RSS

Category Archives: ShelterBox

Book Club and A Poem

Another hoolie, another day to read! I started ‘Black Butterflies’ by Priscilla Morris, yesterday and was unable to put it down until I finished it this afternoon. My, what a talent this young woman has. This is her first novel and it is stunning. It is set in Sarajevo in 1992 and is deeply moving. It’s a love letter to humanity, to the power of art, to family, to a Sarajevo under siege and to love itself. And, it is beautifully written.

A friend sent me this poem, knowing how I appreciate the small things, the “lovely things” that are all around us if we can take the time to stop and to notice. .

by Lucy Maud Montgomery

5 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on February 23, 2025 in community, Postaday2025, ShelterBox

Tags: 1992, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Priscilla Morris, Sarajevo, ShelterBox book club

Camellia, Good Words and A Special Invitation

20 Feb

There being no choir today as it is half term, a good friend from the tenors came round for coffee and we spent a happy couple of hours ‘putting the world to rights’ – if only we could! P brought me some beautiful Camellia blooms from her garden.

The following quotation is one to be treasured and acted upon.

Our choir leader, Claire Ingleheart, has spent the afternoon at Buckingham Palace! Since both her choirs started raising money for Shelter Box in 2015, even despite the ‘covid years’, between the two choirs, we have raised £7,800 and as recognition of this, Claire was invited as one of the ShelterBox contingent to a reception being held by the King and Queen at the Palace for four Humanitarian charities. What an honour! We are looking forward to hearing all about it next week.

Cards, Cake and Singing in the Stable

17 Dec

Not much sowing or planting going on at Community Roots at the moment so we finished off the Christmas cards that will go out with every veggie bag this week.

Embroidered veggies including our wonky carrots

And to you, too!

Today’s cake was a Christmas tree shaped Lemon Drizzle.

This evening we, The Suitcase Singers, have been singing at Cusgarne Manor. Because it was raining the event was moved into the stables which turned out to have wonderful acoustics. Another splendid evening with a wonderful enthusiastic and very generous audience. Tonight we were collecting for ShelterBox and Georgia’s Voice.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 17, 2024 in baking, charity, Christmas, community, Cornwall, Postaday 2024, ShelterBox, singing, Uncategorized

Tags: Cusgarne Manor, Georgia's Voice

Baubles, Primroses and A Gig

16 Dec

We’ve put lots of shiny baubles on our growing Christmas tree in the garden and love the effect. I popped one of my glass angels at the top.

Primroses are my favourite flowers and finding them in the garden this morning was a delight. This photo is for Nancy.

Hope you will be very happy in your new home. 🙂

After choir this afternoon, we went to a local pub for our annual carol sing. It was brilliant, the crowds loved it especially our rendition of Fairytale of New York. We collect for our charities at all our gigs.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 16, 2024 in Christmas, community, Cornwall, CPR Foodbank, Porthtowan, Postaday 2024, ShelterBox, singing

Tags: Claire Ingleheart, The Ingleheart Singers, The Victory Inn

Concert Success, Raspberries and Dessert

14 Oct

Last night’s concert was a success in so many ways. As I wrote last night, the audience loved us but perhaps even better was the generosity of everyone there. We were collecting for our two charities, ShelterBox and our local food bank, CPR. We collected £800 though tickets and raffles! We also asked everyone to bring a contribution for the food bank and when taken to the centre there were over two trollies full!

Thanks to Richard for the photo.

I collected 250g of Autumn fruiting raspberries from our allotment on Sunday on the same day that Nigel Slater published a delicious sounding recipe, Raspberry and Apple Crisp. It was delicious!

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on October 14, 2024 in allotment, baking, charity, community, CPR Foodbank, Food Bank, nature, Postaday 2024, ShelterBox, Uncategorized

Tags: Nigel Slater

ShelterBox, Swans and Alan Brownjohn

29 Feb

A representative from ShelterBox came to choir today to collect the money we raised from our gigs over 2023. It is always moving to be brought up to date with their activities. They are working with MAP to get help into Gaza. Thanks to Mandy for the photo.

The tide was in this morning as we were rehearsing and the swans are back. I loved the contrast of the white swan and the colourful reflections in the water.

