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This is Going to Hurt Welcome to the life of a junior doctor: 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, this diary is everything you wanted to know – and more than a few things you didn't – about life on and off the hospital ward. Author Author Imprint Picador ISBN Publishing date RRP (paperback) Pages 978-1529062335 3 Feb 2022 £7.85 304 Annette Adam's story as a junior doctor over many years Dark humour, satire, politics, a tale of survival in the harsh world of the dog eat dog NHS 9/10 Catherine Funny and painful in equal measure, this is a book everyone should read to realise that our precious NHS badly needs help. 8/10 Ruth An easy read but not for the squeamish (in parts) It's a true reflection of the stresses and strains of a junior doctor, interspersed with hilarious accounts of patient/doctor consultation, this book had me in stitches (no pun intended). N.B. Every politician should be made to read this 9/10

< Back Previous Next> Truxor clearing using Shared Prosperity Funding from the UK Government The Truxor clears a path to improve water flow The article was featured on the Rushcliffe Borough Council Facebook page. Included here is the text: Canal & River Trust received a grant to support a project clearing reeds that are dominating parts of the Grantham Canal in West Bridgford, improving water flow and enhancing habitats for wildlife. 🦆🐞 Due to access issues, clearance was not able to take place in Lady Bay last spring. We’re pleased this has now been rectified and reed clearance now underway. The restoration works follow on from the great work done by local group WeBCan and local residents over the winter. Paul Abel reported that the Truxor digging for the Norfolk Reed rhizomes earlier today had left lot of pieces of rhizome which are now embedded in the blanket weed on the bottom. He suggests that this is going to be very heavy to pull out, but the Truxor’s visit will help keep a clear channel through the centre of the canal.

< Back Previous Next> Sept 9th Working Party Lady Bay Twitchell Area Clearance A very hot Saturday morning (around 30 degrees) saw an impressive performance from our 8 volunteers. (Thank you all). We started at the Twitchell working to create a channel through very dense reeds. Hard work in the deep mud, but we were very pleased to get through to about half way in the first heavy blockage. Hopefully we can get more people out next week and restore a clear channel in our canal. Good to discover that the life jackets trigger when they get wet.😂 Grantham Canal Society along with Verity from Grantham Canal West End Group Volunteers were also working down on Lock 1. Lot of tidying up of the lock entrance, weeding and painting. As ever, we are so very grateful for everything being done on our stretch of the canal. Check out our other posts and if you’ve ever considered getting involved, why not bite the bullet and come along to one of our working parties. You can do as little or as much as is suitable to/for your health and wellbeing.

The Midnight Library The Midnight Library is about Nora, a 35 year old who is regretful about her life and feels alienated and unneeded in this world. In the depths of her wallowing, she comes across the Midnight Library. In it, each book she picks up represents a portal into another version of what her life could have been. As she opens these books she is transported into different versions of her life -- relationships she could have had, careers she could have pursued etc. Author Author Imprint Canongate Books Ltd ISBN Publishing date RRP (paperback) Pages 9781786892737 08/02/2021 £7.49 304 An eminently readable and thought provoking book from an author not afraid to write about mental issues. 8/10. Catherine. A ‘marmite’ book that wasn’t for me, but offers a unique narrative and an insight into mental health. 4/10. Jenny. After a life of regret and struggling with mental health, Nora decides to commit suicide. She ends up in a place between life and death, she is given the opportunity to try out infinite variations of her life. This is a book about living, not dying. A great read. 10/10. Jo.

