Stay a while and listen

In ancient times, there was a man who wanted to make a fine cart. But, instead of learning how to do it form experts, he shut shimself up at home and worked at it. Despite the time and effort he spent on it, the cart was useless. This chinese idiom means to make a cart behind closed doors or to work behind closed doors; divorce oneself from the masses and from reality; act blindly. It is also used metahhorically to mean being too subjective and disregrading the rest of the world.

古时候，有个人想造一辆很精巧的车子。他不去学习别人制造车子的实际经验，却把自己关在家里冥思苦想。费了很多功夫，车子虽然造好了，但是推出去却不能使用。至于我们现在所说的“闭门造车”，则是形容不顾实际，也不吸取别人的经验，一味主观地杜撰瞎造的意思，好比关起门来在家里制造车子，而完全不考虑门外的实际情况和实际需要，结果就不合规格，不能适用。

闭门造车 (bi men zao che)
【翻译】To build a cart behind closed doors
【释义】关起门来造车子。比喻脱离实际，只凭主观办事。
【例句】正所谓天外有天,人外有人,与其自己闭门造车,不如让大家来帮我们一起想。
【近义词】拒谏饰非、独断专行
【反义词】集思广益、群策群力

Rain on my window

Ever stare out the window
and watch the raindrops
drip down the pane

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

Ever notice how one drop joins another
and another and forms a bigger drop

Follow the drop as it drips down the pane
As it trickles like a tear.
As a river bursts its banks

Some days are awash with emotion.
With sadness.
With grief

Thoughts drip drown
like rain
on
the pane.

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

Make not your thoughts of sadness and loss
Make them of joy and being
Dream not of what should be
Dream of what
you
have
and
hold
in
your


Heart

(Image supplied by www.photoeveywhere.co.uk

Why do people think....

Why do people think of death
When they are close to life

Of a loved one lost long ago
As if yesteryear were yesterday
And there was here
And they were here

Right now
Beside us
For just
one
moment

Those thoughts come flying in
Like sky-high seagulls screaming
And suddenly

A thought
A place
A time
Brings tears to eyes
And with a sigh
We remember them

Why do people think of death
When they are close to life

Head East young man

“Forget Latin or French, take Asian languages.

Learn Chinese and go to Asia.
That’s the future for growth,” said Silas Chou, president and chief executive of Novel Enterprises, a Hong Kong-based textile and clothing maker.

Read more here...

Interesting thought though as the European/American economies contract.

What are your thoughts on the recession? Your job? Your future?

How Writing overcame grief

From the vale of sorrow come words of strength, words of hope, words of tomorrow.

“ Dad I miss you , Dad I miss you, I want to say those words “ I found myself saying these words shortly after my father’s death in September 2007. Sitting on the sidewalk, the sun spun long shadowed trees and I lost in the fog of grief. Consumed, drowning in waves of anguish as I struggled to cope.


I had arrived at a crossroads in my life, the one we fear the most, and I was totally dis-oriented. The passing of our parents. The buffer between myself and my own mortality had been swept away. The passing of my parents brought me closer to that void, that chasm, that emptiness, that darkness.

We seldom encounter death in our lifetime, a favourite aunt, a long lost friend, an accident victim We skirt around the theme. We try to handle it ‘antiseptically’. We try to avoid the term. Death. And grief follows as sure as day follows night.

The few times we suffer grief is insufficient in helping us become accustomed to it. We can’t practice grieving. We can’t take tests in grieving. We can’t prepare for grieving. It comes unannounced. Knocking. Ringing. Unwelcome.

Each of us deals with grieving in our own private way. We keep it a secret. We contain it. Tears and expressions of sorrow are merely ripples on a turbulent sea. Beneath it lies a profound sorrow. Waves of anguish wash over us and we yearn to be flung, found on some faraway, friendly shore.

Several days before my father died, I read him poetry on his death-bed. Keats, Tennyson, Yeats, Kipling. All the stuff he loved.

