Monday 4 December 2017 – The Tame Valley Stompers at Eagley Jazz Club

Another excellent night out at Eagley Jazz Club in Bolton.

Norman Pennington and his men were on cracking form, and given the number of special requests, together with Terry Brunt and the rest of the band’s usual enthusiasm, the performance overran somewhat, so we were late home, though thankfully this was a rare night when the M60 motorway wasn’t closed, albeit tricky to avoid being directed off towards Liverpool as there’s no proper signage at present despite the need for some nifty lane changes to remain on the correct road!

Here’s what Norman currently says about the band, pictured above, left to right – Terry Brunt, Pete Smith, Roger Wimpenny, Norman Pennington, Paul Broomhead, John Gordon:

The Band was formed in 1999 by myself, Norman Pennington, after I was asked to put a rock band together in the local pub, when I said I would prefer to put on a jazz quartet. Hence the Band was born: the line-up was Noel Broadgate, piano; Pete Smith, bass; Paul Broomhead, reeds; and myself on drums. The pub was called the Swan Hotel, so the Band was called 'The Swanee Swingers'.

Quite soon, the success of the Band meant we needed a new venue so we moved a few doors down to the 'White Horse' pub, consequently changing our name to 'The White Horse Jazz Men'. After a few months, Noel left the Band and I was lucky enough to get the very well known pianist Alan Howarth to join us: he had at one stage backed Shirley Bassey and had performed extensively both in the UK and abroad. Such was the quality of our Band by this time.

In January 2000 we were approached by the Beaconsfield Conservative Club in Ashton-under-Lyne to move there, which we did, and the Beacky Jazz Club was formed: we are still there on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month, with a special guest at every session. Once again our name had to be altered and as the River Tame runs at the back of my house in Ashton-under-Lyne, the 'Tame Valley Stompers' was born.

Shortly after moving to the Beaconsfield, we took on another residency at the 'Red House' pub on Monday nights, where we were fortunate to be joined by the ever popular trombone man with scarf and beret – Terry Brunt. During our time at the Red House, Alan Howarth became ill and luck was with us again when Noel Broadgate was able to rejoin us.

After 3 years at the Red House we moved to our new, and present home at the `Turnpike Hotel' and at this point we had the good fortune to take on the wonderful trumpet player Roger Wimpenny, whose own Show Band in years gone by were the performers on the Benny Hill Show signature tune – though, unlike Benny – they didn't get to chase the mini skirts (that we know of)!

After starting our residency at the Turnpike some 18 months ago, our Band acquired yet another, additional, name as "Terry's Dead Good Boys – The Tame Valley Stompers", which the exuberant Mr Brunt bestowed on us when our playing was delighting him even more than usual! This has stuck with us and we are sometimes featured under this name when Terry is with us.

Note: dates given are approximate due to the passage of the sands of time

We do at present have a pleasingly pretty full diary and regularly play at a number of Jazz Clubs and events in the North West. Should you require our Band for any kind of function in- or out-of doors, please ring

Norman Pennington on 0161 330 1226 FOR LOVERS OF BETTER MUSIC.

1 to 4 December 2017 – Center Parcs revisited

Last Friday saw the start of our regular weekend trip to Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest.

Peg and Jim returned after a two year absence; Robert and Lyn did the organising as usual; Stuart brought shortbread; Louise arrived on Saturday due to illness; and Roger ‘lost his deposit’ due to being in Patagonia.

The site is littered with reindeer at this time of year. The runt in the next picture was soon removed to a hospital ward.

We tried a new game – Football Pool. Quite engaging for the whole family, with Robert opting for his own strange footwear code.

Apart from that there was the usual Hydrobikes, Swimming, Short Tennis, Table Tennis, Line Dancing, Squash, Badminton, Floodlit Tennis, American Pool, etc. Plus of course the ‘normal’ pool in our games room, and a nightly sauna that’s attached to house number 889. And ‘Balderdash’. Not everyone participated in everything (in fact nobody participated in everything) due to a variety of mental and physical ailments …. knees, back, shoulder, brain, gastroenteritis ….etc.

Much good food was consumed, closely monitored by this fat chap.

The firework display on Sunday was very good, albeit I failed to capture the true quality of the event ‘on film’. One of my early Canon digital cameras had a good ‘Fireworks’ setting, but later ones, including my current Lumix, seem to lack that feature. We watched from the beach that features in the top picture.

By Sunday night we were, after the main course of Normandy pork, down to just five active participants. Jim and Peg went home due to a commitment on Monday, and Louise fell ill again. That left a fruit and almond Clafoutis for eight to be shared between five of us. It’s maybe just as well they went home, as we just about managed to scoff the lot!

