Piggynap’s Blog

The 11th of November marks Armistice Day, the end of the Great War that devastated much of Europe and decimated the male population of many countries. Each year since then the day has been marked by remembering those who sacrificed their lives in battle. Almost everyone in the UK has an ancestor who fought in the war so Remembrance Day is poignant for young and old alike.

We wear a poppy on Remembrance day because of a poem written by Canadian John McCrae:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

9.7 million soldiers are thought to have died in World War One. Some of them lie in Flanders, Ypres and some of them lie in unknown soil, with unmarked graves.

Piggynap’s mum has written a book! Here it is in all its badly-photographed glory: Volume One of Aberford Church of England School.

This first volume deals with the early years - how the school came into being and the adventures of the early headmasters. There’s some stuff about the village in there too and some people might find old ancestors being mentioned.

The book costs £6 to buy and all proceeds go to the school, so it’s for a good cause!

If you’d like a copy (and I hope you do) you can get in touch either with me, by leaving a comment here, or with my mum whose email address is ruthpi1412 at-hotmail-dot-com.

She can take payment by cash if you want to go round her house, or cheque if you live further afield and want to post it

Many thanks Piggynap readers!

Take the magic of Stardust…

And the otherworldliness of Pan’s Labyrinth…

To get this dreamlike image of a country lane:

Taken this afternoon on the Fly Line, Aberford, this photo is from the camera of The Floating Frog.

I spent the end of this week in London and Scarborough, taking in some serious tourism in the capital before jetting back to catch the Beached Festival on Saturday night. Here’s a nice shot of the London Eye:

and one of Tower Bridge (me included):

I went to UCL for three years and never did any touristy things so it was nice to go back and see the city from a different point of view.

As for Scarborough, I saw One Night Only, got my shoes soaked on the beach, slept in a four-poster bed in the Rocquaine and ate a fantastic cooked breakfast on Sunday. It was the perfect end to a perfect holiday!

Frog and I took a trip to Stump Cross Caverns near Pateley Bridge. It was a great start to the holiday - £6 to get into an underground wonderland. Part of it was flooded so we had some impromptu climbing to do Here are some pictures:

Then last night we stayed up late and watched the Perseids from our front garden

The British Shakespeare Company website has been on my favourite’s list for months as I waited for tickets to be released for the Leeds Shakespeare Festival. I went in 2006 to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Wayne Sleep, Mina Anwar and Sean Brosnan - it was fantastic - a beautiful setting, lovely evening and playful performance.

This year I wanted to take my boyfriend to see it so I kept checking back for tickets. It seems however there’s been a problem with Leeds City Council refusing funding. They also cite ‘health and safety’ and ’security’ concerns as further reasons why the performance can’t go ahead…because 13 successful years aren’t enough proof it’s a good idea.

I think Leeds City Council have made a weak decision - they’ve stopped a performance that hundreds of people enjoy rather than reaching into their pockets. To blame ‘health and safety’ is simply ridiculous.

You can find the Shakespeare Company’s own update here.