Voice Magazines - Alfreton & Villages Edition - February 2023

ALFRETON, TIBSHELF, SOUTH WINGFIELD, SHIRLAND, CRICH, STONEBROOM, HIGHAM, WESSINGTON & WESTHOUSES

Hello Readers!

Has everyone survived the most miserable month in the calendar?! I feel like every Monday in Jan has an adjective attached to it or at least it should – not sure Blue Monday covers it! Maybe it should be something like:

Pretend Monday – i.e., it’s probably a BH.

Same old Monday – i.e., did we even have a break?

Blue Monday – i.e., most miserable and saddest day of the year.

Skint Monday – i.e., it’s been 6 years since the last payday.

Never ending Monday - i.e., how has this month still got another Monday in it!!

Still, we got through it didn’t we! Just about!!

Speaking of getting through, the most unwelcome Birthday came and went – I tried to do nice things and be positive and whatnot but I’m not a fan! It was only about 20 mins ago when I was a whipper snapper and I used to call people of my age ‘old’. Yet, I’m not quite old enough to forget that this was the case!! I’m also not a ripe cheese or a fine wine! But as my old Grandma used to say – “it’s better than the alternative!” She weren’t wrong! So, I’ll sulk for a little bit longer about it and then I’ll start getting some Botox and all will be well with the world!

Anyhoo, hard to believe we’re in our 13th year of production but we are all hugely looking forward to helping our local businesses this year and we’ve got

some good ideas in the pipeline to try and help – so keep your eyes peeled.

I’m off to put my slippers on – yep, gone are the days of bare feet or just socks #sadtimes.

Happy Reading! x

PANCAKE DAY!

A quick recap for those who aren’t sure why we feel the need to stuff ourselves with pancakes on that day!

Shrove Tuesday is a moveable feast, its date is tied to whenever Easter falls as it is celebrated on the last Tuesday before the 40-day period of Lent begins. Easter itself is the first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. If the full Moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter is the next Sunday.

Lent, as you may recall, is the six-week period in the run up to Easter when traditionally Christians would fast - avoiding meat, fish, eggs, and fats until Easter Sunday. These days we are more likely to commit to giving up just one thing for the duration of Lent - is this something you do, or would consider doing?

Anyways, back to Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday, which this year falls on February 21st.

As the story goes, our forebears would cook up a storm on the day before Lent (aka Shrove Tuesday) in order to use up any eggs, milk, and other perishable foodstuffs, before beginning their prolonged fast period.

Quite why pancakes have become synonymous with Shrove Tuesday is somewhat lost on me. I can see that eggs and milk may have needed to be used…but not flour, the other vital ingredient in a pancake batter mix.

I wonder if Yorkshire Pud’s were also consumed on Shrove Tuesday - maybe a first course of meat and gravy in a Yorkshire pudding, followed by pancakes…batter overload.

We may have lost many of the traditions connected with Lent, including that of marking the heads of worshippers with ashes taken after the burning of Palm branches (or crosses made from Palm leaves) from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations, but Pancake Day lives on.

Every household will have their own way of making pancakes.

Some will toss.

Some will flip.

Some organised people will make a stack of pancakes.

Some will operate a one at a time production line.

And some won’t bother making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday at all!

As for what goes on a pancake - well, let’s not open that can of worms and simply say that whatever you want to top your pancakes with is absolutely fine.

Unless it’s chocolate spread, in which case you need to go and have a word with yourself <grin>.

Whatever you do this Pancake Day, it is still worth looking back at some of the older, thriftier ways of cooking. Times when nothing was wasted, leftovers were made into another meal and very little food was thrown away.

In these financially tough times, there are lessons to be learned from the past.

Pancake Day - Shrove Tuesdaywe all know the origins of the day…don’t we?

THE LITTLE RED HEN HOUSE NORTHUMBERLAND

STUNNING HOLIDAY COTTAGE IN WARKWORTH, NORTHUMBERLAND

Enjoy your next family holiday with a stay at the delightful Little Red Hen House. An elegant and cosy holiday home just a 7 minute drive from award-winning and dog-friendly Warkworth beach.

✽ 2 spacious en-suite bedrooms

✽ A fully enclosed garden

✽ 3 small to medium dogs welcome upon request

✽ Fully equipped kitchen including an American style fridge freezer

✽ Perfect for exploring the stunning Northumbrian Heritage Coastline

✽ Walking distance to a range of dog friendly pubs, cafes and restaurants

✽ We have fast fibre Wi-Fi and smart TV’s

Search ‘The Little Red Hen House’ at:

• Pupils love learning in this school

• Pupils are happy and safe

• The school is welcoming and inclusive

• Pupils behave well and respectfully*

We would love to see you and your child at Christ the King! We welcome children of all faiths and no faith. We are the only school in Alfreton offering all through education from age 3-11.

