Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
After Saturday’s Embroidery with Sea Glass workshop I got to thinking about a couple of others I’ve been to over the last year. Almost a year ago. I went on a worship on Entrelac and Modular Knitting with Judith Schur of Needlecase at Amble Pincushion. At the time I fell in love with Judith’s beautiful modular shell cowl and started to make my own – I got it finished a while back.
I used West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sock Yarn in Woodpigeon (variegated in mauve, grey and white) and some pink and purple sock weight yarn I got from a stash sale. I’m so pleased with it – and learning this technique has cured me of my dislike of picking up stitches.
I went on another of Judith’s workshops a few months back. This one was on 2-colour brioche knitting. If you’ve never come across brioche knitting before, it looks a bit like K1 P1 rib and in the case of 2 colour brioche, the knit stitches are in one colour and the purl in another to form stripes…. then you can make the lines cross and form waves. It’s double thickness, so each row is knitted twice (you have to slide the stitches back along the needle before you knot the second one so you need to use circular or double pointed needles.). It feels really squishy .
During the workshop we learnt the techniques and produced a sample square ( I must admit I made a bit of a mess of mine, mainly because I was chatting to the other participants. I had another go and perfected my sample when I got home. Brioche does require a fair bit of concentration.
Next I started a cowl using one of Judith’s patterns. This and two balls of James C Brett Aztec were included in the price. I chose a pale duck-egg blue and a deep green – brioche looks most effective when you use strongly contrasting colours. It’s a lovely aran weight yarn with some alpaca in the blend which makes it really soft.
I did make some mistakes, but I pulled them out and kept going until I got it right. The end result looks amazing and is so lovely to wear – the softness of the alpaca and the squishy brioche knitting makes it incredibly cosy.
When you see that there’s a chance to see some of your favourite 80’s music and you are long overdue getting together with a group of friends that might enjoy the event there’s nothing like combining the two. Every summer, South Tyneside Council stage a series of free Sunday afternoon concerts in Bents Park, South Shields. They are promoted as family friendly events, and you can bring your own food and drink, which is a refreshing change when so many open air gigs and festivals and indoor venues don’t allow alcohol in and you are held to ransom by extortionate bar prices. The Bents Park gigs have been going for years now and often host some decent acts of all kinds so there’s something for everyone. Summer ’24 also saw a Jason Donovan gig. I saw Haircut one Hundred, supported by Carol Dekker (ex T’Pau), Sonia (smiley Scouse songstress) and a rather good local 80’s tribute band, who I’m ashamed to say I forget the name of.
Ticketing was so easy. You can pay a small amount to get in 30 minutes earlier and bag a better spot for your deck chair. I think there are better toilets too. I decided to do this and also get a companion ticket. I wanted to make sure I got a spot in the wheelchair/accessible area. I rang up and they didn’t even require proof of disability (obviously this was a free gig and I was just getting the early access).
I managed to park with my blue badge just across the road from the park entrance and scooted across. When I get together with my former work colleagues R, J and A we always have such fun. J brought another friend and a daughter too. A treated us all to flowers garlands to get into the festival vibe and we all brought copious amounts of picnic food and drink.
The accessible area was just a designated compound with a chain round, chairs, stewarded and with a disabled portal. There was no platform but the stage was high enough to see reasonable well even if people were standing in front of (and there was the obligatory big screen).
First up, Sonia.She was chatty and quite endearing really, with anecdotes in between the Stock, Aitken and Waterman Hit Factory songs, including her greatest hit “I’ll Never Stop Loving You” and UK Eurovision entry “Better the Devil You Know” (not to be confused with Kylies’s song with the same title~~).
I’m not a huge fan of tribute bands to be honest – they are such a mixed bag and often you really don’t know what you are going to get. If the real band is still touring and can bring the goods I’d far rather see them. I have to to say that the band we saw, who played a range of 80’s covers rather than copying one specific band, were excellent.
Carol Dekker was on next. Who could forget her amazing voice when she fronted `T’Pau and belted out “China in Your Hands”and “Heart and Soul”. I’m happy to report that she still sounds great and we got the old hits and new stiff too.
Top of the bill: Haircut One Hundred, fronted by Nick Hayward were the last act of the afternoon. I saw them a couple of years back for the first time in 40 years or so and had forgotten what great musicians they are, with very distinctive rhythm guitar sound, and a driving beat delivering the well-crafted pop songs from their breakout album Pelican West. I still maintain that “Favourite Shirts” is the best dance track of its day. We got all this and new stuff too including the rather nice “The Unloving Plum”.Marvellous.
Bravo to South Tyneside Council for delivering such a quality event – despite the lack of alcohol restrictions the event was virtually devoid of trouble – it really did maintain a happy family-friendly vibe. We did spot one incident that was almost as entertaining as the music. A couple , probably in their 70s had dressed to impress and run with the festival atmosphere. He wore a bejewelled peaked cap and a rainbow feather boa, She was in bright pink sequinned miniskirt and jacket with matching feathered head dress and cowboy boots. They were drinking heavily. After a while they decided to move much nearer the stage. In their drunken state the pair of them could barely stand and tripped over people and flattened deckchairs as they went. A couple of security staff stepped in to stop them and got a load of verbal abuse at which point the colourful couple were escorted from the park. They were spotted by one of our party travelling home on the Metro train, much subdued after their earlier antics!
