Saturday 8th May 10 - St Nicks 10th Anniversary

Gill woke me at 10 and reminded me that I was due to go to St Nicks today. I quickly got ready in my smart clothes as I had two things to do today, one of which at least meant that I should be reasonably tidy.

Gill loaded up all the buns she made last night into three containers, and the big cake onto a foil-covered tray, in a fruit box, covered with a bag, and I loaded all this into my trailer.

I cycled very slowly to St Nicks to ensure that the trailer didn't jump around and mess up the icing... Gill had made a pond with vegetation and a frog on the top of the cake, and every bun had '10' on the top.

The centre was already busy, lots of stuff being got ready, and I was immediately press-ganged into helping carry a large picnic table out to the play area, where all the stalls were getting prepared... the National Trust, York LETS, Edible York, Brunswick Organic Nursery, OPAL and several others.

I chatted to various people, was especially glad to see Keely, the first York Rotters project officer, who has been out of circulation for a while. But there were lots of other of my friends and contacts there, too many to list here, even if I could remember all of them!

Sometime after 11am, the welcoming and presentations started and I listened to these... until about 11.55 when I had to get going to Clifton to the Bootham Junior School, for the Quaker Meeting in memoriam of Dinah Peryer, with whom I worked on the Alternatives to Violence Project maybe 10 years ago. My old friend Maggie phoned me last week and told me about Dinah's memorial, and invited me to go with her. So we'd agreed to meet at the traffic lights on Rawcliffe Lane at 12.15, prior to the memorial service starting at 12.30.

We met up and walked up to the school, where Dinah was a Governor. It was a typical Quaker meeting, with the chairs arranged around the perimeter f the room and when we were all seated, some quiet music (probably something that Dinah liked) and then the 'hostess' (I don't know the correct term) said a few words and then there was more silence, until someone else stood up and shared a memory, or an anecdote about Dinah. I wanted to pass on the message from one of the mainstays of the AVP group, that Dinah's contribution was valued. I was the third person to stand up and speak, explaining that the current AVPers were meeting today and several people who might have wished to be at the memorial were unable to, due to the meeting timetabled-in many months ago.

I really like this form of memorial. I would like something like this myself, when the time comes, despite not being a Quaker. I learned about little bits of Dinah's life, and was moved by some of the stories. The quiet times between the speakers give time to think about the person in question, and dwell on memories, and I remembered about the work I did in Dinah and David's garden, and the laying of the floor in their kitchen.

There were sandwiches and scones to follow, and coffee, but I wanted to get back to St Nicks so I didn't hang around. Maggie wanted to come to the St Nicks do as well... so I suggested she had a lift on my bike crossbar. She looked incredulous but is pretty game for anything, and after a few questions, agreed. Half way there she swapped to sitting on the pannier rack, and getting to the Environment Centre was quick and easy... I chose the cycle track as the safest route.

We'd missed the compost bin drumming but there were lots of other things going on... and I managed to get the last slice of Gill's cake... delicious. I bought some squash plants from the Brunswick stall, and chatted to several other stall holders. I wrote a Haiku. I introduced my friend Debbie to John to talk about planting a tree in memory of the other Debbie. I had a go on a static bike to heat a kettle. As the event drew to a close, Maggie and I chatted and she accepted my offer of a hot drink at home... she really wanted to see Gill again, so I took her on my bike back home. An hour later she went to the No. 6 bus stop to get back to her side of town. I visited the Co-op to get cereals and various other bits.

Between about 6.30 and 8pm I listened to my Green/broadcaster friend Tracey Smith on Apple Radio, on the web, and didn't 'do' Dr. Who, but did have a good few goes on Scrabble on facebook and chatted to a number of friends.

Later, Gill and I had a 'real' game of Scrabble, which I just won.