John Douglas Eccles

16/08/201628/12/2020

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Not All Who Wander Are Lost is a line from the poem All that is gold does not glitter, written by J. R. R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings.

This week whilst touring Scotland I have been reminded on several occasions of that book which I read in my late teens. I remember it took me months to read and it wasn’t until later in life that the messages within it have begun to resonate with me.

Now I’m not saying we didn’t get lost but it did feel like we took very tentative steps on a great adventure, wandering the great open spaces just because we could.

Scotland is the place that is full of romance and mythical beasties, you only have to look at Andy Scott’s fantastic Kelpies to see that folklore is at the forfront of most peoples minds when they visit Scotland.

I think that viewing large powerful landscapes makes us try to put our lives into perspective and how we fit into our wider world, and the landscapes I have seen this week certainly have done that.

Being someone who lives in the South Pennines I should be used to hills and beautiful landscapes but Scotland has places that make you gasp at the scale and the rugged beauty of it all. Even in the rain it is still epic.

We have spent the past few days touring the northern highlands taking part in the North Coast 500. The scheme as the name suggests takes you around the northern coastline of the Scottish highlands and takes you to places that are truly remarkable and beautiful in equal measure.

Now you would think that being August and most places booked solid it would be full, but at times we went hours without seeing another soul and that can be very refreshing.

But it’s not only the scenery thats amazing, it’s the people you meet on the trip, talking to fellow travellers taking the same routes who all have the similar opinion that Scotland really is a magical place.

Ann and Myself have reached the age that camping under canvas is not an option that we would take lightly. If fact I would say that unless armageddon reduces everywhere to rubble, camping is not an option. With that in mind we booked into Inns and Hotels around the route.

All the places we stayed offered a warm welcome and great food for the weary traveller but one place takes that welcome to a whole new level. At the John o Groats Guest House I met a couple who take customer service very seriously and then add a sprinkling of magic to make it the best place I have ever stayed in.

John o Groats Guest House — Photo Courtesy of John O’Groats Guest House

The guesthouse in the first building you see when you get to John o Groats and as you can imaging after hours on the road it is a very welcome sight. Mary and Mark greeted us with a very welcome cup of tea and we sat and had a bit of a chat about the place and explained about some of the photographs of people that litter the place. Each photograph representing something very special.

It is the end spot for the End to Enders as they are called. People who walk, run or cycle from Lands End to John o Groats and that is a challenge and a half.

Think about it Lands End to John o Groats according to google (so it must be right) is 866 miles for those who have to avoid motorways. It’s a huge distance to travel and the expressions on the faces in every photograph is of smiley faces full of pride through to abject relief and I take my hat of to each and every one of them.

The guest house has a transient population, most of the occupants like us passing through either onwards to the Orkneys or back down the coast to Inverness and I assume everyone gets the same treatment.

At the evening meal again I was reminded of Lord of the Rings. All of the guests sat at the same table chatting about our homes, families and where we are travelling to next.

I have to say that it’s the first time I have sat having dinner with an Italian CERN Astrophysicist, a Gynaecologist, A Business Consultant and a Teaching Administrator discussing what we all had for Christmas dinner in our respected houses.

Now I know thats not an earth shattering conversation but it confirmed to me that no matter what nationality or background you come from we all have the same pride in where we call home.

I suppose that’s how it used to be before the large hotel chains took over and reduced us all to stay in our rooms watching TV and eating microwave dinners.

The morning after we all met up again, had a huge breakfast and said our goodbyes then we all went our separate ways.

We loaded the suitcases into the car and we headed for the finish line at Inverness Castle.

Now one thing that Ann wanted to see on the trip was a dolphin so as we headed back to Inverness we headed for the Black Isle and in particular to Chanonry Point to try and spot them from land.

I have discovered on this trip that sometimes your trusty Sat Nav can take you to the most interesting of places. We finished up going down a road that led to what appeared to be a graveyard for unused North Sea Oil rigs.

This was very disconcerting, they are huge and these large industrial structures seemed to look almost satanic set against the beautiful surrounding countryside, it came as a brief reminder of what we do to satisfy the insatiable appetite for oil and petrol products.

Eventually we ended up at the Nigg ferry, a very small ferry that left every half hour. After seeing the size of it we decided that it might be prudent to turn around and follow the road around the estuary.

