Crafty Things

I've had a very crafty weekend.

On Saturday I went along to the Stitch and Craft show at Manchester Central .... purely for research of course!
In school I run an after school cardmaking club - it's called 'Snappy Cards' - we've been doing it now for four years - and we sell cards on the usual occasions... Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day and so on. We've become very successful and we can now afford to buy some lovely supplies to make our cards.We have even been featured in our local paper.
Last year, while we were on our annual trip to the Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts Fair at Aintree Racecourse we were approached to run a demonstration stall at this year's show in April.

The organiser wants to show the next generation of crafters. The children were thrilled, but now we have to set it all up.
So yesterday, I was looking for some inspiration. I saw some nice lettering for our sign.

I liked the idea of some pretty bunting across the front of the stall, and maybe some large paper flowers somewhere.

I wonder if fairy lights will work? They looked lovely on this stall.

My lovely daughter was home for the weekend, and offered to come with me, but as a non-crafter, she soon became bored, and was shocked at how ruthless crafters are at pushing their way through to the stalls. She was very interested in some gorgeous beads, but just couldn't get to the counter, so we took some photographs instead.

I can't possibly get involved with jewellery making, tempted as I am, because I don't have the time or the space to start up another craft.
Defeated by the crowds, I quickly bought some stash for the club, saw a few ideas for our stall and left.
We then went to the nearby Lowry Centre in Salford, where surprise, surprise - there were more craft shops! Bliss - because these were empty and I could browse to my heart's content ... my poor daughter!!!

We were quite disappointed at the Lowry gallery, as, although it was a fantastic building, there was actually very little to see inside. Never mind ... we had a lovely lunch in Cafe Rouge and just chatted. It's so nice to have my lovely girl home again .. even if it was just for the weekend.

I've now got to play with my lovely new papers .... and try out ideas for our stall at the Aintree Show.

It's what I love to do best!

I don't write about my work as a teacher usually, but I just felt that this was worth sharing.
Yesterday we had a non uniform day and asked for donations for the Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

We raised a staggering £648.65!

Our primary school is deep in the heart of inner city Liverpool, and a lot of our children don't have much themselves. Yet, time and time again, whenever we do a fundraising day, we are overwhelmed by the generosity from families whose own lives are not easy.
Liverpool gets such a bad press, and we are often saddened by unfair press reports .... I just want to set the record straight ... the children at our school are amazing!

Recent Treats

               Had a little shopping spree in Chester last weekend and brought home some treats:

Posy Gingham crockery from M&S .... quite expensive but I still had vouchers from Christmas.

This little bear was 49 pence in the Lakeland sale!

Fabric from Laura Ashley - again a sale bargain -  to make into a tablecloth.

Fabric scraps from the lovely Liberty Bell shop.

A necklace and bracelet set from M&S - because I just love these colours.

A Cath Kidston shopper in my beloved polka dots (not from Chester, but bought online)

... and a lovely jug of flowers for my kitchen windowsill to cheer us all up.

A very satisfying trip!

A Postcard from Heswall

About a mile away from our house is the thriving little town of Heswall, which is halfway between Liverpool and Chester, and has a population of about 8,000 .... it's a great place to live with good shopping, and lots of lovely restaurants.You really don't need to travel further afield for an evening out. The local primary schools are fantastic too.

My five favourite shops:

Goulds .... a family run stationers which has recently expanded into the empty store left by the demise of Woolworth's. This shop sells lovely pens, paper, cards, diaries etc. We love to pop in and browse, and never leave empty handed.

Indigo ..... has lovely furniture and gifts, and pretty things for the kitchen. Especially nice at Christmas time.

This place is my downfall .... M&S Simply Food is just too close for comfort .... and we spend far too much in there. It is a must on a Friday night after a week at work. Friday night is treat night. Half of Heswall agree with us as you can never get a parking space!!!

Linghams .... a lovely independent book shop.... with a fantastic children's section and a fab coffee shop.

Mackays is a great little shop which has everyday clothes at reasonable prices.

Worst shopping experience?

Tesco, unfortunately, now dominates the town .... since it arrived lots of our lovely food shops have closed.... we've lost butchers and greengrocers and the best deli ever.

I despise this shop, and everything it stands for, but have nowhere else to go. I should do more shopping on-line, but I'm very fussy about choosing my own fruit and veg etc. Oh for a Waitrose!

Best restaurant?

107 Dining Room for a special occasion

and What's Cooking  if you just can't be bothered cooking, especially good on Mondays when everything is 80's prices. Every child in Heswall has had a birthday party here!

We've lived in Heswall for about 25 years and wouldn't dream of moving away ....

(unless a massive win on the lottery enabled us to buy a house on the shores of Lake Windermere and an apartment in Paris!!!! Well, a little dreaming never hurt anyone!)

Holocaust Memorial Day

Listening to the news on the radio this morning on my way to work, I realised that it was Holocaust Memorial Day. It brought back memories of a trip to Krakow with friends a few years ago. We went in December to visit the Christmas market, which turned out to be quite disappointing in the end. However, we decided that as we would probably never return to Poland, we should visit Auschwitz. I really felt unsure about this as it felt wrong to be a 'tourist' in a place with such a terrible history.

