Wonderful Britain

For those times when you are perhaps seeking a moment of tranquility, connecting with the environment just seems to work.  Fortunately for me, Stourhead a National Trust property in Wiltshire is just a stones throw from home.  It’s the perfect place for a Sunday morning stroll, whatever the season.

I visit Stourhead many times during the year to exercise or just to soothe the soul. To take the opportunity to sit awhile and think.

Just sitting, relaxing, taking in the moment reminds me of the words of Indra Devi…

“Like water which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed,

the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed”

My last visit was early in the morning, before the bulk of the visitors arrived. After a heart pounding stroll up the hill to the Temple of Apollo, I took in the fanatstic views across the lake. The colours are glorious, with just the gentle bird song to relax to.

As a National Trust property this is a popular location for tourists, locals, members, walking groups and of course, photographers. With an active population of swan, geese and ducks providing light entertainment throughout the day.

I settled on a bench on the edge of the lake for a while. Perfect timing as twenty or so geese swam gently in my direction and proceeded to gobble up the grass around me.

I’m fascinated by the trouble and attention to detail an amateur photographer takes to capture the ‘perfect’ image. A momentary thought passes across my mind, I wonder how many times this place has been photographed?

Then I’m quickly back to my own pair of optical lenses, allowing my brain to absorb as much of the beauty as possible.

Yep, Stourhead gets the vote from me as a Wonderful Britain Habitat.

A traveller is tortured, before he and his companions are run out of town and their homes set alight. Mikey,a small time criminal is coerced into becoming a drug dealer. Hammer, a psychopathic killer is set loose. A scientist is blackmailed and he and his daughter kidnapped. A journalist who has had contact with the scientist, is also kidnapped and later murdered. All courtesy of Keenyside,a corrupt detective, trying to continue financing the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.

Jamal, a teenage boy finds a disc made by the journalist and scientist and sees a way to get away from the street life he is enduring. He makes a call for help to a reclusive journalist, but the disc is stolen and he finds himself at the mercy of Father Jack, a drug dealing pimp, who is under the umbrella of a corrupt council.

Donovan, a reclusive journalist, still grieving the loss of his young son, teams up with Maria,a colleague and a duo of security experts, to trace the missing journalist, the teenage boy and the incriminating disc.

Father Jack is captured and turned over to the police, with enough evidence to finally get him off the streets for good. Maria is killed by Hammer. A fake deal is set up with the police to trap Keenyside, but they reckon without Mikey, who has plans of his own.

After Hammer has killed his friend, he vows that he won't be blackmailed by the detective any more, but realises that any action he takes need to be final. He unwittingly bursts in on the fake deal and shoots at Keenyside, killing several innocent people, but allowing the detective to escape.

Donovan tracks Keenyside to where he is still holding the scientist and his daughter, but is captured. Keenyside is about to kill Donovan, when Mikey arrives, shoots the detective, then turns the gun on himself. Donovan realises that his marriage cannot be put back together after his near breakdown over his son,so decides to offer a home to Jamal.

Donovan and the security duo go into business selling information. This book was; fast moving, racey, had just the right amount of violence, and touched on today's issues of drugs, street life for young people, police corruption and the power of investigative journalism. It was a real page turner for me and I was sad when I finished it.
Visit the author at www.martynwaites.com

It is 1936 and Gwen Purdy leaves her comfortable home, family and fiance, to take up a short-term contract as a schoolteacher, in a poor area of Birmingham, against everyone's wishes.
Her first few days are a shocking eye-opener; as she faces a large class of some of the poorest children, from Birmingham's slum areas.
The head master clearly believes in corporal punishment, which he uses to full effect, at every opportunity; sometimes too willingly for Gwen's liking!!
One of the more senior teachers becomes an inspiration to Gwen, as she struggles to understand the appalling hardships endured by her class.
Slowly she is drawn into their lives, particularly Joey Phillips, whose Father has left him, his siblings and their dying Mother, to fend for themselves. He hides all this from Gwen, but when his Mother dies and his siblings are taken off to Barnardos, he runs away.
Meanwhile Gwen has been introduced to Daniel, one of her pupils older brother. He is a union activist from a Welsh mining background and against all odds, Gwen finds herself falling in love with him.
She realises that marriage to the local minister back home, is no longer what she wants, but in ending the relationship, she estranges herself from her family and has to come to terms with the fact that there is no going back.
Daniel finds Joey, whilst he is away from the area on union work and reunites him with Gwen, who together with her landlady and by now friend Ariadne, decide to take him in and care for him.
Gwen decides to stay on at the school, where she nows feels at home, but  Daniel is always on her mind, even when she finds out that he has a shocking secret!
As the International Brigade is mobilized to fight in the Spanish Civil War, Daniel prepares to leave. Gwen has to face the fact that they may never be together, despite her love for him, but realises that she can face things on her own and make her own decisions.
Like her childhood heroine Amy Johnson, she is learning how to fly!!

