A Son of the Rock

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 5/9/26

A win is welcome but I couldn’t say we really deserved it.

The game was very bitty but while Elgin looked good at times with passing and movement they didn’t threaten our goal at all first half. They were the better team footballing wise, though. At least they looked as if they had a clue what they were supposed to be doing, whereas, of course we didn’t. In particular our set-piece delivery continues to be atrocious.

At least we seem to have dispensed with the playing out from the back rubbish. Returned keeper Harry Broun, brought back to the club due to Aidan Rice being injured playing for his parent club, maybe doesn’t suit that, but who knows?

It was selection bingo all over again and we seemed to be back to the 3-5-2 which served us well enough towards the end of last season, but with Leighton McIntosh dropped for new boy Robbie Cleary who partnered Deryn Lang up front.

Josiah Sowa was agreeably tenacious at left wing-back but it nullified his attacking qualities.

In effect our first was a one man effort by Robbie Cleary and the second not something you’ll see very often.

Ali Omar took a free-kick from inside our half. At first I thought, “He’s overhit that, what was he thinking?” then, “Where’s the keeper? It might beat him,” then “It’s going in!” then, “Was it a direct free-kick?” which of course it was.

We stood off them too much after the subsequent substitutions, our midfield disappearing, and of course the inevitable happened.  We’d managed to survive the one minute off the field for a treated injury but were still re-organising back with eleven men when they scored. Too easily.

The performance wasn’t great – too many misplaced passes, no creativity, no penetration – but sometimes you win when you don’t deserve to. And you can’t rely on a worldie like we saw today.

I’m sure a different manager could get more out of these players. They’re good enough; they just need better direction.

The bridge near Damien Hirst’s “Virgin Mother” at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which I mentioned here, is called Dam Head Bridge. It spans the River Dearne:-

In the background here (right middle) is part of Bretton Lakes. Exhibits are scattered round the Park on either side of the Lakes:-

Cascade of River Dearne by Dam Head Bridge:-

View from farther end of Bretton Lakes:-

A bridge at this end of the Lakes is called Cascade Bridge – for obvious reasons:-

The Cut Bridge spans the River Dearne behind and to the right of here. It is one of Yorkshire’s last remaining cast iron bridges. Some parts are due for restoration after an Arts Council England mediated Government grant:-

Drummer Frank Beard of ZZ Top, who was master of the Texas Shuffle beat, died last month. His drumming was a prime component of the band’s musical style, driving but also somehow loose, which John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival dubbed ‘chooglin.’

Ironically, given his surname, Beard was the only member of the band not to exhibit extravagant facial hair.

This is a live version of ZZ Top’s first British hit and their joint highest chart placing (no 10 in 1983) with Viva Las Vegas (which charted in 1992.)

ZZ Top: Gimme All Your Lovin’

Frank Lee Beard: 11/6/1949 – 17/8/2026. So it goes.

There are several Damien Hirst pieces at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

“Virgin Mother” here seen beyond a lovely bridge over the River Dearne:-

“Virgin Mother” is a giant anatomical model (such as the ones I once used to demonstrate to pupils when teaching the Biology aspect of the First Year Science course – though the school’s model did not display pregnancy):-

“Virgin Mother” in panoramic view (Bretton Lakes, part of the Park, in background):-

“The Hat Misses the Man” for some reason reminded me of 1960s children’s cartoons on TV:-

“Charity” deliberately recalls the charity boxes which used to stand outside High Street shops:-

A Jessie Kesson Companion, Black and White, 2000, 204 p, including 13 p Commentary; plus ii p Contents and xii p Introduction.

This is a collection of Kesson’s shorter works, encompassing stories, poems and radio plays, though a lot of her work for radio has, it seems, been lost. While most pieces are in fairly standard English with some Scots phrases the second story here, Ferm Deen, is written fully in an uncompromising Scots – and all the better for it.

Editor Isobel Murray has chosen to emphasise Kesson’s troubled upbringing (born to a single mother who engaged in prostitution to try to make ends meet and found solace in drink; taken off to an orphanage for being “neglected”; denied the fuller education she desired and later literally farmed out to smallholders as a kitchen helper before spending a year in a mental hospital.)

This is not a perverse choice, Kesson’s work (especially her early work) reflects those childhood experiences, the loss she felt, the longing for what she had considered a loving home and the compensations she managed to find. But, despite her writing successes, she never lost regret for the life she could have had had she attended University.

All the pieces are well written and poignant with a sharp eye for character and ear for phraseology.

Pedant’s corner:- swop (swap.)

Fittingly, since Yorkshire Sculpture Park is only a few miles south of Wakefield, her birthplace and home to The Hepworth Wakefield, the Park contains several Barbara Hepworth works.

The most substantial of these is “The Family of Man”, a series of nine sculptures that represent people. They are distributed across part of the Park in amongst some trees.

Also in the Park is Hepworth’s “Squares with Two Circles”:-

Cassell & Co Ltd, 1898, p, with nine illustrations by W Hole.

This is the third of Barrie’s Thrums trilogy, all narrated by the dominie (schoolmaster) in Glen Quharity, which lies four miles from Thrums. Unlike in the first two instalments, though, here the narrator is finally named as a Mr Ogilvy.

