NEWS
Upcoming Events: COURTYARD SALE at The Centre for Complementary Care SATURDAY MAY 25th: 10.00am to 1.00pm We've got all manner of jumble, books, china, DVDs, toys, games, jewellery and pictures all served up with a generous helping of tea and cakes plus a side order of a nice tombola . It's going to be in our rear courtyard (bear left up the drive, and it's through the beautiful wrought iron gates to the right ...) which has open-fronted outbuildings, so should the bank holiday weather be less than kindly, you can still browse in the dry. Gates open at 10.00am and close at 1.00pm – but we recommend getting here early, because you know what those dealers are like ... buzzing around the place like a biblical plague before you've even got the kettle on. ~~~:o:~~~
Paula Roberts
Paula - friend, client and Centre Trustee -died peacefully at the West Cumberland Hospital on Wednesday the 23rd of January, just one week after recording an interview with BBC Look North. Our thoughts are with husband Paul and their two young children. You can read our tribute to her HERE. ~~~:~~~ BBC Look North cameras were at the Centre on Wednesday the 16th of January, filming our volunteers as they went about their business ... knitting, making bee frames for next season, walking backwards and forwards in bee-keeping suits for the for the benefit of the cameras that kept seizing up in the cold ... You know, an everyday story of country folk. The resulting piece will be screened on Look North on Monday the 28th of January. ~~~:oOo:~~~ The Christmas Fair was a runaway success for us, in spite of the usual dodgy weather. We cleared £1,800, which is really quite remarkable and we're hugely grateful to everyone who made the effort to turn up and support us. Thank you so much ...
~~~:oOo:~~~ 2012 Welly Day - Sunday, April 1st. We're currently organizing a big garden clean-up day on Sunday April the 1st and - weather permitting - will (amongst other things) be starting work on our new project - the wildflower meadow. We've just worked out that we're going to need SEVEN wheelbarrows to make best use of the number of people we expect (hope!) will turn up. If you can donate a wheelbarrow - in any condition (we have blokes with muscles and hammers who can fettle anything) - we'd be very grateful. Also needed - plants - especially those that don't mind having their feet in water. We're replanting the sunken garden, which was once a pond but had to be filled in for safety reasons. It still has the pond liner in it and in wet weather (which we hardly ever have, of course) it does its level best to turn BACK into a pond:
Please do come and join us on April 1st ... everyone is welcome, and tea and cake is offered as an inducement. For more information, email us on Admin@cccare.org or telephone us on 01229 717355.
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2012 Centre Calendar We've chosen the images for our 2012 Calendar and it'll be shortly going off to the printers - and, with a bit of luck and a following wind, will be available (at a cost of £6.50 plus £1.00 postage and packing) from October. You can have a sneak preview of James Roberts' beautiful black and white images HERE:
-~~~:~~~ 20.5.11 Bees! The Centre is going into bee-keeping. Two hives have been delivered and the bees will follow shortly. We're all going to become Bee Bores. Don't say you weren't warned!
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Phyllida Gordon-Duff-Pennington We've lost a friend. Phyllida - a Trustee and loyal supporter from the very early days of the Centre - died peacefully at home on Tuesday the 10th of May after a short illness. We'll miss her.
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20th Anniversary Celebrations August 22nd has come and gone and is already receding into the mists of time, but golly, weren't WE lucky bunnies, and don't we KNOW it? From Monday the 17th through to the morning of Friday the 21st , we were pounded by high winds, driving rain and general climatic grimness. Gazebos were erected on mud in the teeth of a gale and it was accounted a miracle when they were still standing the following morning having neither blown away, buckled nor slid downhill.
Then, on Friday afternoon, as we were wandering forlornly around the quagmire with tombola prizes, jumble, books and assorted junk antiques the wind dropped, the skies cleared and the sun came out.
If I was a person who believed in omens I'd be mentioning the moment on that Friday afternoon when someone walked past the buddleia outside the office window and a huge cloud of Painted Ladies, Peacocks, Fritillaries, Red Admirals and Tortoiseshells flew into the air …
Saturday, August 22nd dawned.
The sky was blue - except for the picturesque, fluffy white clouds. A light wind – of the variety usually referred to as a ‘zephyr' – was gently ruffling the leaves on the trees and the birds were tweeting away like anything.
The ground had dried out. The first visitors arrived. The Mayors arrived. The park-and-ride system up from the car park at Muncaster Castle was worked flawlessly. The outdoor service went without a hitch (even after we half-inched the power cable to rescue the ice cream van when its generator packed up … ).
The birthday cake was cut. The speeches were delivered. The photographs were taken (by Yours Truly, who is not, therefore, in ANY of them … ho-ho-ho). People basked in the sun, licked ice creams, drank wine, ate strawberries, wandered around the garden and greeted old friends. Then, after the raffle was drawn, all 300 or so magically melted away again.
Sunday, August 23rd dawned ...
High winds, driving rain and general climatic grimness.
I don't know about you – but WE find that slightly scary ...
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ST FRANCIS' FAIR 1st October 2008 There's this thing called 'An Indian Summer'. Back in the Good Old Days (remember them?) you could usually rely on a period of warm, sunny and settled weather at the beginning of October. So - when we rescheduled (and relabelled) our "Music for a Summer's Evening" for October 1st, we thought we were on reasonably safe turf. WRONG!! Gales, torrential rain, flooded roads ...
Amazingly, however, we still managed to make £1,400 on the day. We strongly suspect that this is because those few hardy souls who DID turn out, decided pretty much to stay put - digging themselves in with the food in the warm and the dry - instead of moving on to the other events that day (most of which had been cancelled anyway, on account of other people having the sense they were born with - unlike us).
Andy Winter and Steve Murphy provided the live music and were terrific. It was just a wonderful day - so ya boo sucks to the British climate.
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MUSIC FOR A SUMMER'S EVENING Saturday, July 19th. 4pm to 9pm
Didn't happen did it? Winter came to Eskdale. Wind, driving rain, more wind ... So we cancelled. Monday dawned and guess what? Yep. Perfect picnic weather.
---:oOo:--- Moira has started a Centre blog. She plainly has nothing better to do. If you want to encourage her frivolity, go and read it: From the Centre Manager's Desk ---:oOo:--- BEN BEN, the Centre Manager's dog, died on the 24th of December 2007. He was very old - about 14, she believes - and had been in gradually failing health for some time. During the Christmas holiday he let her know - in his own way - that he had lived long enough. He slipped away very peacefully and without distress. He was the Centre's mascot and client-greeter for over nine years, and The Chase seems strangely still and empty without him ...
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VIRTUAL TOUR - A Virtual Tour has been added to the site - courtesy of Pulse Business Solutions of Thornhill. There are four 360° panoramas - two in the Centre and two in the garden. You'll find it on the "Muncaster Chase" page, under the link to "The Centre". Please take a look.
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