What a fun afternoon!
Squeeze
City Hall, Newcastle 13 October 2024
I may be writing this from memory, but this was probably my favourite gig of’24.
I love a seated gig at the City Hall. The designated accessible seats are right at the front, so , as long as the PA system isn’t so huge that it will impeded the view at the end of the row, you are in the best place, even better than the viewing platform used at standing only gigs. I phone to order tickets and I’m registered on their system for disability access and entitlement to a companion ticket. The box office staff are always lovely.
Everything went perfectly this evening. I drove in with my lovely friend A and got parked nearby. We walked/scooted towards the City Hall and one of the Show Sec Stewards immediately approached us and directed us to the side entrance, radioing ahead for his colleagues to open the door where we quickly passed through the security and ticket check and were shown to our seats. They also provide a drinks waiter service for this in the accessible seats which is brilliant – essential here when the bar is downstairs but would be a welcome addition in many other venues too.. There’s a radar key controlled accessible toilet in the foyer with a steward nearby to unlock if you don’t have your own radar key. In the past I’ve also got free earplugs from the box office at a painfully loud gig – they really do think of just about everything .
Tonight’s support was Badly Drawn Boy -understated but good .
I’ll reserve most of my praise for Squeeze though. I saw them a couple of years back and they were great then – tonight even better if anything. This was their 50th anniversary tour.
I believe that the difference between a really good pop song and a really great one is the lyrics. Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford deliver both words and music impeccably.
The whole band just look like they are having the best time and they have the audience eating out of their hands, singing every word of every song. Who could forget the wit of “Up the Junction” and its tale of young love, parenthood and breakup. Don’t we all “wish we had a motorboat to pose around the harbour”? Tilbrook’s soulful bluesy vocals on “Coffee in Bed” sound as good as ever.
And yes, I was sat eye contactingly close to the band. I am impressed that my pal, A, knows all the words to the rapid-fire chorus of “Hourglass”. The two women sat next to us politely ask a steward if they can get up and dance. Chris Difford invites everyone to join them. It’s party time at the City Hall . What a night!
Pretenders
The Glasshouse, Gateshead, 17October 2024
It’s not easy to get to the Glasshouse (formerly the Sage), Gateshead. Current lane closures on the Tyne Bridge slow down the rush hour traffic and the one way system is impossible to navigate- I want to get there early to grab an accessible parking space close to the venue entrance. Tonight I am accompanied by my lovely friend S. There are plenty of food and drink options for early arrivals.
Ticketing is straightforward. I phone the box office to book accessible ticket and companion ticket. I’m registered on their system. Tonight we are in one of the boxes on the next level up from the concourse.
I can’t say I enjoyed the support – some rather indulgent heavy rock with more cliches than Spinal Tap and instantly forgettable.
I find to my annoyance that my phone has run out of battery and not charged up in the car, but it turns out there is a total ban on photos and videos. Stewards with “Strictly no photography ” placards walk around and enforce this, shining a torch on offenders. Annoying as some of the cameras can be (especially when thrust in front of your face) and sad as it is that some prefer to capture a “memory” – never to be watched again, this was positively draconian. So no photos of this gig!
Sad to say that Pretenders were slightly underwhelming. Chrissy Hyde sounds and looks the same as ever and seems to have recovered from the injury that postponed this gig. Her band were slick and polished, but there was something missing. It just seemed a little cold. and I was still a bit baffled by the “no pics” rule. There are other ways of limiting it (with self deprecating humour from Ian Anderson at a Jethro Tull gig this year). Is Ms Hynde developing some diva-ish vanity? She also broke with the tried and tested formula of performing a load of hits and a few tasters from a new album. We got a few of the old favourites but not many – lots of less obvious tracks and new stuff. Not a crowd pleasing set.
Soo….not the best of this year’s gigs to travel south of the river (Tyne) for, but at least I was in the excellent company of S.
I do love a craft workshop, so when my plans for today got cancelled I realised I could go to one that I thought I’d miss. This was the first embroidery one I’ve been to at the Amble Pin Cushion where I teach my crochet workshops.
Today we were learning “Embroidery with Sea Glass” taught by skilled stitcher Bronagh, who works at the shop and is studying for qualifications with the Royal School of Needlework . She is also part of the team of skilled needleworkers that make and repair textiles at Durham Cathedral.
Bronagh collects seaglass as she walks on local beaches and has found a way of incorporating them into her embroideries – today we were learning the techniques used in the piece she made pictured at the top of this post.
We used some lovely batik printed fabric in subtle shades of sea green as a background and attached the pieces of sea glass using a network of stitches.
Bronagh then demonstrated various embroidery stitches which we incorporated into our work.
Finally she showed us some techniques for adding beads, so we had a go at that.
All the material (embroidery hoop, fabric and backing, wadding and felt to line the piece, ribbon for hanging, seagrass, needles, embroidery threads and beads) were provided with instructions and a tote to carry everything.
Bronagh is a great tutor (you can tell she’s been a teacher in a past life) and I really enjoyed spending my Saturday in her company along with the other lovely participant.
This is my work in progress. I’m going to have so much fun doing it.
I find myself terribly behind with blogging and haven’t posted since last November. I thought it was time to collect my notes and photos together and and write up the rest of last year’s gigs. To recap, K and I went to see Echo and the Bunnymen and Hawkwind before K’s untimely death in April, then the Interzone Event and Jethro Tull after that. Some I wrote up but never got round to publishing, but I always took photos. This is a LONG post!
