The General Store at The Mill

04/10/2025

So what's ahead?

Well, I can tell you what's been before. And life has been that flurry of activity that stops all other things from truly flourishing. A little anyway.

I can tell you though that the amazing Allendale Village Hall has the perfect evening out for snooker lovers everywhere.

Oh yes. They do.

Put it in your diaries, get your glad rags on and for one night only - it is a very very very select tour you know - you too can dance the night away to the electric tunes of none other than, the one, the only, Steve Davis.

You know, Steve Davis.

The Steve Davis.

Six times UK Snooker Championship and 3 times Masters winner.

It's pretty random. To think Masters champion Steve Davis is in a synth band. And wouldn't you like to know a little bit more about it? Maybe even head them? It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

A niche opportunity, but still...

23rd October. Allendale Village Hall. Be there or be ever curious as to what Steve Davis and his mates get up to when the balls have been pocketed.

Tickets available online, from this link.

I've booked mine for a curious night of music, Masters champion and a little bit of a tipple...

Buy tickets and see event information for The Utopia Strong - DOPERIDER Tour 2025.

04/10/2025

I love this time of year.
When walking through canopies of trees falling to sleep
Their heavy lids boughing with near sleep.
As under foot soft crackles of dream time sand in hues of gold and brown and blistered sun shatter the still autumn air.
Yet it is not quiet, not the real still quiet of winter time, when all is shut up until spring, when the trees,
Listless and fatigued give up their arms to rest in blankets of white until called again.
No, it is not that quiet -
There is the wind that ripples through, turning and twisting and reaching through to the tousle,
There is the scurry of small lives, vibrantly busy shopping for the season bringing home foraged goods to their treetop homes and burrows below...
The internal buzz of thoughts, all planning and
Plotting ahead.
When that reflective mind turns inwards and onto cosy nights with fire burn and hot toddy,
Books and soft light, curtains half closed
Opening onto the landscape of change and the sky carries that tint of nostalgia -
You know the one,
When the colour seems faded to the vintage glory of apple pie and cinnamon days made vivid.
That juxtapose. That opposition. That fight with harvest time and Halloween before making up at Winter solstice.
Yes, I love this time of year.
Reflection and smoke and mirrors.

28/08/2025

What does Community mean to you?

It's a question we grapple with, isn't it, at times.

I've been off radar living life - not forgetting about the greater community to which I belong - I've had ups and downs and ins and outs.

I went and saw the amazing studio space of Chrissie Heughan artisan papermaker a dedicated artisan paper maker whose works are developed through years of experience and experimentation.

I listened to the unique classical music of Ludvico Einaudi Elements Tour - Royal Festival Hall at the gorgeous venue of Edinburgh Castle as the sun set around me the soft rising and falling of melody spun the senses. The fact that his talent and the talent of the musicians around exist is amazing. Such effortlessness, such studied effortlessness!

Then to hear the electric amazing Faithless at Floors Castle - so wonderful and eclectic and all those other adjectives...

And in between this, in between these moments, the eternal Summer Holidays of Youth. The bright colours and vivacity of childhood. The neverending search for entertainment and elation. A sea of summer, the surf gently coming to rest on the edge of Autumn..

Yes, we find ourselves back at the start again. Back at the beginning.

We face loss, we face unimaginable change at times, we face joy and sorrow and emotions so big sometimes.

So, in-between these moments, and this time, I lost someone close to me. Summers tinged with sorrow.

And what is community? What is it, if not to share these experiences, these moments and times with others. What is community if not a collective of energy. Boundless energy.

Here comes the pitch - above all of this, I've involved myself with fundraising for a new playpark. The new playpark where generations of children meet, grow, socialise, explore. Where parents come to share that parenthood experience. Where walkers come to exercise their dogs. Where Bowlers come to curl and win.

Yes, I am fundraising for the playpark. For the next generations. Speaking to the children, for them the Playpark is a Community. And it takes a Community to build a Playpark.