I read and I cried. I couldn’t get the words out. I stumbled and stopped and started again. My father was conscious and I leant across the bed to hear his last words to me. “Gunga Din”

And then I came across a piece of poetry I had never read before as it stared up at me from the pages of my sons’ GSCE poetry book. Cristina Rossetti’s ‘Remember Me’

“ Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay….

Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.”

I thought how could someone write something so beautiful?

I turned to go, not wanting to stay, not wanting to go, and watched a group of bees busy about their nectar tea on that warm September eve. They all moved away save one who sought a different path.

And then words came. Not at once. Not flowing. Not constant. Not when. But stuttering and stumbling and staggering through this fog of grief. Stop. Start. Write. Wrong.

“…. bright Irish days of hay-time and harvest
….. days of woods and walks and wild, west winds…..”
... we were kings for many a day"

Through writing I had found an outlet for my grief. Through writing I have been able to recollect my childhood in South Derry. Through writing I have been able to visit the fields, the farms, the woods, the village and my boyhood haunts. Through my writing I have found peace.

I have met my father again in the hazy light of those sun-filled evenings in the hayfield. I have met him up the woods. I have held his hand. I hold him in my heart. At rest and at peace.

The little boy in the picture fifty years ago was unsure of his place in the world. He still is.

You the reader too may well find comfort.

If the following words cause you to stop and stare and see what you have, hold it more closer, more dearer, more precious, then that’s good. If they cause you to reflect, to question, to wonder where you are on your journey, then that’s good.

If they cause you to reminisce, to recollect someone or sometime in your life, to smile, to laugh, to shed a tear, then that’s good too.

If that happens pass these words on.

Any comments to mervyn_cooke@hotmail.com

COMING SOON

.... we were kings for many a day

Thoughts from a potato field in rural Ireland

We ate that day with grubby hands

Silken- floured farls straight from the griddle

The earth our table, the sky our roof

The farmer’s wife rough-red and rude

Poured liquid from a billy can

Golden tea fired our bellies and strengthened our spines

As we stooped and skimmed and shook the soil from

Those golden nuggets

Raped in the virgin furrow

At close of day we bumped along

Tired on the tail end of the tractor trailer

Grasping the crumpled, brown, ten-shilling note

Raced home with field laid bare

Nay not a backward glance

For we were kings for many a day

Recollections

... we were boys in the spring of our lives

Thoughts from a hayfield in rural Ireland

We laid our backs against the stack

And raised our hats to wipe the sweat

and hayseeds from our brow

Caps cocked to shield the sun

thirsts slain in the billy-can

We squinted at swallows in their drunken dives

With no rhyme nor reason nor route to roost

Our limbs tired and toiled those fields

till sun set where stacks , some small

gave birth to bigger ones

The day the baler came with reverence we accepted

Its offspring into our blistered hands

And hauled the golden crop home,

With many a shout ‘Watch out’

as one bale tumbled from the trailer

into the pressure cooker barn

And we built castles that autumn eve'

Tight to the tin high heaven roof

Castles for cattle whose winter weary days

Were bunged up in dunged-up, silent byres

and they would chew the cud

And chew the cud and sip the summer dew

when winter froze the ground

While we were boys in the spring of our lives

Time for a Picture

Hey there .... did I meet a generous bunch of people or what? You gave the sum of

£2737.65 (not including Gift Aid) to the RNID.

Well I said to my son the other day...." Did I do that"? No, you all did, I was just the messenger....so thank you once again.

My son school's has asked me to talk to 1,600 boys next week about languages and travel. Reckon I can give back something you all gave me.

Still not donated ?? then the www.justgiving.com/mervyncooke
closes 5 December -could we make £3000?

Coming soon - next BIG project - (any ideas? ) how much would it take to build a School from scratch in a poor part of the world? Answer on the back of an envelope....coming soon

Jan 2009 -first publication of " Recollections of an Irish childhood" Let me know if you want a FREE signed copy.

School Talk

Royal Grammar School - my son Richard is in Year 10 and little Mikey will be joining him from September 2009 --well done on getting his 11+ exam .

The school has asked me to do a short presentation to 700 boys of the lower school and 900 boys of the Upper School on Wednesday 3 December.

