YESTERDAY IN MELTON MOWBRAY

13th October, 2016: Update. I  have this day visited the Leicester General Hospital for my annual check-up. After a long absence, I was again to meet up with my Consultant, Mr Roger Kockelbergh, the very clever man who was to finally remove my bladder by Cystectomy)  in 2009.  He was there today to inform me that being satisfied with my progress, he was was to impart the wonderful news that I was now medically all-clear of my days of turmoil; I was not needed to attend hospital any longer on a continuing basis.   In passing, as a great thank-you to this skilled surgeon who carried me through my intermittent disruptions over the long months, I would draw readers' attentions to his website in aid of  his fundraising efforts ,  in addition to my presentation of the following article _______________ ANYONE FOR CLARET? F rom many quarters I am frequently asked to write about my recent experience of dealing with cancer following a ‘successful’...

A Little Local Mystery. bizarre little local story of Victorian times which has concerned me for a long time now, has recently reappeared in my searchings but I am still to discover a true and full picture of the events of the time. The little I do know is very tiny indeed, thus frustrating, so I pass my evidence on in the hope that somebody out there might wish to put me out of my misery. My personal knowledge of the event commences on a day when I was searching the Redmile Parish burial records register and came across the following three entries which were dated August 19th 1853:                Elizabeth Healy 22 years            Sarah Healy 10 years            Rebecca Frances Healy 14years At the bottom of that page was annotated the disquieting footnote:        ‘The remains of these, my children, were brought fr...

"I wanted to raise a few quid ..." (This is a copy of a recent round-robin e-mail from my nephew Jamie Berry of Sheffield - with my red ink superimposed.) 'Hi all, I’m doing a spot of fundraising for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Eliza Megan Berry My daughter Eliza was born in September with a cataract in her right eye. We were referred to the Eye Department at the Sheffield Children's Hospital and they acted quickly to operate to successfully remove the lens from her eye at five weeks to save the sight in the eye. We have to patch her other eye to encourage sight and have had to learn how to insert a contact lens. With the Children's Hospitals support, the sight in the eye is really improving and is showing encouraging signs that she might end up with reasonable vision in the eye. I wanted to raise a few quid to say thanks to the Eye Department at Sheffield Children's Hospital for everything they've done for us and to ...

When the harvest is in ... In 1896, at the end of yet another old English summer, the people of Melton Mowbray were invited to witness a grand fancy dress cycle parade.  A local paper published this little filler:- O n Saturday evening a fancy illuminated cycle parade took place.  Mr. G. Johnson, secretary of the Melton Mowbray Cycle Club, and Mr. H. Plant were the chief inaugurators of the event, which eclipsed all others of the kind which have taken place in this town.  Decorated conveyances were lent by several tradespeople, and one of the chief objects of attraction was an infirmary cot with a doctor and nurse in charge of a patient.  The other notable characters were a donkey tandem and two-in-hand goat chaise, the personification of Li Hung Chan.  The procession started from the Leicester-road Bridge about 7.30, and paraded the principal streets of the town, which were lined with people.  The proceeds amounted to about £13, w...

The Great Adventure of my Life' 1963 - Brrr! For my latest posting I have to confess that I am about to take a personal and sentimental journey into my by now, extended past. I will perhaps remind you that I am now well embarked into my eighth decade but I can guarantee that I am sufficiently self-assured enough to realise that my mind is now replete with my memories; indeed, as we are occasionally informed, one's memory is frequently sharpened with the onset of what is now regarded as 'old age'. The spark for this particular memory jolt was a recent reminder that it was long ago in September of 1963 that I set off on the first great adventure of my life. Fifty years ago, as a single young police officer patrolling the streets of the capital city of my native country and with no particular skills or ambitions, I was about to fly from Heathrow airport on the inaugral flight of the then brand-new Boeing 707 jet airliner which had recently superceded t...

A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” (George Orwell, ' Animal Farm') As a concerned and conscientious senior citizen, and local bird-lover to boot, I like to think that I perhaps do apportion my proper share towards supporting the avian population of my town during these increasingly cold winter days, but recently I have been grappling with a resolution of conscience as to whether I really do believe that all of our feathered friends are equally as lovely - and as welcome - in my garden as each other. As a caring human being I was brought up to love my fellow man and not to differentiate, favour or show other bias but recent occurrences at home have led me to think otherwise. My problem is the almost permanent presence of two very obese pigeons - Pete and Pat(ricia), I sometimes call them - which are fairly recent incomers to the otherwise tranquil surroundings of my bird table up...

PATRIOTS WE. I wondered recently, if our beloved nonegenarian Queen Elizabeth was aware of the 100 or so almost frozen souls who were ensconced under leaky tents or the sagging canvas sheets which had been painstakingly erected on the empty spaces of the little track which services the rear of our gardens here in our little part of Melton Mowbray? The memorable occasion was the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty's  accession to the throne following the untimely death in 1952 of her beloved father, King George.  Dutiful and royalist citizens that we were that day - and remain so of course - ensured that close to a 100% uptake of those invited to the bash from the houses linked to the track by the residents of Ankle Hill and Burton Road, arrived in good time and gritted teeth humour to assist in setting up the plastic barricades against the relentless heavy rain which showed great promise of remaining for the rest of the day. In a hastily thrown t...