Sorry! We've had problems...

Hi everyone
So sorry we appear not to have updated this blog since June; the darned machine hasn't been allowing us to post the updates. Heck knows why.
If this post is published we will at last be some way to getting back on track and blog entries should (with luck and a following wind) be appearing here in the very near future.
In the meantime please click through to the ValeFest website for up to the minute information and performance dates for Music at Your Local pub concerts which start at The Wheel Inn at Branston on Weds 5 August at 7.30pm featuring Fanny Power & the Mickey Money Boys together with Chris Armson.
Back soon (fingers crossed) with more posts.

And now the news

Those who know me will be aware that for many years I've been in huge amounts of pain and unable to walk. Now I've received a diagnosis and with it a vindication of my continued inability to function normally.
It seems I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (I'll let you check it out if you're interested - there's nothing worse than someone bleating on about their ill health), a diagnosis I'd anticipated since reading about it online some months ago.
I'd never previously heard of the condition and yet it apparently effects 1 in 1,000 people. In the end I had to see a consultant in Birmingham in order for it to be confirmed.
The problem stems from oversensitivity of the nervous system and the effects can be horrendous. My legs hurt so much that the weight of a sheet would make me scream in agony.
And if the syndrome had been spotted early I need not have had the surgical operations that it now transpires were completely unnecessary;
"A delay in diagnosis and/or treatment for this syndrome can result in severe physical and psychological problems. Early recognition and prompt treatment provide the greatest opportunity for recovery."
"If treatment is delayed... the limb, or limbs, can experience muscle atrophy, loss of use and functionally useless parameters that require amputation."
I spent three years unable to walk without a bucket load of analgesia, horribly depressed, barely able to think, eventually house-bound.
That was some six years ago. I overcame the pain and the agoraphobia because of my dogs. They became my reason and without them I would not be here today.
I'd force myself off my bed and made myself walk a little further each day.
Eventually I drove to a local airfield and walked along the perimeter, every day a little further then the day before.
If the dogs hadn't needed exercise I wouldn't have had the motivation to get moving - I'd have avoided the pain of mobilising and most likely have ended my life.
So you'll understand when within a week of receiving my own diagnosis the second of my dogs was found to be terminally ill, I was devastated.
The first dog had been put to sleep two years ago, and that was bad enough. The second had diabetes and went blind, developed Cushing's Disease and then the cancer.
And I miss him terribly.
Sometimes people pull you through and sometimes it's other things; when I had no option but to give up my events business I was persuaded to begin broadcasting on local radio. That gave me a weekly focus. The dog came with me to the studio, of course.
Over time the music became a passion and with that passion I discovered I was truly living again.
I shall be ever grateful to my dogs for giving me reason to continue my life - all the times the doctors told me I was faking it, putting it on, being dramatic, imagining the pain - all those times I went back to my wonderful dogs and they sustained me. Without them I wouldn't be here.
And since I'm now having the time of my life, irrespective of my limited physical ability and the pain I experience on a daily basis, I thank God for my boys.
I rescued them and they rescued me right back.

Horse laughs

A mare and her new foal are occupying the field in front of my house.
Mum is a traditional bay, glossy mid-brown with black extremities.
Baby, just about up on its feet but still happier on the ground, has a white face but is otherwise much darker.
I asked the village postman what colour he thought the foal might be.
His reply was typical of the man;
"Black or white - the licence is cheaper!"
Just as well he wasn't with me when I spotted what I thought was a rabbit with abnormally short ears.
It turned out to be a hedgehog.

Village SOS - exciting new funding opportunity!

Village SOS, announced today, is an enormously exciting new Big Lottery / BBC TV project.
See www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_village_sos.htm for details.
More info here soon.

