Nostalgia Day

It does you good every now and then to reflect back on where you came from and what led you to where you are now.

Not that I'm a great one for digging into the family past but my maternal grandfather had a go at tracing his family tree once in an unsuccessful bid to find a claim to a fortune that is held forever waiting for a member of the Metcalfe family to prove their right when the relevant records disappeared in a church fire long before records were collected and held centrally. So all you Metcalfes, don't get too excited now ok???

He did find out that one of our ancestors fought at Agincourt. In the battle of 1415 I mean, not some football match scrum outside the gates of the local ground...

Frank Metcalfe, Grandad, passed on several years ago but one of the things that came to light was this photograph of him as a two year old in 1910, with his father who was also Frank, his grandfather Charlie and the old head of the family, whose name I don't know but he must be my great-great-great-grandfather! If you hanker after the old days, have a click of the link for "Nostalgia" below. That should bring back a few memories of the 1950-70s!

Ingrid Pitt's Newsletter

Ingrid's Spring Newsletter has just dropped through the letterbox today.

It has some news of a few events coming up - seems some Americans are coming over for a tour of our haunted mansions and manors sometime in September and want to fete our heroine! Hopefully not a fete worse than death... indeed not as they are dedicating their final night party to Ingrid! Ingrid's managed to get the ok for fan club members to attend! You'll need to ask her about it though, not me.

November's Fright Night event in Sheffield looks like being a two day night this year with a fancy dress parade, a dinner and a dealers' room.

Ingrid gives the horror story about her recent change of computer and there's an article about Memorabilia written by moi. She also mentions introducing me to Hazel O'Connor so we could "natter about music". She says "I think John enjoyed it." Yes he did actually!

Cleveleys Promenade Works

After having been to see Blackpool's sea defence and Promenade widening works yesterday, today I thought we'd go and have a look at what they are doing at Cleveleys, just up the coast.

It's a somewhat similar story, although they haven't widened the Promenade all that much. They have certainly added a few feet of height though, the Promenade walk is now several feet above the road surface and requires a safety wall which has waterproof gates at the points at which you can descend to the roadway.

The kiddie's funfair at the end of Victoria Road West has gone and the ground level raised almost to the top of the wall that used to act as a backdrop. Whether rising tides and sea levels are to do with global warming or not, someone is taking the risk seriously!

It reminded me that the new tram track at Blackpool's South Shore where I took yesterday's photographs has been raised up a foot or so. Will the level of the new Promenade, when finished, be higher than before at Blackpool?

Blackpool's New Promenade

It's turned unexpectedly sunny in Blackpool, so I dragged myself away from the computer and clipped the pedometer to my belt and forced myself to clock up my 10,000 steps for the day along the Promenade.

At the moment the Promenade is being widened as part of the general upgrade of the sea defences. You can't help but be impressed with the scale of the project. But given that Blackpool's Promenade was perhaps the greatest slab of concrete in the country already and had been getting less and less crowded over the past few years, did it need to be made any bigger?

It's what will be put on it that will make or break it. The kiosks on the Promenade near the town centre were only allowed to sell "quality products" - i.e. the sort of things that people went into town to buy, not to a kiosk on the Prom. I have to say that the walk along the Promenade from south shore didn't raise my hopes too much. I'd had to go all that way down to the Solarium past the Pleasure Beach and then turn off the Prom to park for free - the dreaded pay and display machines are almost everywhere now. They don't give change, they don't accept paper money, they don't accept credit cards and you have to decide on parking how long you will stay. There's no refund if your kids upchuck on the Pleasure Beach and you have to go home early!

I walked past some of the new sculptures. Not sure what they are supposed to be but it's probably art so I don't need to know and the fact that I even ask marks me down as someone who "doesn't understand". Anyway the huge slabs with the hole in and the huge metal studs has now gone rusty - sorry... it's acquired a patina. Parents make sure your kids don't brush against it or the patina will have the skin off their legs...