Earlier in the day we’d spent half an hour in a hide near our house. This was the only time Sue’s camera appeared during the weekend, some of the results of which are shown below. The birds on the feeder are blue tits, a great tit and a coal tit. Scavenging on the ground below were several squirrels, three rabbits, blackbirds, wood pigeons and a moorhen. Scavenging from above was a kestrel, or was it a sparrowhawk? Anyway, it was so quick that it was hard to see whether it succeeded or not. Nearby we saw a tree creeper, bullfinch, jay, carrion crows, woodpecker, swans, Egyptian geese and more.

Before we knew it the weekend slewed to a halt after a swim in the pool on Monday morning. We drove home via Chorley, with Sue driving Louise’s car so that the invalid could be an invalid at home rather than be stuck in Nottinghamshire.

Thanks go to Robert and Lyn for organising.

Our various trips to Center Parcs are recorded here, if anyone has time for some amusement.

Thursday 30 November 2017 – Dunham Massey again

For what was billed as a repeat of the walk I did on 20 October, I was pleased to be joined by Rick, Paul and Jeanette on this occasion.

We enjoyed bright sunshine on the frosty morning – a perfect day for a stroll such as this, though if we’d had more time a visit to the Lakes or North Wales would have been brilliant today.

These first two pictures were taken near Dunham Town.

Dunham Massey house looked serene under the cobalt sky. There were very few folk around today.

The driveway has changed since I passed through on 20 October. The leaves have now dropped.

After coffee and cake at Lavender Barn Tea Room (note that the tea room will be closed from 11 to 27 December), we headed on along Rick’s preferred route back to Altrincham. It’s better than mine and took us past Devisdale Sunken Garden, a gem of a place that has recently been recovered from dereliction by volunteers.

The garden is right next to Denzell House, a building housing offices. There’s more information on the gardens, etc, here.

Apparently agricultural fairs were once held in Devisdale, which is now an area of grassland on the edge of Altrincham.

Jeanette directed us to a folly situated in dense woodland that has recently been cleared sufficiently for people to be able to approach the tall brick column.

Nearby lurks a crocodile that once looked immaculate but which is now slowly dissolving.

Paul and Jeanette were keen to inspect the wear and tear on the poor beast caused by the elements.

Brief pauses for shopping in Altrincham didn’t prevent us all from getting home by lunch time after this most enjoyable 14.5 km perambulation with around 100 metres ascent, taking about 3 hours including stops.

Another Red Tractor

One of our esteemed European Tractor Correspondents has come up with this latest image, which he has imaginatively titled ‘Another Red Tractor’.

Thanks, Nick – perhaps AlanR can manoeuvre himself off his sick bed to provide a more informative subtitle!

…. With the speed of a sickly bullet:

“It’s a McCormack, International Farmall D 430 2 wheel drive from the 1950s I like the registration plate MB and AR, what a coincidence.”

Thanks Alan

Saturday 25 November 2017 - Wythenshawe parkrun number 316 – Too Much Cake!

The gazebo came in very handy as a cake and person shelter, though by the time they got home many people would have been soaked by the heavy showers of ice cold rain.

There was no shortage of cake, with Andrew Ratcliffe bringing a child size object that masqueraded as a raspberry sponge #100club cake. Well done Andrew on joining the 100 club, as did Craig Bradbury, who celebrated by being first home. Cake was also provided by others, including Michael Wymer, in celebration of his 200th parkrun outing.

The full results are here. Only about 5 PBs, and that reflects the very wet conditions, with muddy passage starting to live up to its name again despite this year’s remedial treatment.

Sue and Jeanette walked round but despite encouragement from the last corner they just failed to break their 40 minute target. Lots of us adjourned to the Courtyard Café for the post run social that has become as important as the run, and possibly more enjoyable on showery days like this.

I only took the one photo, so to brighten up this posting here’s ‘The Last of the Leaves’, on the Bridgewater Canal near Sale, a couple of days earlier.

Friday 24 November 2017 – Around Birchwood

For this week’s modest morning walk, Rick and I headed over Warburton toll bridge to Moss Gate, in Birchwood*, for a walk mainly amongst trees, and bordered by part of Warrington’s road and rail network.

We were blessed with sunshine and started past the sunlit sculptures of a young girl and a sheep, both situated in large puddles.

The tree lined tarmac footpath is shared with cycles. It looked a nice bike route, though it was deserted on this morning.

The path leaves the A574 by a Walled Garden. You wouldn’t know it, but for the walls, although my walking guide to North Cheshire, published in 1994, considers it ‘worth a visit’ and ‘planted with exotic plants’.

A short section through familiar retail names ensconced within the Birchwood Centre led past Birchwood Station to Birchwood Brook Park. Elevenses were taken beside the brook. I tried to capture the sunlight on the last of the unblown leaves.

