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                                                                              Major Stanley in his boat

 

 Dear Reader,

 This is such a heart warming story.  I love it and hope you do too.

An 80-year-old retired British army major built a boat to raise money for charity following the example of record-breaking fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore.  He built the vessel during Covid-19 lockdown. 

He is hoping to row 100 miles of the Chichester Canal in West Sussex by December 18th. The boat is made of two sheets of corrugated iron, curtain hooks and a hosepipe, which he built to mark his 80th birthday. 

"It goes extremely well, I have worked out it travels about two miles an hour.  It glides through the water and generally speaking doesn't leak too much" he said.

Major Stanley, who served in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for 35 years, has already raised £12,000 beating his original £1,000 target for a hospice.

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From Gilbert White, 1784 in Hampshire

"Hard Frost, thick ice. On my way to Newton I was covered with snow! Snow covers the ground, and trees!!."

From Francis Kilvert, 1874 in Wiltshire

"A damp warm morning steaming with heat, the outer air like a hot-house, the inner air colder, and in consequence the old thick panelled walls of the front rooms streaming with warm air condensed on the cold walls....The afternoon was so gloomy that I was obliged for the first time to have lights in the pulpit."

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Home

is honey
oatcakes
soft lights
warm bed
comfortable mattress

home is
quiet,
books, peace
a space for the
Good Lord,
a small garden
red geraniums
foxgloves and roses

home is where
my precious
collection
of things
have their place

home is safety.

 

                                                                                *

With very best wishes, Patricia