Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by Mike Shaw Peppermint creams have a special place in my affections. Ever since the wartime days when I made them with my own hands. They were, I’m afraid, a very primitive version of the sweets that are now passed round in little brown packets to round [...]
‘Open Writing’
Peppermint Creams
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Kings of Tailoring
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by Tom Hellawell No decent man’s wardrobe used to be complete without a suit. A best suit, that is. To wear on Sundays, and for christenings, weddings and funerals. No wonder the Colne Valley mills in Yorkshire had to work flat out to keep up with the [...]
Aspects of Gardening
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by Tom Hellawell I for one can speak from experience, having passed through all phases of agricultural and horticultural production, from lack of interest to obsession, with the pendulum of enthusiasm coming to rest in a midway position. Like most gardeners starting from scratch, I made mistakes [...]
For Better, For Worse
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Vera Sanderson tells a true tale. The train lurched to a violent halt and he awoke with a start. It had stopped on a high viaduct just short of the station of yet another grimy industrial town. For a moment he did not realise just where he was, [...]
Whips and Tops
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Saturday, May 1st, 2010Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by Mike Shaw Get out the whip and top. And I reckon it’s just about time to launch the marbles season as well. According to the poet, when spring is here a young man’s fancy turns to love. But long before we young lads reached an age [...]
Picture Palaces
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Thursday, April 1st, 2010Mike Shaw recalls his film-going debut in a Yorkshire mill village. A youthful Gracie Fields was trilling away on the silver screen. And in the front stalls I sat enthralled throughout my unforgettable first-ever visit to the cinema. Our Gracie was positively bubbling as she sang “Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye” – [...]
The Critic, The Romantic and The Cynic
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by John Worthington Feather The critic analyses life, the romantic adorns it, the cynic sneers at it; and over the past few decades cynicism has spread through English life like a cancer. Observe a commentator on television and see his curled lip. Read the sourness of reviewers [...]
My Hero
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by Jill Grant My Dad. My hero. A loving, kind and decent man. My first memories of him are riding on his shoulders (clutching his hair – ouch) and babbling “Ah! A-Dadda!” I was thirty at the time. (I jest, of course. I would be about eighteen [...]
Rice Pud
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by Enid Blackburn Did something today, I’m ashamed to say, I haven’t done for ages – made a rice pudding without using a tin opener. With great effort I threw a handful of rice into an earthenware dish, softened it in the oven with a covering [...]
Palais Days
Click the title above to read the complete post. Posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009Selected by Peter Hinchliffe for “Open Writing” Written by Jacqueline Finesilver October 28th 1919, a dull, cold day in London: a camel was seen walking down Oxford Street. Hurrying shoppers and workers stopped and stood still in the wind. They stared as the animal strode slowly past them. It had sandwich boards strapped to its [...]