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Rivington Adventure: Lever Castle

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, History, Nature2 Comments
Rivington Natural Beauty

Natural Beauty

 A few weeks ago, I had a week’s annual leave from work. I choose the right week to be off – as all week we had glorious sunshine and sizzling temperatures.

Simon & I headed for an adventure in Rivington. Rivington is a massive woodland and village close to Chorley and Bolton, both of which are in Lancashire. It has a long history dating back to the Bronze Age.

Rivington has several sets of old ruins; with the buildings constructed under the instruction of the long deceased wealthy Lord Leverhulme, whom used to own the land.

Lever Castle (known to some as Rivington Castle) was built by Lord Leverhulme on a whim and closely mirrors Liverpool Castle. Here are some photos of our adventure exploring Lever Castle – as always to see the full size photo click on it:

Outside Rivington Castle - Covered In Greenery

Outside Rivington Castle – Covered In Greenery
The outside of Rivington Castle

The outside of Rivington Castle
Rivington Castle - The Entrance

Rivington Castle – The Entrance
Rivington Castle Inside - Ruins in a Good State

Rivington Castle Inside – Ruins in a Good State
Rivington Castle Inside - Ruins in a Good State

Rivington Castle Inside – Ruins in a Good State
Rivington Castle Inside - Ruins in a Good State

Rivington Castle Inside – Ruins in a Good State
Rivington Castle - 'Owe look a window!' Simon says.

Rivington Castle – ‘Owe look a window!’ Simon says.
Rivington Castle - 'Hello!' Simon says.

Rivington Castle – ‘Hello!’ Simon says.
Rivington Castle - The Top of One of Four Towers

Rivington Castle – The Top of One of Four Towers
Rivington Castle - A Stunning Corridor of Arching Doorways

Rivington Castle – A Stunning Corridor of Arching Doorways
Rivington Castle - The Court Yard, with Winter Hill & a Watchtower in the Background.

Rivington Castle – The Court Yard, with Winter Hill & a Watchtower in the Background.

Rivington - A Place of Bewitching Beauty

Rivington – A Place of Bewitching Beauty

 After exploring the castle and stopping to enjoy the serene view of the reservoir below; we decided to go for a walk to appreciate nature. To me just taking the time out of busy life to truly appreciate nature – is a spiritual experience in it’s self.

Although the photos don’t do this wonderful place justice, Left and Below are some photos of Rivington’s natural world.

Rivington is right on my door step, yet I forget it’s there. I should visit more often.

Rivington - A Place of Natural Delightful Beauty

Rivington – A Place of Natural Delightful Beauty

Rivington - There's Something Magical About Being this Close to Nature.

Rivington – There’s Something Magical About Being this Close to Nature.

Take care,

Antony



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Thursday 1 August 2013

A Flashy New Car – Olly, The Citroen DS3

By Happiness & Joy, Life, Shopping, TechnologyNo Comments

I recently took Sam, my Citroen C1 (see Back in the UK) in for a service and got talking to the Sales Representative. I took the snazzy Citroen DS3 for a test drive and left having took out another 5 year loan for this Citroen DS3:

new-car-olly-1 new-car-olly-2
new-car-olly-3 The 1.6 litre engine makes it a powerful drive, yet inside the car it’s quiet. The DS3 has so many features including: automatic lights, two strips of day lights, automatic windscreen wipers, auto-locking (on setting off driving or if left unlocked), cruise control, speed limiters, reverse parking sensors, electronic windows, electronic side mirrors, bluetooth, USB connection, lumbar supportive seats and a boot that’s big enough for a dead body.

The DS3 feels intelligent – anticipating your needs when you’re driving and responding automatically.

The interior is stylish, although it is missing cup holders and lacks storage space. The glove compartment is so small that a dozen CD’s would fill it to capacity.

new-car-olly-4 new-car-olly-5

The Citroen DS3 I’ve bought isn’t new; but it’s only had one previous owner whose looked after it. I’ve called him Olly because of his licence plate and because during the test drive an Olly Murs album popped out of the CD player.

As excited as I was to get my hands on Olly, bizarrely I felt bad to be trading Sam in. I name my cars, get attached to them and forget that they’re just a piece of metal – like a pet. Still, Olly has helped me get over it.

I’ve joked that I can’t even nip out for a pint of milk without Olly being flashy. When people ask what I mean, I say:
‘He has these two strips of day lights and even with the light settings off he thinks –
I’m a flashy car! I’m putting the day lights on!‘

Write soon,

Antony

mental-health-wisdom-banner



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Sunday 28 July 2013

PaganCon 2013 Review: The North West Pagan Community Come Together

By Friends & Family, PaganismNo Comments

PaganCon 2013

PaganCon 2013 On Saturday (13th July) the pagan community of the North West of England came together for PaganCon 2013. It was a glorious sunny day; the pagan community descended upon Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Club for a day of workshops/talks, stalls, music and dancing.

The venue was easy to find and had great parking. I went along with Simon & Chrys, excited to attend my first ever PaganCon.

The day started with a what I’m told was a beautiful and touching commemoration ritual for recently deceased Wigan High Priestess Joan Withington.

