Another Year~ Childhood Memories
01 May 2012 52 Comments
in Health and wellness, Inner Chatter, Travel Tags: Birthday, Changes, Childhood, Community, Growth, May Day, Maypole Dancing, Memories., mind, Past Life, Stoney Middleton, thoughts, Time, Unity, Village, Well Dressings
May is upon us already.. and with it another year for me draws to its 
completion.. As I mark another year to my calendar today. The Month of May begins for me with a Celebration of memories.. May is the time when blossoms bloom, and bluebells flower.
I look back within my mind at my childhood, my youth and now my autumn years.. As I see the many changes which unfolds within a life time..I reflect today the many colours which have contributed to my life.. And like the Maypole ribbons each one woven in their own unique colours as they streak through my mind.. Some clear, while others have blown away in the passing of time.
May brings back memories of many birthdays and as I sit and pen this post of memories, I see myself aged 7 dancing the May-Pole in my Village of Stoney Middleton with one of the rare new dresses I would have to wear.. As my Aunt would buy us all a new Easter outfits just once a year. ( as my parents were not so well off ), which often would be miles too big.But I remember well this day in May as I danced with glee, for my dress in poker-dots of blue velvet on white net, like a ballerinas gown was my pride and joy.. I was a princess that day ~I remember lining up in the church vestry waiting to skip out onto the Nook in a line on cue to music, as we took our positions and picked up our ribbons from the boys who stood in the middle keeping the pole sturdy. ~ It mattered not that day that my dance partner a boy, who when we danced over and under went the wrong way and we all got entangled as we skipped our way around the central circle Pole. And our teacher came to our aid as we untangled ourselves..
We would as children gather our mothers bluebells from the valley and later it would be Lilies of the Valley.I can still smell their perfume as I see the images within my minds eye as we would tie them into the small circles of Posies .
My brother would get into trouble for climbing trees, to look into birds nests. But then we all climbed and swung on trees making rope ladders and swings and dens in the wood. We skipped over the meadows picking the many large Moon Penny Daisies and Buttercups and jumped the local brook. I remember being chased off private land near our local small private Middleton Hall by their Gardener..The same Hall that held garden parties for the village on Wakes week, when the Wells were Dressed with the Wells Dressings , with WI stalls of home made cakes and jams. The Tombola stall, and the Lucky Dip..And roll a penny.. Tug of War completions in fancy dress.. Morris Dancing’s, And how All the villages pulled together..
And we would help the local Farmer at harvest time with haymaking, taking two or three of us at a time to drag the square bales of hay into piles for the tractor to collect..
Dad would catch wild rabbits and we would get Rabbit stew on the menu quite regular.. Meat was expensive but we had Pheasants and partridges too, Living near to Chatsworth House my Dad knew someone who when they had their game shoots, the birds which were too badly shot damaged would go cheap.. I remember well sat around the table and Dad saying ‘chew well’, as we all spat out the led shot pellets as they clanked on our plates..
I often find some of those early memories are clearer in my mind than that which I did yesterday…..
May is a special month of the Year.. And just wanted to share a few childhood Memories .. As I Look back today.
Sue Dreamwalker
The Community ~Where is it Today?
03 Nov 2011 31 Comments
in Inner Chatter, Travel Tags: change Greed, Community, Family, Fear, Stoney Middleton, Village Life. Unity, Welldressings
Looking back over the photos of yesteryear Its hard to understand how you come to the place you are today. Many things happen within everyone’s families that either bring them closer together or drives them apart. And the same goes for whole communities but we call this progression as we embrace a more modern way of living.
In my post Horsing Around My Village which took me back down memory lane as I recalled my early childhood and gave a glimpse into Village life in the Derbyshire Peak District. It got me thinking how when I was in junior school probably age 9 or 10 We made a model of the whole village using matchbox’s stuck together all shapes and sizes.. Each of us had to make our own home out of a matchbox and paint etc. While our teacher who was also the headmaster of our school Mr Paddley created a huge Map of Stoney Middleton out of Plywood in which we could stick our homes next the roads, fields etc. which he had painted.
We carefully placed our homes upon the map alongside our famous fish and chip shop which at the time was run by a lovely lady called Eleanor.. Who would give you the scraps for nothing to us kids that would hang around on the nights it was open.Somehow I cant see that happening today…. Hummm, I can smell that chippy now .. Its still there and is still a chip shop in the Toll Gate house.. Which was built in 1840 as a Toll House to collect dues from travellers on the old Turnpike road .
Anyhow my point is that this Matchstick Village we created we were able to name everyone who lived in our village and we did what I suppose you would call our own school Census that term as we were able to count how many people lived in our Village..Today I think there are around 750 people who live there today , but in my day I remember I could name every household member..