*Ofsted, November 2022

TUESDAY MORNING 10am

SOMERCOTES VILLAGE HALL

Nottingham Rd, Somercotes, DE55 4HQ

WEDNESDAY EVENING

6pm

CHRIST THE KING

CHURCH HALL

Nottingham Rd, Alfreton, DE55 7GL

WEDNESDAY MORNING 9am & 10.30am

PALMER MOREWOOD MEMORIAL CLUB 36 Hall St, Alfreton, DE55 7BU

Tel : Sue: 07738 118 130

THURSDAY EVENING 5.30pm

ALFRETON & DISTRICT MEMORIAL HALL

Grange Street, Alfreton, DE55 7JA

Tel : Ben: 07951 157 551

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Slimming World Recipe

Air Fryer Roast Chicken Dinner

Method

1. Preheat your air fryer to 180°C.

2. Put the potatoes in the air fryer basket, spray with low-calorie cooking spray and cook for 10 minutes, shaking the basket halfway.

3. At the same time, blitz the broccoli in a food processor, add the cheese and some seasoning and blitz again until combined.

4. Put the chicken on a board and cut a large pocket into the long side of each breast. Squash the broccoli and cheese mixture into each opening until it’s all used up, and season the chicken with freshly ground black pepper.

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5. Remove the basket from the air fryer and shake the potatoes. Put the chicken breasts on top, spray with low-calorie cooking spray and cook for 18-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, carefully turning the chicken after 10 minutes.

6. Make up the gravy. Put the chicken on 2 plates and serve with the potatoes, gravy and your favourite Speed vegetables.

7. TO OVEN COOK: Cook in a nonstick roasting tray at 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6 for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through, adding the chicken after 10 minutes.

Serves: 2 Ready in: 35 mins

Ingredients:

300g baby new potatoes, halved

Low-calorie cooking spray

50g broccoli florets

30g Red Leicester cheese, grated

2 large skinless and boneless chicken breasts

2 level tsp gravy granules

Syns per serving: 4 Syns

ALFRETON & DISTRICT HERITAGE TRUST OH MR. PORTER

Oh Mr. Porter, what shall I do? I want to go to Birmingham

But here I am at Crewe Take me back to Alfreton

As quickly as you can Oh Mr. Porter what a silly boy I am.

I suppose really I should apologise to both singer Marie Lloyd and writers George and Thomas Le Brunn who in 1892 published the song ‘Oh Mr Porter’ for using a little poetic licence to introduce this month’s topic which is all about Alfreton Railway Station.

Alfreton Railway Station was opened some 30 years before ‘Oh Mr Porter’ graced the stages of the countries Music Halls, having been opened by the Midland Railway Company on the 1st of May 1862. On the 7th of November 1891 it was renamed Alfreton & South Normanton Station.

From its conception in 1859, the Erewash Valley line was planned as a goods line providing an outlet for the many collieries in the area. Eventually passenger services were established and these continued until the Station closed on the 2nd of January 1967 to passenger traffic.

The original line had required the construction of what was then known as Cotes Park Tunnel, but such was the volume of traffic a second tunnel was required and this was constructed between 1899 and 1901 requiring an army of labourers or navvies as they were known. The 1901 Census records a township identified as Tunnel Huts, between the railway and

Hunt’s Farm, Little America, with around 150 recorded inhabitants. There may have been many more unrecorded of course!

Following closure to passenger traffic the goods depot remained open, steel, containers and explosives being handled by the rail crane. One of the more unusual passengers were pigeons! Friday night was pigeon night in the Alfreton area. Local Clubs would take them to the station for transportation to some remote destination and released by the station staff.

Of course, there were many passenger excursions available to popular seaside resorts and to major sporting events. We were in an era when most people didn’t have a car don’t forget.

It was an era of steam for the most part and perhaps I’m not alone in thinking Steam really was King!

Mr G S Howdle (Alfreton’s last Stationmaster

Football Excursion

This puzzles has been devised by the brilliant Professor Rebus. For more of his puzzles visit www.pitcherwits.co.uk

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its personal

World Thinking Day

World Thinking Day - I must confess to never having come across it before. A spot of “Googling” led me to the website of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGS for short) and this headline statement:

“Celebrated since 1926, World Thinking Day is a day of international friendship. It is an opportunity to speak out on issues that affect young women and fundraise for 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 150 countries.”