The poet, novelist and humanist, Alan Brownjohn, died last week so I thought I would share one of his poems,
The Director, with you. The format of the poem is four line stanzas but for some, irritating, reason, WordPress chooses to squash them all together. I hope this doesn’t spoil your enjoyment of this poem.

We get bored, we get restless. We feel there is more

Than merely existing – eating and drinking and dying,

The daily, the trivial round. We feel we must matter,

That somehow or other our presence in the world must count.

And then there are those with this urgent need for self-

Expression, the wish to put something out into the world,

To put down, for the record, what it was like to be them,

To be this self and no other and alive at this time.

Some find a medium, a skill with words, paint or stone,

(Though often enough they seem to mistake their need

To make for a gift to make something) while others remain

Frustrated, and find destructive ways of expression.

These are the difficult ones, the ones who can’t see

A possible pattern to things, order in all the disorder,

The sense of a journey, with somewhere, perhaps, to arrive,

The end, or the goal, which might justify it all.

So what can be done? It is tempting to preach and advise,

And point to the ways that others have found and followed,

The patterns which worked for them, the things which helped them through,

But that, of course, is exactly what they want to avoid.

So there really is nothing for it but kindness and patience.

Hoping, as always, that time will work its wonders,

That growing older may bring a kind of peace,

A slow-dawning recognition that things happen and pass.

He will be sorely missed. But we will always have his poetry.

And an extra one for you today, February 29th, a new word, courtesy of my SIL Bissextile

Bunting, Donation and Pie

29 Jan

I met a friend for coffee at the lovely cafe at Krowji Creative Hub today and spotted this unusual bunting in the corridor as we left.

Last week I told you about my choir’s donation to ShelterBox. This week we gave a cheque for £1,000 to our local food bank, CPR Foodbank. Each gig we do, we have out our collection buckets and over the last 12 months, our wonderful audiences have been very generous.

I made a Turkey and Leek pie for tonight, Christmas leftovers that went in the freezer and leeks pulled today from the allotment.

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on January 29, 2024 in allotment, art, baking, community, Cornwall, CPR Foodbank, Postaday 2024, ShelterBox

Rainbow, £1000 and Cake

22 Jan

Sunshine, showers and rainbows this morning. I caught one of them.

At the end of our Inglehearts rehearsal this afternoon, a representative from ShelterBox came to collect the £1,000 we have raised over the last twelve months from all our gigs.

I fancied some cake this evening and remembered the Chocolate Torte in the freezer left over from our New Year and Birthday celebrations. Yum!

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on January 22, 2024 in charity, community, Cornwall, environment, nature, Postaday 2024, ShelterBox, Uncategorized

A Poem, An Angel and Peace

20 Dec

What Would You Take? by Serhiy Zhadan

Read by Olha Lemesheva in Truro Cathedral 19 December 2023

People, like snails, wait for the evening
Sleeping so soundly, so deeply in stations
Women who left clean bedsheets back home
Children who cling to their mother’s hand.

What will you take, little snail, from your burning home?
First of all, faith that you will return.
Remember the way the furniture stood;
Hide the keys in your pocket like a dried flower.

This is your road – walked by the voiceless.
Overnight stays between silence and rain.
Be brave, snails, know your worth on this journey.
You’re denied a home – never a heart.

The work of ShelterBox was highlighted throughout the concert and a comment made that we had all experienced, for a short time, how things can change in a moment. Yes, we went out into the cold – but we could return to the Cathedral after the fire alarm and then to our own homes.

I’ve been sent a photo of one of my recently sold Angels. It’s always good to see them in their new homes.

The need for peace is in all our hearts.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on December 20, 2023 in art, community, Cornwall, glass, poetry, Postaday 2023, quotations, ShelterBox

Tags: John Lennon

Concert, Firemen and Street Lights

19 Dec

Well, that was quite an evening! We were just into Hark the Herald Angels’ when the fire alarm went off and we all, 100s of us, had to leave the Cathedral and move into the cobbled square in front. But – we had a great time in the cold outside! Claire, our choir leader, took the crowd in her hands and we sang for them and with them while the firemen went in and did their thing! We loved that bit better than the whole!