Chorlton Good Neighbours Care Group has been active in Chorlton, Manchester since 1967. This blog aims to capture the experiences of our members, many of whom are in their 80's and 90's. It also documents the variety of events and activities that take place in our group each week. Take a look at our website at http://chorltongoodneighbours.org
On a cold damp Friday morning in March (08-03-13) the Chorlton Good Neighbours gardening group made a start on assembling the newly purchased B&Q 10' x 8' greenhouse
John, our resident DIY supremo had already made a wooden template for the base, so today was about levelling the ground, digging a trench, ramming the earth flat, putting coarse grit and sand down and then laying & mortaring the breeze blocks. Finally the aluminium base was assembled and put on top of the breeze blocks
The next day, Saturday 9th March 2013, saw us start on the next stage of assembling the greenhouse . It was another cold and damp day. The base had been constructed the day before. The ground had been levelled and a trench had been dug out for the breeze block base. We had pummeled the earth solid and flat using a rammer, then we laid a load of sandy gravel. John then put the breeze blocks in position and mortared in between the joints. Meanwhile the aluminium base had been assembled and we put in place on top of the breeze blocks and left it overnight to set.
On Saturday morning we started assembling the aluminium greenhouse frame, starting with the rear gable. Again, John took the lead and after finding the relevant struts and nuts, bolts and fixing plates we eventually managed to complete the rear side of the greenhouse. By then we were all so cold (especially our fingers from working with nuts and bolts on the cold aluminium) , that we called it a day. Next step, the front panel and door!
Good Neighbours gets funding for its weekly exercise sessions with the Getting Active Through Exercise (GATE) Project. These sessions take place on Mondays (1.30 pm), Wednesdays (1.30pm) and Fridays at 10.00am.
In order to evaluate how useful these sessions are to participants Good Neighbours and GATE cooperated in carrying out a survey of those who attend these classes. A full report of this survey and those carried out at GATE funded exercise classes elsewhere in Manchester will be published late, but the initial findings from the CGN survey are now available
Nearly all the replies gathered through the survey exercise were extremely positive, and has shown that the GATE project classes are a well received, popular service of benefit to the attendees of the classes taking place at Chorlton Good Neighbours. 54 filled in questionnaires out of a possible 65, which is a high response rate (84%)
Attendees ages ranged from 65 to 96, with the average age being 79 which shows you are never too old to exercise
One if four got to the sessions by transport provided by CGN, without which they would have been unable to attend. Many thanks to the volunteer drivers who make this possible
The respondents reported that as a result of attending the classes they had
confidence in preparing or cooking a light meal (54%)
increased confidence in walking round the house (53%)
Confidence doing light housework (48%)
Confidence going out to do light shopping (41%)
In order of importance they rated the following benefits of coming to the classes:
greater flexibility (28%)
spending time with others (17%)
decreased joint pain (12%)
greater confidence (11%)
decreased muscle pain (8%)
improved strength (7%)
better sleep (6%)
increased motivations and more energy (5%)
A large number of respondents have reported increased levels of activity, increased and prolonged mobility and increased confidence in their mobility levels, directly as a result of attending and participating in the GATE project exercise classes.
Also, a large number of respondents have reported that attending the classes has improved their sense of wellbeing, improved their social lives and helped combat feelings of isolation and loneliness. This anecdotal reporting of improved wellbeing and by default, improved mental health, cannot be underestimated and is extremely valuable information for both service providers and commissioners.
Another lovely Friday morning on Feb 15th 2013 in the Chorlton Good Neighbours garden plot.
The seedlings are coming on, the potatoes are chitting and we planted some primroses which give a bit of colour to the garden. The previous day we picked up some spent hops from the Dunham Massey brewery and we have spread them on the rather claggy soil near the raised beds. The 10x8 greenhouse has now been ordered so hopefull that will arrive in the next few weeks
After Christmas it was back to normal for the Good Neighbour's Sunday Teas which take place the first Sunday of each month. At this tea, members were entertained by the Tony and Lisa of the Lee Tones who sang such songs as Mary Wells's "My Guy", Connie Francis's "Who's Sorry Now", Carole Kings's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" which still sounds as fresh today as when it came out 55 years ago
Helen also talks to Charlene a new volunteer who gives her impression of a first visit to our Sunday Tea event
Even at our first attempt the Chorlton Good Neighbours garden was productive.
Here Carolyn is arranging potatoes and collecting Kale and other goods for sale at one of the Thursday Coffee Mornings.
Chorlton Good Neighbours has an exhibition of the art work produced by its members who attend the art class on Thursday mornings. Here are Pauline and Margaret in front of the exhibition at Chorlton Library which runs until the end of February
The art work in place on the noticeboard in the foyer of Chorlton Library
Margaret Banks who runs the Art Class is here discussing with Pauline Robinson the best way of exhibiting the art work
On the other noticeboard in the foyer of the library we have also got information about the older men's group, tincluding the gardening club and the snooker and social afternoons. Also posters about our History Group which meets at 1.30pm on the first Thursday of each month
John Mackay - another Chorlton Arctic Convoy Veteran
We have been running a campaign to enable Arctic Convoy veteran Bob Cowan to receive an Arctic Convoy World War 2 Campaign medal that the Russian Government wishes to award all those who supported the Russian war effort in this way. This Ushakov medal is still being blocked by UK government as "being against the rules". However, the Prime Minister announced just before Christmas that they will be awarding a UK Arctic Convoy campaign medal.
