Tag: volunteering

Milling around

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We just got up and decided to go. This time it was Quarry Bank Mill. It’s a National Trust property. I’ve been with a work group of new students who can’t believe the conditions a 10 year old child might expect to work in.

Quarry Bank is special because it was the very first “ideal village” in that Mr Greg (not the pasties) built housing and two chapels and a pub for his workers as well as housing. Paying them with one hand and taking it back in the shop or over the bar.  This is one of those properties that gets more visitors in the week because it’s popular with school parties.

What an amazing place.

Park sign
Oak Cottages
Inside the spinning shed

Engels visited this place. He found it to be better than central Manchester but couldn’t speak to the residents privately so was pretty sure there was stuff to hide all the same. Yep model.villagw ties directly to the Communist Manifesto. Bear in mind that although the village had a school and a library the Greg family very much controlled what people could learn and read.

History. I mean .

Easter Gift

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I’m incredibly lucky to have found scuba diving. I love it and it brings me so much joy to be able to share it with others. If you’d have told me this would become my main hobby I would’ve said you were mad. I’m terrified of drowning! What scuba allows is a level of calculated risk. The trick is to do the calculations and then stick by those calculations on your dive…. but I digress…

I’m a member of a BSAC club. Number 2405, Midlancs SAC. I’ve been an instructor for about 5 years now and it is always a pleasure to see a new diver’s face when they emerge from their first try dive. This weekend my club along with a partner club Just4FunDiving took our Easter Saturday to take a bunch of lovely blokes in for a try dive (and they got some resuscitation training too). The guys from Andy’s Man Club are all on their own journey and each came with their own story but those are not mine to share. Suffice to say that for some of them the idea of diving was both exciting and terrifying in equal measure. The pure joy on the faces of these guys when they realised what they had achieved was something I will remember for a long time. I spent an hour and a half underwater, 45 minutes each with two new divers. One of them was so excited he was even chatting under the water which is difficult with a regulator in your mouth, but he managed it! They all have a certificate for their day and a real sense of achievement. These were all guys who have realised that its not so macho to keep quiet and they’ve learned to work on their issues. We need more places like Andy’s Man Club, more “men’s sheds” just as much as we need more safe spaces for women. Tremendous day.

All the ‘staff’ on the day were volunteers from kit movers to instructors to bakers (there is always cake). Thank you to Northern Diver for the sponsorship and to Wigan Council for the use of the pool.