Rural Voice - Hope Valley Edition - December 2022

Hi Readers,

Do you like our Front Covers this month? The whole team has made an appearance as our alter ego characters, including our distribution trio! Not sure what our designer Lisa is saying about Jude and Danielle hanging around a lamp post but we’ll leave that there for now!!!

In terms of the years round up - for the third December in a row, my year end message is more about surviving rather than enjoying this year!! As a glass half full type of person, whilst we cannot ignore the reality of how challenging the last few years have been and looks like it’s going to easily drip into 2023, I am still extremely grateful for the year I’ve had and the lessons I’ve learned! So here is the list of things I’m grateful for:

- My health

- Realising a 10yr goal which has aged me/us but worth it!

- Never being too old to make new friends & having some wonderful old friends in our lives that support us irrespective of our crazy shenanigans!

- A new boiler! Which is not only more economical and effective but has also prevented my water tank from falling through the floor into the bathroom below!

- Failing at my new year’s resolution (which has been partially due to not taking a proper holiday this year, when I usually eat a few books in a couple of weeks!) but by having the resolution, it has meant that I’ve probably read 5 more books than I would have done!

- Going to see England Netball play live for the Commonwealth Games.

- Going to Y Not festival with my work family (even though it was camping!)

- Being a bridesmaid for probably the last time – and – more specifically for my fast-healing body not ruining the aisle walk with crutches!

- Actually getting to see a couple of cracking shows at the Theatre this year.

- Lots of UK beach trips with our dogs.

I like to have some headlines to look back on for the year that has been and gone and I can’t help but look back with a smile, mostly! Don’t get me wrong, there have been some nail biting, painful and down-right horrible moments this year and because of the ongoing economic climate, we, like may other small businesses are worried – it’s going to be tough. But for now, I’m choosing to smile about what has been, concentrate on what is happening currently and refuse to worry about what might be and as usual, I will raise a glass on New Years Eve with Mr Emily, Rafa and Flake and hope for better times to come.

Thankyou for all your support this year and all years previously, wishing you all a fabulous Christmas and a superb New Year.

Happy Reading,

Christmas Jumpers Love them or

Loathe them?

Whichever category you fall in, love them or loathe them - Christmas jumpers (or “Ganseys” as my dad used to say) seem to have become a fixture during the festive season.

There is even a “Christmas Jumper Day”, a charitable day in support of Save the Children, this year it falls on the 8th of December. The first “Christmas Jumper Day” happened in 2012 and the event has run every year since. The idea is simple, everyone in a workplace, school, community centre - in fact anywhere a group of people gather - dress in the best (or worst) Christmas jumper and pledge £2 which is donated to Save the Children.

This year is a bit special because the UK government has promised to match the donations. As the charity’s page says, “double the funds, double the fun”.

If you are planning on taking part on the day, remember you don’t have to go out and buy a brand new jumper. Dig out an old one and wack on some decorations…the sillier the better. How about sticking on some tinsel, Christmas tree baubles, googley eyes, fake snow, jingly bells… go crazy.

Sure you might look and feel a bit of a twit, but you’ll probably make someone laugh (including yourself) and you’ll be raising money for a very special charity. With most of us having to tighten our belts this year, this is a really easy, fun, and cheap way to help a charity.

But back to Christmas jumpers…

When did the tradition of wearing them really start?

Some online sources seem convinced that the trend for glitzy Ganseys (sorry dad!) comes from the jumpers worn by Scandinavian fisherman back in the 19th century.

These were knitted in two or more colours with bands of geometric patterns and became popular in the 1940s and 50s when celebrity tourists such as Clark Gable, Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper were often pictured wearing them. The public then imitated the designs and knitted their own versions.

Our American cousins have embraced “the ugly Christmas jumper” for many years, even hosting ugly Christmas jumper parties and creating greeting cards featuring their family sporting glorious examples of bad taste knitwear. In the UK, Christmas jumpers as we know and love them today, probably didn’t hit mainstream culture until Colin Firth wore the infamous “reindeer jumper” in a scene from Bridget Jones’s Diary in 2001. We appear to have made up for lost time, the shops are full of garishly decorated and embellished knitwear from the beginning of November onwards. Want your sweater to play a seasonal tune? No problem. Fancy some lurex and sequins? Oh, go on then! How about some flashing fairy lights? You asked - they delivered.

These articles are researched and written by Laura Billingham, a local content writer and author. Laura moved to the Peak District several years ago to pursue her passion for writing. To find out more visit www.landgassociates.co.uk or contact Laura on 07736 351 341

I say, wear your jumper if it makes you happy, but do try to make a donation to Save the Children too.

