Games wise life continues to be very busy although we are clearly on the home run now. Today I spent all morning sorting out the results from the ‘flat’ canoeing which is now taking place out at Eton Manor as the rowing has finished. The room that I work in has 40 photocopiers in 5 banks of eight. They spring into life when some-one at a venue sends through a result or other necessary info so today canoeing was going balmy and the system wasn’t set up properly.
Canoeing has different race categories – C1, K1 etc, different genders and different race lengths so it is very easy to mix up race results – men not women, wrong distance etc. The semis, fairly obviously, involve the winners of the heats but we do actually have to be accurate about who is in each of those – correct gender, classification, distance etc – if not, chaos ensues…which it did…..I had it correct by 5pm, having started at 6.30am, but if anyone watched it and the commentators were confused well, erm, just pass that buck in this direction. Disaster!
Socially, I met up with Graham and Amanda on Super Saturday. Thanks for the beer! We watched the action on the big screen when they were all done in the stadium. The atmosphere was amazing and the noise for Jess Ennis deafening. An amazing night of athletics, most of which I missed as PB’s, world rankings, starting line-ups, lane draws etc whirled off photocopiers!!! Oh well.
On Sunday I had the day off and with a Wimbledon ticket from a friend in my pocket I headed out to the All England Club. I really don’t quite get how I ended up with a stressful job here but on Sunday I was out to have fun…..Pimms (but due to IOC sponsorship rules they had to call it Fruit Cup!) was £7.30 a glass, bubbly was £47.50 a bottle!! Outrageous! Continue Reading »
Just as Graham and Amanda were delighted to get their chosen tickets, we were over the moon to get all twelve tickets for the dressage qualifiers and finals. I don’t know quite how it happened, as I haven’t met anyone else that has managed to get tickets for all four days – I didn’t dare tell anyone for a few months, as I felt embarrassingly lucky.
Having been closely involved with the team members, we have been very aware of the years of training and campaigning that have gone into getting both horses and their riders to Olympic level and free from injury at the last moment. Not only is Equestrianism the only sport where men and women compete on an equal level, it’s the only sport where teams can be jeopardised by injury from either component.
There is a feeling of excitement and euphoria wherever you go. As you can see from the photo of Alice, there was no doubt who were supporting, and we were constantly cheered on by city workers on their way to their desks as we made our way to Greenwich Park. The whole of London seems decked out in Olympic pink and purple. Thousands of cheery volunteers shepherd you every step of your way. On the first day we took the 40 min Thames ferry – London looked gilded and shining from the river – like a journey through the history books.
Despite all the rumours we had been hearing, we were through the security in five minutes at the arena, where there was not an empty seat in sight. It was packed to the sky with flags and national colours. The red, white and blue of Team GB supporters actually outnumbered the orange blocks from the keen Netherlanders for a change.
Historically, Britain has never been good at dressage – in the 100 year history of the Games, we have never won a medal. But that could be about to change!! For the first time ever, we are top of the leader board at the end of the Grand Prix Qualifiers. Our team of Carl Hester. Charlotte Dujardin, and Laura Bechtolsteimer are currently leading the way from the Germans and Dutch who have dominated the scene for decades. The crowds of supporters screamed and cheered at the end of every test and erupted in an explosion of clapping and foot stamping after Charlotte broke Olympic records on Day Two. Who says dressage is boring?
Tuesday will see the top seven nations riding the Grand Prix Special for Team medals and then after a day’s rest, the top competitors will ride the Kur (dressage to Music) on Thursday for Individual medals. We are thrilled to know that we will be there, to witness the possibility of the first Olympic medal ever for the Brits in dressage. Keep your fingers crossed!
Thank you to our Bowling Correspondent for the following:
Now you thought that all the olympic games were down in London. How wrong can you be. Here in Parwich in the upgraded Crown Green Bowling venue a little bit of history was also being made. Edith Rider and Ian Johnston a scratch pair of bowlers came strong in the end to win the Square Robin event on Sunday 5 August 2012. We will all remember where we were on that great day. From an enormous field of 5 pairs they won by one point. The crowd went wild. You could hear the cheers, drowning out the sound coming from the y-not concert down the road. Afterwards Ian said he owed all his success to his midwife 73 years ago.
