Walking The Walk
I would so get my arse kicked for saying this in the streets of my town, but I really wish Club Day was a little more American - a little more hopeful and fun… Less… I don’t know.
It felt robotic this year (as opposed to odd last year and hot in 2006) The dresses were lovely, the bands played on, people walked, queens were crowned, raffle tickets were bought and yes photos were taken . But there was no excitement, no real spirit about it (other than the copious amounts being drunk in the pubs.
And we have no idea if there will be one next year as ‘interest is waning as the cost rises’. Maybe if there was something to be excited about?
Wesham holds a big event in the afternoon that seems to get the people in.
We have a crowning of the Rose Queen in church and then… that’s it.
Once the morning parade is over unless you want to view the flower displays in church you have either drinking (which causes so much trouble we have police riot vans in town prepared every year) or the “Fun” Fair which is hugely expensive and about as much fun as… something not fun.
At least it’ll be gone in a couple of days and then the ambient level of noise will drop dramatically and the ‘Rec’ (small park)’s grass can start to recover again.
Maybe it felt odd because I was the only one in my family attending events this year. The brother was at work, Dad was on the allotment and Mum was spending all day travelling to see Granny…
My dear Granny is currently in hospital (this will be week 6) following a fall. She has always been a little forgetful - usually going through half a dozen names before she gets to yours; but now she thinks Grandad is still alive and asks people to make sure he gets his dinner. He died in 1987.
It’s horrible and horrifying to know that, as Mum said on her return, ‘the spark has gone’, that ’she is not there anymore’ and that ’she has given up’. But… oh…
Whilst Mum was visiting with her brother and sister, Granny had an accident. They had a look to see if they could find a member of staff to help with clean up. No one about. So, they pressed the buzzer. 20 minutes later someone showed up (by which time Mum et al. had already cleaned her up) and the nurse that arrived wasn’t there to answer the buzz - she was taking sugar levels. She, however, found a cleaner to mop the floor.
20 minutes.
What if it hadn’t just been an accident - what if Granny had a major problem, or had fallen down or any number of things?
20 minutes.
What if Granny hadn’t had visitors at the time? It makes me feel sick to my stomach that my beautiful Grandmother is being left in this position.
So, yeah, Club Day may have been fabulous but I just wasn’t feeling it this year. There has got to be more - a return to the glory days… whenever they were!
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Good care is hard to find here as well, it’s so hard to see people you love go through this… and well, it would take the edge off any parade that’s for sure.
Nat’s last blog post..It was wrong. We were wrong.
Comment by Nat — June 15, 2008 @ 2:45 am
Urgh sorry about your Granny! I hear more and more of these stories lately and it makes me sick!
Glad Club day went okay - hey, it didn’t rain, right? ;o)
Penelope’s last blog post..Best friends.
Comment by Penelope — June 15, 2008 @ 1:58 pm
Hey! It’s good to see you getting out of the house. Need more pictures.
Comment by Quantumfog — June 15, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
I feel for your Granny. How awful. I hope she feels better soon.
You have reminded me of some happy childhood memories - the crowning of the Rose Queen bought into my whole ‘I want to live in Fairyland’ childhood ideal. Those were the days!
Selma’s last blog post..Not Enough.
Comment by Selma — June 16, 2008 @ 1:09 am
Nat - Thanks, it was in no way a good day… but at least it didn’t rain (see deflection from thinking about anything serious - it’s one of those days!)
Penelope - It makes me sick thinking about how we treat our elderly. It makes me wonder how much worse it is when it isn’t visitiing hours as you would have thought it would have been ‘best foot forward’ when the families are in?
Quantumfog - Outside bad… It was nice… More pictures (so many more) over at Flickr!
Selma - Honestly I think it’s got to ‘comfortable’ instead of ‘better’ - it just gets to a stage where ‘giving up’ becomes an option and from what I can gather I think she’s there.
Comment by bec — June 17, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
Bec, having lived all my life in Kirkham and seen a vast amount of club days and having also read your blog, I have now decided that something must be said. I personally think that you should be ashamed of yourself! okay so club day is not as exciting (some might say garish!!) as Lytham, i think that you need to remember that it is a procession of witness and not an excuse to prance around making an idiot of yourself. The effort that all the churches go to, to make it a nice day is highly commendable. I have two children both of which walked this year and the smiles on their faces was enough for me to class it as a success. It is bad enough that people moving into kirkham don’t want to know, but you have lived here all your life. If you are that bothered about it why don’t you get off your bum and help do something about it instead of just criticising all the time. Sorry to be a bit harsh, but freedom of speech and all that.
Comment by Kriss — June 17, 2008 @ 2:19 pm
Kriss - Freedom of speech is what we are all about.
I am in no way suggesting that we change the day into something it was not intended to be, and am very proud of the churches that do get involved. I am, of course biased here, but am particularly proud of the youth organisations and as I am on the committee at 2nd Kirkham Scout Group know how hard it is to get the kids to walk and how much of a challenge it is for them to walk the 3 mile circuit.
I know that you cannot please all of the people all of the time but there does seem to be a marked drop on interest - I notice, as I’m sure you did, that there were less people gathered for this than there were for the Kirkham & Wesham Football Club parade.
There just doesn’t seem to be the excitement for Club Day anymore. Many people I spoke to before hand didn’t know it was on, and you will have seen the posters that were up reminding people when the morning procession was on. When the carnival was on in the evening there was a completion to the day with everyone gathering together to celebrate the secular part of Kirkham & Wesham.
I have not lived in Kirkham all my life - only for the last 20 years of it - meaning I am still an outsider and a lot of the people that are involved with the organisation of the clubs etc that are involved on the day are ‘outsiders’ - many of them not even living in the towns itself. It may be the nostalgia of childhood but when I first moved up it was a fun filled and exciting day when the community seemed to come together to be proud of the achievements the various groups have accomplished. I came from a town which had a carnival day and club day seemed to mean more than this because of the church’s involvement.
I’m sure you can agree that there should be more events to bring the community together maybe an entirely separate event may be the way to go, particularly for those who do not belong to any of the churches or youth organisations. Wesham, for instance, has a large independent (from the churches) event every Club Day which seems to be popular with all involved. We, in Kirkham, have to suffer the noise and trouble that the Fair brings every year.
Now, before you mention the fact that the Fair brings the money to pay for the insurance and road closures etc. I ask the question why not have the Fair in Kirkham one year and Wesham the next? It would certainly save the ears of Kirkham for a year.
Further events for the children would be a good idea and further events for the adults, that are non-alcohol based would also cut down on the need for so much police presense, which either intimidates or dampens down the atmosphere. Maybe something on the Market Square?
The event held a few years ago for the 700th anniversary was a success and one people still talk about purely because of the extra events.
There were a lot of ideas floated around on Club Day between various people who walked and those who got involved in the crowning events… and hopefully organisations like the Scouts and other groups can bring them to fruition.
If the Club Day organisers weren’t so difficult to find, I would be happy to help them fundraise (having quite a bit of experience doing this with the Scouts) and I will be happy to see you at any events for this.
Just think there are 10000 people in Kirkham & Wesham - if every person gave £5 towards it that would cover any costs and help make it an event people remember again.
Comment by bec — June 17, 2008 @ 3:25 pm