The Borderer May 2023 edition

THE BORDERER

Editor: Andrew Meggs President: Marian Reed

President’s Message

It’s not easy to be upbeat at this point in history, with all the terrible things that are happening in the world. It’s only now that I cherish living in the North of England where there are wonderful walks on all our door steps and we can fully appreciate the beauty of our wonderful county.

Here we are in the merry month of May, the beginning of summer with May blossom, hawthorns hedgerows covered in white flowers, known locally as brides veil, (May blossom is supposed to be a symbol of love, fertility, & protection) then we have May Queens, May poles, and many other ways to welcome May, especially the wonderful shades of green, so fresh & unspoilt by pollution. One of my favourite tunes was 40 shades of green written and performed by Johnny Cash in 1959, a tune I loved to dance the quick step to (in days of yore).

I can see Carlisle having a greater name on the tourist trail, with the discovery of Roman heads at the cricket club grounds, thought to be Emperor Septimus & Empress Julia Domna, with Roman artefacts of gems and tiles and who knows what else will be found. Having Hadrians Wall & the Lake District just a stones throw away, with right marketing, Carlisle could just grow to be a great tourist destination, so we need our airport, and the new ring road plus some very forward thinking.

I think that what was Bulloughs would make a lovely hotel or flats. Its in the perfect location being opposite our beautiful cathedral & grounds. I do realise that the future of Bullough has maybe already been decided. We must keep the old facade of the buildings and encourage people to come and live in this wonderful city with so much history to make it a more vibrant place.

Look what a success the Halston has been,

I expect Carlisle is going to be an empty city on 27&28 while Carlisle United are away playing at Wembley, my grandson is going, I don’t follow them, but hear they are doing well, so best of luck Carlisle.

My flower for the month is of course the hawthorn flower but I can’t find a suitable poem, so I will leave with lovely picture.

Marian

Digging Up The Past

Earlier this month we were treated to a very interesting talk by an ‘amateur archaeologist’John Mather, brother of late member Bob Mather (and therefore Annette’s brother-in-law) told us about his passion for getting mucky and exposing relics from the past. Here he is pictured with his essential tools of trowel, dustpan, kneeling pad and bucket. One of his favourites sites is the excavation of the Roman bath house that was found on the cricket ground next to the River Eden. He has been involved in a number of the digs there and has been delighted by many of the finds. Indeed, he recounted that he had the ‘privilege’of sifting through the debris of an open sewer pipe that yielded a selection of everyday objects that had been mislaid by Romans when bathing like rings, gems and coins, for example.

The discovery of the IMP stamp - standing for imperator (Latin for emperor) - on several tiles, elevated the importance of this site. There are also links to Roman Emperor Septimius Severus which could suggest that this

bath house was one of the most important (if not one of the largest) in the entire Roman Empire. It cannot be proved whether he actually visited Luguvallium (Carlisle’s Roman name) but he was known to be in England and that time. Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Wardell Armstrong and volunteers like John, we are slowly uncovering the past and revealing Carlisle’s importance to the Romans and not just another fort on Hadrian’s Wall.

Stop Press

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Found this week at the latest dig of the Roman bath house at the cricket ground - made of sandstone and measuring in at two feet tall, these sculpted heads are believed to date back to 200 C.E., when they sat atop statues standing about 15 feet high.

Snittmits of Carlisle

PP Joe Watt introduced himself as a ‘Carlisle lad’born in the shadow of Dixon’s chimney as he began his talk about bits & pieces and false memories of a failing memory. He reminded us that when built in 1836 the chimney was the tallest in the world and whenever he sees it he is reminded of photos from the Cumberland News of Micky Potts (the legendary leader of the Gateway Jazz Band) having a cup of tea at the top in 1970. Something Joe couldn’t do because of acrophobia (an intense fear of heights) which he looked up in a dictionary. It was in the same category as arachibutyrophobia (a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one’s mouth!).

Joe went on to recount that his beloved Carlisle was not always in England, certainly not at the time of the Doomsday Book. It was located in the ‘debatable land’- a ribbon of land some 8 to 10 miles wide between the Solway and the Tyne where neither Edinburgh nor London were keen to claim jurisdiction. While in Australia recently, he was persuaded to take a Ancestry DNAtest which yielded no real surprises. 97% divided equally between Scottish and English and two others making up the 3% remaining. Being descended from the Graham clan it confirmed no adventurers or world travellers - just Reivers!

Another big influence in the region’s history were the Vikings. They have left us a little of their language in several place names that end in thwaite and yat (meadow and gate) and some well known strange pronunciations like Torpenhow (said Tripenner). They spoke a form of Brythonic Celtic known as Cumbric and their counting of sheep is still remembered by a few - yan, tan, tethera, methera, pimp, sethera, lethera, hovera, dovera, dick.

One of Carlisle’s more recent claims to fame is the nationalisation of all the pubs in the area. The State Management scheme or ‘Carlisle Experiment’saw 339 licensed premises and 5 breweries taken over. 53 of the 118 pubs in Carlisle were closed leaving just 65 to be managed by the government, but why? In 1916, during the first world war, a huge munitions factory was built between Eastriggs and Longtown employing some 2,000 workers - mainly women. So to curb over drinking from these young, well paid, vital employees handling The Devil’s Porridge the scheme was introduced to try to reduce alcohol consumption - hangovers and explosives are not a good combination.

To conclude, Joe apologised for not mentioning the railways but noted that it is known as a ‘railway city’ having no less than 7 companys operating from the city’s Citadel Station at its peak.

He then went on to impart three lesser known facts:

• Carlisle was the only city to have the 2012 Olympic torch flame pass through it twice (as the gateway to/from Scotland).

• Her Majesty’s Theatre (formerly on Lowther Street) was the first to be lit with electric lighting.

• There are more ‘boutique’ breweries per person in Cumberland than any other county.

Do you have to be a drinker to live here? he asked - I think not!

[Have you ever heard of Carlisle Mint Cake? Let alone the Merry City!]

Leading architect Harry Redfern was brought in to design a number of new pubs that incorporated bowling greens to give patrons something else to occupy their time other than just drinking. Indeed the one built at Kingmoor bears his name.

My Journey to the Games

Last week’s evening meeting speaker turned out to be a near neighbour of PP Ian Watson. Becky Seaton left us all in awe about her, sometimes unfortunate, journey to the World Transplant Games in Perth (Australia) earlier this year - there’s a clue in their title.

Becky was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 12 and as many of us know this leads to many complications with other parts of the body. It was a steep learning-curve to manage the symptoms and try and live a ‘normal’life. Despite frequently being off due to illness, she did manage to complete college and had aspirations to go onto university. She completed her BSc Hons. Degree studying at home with the Open University and a lot of help from the medical teams in Carlisle.At the age of 20 she gave birth to her son Joshua, who was born prematurely at 34 weeks. In 2010 on completing her degree and with declining kidney function, she decided to try for another child. Leo was also born prematurely and her kidney function dropped to only 40%.

By 2013 her kidney function had dropped to 15% and she joined the waiting list for a pancreas and dual kidney transplant. Just getting through a day was difficult enough, never mind trying to be mother to two young boys. She even planned her own funeral.

From October 2014 there was a packed suitcase permanently ready by the front door as they were asked to be no more than 4 hours away from the Freeman Hospital in case suitable organs became available. Three months past when they got the call to go but a second call was received when they had only got as far as Corbridge roundabout on A69 to say the pancreas was not viable - a useful practise run though.Asecond call came on Christmas eve, she got to the hospital, had all the pre-surgery tests and even had the pre-op anaesthetic but when she woke up the surgery had not taken place due to a poor pancreas again. On the 3rd of January came the third call - lucky for some? - surgery took place successfully but after 3 weeks in the Freeman she returned home with just daily visits to the Cumberland Infirmary. However, after 7 weeks she suffered acute organ rejection and returned to the Freeman but eventually her condition improved and with toxicity levels stabilising she was finally free to live a nearnormal life.

Suffering ‘survivor guilt’after getting a second chance at life, Becky decided to get herself fit and help raise awareness. Supported by her family she entered a 5K race which made her feel better. So much so, that she joined Transplant Sport and continued to take part in 5k ‘donor’runs.

In 2018, she signed up to take part in the 100 metres and shot-put in the British Transplant Games taking place in Birmingham. She may have come second-last out of 7 but she was the only one smiling.

On returning home to Carlisle she decided to train with the Border Harriers at the Sheepmount athletics track.

In the following year, 2019, the British Transplant Games took place in Newport and once again she joined the Newcastle team. This time she had a go at archery and won her first gold medal.

