Pollen Season

It was about a week ago that I started to notice the first effects of this year's pollen season.  While its a nuisance, I am quite prepared to put up with it, for the joy that all the new growth inevitably brings.  

In the garden everything seems to have accelerated now that the length of the day has increased.  It is even starting to get slightly warmer.  I would emphasise that this is a marginal improvement, we are still a long way away from shorts and t-shirts, or even being able to sit outside in any degree of comfort.

Cathy and I took a detour on our journey home from Birmingham, to visit Bournville, and in particular to try to track down the site of the original Fircroft College.  Fircroft was established by the Cadburys in 1909 as a residential adult education college.  Cathy's Grandfather was one of the first to benefit from it.  A young worker in the Rowntrees factory in York, he was given a place at Fircroft from which he benefitted enormously.  Not only did he meet his wife there but he also got good education.  He went on to stand as  the Independent Labour Party candidate for the parliamentary elections in 1926 as the potential MP for Nottingham (although he was not successful coming second to the winning conservative).  Sadly it transpired that the original college building was demolished back in 2014, but we did enjoy our visit to Bournville none the less.