Dear Blog,
I told you a couple of letters ago that this Sunday coming is the ‘Coventry Way’ event in Meriden in Warwickshire England, which is a 40 mile circular walk around the outskirts of the city of Coventry using footpaths; it is a walk or a run or a relay. All not too formal with ‘feed stations at regular intervals around the route to sustain the participants. Now it is renamed after Cyril Bean whose idea it was to establish the route. The field of participants is limited to a couple of hundred because the whole day is organised and administered by a faithful band of volunteers, members of ‘The Coventry Way Association’.
‘Tiny Tims Children’s Centre’, a charity which offers help to disabled children has a team of relay “runners”, using the event to raise a few quids for the charity; nothing very formal in the way of fund raising, but any quids raised will go to the Centre. And any quids is better than no quids. How are you fixed for a few quids Blog?? The walk starts from the Queens Head pub in Meriden and finishes there several hours later depending on the time each person, team takes to circumnavigate the footpaths around the city. In the Tiny Tims’ team we have a couple of the workers at the centre, also my son-in-law and daughter will be doing a section of the walk which is on a hard surface so that my grandson in his wheelchair can participate; my other daughter and another runner will be doing two or three fragmented sections covering upwards of 20 miles while me and my wife (sorry I know you are posh Blog, my wife and I) will be driving here, there and everywhere linking the relay together besides doing a couple of trudges ourselves. So get on your knees Blog and get the weather fixed up for us please. No messing – sun and a gentle warm breeze will do very nicely thank you very much. And of course, do come along and do a few miles if you wish Blog, you can easily be slotted in. No chance of getting lost. The relay starts about 9am by which time the walkers will be about a quarter of their way around the course, they having started at 6am.. The route is way marked with official symbols, the result of a Lottery Grant a few years back; there is also a route booklet and the paths are well trodden. We intend finishing the last half mile on the final stretch of road together, so, see you there, if not before, Blog.
The Old Blue Coat Girls School, Coventry
Talking of Lottery funding reminds me of the occasion when I had just started my research into ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and Other Clubs in the City”. The local newspaper carried an article about 5the city of Coventry being well under represented in the Lottery Funds application for grants with an historical interest; there being very few history bursaries given to this area of the country in the past. To stimulate interest, there would be a meeting of interested parties at the old Blue Coat School, an apt meeting venue as that had been the subject of expensive refurbishment and the completed job was most tasteful, a credit to the team responsible. As I said, the announcement of the funding meeting was at the time when I was into research and it was costing me a few quids for paper, photocopying, reproducing facsimiles of documents and photos, the usual sort of stuff. Not a big drain but with a few quids here and a few quids there and a few quids everywhere, my research could be done more efficiently and quicker. So I applied, got accepted and went along to the seminar hoping that a hundred quid or similar would tied me over .... and this is where things got a bit sticky, with a capital ‘S’. Each person or group at the start of the meeting was asked to stand up to give an outline of their project, how they saw it developed and what sort of grant would be needed. So, no problem there. However.....
They started. Some ancient building needed gutting and so on and so forth and the need was for about half a million quids. The local Victorian garden needed renovating, needed gutting and so on and so forth and there was a desire for a couple of hundred thousand quids. This old forge needed saving with all its equipment and several hundred thousand quids would be the cost for the successful completion and so on and so forth. And so it went on .... ‘Colin, you have come to the wrong shop here my son’, I heard my brain shouting. It would soon be my turn to give forth!!! So no problem there except I seemed to be several noughts short of a grant. Still, in for a penny (that’s about half a new pence to you Blog) in for a pound. I stood and outlined my desire to investigate the social, political, educational, industrial and historical influences on the development of a local running club because its survival and growth was a microcosm of the survival, development and growth of the city of Coventry, a reflection in miniature of how the city grew in the last 130 years and I felt that a hundred and fifty pounds would benefit my research greatly. Stifled sniggers from the multi million pound applicants did I hear? I have to confess that mine was the only application which did not run into a six figure sum!!! I was met with a polite thank you and the measured talks continued around the room. When the project outlines were completed, we broke for coffee whereupon, I was immediately approached by the important people running the seminar. Most interesting, give us details. Never heard of anything like this before, give us details. Just the sort of original research we are looking for, give us details. I was flabbergasted with a capital ‘FLABBER’ Blog. Forms were given out and an important meeting was arranged with Important Lottery Funding People from London. Forms were filled in and a meeting with Important Lottery Funding People from London was held. No you need to apply for a hundred quids, you need to apply for much more than that, after all, you will need top of the range cameras, video machinery, slide projectors for talks and so on and so forth. So the grant application went from a measly hundred quids to a different banding application of a few thousand quids. New forms were given out and an important meeting was arranged with Important Lottery Funding People from London. These new forms were filled in and a meeting with important Lottery Funding People from London was held. No you need to apply for a thousand quids, you need to apply for much more than a thousand quids, you need to employ researches to help research, a professional presentation company to help present etc. and so on and so forth. So even newer forms were given out and an important meeting was arranged with Important Lottery Funding People from London. The even newer forms were filled in and a meeting with Important Lottery Funding People from London was held. No you need to apply for thousands but you need to apply to the next banding so you can apply for tens of thousands of quids.
Now Blog, I like a joke as much as the next precariat (ref * below Blog). But this was taking the Michael too far. I want to do the research as my hobby, my interest in my early retirement. I don’t want to set up a bleeding research foundation, based in the Herbert Art Gallery and Local Studies Department. I don’t want to employ and fund a couple of the Museum staff. So Blog, I made my excuses and left. It is hard to believe that I am telling you the truth Blog, but would I lie to you? Next time you buy your lottery ticket Blog, just think, you could have been employing me from the FUND!!!!
Do you know Blog, not only have I never watched a soap, been to a mcDonald’s etc etc as I have told you before, but I have never bought a National Lottery ticket either. I simply do not like the odds on offer. That’s what happens when you do a few sums at the Pink Panther University.
Off now for a trudge in the freezing cold. I was going to trudge this morning but we had another furry of snow .... April 5th and it is snowing. Trudge on McBeth, trudge on to Verona.
Colin
P.S. (ref *) Don’t you think that in Mr. Cameroons’ brave new world, he has shown a remarkable degree of fortitude to announce that we now have seven social strata when even Aldous only managed five even though they were subdivided. So it’s goodbye from me as an alpha plus and its goodbye to you as a savage, Blog. And its hello from me as an elite and its hello from you as a precariat Blog, you proletarian pleb you!!!
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