To kick off this launch, for even with the best will in the world there are no fairy godmothers or magic money trees or glowing chests of diamonds hidden in sunken Goonies like ships. Unfortunately. I do so wish I believed in that magic just a little more. To kick off this launch we're holding a Family Fun Afternoon.

And it has been no mean feat. With disappointments and distractions and all the other things thrown into the mix. And from the ashes of that fire a tiny little Phoenix is rising.....

Circus Skills Workshop - Bouncy Castle - Test your Strength - Food - Bar - Treasure Hunt - Balloon Modelling - Paper crafts - Ice Cream ...

And all amazingly have come together on Saturday 30th August between 12pm and 4pm

With a playlist and an atmosphere. Come and view the vision and donate if you can. Buckets will be around the park for pennies to drop into them.

And for those that cannot come, then do definitely definitely check out the just giving page. Help shape the vision from paper to park.

The sooner we raise the £200,000 (yes, I know!) the sooner we can share the space with the children, and their idea of Community.

Care for our Community.
Come and see the space. Experience it. Envision it. Enliven it!

Much appreciation needs to be sent out to Allendale Village Hall, Allendale Tea Rooms, Allendale Butchers , Alston Ices, Allendale Youth Ambition, Jonah Maurice (for speakers!) Fun Experts, Will Reid-Frow and every single one of you who takes the time to read this, to turn up, to contribute and to feel the love that a Community can give.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/allendalevillagehall?utm_medium=CR&utm_source=CL

18/07/2025

A few days ago we had the absolute pleasure of seeing Einaudi in Edinburgh Castle.

Awesome inspiring. Multi talented. Once in a lifetime transcendental.

When the ivories were tinkled the melody flowed so trance-like....truly a master of his art. The orchestra matched his talent with the energy of youth and vibrancy that comes from those working with greatness.

It was vertiginous though. Physically. High up in the metal gods, sunset blinding so only the sounds visible as you pressed your eyelids closed against the light.

The thing about Edinburgh, yes, the thing about Edinburgh....it's incredibly easy to get to from where we are in the scheme of travel. And it has a magic that comes from history upon history - looking up is by far better than looking down - the buildings have that higgledy piggledy Mish mash of architecture, where layers are piled over layers, knowing that there were once population on population with dreams of greathood, hopes of betterment, and the sheer scale of these is set in the landscape...melds into the closes and the wider street scene. Where modernity fights a battle and often loses against the talent lost to time.

It is....I wouldn't say unique, unfortunately, the Isles are blessed with these places of raw beauty and industrial heritage, history of conquest and conquering...from dreaming spires of Oxford, more tamed soft in the southern downs...to the Cathedral and viking edge of York, walled within itself set flat on the horizon...the Durham skyline...Newcastle... Carlisle...Bradfordian and Halifax mills and factory smoke stacks....the fisher cottages and mines of Cornwall, where sea and sand combine to create a landscape at one with the land...Welsh valleys and Manchester mania....The gorges of Cheddar...ah so many places big and little that pull you in.

But nothing like home. Nothing like that feeling of pure peaceful tranquility when you draw comparison on comparison of your true home. When you near your place of security, drape its blanket of comfort over you and drift into - - home. Wherever, whatever this is to you. These places all pull, with their glimpses of other worlds, other lives. Alternatives - never the same. Teasing you with the what could have been or what has been. Ah, to be home in the heart. To be at rest in the spaces.

Yes, looking up is so much better than looking down.

Sitting in the Princes St gardens, a buzz with life - driving down the rollercoaster road of the A68....twas a lovely little trip out and away. Only 48hrs of escape - yet, sometimes that is enough. When the banality of life sets in or the everydayness of Everything seems overwhelming just that little bit of time. That little bit of sitting outside yourself and your usual is enough to make one appreciate all that there is.

That there is beauty in creativity. That there is an appreciation of Others outlets and the effect of rolling like ripples outwardly touching the inner heart. That talent resides and shares itself. Inspires.

So beautiful. So serene.

Ludovico Einaudi - Nuvole Bianche (Live From The Steve Jobs Theatre / 2019)'Nuvole Bianche' is taken from the album 'Una Mattina', available everywhere now: ...