Hannah Louise Swift

Before I start, I will state that the opinions in this are purely my own, nothing to do with my father and are not factual.
My father has worked at a factory called Firth Rixonfor around 36 years, since leaving school which is a pretty massive wedge of time, longer than I have existed, longer than he has known my mum. His job and the jobs of 159 others are currently under threat, not by the economy, not by factories shifting around, but by none other than the people who live in the area and the local council.
The people in the area surrounding the factory have suddenly started complaining about the noise from the press. The council served an order back in 2008 which Rixons appealed and spent a small fortune trying to comply with the orders.

The council have spent over £200,000 of local tax payers money to secure the noise abatement. This noise abatement means that the factory can now only operate at certain hours, making the factory completely uneconomic.

So what will the closing of the factory mean? What will be affected?

The 160 employees
Not just them their families, children, wives, husbands, parents, grandparents. The aftershock will ripple through families.

The Community
No more cricket matches, socials or football matches. Long gone will be the days of a fantastic Christmas knee’s up or a Thursday night down at the cricket club.

The Environment
Stripping down a factory so close to a sensitive river can only do more harm than good. That river supplies water for farms, land and crops for many miles, polluting it with harmful dust from the breaking down of the factory is not a great idea.

Local Businesses
The shop across the road, the local deli, chipshop and petrol stations will all be affected, not just that, but as the ripple effect takes hold even things like hairdressers will feel the effect. Not just in Darley Dale, but the surrounding areas.

Generations To Come
As Darley Dales largest employer (employing 160 people out of a possible 6000 in Darley Dale) Jobs will be in short supply over the coming months, and then years. Where exactly are the young kids supposed to get jobs?

Suppliers To Firth Rixons
Specialising in making engine components for aeroplanes, Rixons have been on site since the 1940′s building strong bonds with suppliers that will now face hardships as a result.

The Local Tax Payers
If what is rumoured is true and the council have indeed spent £200,000 on this matter then the local tax payers will be the ones who suffer. That money could be spent elsewhere or spent in reducing council tax costs.

The People They Supply Too
The companies like Rolls Royce who receive their parts and components from Rixons will soon suffer when they cannot receive their goods on time and at a good cost, again causing a ripple effect.

There are a number of places that discuss the goings on and the various views on it all;
Facebook Group
Peak FM
BBC iPlayer – 2hours 12 minutes in
BBC News
Derbyshire Dales District Council
The South Yorkshire Star
Matlock Mercury
Make Your Own Noise

Comments and Considerations (not my own views – things I have noted from other comments)

• There are rumours and concerns that many of the residents making complaints do not actually live in the area full time, they are just 2nd home owners who spend a few weeks a year there.
• The council are obliged to follow through with the abatement order
• Why did the people buying the houses not notice the whacking great factory there when they bought the house. The factory has been there since the 1940′s.
• Have all the local residents been asked their opinion
• What will happen to the building, new houses? Another business? Both unlikely. Leaving the residents with an empty derelict building – perhaps people will hold illegal raves there, that is what usually happens to derelict buildings. Or if new business comes in, will it be equally as noisey and will it increase traffic?
• Instead of wasting court time trying to get jobs removed they should spend the court time on serious crime
• Have the residents considered triple glazing to soften/remove the noise?
• Is it closing because it is cheaper for Rixons to manufacture the products in the USA?
• Can the local residents complaining offer the 160 people jobs? Maybe they should offer their jobs up as payment for a peaceful nights sleep?
• I wonder how quickly the council will grant planning permission for new homes if the factory is pulled down? Hidden agenda?
• Are Darley Dale Town Council helping to keep jobs in the community?

Whatever happens to the factory and employees I wish you all the best of luck. I know many of you have been there for years, like my Father and will find it difficult to re-train or find further employment. I hope you remember the good times you have shared there and wish you every luck in the world moving on. I hope the factory stays open and you all keep your jobs for many years to come.

I know my opinions will not help the factory, but when it comes to my family, I will speak up. So please help in whatever way you feel is possible to save his job. He is a great man who works hard not just for his family but for the community and his work mates. The people at Rixons are not just work colleagues, they are a family who have stuck with each other through thick and thin, good times and bad, celebrating together and commiserating together. It is not just a factory making noise, it is an ecosytem of lives that if closed will impact on lives and the area for many many years to come. In a time of such economic turmoil, now is the time to stand up and fight to save what precious jobs we do have left.

Good luck all

Hannah

xxx

p.s – I’d rather have a roof over my head that occassionally suffers the odd shake and noise than not have a roof over my head due to loosing my job

It’s not often I get the chance to listen to something the nation hasn’t, so when a CD fell into my lap a few weeks back, I thought it was a great opportunity to share it with the world, via the medium of my blog!

A little about Lee and the CD;
Music, Lyrics, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Synth Bass and Drum Programming By Lee
Bass, Acoustic and Electric Guitars by Nic Thomson
Album Artwork, Concept and Designs by Lee
Recorded, Mixed and Produced by Lee at Scully Studios
Quite a talented guy!

So onto the tracks!

