Month: June 2013

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Crescendo

Laughter and Lyrics Choir I'm the white haired one 7th from left and caroline is the gorgeous oneon the right of the middle

Laughter and Lyrics Choir
I’m the white haired one 7th from left and Caroline is the gorgeous one on the right of the middle

An emotionally charged post for Haiku Heights prompt word ‘crescendo’.  I joined a ladies’ choir this year run by Caroline Edwards at the Everyman Theatre.  It is held on Friday mornings and several of my friends including those from WI joined too.  Lots of choirs popped up in the UK after the charismatic Gareth Malone appeared on TV to prove that everyone could sing by setting up choirs in all kinds of establishments.  Of course in order to make a beautiful sound you need a great teacher to whip you into shape.  We have Caroline for that and she is wonderful.  She has moulded our lively group of women into a choir!

We have a great deal of fun, drink lots of coffee, eat lots of cake, chat a lot, and have become firm friends who support each other.   caroline runs several choirs who will all get together on 15th July for a grand show at the theatre.  It is a sell out concert.  My heart breaks that after all my practicing I won’t actually be there on the night.  However I have enjoyed every minute with our choir ‘Laughter and Lyrics’.  The last song we are singing at the show is Sing ~ I know that along with a backdrop of video images produced by the fabulous Mark Kempner, there won’t be a dry eye in the house.  I will post a clip after the event when it goes public, but for now listen to Gary barlow and the Military Wives Choir as you read my haiku on ‘crescendo’

Deep emotions flow
To spine-tingling crescendo
Heartfelt harmony
~
Together we stand
Black with a splash of colour
Hearts break while we sing
~
‘Latte and Lyrics’
Choir gathers, faces aglow
Singing with gusto

~
Caroline’s choir grows
Along with coffee and cake
Gathering goosebumps
~
Perfect performance
As 5000 women sing
Hymn ‘Jerusalem’

I recently went to the Annual general meeting of the WI at Cardiff Arena again.  As always it reaches a crescendo when the 4000 plus women sing Jerusalem.  When you are part of it the sound is wonderful.   This clip is from 2010 when I was one of the women singing.

 

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Open gardens for the NGS

 

Although the weather was cool and cloudy today, we visited Sandywell barn House in Whittington, which was open as part of the National garden Scheme (NGS). There are over 3700 gardens in the UK which open for one or more days a year to raise money for charity. Most of them are privately owned and a labour of love ~ and it shows. Sandywell was a lovely garden, the work of a lovely ‘plantaholic’ designer lady and her husband. The garden was set in 2.5 acres and totally walled in with some brick wall and some old Cotswold stone. Their lovely house was converted from an old cow shed but is now really settled in the landscape near to the beautiful Sandywell Manor House, which itself is now apartments.

Originally the money raised all went to Nursing charities. Today there are many medical charities supported including; Macmillan Cancer Relief, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Help the Hospices and Crossroads Caring for Carers.

NGS gives away more than £2.5 million each year to nursing, caring and gardening charities and over the last 15 years they have given more than £25 million in total. Most of the work is done by volunteers so the charity’s overheads are small. Consequently more than 80p in every pound raised goes directly to the charities. A wonderful result I think.

As I said the weather was not brilliant and I am not a great nature photographer but I will let me photos show you some of the highlights of this gorgeous garden.

Open garden

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Lunch

 

Inspired by Haiku Heights prompt word “Lunch”

I have simple tastes when it comes to food, especially lunch.  In winter there is nothing better than home-made soup and crusty bread with lots of butter.

With fresh home-made soup

Crusty bread from the oven

A nourishing meal

P1080686

I think the best lunches I ever had were on holidays travelling in France.  It was such a treat to buy wines, cheeses, French breads, and wonderful cakes from the patisserie.  My favourite cakes were called “Religieuse” as they look like a nun in her habit.  They are usually made of choux pastry filled with the most delicious cream and covered with ganache.  A bit like an éclair, they are usually coffee or chocolate flavour they are simply the best cake ever.  A picnic by a river in France is my idea of heaven, especially if it is near the Pyrenees!

Soft cheese on French bread

Religieux to follow

And café au lait

200px-Religieuses

A picnic is best

Sitting by a river on

A warm sunny day

~

Today I got a photo of my son enjoying a pint.  His term is over and holidays are just beginning. Tomorrow he sets off for Bali in Indonesia for a friend’s wedding.  Happy days.