Read about the author at www.anniemurray.co.uk

In 1920,s Birmingham three girls from very different backgrounds set out with one dream, to dance.
Nell escapes from a home in the slums and from a violent and abusive Father, who believes that any wage that his daughter earns belongs to him.
Kitty has everything material, wealth and a fantastic home, but an uncaring family; no known Father and a Mother who is greatly involved in the suffrage movement and spends little or no time at home.
Gwyneth has both Mother and Father, but her Father is a bigoted preacher, who allows Gwyneth no freedom and her Mother is a defeated woman, too tired to fight for her daughter.
Through a series of coincidences, the three girls meet and an unlikely friendship is formed, fuelled by their common goal: to dance at the Folies-Bergere.
They begin dancing classes and are soon caught up in moment, and although Kitty is not as commited as Gwyneth and Nell, all three realise their dream to dance in Paris.
Gwyneth and Nell are soon caught up in Kitty's society life and their lives begin to change. Gwyneth is attracted to Tomothy, one of Kitty's society friends, but realises that marriage to him is a mistake, because of the difference in their backgrounds and also that she wishes to continue dancing in Paris.
Kitty, from boredom, decides to give up dancing and after a string of wealthy and often married suitors, marries a rich Italian Prince, who is much older than she, then puts a brave face on the mistake she realises she has made.
Nell has always been in love with one of Kitty's acquaintances, Paul a Doctor , and he with her. Nell, however, believes herself not to be good enough and unsuitable as his wife. Instead she is pusued by Tom, someone more from her own class, a social climber, who has come good and risen up the ladder in the union movement. After a series of unfortunate events, when Tom is revealed in his true colours, convinced that he his doing Nell a great honour by wanting to marry her, Paul eventually shows his hand and proposes to Nell.

This book was first published in 1988, but I have only just come across it, buried deep in the shelves of my bookcase. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it immensely. Marina Oliver writes with a great sensitivity about the nature of the times. The fickle nature of many of the wealthy classes, who flit from thing to thing and person to person, generally through boredom, but seemingly without a care to anyone elses feelings. Then the other end of the spectrum, where people live in slums and squalor, often with several children, many of whom did not survive. Violence and abuse is  an accepted scenario and to break free and try to better yourself, almost an impossibility, without taking drastic action, from which there is no going back.

Marina Oliver has written several books and can be found at: www.marina-oliver.net

Stop and think for a few minutes, about all the people around you, who do voluntary work in some capacity, approx 27% of the population apparently!

Hospital Radio, Environmental/Conservation Projects, Lifeboatmen, Mountain Rescue, Air Ambulance, Girl Guide Leader, Hospital ward Volunteer, Pet Rescue Centres, National Trust,Charity Shop Retail Helpers ..... the list is endless.

I have helped in the voluntary sector for over 20 years, in Charity Shop Retail. This has been with a variety of National charities, but for the last 8 years has been with my local Hospice Shop. Being a part of a smaller organisation, has, on the whole, been a much more rewarding experience, that I have enjoyed immensley.

I have always been amazed at the dedication of the people I work with. Many of them are well into their 70's and even 80's and several of them have been helping the charity, since it was started in someone's front room! Today there are 19 shops in a small area of the Southwest, which are very modern and well equipped. Our own shop has a rotating shift of approximately 40 volunteers, who appear come rain or shine to help out in a variety of roles.

The generosity of the public is also amazing, with their volume of donated stock for us to sell, and without which, we would not be able to open our doors. Just remember, when that charity sack lands on you doormat; that the item of clothing that you no longer wear, the ornament you had as a gift and never really liked, or the book you read once and is sat on the shelf, may be a life-line to someone else!

People volunteer for a whole variety of reasons, with many even risking their own lives, but all wanting the same basic outcome, to feel fulfilled, to put something back into society, and help someone else along the way.

Now, think what would happen if all those volunteers disappeared tomorrow!!!

Gillian is an amazing woman, one of those unique people who really can live up to the statement, ’she’s a woman, of course she can multi-task’

For over two decades Gill has been running her dress design and tailoring business catering for the quirky, the beautiful, the demanding and the appreciative. You see, it’s not a dress design business at all. It’s all about how you make someone feel fantastic, confident, glamorous and stand out in a crowd. Sounds more like therapy

But that isn’t what makes Gill special. In between keeping the clients swathed in beauty, she has brought up two fantastic young women, and constantly battled with  the side effects and setbacks of progressive kidney failure. Does she complain – Nope. She loves what she does, and so do her clients.