Who knew? Obviously not menever having even reached the giddy heights of being a Brownie, let alone a Girl Guide. Reading a little further, it transpires that the association like to theme World Thinking Day (this year, it falls on 22nd February). A 2020 poll of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (under the age of 18) from 100 countries asked what issues they were most concerned about and what they wanted to change about the world. The resultant data revealed that the number one worry of the respondents was the environment.

2022 saw the start of a three year period of encouraging Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to become environmentally conscious leaders. Via a free to download activity pack, girls from around the world will discover the link between Climate Change and Gender Equality and find out why girls and young women are disproportionately affected by environmental issues.

We can help by making a donation to WAGGS via https://www.wagggs. org/en/what-we-do/world-thinkingday/world-thinking-day-fund/, but we can also take some time out and do a spot of thinking ourselves…in our comfortable Western homes, it is

easy to forget the struggles that girls and young women experience in other parts of the world.

See if you can come up with some ideas to help the environment, from simple things like only filling up the kettle with the amount of water to make that one cup (or pot) of tea; to more elaborate plans to install solar panels and ground source heat pumps. Perhaps you could try growing some of your own fruit and veg; walking more often instead of automatically jumping into the car; recycling more; only buying new clothes when you absolutely have to…there are so many simple ways to start making an impact, and in the words of a famous retailer“every little helps”.

On February 22nd this year, pause for thought; take 10 mins to sit quietly and engage your brain. You may not be a Girl Guide or a Girl Scout; you may not even be female…but each and every one of us can make an effort to be more thoughtful about the environment and the world we live in. We owe it to the generations after us to clean up our act and leave them a healthy planet.

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

All Around the Shire

This old Derbyshire saying was never more true than during my childhood where we would often have rain, sleet or snow during the month of February. If we were lucky, it would be snow and we could go sledging, snowmanmaking or snowball fighting against the kids from the next street. If we were really lucky, we might get a day off school, but that was rare. Usually, children trudged to school in balaclavas, home-made scarves and mittens on string threaded through the sleeves. The collar would be turned up on your gabardine mac or duffel coat. In the winter of 1963, we got a bit too much snow and people were out with the shovels trying to dig out pathways. Due to the ground

being frozen my grandfather was not able to be buried until Easter, having passed away in early February.

At school, the third-of-a-pint milk-bottles were stacked up in crates in an alcove next to the yard and would often freeze and their contents rise proudly above the silver foil cap.

At home, the old toasting fork would be brought out and some of mum’s home-made bread would be toasted in front of the open fire and eaten with a bit of beef dripping and salt. It might have been crumpets, pikelets or muffins.

My granny used to stand with her back to the coal fire, raise her skirts and warm her backside until her legs were decorated with red rings from the heat.

I have no memory of being cold in my childhood although I must have been at times. I choose to remember the cosy, quirky and happy Februarys from the past.

“FEBRUARY FILLDYKE EITHER BLACK OR WHITE”

In 1842 John Needham produced a polishing paste for the cutlery and Sheffield Plate industries from his home and premises in Harvest Lane in Sheffield, assisted by his niece, Harriet Needham.

Harriet then met Joseph Pickering, the son of a silversmith and they wed. The couple eventually inherited the business, changing the name to ‘Joseph Pickering late John Needham’ and built the ‘Polish Works’ just around the corner in Mowbray Street from where they operated.

The ‘Polish Works’ were damaged in the Sheffield Flood of 1864 and this gave Joseph the opportunity to start planning the ‘Albyn Works’ on Burton Road – which still exists. In time, the business became Joseph Pickering & Sons, and son John Needham Pickering developed new products, including the famous – ‘Blanco’.

Albyn Works expanded to produce Blanco and employed over 100 workers. By 1875 they had a sickness and benefit club and a row of houses in Percy Street, let to his workers at special rates. Joseph’s sister Hannah married Isaac Truelove and his daughter Mary married Isaac’s brother Arthur Truelove. Arthur provided some of the tin packaging used by Joseph Pickering & Sons and in 1900 Joseph brought together the two companies and they were incorporated as Joseph Pickering & Sons Limited. By this stage Blanco was used through the British Empire in particular by the military to whiten their webbing straps etc.