End of the school year

Liquid lunch to celebrate

Happy holidays

~

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Enigma

Inspired by haiku heights

Inspired by haiku heights

At the dialysis unit where my husband is a patient there are some really interesting old characters.  If you take the time to chat to them, all manner of fascinating facts emerge about their lives.  One such dear man was called Peter.  I knew he had been in the navy during the war, and so had my father and my father in law, so we had a lot to chat about.  He loved to read and, knowing I enjoyed books, he brought one in for me one day.  He told me that he was in this book!  It was a naval adventure book based on true incidents.  On reading the book I found that he was indeed in it!

During the war Peter had been 2nd Lieutenant on HMS Hero, a naval destroyer.  Coincidentally, the ship had been built in Newcastle on Tyne in 1936 at the Vickers Armstrong shipyard where my father had started work as a 13 year old lad in 1936.  Who knows, he may even have worked on The Hero!

Anyway, the reason this story fits in with today’s Haiku heights prompt word “Enigma”, is that the Hero was actually the ship that torpedoed the German submarine U-559 which was carrying the Enigma machine and the code books.  These were of vital importance to the allies during the war as they enabled the codebreakers at Bletchley Park to give advance warning to the ships in the Arctic Convoys, which were suffering terrible casualties.

Briefly, what happened was that on 30th October 1942 an RAF patrol aircraft spotted the German submarine and alerted HMS Hero by radio.  When the sub realised she had been spotted by hero, she dived but too late.  Hero dropped depth charges which cracked the sub’s pressure hull.  This caused explosions and flooding on board the sub and 4 crewmen died.  The rest of the crew evacuated the sub as it was forced to surface. The U-559 sub was known to be carrying the Enigma machine and code books so the youngest, fittest and slimmest crewmen from HMS Petard, a nearby ship, were sent to board the stricken sub through the holed hull.  These were Lieutenant Fasson, Able Seaman Grazier, and improbable but true, a 16 year old NAAFI canteen assistant, Tommy Brown.  They managed to swim to the abandoned sub and get inside.  They located the Enigma machine and the code books with all the current settings for the Enigma key and retrieved them.  Sadly only one of these brave men survived to tell the tale.  Grazier and Fasson drowned when the submarine sank as they tried to get out.

The Enigma machine and codes they retrieved was immensely valuable to the code-breakers at Bletchley Park, who had been unable to crack the codes.  For details of how Enigma works and photos of the three brave men who gave so much, click this link http://www.nww2m.com/2012/10/sci-tech-tuesday-70th-anniversary-of-enigma-capture-from-u-559/

Peter, was 2nd Lieutenant on HMS Hero and there is a photo of him in the book.  It shows a tall, fit young man with dark hair and a bushy beard looking very smart in his uniform on board ship.  Peter died recently, elderly and frail, but thanks to the book his story will never die.

Orders were scrambled

Unbreakable codes concealed

In the ocean’s depths

 ~

Running the gauntlet

Torn apart by torpedoes

In Arctic Convoys

 ~

HMS Hero

Retrieved the Enigma, when

Able seamen dived

 

HMS Hero

HMS Hero

Unbreakable codes

The ultimate enigma

Cracked at Bletchley Park

During World War II, the Germans used the Enig...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/enigma_01.shtml

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Ripples

This post is inspired by Haiku Heights prompt word ‘Ripples’.

Little plastic ducklings

Little plastic ducklings

Ducklings bobbing as

Babies learn to swim, making

Ripples in the pool

Stanley learning to swim

Stanley learning to swim

~

Fishermen despair

As dipping ducks surface in

Ripples on the lake

~

With muscles rippling

She races to complete the

London Marathon

My daughter did the London Marathon in 2010.  She said it was the most fantastic and memorable day ever. The 26.2 miles were long, gruelling and emotional but she completed it in a respectable 4 hours, 20 minutes and 33 seconds. She raised £2032 for Myeloma UK.

~

Recession’s ripples

Spread round the world.  The poor are

The first to suffer

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Wireless waves ripple

“War is over”.  Not heard in

Jungles of Burma

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Deep in the Burmese jungle in 1945, the “forgotten army”, including my uncle Robert, had no idea the war was over.  News took a while to filter through; some had no radios and others had no time to listen to the BBC.