It turned out to be one of the most moving and memorable experiences of my life ..... and the visit was conducted with such dignity it didn't feel 'wrong' to be there at all. Words cannot express the emotions that are felt during the visit, and we were left speechless as we walked around the camp unable to comprehend the horrors that had taken place.

                                     

We also visited Birkenau where the trains arrived with their awful cargo, and we walked along the tracks to the woods where the chambers had been. There was such an eerie stillness about the place, as though the trees and birds were still holding their breath in sorrow. There wasn't a sound as hundreds of people walked around the site in silent pilgrimage.

I believe that if all world leaders and heads of state were made to visit this place, the world would be a safer place. They could not fail to be moved by this memorial to man's inhumanity on an industrial scale and they would ensure such deeds could never happen again.

If only ......

Seen in the garden....

After all the snow and ice, on one of the darkest days of January, battered by heavy rain .... a brave little bud appears on an 'Iceberg' climbing rose on our trellis. Well done! You cheered me up today!

Nostalgia...

I was watching James May's programme about his sisters' toys at the weekend, and it got me thinking about some of my childhood favourites....

This horror was called Jacko the Monkey .... My dad brought me mine from America ( he was in the Merchant Navy) and it was probably the forerunner of this one. He was a lumberjack monkey and wore a check shirt, dungarees and big boots. I called him Tom Dooley and I think he was almost as big as me. His fate? My cousin hung him on the washing line and his ear came off!

I had a much nicer Teddy Bear, who had a hard plastic nose and a growl in his tummy but he stayed safe in my bed.

                               

Any little girl would love a pram like this .... but I didn't have twin dolls ..... so it just never felt right.

A splendid walking doll .... mine was blonde and called Diana. She actually walked towards you if you held her hands. She was also responsible for knocking out one of my teeth.   

                       I also had a few dolls that looked like this .... but they weren't twins!!!!

Forget Barbie or Tressy ... Sindy was the best. I loved this doll. We couldn't afford the range of shop bought clothes for her, but she had a huge wardrobe of handknitted outfits .... made by my mum, my grandma and eventually me. Sadly her head  fell off, and she spent the rest of her days wearing a surgical collar! I also had a beautiful teenage doll called Kitty, who came from Italy. She had the most amazing glossy dark hair in a pony tail!

Just the thing for arty creative types ... SPIROMATIC ... you squeezed paint onto the spinning paper and got amazingly messy. This was great until the paint ran out!

Mouse Trap was the must have toy when I was 10. I was thrilled when I got this .... but everyone of my friends got it too ... and we got fed up playing it. It also took ages to set up and never actually trapped the mouse. It was very exciting though.

Looking back, we didn't have as many toys as today's children, so the few we did have, we treasured. Genarally though, I think I was always happiest when I was making something. I loved the dress up paper doll sets and would make my own clothes for them. I would spend hours just drawing and colouring. I loved knitting, and making chains with the Knitting Dolly, and making woolly pompoms. I tried my hand at crochet, but wasn't very good at sewing. I always wanted to make the things off  Blue Peter, but we never had the right glue or the right paint or the sticky back plastic. I still had a go at them though using sellotape and cereal packets. I suppose I drove my poor mum mad.

Best of all, I loved to read ... I never had my nose out of a book. Miss Blyton and Ladybird books kept me happily entertained for years!!!

What memories do you have of your childhood favourites?

A postcard from the Lower Village

As my blog is called Postcards from the Paradise Peninsula I thought it was about time I actually sent a postcard from the lovely Wirral, and where better to start than Heswall Lower Village where we live.
Heswall itself is about a mile up the road on top of a sandstone ridge, but the Lower Village is the place to be.

Views over the village, the Dee Estuary and across to Wales. The area is famed for wonderful sunsets.

The River Dee, which is at the bottom of our road, is actually silted up now and is a marshland. It's a great place to walk the dog. She loves to jump through the reeds and get soaking wet.

St Peter's Church, where bellringers practise every Tuesday night ... and where my daughter sang in the choir when she was much younger.

Our lovely local primary school. It has the most amazing row of cherry trees at the front.

                                      

              Our late lamented Post Office, which sadly no-one could save in the recent round of closures.

We have a lovely row of sandstone shops ... including a butcher's, a greengrocer's, the newsagent's (where my son was a paperboy for a while), a chemist, two hairdresser's, an antique shop and a lovely little coffee shop. Over the road is the Village Garage which is the best garage anyone could wish for. Their service is second to none! Oh, and of course the local pub .. The Black Horse. (Which I've actually never been into in my life!)

The whole village is protected by a conservation order.

Best of all, for us, the Wirral Way passes the top of our road. This is a 12 mile long footpath that was created on the old West Kirby to Hooton railway line. (This needs a whole post or two to itself as it plays a

huge part in our every day lives)

                                 

The view from the hill as you drive down into the Lower Village still makes me glad to be coming home after all these years.

We outgrew our little house many years ago, and have extended twice rather than move away from here .... we just couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

The view from my bedroom window.

In the words of the blessed Kirsty Allsop it's all about "Location, Location, Location".