Westmorland Coat of Arms

Westmorland Coat of Arms

Friday 4 November 2011

Enjoy your Life - its later than you think !

Well, its been a pretty sad year what with one thing and another, but probably the worst thing was losing our dear "Jane".
Here was a young girl in her early thirties who was so full of life, with a quick wit and always a helping hand for anyone who needed it, who had only really just started out on life's journey only to be cut down with little warning by the big "C" ..
December last year (2010) saw us all sitting round the dinner table enjoying out horrendously oversized Christmas dinner, laughing and joking about some of the worst Christmas crackers anyone ever bought, which didnt "snap", no "gift!", a very questionable  paper hat made from re-cycled cardboard, and the most unfunny "mottos" ever written; they were so bad we fell about laughing that we had bought such a product .
Who would have believed that just 9 months later we would be laying our "Baby Jane" to rest in Parkside cemetery.
Just  a few weeks later in late January , she took ill with stomach pain and problems keeping down her food.
A call to the Doctor  resulted in a home visit bye a Locum and a diagnosis of "A water infection". Despite her best efforts to keep going, she continued to be ill and visits to her own doctor "confirmed " the previous diagnosis. Changes to her tablets ensued, but she did not improve, and a call to her doctor resulted in an "over the phone" diagnosis, and the addition of laxatives.
Precious time had been lost, when she went to the surgery to be seen by the Nurse Practitioner, who spotted that something more serious was afoot.
A quick referral to RLI, and MRI scan confirmed she had Kidney Cancer, and the bad news  ,-- . it had already started to spread through the Lymphatic system to other parts of her body (If only the correct diagnosis had been made sooner -would it have affected the outcome??).
Within days she was in the Operating Theatre and her Kidney as removed, and she was put onto a  cancer fighting tablet course, but with little effect. her weight lose continued and she was unable to keep food down.
After further spells in the RLI and St Johns Hospice, Jane came home to be with her Mum. (A place where she felt safe and loved). But fighting a losing battle she slowly and peacefully ebbed away till she finally succumbed to the disease in the early hours of the 13th September 2011.

The support and love from her many friends and work colleagues was overwhelming, with over 100 people attending her final farewell at the Chapel in Parkside Cemetery.


R.I.P.
JANE VIOLET CHAPMAN
5.6.1979  -  13.9.2011

A life taken much too soon.

Thursday 24 February 2011

Back on the Bus

Back on the bus earlier today on my way home. Two elderly ladies boarded and one was obviously very lame. I was heartened to see that two young people who were occupying seats at the front of the bus , gave up their seats so that these ladies could get seated close to the door. (Isn't it nice not be be constantly slagging off the kids of today).


Friday 18 February 2011

Take a look at this link to the Bownessy Monster, spotted by some people out  in a Kayake on lake Windermere.
Picture of the Bownessie Monster
Any  ideas what you think it is ?
Apparently it was the "size of three cars"
All i can think is -- it must have once been one heck of a big tree --lol

The Politics of Fear

Riding the bus, as i often do now , i tend to chat to those around me, just to pass the time of day.
Talking to an elderly lady the other morning , she remarked on the changes the current government are making to so many different areas of our lives . As she commented on the many things that would affect her, i noticed as she spoke about the changes to the benefit and pensions systems , that her voice became filled with fear, regarding the ongoing changes.
How proud our government ministers must be to be frightening the elderly and the infirm , with their ongoing rhetoric about the savings they are going to make in the welfare system.
It makes you proud to be British.

Monday 18 January 2010

A NEW COMPETITION OR TWO



As many of our local reader will know (hey believe it or not we,ve actually got one- thanks Dave -was feeling a bit lonely here all alone), anyway - those reading the Westmorland gazette will be aware of the "Spot the Dog" competition . So i thought we would go one better and introduce two competitions .
The first is entitled "Spot the Grit"
and the second is called "Spot the Council Gritter"
and we can use the above picture for both
Winners get a weekend in Burneside and runners up get a fortnight.

So to the serious aspect of my joviality. There have been some very serious accidents locally with injuries and sadly also fatalities. This makes me wonder how the council cost out the economics of a little grit spread on the main pavements of the town against the accidents resulting from not bothering.

Being no spring chicken myself (but not dead quite yet), i must admit to staying off the pavements as much as possible during this snowy spell, especially as i watched several people slide down the road without a toboggan in sight.My reasoning being it is safer to walk down the middle of the road with a 20 ton truck inches away from you , than it is to take your life in your hands and risk injury on the lethal pavements of Kendal Town.

I suppose with so much time on my hands i have found my mind wandering back to my days as a child  here in Kendal. It only seems like yesterday , and i can hardly believe than some 50 years have passed since i joined "Noddy" Richardson's class as the first "First Year" to enter the then brand new Longlands Boys School (Now part of Queen Katherines School), and this was much to the annoyance of Mrs Mayor (our final year teacher at St Thomas's  Prmary School, at the end of Burneside Rd- now a print works) as many of the class were expected to join the dizzy heights of the Grammar School, but never made it.

I joined that website on Facebook "You know your from Kendal when..." and i hate to admit it , but i seem to be one of the oldest people on there, and yes so many things have changed over the years here in Kendal. The population has mushroomed from some 18,000 when i was growing up, to somewhere around 28,000 now or so i believe, and so many of the old "yards" we explored as children have been destroyed by "regeneration". A fact I contemplate quite sadly.

Well the clock has beaten me again so cheerio till next time (must get a spell checker on this site )

Sunday 20 December 2009

PICTURES IN THE SNOW DEC 2009


DEC 2009 -- SNOW IN KENDAL

Its Sunday Morning the 20th December 2009 and something very strange happened today :- Take a look:-

Yard 51 Stramongate


 
The Market Place, Kendal
The Sunday before Christmas -- and its snowing
Gives our Christmas Tree a Festive air...