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Tragedy has struck this month! I’m not one to be dramatic and on the whole I don’t like to make a fuss, so I’ve soldiered on with very little complaint but my right index finger has been broken readers!! It was a netball incident whilst going for a ball that was clearly mine and someone slammed their palm into my index finger causing it to buckle and implode (or chip, you decide!) at the knuckle bone. Suffice to say, I knew something bad had happened instantly and after chasing down some ice and some strapping, I finished the game (rather epically tbh, that adrenaline stuff is absolutely splendid in such circumstances!). Anyway, what hasn’t been splendid thereafter has been the lack of ability to use my right hand properly. It’s quite problematic in certain circumstances, losing the primary digit on the dominant hand, if you think about it….. typing, stirring coffee, cutting food up, picking up items… and other functional tasks. Throw in that I’ve not been able to do any exercise for 3 weeks and it has not made for a very pleasant month for Mr Liam and all those around me!! In typical form, I’ve been pushing as hard as I can to at least get back to Hockey asap. The Physio said that, as it’s a break, anything that involves a clenched
fist is fine after 3 weeks and as long as it feels alright to do so. Anyway, tested out the hockey stick on week 2 and all is well! Let’s see how long I can hold out for my beloved Netball!!
In other news, I’m sorry to be the one (although, if you’ve been into Tesco at Alfreton recently, they started it!) but we’ve started planning for Christmas, so now is the time to contact us if you want to promote something special for Christmas, shout about an event you are holding, wish your clients a lovely festive holiday time or feature in our High Street special if you are a retailer. We have all had a tough time since 2020 and every year, I like to bang the ‘Shop Local’ drum. Small businesses can’t survive without your help and as much as I love a generic national brand winter spiced pumpkin latte – with their billions of pounds of profits, they find it much easier to survive and thrive than the rest of us little fellas, so do us a solid and help out where you can this year – it is appreciated.
B o o k i n g s n o w b e i n g t a k e n !
J o i n u s f o r o u r d e l i c i o u s f e s t i v e m e n u s a n d a g r e a t l i n e - u p o f e v e n t s . w w w . k e d l e s t o n c o u n t r y h o u s e . c o . u k / c h r i s t m a s
K e d l e s t o n R o a d , Q u a r n d o
C e l e b r a t e y o u r s p e c i a l o c c a s i o n a t T h e K e d l e s t o n
• B i r t h d a y P a r t i e s
E n g a g e m e n t P a r t i e s
• B a b y S h o w e r s • C e l e b r a t i o n o f L i f e •
• B u s i n e s s & N e t w o r k i n g
• a n d m u c h m o r e . . .
H o s t y o u r s p e c i a l o c c a s i o n i n o u r b e a u t i f u l c o u n t r y h o m e , w i t h
a w a r d - w i n n i n g f o o d & d r i n k a n d a d e d i c a t e d e v e n t s t e a m .
IF YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING WHICH IS MISSING IN YOUR LIFE -
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO STUDY THESE WORDS WHICH ARE THE TRUTH OF GOD.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
James 1:17-18
God is our supplier of everything which we have.
All He gives to us is good and perfect.
Trust the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5
ANN POWELL - annandgraham29@gmail.com
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The original Celtic celebration, Samhain (pronounced sow-ain) actually marked the end of one year and the transition to the next. The move from the abundance of summer and the harvest into the scarcity and cold of winter. Celts associated winter with death and believed the shift to the new year caused the veil between this world and the next to thin, allowing the spirits of the ancestors to visit.
As so often happens, a new religion, Christianity, absorbed and subsumed the old celebration.
And yet the old beliefs still linger, only now they are remembered in an orgy of “candy” consumption. Sweet stuff obtained by knocking on stranger’s doors and demanding it on pain of suffering “a trick” if the desired sticky treats are not forthcoming!
The idea that dead ancestors will come a calling, is relegated to dressing up as ghouls and ghosts.
To face painting and costume wearing. Honestly, our Celtic antecedents must be spinning in their graves. Imagine if the most sacred date in the Christian calendar was reduced to straight out consumerism and consumption.
Oh, hang on…
Of course Halloween is not just a British thingall though the way we do it now is definitely more North American than homegrown - the day, and those following are marked around the world. None more so than in Mexico with the famous Día de los Muertos (day of the dead).
Día de los Muertos is actually celebrated on November 2, but begins the day we designate as Halloween. The celebration is designed to honour the dead who, it is believed, return to their earthly homes on October 31. Then on November 2, relatives gather at gravesides to picnic and reminisce. Some gatherings even include tequila and a mariachi band…sounds fun.
