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www.ilkestonlife.com ILKESTON LIFE January 2022 2

They made a itate to come and find me now, or being able to get on the road with for people who have lost their hair
Local signpost other people to find me. her friends as much as she would and confidence through cancer.
have liked was among the hardest
It’s been all about engagement and
Having started to fund-raise, she
Independent difference building up trust.” things to cope with. was thrilled when friends joined in
Fresh from front page Another Radio Derby ‘Make a She was diagnosed with the to push the total so far to a ‘fantas-
tic’ £53,000.
tumour in January 2021 and while
Difference’ award winner was
Entertaining ... “She’s a life-saver” ... “If we 13-year-old Evie Hartley, from coming to terms with the situation “I’m amazed by it all,” she said.
If you don’t get a copy through didn’t have Tracy we’d be dead.” Ilkeston, who is fighting a brain she resolved to raise money to help “Seeing the amount go up was
your door, Ilkeston Life is available Tracy said: “In the two and a half tumour, while raising money for others in a similar position. a great motivation for me going
online and from various outlets years I have been doing the job the Children’s Cancer and Leukae- Knowing she would lose her hair through the treatment.”
including newsagents, shops, cafes, I’ve noticed they are more healthy mia Group. through chemotherapy, Evie decid- Evie still has a year of treatment to
post offices, supermarkets and than when I first came, and if they A keen biker and member of Il- ed to have it cut off first and do- go but says so far all is going well.
libraries in our growing circulation are feeling poorly they don’t hes- keston Cycle Club, Evie found not nate it to a charity that makes wigs
area. Besides Ilkeston, we are cur-
rently supplying many surround-
ing towns and villages: Councillors are facing a ‘toxic
We also give free copies to Ilkeston From the Library shelves
Hospital, nursing and care homes, by A Borrower atmosphere’ on social media
doctors waiting rooms, schools,
etc. and mail out copies to sub- Small Things Like These councillor has warned of a And fellow tory councillor Steve
scribers. A “toxic atmosphere” with Bilbie added: “The public use so-
We are grateful to our many
correspondents and out volunteers Claire Keegan people launching attacks on cial media to take swipes at us.”
for their help in fund raising, social media. Standards committee chairman
distributing the paper and raising Labour member John Frudd told councillor Valerie Custance told
awareness of it. t is 1985. Recession has hit the excellence of its work. The fellow members of Erewash the meeting: “I have got the
Ithe Irish town where Bill community is very guarded in Borough Council: “It can be quite answer - I am not on social media
Keegan, coal and timber mer- discussing what happens behind intimidating. whatsoever.”
Editorial office: 1 Bath Street, the walls of the convent to these
Ilkeston, Derbyshire DE7 8AH chant is struggling to complete women and their babies. “The public are getting angry. I The committee approved a code of
conduct which covers the behav-
Tel. 07539 808390 the deliveries in the last few This year Keegan finds himself don’t know whether it is Covid or iour of members of the authority.
Editor-in-chief: Paul Opiah days before Christmas. making his usual delivery to the whatever. One extract reads: “In your contact
“I do detect a toxic atmosphere
Editor: Robert Attewell He has made a comfortable life convent on Christmas Eve. The with the public, you should treat
news@ilkestonlife.com for his family and is immensely convent is one of his most impor- sometimes. I don’t know if it is them politely and courteously.
Reporter: Rod Malcolm proud of his five daughters who anything to do with politics, not “Rude and offensive behaviour
rodmalcolm@ilkestonlife.com give him a deep, private joy. tant customers. On this occasion politics of councillors. lower public expectation and confi-
Feature writer: Patricia Spencer However, this year he is acutely he witnesses what he knows is “They don’t see the politics are
patricia@ilkestonlife.com aware of the precarious nature cruel mistreatment of one of the related to national government and dence in councillors.
Photographer: John Shelton of his hard won prosperity and girls consigned to the care of the we are getting the blame for it.” “In return, you have a right to ex-
john@ilkestonlife.com happiness: nuns. He is faced with a dilemma. Councillor Frudd made the com- pect respectful behaviour from the
Advertising: Christine Chell Should he follow the voice in his ments at a meeting of the Stand- public. If members of the public
and Paul Opiah, It would be the easiest heart: speak out, expose what is ards Committee which was dis- are being abusive, intimidatory or
sales@ilkestonlife.com thing in the world to lose happening and risk ruining not cussing the behaviour of members. threatening, you are entitled to stop
Distribution: Paul Opiah everything. . . only his business but also the He was supported by conservative any conversation or interaction in
paul@ilkestonlife.com He sees it happening to his fellow happiness of his own family? Or councillor Paul Shelton who said: person or online and report them
Webmaster: Adam Newton tradesmen and neighbours : should he heed the advice of a “The public don’t have a code of to the authority, the social media
adam@ilkestonlife.com provider or the police.”
hungry children are on the streets. friendly neighbour who reminds conduct.”
© Copyright 2022 The times were raw. His own him of the power the convent
The material in Ilkeston Life is pro- small acts of generosity can do exercises in the town.. . His art school was the pit
tected by copyright. If you wish to little to stem the misery and his “These nuns have a finger in
reproduce anything, please contact the wife urges him to put his own
editor. every pie”.
While every care is taken to be accu- family first. He knows what his wife would he art work of a boy collier is see them go but really pleased they
rate, we are only human and mistakes He is troubled also by a more per- say: Tenjoying a revival in auc- will be seen by other people, rather
do occur occasionally. If you are sonal sense of futility and tragedy. tions. then being stacked in my house.
unhappy with any of the content in the “If you want to get on in life, Bids reached £2,400 for George “My father Arthur Smith cleared
paper, please contact the editor in the He was touching forty but there’s things you have to out the entire body of his work - a
first place. didn’t seem to be getting ignore so you can keep on.” Bissill’s work “Miners Hauling
We accept news and information from anywhere or making any kind Boulders,” a pen and ink drawing much larger collection than offered
correspondents in good faith and Furlong is a good man, not very carrying his signature. here - and stored it in attics and
cannot be held responsible for inaccu- of headway and could not but articulate about his worries and It went for a third more than cupboards and under beds.
racies. We try not to include stories sometimes wonder what the his opinions but struggling to expected while other items raised a “I hope to restore the reputation
which may cause distress to anyone. If days were for.
you have a view on any of the articles, follow his own sense of what is total of £16,000 at the sale run by of an artist who, through mighty
please write and let us know. Christmas stirs in him his un- right and fair. Claire Keegan has auctioneers Mallams in Oxford. endeavour, conquered the art world
Your letters are always welcome, but derlying anxiety about his own created a hero of compassion and He was born in 1896 and became in the 1920s with his powerful, au-
we reserve the right to withhold or childhood. He was raised by a kindness who is trying to steer a miner in Langley Mill at the age thentic and experimental pictures,
edit. Anonymous letters will only be single mother in the house of her his way between concern for the
printed in exceptional circumstances. Protestant employer who gener- welfare of strangers and the needs of 13, put to work looking after pit and whose contribution to the
If sending photographs, we prefer ponies. formal recognition of mining art
them in jpeg format. ously offered mother and son a of his own family. A strange en- In 1915, he left mining for the should not be forgotten.”
home. Although he never knew
COPY DEADLINE: 22nd. absolute want he had very few counter with an old man thrashing front in World War I, immediate- In an interview, Bissill said: “A
thistles on the roadside delivers
Our print date is usually the first treats as a child and felt keenly ly using his mining skills to dig man who is artistically minded
Thursday of the month. Delivery what may be read as a message to tunnels. can find material with which to
from our printers to Ilkeston is the the absence of a father. Now the Furlong: Three years later, he was caught work wherever he might be, and
following day. So the paper comes out only people who might have been “This road will take you wher- up in a gas attack which left him the mine is full of material for the
on the first Friday of the month. able to answer his questions are
The deadline for both adverts and dead. As his family make their ever you want to go, son.” unable to return to work as a miner artist.
editorial is always the 22nd for the fol- preparations for Christmas he is He has to take responsibility for when peace broke out. “He can study the anatomy of the
lowing month’s paper, unless by prior what he chooses and live with the He became a pavement artist in giant hewers, the seams of coal and
arrangement. (So, for example, 22nd haunted by memories of his child- consequences. London and eventually painted in the shadows cast by the miners’
January for the February issue.) Send hood Christmases and growing up
to us by email if possible. We prefer without a father. Claire Keegan has won many France. lamps.
to receive images as jpegs. We do not The town is controlled by the awards for her short stories and Bissill’s reputation is largely with “Although I hope never to go
print discourteous letters or articles. Small Things Like These is not images showing the tough and down again, it taught me a great
All articles and adverts should comply Catholic church and the convent. much longer than the average dangerous work he witnessed deal. It was, in short, the only art
with the style and standards of the His daughters attend the convent underground and were the subject school I ever had.”
paper. We reserve the right to refuse school which has a good reputa- short story. However, it packs a
or edit. tion for turning out employable punch beyond its weight in pages. of a recent exhibition at Erewash Later he painted landscapes while
The best way to get your article in the young women. It is the only good It raises questions about our mor- Museum. he also did commercial designs for
paper is to make it easy for us. For al responsibility to others through Recent paintings were sold by Shell, BP, The London North East-
instance, when we are approaching a school in town. The convent a protagonist with whom it is easy Kate Pattinson, whose parents ern Railway and the Post Office. In
deadline, an emailed ready-to-use arti- also runs a home for unmarried,
cle will always take preference over an pregnant women many of whom for the reader to identify. were friends of Bissill who died in the new year, the auctioneers will
article on paper that we have to key in. are young girls. There is also This book is available to borrow Hampshire in 1973 aged 77. be selling some of his works from
Email us: news@ilkestonlife.com the convent laundry, famed for from Ilkeston Public Library. Mrs Pattinson said: “I was sorry to his later period.