PC Press Release - A New Era?

Hello Everyone,

After spending a day at work developing and creating numerous blogs, the memories of the days writing for The Painter's Chronicle blog came flooding back, and after logging on this evening it is clear to see that www.painterschroncle.co.uk and The Painter's Chronicle is dieing out, and soon it will simply disappear completely.

After running the Painter's Chronicle for more than three years, myself, Isaac Rose, Johnny McQuade, Calum Paramor along with our dedicated team of writers have finally been caught up in various commitments; not to mention the ongoing twists and turns of A-levels!

This has made the everyday running's of the Chronicle virtually impossible. However, my personal feeling is that the foundations have been firmly laid so that their can be a future for the PC. The website is still here, we still have all of the material to produce the same high quality publications and of course, you, the subscripients are still here.

Having spoken to various people lately about having an input into the next phase, I feel very confident that there is a future for the PC. However, these are still very early stages and these will not progress further without the support of everyone else.

I am asking you to come forward with any ideas for the next chapter, anything from the website, the newsletter itself, to who could potentially run proceedings. Your help support and ideas really will shape the future.

Please email info@painterschronicle.co.uk to express an interest in helping/suggest ideas/or simply show that you're still there and wanting to read the Painter's Chronicle.

Thanks in Anticipation.

Billy Painter

Editor

The Current PC Board - Who Will Be Next?

4 New Faces in The Pace Egg Cast 2010

Jack Deighton, Jacob Jones, Joe Cotton and Rowan Carter have successfully auditioned and become part of the Midgley Pace Eggers for the first time this year!

The four auditioned in front of regular Pace Eggers; Clara Collett, Jess Woodhead and Billy Painter and read the part of St George in doing so.

Well done guys!

Keep logging on to www.painterschronicle.co.uk for more Pace Egg updates!

The Queen's Christmas Speech 2009

Christmas - One Year On

Upon being instructed to write whatever came into my head, I thought that we should just publicise the fact that it's now a year since the PC Christmas edition. What a year it has been. Thanks a lot peoples.

Christmas; an Acrostic Poem by Robert Holme, KBE

C - is for Christmas, the subject of this poem.
H - is for Happy, how I feel when writing poems.
R - is for Robert that's my name!
I - is for "I, Robert Holme."
S - is for Saviour, that's Jesus and me.
T - is for Tea, my favourite drink at Crimbo
M - is for Me, me me me me.
A - is for Apples, like in the mouth of a pig
S - is for Scrooge, my role model.

Thanks Robert for that amazing poem - Ed.

Christmas Carols

Don't Forget . . .

Carols in St George's Square - Christmas Eve
Assemble 6.15pm for 6.30pm Start

A Very Important Announcement From The Painter's Chronicle Team

Dear Painter's Chronicle Subscripients,

Please see follow below hyperlink to an important message from The Painter's Chronicle Team.

Important Announcement

Thanks,
The PC Board

In Dad's Shoes - Final Part

At last the big day arrived - work underground! My legs were like jelly when I first stepped into the cage for that first descent. The cage dropped like a rock, a terrifically fast descent which lasted three or four minutes. The older miners gave me plenty of encouragement and promised me I would be ok. They would look after me. This proved to be the case as I have found no stronger brotherhood of men all the rest of my life. When work is in such dangerous conditions often men have only the courage and loyalty of colleagues to rely on. These men worked together, lived alongside each other and spent free time with each other in the local Working Mens Clubs.

All the miners had soft spots for the pit ponies. The pit worked a 24 hour day with the miners working 8 hour shifts and so did the ponies. This meant that some miners worked regularly with certain ponies. The ponies lived down the pit and only came up for 2 weeks of the year when the pit closed for the August holiday. Many miners would bring little treats of grass or a carrot for their particular pony. The ponies could smell an apple as soon as you entered the stable and they would go mad whinnying and kicking. I was told by an old miner that if I should ever have the bad luck to be by myself in the tunnels when my cap light and safety light went out I should free my pony of its chains, hold on to its tail and tell it to “Go Home” and the pony would get me back safely.

My career in the pit lasted only 2 years. I had an accident and broke my arm very badly. This made me stop and think. I had lived amongst this community all my life and knew many old miners who were badly injured and could no longer work and there were some fatherless families thanks to the pit. It was a turning point for me - I never went back.

Matty's Malawi Diary - Part 2

It took about 2 hours to drive to Kasungu, passing a few towns on the way (one which was market day), but the one thing I noticed was that, outside the capital city, how quiet the roads were. You would see the occasional car, perhaps one or two every 10 minutes and then the occasional minibus (these being the only mode of public transport) but otherwise most people would walk or cycle everywhere. There was also a lot of people selling food on the side of the roads, this also included mouse kebabs (to make these they would set fire to shrubbery and then the smoke would drive the mice out, these would then be caught and cooked and then sold on the side of the road).

When I arrived in Kasungu I went to an office when my mum and the project workers had a meeting. After that we drove down to the Kasungu District Hospital where we went in and were showed around by one of the medical officers. Then hospital was like nothing I had ever seen, a queue of about 60 people waiting to get into the building and then inside sick people and pregnant women lying on the floor, waiting for service. In the hospital I went into the maternity ward, where I was shown data about the recent births and deaths and then shown in a room with all the beds in. Then I donated my gift to that hospital, funded by the money raised by The Painters Chronicle. After I left the hospital I went for lunch in the Kasungu Inn, where I enjoyed a meal of soup, vegetables and metze, the staple food for most Malawians which is a large dumpling like food made from maize. After lunch I went to the village of Santhe, where I went to a health clinic. I was showed around there and then there was a meeting between the MaiKhanda team and the people working for the Santhe health centre. After leaving there I headed right out into the scrubland to a village when I was greeted by singing, dancing and children crowding around the car. At that village I then got driven to their vegetable farm, a place where they are growing vegetables to try and encourage pregnant women to have a healthy diet.

After that we were driven to another village, which would be inaccessible without our 4x4 jeeps. In that village they had painted health messages on the houses to lessen the danger of disease. I was shown around that village and I saw some houses where pregnant women would stay in the latter stages of pregnancy. Then a band did a short performance for me under the shade of a mango tree. Then I presented my gift to the chief of the village which was some equipment for children who were going to school (pens, pencils, calculators etc.). Then I went back to the main village when there was a singing performance and also a comedy sketch. Then there were some speeches, and then I should everyone’s hand. A few hundred handshakes later I was invited into the chief’s house were I had some food, vegetables, fresh bananas and metze and also some Fanta (a drink, as well as Coke, you can get just about anywhere in Malawi). Then I left and drove back to Lilongwe in the dark (there are no street lamps in Malawi except on the road leading to the president’s office). The only light I saw were fires in remote villages in the distance.