The New Year of 2014
Coming into the new year "Sweet Dreams" were made of this;
the pitz live at the market chesterfield
I sat over a coffee while I looked at their You Tube video as I seemed unable to put on my own video to my blob/blog.
I may think of going back to school and get a refresh for the brain.
I may get in,...........you never know!
I went to do some shopping in Sheffield with Janiece and David, then we went back to Killamarsh for a Steak Pie Dinner.
At last....Chris called and told me that his neighbour had my glasses. Too many sherries Eh!
What a superb night though.
The first Monday 6th January 2014
I went round to Hurst House for my exercises.
WEA means Workers' Educational Assosiation (WEA)
It's the UK's largest voluntary-sector adult education provider and they have a branch in Chesterfield since 1908. They've been running a wide range of courses for adults at their base.
I can study in a quiet and relaxing atmosphere; it's amazing for me!
I found this area through my writing friend Roland Gray, he was part of the Jigsaw book.
I stood at the office:-
"Where is everyone?"
I said to the office staff; "Oh! They don't start until next week!"
I mentioned that I never read the booklet, I just glanced to see if my class was on and just turned up! That's me.......I jump into anything at the wrong times!
I went on to the College as my Qigong and Thai Chi tutor Mr Beever had mentioned to me just before Christmas to see if I could get a massage on my feet or legs.
I thought!.........I can just try!
I went down to College and asked if I could be a Model!!!
"What for!" I was asked.
"Hey, I have two tassles and a thong so I'm ready!"
"What!!!" Was the return confusion from the receptionist?
"I have a great sense of humour, never lost that, it may have gotten better now!"
The receptionist sat there and quietly giggled at my words; she asked me for the reason why I came to the College and wrote down all my answers. She said that she would speak to the tutors before anything else could be done.
I thought that she would normally put your name and time down on their timetable for massages, straight forward; but they had to discuss things about me, what happened to me.......etc, etc, etc!
I had to pass on my mobile number and expect a call as soon as possible.
I left there and went into town for lunch.
By the time I got home it was tea-time; about 5:30ish and I seen that I had a local missed call.
When I called the number back; it was answered by Chesterfield College.
I was told to arrive at College, an early slot in the morning! GULP!
I need to get up bright and breezy for this.......... and don't forget to bring in a list of data for them.
Then another letter arrived from Neurocare Charity............The Head Start information for 27th April.
I need to get started for this 5km walk in Rother Valley Country Park for Neurocare Charity
Lot's to do now, busy, busy, busy!
I must get my walk timing down now, hopefully I shall be proud of the time it takes me to walk 5km.
On the Wednesday when I went to Specialist Stoke Services on the 8th of January, I spent a very, very long time with WPC Sarah. I talked constantly to her with all my woes and misery that I had.
She wrote and listened to all that I had to say but when I went into the Services meeting I missed the first part of the day, I needed a cuppa! Ahhhh! A nice cuppa tea!
Later I spent time at the Gym to pick up the speed in my walking.
I then went for a walk to get all the left's, right's, forward's and backwards, my map in my brain.
I saw the balloons which said to "come in" so I walked into the Church.
They were doing a vocal tour of the years gone by, when there was a big coal mining life here.
George Stephenson - Mines, Pits and Rails.
Here's some interesting things about George Stephenson in Chesterfield.
George Stephenson
(1781–1848)
Did you know?
George
Stephenson’s use of the ‘standard gauge’ was influenced by horse and
carts. Carts were traditionally made with 5ft between the wheels, in
proportion with the size of an average work horse. Early trackways for
use by horse and cart used a dimension of around 4ft 8in, By the time
Stephenson was designing the S&DR and the L&MR this dimension
was already a well recognised measure. A gauge of 4ft 8 1/2in is still
used today as the standard for railways around the world, including
ours.
Civil and mechanical engineer
The
combination of George Stephenson’s achievements in both civil and
mechanical engineering has directly influenced much of our railway
infrastructure. He foresaw a national network of lines, running at a
‘standard gauge’ with minimal gradients. Routes he surveyed and
structures he designed and built are still in use today. For this
pioneering work he is known as the father of the railways.
