St Gemma’s bereavement team in collaboration with Wheatfields Hospice have set up a telephone support line for anyone in Leeds who has a family member or friend that is critically ill or who has died from Covid-19. Offering emotional support and signposting where needed.

The phone line is open Monday – Friday, 9.00am-4.00pm (apart from bank holidays) and is staffed by trained bereavement workers.

covid-19_-st-gemma(1) – Copy

Dear all,

This week’s Monday Mind workout is on food and drink. Best of luck!

Food and Drink Quiz Questions

1. If you asked for scraps in a ‘chippy’ – what would you get?
2. What is an eggplant known as in the UK?
3. What meat is in a Glamorgan sausage?
4. What are Pontefract cakes made from?
5.  In which country would you most likely be offered Ouzo?
6. Saffron comes from which flower?
7. What nut is used in marzipan?
8. What fruit is a Whitby bun flavoured with?
9. What county did the Eccles cake come from?
10. What is the most consumed manufactured drink in the world?
11. What is the main ingredient in guacamole?
12. In which county is the Rhubarb Triangle?
13. Which bakery created a stir with a vegan sausage roll?
14. If you were eating fondue, what would you be dipping into?
15. What are the 3 main ingredients of a mocha?
16. Which West Yorkshire town holds a liquorice festival each year?
17. Chesnut, oyster and shitake are all varieties of what?
18. What type of food is Port Salut?
19. What forms the inside of a Baked Alaska?
20. What is Paddington Bear’s favourite food?

Answers to follow tomorrow

Hello all

I was hoping to get cracking repainting the rusty bits in the shed but that pesky Wren is nest building again..so plans put on hold for a while..yes the Latin for Wren is Troglodytes troglodytes..the shed must remind it of an old damp cave..I just had some news from a friend that the Wren may not set up home in the shed..apparently the male bird builds a few nests and then the female comes and inspects which she fancies..surely not a scruffy old tin shed..it can get very hot in the summer as well ..the eggs will be hard boiled..

Ah Yes the Troggs…Wild thing you make my heart sing …you make everything groovy…..they don’t write them like that anymore…was Reg Presley the singer’s real name?..no one is called Reg are they?…keep on rocking..ben

Dear all,

Day 15 written and shared with you by Maureen Kershaw

‘Stocktaking and Taking Stock’

Not been out since first thing Saturday morning but a productive time and each day enjoyable. On a walk last week I had a conversation with a lady who lives little more than a stone’s throw away from me.  I hasten to add that we chatted from opposite sides of the road so we were certainly social distancing. I’d kept to my plan of speaking to a stranger each time I ventured out and as we almost drew level we commented on taking our daily exercise. Apparently she has lived nearby for many a year but admitted that although very much an ‘outdoorsy’ person – she only takes that up outside Leeds, her journeys always being by car.

We chatted for a good 10 mins on how our lives have changed but we are at an age where we soon accept and adapt. We agreed how Covid-19 apart, surely many good things will come out of this. The City and indeed most of the World is so much quieter, the air must be cleaner; streets are cleaner. We have time to take in the view around us. Standing at our opposite sides we reflected how there would usually be cars parked all day, the traffic would be whizzing by and we certainly couldn’t have even heard more than a “Hello” let alone a conversation. How at Hyde Park Corner cars desperate to be the first through the traffic lights and roaring along to the next set – all were now at a steady pace. No rush. No anger at hesitant motorists at the filter light prompting much sounding of horns. Before we parted the lady said how nice it was that people are speaking to each other more but wondered how much the younger generation will learn from all this.

In taking stock of all this carry-on, stocktaking has been done. How much importance is there to have cupboards full of clothes, the latest this and that, holidays bigger and better? Not important at all. People being safe and well is the prime importance. Everything else can wait. No point in having the flashiest car or motorhome if we can’t take them anywhere. A phone, tablet or laptop which serves the purpose in connecting us with those who matter is what counts at this time. I don’t think anyone ever died through not dressing up and wearing false lashes, nails or the ‘correct’ seasonal wear. Stocktake, get rid of what’s not vital, now is a good time to do it. Plenty of time to start afresh when this uncertain time has passed. (NB: I did throw out my false lashes years ago).

Thank you Maureen, until next time!

