S c i i th e ro e 422324 (Editoriai), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Ciassified) 30 Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, May 24th, 2007
www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) 1
No one warns you about all the flies.
IT was on leaving Western Aus tralia th a t the sheer size of this co u n try h i t me. As we took off from the airport it didn’t take long for the view of the city to melt into lazy suburbs and sprawling farm land before th e immeasurable expanse of the outback consumed the scene before me. Gazing out of the plane window on
the journey Ella and I took from Perth to Alice Springs, I could see nothing but vast red soil stretching out to the horizon, interrupted only by the occa sional shrub or “bush” that braved the heat to grow there. Looking at the outback is one thing.
Living in it is a completely different matter. You can’t quite appreciate the hostility of the place until you try. It is hot beyond belief. Not in a “Gosh, it’s hotter than the weather at home, eh?” kind of way, but in a way that is unforgiving and uncompromising. You literally bake out there, with nowhere to run for cover, no shade to save you and only the water you take with you to quench your thirst. I t ’s just so unbelievably big too. Outside Alice Springs there is simply nothing but deep red desert until Adelaide, 1,530 km away to the south and Darwin, 1,'198 km away in the north. And then there are the flies. Nobody
in any brochure, Internet page or help desk cares to warn you about the flies in Alice Springs, so they were a lovely little surprise for us when we got there. It takes just one of them to notice you and decide lo have a rest on your face. It seems that it will then call over its friend to sit in your ear, its brother lo have a look up your nose and the rest of the family to try and climb in your eyes. Before you know it there’s a whole swarm of them on you and try as you might to shift them, they’re there lo stay. You can waft and swat
(and believe me I did!) all you like, but these flies don’t give up. They will leave only for a second, before return ing to the part of you they were lick ing before you rudely swatted them away. In the end, it was me that folded and grudingly spent the rest of my days in the outback with an entourage of flies accompanying me. I was blissfully unaware of all this
until I stepped from the security of the plane into the oven of Alice Springs. The town, originally named Stuart, after the outback explorer John McDouall Stuart, was first built to act as telephone exchange on the line between Adelaide, Darwin and the UK, much of which was the work of Stuart. The name was changed to Alice Springs after Sir Charles Todd’s wife soon after. It then thrived, as did much of the rest of Australia, on the discovery of gold there, in the 1880s. The main purpose of Alice Springs now, however, is as a stop off for trav ellers who come, as we did, to gawp at the world famous Uluru (Ayers Rock). That’s us, pictured top left and bot tom right. The flies and me began our tour
early in the morning. Unbeknown to me, it’s actually a five-hour drive from Alice Springs to Uluru, yet another lovely surprise from outback Aus tralia, it really is a lot bigger than you think.
All my complaints, I felt, became
really very trivial when we got to Uluru. After five hours of driving towards a never-changing vanishing point, with views of yet more arid, red wasteland, seeing the immense rock jarring out of the ground before us was a sight to behold. It was just how it looks on the postcards and photos, but there really is something magical about being in its presence. the Uluru Cultural Centre deserves a mention too. It was hard while in
Our Ribbic Valley gap year stu dent SARAH HARDY soaks up some Austrailian culture and
fights a losing battle against the flies in this latest instalment on her worldwide travels
“Alice” not to notice the problem of the cultural barrier between the white Aus tralians and the indigenous Aboriginal people. I t’s almost as though they are invisible to each other, occupying the same space without realising. It’s been a problem since European explorers first claimed the land for Britain in 1788 and started a colony here, com pletely ignoring the laws, culture, tra ditions and even basic human rights of the Aborigines. Unfortunately, due to these huge cul
ture differences and failed social poli cies, it doesn’t look like the problem is likely to improve any time soon. Some strategies though, like giving owner ship of Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park back to the Aborigines is a start and we can now learn more about their religious “dreamtime” and 40,000 - year-old culture in Australia. I could see that if you were to take away the alcohol and the shopping centres, then the groups of Aborigines “living rough” in the town, are actually just living how their kind has been for thou sands of years. I t ’s only problematic because the dominant western culture sees it that way. I felt so sorry for this lost way of life. After this short education and a sun
set drive around the base of the rock, we headed to camp for a night spent outside in swags, under a sky overflow ing with star constellations and far-off galaxies, falling asleep to the distant cries of the dingoes. The next few days took us to Kata Tjuta (the Olga’s) and King’s Canyon,
GIVING a reading in Westminster Abbey then high tea at The Ritz... it’s all in a day’s work for Rib- ble Valley friends Mrs
j A once-in-a-lifetime treat for two Kibble Valley pals
Patricia Ball Ummanga .lolly!
and Dr Actually it was a once-
in-a-lifetime experience when the friends, who
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both live at Brockhall Vil lage, travelled to London earlier this month. Dr Jolly - originally from Sri Lanka and known to her friends as Mandy - is chairman of the Fellows of the Florence Nightin gale Foundation, an organisation which advances the study of nursing, promotes excel lence in nursing practice and funds scholarships to study nursing and mid wifery at home and abroad. Once a year the founda
hnth livnaf Rmr.n.oinm
tion holds a service to commemorate the life of his tory’s best-known nurse, Florence Nightin gale, whose great achieve
ments established nursing as a true profession. It fell to Dr Jolly, in her
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role as chairman, to give the reading at this year’s service, held in Westmin ster Abbey. Stepping up to the
ornate lectern, she read from Luke Ghapter 10, verses 25 to 37, the para ble of the good Samaritan. While at the abbey. Dr
Jolly and Mrs Ball - her self a former nurse in the UK, New Zealand and China - were treated to a personal tour, including many of the behind-the- scenes places not normal ly open to public viewing. “ I t was absolutely beautiful,” said Mrs Ball.
‘T v e been in the abbey before as a tourist, but you just don’t realise how much more there is to see. It was fascinating.” The event was also a
. . .
double celebration for both women. Dr Jolly, who serves as a magis trate, recently gained a law degree with the Open University, while Mrs Ball was marking her birthday. To celebrate in style, they enjoyed “high tea” at The Ritz - another once-in-a- lifetime treat unless you win the lottery! Our pictures show Mrs
Ball and Dr Jolly at the lectern in Westminster Abbey, right, and later, relaxing a t The Ritz. (s)
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both equally as impressive as Uluru, where we learned the other side of the story - European discovery of these strange rock fonnations, in the middle of nowhere. In October 1872 the explorer Ernest Giles was the first non-indigenous per
son to catch a glimpse of the rock for mation. He saw it from a considerable distance, but was prevented by Lake Amadeus from approaching closer. Unfortunately he was beaten by anoth er explorer from naming this wonder. On July 19thl873, the surveyor William Gosse visited the rock and called it Ayers Rock in honour of the then-Ghief Secretary of South Aus tralia, Sir Henry Ayers. Since then however, alongside the work with indigenous people the name Uluru is now more commonly used. It was Giles too, that discovered and charted the Olga’s, 36 domed granite and basalt rocks that cover 21 km- of outback. It was fascinating to see these and trek through the stunning King’s canyon. As amazing as it was, I was quite
pleased to get back to some sort of nor mality, away from the immense out back and so bade goodbye to Alice
ARMED with fly nel in an altempt (o protect ourselves from these flying horrors!
Springs and the flies. Another plane flight took us, once again, over the deserted mass of nothingness, to civili sation in the form of the lush, tropical mountains and mudflats of Cairns, in North Queensland. This was to be our gateway out to the Great Barrier Reef and another amazing wonder of the world.
ILetters to the Editor?
Write lo: Tlie Editor, Clillieroc Advertiser and Tinie.s, 11 Kini; Street, Clitlieroe BH72EW Editorial e-mail:
vivien.meatli@
eastlancsiiews.co.uk
Share your I , , ,« «
memories THIS summer Pendle Pri mary School celebrates its 75th anniversary, having been opened in .August 1932 by the Princess Royal, as seen in the accompanying photo graph. We are planning a celebration to mark this event and would love to hear from anyone who has any lasting memories, good or otherwise, of being a pupil at the school. Please e-mail your
memories to Liz Wadding- ton on the following:
wad.liz(S;
tiscali.co.uk or simply write to Liz at Pen dle Primary School, Princess Avenue, Clith eroe. BB7 2AL.
