Living with a new reality — lung fibrosis

Yesterday morning I went to the Derby Road Health Centre and left knowing that a chest x-ray on 8 May had shown 'established lung fibrosis'. The enormity of the news became clear within hours. Whilst I now wait my first appointment at the QMC and tests that will tell me what kind of lung fibrosis I have and how advanced it is, the web has already told me and Susan some things. Most importantly, there is no known treatment, that it will get progressively worse and that average life expectancy after diagnosis is three years.

Three years actually means little in the absence of knowing how far advanced my lung fibrosis is. Even the word 'established' can be interpreted in different ways. I was seventy-one last Saturday. Thinking right now about how long I have left is a minor issue in the absence of a detailed diagnosis and it may be some weeks before I have more information.

The web is a wonderful thing and yesterday Susan and I both trawled the web in search of information which is both understandable and easily available. Probably the best site I found was called Breathing Matters to the University College London Hospitals.

If you have stayed with me this far, then you may be wondering why I am writing about this very personal (and terminal) condition. Simply, I set out to write a blog about living in Beeston and the issues which interest me, and that will continue as long as I am able, but lung fibrosis is now part of my life in Beeston and will not go away.

Blogs about living with cancer are not uncommon, but I have yet to find one about living with lung fibrosis by a person with the condition. I am sure they must be out there in the ether somewhere, so I will continue looking.

At this moment, apart from my cough and a slight tightness on my chest, I feel fine, but since being ill with flu/virus for three weeks in December last year, a cough has persisted. Walking to and from Beeston town centre, up and down Wollaton Road, catching the little L10 into the city centre, getting to know Beeston Fields better as I delivered newsletters and leaflets for the Labour Party, there was no hint of breathlessness, although I did notice I was slowing down. It was taking a little longer and put that down to a gammy left knee.

What kicked off the process leading to my x-ray was cutting the grass in our back garden on for the first time. I went to bed early, sneezing and coughing. I put it down to a allergic reaction to cutting grass for the first time in over twenty years, but the reaction did surprise me a little, given that from 1980 until November last year we had lived in a house overlooking Lenton Recreation Ground and seeing the grass being cut with yards of our front door by a tractor and catching the lovely smell of newly cut grass afterwards.

I woke the next morning still coughing and as I did, over the bathroom basin, I was coughing blood. This persisted, in ever smaller amounts over the next two days, by which time it was a Monday, so I made an appointment to visit the Derby Road Health Centre and see a doctor. Susan said to me at the time 'Did you tell the receptionist about coughing blood'. 'No' I replied, adding something to the effect that I was no longer coughing blood, but I knew it was something I needed to get checked out.

Ten days later I was seen by a doctor, who listened to my chest with her stethoscope  and said 'It all seems fine, but we'll get an x-ray and have your knee x-rayed at the same time'.

I was given a letter to phone and make an appointment, which I did for 8 May. After the x-ray I was told that I would only hear from my doctor if the x-ray showed something, and that it would take about seven days. In fact it took just five days for the DRHC to call and ask me to go in and see the doctor about the results of my x-ray — which is what I did yesterday and is why I am sitting here at 7am posting my first blog about living with lung fibrosis. For that is what it is. Part of my life. Not my life. It will be a record of sorts.

My main concern is for Susan, my wife, the love of my life. I have already told some close friends about my visit to the doctor and that I have lung fibrosis (what kind no one knows yet, which is why I have been referred to the QMC). Others I will tell today.

The doctor did a 'finger tip test' to check whether it might be 'pulmonary fibrosis', but my fingertips and toes are not swollen and I can see through the tips of my two index fingers when they are placed together (swollen finger tips and toes might indicate pulmonary fibrosis. At this moment all this is academic.

It is a relief to have a diagnosis; that I have not been wasting anyone's time — for that is how it feels when you have what seems like a small problem. My hope is that I have caught it early. The two blog posts I found related to men still alive six/seven years after being diagnosed, albeit with the help of oxygen. I hope that will be me, beating the odds and having a reasonable quality of life until the end.

