Richard Griffiths

I once again find myself lamenting the loss of yet another fine British actor, Richard Griffiths who has died at the age of 65. Richard was one of my most favourite actors and will be best remembered by me for his roles in Withnail and I, the Harry Potter Films, The History Boys and the Mr Finchley radio series.

So Far Away

Earlier this week, I read an article about the Voyager I space probe and the fact that it is believed by many to have left our solar system. This is debated by NASA who believe the probe to be still within our solar system but what isn't disputed is that the probe is a very long way away from its home planet Earth - 18 billion kilomenters away, give or take a few million.

The fact that we can still receive radio signals from the probe is by itself amazing. The distance does necessitate a six hour wait until they are received by NASA but considering the probe dates from 1977 when it was launched, this has to be one of our most enduring accomplishments.
It is difficult to imagine something made by us being so far away. The vastness of the environment it is in means it will take another 40,000 years before it reaches the very nearest star and even then it will be two light years away. The sad thing about all this is that even if there is anyone left on Earth, there will be no radio signal to indicate it had arrived there as its plutonium batteries will run dry in 10-15 years.
The Arthur C Clarke in me would like to think that some distant space traveller will find it, give it an oil and brush up, recharge its batteries and send it on its way again. The likelihood is that it will simply drift through space for eternity.

 

I do though like to cling to the possibility that it will be discovered by some distant civilisation and its on board gold-plated video disc played to reveal the 'sounds of Earth', messages of greeting and photographs taken of a very distant blue planet.

Frank Thornton

It is so sad to hear that Frank Thornton has passed away. To anyone my son's age, his name will mean nothing though I suspect it's only a matter of time before he discovers my collection of 'Are You Being Served' recordings. Of course, he will be remembered by many for his role as Captain Peacock in the long running BBC comedy of the 70's and early 80's.

He was of course like many of his ilk, a highly accomplished actor who starred in many films including The Early Bird, Carry On Screaming, The Bed-Sitting Room and Gosford Park, to name just a few.
In 1997 he took the role of Herbert 'Truly' Truelove in Last of the Summer Wine, replacing Brian Wilde who had suggested him for the role.
He twice appeared as the character of Bert Dingle in the British soap opera Emmerdale, once in March 2000 and again in October 2002.
Following the death of Trevor Bannister on 14 April 2011, Thornton was one of the two last surviving members (the other being Nicholas Smith) of the original cast of Are You Being Served?.

Publicity

The article about Blue Skies appeared online Friday. I did worry in case I had been mis-quoted as the newspapers don't tend to seek you approval beforehand. It was actually rather good and I was pleased that it emphasised the fact that we'd been successful in winning a funding grant and the things we are planning to do with the money.

Support group’s cash boost

Published on 14/03/2013 16:05

Spalding’s Blue Skies peer support group is expanding its activities after winning a £3,600 grant from the Government’s Mental Illness Prevention Fund.

The cash, expected at the end of the month, will be split between funding existing weekly Thursday art and craft sessions at the Ivo Day Centre, and buying computers, IT training and digital photography equipment.

Group spokesman Matt Webb said: “There are 15 of us in the group, and it’s growing as we’re getting more referrals through doctors and social workers.

“We want to raise awareness that we’re here for everyone who has mental health issues, many of whom, particularly men, never tell anyone their problems and become isolated.

“Once you get like that, it may seem impossible to open up to anyone, even your GP, about how you feel, and that way you can become seriously ill. For many people the only way out is to find people you can talk about it with.”

The group renamed itself Blue Skies a year ago when it launched the Thursday craft workshop on top of weekly talking meetings on Tuesdays at the Johnson Hospital.

Matt, whose background is in IT training, aims not only to enable people to use the Internet more productively in leisure time, but also to enable people, including those who have recently been released back into the community, to go online to access and apply for anything from accommodation and training to jobs and benefits.

More than 30 visitors came along to a Blue Skies Mental Health Awareness evening and art exhibition (pictured) at the Ivo Day Centre earlier in the month.

Get in touch by ringing 01775 652300 and leaving a message for Blue Skies, emailing blueskies.lincs@gmail.com or www.facebook.com/blueskies.lincs

In the Local, Parting with One of My Babies & Weird Weather

I was contacted by our local newspaper the Lincs Free Press today who want to run a feature on our Blue Skies support group. I had expected them to simply print the photo they had taken at our mental health awareness evening on 1st March but the woman I spoke to wanted to do a larger editorial. This is great as publicity is always a problem with any type of group and I'm hopeful that the group will become known to a larger number of sufferers and professionals across the county.

As an act of charity, I have decided to part with one of my DVD recorders and give this to one of our group members. He has a DVD-Video combi machine and asked me to look at it for him as the discs were failing to load. I disassembled it and found that the tray had become jammed. Being made almost entirely of plastic, it's just a matter of time before it wore out. Sadly nothing is ever built to last nowadays. It is possible to replace the drive as everything inside is modular, but a new drive would cost £200 plus shipping rendering this option void. I feel sorry for him. OK he didn't pay much for it in the first place - just £5 from a charity shop. He uses it to transfer films from his camcorder to DVD.
Over the years, I have collected various items of equipment, much of it obsolete as everything I want to watch can be downloaded from the Internet in a matter of minutes and put straight onto DVD if needed. It occurred to me that I do have a couple of DVD recorders. One I use solely for its inbuilt Freeview tuner, the other I tend not to use. As much as it pains me to part with it, I have decided to donate this to him to enable him to continue transferring his films to DVD. It's a good solid machine, and works well.
My wife will tell anyone that when it comes to giving away equipment, to me, it is like losing a family member. She is right in a way. I do become attached to things and I get used to seeing things in certain places. In some ways it is a comfort. I do though feel good about what I am doing. I know it will be going to a good home and I feel good for being able to help someone.

Is it just here or are we having some pretty wild weather at the moment? As I sign off from this post, it has become very dark and we have a sort of hail storm with tiny snowballs now covering the garden. A few minutes ago we had bright sunshine...

A Right Royal Mail Farce

If there's one thing guaranteed to get my dander up, it's poor service. Today, the target of my rage is the Royal Mail who are charged by me with lacking common sense and being intentionally unhelpful. Sorry, but I need to give vent to my anger.
We have been waiting for a couple of parcels. Delivery of both parcels was attempted this morning, but we were both out. Rather than attempting to leave them with a neighbour or leave them somewhere safe such as in our dustbin or 'over the gate', our postman/woman - for I really cannot distinguish which - opted to leave one of their 'something for you' cards. The card clearly states that the items were too large for the letter box so have been returned to our local delivery office where they can now be collected. Now our last postman had no problem finding a safe place for parcels and noting their location on a card and this I found to be a more than satisfactory arrangement, unbroken for the last three years.
I found the card wedged in our letter box at 3pm after returning home from my group and promptly drove the 10 miles to our 'local' delivery office at Holbeach expecting to be able to claim the parcels there. Instead I was told that they were not there for me to collect and that I would have to come back after 10.30 tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I was fuming and as one who suffers with high blood pressure, I opted to storm out rather than argue my case. It would have got me nowhere and frankly anyone who has to be separated from the people they serve by a glass screen, and talk through a tiny gap, is not interested in providing anything resembling a service.
Having allowed my blood pressure to return to a normal level, I have filled in and submitted an on-line complaint form siting a complete lack of common sense and incorrect information which saw me complete a needless 20 mile round trip. I am deceiving myself to expect anything near an apology and wholly expect to have to drive another 20 miles tomorrow to collect my items. Only this time, they had better be there.
I have for a long time suspected that the Royal Mail has put profit before customer service. I'm afraid that this latest example of crass incompetence pretty much confirms my belief.
Hermes, DHL, FedEx, TNT, Yodel = choice.

Being 40 and a Successful Evening

I turned 40 last Thursday. There, I've said it. I really didn't want to make a big deal of it and thankfully the day passed with the minimum of fuss. I had been secretly dreading it - I don't know why as most of the people I work with are in their 40's and 50's, some even older. Most are in good health physically and some act as if thy were twenty or thirty years younger.
Being 40 doesn't make me feel much different to how I felt when I was 39. I still have the same aches and pains and I don't gain any sort of additional entitlement having advanced an extra year. I suppose it does give me license to grunt more and to tut at the prices of every day items and food staples. On a brief visit to my parents earlier, I heard my father bemoan the fact that the local newspaper now costs 'thirteen shillings'. This is apparently 65 pence in new money. Oh how I am beginning to sound like him, for I said a similar thing in Asda only the other day to nods of agreement from other shoppers within my new age group.
What makes me feel old is being able to remember when things were cheap and when you went home with a full shopping bag and change from a ten pound note.

Last Friday evening was our Surfing the Waves event - an evening of mental health awareness. In truth the whole thing had been organised by a colleague. We (Blue Skies) were there to promote our activities and exhibit some of our artwork. Attendance was good and the talks well received. I learnt an awful lot about Cannabis, much of it reinforcing my conviction to steer well clear of it. There are conflicting views on whether it aids or worsens mental health conditions and a lot is still unknown. Cannabis is something I have tried once before. All it did for me was to reduce me to fit of giggles which lasted for hours and left me feeling very hungry. We were treated to a talk from one of our local NHS Governors who informed us of the good work being done in Lincolnshire to streamline mental health services. Our host also gave a brief talk for which she can be justly proud. It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of a group of strangers and talk in intimate detail about your struggle with poor mental health.
It was nice to meet some new people too, particularly the SHINE ambassador who, I found out to my utter disbelief, hadn't been informed of Andrew Harrison's passing last year. I was mortified at having been the one to break the news to her and once she had calmed down and composed herself once more, managed to give a good talk about SHINE to the gathered audience.
It was a good evening for Blue Skies also, and we attracted a lot of interest from not just the visiting public but the local press also. Our art display was their main focus of attention and grabbing the largest of our paintings, the photographer insisted we have our photograph taken. I didn't have the heart or the nerve to tell him we hadn't painted it and if anything is said we will claim it is a copy! After all, it isn't signed. As soon as the photo is published, I'll insert it into this post.
Our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/blueskies.lincs has had a few more 'likes' since Friday and a couple of nice comments have appeared.
So for our first evening of mental health awareness, we can certainly claim it a success. Now we've 'done' one, perhaps we should do another later in the year?