A left turn took us to the entrance to Risley Moss, which is unfortunately closed on Fridays. So we continued through Gorse Covert housing estate towards Pestfurlong Moss. A narrow trod led through the bracken.

Soon a wider path was joined. This led up Pestfurlong Hill, through a willow arch, to the 25 metre summit from where a self timed photo captured a couple of old codgers on this hill that grew out of the rubble from the Royal Ordnance Factory that used to occupy this site.

There were good, if slightly hazy, views to the Peak District and the Pennines. Winter Hill, pictured below, is about 15 miles away. The Welsh hills can also be seen from here.

Here’s our route: 9 km with minimal ascent, taking us around 2 hours.

An excellent little outing. Thanks Rick for your company.

* Here’s some history about Birchwood, mainly from Wikipedia:

"The surface, at a distance, looks black and dirty, and will bear neither horse nor man….. What nature meant by such a useless production 'tis hard to imagine, but the land is entirely to waste" are the words of Daniel Defoe as he rode through Risley in 1724. (Later part of the Risley area was renamed Birchwood as the Warrington 'New town' development), though the ‘Birchwood’ name probably derives from the birch trees which once covered much of the Pestfurlong area.

In the past travellers avoided the Risley (Birchwood) area because it of its dangerous mossland. However, gradually over time much of the fertile mossland was reclaimed and turned into farm land. With the advent of the Second World War, 927 acres of agricultural land was changed into a massive Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Risley. The location was chosen because the low lying mist and cloud helped camouflage the factory from the air; according to a local builder: "It was very lonely and misty at night, and that's why the factory was constructed there ... it was usually covered with a mist or cloud. It was hard to see it in the day time, you know". Although the location of the factory was known by the German Luftwaffe, the factory was bombed only once during the war.

A number of bunkers were also built (some can still be seen today) to house the munitions, to protect them from potential bombing, and also to segregate the site and reduce the consequences of any accidental explosions during manufacture or storage. Although these bunkers are on the surface, they are covered with soil and turf and so give the impression of being underground.

During the war, some 30,000 people were employed here, many of them women, and over a million bombs, mines and shells were produced.

However, after the war the factory no longer had a purpose other than as a storage depot (for the Navy’s rum!) and so in 1956 the north west of the factory was sold to UKAEA with the entire disused area being put on the market in 1963. No buyer was found for it until 1968, when the Warrington and Runcorn Development Corporation bought the site and turned it into the new town of Birchwood. The armaments factory took twice as long to demolish as it did to build.

Aspire Restaurant, Trafford College

It’s while since we went to the Aspire Restaurant that’s only a few minutes walk from our house. So a little odd that we chose to go after visiting a posh restaurant the previous night and after lunch at the Hollybush in Seighford, my mum’s favourite eatery. Thanks for the treat, mum.

Anyway, we managed only a light lunch, which was just as well, and we joined eight other lucky folk at Aspire at seven o’clock. The 20/20 club is supposed to be for 20 people at £20 a head for a cocktail followed by five ‘taster’ courses. We were very full by the end, although on the face of it the tasty courses looked modest in quantity. They didn’t get the 20 people they aspire to attract. That’s a shame. If you live within reach we do commend a visit to this establishment, where trainee chefs and hospitality students managed to match or even surpass what we had enjoyed at Mr Cooper’s the previous night.

Here’s this week’s menu:

The college’s website gives details of opening times, and if you call or email them they’ll send you the relevant menu. Special dietary requirements are not a problem for them – in fact this provides good experience for the students. We chatted to some tutors afterwards, and it was clear that they are very experienced and push the students to very high standards.

Here are the current opening times. In the evenings you may have to walk all the way around the college building to get in as the college reception may be closed.

Wednesdays
20/20 Club
Dinner from 6.45pm

Thursdays
Lunch from 12 noon
Dinner from 6.45pm

Fridays
Lunch from 12 noon

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Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner will be served on Thursday 30th November, then 7th and 14th December

£24.00

Christmas Lunch will served on the following days

Thursday 30th November
7th, 14th and 21st December
Friday 1st, 8th and 15th December

It sounds delicious (see the extract from their website below); let us know if you’d like to join us for lunch on one of the above dates.