At the end of the day these postings to Beeston Week about my living with lung fibrosis are for me and those I love, but I hope others find them helpful too.

Susan had breast cancer in 2006, which was caught early and she made a full recovery. We talked at length yesterday about what is happening to me and I am sure we will go on talking. I had promised Susan I would try to live until I was 99. My mother died five days short of her 86th birthday in 2006. My step-father was 84 when he died two years later and my maternal grand-father nearly 80 when he died in 1976. My maternal grand-mother died aged 69 in 1960. I never knew my father, or who he was, and grew up with my grand-parents. One thing is for sure. I will now spend more time writing the memoir I promised my grand-children back in 2010. How I wish I knew more about my own grandparents and great grandparents (and I know a bit).

When loved ones die you often have little or no notice. When it happens, my passing will still come as a shock to Susan, my family and close friends, but I have the chance to help them prepare. I hope it is still years away and I will fight my lung fibrosis as best I can. I owe them and myself that.

FOOTNOTE, Thursday lunch-time, 21 May:

Just taken a phone call from my doctor. She has got me an appointment at the City Hospital for 1.30pm next Tuesday. I look forward to finding out more about what will be happening over the coming weeks and getting a more detailed diagnosis.  Robert.

What do YourBus cutbacks suggest?

From next week, the last Y36 on Sundays will leave the city centre at 10.30pm instead of 00.10am and the evening service on the Y28 to Bilborough will be withdrawn completely. I found this information on the YourBus website:

Today I came back to Beeston from Nottingham city centre on a Y36 and there was no information about this change on the bus. This is not good news. YourBus may be embarking on a slippery slope which will lead to the eventual demise of the Y36 (and Y28). Who in their right mind is going to buy a YourBus travelcard when Nottingham City Transport and Trent-Barton run more routes and operate late-evening services as well?

The arrival of the Y36 service a few years ago made NCT re-introduce double-deckers and a more frequent service on its 36 bus route between Chilwell, Beeston and the city centre. Before the Y36, the 36 was operated by single-deckers, which were often full to the point of bursting.

YourBus operate the most comfortable and quietest buses, so I would be sorry to see them go. 

If YourBus was successful, then they would be expanding their services and increasing the number of routes they operate — not withdrawing evening services.

I am not a fan of a 'free market' when it comes to bus services, but I have to acknowledge that the arrival of YourBus a few years ago, did improve local bus services between the city centre, Lenton and Beeston.

In March I wrote about how the Tram might impact on bus services in and around Beeston (The coming transport war in Beeston). Right now, my aim is draw attention to a little publicised change which may be of some significance in a few months time

A FOOTNOTE.

Below is a photograph from February 2010, about the time the first version of the Y36 appeared on our streets. The buses were painted orange and showed the route number as '36'. The buses were old and the drivers would stop at every stop trawling for passengers. A little later they changed the route no. to 'Y36', dropped the 'Orange Line' description and changed the colour of their buses.

The then competition between YourBus and NCT was fierce and, at the time, I expected YourBus to crumble and I have to admit to becoming an admirer of their tenacity. Their drivers were friendly and welcoming from the start. Back in 2010 NCT drivers were, generally speaking, a miserable lot and I am sure that we have YourBus to thank for the fact that most NCT drivers are now, for the most part, as charming as their rivals.

Broxtowe, boundaries, buses and Beeston

The new government is expected to approve proposed changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries which were first mooted in 2011. At the time, I submitted alternative proposals to the Boundary Commission, encouraged by members of the Labour Party and my then MP, Lilian Greenwood. I was later invited to go to Derby and to submit my evidence in person. It now seems a very long time ago.

At the time, I thought the way the Boundary Commission presented their recommendations was overwhelming, so I produced my own map of their proposals for greater Nottingham:

My own proposals avoided the nonsense of including Gotham on the south bank of the Trent and divided Broxtowe borough into three, putting Beeston and Stapleford in with Lenton and Clifton to create a 'Nottingham South West & Beeston' constituency:

I based my greater Nottingham constituencies on bus routes, arguing that if you 'follow the buses' you are following proven lines of communication, both economic and social. I was heard politely by the Commission when they visited Derby and questioned closely. I thought, at the time, the Commission had made up its mine and so it turned out to be. My evidence was later dismissed with the aside 'it was based on bus routes'. 