Do you love a Christmas jumper? Or are you someone who would rather poke their own eyes out than be seen in one?

HOPE VALLEY RUGBY CLUB

STOP START SEASON

Following last season’s promotion Valley knew they faced a difficult season, but the task has been made even harder with the lack of regular games. A worrying trend of reduced player numbers in grassroots rugby was obvious as, due to concessions and postponements, it was October before they took to the field.

The rustiness was obvious as they lost to a well drilled Lymm Eagles side before a contentious home defeat against Liverpool St Helens. A walkover win against Liverpool Medics finally lifted the club off the bottom of the table before a superb defensive effort secured a win against previously unbeaten Northwich.

This upturn in fortunes proved short-lived though as they produced a lack lustre performance against fellow strugglers, eventually losing a nail biting game 21-27 to leave the Club perilously close to the relegation places.

COMETH THE HOUR, COMETH THE MAN

As if facing the unbeaten league leaders wasn’t a big enough task, doing it with an injury ravaged squad of just 15 players promised to make the game even more difficult.

Showing typically resolute Valley spirit, the team were in the mood to overturn the odds and, through

tries from Jake Oldridge (2) and Hein La Grange, they led 17-5 at the interval.

This effort came at a cost though and, with three players lost to injury and another to a yellow card, a defeat seemed inevitable as it was now 11 versus 15. Step forward club coach Phil Edge, who donned his boots, to become part of a remarkable defensive effort, led by man-of-the-match Jae Rodgers, that resulted in a 20-12 win.

Phil’s appearance is even more remarkable given that he is 70 years old and has not played a competitive game since his retirement at the end of the 1998/99 season.

Anyone who is interested in seeing what Hope Valley Rugby is all about is free to join us at training (every Thursday at Castleton Playing Fields from 18:30) or can contact the Club’s Director of Rugby, Ian Broad (07989 979 029).

Slimming World Recipe

Christmas Soup

1. Cook the sausages according to the pack instructions.

2. While the sausages are cooking, make the soup. Roughly chop 400g of the sprouts, then finely shred the rest and set aside. Put the chopped sprouts, onion, garlic (if using), cauliflower, nutmeg (if using) and 200ml boiling water in a large nonstick saucepan. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

3. Add the stock, then take the pan off the heat and blitz with a stick blender until you have a smooth consistency (or use your food processor and

return to the pan). Season to taste and put the soup back over a low heat to keep it hot.

4. Spray a non-stick frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and stir-fry the shredded sprouts, bacon, turkey and sage for 2-3 minutes or until the sprouts and bacon are cooked. Slice the sausages and stir into the turkey mixture to heat through.

5. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the turkey mixture, add a little freshly ground black pepper and evenly dollop over the cranberry sauce to serve.

Ingredients:

450g Brussels sprouts, trimmed (or use broccoli florets)

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)

½ medium cauliflower, chopped Pinch of grated nutmeg (optional)

700ml hot vegetable stock

What to do with all those leftovers? Well how about this delicious and filling soup to tantalise those tastbuds on Boxing Day? For

For the festive toppings:

2 Slimming World Pork Sausages (available from Iceland stores – if you can’t get them,

use another low-fat sausage and count any Syns)

Low-calorie cooking spray

3 lean bacon medallions, visible fat removed, chopped

120g cooked roast turkey, skin and visible fat removed, shredded 3 fresh sage leaves, shredded

3 level tbsp cranberry sauce

Syns per serving: 1 Syn

A Different Christmas

As this edition of the magazine will be with you during the early part of December I’m guessing that many of you will be organised, but for those less prepared here are some ideas!

One of the first things I would like to say here, is that we all need to get over the idea of “a perfect Christmas”…you know the sort portrayed in movies and festive adverts. Christmas Day is just that… ONE DAY! We should stop stressing about it and instead enjoy what is actually the true spirit and meaning of Christmas, and that is spending quality time with the people we love.

So, presents…

We’re all feeling the pinch this year aren’t we? Why then do we think we need to buy expensive gifts for all and sundry? In my family we only buy gifts for immediate relatives. I have two sisters, we each have two children, so we decided many years ago to concentrate on our own families and stopped buying pressies for nieces, nephews and each other. This immediately lessened the purchasing pressure.

I’m trying something new this year for my grownup daughters and my other half…I’m going to concentrate on giving “experiences” instead of actual wrapped up and tied with a bow pressies.

What does this mean?

Well, things like homemade vouchers printed with “IOU a picnic in Chatsworth park”, “IOU a daytrip to Scarborough”, “IOU a long walk in the woods”, “IOU a home cooked meal”

What I’m aiming for is things that involve us spending time together over the course of the year, rather than just a couple of hours over the Christmas hols.

