Voice Magazines - Alfreton & Villages Edition - March 2023

FRIDAY 17th MARCH

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

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From the Editor

Happy Spring readers!

So, it was noted by a friend, that last month I was a touch on the miserable side in my message. I did explain that this was for 2 completely valid reasons; 1. January lasts forever. 2. I wasn’t happy about my big birthday.

I mean, let’s be honest, that’s not the only reason for a bit of misery is it! I’m sure we could all write a list and the general unsettled nature that exists at the moment is making us all a little grumpy. So many businesses (irrespective of large or small) are struggling at the minute and for many, the juggling act of trying to eat and stay warm is worse than I have known in my lifetime. ‘Worry’ is a permanent state of mind for so many and inevitably this leads to people perhaps not behaving as kindly towards others as they should.

The thing is, even the phrase ‘be kind’ has turned into a verbal attack, thrown on social media by keyboard warriors. But, it’s even more important now than ever! A good example of this was visiting the Ice Hockey last month – a good time was had by all but it was crazy busy. My friend went to get a coffee at half time and to be fair, had a bit of a shambolic experience with the coffee stand – they did seem to be out of most key items such as milk, sugar, stirrers, syrups – if you wanted a plain black coffee though, you were sorted!!. Anyway, the woman in front of my friend had no hesitation in stating her views on the matter, at the top of her voice, balling out the 18yr retail assistant over the lack of milk and how she was bang out of order and it was “illegal” for her to sell her a drink without milk, etc etc (insert hyperbole aplenty!). I’m not sure how the unhappy lady was eventually ‘satisfied’ (not sure that is the correct term!) in the end but it resulted in the assistant crying her eyes out and probably reconsidering her job choices. So, question to my lovely readers, yes the company had run out of milk but does that ever justify losing your temper publicly at someone who is probably working for minimum wage in between studying at College/Uni?

I’m not saying that this didn’t happen 15yrs+ ago and there are always people that open their mouths before their brain is engaged. I worked in retail most of my young life and I still recall an elderly gentleman going absolutely bananas at me one Christmas in a well-known supermarket because Mr Kipling had changed the packaging on his Festive Pies and him demanding what I was going to do about it!? I think I answered that I work for minimum wage on a weekend & that whilst I understood his frustration, I wasn’t sure that I could get Mr Kipling to listen to me on this matter! Maybe I’m just getting old, maybe I’m super resilient and I see people’s unkindness as their problem rather than mine and dismiss it, but maybe all the pressures we are facing currently, certainly financially, means we are losing our sense of decorum & human decency? It’s hard to say, until we stop getting squeezed from above I guess and in fairness, should the boss of British Gas or Shell be standing in front of me, assuming I could get close enough to the ivory tower, maybe I’d lose my decorum as well!!

Anyway, Spring has Sprung (ish!) & I’m back to being 21 again, so I’m going to have a little think over the coming month and see if I can write something more positive for my friend, next time.

Wear your Red Nose with Pride!

Can you believe the first Red Nose Day, aka Comic Relief, took place in 1988?

Crikey, that made me feel old when I looked it up! Of course it makes sense because Live Aid in 1984 kickstarted the whole idea of mass fundraising events in the UK, and others were bound to follow.

That first Red Nose Day raised £15 million as apparently more than 30 million people tuned in to watch the likes of Black Adder and the Young Ones.

Since inception, £1,068,416,012 has been raised for charities (this sum also includes amounts from Sport’s Relief events). The single most successful fundraising year was 2011, when £108,436,277 was collected.

That is a staggering amount of money raised by the British public, but I can’t help but wonder if this year will be (in comparison) disappointing as the cost of living crisis continues to bite. Last year’s total of £42,790,147 was the lowest since 1999 - I think this year’s total will be lower still.

So where does all this money go?

Well, according to the Comic Relief website, the money raised has helped to support 11.7 million people worldwide. In their 2021/2022 accounts, 54% of the grants made during that financial year were to UK based charities and individuals, although in previous years, it does seem to have been slightly tipped in favour of overseas operations.

