Eden Valley Messenger

VOLUNTEER MAKES 11,724 MILES ROUND TRIP FOR EDEN CHARITY

A VOLUNTEER at the Stainmore Railway Company regularly makes am 11,724 mile round trip from his home in Japan to help the charity based at Kirkby Stephen East Station – and he is so keen to get more involved, he and his wife have bought a house in the town.

Iain Robinson is currently working towards his Phd with Durham University, studying the urban environment of Japan, where he has lived for the past seven years, with his Japanese wife Edera.

But throughout that time he has made flights back to Cumbria to help with the Heritage Open Days and other events organised by the Stainmore Railway Company.

Iain said: “My subject is geography, and I visited Japan for many years before settling down there. But I have always kept my links with Kirkby Stephen.

“My grandfather worked on the line from 1935 until it was closed in the early 1960s. He was a relief signal man, based at Barnard Castle, but as the line was wound down the railways did not replace signal men, using relief men to man the boxes here.

“My grandfather, Wilfred Ransom retired to Nateby where he lived into the 1980s.”

Iain and Edera live in a rural area of Japan, and are both looking forward to spending more time in Kirkby Stephen.

Iain said: “We have just bought a house in Kirkby Stephen, but we will not be living here full time for a few years yet, as we both have work commitments in Japan. But it will give me more time to volunteer at Kirkby Stephen East.

“Because we both work in translation, we can work anywhere in the world, and we both thought Kirkby Stephen was the ideal place for us.”

And Iain will be bringing his local choir from Japan to perform across Cumbria this summer.

The Naruto Choir has been together 15 years and is made up of people from a town the size of Appleby-in-Westmorland, 60 miles east of Tokyo on the coast. The choir will be touring Cumbria from July 7-19 with a concert at Kirkby Stephen Parish Church on July 13.

Iain added: “We will be singing in both English and Japanese. Because of the difficulty people face taking long holidays in Japan, we will be bringing a group of about nine singers. We sing a cappella, and the programme will be made up of a third Japanese songs, a third European secular and a third church music. The choir have never had the opportunity to sing in a stone building, as even the temples in Japan are made of wood due to the threat of earthquakes.

“This will be a great opportunity for the choir to sing in the traditional stone churches much of the music we enjoy singing was written for,

“The Japanese have a lot of working and children’s songs, and we will be performing a selection of these.”

More details of the Naruto Choir tour and events at Kirkby Stephen East Station will be featured on this site when more details become available.

CAPTION

LONG distance volunteers Iain Robinson at Kirkby Stephen East Station.

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