Don’t get me wrong, actual gifts will be given and received within my family, but they will be on a smaller scale this year…except for the grandson, who will naturally be spoilt!

If you are at the “last minute.com” stage and are looking for gifts, my advice would be to shop locally and to avoid the big chains. Keep your cash in your community. Buy gift cards and vouchers from your local shops; I always like to receive a voucher for a treatment in a local beauty therapist (they often don’t get redeemed until the following September…a gift that keeps on giving!).

And what about homemade gifts? Are you good at cooking? Make cakes, buns, pies, biscuits, jams, chutneys…whatever you fancy! With a little bit of imagination you could package all these things up beautifully in recycled jars etc.

As for Christmas Dinner itself, it’s nothing more than a glorified Sunday lunch, so don’t stress over it! If no one really likes turkey (we don’t!) have something else. If it’s just the two of you, don’t bother cooking at all! Be lazy and spend the day eating cheese and drinking wine, if that’s what makes you happy!

Whatever you end up doing, I hope you enjoy it and don’t break the bank in the process!

These articles are researched and written by Laura Billingham, a local content writer and author. Laura moved to the Peak District several years ago to pursue her passion for writing. To find out more visit www.landgassociates.co.uk or contact Laura on 07736 351 341

Pitcherwits®

African dug Anna out of trouble (7)

Put on University type, but not so as to use him (3)

How does one write ‘prophet’ in Gaelic? (3)

Lied about being lazy (4)

Fish that’s bad for Aunt (4)

The woman can stay, otherwise it’s a bit fruity (5)

Dance at the end of a rod? (4)

Rip the eye-drop? (4)

We couldn’t be happier to announce that after a two year break, due to Covid, our much-loved Duck Race will be back on 1st January.

All our ducks have been keeping fit and are raring to go!

What a better way to meet family and friends over the festive season than at the Annual Duck Race.

Enjoy a warming cup of mulled wine with a mince pie, tea or coffee or a delicious hot donut. Have a go on our tombola with some lovely prizes to be won, for the little ones we have a Cuddly toy tombola with a prize every time.

Some new stalls for 2023, including a face painter for the little ones...definitely worth a look!

What a fantastic start to the new year, socialising and supporting a local charity.

This popular event is now in its 32nd year and is always a great fun day.

It takes place at Manor Park Toton, courtesy of Broxtowe Borough Council and sponsored by Michael Key MOT, Servicing & Repair, Long Eaton.

We will shortly be contacting all local businesses and requesting that they participate in our ‘Corporate’ race –for just £25 they can sponsor a duck or 2 for the bargain price of £40. They will have a chance to win a prize to share around their employees. This race which takes place immediately before the main race has become a popular and integral part of the day!

Book Review

The idea of the spy novel almost seems like something from the past. And in way it is. When John le Carre wrote his first story in 1961 he wasn’t just a thriller writer - he was still a spy. Then The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, arguably one of his most famous books, was written after his name was given to the Soviet Union in 1964 by a double agent, ending his secret service career.

And in these days of digital spying and phone hacks those early novels capture a shady world of human intrigue from a different era.. But le Carre always wrote like a grown up about people not just plots and that has been the great delight of his engrossing and clever novels.

The latest, Silverview, was published not long after his death last summer, and shows that he had lost none of his power to draw his reader into a different world.

It’s a short sharp and subtle study into loyalty and betrayal and how people can do the wrong thing for the right reason, it gives you plenty to puzzle over – and to wryly smile over at the same time. He’s a fine observer of the human condition but as a writer is always the spymaster in his novels, always the person knowing more than you but providing you with enough to make you work a bit.

He’s a great writer and this book is a fitting finish. – Then, if you’re a newcomer, you can work backwords through the many others.

When I was a girl, one of the most special and enduring traditions of Christmas was the hanging of stockings from the mantlepiece. After all the preparations had been completed, it was the final task before we children attempted to sleep on Christmas Eve. Not forgetting the glass of sherry and mince pie for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph left on the hearth.

The tradition stems from the legend of St Nicholas (who later becomes Father Christmas), a Turkish bishop in the 4th century. He had the habit of secret gift-giving and many miracles were attributed to him. He is the patron saint of children as well as sailors and pawnbrokers (among others).

One of the stories involves St Nicholas throwing bags of gold down a chimney and into stockings hanging by the fireplace to save the daughters of a poor man from being sold to feed the family. This is possibly why children traditionally leave their stockings out on the night before Christmas: in the hope of having them filled.