The Feeling: The Venue, Newcastle University Students Union, 10th May 2024
I love the Feeling. Beautifully crafted pop songs. Daughter likes them too., and my brother, who got to know them way back when they were the resident band in his favourite French ski resort bar.
Some months ago the venue for this gig changed, moving from NX (formerly the Academy) to The Venue at Newcastle University Students Union. I have been there before, for a very different sort of event. Kevin was a proud graduate of Newcastle University and got involved in lots of extracurricular student activities, including selling the student newspaper: The Courier. We attended a dinner celebrating 75 years of The Courier. Guest speakers included former courier reporters now successful journalists on national papers. It was a lovely event and held in the same Venue. Situated in a student union basement with a low ceiling it does have more of a club feeling that most concert venues (though more spacious than say The Limit in Sheffield, which was one of my favourite student hangouts back in the day)
When I booked my ticket, plus guest list place for companion and accessible viewing space for this it was for NX but the venue for this changed to The Venue (confusingly simple name for the multi-event space at Newcastle University’s Students Union- fortunately I checked because though the ticket was still valid – my access requirements had not been transferred. After a couple of attempts I was able to contact someone at The Venue who confirmed this, and sorted out what I needed once I had sent proof of disability/access number.
We were given directions to go down the ramp at the side of the Students Union to Luthers Bar (named after Martin Luther King, who famously visited the University in 1967 and received an honorary doctorate) . It’s actually run by pub chain Wetherspoons. You need to go down the ramp to the level below the main entrance as Luthers is actually over two levels. Once you work out that you should not be on the terrace at the back of the building and get down to Level -1 it’s a little bit more straightforward as there were event staff who knew what to do, unlike the bar staff. I showed the ticket and gave my name to staff on the door and daughter and I were given wristbands and directions to the area reserved for disabled customers aside of stage, There was a barrier and a steward to restrict access to wristband holders. I have to admit that this had quite a cool VIP access feel to it and the view was ok – obviously the band are going to perform towards front stage , not side, but if you can get past that it was fine. And unrestricted views of some of the technical aspects of the gig, more of which later.
I don’t know why I haven’t heard of Callum Beattie, tonight’s support. His “Boris Song” went viral during/after the COVID epidemic – a scathing comic song about the then UK PM. He’s a Scottish singer songwriter (from Musselburgh, near Edinburgh) and he’s really active on social media.
The songs are great – can’t say I’ve had an ear worm from a support act original song before EVER! What’s not to like? He was even in the bar after the gig meeting fans – I had to go and find out when he’d be playing in Newcastle again. Mission accomplished. – appearing at the Cluny in November 24.
Callum played a great set… he’s even done a charity recording. Great songs. When he said that he didn’t have the physique to take off his t-shirt and throw it into the crowd, I thought Peter Hook should take note – read the review I wrote for that one and you’ll see what I mean.
As we get back to our little private viewing area (I think my brother, who is with his wife and some friends, is a tiny bit jealous) the excitement in the crowd is palpable. There are some real fans at the front of the stage. Then the band come right past us as they go on stage.
This was a greatest hits tour and the set list a real crowd pleaser. All the hits, some of the new album, a cover version (Video Killed the Radio Star – I defy you to NOT sing along to that) . It was all there, AND the side project. Front man Dan Gillespie wrote the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, a hit in the West End and now a movie – who can forget the scene when Jamie’s mother (played by the excellent Sarah Lancashire) sings an ode to her son, My Boy – I cried. It’s just beautiful. So we got the title song from the show too.
I said earlier that the band perform to the front – true, apart from the slow ballad Rosé. The piano was wheeled on sideways – Dan was facing us for that one.
This lot are great musicians – and they sing – the Feeling harmonies are just gorgeous.
In our little side stage enclave we had a perfect view of the fifth band member – the very hard working guitar tech. He had his work cut out for him I counted an obscene number of guitars on the rack and the same number of cases lined up next to the stage – this unsung hero looks like he loves his work, he was moving and singing along all the time.
In summary, a great singalong gig from some fantastic musicians and The Venue (once the access requirement details were supplied) looked after me reasonably well too.
Our journey home involved a detour to find a spot away from light pollution. As The Feeling played, one of the best ever Aurora Borealis displays ever seen in our part of the UK was lighting up the skies. It seemed that everyone else was doing the same – every lay-by , every farm gateway was occupied by vehicles, but eventually we joined another car in a field entrance. and as our eyes accustomed to the dark, faintly glowing bands of green, pink and purple appeared. These looked even more spectacular through the nighttime settings of a phone. What a night
Elbow: Glasgow Hydro, 11 May 2024
This was one that K and I had really been looking forward to. Elbow are so good live. I changed our hotel room booking from a double to a twin and my friend Val joined me. After a leisurely drive to Glasgow via Falkirk, where we stopped for coffee and cake at a delightful Italian coffee shop. we reached the hotel, one of many in that part of Glasgow surrounding the Hydro and Conference Centre.
