Spider webzine – September
Outward Bounds – Y Garn, Snowdonia Friday 16th September by PJ
A few weeks after conquering Mount Snowdon we were back in the area again, this time tackling its littler cousin ‘ Y Garn’. An 11 strong squad set off from the bottom as the weather appeared quite perfect for a trek. Somewhere near the halfway point a sudden change in conditions had us reaching for the waterproofs, and gave John the opportunity to reel off his time honoured quote “There’s no such thing as bead weather, just inappropriate clothing”.
We passed through the Devil’s Kitchen on the descent and the rain eased as the sun tried to shine through the clouds. Ellie bravely conquered her fear of heights, Joe overcame a bout of ‘moreoutwardboundsinafewmonthsthanintheprevious30years-itis’, Ged alerted us to the pitfalls of wearing denim whilst climbing Y Garn in the rain, Billy failed to notice any scenery as he couldn’t stop staring at Carls HAIR…and Jamie ate most of my Doritos.
A thoroughly enjoyable day out that somehow wasn’t even spoiled by listening to Radio 1 all the way home. The only downside to the day was that my beloved ipod got soaked. I returned home to be told that all I had to do to salvage it was to leave in a bowl of rice for 24 hours. It only worked didn’t it?!
Is rice.
Outward Bound – Moel Arthur, Clwyd Friday 2nd September by Emma Craven
After leaving a daytime treatment centre which I attended for three months, I signed up for The Spider Project and my first outing was to Clwyd to walk Moel Arthur with a minibus full of other Spider group members. When I first saw Moel Arthur I thought ‘this isn’t a hill, it’s a mountain. I was advised by the lovely PJ (Spider staff) and Carl (Mobex staff) to just take my time, which I did. The day was magical for me, spending time with people I didn’t know and also spending some ‘me time’ with myself. I felt truly at peace. The scenery of purple and yellow flowers were breath taking, seeing a village through the trees, seeing nature at its best and most beautiful. The weather was ideal for walking, looking at the sky, the clouds, the flowers, the landscape. I felt like I was a milion miles from a fast, racing city and helped me calm my mind down. Priceless! I felt as free as the sheep on the hill, free to roam where I wanted. Once at the top of Moel Arthur, I sat by an out-house. I breathed in all that was beautiful and natural. I felt alive and glad to be alive. Thank you to the Spider Project.
Drama – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Jackie Prudom
Tom Griffin, who works for the Brothers Of Charity services in Broadgreen has recently put together a performance group which consists of people with and without disabilities to produce an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the National Wildflower Centre on the 18th August. He contacted Spider looking for people who would like to be part of this production. Mark, Iris and myself from Spider Liverpool and Chris from Spider Wirral all got involved. We were made to feel welcome and valued right from the off. Not only did I enjoy the performance but I made new friends and enjoyed working as a team.
Worrying about whether or not I would be able to commit the time and also retain lines seems daft now and I thank Sandra (Spider staff) who encouraged me to phone Tom to find out more about the performance. It was a pity we couldn’t perform in the beautiful gardens at the Wildflower Centre (which was a perfect location for the play) due to poor weather but everything went well in the Visitor’s Centre. Mark was not only good at acting, he was a good hand at moving tables, chairs and art works out of the room. Iris did a great job with the fairies physical theatre, even people in wheelchairs could make meaningful movements with arms and heads. Chris was good at acting and performed a small miracle as he bonded with a person who hadn’t communicated with anybody in a long time. He spoke freely with Chris. I contributed by helping with make-up and listening as others went through their lines. I really enjoyed playing my part as Puck. Paula, our drama teacher at Spider gave some cracking tips which built my confidence tremendously. People came over afterwards and complimented me, thinking I was a professional actress.
I learnt from people with learning difficulties to enjoy the moment, they weren’t faffing around with nerves and panicking, they were loving every minute of it and their enthusiasm split over into the audience. A group of teenagers from the Childwall Valley Theatre Group were inspired by our performance and have requested to Simon, their drama teacher, that they wish to do some Shakespeare. Previously this was a definite no go area. My friends and family came along to support us and had a fun night along with everybody else in the audience and the performers.
We will be performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream again at the Contemporary Urban Centre at 7.30 on 15th September and have been invited back to the Wildflower Centre to perform there on 29th Sept at their charity night. The Aspire Theatre Group intend to create an adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for this Christmas and I feel privileged to be invited to join them and pass on the message that we are all equal and learn from each other.