In Moore Street, a new factory for the production of cartons was built in 1906. Faced with terracotta tiles it was designed by city architect – C & CM Hadfield. For three quarters of a century, ‘Blanco’ was the companies’ major product, sold to the Military in over sixty countries. The changes to Kharki after 1900 gave the company another product and then the new RAF created in 1918 a further type of ‘Blanco’ as they were using a blue colour! However, with the end of conscription production of Blanco and other polish products ended and the cardboard box business become their lifeline.

The business was finally sold by the Pickering family in 2005. By 2009 the business failed and finally closed.

Please get in touch if you have anything you would like to share about these fascinating items. Contact Richard Godley on T: 07854 646 742

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Vintage Rambles with rafaand Flake

We first featured this walk back in 2019. I’ve had it in my mind to redo this walk as it is such a good walk for this time of year. The wet and wild weather can make walking your dog an extreme sport!

This walk makes use of some good paths before returning on the Trans Pennine Trail. Having said this, we appear to have picked the wettest and hence muddiest day we could find. The boys loved it, well apart from the bath when we got them home!

4.5 MILE CIRCULAR WALK FROM RENISHAW VIA THE TRANS PENNINE TRAIL

A gentle walk which should take you and your dog around 2 – 2.5 hours to complete. There is one road to cross so please take care, however most of the walk is on paths and trails. Please wear appropriate footwear, especially if it has been wet! And, as always, follow the

START: TRANS PENNINE TRAIL CAR PARK, ADJACENT TO SITWELL ARMS, 39 STATION ROAD, RENISHAW. SHEFFIELD. S21 3WF

1. With your back to the car park entrance, walk straight ahead to pass by a large metal gate to a finger board sign. Turn right to ‘Chesterfield’. Follow the path going uphill, then just prior to going under a bridge, turn left along a footpath, with houses over to your right.

2. Follow the path for some distance passing beneath a footbridge then continue with a fence and a pond on your left and houses over to your right. After some distance, when the houses on your right end, continue straight ahead through some trees until reaching a road. Cross the road and continue ahead along a marked footpath.

3. After some distance pass through a gap and down a slope onto a trail. Passing a bench seat on your left cross straight over the trail, pass through a gap and bear around to the right along a footpath. After a short distance the path joins with a lane going uphill for a short distance and then turn right onto a path marked for ‘Westhorpe Hills’.

4. After a very short distance, cross a footbridge and keep ahead going gently uphill. After a short distance pass by a pylon on your right before turning left onto a lane. Now continue with a hedge on your right. Shortly, the lane begins to drop gently downhill. At the bottom continue through some trees to cross over a stream.

5. Now continue uphill with a hedge on your left and after a short distance bear right away from the hedge to cross an open field. At the far side pass through a gap and continue with a hedge on your left. When the hedge on the left ends keep ahead to cross an open field.

6. At the far side continue onto a lane. Follow the lane around to the left and then uphill. At the top of the hill ignore a path on the right and continue straight ahead to follow a sign for ‘Trans Pennine Way N’. After a short distance pass through a gap and onto a tarmac lane.

7. Turn left, cross a bridge and then in a short distance, after a building on your right, turn right onto a footpath. After a short distance stay to the right of a metal gate to continue along the path going downhill with a fence on your left. At the bottom and before reaching a metal width restrictor, turn right, to cross a stile onto a footpath marked ‘Cuckoo Way’.

8. Continue along the footpath with ponds on your right. Pass over a crossroads of paths and keep

ahead with the ponds on your right for some distance. When the ponds end continue with a fence on your right.

9. When the fence ends the path gives way to a lane. Continue for a short distance, then just prior to reaching an incline in the lane look for 2 paths on the left. Ignore the 1st path going steep downhill and take the 2nd path which bears to the left but stays at the same level.

10. Walk along this path with a bank on your right and the odd glimpse of the Pennine Trail running parallel down to your left. After some distance pass a large metal gate on your left. and shortly you will come to a road. Follow a sign for ‘Trans Pennine Way’ going downhill along the road.

11. After a short distance turn left onto a footpath signposted for ‘Killamarsh Greenway’ and Trans Pennine Way’. Pass through a metal width restrictor, cross over a bridge and then immediately after the bridge turn left onto a lane. After a short distance bear left off the lane to continue downhill along a footpath.

12. At the bottom of the hill pass a width restrictor on your left and continue straight ahead to join the Pennine Trail heading in the direction signposted for ‘Chesterfield’. Continue along the trail for 1.8miles, until reaching the car park and starting point.