Thanks boys, in anticipation, of a great welcome and attentive audience.

The theme is imagine-explore-engage-give-awaken.

Hope you like it - comment below.

Lest We forget

" time like an ever-rolling stream
Bears all its sons away
they fly forgotten as a dream
Dies at the opening day"

Remembrance Sunday is heavy like a cloud burst
Micheal (10) my son was flag bearer at the Naphill Village Hall service.

There is something quintessentially British about a packed village hall,
a hall full of ages,
full of fears and years forgotten,
of lost sons,
of wars long gone,
of ones still on,
of strained voices of Abide with me
and the offkey piano accompaniment.

The cloud bursts in our hearts,
our tears well up
and we remember them.

" they shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
at the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them"

Christianity in China (click to read )

A Cross, what is a Cross?

A symbol of so much suffering
A symbol of so much hope
A symbol of death
A symbol of re-surrection

A symbol that comforts
A symbol that makes us ill at ease

As I left China, a friend gave me a small Cross
As a gift, for my friendship

Not knowing what to say.
I said 谢谢你好朋友 (thank you good friend).

Just a Cross.
莫文
Mervyn in Chinese

......to be continued

A New Day Dawns

We set off one morning at 4 am and climbed 1500 steps in darkness, Orion's belt high in the sky.

We could have touched his belt. We could see the Great Bear. The sky sparkled a million diamonds.

The darkness laid down its head and a new day came to greet us. For all our last day on the great wall.

Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao) said
" bu dao Chang Cheng fei hao han "

(whoever doesn't reach the Great Wall is not a true hero)

In the mighty valleys and hills of Simatai, that morning, we had just become heroes.

....to be continued

Nine Million Bicycles
Twenty finger puppets (from Puno, Peru)
One person
You
Can change the world....

There is a wonderful serendipity about life as evidenced today.......

The Hand of Friendship ...looking for something today to take to Chinese children on my trip, I came across Elena in High Wycombe market, a Peruvian selling hand-made woollen finger puppets knitted by the people of Puno, next to Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia.

A very poor place - she runs the Peruvian Orphan Childrens Fund - see link (--->)
Every Saturday she's in the market -please support her and her charity.

Extend a helping 'finger' puppet to the world...

Thanks also to Arturo and Leyla and Oscar and Hugo, their two kids for listening and spending a little time with me.

Also many thanks to Irish Anne..... and to you all -your donations, your thoughts, your time have helped make the world a better place for Deaf people.

It has been a pleasure to meet with you all.

Now, I ' got to start packing.....where did I leave my Chinese phrase book....?

oops... I nearly forgot , the title -click to listen to Katie Melua, singing 'Nine million bicyles in Beijing' I heard this song once on a Chinese website -didnt know the artiste..

Well standing in Woolies in Wycombe, waiting for one of the sales people to find me some Magnetix for little Mikey , my son, this song, came drifting in over the ceiling speaker,..

There are nine million bicycles in Beijing
That's a fact,
It's a thing we can't deny
Like the fact that I will love you till I die.

I'll drift away and write to you after I come back from Beijing...may the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your lawn/window box and, until we meet again may God hold you inthe palm of His Hand.

Gerry go for it .......

It's all down to an an Irish gentlemen called Gerry to take us over the finishing line.

God bless you Gerry and your family. Gerry did in fact take us over the finishing line.
i hope Leigh Ann is recovering after her operation.

Many thanks also to the KASKA dojo , Miss Harper senior instructor and all the students from Hombu (Leighton Buzzard) who after a strenuous Friday evening session, i now know the difference between Fudo-dachi and Sochin- dachi -thank you Sensei Reid and students.

Training times: High Wycombe Dojo - Monday 7 - 8pm Handy Cross Sports Centre
Wednesday 7.00 - 8.15 pm Flackwell Heath Community Centre.

The Age of Unreason

The little things of life which matter most ....Charles Handy (author of The Age of Unreason) inspired me years ago (1989) with his thoughts.


