Coastal View & Moor News Issue 29 November - December 2012


Confessions of a ‘Newby’ Dalesman going ‘naked’


By Arthur Anonymous. W


ell, I’m afraid the honeymoon is now well and truly over after joining the


choir in January 2011. It all seemed so simple when they asked


me to join the choir; despite my protestations about not being able to sing they said that was no excuse at all and had never held back lots of choir members. I later learned that our Great Leader doesn’t believe in such nonsense that people can’t sing and has even resorted to accepting and more importantly, winning wagers on the subject. You could be excused for wondering what


this has to do with the recent concert held on October 13 in All Saints Hutton Rudby - well, be patient, I will segue this beautifully into relevance at some point soon. Being a ‘Newby’ has been great fun for lots and lots of reasons and include: first and foremost the guys themselves who are a fantastic bunch with such a great sense of humour and camaraderie; our Great Leader with his wit and ability to spot like a hawk the four individuals in different sections of the choir that may have inadvertently struck a slightly off note or more likely breathed at the wrong time (perhaps I should have said I couldn’t breathe properly?) Our Mini Leader who stepped in magnificently when the Great Leader hurt his back trying to single handedly move a North Yorkshire Moors train when the points had failed (or was it lifting a loudspeaker?) And finally, our Wonderful Accompanist who never puts a foot wrong and gives us such a lashing if she ever takes rehearsals as she is so passionate for us to improve. There were five of us who started at the same


time as ‘Newbies’ and it really helped that there were others in the same boat. We all shared our frustrations, fears and glimpses of progress and we’ve all stuck at it, apart from one, with the result that we are delighted we made the plunge to become Dalesmen. Of course, the main reason that we joined was


the lure of the Green Polyester Jacket and the central heating savings made every Tuesday evening. So for anybody out there who might be interested - don’t try and hide behind the excuse that you can’t sing, take the risk and get yourself into a pastime that has so many benefits and so few downsides. The benefits being the friendships, the performances (including quite a few standing ovations, I’ll have you know,) the marvellous suppers, the tours (Holland


was such good fun - thanks to Ray for a side splittingly fun evening in Amersfoort,) singing at the Sage (what a phenomenal experience) and the honour of wearing the Jacket! The only downside now brings me back to


the concert at Hutton Rudby and this being that the Newbies had to throw away their support system and stand ‘naked’ in front of the audience. Yes, you guessed, we had to sing without our music. We had held onto the music like a child’s favourite toy or comfort blanket and had got seriously tearful at the prospect of leaving it behind but peer pressure meant that we couldn’t hold onto it any longer. So, here we are at Hutton Rudby with a packed, expectant audience; in fact seriously expectant as the tickets were £10 each and rumoured to be selling on e-Bay for £11! Ticket touts were lingering in the church cemetery as we walked in - “any tickets mate! Buying or selling.” We’d been seriously learning the words and seriously losing a lot of sleep over it too. Funny how you start to dream about singing and seem to have perfect recall whilst you are asleep. Well, we were as ready as we would ever be, the first half was with music for all of us as we were performing newer songs but the second half was where the brain would really have to work overtime. Nine songs in the second half and off we went. First three were fine but then came “My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose” - had to cheat on this one I’m afraid by placing an index card with the words on underneath Peter’s collar who was standing in front of me. Funnily enough I could sense three other pairs of eyes staring at Peter’s back and they weren’t even ‘Newbies.’ Think I got away with it. The next three were fine but then we had “Jesus Shall Reign” which for some reason I seem to make a pretty good job of jumbling up the lines. No cards this time just relied on instant recall milliseconds prior to singing - not bad, got 90% right. Finished with “Gwahoddiad” which is such a beautiful piece that I put quite a lot of effort into, getting word perfect on this one. This was the last piece in the concert and provided a stirring finale. So, we ‘Newbies’ did it, we survived and during the crack afterwards we were all pretty pleased how our first ‘naked’ performance had gone. One of our audience even came up and said how much she enjoyed it and was amazed that we didn’t need any music for the second half - “It’s quite easy” I replied…..


National Park wants your opinions


Whatever your views on its work and services, the Authority wants to hear from you. People in the Park are being asked to complete an online Residents’ Survey. Jim Bailey, chairman of the Authority, said: “What our residents and businesses think is very important to our work and we need to hear from them to make sure they help us make the right decisions in the future.” The Authority wants to hear residents’ views on its Annual Report which is posted to them every year. Do they want to receive it by post or would they rather access it online? The survey asks residents how they rate its


A


re you happy with the North York Moors National Park Authority?


services and it wants to know whether they are in favour of community meetings. At the moment, the Authority only runs Parish Forums which are aimed mainly at parish councillors but are also open to the public. The National Park Authority’s work is


guided by two purposes: conservation and promoting opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the Park’s special qualities. It also has an important duty to look after the economic and social well-being of local communities. A residents’ survey was last carried out in the Park in 2008. To take part in the survey visit: http://www.


northyorkmoors.org.uk www.surveymonkey. com/s/Residents-Survey-2012


Grow together and share enthusiasm


37


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t the recent RHS North East ’It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards’ there were great success stories from our area. This campaign has five levels of award: Establishing, developing, improving, thriving and outstanding and this year saw 127 entries in this competition. Three groups were proud to receive their awards


on behalf of their villages and projects, which were presented by RHS Community Development Officer Sophie Dawson. Skinningrove received two awards, ‘Establishing’


for the village hall where the volunteers do so much for the local people and it really is the hub of the community and ‘Developing’ for the Riverside Community Garden. This garden was the brain child of local councillor Barry Hunt and the recently formed Gardening Club grow produce which they give to the local pensioners and to sell in the Grove Co-op.


presented with an RHS ‘Outstanding’ Award for the third successive year.


Lingdale Lift Off’s Community Allotment was


for training and development as well as other enterprises. Their motto is “Be All You Can and Fulfil Your True Potential”. It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards are designed to


school children of Lingdale with floral displays, features and fruit & vegetables. Rigwood received an RHS “Outstanding”


give every possible encouragement to communities who want to grow together and share enthusiasm. Pictured from left to right:- Gloria Robinson - Secretary - Lingdale Lift Off Community Group Vic Davison - Vice Chairman - Lingdale Lift Off Community Group


Cllr Barry Hunt - Skinningrove Mike Jefferson - Chairman - Lingdale Lift Off Community Group Tyler Nixon - Rigwood Intervention Worker Eileen Burn - Chairman - Northumbria in Bloom Sue Anderson - Rigwood Project Manager Mathew Herd - Rigwood Volunteer


The allotment is maintained by volunteers and the


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