The map below is an extract from the Boundary Commission's own map, to which I have added the orange line (Eastwood and Brinsley are not in the new constituency):

Recently I was looking at historic boundary maps on the Vision of Britain website in preparation for a local history project Susan and I are presently thinking about and came across this map dated 1885, showing parliamentary constituencies in Nottinghamshire. Below is an extract showing Nottingham surrounded by 'Rushcliffe' (which included Beeston, Stapleford, Strelley and more):

The boundary line south of Eastwood is almost identical to the present (and new) constituency boundary. It also shows that those drawing 19th century boundaries were as disinterested in place as today's decision makers. Look at how, in 1885, the Rushcliffe boundary squeezes Nottingham, virtually creating a Rushcliffe constituency of two halves — just as we will have when the present Broxtowe constituency has Gotham attached.

Perhaps on the day the new constituency comes into being, someone should organise a new 'ferry' to carry canvassers and voters across the Trent?

I was going to include a footnote about the Your Bus Y36, but I have decided to give it a separate post later today.

Highfields Park walk poster prompts a trawl of my 'archive'

The poster below came from the Beeston & District Civic Society. Unfortunately the same day as my first game of lawn bowls this year, but just to let you see more of the park, I have put a few pics below the poster:

My 'archive' selection shows some of the park's 'hidden' delights, which often go unnoticed. I am sure it will be an enjoyable afternoon out, especially if you end with tea and cake in one of the two Lakeside Arts Centre cafes.

The truth that dared not speak its name on a day I enjoyed

From just before 7am yesterday (election day) until 7.45pm Susan and me collected numbers for the Labour Party at the Beeston North ward Beeston Fields polling station. We took in turns to enjoy the company of the two Liberal candidates, Steve and Barbara Carr for every minute of that time.

The view from the bowling green pavilion is lovely and the polling station workers were friendly and supportive, as was everyone who turned up to vote. Only a few voters declined to share their polling card numbers or address with us, but no one was rude or aggressive. It really was a most enjoyable day, especially since we had shelter from the heavy rain which rolled in from the west for fifteen minutes every hour or so.

The only surprise came at 7.45pm,when I was told I could finish, because the Labour Party was going to stop collecting polling numbers. I had expected to be there until 9.30pm at least, later if the election appeared too close to call. I have never ever known number collecting to stop so early. The person who came to tell me was just the messenger. He did not know why. I toyed with the idea of staying on, but it would have been dishonest to take numbers when they were not going to be used, especially when the post-election marked register would provide the same information in more detail.

I have always rated number taking at polling stations as being important for a number of reasons. Information gathering, welcoming potential voters and just being at every polling station to show that you care. Steve and Barbara Carr clearly know this and if the number of voters who stopped to have a chat was anything to go by, then they were already winners, whatever the result. I also liked Steve's campaign badge, which simply said 'Carr x 2'. His posters around Beeston Fields just read 'Carr' printed in black on orange paper. My own poster for the two Labour candidates in Beeston North (see my post dated 25 April) also just had their names. All too often candidates and councillors allow themselves become ciphers and forget they are individuals, able to have their own opinions and to be independent.

Back home I received a telephone call and was told that the Labour Party had been knocking up since the morning and didn't seem to need the numbers. I think one could assume from this that the person in charge was confident of the outcome and expected to win (why else would you pull volunteers off number collection at polling stations). All the Labour workers we saw on the day were upbeat, but I wasn't so sure. There were no Conservatives or Greens to be seen anywhere in my part of Beeston Fields and UKIP made a brief appearance, then disappeared again. There was just the Carrs, Susan and me.

Last December in my second ever post, I drew attention to the Toton and Chilwell Meadow by-election result and said 'I am sure that Labour will have noted that whilst both the Conservative (+2.6%) and UKIP (+15.9%) share of the vote went up, Labour's went down (-5.9%). You ignore any election at your peril'. I added that I wanted Labour to win.