" .......we may not, individually, be able to make their (our children and grandchildrens) world safer from nuclear war, or to preserve the rainforests better or to keep the ozone layer, but, as I argued at the beginning, it is often the little things of life which mattter most, the ways we work and love and play, the ways we relate to people and the manner in which we spend our days as well as our money. These things we can affect. We do not have to accept them as they are.


The Age of Unreason is inevitably going to be something of an exploration, but exploring is the heart of learning, and of changing and growing. This is what I believe and this is what gives me hope. "

Thank you for all your time, money and support.

We're almost there ...

Suddenly, like an athlete sensing victory and seeing the finish line, we are almost there. Without your help I'd still be on the starting block....

Watch this space ..

Three Men and a Blog

It's amazing who you meet on your way to achieving a goal or something that puts you outside your comfort zone.

Meet Billy - a 72 -year ex- Serviceman from Northern Ireland, his accent as sharp as a razor and his wit and humour just as steely. With a Northern Ireland man - an Ulsterman - what you see is what you get. Billy - I salute you for your contribution.

Meet Jimmy, an 80-something gentleman from North London, met him on the street one day , said he stared running marathons at 66. Yes that's right 66.

You younger blokes out there, there is hope for us. Jimmy - I salute you for your inspiration.

And finally, meet Mr Pang, an elderly gentleman, mid 80's from Shanghai, who goes by the nickname of Mr Nine O'Clock. The first person I ever spoke to in Mandarin, who kindly offered to coach me. And I told him the time in Chinese at the local Waitrose in North London. Thank you for coaching me. 谢谢您

See you all soon.

Beijing Update

Heading to £2,500....

Many of you will be coming back off holidays, so here's a quick update.

Thanks to generous donations from St. Augustines church, the Green Man, Mike D and Mike B we have passed the £2,000 mark .. a fantastic effort to all who have supported me over the last few months. Thank you.

£500 to go and looking for one company who may want to promote its services/products in China.

Could that be your company?

Sent off my application form today for the Chinese Visa and I have been practising 10 mile walks around Wycombe.

Beijing beckons - ever get nervous before you travel?

Mervyn

Recollections of an Irish Childhood 8

22 November 1963

Friday evening , that time when
Tea was out and father was in
And the coal cracked
and ash wood spat and steamed
And the flames caught my eye
as they danced
in the hearth of that living room in Derry

The valve radio muttered
mysteriously in the corner
Brown and brooding
and beaming news over the air waves

I looked once inside
its sinister side
hiding valves
humming and hawing
not quite tuned

It snatched the news
and spat it out
“ The President has been shot “

I adjusted the woggle of my scarf
I eyed the time
Time for Scouts
shoes polished
hair combed
Shirt pressed

and I dream of long shadowed horses
and a gun-carriaged hearse
and a widow and sons
black and bowed
on a bright Washington winter morn
when the world changed forever

Recollections of an Irish Childhood

click on title above to hear recording

Thoughts from the farmyard in rural Ireland (late 1960s)

The burn would run all night and morning
Gurgling seductively outside my bedroom window
Golden brown and bubbling over the peat-moss moors
Sounds of scratching fowls and swishing cows
Cud-chewing to the milking parlour

A sow scraped and screamed at the runt of the litter
And I with one eye opened, feel the gentle Derry air
Lift the lace curtain and blow in a ‘good morning’
With its sickly smell of sweet manure
And fresh squeezed milk from bloated udder

A clang of creamery cans
A ‘get-out-of-here’ cry to cats
That craved fresh cream
And I awake on my uncle’s farm
Oh sweet, sweet memory

Recollections of an Irish Childhood 3

Thoughts from the woods in rural Ireland (Summer 1964)

There is a green glade where ponies graze
Where late evening sun lies down the bluebells
There is a pool only some of us knew
A dark, dark pool where I used to gaze

Down, down to its muddied edge
and stop and stoop
On well-worn stone

And scoop deep, deep waters
And watch squint-eyed as spiders skim across its mirrored face
And just beside this quiet water child,

Mother River, bosom-brown sits
Her silent flow broken only
By the flip, flop, drop of hungry trout
Casting an eye for the dead-lazy fly.

