WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Big Kev]

Clap for Heroes to return during lockdown, really? Is it just me? I find it insulting, give them a bloody pay rise instead. Most of these people are paid minimum wage, a round of applause won't put food on their table...
BBC News

Think it was the BBC website that reviewed the Papers and headlined "The Clap's Back". I am afraid I thought of something completely different

[Stanley]

I read THIS BBC report and that was enough for me. Note that Trump is said to be considering granting himself a pardon before he leaves.

[Tizer]

This is good news and about time too. Our governments have known it was going on for your but failed to take action. Unfortunately it comes too late for one of my relatives - her mother is going into care and the mother's flat has to be sold to pay the fees. They've had the flat on the market for over a year but it didn't sell due to the lease having run short. Daughter has had to pay thousands of pounds to extend the lease so that it becomes `saleable' again.
`Government vows to end complex leasehold costs' LINK
`Planned reforms of the controversial leasehold system in England are set to clamp down on high costs when extending a lease. The government's proposals should help those with shorter leases fearing bills of many thousands of pounds..'.

[Stanley]

I've always regarded the system of lease hold rents as a legacy of the feudal system. Up to now we have never had a government prepared to bite the bullet and reform the system. As I understand it what is proposed is hardly a reform, just being allowed to extend the period. The whole concept of being able to hold land under what someone has built and being able to render it valueless at will is wrong.

[Tripps]

I like Margaret Ashworth's (of Clitheroe) column on a Saturday morning. I've mentioned her before. Today's topic was from Ramsey in Cambridgeshire. She used this Youtube video.
Plough Monday

None of that 'if wet in the village hall' nonsense. very English. Some good social history there. Vague connection of the straw bear with the Onkonkay bear? I don't know.

The Britannia Coconut dancers are saying they black their faces to reflect the mining tradion. Not many miners in Ramsey Cambs.

[Cathy]

Loved the Plough Monday video and their bright colours. Looked like lots of fun for them, I bet they all slept well that night!

[Stanley]

Not often you'll hear me say it but that's typically English. Nobody else could parade such a mixture. I did note that the straw 'bear' was symbolically tethered David.

[Tizer]

This is is fun - and very clever!
`The secret artists creating miniature buildings for street mice' LINK

[Marilyn]

Yes, I saw those Tizzy.

Pangolins...I never really knew what they looked like until an article of the BBC. What delightful and unique creatures!

[Stanley]

And has no agenda whatsoever beyond provoking thought. Good!

[Tizer]

Some old photos here - they asked him to `capture the melancholy of seaside resorts out of season' then didn't like the photos. Someone should have told them `be careful what you ask for'!
`North Wales seaside photos resurface after 40 years' LINK
`Michael Bennett looks back on his seaside photographs, buried away and forgotten for nearly 40 years, that caused a stir before their first exhibition. In 1979, a newly reopened Llandudno gallery commissioned him for an exhibition depicting north Wales' coastal towns. "I was asked to capture the melancholy of seaside resorts out of season," he says...'

[Stanley]

Peter, found THIS, I think you'll like it.
PS love the seaside snaps, especially 'You have been warned'.

[Big Kev]

Some old photos here - they asked him to `capture the melancholy of seaside resorts out of season' then didn't like the photos. Someone should have told them `be careful what you ask for'!
`North Wales seaside photos resurface after 40 years' LINK
`Michael Bennett looks back on his seaside photographs, buried away and forgotten for nearly 40 years, that caused a stir before their first exhibition. In 1979, a newly reopened Llandudno gallery commissioned him for an exhibition depicting north Wales' coastal towns. "I was asked to capture the melancholy of seaside resorts out of season," he says...'

I love this style of photography (next to portraiture), social history is wonderful in image form

[Tizer]

Did you notice the toffee apples Kev?
Stanley, thanks for the geode video. More fun than opening a coconut! As well as amethyst there looked to be a lot of pyrite - a patch on the inside surface and a layer in the crust.

[Big Kev]

Did you notice the toffee apples Kev?

These ones?

Screenshot_20210111-161621_Chrome.jpg

[Stanley]

Margaret sent me this image this morning. She and Mick are having a few days camping at the mouth of the Moore River, WA. I think I fancy a paddle....

[Stanley]

I don't know about you but I often find that a circumstance has caught up with me and I never saw it coming. This week has been a case in point, I realised just how shabby my kitchen tools had got in the last twenty years! So I did something about it.

[Tizer]

Well done, Kev, spotting the toffee apples! Stanley would say Flatly dryer territory! Didn't anybody ever eat them? I didn't!

[Big Kev]

Margaret sent me this image this morning. She and Mick are having a few days camping at the mouth of the Moore River, WA. I think I fancy a paddle....

Plenty of opportunity to paddle here in Foulridge, might be a bit cooler than WA though

Screenshot_20210112-171925_Metal Pro.jpg

[Stanley]

Snap Kev, but you're right, too cold to paddle in!
Peter, I could never understand toffee apples, it spoilt a good apple and didn't really help a bad one.

[Stanley]

At the moment it's the cold, wet miserable weather! Sorry!

[Foot in Each]

They are not big on IT Peter, they just use the PayPal facility that the site already has for donations. We messaged Peter directly on their Facebook page and made the payment by PayPal. Ours were delivered by Peter who wove them, I suppose there will be an agreed rate for postage if you contact them.

Yes, I'm sorry we don't have an 'ecommerce' facility on the web site, but if you email info@bancroftmill.org.uk we can, normally, can take an order and arrange payment.

Thanks to the efforts of Peter our Weaver in advertising them elsewhere we have sold over £2,000 worth of them and at present we are out of stock. As no-one can visit the mill at present it will be a while if he can weave any more, but if you email us we will add you to the list.

Tony - Bancroft Mill

[Stanley]

Tony, I've set that topic up for you in genealogy. Go to it!

[chinatyke]

Listened to Joe Biden saying "millions of Americans are queuing in their cars at food banks"... When I was poor I didn't have a car. The video shows people loading lovely cars with food parcels. I think it is time the yanks got their priorities right. Stupid people!

[Stanley]

I understand where you are coming from China but America is not like the UK or even China I think. The country is structured in such a way that a car isn't a luxury it's essential. I'll agree that many could cut back but it's not quite as simple as you make out.