BACUP CENTRAL METHODIST LADIES FELLOWSHIP
JEAN Almond spoke of 60 years of Cancer Research UK (Bacup Branch).
The society began as British Empire Cancer Campaign in 1958 and the first meeting was at Stubbylee Hall.
In attendance were the mayor, mayoress, representatives from guides, St John’s Ambulance, police, fire service, doctors, churches, and suggestions were made to start raising money to help cancer research.
In the 60s there were coffee mornings with bring and buy stalls.
From the 60s to the 80s the main events were flag days, open days, market stalls, sponsored walks, coffee mornings, sales of diaries and donations.
One of the events was for a 50th birthday, where the lady played a sponsored 50 holes of golf and raised £1,035.
Later that year the members were presented with two certificates for the amount of money the campaign had collected.
Jean joined the committee in 2012 and later took on the job of secretary.
In 2017 the Bacup campaign had raised half a million pounds and visited the research centre.
They have been nominated for the Queen’s Award for voluntary service.
Jean gave an excellent talk on this very important cause, which needs all the support they can get.
SOUTH PENNINE ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP (SPAG)
NINE members of the recently formed South Pennine Archaeology Group (SPAG) met on a wet Saturday morning at Anna’s Cafe, Weir to look at the remains of the three mills nearest the source of the River Irwell.
We walked about one mile in over two hours, in the rain, which may give some idea of how fascinating the area is.
The largest remains were of the Irwell Springs Print Works which date back to the early 19th century, finally closing in 1964.
Huge concrete settling and filtering tanks can still be seen.
The site of Weir Mill is now covered by housing but when we reached the remains of Dog Pits Mill our industrial expert,
MEMBERS of Bacup Camera Club recently welcomed Tony Mellor of Nelson Camera Club for a return visit, this time to give a fascinating presentation on nature photography.
Tony has been developing his skills and interest in natural history photography for many years now and used some of his images, which he shared with us, to recently gain a prestigious Credit Award from the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain.
He outlined some of the basic qualities and skills needed in successful nature photography, such as patience, perseverance, luck, and a knowledge of wildlife including their habits and habitats.
A good quality telephoto lens and a macro lens for close-up shots are also desirable, but much can be achieved by the use of standard lens.
Tony showed some stunning images of birds, fungi, wild flowers, butterflies and mammals and explained how he managed to take the photographs.
His photographs of the huge variety of fungi that can be found in
Lancashire were particularly impressive.
Club chairman Dave Greenwood thanked Tony for a stimulating and impressive presentation, and said he hoped it would encourage club
AS we all know, the weather has continued to be atrocious, so on Wednesday, February 19, 27 ramblers became very wet on what was actually a lovely 11 mile walk from Great Harwood.
On Sunday 23 February, 23 walkers had a really excellent – but also really muddy – seven mile walk from Heywood.
The weather brightened up very quickly after a dull start, so we had good views of the lovely scenery, and also of the thundering River Roch – very swollen even now.
Coming up, on Sunday, March 1 we are venturing over to the Yorkshire Dales at Feizor, near Settle, for a 10 mile walk in the glorious limestone scenery around the area, plus part of the Dales High Way and the Pennine Bridleway.
Finally, on Wednesday, March 4, we are back in Lancashire for what should be a lovely 10 mile walk from Worsthorne, near Burnley.
This walk has a bit of everything – reservoirs, the Brontë Way and the lovely Thursden Valley, so why not come along and see for yourself?
These walks are free, but after three walks with us we invite you to join The Ramblers, at a cost of only £3.05 per month for an individual (£4.10 for joint membership).
Further information about Rossendale Ramblers can be found on our Facebook page and on our website (www. rossendale-ramblers. co.uk), or you can contact us via secretary Glyn on 01706 561 042, or by email to glynbr45@gmail.com.
CIVIC PRIDE ROSENDALE
THE Civic Pride Rossendale AGM took place at Rawtenstall Cricket Club on Tuesday, February 18.