Doors opened at 10am, but a lack of a programme in advance made the day very difficult to plan. It felt very hit or miss and in my case there was so much I missed.

PaganCon 2013
PaganCon 2013 When I arrived just after midday there was a programme that revealed that I’d missed Joan’s ritual and a talk I would have liked to have heard.

The programme showed that Damh The Bard & Cernunnos Rising – one of the reasons we’d booked tickets were on at 7:45PM which would have made it a very long day.

There were a good variety of stalls selling a variety of items including: books, wands, staffs, ornaments, altar cloths, incenses and the sort of things you’d expect at a pagan event.

The talks were given by experienced and well-known pagan community members. However in the exceedingly warm hall they felt more like lectures – having no element of discussion or debate like I had imagined. It would have benefited speakers to have split-off rooms with smaller groups to enable debate and encourage real peer learning to occur. More practical workshops would have been beneficial to those new to the craft.

The programme gave little information about the speakers or their topics. I listened to a talk entitled ‘Storytelling’ on the programme, only to find it wasn’t what I thought it would be.

PaganCon 2013

Outside the sun shone and the heat beat down with thanks to Apollo & Ra. People relaxed and tended to know one other. While it was great to see, it did get me wondering how a solitary practitioners would use PaganCon as an opportunity to meet and get to know others. I choose to work alone more often than not, but still like having pagan friends for support and to celebrate Pagan Festivals with. Organisers could have arranged opportunities for solitary practitioners to get to know others.

Simon & Chrys stayed to see Damh The Bard & Cernunnos Rising and said they were fantastic. I felt like I’d really missed out, but it couldn’t be avoided as my painful back couldn’t of tolerated the six or seven hour wait. Plus I had some other plans for the late evening.

Overall PaganCon 2013 was a chance for the pagan community to come together. I imagined that the talks & workshops would leave me feeling inspired, with plenty of questions and new ideas to contemplate. This didn’t happen, but I’ll be definitely going back next year.

Next year I’ll be attending in the late afternoon/early evening to catch the stalls and Damh The Bard, unless the programme is released in advance and has a talk/workshop that catches my fancy.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of these brilliant morris dancers, who kept the outside folk entertained with their wonderful music and dancing. Definitely a highlight of my day:

PaganCon 2013 PaganCon 2013
PaganCon 2013 PaganCon 2013
PaganCon 2013 PaganCon 2013

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 14 July 2013

Import: Birthday Celebration Ideas

By Creativity, Inspiration, Journalism, ThinkingNo Comments

The Gay UK is officially a year old this month. It’s amazing to think that in that time we’ve grown to a dedicated readership of 150,000 gay people per month, not just from the UK but internationally. With birthdays in mind, we thought about ways to celebrate a birthday other than the traditional alcohol-fuelled night out or throwing of a party.

If you’re lucky enough to share a birthday with The Gay UK, why not try something new? Here are some of our ideas:

1. Dinner and a Show
They say there’s nothing more social than the breaking of bread. Go to dinner, somewhere with delicious food and with those special to you.

After dinner go to the Theatre, see a fantastic show and complete celebration of another birthday. Our writers regularly watch shows and write reviews. Take a look at our Theatre Reviews section to find a show you’ll love on in a Theatre near you.

2. Visiting the Zoo
chester-zoo-2012-06
When was the last time you got up and close with nature? All sorts of animals in all stripes and sizes from across the world can be seen at your local zoo.

Homosexuality has been found in thousands of species of animals, so you might just see a gay zebra, penguin, lion or other animal. Just look for the animals that show a particular interest in others of the same sex.

3. Visiting a Theme Park
Feel the exhilarating rush that comes from a day of riding roller coasters. Release your inner child and visit a theme park. There’s something life affirming about your body being flooded with adrenaline as you’re scared out of your wits.

Many theme parks do gay days – specific dates aimed at attracting the local gay community. So if you’re single you might end up sat on a ride next to your ideal man. Just don’t let him hear you scream!

4. A Day at the Beach
hastings-2012-beach
Imagine seeing the beautiful horizon as you feel the sand under your feet. You taste of the salty air and hear the relaxing sound of the ocean. Well this can all be yours – if you choose to have a day out at the beach to celebrate your birthday.

This activity is dependent upon the weather, but if it’s nice make a day out of it by taking a picnic.

5. A City Break
liverpool-trip-012
Take a short break to visit another city. It can be a city in the UK or even a European city. Flights to Europe have never been cheaper.

6. A Holiday
If it’s an extra special birthday, contemplate splashing out on a holiday. Everyone has individual likes on holiday; for me it would be: sun, sea, sand and sangria. But you may prefer an adventure holiday.

Whatever sort of holidays you like, you’ll be able to find a reasonably priced one – as long as you don’t look at booking when school children are off school.

Got other Birthday Celebration Ideas? Post a comment below.

Published by: The Gay UK on Tuesday 23rd July 2013.

Here is what I learnt from writing this article:

  • Need to improve my article title’s to better sell them to the reader / encourage the reader to read.
  • That I can use an idea from my personal blog and expand upon it.
  • I have the odd photo that can be used for articles. Something to consider as photos help capture the reader and encourage them to read an article.



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Sunday 7 July 2013
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