Miles Whinfrey

Well it was the night before last that I did my thinly veiled attack on the middle aged establishment. Not too yobbish or brutal but a signal that I am not going to fall unquestioning into line. The powerpoint went well and my clicker worked fine for the first time. I could have drafted the script a few more times and timed the slides instead of cueing them. All in all went well. Speech 10 is on the 17th March 2014. Then I have done it- many never go further. Thanks everyone.

Well its Speech 9 in a week and 12 hours. I have decided to drop the computer game angle for more time spent on a set of opening quotes from Fredrick Douglas- the freed C19th slave, Charles Dickens and the celebrated mathematician Whitehead.

I have a strong message which hopefully offends no-one and am now paying attention to the length of speech to each slide and the slickness of the transitions. Powerpoint is fabulous if you havent ever got the chance to use it for a presentation. I would also say that my membership of linked-in has also been fabulous in finding people to hold up as shining examples of giving something back. I now have to think about ordering the paperwork and documents for the next study program at toastmasters because competent communicator is almost a done thing.

I am focused on how it will go on the night but also a bit sad that soon it will all come to an end as the next study program will very much be fitted in around bigger commitments (like work etc). Oh well all good things come to an end. Cheers all.

Speech 9 is going OK. I felt that I should say the date is the 20th January not 6th January. Gives me a bit more time.

The Ofsted organisation doesnt entirely approve of UTCs saying standards arent very high and it has the negative upshot of taking money away from the standard colleges that have been in our communities for 50 years. I will remark that it is up to indentured former students in the community like yours truely to steer the young in the right direction through pervasive influence and to keep a sensible lid on the credit taking that goes on in the ConLibs parties.

Keep calm and carry on.

Or ‘Keep an even keel’ as I used to say after I left UCE Architecture 20 years ago. Success will come- but not having the right motives if not got right at the start can stop you and make you miserable and unfulfilled. Cheers everyone…

December (c) 2013 Miles Whinfrey

My Story; Miles Whinfrey, aged 40 1/3
I was a Shire Lad from birth to the age of 6,
In 1979 I was a Hoosier,
Thereafter I was transatlantic like Rod Stewart,
I was academically neutral but essentially a humanist,
Lova De Pasta in 1982 during family visit, and laid Nonno to rest in 1988,
I went to University in 1993, multiculturalism,
and where no expense was sparred,
Some would say I walked a Mile in others shoes for a while,
others that I found my level,
I muddled through and kept my head down, didn’t get my head down,
Gradually qualifications materialised,
Suburban life lived, the commute to work, hardly grind,
I partook of finer things too,
I stood and stared my fair share- like I should have,
Constructed a presence in the psyche,
I gained acceptance in the Shire and was solvent,
That’s where I am now- what fun,
Where will ambition take me next?

Well its the 3rd of December and of course that means I must have done speeches 5 and 6. And I have!!!! Speech 6 was last night. That was the one on Julius Caesar by Shakespeare- and I think it went pretty well too. My nose was blocked up during the afternoon and I used some vick to snort to clear that but It didnt turn out to be a problem on the night.

Now onto speech 9: which is going to be on persuading an audience round to your arguements. I am going to argue that work development is now different from 10 or 20 years ago and that young people can learn discipline and skill from computer games and hobbies whereas that wasnt possible until up to the very recent past.

I have some clippings and web research to base this on so it wont be as messy and haphazard as one might think. Should be good- planned for the first week of January. Cheers everyone….

Not corresponding with Topics of the Month (C) November 2013 Miles Whinfrey
Destruction of Beth Hamedrash
and my own loss

I was solemn and resolved when I came back from the
markets down Pershore Road,
Past the junction to the longer of the two ways
home,
Look to my right to see the Beth Hamedrash of the
second city,
Roadside here as I had know it to be all my grown life,
Destruction of the Temple,

What was in it that was inside was now seen out
and walls stood in singular isolation at the scene,
Expecting no preservation like the Kobel on the Temple Mount,
For a score and five slim years I had grown to this,
Moderacy, tolerance, confidence,
Looking back,

It seems now that then the prospect seemed portentous and
sweet,
When my life was and is usually wholly intact,
But now I had a wailing wall for my circumstance-
for a day, week or maybe more,
Although still not two thousand years stirring up reverent veneration,
or start of passion or tradition,

What was my religion, sense of right or unconscionable wrong
here- no ancient Republican mandate, Pogrom or still much worse,
But passage of a little creatures rich life, bitter sweet times,
After hour of lamentations sight and bigger woe I am
at the high street step off point,
The brink of an act of mercy,
Wanting there to be only good memories,

Care is given in equal share to the living,
Those with well and not so well charges see service,
But faces take on more compassion, it is soon my
time in the spotlight,
No-one likes what needs to be done, but it’s the right thing,
Twenty minutes and it’s done, but wait to give details and pay,

I now want to put my prayer in my ad hoc great wall-
but there are no cracks,
It is precast and likely will only stand for a week,
God will not hear what’s said,
I offer my thanks, compliment and warm words instead of
a prayer and I leave in silence,
Back home share good company but we are affected.

Trip out the County
Miles Whinfrey (c) March 2013
A trip to Manchester
Just me alone with my thoughts
To visit The Peoples Museum
All about ideals and social history
The fight for yesterday’s freedom

I set off on time under the irony
of my new capitalist SatNav
left home and headed towards Uttoxeter
The bypass would avoid the livestock market
Sheep cattle pigs and the auctioneer’s calls
As hard to decipher as the ghost of the tic-tac man
On the racecourse and the curse of torn betting slips

The new road misses the pretty Staffordshire villages
And heads through the five towns of the potteries
No smoke now from the chimneys and little work for gilders
The kilns left sit like idle novelties to the young

Before the motorway a huge incinerator feeds greedily
And the gates shut fifteen minutes before closing
The downtrodden masses all have cars and most of them
Seem to be on my stretch of road either lost
or slavishly SatNav led
I am in strange territory now where the signpost choices
Mean nothing to me

A few turns and distance travelled
And I’m on a road to Gretna
Two services Sandbach and Knutsford
Crewe sidingsmen, cargo all delivered
The permanent way now gone

SatNav miles counting down
Work of either or draws to a halt
I transfer concern to spread page familiarity of new city as I close
Juggle my map-book wrinkling from backseat to front
Flying in to handle myself like a man about town
Passing Avro Way and Parks

I’m proud of my journey of a mobilised people
has brought me to the big city
Two left turns by a sign, across a square, Town Hall
At the Museum
Voices affected by nerves may crack
The faces smile, intentively
The Archivist offers advice which is taken gladly
Puffed out and satisfied

Theyres some logistics to reversing this trip successfully
But I press once, twice, three times and that is all
Missed turns, what happens?
Disaster! Recalculate
Hopelessly unaware of bearings and the passage
The Lovell at Jodrell is a Lighthouse
Thoughts of Pre digital astronomers, propelling pencil
Graph paper under wrist
Inspire close attention to the screen
I’ll unpick this knotted ball of string!

This is more of a roadmap
Capital of the Peak, down through Chapel in Le Firth
Past Chinley signal box converted to house
where levers were cast by signalmen
Bakewell stately home
Past Nether Haddon
Several types of road- Derbyshire Countryside- Home

What a test of wisely used opportunities and
concentration won through
What do any of us think
About these things and work?
How predecessors fought for freedom?
Imagination enlivens the pages ideas.

Derby City Councils ‘Derby Velodrome’ is being built now (October 2013), next to Derby Counties Pride Park Stadium.

It has been on site for over a year now and once complete will fit in nicely with the out of town shopping and the planned Derby County arcade experience.  It is on ground higher up compared to Pride Park and has a vaulted roof that rises up above it.  In area on plan the two buildings are comparable.

The building has a complicated ‘eye shaped’ roof-lit design and a fairly parabolic roof.  The track is in expensive slatted wood.  The shell and much of the internals are fairly standard but good quality and it should last as a resource for Derby for many years. On opening much of the cities council sport and exercise facilities will move into this building.

The building has many ecological and energy saving features and specification.

It is scheduled to open October 2014: so has about a year left in the build.  Building is carried out by Bowmer & Kirkland, contract value £20 million.

‘Something to shout about’- Speech 5 Competent Communicator Manual Speech, Miles Whinfrey.

My next toastmasters speech is manual speech 5, I have jumped about a bit and they are not in perfect sequence to date.  I wanted a speech topic that showed joy and emotion and was lucky that Andy Murray won Wimbledon this year- problem solved.

I have had to learn a lot in terms of drama skills and telling a story and have some interesting costume items and props to help me get the messages across.  The speech is on the 7th October in Shardlow and so I only have 3 weeks left.  There is enough time and if theyres one thing I have learnt from toastmasters it is not to become obsessive or to worry too much.  ‘The play is the thing.’ Im having a great time!

 

The next speech after that is on Act 2 Scene 3 of Julius Caesar- This is for Manual Speech 6- You know Friends Romans Countryman.  It is interesting because Mark Anthony arrives on the scene out of nothing and is completely self assured and this is the time of his life.

It is a speech but I am also reading Shakespeare- something I feel sensitive about myself becuase I felt I didnt do reading from  Shakespeare justice when I was doing my ‘A’ Levels.

As I write this blog there is no text for this speech- just some library books and just some quickly scribbled down notes.  The rules in Toastmasters is that you should have a couple of months between speeches- this is so there is fairness in having slots available.  So on that basis this speech would happen at the beginning of December.

 

The penultimate speech is speech 9- which I am doing on NLP.  I want to sell a train of thought and some ideas and it will also involve powerpoint.  I have been getting some tuition in this so it will be more sophisicated for this speech.

Cheers everyone!

Cycling for Autumn 2013.

Just to give notice that for the benefit of a bit of excitement and my health I will be resuming my trips out on my bike around Derbyshire.  I will post details of bike maintenance, route preparation and the added spice of a review of lunch out at a pub or cafe along the route.  I will also post any wider thoughts that occured to me whilst out cycling that day.

For the real purists I will also post distances, times and climbs along with comment on wind and temperature.

Enjoy- and maybe get on your bike!!?!

Provisional trips include

Duffield, Windley, Cross-O-The Hands, Carsington- Return (Knockerdown Public House) Approx 25 Miles. 2 1/1 Hours.

Duffield, Windley, Cross-O- The Hands, Carsington, Carsington Village- Return (Pub in the village- will check) Approx 30 Miles. 2 3/4 hours.