My father tells me that his only gifts were contained within his stocking. Always an orange, an apple, some nuts, a small toy, “tutoos” and a half a crown piece. This precious coin was always reclaimed by his father before Boxing Day so that he could visit the pub. My Christmas stocking was also filled with the same items, but my brothers and I also received a large pillowcase stuffed with gifts.

A year to remember for autumn fruits & berries

In wildlife gardens, hedgerows, and around woodlands, honeysuckle has flowered late and carried lots of red berries too. With flowers that are highly fragrant, this is a bonus of the late summer, but the berries are also wonderful for wildlife. They are especially favoured by birds like blackcaps and garden warblers as they fatten up before winter or prior to southward migration. Indeed, this year has been a splendid one for the profusion of fruits and berries across the countryside as along old lanes, parks, woodland edges, and in other open spaces and gardens, wild fruits have done amazingly well. No doubt this reflects the long spells of hot, dry weather and perhaps some of the intense rainy periods we have had. Berry bushes such as hawthorns, blackthorns, and rowans have all been weighed down by exceedingly heavy crops. The hawthorns, rowans, cotoneasters, and pyracanthas all have their typical rich red fruits. On the other hand, elderberries and blackthorns display dark, richly blue-black berries that are so popular with gin drinkers for making sloe gin. I recall walking the lanes around Holmesfield with the venerable ‘lady of the manor’, Miss Elsie Wilson of Wilson’s snuff fame, as she filled a large basket full of sloe berries. Well, for all these species 2022 has been an exceptional year.

This all put me in mind of how a local television channel many years back, (older readers may recall this), used to consult with an elderly countryman to forecast the weather to come. He could, he claimed, predict the severity or otherwise of the forthcoming winter by inspecting crops of berries on

hawthorns and other shrubs. However, sad to say, this system does not actually work in practice. This year’s berry and fruit crops reflect the year and weather just gone and the condition of trees and shrubs influenced by previous years. It is a nice idea, but the plants have no ability to predict or foretell the future. Nevertheless, if this was not the case, and fruits and berries did predict the weather to come, then clearly, we would be looking ahead rather worryingly. This winter now nearly upon us would certainly be shaping up to be a bad one.

Blackberries or brambles have produced exceptionally heavy crops of full, ripe, sweet blackberries. These are feasted on by small mammals like wood mice, by birds, by insects, and of course by berry-pickers. Similarly, the elder bushes are almost weighed down by the luxuriant crops of purple-black bead-like berries and I suspect that amateur winemakers will be having a good year. In hedgerows and along woodland edges, the pretty guelder rose hangs its rich red berries almost like droplets of pure blood. Also called ‘red elder’ or ‘rose elder’ this delicate shrub was once recommended as herbal tonic by writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer. Suggested that you ‘picke hem right as they grow and ete hem in’. However, this is not good advice since the fresh berries are bitter and smell rather unpleasant. Nevertheless, an extract was used in herbal medicine and guelder rose bark (known as ‘cramp bark’) was used in Britain and in North America to treat cramps, spasms, and old-fashioned ‘lockjaw’ (i.e., tetanus).

Something of a cure-all, it was also advocated for heart palpitations, rheumatism, and heart disease.

Professor Ian D. Rotherham is a researcher, writer and broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues. He is contactable on info@hallamec.plus.com and you can follow his website and blog: www.ukeconet.org & https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/ and he can be followed on Twitter @IanThewildside

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Gardener’s Calendar

While it may be a bit nippy to be outdoors you can always bring the garden in with some indoor winter flowering plants.

Amaryllis are beautifully showy. Feed with tomato feed while they’re growing for more blooms, let them die off in summer and bring them back into growth next year. Cyclamen are also a real burst of colour but be careful not to overwater them as they have a tendency to rot and always water from the bottom and don’t let them stand in water. Again let them dry out in the summer and bring back to growth in autumn. And for smell there is jasmine whose flowers are amazingly scented and which you can plant out in the garden after flowering if you have a protected south facing wall.

Prune acers, vines, both edible and decorative and lime, birch and hornbeam trees now if they need it. Any later and you risk them bleeding and their growth being weakened.

Top Tip:

In this cold weather it’s good to think about wildlife which might be calling your garden home. Birds need high calorie, high fat food to get them through the cold nights – that’s anything with suet, peanuts and sunflowers. And don’t turn your compost until the spring as there may be hedgehogs, mice and toads sheltering.

If you’ve got tender plants which can’t be moved, pile bracken or straw around the base and hopefully it will minimize the chance of the ground freezing and the plant being harmed.