Bye bye … the public phone box disappears … photo David Hodgson 28-05-2017
Coming up … more details in church gazette and separate wel-e-bulletins
Wed 5 July Meet & mingle 3.30pm, St Leonard’s church
Sun 9 July Family service St Leonard’s church
Thu 20 July WI 7.30 pm Village Hall
Wed 9 Aug Cactus & Succulent Society evening Village Hall
Sat 12 Aug Welbury Show Village Hall
Public phone box
BT confirm that the public payphone removed last month will not be replaced. Its removal is part of a wider scheme. The nearest public phone will now be at Northallerton and beyond that at Darlington or Stokesley. It’s a sign of the times, with new technology and disappearing demand.
The last call from ‘our’ box was on May 25 and the last chargeable call made was back in July 2010. The kiosk, a utilitarian model KX100, was installed in 1986. Can anyone remember the former red box (the iconic model K6) before that? Or have a photo of it? The Welbury book, page 11 and page 122, has some more historical information.
Quiz of the month…
Public number? What was the phone
number for the old public phone box in Welbury? I bet the box could have told some tales – wel-e-news would like to hear of any special calls made or taken there over the years.
Answers from last month (as far as we know; tell us if you know better).
Wildflowers? Concealing bovine teeth? That’s cowslips of course (cows’ lips – groan!) I’m sure we’ve seen the odd ones growing wild in Welbury verges this year but now overgrown with weeds, sadly a rare sight nowadays. Coming back to bluebells, we saw some on T’ Parson’s Bank last month.
Weather from Rod…
After a very dry April and no rain in the first couple of weeks of May, my comments in last month’s report about possible hose-pipe bans were clearly the signal for some wet weather: the last 2 weeks in May brought 36 mm of much-needed rain, a third of this on the 27th. The monthly total was comparable with May 2016 and 2015 (32 mm & 38 mm rain). It was the warmest May in the last 7 years with no frosts, an average monthly temperature of 12.6 °C and a maximum of 28 °C on the 25th. This day fell in the middle of a particularly warm week with 7 successive days over 22 °C.
Up until 12th June, this month has been windy and wet. The 37 mm of rain on the 6th made it the wettest day since 21 November 2016 and the monthly rainfall to date is 85 mm – already the wettest June for 5 years.
Book of the month…
The Handmaid’s Tale
by
Margaret Atwood
This book is as relevant today as it ever was (first published in 1985) and is currently being adapted for television by the BBC – hence my return to it. The prophetic quality of this novel is not to be underestimated. It is a story centred on totalitarian blindness and its effect is chilling. The book might be categorised as dystopian fantasy but it is up to the individual reader to respond in their own way.
The book is set in an ultra-conservative republic which cements its hold on power through piousness and purges – parallels between Gilead (the republic in the story) and Donald Trump’s America have been suggested. Atwood herself calls her work ‘speculative fiction’. Her heroine, Offred, has been turned into ‘breeding stock’ – in other words, women are being used only to produce the next ‘pure’ generation.
The book is a horrific vision but it is a thriller at the same time. Atwood also issues us with a warning about how oppression can creep up on you and about what happens when women’s lives are no longer their own. Of course, this book is far from being a lightweight read; at times the ideas can seem gratuitously shocking but it is a compelling read of great originality.
W I Report (May)
From Joanne Huges
Magazines, Memoirs and
Monsters. Freelance journalist Christine
Fieldhouse gave an interesting and
frank account of her career and
childhood which resulted in the
writing of her autobiography ‘Why
Do Monsters Come Out At Night’.
Following her both entertaining and
moving talk she kindly judged the
limerick competition. Over supper
Trish recounted amazing tales from
the inspirational talk given by
fighter pilot Mandy Hickson at a WI
event near York.
One of the limericks in the WI
competition was: Join WI then, shall we?
Said Peggy, and you can drive me,
But still being green,
I acted too keen
And ended up on the committee!
The winning limerick is held over to
the next issue. But what could
possibly rhyme with Welbury? In the
Rountons you might have fountains
and in Deighton there’s meetin’ and
greetin’ or even eaten, but in dear
old Welbury it’s a challenge!
Welbury sunset 18-05-2017 by Rod Bennington by iphone:
Magnolia in Welbury 01-05-2017
Magnolia at Thorpe Perrow, Rod Bennington 13-06-2017