Access was totally trouble free at this gig. Ticketing for the accessible area, including a companion ticket was all automatically done through the Ticketmaster app – I’m registered with them. This involved sending a copy of my proof of disability. Registration lasts 3 years and is free of charge. The Hydro is a short walk (or in my case scoot) over a footbridge across the river Clyde from our Premier Inn.. Large signs directed us to the entrance for accessible seating area. As you would expect at a large arena that regularly presents massive shows, the whole event was well staffed by professional event stewards who kept everything running smoothly, from bag security checks on arrival to being directed to our seats. We even got some great Thai fast food at one of the concourse concessions – all the restaurants round and about were rammed.
Our places on the viewing platform were great – central with great unimpeded views and next to the mixing desks – K would have loved that – he was always interested in the technical aspects of staging a gig.
This was the first gig of the tour, though that had not been the original plan. The tour was supposed to open at the new Co-op Arena in Manchester, with Elbow to be the first act to appear there , on their own turf. However, technical problems with the building delayed open so Glasgow saw them first!
The support were…forgettable, but Elbow where as good as ever. The indomitable Guy Garvey is one of the best front men in the business and his gravelly heartfelt vocals deliver poetic lyrics like no other, all backed up by great musicians – friends from schooldays, there’s a real bond there.
He belted out songs old and new, including my favourites, Mirrorball (for which a giant mirrorball descended from the ceiling) and Magnificent.
As you’d expect, the light show was great as befits a stadium-sized gig .
Naturally they ended the encore with One Day Like this. Fabulous!
As the happy fans filtered out of the building and dispersed to the surrounding hotels and bars. As we made our way past the Conference Centre, V photographed the coloured building lights and posted the pics on our friends’ Whatsapp Group, captioned “We hit lucky and caught the northern lights on the way to the gig!”
This part of Glasgow certainly looks wonderful at night.
Back at the hotel we had lots of wine before we finally got some sleep, consequently missing our complimentary breakfast! At least we found somewhere that sold bacon sandwiches on the way home!
Human League, Heaven 17, Peter Hook and the Light, Altered Images: Herrington Park, 12 July 2024
I have A LOT to say about access arrangements for this one. First of all getting a ticket with platform access, forward parking and a companion ticket involved several unanswered emails, downloading a ticketsales app that I’d never heard of before and forking out an additional £15 for a Nimbus Access Card which at the time didn’t operate for any other venue or event type Id ever go to.
There are several similar schemes – in principle they are a good idea – send your proof of disability and access needs once, with payment, and you get a photo id card bearing symbols representing each of your access needs. This would be great if there was one universal scheme, but there are several, with variable costs to join and many venues operate their own.
All this went right down to the wire and I had to collect my tickets at the gate. I was attending with my friend K, who shares my love of 80’s pop. The disabled parking seemed a bit haphazard, but I drove as close to the gate as I could and got the all terrain scooter out – this was an open air gig on a rather rutted field with a central stage and food and drink concessions around the edge. We joined the queue only to find that everything was delayed so we had to wait half an hour or so before things began to move – not great as we were expecting to go straight through – I was fine sat on my scooter but I was concerned for K who was recovering from some very serious health issues.
Finally we were funnelled though various gates and queues with tiny signage, totally unreadable at a distance, ended up in the wrong place and were escorted by a steward to the appropriate place to pick up tickets. I was handed a large envelope which also contained a forward parking pass. A bit late for that!
Finally we got in and found our places on the accessible viewing platform and the field filled up. The people watching at such things is always great – the thing we noticed was how groups of people had acquired matching cowboy hats to keep together and see each other at a glance.
Altered Images came on, with lead singer Clare Grogan in a pink satin ballgown looking great as ever – she must be about my age but looks much better preserved – whatever she’s on I want some! …and she’s such an engaging performer, warm and funny, with the talent to shrink a big venue into something more intimate.
Her vocals are as good as ever and the setlist hasn’t changed much in recent years apart from adding some recent album tracks: all those hits from their heyday are there, Happy Birthday, Dead Pop Stars, I could be Happy and the sublime Don’t Talk to Me About Love. I’ve heard it before but was glad they still included a brilliant cover of the Ting Tings’ That’s not my name. That’s my favourite kind of support act!
Our next act was Peter Hook and the Light. I’m glad to say that he was in much better form than he was in Newcastle earlier this year at the InterZone Event (though not quite as good as a show at BoilerShop a while back). There were all the old New Order songs we know and love.
Next on: Heaven 17. I was curious about them appearing together with Human League. Historically Human League was part of the 80’s Sheffield electro-pop movement . Martin Ware and Ian Craig Marsh recruited vocalist Phil Oakey – those early hits included Being Boiled and Empire State Human (I am instantly transported to the disco dance floor at Sheffield Student’s Union, c1981). There was a falling out, Ware and Craig Marsh left to form Heaven 17 with Glenn Gregory as lead vocals. Oakey’s Human League went on adding vocals from teenagers Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Tully, spotted by Oakey in a local nightclub. The iconic Dare album was a huge commercial success (when I think of my 80’s music collection I think of that one). Every wannabe popstar loves that story about those two young women getting permission to be out of school for the band’s tv performance on Top of The Pops!
Back to H17. I just love their songs. (We Don’t Need That) Fascist Groove Thing has lyrics as applicable today as they were then, not to mention being a cracking dance track, as are Penthouse and Pavement, Temptation and the rest (…and I’m back on that dance floor in Sheffield again!) .
Glenn Gregory is an excellent front man, funny, charismatic with a great voice – he’s wearing well (sorry to harp on about the age thing but there’s nothing sadder than trying to recapture the gigging experiences of your youth and finding that the artistes are so bad that they really should retire!)
