We stood for an hour to board the Ark Royal, it was freezing cold. Hats off then to the young people who man the ship, there all day and well into the evening to clear away once the last visitor has gone, then to take the ship on it`s journey to Germany before returning to Britain. Hearts of lions! They were all so friendly and didn`t mind giving us information.

How are parents managing for money at Xmas? Saw an advert for Mr Potato Head, it said Save £17 - only £32!!! I would be gagging to pay even £10. But you get 2 sets of eyes and mouths, so that makes it ok then!! His eyes, nose and ears pop off when he hears a loud noise. I`m sorry, but what`s wrong with giving them a real potato, let them make the features, I`ll make the loud noise and they can pull the eyes off. Then there was a dinosaur for £50 that tells you when it`s nose is itchy.

Godfrey Bloom - From the man who holds that women don`t clean behind their fridges enough and that he represents Yorkshire men who want their dinners on the table. He`s made a gaff by making unprofessional Nazi jibes at a conference. How can this country ever progress with old dinosaurs like him who can`t keep his twittering pompous gossiping in order. He also states that no self respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place should employ a woman of child bearing age. Mr. Bloom, have you forgotten the roles women played during the war, poor pet , it was a long time ago and maybe he didn`t notice that since then women have been holding down jobs, professions and running homes. And by the way Clean behind your own bloody fridge, you keep food in there too don`t you?

Saw Inheritance for the third time and loved each perfomance, first at dress rehearsal, second with D and third ten of us for our lasses night out. Fabulous meal at Cafe Vivo. I was made up to receive a copy of the play from the theatre signed by the cast, writer and director. As I`m enjoying the playwriting course at Live, I can study the play along with the others we are working on.

At the Metro Centre on Sunday, D was wearing his body warmer with velcro fastenings at the front. As he left the jacket open it kept attaching itself to my new coat. The fabric was going all fluffy. We`re not into the whole keeping presents secret, I knew he wanted a Wii sports system, thingy, whatever they are called. Of course he had all of the bits on the floor setting it up once we got home. He chose a kind of avatar which was wearing an orange jumper. He was watching it stepping on and off a platform and the idea was that he was supposed to copy the actions. Little messages kept flashing on the screen "If you`re having trouble following directions......" D decided to follow the little footprints with arrows on. Then a whole load of little men in different coloured jumpers suddenly got faster.

D "Hi stop it!!! Are you videoing this?"

Result - Dwindling Fire.

So, he changes to a running programme. There are little dogs running past him through a park and lots of people running past doing backward waves at him (He`s still wearing the orange jumper like a little jaffa cake) The words come up encouraging him to wave his arms to burn off more calories. When it finishes he has a score of 94% and says that he is 2nd top

D "See that, see that 2nd top, it`s saying Roaring Fire now."
Y "Well it hadn`t much to beat as it`s only the second game you`ve played."
D "Shut up you!"

It tells him that he has a stable rhythm and if he wants to continue. He declines, then proceeds to the kitchen. Comes back with two apple pies and custard. I`m not complaining, just as long as he remembers to clean behind the fridge.

Crime and Punishment in the North East by Lorna Windham

Interested in reivers, press gangs and executioners? Then this could be the book for you! Intrigued by pickpockets, absconding miners and murderers? Then this is definitely the book for you! Fascinated by capital punishment, imprisonment or transportation? Then this is absolutely the book for you!

A great read, packed full of fascinating facts and photographs which bring the North’s past back to life.

Purchase a copy, priced only £4.99 from: www.summerhillbooks.co.uk/books/crimeandpunishment.html



About the Author

Prize winning northern author Lorna Windham's short stories have been published by Byker Books, Talking Pen and on the following websites: BBC www.bbc.co.uk/my-story/stories/family-and-friends/162653 ; the Poetry Library, Southbank Centre, London www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=24089 and National Trust for Scotland www.nts.org.uk/culloden/learning/competition.php (writing as Lorna Murray). They have been transmitted on local, hospital radio and The Talking Newspaper for the Blind.

Several of her poems have also been published in The North East Poetry Journal.

Austrian Spice Craft

Jibba Jabba at The Trent

Rewind the 60`s

Next on:
Wednesday, 09:15 on BBC One
SynopsisWe’ve reached the 1964-65 in the BBC’s celebration of the decade when Britain began to swing. Joining Lulu in the Rewind the 60s studio is fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, to chat about what it was like to be young, free and single during that exciting time.

By the mid-1960s the black and white of 50s Britain had given way to a world of colour. There was a fashion revolution going on, and Zandra tells Lulu what it was like starting out as a young designer in the mid-60s. While London was the style capital, dedicated followers of fashion could be found all around the country. We hear from Yvonne, then a teenager in Newcastle, who talks us through the experience of being a fashion-obsessive on Tyneside, and how you just couldn’t get away with some of the looks that were popular down south. People were quick to judge, and so hemlines were kept below the knee. If a girl wore a miniskirt, “ all the neighbours would be out. And saying look - its above the knee. She would be classed as someone who was quite risqué”.