1. Belief in me
A great electric rocky tune, that even after only listening to half the track, you find yourself singing along too (badly in my case)
Favourite lyric – “Don’t ever lose your belief in me!”

2. People Are Dazed
I guess you would call this a little more indie rock. The main chorus is really catchy and definitely one to be blasted out loud!
Favourite lyric – “Everyday I ask myself, why I’m not the same, as everybody in the street, outside my window pane ”

3. Other Side Of Life
One of my absolute favourite songs, synthy, electric and with references to little miss muffet! All you need from a song and more! You want to sing along, play the air guitar, and head bang all in one song. Not forgetting how it makes you want to dance like an utter baffoon!
Favourite lyric – “have you ever seen, the other side, of life”

4. Half Empty Glasses And Balloons
More like a ballad, beautiful lyrics. A chance to really hear Lee’s voice.
Favourite lyric – “The party and the laughters through, so i sit here and think of you, everyone goes home and i am left alone with half empty glasses and balloons”

5. I Can’t Make It On My Own
A real foot tapper. You can’t help my swing you ankles and tap your feet to this one. You get to hear Lee’s deeper tones! Sounds awesome
Favourite lyric – “tired of feeling so alone, can anyone hear me?”

6. Millions Of Years
Fantastic guitar playing on this one, yet another foot tapper that will lead to full blown rocking and air guitaring! I love the lyrics!
Favourite lyric – “when mankind has come and gone, the old landscape will still stand strong”

7. Circles
Another personal favourite. The lyrics are questioning. Clearly Lee has had some bad times and you can hear that his music has pulled him through. This song is inspirational and is worthy of playing on the radio. Absolutely stunning.
Favourite lyric – “how many times must i blow out the candles, and stand alone in the dark”

8. My Girlfriend Is A Witch
Tee hee! The title is enough! Really rocky! It would be a great tune to drive to, or to just chill out with mates, or to be played in a club… Watch those heads bang!
Favourite lyric – “hey i know it sounds bizzare, my girlfriend is a witch… i can see her nose begin to twitch…”

9. Stand Tall
The entry to this track makes me think of Santana, although i’m not sure why! It’s actually quite a powerful track, saying a big F you to anyone that has hurt you. Stand tall, get on with it and you’ll be ok! Some great guitar playing again!
Favourite lyric – “ive been hurt before, now im ready for the war, i’ll stand tall and face the day, believe everything will be ok”

10. When You Sleep
It’s great power ballad type song. He is singing a truly heartfelt song to someone he loves, you can tell in his voice he really means what he is singing, which is refreshing to hear.
Favourite lyric – ” you’re so beautiful when you sleep”

11:11. Echos Thru My Soul
The final track on the album doesn’t disappoint. With a long melodic instrumental song to finish, you know it is not over until the fat lady sings, he brings you in slowly, building musical tension for the conclusion of his work. I’ll leave the end of the song for you to discover! I can’t give it all away!
11:11 is a pre-encoded trigger placed in within our cellular consciousness prior to our descent into matter which, when activated signifies that our time of completion is near.

Overall, I really love this album, it constantly suprises you. You start off thinking it’s 90′s rock, then you listen more carefully to hear more than that. Stunning lyrics and complex vocals with some incredible playing of all the instruments. Some songs remind me of Bon Jovi, yet others are right up to date . Some reminds me of the Foo Fighters, some Santana, some Greenday… it’s fast, it’s slow, its eclectic and its bloody brilliant. You can bop to it, sing to it, chill out to it and take inspiration from it. It’s a CD everyone should own!

It’s OK, I survived! It may explain my lax blog posting of late though! I did indeed have the Swine Flu, very kindly given to me my my neighbour Terri who is training to be an English Teacher.

She had set me up on a blind date with a young whipper snapper called Matt (more on that should the time come later down the line!) and during the evening had confessed to having some form of cold… The evening was a roaring success and consequently she is now fondly known as ‘Cilla’. However the next day feeling rough as hell, she was prescribed Tamiflu and advised to stay off school and in bed.

I got up the Monday morning complaining of a sore throat, but thinking it was down to snoring, trotted off to work. By the time I hit work I knew something was wrong and explained to the boss man the situation. I was at the doctors that morning anyway and mentioned it to them… I was prescribed Tamiflu and told to stay off work! Bad times. At this point I was feeling ill, but not too bad…

I arrived home and within an hour or so was feeling horrific. The symptoms you can get are…
If you or a member of your family has a fever or high temperature (over 38°C/100.4°F) and two or more of the following symptoms, you may have swine flu:
unusual tiredness,
headache,
runny nose,
sore throat,
shortness of breath or cough,
loss of appetite,
aching muscles,
diarrhoea or vomiting.

Apart from the bottom one, I had them all. Along with shivering violently, sweating, runny eyes, chest pains, sickness (due to Tamiflu not the Swine) cant wake up, cant get to sleep. You name it, I had it…

It seemed to get worse then get better then get much much worse. Put that with the most painful cough ever that would literally knock the wind out of you and a total inability to do anything but snuggle under the duvet and you are not even close to what it feels like. I have been ill before, but never like this. I sobbed at one point as I just couldnt take the feeling of illness any longer. Even my mummy offered to come all the way from Derbyshire to look after me!