This walk is for illustrative purposes only. Voice Magazines Ltd takes no responsibility for anyone who chooses to follow this route and encourages all walkers to obey all byelaws and signs and to respect the area they are walking in, ensuring they pick up all dog mess and obey the countryside code at all times.

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Book Review

Kindred by Octavia E Butler can be classed as science fiction. But like Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale it explores big ideas in a brilliantly clear and riveting piece of fantasy.

If the idea of reading about time travelling puts you off, don’t let it. The main character, Dana, travels backwards and forwards between 1970s California and the American south in the early 1800s. But this tale doesn’t feel like normal sci fi – more a way of comparing the two periods. What seems right and accepted at one time is shocking seen through modern eyes.

This is powerful and sometimes very graphic stuff. But it’s not simple good guy, bad guy and the complex human understanding is what makes this such a good read.

And it certainly is readable. Once you’re past the first few pages, it’s almost unputdownable. It’s not a new book, but it’s easily available in paperback and it is one that’s very relevant in these times of All Lives Matter.

FLAMECARE

Also

Guess the words and Fill in the crossword ! Pitcherwits®

Pitcherwits® are crossword puzzles where some of the clues are in pictures. Sound easy? It’s not called “Pit-your-wits” for nothing! The mixture of cryptic and picture clues, combined with Professor Rebus’ unique sense of humour, will keep you entertained for hours.

Across

9 Eats, but not in order to satisfy (4)

10 Acknowledge an outer limit (4)

11 Can is opened up for Peruvians (5)

12 Hang about with a well-licked ice-lolly (4)

14 Maul over salty aluminium? (4)

Down

3 Tree overwhelmingly pollarded (3)

4 Classy way to say goodnight? (3)

6 A get-together? More like a loner! (7)

7 Aim to be listed in ascending order (3)

13 Insect coat made in black (3)

16 A sore head starts with fiery leftovers (3)

17 Be painted as being in opposition (3)

1

ANSWERS FOR LAST MONTHS PITHERWITS

This puzzles has been devised by the brilliant Professor Rebus. For more of his puzzles visit www.pitcherwits.co.uk

Khaki,

Knife.

1 Camouflage experts have chosen a lame strategy (10)

5 Scrambles around in the realm of CBS (8)

15 Slab to pack out a hearty hello! (8)

18 Gave just what was needed? Got the bullseye! (3,3,4)

Place to check your mates’ progress? (5,4)

2 Ace limo driven round to deliver essential fragrance (4,3)

8 Flavour that permits an easy transformation (9) 10 Ceases, in quiet surroundings, and gets away with it! (7)

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W o u l d Y O U l i k e u s t o b u y y o u r

h o u s e ?

Mike’sMusings

Last month I introduced you to the work of Julie Sheldon from Golden Valley by reproducing one of her humorous and topical poems on the inconvenience we all suffer from nuisance telephone calls. I’m pleased to say that this generated more feedback than any edition of Voice Magazine containing my ramblings that I’ve provided over the past six years.

As a result, it would appear as if there is a market for Julie’s poems and once you’ve read below her perceptive thoughts on school reunions, I’ll tell you how you can order copies of her poetry anthologies and help raise money for a charity close to her heart

School Reunion

The good old ‘School Reunion’....

A funny sort of ‘do’

A place to chat and reminisce

With people you once knew

That schoolgirl crush remembered

With fond romantic feelings

A chance for some to show off...

To boast how well they’ve done

To make some feel inferior

And wish they’d never come

That tarty girl who let the boys

Kiss her behind the bike shed

Well......now he’s fat and balding

She can’t stay in her own bed

She’s just an older trollop now And not quite so appealing

And what about the ‘know it all’ Who never had a hankie

That snotty kid with the runny nose

Who everybody hated Well he’s turned up .... a bit unkempt...

He’s here with his big ego now... In fact he looks quite manky

It needs to be deflated

There’s probably a reason You’d just about forgot ‘em That you didn’t stay in touch

You’ve not seen them for forty years

So once you’ve recapped on old times

In fact, if you’re quite honest What do you have in common?

You never liked them much

Perhaps it’s best to leave the past That flourish, grow, and thrive

Of course there will be friendships

But you don’t need a reunion....