When Amanda entered the lottery for Olympic tickets, I must say I was quite dismissive of our chances of getting good tickets and told her it was more likely we would get back row for synchronised underwater basket weaving than anything good (I realise that may offend the massed ranks of underwater basketweavers – but hey….). We couldn’t quite believe our luck when we got a pair of tickets for Super Saturday in the athletics stadium!
We set off from our central London base with two and a half hours to spare and the organization is so slick we were in our seats 45 minutes later. The whole event was truly awesome in every way. London is like one big party at the moment (all the people coming through St Pancras were greeted with offers of help, maps and even free ice creams!!). The Olympic Park is enormous and the stadium was deafening. Highlights of the events we saw………our golden girl from Sheffield on her quest for Heptathlon glory (long jump and javelin), Oscar Pistorius showing the world that a positive attitude can get you a very, very long way in life and right to the top in the 400m, …..that modest Jamaican sprinter (…….what’s his name again ???????) plus all the other 100m men’s sprinters, women’s pole vault and 3000m steeplechase. It was such a day to remember, and a true adventure we will never forget.
1.The face of the games discussing with her coach how to improve her first round long jump distance.
Parwich based singer songwriter Hazel B treated the Y Not Festival to a heartfelt and true to the heart performance on Friday.
The audience was captivated by Hazel’s self-penned songs, delivered with a refreshingly honest emotion. We hope to see her play the festival again next year.
Update: Here are some further excellent photos of Hazel’s performance, courtesy of Martin H: Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4
Update: the set was, we are happy to report, a triumph. Exclusive video to follow later this evening!
Update 2: Here’s a video of The A52s in full effect, folk-rocking the Hog & Barrel tent into a state of frenzy with their cover of The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army”.
Today saw the marriage of Sarah Ann Howard and Phillip Leslie Carroll in St. Peter’s Church. The bride arrived in a 1966 St Helen’s double-decker bus. The poor church warden (Helen) ringing the carillion had more work than she bargained for (an hour of bell ringing); the bride was delayed by 40 minutes, because the hairdresser arrived late. Hopefully the groom did not get too anxious.
Dave Denton, the organiser of numerous Junior Fell Races, including those that are on the same evening as the Parwich Panoramic Five, ran in Buxton carrying the Olympic Torch. He said that it was the most wonderful experience.
We are extremely fortunate in Parwich, as he is going to bring his Olympic torch on Tuesday evening. Throughout 2012 he is hoping to raise £10,000 to enable his charity, IDEAS to either build a school in India or to convert a building to provide a permanent base for a school currently in rented premises.
If you would like to have your photo taken with the torch, David would encourage you to make a donation to the charity, however large or small. He will also be raffling the torch later this year and on Tuesday he will be selling tickets at £5 each or 5 for £20.
His charity, “IDEAS”, which stands for International Development through Education, Continue Reading »
With the London Olympics creating a buzz throughout the country, Derbyshire Dales District Council has re-launched a range of summer holiday sporting activities for local youngsters.
StreetGames, a Safer Communities through Sport project, offers ‘doorstep’ sport to young people, helping to increase youth participation in sport, prevent youth crime and create volunteering opportunities.
All sessions are funded externally at no cost to Derbyshire Dales Council Tax payers and StreetGames for local young people are being staged by fully qualified coaches weekly across the Dales.
Here’s the Summer 2012 Street Games programme:
Ashbourne (Clifton Road Multi Use Games Area) – Thursdays 5.00pm to 6.00pm
Matlock (Helicopter Park, Hurst Farm) – Tuesdays 6.00pm to 7.00pm (11+ years)
Middleton-by-Wirksworth (Village Hall and playing fields) Thursdays 7.00pm to 9pm (8+ years)
Yesterday was my day off, so I went and had breakfast at Carluccio’s and then went to see Billy Elliot, a way of relaxing away from the pressures of my Olympic work.
I have to say that if you are coming down for an event it really is worth spending the day in the Olympic Park. So far there haven’t been any queues, it just slows down a bit as you go through security. There might be a few more queues once athletics starts, but they have it pretty well sorted.
It is good to hear how many people enjoyed the opening ceremony, not only have I met Danny Boyle, I know him as I went to school with him (same bus, him boy’s school, me girl’s). I also know Seb Coe from when I was at Loughborough and met his mum and dad, so I was contemplating interrupting their joint press conference to say ‘Hi’! Continue Reading »
Having started the season poorly we managed to get better, however we appear, on occasions, to be going backwards with a vengeance.
Matlock Tuesday League.