A startled blackbird screams
Through the undergrowth
And I awake.

First Chinese E-Mail

Isn't learning a wonderful thing, having just turned 55 ,
I have sent and received my first e-mail in Chinese script (Hanyu)

你好, 最进还好吗?
先在我的汉语不太好
墨文

墨文
你好，我 最近很忙。你呢？
你的汉语有进步，继续努力。 祝好
林美婵

After clouds come blue skies
After confusion comes clarity
After learning comes aaah, um, err..more learning

Dedicated to the guys at the Red Lion Pub and restaurant
Bradenham Village , Bucks HP14 4HF Tel: 01494 562212

" A lighthouse of calm in a sea of troubles"

Wycombe Woods (Friday 11 July late evening)

I walk the Wycombe hills
At close of day
As night draws near
its curtain of darkness cross vales of green
Crouching cottages leaking light and life
silent stables standing

And I pass by

spectral sheep stop and stare
and startled animals scurry there
untidily like a fleeting thought in my mind

I just cant catch it

Black cows head bowed
dark thoughts unmowed
and tree and bush and here close in

walk faster, faster, faster
Light, life and longing
to be there

Towards £2000

谢谢你 xièxie nĭ

A big THANK YOU to Roy Page, Linda Whalley and the boys of the Royal Grammar School - also Father Willie and the parishioners of St Augustine's RC Church for taking the total towards £2000.

All funds are due in by the end of July, so if you have pledged monies please donate now at www.justgiving.com/mervyncooke

Kind regards
Mervyn

See you at the karate display Sat 12 July 1.30pm St Augustine's RC School Fayre, Daws Hill Lane, High Wycombe

Awaken your Child

I took a walk the other day along the Wycombe hills. Watched the wind blow cross barley fields.

Watched crows line up in quarrelsome queues on sagging telegraph poles.

Watched busy Friday burrowing away.

Took the time to stop and stare

Feel the rain on my face.

Make shapes of clouds , 'that one's a horse'

Took the time a child has

To enjoy the moment

The time, the here, the now

And you know what, I 'd forgotten how to do it

Recollections of an Irish childhood

Thoughts from an Irish Childhood (early 1960’s)

Death of an Aunt

We came down the lane, stones spitting sideways
Past the pillars, white-washed and wishing us here
Squat stone-walled dykes cradling
Cattle and suspicious sheep

Where once was green and full of life,
And farmyard sounds and smells
now black became
All grief, all quiet, all thoughts of her
Who, auntie ?
Had no one thought to tell me?
Did no one think I needed to know?

Auntie who once caught us
Spitting in the ‘midden’
And said ‘where did you boys learn that?’

Auntie who dusted soda farls
With the wide wing of a long dead goose

Auntie who smoked and shook
walls when wracked with cough

Why didn’t anyone tell me?
I screamed “ not Auntie , no, not Auntie’
In the room where no one speaks

Who sat with the butcher, Hugh
we called him ‘Uncle’
In his clean white van, all cool and red and quiet
Like meat on the counter
Waiting to be bought,

Who sat by the fireside
and talked sleeping Sundays

We turned around
All blessings said, all goodbyes gone
Back down the lane
Past the pillars, past the sheep
Cows chewing cud

Thinking of tomorrow
and Latin tenses

Bellum bellum bellum
Belli belli bello

Recollections of an Irish Childhood

Thoughts from a hayfield in rural Ireland (late 1960s)

We laid our backs against the stack
And raised our hats to wipe the sweat
and hayseeds from our brow
Caps cocked to shield the sun
thirsts slain in the billy- can

We squinted at swallows in their drunken dives
With no rhyme nor reason nor route to roost

Our limbs tired and toiled those fields
till sun set where stacks , some small
gave birth to bigger ones

The day the baler came
With reverence we accepted
Its offspring into our blistered hands
And hauled the golden crop to the barn,
With many a shout ‘Watch out’
as one bale tumbled from the trailer
into the pressure cooker of the barn

And we built castles that night
Tight to the tin high heaven roof
Castles for cattle whose winter weary days
Were bunged up
in dunged up, silent byres

And they would chew the cud
And chew the cud and taste the summer dew
when winter froze the ground
And we were boys
in the spring of our lives

GETTING SOAKED

Michael my youngest son is saying

" Help , if we don't get in another £300
my brother is going to soak me. Yikes "

The truth is, with help from St Augustines RC Church, John Hampden and the Royal Grammar Schools, the Corner Shop, the regulars at the Wendover Arms, the Stag in Flackwell, the Shotokan Kaska Karate Club, JDs and many more, we 'll soon hit £2000 (not including Gift Aid).

