for love

The reading detectives trail has led to Hasland and found an author whose illness led him to write the book “Leukaemia – my marathon for love”. Thanks to his father, the book has now been published in Richard’s memory. This is what Amazon has to say about the book:
Richard was born in Chesterfield Derbyshire in 1983. He was a keen sportsman. He wrote award winning comedy plays as a teenager and went on to become a journalist. Just before his 25th birthday he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Four courses of intensive chemotherapy followed in the run up to his marriage in September 2008. Richard maintained a journal throughout his treatment and this was never self-indulgent. His writing brilliance is evident in the book showing a blend, of informative, comic, insightful and immense clarity of what the life of a cancer patient is like. It has been greeted with great acclaim. He was always modest, loving and could make everybody laugh and feel special irrespective of their age. Whilst in remission, Richard decided he would run the London Marathon in 2009 for the Anthony Nolan charity, and trained himself back up to runs of 21 miles but sadly the leukaemia returned and he was unable to run. Although a stem cell donor was found, 2 more savage courses of chemotherapy proved unsuccessful. Undaunted, Richard continued to live life to the full, but sadly died age 26 in October 2009. The Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield requested that his comedy plays be performed again. All proceeds from the theatre and from book sales will be going to two cancer charities – Anthony Nolan and Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.
and here is a short extract from the book:
I have a five-inch scar on my chest, right hand side, pointing towards my heart. I look at it every day and it tells me who I am. If you are looking at this book wondering what it’s about, allow me to tell you. It’s about one man’s experience of leukaemia and all the fun and games that go with it. It is, more broadly, a book about life and a book about death. But greater still, this is a love story. A story about how true love cannot be destroyed by things as trivial as cancer and death. Some that remember me may do so in terms of my disease. That is to say, it will be the first thing they think of when they think of me and that I was taken so young. But the leukaemia that took me was not the defining force in my life, nor was it the strongest. That will always be love, and if I do say so myself, how we managed to get it so right in the brevity of our time together.

Grassmoor Launch!

The Reading Detectives was launched in Grassmoor on 15th January 2011 and was a rousing success! Many local residents came along to hear from Reading Detectives expert Will Newman and Elaine Glenwright reading an amusing poem by Mrs Roe, a Grassmoor poet who would sell her works to raise money for the pits.

‘Picture the Past’ was there with photos from long ago and Councillor Reddy was kind enough to attend to start proceedings. The Derbyshire Times even stopped by to find out what was going on and reported back on Thursday 27th January!

There was even local author Abi Burlingham there ready to do some signings of her children’s books ‘Ruby and Grub’.

It was a wonderful day and so successful that residents have requested starting a Grassmoor Local History Group! Any interested parties should email Sue at Grassmoor Community Centre.
email – grassmoor@btconnect.com

What an excellent way to start the Grassmoor Reading Detectives!project.

Live @ Masson Mills

Live @ Masson Mills was a fitting finale to the Cromford strand of Derbyshire Reading Detectives with over 100 people of all ages in the audience in the Derwent Restaurant.  The mix of readings from the detectives and the songs from Mills and Chimneys perfectly completed each other.  There were songs about working in the mills and Derbyshire characters both quirky and sinister, whilst the readings ranged from murder and  mayhem in Masson Mill, a time slip storyback to the 18th Century, car restoration, Frankenstein in Matlock Bath, and ,the hit of the afternoon, a pet dragon!  A big thank you to all the participants, to Masson Mills for the venue and to everyone who has supported the project.  Photos can’t really do justice to the occasion but here are a few to give a flavour.

Local author’s ‘Rainbow Cranes’

Abi is a local author working and living in North Derbyshire. She writes poetry, children’s stories and has just completed her first novel. She has had four picture books published. ‘Ruby and Grub’ and ‘Grub in Love’, were both published by Piccadilly Press in 2010. Abi says that one of the nicest things about writing for children is being able to visit pre-schools and schools around the area reading and doing workshops with the children. ‘Rainbow Cranes’ was inspired by the multi-coloured cranes stationed off the A61 heading towards Alfreton. These can also be seen from the M1 and are a glorious sight.’

Rainbow Cranes

He stops when he sees the rainbow cranes
and forgets, for a moment,
where he is going and why.
Even his old lame dog stops at his side,
glad of a concrete seat, for a moment,
eyes on a level with the cars passing by
and a tractor rumbling at a slumbering pace.

Cars jostle together,
separated only by a nudge
and a word that clangs in the mouth
and a chin resting on a hand, fingers tapping
like pebbles bumping on a beach.

And the old dog sees a scruffy mutt
with her head wedged through the gap at the window’s end,
pricks up his ears and sniffs the air,
catching a whiff of something else,
newly laid tarmacadam shaken by the breeze.
It doesn’t register.
But then it’s not dog.

He doesn’t see what his master sees,
the rainbow cranes, towering
above rooftops and trees,
slam metal on metal,
the blue print yielding beneath the hook,
piercing the breath and the light at its brightest,
doesn’t hear the knock on the door of his master’s heart
as it opens to fill with longing

and opening,
forgets his old dog, sinks into the blue,
remembers its sweetness,
casts out and reels it in
until he feels the suck and the ooze of it,
the rising wave beneath his skin.

The tractor has moved on a bit now
and the traffic heaps up,
plugging the gaps
as more and more fingers flex and stumble
in the space between sighs.

‘Werewolf’ in Grassmoor!

Philip Burnham, local author in Grassmoor, has been writing almost all his life, with short stories published in a writer’s anthology.
His first novel, ‘Werewolf’, tells the tale of Michael Cavendish, an immortal werewolf. The reader learns of his time as a soldier, in a gripping and heart wrenching tale that is hard to put down. This tale of horror has recieved excellent reviews with readers wanting more.

Warning: this tale of terror will send shivers down your spine,
from head…to tail!

Hulleys Buses – depart here

Our first published poet on the Grassmoor area of the blog has just been in touch. David Siddons has been writing poetry for many years and describes hmself as Like Mike Harding before me, we were too poor for me to be born so I was knitted using second hand wool in 1963. He started life in Brampton, Chesterfield, later moving to Ashgate and has one book of poetry published, with another due out next month in February 2011.

Here is a taster of his poem about Hulley’s buses:

God I miss the old red Hulleys bus that took you everywhere without any fuss.

The complaining diffs, labouring ancient engine that coughed and wheezed,

Belied the ibex like grace and hill climbing prowess of this unlikely steed.

The seats were luxuriant though the pace wasn’t fast,

But they got you there safe and sound at last.

And on market days a not unusual sight,

To carry livestock on the front step, to drop off “third field on’t right.

Oh buses are faster, more efficient now so it’s wrong to moan.

But Stagecoach won’t take your new pig home!

And here are David’s contact details and those of the writing group he attends if you would like to learn more about his work or how to get hold of his books:

SiddonD@chesterfield.ac.uk

poetryslamuk@aol.com.