Memento Mori Dame Lettie Colston is the first of her circle to receive insinuating anonymous phone calls. Neither she, nor her friends, wish to be reminded of their mortality, and their geriatric feathers are thoroughly ruffled. As the caller's activities become more widespread, old secrets are dusted off, exposing post and present duplicities, self-deception and blackmail. Nobody is above suspicion. Witty, poignant and wickedly hilarious, Memento Mori may ostensibly concern death, but it is a book which leaves one relishing life all the more. Author Author Imprint Virago ISBN Publishing date RRP (paperback) Pages 184408552X 4 Feb 2010 £7.51 240 pages Kathryn Set in the "50's a cast of elderly, wealthy characters with a chequered past receive a mysterious phone call "Remember you will die." Who is it and why the cruel reminder of their impending mortality? 7/10 Annette Anachronistic rambling plot which attempts to explore death and mortality through the current and past lives of a group of 1950s mainly elderly characters who all have their back story of intrigue, dark deeds and some joy 3/10 Linda Rather dreary portrayal of a dreary decade. A frustrating book which meandered to a disappointing ending. Thank goodness class is not such an issue these days. 5/10.

< Back Previous Next> Sunday 5th November 2023 Clearance of floating reeds This Sunday saw intrepid volunteers getting into deep water on the canal at Lady Bay to clear a huge amount of reeds that were floating in the water in readiness of leak investigations which Paul Abel is undertaking. Paul spends many hours researching ways, means and methods of stabilising the water levels and we hope to bring you more news on this in the near future. Thanks to Penny, Les, Richard, Margaret, Verity, Steve, Stic (and Bear the dog!).