We can blame our American cousins for the commercialism of Halloween. As a melting pot of many ethnicities, the traditions of different cultures were assimilated into a wholly unique way to mark the thinning of the veils.
An old English tradition of giving pastries called “soul cakes” to beggars in return for promises to pray for the dead of the donors, probably transmuted to “trick or treat”. Although there could also be links to “Mischief Night” which occurs around the same time as Halloween.
Dressing in outlandish “spooky” costumes may derive from the custom of wearing masks to confuse any visiting dead who decide to pop through from the other side.
Whatever the origins of the “customs” we now see being played out at Halloween, the overriding theme seems to be “spend money”. Buy sweets (I refuse to type candy again!), buy the kids costumes, buy decorations for your house, place of work…buy, buy, buy.
I shall, as usual, turn out the lights and keep the front door shut. Trick or treaters won’t be able to blame dental decay on me!
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.word-witch.co.uk or contact Laura on 07736 351 341
Hallow’s Eve. All Saint’s Eve. Samhain. The night when, allegedly, the “veils” between the living and the dead are at their thinnest.
Stir frys are such an easy win. Quick to prep and cook, loads of flavour and packed full of healthy ingredients. Perfect for a family feast!
Method:
1. Mix together the cornflour, garlic, ginger, chilli sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sweetener, tomato purée and stock in a small bowl.
2. Spray a deep non-stick frying pan or wok with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a high heat. When hot, add the onions, peppers and 2 tbsp water and stir-fry for 4 minutes. Add the green beans and stir-fry for 3 minutes, or until all the vegetables are just tender.
3. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the pack instructions and drain well.
4. Add the prawns and bamboo shoots to the vegetables and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes, then add the noodles and the chilli sauce mixture and toss well. Simmer for 1 minute, or until the sauce has thickened.
5. Divide between 4 bowls and serve piping hot.
For more information visit www.slimmingworld.co.uk
Ingredients:
• 2 level tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp chopped garlic in vinegar from a jar, drained
• 1 tbsp chopped ginger in vinegar from a jar, drained
• 1 level tbsp hot chilli sauce, such as sriracha
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• Pinch of sweetener granules
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 100ml boiling chicken stock
Serves: 4 Ready in: 20 mins
• Low-calorie cooking spray
• 200g frozen sliced red onions
• 300g frozen mixed sliced peppers
• 200g frozen green beans
• 250g dried egg noodles
• 400g frozen cooked and peeled prawns, thawed
• 225g can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
Syns per serving: 0.5
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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
5 Only Newton could produce such material (5)
7 Sonar detection of fire-raising (5)
11 Have some bearing for the listener (3)
12 A test of your income from drawing pins, say? (3)
16 Open more than the junction (5)
17 Fraudulently make the smithy (5)
Down
2 Oz lager sounds a bit thin (5)
3 William Butler, as yet unplaced (5)
10 Accomplices in the theft of ‘diamonds’ (3)
14 Ridiculously opulent, but not on stopping (3-2)
15 Attempt to choose (2,3)
This puzzles has been devised by the brilliant Professor Rebus. For more of his puzzles visit www.pitcherwits.co.uk
As a boy growing up in South Normanton, I remember one evening on the village Common being shown for the first time, a luminous beam gleaming from a lighthouse structure far away, high on the Derbyshire horizon.
This beacon flashed through the faint nightlight every eleven seconds, and I was told then that it was (of course) familiar to us locals, as Crich Stand; more recently known as the Mercian Regimental Memorial Tower up on the summit of Crich Hill.
This year marks the 100th annual pilgrimage to the Memorial Tower which was officially opened at 4pm on Monday 6th August 1923, with the ceremony being carried out by the Colonel of the Regiment General Sir Horace L Smith-Dorrien, His Grace the Duke of Portland, His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, Admiral Salmon and the Bishop of Southwell.
Originally the Tower was constructed to commemorate the 11,409 men of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment who gave their lives in the First World War 1914-18, then in 1952 it was further dedicated to the memory of the 1,520 men of the Regiment who paid the supreme sacrifice in the Second World War 1939-45.
During 1991 the Memorial was dedicated to Sherwood Foresters killed in service between the years 1945-70. There have been many structures on this vantage point with records showing that a wooden tower was built and erected here to “allegedly” mark King George III’s accession to the throne in 1760; whatever, it was a significant landmark from which some of the best views in the county were to be had. This wooden structure, because of it being sited in such an exposed area, lasted no longer than 25 years.
