Our family always helped with whatever they could we just saw it as being part of the community. My father was a brilliant mathematician and played bridge at a high level. At that time he was" the man from the pru" in rural yorkshire and would be going up sutton bank in february on a motorbike! His official job was to organise insurance for personal and farming needs and to collect the premums monthly I think. But he did far more than that! He had many farming clients who could read ordinary things but bank forms and ministry letters written by civil servants were hard to understand. Now , these people were not stupid but much more practical people who could deal with animals tractors fencing and whatever was needed. So the usual routine was my father would arrive and have his books etc and set them out, collect the money, talk about when things were due to mature and what they might do or how a new policy my be better now they had more sheep than cows etc. He would be offered a cup of tea and a teacake or scone or whatever and then it would be "Noo then Harry, av brukken mi glasses. can thee just look at this here fromt ministry of ag. cant rightly read this tiny writing" One particular farmer had a lot of bad luck , nearly every time my father went there would be a little pile of brown envelops beside the insurance books!! So over time I have done mother and toddler groups, provided help for newcomers with vey little english , of course helping with forms and grammar etc. Then I was a teacher and besides the normal things my class and I raised money until we had enough to pay for a guide dog. they were very proud of that and we had pictures of her in training etc. Then lived abroad and did some volunteering doing some basic english with wives of people expecting to come to england. We also had quite a bit of fun in Damascus. It was a rather restricted place to be as a woman, so we got all the expat wives from where ever and the embassies. So each week someone would make a recipe of their own. The rules were that all ingredients had to be available easily in the souk, and we used to write the recipes out and get them carefully translated for people to take home. everyone got to watch them being made and then tasting them. Then I have done 10 years of 3 days a week as an ambulance car driver taking patients who did not need the ambulance but lived high up in the dales so I used to take 3 in the morning and then back and then 3 in the afteroon from the top of swaledale and wensdydale up to James cook in Middlesborough for radio therapy, or going to hospitals in york, leeds and manchester. wherever I was need. then my husband became quite ill and so I then changed and learnt to drive the Little White Bus up and down mostly on the swaledale run, or going to Northallerton or Bedale. This was a vital service because if you cannot afford a car or have some eyesight problems and cannot drive the bus is your only way to bigger places, and things like banks etc. The internet is extremely poor in some of these areas and you get no signal either. At the same time of course I have been singing all the time and the choir I belong to sings in the Swaledale festival for which I also volunteer , collecting artists from the station etc and I do some translating if needed . (quick advert do look on line at swaledale festival programme, It has been going for 50 year this year, and we have a huge range of guided walks, recitals, big concerts etc . so for example this year we have Kathyrn tickell - folk music . Muker silver bank and Jenifer Kanna Mason and we are opening the festival by singing Messiah in Ripon Cathedral. Itis a marvellous festival and heldlast week in may first in june as our wonderful haymeadows full of flowers are so lovely then and you can walk through them and sit with your eyes closed near the beck and hear the bees and birds overhead and you will be back to your childhood!! Our choir has always given concerts for charity and we have raised quite a bit of money over the time. So we finally were able to practise last sunday together suitabley up to date with covid practise but what a joy to be singing together again. Do have a look on line you might be able to come to something. I have been a reader for talking newspaper for the blind but covid had to stop all that depriving people of their spoken newspaper because we had to record in confined space so fingers crossed we shall get back to that soon. Well I have to say i have gained far more from the small bit I gave and have met many interesting people and learnt lots of new skills and how other people live and when I feel down and lonely as I am now a widow and live alone, I can see a picture or drive through a village and it will remind me of all these things that were worth while. sadly due to covid I havent been able to see my son or grandson for a long time as I was shielding but with common sense and having had all my jabs I look forward to the joy of meeting up with them again and I always have my beloved swaledale to just go up and take my coffee with me and sit and enjoy the beauty that surrounds me. So when Boris Johnson disgusts me and enrages me with his cheating and lying etc I switch it off and am grateful for the friends I have that have stood by me all this time and the beauty of the countryside which no elecricity bill can spoil and carry on.