Martin Ware is looking rather older, prompting some “Son” and “Dad” banter between songs. When K went to the bar she overheard a priceless comment from a punter” Isn’t it lovely that he performs with his Dad” . We had a good laugh about that one.
Then on to Human League.
Oakey comes over a bit of a diva – it’s the frequent costume changes…but the songs still sound great and we all know all the words.
And they did Being Boiled, which I’ve previously seen performed by H17. It all seemed very amicable after that schism back in 1980.
I just wish they didn’t do Electric Dreams as their encore. They had so many better songs.
Yesterday I was in the pretty Northumbrian fishing village of Craster. I’ve just gone back to the local craft group recently after a long break. They meet in the village hall in the centre of Craster on a Tuesday morning, from around 10-12, and for the princely sum of £2 we get tea or coffee and biscuits, sometimes delicious home baking from group members too… and, a raffle, not to mention the great company. It’s such a lovely friendly group.
On this occasion I took Buddy the Labrador too. He would have been left home alone otherwise. He’s a chilled old boy, so, although when he enters a room full of people he seems to think he’s arrived at a meeting of his personal fan club (he just loves meeting people), he soon settles and goes to sleep under the table. Fortunately there are a lot of dog lovers in the group who sometimes bring their own. Buddy made friends with Tilly the miniature schnauzer, who wasn’t sure at first (Buddy is huge).
I took some spinning, but there was a lot of knitting as well as crochet, needle felting, and sewing going on.
Afterwards I took the opportunity to give Buddy a walk and explore the village – I haven’t done that for years!
Craster is famous for its kippers. These smoked herrings are a real local delicacy: on smoking days you can smell the process and see the smoke emerging from the chimneys of Robsons Smokehouse, just a few yards from where I’d been crafting. The business has been run by the same family for four generations and includes a seafood restaurant.
Buddy stopped for a long drink at the dog bowl outside the Mick Oxley Gallery. We walked towards the harbour, past the village pub, the Jolly Fisherman, which serves excellent food.
It was a still, rather murky day and the sea was calm as we approached the harbour. This place holds fond childhood memories. When we were small, my brother and I would get damaged and unusable herring from the smokehouse to use as fishing bait, then go fishing for crabs and small fish off the pier.
Close to the harbour the War Memorial has been decorated with knitted and crocheted poppies prior to Remembrance Day on 11th November. These have been made by members of the craft group.
The poppies extend to the adjacent park bench…
…and the railing overlooking the harbour.
Down on the tiny beach, some canoeists were preparing to take to the water.
Although Craster is popular with tourists, with many of the dwellings in the village now converted to luxury holiday accommodation, it remains a working fishing port.
Craster also sits on the Northumberland Coastal Path. Despite the grey day there were still plenty of walkers about. Buddy and I joined them, heading north out of the village, through the gate and along this well-beaten track – dogs must be kept on lead as sheep graze here. Directly ahead, looming eerily from the mist, are the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle.
Along the the path, the gorse is still in bloom, adding a welcome splash of colour to the dull day.
Soon it was time to turn back, switching the view to the village.
This month we passed bit of a milestone. It’s six months since Kevin died. At the time I couldn’t see what the future would look like without him. It all happened so suddenly and was something I’d never ever imagined could ever possibly happen.
The days soon afterwards are a bit of a blur now. I remember lots of visitors, dozens of cards, flowers, dear friends who came to keep me company, and brought food. It was so hard on the children, who both stepped up to look after me at the same time as they were dealing with their own grief.
They say things happen for a reason. As I was learning to deal with all of this we sold my mother’s house – she died just a few weeks before Kevin. My brother and I already begun to empty it, but things now had to speed up as our buyers were anxious to complete quickly having sold their own property. It was good to keep busy. Exactly what I needed in fact.
In the middle of all this I managed to get away for a much needed break with the children – a week on Orkney with Son and a week in Northwest Scotland with Daughter. It was the trip I would have made with Kevin, so it was very poignant. I couldn’t help but feel he should have been there. It was my first trip to Orkney and it was fascinating. A highlight was the ancient Skara Brae settlement.
I ended up bringing a lot of stuff home from Mum’s house and for a while my house resembled Steptoe’s Yard until I gradually decided what to do with everything. This included about 10 boxes of photos and slides, which I’ve begun to digitise – they take up far too much room otherwise. It has been fun sharing these with family members too.
I’ve also rediscovered cooking and I’m doing some work on the house, basically future-proofing it to make it more accessible and easier for me to manage. The first thing I did was extend and raise the level of the patio at the rear of the house to remove the steps – this has already made a huge difference.
I continue to go to gigs. I somehow feel closer to Kevin when I see live music. It’s how we met and was an interest we shared. He loved all the tech stuff, and whenever I see the sound/lighting/video technicians at work I think of him.
I have more to go to this year and more are booked for 2025, along with my first cruise, visiting the Norwegian Fjords. I’m really excited about that.
I also have returned to many of the groups and activities I did before and resumed teaching my crochet workshops.
Of course I miss Kevin every day but I’m doing ok. I like to think he’d be proud of me.