So what can YOU do to help with this year’s fundraising on Friday 17 March?

The easiest (and quickest) way would be to purchase one of the “new” red noses; they are on sale, priced at £2.50, from the Comic Relief website (although when I wrote this article they were out of stock!) and on Amazon. This year’s noses are a little different to past years as they are partially made of paper - opening up from a flat crescent (easy to post) shape into a honeycomb-paper sphere.

If you want to get more involved and have more fun, why not organise a “bake-off” at your place of work? Or have a dress up /dress down/ fancy dress/ dress in red day at your school, work, or college.

Maybe you could organise challenges, be they physical ones like running/ jumping/ skipping/ swimming, or more cerebral such as quiz nights. There are lots of different ways to fundraise, but for Comic Relief, the funnier, the better!

Of course, you could simply head to the website at any time or call /text on the day of the TV show and pledge however much you can afford.

Whatever you do, have fun and remember any donation is better than none - and if you would rather give directly to a local charity, I am sure they would be VERY grateful.

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TRENTHAM

At Staffordshires Monkey Forest there are 140 free-roaming monkeys that live in total freedom, and you can walk amongst them !

The woodland is the monkey’s tranquil home in Trentham. The primates can go wherever they like as they aren’t restricted by any bars or cages, allowing visitors to observe the species in a way that can’t be done anywhere else in the UK. The fascinating natural behaviours of the primate happen right before your very eyes, making it one of the most unique but affordable days out in the UK.

To win a family ticket (2 adults & 2 Children) answer this question

How many Monkeys roam free at Trentham Monkey Forest?

To enter simply email the answer to the question to community@voicemagazines. co.uk with the title ‘ Monkey Forest’ including your name, telephone number and address. Closing date 14th April 23 • T&C’s apply • valid until 6th Nov 23.

This month I have hijacked Mandy’s page (at her request, honestly!!) because she wanted me to tell you all about my 40th birthday trip that she had planned for me.

Emily’s Birthday Break in Rome

A bit of background:

My birthday was in January. As it was a big birthday, I would not talk about it or admit it was real to anyone until end of December 2022. My only stipulation was that I didn’t want to be in the country on my actual birthday. I appreciate that this made it very difficult to plan!!!

Liam contacted Mandy around the second week in January, explained the situation and that all doors to any locations were left open but we only have a 5-day window (so no long hauls).

Now, (and this is the bit that I really want to get across to our readers and Mandy’s potential customers) Mandy has been looking after us on the holiday front for a long time and she knows what types of hotels we like, where we like to be (location wise) on city breaks and what our bucket list trips are etc etc and this makes it soooo much easier. With her, it really is personal! True to form, she came up with some stonking ideas and yet more places to go on our ever-increasing bucket list, but we settled on Rome.

I love a city break but I don’t like it to be too ‘peopley’ – it isn’t relaxing for me when it’s heaving and queuing everywhere and whilst I’m sure, Rome is beautiful in Spring, upon guidance from our friendly neighbourhood TC, it starts building up to busy season from then onwards. The weather is in fact, whilst not exactly tan worthy, warmer than at home (I was roasting in a jacket on one of the days!) and it is indeed, far less busy.

Mandy managed to get us a beautiful hotel in a perfect location (we like our hotels to be in the goldilocks zone – not too close but just close enough to the centre) and she even

checks out transfers, travel passes, etc and advises whether it is better value through them or for us to sort, once we are there.

The assistance of Mandy meant that Liam was able to book us onto an impromptu Vespa and sidecar tour of the city adventure on my actual birthday, which was awesome!! Strangely, Mandy’s advice before we left was “just don’t go on a Vespa”….. Ooops!!

And to top the day off, after we got back to our room, Mandy had arranged for the hotel to leave me a piece of cake with a note wishing me a happy birthday – now that is personal!