In 1788 a conical limestone structure with a wooden top was placed on the site, but this was in such a state of ill-repair by1843 a decision was taken to rebuild, and in 1849 some of the masonry and stone from this conical structure were used for the base of a new circular tower built from gritstone.
June of 1882 witnessed a major landslide in the limestone quarry, notwithstanding lightning strikes and
further land movements creating serious subsidence on this latest venture resulting in the closure of the Tower for public safety concerns.
In October 1914, an area of this hilltop was sold to the Clay Cross Company, on condition the Tower was demolished completely, and that a new Crich Stand was built along a similar format.
The Great War was responsible for delaying this new structure and it was not until 1922, four years after the cessation of hostilities when the rebuild began in earnest with completion following the next year.
Right next to the Tower on Crich Hill sits a beacon that may well have been part of a beacon chain used in 1588 to warn people of the approaching Spanish Armada. The beacon was then lit in 1988 on the 400th anniversary of the Armada. On New Years Day 2000 the beacon was lit for the start of the new millennium, and it was also lit to celebrate Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother’s hundredth birthday.
The Memorial Tower has a height of 19m (63 feet), it’s base is 291m (955 feet) above sea level, and there are 58 steps that take you up to the viewing gallery: well worth the effort.
The dome weighs 40 tons and all of it built at a cost of £1.182.8s. 5d, the lamp is 15,000 candle power and can be seen across several counties including Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, South Yorkshire and of course its home county of Derbyshire.
Should you wish to visit the monument the opening hours are Thursday-Monday during British Summer Time from 10am until 5pm and Winter visiting hours are 10am until 4pm also Thursday-Monday.
There is a tearoom on site and the car parking fee is £1.50 and it is a cash only site.
We offer gifts from quirky and unique companies including Emma Ball, Letterbox Love, Enchanted Love, Clockwork Soldier, Equilibrium, Suki, Life Charms, Love Country, personalised gifts by History and Heraldry.
You’ll love our range of home décor, candles/wax melts, cushions, lamps, coasters and clocks. Our boutique boasts beautiful leather handbags, gloves and jackets alongside jewellery, from Sliver Cavern, Life Charms, Tide and Equilibrium.
Our children’s section is a paradise of fun with activity tins, puppets, toys, and figurines. We also stock a gorgeous range of soft toys from All Creatures, Wilberry, Suki and Aurora.
Our range of beautiful fragrances is now in stock. Handbag size perfume from just £7.50!
Don’t forget to browse our huge range of greeting cards, including those from local creators.
Last but not least we have our brilliant MyMento Machine that personalises gifts such as magnets, keyrings, coasters, notepads, travel mugs and acrylic blocks.
During school holidays we offer Glitter Tattoos. We have lots of toys & crafts to keep the children busy.
We open 7 days a week 11am until 6pm and later on illuminations evenings.
You can browse our amazing range of gifts on our website!
Why not have a scenic drive, a riverside walk & a browse in our lovely shop!
When you were small were you given pocket money? Did you have to earn it and what did you spend it on?
My experience of obtaining money as a child was usually linked to doing jobs for my parents who owned pubs as I was growing up. I would help with stocking up bottles or emptying ashtrays, sweeping up and mopping the bar floors. As I got older, I would collect dirty glasses and wash them in a fearsome glass-washing machine with a rubber, nobbled stick that spun round while shooting water inside the glass. I felt very important if I was allowed to serve children with pop and crisps at the off-sales window. Calculations with pre-decimal coinage held no fear as it was all people had ever known. Shillings, half crowns, ha’pennies, thruppenny bits and sixpences were all gratefully accumulated.
Saving was always encouraged. We all had money boxes and small savings accounts at the post office. What a big day it was to empty a full piggy bank and see your savings increase.
Of course, some of my earnings were spent, mainly on sweets and sometimes on comics. (Beano, Dandy or Bunty). In those days, penny chews really were a penny. There was a sweet shop opposite my school where we could purchase bags of sherbet, flying saucers, gobstoppers, liquorice, candy cigarettes and coconut mushrooms amongst many other delights.
My brother sometimes spent his on caps for his cap gun or transfers which stuck on your skin like tattoos. What did you do with your pennies as a child?