We are holding a Chorlton Good Neighbours History group event on Thursday Feb 7th at 1.30pm to celebrate our own WW2 veterans including Bob Cowan. We are also inviting to this event, John Mackay, who we recently discovered, is another Arctic Convoy veteran who lives in Chorlton. I interviewed him earlier this month and here is a video of some of that interview where he talks about his experiences on HMS Keppel in the Arctic Convoys
One of his memories is of the of the Sinking of HMS Kite on the 21st Aug 1944 l. This was published in a book about WW2 naval disasters [1].
"I was asleep in my hammock when I was woken by an explosion, shortly followed by a second. I was up and into my boots as action stations sounded. I already had my duffel coat on as we were ordered by the captain to sleep fully clothed in case we ourselves were hit by a U-Boat torpedo. I made my way onto the upper deck and headed for my action station, HMS Kite was astern of our position and sinking fast. Within no more than a minute of me reaching the upper deck HMS Kite was fully submerged. I made my way to the bridge, where my action station was, and carried out a sweep of the surrounding area but could not pick up a contact with the U-Boat. The Keppel circled the survivors as we continued to look for the U-Boat responsible for sinking HMS Kite until support arrived. When both HMS Mermaid and Peacock arrived the Keppel then drifted amongst the survivors who were scattered far apart. I had been ordered to go to the foc'sle with a hard line, where I saw a large number of the men covered in thick oil and clinging to carley rafts or bits of wreckage.
I was stood alongside AB Pritchard when a carley raft with two men on it came towards us. AB Pritchard threw his line out to the men but it fell short. One of the men on the raft shouted 'are you too old to throw a line'. As both AB Pritchard and myself were a lot older than the rest of our crew it was not uncommon for our own shipmates to comment on our age. The men in the carley raft must have been wondering who had been sent to rescue them as they drifted aft where they were eventually hauled on board. Many of the survivors on wreckage tried to swim to the Keppel and I saw several seamen drown as they did not have the energy to make it to us. I still believe that a lot more would have made it if they had held onto whatever wreckage they were clinging to and waited until we could launch our own whaler. I suppose panic and fear take control of you in such an awful situation
.
Afterwe had collected all the remaining survivors we headed back towards the protection of the fleet and I went below to our mess. One of the survivors was in our mess telling us of his ordeal. I remember some of the Keppel crew members trying to make light of what had happened to him by asking him how it was he had only got his feet wet. He told us that he had jumped from the deck of the sinking Kite straight into a carley raft. We gave him the nickname of 'CAT'. It was not long before we were given our orders to leave the fleet again and search for the u-boat that had sunk HMS Kite.
Unfortunately not all that were rescued by us from the icy waters of the North Atlantic survived and both myself and AB Pritchard, being older members of the crew, were detailed to prepare the dead seamen for burial. This entailed wrapping their bodies in canvas, putting weights at their feet and sewing up the canvas putting the last stitch through the nose (old navy superstition).
My duty at the burial service was to place the dead seamen one at a time on a sloping board and cover them with the Royal Navy flag. We held onto the body and flag whist a short service was carried out. The officer leading the service would then give us the signal to release the body into the sea and to their grave. Each individual received the same service whether they were an officer or not. Only a few of our crew attended these services as our new orders were to search for the u-boat that had sunk HMS Kite and the Keppel had to be fully manned".
Bernard Leach
[1]On a Sailor's Grave (No Roses Grow) Maritime Disasters of the Second World War, Mike Kemble, Woodfield Publishing , 2005 pp153-154
Chorlton’s World War 2 Veterans Thurs Feb 7th 2013 1.30pm
At Chorlton Good Neighbours, Wilbraham St Ninian’s Church , Egerton Rd South, Chorlton
£1.50 charge for tea & biscuits - All welcome
A tribute to some of Chorlton Good Neighbours members who served in World War Two:
Bob Cowan, for whom we mounted a successful campaign for an Arctic Convoy medal to be awarded to veterans such as himself and also John Mackay of Chorlton who is also a veteran of the Arctic Convoys
Alan Wood, fighter pilot, who was once shot down over the North Sea and was adrift in a one-man dinghy for 4 days
Mickie Mitchell, who drove army petrol tankers round during the Manchester blitz
The session, led by Bernard Leach, will include film footage of the Arctic Convoys, an interview with Bob Cowan and a presentation to Bob to mark his being awarded the recently announced Arctic Convoy Survivors medal. We have also invited the Russian Ambassador to present the medal of Ushakov which the Russian Federation have awarded to Arctic Convoy veterans. We hope that Bob, John, Alan and Mickie will all be at the presentation to contribute and answer questions
AB Seaman Bob Cowan 1941
HMS Mashona, 1942
Alan Wood, fighter pilot 1941
For further information ring Chorlton Good Neighbours on 881 2925 or email BTLeach@gmail.com
Les Jones singing at the New Year's Party held on Tues Jan 8th 2013. Les stepped into the breach when the entertainers who had been booked, called off at the last minute as one of their number was taken to hospital.
