A Busy Week

Last week I have had to be really organised to get everything done as I have been out every night doing something different. Monday was the monthly W.I craft group meeting. The crafts can be a bit hit or miss for me. This month's was fun and reminded me just how stress relieving needle felting can be. 

Tuesday was the actual W.I, meeting and this month's was a social evening playing board games. I am not the greatest fan of board games so I chose ones that were quick to complete. It was funny to see how competitive some of the ladies got and the accusations of cheating (mostly in good humour). 

Wednesday was Zumba. I am trying to get a bit fitter and I have taken out the membership for the local authority leisure centres. I find that if I book a class then I am going to go. Unfortunately a lot of the ones I am interested in are during the week day when I am in work. Zumba is really the only one that appeals to me. I do have access to other centres in the area through the membership but classes get booked up really quickly.

On Thursday I went with Craig to one of his Masonic meetings. Women are not permitted to attend normally but this was a special one as it was a talk from a lady from Hearing Dogs for The Deaf. She brought the gorgeous Abney, a cocker spaniel, who was so well behaved.

Friday night was Book club and this month's book was 'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder' by Holly Jackson.

Each month a genre is chosen and the theme was 'Young Adult'. Bearing in mind I am the youngest and I am in my mid 50's I thought this would be a genre that would take the ladies out of their comfort zone. The lady who chose this also enjoys murder and thrillers so I was not surprised that there was a murder involved. I did enjoy this and like a lot of the 'cosy' murder mysteries I read I had to suspend belief in police procedures and how people tend to open up more to people who are not the police. I did get upset at one particular part of the story involving the pet dog but I will not say more in case someone wants to read it. The next choice as 'humour' so hopefully I will find out the next book to read from the lady whose turn it is soon. We don't meet in December so there is no rush to get it finished.

On Saturday we had friends visiting from Oxford which is always lovely. We don't get to meet as often as we would like. I am hoping that they will eventually move north as they keep thinking about doing, though it would be a little further north and east than where we are. They stayed overnight and on Sunday we went to Elizabeth Gaskell's house as my friend has read a few of her books and we did not have the time to go to Lyme Park (She is also a huge Pride and Prejudice fan and has watched the BBC adaptation many times but has never managed to visit Lyme Park a.k.a Pemberley).  The House is not a mansion like Lyme but it is a good size, You are able to touch a lot of things as they are not the original items that would have been in the house at the time. A lot of work has been put in to reproduce how the house would have looked when Elizabeth lived there. 

I learnt that Elizabeth initially wrote for Charles Dickens and that Charlotte Bronte stayed for a week and they corresponded regularly. There was a letter from Charlotte to Elizabeth on display and all I can say is the language used was a lot more eloquent than is used today. It made me feel sad that we seem to have 'dumbed down' our language . I wish I had remembered to take photos but I was so intrigued by everything on display that I forgot. The photos here are from the official website.

                                                    The Study

The Dining table set for Christmas

Of course copies of her books were available to buy. Cranford was the only one I have read so far so I ended up buying a copy of her last novel 'Wives and Daughters' which I will probably read at some point next year.

I am hoping for a quieter week next week but it is also the start of the Christmas party season and I really need to get a move on with my own Christmas preparations.

Monthly Round Up-May

Each month I like to keep a record of what I have been reading, watching, making and places I have been so that I can look back and see what I achieved and even how quickly time is going by. I normally.record it on my planner as a list but on here I can also put photos on.

Places I have been

At the beginning of the month I went with Craig and Emma to see Mary Poppins. There were a few changes to the original story but it was still very enjoyable and the cast were amazing.

As it was the school holidays and Craig took a week off as well we went for a few days out to The British Ironworks Centre

Erdigg Hall near Wrexham

and into Manchester to see amongst other things the John Rylands Library 

What I have watched

What I have Read

I listened to this book and it was the abridged version so a lot shorter than the book itself. I might get round to actually reading the full story as I did enjoy what I read.

This was the last book in the series. They were all large books and took a long time to get through. Interesting mix of fact and fiction.

I needed something light and easy to read and I just love the whole Agatha Raisin series. Busy Body was a re-read as I read it out of sequence and As the Pig Turns was the most gruesome of the stories so far.

What I have made.

I seem to have lost my crafting mojo a bit this year but I have also been working on some big projects that are taking a long time to complete. I have been wanting to make something to cover the shelves. I had to remove the doors to the cupboard as when we bought a new gas oven, the pipe was at a different angle which meant it was not flush with the cupboards and it was very difficult to get into this corner unit as I could not open the doors fully enough to reach inside easily. The Alice in Wonderland fabris was left over from a dress I have made.

British Ironworks Centre

 We had an early start for a Saturday morning to drive to just outside Oswestry in Shropshire to visit the British Ironworks Centre. I had found out about it from Tiktok and knew it would be somewhere the whole family would be interested in visiting.

Craig booked the tickets online which was the reason for the early start, as if you got there before 9.30am it was only £4 per person instead of £14 which is obviously a substantial saving, especially when there is 5 of you.

The centre is split into two sections, the sculpture trail and the actual centre. Dogs are allowed on site but you cannot take a picnic with you. There is a cafe serving food and drinks on the site as well as an ice cream parlour. There are a number of signs saying that the centre relies on sales in the cafe hence the reason for no picnics. We were not aware of this and had brought food with us. We ate that later after we had left the centre. There is also a charge for parking.

As we drove in we were greeted by some very impressive sculptures so you can get a taste of what to expect.

There are various sections of the sculpture trail and we decided to head to the front and do the Extinction trail first. All the animal sculptures had boards underneath describing the animal similar to ones you would find in a zoo. 

Near the entrance to the centre itself there were some familiar characters who were easily identifiable

There were also lots of original designs that artists had created and the messages were displayed underneath the sculpture. Some were purely for joy but some also had a more serious message to put out.

The Manchester Bee created from guns and knives to promote anti-violence in the city.

The Knife Angel is obviously made from knives and was created to highlight the effects of knife crimes on communities.

This sculpture was created in 2015 due to the large number of British males leaving the country to fight in foreign wars without truly being aware of the implications of their actions on themselves, their futures, their families and their communities.

After we had completed the trail we went into the Ironworks centre itself. Dogs are not allowed inside the building but there was plenty of outside space and seating for us all. It was at this point we all needed refreshments so drinks and crisps were purchased from the cafe and we relaxed for a short time before heading off to the section Matthew and Emma's partner Sam, were the most interested in- The Heroes and Villains section.

All in all, we spent about 3 hours doing the trail and in the centre itself and we did not rush round despite the dogs dragging us around and not wanting to stop and admire the sculptures. 

I would say it is good value even at £14 but even better if you can get there early for £4. I cannot say what the food is like as we didn't eat anything there but there is certainly plenty to see and Oswestry is only a couple of miles away if you want to make a day of it.

We all enjoyed the day, I just wish the weather had been better for the photos.