Then I walked past the large scale model of Thunderbird 3. Kids of all ages used to see the bright red spaceship and immediately recognise it. Great fun! However someone in dire need of a lobotomy decided it would be a good idea to paint it with Picasso's "Guernica". A great improvement don't you think? No... neither do I... Mixing two design classics together doesn't always lead to an improvement - cross a chicken with a waitress and you will not get a hen that can lay tables...

Then on reaching the South Pier (I was walking north) I saw that the widening and refurbishing of the Promenade had started. I couldn't help but be impressed with the scale of the project to improve the sea defences and widen the Promenade. Work on the Promenade from the South Pier northwards to the North Pier will take until 2012.

The amount of land being reclaimed from the sea (it covers the beach entirely twice a day) is staggering. There will be land stretching fully one third of the way down the pier!

Admittedly, at the moment it looks a bit of a mess and I suspect will look a mess at one part or other of the Promenade until the work finishes in 2012 (fingers crossed!) It's ambitious certainly. Let's hope I can rave about it in five years time rather than rant about it!

Return to Blackpool Promenade and Beach Index Page

Article Writing for Ingrid Pitt

The past couple of nights have been a bit frantic - I got my daily email from actress Ingrid Pitt's Yahoo Group to find she was expecting 500 words from me for her fanclub newsletter about her appearance at the Spring Memorabilia Show at the NEC over the weekend of 31 Mar/1 Apr. (See previous entry)

"Did you not get my email?" she asked. Er... no... but anyway 500 words isn't a lot so I started jotting a few bits down. Quite a few bits down actually... 500 words isn't a lot at all - I had to cut some of my best jokes out!

Anyway the article got sent off last night and I breathed a sigh of relief until this morning when at breakfast another email came in:

"Sorry John, can't open your attachment. Can you send it in the email. Thanks Ingrid"

Well that was easy enough - open Word file and copy and paste into a fresh email. Then noticed a further email. This was the one asking for the article. Tone (Ingrid's husband) had sent it on the 2nd but it had arrived on the 10th... Well that'll teach them to buy Apple Mac heh heh!

It went on: "The connection between Ingrid and Hazel is lost in the mists of time. Ingrid was at her wedding. Can't remember the religion but fruit, particularly bananas, played a significant part." Huh??? "Funniest memory of Hazel was going to a posh premiere in the West End. Went to get some drinks and when I came back Ingrid and Hazel were sitting on the stairs eating sandwiches from a lunch box Hazel had brought while all around people were quaffing champagne and nibbling nibbles..." Yep, that sounds like Ingrid!

Tonight was an email from Ingrid asking for photos of me with Hazel and Toyah - sent off in record time as I'm currently waiting for the other two members of the band to turn up for a rehearsal - blimey, when did we start having those? Oh sorry, it's half a rehearsal and half another recording session for the album!

Oh... and no, I can't let you see the article here as the fan club members have first priority!

Links to all three ladies so I don't get accused of favouritism! Names are in order of how long I've known you!

Ingrid Pitt's Pitt of Horror
Toyah Willcox's Web Site
Hazel O'Connor's Web Site

Blackpool Zoo

Well I'm not sure where all the promised sunshine and warm weather went to but it wasn't Blackpool this weekend!

We decided we were going to get some fresh air today though and ended up visiting the zoo. It's quite a while since I went there and it's changed a fair bit - there's a large area full of dinosaurs now - though rather more static than the Jurassic Park films!

I dug the telephoto lens out of the camera bag and managed the odd photo despite the grey weather.

Tidy Up for Easter!

How do we amass such a load of stuff???

I sometimes think I have some sort of unknown magnetism so that junk of all sorts is irresistably drawn to me and just collects around me.

It's Easter so I decided to do a bit of tidying in the box room. This (believe it or not) is the "after" state of affairs. Those who know me will testify to the truth of the statement because you can actually see carpet here! And bearing in mind that the black plastic bag is full of rubbish to be thrown out there's even more floor space in the offing!

Normally tidying up is the sort of activity where I demolish piles of stuff, look at the individual bits fondly, thinking "I haven't seen this for ages!" and then stack them up again in a different corner (should there be a space in a different corner...)

There's no truth in the rumour that the stepladders were bought so I could stack junk higher...

In fact we did have a sort out a while ago with the view to doing a few car boots or indoor sales. This led to even more junk coming out of the attic and being sorted into the plastic tubs ready for selling. This did however fill the box room a bit more! But once we get rid of it...

Some of the band gear is evident - white low-powered PA which we use for private parties in houses, keyboard and guitars, a bubble machine and blue bottle of bubble fluid (which we don't use for private house parties), white carrier bag to the left containing spare leads and microphones...

Then some computer "junk" - old knackered PC on the floor which needs getting rid of, blank CDs, external disk drive and a laptop CD Rom drive.

Other bits just need courage and an empty bin bag - why do I still have cases holding audio cassettes??? And all those huge books of the Christmas and birthday present variety... go go go! Ok, I'm off - they are going! Thanks for the courage!

Tram Photos at Flickr

I've uploaded a few more tram photos to my Flickr site. (no longer active)

I know that the Blackpool trams generate quite a lot of interest on my Blackpool website (sadly also no longer active, though most content is now included on this blog) and many of you have asked for larger versions of the photos to be made available.

All the photos at my Flickr site are 800x600 unless they are portrait oriented in which case they are 600 pixels high and as wide as the format allows.

The tram pictured is the oldest electric street tram in the world - Blackpool had the very first electric street tramway in 1885 and this is the only one of the original fleet still in existence. It is running on battery power because Blackpool originally had a conduit system instead of overhead lines. Power was picked up by a third slot running between the rails. However the problems with sand from the beach being blown into it led to the installation of the overhead system which is still in operation today.

The Band featured on BillyFury.com

After having one of my own music tracks featured on http://www.billyfury.com last month, this month sees the band's cover of Billy's hit "Somebody Else's Girl" available to download in full.

Creeping Bentgrass recorded this track especially for the Billy Fury website as the track we were aiming to upload, "Last Night Was Made For Love" was covered by another artiste last month.

Anyone who is a fan of Billy Fury, or of 60s music in general can find a host of resources at the website and a series of forums with a great bunch of people waiting to welcome you!

April Memorabilia Show, 2007

Hazel O'Connor and Ingrid Pitt

Actress and singer, Hazel O'Connor (the film "Breaking Glass" gave her punk rock status and hits such as "Eighth Day" and "Will You") catches up with actress and writer Ingrid Pitt. Ingrid is best known for Hammer Horror roles in "The Vampire Lovers" and "Countess Dracula" but has an impressive string of movies including a debut in mainstream movies as the lovely Heidi in "Where Eagles Dare" starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.

I met up with them at the Memorabilia Show, held this weekend at the NEC in Birmingham. I've been friends with Ingrid for ten years but it was the first time I've met Hazel, whose first Memorabilia appearance this was. I've always said I don't have favourite artistes, as every song has to stand on its own merits, but Hazel's "Will You" would be in my top ten of best ever musical recordings!

I also caught up again with Toyah Willcox and owe her a debt of thanks. Fran took a photo as we were talking and she said "Take it again - I probably look all gobby!" Anyway Toyah, you looked fine but I look like a complete prat in it... The second one has been added to the Celebrities set at my Flickr site (no longer available) along with others of Dr Who, Colin Baker, helper Deborah Watling, and me with Hazel and Ingrid. The first one will never see the light of day!

Ah, and thanks to Ingrid who enthusiastically told all these successful singing artistes that I was a "fabulous singer"... Yep - 35 years on now so it can't be long before I become an overnight success...

Trevor Payne's "That'll Be The Day"

Last night Fran and I went with David and Jeannie to see "That'll Be The Day", a rock and roll extravaganza of a show at the Blackpool Grand Theatre.

Incredibly this superb show has been running 21 years - and it's that long since I first saw it! Personnel have come and gone but there are still a core of the original cast and the new version of the show now heads all the way from 1956 into the 1990s.

It includes hits from every decade in between those dates and a hefty helping of comedy too - ah yes... and Andy Pandy is back!!! If it comes anywhere near you, don't miss it!

Hobnobbing with Celebrities

I've added an album of photos of myself with some celebrity friends to my Picasa site.

Bond Girls Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick, Tanya Roberts, Britt Ekland, Carole Ashby and more, Hammer Horror stars Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, singers Toyah Wilcox and John Leyton and a few other assorted people!

Since this post was originally published the album has been taken down, sorry! There's several of the photos elsewhere on the blog though - click the link below for topic "Celebrity"

From Leeds to Taunton!

After leaving the AoC NILTA conference yesterday, I drove down to Taunton, where today I've delivered a session at an RSC seminar for South West Colleges and Universities.

The seminar was all about bidding for project funding from external sources and the session I gave was about ensuring your business case matched the needs of the funders and presented what you wanted to do in the best light. "RSC" means the JISC Regional Support Centre, 13 of which support Further and Higher Education Colleges and Adult Continuing Learning in their region of the UK.

I was the last speaker of the day and wondered whether delegates may have gotten a little jaded after a day of what could have been quite a dry subject, but they seemed to be up for it and nodded in the right places!

We were at Hestercombe Gardens, perhaps not seen at their best today, but I'll bet it's a beautiful place on a sunny day from spring to autumn. One tree had a gnarled trunk, looking like a face.

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AoC NILTA Conference 2007

I'm currently at the AoC NILTA Conference in Leeds and it has been an excellent conference this year. This has been the 19th NILTA Conference if you count the "parent" organisations of NILTA, namely NAITFE, the National CMIS Board and SCITFE the first incarnation of all.

One or two people present have been at all 19 of them. I can't quite claim that, I started out in 1993 as Associate Chair of the National CMIS Board so have been to enough for people to look at me with concern, wondering whether I'll collapse with age... or perhaps waiting for me to grow up - no chance of that I'm afraid! Lots of people yesterday were saying nice things about me to my boss, some without realising who she was, so my thanks to them!

Some good and pertinent sessions and keynote speakers. I especially liked a couple of phrases by Barbara Ganley from Middlebury College in America who was speaking about the use of blogs by her creative writing students. She spoke about "learning in cycles of disruption and repair" and the need for building into your courses some opportunities to fail, so that learning can come from it. Initially this might sound strange - we want students to fail? Well not in the long run of course, we want them to achieve their qualification, but walking away with a certificate is not the only goal I hope. It's when we fail in something that we take a step backwards, assess things like what went wrong and why, learn to identify and solve problems and learn what is repeatable and what should not be repeated.

The second keynote was from Nigel Paine who gave a very enjoyable and thought provoking session. He focussed on Change and the rate of change and the slowness of many educational cultures in dealing and accepting change and embedding new ways of learning. "We have got to let things from the past go," he said - a phrase that might challenge a few cultures perhaps. The tendency can be to evolve slowly, adding and supplementing but without always reviewing, releasing and discarding those things which have become tired, outdated or no longer relevant to today's young people in Further Education.

JISC infoNet, my own organisation, is currently involved with a series of one-day workshops on Change Management, delivered by myself with Clive Alderson, which introduce strategy and techniques for supporting Change in organisations. Another of our resources which has been generating lots of interest is the Planning & Designing Technology-Rich Learning Spaces infoKit. With many colleges currently involved in new building projects or refurbishment, the kit, released last week is timely and contains many resources, including a database of images of college and university innovative building projects, hosted at Flickr.

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Two in a Bed...

Cats I mean... This normally spells trouble. I got up this morning, despatched to make the coffee as Fran was in work for 7:00am and the cats had decided to bunk up in one bed rather than use the other (larger) bed.

Normally Jess has a thing for standing, sitting or lying using Tigger as a pillow, but this morning she was sprawled out on top of him, bum hanging over the edge of the bed and Jess looking just a touch resigned at the unusual state of affairs...

It's been a bit of a musical morning for me - the band have a gig tonight so I've been getting ready for that, more about that on the band's blog. It's a busy weekend all round as tomorrow we have the family coming round - there's a few birthdays in March and three of us will have had or are about to have one! Next week will see me in Leeds for the AoC NILTA conference and then rushing off to Taunton to give a session at a seminar on bidding for project funding.