There were 3 Pubs back then the Grouse Inn, The Royal Oak and the Moon Inn…Today only the Moon Inn has survived.. There were 3 shops, Arnolds, Dysons, and Nettleships..Two Butchers both named Hancocks one at the top of the village hill which adjoined his farmhouse and one at the bottom of the village, these shops were named after their owners surnames.. There was also a Post Office and local Barber who had a wooden shed at the bottom of his Garden..The ladies of the Village had to travel to the next Village Calver Sough to get their hair done in another wooden hut..
Today there are now No shops in the village and No post office the only remaining shop in the village today is the FarmShop which used to be Hancock’s Butchers and the chip shop .
Stoney Middleton Well-Dressings I see my Grandmother and Aunts and Uncles in this photo,but I don’t know which year it was taken.
It brings home to me how our Communities have changed. I had to move away from my own village when I got married as there were no new homes that were being built and the ones that were for sale the younger generation couldn’t and still can’t afford to buy in the Derbyshire Peak, so City Business people came in and bought up the homes as old Villages passed away..some using as homes with others using as Holiday cottages. And now neighbours are strangers today and we lock the doors behind us when we come home. We no longer communicate to each other as we scurry around our daily lives trying to earn a living so we can buy the next gadget advertised on the TV and give our Kids what we never had..All in the name of progress..
Jobs are scarce for the younger generation.. Gone are the days you could turn up at a place of work and be set on the next day as an apprentice and learn your skill from the bottom up. Manufacturing Industries have taken the bulk of their work overseas leaving us with less employment, and ALL of it for Profit and Greed. The youth of today are bored and Jobless and so turn to other means to entertain themselves.. And many elderly people are fearful of passing youngsters who now congregate together on street corners, and who dare to challenge the authorities and their elders knowing they can’t be touched if under age so grow up with no discipline or respect.
We have become a society ruled by debt in order to obtain Material goods we cant afford to pay for.. We have become societies of Greed.. as we put possessions before people.
We all of us have come to experience the Material World on the Earth Plane, but along the way of gathering those possessions we have lost the community spirit. In fact we have lost Our Spirit and our connection to each other and nature as we take everything for granted.
Last winter we had the coldest winter with heavy snow for at least 50 yrs here in the UK… On our street many neighbours joined together and spoke for the first time to each other in years as they rallied around and helped each other dig out our road of snow. But it took a crisis to bring about that Unity of pulling together to help one another.
This is why Changes are in the air, we all feel it, Sense it, as weather patterns alter, as Nations rebel against their tyrant leaders, as the Monetary issues cannot possible carry on the way they are…As we see the Crisis with the Euro coming to a head.
Our World needs to change…We are the Communities so we are the ones who need to look, really look at ourselves and realise the Change starts with Self.. This is why many are now saying enough is enough and starting to speak out.
WE have got to change .. And that is why we cannot sustain living within this Zone of Material Greed putting Possessions First..
We have to start and put People First… and bring back a Caring Community who works together in unity and harmony….For if we don’t the Chaos we will generate is unthinkable.
© Sue Dreamwalker – 2011 All rights reserved.
Horsing Around My Village
21 Oct 2011 48 Comments
in Hobbies, Inner Chatter, Travel Tags: Hobbies, Horse, Pastel Drawings. Me., Stoney Middleton. Eyam
Another Pastel Drawing of mine.. along with some History of where I grew up .
The Horse to me has always held a fascination..As a child I would pester my Dad until he relented to let me have riding lessons.. Living out in the country in a small village in the Derbyshire Dales all my friends either lived on farms or had access to horses.. But being the eldest daughter of Five siblings my Fathers wages as a Quarry Face worker in the Limestone Quarry in the Valley of our Village Stoney Middleton meant that he had to dig deep into his pockets to allow me that luxury.. Needless to say my riding-lesson days were numbered, so I used to tag along with my friends and walk and run for miles alongside them as they rode and would jump for joy when at last I was allowed to ride for 10 minutes or so..
My fascination for horses I think for me began before my life on Earth started for I am sure I held a memory of riding long ago.. It wasn’t until later that my interest developed in Native American Indians and through past life memory recall I was able to recall living among these wonderful Tribes.
While I was growing up as a young girl I would help in the Village to create their Well Dressings A well dressing is a celebration of the life giving waters of fresh wells. And in the Derbyshire Peak District many villages create well dressings.. This is done by filling a wooden frame with clay, in the case of Stoney Middleton the clay is soaked in the Brooke which runs through the Village which once upon a time ran a small water wheel to the Mill which was the Boot Factory which is one of the oldest buildings in the village which began in the late 18th Century and by 1835 there were four factories in Stoney Middleton .. Lennon’s Factory still makes Steel capped Work-Boots and Hiking Boots today. In fact when my Dad first left school aged 14 this was his very first place of work.
