The Anne Stone

Poetry Pilgrimage
On a Spring day last year we made it to Haworth by 10:30am and, though the weather was warm and sunny, it was not too hot, which was a relief given the pilgrimage we had planned: seven miles tramping north of Haworth with views over the Worth Valley. A seven mile walk is not a stretch for many people but given the ups and downs –  more ups than downs – it certainly got the heart beating and the back sweating….

Circular walk
The walk, designed by Michael Stewart, begins (and ends) at the Brontë Parsonage and partly follows what has become known as “The Railway Children Walk.” The views were part West Yorkshire industrial landscape, part forest, part fields, part moors, part paths, part roads, a series of stiles, a packhorse bridge and an ancient stone bridge, one view after another changing and ever changing.  We drank coffee overlooking a small valley; and had our picnic lunch sitting on a stone wall. Yorkshire placenames in the area are typically evocative: Bridgehouse Beck, Holden Park, Race Moor Lane, True Well Hall, Dean Bridge, Turkey Inn, Pickles Hill, Lumb Beck, Oldfield Gate.

"Take Courage"
The final destination was Parson’s Field near the Parsonage where the wonderful Jackie Kay has penned a tribute to Anne. Charlotte’s and Emily’s stones are elsewhere in the area, but I am very pleased that Anne’s Stone is here because of course her mortal remains lie in Scarborough where she was taken in 1849 whilst suffering from tuberculosis. Contemporary accounts say that her final words to Charlotte were “Take Courage.”

Anne by Jackie Kay
These plain dark sober clothes
Are my disguise. No, I was not preparing
For an early death, yours or mine.
You got me all wrong, all the time.
But sisters, I will have the last word,
Write the last line. I am still at sea.
But if I can do some good in this world
I will right the wrong. I am still young.
And the moor’s winds lift my light-dark hair.
I am still here when the sun goes up,
Still here when the moon drops down.
I do not now stand alone.

Twelve Apostles

High on Burley Moor

Boggy walk
If you take a picnic up onto Burley Moor high above Ilkley, following rising flagstones and well-trodden paths, you stumble upon a mysterious stone circle. (In truth, there are plenty of online maps to download different ways of getting there on purpose.) Archaologists estimate there were originally up to 20 standing stones but there are now 12 securely planted. Their original design may have been related to the movement of the moon or the rising of the sun, like Stonehenge. But it’s also possible that they’ve been moved more than once in their history and how or why they came to be known as “The Twelve Apostles” is lost in the vagaries of local mythmaking. Any road up, the walk, though squelchy, felt primitive and dramatic and perfect for a wintery chance to blow away cobwebs and set the world to rights….

Mini Stonehenge in Yorkshire....

The Railway Children

“Charming, simply charming”

Thus said William Mervyn as The Old Gentleman in Lionel Jefferies’ film of The Railway Children. And on this Valentine’s Day in 2020, as Storm Dennis raged round the UK bringing floods and transport chaos, traditional English afternoon tea was given a spin for Yorkshire’s Railway Enthusiasts. Starting in Oxenhope (ticket office featuring coal fire), the Keighley and Worth Valley line ran wouldja believe? a Prosecco-tasting Valentine’s Day Special. Who knew there was so much to learn about Prosecco? As the rain battered the old-fashioned carriages, it was certainly an unusual and atmospheric way to celebrate almost 34 years of married life…. 

Won't You Be My Neighbour?

The significance of the feet washing is explained in the documentary....

Interview to Article to Documentary to Movie

It’s hard to spell neighbour without a letter u but as this post is about an American documentary and movie, I will do so (apart from in the post’s title!) Daughter Emily introduced me first to the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?. The documentary was partly prompted by a November 1998 article in Esquire magazine entitled Can You Say...'Hero'? by Tom Junod. Two screenwriters (Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster) then fictionalised the encounters between Tom Junod and his subject and recruited Tom Hanks to play the interviewee and Matthew Rhys to play the interviewer (renamed Lloyd Vogel for the movie.) It’s a bit complicated to explain but both the documentary and the movie are bigger than the sum of their parts, in my opinion, and have profound things to say about both society and education. The subject in question is Mr Rogers. I’d not heard of him or his seminal children’s TV programmes before watching the documentary.

UK equivalents - including some I didn't mention in the text - can you identify them?

UK equivalents?

I think the nearest in the UK we have to Mr Rogers might be people like Floella Benjamin, Carol Chell, Chloe Ashcroft, Johnny Ball or Brian Cant on Play School or Play Away and maybe, for Mr Rodgers’ Neigborhood, The Magic Roundabout for a weird alternative world – or Hector’s House or Mr Benn or…. If you are of a certain age, you’ll get the references…. But if you don’t know the world of Mr Rogers and his Neighborhood, or Daniel Tiger, Lady Aberlin, Mr McFeely, Officer Clemmons, King Friday the Thirteenth and more, then I can recommend you watch the documentary (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) or the movie directed by Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.)

Characters from Mr Rogers' Neighborhood

I like you just the way you are

I can imagine spoofs of Mr Rogers (indeed some feature in the documentary), but somehow the genuine article seems to mean every word when he addresses a vulnerable child with the words:

I hope you know that you made today a very special day by just your being you. There's no one in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.

And when he speaks to a graduation class and

From the time you were very little,

You’ve had people who have smiled you into smiling,

People who have talked you into talking,

Sung you into singing,

Loved you into loving.

So, on this extra special day,

Let’s take some time to

Think of those extra special people.

Some of them might be right here,

Some may be far away,

Some may even be in Heaven.

No matter where they are,

Deep down you know they’ve

Always wanted what was best for you.

They’ve always cared about you beyond measure

And have encouraged you

To be true to the best within you.

Let’s just take a minute of silence to

Think about those people now.

I'm glad I’ve learned about Mr Rogers.

That Day We Sang

Nostalgia
text and pics to be added