It was an amazing trip and I can enthusiastically recommend Rome and Mandy, not such a big bad birthday after all!!

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ALFRETON & DISTRICT HERITAGE TRUST

RICHARD PEAT 1863 - 1903 VIOLIN MAKER OF SOME REPUTE

Looking through the newspaper archives recently I came across a reference to a Richard Peat of Alfreton, who according to local and London opinion was the maker of the finest violins in England. He was certainly unknown to me but with assistance from friends at Tibshelf

Local History and Civic Society we have managed to learn a little more about him.

Richard was born in Somercotes in 1863 the second son of William Peat and his wife Hannah nee Gascoyne. William was a miner working at Birchwood Colliery before moving to Tibshelf in 1870. Hannah was musically gifted and from an early age Richard learned to play both piano and violin. He also was able to repair and make violins. There was a respect and appreciation of music in general, this at a time when people had to make their own entertainment.

Like many young men of the time Richard found work in the local pits but as a young coal miner he suffered a horrific accident resulting in the loss of one leg. Unable to continue working in the mines Richard turned to his hobby of

violin making to earn a living. As the business grew, he rented premises at Newton Green, selling sheet music, books, and all manner of musical instruments.

In 1893 Richard married Arabella Williams from Stonebroom, living first at Newton Green and then at the family home at 15 St Thomas Row, Tibshelf. By then Richard had moved to larger, purpose built, business premises on the High Street at Tibshelf. He started importing musical instruments and other accessories, advertising widely throughout the U.K. and Ireland. Such was his success that in late 1897 he purchased a shop at 3 High Street, Alfreton, where he and his family lived until his death.

Richard was not a well man suffering long periods of ill health through consumption and he died at his Tibshelf workshop on the 7th December, 1903 aged 41, being later buried in Tibshelf Churchyard. The Violins manufactured by Richard Peat were of exceptional quality and certainly command a reasonable price when appearing for auction at such places as Bonhams and Christies. Not a bad legacy for a local lad who, in the face of adversity, got stuck in and made something of his life!

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Slimming World Recipe

Lemon Chicken

Method

1. Make your sauce by mixing the sweetener, lemon juice, stock and soy sauce in a jug. Toss the chicken in the cornflour.

2. Spray a wide non-stick frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and put it over a medium-high heat. Fry the chicken for a few minutes or until it’s starting to crisp up at the edges. Add the carrots and chopped chilli and stir-fry for 1 minute.

For more information visit www.slimmingworld.co.uk

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

slimmingworld.co.uk

#YesYouCanWithSlimmingWorld#YesYouCanWithSlimmingWorld slimmingworld.co.uk #YesYouCanWithSlimmingWorld

This recipe is packed full of fresh and tasty veg and chicken. With the flavour hit of Lemon to tantalise your tastebuds!

Ingredients:

3. Pour your sauce into the pan and bring to a simmer, then add the sugar snap peas and let it all bubble for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Scatter over the shredded spring onions and red chilli to serve. If you’re not on an Extra Easy SP day, this is also great with plain boiled rice.

Serves: 4 Ready in: 20 mins

1 level tsp sweetener granules

Juice of 1 lemon

300ml hot chicken stock

2 tbsp light soy sauce

4 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks

1 level tbsp cornflour

Low-calorie cooking spray

3 medium carrots, halved lengthways and thinly sliced diagonally

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, plus shredded chilli to serve

200g sugar snap peas

2 spring onions, shredded, to serve

Syns per serving: 1/2 Syn

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The Ages of Man A 'C' VIEW

Some wise sage once informed us that life only delivers three certainties

Birth – Death – Taxes

Several government ministers, especially since 2010, seem to have streamlined this theory and found new and interesting ways to omit one of them.

Aristotle theorised that there were indeed four ages of man and over the years philosophers ruminated over this and attempted to quantify and qualify them.

Many mystics, theologians and even scientists believe there is something magical about the number seven, hence “Seven deadly sins, seven virtues, seven colours of the rainbow, seven notes on a scale, seven wonders of the world...” the list goes on.

