Thursday 21 November 2013

And I have seen a new Jerusalem


"I did not attend Leedstown Primary School but my 16 children did from 1930 to  1976 when Helen left. I was proud that year to present certificates and books to those leaving. I gave them silver three penny bits which they had never seen.
It was the first step to a new Jerusalem down there when they got the new conveniences. Before there were three in a row and a long stick was used to clear them.
There was no drinking water at school, and water had to be brought from the well near the Bible Christian Chapel which was worked by a windmill. This only turned when the wind was in the south west, not from the east!"

On the 100th centenary of Leedstown Primary School --1978
Mr Phil Goldsworthy

"Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice."  W B Yeats

Reading and watching

  • Foot by Foot to Santiago de Compostela/Judy Foot
  • The Testament of Mary with Fiona Shaw at the Barbican
  • The Testament of Mary/Colm Toibin
  • Schwanengesang/Schubert - Tony Spence
  • Journals/Robert Falcon Scott
  • Fugitive Pieces/Ann Michaels
  • Unless/Carol Shields
  • Faust/Royal Opera House
  • The Art of Travel/Alain de Botton
  • Mad Men Series 6
  • A Week at The Airport/Alain de Botton
  • The Railway Man/Eric Lomax
  • Bright Lights, Big City/Jay McInerney
  • Stones of Venice/John Ruskin
  • The Sea, the Sea/Iris Murdoch
  • Childe Harold/Lord Byron
  • All The Pretty Horses/Cormac McCarthy
  • Extreme Rambling/Mark Thomas
  • Story of my Life/Jay McInerney
  • Venice Observed/Mary McCarthy