谢谢你 xièxie nĭ - A big thank you to you all - you made this happen.

SAVE Michael from getting drenched, contribute NOW

Grief .........

......hangs in the air like dark storm clouds gathering, far and yet near.
It rumbles down the valley of our mind, gushing and gulfing us and, we grieve.

And, it passes, as the light rain fades, as the sun steps out of the shadow, and we turn towards the sun, to light, to life.

I penned the following lines below, thinking of my Dad, and if you have lost someone I'd like to share this with you.

Recollections of an Irish childhood

Thoughts from a Peat Moss in rural Ireland (late 1960s)

I slid my hand up the brown shiny banister,
It smelt of pine and dreams as I left the peat filled living room
" Good night Uncle Bill, Good night Uncle Joe - are we going to the mountain tomorrow?"
' Aye Son ' and I dreamt .

And I dreamt my uncle sat on a sack
At the back of the tractor
his brother the driver
And I squeezed in, somehow
my feet on a chain that held something
And some sway
As our exhaust wheezed up the hill

The sea, the cliffs
the farmhouse and the livestock shrank
and shrank as we left farm and fireside far below.

The keepers of the mountain
with their tangled horns
and spot-red fleece
cross eyed us as we entered
they scattered and spilled
with syrupy sure-footedness
across their rock carpet domain

Cruel crows caught by their beaked curiosity
Hung lazily from posts
Their dried feathers flapping
Their spirits flown
Where sky and moor and harshness close in

What gold we found beneath the earth
Was cut and chopped and carved
And cured for warm dreams
Of Sunday afternoons sleeping uncles

Guarded by the soldierly tick-tock, tick-tock
Of the grandfather clock
as time itself stood still
in that sun spilled, living room

and the dying buzz-buzz of a bluebottle
as it strained to escape
its laced-curtain prison
back to the mountain

Recollections of an Irish Childhood

Click on above link to hear recording

Thoughts from a potato field in rural Ireland (late 1960s)

We ate that day with grubby hands
Silken- floured farls straight from the griddle
The earth our table, the sky our roof

The farmer’s wife rough-red and rude
Poured us liquid from a billy can
Golden tea fired our bellies and strengthened our spines

As we stooped and skimmed and shook the soil from
Those golden nuggets
Raped in the virgin furrow

At close of day we bumped along
Tired on the tail end of the tractor trailer
And broke our bums as we grasped our crumpled, brown, ten-shilling note

And raced home with field laid bare
And not a backward glance
For we were kings for many a day.

512 China Earthquake Appeal

" We know the best way to grieve for the deceased is to give courage and confidence to those who survived" Wen Zhao

Our thoughts I am sure are with less fortunate people in Burma and China , so I feel it is appropriate to pass these details given to me by a Chinese friend. As I know you are a generous audience , please help in whatever way you can.

http://www.chinese-channel.co.uk/en/

Cash or cheque donations are welcomed, with the account details as below:
Account name: 512 China Earthquake Appeal
HSBC sort code: 40-03-40
A/C number: 80566756
Cheque payable to: 512 China Earthquake Appeal

Or you may post your cheque to
The Chinese Channel Ltd
Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington,
Middlesex TW11 9NT,
United Kingdom
with cheque payable to 512 China Earthquake Appeal.
Please quote “512 China Earthquake Appeal” on the envelope.

All donations will then be donated directly to the British Red Cross China Earthquake Appeal who will then work with the Chinese Red Cross to ensure that all the money is used in China to support those people affected by the Earthquake.