Little wonder then that Shakespeare in “As You Like It” eventually came up with the “Seven Ages of Man” and this seems to be the one we have adopted.

Why then....despite hundreds of years of academia and meditation has the most important rite of passage been missed.? I refer, obviously, to “passing your driving test”. Leaving it out is like inventing football but forgetting to include goals. Totally ridiculous and “shame on you” Shakespeare!

I only know one person for whom “passing the driving test “ hasn’t been important, He used to write a column in this magazine and, to be honest, he’s a bit strange in other ways too...

I passed my driving test in 1974 and was lucky enough to buy a Mini Cooper for my first car. It was red with a black roof and pretty much immaculate. Not for long...

A genius named Mick...embarrassingly I’ve forgotten his surname just for now (was it Wood?)..had a body and paint shop on the old Alfreton Colliery site. He took my car in hand. Soon it had integrated flared

wheel arches, wider “Rostyle” rims on spacers and was sporting metallic racing green paint.

Obviously buying and modifying the car came at considerable contemporary expense leaving little or nothing for the optional extras like car tax, insurance or MOT. They would have to wait their turn.

Back in the 1970s nothing widened your horizons like passing your driving test. Nothing gave you the freedom, the hope, the “joie de vivre” in the same way. Is it the same for today’s generation, consumed as they are by social media, tik tok and virtual reality?

We had “real reality” and the curiosity to go out and explore it. We knew there was a world waiting to be discovered, exploited and enjoyed. In truth we never got much further than The Anchor at Oakerthorpe... but what did the truth matter? We could go anywhere and conquer anything

Passing the driving test. “Va Va Voom” as Thierry would say.

I would love to hear from you, so please drop me an email on jacoyle213@outlook.com

Jim Coyle

All Around the Shire

RECOLLECTIONS OF A SIMPLER TIME - DONKEY STONES

During one of our social history sessions, a woman came to look at the items we had on our table and said, “I thought you might have had a donkey stone”. Since I had never heard of this, she explained what it was.

A donkey stone was originally used in Northern mills to clean greasy steps and give them a non-slip surface. In the days when front doorsteps, windowsills and tile floors were intensively looked after, donkey stoning was employed to give a polished, marble-like finish which had to be regularly repeated.

The stones themselves took the form of small briquettes, made from pulverised stone, cement, bleach powder and water made into a paste and dried. Colours varied according to the type of stone used: brown, white and cream. They could be obtained from the corner shop or from the rag and bone man in exchange for old clothes or jam jars.

Several companies manufactured the stones over the years

including Eli Whalley from 1890, sold under the “Lion Brand” trademark. Another source was J. Meakin and Sons who produced “Pony Brand”. Both companies were based at Donkey Stone Wharf in Ashtonunder-Lyne and had ceased trading by 1977. The stone took its name from one of the earliest manufacturers “Reade’s Donkey Brand”.

“Doing the step” on your knees was a source of neighbourhood pride, gossip, and rivalry. Some housewives went as far as cleaning the pavement itself. A tradition which has all but disappeared along with black-leading and red tile polishing. Or do you know of anyone who still does?

Janet and Paul Barrass are All Around the Shire. Find us on or email:

SUDOKU #32

Fill in all the numbers!

This is a sudoku

1 square grid

81 cells

9 3x3 blocks

1 simple rule: Use all the numbers 1-9, with no duplicates allowed, in any row, column, or block.

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

Vintage Rambles with rafaand Flake

This month we have picked a walk that is aimed at the whole family. The walk is a little shorter than usual but still has beautiful countryside, amazing views and to put the cherry on the top, there is an Ancient Monument, The Nine Ladies Stone Circle! The Moor contains hundreds of archaeological features and monuments dating back to the Bronze age with the Nine Ladies being the highlight. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

2.5 MILE CIRCULAR WALK AROUND STANTON MOOR

A short but sweet walk for the whole family which should take around 1.5 hours to complete. The walk is on paths and trails so please wear appropriate footwear, especially if it has been wet! The Moor is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and there is a flock of sheep on the moor so please keep dogs on leads around livestock. And, as always, follow the countryside code.