By the time we arrived at our next hotel it was to late to spot anything so we decided that in the morning we would take a boat on the Moray Firth to try and see the local pod. Unfortunately they didn’t want to come out and play so she was a little disappointed.

You can imagine our surprise this morning whilst sorting out the photographs of that one I took of Chanory Point from the boat, I had inadvertently photographed one of them. So that was one happy ending.

The black wave is a Dolphin (no wonder we missed it).

So I am sat here looking out over the Pennines at a rare blue sky thinking of the places I have seen, the people I have met and the delicious food I have eaten, (not been on the scales yet, I will have to build upto that one).

It brought me back to thinking about Tolkien again and in particular this quote ‘If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.’

One thing is for sure I think I have left a little bit of my heart up in Scotland and I can’t wait to go back and visit again.

30/07/201618/08/2016

The Day Before My Holiday

The Beach

Today in my professional role is the day before the holidays, the day is split between what you need to do and what you feel you should do and that is always a disastrous proposition.

We are all human and how many modern couples are conflicted by the feeling of being out of control whilst being on holiday. I don’t mean this in a derogatory way but we run hard and fast all year and then all of a sudden when the brakes are applied and we are expected to have a holiday.

Now don’t get me wrong I love holidays, a chance to recharge the batteries and spend time with your loved ones who are all but ignored for the rest of the year. This is an opportunity to get some brownie points with your kith and kin.

Now that brings a whole different pressure on your average man and woman, demands which are well outside a normal worldly experience. For example stood in your speedos by the sea trying to look cool whilst your kids are making sandcastles is in my opinion wrong on so many levels so I ask you to stop immediately.

The question you have to ask is, is this a natural proposition. The answer is no it isn’t but we still manage to make it work because we love our children and our grandchildren and I suggest that there is no situation that parents and grandparents will not endure to ensure the kids are having the time of their lives,

So I m here tonight is a very relaxed frame of mind trying to make sense of all this after having a great night out and I am now searching for another answer to another age old question, ‘what makes great night out ?’

So here is my answer for what it is worth:

Number one, great company. People who can tell a great story. Trust me I know these people they can tell stories that can make you cry with laughter or break your heart. It does not matter a jot as long as they emotionally connect with you.

Number two you cannot second guess a good night out. Good nights out just happen. It is a combination of getting to the weekend and the attitude of living in the moment and not worrying about the headache tomorrow. (Most drinkers will try and feed you the miracle hangover cure but it does not exist).

Number three this is the best reason whatsoever, you need to feel young again, revisit your youth, a time when your only responsibility was to ensure you put you underwear the right way round!

Don’t get me wrong we all have responsibilities which weigh us down but everyone needs a break and guess what in this household it happens the same time every week.

So this is my message to you, have a great holiday, enjoy yourselves and above all experience life as you would like to live it.

Have a great break and see you after the holiday season with some more grumpy musings..

20/07/201628/12/2020

Our Next Roadtrip – The North Coast 500

After our success of last years road trip into deepest France on the Laon Historique, this year Lady Eccles and I have decided to test the fragility of our marriage yet again by doing another road trip in the Crossfire. To say the car is snug is an understatement but it is rather comfortable so why not.

So hold on to your hats this one is going to be a great adventure.

We are going to drive around 500 miles of the highland coast of Scotland in six days so thats six arguments and six let’s make ups, otherwise it could be a quiet few days. The driving will be indespersed with Whale, Dolphin and Otter watching, along with sitting on deserted beaches soaking up the fantastic scenery. Not to mention having to eat and stay in various hostileries around the route.

The North Coast 500 (NC500) is a brand new coastal touring route that covers the best the Scotish Highlands has to offer in a 500 mile round trip. The route begins in Inverness and follows the coastal edges of the North Highlands.

According to the media it’s Scotland’s ‘own route 66’, the North Coast 500 has had an amazing response from both tourists and journalists alike and I cant wait to get started.

Now everyone who knows me is going to think I am mad to be organising such an undertaking but as a project manager how difficult can it be, booking six hotels and planning a route that Ann wont find to arduous.

I will tell you how hard, its a logistical nightmare. August aparently is when the world goes to Scotland on holiday, finding accomodation has been a challenge but after days of looking at various websites I think I have done it. The last time she trusted me to book hotels on the last road trip I was less that brilliant at it so she insists she has the final say.

So here is our Itinerary.

