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My Sunday Photo 16th September 2018

September 16, 2018 by Anne Sweet 25 Comments

This week I bring you the Bell Tower of the wonderful Bournville Carillon. In fact I am bringing you a post that I fist published in 2015 with a little revision.

a large brick tower with a huge bell tower on the top, set against a pale blue sky

The tower is actually the entrance to a primary school. How cool to enter your school through such an amazing building.

The Carrillon was gifted to Bournville, Birmingham by George Cadbury after visiting Belgium. He was really impressed with the Carillon in Bruges which dates back to 1675.

The copper cupola above the tower houses 48 bells, but this is no ordinary bell tower because the bells are not rung by ropes but by a carillon. The bells are fixed and don’t move, the sound is made by the clippers or tongues of the bells and these are worked by a kebyoard called a clavier.

British Empire Medal

The reason I have decided to revisit and revise this post is because the Carilloneur (isn’t that a fab. word!) Trevor Workman has been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the British Carillon Society and the community in Bournville. Trevor has played the Carillon for over 50 years now.

Here is a short video of the Carillon being played. It’s an amazing instrument that takes a lot of strength to play, so my hat is off to Trevor! It sounds different from the outside though, the tone is much nicer and you don’t get to hear the clonking of the clavier keys.

Bournville

I am very lucky to live near the Bournville Carillon and on a sunny Saturday afternoon there is nothing nicer than sitting on the village green opposite and listen to it being played.

Also, it’s an incredible place in the run up to Christmas, just across the road from the Carillon, next to the village green, there is always the most beautiful Christmas tree. And the Carillon will play Christmas carols on a Saturday afternoon. There is also a fabulous carol service by candle light.

a beautiful large tree covered with pretty lights for Christmas.

I know it’s a little too soon to be mentioning Christmas. But if you do visit Cadbury World in Birmingham, any time of year, do take a look at the Carillon, it is literally opposite the entrance gates. And if you visit on a Saturday do listen out for it’s beautiful music in the afternoon.

My Sunday Photo 2nd September 2018

September 2, 2018 by Anne Sweet 15 Comments

Holiday

I wanted to share a photo that summed up our holiday, but I have way too many to choose from. I do love this one though. I haven’t changed it, but I’m not sure why the beach is so dark. Nothing sums up a holiday like a beach photo. And despite it being quite a busy beach it only has my three children captured.

We stayed in a caravan and when we first arrived, Star went and took photos of everything, including the loos and inside the fridge. I think caravans mostly look the same, but this one was really nice and cosy and lovely to call home for the week.

Apart from the beach we also went swimming a few times. The kids all had a go on the big slide which I thought was very brave of them. They are not so good in the pool and we really must get them some proper swimming lessons. The school doesn’t do them. In fact I was very surprised that when they built the new school just over a year ago, that they didn’t have a pool put in the sports centre. They have room for one.

I posted my deer pictures last week, which was a great highlight of our holiday. Also we had a few meals out which were great fun. This restaurant was right next to the beach, and the views were lovely.

Having a meal out at the Beachside restaurant

We had fun evenings at the club or the arcades. We even got to watch an Abba Tribute show. Sadly, we had to miss the Michael Jackson tribute because we were all too tired that night. The kids love arcades and winning tickets to collect for prizes. We had thousands of them by the end of the week. Sadly, you needed tens of thousands to win anything of value, but the kids had fun. They also liked the two pence machines where you roll your coin in and hope it pushes the others off so you can win more two pences and keep playing.

The Little Man, however, preferred to spend his allowance on the VR machine. He loved it! Boo had a couple of turns, but poor Star had to miss out because of having spinal surgery. So, my last photo this week is my my Little Man enjoying a little Raving Rabids in Virtual Reality.

VR Machine, you’d better hold on, it gets bumpy!

My Sunday Photo – 12th August 2018

August 12, 2018 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

Group Hug

Not a brilliant photo, but if a picture could paint a thousand words this one would be one of yelling, screaming, fighting and running around like lunatics. But, at the end of the day when it’s time to leave each other, it’s time for a big group hug.

Friends since they were tiddlers, these three boys got together to celebrate my Little Man’s 8th Birthday.

Parties

This year, the deal was NO birthday parties and I’m not sure it sunk in with anyone. Boo agreed but asked if her friend could come around for tea, so I agreed and when Graham went to pick her up another little friend who lived in the same street asked to come as well. He couldn’t refuse, so we had two friends for tea. I made pizzas and sausage rolls, crisps, biscuits and birthday cake.

Ditto the Little Man, no party just a friend around for tea, but he wanted two friends, and one of his friends brought his two sisters (who were friends of my two girls.) Never has a ‘not having a party’ looked more like a party before. I did forget to make the jelly though, and we didn’t have party games or activities, I just let them run wild. Really wild.

Minecraft Cake

I also said that I was not going to be making cakes this year. So Boo said ‘Ok, I’ll make my own.’ And she did. She also helped me make a cake for the Little Man. He chose a Minecraft cake and wanted me to do a picture of a villager. It was nowhere near as good as his previous Minecraft cakes, but that didn’t matter.

Birthday Month

From 27th July to 24th August it’s Birthday month in our house. All three of my Little ones have birthdays within 4 weeks of each other.

Next up it’s Star’s birthday. She doesn’t do parties anyway, so no worries there. Instead we’ll be singing Happy Birthday in car on the motorway on the way home from our holiday. A little error on my behalf, but she doesn’t mind. She’s made me promise to stop off at Burger King on the way home. How can I refuse. That sounds like a party I can handle.

My Sunday Photo 20th July 2018

July 22, 2018 by Anne Sweet 17 Comments

This week was the final week for Boo in Primary School as she was a year six leaver.

My Sunday Photo(s) this week are to celebrate some of the fun stuff she did in the last year at school.

The Heart of England Forest.

As a treat for doing so well during SATS week the class was treated to a trip to The Heart of England Forest in South Warwickshire.

This is Boo with her best friend. She has lots of friends at school but seems to be drawn to the ones who are a little different. Boo could easily fit in with the ‘popular’ girls but instead prefers to choose friendships she can trust and give something back to.

Kingswood Residential

Just last month Boo spent two nights away from home on a residential trip. She joined in with everything and had a really good time. Here is a photo of her abseiling, which she found really scary, but she did it anyway.

She is quite a timid girl, but with the right encouragement she will generally give anything a go. She loved being on the residential trip, she enjoyed all the team work and the opportunity to enjoy things she wouldn’t normally get the chance to do. I worry that she does miss out on a lot of stuff. We avoid things because of Star’s disabilities, and it’s even worse since I became disabled. It’s so good that she can get the opportunity to do these kind of things.

In this next photo she is again with her best friend. She told me all about the tumbling tower with such great excitement. Her friend kept falling off before they’d finished building the tower, but Boo was there to catch her every time.

I’m so proud of my little girl, she never fails to surprise and delight me. She has a heart of gold and always kind to others. At the leavers assembly she was awarded with the trophy for being artfully creative and her teacher said to watch out for her name on the shelves of Waterstones in the future.

We have already talked about her writing a book and Star will help with the illustrations. Maybe we can make this our task for the Summer!

My Sunday Photo – 15th April 2018

April 15, 2018 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

I took this photo some time ago during one of our power cuts. I like the way the light makes patterns through the glass on the table.

I’m sharing this photo today in memory of little Jessica, a young warrior who went to sleep forever yesterday.

Life is way to short, and for some it’s even shorter. Sleep tight little girl x

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