RETURN TO HALE

We lived in Hale, Cheshire, until we went to live overseas in 1995. So we were looking forward to visiting on Thursday. We were there to give a talk to Hale U3A but we arrived early and had a wander around the village, marvelling at the changes which had taken place. Even more estate agents, cafes, restaurants, and several places to advise you what to do with your fortune, if you have one.

The last time we were in Bowdon Assembly Rooms, the venue, was for the prize-giving for the local athletics club, of which we were members. This time the room was packed with about 200 U3A members. There were even a couple of old friends in the audience.

My talk was, as always,  well-received. Many members approached me afterwards to enthuse about the talk and about the walk itself. I signed and sold 14 copies of "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England" and my fundraising achievement jumped from 200% (reached only two days earlier) to 205%.

The E-book version of "Vic's Big Walk" can be downloaded from any reputable e-book source, such as Amazon, Apple, Kobo, et cetera. All proceeds go direct o Pancreatic Cancer UK.

BANG ON 200%

Shevington, a farmstead near a hill called shevin, derives from the Celtic cevn meaning a ridge and the Old English tun, a farmstead. It is a hill slope settlement in the Douglas Valley recorded in documents in 1225 as Shefington.^[6] Other recorded spellings include Scheuynton in 1253, Sheuington in 1277, Sewinton 1288 and Sheuynton in 1292.^[7]

That was then, this is now. And yesterday Vic Talks The Walk rolled into Shevington, thanks to an invitation to speak to the Over 50s Club. I was invited by Gerald, a lone man - and prime mover - among the membership of women.

Thanks to the generosity of the members - a speaker fee, some individual donations and some book sales - My fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK rose to 200% of the target I set for July 2020.

The previous week I had reached 199% while speaking to Lancaster and Morecambe U3A in the Duke's Theatre in Lancaster. My slides, through the cinema projector, were filling the cinema screen and were dwarfing me as I strutted about, attempting to escape the blinding light.