Enquiry hotline：+44 (0) 20 8614 8333

Regards
Mervyn

Chinese Earthquake

You know those little ornaments that sit on the mantlepiece, hemispheres of glass depicting snow scenes or underwater vistas. You lift them up and shake them. The snow falls, the bubbles rise and you stare in amazement at the scene. Our lives are like this. Nice and comfortable on the mantlepiece. Until someone or something shakes us up.

Well, the people of Sichuan province, have certainly had their lives shaken up...

" We must make every sacrifice to open the road....our first priority is to race to save people, every minute, every second that you gain is a chance to save one more trapped person "

Wen Jiabao - Chinese Prime Minister

Whatever the politics of Tibet or the China humanitarian response in Darfur, is this the voice of someone not in touch with his people? Is this a general telling his troops to block aid?

It's always the poor who suffer in these earthquakes, they live in the flimisiest of buildings, perched precariously on life...

I will donate £100 to the China / Sichuan Earthquake Appeal and take it personally to Wen Jiabao in October.

You can lift yourself off the mantlepiece or stay where you are...the choice is yours.

Mervyn

NEWS RELEASE from RNID

NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release: Monday 12 May 2008

MARTIAL ARTIST KICKSTARTS FUNDRAISING FOR RNID GREAT WALL OF CHINA TREK

A 54-year-old martial arts practitioner from Buckinghamshire is as pleased as Punch to be kicking off his Great Wall of China trek fundraising efforts to help RNID change the world for deaf and hard of hearing people.

Mervyn Cooke, who helps run the KASKA Shotokan training centre or ‘dojo’ in High Wycombe, is hoping his once-in-a-lifetime trek in October raises more than £2,500 for the national charity.

Mervyn, who has a long-held fascination and appreciation of Chinese culture, said: “I’ve been practising martial arts for the last 12 years and currently striving to qualify as a second Dan in Shotokan karate. I’ve also been teaching myself the Mandarin language during the last year so I’m really looking forward to experiencing the unique, alluring culture and exploring the Great Wall of China in the hills around Beijing.

Caroline Jupe, RNID Events & Community Fundraising Manager, said: “Mervyn’s positive attitude is a real inspiration and we’re delighted someone with such passion for Chinese culture has chosen to raise vital funds for RNID’s work changing the world for the UK’s 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people.”

To sponsor Mervyn, visit www.justgiving.com/mervyncooke

Money raised by Mervyn and others trekking for RNID will help fund projects and services that improve the everyday lives of deaf and hard of hearing people.

If you’ve been inspired by Mervyn’s story, you can find out about RNID’s overseas challenges by visiting http://www.rnid.org.uk/ or contacting Caroline Jupe on telephone / textphone: 0845 634 0687 (local rate) or email: events@rnid.org.uk

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Contact for media enquiries:

Alan Dalziel, RNID Media Officer, alan.dalziel@rnid.org.uk or 020 7296 8388

Notes for editors:

Jpeg images of Mervyn Cooke are available. Please call 07828 422156.
RNID is the largest charity working to change the world for the UK's nine million deaf and hard of hearing people. We do this with the help of our members by campaigning and lobbying, raising awareness of deafness and hearing loss, providing services and through social, medical and technical research.
For further information about RNID or to become a member, visit www.rnid.org.uk, contact RNID's Information Line on 0808 808 0123 (freephone) or 0808 808 9000 (textphone) or email informationline@rnid.org.uk.

" Only through struggle can we reach the top and see the lush valley below "

The last few weeks have been a struggle - however I have been inspired by people's generosity, words and deeds. It is indeed a humbling experience to receive from one for the benefit of many.

While individually we all share common fortunes and misfortunes of life, collectively we are contributing to a greater good - collectively we are strong - collectively we make the world a better place.

To contribute please go to www.justgiving.com/mervyncooke and donate on -line.



Thank you

Mervyn

PS May Fayre 5 May 12- 4 down the Rye - fun for all the family.

RNID Do it Now, Right Now It's Done

' Somebody should tell us right at the start of our lives that we are dying. Then we might live life to the full, every minute of the day. Do it! I say, Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows.'