Away – 31 July – Matlock Golf Club.
Have you ever played in a match or a sport where whatever you did you were on a hiding to nothing? This match was one of those. We did not play badly, but our opponents could do no wrong. The outcome of the match was never in doubt, Matlock won by a country mile and we had our worst score of the season. For the record Matlock 68, Parwich 44, our lowest score of the year. Looking at the fixture list I’m not sure we will do very much better next week. I suppose we can always take up double slalom canoeing or trap shooting!
Next match – Home – Whitworth Park – 7 August 6.30pm.
Thursday League.
Home – Chatsworth – 2 August.
At least we pulled ourselves together for this match. Chatsworth were third in the league, but we had a good win. In the doubles we only won one out of the three games and trailed by 54 to 38, but we had a cracking time in the singles winning five out of the six games. The overall final score was Parwich 124 to Chatsworth 115. Our average score this year in the Thursday League is 124 so we should remain about half way, all being well. No Thursday League match next week, it is the Annual charity competition to raise money for the Greenaway Centre. I’ll let you know how we get on.
Next match – Greenaway Charity Match – 9 August.
Lovely day last Sunday entertaining Ashbourne in a friendly. This Sunday we are playing our annual square robin competition. Not sure if the weather is going to be all that great though. We start at Parsons Croft at 10.30am. Bring your umbrella!
Mike through his time at Parwich Shop and involvement in local groups and Dales Housing, is well known to most of our readers. Thank you to David for allowing us to reproduce this:
The invisible ribbon that connected Mike’s journey in life ran right across the open landscapes of the North of England…. the dales and the hills, the moors and the lakes. Continue Reading »
The Peak Park Authority are launching their annual competition to find individuals, groups or projects that contribute to making the Park a special place. Nominations can be made via the Peak Park website. For more information: Continue Reading »
What an amazing weekend Trev and I had. We had tickets to see the Olympic Tennis, but as the friends we were staying with live at Box Hill, managed to “catch a freebie” and roll up to watch the road race on Saturday.
From our vantage point, the riders went past eight times – then we legged it back to our friends as quick as we could, to catch the end of the race. The people behind us had a stop watch, so we were keeping track of the splits. It was really exciting.
The atmosphere was wonderful – the crowds were happy, everyone well behaved, the police were just fab – I can’t say how impressed I was with the whole thing. I was so proud to be British – even though American by birth.
The next day we went to the tennis. Again, so well organised. Saw quite a few soldiers helping with security and made a point of thanking them – they actually seemed to be enjoying themselves, I think many people were also expressing their gratitude to them.
Andy Murray, for all his grumpy reputation, was really gracious to the crowd and spent AGES signing autographs for children after the match – longer than any other player we saw by far. Boys: Maria Sharipova is very tall, and very beautiful in real life. This does not, however, make up for her funny little squeaks and squeals.
We thanked heavens for the roof on centre court, as the heavens certainly did open on the day.
I urge anyone able to catch a glimpse of the Olympics, either by “catching a freebie” or buying a ticket, to do so. It really is something special. All weekend Trevor and I just kept saying “We are so lucky to be doing this!”
Debs
To scroll through Debbie’s gallery in full size – including an exclusive Andy Murray action shot! – please click on any thumbnail image.
Lo and behold! Again a pile of dog faeces in exactly the same place as the last two ‘sightings’ on Creamery Lane near the small green!
I had become quite optimistic after my last ‘doggie-fouling’ blog post when the problem appeared to have stopped, even wondering whether the Parwich blog includes some canine readers who’d passed the message on to their fellow 4-legged friends. Alas, my optimism was unfounded.
Whose dog was allowed to wander around between approx. 4 and 5 pm on Monday afternoon?
Please, please take responsibility for your dog and do not allow them to roam around unaccompanied or at least tidy up after them.
Sue and David have asked us to post the following information:
Monday 30th July
The cortège will leave the Rathbone Flats at 2-45pm
if any vehicles wish to follow on
The Service will be held at 3-45pm
at Markeaton Crematorium in Derby
(click here for address and link to map)
Whether you can make the journey to Derby or not,
please everyone, from the village and beyond, do come along to a short “Farewell” in the Memorial Hall starting at 5.30pm.
There’ll be a bit of “pub grub” (but no quiz)
and a glass or two for a final toast.
In addition to our correspondent from the Olympic Media Centre, it has been suggested by several people that it would interesting to get accounts from residents of Alsop, Ballidon, Pikehall and Parwich who visit the London 2012 Games.