As it’s Halloween I wanted to share something that happened a few weeks ago – it was a bit spooky but at the same time just lovely. Some years ago Kevin bought me a a bracelet – it’s silver with freshwater pearls, very simple but I love it and wear it every day. I noticed that it was missing from my wrist and though I searched the house from top to bottom, it could not be found. I assumed that sadly I’d lost it when I was out somewhere and that was that. On my birthday I got up and went to the wardrobe to get out something to wear. As I reached up to grab a coat hanger, there, dangling from the clip that held a pair of jeans to the hanger, was the missing bracelet. It had been gone for over a week and I’d been in the wardrobe several times and not seen it. Why now on my birthday? Whatever the reason, it comforts me to believe that it was a birthday greeting from Kevin and I love that. He’s still with me.
Postscript
Thanks for all your lovely comments. They mean a lot. My lovely blog followers have been so kind and supportive over recent difficult months and I’m so grateful for that. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.
There was a clash of events in Newcastle the other week. I ended up attending both Novum, the arts festival, to sing with my choir who were supporting Cirque Bijou (as I described in the previous blog post) and also the North East Wool Show
This is the second year of the Wool Show – I thoroughly enjoyed it last year so was glad it’s back again.
On the Saturday I joined some fellow members of the North Northumberland Spinners on our stand and spent a very enjoyable day demonstrating spinning.
One of my fellow spinners, J, in front of our stall
Our stall looked fantastic, with loads of lovely handspun and hand knitted items on display, some of them hand dyed too.
A, who runs the group (originally set up by her mother many years ago) was responsible for all this amazing work, including her lockdown project, a Fair Isle jumper (the handspun yarn is hand dyed too.
These sheep samplers attracted loads of attention. Each one represents a different sheep breed and is made from handspun yarn from that breed, with a needle felted head.
This was my first experience of demonstrating spinning and I absolutely loved it. Of course at a wool festival you are preaching to the converted! Spinning is a bit of a natural progression if you already knit or crochet – what could be better than making an item from yarn you have spun yourself?
Between us, we had three completely different spinning wheels: a traditional one, a modern folding treadle wheel and my e-wheel. A lot of our visitors had never seen an electric powered wheel like mine before and were quite intrigued. Without the need to work the foot treadles, e-wheels are perfect if you have limited movement or co-ordination in your feet and there was quite a lot of interest from disabled visitors.
We also operated a ball-winding service, for those who had purchased skeins of hand-dyed yarn at the show – there were so many to choose from in every colour imaginable. For a small contribution to charity, we converted the skeins into ready-to-knit balls of yarn.
I really enjoyed explaining the principles of spinning and showing people how my e-wheel works compared to the foot-powered ones.
At the end of the day I changed out of my handspun, hand-crocheted jacket and into the sequins to return to singing with the circus!
I was back to the Wool Show the following day for the shopping! I saw so many people I knew, including friends from my knitting and spinning groups and Amble Pin Cushion, so it was quite a social occasion too.
Of course I had to buy some fibre to spin! I bought more of this Siri alpaca and merino blend from Bettina of Tine and Floyd – I love that she always adds a lavender bag and tea to your bag! – I bought a skein of this colour way (it’s called Blackberry Fool) last year and was spinning it the previous day.
I also got some black Shetland tops from Adelaide Walker. I’m thinking of plying it with the pink/purple to make myself a jumper.
I also fancy making something in shades of green and I saw this. It’s hand dyed Leicester – look at those beautiful locks! It will take some preparation before I spin it but could make some gorgeous yarn.
As I said earlier, there was a massive selection of had-dyed yarn available from lots of traders, but I particularly loved the deep rich shades on Yarn Tings stall – this is a merino/yak/silk blend, sock weight and it’s so soft – this shade is Firebird.
There were some fabulous tools and accessories too. I bought some of my favourite Knit Pro Zing needles. I got the interchangeable circular set some months back but I needed some extra small ones for a couple of projects – the interchangeables don’t go below about 3.25 mm.
I got this wraps-per-inch gauge from Threshing Barn. I’m thinking of attaching it to the orifice hook on my spinning wheel, so it’s easier to find if I drop it.
Then there was this needle case. isn’t it pretty?
There were all sorts of kits and patterns available too. This shawl pattern caught my eye, though when I’ll ever get around to making I, who knows?
When I got home I downloaded a couple of other patterns that were made up on stalls . I certainly have lots to be getting on with.
I’ve been a member of a choir for several years. Originally, the Newcastle City Council Choir was formed as a staff wellbeing initiative. Over a decade later we have evolved into the Toonful City Singers (if you aren’t local, Newcastle is known round here as “The Toon” and we are pretty tuneful). We’ve done some interesting performances over the years. I even got to do some beatboxing in Newcastle Cathedral to accompany the choir once.
Some of us are currently taking part in Novum, Newcastle’s Summer Festival, providing backing vocals for Cirque Bijou, who are staging a mesmerising performance each evening until Sunday. Each short show includes acrobatics, aerial work with both silks and trapeze; juggled bowler hats, all performed to music from a fabulous singer (backed by ourselves and also Indigo Choir) with a brilliant pianist playing a flying grand piano!
Indigo Choir’s Musical Director, Jake, has put us through some vocal warm ups before each show, then we’ve taken up position on the Civic Centre Balcony, where we get a brilliant view. It’s reasonably sheltered too, though the performers had to put up with rain on the first night and gusts of wind on the second, which was not ideal!
The show begins with singer Alba perching on the piano as James begins to play the intro of Love and Hate in a Different Time.
