Voice Magazines - Broadmeadows, South Normanton, Blackwell, Newton & Hilcote Edition - March 2023

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.

all the VOICE MAGAZINES TEAM

And

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.

FRIDAY 17th MARCH

St Michael and All Angels Parish Church, South Normanton.

Come and join us as we celebrate the wonder of Easter

† Maundy Thursday, 6th April 7pm - Passover Evening at the Salvation Army.

† Good Friday, 7th April 10:30am - Family Event with lunch in the Church Hall12:30pm Music, refreshments and readings in the Market Place.

† Easter Saturday, 8th April 1-3pm (drop in) - Prayer Mosaic in the Church Hall.

† Easter Sunday, 9th April - 8:00am Sunrise Service at St Michael’s Church entrance followed by breakfast in the Church Hall - 4:30pm Easter Communion in the Church.

Jesus said “I have come that you might have life”

Pastor's Pen

What's On?

Phone: 01773687044 Email: pastors@sncc.uk.com

Zoe Presland

Easter is quickly approaching

We have been working together with the churches in the village to formulate a selection of events for everyone over Easter weekend. Maundy Thursday 6th April at Salvation Army from 7pm Passover meal and teaching. Good Friday St Michaels are holding a family event & lunch at 10.30am in the Church Hall. Also on Good Friday 7th, South Normanton Community Church has Hot Cross Buns and drinks at Thrive in the Market Place from 12.30 with singing and chat.

Easter Sunday

Maybe you would like to join all the churches at 8am for Sunrise Worship at 8am outside St Michaels Church, followed by breakfast cobs in the Church Hall.

All our churches will then go on to have normal services throughout the morning and afternoon.

PINXTON & SOUTH NORMANTON: HISTORY GROUP THE PINXTON/MANSFIELD RAILWAY

Without any doubt, the Pinxton/Mansfield is one of Pinxton’s most notable achievements. Particularly as it is recognised as the oldest continuously used commercial railway track. The Boat Inn is believed to have been the first ever railway ticket office and waiting room.

The latter came about when Mr William Epperson, the then landlord of the Boat Inn, had a passenger carriage constructed. Every Thursday morning it took passengers from Pinxton to Mansfield Market, returning in the afternoon.

Evidence of trackways as they were known, had been recorded from much earlier, particularly in association with the early expansion of the coal mining activities, following the de-forestation of the country particularly surrounding growing urban communities. These trackways were made of wood and contained a raise piece (or flange) to ensure the wooden wheels remained on the track.

The wheels on the Pinxton track were cast iron made by Butterley Company and William Jessops one of the owners of the company, was also the engineer for the project of surveying the route for the line. He was also the man behind the first recognised railway in the world at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. Incidentally, there is a close connection between the Cokes of Brookhill Hall and the Manvers family of Belvoir, but that is a story for another time.

Putting the flange on the cast iron wheel rather than on the rail means the cost of was considerable reduced as much smaller amounts of iron was required.

Interestingly, we have no evidence of the involvement of Reverend Coke in the family’s industrial or commercial activities after mid1795. His youngest son John assumed responsibility for this role. In the mid 1810’s John was busy negotiating the rights to the unexposed coal reserves to the east of the village. His main advisor was his older brother Sir William, who was The Chief Justice of Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka). This was not the quickest communication process ever known, as according to the evidence in 1818, it took five months for news of the death of Sir William, due to fever, had to reach his mother. Sir William had previously advised John not to get involved in any negotiations for a railroad until he had secured an agreement on the mining rights as it would increase the price John would have to pay for the mining rights. Because of this the Pinxton line could have been the world’s oldest railway in the world. As it was, it became only the fifth oldest.

Pinxton has a long and proud association with the railways and is hoping passenger travel will return with the proposed extension to The Robin Hood Line.

William Epperson’s passenger carriage which conveyed Pinxton residents to Mansfield market.

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

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

WORCESTER

POTTERS

WARNER

5

SKEGNESS

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.

Private Chapel of Rest in peaceful

We will provide you with a personal and sympathetic service, looking after all your needs and wishes

Pre-arranged Funeral Plans, tailored to your specific wishes, are available

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:

Ray Bonsall

Claire Clarke

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

Pets

TRENTHAM MONKEY FOREST

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE KIDS? SOMETHING OUTDOORSY WITH A BIT OF ADVENTURE?

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.

COMPETITION

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.

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

•

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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)

1 Dallas won’t accommodate the chemist’s rule (7,3)

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)

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

Lee Jayne Nikki

Lee

Charlie

Hadley

Jake Ben Lucas

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.

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.

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

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