Title Back to Home Back to WeBCan Public Meeting 9th February 2023 The meeting was attended by 50-60 people and Chaired by Cllr Penny Gowland 1) Constitution of new group and election of committee- The group has been formally constituted as the West Bridgford Canal Group (WeBCan) covering Lady Bay and Gamston/Abbey Park sections of the Grantham Canal The aims of WeBCAN will be: Primary: To restore consistent water levels in the Lady Bay and Gamston /Abbey Park Canal. Secondary: to maintain the Lady Bay and Gamston/Abbey Park sections of the Grantham Canal as an attractive amenity for local people and haven for wildlife. These aims may be achieved through measures such as practical volunteering , fund raising and lobbying to support and activate measures to preserve and enhance the Lady Bay and Gamston/Abbey Park section of the Grantham Canal. The group notes that the canal is owned by Canal and River Trust and any works on the canal may be limited by what they will allow. Officers Chair Penny Gowland, Vice Chair Sue Mallender, Treasurer Ruth Kerry, Secretary Kathleen Dunmore, Liaison with GCS Hugh Crawford, Liaison with Grantham Canal West End Group Chris Harries, Other officers Paul Abel. Marek Korczynski and Richard Mallender, plus 1representative of Abbey Park Community Association and 1 representative of Gamston and Holme Pierrepont parish council. 11 people in all, 5 was agreed as the minimum for a quorate committee meeting. In the event of a split vote the Chair will have the casting vote. A copy of the constitution to be circulated with the minutes and to be amended to include a clause on GDPR. 2) Report from EA and GCS on progress with securing water supply from the River Trent and other voluntary activities planned and undertaken GCS volunteer working party 4, 18, and 25 February and possibly 4 or 11 March, starting from outside EA Offices near Lock 1 and working up Lady Bay Canal potentially on to Gamston/Abbey Park section of the canal. Team will check culverts and clear overhanging vegetation as well as general tidying up. It was thought that all culverts except the culvert closest to Lock 1 are now clear but this needs to be demonstrated (Action GCS?) To volunteer for a workday Contact Grantham Canal West End Group (GCWEG) at Add Facebook Link or if not on Facebook email XX Future volunteer activity will be limited during the bird nesting season which runs till August but will then resume. GCWEG has insurance through CRT so there is no requirement for volunteers to pay to join GCS, although payments to GCS help fund provision of much needed equipment and contribute to enabling more substantial canal works and assist in securing matchfunding. Richard Cooper EA advised on progress with the possible option of installing a solar pump at the EA end of the canal to facilitate bringing in water from the Trent during possible drought periods. Whilst this remains an option there are practical issues which need to be explored. * Is the water in the Trent of sufficient quality to be safely fed in to the Grantham Canal RC following up *. EA does not own its own building or the adjoining land on which a pump would stand. Both are owned by the County Council which may also be responsible for maintenance of the culverts. Will the County Council be prepared to accommodate a pump on its land ( RC following up, Penny Gowland County Councillor to also explore) RC recommended that other options for accessing water should also be explored. If water could be brought in from the Thurl Beck (near Nottingham Airport) this would benefit both the Lady Bay and the Gamston/Abbey Park sections of the Canal. EA cannot help with funding this option but could advise on budget and on match funding opportunities (Report back from RC requested) Related issue of unexplained swan deaths (from birdflu?) in the Grantham Canal and on the Trent. Dead swans should be reported (post meeting note Simon Withers of Friends of Victoria Embankment is a local swan expert). Questions from the floor about Severn Trent’s (ST) responsibility for reducing water flow contributing to Summer drought and their responsibility for taking action if/when there are floods to which the canal may have contributed (as at Trent Boulevard end of Rutland Rd). RC has tried for several months to open dialogue with ST with no success. (Cllr Penny Gowland to write to ST and request co-operation) 3). Presentation from Notts Wildlife Trust (NWT) Ben Driver gave a presentation outlining how NWT can work with local groups to provide a plan to manage their area for the benefit of wildlife through designation as a local nature reserve. The canal would remain in the ownership of CRT with whom NWT have a good working relationship. A similar project has just been undertaken for the Hickling section of the canal (copy requested). Ruschcliffe Council has a budget to pay for this type of work and application should be made through Paul Phillips (WeBCan to submit application for funding) 4) Possible volunteer activities this year The Hook is an example of a local nature reserve. Friends of the Hook have a programme of year round volunteer activity (including an invertebrate survey and butterfly count) and we should seek to learn from them and potentially carry out our own wildlife and environmental monitoring, (Sue Mallender to follow up) It would also be useful to carry out a survey of canal towpath users and find out how often they walk/cycle along the canal towpath, what they value about the canal and what use they make of other local environmental amenities. GCS mechanically counts numbers of people passing along the canal at various checkpoint. The Hickling group (GCWRG) has carried out such a survey and it would make sense to learn from their experience (Kathleen Dunmore to follow up) 5) Fundraiser activities Paul Abel made a presentation about the newly formed Grantham Canal Fish Conservation Society (GCFCS) which has started a Crowdfunder campaign to pay for a solar pump which will draw water from the Trent and protect fish in the Lady Bay section of the Grantham canal at all times. Paul explained that money raised in this way can help secure match funding from a range of public bodies including the Environment Agency and Sport England. (See attached leaflet for more details) 6) Need for Plan B – if there is still potential for drought this summer There is no certainty that a further drought can be avoided this summer. This means that there is a threat to wildlife for whom the canal is their home. It is not part of the remit of any of the organisations present in the room (EA, GCS, NWT) to attempt to rescue wildlife under threat. Nor does CRT take any responsibility in this matter. (WebCan Committee to try to find organisations which do have expertise in this matter and invite them to make a presentation at the next meeting) 7) AOB Various people expressed their outrage and frustration that the Lady Bay and Gamston/Abbey Park sections of the Grantham Canal have been allowed to get to the point where the canal alternately runs dry and floods. There is no clear explanation for why this is the case, merely a range of hypotheses which need to be tested. Given the plethora of statutory and voluntary organisations with an interest in this matter it is difficult to discern a clear path as to what will be done by whom to ensure that there is not a sequence of drought and flood events. (WeBCan Committee to investigate and report back to next meeting) The Chair expressed her thanks to all speakers and to the organisations they represent for their efforts on behalf of the Lady Bay and Gamston/Abbey Park sections of the Grantham Canal. 8) Date of next meeting – 7.30 pm Thursday 13 April 2023 at the Poppy and Pint Previous Next

Then She was Gone She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. Author Author Imprint Arrow ISBN Publishing date RRP (paperback) Pages 1784756253 14/12/2017 £7.37 448 Ten years after the disappearance of her daughter, Laurel Mack still can’t move on. Divorced and largely estranged from her remaining children, she still cannot find closure. Into her life comes the charming Floyd to sweep her off her feet, however, is he all that he seems? He is very like her ex-husband and his daughter bears a striking resemblance to her missing daughter Ellie. Laurel's life starts to unravel as she starts to find the truth about Ellie's fate. This is a tense thriller that keeps you reading to find out what really happened. Apart from some clunky plot devices, and some stereotyped characters the story starts to get moving by the use of several narrators, who all want to tell their side of the story. A few of the group, especially those with teenagers, found the subject matter upsetting, and in the light of the recent real-life abductions of women, you may want to give this one a miss. However if you liked Gone Girl or The Girl on a Train, you will probably enjoy this one too.