On Tuesday this week I drew attention to this and added:

Based on the last Toton & Chilwell Meadow by-election (My second ever post last December referred to the Toton & Chilwell Meadows by-election result, which you can find on the Broxtowe Borough Council website athttp://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=14189), I suspect the Liberal vote in Broxtowe is more centre-right than centre-left, which should be to the advantage of the Conservatives. Then there is the UKIP factor and, somewhere on the edge, the Greens. I want Nick Palmer to win, but I suspect that I will wake up on Friday morning to a number of surprise results.

The unspeakable, which I feared, happened. This incomplete summary below shows voting numbers for the Broxtowe parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2015:

I am of the view that numbers tell you more than percentages ever do. I think the above summary proves my point. I have not been able to find the no. of spoilt/rejected ballot papers for 2010, but the no. of votes voted in 2010 was 51,305 and 53,640 in 2015. In other words, more people actually voted in 2015.

In terms of actual votes cast, Labour and the Liberals were the only losers. The Greens, Conservatives and UKIP all increased their vote.

The Toton & Chilwell Meadows by-election last December has turned out to be a good projection of what happened in the parliamentary election yesterday.

This time there can be no blaming the Greens. I suspect a good few folk like me voted Labour and helped them by delivering and taking numbers as I did, to try and bring about a Conservative defeat. We did not succeed.

Historically, when general and local elections have happened on the same day, the winning party tends to do well in the local election. Later today we will know. I am fearful. As I have blogged in a recent post, Labour's local election campaign has been pitiful, with all the effort going into getting Nick Palmer elected, assuming that Labour councillors would be elected as a consequence.

The Greens argued that we should follow our beliefs. Next time I will.

Susan was gutted when we woke up to the results this morning. Her actual words were: 'I warn you now Robert. I am going to spend the next five years in a state of underlying depression'.

I have no views on what the Labour Party nationally should do. They lost my support in 2013 because I believed then, and still do, that they were wedded to a right-wing agenda. I am sorry for Nick Palmer, but if he has taken local council candidates with him, then they have will have been the authors of their own demise by allowing the Broxtowe Borough Council elections to be buried — something else I have blogged about recently.

I will write about the local elections next week.

SATURDAY FOOTNOTE.

The Conservatives have taken control of Broxtowe Borough Council and Kimberley ward is so close that there will be a recount on Monday evening. You could argue that Anna Soubry and her colleagues snuck up on Labour and have given them a nasty bite on the bum. She looked genuinely shocked to have won. I don't like Conservative politics, but experience has taught me you have to come to some kind of accommodation if you don't want to drown in a sea of negativity.

Will the non-voters come top again. I will tell you next week if I can get some answers

This image has appeared all over the media and it is the favourite image so far in our house of the election campaign to date (I wish I could find the name of the photographer/camera-person responsible, so that I can add it). Says it all really about the most important general election since 1945. My only excuse I have for blogging about the elections is that I have been writing about the Broxtowe Borough Council Elections.

I gave up on Newsnight a couple of hours ago and won't watch any more TV until Friday morning. Tomorrow (election day) will find Susan and me taking numbers all day for the Labour Party at a polling station near our house, from 7am until a least 9.30pm, if not 10pm. We spent the 2010 general election out The Lenton Centre polling station, from 7am–10pm in the company of Matthew Butcher, the Green Party candidate, who had few helpers (the student vote never materialised and he came bottom, behind the BNP, a result he did not deserve as he was, after Lilian Greenwood, the best candidate by a mile). Just before we left Lenton last November I did some final posts to my old Parkview blog, including a pinboard of favourite photographs and 'No.1' is of Matthew.

Right now I have a bee in my bonnet about the way Broxtowe Borough Council chooses to publish ward election results. Let me explain:

Below is a webpage from the Broxtowe Borough Council website showing the way they presented the local election results in 2011 and for the subsequent by-elections.