The Mayor of Rossendale, Councillor Barbara Ashworth, the Mayoress Mrs Christine Lamb, and Mr Neil Shaw, chief executive of Rossendale Borough Council attended in addition to many CPR volunteers and supporters.
Outgoing chair of Civic Pride Rossendale, Chris Blomerley, thanked everyone for their hard work over the past year, noting that as CPR enters its third decade, the Valley has never looked cleaner and brighter with groups now successfully operating in Bacup, Weir, Waterfoot, Crawshawbooth, Rawtenstall, Haslingden, Helmshore and beyond.
He was presented with a framed Certificate of Achievement by the
Mayor, Cllr Barbara Ashworth for his outstanding contribution.
Neil Shaw expressed his thanks to CPR for all their efforts and pledged to support Civic Pride in his new role as chief executive of the council.
Finance Reports were presented by Ms Charlotte Hocking which highlighted the generosity of our sponsors and supporters.
Voting then took place to elect a new chair, Roger Grimshaw and vice chair, Helen Thomas.
Charlotte Hocking was returned as finance officer, Lynn Smith as administration/volunteer engagement officer, Roger Roundell and Anne Dixon as litter and gardens officers.
Chris Blomerley accepted the role of projects officer for 2020, with the task of coordinating the CPR entry for the Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom Awards this summer.
Chris said that with the support of residents, local businesses and
Rossendale Council, CPR are seeking to develop the award winning Corridor of Colour from the A682 layby gardens from the Spur Road lay-bys to Newchurch Road, Rawtenstall.
Also new for 2020 is the CPR greenhouse project, a greater emphasis on community engagement and the environment, plus the ongoing development of community gardens and litter picking teams.
The new CPR website has all the details at www. civic-pride.org.uk.
RAMSBOTTOM RECORDED MUSIC SOCIETY
MEMBER Jim Hopkinson presented a novel programme comically entitled, ‘If You Like That, How About This?’
Each original work was followed by the same piece but in a different version.
‘Cavatina’ used in the film The Deer Hunter was followed by the same tune, sung eloquently by Cleo
Lane who wrote the lyrics, calling it ‘He Was Beautiful’.
JS Bach’s ‘Concerto for four Harpsichords’ was followed by a percussion version by a marimba quartet.
The Rondo from Mozart’s 4th Horn Concerto then featured the witty duo Flanders & Swann in ‘Ill Wind’ a song involving the ‘lost horn’.
‘The Dance of the
Hours’ by Ponchielli was made famous again by Allan Sherman’s doleful singing of ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah’.
Finally we heard Paganini’s ‘Caprice No. 24 for Violin’, followed by two well- known versions; Rachmaninov’s Variations for Piano and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Variations for Cello and Rock Band’.
A thoroughly enjoyable, well-crafted evening.
The next meeting is on Thursday, March 5.
For details contact
Richard Hall on 01706 823 490.
ROSSENDALE AVIATION SOCIETY
ON Wednesday, February 19 the members of the Rossendale Aviation Society were entertained by guest Steve Abbott on the subject ‘Aircraft recognition – It’s not all black and white’.
Steve’s career was that of an engineer in the aircraft industry but Steve is also an accomplished artist.
Many years ago he was introduced to the skill of silhouette painting and cutting and this led to his researches into the use of aircraft silhouettes in the teaching of aircraft recognition – a skill that was to prove crucial during World War II.
Steve covered the introduction of aircraft recognition training in the 1920s and of the creation of the Observer Corps (later Royal Observer Corps) in 1925.
Since retiring from the aircraft industry Steve has been heavily involved with the Avro Heritage Centre at the former BAE SYSTEMS site at Woodford, initially design much of the display material and latterly in researching the histories of the personnel who worked there – which included the grandfather of one of our members present at the meeting!
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, March 4 when member Colin Duckworth will give an illustrated talk on ‘Trainers, Transports and Helicopters’ which will cover many examples of these photographed by Colin over the years.
All our meetings are held at Haslingden Cricket Club and commence at 8pm and all are welcome.