the solar 

Dark matter

I've just thought, I should tell the story of the big bang. You know I'm very sceptical about ghosts and stuff, yet every so often something happens. About six months ago I was in our catering kitchen in the hall. It used to be a solar, a room the Lord used as a private bedroom and living space, it probably dates back to around 1470 or so. There were no visitors in, very few staff, most of them were on their lunch break. On the ceiling above me I heard a massive thump. The last time I heard that kind of sound was when my elderly next-door neighbour fell down last year. Being the first aider I thought there must be a visitor up there who's fallen over, so I (rather reluctantly) went upstairs to look. No-one. In fact no-one in the hall. Nobody had left the front entrance either. Nothing fallen or moved. I couldn't find anything to explain it,it was a mighty big bang though, not something imagined. Very odd.

Shine on you crazy diamond

February 9th (Thursday) and 10th (Friday) How the week has just flown by… I started Thursday at the centre at 9-00 then drove ahead to get the tea on. Everyone got to the barn by 10-30 ish so things are getting slightly more organised! We started the session with a warm up, Rose doing some keep fit to some music whilst I prepared the room. After that we started on more paper creations, making lily pads for our Chinese lake (and for the frogs to sit on!). In the afternoon we started to build a model of the Tudor barn. I thought we could maybe use it as a miniature stage set to work out where we would place ourselves drama wise… Friday was a bit of an odd day. Steven has gone to a wedding. Julie is poorly. David doesn’t come on a Friday. James has not turned up. Alex is here with his carer; Louise. I worked on our model most of the day while Rose told stories then went for a walk around the church. It’s Friday, everyone is tired. I have had a very long week

From little acorns Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd February 2006 First two days of ‘The big Project’… We haven’t really agreed upon a name for our project yet, we’ll be looking at all things Chinese; food, art, drama, dress and music. We are going to be based at Warsop Tudor Barn about ten miles away from the daycentre, every Thursday and Friday until July. The first day, Thursday, was hectic, trying to gather the group together. There are 14 students, 2 of whom are in wheelchairs. It took an ambulance and a minibus to get us there, arriving at the Barn at 10-30. Tea and coffee all around! We spent the rest of the morning getting to know the place. We set up the P.A. system and everyone had a sing along (including Dave!). We also looked at all our paints and materials and talked about what we wanted to accomplish over the coming months. Dinner was toasted sandwiches, crisps and more drinks. Friday was another hectic start. Everyone arrived at the Barn at 10-30 -ish, except… we’ve forgotten Lyn! I had been there since 9-00 to set up the room and prepare drinks. I also had chance to wander around and explore the far end of the building. We’ve been allowed to use the attic space for storage. There are also a number of other rooms, it’s like a big old rabbit warren inside. The Barn itself is a Tudor building, with heavy buttressed stone walls and an ‘A’ framed timber roof. There are traces of old doorways since filled in, brick arches giving away a few secrets. At the bottom end is a splendid minstrel’s gallery with a staircase. Friday morning we finally got started on an origami workshop, which was a crash course for me as well as the students. We all made a peace dove out of a large sheet of paper. After dinner we made jumping frogs and raced them along the floor. The day just races when you’re having fun!