Dear all, Lesley who used to work for Caring Together thought you might like the amazing pictures in the below link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-52384143

Thanks Lesley, take care

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAAaq7M0aXs

You’re invited to the Jellicle Ball today (Friday 15th May) from 7pm – For 24 hours in the UK

Dear all,

Please find attached the West Yorkshire Trading Standards Newsletter Scam Alert. This weekly alert will outline trending fraud patterns during the current COVID-19 pandemic and what we can do to stay protected. There have been further reports of scams, doorstep Crime and business complaints all relating to the COVID-19 pandemic here in West Yorkshire. This news alert will give you an indication of the current situation here in West Yorkshire.

Last week, (20/04/2020 – 26/04/2020) WYTS had 45 COVID-19 complaints and queries. A further 28 intelligence reports were submitted through our intelligence database relating to COVID-19 during this time period.

National Covid intelligence submissions from 04/05/20 to 10/05/20 = 313

Yorks & Humber Covid intelligence submissions from 04/05/20 to 10/05/20 = 45 (so just over 14% of national intel)

West Yorkshire intelligence submissions from 04/05/20 to 10/05/20 = 28

Nationally there has been 4041 Covid 19 related intelligence reports submitted since 01/03/2020 to 10/05/2020.

COVID-19 weekly news alert issue 7 15.05.2020 – Copy

Each week I will be sharing some images captured by local residents and members of Caring Together, and a few from myself. If you wish to add any then please just send me some, open to all.

The ‘Thank you’ board was made by Caring Together members in Woodhouse at Craven Road and Delph View. Linda has been making a rainbow scarf. Such vibrant colours. And Peter delights in winning… Lots of our members and residents have been making things not just for themselves but for others and not just in lockdown; they were doing this before – such a wealth of talent and kindheartedness.

  IVY BENSON CONTINUED…..

I enjoyed reading the story about Ivy Benson (article in South Leeds life shard by Lynne). A pity she wasn’t a Woodhouse girl, we could have added her as one of the local heroes of Woodhouse and Little London in a recent project some of us at Caring Together took part in.  I heard about her in the 1950’s, when I had been taken from the Midlands to live on the Isle of Man where Ivy had begun to establish herself as a seriously good jazz musician.

In the Villa Marina, Douglas’s marvellous new municipal entertainment centre, her band entertained the visitors who came over when mills closed for two weeks in the summer.  The band played the afternoons in the Villa gardens, if it wasn’t raining.  Joe Loss, Ronnie Aldrich or Ted Heath had bands which played in the evenings, under the sparkling silver balls either at the Villa or the Palace Ballroom.  Ronnie Aldrich in particular used to drive along the Prom in the afternoons in an open top sports car, waving at all the girls.  It was different for Ivy’s young musicians from Leeds and Manchester. She clucked after them like a mother hen, making sure they were well fed before they performed for the crowds lounging in deck chairs, swigging beer and coke, smoking their heads off.

My future mother-in-law ran the Esplanade Chip Shop across the road from the Villa, in a little square at the head of a snicket off the Prom. The then world champion motor cyclist Geoff Duke had a motor bike workshop next door. The midday atmosphere for three months a year in that corner was thrilling – the exciting smell of motor bike fuel and handsome Italian men in tight racing leathers; the throttle roar of gleaming carburettors.  The Benson band had to queue for chips – cooked in best beef dripping. Ivy, worried about her girls taking a shine to Geoff and his exotic admirers, asked Caroline Stowell to divert her son from his job of running the chip making machine in his Auntie Nellie Stowell’s wash house to chatting them up.  No chance.  He was such a swat, his only interest was starting a campaign to re-introduce Gaelic names to all the street signs on the island.

The girls, and sometimes their mothers, rented rooms in boarding houses behind the Prom, giving the landlady money to buy and cook their food. Caroline’s hated sister-in-law, Nellie, kept such a boarding house, and was alleged to feed herself on bits of her customers’ food.  A piece of washed up old vest hung over the sink to sieve the cream off the top of the milk.  Oh, the glamorous life on the road for Ivy’s girl band.

At Caring Together, we were entertained a few years ago by our own illustrious jazz musician – Annie Hawkins, double bass player from Australia – a very different character.  The smiling star, peering over her huge instrument, with a red flower in her hair.  More about Annie another time.

Written by Pat Tempest, Caring Together member and volunteer

This is great Pat, I look forward to hearing more about Annie. She played a few times for us, and joined me in one of my groups too to share her talents.

picture from https://southleedslife.com/my-local-hero-ivy-benson/