Diary 12th And 13th October 2017

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Diary Thursday 12th October 2017 A great day today, as I went to two major events one after the other. The first was an open day commemorating the now closed and derelict Whittingham Asylum, one of the most important mental health institutions in Britain, set three miles outside Preston, (a regulation distance for mental institutions) and served by its own railway station. (which was mainly used for coal workers at local pits) It had its own brewery nearby too. First opened in 1873 it was in use up to 1995 and for many years it was the biggest asylum in Britain. The open day attracted the authors of books about the Asylum, and speakers talking on various aspect of mental health before finishing with a special film screening of a documentary TV show filmed at the Asylum in the 1970’s, with a presentation by the brother of the film’s late presenter, Ray Gosling. Among the highlights was a workshop in which we were given wooden blocks and various pens, glues, photos, and props with which to make a collage relating to mental health and the Whittingham Asylum too. I got quite into this and rather sticky with the glue too. We displayed our blocks for the remainder of the day before being given permission to bring them home. I have included mine in the photo here. The documentary movie was presented at the university of Lancashire’s cinema right before the screening of the 1 In 4 film festival screening of The Dallas Buyer’s Club, so I was perfectly placed to switch from merely attending to actively supporting (by helping run the tombola stall sandwiched between the films, before watching the second movie (reviewed previously by me on here) Diary Friday 13th October 2017 A traditionally unlucky day and dominated by three events for me. The first was my complaint about poor services at the community centre being heard out by the centre’s manager. All she could really do was promise there would be steps to ensure there are improvements being made, apologize for some blunders made and criticising me for the severe tone of my complaint itself. I stayed at the centre for the second event of the day. The centre played host in the afternoon to a very good talk involving a virtual tour round a military museum, that of the Lancashire Fusiliers, in Preston, by one of its curators, with hints of an actual group tour of it for us all some time in the new year. The evening saw the closing night of the 1 In 4 Film Festival, with a screening of Still Alice, a haunting movie about early onset Altzheimer's Disease, (also reviewed already by me) and this included a pre and post screening talk by a man suffering from the very complaint concerned, along with his wife who is caring for him through his terrible ordeal. The festival involved me among others in many months of hard work and preparation but it was great to see it turn out so wonderfully. Thank you to all the people at the University, as well as our various sponsors, speakers, performers, attenders, visitors and guests for making our 11th movie festival such a great success. Arthur Chappell