Eighth posting of 3 July 2009

This is my last posting of today. I want to mention some interesting things that are going to happen to me in the next months. On about 14 July I shall be visiting Kamila and her family in Vienna. Who Kamila is will be revealed another day. After a couple of weeks I travel with Vanda to Polnad and thence to Lwow (Lvov) in the Ukraine. I return to the UK in mid-August and in mid-September I shall be attending the European DbI Conference in Senigalia, Italy. I am leaving the most exciting part to the end: I have agreed to work in a "blind" Foundation and school in eastern Hungary this Autumn, probably from October. I shall be there for some months and I think it will be an adventure. I shall be reporting on this blog.

Seventh posting of 3 July 2009

I have been greatly troubled by a personal problem from the beginning of 2009. I am not going to say here what that was but it is and was very sad. However, an important and perhaps the final chapter was ended on 19 June 2009. Here is a photo of my solicitor and my reader, Alice, as we celebrated-mildly-of course, after a Court Hearing that morning. It was only the second beer I had had in the whole year.

Sixth posting of 3 July 2009

Another successful City Synergy outing was held on 13 June 2009 when we attended the Worthing Regatta at-blow me down-Worthing. It was a contest of rowers so perhaps it should have been called a Rogatta. here are some photos to whet your appetite and there are others on the Flickr Photo Gallery. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/

Fifth posting of 3 July 2009

As always, the Hearing and Sight Impaired branch of Sense (HSI) had a successful Christmas Party in 2008. This was the first one we had held at the new Sense HQ in Pentonville Road, London. Here are some illustrative photos. There are more photos on my Flickr Photo Gallery.

Fouth posting of 3 July 2009

It seems a long time ago now but City Synergy held a successful Christmas Party at the White Horse, Rottingdean at the end of 2008. here are 4 representative photos.All the photos taken that day are on my Flickr Photo Gallery.

Fourth posting of 3 July 2009

Those of us who have campaigned in the last few years for the retention of the Carnegie Library in Hove received a further fillip on 20 April 2009. The Council had agreed to open this library every Monday afternoon. This was to encourage school children, who perhaps did not have ideal facilities at home, to attend the library after school. The Library is now thus open 6 days a week-a situation that has not obtained for many, many years. Here I pay tribute to Christopher Hawtree of Hove, an ardent public library enthusiast, who led the campaign to save the Library from closure by the Council who must have been crazy to decide to do that.

Third posting of 3 July 2009

We (my ever-efficient reader and I) just did not have the time in October to do a posting about the RNIB-led Lobby concerning DLA at the House of Commons on 15 October 2008. Attached to this posting are 4 representative photos but you can see many more by going to my Flickr Photo Gallery. here again is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/ As I hope everyone knows the two Lobbys (this one and the one in December 2006) were very worthwhile as success was achieved on 17 March 2009 when the Government announced that it had accepted the purpose of these Lobbys. Visually-impaired people will be entitled to claim for the Higher Rate of the Mobility Component of DLA from April 2011.

Second posting of 3 July 2009

In this posting I mention a very successful trip to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight which I undertook with City Synergy on 6 June 2009. Osborne House was the home for most of her reign of Queen Victoria and is well worth visiting. It is set in lovely grounds which Victoria increased by purchasing adjacent land whenever it came on the market.To a tree freak like myself, the giant trees were particularly appealing. I am pleased to say that our guide, employed by Natural England, allowed, nay encouraged us to touch the statues etc. In this posting are 4 representative photos but as you can imagine there are more on my Flickr Photo Gallery.

Update on Colin Bennett's activities in the last quarter year

I have been very busy in the months since I attended the RNIB Campaigns Weekend in Aston, Birmingham at the end of March 2009. that was the subject of my last posting. I am going to make a series of postings today, each one saying a few words about an activity accompanied by a small number of photos. One can access all the photos for all the activities by going to my Flickr Photo Gallery thus: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/

RNIB Campaigns weekend at Aston Convention Centre, Birmingham

I attended this fruitful weekend at Aston University, Birmingham during the weekend 28-29 March 2009. The purpose was to encourage campaigning especially by VIPs themselves. England (and Wales?) has been divided into 6 areas and each area is headed by an RNIB staff member who will seek to keep his/her volunteers in line! There is nothing much to say about the weekend except that I enjoyed the wine at dinner very much. It was red, strong and plentiful-all adjectives I appreciate when it comes to wine. Attached are 4 representative photos. There are about another 18 on my Flickr web site which you can access by clicking here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/

Spring trip to Falmer by City Synergy

The Ides of March, 15 March 2009, saw a break in the drap, chilly weather that we have experienced for what seems ages. That day was sunny and warm and that was very good because this was the day that City Synergy took a trip to the Swan at Falmer, near the University of Sussex north-east of Brighton. City Synergy is a social group based in Brighton and Hove of visually-impaired people their friends and helpers. There were about twenty of us yesterday and we had a very successful day. we started with lunch at the Swan and after nearly two hours (!) we staggered out to walk over the busy main road via a foot bridge to Falmer Village. WE wondered aimlessly around the green and pond for an hour or so doing nothing in particular except somewhat optimistically using a fishing met in the pond. I did catch a salmon although to be fair it was in a tin. You can see many photos of the day on my Flickr Photo Gallery by clicking the link here. In the meantime you can see 4 photos attached to this posting as an appetiser. Bon Appetit! http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova

Music week at Lauriston Hotel, weston-super-Mare

I spent a pleasant week concerning classical music at the Lauriston Hotel, Weston-super-Mare on 28 February to 7 March 2009. I will write more about this later. The purpose of this posting is just to let people to whom I gave my business card know how to access the many photos I took that week. They are on my Flickr Photo Gallery and you can reach it by clicking here: www.flickr.com/photos/hova/ Today is 3 July 2009 and I am editing this posting. I am not going to write more about that week as it is so long ago now. However, I do now add 4 representative photos and remind you that you can see all my other photos on my Flickr Photo Gallery.

Today's Bulletin

At last I have finished editing my article about the 11th European DB Holiday. This took place in Sopron, Hungary in August 2008. You can find this article if you go "my dossiers" and thence to travel. Happy hunting! Off to lunch!

90 years since the end of WWI

On Saturday, 8 November 2008 I went with a group of City Synergy chums to a commemoration of the end of WWI on 11 November 1918. THis event was held at Newhaven Fort, about 9 miles east of Brighton. I have a family connection with the Fort because my late father, a gunnery expert whose military career was in the Royal Artillery had been Commandant of the Fort in the 1960s. At that time, the Fort was the centre for arranging for the disposal of World War 2 bombs on the South Downs. These were mainly British mortar shells that remained from testing ranges on the Downs. People will know that quite often mortar shells do not explode on impact but may do so many years or decades later. YOu can see more photos on my Flickr Photo Gallery and the link is www.flickr.com

Sense Lecture, November 2008

Thursday, 6 November 2008 saw the second Annual Sense Lecture. This year it was held at the Eastman Dental School in Grays Inn Road, London. Here are 3 representative photos of this event which I attended. It was packed! You can see more photos by going to my Flickr Photo Gallery by going to www.flickr.com

Historic day: 21 October 2008

For the first time I (or rather my reader , Alice) have uploaded short video clips onto my computer and thence to my Flickr Photo Gallery. You can see them and they were taken in Normandy by doing the normal thing and clicking on the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/ In order to view these video clips you need to have on your computer the programme Adobe Flash Player. Most modern computers have this installed but you might need to update the version.