Wolds Diary: Run of good luck as youngsters take pride in impressive work

When the weather has been kind I have ventured forth with the dogs for pleasant walks. Then, of course, the garden needed attention, especially the grass that has grown so fast that I am sure there must be fertilizer in the rain.

I even ate some pears from my own trees this week. They were small but sweet. The trees are very young and still establishing themselves.

I have a young friend, Henry, who has just left his primary school and is now coming to Woldgate College just round the corner from me. He and four of his friends decided to give something back to their school at Melbourne before they left, and spent a lot of their summer holidays sourcing, planning, creating and building a bird hide in the school grounds.

I was one of the guests privileged to be invited to visit the finished project. I was very impressed and full of admiration for the work and thought that had gone into it. They had help from various organizations, like the Lions and a local nursery but the children constructed the building and worked hard to make it a lasting asset to the school that had given them so much.

Some of our young people are really quite remarkable and I admire them.

I was invited to speak to the Trefoil Guild at the Methodist Church at Driffield on the Tuesday evening. I duly arrived at the appointed time and was lucky enough to find a parking space, as the local karate club were also meeting there. The Methodist church building is rather like the Tardis. It is apparently enormous inside, with a never-ending complex of rooms whichever way you turn.

I had time to look round before the meeting began. They had a book stall there, always a fatal attraction for me. I managed to purchase quite a few and stuff them in my bag before things got underway.

They were a really charming, friendly and interesting group of ladies and I left before the supper started, as I knew only too well that I’d lose any diet regime once I had even looked at the array of cakes.

They did explain that the building was due for demolition to allow a new and modern Methodist church to be constructed, that will, I presume, be cheaper to run and have easier access for some folk that need it.

I found a couple of new walks for the dogs this week. One is a woodland where I suspect my staffie will get rather too excited with the squirrels but will suit my older dog very well.

The other is a footpath that climbs up through an ancient wood with fine trees before opening out onto a path along the side of a wonderful dry Wolds dale.

There was a slight problem with this one, too. On either side of the path there are hundreds of pheasants, obviously well fed and looked after by a good keeper but even the presence of my staid and elderly border collie on a lead, as requested at the beginning of the walk, seemed to induce mass hysteria among the lying-in-wait birds.

I would not willingly distress birds so I turned round and retraced my steps. As I got back to the car the heavens opened so maybe it was for the best anyway.

I must be getting fitter. I managed the climb of 52 big steps up to the bell ringing room in the tower of our fine parish church of All Saints at Pocklington, without any distress and only a little breathlessness.

I’ve been very lucky this week, in many ways. I decided to go into York, but didn’t bother to check the timetable, and thought I might catch the bus and parked up and walked to the bus station fully aware I might have a bit of a wait. I arrived just as the bus was about to leave.

In York a similar thing happened for the journey back. Then I popped to the supermarket and discovered I had won £25 on the lottery. When your luck’s in, your luck’s in.