December 2023

We reporters of Listen Up are

Bringing stories we come from afar

Fields, estates, blocks and gardens

Guiding the Groundswell star

(Chorus)

Oh, stars of writing, stars from the night

Royal William shining up our light

Oval meeting, northern leading

Getting homelessness policies right

Brought along by bus, bike and train

Mat we bring him to full acclaim

Tess forever, bleating never

Dora is holding the reign

(Chorus)

Oh, stars of writing, stars from the night

Royal William shining up our light

Oval meeting, northern leading

Getting homelessness policies right

Honesty, humility to offer have we

Audio, prose, video and glee

Recording and editing each of us try

Our results often make people cry

(Chorus)

Oh, stars of writing, stars from the night

Royal William shining up our light

Oval meeting, northern leading

Getting homelessness policies right

Tis now the time to stop this rhyme

We’re ever so grateful you’ve taken the time

Now off to Westminster, to shout at a minister

Let’s trust they act in time

(Chorus)

Oh, stars of writing, stars from the night

Royal William shining up our light

Oval meeting, northern leading

Getting homelessness policies right

With so much anger and hate in the news, I thought that I’d share something lovely here today. The lady behind this story works tirelessly behind the scenes to bring a bit of cheer to her corner of the world, and so I thought that I would spread that cheer with you and explain why her little project had such an impact on me… 

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you: 

“A Little slice of loveliness” … 

 Back in July my PTSD was raging… to the point where my thought patterns were actually starting to scare me. 

I was living in a new town, I knew very few people here, and I was finding it harder and harder to ground myself and keep myself on track. 

I walked for miles every day, walking around and around this quirky little town in a loop, trying not to panic (but mostly so that I didn’t have to sit and listen to my own head)… desperate for something, anything, that could prove to be a distraction. 

And then I saw the mice… 

A whole teeny, tiny, family of them, enjoying their annual camping holiday in somebody’s front window… and as I gazed at the tiny figures sitting in their tents or cooking sausages around the campfire, finally, for a precious few minutes, I felt my anxiety start to lift. 

  (All photos are author’s own)

The next time I saw the mice, they were in “The Harbour Hospital”, teeny, tiny doctors and nurses, proud to be the heroes behind “The MHS” (The Mouse Health Service!) Their family home (a former dolls house from IKEA!) was converted into rows of tiny beds, complete with a designated children’s ward and signs proclaiming “nil by mouth” and “Protect our MHS.” 

 

Next came “Harry Potter Mouse” and “Hagrid” (because who doesn’t need a Hagrid mouse?!) as the hospital made way for a spooky Hogwarts castle, complete with spiders, cauldrons and spell books, just in time for Halloween, where the younger mice went trick or treating and ate far too many sweets!  

Fast forward to today and the mice are in the dance studio, listening to Tchaikovsky whilst practicing their Plié and their Sautes, their Glissers and their Tourners, all secretly hoping to win a coveted place in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, so that they can pack their cases and travel the world… before coming home for Christmas, where, happy but exhausted from all this year’s adventures, their house becomes a home once more as they deck the halls with boughs of holly and the table fills with cheese… 

The mice have been having adventures down in Weymouth Harbour for almost two years now… 

They’ve had an Easter egg hunt, they’ve been to Portland and scaled Portland Bill, they’ve built sandcastles down on Weymouth beach where Papa mouse took off his shirt and rocked out his new tats, they’ve dressed up as Royalty to see in the New Year (and played rock, paper scissors at the Kings Coronation to avoid sitting next to the more “unpopular” royals!), while a romantic valentines meal and a cheeky bottle of vino bought Mama mouse more than just a hangover with the arrival a few weeks later of ten more hungry mouths to feed… 

To find out more about the harbour mice and to follow their adventures, follow them on Instagram @the_harbour_mice or better still, come visit Weymouth Harbour, look for the trail of breadcrumbs and see if you can find them…