So I thought I would stop complaining about school transport and tell you a bit about our Village Quiz.
It all began a couple of years back when someone decided to start a pub quiz each week to raise money for a local sports team. It isn't a wildly sophisticated affair - most of us gave up quaffing champagne and snorting Class A drugs a while ago and have chosen to settle for simpler pursuits. But even so, we have The Quiz.
As simpler pursuits go, it might not quite count. Sometimes the rounds are seriously demanding. We are privileged to be able to hold our quiz in the Village Hall these days, and so we get a regular audience of local teams rather than random, confused tourists from the camp site. This means the questions can be set to reciprocate the local paradigm: for example, we may have rounds about tractors, bird watching and local landmarks.
The Quiz is usually set by Himself and me. Sometimes someone else takes pity on the suffering of the masses, and provides a decent quiz instead. But usually it remains our pleasure to scour a vast range of resources and develop a unique quizzing experience (hurrah for Wikipedia!).
The format has also evolved from a weekly quiz of forty questions to a monthly one of eighty, with two picture/handout rounds. The prize is a minor attraction - a case of beer. The raffle is better - a local butcher does a very decent mixed grill. And the Hall raises a few pounds to help with running costs. The Committee provides crisps and peanuts, while participants bring along their own tipple. Needless to say, things get progressively sillier as the evening wears on.
We are now starting to work on the quiz for October: lots of options here for themes, such as Autumn, Halloween, or October itself. Probably all three will find their way in there somehow. By the way - if you going to attend, that last comment may have been a bluff. Any ideas for rounds are welcome though!
If you're passing, drop in and join us. We don't bite (not even if you ask us to).
Monday, 29 September 2008
Sunday, 28 September 2008
School tranport - situation improved
Well, the transport is now in place but as yet the promised letter as to why it was stopped at all has not arrived. Apparently there were 2 spare seats the whole time, according to the other children using the service. I suppose it's nice to know that people who can't count can get jobs...Anyway, looking forward to getting the explanation. And at least everyone can now get to work/school without worrying.
Friday, 19 September 2008
School transport update
Tonight we received an email to say the children have places on the taxi service from Monday. It's a miracle! Hallelujah! We gave up with the bus because it was too stressful so we have been giving them a lift very early each morning, dropping off at school at 7.45. This means we get to work at 8.30 instead of 8.00, causing me some difficulties as I have a number of 8.30 meetings, but never mind. And the children don't like getting up an hour early but they prefer it to being late every day.
The school has been amazing! So supportive and really trying to help think of ways we can get them there more easily. I'm not sure why the council has suddenly changed their mind (apparently we are going to get a detailed response later) but it may have been with pressure from the school as well.
Anyway, I am very happy tonight. Hopefully Monday will be a good day!
The school has been amazing! So supportive and really trying to help think of ways we can get them there more easily. I'm not sure why the council has suddenly changed their mind (apparently we are going to get a detailed response later) but it may have been with pressure from the school as well.
Anyway, I am very happy tonight. Hopefully Monday will be a good day!
Monday, 15 September 2008
Heart of the village
An article in The Observer this Sunday reported research that showed our villages continue to decline as they lose services - post offices, shops, pubs and churches etc. The worst affected area is East Yorkshire, followed by Herefordshire, East Lindsey and then our own Ryedale.
Cynically I might say that the reason we are only in 4th place nationally is that we already lost most of our services prior to the period covered by the research.
It is true that we no longer have any local service here except the pub, which struggles to operate viably; the church, which is now part of a rather sprawling united benefice; the Methodist chapel; a post office counter service 2 days a week (we are very lucky there); and the Village Hall. There is no shop or garage, and the school closed so long ago that a proposal for a reunion has now widened to include any Kirby Misperton strays who have moved away, as so few people are around who ever attended the school itself!
Declining rural life is not news. Thomas Hardy wrote much of his material as a means to document rural traditions which he saw were dying out as a result of the Industrial Revolution. It is unlikely he would recognise much of what we now see as traditional country life. But changing rural life is not necessarily decaying rural life. We can't keep an old way of life going just because it is how things have always been. That would leave us with stone tools, the divine right of kings or only a handful of landowners able to vote on how to run the country.
And again, in towns and cities communities face erosion as the local corner shop loses out to the giant supermarket. During the day no one is around, in village or town, as everyone goes to work except the elderly and the unemployed - neither group being able to afford to do much more than survive. The libraries and community centres fade away too, or are replaced with new services people don't necessarily want. Libraries have computers not books, and evening classes have to be vocational to attract funding. When I was teaching evening classes, the retired people who came to learn how to use computers weren't interested in getting a certificate - they just wanted to email their grandchildren.
In our village we don't have a library, but we do have a mobile van that visits every 3 weeks on a Friday afternoon. It isn't available to most working people, but it is a hive of activity when it does arrive. The driver is fantastic - he gets to know what books people like to read and helps them find more books to their liking. One kind villager returns and selects books on behalf of neighbours who aren't around that day.
Equally we don't have a fish and chip shop but we do have a mobile one on Tuesday evenings. You can also rent videos or buy sweets, and everyone has a good time queuing up for chips and gossiping while they wait.
The difference here, from living in a town - in my experience anyway - is that people talk to one another more. I don't have to be part of local activities if I don't want to be; some people move here for the quiet, not bustle. But there are things to do and people to meet if you want them. A lot of activities happen in each other's houses, because there aren't many public places to go, so perhaps they are not as obvious. It's different, and it's true we are losing many things, but we are also changing and adapting and using new services to carry on with the lives we choose. No longer do I have to drive miles to a supermarket; it is cheaper to get the supermarket to bring my order to me, as well as quicker and hopefully better for the environment. (The same for any other on-line ordering service of course!). I can work from home as well as I can at the office. And I know who my neighbours are, which in this village is a great blessing.