Cos they’re still in your life

Just where it’s meant to be

And keep your childhood classmates

Just a distant memory

That’s two of Julie’s poems that, with her kind permission, I’ve now reproduced, and I can assure you that there are many more just as good in her collection of three books entitled Lockdown Lyrics, Rocky Road Rhymes and Pandemic Pondering with each containing between 40 & 60 poems, At her own expense she has self-published the three and is selling them to raise funds for a very worthy cause, viz. The Brain Tumour Charity

You can obtain copies of these poetic gems at the bargain price of £5 each (or £12 for all three), by contacting Julie directly via email at juliesheldon50@gmail.com or by phoning 07890 989868. She’ll be delighted to hear from you. Alternatively, you can contact me, as always, via mike.musings@outlook.com

Well, that went down well!

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Amazing Turkey-tail fungus in our local woods

A long hot, dry summer has led onwards to a cool and often very wet autumn and winter. This means good times for fungi which have appeared in many places and in a diversity of colours, forms and habitats. When we talk of fungi most people immediately think of typical mushroom-like structures which we see in fields, roadsides, and woodlands across the region. Of course, these mushrooms are merely the fruiting bodies whereas the ‘business’ part of the fungus is made up extensive hyphae that run throughout the soil or perhaps in the deadwood of tree-trunks, stumps, and branches. Indeed, these latter habitats of deadwood, either fallen on the ground or still on the tree, can be rich sites for a variety of fungi. These fungal colonies thrive during periods of cold and drought for example, which kill off most ‘mushrooms’, and furthermore they are often overlooked.

This year, plenty of damp weather and often quite mild temperatures in recent months mean some of our fungi have done remarkably well. When you walk in woods, parks, or along the moorland fringe, you will find tree stumps and rotting trunks covered in fungal fruiting bodies. Even in your own back garden, the autumn and winter can trigger massive growths of fungal bodies. A particularly distinctive species is the Basidiomycete fungus, called the ‘Turkey Tail’ or, to give it the scientific name, Trametes versicolor (formerly Coriolus versicolor or Polyporus versicolor). The upper fungal cap has concentric zones of different colours with the margin always the lightest and nearly pure white. The name ‘versicolor’ means many coloured and overall, this fungus looks like an American turkey’s tail. There is more to this fungus than

meets the eye, and having been used in China for its medical properties for over two thousand years, it is presently under investigation for its potentially useful properties. This common and widespread fungus has a global distribution and is especially stunning when at its peak of growth. The dramatic looking fungus is used in traditional Chinese medicine to help with health issues. Similar but unrelated fungi include False Turkey Tail or Golden Curtain Crust (Stereum ostrea), and Gilled Polypore, Birch Mazegill or Multicolour Gill Polypore (Trametes betulina).

Uses vary from being a general health improving tonic, to treating cancer, and boosting the body’s immune systems. As a drug it is taken as pills or powders in various dietary supplements and contains powerful antioxidants. Research suggests extracts of the fungus have immuno-stimulant and antitumour properties. There is a polysaccharide-K (PSK), as a proprietary product based on Turkeytail, and developed for cancer treatment in Japan. Some Coriolus extracts such as polysaccharidepeptide (PSP) and VPS are available as dietary supplements. It seems the extracts are ‘biological response modifiers’ boosting the body’s immune system, and slowing growth and reproduction of tumour cells. They may also reduce side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Clinical use of extracts is being investigated, but whilst available for Chinese medicine, they are not yet fully licenced for other medical usage. Amazing stuff, but of course don’t try it at home.

Professor Ian D. Rotherham, researcher, writer, broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues in the Peak District and elsewhere, is contactable on info@hallamec.plus.com. Follow his website www.ukeconet.org, blog ianswalkonthewildside, & Twitter @ianthewildside

but if you want to bulk up next year’s display, you can lift and divide this year’s clumps while they are still “in the green” – meaning you don’t have to wait for the leafy part of the plant to die back. Just lift the clump out of the ground, divide into several little clumps and plant with the white part of the stem under the soil and the leaves and flowers above. The advantage of doing this now is that you can see where the spaces you want to fill are!

The bright yellow of the Mahonia bush is beautiful during the winter, but it should be pruned once it has finished flowering. Take the flower spears out and prune out any long shoots. It’s also a good time to lightly trim winter heathers, but make sure you don’t cut back into old wood.

Grey mould can be a problem in greenhouses this time of year. Cold and damp is the cause, the worst being damp which is why you shouldn’t start watering again unless the soil in your overwintered pots is properly dry. On warmer days open windows and doors to allow fresh air to circulate. If you do get mould, take off the affected leaves and if it is bad, remove the plant from the greenhouse to avoid the rot spreading.

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