A tip’ deserved
for staff at tip! OVER the past few months I have had cause to use the council tip at the bottom of Henthorn. Well, I want everyone to know
what a wonderful bunch of people work there. For starters, you are welcomed with a friendly smile and then assisted with your rub bish out of your car and into the appropriate skip. Come rain or shine, they are always obliging. Why do they stand out? Because
that is how people used to be w’hen serving the public, not like it is in a lot of cases nowadays. It takes some people all their time to give a smile or even to stop a conversa tion they are having with a work colleague while they serve you - the height of bad manners. The other culprits are the hotels
and restaurants which expect gra tuities for their staff, who don’t even give half a smile and also have the audacity to look down their noses when serving the food. What I really want to say is that
they deserve a tip at “the tip” for the ser\dce they provide. They dish out the dirt for you, as it were, not the food, but they are deserving of a tip. No, I’m not a grumpy 0-AP - I just cannot stand bad manners.
-MRS BARBARA HARRISON, Brimili Road, Waddington
Greetings from
us Down Under I LIVE in Barwon Heads, a small “village” in Victoria, Australia. I am originally from Clitheroe
I'A4 ' 1 / '
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and moved “Down Under” six years ago. In the village of Barwon Heads there are currently five fam ilies who originated in Clitheroe and have made Barwon Heads their new home. W'e all still have family in Clitheroe. Considering the size of Aus
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tralia, it’s pretty amazing that five families have settled here. It is a great place.
http://www.barwon-
heads.net/
Some of the families did know
each other in the UK. I noticed “Sarah’s world trip” on
the website and thought this would give the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times some international flavour.
GARY TYNE, by e-mail, g(yne(
Sreliablily.com.au
9 See this week’s Thursday Fea
ture, page 30, to read Sarah’s latest instalment.
Your kindness
was appreciated AS pamphlet-delivering through carnivorous letterboxes and can vassing on doorsteps were totally new experiences for us, may we through this page thank the people of Littlemoor ward for their patience and kindness in talking to us during the past few weeks about issues that matter to them. Thank you too for voting for us
in increased numbers on polling day.
We are also grateful to Mr
Simon Smith, headteacher of Rib- blesdale High, headteacher of Eng lish Mrs Simpson and most impor tantly the Ribblesdale pupils themselves in providing such a pleasant, quiet and stress free polling station in their English department on May 3rd. Everyone in the school carried on with their normal working day despite dis ruptions to the timetable. Finally may we offer Margaret
and Stephen Sutcliffe every good wish as Littlemoor councillors for the Ribble Valley Borough Coun
cil. SUE HALL (HORTON) and TONY ORMISTON (PENDLETON)
Summerfield, Horlun-in-Cravcn
A short-sighted
council decision I COULD not believe the news when I heard that Ribble Valley Borough Council would not fund Ribble Valley Radio. This is sure ly short sighted of them, not only
are they letting down the hard working enthusiastic members of RVR who give their time, but also not seeing the valuable work that RVR does for the community. This is a great opportunity for
the community to be involved, bringing young people in and the chance for all ages to work togeth er doing someting worthwhile. RVBC should jump at this chance, other local councils are putting themselves behind projects. I trav el a good distance each week to be on the air and I can see what a fan tastic venture this is. Where I live and work the local council is keen to be a part of things and encour ages the growth of community radio. I urge you local councillors to
think again and see what an oppor tunity you are missing to make a difference in YOUR local commu nity. Be part of it!
IAN ROTHWELL. Mandicsler Road, SMinlon
Help us to beat
heart disease I AM writing to ask j'our readers to “Help a Heart” this June. The British Heart Foundation urgent ly needs people in your area to help beat heart disease by distributing cash collection envelopes. Please help the BHF to fund life
saving research. To find out more, e-mail
helpaheart@bhf.org.uk or call 01623 624 558.
CHRISH PERERA, Head of Commimily Fund-raising
Your letters. . .
© The Editor wekome.s leller.s on any siihjeel, but eorrespondenls are reminded that contributions nitty be edited or condensed, niitst not exceed .'ifiO words and sliould reacb ns by noon on Tiiestitiy. Letters can be sent liy post to the
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Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, May 24th, 2007 31
Always first with all your news - the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times - EVERY Thursday
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