Day 01 Tuesday 09th August 2016

Home to Falkirk Loch Lomond Premier Inn (242 miles)

Day 02 Wednesday 10th August 2016

am Falkirk to the Loch Ness Inn (157 miles)

Day 03 Thursday 11th August 2016

am Loch Ness Inn to the Start at Inverness Castle for the obligatory photograph then across country to Applecross on the West Coast (115 miles)

Applecross to Ullapool (90 miles) Ferryman Inn

Day 04 Friday 12th August 2016

Ullapool to John o Groats (150 miles) John o Groats Guest House

Day 065 Saturday 13th August 2016

am John o Groats to Inverness Castle for the Finish Photograph (120 miles)

pm Inverness to Loch Ness Hotel (15 miles) Travelodge

Day 07 Sunday 14th August 2016

Lochness Hotel to Dumbarton (242 miles)

Day 08 Monday 16th August 2016

Dumbarton/Loch Lomond hotel to home (242 miles)

Thats 1,329 miles in seven days which will cost about £250 in Fuel

So we shall see how this pans out. I will keep you all updated in the first instance by Twitter and no doubt a lengthy incident-filled post on my return.

19/07/201619/07/2016

Yes I Can! A statement of Intent.

After the last Olympic and Para Olympic Games full of breathtaking feats of athleticism, and superhuman performances in both events we came back to earth with a bang.

In a post I wrote at the time I calculated that it took exactly seven hours before the news channels brought us down to earth with a bump with threats of mass industrial action and further financial gloom.

So what difference does the Olympic Games make to me?

Not a great deal really apart from one glorious Saturday afternoon / evening watching Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah strut there stuff with three hundred other out of shape middle aged men with pints in there hands cheering with all there hearts and tears down there cheeks. A wonderful moment to savor.

The Para Olympics on the other hand has had a profound effect. At the start of the event I felt uncomfortable watching these athletes with limbs missing and severe disabilities doing superhuman things. Things I wouldn’t even attempt with this crumbling body which isn’t in to bad a shape.

What it did, it put these people in the spotlight, gave them a stage and made it acceptable to look at someone with a less than perfect body and not feel uneasy.

I have changed, I have started to look past the disabilities and look at the individuals, heroes one and all. Not because of the superhuman effort that these feats must have taken but the fact that they show me that the human spirit can overcome almost anything.

I only hope that just like the news it doesn’t take me seven hours to forget the lesson I have learned.

Channel 4 have produced a trailer for the Para Olympic Games that started screening yesterday, it is the most breathtakingly brilliant trailer I have even seen and it seems that 1.7million other people think the same.

The one thing that this trailer has given me is a new mantra ‘Yes I Can’! Just think what that simple statement says about intention, it makes all the difference in the world believe me.

09/07/201609/07/2016

You Can’t Beat a Bit of Disco on a Friday Night

BYyrj83CcAAXtBg — Miss World in a Cauldron spinning tunes, in Oldham in the 80s

You cant beat a 80s disco for bringing back all the great and painful memories from your past. Now as a grey haired old bloke you can imagine the horror on the faces of the callow youth watching me strutting my stuff.

When I say strutting I have got to the age where the disconnect between your arms and legs is an issue. According to Lady Eccles that was always the case so I don’t feel quite as bad.

But I love the fact that young people still love the music of my formative years.

I don’t care how old you are but when TRex’s ‘I Love to Boogie’ comes on at a Disco I honestly think that voodoo comes into action and no matter what age you are all your limbs start to twitch.

I suppose that is how it should be, I can remember my mother going weak at the knee’s dancing with my father to Mario Lanza at wedding receptions of my youth. Being a child of the fifties, I don’t count the period before the seventies (thats when the cool music arrived).

Now that is my era, that is when I was passionate about music. That doesn’t mean to say I am any less passionate now about it now but life being what life is I cannot invest the time or energy to discover new music, until now.

We are very lucky nowadays with the advent of streaming music you can do two things. You can listen to all your LPs that are buried deep in the loft that you have nothing to play them on and you can discover new music which I can assure you is every bit as good as the music of your youth.

That is the best bit of the internet that people take for granted. It just arrives with no effort on the part of the listener. Gone have the days of reading Melody Maker or the New Musical Express and visiting your local record store in the vain hope that your favourite bands LP may be in stock.

Another great thing is that we have just come out of Glastonbury which is phenomenal, an explosion of all music, broadcast through the BBC for free, I don’t even need to get my wellies out I can sit with a cup of tea and enjoy every millisecond without getting wet or some tall bloke standing in front of me so I can’t see.