As Alba starts singing, the piano rises up into the air, and a pair of disembodied legs appears underneath. They belong to aerialist, Rachel who has remained hidden beneath the piano until this point.
She moves down the red silk trailing from the piano, wrapping and unwrapping the fabric round her wrists and ankles to secure her position as she strikes each pose.
It’s stunning display of skill and strength.
There’s a heart-in-mouth moment as the material unrolls from around Rachel’s body and she drops suddenly – but it’s all part of the act.
They all descend to the ground again and James begins to play something with a slower tempo, but performer Gracie isn’t happy – she wants to hear something more upbeat, so James plays Do Your Thing (that’s the name of the show).
Alba belts out the song – she has a great voice – as she struts across the concourse.
Gracie juggles some hats and is joined by Rachel for more acrobatics.
The silks are replaced by a trapeze and the piano ascends again, with Alba and James on board again, performing Sinner Man. Gracie springs up, grabs the trapeze and begins her act, swinging and hanging onto the trapeze in a series of daredevil moves , rising higher into the air and moving faster as the music builds.
They descend just low enough for Rachel to join Gracie on the trapeze with their luggage for the finale: Rocket Man.
The piano, with all on board, rises up once more and swings away as they depart.
It’s a real spectacle, with great music and the performers were all brilliant – it’s been quite a privilege to work with them. With two performances completed and two more to go I think we are gaining confidence as Alba’s backing singers. We are all thoroughly enjoying taking part.
Seeing live music has now changed for me. Just a few days after the last gig we went to (Hawkwind) my husband, Kevin died following a massive heart attack. We met through our love of live music over 40 years ago and as my mobility has deteriorated somewhat, he also became my carer/essential companion when we went to see a band. With tickets already booked for the rest of the year, and no doubt, other gigs to be booked along the way, I hope to continue. Kevin would have wanted me to.
We had tickets booked for the Interzone Event , which took place just a few days after Kevin’s death. It was a hard decision, but I ended up going with my daughter. It’s taken a while, but I’m now ready to write about it.
With so many bands on the bill it would have been a long night on top of little sleep so we compromised and arrived later, just as Theatre of Hate’s set was ending.
I’ve spoken of Newcastle City Hall’s facilities for disabled customers at a standing gig previously (Echo and the Bunnymen), and as usual the viewing platform was situated at the back of the stalls, affecting the acoustics slightly but high enough to give a reasonable view and well-stewarded. Sadly, there was no sign of lovely Alec, our designated bar waiter, so it was just as well I had daughter with me for the bar run, especially since I had considered going to this gig alone. The accessible viewing platform was fairly empty, but I hope this doesn’t mean that the additional bar service has stopped for good.
First on for us was The Farm (the evening had kicked off with ex Inspiral Carpets frontman, Tom Hingley and the Kar-pets, before Theatre of Hate). A great set, including a personal favourite Stepping Stone. – I had the 7″ single of The Monkees version of that one back in the day. Then there were the big hits: Groovy Train and of course finishing with All Together Now, such a great anthem.
NERD ALERT: it’s a great anthem that shares its chords with Ralph McTell’s Streets of London and Maroon 5’s Memories, among others, and all owe that chord sequence to Pachelbel’s Canon in D, thought to have been written at the end of the 17th Century. Pete Waterman (who used the same sequence when he co-wrote/co-produced Kylie Minogue’s I Should be so Lucky) once described the Canon in D as “almost the godfather of pop music”.
The anthem played on….The crowd were absolutely loving it and singing their hearts out. Audience participation at its best. You can read about the band’s experience of their trip to play Newcastle on their blog here.
Next up was the Wedding Present. Now I have to confess that I went to this gig knowing absolutely nothing about this band, and I’m not sure why. They were prolific in the number of tracks they released. I really loved their set though. I always think that if a band can make a venue seem smaller, then they have really communicated with their audience and that’s what happened here.
These days only frontman David Gadge remains of the original lineup, but the band around him were great. In a male dominated industry, female musicians are noticeable – they have to be the best to make it and Rachael Wood is a cracking guitarist, playing alongside Paul Blackburn (Bass) and Vincenzo Lammi (drums).
Standouts for me were Kennedy and, as a tribute to the late, great Steve Harley, a cover of Come Up and See Me (Make Me Smile).
Then it was time for Peter Hook and the Light. I was really looking forward to this and booked the tickets on the strength of Hooky’s brilliant gig last year at The Boilershop, but I was disappointed.
To be fair, the set was beset with technical problems and during most of it an unfortunate member of the crew was frantically unplugging and replugging in leads trying to rectify the issue. Whereas I loved that last gig, which included all the New Order hits (even more than I remembered), this one omitted all my favourites (I really love Temptation but it was not included)
Obviously distracted by the Gremlins in the equipment, Hooky neither introduced his band or deigned to play an encore. At one point a scuffle broke out near the front. Cue ShowSec staff running to deal with it and a couple of punters being ejected. It was no longer the feel good experience we’d had singing along to The Farm earlier.
With no encore, and a full five minutes before stated finish time, it was over. Hooky removed his t-shirt and threw it into the crowd (some things are better left not done) and that was it. Everyone was left just hanging. As we departed, the atmosphere was not great. There was an uncomfortable edge to it and none of that euphoria I love, when everyone is still singing the encore as they disperse into the night. It was just a disappointed crowd heading home.
Once again I find myself indulging in some therapeutic writing. I wanted to write about Kevin’s funeral/celebration of life, with an explanation of why we chose the music, poetry, flowers and so on to make it about him.
We decided very quickly that Kevin’s beloved Labrador, Buddy would have to attend the funeral. Once again Kevin Foster, our funeral director organised the event for us with his usual calm efficiency and patience, as he had for Mum’s funeral a few weeks ago and he was totally amenable to that, even offering to walk with Buddy at the head of the cortege. We opted to keep Buddy in the car with us.
Kevin was not a religious man, so we opted for a humanist service at our new local crematorium at Bockenfield. We used the crematorium’s facility to livestream the service, as we had done with my Mum’s funeral. This has enabled many of our family and friends to take part who were unable to travel here because of distance, health or other committments. Our celebrant was Pauline Fellows, who visited us to plan the service. She was such a kind, gentle lady and very easy to work with.
We chose three pieces of music, all by bands we had seen perform. As we arrived. by Runrig played Gabriel’s Sword. The band originate in the Scottish Islands, where we spent many happy holidays and on our Scottish trips, Runrig’s music would always be playing in the car. Immediately after I read the eulogy, we listened the the very beautiful Everglow by Coldplay, another favourite band. All four of us went to see them once with friends. During this, a slide show of photographs of Kevin played. Finally we heard Beautiful Day by U2. We saw them many times and Kevin once introduced them live on stage, back in the day we were on the students’ Entertainment Committee at Sheffield University. They were supporting John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett at the time (this was a long time ago!)
Pauline had asked if we wanted to include a poem. It just happened that I’d bought a book of poetry for Kevin at Christmas. We had adopted the Icelandic tradition of Yulebokkflod a few years back, and gave each other a book on Christmas Eve. Earlier last year we had been visiting the Sill visitor centre at Twice Brewed, near Hadrian’s Wall, where there had been an exhibition about a new book, The Lost Spells, by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. It showed some of the beautiful illustrations alongside extracts from the poems which are all about the natural world, and with recordings in the background, featuring birdsong. It was stunning and I bought the book to give to Kevin.
The poem I chose was Gorse. This spiny yellow shrub is a common feature of our local landscape here in North Northumberland, where it is known as Whin and gives its name to the Whin Sill, a huge outcrop of volcanic rock on the coast. The verses describe how though gorse creates a spiky impenetrable barrier it also provides shelter for the creatures that nest and seek refuge within it its thickets. Kevin was like this too. He could be a bit spiky, but truly cared for the rest of us.
Gorse
Good luck trying to force your way through
Gorse! Better setting out across
a field of spears, a lake of pikes, a sky of
hawks, a hundred winters;
better getting dealt a thousand scratches
by a million splinters!
Out of crags and hedges, cliffs and ledges,
Gorse jags, spikes, crackles: raises
hackles, speaks sharply: Keep Out! Stay
Back! Get Off My Land!
Room is made by Gorse, though – space is
braced for redstart, rabbit,
wheatear, plover, quiet life is harboured in
its criss-cross places.
See into Gorse; get past its guard and pick
a path towards its well-defended
heart, the secrets kept within its limits.
Each of us is partly made of Gorse, of
course: prickly, cussed hard the parse
and tough to handle, all helter-skelter
points and angles – but only ever really
seeking love and giving shelter.
It’s a beautiful poem.
The flowers were by Polly’s Petals. Polly creates the most stunning naturalistic arrangements including wild flowers and foliage.
She created something beautiful to reflect the countryside that Kevin loved so much. It included bluebells, forget-me-nots, cherry blossom , rhododendron and wild foliage along with cream narcissus and lizzianthus.
There were also a few spikes of bright yellow gorse flowers to reflect our local landscape and the poem we chose.
Polly also added some pheasant feathers to continue the countryside theme.
The spray was made up in three sections, so Kevin’s sister, our daughter and I could each take part of it home.
Kevin loved following our local hunt, the Percy hounds, so at the end of the service, one of the hunt staff, Will, blew the hunting horn, sounding the long continuous note that is used to signal the end of a day’s hunting: Blowing for Home. Right on cue, Buddy, who had lain quietly all the way through, pricked up his ears and barked, just as he would if he heard the horn when he was out with Kevin on a hunting day.
Afterwards we went to one of Kevin’s favourite places, Rigg and Furrow – his favourite bar and the home of his favourite beer, Run Hop Run. We had spent many an hour over many a drink here in the brewery tap of this farm-based brewery, always loving the relaxed, fun atmosphere and the warm welcome. There was absolutely no other place we could have gone for the post-funeral reception, and when we asked they said it would be an honour to host it.
Kevin was an excellent cook and loved good food. He enjoyed trying locally made produce, so it was lovely to see some of our favourite Doddington’s cheeses being served.
There were also some tasty sweet and savoury baked treats, including some delicious sausage rolls, with either black pudding or pork and apple.
As those present shared their memories of Kevin over a drink and some food, we played some of his favourite music and ran a slideshow of photos.
We were overwhelmed by the turnout, which included people from so many different parts of Kevin’s life, some of whom had travelled a long distance to be there. He would have been really touched that so many came.
I’m so grateful to all that contributed to make the day such a perfect reflection of who Kevin was.
Stitches by the Sea 