We meet an ex-mod and an ex-rocker, who give us the inside story of the decade’s most notorious gang rivalry. As John, a mod, admits, “it didn’t bother us being labelled as hooligans. Because that’s what we were.” Nevertheless, he tells us about witnessing the infamous tussles between mods and rockers on Brighton Beach, and describes how he feels the media blew it out of all proportion. Also in today’s episode, Charlie Ross discovers how the mods achieved ‘Lambrettability’ with that most groovy of fashion accessories – the scooter. But why was it the mods favourite mode of transport? Apparently it was just perfect if you wanted to avoid getting oil on your bottle-green mohair suit.

The sixties was a great time to be young, and with the launch of Top of The Pops even the stuffy old BBC were taking teenagers seriously. In 1964, one young man suddenly found himself in the heart of the establishment. Robin Wilson recalls how, as a student at Oxford, he watched the results of the 1964 general election with the growing realisation that his father Harold was going to be the next prime minister. Robin tells us what it was like living in a flat at the top of 10 Downing Street, meeting pop stars and celebrities at swanky receptions, and having the PM pop upstairs to join the family for lunch, as he took a quick break from running the country.

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Tom Taylor

Check out the Retro Sweet Shop on Fenham Hall Drive. Mint humbugs, freshly made popcorn and all of the sweets you can remember from your childhood. You can sit down and enjoy a cake and giant cup of tea. Tom is also a performer, Freddie Mercury and Norman Wisdom tribute acts and events specialist.

Books on Tyne

Took advantage of the free sessions at Central Library this weekend. Saturday, Peter Mortimer held a playwriting workshop. He listened as we took turns in speaking about our works in progress and gave advice. We all wrote something and received a critique. We made enquiries with library staff to see if Peter could take a day workshop. Sunday, Tom Kelly, poet and playwright gave excellent readings from his forthcoming book and recounted his memories from when he lived at Hope Street, Jarrow. A Greggs corned beef pastie later, I went to see Geoff Laws, cartoonist. He gave a great presentation of his work with tips and funny stories.

Watched Abigail`s Party for the umpteenth time on BBC 4 last night. Alison Steadman was also interviewed before the play started and I hadn`t realised that she was the eco friendly woolly hatted actress in Nuts in May, which I also loved.

To prevent D watching one of those programmes where people tell the world all their seedy secrets on live tv, I put Blue Peter on. A team of explorers went into a cave which over the years had amassed a floor of shit which had dropped from the entrance above. The occasional unlucky bat got caught in the pile to be eaten alive by the swarming masses of cockroaches. The floor actually looked as if it was moving. One lad moved a rock and the most disgusting creature the length of his forearm scuttled out, a scutigera. It`s a kind of centipede with the longest spindliest legs I`ve ever seen. As he was holding the rock with one of these buggers sitting on it, another ran out over his leg. Then, we saw one of them running along with a cockroach in it`s nashers. How people do these jobs!! Hearts of lions.

Inheritance (Live Theatre)

Everyone should go to see this brilliant play. The acting is superb. I loved every minute of the performance, what a cast!! I felt as if I`d been hit by a steamroller, it brought back feelings I thought were buried, made me laugh and cry in equal measure. I was at the dress rehearsal last night and will be there again tonight.

I love Melanie Hill`s acting having seen her feisty Aveline in Bread, that`s the way she should be played in a family of wide boys, she would have had to stand her ground. She was great in Auf Weidersehen and Joe Maddison`s War. David Hargreaves - first time I`ve seen him, but what an actor, I must look for films he`s been in!! Martina Laird, portrays a businesswoman who is upwardly mobile superbly. Matthew Wait gets the laughs and Steven Hillman is hilarious and shows the tensions of sibling rivalry and brotherly love to perfection.

This will be with me for a long time to come. Well done everyone concerned!!!

What a priviledge to have seen this.

Westenders book launch 30th October

What a day on 30th October! We set up the St James Heritage Centre Hall ready for the launch of Westenders. Around 70 turned up and we sold 52 books. There was a great atmosphere, people eating scones and drinking tea, looking through the photographs from the collection. Stephen Watson set up his drawings which are excellent, he`s now working at Beamish Museum getting togged up in period clothing.

We then went on to the Slug and Lettuce for a coffee. Then straight to the West Denton Fire station where I had booked the room for the Benwell Reunion. I set out the tablecloths,white with black lace ones on top and Poundland spooky paper plates, when all the guests came they put out food they`d brought, the table was groaning. I set up a raffle and lots of great prizes were donated. Around 100 turned up, so I`ve easily raised the money to book the hall again for next year. Sold another 40 books.

Travelling back from town today a young lass boarded the bus with a huge pram which had a little seat and two wheels which attached to the back of the pram to accommodate a toddler. It took up all of the space on one side of the bus. A little old lady sat with a small shopping trolley on the other side. Then, another mother got on with her buggy. This was a big bugger too, so she struggled around the alleyway to fit it in. Then the first mother shouted across "It`s these shopping trolley`s that are the problem!" She`d be the same one who will complain about prams when she`s a pensioner. How does she think old people manage to go for shopping, hauling heavy goods with arthritic arms. Put your kid in a foldy up push chair for goodness sake. I suppose if a wheelchair user had got on she would have had something to say. Why don`t we all stay at home so that she can swan around with her armoured vehicle? Well, that`s my post menopause rant over, ahhhhh, that`s better. Now where`s my notepad, I`m just in the mood to send a letter to the council!!