Watching ZZ Top, Adele and Coldplay giving master classes on how it should be done is just the best activity you can partake of on a settee (apart from sex with someone you love to bits, obviously).

I can watch Bands that I love, Bands I have never heard of and I can connect with young people having the times of their lives. I liken it to being in a pub stood next to a group of people having a great time and enjoying them having a great time without the risk of rejection, I suppose its almost voyeuristic.

But having said all that there is nothing on earth like being stood in a mosh pit with the thump of the bass drum on your sternum and the sweaty bodies of people around you singing and jumping up and down.

Now I would do it all over again if it wasn’t for the fact when you get older you have to have an escape route to the toilets at hourly intervals which makes for an adventure that most guys of my age don’t want to play roulette with.

So tonight I go to bed feeling a little nearer my formative years rather than the light at the end of the tunnel. So I will now drink my Horlicks and hope that my hangover will not be quite as severe as the one I had last time. (What a rock and roll lifestyle I lead).

Goodnight and may your God go with you and life be kind to you and yours.

26/06/201629/12/2020

It’s not the End of the World, It’s a Change of Management!

earth_flag — PROJECT BY OSKAR PERNEFELDT The International Flag of Planet Earth is a graduation project at Beckmans College of Design (Stockholm, Sweden)

I am sick to the back teeth of reading about doom and gloom about England’s exit from Europe and for the record the vote didn’t go my way.

I am amazed and dismayed in equal measure at peoples understanding of the most basic of fundamental rights as a citizen and that it is one person, one vote and the winner is the one with the most votes.

It is a very simple proposition.

All I have heard since last Friday morning from the media and people I have met is how did this happen, it’s not the result we expected. I am sure when Gove and Johnson woke up on Friday morning and by the expressions on the photographs neither of them expected it either.

That is the trouble with life it is unpredictable and we should be prepared for that.

We are now entering the stage in the process where everyone who didn’t get what they wanted is starting to look for scapegoats, someone to blame for what has happened and that is disgraceful.

Often it is the weakest in our society that is by nature natural victims of this abhorrent behaviour fuelled by politicians and the media who spend a great deal of time demonising them and using the resultant aftermath to get elected.

So my challenge this week and I invite you to do the same and that is looking for someone who will step up to the plate and be a leader who will bring the country together. I don’t care which party they belong to, what faith they hold I just want someone who can heal the division that has been created in this great country of ours.

Please have a little faith, a great deal of patience and above all ignore all the rhetoric that has been a part of our lives for the past three months or so.

Tonight I watched Coldplay perform to 120,000 people at Glastonbury, these people had a great time and for a couple of hours, the world seemed a brighter place. Let’s try and take some of that through with us in the coming weeks.

Remember we are all from Planet Earth and we should look out for each other. I suppose that’s what you would expect an aged hippy like me to say.

Have a great week and let me know if you spot a leader.

15/06/201616/06/2016

The Literary Staircase

As many of you are aware I work at a College of Further Education in Oldham a town situated in the north of England. Now although the College is not seen as a bastion of academia by many in educational circles, to our community it has an invaluable role in developing young people not only in professional disciplines but also much needed life skills. All the things that there is no tick boxes for in your average Ofsted inspection.

Our College deals with students from all backgrounds and abilities and one thing is for sure if they come through our doors they will leave with a great deal of self belief and more importantly they will have qualifications and the confidence that brings to take the next step in life.

The north of England has the unenviable reputation of being way passed its sell by date, which is very sad. It was an area which for over a hundred years was the centre of the industrial revolution but unfortunately it is seen as an area in decline and as having little worth in the Southeast / Westminster vision of what 21st century Britain should be like.

The answer to this issue is very simple.

The only way to improve peoples lives is to give them the skills to make a living in jobs that will provide a steady income and allow them to provide for their families. Now that sounds easy but believe me that’s no easy task.

So what skills do we need to give these people.

When you ask educators they come up with the answer that they should follow a traditional academic route from GCSE’s through A Levels and on to University ending up with a profession that will pay well and have longevity.

Now this is all well and good but when you listen to what the government thinks it’s a completely different story.

They see it the role of employers to provide apprenticeships for young people so that they can learn on the job and keep the costs of educating people to a minimum. Thats ok in theory but you need companies who have the capacity to take on this responsibility and have people to act as role models for these trainees. In the North they are few and far between.