As is so often the case with information it is what it doesn't tell you which is important — it doesn't tell you the number of ballot papers issued, even though it is this number they use to calculated the '% Turnout', which they have rounded to a whole percent.

Without the number of ballot papers issued you do not know for sure how many  of the 4,379 electorate in Beeston North ward in 2011 did not vote, yet if you have any concern or belief in democracy, this is probably the most important figure.

Why? Because we should all be very concerned about why individuals choose not to vote. It is easy enough to find out who they are if you are a political party. After the election you simply ask for a copy of the 'marked' registers. The trouble is that this 'intelligence' is more likely to be used by political parties to see if those who promised their vote actually voted.

Beeston North (4)

Beeston North election results 2011

Electorate: 4,379 | Seats: 02 | Total Votes Cast: 4052 | % Turnout: 50%
E represents elected member

Candidate	Party	Votes Cast	Elected
Steve Carr	Liberal Democrats	1027	E
Phillip John Carter Hopkinson	Conservative	352
Andrea Jane Oates	Labour	766	E
David Thomas Patrick	Labour	701
Sylvia Anne Rule	Green	222
Chris Salter	Liberal Democrats	717
Jeremy Treece	Conservative	256

Spoilt votes: 11

I am sure 'Spoilt votes' actually means spoilt ballot papers.

I tell you this so that you might understand why I asked for this information to be included in the published declarations this coming Friday (the local ward elections will be counted on Friday). My request has been refused. To quote:

'As you will appreciate this is an extraordinary intense and busy time and producing additional information that we do not ordinarily produce is just not possible.  Our results layout on the website will be similar to previous years and we intend to publish as soon as possible after the results are announced.  We publish what is listed on the official sheet which is signed by the Deputy Returning Officer and this information is taken directly from that sheet to ensure accuracy and consistency'.

Unless my memory fails me after attending countless counts as an agent, candidate and teller, the Returning Officer has to record the number of ballot papers issued so that when they open each ballot box containing votes for a polling district, the number of ballot papers in the box has to tally with the marked register used in the polling station, so the information I have requested has to be there and should be in the public domain. Without it, how can I, as a voter and member of the public, check the veracity of an election count I am excluded from. Such is the poor state of English local democracy, you have to 'accredited' (ie. approved by the system) if you want to know what goes on. How long will it be before you have to be 'accredited' to attend a council meeting?

Right now I want to leave you with a table I have compiled based on the information which Broxtowe Borough Council says is acceptable. As you can see you can only estimate the number of ballot papers issued and the number who did not vote. By no measure of the imagination can that be 'democratic' r acceptable!

I had intended to write about what to watch out for in the ward results, especially in the wards where the Liberals are not standing. Based on the last Toton & Chilwell Meadow by-election (My second ever post last December referred to the Toton & Chilwell Meadows by-election result, which you can find on the Broxtowe Borough Council website at http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=14189), I suspect the Liberal vote in Broxtowe is more centre-right than centre-left, which should be to the advantage of the Conservatives. Then there is the UKIP factor and, somewhere on the edge, the Greens. I want Nick Palmer to win, but I suspect that I will wake up on Friday morning to a number of surprise results.

Then there is Stapleford. The town may well decide who runs Broxtowe for the next four years, given the Stapleford Alliance is contesting Stapleford North and Stapleford South East. The ward elections are going to be a real test of their community credentials. We shall know soon enough.

WHATEVER YOU DO ON THURSDAY PLEASE VOTE.

A Liberal take and N2 goes unmentioned in borough elections

A few posts ago I mentioned the lack of local political party manifestos and I have just found a thirty-three page local election manifesto by the Liberals, which the image below comes from:

You can find the manifesto on the Broxtowe Liberal-Democrat website with a link clearly marked on their homepage. It makes no mention of N2, but enthuses about HS2. My take on life and the world is a little different, but it would churlish not to acknowledge their manifesto, into which they have obviously put a great deal of effort. Given the page above, I wonder what the Liberals make of N2 and its potential impact on Broxtowe? It isn't mentioned in their manifesto.

