18 November 2012

Week 47: 'If I haven’t money in my pocket it’s one thing nobody can rob me of… it’s mine…’

Wonder spawned in: 1973
Wondered into being by: Hannah Hauxwell
Wonderspan: 12 min
To experience this winter at its best: Click on the full screen icon

I'm 40 today and I've been wondering on the marvel of ageing.  It is associated with decline but the word 'ageing' contains no such suggestion - it just means passing through life, starting from when we're born and ending when we die.  When not marred by undue suffering, ageing is the most beautiful process in the world.  It is how we belong with the seasons.  Between young and old is a whole landscape.

This Monday we hear from one older person in particular who is anything but 'old' in the misguided sense of 'spent'.  In 1972, the year I was born, Hannah Hauxwell lived on her own in a farmhouse high in the hills of County Durham, miles from the nearest road.  She farmed her 80 acres alone, selling one bullock annually and living mainly from that income for the rest of the year.

The filmmaker Barry Cockcroft included Hannah in his documentary about people living through hard winters in the hills.  His project was one of several pioneering films appearing in the early 1970s (the extraordinary World At War documentary series was being made at the same time).  I find the film full of humanity; like the best documentaries it allows people to be themselves as far as possible.  Hannah Hauxwell is tough and gently spoken, highly articulate and wholly down-to-earth.

I recommend the whole film - it's very beautiful indeed.  But if you only have a few minutes then go straight to 18:30 and watch through to 30:30.
For Hannah Hauxwell her daily life is a way of loving; later in the film she quotes an unnamed William Longstaff poem she likes very much:
Lone silent hills
Clear singing streams
Mind them
Be near to God.
Thanks to Sunniva T for suggesting this film.

Extra...

Teresa Hsu is 113.  A century ago her family were extremely poor in China.  The experience led her to dedicate her life to supporting the poorest of all people.  Here she is being young:
Here's a more lighthearted take on ageing while in love... these are excerpts from When Harry Met Sally.
And here's how to grow old in Dutch:
And what happens when we die?  We enrich the soil.

____________________
www.waysofloving.com

2 comments:

  1. If you'd like to find out what happened to Hannah watch 'A Winter Too Many', filmed two decades later. It's also beautiful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFyV62SrT-c
    Sunniva

    ReplyDelete
  2. Indeed - if you haven't got 50 minutes, just skip through to 23:25 and watch to 25:00.

    ReplyDelete

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