The thing about funding

The thing about funding is that one has first to know about sources of monies in order to apply for them. The funds then have to fit the nature of the organisation (some monies are only available to registered charities, for example), and your activities.
Most funds are restricted, that's to say they can only be used for specific, agreed, projects.
That's fine once an organisation is up and running as when you put in an application for such funds you make what's known as 'full cost recovery', effectively quoting for the doing and managing of the project and well as the cost of the project itself.
Bearing in mind the lead time on such applications AND the very real possibility of being turned down, for whatever reason, and you soon realise restricted funds are limited both literally and figuratively.
How on earth does a new organisation get going in such a situation?
The answer is that without goodwill and someone financially supporting the venture, it can't. Which is why unrestricted funds are so important for ValeFest.
Unfortunately the problem with unrestricted funds is their availability and accessibility. There are not that many of them so they are hugely popular. And in ValeFest's experience, those most likely to hear about such funds tend to keep quiet about them, presumably so their own pet projects may benefit.
(Sceptical? Me?)
But it's not all gloom and doom. We're increasingly making contacts with people who know about pots of unrestricted monies, so not only is ValeFest applying for restricted (project) and unrestricted funding, in the past week we've also put in applications to the RSA for website assistance, the Arts Council for the Artists Taking the Lead initiative and we've just received a heads-up about a new Big Lottery project for villages to be released within the next couple of days. I'm guessing that'll be another sizeable application we'll have to tackle!
There's undoubtedly some hard work to come but hopefully lots more exciting developments for ValeFest very soon!

Mike Hainey's Great Day Out!

Yesterday it was my great pleasure to present the winner of the ValeFest Winterval photo competition with his prize - a poster-sized version of his winning picture, courtesy of Asda, Grantham.
Mike Hainey, of Barkestone le Vale in the Vale of Belvoir, took his winning snap of the Oriole New Orleans Brass Band during ValeFest's Jazz Parade at the end of the Winterval festival, and yesterday he and his family came along to local radio station, 103 The Eye FM in Melton Mowbray, to be presented with the winning picture.
In Melton with his camera to see his son parading with Redmile Primary School's amazing giant bird puppet, Mike's winning photo sums up all ValeFest aims to be: community-centred, colourful, musical and inclusive.
Asked on air what he felt was so successful about the Winterval festival, Mike had this to say;
"Personally, it was great to see my kids parading with their puppet, with smiles on their faces and lots of interaction between the schools taking part, a bit of community bonding going on.
"Then as the parade went through the streets with the jazz music and the big puppets, people were dancing, in the middle of their daily shop, taking time to join in. So the whole community got involved.
"Obviously the Vale of Belvoir has no large centre of support as such because the small villages are widely dispersed. So something like ValeFest can act as a focal point and co-ordinate talented artists in the area, get schools together and get everyone involved with arts and crafts and music. I think it's really great!"
"The Jazz Parade was an great day out and we'd certainly like to see it repeated."
We think you're spot on and your photo's pretty good too, Mike! Congratulations!

Oh to be in England now that ValeFest's here...

Driving across the Vale this evening, shades of green as far as the eye can see, blousy great grey-pink clouds absorbing the last of the light and blooming hawthorn bushes dressing the roads like cheerleader's pom poms. All of it so breathtakingly beautiful that I thanked whatever forces brought me to this quite beautiful place.
The Vale of Belvoir has to be one of the East Midlands' best kept secrets, so secret in fact that many of the people in nearby Melton Mowbray and Grantham don't appear to know of its existence. And unfortunately I've been working daft hours so haven't had much chance to get out and see as much of it as I'd like.
ValeFest is putting musicians forward to play at the Hot Pots ceramics & cookery event at the end of May, the CLA Game Fair in July, and now several other events are asking us to help identify suitable performers for their events over the summer. In fact some of our artists appeared at Dove Cottage Hospice Summer Fete this past weekend, to delighted reviews and feedback.
We've also put venue managers and other festival organisers, like Sally Fagan at Stathern Festival and David Wilson at The Plough in the same village, in touch with a variety of acts.
It's good to be able to highlight performance and promotional opportunities for our local musical talent and to know that ValeFest is already making a positive impact in our community.
Very soon we'll be releasing information about ValeFest's own summer festival season, which is hoped will widen appreciation of the glories of the Vale of Belvoir, assist tourism and the local economy and encourage more people to come and enjoy this truly wonderful, incredibly beautiful part of England.