It will be interesting to see how the Liberals get on this Thursday in the borough elections. I admit that I want to see a Labour controlled council, but I also believe in proportional representation and lowering the voting age to 16 (and have done so since I was sixteen, after attending my first Labour Party ward selection meeting in Wembley), but this is something for another day.

N2 combined authority latest...

The following press release appeared on the Broxtowe Borough Council website last week. It is worth reading. It is something I blogged about on 5 January 2015 when I described the proposed N2CA as 'a nonsense', insomuch as I believe any super 'combined' authority should be based on the Derby and Nottingham conurbation (click here to read my 5 January post).

I am sure it is a topic I will return to, but N2 is expected to be a reality by the beginning of 2016 and there are still a good few questions which need asking (and answering). It will be interesting to see how quickly the new borough council initiates a wider public discussion about N2 and its local implications.

The press release reads:

Nottingham And Nottinghamshire Take Next Step Towards Devolution
28/04/2015 - Leaders of local councils are at the front of the queue for the devolution of more key powers from central Government after ground-breaking plans have been submitted.

The nine Nottinghamshire councils, including the city, have worked closer than ever before to come up with plans for a new  Combined Authority, called N2, that would be able to take key decisions around transport, growth and jobs.

Along with the plans for the neighbouring Derbyshire Combined Authority, D2, these will be the first Combined Authority plans in the country outside of the metropolitan authorities.

A Combined Authority would be able to take more strategic decisions on areas such as transport, economic development and regeneration. Most other Core Cities already have Combined Authorities or are working towards them.  In Nottinghamshire, the Combined Authority will cover the 'N2' area and involves the City, County and all seven district Borough Councils.

The nine existing N2 local authorities may choose to grant the Combined Authority some of their own powers and central Government may choose to devolve powers through the recently announced Devolution Deal process.

Any costs will be met from existing budgets. The Combined Authority means the nine existing N2 Local Authorities will be making decisions together rather than separately - improving the effectiveness and efficiency of decision making.

All nine Leaders of the existing local authorities will make decisions jointly, with each Leader having one vote. Once established, the Combined Authority may choose to invite other non-voting members to sit on its Board and these may include representatives of the business and third sectors. D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership have supported and encouraged N2's proposals.

Work on N2 will continue during 2015 and progress depends in part on the Parliamentary process. N2 could be formally established as early as December 2015.

Issued by Nottingham City Council.

The last sentence and line appears at the end of the press release, which I assume the City Council issued on behalf of all the member local authorities.

Local elections — the message is in the medium

Over the past couple of months there has been a steady stream of election material through our letter boxes and I have to admit to the fact that I did some delivering for the Labour Party in Beeston North and West wards until my left knee gave out (x-ray next Friday and physio a week later).

You may have noticed that most of the stuff coming through your doors has related to the general election and, somehow, all the parliamentary candidates have given local issues a lot of attention and when that happens, you know the political parties standing do not believe they can win on national issues alone.

It is the same with the European elections. The focus is always on national issues and I believe the parties use it as a kind of test bed for ideas relating to parliamentary elections.

Normally, local elections are not hi-jacked because general elections and local elections do not happen at the same time, but when the dates are the same, local elections get relegated to a distant second place and this tells you, quite clearly, that the main purpose of all political parties is to elect MPs.

In these circumstance I think the local council has a responsibility to step in and actively remind voters that there is a local election taking place and in this respect Nottingham City Council has issued this poster. I received this copy by e-mail, as I have not removed my name from the City Council's mailing list.

By way of contrast, Broxtowe Borough Council's website says little about the borough elections on 7 May and does nothing graphically on its home page to draw attention to the fact.

In my ward, Beeston North, only the Greens has so far failed to push a specifically local leaflet through my door and the Conservative's one leaflet has been one for Beeston as a whole. UKIP has managed one and it has been the most punchy to date. The Liberals have managed two, as have Labour.

I hope the Greens do manage to push a leaflet through my letterbox before Thursday. I would like to have their take on Beeston North, Beeston and Broxtowe Borough Council.