From wedding parties to dance troupes, from transgenders to inebriated celebrities, Prom outfits to uniforms – even the epaulettes on a Traffic Warden!  Gill loves her customers.

Gill’s business isn’t large by any standards, but her heart is. She could have given up at anytime. I suspect most of us would have,  if we had walked in the same steps for a while.

I thought maybe Gill had a strange addiction to needles. I mean, why else would you spend your day having people put needles in you, then go home and get out more needles!  But no, Gill has always had a passion for art and design. After she left tertiary education Gill went on to study Art and Design at college in Gloucester and hasn’t looked back since. It’s in her blood, as they say (although in Gill’s case someone elses).

In fact, Gill would tell you running her own business gives her freedom. Freedom to express her individuality, the flexibility to deal with her illness (something that most employers would find impossible to accommodate), and the freedom to be there for her children as they grew up.

Has it been tough, sure has. Deadlines to meet, sometimes physical constraints, but nothing dampens Gill’s resolve. A resolve I suspect shared by many self-employed people.

So next time you see a friend at their wedding, or a mate at their prom, a mum at the christening of their child, or a Riverdance inspired spectacular at your local theatre… take a sneaky peak at the label, it might say a lot more than just a name.

I caught the end of a debate on the radio, a couple of days ago. The main focus seemed to be, that modern parents could see little, if any, relevance of Nursery rhymes in today's society. The basis of their argument seems to be that children today are much more advanced and knowledgeable, and much prefer to be read to from a story book, which the parents thought had much more meaning and content. It was astounding to hear that nearly all of the adults interviewed didn't even know the complete first verse of Jack and Jill. I seem to remember that reciting Nursery Rhymes was a social classroom event, where everyone participated, which made it a fun thing to do.

I do agree that we need to keep children reading, it's just a shame that they all seem to abandon the idea in teenage years, and keeping abreast of current affairs and events is very hit and miss. I was always a bookaholic as a child and still am today. I always had a bookcase full of books, although you only ever got to have a new one when it was your birthday or Xmas. My bookcase was made by my father, as a welcome home present, when I had to go into hospital to have my tonsils removed, aged about 6 or 7. I can remember being quite willing to go to bed early, so that I could read until the designated "lights out" time. Annuals were some of my favourites; Girl's Crystal, Princess Tina and Judy are a few that I can remember. Books included, just about every Enid Blyton book I could get my hands on; The Famous Five; The Secret Seven; Malory Towers etc. There was also Black Beauty by Anna Sewell; The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind In The Willows.

Saturday afternoon was always my favourite time of the week, as we all went as a family to the town library. I can remember there was a central lobby, with 3 separate doors leading from it; to the reference library, adults library and children's library. It was great the first time I was allowed into the children's library on my own, whilst my parents went into the adults library. That was in the days before library cards, when each book had it's own ticket, which was removed and filed ready to be replaced when you returned the book, then the book was stamped with the return date. Seeing the date being stamped inside the cover was always great fun and right up until I left school, I always harboured a secret yearning to become a Librarian. Although I think I would have spent too long reading the books, to actually let people borrow them and woe betide anyone who would dare to damage or deface the books !!

Do you ever get frustrated by the negativity of those around you, or the constant stream of put downs about the country you live in?

Perfect it isn't, but Britain still has a tremendous amount to offer its inhabitants and visitors. For me it's all about perspective. Don't worry, I'm not living in some dream utopian world, where everyone is happy, happy!

But there is always an opportunity to strike a better balance. An opportunity to observe, or better, contribute to all that is Wonderful Britain.

For me, Wonderful Britain is an opportunity to keep my spirits lifted and hopefully some of you share this view as well.

This is not about nationalism, or that we are better or more specially unique  than other countries. It is about how we perceive and perhaps choose to celebrate the positive aspects of our society.

Our aim

At Wonderful Britain our aim is simple - to build a community that  gives recognition to the uplifting attributes of our society. Perhaps recognition to...

• The humanity of our people
• The beauty of our habitat
• The things that make us laugh
• The enterprise and inspiration of our entrepreneurs
• The warmth of our hospitality
• The value of our heritage
• The nostalgic comfort from our memories
• The hopes and aspirations we have for our future

We can be quick to moan and complain, even blame. Wonderful Britain is an opportunity to reflect and rejoice in the people and aspects of your life, which give a moment of joy and happiness to you or those around you?

Welcome to Wonderful Britain!