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Be inspired and get your festive preparations off to a flying start at the ever-popular 4-day FESTIVE GIFT FAIR this November. Now in its 27th fabulous year, it remains one of the most popular Christmas Shopping events in the UK for a good reason!
The Fair will be bursting at the seams with a colourful, eclectic mix of unusual stocking fillers and presents, festive food and drink and great Christmas decorations for your home and garden. 325+ stalls all in one hall …. with clever gift ideas for all ages and tastes … and lots of Special Show Offers!
The festive atmosphere is always fantastic! While browsing the stalls, let the music get you into that Christmassy mood and enjoy being entertained by the Grinch … up to his usual menacing antics, Father Christmas with his amazing sleigh, a whole variety of Christmas harmonies by our live musicians and jazz stilt walkers who will be legging it up the aisles!
Make sure you visit the popular Festive Food & Drink area where you’ll find tempting stalls selling everything from cheese to chutneys, spices to spirits, puddings to preserves, chocolates to champagne, beers to brownies and hampers to hog roasts!
Join us with your friends and family for an inspiring and fun-filled day CHRISTMAS SHOPPING at the FESTIVE GIFT FAIR. MAKE
GREAT VALUE! - Advance adult tickets from just £7 (plus transaction fee) Take advantage of the SPECIAL TICKET OFFER – ‘Buy 3 and get 1 FREE’ on advance Thursday/Friday adult full day tickets.
The FESTIVE GIFT FAIR is open daily 09.30 – 17.00
Thursday 16th – Sunday 19th November at NEC, Birmingham. For list of stallholders, entertainment programme and visitor information, please visit www.festivegiftfair.co.uk
To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets, simply locate the three Christmas symbols in the magazine and email the page numbers that they are on to: community@voicemagazines.co.uk – with the headline NEC tickets. All submissions to be in by 31st October 2023
What are you saying to yourself? The reality is that we speak to ourselves far more than we speak to other people.
How about you? If you wrote down everything you said to yourself for just a day, maybe even less, what kind of reading would it make? Uplifting or depressing? What would the tone be: encouraging or insulting? If those words and phrases were directed towards someone else, someone you like and respected would they be appropriate? If you said these words and phrases out loud to someone else, would you be good company to be around?
If the answers to these questions don’t make you feel too comfortable, I’m going to make a suggestion: a technique that allows your mind to acknowledge that things aren’t always easy, but that they don’t have to bring you into a place of worry or feeling low.
Here it is: the phrase “EVEN THOUGH”. In practice it looks something like this … You may find yourself at work ‘speaking’ the thought to yourself, “I’m rubbish at technology, I never know how to work it”. Catch that thought and rephrase it “ EVEN THOUGH I don’t find technology straightforward, there’s always someone or something that can help me learn, even if it’s a YouTube video tutorial”.
Another example, you might notice the thought, “I’ve messed up, it’s all my fault” and then rephrase it to, “EVEN THOUGH things are a mess, I can begin to make amends” or maybe, “ EVEN THOUGH things are a mess, my heart was in the right place”.
Re-phrasing things in your head may seem a bit weird or clunky, but what we say to ourselves matters so much. After all… we’re listening aren’t we?
If you need some help to feel more positive or deal with a painful situation you might like to check out my website www.sarahkallend.com to see how I’ve helped other people.
Ten lucky swimmers, from Belper Marlin Swimming Club, have spent the day training with triple Olympic Champion Adam Peaty. The Race Clinic, held at Whitwick and Coalville Leisure Centre, provided aspiring swimmers from the East Midlands with a world class racing experience.
The AP Race Clinics were founded in 2019, with the aim of inspiring swimmers, parents, and coaches on their journey through the sport of swimming. In 2023 alone, the wider AP Race Team will interact with over 10,000 swimmers, parents, and coaches.
An on-line competition invited clubs to say why their swimmers deserved to win ten places at the Coalville clinic. Parents and friends were quick to take to social media to praise Belper Marlin swimmers for their incredible fundraising efforts. Together they raised £6,639 for the Laura Centre in Leicester by taking part in a Mega Swim. Swimmers were also recognised for participating in a four-mile protest march to help save their home pool, Belper Leisure Centre, which had been at risk of closure due to soaring operating costs. A recent announcement confirmed that the leisure centre’s future has now been secured by appointment of a new operator, not-for-profit company Trilogy Active Limited.
Speaking about the club’s achievements, Sophie Axford, Chair of Belper Marlin Swimming Club, commented: ‘We are delighted that the leisure centre is safe. It’s been our home since 1974 and is such a valuable resource for the wider community. Our swimmers thoroughly deserved their places at the AP Race Clinic.’
Swimmers at the Race Clinic were put through their paces at three stations throughout the day.
At the swim station they were coached by Adam himself. They went on to attend a gym station and a racing edge station, where they were coached by Adam’s Strength and Conditioning Coach and his Psychologist respectively.
Parents were able to attend a special parent’s support station where they gained insights shared from the teams’ combined experiences. To round off the day for everyone, Adam gave a presentation around his journey through swimming, the lessons he has learnt, how he has managed to retain unparalleled levels of success for so long and all about his pursuit of becoming Better Than Yesterday.
Speaking after the event, 13-year-old Finley Jenkins, a competitive swimmer for the club, commented: ‘Today has been amazing. Breaststroke is my favourite stroke and to be trained by Adam Peaty is a dream come true.’
You can find out more about Belper Marlin Swimming Club here: www.belpermarlin.co.uk
You can find out more about the AP Race Clinics here: www.clinics.aprace.club
If you are interested, please go to our website www.belpermarlin.co.uk and click “Join Us” or email us on info@belpermarlin.co.uk.
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Fill
This puzzles has been devised by the brilliant Professor Rebus. For more of his puzzles visit www.pitcherwits.co.uk
SJ Parris’s Giordano Bruno books can become a bit of an addiction. They’re classy historical thrillers set in a period of immense global upheaval. This is the period of Elizabeth 1, religious wars, huge power struggles, treachery, intrigue and murders.
In the latest in the series - Alchemy - our urbane intellectual investigator Bruno is commissioned to dive beneath the surface of the dangerous political waters of early 1500s Prague. Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf the second is a man of science – not unlike Bruno himself, but unlike Bruno he is in thrall to power – the power of alchemy, turning base metal into gold and the search for the secret of eternal life.
These were dangerous interests to have at that time – the Catholic Church was very jealous of its control over huge swathes of Europe and as was shown by the Spanish Inquisition, willing to go to any lengths to protect that power. Science and alternative ways of thinking were not allowed.
Rudolf – and Bruno – and anyone else who gets in the way of the church, is effectively the enemy.
The twists and turns are delicious – as soon as you start to think the plot is unravelling in one direction, it’s off full at canter in another direction. And threaded through it all is considerable historical research, both of the times – as with the experience of the Jewish community in Prague at that time and with the plight of poor people. Rudolf was a real person, as indeed was Bruno, (in real life a philosopher and poet.) And though there’s no evidence he ever turned detective, there’s nowt wrong with a bit of dramatic licence.
The characters are fully drawn and there’s no shortage of wry humour. And if you like Signor Bruno there are another six books to go at.
But the reason it exists in the first place, namely, someone failed at something! Only us Brits, with our love of understatement and inability to shout about success, would decide to celebrate an abject failure. Of course, there is an underlying reason we mark 5 November every year, and have done since 1605, and that is, the “Observance of 5th November Act 1606”, mandated an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot’s failure.
I bet you didn’t know that - I certainly didn’t. We joke these days that destroying the Houses of Parliament would be a blessing, what we really mean is that bumping off a load of politicians we don’t agree with wouldn’t be a bad thing. Now I’m not inciting random acts of assassination, truly I’m not, but I think you get the picture!
Back in 1605 however the notorious Gun Powder plotters were less concerned about a bunch of MPs and rather more focused on returning Britain to a Catholic state. In other words, turning back the clock to before King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and embraced Protestantism in order to divorce his first wife.
They decided the best way to do this would be to get rid of the protestant King James I, his nearest relatives, and members of the Privy Council, at the State Opening of Parliament. Senior judges of the English legal system, most of the Protestant aristocracy, and the bishops of the Church of England would all have attended in their capacity as members of the House of Lords.
Had the plot succeeded, in one fell swoop the entire ruling class of the country could have been wiped out.
Quite how the plotters then intended to return the country to Catholicism is unclear. Protestantism had been the official religion in England since the Act of Uniformity was passed in 1559. One thought was that Elizabeth, King James’s daughter was to be kidnapped and then installed on the throne as a Catholic Queen (her mother was Catholic). Needless to say, the role would have been purely titular.
Sadly, for the conspirators, the plot was revealed to the powers that be in an anonymous letter given to a William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, on 26 October 1605. A search of the cellar’s underneath parliament was ordered, and poor old Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder.
Fawkes and seven other conspirators were convicted of treason and, far from being burned, were sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. A gruesome demise that we tend to overlook whilst carting a “Guy” to the top of our bonfires!
Fawkes was probably a very junior member of the plotters, only the fact that he was the one found with the gunpowder has immortalised his name. We could instead be celebrating “Everard Digby Day” which doesn’t have quite the same ring!
Not the blazing fires, nor the release of explosive devices in front of a crowd of people. Nope.
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Top Tip:
October is the start of bare root planting. Apples and pears will be far less expensive if planted as roots rather than foliage-bearing trees later in the season.
Currants and gooseberries can also be planted bare root now and bare root roses will be delivered between now and spring. Dig a hole deep and wide enough for each plant or alternatively, if you live in a cold pocket with frequent early frosts, plant into a suitable sized container in good compost and put into a cold frame or greenhouse for the winter then harden off and plant out into the ground in spring.
Wallflowers can go into the ground as bare root plants now to flower in early spring and cowslips can be sown as seeds in trays in a cold frame as they need cold to germinate, while being protected from heavy rain. Ideally, they like to grow in shady wet places.
Time to think about the outdoor beasties. Hedgehogs are preparing to sleep the winter away so if you think you have them as visitors leave out meat-based cat or dog food and water so they can fatten up. Leave windfalls for the birds. Plant croci and fritillary so there is early nectar for hibernating bumblebees when they emerge in spring.
You’ll be putting your bulbs in now. Daffs and crocuses can still go in, you’re not too late, but leave tulips till October.
Late summer and into autumn are certainly the seasons for mushrooms and other fungi, and especially the case with rain and periods of higher temperatures too. So, imagine my excitement when I came across what seemed to be a wild ‘horse mushroom’ in an area of old, unimproved wet pasture, and it was the size of a small dinner-plate. Of course, the business end of the fungus is its extensive network of hyphae underground and the ‘mushroom’ is merely the fungal equivalent of a flower. I carefully picked my prize and took it home with me. Now generally speaking, the edible , big ‘mushrooms’ look and smell like those bought from a shop, and the fragrance is very distinctively ‘mushroomy’. Indeed, most of the wild mushrooms of fields and other pastures with a whitish or ivory cap and brown gills underneath, are edible and good to eat. However, with fungi the bottom line is caution and unless you really know what it is then avoid. Each autumn a number of (sometimes knowledgeable) foragers manage to poison themselves and sometimes their families and friends too. Some of the poisonous fungi have horribly potent toxins as suggested by their names such as ‘death cap’, ‘destroying angel’, and ‘panther cap’; and so, these should be avoided at all costs. Nevertheless, as a rule of thumb, the ones which look like ordinary mushrooms and particularly with the dark gills underneath the cap, are good.
There was something not quite right about the specimen I had collected, and the first warning sign was the absence of the typical ‘mushroom’ smell. I also noticed that the stem and later the cap appeared to bruise rather yellow when handled. The gills were brownish but in fact a dull grey brown and not the rich, reddish brown of the field mushrooms and horse mushrooms. I was having doubts and my thoughts turned to a close relative of the edible mushrooms, the so-called ‘Yellow
Stainer’, a species that occurs in late summer and autumn in fields, gardens, and hedgerows. Worryingly, this is edible to a few people but poisonous to most, and whilst not actually deadly is one to avoid.
Just to be sure I cooked the specimen up and whilst it didn’t have the tell-tale iodine, inky smell reported for Yellow Stainer, it didn’t smell especially nice either. Moreover, as it cooked the plate of mushrooms turned a rather unpleasant and ominous yellow. It ended up in the bin! There are many edible mushrooms but only a handful which are unmistakable for something nasty and those are the ones I go for. The Yellow Stainer is the species responsible for most cases of moderate poisoning because it is taken as ordinary field mushroom or horse mushroom –avoid!
Another noticeable species if the ‘Fairy Ring Mushroom’ or Marasmius which again occurs in old or even ancient grassland and some rings are centuries old. Again, this is a species which is edible and delicious, but the problem here, is that certain very similar and related mushrooms which are poisonous often grow in amongst them. So once again if you are not sure then leave well alone!
Professor Ian D. Rotherham, researcher, writer, broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues in the Peak District and elsewhere, is contactable on ianonthewildside@ukeconet.org. Follow his website www.ukeconet.org, blog www.ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com, & Twitter @IanThewildside
Chatsworth fairy ring by Peter Wolstenholm Yellow Stainer
