Live Adventurously: the noble Crow has been observing our behaviour for millenia. It is the conscience of humanity
I was invited to sing a song in Kurdish at this concert: Qala Mara is a humble Kurdish man who lived in the Kurdish area that is in Iran. He has been a well recognised shamshal player and there was a concert to honour his memory. The concert was organised by my good friend Hassan Darzi, a wonderful Kurdish singer and violin player. Music by Qala Mara can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P7suTNtRZU
Wednesday 21 May 2025: The Musician, now at The International, Garden Street, Leicester LE1 3UA I’ll be doing support for the lovely Pete Morton.
Doors open at 7.30pm, and tickets are available here: https://www.ents24.com/leicester-events/the-international-musician-2/pete-morton/7252945
Tuesday 3 June 2025: Kenny Wilson is playing at the Knighton & Clarendon Park Conservative Club 123-125 Clarendon Park Rd, Leicester, from 8pm, and I’ll be doing a spot at around 9pm.
Entry is free.
Tuesday 24 June 2025: 12.15 to 1.15pm at Attenborough Arts Centre, Lancaster Road, Leicester LE1 7HA, sharing the lunchtime slot with Edward Hayes.
Entry is free, details are here: https://attenborougharts.com/whats-on/soundbites-lunchtime-concert/.
Saturday & Sunday 2 &3 August 2025: Melton Folk Festival: watch this space for details of the programme
Friday to Sunday 15 – 17 August 2025: Moira Furnace Folk Festival
This is a lovely festival and local to us, so I am really looking forward to playing, and it was great to be asked.
On the provisional programme I’ll be playing two slots in the Folk Tent:
See the website: https://www.moirafurnacefolkfestival.co.uk/ for information and tickets; and for updates see the Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/120269186644/
Excitement is rising in anticipation of the Melton Folk Festival, August 5th and 6th 2023: I’ll be playing:
Saturday : 12:00 noon Charlie’s Bar
Saturday : 2:00 pm Nigels Cafe
Saturday : 3:20 pm Anne of Cleves
Sunday : 12:40 pm Coco Melto
Sunday : 2:00 pm More Coffee Co
Sunday : 3:20 pm The Harboro Hotel
Look out for the debut of Missouri Mick: https://missourimick.com/
and from the Raven Folk Club (who kept some of us going during Covid) welcome to the lovely singing of Katrina Turner.
More details on the folk festival website: https://meltonfolk.com/festival/summer-festival/
On 19 March 2023 there was a service at Oadby Trinity Methodist Church to mark the occasion. Dad was invited to speak, and the following was filmed by my sister. He has given his permission for it to be out in the public arena.
This is what he said:
Dad’s talk has been put together with some additional content, and can be read/downloaded here which may be helpful for those who find it difficult to hear the video:
Continue reading “My Dad – 75 years a Methodist Minister”Stop the removals – see the post on the StatusNow4All website: https://statusnow4all.org/deportation-in-this-cruel-hostile-environment/:
StatusNow4All: This cruel hostile environment has given rise to yet another Home Office plan to deport people to Zimbabwe on 2 March 2022. StatusNow4All abhors this decision made in the name of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel.
IT IS IMMORAL:
These are just some of the factors of note in relation to those who are being rounded up for deportation right now:
· Some have been here a long time, as many as twenty years;
· Some will have had Refugee Leave, such was the compelling case they presented on arrival in UK, but the law allows the Home Office to strip them of this due to a conviction for particular offending behaviours [para 339 Immigration Rules].
Continue reading “Deportation in this cruel hostile environment”Bay Nature: Flying in for the Crow Funeral: Can crows help explain human interest and rituals surrounding death? by Anne Marshall-Chalmers October 29, 2020
A crow funeral can happen at any time. Farmers bear witness after shooting unwanted crows in their fields. Powerline workers see them should an unlucky bird zap itself and drop. Occasionally, the funerals occur in a city park. All it takes is one dead American crow plus one fellow crow to spot it and release an alert, harsh and urgent — Caw! Caw! Within moments, a mob of crows arrives. Sometimes it’s only a handful, other times up to 60 or 70 birds settle onto branches or whatever aerial perch allows good viewing of the corpse and the surrounding scene.
For a short time, the birds remain quiet and still, only to break into a chorus of shrill calls. Back and forth, silence and aggravation for about 15 to 20 minutes until nearly all at once the ink-black birds launch and disperse, leaving branches to quiver.
Continue reading “More about crows:”Little Amal’s journey: https://www.walkwithamal.org/
Little Amal is a giant puppet who represents the journey of child refugees. Her walk began from the border of Syria/Turkey and will end on 3 November 2021 in Manchester with an outdoor event starting 7pm at Castlefield Bowl https://www.walkwithamal.org/events/when-the-birds-land/ : The arrival of Amal to Manchester marks the end of her epic journey. In the lead up to Amal’s arrival local schools, refugee communities and Manchester International Festival will be creating a giant flock of puppet birds. Her days in Manchester culminate in a spectacular finale event. Surrounded by the communities of the city, Amal understands that she has reached her final destination. She is now ready to begin her next even longer journey: creating a new life in a new home.
You could perhaps make paper birds to put in your window, or cover the Meeting House in them to greet Little Amal. There is an origami pattern here – these work really well to impress small children : https://www.origamiway.com/easy-origami-bird.shtml
Penny has been so active about making the world a more friendly, safe and inclusive place to be that her contribution to a future world of love and peace cannot be under-estimated.
Here are just a few articles about her life:
For those who knew Penny Walker, and those looking for inspiration: Loraine is from Penny’s inspirational Peace House in Coventry … the video ends with a poem PENNY WALKER by Loraine Masiya Mponela 20 June 2021: