LIZ BITAKARAMIRE: WHERE IS ROD HULL WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

I have been meaning to write this blog post for a couple of weeks now, so forgive me if this is old news...

The Rochdale Observer reported on Wednesday 21st June that the Animals in Distress Sanctuary of Littleborough, Rochdale recently lost a relative of the emu. The '5 ft' rhea, which was donated to the charity and upon arrival, promptly leaped a six-foot fence on the property, before naffing off onto the moors. 

Sanctuary manager Melanie Dunne attempted to catch the rhea with the help of her staff but all attempts have so far resulted in failure. They did find it on Blackstone Edge Rd after a tip-off, but it "shot off at about 20mph" before it could be apprehended. 

Journalist Damon Wilkinson writes: 'It eats grass and will be able to survive on the moorland, but Melanie says she is eager to get it back. 

'A number of sightings of the bird have been reported to the sanctuary, which takes in unwanted and abused pets and farm animals and is currently home to dozens of lizards, snakes, goats, sheep, horses, alpacas and [much to Jon Downes's no-doubt excitement, Lizzy's addendum] chickens, since its escape.'

If anyone in the area has seen the rhea, or has a quad-bike staff can borrow to give them a cat-in-hell's chance of keeping up with it, please call on 01706 371731. 

Three Owls: Liz returns to the zoo / sanctuary legal grey area

This letter also appeared in the Saturday, 6th March 2010 edition of the Rochdale Observer. Again, it is posted here unedited.


When is a sanctuary not a sanctuary? When it's a zoo.

About four months ago I wrote to the Observer about the words Sanctuary and zoo. Now the RMBC [Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council] have found a new word for the meaning of zoo.

A zoo is a place where injured wild birds can be taken, cared for in the hospitals and when recovered released into the wild. Congratulations RMBC but I don't think that meaning will get into the dictionaries do you?

The facts are these.

1. The zoo law was made in 1981: it was made for zoos, not charities, and when the RMBC received it they did not let Three Owls know about it.

Consequently, Three Owls carried on as usual and made it into the marvellous place it was today.

2. The guidelines for it ask councils (who issue the licences) to apply (common sense) as to what is obviously a zoo and what is not.

3. It would appear Rochdale Council has ignored this instruction.

4. An accusation was made about the sanctuary as far back as last June and the organisation Born Free came to check on it. That is their job and they can't be blamed for checking. They deal with licences.

5. RMBC have had all that time to get the Secretary of State to quash the order for Three Owls yet they chose to sit back and continue to give various options to Three Owls which were not viable.

Three Owls would have to demolish all its aviaries and rebuild them with bars round (in zoo law ducks are dangerous, crows are not) where would the 156 bird [sic] go while they did this?

And in the region of £350 000 it was impossible anyway. And in any case why do birds need bars.

6. On February 6th, Mr Nigel Fowler was informed by the council that Three Owls was a zoo not a sanctuary so the members of the trust had no other option but to close. They could not meet the demands of the council.

7. This meant that six people lost their jobs and two lost their homes as well.

Also the work experience for schools/ colleges/ universities and vets have had to be cancelled.
It is not just this. About 2000 birds were brought in each year. What will happen to those now?

Perhaps Mr Andy Glover could tell us?
Our council should be deeply ashamed.
For myself I have lived all my life in Rochdale and have been proud to be a Rochdalian but not any more.

MRS E ROBERTS

Ash Grove
Newhey

LIZZY CLANCY: The Baum Rabbit

It is always nice to be able to introduce you all to a new guest blogger. Possibly the nicest thing about the CFZ bloggo is that it is a living, breathing community and new people arrive on a regular basis. I can't tell you anything about Liz apart from the fact that she bought some books from us at Uncon, briefly spoke to Richard and had a charmingly old-fashioned habit of referring to me as `Mr Downes,' when everyone else calls me `Jon` or `Hey You` (or sometimes something more scatological), until I told her not to.

She is also the unpaid bloggo sub-editor and author of a charming and very elegantly written fortean novella called The Second Level, which I strongly urge you all to buy at this link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/095601156X/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

The Baum restaurant and wine bar rests snugly in the time warp that is Rochdale’s Toad Lane, next door to the Pioneer museum and across from St. Mary’s the Baum church. It serves glorious food and real Lancashire ale. You can’t say fairer than that. However, there’s another reason for north-western readers of the CFZ bloggo to dash out to their cars and wing their way in our general direction: the Baum rabbit.

In the first half of the fourteenth century the Earl of Oxford rushed to the little town of Rachedall (as Rochdale was then known) to warn Blanche, the woman he loved, that the Black Death was on its way. The poor fellow had to walk much of the way since his horse died from exhaustion and at Blackstone Edge, the moor land above our town, he lay down by the Monstone (a large rock with a legend all of its own) to sleep.

He was awakened much later by the sound of laughter and music. He sat up and beheld a crowd of butterfly-winged fairies dancing in a circle. The fairy queen appeared and remonstrated with her people for celebrating while the townsfolk of Rachedall suffered, for while Oxford slept, the plague had reached the vicinity. To prove to their human guest that fairies were capable of kindness, the queen granted Oxford the ability to save one Rochdalian from the Black Death by writing their name on the Monstone. Without hesitation the Earl scratched out ‘Blanche de Boulton’ with his diamond ring. Immediately, the fairy horde disappeared and there, sitting on the Monstone, was a beautiful white rabbit, which wore a golden torc about its neck.

Oxford took the rabbit to Rachedall and the house of his beloved. Blanche was already stricken with the disease but as soon as she held the little rabbit in her arms all symptoms disappeared. Blanche’s brother, Thomas de Boulton, was parish priest of the town and she and Oxford helped him tend the sick of the community. They often rode as far as Todmorden and Castleton, always taking the rabbit along; however, it was the area known as ‘the Baum’ that was the worst affected so Blanche and her rabbit would mostly be seen there. It’s said that after the death of England’s last victim of Bubonic plague, Blanche’s white rabbit disappeared, never to be seen by its former owner again; though to this day, sightings of the Baum rabbit still occur in that area of Rochdale, mainly, it has to be said, by people who have just had a skin-full in the pub of the same name.

GUEST BLOGGER LIZ CLANCY: The Rochdale Goblins

It is always nice to be able to introduce you all to a new guest blogger. Possibly the nicest thing about the CFZ bloggo is that it is a living, breathing community, and new people arrive on a regular basis. I can't tell you anything about Liz, apart from the fact that she bought some books from us at Uncon, briefly spoke to Richard, and had a charmingly old-fashioned habit of referring to me as `Mr Downes`, when everyone else calls me `Jon` or `Hey You` (or somethimes something more scatological), until I told her not to. She is obviously one to watch...

Touchstones is a charming museum, art gallery and local studies centre in Rochdale, Lancashire. It contains a wonderful little café where they serve best peppermint tea I have ever tasted.

My favourite feature in the former Rochdale Central Library building, however, is a small unassuming white telephone tucked up a corner in the local history section. There are actually several of these and not one performs the function intended by Alexander Graham Bell but my favourite will dial up any one of a four local legends provided you press the right button.
According to the over-enthusiastic actress employed to record The Rochdale Goblins (the best of these stories, in my opinion), the people of Saxon Rochdale (or Recedham as it was then known) wanted a parish church on the bank of the river Roche. Plans were drawn up, builders employed and stone was cut.

The morning after the first day’s labour the worker’s returned to the construction site to find it bare. After hunting the surrounding area all day the materials were discovered at the top of a steep hill overlooking the river. Everything was slowly dragged back down to where it should have been and tired but relieved, everyone went home.

Next morning, though, same thing again: all stone and equipment vanished, again to be discovered at the top of the hill. These trials went on for some days until some bright spark suggested the local goblins, who must have been there first, didn’t want the Christian edifice on their land and were responsible for the disruption of the work. It was thus decided Rochdale should take the hint; the church was built on top of the hill overlooking the town and river, consecrated in honour of St. Chad and still stands there to this day; intact and still in use.
Since Touchstones itself is built on the bank of the Roche, though, one must assume that goblins have no objection to cultural centres; either that or they are as fond of peppermint tea as I am.