Mountbatten said, “You call yourselves the ‘forgotten army’, well you are wrong.  At home they haven’t even heard of you”.

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My tribute to Nelson Mandela

220px-Nelson_Mandela-2008_(edit)

This week’s word prompt at haiku heights is the word “Chivalry”.  My understanding of this word for the modern age is an honourable person with strength ~ of mind, body and soul, who is courageous and disciplined and uses their power to protect the weak and defenceless.  This defines Nelson Mandela perfectly in my opinion.

Cherishing freedom

He fought with true dignity

And changed the whole world

~

With perseverance

For freedom and harmony

He gave his whole life

~

On Robben Island

Prepared to die for his cause

He rocked the whole world

My grandson, Ben, was reading a book about Nelson Mandela for his homework on Monday and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to discuss this living legend with him.  Someone once said “If you can’t explain it to a 6 year old, you don’t understand it yourself”.  I hope I gave Ben and Rosie a clear view of just how extraordinary and special this man is.  In fact I said that in my opinion he is a living saint!

I can’t imagine a world without Nelson Mandela, I am sure it will be a poorer place.  All my adult life he seems to have been in the news or making the news.  I remember the protest marches, the Sharpeville Massacre which took place on 21 March 1960 and shocked the world.  And how could anyone forget the fabulous song, “Free Nelson Mandela”, by the Specials.  You can listen to it here and I bet you can’t keep your body still ~ you just have to dance!  It reminds me of the cricket club I went to near Kisumu in Kenya with some friends in 1985.  The Tanzanian band played all night until the early hours and the dancing was out of this world.  I was lucky enough to go to one of the original tour concerts of Ladysmith Black Mambazo in 1987 too.  I will never forget that night, especially the township jive!

So, while the irreplaceable 94 year old, is still struggling for survival in a Johannesburg hospital, I thought I would pay tribute to him in my blog.  Firstly I would like to honour him by using his own name!  He was named Rolihlahla Dalibhunga by his parents but was given his English name, Nelson, by a teacher on his first day at school.  He is fondly known by his clan name – “Madiba” among his own people.  It is from the Xhosa tribe to which he belonged.

He wrote his own story in a book called Long Walk to Freedom.
Mandela expressed his goal so eloquently from the dock in court in 1964 thus:

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities,” he said. 

“It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

I think that he achieved his life’s ambition and he has left a great legacy in the form of the Elders.  They give me hope that the world will one day be a free, fair and just place for all people regardless of creed, colour or politics.

You can find all the facts and figures about Nelson Mandela’s life on the wonderful BBC site just click the link.

ladysmith Black mambazo band

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The Ivy Church at Ampney St Mary in the Cotswolds

This ancient little church is a little gem which I normally drive right past on my way to pick up the grandchildren from school.  It sits off the busy A417 which goes from Cirencester to Fairford.  Today I decided to stop and have a look around.  It was a bit drizzly but I still managed to get some photographs which I will put in a gallery for you to enjoy.

It is very ancient with the remains of a stone cross in the grounds where travelling monks would have given sermons originally.  The church itself was built of local limestone rubble around 1250 and it has a very simple interior.  Unusually it has a stone screen separating the nave from the chancel, or the people from the altar.  It probably had a wooden screen over this with a crucifix on it in the early days.  Originally there would have been no furniture or pews, just rushes on the stone floor where the people stood to hear Mass.  Most of the windows looked leaded to me and one is particularly unusual as it is set in a single piece of carved stone.  There is a very pretty bell tower which has a Sanctus Bell in it made about 1747 in Gloucester by Abel Rudhall.  It carries the motto, “Peace and Good Neighbourhood”.

Above there is a very rugged looking wagon vault roof of oak beams.

The oldest things in the church are probably the original stone entrance archway which is now sealed up.  On the outside, above this arch there is an ancient carving of a lion stamping on a two-headed serpent, representing good conquering evil. There is a griffon looking on.  Apparently it is the only one of its kind in England.  Inside the church there is a Norman stone font which is complete.  Then there is the beautiful arched door which is ancient and solid made from elm or oak.  It has the original metal hinges and handles.

Best of all inside are the remnants of wall paintings which were defaced then plastered over after the reformation.  There are intriguing bits of these paintings gradually being revealed but you have to look very hard to make them out.  I saw a face which I am sure is the Virgin Mary.  I saw a number of saints including St Christopher with the infant Jesus.  But try as I might I could not find St George and the dragon who is supposed to be depicted somewhere on the walls.

The history of this simple rural church is like a Disney story.  The parish in common with much of England was hit by the Black Death in medieval times.  So after 1350 the entire village with its remaining inhabitants was moved to higher ground in a nearby village.  Any cottages left fell into ruins.  The church was used less and less until eventually it was abandoned.  Ivy grew over it until it was entirely covered, disappeared, and was forgotten.  Doesn’t it have shades of Sleeping Beauty?   A century ago in 1913 it was discovered again and all the ivy removed to reveal this lovely little gem of history.  Since then it has been restored but with all its original features preserved.

The churchyard has a little stream running around it and a stone bridge which leads to a little wooded area.  Beyond this there is Ampney Brook which was in full flow today.  The ancient dry stone walls leading to the church from the brook are still there and I felt strange thinking of all those villagers of long ago who had trodden this same path to get to their little church.  Some had maybe lived through the Black Death and floods which were the ruin of their way of life.  Today there is a deep peace about the place and I am so glad I stopped to visit the Ivy Church.

Ampney Church of St Mary
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What would you campaign for?

I have been fascinated this month by the TV and Radio 4 coverage of the centenary of the death of an amazing Geordie woman and suffragette, Emily Davison.  Being a Geordie myself and something of a campaigner in my time, I can identify with the strength of feeling she had for her cause.  Her cause was women’s rights.

As part of my research for the WW1 play we will be doing next year in conjunction with the Everyman Theatre, I have been studying Emily Davison.

Emily Davison 1872-1913

Emily Davison
1872-1913

Emily was born in 1872 and was from a respectable Northumberland family.  She was intelligent and well educated, going up to Oxford University and gaining a first class honours.  However she could not graduate as degrees were closed to women.  The unfairness of this would not have escaped her.  She went on to study foreign languages before leaving to become a governess, then a teacher, after her father died leaving her mother unable to further fund Emily’s course.  But it was women’s suffrage that was her raison d’etre.

In 1906 she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). formed in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst

Emily progressed from disrupting meetings to stone throwing and arson.  She was arrested and imprisoned for various offences nine times.  In 1909 Emily was sentenced to a month’s hard labour for throwing rocks at the chancellor’s carriage.

On 2 April 1911 she was found “hiding in the crypt in the Houses of Parliament”.   She was actually in a cupboard in St Mary Undercroft, which is the chapel for the Palace of Westminster.  It was the night of the census and she wanted to put ‘House of Commons’ as her official residence.  I am awed by her cunning and courage, as was Tony Benn MP, who had a plaque about this event placed in the House in 1999, albeit in a broom cupboard!

In 1912 she was sentenced to six months in Holloway Prison for setting fire to a pillar box. While in prison she was force-fed after going on hunger strike.  This was a barbaric act akin to torture.  Indeed in the Houses of Parliament, the labour MP George Lansbury said the Prime Minister HH Asquith would go down in history as being, “the man who tortured women”.

On 4 June 2013 Emily took a risk too far when she tried to disrupt the Derby at Epsom, a famous horse race and British institution.  It was assumed for a long time that she had wanted to commit suicide when she ran onto the track in front of the King’s horse, Anmer.  However scholars, forensic scientists and others have examined evidence in recent years and have concluded that she probably just wanted to make a spectacular gesture by holding up her suffragette scarf and maybe putting it on the King’s horse, to draw attention to the cause.

Finally in 1914, the year the world was plunged into a dreadful war, Prime Minister Asquith made a commitment to giving women the vote after the war.

In 1918 the Representation of the People Act granted women over the age of 30 the right to vote, as long as they were married to, or a member of, Local Government Register.  It also extended men’s suffrage to the right for all men to vote over the age of 21, and abolished most property qualifications for men.

In 1928 women were granted equal suffrage with men as they could vote at the age of 21 and most of the property rules were abolished.

So Emily, along with the thousands of brave women in the suffragette movement, achieved her goal.  Her courage and steadfastness is remembered and celebrated still a hundred years on.

There is a wealth of documentary evidence and articles written about the Suffragettes and Emily Davison and I have added links for anyone who would like to know more.  I have also attached a link to newsreel of both her death and her wonderful funeral for those who would like to see it.

Being on the Public Affairs Committee in the Women’s Institute is my own way of making a difference in my own community and the world at large these days.  The WI campaigns on many issues and is well respected for their achievements.  The following article asks “what would suffragettes get off their backsides for today?”  Do read it.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/10096640/What-Emily-Wilding-Davison-and-the-suffragettes-would-get-off-their-backsides-for-today.html

Emily Davison's Funeral

Emily Davison’s Funeral

Related articles
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Moral

Inspired by Haiku heights word ‘Moral’.

Fairness and justice

Honesty and compassion

Gentleness is strength

~

Every night should be

Like Christmas Night for me, filled

With wonder and awe

~

As I sit and suffer this weekend,  the moral of this haiku is to listen to my own advice and stay away from children with colds!

Snuffling and sneezing

Grandchildren spreading their germs

Thought I was immune

As I missed the deadline for the last 2 prompts, Eccentric and Stone, I am adding the links here in the hope that you will take the time to read them.

Eccentric ~ http://wp.me/p2gGsd-Ul

Stone ~ http://wp.me/p2gGsd-U4

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Eccentric ~ Haiku

This post is for Haiku heights prompt word ‘Eccentric’

Everything about Warwick Castle was eccentric when we visited at the weekend.  The theme was ‘Horrible Histories’ so there were knights in armour and princesses, dragons and wizards in the towers as well as scarily lifelike waxwork models of kings, queens and nobility.

But the most eccentric things were the peacocks which seemed intent on stealing the show with their courtship and flying displays.  I have never seen a peacock perch so high in a tree before!

He shows no restraint

With his flamboyant display

Attracting a mate

Flirty Feathers

I missed the deadline for the Stone Haiku in which I posted lots of pictures of Warwick castle so please do click on the link and read it! http://wp.me/p2gGsd-U4

Meanwhile here are some more photos for you to enjoy

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Cotswold Stone

dry stone wall in the cotswolds

dry stone wall in the cotswolds

This post is inspired by the Haiku heights prompt word “Stone”

Golden meadows bound

With dry stone walling.  Built by

Cotswold craftsmen

The Cotswolds, where I live, is a very beautiful area in the heart of England, which covers the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

Beyond the hedgerows

As far as the eye can see

Yellow rapeseed glows

Rapeseed field

Rapeseed field

There are gentle hills and wolds, meandering rivers rich with salmon, trout, roach, bream and eels, a coastline along the Severn Valley, ancient woodland in the Forest of Dean complete with wild boar and roaming deer, beautiful market towns and unspoilt villages,  gorgeous thatched cottages, magnificent country houses, fertile farms, and even several castles!

One of the outstanding features of the Cotswolds is the beautiful stone which is used for building.  During the time of the enclosures act in Britain it was cheaper for farmers to enclose their land with dry-stone walls than to plant hedges, and to this day one of the special features of the Cotswolds is the golden dry-stone walls about a metre in height which border country lanes and lush farmland

The limestone found in the Cotswolds is from the Jurassic period about 150 million years ago, a time when dinosaurs roamed over the earth and the area was once below the sea.  It is still possible to find fossils in the rocky cliffs and quarries.  In fact Huntsman’s Quarry has a superb collection of large fossils that were unearthed during quarrying.

Fossilised features

Of prehistoric creatures

In limestone preserved

You can download a fascinating fact sheet about the quarry here

Quarrying has been carried out in the Cotswolds for many years, for sand, gravel and clay as well as stone.  Some of the old quarries have been turned into the Cotswold Water park which covers an area of  40 square miles and has 150 lakes.  All sorts ofwater sports go on here and it is a beautiful area to walk around enjoying the nature and wildlife.  You can read all about it here

At the weekend I took my grandchildren to Warwick castle to enjoy the Horrible Histories.  It was a great day out in wonderful weather.  The castle was sold by the Greville family in 1978 and is now owned by the business group that owns Madame Tussauds.  This has enhanced the visitor’s experience as every room is filled with models of the famous people who lived in or visited the castle.  It must cost millions to maintain the structure of this impressive building.  The walls are so think and the building so huge, that the bedrock is groaning under the strain.  But there is 1000 years of history oozing out of every stone.

Stone steeped in stories

Of secrets and scandals in

High society

Bedrock is cracking

Sinking under centuries

Of blood-soaked conflict

Enjoy my pictures from the weekend…