February, 2025
I think we all had a sigh of relief when the bitter cold weather turned a little milder. It was lovely to draw the curtains one morning and see the snow gone and no ice.
Many of us of a certain age will have read “Black Beauty” – a story to tug at your heart strings (I still have a copy). The book was published November 24th 1877 by Anna Sewell, who was a Quaker. She said the book’s aim was to induce kindness, sympathy and an understanding of treatment of horses, as this was unknown in Victorian England. It is considered to be a leading anti-cruelty novel and has never been out of print since.
I saw a programme talking about watching music (specifically musicals or shows) on T.V. or listening on radio and I must admit the shows I have seen have lived in my memory, but watching the equivalent on T.V., it just goes away. When I was 16 years old my older brother took me to the Coventry Theatre to see “Carmen” and I never forgot my first visit to a theatre. I have seen “Les Miserables” and “Phantom of the Opera” live at Birmingham and they were both magical, so I hope live theatre lasts forever.
I got a book from church called “The Workhouse Waif” and it reminded me of many years ago when my sisters and I used to go door to door along Camp Hill Road collecting for The Waifs and Strays which later became The Children’s Society. We did the same for The Red Cross and St. Barnard’s Hospital, Coleshill. In fact when I came to live in Ansley Village I was always trying to raise funds for some charity and one day a man came up to me and said, “What’s it going to cost me today? What you collecting for now?” I explained I wasn’t collecting, but just going to the Post Office.
In his poem “Slow me down Lord” author Wilfred A. Peterson has a novel idea about taking the stress out of life. He writes – “Teach me the art of taking minute vacations, of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend or to read a few lines from a good book.” Sounds good advice to me.
Marie Cove