4th May, 2015....Bank Holiday Breakfast...!

At last...the sun put in an appearance, after two days of staring out of the window at the rain! (To be fair though, roast dinner cooking did take up a large part of our Sunday, so couldn't have got out anyway!)

 

 

 

The 'Bootcampers' beat us down here today...good to see this exercise lark keeping the townsfolk busy.....I like an hours power walking myself! But we were on a mission for a breakfast rendezvous with friends today, and Abbey Mill delivered, as always!!

 

 

 

 

 

The kids preferred ice cream and 'sausage'n'chips for breakfast, and Abbey Mill caters for all!!

 

 

 

 

Despite the wind being a bit chilly, it is starting to look lovely and 'floral' down here at last.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

....and the kids from 'restorative justice' have been doing a bit of tidying up too!!

 

 

 

This engine and it's carriages passed as we were walking today.... a 'blast from the past'! It was as though a pile of old carriages were being taken away for some reason....wonder where to? Frankie had a huge fascination with trains when he was little...we must have purchased every 'Thomas the Tank' style engines and figures, and sat for hours in York's Railway Museum....where does the time go...he's thirteen in August!

 

 

Sad to see one wing of the Whitehouse has gone now....the demise of another great Barrovian institution!

 

 

 

Bumper fund raising effort from the Greengate Team on Friday......Central Ward families are so supportive of our events....I hope everything works out in their favour on Thursday, in terms of resources being ear-marked for struggling town and city centres! Here's hoping!

 

 

 

 

 

All of our kids and staff are joining in the 'Race for Life' this year too, at the Furness Academy new running track, and after watching the sterling performance from Sheridan Smith last night to highlight the research still needed so that ALL cancer sufferers can survive, it is the least we can do!

 

 

 

Lovely in the meadow today.....

 

 

...they are getting incredibly bold, these bullocks....look at those tiny horn buds, poised as if readying themselves for a fight!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26th April, 2015....Traditions, old and new!

So...the wedding season has begun.....and what better place to celebrate your first glass of champagne as a married couple, than Abbey Mill Café!!

                                            The bride and groom are regulars down here.....

 

.....as are the photographs of the SteveHillman camera, adorning the side of Abbey House's new van!!

 

 

Having some of your wedding photographs taken at Furness Abbey is something of a tradition around here, but it has now become almost too expensive to gain admission to the Abbey grounds as a bride and groom, and couples often settle for photos in the Lady Chapel at the foot of the hill, or under the archway...should be free for Barrow residents at least, I think!

 

 

It was a lovely, sunny Sunday, with a bit of a bite to the wind, but lots of blue sky, and many trees have started to blossom, even from last week...

 

 

 

 

...still not warm enough to remove my parker just yet! We did help celebrate another tradition this week....the centenary of a church that has a lot of links with our school...it's not as old as Rollo, but not far off!!

 

 

The SteveHillman camera has also been photographing the demise of another local tradition.....

 

 

...yes...that is all that's left of The Coot....I guess most local people have attended an event there at some time in their lives, but that era is sadly over...

 

 

...such a shame...it was a lovely wedding venue! Then there's the canal at Ulverston....

 

 

 

....time to support the 'traditionalists' in their quest for regeneration! I'm all for modernising and upgrading (the bathroom tale proves this!) but we still need to preserve the better bits of our heritage!

 

 

 

 

 

 The meadow by the Beck is now filled with cheeky young bullocks...we got pretty close to this one whilst it tried to out-face us....pity they are no use as 'milkers' and will head to market before they are much older (there's a reason to join the throngs of us veggies if ever there was one...I've been a vegetarian since I was eighteen and it hasn't harmed me or the economy in any way...I was thought to be a bit 'far-out' back then...now I have been joined by lots of friends and acquaintances....and watching the piece about black pudding on Countrywise this morning was enough to put anyone off meat for life!!)

 

 

Poor things!!!! Looking lovely and green down here at the moment though!

 

 

Bit of a 'ranting' blog this week, but luckily we live in a democracy and I am allowed to have my say!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19th April, 2015..."Poor and content is rich, and rich enough."

Hmmmm.... a week of Shakespeare (it is #shakespearesunday after all!!) and taking stock! It did end on a rather lovely, sunny note though.....

 

 

....that's a Shakespeare quote at the beginning.....the SteveHillman camera photographed a wedding this week and the speech given by the bride really hit home with him....the value of an upbringing by grounded parents who taught good principals, morality, honesty and integrity...nothing to do with money. We both had that sort of up bringing, and are grateful for it.....value your parents whilst you still have them!

 

 

 It was a bit like The Waltons in our house!

 

 

Ha ha...we found these in the loft this week whilst having a clear out as we are having work done!

 

 

That's me and my dad just over thirty years ago! Anyhow...a quiet week of reflection and feeling grateful I think...and we headed down to Abbey Mill as the sun came out....and so did the rest of Barrow!

 

 

 

 

Actual 'azure' skies!

 

 

Frank has decided to become a 'sharp' dresser so we spent Saturday morning shopping for clothes for him....and he's still only TWELVE!

 

 

Whereas, if you look at our daughter...she was more traditional...

 

 

Gosh....was my waist really that small!! Steve Hillman hasn't changed much has he!

 

 

We were going to my brother's wedding that day...at the Glen Garth Hotel, which is no longer functioning as a hotel....

 

 

...if you are reading this Lou, you have an even smaller waist than me!! More photos from the loft! it's definitely been a week for thinking about family! My mum looks so young in that photo...she still does!

 

 

We were only twenty in this photo, and not even married...attending another family member's wedding... I made that dress myself...hard to believe I know!!

 

 

If only I'd had this book all those years ago.....read it in one sitting and was stunned on so many levels.... "Be ye not swift to judge..." as Shakespeare would say!