1. Park on the side of the road on Lees Road a few hundred meters out from Stanton in Peak near at the entrance to Stanton Moor. There is space for half a dozen cars, but it can become busy, so plan to arrive early, or late to give yourself the best chance of getting a spot.

2. Begin the walk at the signs to Stanton Moor. Take the public footpath to ‘nine ladies stone circle’, passing through a small wooden gate.

3. Walk ahead to pass through another small wooden gate and continue, with a wooded area on your right. Continue to pass through another gate and carry on along the main path into the wooded area.

4. Carry on along this well-trodden path to reach the information board at the Nine Ladies Stone Circle and take some time to explore.

5. From the notice board turn left on the path, which takes you in the opposite direction to the stone circle.

6. Shortly, the path splits. Take the left path to the tower ahead. Carry on past the tower.

7. At a joining of paths, go left then after some distance, at a split in the path, bear right.

8. Carry on to reach the large ‘Cork Stone’ with climbing handholds on it.

9. Just before the ‘Cork Stone’, take the path to the right. Shortly, at a split in the path, bear left.

10. Keep to the main path for a long way. Take care as there are some drop offs to the left. The path winds its way back to the Nine Ladies Stone Circle.

11. Re-join the path by the noticeboard and head left to retrace your steps back to the start.

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.

Stanton Moor

Stanton in Peak Nine Ladies Birchov Darley Dale

Every Day Should be Mother's Day!

Mother’s Day - or as it’s more formally known, Mothering Sunday, is on March 19th this year.

In the UK, Ireland, and a few other countries in the world, Mother’s Day is connected to the religious observance of Easter. Easter is a “moveable feast” celebrated on the first Sunday after the vernal equinox full moon. Mothering Sunday is set as the fourth Sunday in the festival of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday.

Easter falls on a different date each year (depending on the moon cycles) so Mothering Sunday changes yearly.

The origins of Mothering Sunday in the UK date back to the Middle Ages when children working away from their homes, in service, for example, were allowed to go to their home – or “mother” –church.

As the children travelled home, they would pick spring flowers for their own mother or to decorate their mother church, and the day morphed into a celebration of family reunions. The strictly observed rules of Lent were also slackened, allowing people to enjoy the luxury of simnel cake.

Nowadays, a simnel cake is a fruit cake with a layer of marzipan baked in the middle and decorated with another layer of marzipan and eleven marzipan balls representing the disciples (minus Judas). In the Middle Ages, it was more likely to have been an enriched yeast-leavened bread; what made it special is that it would have been baked with the finest white flour. The word simnel comes from the Latin word for flour - simila.

Mothering Sunday continues to be celebrated In the UK on the fourth Sunday of Lent, but in 1907 the Americans got in on the act and decided that a “Mother’s Day” be marked on the second Sunday of May each year. Thus the day we had always known as Mothering Sunday gradually merged in British people’s thinking to Mother’s Day - although we did at least stick to the our time honoured calculation to fix the date.

I don’t think it matters which day we honour our mothers - just that we do. As someone who lost her own mum three years ago, I wish I could turn up at her door with a bunch of flowers, a box of her favourite chocolates, and a big smile. And as the mother of two daughters, I cherish the fact that they make the effort to mark the day for me.

Do I need or want flowers or chocolates?

No, of course not.

What I and every mother I know want is to spend quality time with our children - no matter what age they are. In fact, if you ask any mum, I bet they will say their favourite Mother’s Days were the ones when their very young children attempted breakfast in bed for her - complete with a homemade card and a wilted dandelion in an eggcup!

Treasure your mums this Mother’s Day.

Book Review

It’s always a delight when you discover a writer by chance, read one book, think how good it is and then find that there’s a whole catalogue of their books to race through.

