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.

In Dad's Shoes - Part 2

On the second day I was told I would be working in the Lamp room for the next three weeks. This was where every miner going down the pit had to collect his cap lamp and safety lamp. Each miner had a brass disc with their man number on it and this had to be moved from the out- board to the in-board so that a check could be kept on who was down the pit. If any man wanted to stay for overtime or do a double shift this information had to be telephoned from the pit bottom so that everyone was accounted for at all times. When the men came back up their discs moved back to the out-board and their lamps were cleaned and recharged.

My next assignment was in the Blacksmith’s shop. This was where the minecars used down the pit were repaired . The harness and chains for the pit ponies were also repaired as was other equipment for use on the pit top. We would sometimes have our legs pulled and be sent on a fool’s errand. I was sent to another workshop for “a long stand”.

Then it was on to the screens. This is where the coal came out of the pit and was washed and all the stone and other rubbish had to be removed. This was the dirtiest and dustiest job so far. My final training was in the stockyard where minecars were loaded with gear for underground.

Matty's Malawi Diary - Part 1

As the plane touched down in Johannesburg, the start of an amazing trip began. 24 hours before I was about 9400km away back in Yorkshire. But now I was in Johannesburg, South Africa.
A taxi ride to Manchester Airport then the short flight to London set me on my way. Then I relaxed in the BA First Class Lounge before leaving to catch my overnight plane to Johannesburg.

At about 11:30 I got on to my plane to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. The flight took about 12 hours to get to Lilongwe. When we arrived we drove into Lilongwe (some 20km from the airport) as we drove, I saw ripe watermelons and tomatoes, as well as raw carcass of goat on sale by then side of the roads. In the distance the scrubland stretch on for miles, but you could also see small villages, full of houses made out of mud. When we arrived in Lilongwe we got dropped off at the place where I was staying and then had a early night as I was very tired.

Then next morning I left at around 6:30am because today I was heading off to Kasungu, which was the capital of the district, also named Kasungu.

I was visiting Malawi because my Mum’s work (The Health Foundation) was on a visit there to see how their work on a project that aims to reduce maternal deaths in Malawi was developing. The project, (called MaiKhanda, meaning Mother and Baby in the Chichewa, the second language of Malawi) runs in Lilongwe, Kasungu and Salima, a town near Lake Malawi.

Matty