THE FOLLOWING ENTRY SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE TO MY WETHERBY ADVENTURES BLOG BUT ENDED UP HERE THRU PLAIN SILLINESS. So here it stays as i don't know how to move it.
June was the month to remember. And I'll start this blog of with some words rather than the usual photo.
Sure, summer has arrived and is pleasant partly because of the beer festivals that continue to amuse us and the many community days that happen.
I try to ensure these pages concentrate on the good times we have from Wetherby and I hope you read them as such but life is life and things do crop up that are less than pleasant, I just choose not to capture them on these pages for perpetuity.
The most rememberable thing of June however was that Gail's employer announced REDUNDANCIES for their mobile radiographers (Gail) would be rolled out over two weeks. There will now be half the mobile vans and the mobile staff will number 47, down from 150. The stress we lived with for those days was intense and the relief most exquisite when Gail was told that because she could lead days on DEXA vans she was spared from the cut this time.
We so need her employment as without it we have no work visa and must leave the UK. From reviewing these pages you could guess WE DON'T WANT TO GOOOOO!
Just the thought of leaving Wetherby is enough to make us cry right now, we have made many good friends and our life is quite quite pleasant. So the good news is that we stay, for now. In February we apply to Her Majesty for our permanent residency (we have studied, sat for and passed the living in the UK test necessary to be able to apply for the permanent leave to remain here) and hopefully our fortunes will become more secure.
But that is quite enough of the dire side of life.
Let's talk beer festivals.
We have been to three, Boston Spa, Wetherby and Clifford. Photos follow of Wetherby's and Clifford's as I didn't take the camera to Boston Spa. All were great days, different but similar enough to equally classify as great days. Boston Spa and Clifford finished with a Thai restaurant meal for many and the Wetherby one Gail and I ended up walking back from Rob and Angela's house very early the next morning.
The shots here are of the Wetherby Beer Festival.
There was a band of kids from the local school doing up to the minute gunge rock and pop covers who were only bearable because of their enthusiasm. No the blokes below were not them , These were a loose gathering of ex-hippies who all happened to all know some of the same tunes from the 60's and 70's. They were great in fact and by far more suited to the casual sampling of 30 odd local brewed ales.
You can see the back of Gail's head here, we met up with Kim Danby (Gail's colleague) and her sister Tessa, also back of head shot, and opposite Gail is Rob Guest and Angela's back of head. We were quite lucky to secure a table just out of the screaming cry of the grunge boys and while I acknowledge the photo does not capture the mood or the faces, we did enjoy the spot and the day.
The Wetherby Beer festival is advertised as being family friendly and the bouncy castles etc prove it.
Clifford Beer Festival fell on a near 30 degree heat wave day so the community hall was full to overflowing in the great weather and hundreds of folk turned up for a great bit of sampling and endless talk as well as a bit of music.
I think this is the best shot I have taken of the ales being pulled , there are usually about 30 local brewed ales a few ciders, a perry or two and some rather scrappy wines. A pint costs 2 pound 40p a half pint half that. All beer festivals are run to earn funds for local causes so you feel like you are doing good as you progress to feeling gooder and gooder.
Inside the hall with the beer and the band all got a bit close and crowded,
So we commandeered the gazebo while a few hundred others sought the shade of trees or lounged on the lawn. I this shot are my legs, tom the dog, Rob, James Emma, eddie the dog and Angela's knees.
The shot below has nothing to do with festivals but is our local pub, The Muse. It's a short walk from home, has nice clientele, good food and a fine selection of locally brewed ales.
But..... Just so you don't think all we do is drink ale, we also go to cultural things and stuff. This was a fine art auction which we didn't buy anything from but there were Dali's, Picasso's, Ruben's and other cleffa painters and drawers.
This one below was purported to be an Andy Warhol, but we didn't like it either. By and large the works did not sell well with many passed in and some selling for little money. You really have to know what you are buying with this stuff so we didn't.
We also went to a Leeds open art event where young artists get to show their gear and seek reactions from the public. Here I am taking to Rob in front of his works, he uses veneers and slivers of film to create shapes. We are going to take delivery of the dog in the bottom left of frame.
Of course we live on the Wharfe river, or the River Wharfe to be correct about it. This time of year the water gets a lot of use, there is the annual raft race where sometimes the teams finish the course.
There is the annual Pram race in support of the care flight helicopter service which rescues accident victims and received no government funding so we try to help them out in Wetherby.
There is usually a rock band playing out of the back of a soft sided semi-trailer
And the River is always spectacular, see the heron in this shot?
Not in anyway to seek forgiveness we went to Beverly Minster, about an hour or so south of Wetherby. A Minster is a teaching church and Beverly was quite the destination for pilgrims a few hundred years ago.
http://beverleyminster.org.uk/ will tell you all you want to know about it's Gothic and pre Gothic history.
We were taken up into the rafters to see how it was built. The man powered walking wheel crane is the only operating medieval one in the world or western Europe or England I didn't pay attention. Today it is used not to lift stones and roofing timbers but the boss above the organ so tourists like us can look and see down . It is a fantastic and rare experience for which we are really grateful the church man took the time and enthusiasm to explain to us.
This is the gilded boss the wheel lifted up, it's about two meters across.
And this is the view down through the hole it opens looking down 80 foot or so to the top of the huge church organ and prayer space.
While walking trough the roof space you get to look out through the huge sectioned windows at the top of the spires. This one looks over the old first and second world war air fields and into many of the slivers of ancient glass, people have etched their names and drawn images of air planes of the ages. From bi-planes to the shuttle with early jets and recent fighters all featuring. Most interesting.
This is a rose from our bush in the back garden. I only include it because the picture turned out so good.
Also in our back yard.
And a great shot Gail took of a couple of young blokes angling in the Wharfe just below the bridge into town.
And because I have to Gail says here is the furry animal shot for June. (it and the Clifford beer festival actually were in early July but who cares really.)
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