If Parliament sticks with fixed five year Parliaments, the local and general elections will not occur on the same day again until 2025 (also Nottinghamshire County Council elections, assuming it still exists) and then in 2035 when local elections and a general election will again happen on the same day.

One thing is sure and that that is the world of local politics and government is going to change. Nick Palmer is of the view that local government voting reform  may lead to some kind of proportional representation and, if he is right (and I hope he is), then the next Broxtowe Borough Council elections in 2019 will very different to what is happening now.

We shall have to wait and hope, and in the meantime try to keep local democracy alive and well in Broxtowe.

Exploring the Broxtowe Middlelands and the Erewash

A collection of images of what I call the 'Broxtowe Middlelands', all of which have appeared in my old parkviews blog. Further on in this post is a map showing where I have walked to date.

When Susan and I moved to Beeston last November we did not arrive as strangers. Susan lodged at the Chilwell vicarage in the late-1960s during her first two years at Nottingham University and we became regular visitors from the early-1990s to shop, see friends and attend the Caritas clinic opposite the now closed Beeston police station.

Some years ago I nursed the ambition to walk the entire length of the Erewash Canal, which for much of its length hugs Broxtowe's western boundary. I finally did it in 2012 and have walked it every year since. It is my favourite canal. I also want to finish walking what remains of the old Nottingham Canal, which was abandoned between Lenton and Langley Mill in the 1950s. I only have a small section near Cossall to walk, which I intend to do in the next couple of months. I also want to walk as much of the River Erewash as I can, in wellington boots if I have to!

I admit to being someone who supports the idea of a Greater Nottingham City Council based on the city, Broxtowe and Gedling councils, Hucknall and parts of Rushcliffe. Broxtowe Borough Council does not make geographical, social, economic or political sense and dates from the early-1970s (the first elections were held in 1973 and shadowed the old councils for a year before taking over in 1974).

Broxtowe is, at best, a collection of disparate communities bound only by a shared suspicion of Nottingham City Council, despite the fact that their eastern links all go into Nottingham. Their western links take shoppers and workers into the Derbyshire towns of Derby, Ilkeston and Long Eaton. There are no transport links between the north and south ends of Broxtowe, apart from one narrow lane and there is no linking bus route — and it can be argued that, in modern times, the city used the name Broxtowe first. All this makes any claims that Broxtowe Borough Council has a heritage worthy of protection dubious.

Having said all this, I am very fond of many of Broxtowe's communities for a multitude of reasons and one part of the borough has long fascinated me. I call it the 'Broxtowe Middlelands' — a waist of green which draws it two halves together — and I have been walking it for a few years now, thanks to my beloved 35 Nottingham City Transport bus route (see my 35 history blog), which made this part of Broxtowe a great place to walk if you live on the 35 bus route. Last year I led walks in the 'Middlelands' for Bulwell TravelRight and have, over the past few years, posted a number of my walks to my Parkviews blog (which I started in 2007 to look at life in and around Lenton Recreation Ground, beside the Derby Road, in Lenton).

Below the map are links to the Parkview posts about some of the walks I have done in the Broxtowe Middlelands. There will be more posts as I embark on more walks over the coming months. For now, I hope you enjoy some of the Parkview posts.

NOTE: For information and web-links about bus routes and timetables in the Broxtowe Middlelands visit my Beeston Connections page (see also image in right-hand column).

LINKS TO WALKS, INCLUDING MAPS, POSTED TO MY PARKVIEWS BLOG
(click on the link below):

Erewash Canal: Sandiacre – Trowell

Erewash Canal: Sandiacre – Long Eaton

Erewash Canal: Sawley Marina – Long Eaton

Erewash Canal: Langley Mill – Cotmanhay

Bluebell Heaven: Oldmoor Wood walk with the help of a 35 bus

Bulwell TravelRight: Bilborough – Strelley walk

Bulwell TravelRight: Strelley – Wollaton Vale via Trowell and Nottingham Canal

Nottingham Canal: Wollaton Vale – Trowell

AND TO END, SOME IMAGES OF THE EREWASH CANAL AND RIVER WHICH MAKE UP BROXTOWE'S WESTERN BORDER: