An Ungoverned Sky

a collaboration between Noel Connor and Paul Stangroom

(Whin Sill Press, Northumberland 2021)

Following the success of their previous book, ‘In the Pause of Passing’ the two friends published a second collaboration.

‘An Ungoverned Sky’ is a beautifully produced full colour hardback expertly created for them by Dean’s Printers and Bookbinders at their workshop in Cheadle Heath.

It provides a further testament to their shared love of the landscape and history of the border areas between England and Scotland known as the ‘debatable lands’

As an artist Paul dedicated himself to capturing the poignant beauty of the remote landscapes and borderlands that lie between England and Scotland, from Holy Island and along the Roman Wall. It is one of the least populated parts of Britain, lying in a long fought over no-mans land. Noel accompanied the artist on many of his treks across the hills and moors of the area and in this unique collaboration he writes of these experiences and his memories of his own time living in the area.

Sadly Paul died in 2023.

Ice Trees

Enough said, small talk

would be a sacrilege

on this amazing morning

in a world reborn

before our very eyes,

so step by step, together,

we walk without a word.

These frosted trees

shiver as we pass,

every branch, every single twig

is splintered in ice

and glazed to perfection.

Beyond belief,

in the clear breathtaking air

we can hear them

snip and snap in the breeze,

small fractured copies

slipping free and falling at our feet,

fragile crystal trinkets

cushioned on the fresh snow.

Between fingertips

I pick one up,

a priceless memory

a love token, melting gently

on your outstretched hand.

Noel Connor

Cuddy Beads

Hardly surprising

finding someone on his knees

on this holy shore,

but getting closer

I could clearly see him

searching for something

in the fine shingle,

freshly dredged

by the fast retreating sea.

Reaching the spot

and with apologies,

of course I had to ask.

‘It takes a while’ he said

‘but when you get your eye in

you’ll find these little fossils

along this stretch of coast’

Cuddy beads he called them

and held one out for me to see.

No bigger than a rosary bead,

miraculously, already holed

and ready to be threaded.

Saint Cuthbert on his island

made the first set so I’m told,

then spent his final years

in that solitary retreat.

Now like a child again

I’m back on bended knee,

searching in the shingle for a prayer.

Saint Cuthbert’s Beads (or Cuddy Beads as they are known locally) are tiny fossilized portions of the ‘stems’of Carboniferous crinoid, often found with a hole through the centre. Cuthbert died in his hermitage on the Farne Islands, off the coast of  Northumberland.

Noel Connor