• Christmas Lunch Menu

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• STARTERS
• Chestnut Mushroom velouté (v)
  Selection of home made breads
• Or
• Ham Hock & parsley terrine
  Home made piccalilli, toasted brioche
• Or
• Home-cured fillet of mackerel
  Heritage beetroot salad
• Or
• Caramelised shallot tart tatin (v)
  Goats cheese, endive & walnut
• MAIN COURSES
• Roast Cheshire bronze turkey
  Goose fat roast potatoes, organic vegetables, apricot stuffing
• Or
• Baked supreme of Hake
  Roast tomatoes, olives, tarragon mash, herb oil
• Or
• Slow cooked belly of middle white pork
  Champ cake, caramelised shallots, braised cabbage & roasting gravy
• Or
• Spiced Roast squash risotto (v)
  Wilted spinach, cumin & fennel seeds, tomato fondue
• DESSERTS
• Lemon Trio
  of limoncello drizzle cake, crème brulée & citrus sorbet
• Or
• Christmas pudding
  With brandy sauce and spiced clementine jam
• Or
• Rich chocolate tart
  Vanilla cream, chocolate ganache and accompanying sauces
  Coffee and Mince Pies
• £17.50
• includes VAT at standard rate
• The staff and students of Aspire Restaurant wish you a Merry Christmas

Some Jazz and Blues

The Chicago Teddybears Society Jazz Band put on a great show at Eagley Jazz Club on Monday. The performances at this jazz club are outstanding, especially considering you can get in, have a beer and a pastie, and enter the raffle, all for around a tenner.

On Tuesday Sue and I were treated by a good friend, by way of a thank you to me for organising a couple of Alpine trips, to a delicious meal at Mr Cooper’s restaurant, followed by a visit to the Bridgewater Hall to see John Mayall with the Buddy Whittington Band.

So far as I can recall, the first gig I ever went to, probably in 1966 shortly after I passed my driving test and was let loose on my dad’s Morris/Austin 1100 (don’t ask – I did crash it), was to see John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers at Redcar Jazz Club in the Coatham Hotel. We went to a few gigs there around that time, including early performances from Cream, who I saw again in Manchester. I recall Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band featuring loudly in Redcar, and amazingly, I’ve discovered that like John Mayall, who is 83 years old, they are still playing and have a gig tonight!

Mayall has been performing since 1956. His band, over the years, reads like a Who’s Who of blues and blues rock musicians.

I enjoyed the performance, though the Buddy Whittington Band’s sound could have been better – perhaps we were too near the front. It brought back some happy memories from my schooldays with Mike and Geoff and John and others.

Friday 7 July 2006 – Going Home

After a slightly rainy night, it was cloudy and cooler today - more like 17ºC than the usual 25ºC. The three of us caught the 8.35 train to Jenbach, where I left Mark and Julianna to head for their next destination - sunny Vienna, whilst I returned efficiently to reach home in Manchester by 17.45, via Innsbruck and Frankfurt.

I'd enjoyed Mark and Julie's company, and a very pleasant week in the Alps with them. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Today’s first picture was taken in Mayrhofen, the next two in Innsbruck, with a map of the week’s venues being shown below.

Revisiting this week has resulted in a 40 page photo book that I hope Mark and Julianna will enjoy when it reaches them, by way of thanks for having us to stay in Calgary in September.

The next project is a photobook for Mark’s mum and dad. That won’t attract historic blog postings like these as their 2014 trip from Shap to Richmond is already recorded here.

Thursday 6 July 2006 – A Sunny Day Out

Another lovely sunny day for a final walk with Mark and Julie. We met Sue and David at camp around 9.30, then headed to Ramsau along paths 11 then 51, the latter involving a 200 metre ascent. That took us to 11 o'clock. All instead of a 7 minute bus ride, and it wasn't a particularly scenic route anyway.

Once at Ramsau, for €6.50 we enjoyed a lovely chairlift ascent - 500 metres up to Sonnalm (1360 metres), where we enjoyed coffees, etc and Mark and Julie tucked in to another apfelstrudel - they have come to like these.

Then we strolled up quite a way, through woods and meadows, up to around 1900 metres, for lunch just beyond Schlatterhuttenaste, where a new waterwheel seemed to be supplementing the power.

It was easy navigation - route 50 all the way to Mayrhofen.

There were nutcrackers in the woods, and a pair of ring ouzels were foraging for worms in a field as we passed. More goats, lizards, etc.

The cloud arrived a bit earlier today and we felt a few drops of rain early on the descent. These soon eased and no waterproofs were required as we descended on a lazily zigzagging path through beautiful woods towards Brandberg. Instead of going there, from where a postbus could have returned us to base, we continued along path 50 to reach Mayrhofen at 4.50. Somehow we managed to get separated, all but me and Mark having stopped for ice creams. Perhaps Sue wanted to escape from people who disagree with her views.

It was overcast and hot, but there was no deluge like yesterday's. We were thankful not to get the flash flooding that was inflicting places near home in Manchester.

We reconvened later for a meal at the Edelweiss restaurant, owned by one of the wealthy families of Mayrhofen (not the Krölls, who also own quite a bit!). It was a good meal, and we all enjoyed ice cream treats as well. Yodelling muzak for elderly coach parties was a little intrusive in the background, but we put up with it.

We had walked about 14 km, with 700 metres ascent, in about 5.3 hours plus stops.