She also won gold for 100 metres race and joined the 4 x 100 metres relay team that missed out on a bronze medal by only ½ a second.

After her games success, Becky continued to raise awareness through being on Radio Cumbria, local TV and in the News&Star.

Then the world changed.

During the COVID pandemic Becky had to shield through being immunosuppressed. The BTG games due to held in Coventry were cancelled and the Transplant Sport ‘family’moved to holding weekly quizzes on-line.

Becky too adapted, my starting a Banana Relay on social media. Each person films themselves catching a banana and passing it on. The video clips are then edited together to make it look although one banana is being passed from person to person in relay style.

During Organ Donation Awareness Week of 2020, Becky was instrumental in lighting up Carlisle pinkwhen prominent buildings were lit with a pink light like the Citadel here.

In 2022 the British Transplant Games returned and were held in Leeds. Becky decided to train 4 or 5 times a week since it had been awhile since being able to do any serious training. This time it yielded a silver in theArchery, another in the 200 metres but gold in the 100 metres and long jump. Her performance gained her an invite to the European Transplant & Dialysis Games held in Oxford.

Despite catching COVID and the death of her Nana, she attended the games at Oxford and achieved more success. She even took part in a pétanque match.

That in turn lead to a ‘dream come true’when she received a letter in September to say she had been selected for the GB team for the World Games in Perth,Australia.

Nine team mates from NewcastleAdults were also selected but athletes are self funded and she had to raise £4,000. We were able to help, in a small way, by making a donation to cover the cost of her uniform.

Needless to say Becky returned with 5 gold medals and a silver which she was delighted to wear when posing for a picture with PP Ian. For the record that’s 100 metres silver (runner up to the Finnish girl that beat her at the European Games) and gold for the long jump, 4 x 100 metre relay, 200 metres sprint, 4 x 400 metre relay and high jump.

She also had on display

The Order of St John UK Award for Organ Donation. Surely a candidate for Cumbrian Woman of the YearAward?

Total fundraising for the day should be in the region of £3,800. Well done to all involved.

As you can see from this picture, President Marian also enjoyed a self-driven trip to the first tee in a buggy. Perhaps someone could suggest a suitable caption to be included in next month’s publication. The prize, as usual, is a lifetime subscription to

Golf Day

This year’s event took place on Friday 12th May at the Eden Golf Club near Crosby. Thankfully a dry day, following a period of rain, which reportedly made the 4th and 6th tees a little more interesting to play.

The raffle table, organised by Ian and Barbara Watson, was loaded with prizes and with the help of volunteers such as Nick Utting and Mike McNally (pictured here) players and visitors alike were encouraged to part with some cash.

After the last team had teed-off President Marian made the draw from a jute shopping bag because the original bucket was overflowing with entries. Jenny MacLeod provisioned the ‘halfway house’tent ably erected by husband Robin the day before and players were again persuaded to part with more cash for sustenance. Interim results from Robin mention a £500 profit from the raffle and £165 from the

Pat’s Garden

Here are a few snaps taken yesterday in Pat Turnbull garden, at Ling, in the brilliant sunshine of a late spring evening. Drinks and nibbles were enjoyed by all and charitable donations topped £100. Andrew Meggs and David Morton were fascinated by Monty the robot lawn mower who helps keep Pat’s garden as immaculate as ever.

Coming Soon…

Potato, Potato, Potato

PP Michael Pearson has asked that members are reminded to bring their entries for the Potato Competition on July 5th and just in case you’re wondering what to do with them afterwards

You just drill a hole in a potato and slip a section of stem from a rose bush into the hole. Now plant the potato in the ground about 4 inches (10 cm) deep.

Water well and cover with an inverted bottle to maintain high humidity.

After a few weeks, your little rose bush will be well rooted!

Easyfundraising.org.uk

It has been suggested to Club council that members may be interested in a zero-cost scheme to raise funds for the Club charity account.

When shopping on-line with many major retailers this site will receive a commission payment which can be donated to one of their registered causes. Many other Rotary clubs have already registered as a worthy-cause on the site with club Rotarians then earning payments when they shop on-line through this site.

If you would like to know more then visit easyfundraising.org.uk and read what they have to say. If you have any comments to make, please direct them to a member of Club council for further discussion.

Club Meetings & Speaker Diary

Changes to normal (Wednesday lunch) have been highlighted in bold red

Council Meetings (Pre-lunch 3