Cynically I might say that the reason we are only in 4th place nationally is that we already lost most of our services prior to the period covered by the research.
It is true that we no longer have any local service here except the pub, which struggles to operate viably; the church, which is now part of a rather sprawling united benefice; the Methodist chapel; a post office counter service 2 days a week (we are very lucky there); and the Village Hall. There is no shop or garage, and the school closed so long ago that a proposal for a reunion has now widened to include any Kirby Misperton strays who have moved away, as so few people are around who ever attended the school itself!
Declining rural life is not news. Thomas Hardy wrote much of his material as a means to document rural traditions which he saw were dying out as a result of the Industrial Revolution. It is unlikely he would recognise much of what we now see as traditional country life. But changing rural life is not necessarily decaying rural life. We can't keep an old way of life going just because it is how things have always been. That would leave us with stone tools, the divine right of kings or only a handful of landowners able to vote on how to run the country.
And again, in towns and cities communities face erosion as the local corner shop loses out to the giant supermarket. During the day no one is around, in village or town, as everyone goes to work except the elderly and the unemployed - neither group being able to afford to do much more than survive. The libraries and community centres fade away too, or are replaced with new services people don't necessarily want. Libraries have computers not books, and evening classes have to be vocational to attract funding. When I was teaching evening classes, the retired people who came to learn how to use computers weren't interested in getting a certificate - they just wanted to email their grandchildren.
In our village we don't have a library, but we do have a mobile van that visits every 3 weeks on a Friday afternoon. It isn't available to most working people, but it is a hive of activity when it does arrive. The driver is fantastic - he gets to know what books people like to read and helps them find more books to their liking. One kind villager returns and selects books on behalf of neighbours who aren't around that day.
Equally we don't have a fish and chip shop but we do have a mobile one on Tuesday evenings. You can also rent videos or buy sweets, and everyone has a good time queuing up for chips and gossiping while they wait.
The difference here, from living in a town - in my experience anyway - is that people talk to one another more. I don't have to be part of local activities if I don't want to be; some people move here for the quiet, not bustle. But there are things to do and people to meet if you want them. A lot of activities happen in each other's houses, because there aren't many public places to go, so perhaps they are not as obvious. It's different, and it's true we are losing many things, but we are also changing and adapting and using new services to carry on with the lives we choose. No longer do I have to drive miles to a supermarket; it is cheaper to get the supermarket to bring my order to me, as well as quicker and hopefully better for the environment. (The same for any other on-line ordering service of course!). I can work from home as well as I can at the office. And I know who my neighbours are, which in this village is a great blessing.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Back to school
The imminent start of the new term heralded the usual last minute rush, including finding the application forms for the bus passes to get the younger two to school. Living in the village is complicated school-wise. Before we moved here we lived in Malton itself, and so the children all went to Malton School. Parental Choice is a bit of a novel concept in this part of the world, so when we moved here, the council said we should send them to the school in Pickering, as we were now in that catchment area. However, bizarrely, they did run a school bus from KM to Malton School. So we carried on regardless, having annual arguments over why we wanted bus passes but no real problems.
Last term the council changed contractor and replaced the ricketty bus with a taxi service because there weren't enough children using the bus to be worth running it. Fantastic! It was a much better service and we were very happy.
Last week I phoned the council to confirm the payment was on its way. I was told the bus passes were also on their way and not to worry as the first instalment was not due until October. Both children were confirmed on the list.
First day of term - but youngest son didn't have to go in, as he is in Year 11 (final GCSE). Daughter was staying with a friend in town and going in from there.
We got home from work that evening to find a letter from the council returning our applications and saying there were no spaces available. There must have been a real rush of new children needing those seats! From not enough to too many in one go!
I used bad words, I confess. More than once. It helped a bit.
The current situation is that the children are having to catch the Coastliner (mentioned in a prior post) at 8.45 and arrive at school at 9.15, missing registration but more or less in time for class. The earlier bus is at 6.55 and they would arrive before the school opens which is not acceptable, especially with winter approaching.
I'm not sure what happened to the council's policy of at least 7 days notice of lack of availability, or the other policy of "not getting caught out lying to customers". Needless to say, we are less than impressed. When I read about the problems of choosing a school in the south of England I tend to laugh in a hollow manner.
But my real concern here is the difficulties it is causing the children, one in GCSE final year, the other in final A-level year. It's just not right.
Last term the council changed contractor and replaced the ricketty bus with a taxi service because there weren't enough children using the bus to be worth running it. Fantastic! It was a much better service and we were very happy.
Last week I phoned the council to confirm the payment was on its way. I was told the bus passes were also on their way and not to worry as the first instalment was not due until October. Both children were confirmed on the list.
First day of term - but youngest son didn't have to go in, as he is in Year 11 (final GCSE). Daughter was staying with a friend in town and going in from there.
We got home from work that evening to find a letter from the council returning our applications and saying there were no spaces available. There must have been a real rush of new children needing those seats! From not enough to too many in one go!
I used bad words, I confess. More than once. It helped a bit.
The current situation is that the children are having to catch the Coastliner (mentioned in a prior post) at 8.45 and arrive at school at 9.15, missing registration but more or less in time for class. The earlier bus is at 6.55 and they would arrive before the school opens which is not acceptable, especially with winter approaching.
I'm not sure what happened to the council's policy of at least 7 days notice of lack of availability, or the other policy of "not getting caught out lying to customers". Needless to say, we are less than impressed. When I read about the problems of choosing a school in the south of England I tend to laugh in a hollow manner.
But my real concern here is the difficulties it is causing the children, one in GCSE final year, the other in final A-level year. It's just not right.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