George
Stephenson was born at Wylam, near Newcastle upon Tyne. Without a
formal education, at the age of 18 Stephenson paid for his own lessons
in reading, writing and arithmetic and quickly displayed considerable
mechanical aptitude. His early career was spent working on different
types of industrial machinery particularly at collieries in the North
East at a time when the industry was expanding rapidly to satisfy the
demand of the mills and factories at the start of the industrial
revolution. New technologies such as steam engines and fixed rails for
easy transportation were being developed for its exploitation.
During
the early 19th century, George Stephenson held a number of different
jobs around the north east and in Scotland, working on and looking after
these early industrial machines. These were hard times, particularly
after his first wife (and mother of Robert) died in 1806. However,
things began to change when in 1811 Stephenson successfully identified
and then fixed a problem with a Newcomen engine which had been installed
at a mine belonging to a group of wealthy and influential north east
businessmen. They were so impressed with Stephenson’s ability and
approach, they put him in charge of all machinery at all of their pits,
and paid him an annual salary of £100 per year. For the next ten years
while at Killingworth colliery George Stephenson undertook many
different experiments and projects relating to steam engines,
locomotives and rails, including building his first steam locomotive,
Blucher, the first to use flanged wheels rolling on a smooth iron rail.
During this time he formulated the ideas that would inform his work on
the early railways for which he was to become famous.
Father of the railways
In
1821 the Stockton & Darlington Railway was authorised. Edward
Pease, its chief promoter, wanted to enhance transport links between
collieries in County Durham and trade routes to London. The line was
originally designed to be hauled by horses. However, having been
convinced by Stephenson’s experiments with rails and steam engines at
Killingworth, the Stockton & Darlington Railway recruited him as
engineer to the new railway. George, assisted by his son Robert,
surveyed the line and drew up plans for a railway which was to be the
first in the world designed specifically to use locomotives. Parliament
passed the Stockton & Darlington Railway Act and the first iron rail
was laid on 23 May 1823. The 26 mile line of the Stockton &
Darlington Railway opened for traffic on 27th September 1825, running
Locomotion No1, built at Robert Stephenson & Co in Newcastle. The
influence of the original plan for the railway for use by horse and cart
influenced George’s use of what was to become known as ‘standard
gauge’. - 4ft 8 1/2 in between the rails.
The success Stephenson
enjoyed with the Stockton & Darlington railway meant that he was
much in demand with other fledgling railway projects. He was quickly
enlisted by the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and was appointed
their chief engineer bringing with him his assistant Joseph Locke.
Stephenson understood that for maximum efficiency of the engines,
gradients had to be kept to a minimum. To keep the line as level as
possible, building the Liverpool & Manchester Railway included major
civil engineering undertakings on a scale not seen before, for example
at the Sankey Viaduct, the skew bridge at Rainhill, the Wapping Tunnel
and the cutting at Olive Mount. The Rainhill Trials in October 1829
settled once and for all the advantages of locomotive power on the new
railway as Rocket, built by Robert Stephenson & Co proved that
engines could be fast and reliable. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway
- the first intercity railway in the world - opened for traffic on 15
September 1830 with great ceremony, during which George drove Rocket in
the procession.
The success of the Liverpool & Manchester
Railway secured George Stephenson’s position, and he became associated
with many railway projects mainly in the north midlands and south
Pennines during the 1830s, including linking the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway with lines to Birmingham (the Grand Junction Railway)
and Leeds (the Manchester & Leeds Railway). By the 1840s George
Stephenson stepped back from railway engineering, concentrating instead
on his interests in mining. Younger engineers such as his son Robert
Stephenson, Joseph Locke and Isambard Kingdom Brunel were driving the
construction and development of the railway forward. During this time he
was a founder of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and was
appointed its first President in 1847, shortly before his death in
Chesterfield on 12 August 1848.
1781
9 June: George Stephenson was born at Wylam, Northumberland
1799
George himself pays for lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic.
1802
George marries Frances Henderson.
