Frank Montgomery's Personal Pages
Summary of 2012
Dear Friends and
Colleagues,
Wishing you a Merry
Christmas and a peaceful New Year..
Here are some of my
highlights of 2012:
Celebrations:
July Wedding of my
cousin’s daughter, on the bonnie banks of Loch
Lomond.
Aug My first visit to
Carnival parade in
Chapeltown, Leeds.
Oldest West Indian festival in Europe
Walking:
5-12 May
Great Glen Way
from Fort William to Inverness. I had previously
cycled this in one day, so it was interesting to
compare the effort needed to walk it!
26 June The
Corbett Lium Uilleum
with my nephew. Got
there by the West Highland Railway to Corrour
station. The station and the Corbett featured
strongly at the start of the film ‘Trainspotting’.
We didn’t spot many trains but got splendid views of
Ben Nevis, the Grey Corries, the Mamores, Ben Alder group
etc and some
frogs.
8 December.
Monsal Trail
with our masters students. A beautiful day walking
along
this former rail line
in the Peak District National Park.
The tunnels were re-opened in 2011, and they are
lit, but only during daylight hours!
Theatre. 3
outstanding performances:
Die Walkure: Part 2 of
Wagner’s Ring Cycle. In Leeds Town Hall.
Stupendous.
Don Giovanni. In
Leeds Grand Theatre.
Enthralling, highly entertaining, and great fun.
Phantom of the Opera.
In Leeds Grand Theatre.
Spectacular.
Cycling:
16 June:
Great Yorkshire Bike Ride
again. Recession obviously biting now, as my
sponsorship was down on last year. Next year I’ll be
attempting something much harder ;-)
15 July My first
Audax ride (107km)
Otley – Boroughbridge
- Otley.
Must do another soon.
9-14 Aug
Belgium/Holland.
Dry and sunny at last!
15 Aug Lizzie
Armitstead, fresh from winning an Olympic Silver,
was
paraded round her home
town of Otley.
8-30 Sept Over and
round the Pyrenees.
European Bike Express
to Perpignan, then to Dirck Van Vliet’s house in
Catllar, then West and over the Pyrenees via
Andorra, Leida, Ejea de los Caballeros, Pamplona,
(side trip by bus to Bilbao), San Sebastian,
Biarritz, Dax, Pau, Lourdes, Toulouse, Limoux, Col
de Jau, Catllar, Perpignan. Many thanks to Dirck &
Jennifer and their friend Hazel for their
hospitality. Also thanks to the several cyclists
who helped me with directions, some going out of
their way to lead me. The kindness of strangers was
amazing.
This video of the trip
is my first attempt at using the new YouTube editor.
Hope you enjoy it.
Inspiring Talks:
8 March
The Ig Nobel Awards
Tour Show
at University of Leeds. Unbelievable!
17 Oct
Mike Hall
(Guinness world record holder for cycling round the
world) at
LCAG
open meeting. Admirable.
18 Oct Prof Robert
Chambers, on Professional Error and Ignorance in
Development. Disturbing. Here’s a
review
by a Leeds student.
23 Oct Chris
Bonnington in Harrogate. He doesn’t look 78.
Another
review
from a Leeds student.
3 Dec Speech by
recipient of
Footsteps Fund,
helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds to
realise their potential.
Sadly missed
Three former
colleagues/students/friends who passed away too
soon.
This year, I have
made a donation of one pound per recipient of this
email (256) to Practical
Action
Best Wishes
Frank Montgomery
Frank Montgomery