Return to Family Memories Index

Train of Thought

I'm just back from another couple of days in Birmingham.

This has been for the JISC Conference (which I think was easily the best that I have attended) and for a day's planning meeting with the rest of the team.

Tomtom didn't make the trip this time as I travelled by train. I'm not sure what it is with me and trains - I'm sure they can't go wrong as much as my experiences seem to suggest, but anyway...

Coming back, my train had the misfortune to be behind one which hit something on the line near to Bristol. I'm not sure what, but by the time my train (heading for Glasgow) reached Birmingham where I was getting on, it was 45 minutes late. A typical experience for me really, I'm not sure why I should even mention it.

It was made all the more memorable by two imbeciles behind me who felt the need to use the f-word every alternate word. I'm not a prude but it did get a bit wearing hearing it three or four times in every sentence... And on a train surrounded by other people I feel that's selfish and ignorant behaviour.

On a different subject, we're starting to get fired up about the gig on Saturday at Cabus Village Hall (see the band's website for details).

A few hours in Cumbria

It was Fran's birthday yesterday so we had a trip out today. It's been a bit of a dark dismal day but sometimes I quite like that anyway.

So we motored up the A6, ignoring the new satnav which wanted to go on the motorway, passing through Lancaster, Carnforth, Milnthorpe etc. I stopped off at Beetham to take a couple of photos of the River Bela.

Once the weather gets a bit more sunny I must have another trip up here to see the Fairy Steps (see this page for explanation) which I've only ever photographed in black and white.

Anyway, we carried on up to Keswick, ate fish and chips in an upstairs cafe and had a look in a couple of antiques shops. I'm afraid I bought another handful of old 78rpm records. Haven't played them yet, though some looked a bit worse for wear anyway... Fran was on the lookout for another Liliput Lane cottage - her collection is growing close to city status... Unfortunately (phew! ha ha!) she didn't find any...

Return to Lake District and Cumbria Index

Make a U-turn as soon as it is safe...

Yes, I've gone Satellite Navigating! And it must work because I haven't crashed into one yet...

I've been in Birmingham, Wednesday afternoon and yesterday and finding anything remotely resembling the street map is a nightmare. In most big cities, not just Birmingham. A combination of one-way streets and new corner buildings where the street names are never replaced makes trying to find anywhere a total frustrating challenge!

So I went out into the malls of Birmingham and came back with a tomtom. I played that until the chap in the next room at the hotel complained and then went out again to buy a satnav...

I'd sussed the way from the hotel to the ICC where I had an exhibition stand at the ACM Conference, but the satnav got me back to the motorway at the end of the day without any fuss at all.

A Welsh Morning

I've been in Wales this week, going down on Monday afternoon in some rather abysmal weather, but the view from the hotel car park yesterday morning was certainly nice.

The village is called Chancery and it's just outside Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast. I missed out on most of the scenery driving there as it was dark by the time I turned off the main north-south road to head west. There was one bit where a river ran alongside the car behind a bank and I was hoping the bank held out because the water level was about halfway up the car doors...

Clive turned up around 11:00pm having driven from Motherwell in Scotland. We were in Aberystwyth at the university, running a Risk Management workshop which went well and the drive back north took us over the mountains to join the M56 at Welshpool. More spectacular scenery - including a lorry perched on a narrow bank of earth 6 feet above the roadway. Either a tyre blew or he went to sleep... He was lucky not to roll down sideways - the drop on the other side was the longer!

Got back to find wife and daughter frantically writing out wedding invitations. My daughter gets married in June so I'd better get out now and earn another crust!

My Music Online

A while ago on the blog site of my band Creeping Bentgrass, I mentioned Billy Fury and got a reply from Moya from the website http://www.billyfury.com.

I registered on the site which is an excellent resource for Billy's fans and this month they are featuring a track from my solo album - "Blue Bayou".

This can be heard by clicking the "Click to Play" link from the Billy Fury site.