If you want to share your experiences having visited the Games, including any photos, do email the Blog Team at parwich@hotmail.co.uk or add comments to the various Olympic posts as they appear.
We are lucky to have had this email from our very own Parwich Olympic Correspondent, Val S :
I went to the dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony last night. The opening scenes were shot in Parwich and then they move on to Belper. We are not allowed to tell – see #savethesuprise – but if you are going out, record it, trust me, it is worth it and it does start in Parwich!
I am off now for another day of slog and fun, so many languages, so many countries. The Park is packed and there is no public in there yet! I am working down here on the Help desk in the Main Press Centre (MPC) which together with the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) forms part of a large media complex at the northern end of the Olympic Park to which there is no public access. The work is 24 hours a day as some-one is always awake somewhere! Continue Reading »
A week of festivities across the Peak District have been planned to celebrate National Park’s Week 2012. The celebrations start on Sunday July 29th , at Castleton visitor centre and throughout the week there will be lots of family fun activities and guided walks. Although the events are spread over the Park, some of the events are quite local to Parwich, so scroll through this PDF and look for the events in bold.
Having played in all sorts of weather it feels strange to be able to dispense with the oil skins and wellies. Not complaining, however. We managed a win and a loss this week.
Matlock Tuesday League. Home – 24 July – Bakewell.
Bakewell were, a few places ahead of us in the league. We had a good evening winning three out of the four games. Giving a final result of Parwich 72 Bakewell 60. I think that with the 12 point difference in the scores we should move above them in the league.
Next match – Away – Matlock Golf Club – 31 July 6.30pm.
Thursday League. Away – Matlock Golf Club – 26 July.
Another team who are ahead of us in the league, but not such a good result as the Tuesday match. We did not manage to win any doubles games although we came close in one. We were 63 to 43 behind. We faired a little better in the six singles games sharing them three each. The scores were Parwich 72 Matlock 68. This made the final score 131 to Matlock, 115 to Parwich. We are back at the Golf Club on Tuesday next week. Hopefully we will do better.
Next match – Away – Matlock Golf Club – 31 July – 1.45pm.
A good day was had by all last Sunday when we played Hazelwood in a friendly. This Sunday we entertain Ashbourne. Come along to Parsons Croft and relax in the sun you will be fed up with the Olympics by then. Usual start 2.00pm.
Peak Five Churches are holding their “Let There Be Light” children’s summer party on Sunday July 29th, at the Memorial Hall, between 10:00am and 11:30am.
The party is billed as featuring “MAD Games” and “Making Things That Fly!”, and party snacks will also be provided.
If the sun is shining, then the party will be held outside, within walking distance of the hall. If that’s the case, directions will be posted on the door of the hall.
To book your place at the party, please RSVP to Tracey F: 07772 758470 or tracey@peakfive.org.
Please click on the advert to enlarge it. The advert is also suitable for printing, and folding into a paper aeroplane!
JF-S has sent this sequence of photos into the blog catching Wyatt on the move. Just click on any photo to enlarge the image and see them all as a slide show.
Sue and David have asked us to post the following information:
Monday 30th July
The cortège will leave the Rathbone Flats at 2-45pm
if any vehicles wish to follow on
The Service will be held at 3-45pm
at Markeaton Crematorium in Derby
(click here for address and link to map)
Whether you can make the journey to Derby or not,
please everyone, from the village and beyond, do come along to a short “Farewell” in the Memorial Hall starting at 5.30pm.
There’ll be a bit of “pub grub” (but no quiz)
and a glass or two for a final toast.
Planning Sub Committee Meeting
at 1 Croft Ave on Sunday 29th July – 10am
To discuss this planning application (Erection of an agricultural building on Dam Lane) which requires a response from the Council before the next scheduled meeting in September. This meeting is open to the public.
Parwich’s resident make-up expert Jo-anne Jewett has written an article for the blog maybellinebook.com, which is hosted by Maybelline heiress Sharrie Williams. Please click here to read it.
If you hear the church bells ringing on Friday morning, then don’t worry, it really isn’t Sunday and World War III hasn’t started!
To mark the opening of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the London Organising Committee is calling for thousands of bells to be rung across the country, and St. Peter’s will be joining in.
The mass bell ringing will begin at 8.12am on Friday, and it will last for 3 minutes.