Last Letter Home On holiday in Italy, Briony Wood becomes fascinated by the wartime story of a ruined villa hidden amongst the hills of Naples. Not only is it the very place where her grandfather was stationed as a soldier in 1943, but she also discovers that it harbours the secret of a love long lost. Author Author Imprint Simon & Schuster UK ISBN Publishing date RRP (paperback) Pages 147115694X 22 Mar. 2018 £7.99 560 Linda Touching wartime story, with resonance to today's stories of misplaced people. The romance revolved around a garden and how nature can sustain hope in dark places. An easy read, good for holiday. Could have done without the romantic nonsense around Briony 6 out of 10. Jo 'Last Letter Home' is a dual timeline story. Present day is Briony, a historian that discovers love letters from the war between English born Sarah Bailey, and English/German Paul Hartman. The wartime storyline was very sweet and interesting. However, he present day romance storyline was not enjoyable to read, I did not warm to any of the characters at all. Overall, this book was overly long with too much description and characters that brought nothing to the story. 4/10 Kathryn After a public humiliation Briony takes refuge in her past after a chance encounter while recuperating on an Italian holiday. She seeks to uncover her Grandfather's story and Briony pieces together letters that tell of war torn Britain and a love that conquers prejudice and heartbreak. A good read that leaves you wanting more. 5/10

< Back Previous Next> Saturday 7th October Bridge 3a further clearance Another few hours by some dedicated volunteers saw the bridge area cleaned up even further.

Community Gathering 10th September 2023 Another fantastic afternoon was had on our second Community Gathering. It's always great to see people coming together enjoying the stalls and activities. no matter what age. A massive thank you to all on the committee and everyone else who helped organise the event, but our very special thanks go to Nell, Aiya & Emie! As thunderstorms were forecast we started a little earlier than planned . Thankfully the brief rain we had didn't stop to much of the fun. We hope you all enjoyed the afternoon!

< Back Previous Next> Operation Dammit June 18th 2023 Dammit working party On Sunday 18th June 12 supporters of WebCan donned their wellies and waders to enable much- needed investigate work around a magnificent willow tree behind 20, Rutland Rd. Our public meeting, attended by 50 people, in the Poppy and Pint on the previous Thursday (15th June) voted overwhelmingly in favour of repairing the leaks in the Northern section of the canal, starting with the area under the willow tree behind 20 Rutland Rd. In the short term, we need to enable an arborist and other canal experts to examine the roots of the willow tree and the integrity of the canal lining over the next few weeks. However, the weather forecasts suggested a period of heavy imminent heavy rain, during which time the canal could fill with water and the opportunity for the arborist and other experts to do their investigation would be lost, or made much more difficult: we need to avoid having to drain this section to allow this work to take place. Project Dammit was launched to block the water from covering the area from where it finishes now just ahead of the willow tree behind 20 Rutland Rd, to the northern culvert. If we also wanted to have the canal lining repaired to stop the leaks in this area, it will be much easier to do so while the silt is relatively dry, than it would be if the water was let back in. So, we planned to build an earth dam where the log was situated: The plan was to make the dam from sacks from filled silt. Once in place, this would create a barrier sufficient to keep the water back until the leaks under the tree could be investigated by the Canal and Rivers Trust and, hopefully, a new impermeable lining could be put into place. Despite it being Father’s Day, WebCan supporters responded to the urgency of the situation, and formed a work-party to create this "silt bag barrier" bringing with them shovels, wellingtons and bags of enthusiasm. 20 old hessian sacks were kindly supplied by Faye Hawkins of 200 Degrees Coffee.