THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness, and to me.

Bit classy for Bradders, a couple of lines from Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard. Came to mind this week as Joshua George, my grandson, and I were wandering round just that, an English churchyard.

Well, it would have been my Dad’s birthday last Sunday so me and ‘Bosher’ put some flowers on his grave – not too many as he would have said it was a waste of money, but just to say hello really.

Bosh was fascinated by the rooks in the nearby trees and while we were wandering round it struck me how many people I knew who were buried in that churchyard.

There’s such history to be found.

Who were some of those people?

They must all have had a tale to tell. Who was Mary Jane McBain?

What did Fred Lippett do? A woman who died in 1998, and whose husband had died 50 years before. Imagine, 50 years as a widow. Some of the graves are neglected as relatives have maybe moved on or the family has died out, while some were very well kept. The old churchyard is a good place to sit and think about things.

I went back to slimming this week and I’ve lost 8lbs. It’s just about eating the right stuff and getting some exercise, so it’s back to a bit of running and the gym.

Talking about the right food, I was a bit disappointed when I went into my local store this week.

Last Friday they had some yoghurts, proper slimming sort, very tasty and only 19 pence each, so I went back this week and they were 39 pence each.

Now if that were petrol or a pint of beer there would be uproar.

Talking of slimming, have you ever done any belly dancing ? No, neither have I, but I suspect it will come as my good lady is organising the world’s biggest belly dance for Children in Need and with it a new entry in the Guinness Book of records.

Now that does not mean you have to have the biggest belly, it just means lots of people have to do it.

I believe she is trying to get 500 people to do it at Malvern Theatre on November 8.

She’s even got the Worcester Warriors players at it next week.

Now there are one or two of those front row boys who might look nice with the bells jingling round their middles!

If you fancy having a go, visit bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester.