Eden Valley Messenger

That British Woman

That British Woman was born and grew up in Appleby but has lived in Canada for more than 20 years. Her Blog attracts thousands of readers, and she writes her weekly column exclusively for The Eden Valley Messenger. 

Back to church

St. Lawrence church in Appleby holds many memories for me, as that is the church where I was confirmed, married and had both our children christened.

When we moved to Canada 21 years ago, I did attempt at one stage to find an Anglican church, but gave up trying to find the equivalent to St. Lawrence’s pretty quickly.  Both the kids nor dh were interested in going to church and life was busy enough without adding something else to it.

Over the years however I have been thinking about going to church and in February of this year I took the plunge and joined the local Anglican Church.  The Vicar has a British background, although he is Canadian, so that helps.  His sermons are told in a way that you understand what he is talking about.  After singing the first hymn, he sits on the floor with the kids and reads them a book, before they go off to Sunday school; never seen that done before and overall he is a very personable and approachable Vicar.

Our Vicar though is the Vicar to three churches, two are amalgamated with one another and a third is associated with us. 

However like many church congregations, it’s an aging congregation.  The average age must be 60+, and other than Easter and Christmas, there only seem to be a couple of dozen regulars each week. Therefore, funds are in short supply, in fact very short supply.  I came up with a bright idea to put together a recipe book with recipes from the congregation as a fundraiser and a way of bringing together the three churches.

I am pleased to say we are close to sending the book to the publishers.  I have had strict deadlines all along as I knew if I didn’t I would still be on with this at Christmas.  I have made friends and enemies along the way, as I’ve come to the conclusion you can’t please everyone!!  In fact I know some people will NEVER EVER be happy!!  However the majority of the people are happy with the whole project.

There are a number of other fundraising projects in the works, some I will actively participating in, and others I’m taking a back seat too.  I have joined the ACW (Anglican Church Women) which is similar to the WI or Mother’s Union; again just attending the meetings, not actively participating at this point.

Overall though I am glad to be back in the fold again!

First published June 18, 2010.

My memories of Appleby Horse Fair

Growing up in Appleby I of course attended the horse fair on many occasions.  The one image that stands out for me when I think of the horse fair is the dirt and the smell.  More often than not it rained at some point during the time they were all on Fair Hill.  So of course that caused more mud and dirt.  I remember thinking how on earth could people live in all that dirt.

Of course there was all the rubbish that piles up due to the amount of people visiting, and all the fast food stands. As a lot of people would just throw down their rubbish rather than look for a rubbish bin to put their waste in.

One thing I did love was looking at the fancy caravans and all the Crown Derby, Royal Worcester and Aynsley china in their.  Their immaculate interiors, etched windows and all the shiny chrome.  Then of course there were the old fashioned horse drawn caravans.  I wonder if they are still around now.

As locals it was a kind of love/hate relationship.  Business owners like the tourism it brings to the area.  However for locals it was impossible to find a parking spot anywhere in town.  More often than not when the pubs were open (I know most don’t open now) there was always trouble.  The noise of people wandering the streets at all hours of the day and night.  Also all the mess on the Sands when they washed their horses in the river.

Which brings up another point; what about those poor horses.  Some of those handlers always looked a bit rough to me the way they handled those horses?   Made you wonder if they weren’t frightening those poor horses half to death with all the noise and running them up and down the roads?

Would I visit the horse fair if we were ever back in Appleby in June?  Probably not, as a former “local,” there are a lot nicer things to see and do in the area……..

First published June 8, 2010.

That British Woman - A Blogging Milestone:

As of May 31, 2010, I have posted 1,001 entries on my blog in just over 2 years. 

My first ever post was on Monday May 19, 2008.  Here is the first paragraph:

“It's funny, I have been thinking about creating my very own blog for ages now, but have been putting it off, and putting it off. I am not sure why, maybe it has something to do with that reserved British side of me, do I want everyone knowing everything about me. Well the solution to that I suppose, is only post what I am comfortable with everyone in the world knowing about. Pretty simple solution when you think about it, don't know why I took so long to figure that one out.”

I think though 1,000 posts later I have got over my reserved British side of me, don’t you?

Throughout this blog process, I have met many good blogging friends.  One lady who comes to mind is Denise; we both started our blogs around the same time.  Can’t remember how we found one another, but two years later we still pop by to one another’s blogs to see what the other is up to.

One thing I love about blogs, is that everyone has all sorts of interesting things to talk about.  You learn so much from these blogs, and you see all sorts of sights from different parts of the world.

Of course you get your crazy people out there posting the strange and unusual things.  Plus you get other crazy people wanting to post trash on your blog; you know the sort of thing, send them $100 and they’ll be able to access thousands of dollars/pounds and send you some of it!  That’s why I moderate all my comments, no one wants to read where to buy Viagra, or buy designer purses at discount prices on my blog.

Recently though I have been thinking I have maybe run my time with my blog.  My life isn’t that interesting, but you know what it’s a creative outlet for me; and now I am giving myself permission to take a day off from blogging every now and then.  So I guess That British Woman blog will be around for a little longer.  Wonder if it will be around in ten years time though?

First published June 1, 2010

That British Woman - I’m ready to join the circus.

Why, because I have decided I am well qualified to do that.  I would make a perfect juggler, as I am always juggling one thing on top of another, trying to keep all those balls/jobs up in the air without crashing on the ground in a big mess.

I know I can be a tightrope walker, as I am always walking that fine line trying to keep everyone happy; being careful not to step on anyone’s toes and loose my balance.

Could I be a clown?  Well I guess I could, as I know how to keep everyone happy and crack a joke.

A horse trainer, not sure about that job, as although I do try and train our daft beagle Molly, she doesn’t seem to take a blind bit of notice of me though.  Maybe horses would listen to me more?  Oh by the way, Molly is in the process of burying her bone underneath an old towel in the family room at the moment?

I would make an excellent lion tamer, as I have learned how to keep those church ladies at bay as I am typing my recipe book for the church.

I refuse though to be the snake charmer, as snakes are not my thing, slimy things!!!

Finally the ring master; anyone who is a mother makes the perfect ring master running a household, scheduling everything for the kids, making sure there are meals on the table for the family, and just generally keeping everything ticking over and in order.  So there is a bit of a ring master in all of us.

Are you ready to join the circus?

First published May 24, 2010

For more of what I have been up to, please visit my blog: ThatBritishWoman or CLICK HERE to catch up on previous columns .

That British Woman - brought up in Appleby - immigrated to Canada - now writes for the Eden Valley Messenger every week. New columns posted every Monday.

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