Mick Herron has been described as Britain’s finest living spy thriller writer. But his spies are far from the glossy Bond heroes we’ve come to associate with the genre. The chaps in the Slough House series are the misfits of MI5, exiled from the mainstream for various offences, put out to grass where they will do least harm, tying up other people’s loose ends.

Slough House is the run-down old building where these disgraced spies, known as “slow horses” get sent to see out the rest of their derailed careers.

Needless to say, none of them wants to be there and in this first book in the series - Slow Horses –they get accidentally drawn in when a boy is kidnapped and held hostage then scheduled to be beheaded live on the net. And who are the baddies in this scenario?

Mick Herron’s writing is stylish and funny. The plot is complex. You need to stay awake with this writer. The whole scene is sharp, sardonic and seedy and somehow absolutely gripping.

And if you get hooked, as your reviewer has, there’s a whole series to go through.

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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

6 Inform, in a less than intelligent way (4)

7 Be sick of the bailiffs! (3)

8 Rant about high water (4)

14 Magma causing a bit of an upheaval, right? (4)

15 Melody, the stuff of life, basically (3)

16 Writer made out of club iron (4)

Down

3 Re-license the very first antiquity (5)

4 From back end to a bit of church he comes: such a card! (5)

12 Hero’s mythical steed (5)

13 Remove objections to the launching? (5)

2 Net coin values get unpleasant (3,4)

5 Cancels him out, with not much hope (4,6)

10 Say it straight, but stagger away? (4,3)

Mike’sMusings

He was a fine man

Last month, my wife’s old school pal and a lifelong friend, Linda Abbot was widowed. It came as a complete shock as he’d been in good health for a chap of 75. Apparently, he’d been up a ladder examining the soffits on a neighbour’s house, when he fell, came down headfirst and died instantly upon landing on the patio. The post mortem suggested that he may have suffered a dizzy spell and simply lost his footing.

It really upset Mrs Gyles. Having attended their wedding back in November 1973 – before I came on the scene to rescue her and lead her to a life of luxury – there had been tentative plans for some form of Golden Anniversary celebration and a chance, to meet up again with old friends. Sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Although I’d met Roger a few times, I can’t say I really knew him. I was aware of his reputation as a fine joiner – as I recall, he’d done a couple of jobs at our house not long after we moved in – and of his general ability to make objets d’art with wood. His speciality was the making of customised picture frames, initially for family and friends, but latterly as a profitable side-line. Unsurprisingly, given his popularity and the tragic circumstances in which he’d gone to ‘meet his maker’, the funeral was well attended. There were numerous bouquets and wreaths, but the show piece was a large framed photograph of Roger showcasing his big friendly smile.

Linda admired both the picture and frame but could tell that it wasn’t Roger’s work and was keen to find out who had taken the time and trouble to make such a fitting tribute to her late husband. She simply wanted to personally thank them.

She made enquiries of the Funeral Director who was unable to help, saying that it had just been handed in anonymously. Undaunted, she had a quiet word with the vicar before the funeral service, and although he also was unable to shed any light on the mystery at that stage, reassured her that he’d do his best to find out who had generously donated the framed picture.

After a moving service in which the widow, amongst many others, understandably showed some emotion, the vicar, on behalf of Linda announced that all were welcome to attend a wake in Roger’s memory at the Shoulder of Mutton at Hardstoft. Before leaving however, he had a specific request from Linda.

“Linda,” he said in his most empathetic voice, “has been quite moved by the framed picture of her late husband and would like to thank whoever was responsible. I’ve made a few enquiries without success, so this is a specific question for you all. Does anyone present today know who framed Roger Abbot?”