After the clay was soaked petals from flowers from villages gardens and fields were pressed one by one to overlap by hand into the clay to make pictures.. As a child we were allowed only to do the borders not the main picture We would gather in the yard of the local Pub the Moon Inn… Where once upon at time it was said that a Murder took place of a Pedlar who had been to the next Village of EYAM which was famous as the Plague Village in 1665 after a Taylor took in some fabric delivered from London this fabric contain Fleas which spread the Plague.. The Village of Eyam shut itself off from the outside world and Whole families were wiped out.. a List of the Victims can be found here a website that tells the story of the Plague..
Thousands of petals and seeds were used to make this Well Dressing.. more pictures and information can be found on my links in red.
Well Dressing week was always good fun.. There would be a Village Tug of war.. and fancy dress and in the old Days there would be the Village Beauty Queen.. and I also remember taking part in the May-Pole Dancing too..
At Christmas time as I child I would be part of the Choir in my Church St Martins,
Later I went to Sunday School at the Local Wesleyan Reform Church where I went until I was 15yrs old.
At 15 I started Work and I left my childhood Horsing around Days and started upon my Adult Adventures.. 
I hope you enjoyed your Trip around the Village I grew up in..
Here is Me.. Age 5.. 
Have a Great Weekend all of you.. Sue Dreamwalker
Shifting Sands..
18 Sep 2011 27 Comments
in Inner Chatter, Poems, Travel Tags: meditation, Ocean, Peace, poems
Having had a few days relaxing by the Ocean it was nice to just chill and watch the waves roll onto the shore as I sat on the beach looking out to sea.
Often we forget to have any ‘Me’ time, and I have to say I enjoyed a whole day just doing nothing, but reading, watching the ocean and the Sky and absorbing that wonderful refreshing air only the ocean can give us.. Nothing compares with that fragrance of Sea Salt in the air as I let the breeze wash over me cleansing my spirit as I let go of everyday problems..
I never go far without my journal and I was soon inspired to write a verse. and I took a photo which I’ve uploaded here which I think captures the poem which I wrote while looking out at this scene..
It isn’t long before Nature reclaims back, as you can see the sand had crept up these steps.. Out in the distance is the Wind-Farms.. A local man we spoke too complained bitterly of his view being spoiled.. While I said I would sooner have Wind farms than a nuclear power station upon my doorstep…He turned his grumbling onto some other topic.. Some times that’s just the way of some people they have to Grumble about something.. And they Don’t Like Change.. But like the Sands as the wind shifts them, we have to understand that everything changes, nothing stays the same for ever.. And we need to embrace Change or we become stagnant and static..
I watched as the fishing boat trawled up and down most of the morning and I wondered what it was fishing as the gulls swooped in its wake.
I know I hauled in some Sea Energy that day..
And it was a Great Catch of the Day.
Shifting Sands.
How do you capture the scene of your eyes?
As fishermen travel under blue skies
How do you capture the ebb and flow?
As the ocean speaks and you want time to go slow
How do you capture the cry of a gull?
As they swoop on down casting shadows so dull
How do you capture the sand as it drifts?
As it moves on the wind as it constantly shifts
How do you capture the smell of sea air
As to the horizon you sit and stare
How do you capture the sun on your skin?
As you sit on the shore and breathe everything in
How do you capture the beauty of this earth?
As you breathe in her essence and feel her worth
How do you Capture the Scene of your Eyes?
I write down these words with inward sighs.
© Sue Dreamwalker – 2011 All rights reserved.
Eddie Kidd interview: Disabled stuntman’s heroic London Marathon walk goes on – mirror.co.uk
12 May 2011 10 Comments
in Health and wellness, News and politics, Organizations, Travel Tags: Charities, Daily Mirror, Eddie Kidd, Eddie Kidd Foundation, Leukaemia, London Marathon
Eddie Kidd. Picture Daily Mirror..
I have been following the efforts of Eddie Kidd’s courageouswalking of the London Marathon, still putting his brave one foot in front of the
other as he is raising awareness of Leukaemia in Children. And the Eddie Kidd
Foundation.. I remember watching his Dare devil Stunts such as soaring over
numerous Buses and cars in one stunt, and jumping over the Great Wall of China,..
It was in 1996 when a Stunt went badly wrong which left Eddie severely Brain
Damaged with serious injuries . Now he painstakingly walks around three quarters
of a mile a day..on a good day.. You can see his story here via link to the Daily Mirror via
their Share it link..Here If you wish to donate to help Eddie’s Charities.. see the links on the Daily Mirror site.
Eddie Kidd interview: Disabled stuntman’s heroic London Marathon walk goes on – mirror.co.uk.
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