When you talk to employers they have yet another vision, they want people who can read and write, communicate well, show initiative, be punctual and above all be self motivated when it comes to career development. That is the true picture.

So this government has gone someway to try and address the acute skills shortage we have in this country by setting the standards in what the minimum qualifications should be for people completing secondary education.

Now this may come as a shock to people who know me but I agreed with Michael Gove who when Education Secretary made a decision that everyone should be able to read, write and be mathematically proficient to GCSE level when they leave education. Without these skills people cannot enter into a career that will enable them to provide for themselves let alone a family.

So the dilemma for our College is to get young people who haven’t had the best experience in secondary education to think differently about education. We have to show these young people that reading can be enjoyable and motivate them to start reading for pleasure. (Not an easy task when most don’t even read a newspaper).

The College has just embarked on a campaign to get these young people to start reading the classics and start discussing them with each other, its like a gigantic 2000 strong book club. By making reading a central focus in the curriculum we can achieve great things in the time these young people are with us.

We have inspirational quotes all over college and a great library but by far my favourite item on our campus is our Literary Staircase. As you can see from the picture above we have started with all the great classics that we the staff feel that they would benefit from reading. Great stories, fantastic characters and above all experiences that are memorable.

The only thing I can see wrong with our staircase is that it is our generations books that they see, what we need is books that are tomorrows classics, books they can champion to get on the steps.

But this campaign is working not only with students but with staff and even the wider community are getting involved. By using social media we are seeing people making lots of other suggestions and it’s creating a great vibe, even with the most uninspired people.

So people here is my request, please send me your recommendations for books that you think these young people will like and champion. The good thing is we have lots of steps in our college, we could finish up with hundreds of books that people will see every time they climb the stairs.

As my grandfather said to me, once you learn to read you can go on great adventures around the world without ever leaving your armchair. Its taken years for me to realise just how right he was.

04/06/201609/06/2016

Grand children, you have to love them if only because you can give them back now and again!

Grandchildren are special, anyone who is a similar age to me knows this even if only because when they are younger you can have them all day and load them with sugar just before they get picked up so they are hyper and out of control for your devoted children and partners.

Now this as a strategy works when they are pre teenagers but once the dreaded teens hits it’s an entirely different story.

Tonight Lady Ann and myself have been to Diggle Blues Festival which can I say was fantastic. The Band we saw had a collective age of 180 but they played like they knew each others every second thought and from what I have seen on TV recently that will equate to ten boy bands singing to a backing track.

This was music from my youth, no sync tracks just three guys playing great stuff and enjoying every second. Just think about it baby boomers all the greatest bands from our youth were a trio, The Jimmy Hendricks Experience, Cream and a whole list of others.

These guys raised the roof, they should have been on for an hour and a half and Two hours later they were still going strong, why? Because they love doing what they do, and they do it very well.

So back to my original story about my grandchildren. When they get into the teenage years they do become challenging. Jim Bob who was nine last week is easy, let him loose on your computer playing Minecraft and he is a breeze, his sister Saskia however is a completely different kettle of fish.

She is now 14 and knows everything, sulky and I hate to admit it she is very funny and as bright as a button and has an answer for everything. The one thing she hasn’t learned is subtly.

She has already asked if she can have my Mac when I shuffle off this mortal coil. Even if we arrange for a family holiday like last year we have to check it there is wireless on the complex so she won’t be out of touch with her posse.

But what I find is the biggest cheek of all is that they do visit when you are not at home and make themselves very comfortable. I don’t mean they break in, they have a key but they systematically empty the fridge, drink all the coke and eat all the stuff I shouldn’t eat (which I suppose is a good thing).

So when we arrived home tonight the note at the top of this post is the note that Saskia left on the coffee table so we wouldn’t think we had been burgled. You have to hand it to her she did think to let us know.

God only knows what the future brings but I know one thing for sure I wouldn’t change anything at all. Life is good, we have a great family around us and life is an adventure, and so it should be.

Why would you go to bed thinking you haven’t made a difference to anything or anyone. That would be my vision of hell and hopefully I won’t be visiting there anytime soon.

21/05/201621/05/2016

How did you meet the love of your life?

Ann_Eccles

That is a very simple question but the repercussions could be immeasurable.

Now myself and Lady Eccles as she likes to be known first met in a pub, now I can hear you say that is no surprise but the truth is that I had watched Ann for months (not as stalker, that is weird) but I never had the courage to ask her out on a date because I thought I was (in cricketing terms) batting way above my weight.

