25 Things About Bluebell (me)

1. I joined the Green Party in August 1989. I have served as local contact, regional treasurer, secretary to the Party Executive as well as several times a district council Green Candidate.
2. I have been vegan since the age of 16.
3. I once hitch hiked to Groningen from Leeds to cultivate friendship. 1000 mile round trip. All made possible by my lovely lifts of course, cheers dudes!
4. My career in Road Protesting was very brief. It was followed by 3 months of homelessness in Birmingham.
5. I am a tenant of West North West Leeds Homes. Thankfully there is still some social housing left in England. Alas there is no soundproofing.
6. I scraped dreadful A levels after 3 years at Skem College. D in Maths, E in Physics, failed Stinks and an A in General Studies (after no tuition and arriving 20 minutes late for the second paper).
7. I have once served as a school governor, a single 4 year term with an inner city primary school here in Leeds.
8. I have a younger brother Kevin, who is divorced with 2 kidz, my nephew Joe and niece Abi. I also have 2 younger half sisters Helen and Laura.
9. I have an honorary life membership of Leeds University Union.
10. I have been panning for gold as part of a University of Leeds field trip. Other field trips included a trip to a brewery, a mini beer festival, two trips measuring vernacular buildings and a tour of four old churches and chapels in Leeds city centre.
11. I was born in Leicester. As a child I lived in west Lancashire and Crosby. As an adult I have lived in London, Coventry, Colchester, Bootle and Birmingham before fleeing to Leeds seeking a home.
12. I once cycled from Leeds to Nottingham and back to attend a friend’s birthday party.
13. I have a diagnosis of Chronic Anxiety and Depression. I also suffer from probable complex regional pain disorder.
14. I love cooking. I have twice been a catering coordinator at YFGM (Young Friends’ General Meeting, the Quaker Yoof!).
15. I have been blogging since October 2004. But nobody reads it.
16. I am a member of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society
17. I don’t own a television. There may be no escape from televisual narcosis but I have spent 2 decades trying to avoid it. Television is hierarchical, a handful speak the rest listen.
18. JAH willing I graduate in July. A series of “accidents” led me to my current degree programme, BA (Hons) Local and Regional History (part time).
19. I rectified my name by statutory declaration in January 1997.
20. I am a member of the Religious Society of Friends (the people called Quakers) although I am deeply disillusioned by the lack of community therein especially at local level.
21. I served as a Young Friend assistant at the Friends’ World Committee for Consultation (FWCC, the Quaker International) at its 19th Triennial in Birmingham in 1997. This was mainly welcoming participants and microphone stewarding.
22. Returning home after the local election count one late one night I was described by Radio Leeds as the most colourful candidate in Yorkshire.
23. I served 5 years on the Committee of Kabal (the so called LUU society for Paganism, Magick and Folklore) until it appeared to be a mind control cult.
24. At “Facilitating Ourselves” a community building event based on the work of M Scott Peck and organised by Community Building in Britain, I facilitated a listening session on sex and relationships. It was fairly well attended.
25. Perhaps there is less to me than meets the eye.