The meat of the story is in the early incumbency in Thrums of new Auld Licht Minister, Mr Dishart, young, keen, well regarded by his congregation, and a joy to his mother Margaret since he has fulfilled her wishes for him. Mr Ogilvy takes more than a normal interest in the little minister since he knew Margaret in his own youth. It is apparent from his remembrances that he has carried a torch for her ever since but he takes care not to let her know of his presence nearby since he feels she would not be happy to be reminded of him.

Plot kicks off when a detachment of soldiers is sent to the town to round up weavers who had taken part in a recent riot against changes in their conditions. Forewarning of the soldiers’ mission is brought to the town by a young woman they call the Egyptian (their name for a gipsy) whose intervention allows the suspects to evade capture. Dishart tries to stop any violence and in doing so encounters the woman. He cannot understand why her influence makes him do things he would not have otherwise; things such as not denounce her to the authorities or throwing a ‘divit’ at one of the soldiers. The word divit here is an example of many Scots usages sprinkled through the book, especially in dialogue. This very strong Scottish flavour may be a barrier for some. The Egyptian’s facility both with Scots and standard English is another source of confusion for Dishart as in many respects she behaves and sounds like a member of the monied class.

It is readily apparent that this will be a story of star-cross’d lovers whose circumstances present seemingly insurmountable difficulties to their relationship. Dishart’s parishioners will not countenance a union between their minister and a gipsy; the Egyptian (we later find she is named Babbie) is betrothed to the elderly Lord Rintoul, for whose benevolence towards her she feels an obligation, and the wedding is imminent.

That dour Scottish strain of Calvinism is illustrated by Ogilvy’s reflection that “A minister with a smile on his face would never have been called to the Auld Licht kirk, for life is a wrestle with the devil and only the frivolous think to throw him without taking off their coats.”

However, the dominie’s own outlook is somewhat brighter, “Love, it is said, is blind, but love is not blind. It is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard. To see the best is to see most clearly, and it is the lover’s privilege,” if also nuanced, “Not to attempt a gallant deed for which one has the impulse may be braver than the doing of it.”

Pedant’s corner:- a missing comma before a piece of direct speech (x 2.) “A detachment of the soldiers were marching down the Roods from the north” (a detachment was marching,) a missing full stop.

SPFL Tier 4, Galabank, 29/08/26.

This can’t go on. According to the stats on the BBC website we had one shot on target all game. And Annan were in the throes of an injury crisis.

In all my time supporting the Sons I don’t think I’ve ever been so resigned to such pessimism about the club’s future.

I wasn’t there; obviously. Only a diehard masochist would have made the long trip to Annan the way we’ve been performing.

The team line-up looks like it was selection bingo again.

It’s more than possible the manager has “lost the dressing room” as they say. The signs were there the last two weeks and it seems again today. He’s certainly lost the fans.

There was no cohesion last week at Kelty, the players didn’t look as if they knew what they were supposed to be doing. I think we don’t have leaders on the pitch right now. That again is down to the manager.

I know it’s still early in the season, but his record is woeful. Only six wins in the ten or so months he’s been in charge – and not a single one away from home.

Time for him to go.

You’d think he’d have the self-awareness to realise himself he’s out of his depth. He owes it to the club to resign pronto. It gave him his chance and he’s blown it.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is situated some miles south of Wakefield. Since in our visits to Haworth and Bradford we were close, we took it in.

The Sculpture Park is similar to Jupiter Artland near Edinburgh but covers a much larger area.

There are several Henry Moore sculptures in its grounds.

Upright Motives is near the car park, well before the entrance building:-

Three Piece Reclining Figure:-

Large Spindle Piece:-

Large Totem Head:-

I’m afraid I didn’t note down what this one was called (two angles below):-

Reclining Figure, Arch Leg:-

Reclining Figure Arch Leg showing ‘mouth’:-

I don’t think there can be anyone who didn’t admire Dolly Parton. For making her way in a male orientated musical genre, for being herself and true to herself, for her determination, for not compromising, for writing (and performing) great songs. And then she parlayed her success into founding the Imagination Library providing books for millions of children. And she contributed a million dollars towards the development of Moderna’s COVID vaccine.

I was surprised on looking it up that she never really had a big solo hit in the UK (Jolene was only a no 7, as was her collaboration with Kenny Rogers, Islands in the Stream; none of her other songs made even the top thirty.)  Yet the songs are so good and so familiar.

This one became the theme song to British sitcom Butterflies (though it was a version by Clare Torry which the producers used on the credits.)

Dolly Parton: Love is Like a Butterfly

The song which probably made Dolly the most money (even though she turned down an offer for Elvis Presley to sing it, which would have involved her giving up copyright,) I Will Always Love You, had its biggest success when Whitney Houston sang it for her film The Bodyguard. Yet to me Houston’s version was overblown and sounded soulless, whereas Dolly’s original was more intimate.

Dolly felt the song. Houston didn’t.

Dolly Parton: I Will Always Love You

Dolly Rebecca Parton, 19/1/1946 – 25/8/2026. So it goes.