What a Difference a Year Makes
Today I took a stroll through a beautifully sunny, frosty Carlisle. I’d been stuck at home this weekend thanks to a couple of car problems and couldn’t get my Lake District fix. I suppose – if you’ve got to be stuck in… there aren’t many nicer places than Carlisle. This weekend in December 2015 was a complete contrast: a very wet spell through the late Autumn had left the ground saturated and and river levels twitchy! It was a bonanza for the white water paddlers but even they were to be unprepared...
read moreCommunity Building From Stanwix to Somalia
In many forgotten corners of the world such as Carlisle, there are communities like Stanwix. Only problem is… they’ve forgotten they’re communities. As is often the case; while half a dozen faithful souls strive to regenerate the facilities that lie at the centre; the community as a whole just sits back oblivious to the dire state of the collapsing fabric around them.. It’s time for a change folks! Community Association Frustration Community building is probably one of the most important activities that any group of...
read moreStanwix Community Association is Fading Fast.. Time to Get Your Fingers Out Folks!
After an ambitious year of trying to coordinate the rebuilding of the hut managed by Stanwix Community Association (SCA), I think it would be safe to say we have failed due to a lack of support from the community we serve. At our monthly meetings, if we are lucky, perhaps half a dozen people turn up to manage a complex project that would have taxed a full time professional team. Our aim was to rebuild the two huts that serve as part of Stanwix’ community hub; alongside St. Michael’s Church and Stanwix School. Tottering Near the...
read moreVisit Carlisle – Stay in Stanwix
Carlisle is one of the most under rated destinations on the holiday itinerary of the travelling world. As one of the few places (only 2 in England) that can lay claim to the status of being a 2000 year city, Carlisle has sat in the background for long enough. Under-rated Oasis Where the Reivers Once Roamed Where else, in the north of England, has seen: Roman, Reiver, Jacobite, siege, Castle, Cathedral, city walls, Railway and Canal, come – go and hide away to tease the unwary visitor? So subtle is the mark of the past that many locals are...
read moreRannoch Pitlochry on Low Water
Well we had a good go! Having set off a day late because of Robs other commitments we arrived at Ballinluig to drop a car off at what we hoped would be a staging post on the way to Perth. From Ballinluig on the confluence of Tummel and Tay, we then had to drag all the gear in Rob’s van, across to Bridge of Orchy for the night, to be in position for the next morning’s logistical juggling. After all the rushing around, I set up the tent while Rob slumped back into his seat saying that his daughter had been violently ill the day or...
read moreStanwix Carlisle Gains a Community Web Site
Stanwix, site of the largest fort on Hadrian’s Wall, now has its own http://stanwixcommunitycentre.org.uk website. Its information will grow for local residents, community organisations, local businesses and visitors. Starting from years of web experience as a lost soul browsing his way down the road to nowhere and an almost pathological reluctance to make a website, Ray had to learn fast. With help from Nigel Burnie who ran Digital Solutions UK from his home in the area and another friend Tom Phillips of PCS Websites in Lancaster, who...
read moreGreat Stanwix Run
Join us for the very first Great Stanwix Run on Sunday 3rd May 2009! – A two mile Fun Run/Walk with ALL proceeds going to the Stanwix Community Association. Stanwix Community Association are PROUD to announce; in conjunction with GB Event Management Ltd, this new fund raising venture. Mike James Managing Director of GB Event Management Ltd is the Chair of the Stanwix Community Association in Carlisle and he is staging the event on a voluntary basis, for the community of Stanwix to raise funds to ensure that children’s services can...
read moreRannoch To Perth Fundraiser
Several Stanwix youngsters are booked to take part in an exciting boundary expanding visit to the international scout camp at Kandersteg in Switzerland. Activities include all the familiar favourites that could just as easily be tackled in our very own Lake District, so why on earth go to Switzerland. Very simply it is to widen the horizons of the older scouts, through tackling adventurous activities in a much bigger scale environment than the Lakes provide As well as the scale of the challenges that they are planning to take on, there is the...
read moreStanwix Community Association Committee Meeting
Minutes of the General Meeting Stanwix Community Association Committee Meeting 7.30 pm 16th March 2009 Present: – Mike James – Association Chair, Emma Walton – Association Secretary, Julie Royle – SCA & Playgroup, David Smith – Stanwix Pages, Chris Reid – SCA, Rob Westgarth – SCA, Ray Cassidy – SCA, Pam McCall – Chair, Playgroup, Jane Humphries – Neighbourhood Forum, Linda McGlasson, Extended Services Coordinator Apologies: Councillor Jacquelyne Geddes – City Council, Tam Bowman – Chair, Allsorts 1. Update on lease –...
read moreThe Other Side of Islam
At the Recent Conference organised by the local rotary organisations and the University of Cumbria, I bumped into a striking looking bloke. he was big and carried himself confidently and was about as Asian as I am Irish. As we chewed our way through 2 contrasting plates of conference nosh, conversation drifted round to the similarities between the Irish and Kashmiri approach to life. I won’t bore you with the minuteae – suffice to say we had a good crack about life, business and the universe. Turns out he is pretty much the...
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