This quote was by Michael Landon, the TV star Little Joe in the 60's series 'Bonanza'. Maybe we should use it for this campaign - 'do it now - right, now it's done'

For those who have pledged money and wish to pay , go to the JUST GIVING link on the right and make your contribution on-line.

Contributions to date (pledges/donations) amount to over £1,100.00

Thank you
Bao zhong (Chinese for take care).

Down Desborough Way

The folks down Desborough way are giving the RNID - China Trek a helping hand.

The new owners of the Wendover Arms, having completely refurbished the interior and cleaned up the exterior, now welcome you for an evening's entertainment.

Conveniently located half way down Desborough Avenue, you are sure to find a warm welcome.

Facilities include, pool table, extensive dining area, dance floor, and children's garden area.

As well a range of classic ales, including the locally brewed Marlow ales. Something to suit everyone.

Thank you to all the staff for displaying the RNID posters, book marks, ear plugs and the all important CHARITY Box for your donations.

Forthcoming Events: 3-4 May Skool Daze (Karaoke & Disco) TEL: 07785 535636

Qian - One Thousand

仟 qiān thousand

Look at the Chinese symbol for one thousand - it 's like two people standing side by side, one being supported by the other.

Your support has helped me raise the target to just in sight of £1,000. For all those who have contributed a big thank you.

For those who still want to help the campaign, please send donations (cheques made payable to RNID)

See you around.
May Fayre Bank Holiday Monday 5 May 11 - 4 pm , The Rye, High Wycombe

Vintage Ska - Northern Soul, Funk R&B
Saturday 10 May 8 - 2 am The Paradise Bar - 19 Octagon Parade, H. Wycombe

China Cups

£500 and rising

Easter Tuesday - car broke down this morning, just before I made it onto the motorway so I turned around and went back home. Took the train to London instead.

Still, you dont want to hear that..... people of Wycombe I salute you, pledges and donations now exceed £500 and I wanted to thank those who have helped me achieve the first difficult step.

Getting started, you know when you commit to something, you have doubts and fears?

Well I have had them but not now. People have been really generous - from the guys at work, family, neighbours, an ex-Serviceman from Northern Ireland to complete strangers.

That's 20 % of the total (£2,500) and for those who have pledged money, can I ask you to make the cheques payable to RNID and post them to me.

Hopefully I'll see or hear from you soon - help make someone's life better. Donate NOW.

Mervyn

PS May 5 - May Fayre on the Rye

China Plates

China Trek - Great Wall of China Walk

4 -12 October 2008

Have you ever seen one of these? They used to fascinate me as a child , eating out of them when I stayed at my uncle's farm in Ireland many years ago.

What sort of people live there?
How big are they?

I always imagined they were small to live in such tiny houses.


China? Who wants to go to China?

I do, as a matter of fact.

Ever since returning from South America over 20 years ago, after a five-year stint, some slumbering thoughts have surfaced again.

It was not coincidental that a year ago (March 2007) I started learning Chinese. You may have seen me stuck to an iPod talking to myself. You got it. Chinese.

The China Trek is in aid of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People
http://www.rnid.org.uk/

You can help to raise funds in several ways.

1. Write a cheque out to RNID today and send it to RNID London address. If you are a tax payer, please include your address, as the Charity will be able to claim an extra 28p in every £1 as Gift Aid.

2. If you see me at football, church, karate, in the street, or wherever, stuff some money in an envelope and give it to me.

3. Do you have your own company or business?

I can bring your product or service to millions, nay, billions of Chinese consumers. A T-shirt (medium size) with your company logo, or website should do the trick. Photos of me wearing your T-shirt will be taken on the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

4. Are you a member of a community group, e.g. church, school, association, club and have a quarterly publication, website you could give me a plug? (Photo and copy provided)

5. You probably have some better ideas to raise, I 'd be willing to hear from you.

Help me to help other people less fortunate, and fulfill my dream of visiting China.


Thank you for your time.
Regards
Mervyn
PS Monday 5 May at the Rye - the May Day Fayre - maybe see you there?