Wednesday, October 24, 2018

the leaves are just the colour of your eyes.......

So me & Chris went walking on The Tops again today. 
Up Cragg Vale.
I wanted to show him the route I took on my 30th Birthday , doing The Pennine Way with Phil the Ex-Fireman ..i thought it might help........
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragg_Vale
 I have always thought it a strange,particular, place.
 Last week's post   showed  it's magical spaces ( deer;mushrooms:holy wells ).
 But  (this week) it feels to have  sinister elements too......
The Cragg Coiners tried to hide away there , from the government...but they got themselves found and hanged eventually.....
http://www.mytholmroyd.net/features/coiners.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragg_Vale_Coiners 
In more recent times, Jimmy Savile was a churchwarder at the local church. He lived in a campervan in the church's grounds........
He Put on lurid costums & gave sermons from the pulpit.
How'a about that then? 
https://bitsofbooksblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/savile-and-st-johns-in-the-wilderness/ 
For 3 weeks over my 30th Birthday, me & Phil 'did' The Pennine Way , including our passing through Calderdale & Cragg Vale.
 I remember turning '30' being quite traumatic for me.
. It's funny. '18':'21''40' even '60'! never really bothered me....
But '30'.wow! a shock....
 I remember the night I turned 30. We were camping in some Godforsaken village in North Yorkshire. I got terribly pissed.
I started chatting-up up some woman in a local pub ( even though her boyfriend was sat right next to her at the time).
 He got a wee bit angry & was going to thump me.
 Luckily Phil ( home on leave from Northern Ireland) whisked me out of the pub sharpish. It was closing time, anyway....
" A Lucky Escape" I remember Phil saying as we went back to the empty field we had put up our tent.
. The next morning. Hungover, we crawled out of our tent , to find the couple had (in the night) pitched their tent right next to us.
we made our excuses, & left rather fast....

Saturday, October 20, 2018

jaw bones and tooth rattles........

Look.To begin with, I know my opinion about anything  is irrelivant  .
(But I'm full of cold, and have fuck all to do but rant here today......)
You might be surprised to know that I think this march today in London is just plain wrong
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45925542.
I do not agree with it.Infact,I think  it dangerous.
The idea of going on a March in support of neoliberalism ( which  is what got us into this mess in the first place) is a wee bit daft IMHO.
I voted "Remain" , and would do so again.However, when the Brexiteers say that a "Peoples Vote" (in effect a 2nd referendum) would undermine our democracy, i think they are right.
We must respect the result of the Referendum ( even though I think it's leaders ;Farage:Boris;Rees-Mogg et al are all twats). Besides which, if there was a second referendum, the 'Leavers' would most likely win it again.
I find it depressing that the whole Brexit debate has been framed in terms of nostalgia.
The Brexiteers wishing for a return to the 50's. The Remainers wishing it was 1969 again. It's neither.This never can be.
Personally,  I would be much happier with a "Jeremy Corbyn Red Brexit" than a "Chuka Ummuna  Remain".
A photo i took during The Peoples Assembly March in Manchester in 2015. 80,000 marched. see all my photos here https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Lr9ZhK/

Saturday, October 13, 2018

peterloo

Cath & Red Saunders  today.   ( Red's Bio )
 It was taken today at Moston Community Arts & Music Centre A grand place (eg live music & cinema).
It used to be the bath house for Moston Coal  Pit .
I remember 'Old Jim' ar Rochdale hammam talk of it......
below are my photos.
https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Red-SaundersPETERLOO-MASSACRE-RECREATION-TABLEAUX/ 
Also you can see itv's News report 
  We remembered those murdered at Peterloo_Massacre
As the itv video explains, several of  us  cast today were direct decendants of some of those killed at Peterloo , including the pregnant woman pictured in some of the pictures with me.
Back-in-the-day ,Red Saunders was the brains behind setting up Rock Against Racism & The Anti-Nazi League
 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.race
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Saunders_(photographer)  Chris is still very poorly.(it's 2 months now.....)Dont be fooled by the smiling.It's only acting(and denial.....?)
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/17/maxine-peake-hope-corbyn-people-power-peterloo-radical-legacy

All The Young Dudes

  Me ,in white,  throwing some glorious "Sid Viscous Shapes" :)