I think he might be having us on you know Mike is always glad to hear from you at : mike.musings@outlook.com

As The Crow Flies

One of our more familiar groups of birds is the corvid or crow family, and which locally includes magpies, jays, carrion crows, rooks, jackdaws and ravens. The latter is a recent recolonist which was driven to extinction in the Peak and surrounding areas by persecution (mostly from gamekeepers) and by pollution from pesticides especially DDT and Dieldrin. All these birds are potentially very long lived and are also particularly intelligent. Their behaviour, from holding and defending territories, to communal nesting (rooks especially and jackdaws to an extent), and winter-time roosts sometimes numbering thousands of birds, makes the crows particularly interesting.

All these above factors have helped embed the various crows deep into our corporate culture, literature, and art. An obvious folk phrase is ‘as the crow flies’, meaning the shortest distance between two points as opposed the route taken by perhaps following an old, winding, medieval lane for example. Although this was known since at least the early 1800s, it may not be specific to crows but to any bird moving a longish distance. Clearly, in its daily wanderings a crow won’t necessarily flight straight, but going to their afternoon roost or pre-roost site they generally do. Furthermore, it is obvious sometimes that they navigate through the landscape guided by topographic features and by human structures line roads. I used to watch long loose lines of carrion crows heading to a massive winter roost at Owler Bar and apparently following the route of the road over the moor.

More mysterious perhaps is the origin of the phrase ‘stone the crows’, which is taken as a mild oath or exclamation of annoyance. It is even suggested that this was noted in the early 1900s, or even the 1930s as an Australian colloquialism of ‘stone the crows’, ‘stiffen the crows’, ‘starve the crows’, or even ‘stone the crows and stiffens the lizards’. Another version was ‘stiffen the crows, spare the crow’, all being Australian in origin. A further suggestion was ‘stow the croze’, perhaps euphemistically meaning ‘stone the cross’, (and hence slightly blasphemous), or from breaking open a wooden barrel for which a ‘croze’ is the groove at the end of the barrel holding in place the end plate. However, maybe the obvious explanation is simply from ‘stoning the crows’ i.e. the practice of throwing stones at crows because they were unwelcome visitors to for example, sheep farms. Crows and ravens will scavenge offal and things like sheep after-birth, and gained reputations, maybe justified sometimes, for attacking new-born lambs. So, stoning crows was a commonplace activity in farming areas and was probably associated with annoyance. Bearing in mind that well into the 1900s, small boys were employed in the English countryside to control house sparrows and to scare away other birds like crows and woodpigeons, and then stoning crows would not be unusual. Even in my own younger years, local parkkeepers in the suburbs and gamekeepers in the countryside ‘shot out’ the nests of crows and magpies, and killed jays with relentless efficiency.

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

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Gardener’s Calendar

Though of course only hardy annual seeds such as nasturtiums and Californian poppies and summer bulbs if you’re sowing outside. But the likes of cosmos, sweet pea, cornflower and aquilegia can be grown from seed under cover ready to go out when the worst of the cold is over.

Alpines are coming back to life so remove dead foliage and mulch carefully with grit to avoid foliage making contact with wet soil.

If you haven’t already pruned your roses, do so now. Most will tolerate hard pruning, except for climbers and shrub roses. Cut back quarter of an inch above a bud, with the cut sloping downwards so water does not collect on the bud. To get a cup-like open shape to the bush, cut to an outward facing bud. If there is old wood which is not producing buds, take it off to a point where there is healthy pith when you cut.

Top Tip:

Spring also means lovely little shoots, beloved of slugs. Some damage is inevitable and part of gardening but slug pellets are not good ecologically. Nematodes, bought from your local nursery can be watered into the soil and they will kill slugs. They are not chemical and so not harmful to the soil and other wildlife and pets. If you rake over soil and fallen leaves now it means friendly birds can eat slug eggs. Or try the scooped orange skins method, placing them like a dish in the soil and add small amount of beer - jars would do as well as citrus hulks. Empty every morning and good luck.

It’s that time again. We can start sowing now!

Put any bulbs forced for an indoor Xmas display – i.e. narcissi or hyacinth - out into the garden soil where they will flower naturally if a little more slowly next year.