Arcade Fire – Live review MEN arena Wednesday 31st August by Amanda
Was it actually that good? I found myself asking…after a night of half sleep, re-living the event just passed.YES IT WAS! How often do you come across something so special? A gig where every song is the soundtrack to a story in your life? In my case, I have come to a place where it’s time to let go of the stories and embrace reality of the present day.
It was as though they had taken my setlist. Tune after tune rolled out. The euphoria began at number one “Now I’m ready to start”. It continued with ‘Keep the car running’ from the Neon Bible album. Three albums became enmeshed into one seamless affair.
Arcade Fire are a rocking,get your groove on band that are renowned for their live performance. They bring a spiritual element to the audience. The lighting was warm, bunting slung up, two drum kits, an accordian, violins, piano, guitars, energy, limbs flying as though puppeteered, streamers and visuals flicking.
The packed out crowd, arms raised to the heavens above, singing esoteric melodies as one. They ended with the title track from their latest album, ‘Suburbs’, with a line that hums from the heart…’Sometimes I can’t believe it, I’m moving past the feeling’.
Creative Writing
We had a good session this week, very interesting. I just want to write a little bit about one of our new writers – Frank.
I was away last week and Phil Thornton took the session – he gave the group a subject to write about: departure.
It can be really helpful sometimes – particularly for newer writers – to have a subject to write about. We usually let writers write what they like, but sometimes this can be overwhelming. You sit down to write, knowing you can write about ANYTHING and it can be hard to pin one subject or idea down. You spend so long trying to decide what you want to write, that you don’t have time to write anything.
It’s like being in a supermarket and trying to buy washing powder. In the corner shop there’ll be one or two to choose from – easy. But in the supermarket you’re paralysed by choice: lemon fresh or tropical flowers, biological or non-biological. Liquid, powder, gel. Too much choice can be a bad thing.
Frank, one of our new writers was feeling a bit like that. Couldn’t work out what he wanted to write amongst endless possibilities. So Phil’s suggestion was a god-send. Taking ‘Departure’ as his theme, he wrote his first short story for the group and read it out to us.
Frank introduced the story by telling us about his Great-Grandfather – Frank – who was killed in the First World War aged 19. As a tribute to him, a family tradition began: first born sons were always named Frank. (A beautiful story in itself.)
Frank’s story was about this first Frank – who he knew nothing else about.
He wrote a short story about Frank leaving for war. His mother is in the kitchen at the sink, knowing that her son is about to leave and that he may not come back There is a spider in the sink that she can’t bring herself to kill, so she, ‘chases the little bugger down the plughole’.
She doesn’t turn round to say goodbye to her son; although she desperately wants to hold him and kiss him. She keeps her farewell understated, light, knowing that if she turns round to say goodbye she will have to face up to the fact that he might not return. He goes off to war and she never sees him again.
It is a very short story, which hinges on this one moment. I loved how understated it was. The domestic setting and the restraint in the details, combine beautifully to make the story extremely powerful and moving.
I love how much I learn from the other writers who come to the group. Frank’s story illustrated perfectly how to use restraint in a story; to resist the temptation to give the reader too much. It also showed us the power of the well chosen detail.
So thanks for that Frank. It was the first piece I’ve heard from this writer – I’m looking forward to hearing more.
Frank also does his own website and radio show entitled ‘Who’s Arsed?’ – here’s a link :
http://www.whos-arsed.com/
Wirral News
The football sessions continue to run on Tuesdays. Since our last report 3 people have completed level 1 coaching badges. We are also now taking names for people to begin taking refereeing certificates and surprisingly already have several candidates. The new season of the Imagine Your Goals league begins in October and we are well prepared for the new campaign. Friendly games have been played with the likes of The Ark in the closed season to help keep everyone focused.
SWITCH our service user group is expecting to publish the next edition of the Spider Chronicle within the next week or so. All material is in with the group though they are always open to new contributors. spiderchronicles@gmail.com
Outward bounds have continued on water sports throughout the Summer months with 8 new level 1 canoeing certificates being gained. As of Sep 19th the focus will move to land based activities such as hill walks and climbing etc.
Making History & Photography - The visit to Liverpool of the Queen Elizabeth gave our photography and history groups the excuse to walk down to the Pier Head to make some photos of the grand old boat and to discuss aspects of the city’s maritime past. Here’s a link to the site :
http://inspidered.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/queen-elizabeths-visit/
and some photos taken on the day….
