Weekly update

Sorry, it's a bit late but we did publish CJS Weekly as usual this weekend (a bit busy on Friday and didn't quite get round to the blog!) This week it's nine pages with 54 new paid posts.
http://bit.ly/2rXthB Who burns off when a gale is predicted? Apparently land owners on the NYM! The Egton blaze was visible from the village on Saturday and the smoke drifted across the valley for several miles.

The bird feeders have been taken out of storage and filled, vast clouds of various finches promptly descended and the feeders were very quickly in need of refilling!

Front Page news

in the local paper.

Well it got your attention. On Saturday evening there was a very large yellow Sea King RAF Search & Rescue helicopter flying round for quite a while. Turns out that some fool had been tombstoning down one of the many waterfalls, and damaged their back. This particular waterfall is notorious in the village and the footpath has only just been reopened this summer. For more see the Whitby Gazette. And much as we love to see the Sea Kings (lovely piece of machinery if a little noisy) please don't do anything so silly.

Juno (one of the office dogs) had a couple of lumps removed yesterday so she's a bit sore and grumbly today and is wearing a very fetching tee-shirt and one sock with a lampshade collar in reserve.

Tomorrow is the village Flower & Veg show, HB is the secretary so has taken today off to try to get organised (and bake enough cakes to feed the five thousand).

CJS Monthly went out as usual on Tuesday and should have reached everyone by now, CJS Weekly with September's training calendar is currently printing and will soon be on it's way to postal readers, digital copies already available. You're also getting the CJS Focus with this edition - more of which next week.

And for now that's it.

Silly Sheep

You may have seen on the news or read about Shaunetta the sheep who marooned herself halfway down the cliff below Hawsker, a village just East of Whitby (we're on a sticky out bit and the coastline actually runs West-East rather than North-South, confusing I know). You can read about Shaunetta in the local paper. Click here.

Today on the Telegraph there is a report about another silly sheep, this one in Norway which went down his own version of a zip-wire using his horn as a hook whilst attempting to reach a field full of lovely ewes. For more sheep antics click here

Added to which excitement the Great North Air Ambulance landed in the field in front of the office and has just flown away complete with patient (that's not so good, but whoever they are they're in good hands now). We save up all the stamps off your letters to us and send them to charity, recently they've all been going to the Great North Air Ambulance fund so it's good to know the service is working well.

Back to the boring bits now. CJS Weekly is now printing and will, post permitting, be with you on Monday. This week's edition is 9 pages containing 67 new paid posts of which 28 came direct to CJS.

Birthdays, butterflies, dolphins, rain and jobs...!

After a beautiful weekend and start to the week the weather broke and it's cold, grey, wet and miserable today. The swifts and house martins are conspicuous by their absence, they've gone to hunt in brighter skies although the nest building is coming on well. The big event this week was most junior office dog Hebe had her birthday, she's now two years old and officially no longer a puppy - will someone tell her that please, apologies to any callers who heard strange squeakings, it was just the birthday ball.
Our article in Monday's edition of CJS Weekly is about the incredible migration of the painted lady butterflies, one has been reported in Goathland so they've reached us too. But even more amazing is that bottlenose dolphins have been reported off Whitby, see our local paper, The Whitby Gazette, for more details.
Oh, yes and CJS Weekly is now printing, 10 pages this week with 91 new paid posts of which 27 came direct to CJS.

Penny Hedge

We have some very old customs in the Whitby District but the planting of the Penny Hedge must be one of the most unusual. The descendants of one family have been building the hedge in the mud flats of the harbour every Ascension Eve since 1159 in penance for killing a boar on sacred land (in the chapel of a hermits cell). The penance was laid down by the then Abbot of the Abbey. For more about the history click here or to read about this year's ceremony click here.

BBC - oops

You really would think that the BBC Countryfile would know better, and that they would double check before their relaunch in the new prestigious time slot (Sunday evening for those of you who haven't caught it yet). The second episode has coverage from our neck of the woods or rather moors and was trailed at the end of the last show on Sunday, complete with footage of Berwick upon Tweed.... er what??

They leapt from this lovely view of Whitby harbour and Abbey to this one of Berwick.

Never mind, don't forget to switch on next Sunday to see the real area!

Showtime.

Goathland Flower & Veg show was a bit soggy, but plenty of rosettes came back with the CJS Team, from eggs to chocolate cakes with lots of lovely red prize cards all round.
Tomorrow (Wed 20/8) is the local Agricultural Show and pigeons are being polished, hens eggs h'inspected (sorry), beans burnished. But, it's still tipping down, so much so that York races were abandoned today (article on BBC, link here) and are in doubt for tomorrow, but weather permitting the CJS team is off to Egton to exhibit, admire and shop which means the office will be closed for the day. We'll be back on Thursday.

Monthly, Weekly and Swords

The June Monthly, after a small hiccup (does nothing ever run smoothly?) was published as usual. Details of the vacancies are freely available online and are in this week's CJS Weekly which is even now rolling off the printers. In addition to details from the Monthly it also contains July's Training Calendar. It's 15 pages plus a further four of training calendar, and a massive 142 new paid posts of which 72 came direct to CJS

In local news the Goathland Plough Stots, our local traditional Long Sword dance team, a lethal variety of morris dancing for those you who haven't come across this before, are worried about the future of their dancing. In the recently passed legislation aimed at reducing knife crime a series of exemptions for carrying 'weapons' in a public place were included, but not one for the ceremonial dancing swords. For more about this see the report in the Whitby Gazette. (AW's husband is one of the senior team.) For more about the Stots see here: http://www.goathlandploughstots.co.uk/

That Friday feeling

It's been a rather hectic week, what with making banners and placards, appearing on TV, Radio and the local paper whilst saving the Post Office (well trying anyway) and producing a Special Edition and the usual Weekly but as usual we met our deadlines and got there.

Apologies to readers who were waiting for online access details yesterday. We had a run-time error with the mailing software, however the techies worked on it and this morning everything seems to be running smoothly again but do contact us if you know differently!

CJS Weekly (with the first colour ad) is rolling off the printers and sitting steaming in great heaps, colour printing would appear to be hotter than boring old mono copies. This week it's 14 side with 143 new paid posts of which 81 came direct to CJS. This week's edition includes the quarterly Special Edition which this time features Wildlife Conservation and Research work, in association with the Wildlife Trust.

Save Goathland Post Office.

We've learnt that Goathland Post Office is one of the 2,500 under threat of closure by the Government. The village has swung into action to try to keep it open. It's been a flurry of activity writing letters, drafting leaflets, painting banners and making placards! This morning we closed the office for an hour so the staff could all take part in a rally of support outside the Post Office. This was photographed by our local paper the Whitby Gazette, filmed by Tyne Tees television for the local news bulletin and interviews (with the boss and some staff!) were recorded by BBC Radio York.

Fog and sailing ships

We woke up to thick, thick fog which didn't shift all morning so at 11am we lit the wood stove to chase away the dampness. Then of course the sun broke though and began to burn off the murk and now (4pm) it's glorious spring sunshine and we're all basking in the sunshine (and heat from the stove!).

Our nearest town is Whitby which was considered the home port of Captain James Cook. The town has always had lots of links with Cook and a statue of him stand on the cliff overlooking the harbour gazing, I like to think wistfully, out to sea. In recent years you've been able to take a tour of the bay on a scale replica of his famous ship HM Bark Endeavour but perhaps for not much longer because it's up for sale on ebay of all places. So if you fancy your own sailing bark have a look at the listing, click here.