December | 2013 | Mary's Blog

Archive for December, 2013

Happy New Year!

Posted in General on December 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Darwin’s theory of natural selection, loosely stated, says that organisms are more likely to succeed if they adapt. Adapting one’s situation to a suitable environment is certainly a good way to advance in life. That’s why I arrived in East Yorkshire from Boreham Wood some time ago with late husband Bill, when he moved to a new job with Smith and Nephew. That’s why I travelled 300 miles to Newmarket with husband Douglas to spend Christmas with daughters Karen and her family and Kim. That’s why Kim travelled a similar distance from Devon. My son Bryn and family stayed in France, where I travel from time to time to catch up with the French side of things.

Christmas meals were cooked in style by both daughters with games and refreshments to follow. A simple family life as it should be. It was delightful, refreshing and the weather was perfect. What more can you ask for in this life?

I wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year!

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Haltemprice Leisure Centre – fly in the ointment?

Posted in Culture, Local news on December 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Artist’s impression of new public library

Congratulations to East Riding Council. Soon Anlaby will become the “Jewel in the County” as the massive refurbishment of the Haltemprice Leisure Centre completes in autumn 2014.

To have a spanking new – refurbished – leisure centre is a major development for all to enjoy. Couple that with a state-of-the-art public library is a dream come true, particularly when you consider the library closures in other parts of the U.K.

However, there could be a “fly in the ointment” for some Anlaby residents, when the current Anlaby library closes.

Younger and older people have found the current facility friendly and handy due to its proximity. “I just walk around the corner and I’m there”, reported one regular library-goer. To journey a wee bit further and have to cross Springfield Way from the village is a bit daunting for the young, and also tiring for seniors.

What will happen to the current site that was bequeathed to the council of the day during the 1930’s?

It is a fairly small site with a prefabricated building. Some of the suggestions have been to retain the building for social use and benefit local residents. Perhaps the prefabricated building has come to the end of its natural life – just as the prefabs did in a neighbouring city!

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Badger cull : Episode 2

Posted in National news, Nature, Politics on December 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The collapse of the badger culling trial in Gloucestershire represents a humiliation for the government’s policy on reducing bovine TB. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Badger’s paying the price of Britain’s milk factory system.
Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

At last this Governments’ Environment Agency has listened to the vast majority of people throughout the South West. Its hugely unpopular cull of Britain’s best known animal – Brock the Badger – has been called off.

We nature lovers must thank Brian May and his consistent bombardment of the Environment Minister’s Agency with facts that were being ignored until NOW.

Many farmers disagreed to the cull and they must be applauded too. They claim that some breeds of fine cattle are bred without their natural immunity that used to protect them. It’s up to farmers to keep their herds clean and free from infection, rather than this mass slaughter just because some farmers cannot cope with the extra effort. Cattle these days are just a pawn in a milk factory system that governs the price of milk!

So to those farmers that support the cull, clean up your farms – don’t provoke the slaughter of wildlife that has the same right to life as your factory bred dairy cows.

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