Beautiful May Blossoms

This week in Derbyshire hospitals, we’ve been talking about May Day and making paper blossoms, which will hopefully last longer than the beautiful cherry blossom on the trees, which is over so quickly. At the moment, Sheffield (where I live) and the Derbyshire countryside, is covered in blossom, from blackthorn hedges to the ice cream pink and white of apple blossom.

We remembered union parades, maypoles with ribbons, Morris dancers, May Queens riding on farm trucks covered with greenery and blossoms, and Whit parades wearing white frocks.

However, as I arrived at Cavendish Hospital in Buxton, there had just been a blizzard, and as we talked about spring, large hailstones were falling outside the window! But by the time I’d arrived in Bakewell, the sun was shining again – and as I was driving along, I saw my first swallows. It was definitely a case of “four seasons in one day”!

Springtime in Buxton

Springtime in Buxton
Sees the snow fall
Spring cleaning indoors
Is the safest bet of all.

Taking down your net curtains
Washing all your woollies – and putting them away
But keep your winter coat at hand
Clean your windows – to see out is grand!

Making plans for May Day weekend
The plants bursting into green
Sweet peas and the blossom of fruit trees
Hanging baskets will soon be seen

Celebrating a special birthday
With cake, eating salads and fruit
Walking the slopes to see cherry blossom
Lighter evenings lift our mood.

As we come slowly out of hibernation.

Warmer Weather

Warmer weather’s here at last
please put bad weather in the past
Flowers breaking through the earth
Lambs running here and there with mirth

Blossom blowing in the breeze
All that pollen makes me sneeze
May Bank holiday – a great day off
A picnic spread on a tablecloth

Children dancing around the maypole
Let’s hope we’re not feeling cold
Morris men on the village green
The prettiest May we’ve ever seen!

Favourite things to do in May

A pint and a nice ploughman’s lunch
Gardening and pruning
Dancing around the maypole
Seeing blossom in bloom
Climbing up Froggatt Edge
Watching lambs gambolling.

Here are pictures of the paper blossoms we made, surprisingly simply, using this technique.

A branch of blossom

Blossom on a wintry day in Buxton!

Red and yellow blossom makes a colourful change

Everyone thought the blossom was really pretty

Matlock Bath

Last week, we looked at Matlock Bath in our sessions at Cavendish and Newholme hospital. Matlock Bath is a unique place. Matlock Bath (and nearby Matlock) were spa towns, with thermal springs coming out of the hillside, but the dramatic limestone cliffs and caves drew visitors in their droves, and a bustling Victorian resort was born. In the twentieth century, the village of Matlock Bath became very popular with day-trippers from land-locked midlands towns, giving it a “sea-side” appearance with amusement arcades, fish and chip shops, candyfloss and even sticks of rock! On Sundays, motorcyclists flock to Matlock Bath in their hundreds.

The Grand Pavilion

Candyfloss – all the fun of the seaside

The river from the Jubilee bridge

Giant carp at the fishpond

Matlock Bath

Like a seaside town inland,
Illuminations, and trinket shops
Cable cars strung across the steep ravine
High above the day-trippers.

Motorbikes flock on Sundays
I remember when Masson Mill
Clacked and cranked out cotton.
We shared gossip on the looms,

“Me mar” mime above the noise
Coughing on the cotton dust.
In the bad old days, kids crawled
Scavenging under the machines.

Victorians sipped thermal water
Toured caves in top hats and crinolines
Travelled by steam trains through tunnels
Sketched, and etched their names on stone.

Now we play at Gulliver’s Kingdom
Gamble on the penny falls at Halls’
Explore the Heights of Abraham
Brave pleasure seekers climb or canoe.

Riber Castle had a golden eagle
And its own ghost. A petting zoo.
A decent cuppa and an ice cream
Are better than looking at old relics.

The 1960s brought long-haired “troggs”
Living in the maze of old mines.
Eccentrics; bohemians are drawn here
Bringing exotic music and colourful clothes.

We used to dance in the sprung-floor
Of the Pavilion, watch the carp swim.
The old hall lay empty, neglected for years
Now it’s scruffy but full of love and life again.