1803
Robert, the only son of George and Frances is born.
1806
Frances Stephenson dies.
1814
George builds his first steam locomotive, the Blucher, at Killingworth Colliery, near Newcastle upon Tyne.
1815
February:
George obtains a patent for an improved steam locomotive, with exhaust
steam providing a draught on the fire, and working purely by adhesion.
1819
George
oversees construction of a railway from Hetton Colliery in Co. Durham,
which will involve both steam locomotives and rope haulage by stationery
steam engines.
1820
29 March: Stephenson marries for a second time; Elizabeth Hindmarsh.
1821
19 April: Stockton & Darlington Railway authorised.
1823
Construction
of S&DR begins.
Anticipating demand for locomotives along with the development of
railways, George Stephenson sets up the firm Robert Stephenson & Co
in Newcastle upon Tyne to build and supply locomotive engines.
1824
George
establishes George Stephenson & Son, ‘an office for engineering and
railway surveying’ with his son Robert appointed as chief engineer.
1824
George
appointed engineer to the Liverpool & Manchester Railway but was
dismissed as plans for the railway failed in parliament.
1825
27 September: S&DR opens using steam locomotives from Robert Stephenson & Co.
1826
Act for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway secured.
Stephenson re appointed chief engineer.
1830
15 September: Liverpool & Manchester Railway opened.
1830
's. George acts as engineer to several railways.
1845
George Stephenson retires from railway engineering. His second wife Elizabeth dies.
1847
George founds the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and is appointed its first President.
1848
11 January: Stephenson marries a third time to Ellen Gregory, his housekeeper.
12 August: George dies at Chesterfield and is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity church.
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Knowledge is a great gift for me to have.
This is how they dressed for Coal mining.
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| ...And Back |
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| Front and....... |
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| The Altar |
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| What to take down the mines. |
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| Clay Cross must have been an important area all those years ago. |
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| I love to go out and get more knowledge. |
The engines and the lights, a good piece of education for me.
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| A great story teller from years gone by. |
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| British Steam Trains. |
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| George Stephenson glass window. |
I bumped into Spireites fitness staff on a cold afternoon but with a smile on their faces promoting.
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| Here's the guy's from Spireites Sport & Health Club |
I may pop round for a wee peek into their gym and hydrotherapy pool, it sounds good and for all!
Remember that coffee! "I'll be back!" I'm sounding like Arnold Schwarzenegger:-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YEG9DgRHhA
30 Aug 2012 - Uploaded by clipnationdotcom
Arnold Schwarzenegger first used his iconic "I'll be back" catchphrase in the 1984 sci-fi thriller The ...
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| Weather started to get cold so coffee sounded good for another time. |
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| Chesterfield footballer using Hydrotherapy and our Gym poster model is above advertising Spirelites Sport&Health Club. |
I carried onto Waterstone's, they text me that my book arrived.
I was on my focus to collect Garnet Hill by Denise Mina from the shop and return my Library book.
When the book was from the Library, the thought of having to finish the words reading in a timescale was very difficult for me.
Now there is no rush; I can take my time and enjoy every word...........ThanX Denise Mina XXX
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| Collecting my book from Waterstone's |
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| Returning the Library Book of Garnet Hill by Denise Mina. |
I had it so difficult to read before, I'd read the first few paragraphs and fall asleep for a long time.
The brain gets soooo tired trying to read and organise all the letters in the right order.
I know there's a cupboard being mentioned and Maureen, possibly a Douglas?
Ask me what is going on here !!!Let me get a bit further to analyse this.
I've marked that I'm at Chapter 14......What do I know! I will know one day what is happening.
I just know......"There's A MURDUR!"
It's hard work to read just now, I have two friends who may join me out in a coffee shop and read our books, it saves me sitting at home, I can throw in a wee question every now and then, or even a "Wait till I tell you this one!" It sounds good for us, my challenge is to finish this book.
How many books have I started and then gone onto another book?
I daren't let you know...Shhhh! It's 7 books so far....Crikey!
I'm away to read now..........catch up later!
YES! I will catch up later OK!
