EXHIBITS in the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle exhibition at The Old Courthouse are providing plenty of inspiration for visitors.

Items on show include a life-sized heron made from old tools, a shiny silver cockerel created from cutlery, mirrors framed with mosaics of broken china, jewellery created from wood, pencils and glass, patchwork quilts, rug work, artwork featuring single use plastic, shelving units from old pallets, toys and other objects created from old furniture and models from matchsticks. 
Special events got off to a good start with a repair café held in the village hall.

Judith Bradshaw, waste prevention officer gave an informative talk describing how refuse waste is dealt with by Cumbria County Council; the majority of it being processed at the two waste processing units, one near Carlisle and the other near Barrow.

She stressed the importance of reducing waste in the first place and then recycling as much as possible before using the blue bag collection.

She mentioned how CCC is currently promoting things like composting and use of real nappies and holding Love Food, Hate Waste sessions, which Judith is doing at Shap School and The Old Courthouse. 

Teenager Amy Bray, of Matterdale, spoke passionately about the Another Way charity she founded, encouraging everyone to think carefully about life choices they make and how they can contribute to a more sustainable future for our planet.

She described how she had worked with Dockray-based sculptor Michelle Castles to choose a design for the Another Way sculpture which is on display at the Old Courthouse until the exhibition ends tomorrow (Sunday, October 27). 
Visit theoldcourthouse.org for details. 

SIX representatives of the Lakeland Dialect Society travelled to Blackpool for the National Dialect Festival. 

The annual event was started in 2009 by Lancastrian dialect expert Sid Calderbank, with the first two events being held in Lancashire.

Since then it has been held in Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Devon, Cumbria, the Black Country, Yorkshire and Cornwall, before returning to Lancashire last year.

The weekend began with a concert showcasing local Lancashire talent, when the audience enjoyed recitations, stand-up comedians, clog dancing and music. 

Saturday was the main day, with keynote speakers Prof Paul Salveson, Professor of Work Town Studies in the Faculties of Art at Huddersfield and Professor of Transport at Bolton and Catherine Harvey who is an actor and writer and was associated with the BBC Radio 4 series Tongue and Talk.

Both speakers addressed the audience on aspects of dialect, accent and pronunciation while looking at ways of preserving and promoting the regional vernacular speech forms.

The speakers also acted as judges for the competitions alongside Judith Addison of the Lancashire Authors Association.

The Lakeland Dialect Society had entries in three of the classes. The Bill o’ Bowes Cup for writing in any dialect to be read by the composer was won by Brendon Hawthorne of the Black Country.

The Sam Laycock Trophy for performing in the dialect of the host region was won by Bill Rhodes of the Lancashire Society and the Eric Topping Trophy for the best performance of any dialect work was won by Jean Scott-Smith from the Lakeland Dialect Society; Jean is the first woman to have won this award. 

The evening saw a Merry Neet with representatives of all the regions performing for the Far Weltered Cup, and that was won by the Lancashire Society. 

Next year the event will be held in the Dudley area of the West Midlands, hosted by the Black Country group.

ST MICHAEL’S Church was the venue for an afternoon concert by Dalston Male Voice Choir, which is now celebrating its 35th year.

The conductor was Michael Deakin and the accompanist Lorraine Gash. 

The programme entitled A Million Dreams contained a wide variety of music demonstrating the choir’s talent to full effect.

The concert opened with It’s a Grand Night for Singing from State Fair, followed by the rousing Drinking Song from The Student Prince.

The harmony singing of the choir was shown off to full effect in two Welsh items, the lullaby Si Hei Lwli and the stirring Tydi a Roddaist. 

Two interludes were provided by the highly talented young pianist and composer Molly Jervis a 16-year-old student at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith.

She played pieces by J.S. Bach and Oskar Merikanto, and four of her own compositions.

Molly is also a singer-songwriter in the band Roisin Dubh alongside her father and a family friend where she is lead singer and plays ukulele.

The second section for the choir opened with the beautiful Autumn Leaves before taking on a more military feel with Stouthearted Men from The New Moon, Jonathan Millican’s moving arrangement We will Remember Them and then an interesting medley of First World War songs.

The final section began with an amusing rendition of Old MacDonald had a Farm, and then She which was a hit for Charles Aznavour.

The song that gave its title to the concert A Million Dreams from the film The Greatest Showman was followed by You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel, and the powerful Speed your Journey, also known as the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco.

The audience requested an encore, and the choir responded with Softly. 
All profits from the event were in aid of church funds.

GRASMERE...

THE Wordsworth Trust invites all to study the Prelude with Pamela Woof on Wednesday, October 30 (2.15pm) and to explore modern reinterpretations of Frankenstein on October 31 (7.30pm).

To book a place visit wordsworth.org.uk or telephone 015394-35544. 

ALLAN Bank is open daily (10.30am-5pm), with an art exhibition by Kathryn Thompson and Billie Buzzard’s wild garden trail and a woodland pumpkin trail for children.

Make a pipe cleaner spider for Hallowe’en today (Thursday) or on Saturday, October 26 (1.30pm-4.30pm).

Carve a pumpkin activity also takes place on Saturday and Sunday, October 26-27 (11am -3pm). Visit nationaltrust.org.uk/allan-bank-and-grasmere for further details. 

MOZART’s Requiem will be sung at St Oswald’s Church by soloists and a chorus of 125 on November 2 (5.30pm) in aid of funds for the organ restoration. 

SPONSOR a cyclamen plant to decorate the church at Christmas. Forms are in the Parish Magazine.

AT THE Fellowship meeting, Gordon Fletcher took an appreciative audience on an underwater safari in Morecambe Bay, showing detailed and surprisingly colourful close-up slides of the diverse creatures who live there, from the tiny shrimps to the occasional visiting basking shark.

CLAPHAM...

CLAPHAM Art Group members Linda Clemence and Liz Smart will be hosting an art and coffee event at the Friends Meeting House in Settle.

This will take place over three days starting on October 31 (1pm-4.30pm), November 1 and 2 (10am-4.30pm).

Admission is free and there will be a range of original paintings, sketches and cards available for sale. Refreshments will also be available. 

THE Macmillan coffee morning held at Hall Garth Barn raised a massive total of £632. Appreciation sent to all those who helped and supported this event. 

VICTORIA Benn would like to hear from those who have any old family photos, postcards, programmes, anecdotal stories or memories of the now no longer Clapham Sports.

This is for a Stories in Stone project - to piece together the history of the community sports and fell races in the district - of which there used to be a very strong tradition.

Information and or images about Ingleton, Lowgill, Horton, Langcliffe, Chapel-le-Dale and Austwick sports would also be gratefully received.

A booklet telling the stories of the sports and races will be produced next year.

Victoria can be contacted by email at v.benn@btinternet.com or by telephone on 01756-751795. 

THERE will be a songs of praise at St Matthews’ Church, Keasden, on Sunday, October 27 (7pm).