Now Ann, when we first met was quite a looker (to me she hasn’t changed that much), but what I do remember she had very long hair and fantastic cheekbones which were a pre requisite of being cool in the seventies.

Now I must explain that at that time it was cool to be cool and never put yourself in the path of rejection and with that in mind you would not in a million years ever tell someone that you fancied them in case they knocked you back. It was unheard of.

If it was down to the children of the seventies we would now be extinct.

Every night when our paths would cross and we would have a chat and have a laugh and then she would tell me she was waiting for someone and I would think that I wish it was me but never having the nerve to speak up. So after months of trying to be cool I invited her and her friend to my twenty-first birthday party.

Now its very difficult to appear smooth or cool dressed as Sylvester the cat but I never gave that a thought however my friend who came as Dracula who stole the show asked her out for a meal, so not to be outdone I asked her friend out and we made it a foursome (in a non promiscuous way).

So we met in a restaurant and were having a very pleasant time but then I realised I was spending more time talking to her that my date. Now that is not a great move but by midnight somehow we had managed to arrange a date to go to the cinema the following week.

Now I know that most of you by now realise that I am a little short on being romantic and the grand gesture thing so it will come as no surprise that we arranged to go and watch that classic seventies film “Confessions of a Window Cleaner”.

Now you must remember that it was the seventies and we did have three Cinemas in town, all showing the same film so you have to give me little credit.

As they say the rest is history. We have been together for forty years and she is still my best friend, she is the first person I ring if anything great happens in my life and is the person who knows when I need a talking to and is the one who supports me when the world tries to crush me.

So Just how lucky am I then?

The answer is very lucky. Now I know how lucky I am but I know that sooner or later we will arrive at a point in our lives when we will be out of control of our destinies.

Our children will make decisions based on convenience rather that what is best for us and I don’t blame them, they have families of their own and their own priorities.

But all I ask is this, please do not separate us, let us see our days out together as we have always done, through thick and thin, through sickness and health. I don’t think that is to much to ask for a lifetime together.

Forty years ago I met my soulmate and I have been lucky enough to be in her company ever since. I know I am grumpy and she is grumpy but somehow me get along just fine that is unless I don’t do as she says and life can become pretty intolerable.

17/05/201628/12/2020

Another Year Another Whit Friday

After what has seemed like an endless winter, spring has eventually arrived in Saddleworth with the sun shining and the trees looking less bare it makes me remember why I love living here.

This morning I am sat here writing this in my dinning room with the door and windows open, the sun streaming in whilst looking at a very big blue sky, listening to the birds and the odd sound of a car rushing through the village to who knows were.

Now living Saddleworth is no great hardship but in the depths of winter I often question why I chose to live in such a desolate place. But then spring arrives and it’s a different story. People come out of hibernation and the place becomes greener and life becomes very pleasant indeed.

When we first moved here over thirty years ago it came as a bit of a shock when people you had never met said good morning whilst walking past you in the street. Try that in Manchester or London and see what happens.

We live in an area full of big hills and small villages with strange sounding names. You know they are strange when you have to tell people were you live and they look at you in disbelief and start smiling. I mean what is wrong with living in a place called Diggle.

But it’s the people who make this place special and they all have one thing in common, they are madly passionate about were they live, they don’t care about what you have or have not and above all they know how to have a good time.

Now next Friday Saddleworth is home to the greatest free show of earth, Whit Friday. It’s a day when everyone in the village comes together as one and walks down to our biggest village Uppermill to a joint service to celebrate being a Christian (or any other faith you may believe in) as long as you are kind and compassionate.

Now it’s a long walk, but it’s amazing how fast you can walk when you have a band to walk behind. It is an amazing spectacle. So again this Friday morning we will be inundated with all of the family busy getting into posh frocks and comfy shoes (the ladies only in this dojo) waiting for the sound of the band playing Hail Smiling Morn echoing across the valley which signals the start of the best day of the year by miles.

So if you are stuck in your office or workshop bear a thought for all us hill folk who will be walking proud through the big hills and blue skies swapping stories with people who we haven’t seen since last year.

If you are at a loose end on Friday evening then try to attend one of the many Band Competitions that are taking place throughout Saddleworth and as the Guardian said recently “It is the greatest free show on earth” so it must be true.

See you on the other side and I will let you know how it went.