The first week was by far the worst, and once I had gotten through that, I began to see the light. I ended up being signed off for another week due to the chest pains and cough that had been keeping me awake! I have never been so glad to go to work. 4 wall syndrome had very definitely kicked in!

Massive thanks to everyone who sent well wishes, jokes, messages on facebook, twitter and email. Although I didnt pick most of them up until after the swine had gone, they really meant alot!

On a plus note, I did lose lots of weight in those 2 weeks! 3/4 of a stone! Get on you Janner!

Firstly, there is a reason there is no picture on this post. Why? Because if I had taken a picture of the following tale, it would be too graphic to put on here. You have been warned.

A few weeks ago now (a Sunday), Monkey came in from playing outside and was all of a sudden very clingy, not wanting to leave my side. This is very strange for Monkey. The next day I went to work as usual (only to be sent home with the Swine Flu, more on that in a separate post) and Monkey had not moved from the sofa and was continually licking around her back end. Thinking nothing of it and heading for bed I left her too it.

A few days passed and I caught Monkey still licking. At this point (given her refusal to go outside too) I was concerned. I should mention that she would growl when you stroked her near her tail. Thinking she had been hit by a car and had maybe broken her tail I began to crap my pants. I’m ill, Christmas is coming and I dont want huge bills from the vet, or even worse a very sick cat.

By chance, the little bugger turned around and I managed to catch a glimpse of a sore patch on her bottom type area. She wasnt happy with me looking so I left her too it, and stayed on the sofa with her to try and stop her licking any more.

The next day we headed to the vets to see what the damage was, I feared the worst thinking it could be very serious with x-rays and the such like – poor mr bank…

The vet took Monkey into a room on her own and after a while called me in to look (if I had the stomach). She had cleaned up the wound and had shaven the hair surrounding. I have a strong stomach but even that made me feel ill. My poor baby had a gaping wound in her bottom about the size of the base of a mug (guestimate there) …

Something had bitten her (probably the Sunday), it had bitten through the muscles and it had gotten badly infected. Before anyone starts, there was no way I could have known, and the vet said so herself. Trust me, I beat myself up properly! My poor baby was too infected for stitches, so off we went with an almighty dose of painkillers and antibiotics, and yet another collar!

After a few days I took her back for a check up and more antibiotics and a quick clean up. Luckily she was making progress so no stitches were required just yet! PHEW!

2 weeks later and she was finally ready to have her collar off, it fully healed (leaving a nice scar) and she was able to go outside and play again, no stitches, just a whacking great bill from the vet and some very graphic images I will never remove from my brain.

From talking to the vet and knowing the surrounding area it looks like Monkey was being her usual aggressive self when something bigger had a pop. She went to run away and the bugger bit her bum! Judging by the size of the wound it was not another cat but most probably a fox or dog!

So watch out foxes, Monkey is back with a vengeance!

Note – I am actually writing this weeks after the event, finally getting my blog up to date! I actually saw Muse right back on the 12th Novemeber… It’s now the 14th January! OOOPPPSSSS!

It’s a Wednesday night, and I’m currently trundling up to Julies house to stay for the weekend. The reason apart from wanting to see her – MUSE!!! The lovely lovely people over at Loquax AKA Jason and Jude (well, Jude) invited me to go to the o2 to see Muse on their latest tour on the Thursday night.

I arrived pretty late at Julies house, just in time for a quick beer before bed, and then it was the next day. On the Thursday I woke up, Julie made me a brew and I headed off into Kingston to have a peruse of the shops, bumping into an old work mate in BHS which was strange! I also got an awesome gift how sexy am i?

On the return from shopping the lovely Jude arrived, laden with tickets and rum, after a quick bath and a curry we were ready to rock and roll! There was a very drunken journey on the train with the rum and small dash of coke Jude made and we finally got inside the O2. Strangely, a friend from old that I have known since well, birth was there too so after a catch up or two we got inside, laden with bountiful amounts of alcohol!

Muse were incredible! Absolutely AMAZING. I put together this little video from the clippings i took! No one else on our row wanted to get up and dance, perhaps due to the fact we were right on the front row of an upper level, but by the end they were up and Jude and I were battered.

After the gig Jude and I went to meet up with Krystle one of my closest friends to continue the heavy drinking, and eventually we decided it was probably time we braved the night bus back to Julies house. God only knows how we arrived in one piece, but we did!!! There were some ‘interesting’ characters on the night buses!

The next morning with a few sore heads we went to pick up Tom (Julie’s better half) and then Jude headed home after some breakfast! Still singing muse songs of course! The rest of the weekend consisted of chilling out watching films like Twilight and eating amazing food! Sunday dinner and Fajitas!!! Oh and of course some X Factor! Oh and all you can eat food!!! nom nom nom!

HUGE thanks to Jude for inviting me and Julie for letting me stay!! I didnt want to go home.

Sorry this write up is so late… I’m a lazy sod!