23rd Picture

Without getting political, I think this is one of the saddest sights of Doncaster.  This is the pit wheel at Markham Main colliery in Armthorpe.

I was in Skellow during the miners strike of 1984, and I remember vividly the hardship those families faced. The strike lasted a year and I think it was clear for all of us that it was only a matter of time before the pits started to close.

Looking purely from the economic viewpoint it made perfect sense to close the pits. However life never is just black and white. There is various shade of grey that also need to be taken into account.

No thought was given to all those families who had grown up with a strong tradition of mining. Generations of men had been miners as their fore fathers before them.

No thought was given to the wider community that depended on those mines staying open.

No thought was given to the sense of community that these mines instilled within the local communities.

All that is now lost, and although a few mines remain open, the community doesn’t have the same regard for them as they once had.

Regardless of what happened one thing is very clear since the closure of all the mines in and around Doncaster our community just hasn’t been the same.

Ammo

22nd Picture

During my travel around some of the local villages I came across this archway which leads to the local church at Owston Ferry. As I continued my drive I noticed the graveyard and the sight of all those gravestones got me thinking.

All those people buried in there; Who were they?  What did they do? What were their experiences?

What did they see? What did they learn?

Wouldn’t it be great if we were somehow able to capture all their combined knowledge and experiences that they had accumulated throughout their lives?

What could they teach us?

Wouldn’t our lives be even richer if we were able to tap into their experiences and wisdom and take valuable life lesson that they experienced let alone all the knowledge they acquired.

Without getting religious, isn’t it amazing that you can spend time on this earth and once you die everything you experienced gets wiped out in an instant.

I think it was George Santayana who once said “Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.”

As such I think we should have a national programme to capture all the life experiences of our elders. Could you imagine how much wisdom we’d have?

This arrogance we seem to have as a society that we don’t need the past or each other would vanish in an instance. The cultural vanity we currently have in thinking we know everything, when if fact we know very little would become very apparent to us all and I think we as a society would be richer for it.

Ammo

21th Picture

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago, and I really want to talk about it to explain what is going on but I can't at the moment.

All will be revealed in a week or two.

That's as much as I can say at the moment.

Ammo

20th Picture

During a cold, wet, windy trip to drop my daughter Karina off at her university digs in Buxton. I decided to stop on a layby and take a scenic picture of the hills and valleys for this Blog. 

Imagine my surprise when I peered over the top of a dry stone wall and saw this drop on the other side. What’s more I had no idea that there were houses at the bottom of the valley! 

I respect anyone wanting to live with a bit of privacy but to be this secluded is beyond me.

I suppose if we were all the same then life would be pretty boring!

Ammo

19th Picture

This is how Shaz and I usually spend our lunch times. We try whenever possible to have lunch together but equally as important we try whenever possible to watch at least one lecture from the many that are available on the TEDtalk channel via YouTube.

These are some of the best lectures out there by some of the most influential people in the world. It’s a boost of inspiration in a 15 minute video clip.

In fact the only reason I’m doing these 30 day challenges is because I watched Matt Cutts talk about it in his video called “Try something new for 30 days”.  

My favourite by far has to be by Sir Ken Robinson called “Do schools kill creativity?”

I really recommend you take just a few minutes each day to watch a different lecture, you never know where it might lead you.

Ammo

18th Picture

This Spar Shop in Skellow is the reason we first moved to Doncaster back in 1983. We lived above the shop and my bedroom used to be the furthest on the right.

My bedroom was right above the shop and every time the front door bell rang or the cash draw was opened I’d hear it upstairs. So unless the store was shut, I never had the opportunity for shut off from work, even on my days off.  

Moving to a village and being the outsiders is bad enough but also being a different colour was a strange experience. I think we were the first brown faces to move into the village! To be honest I’m not too sure who had the bigger culture shock us or the locals!

Growing up in a multicultural town like Huddersfield where you get a mix of different nationalities all with their unique culture and ethos living side by side was normal to me. It wasn’t always ideal but it’s what I was used too and what I called home.

To then move as a young 17 year old to a village this classed anyone not born there as an outsiders was totally alien to me.

Having said that, most if not all the locals were very hospitable. We lived above that shop for over 4 years and apart from one drunken brawl outside the shop which resulted in our shop window being smashed we never experienced any trouble.

In a way we were sad to say goodbye to these folks who we regarded as friends, they didn’t have much money but they had a wealth of love to share.

Ammo

17th Picture

Working as a Parent Governor has been a great experience for me.

If you can consider for a moment the education I had, (or lack off education I should say), it would have been unimaginable for me to even think I’d ever be in a position to influence the decision making process of a school. And if someone had suggested back then that I’d be sat with other governors discussing school finance, then I think I would have laughed them out of town.

How times change?

So what do School Parent Governors Do?

All Governors along with senior teaching staff are there to ensure the school is run as smoothly as possible and to deal with any issues that may arise.

E.g. Yesterdays’ meeting was on finance and we get the opportunity to look at all aspects of the school budget and look at areas that may need additional spend as well as areas where we can save money. Every penny spent is scrutinised to ensure we get the most bang for our buck as they say.  

To know that I can now pay back to  our local community in a tangible way is very rewarding, and although it’s a team effort and my personal contributions is small, the fact that I can play some part is still very rewarding.

Ammo

16th Picture

I’ve no idea what is being grown in this field in Branton, but it’s just to signify farming in general.

Both Shaz and I come from a long line of farmers. As far back as anyone can remember all our families have ever done is farming. It’s only because cause my father moved to the UK that we ever stopped farming.  

I remember when I was little, I’d been sent to stay with my uncle and aunty in India for a few years. And I’d spend most of my time with them on their farm. It was some of the happiest carefree days of my life. The only thing we had to be scared off was the poisonous snakes that used to lurk in the tall grasses. I had a close shave once when as I was about 6 or 7, I was crossing a small stream and I jumped from one side to the other at about the same time unbeknown to be me I had disturbed a resting snake which took a lunge at me, but luckily missed.

Farming in those days was very simple, we had a plough and a Bull and my aunty would follow and scatter the seeds by hand. What we grew we harvested and kept some seeds for the following year, some for food and sold the rest. It’s wouldn’t have made you a millionaire but it was enough to survive.

My father purchased some land with a view to going back someday to stay, alas he wasn’t able to fulfil his dream, we still have that land and it’s being taken care of by my cousins, unfortunately I haven’t had the time to go back to India in a long while, but soon I hope to go back and enjoy time again on our family farm.

I’ve never really thought about doing farming here as a career but as its in my blood you can never rule these things out, so if you’re thinking of selling off some of your land then let me know and you never know I could surprise a few people with my skills as a farmer.

Ammo