Wrap Artists

As I was walking along Trumpington Street in Cambridge the other day I glanced across the road to look at the lion statues which adorn the front of the Fitzwilliam Museum. They usually look like this:

Fine noble beasts as you can see. But today something was different:

What on earth was going on?
Luckily there was someone there to ask. He was, he explained, from the Oxfam shop in Mill Road which is a rather more wacky and artistic establishment than the usual racks of unstylish clothes and unwanted knick-knacks found in other charity shops. It was already starting to make some sort of sense. He handed me a leaflet "Oxfam Unwrapped" which explained about giving presents in the form of gifts to help the needy in developing countries - repair a school, dig a well, but a goat, that sort of thing. This exercise was to gain some publicity to the cause. To prove it the Mayor and assorted press people duly arrived. Quite how wrapping up a lion symbolises Oxfam Unwrapped I can't explain. I just love the way the second lion appears to have decided to ignore the whole absurd nonsense!

One more picture taken close by, but nothing to do with any of the foregoing:

Take care.

Shall We Walk A Little Farther?....

....a little farther along our mile of English road, that is. We'd got as far as the old school, I believe, scarcely 100 yards from our starting point!

We've come now to the village green, or rather what's left of it;  it's been whittled away over the centuries till now it's only a few paces across. It was probably never particularly extensive as the meadows which lie a short distance away down beside the river have always served for grazing animals, playing cricket and other purposes usually carried out on the green. The cottages above were actually built on part of the green.

Opposite the cottages stands one of the village's four pubs, The Green Man. It once served as a coaching inn and there are outbuildings behind the pub and the neighbouring house which tell of its former use. The building probably dates back to at least the sixteenth century when a pub called the Three Tuns is recorded as having been on this spot. Pub names have changed throughout the centuries.

Just east of The Green Man stands another pub The Red Lion, which has also been known as The Axe And Saw at times during its history. This was the pub I first frequented, somewhat before my eighteenth birthday, but with the blessing of the landlord of the pub, the village policeman and the local vicar!

The vicar at that time was a man who regularly hung his cassock up behind the pub door "to keep an eye on the rest of his flock". As he often pointed out "Jesus turned water into wine, not the other way about!". He allowed the young people of the village to play croquet on the vicarage lawn, mend our boat in his garage and take a short cut through his garden whenever we wanted. The pub landlord had tragically lost a son who was about my age, which was probably why he liked our company. On one occasion, so the story goes, someone barged into the pub, interrupting the landlord's conversation and demanding to know where the toilet was without any 'please or thankyou'. The landlord pointed out the direction, "It says 'Gentlemen' on the door, sir," he added, "but don't let that deter you!" As for the policeman, he played rock'n'roll piano on a Friday night and as he observed "It's easy for me to keep an eye on you lads when you're in the pub!"

It was even more convenient for him that the Police House was directly opposite the pub. Although there is still a policeman living in the house he's no longer the 'village bobby', if you need the police now you have to phone the main police station and they send out someone in a car, eventually.

Next to The Green Man is a large thatched house known as Byron's Lodge. The poet Byron did have some connection with the village and was supposed to have swum in nearby Byron's Pool, but no one seems to be too sure about his links to this house. 

And next to that is The White Cottage, a picturesque building with a fine show of roses in the front garden during the summer months. E N Willmer, in his book "Old Grantchester", published 35 years ago, tells us that the house has been occupied down the years by a butcher, a scrap-metal dealer, a Nobel Laureate, a professor of music (Sir William Sterndale Bennett, no less)and an authority on the preservation of African big game.

Well, we've still got a fair way to go.

Take care.

St Mary The Less

I will get back to the mile of English road which we began in the last post. However I intend to briefly digress for a quick visit to one of the less well-known churches in the city of Cambridge to see something which may interest the Statesiders among you. We get a lot of American tourists in Cambridge but I'll bet that few of them go home with this obscure little nugget of information.

We have to go to the church of St Mary The Less, or Little St Mary's. It's the church which is "little" or "less" not the saint herself, and it is so known to differentiate it from Great St Mary's, the university church which stands right in the centre of town. St Mary The Less is easy to walk past without noticing, hidden as it is behind trees and tucked in between the huge United Reform Church and Peterhouse College. It also lacks a tower or spire to give it distinction.

But Little St Mary's Lane is a quaint area which is worth exploring, though again very few people do so.

And the church has a secluded little graveyard behind it, pretty in summer and atmospheric in winter. The church itself though is so shy and self-effacing that it's impossible to get a satisfactory picture of its exterior. We'll have to venture inside....

....to find a surprisingly light and airy building, elegant and uncluttered. There's a striking representation of the Virgin Mary in a side chapel too.

But this is what I've brought you to see....

....a memorial to Godfrey Washington  b.1670 - d.1729, a former minister of this church, we are told. He was from the same family as George Washington, the first President of the USA. If you cast your eye to the family coat of arms above the inscription you'll see the "stars and stripes" of the Washington family which were to form the basis of the US flag.
Take care.

A Mile Of English Road

Two or three times a week I walk from Trumpington to Grantchester (or vice versa) and entertain myself by thinking about the history of the places I pass, both their proper, formal history and the informal, personal stories that each place evokes. Gradually this has taken shape as a projected blog-post, though it would be a very long one. But here goes with the first few hundred yards!

We'll start at the Grantchester end, not actually at my mother's house (for she's the reason for my frequent visits) but at the road-junction known to locals as the Rose And Crown turning. The pub which stands there now is called "The Rupert Brooke" after the poet who lost his life in the First World War. I suppose the change of name - in the 70s, I think - was to attract the tourists, but locals viewed the change of identity with disdain and carried on calling it the Rose, or if they were feeling witty, "The Bear" - from Rupert Bear, of course. It wasn't always a T-junction either; it was once a crossroads with a road running through what is now the pub car park. The course of the track can be seen in the meadow beyond. When I was a schoolboy there was an archaeological dig which unearthed Roman artefacts in that meadow proving the antiquity of the site. It's what you might expect - Grantchester - Granta Castra - Latin for the camp on the River Granta.

Next to the pub is a house with a huge front window which rather gives the game away - it was once one of several shops in the village. Now sadly there are none. The eagle-eyed may see several little windows reflected in the glass. These are part of Wright's Row, a much-loved and much-photographed group of cottages.

Unfortunately it's rare to see the Row nowadays without cars parked in front. As you can see the cottages in the row are of different styles and different ages. The Cambridge Cottage Improvement Society took them over in 1938 as a result of the generosity of the gloriously named Jimmy Nutter, once the miller of the village. There were formerly eight cottages but the Society reorganised them into five dwellings. Even so they are not particularly spacious abodes. You might just make out one of the former doorsteps in the middle of the picture. A child with excessive energy and imagination might run along knocking on all the doors and then hide in the bushes to see the fun. Not me, of course.

After Vicarage Drive stands a small thatched building known as The Reading Room. It was where the village youth club used to meet and one of our projects was to redecorate the inside of the room for the village. I can tell you that painting around those tiny diamond-shaped panes of glass is not a task for those without patience. Although it was known as The Reading Room I don't think it was used much for that purpose, though it did contain a couple of bookcases. It was used, as it still is, as an annex to the Village Hall, which stands behind it, and was used for small groups to hold meetings. It was originally built as the village school, in 1830, and was said to be so successful that it once had 100 pupils, many coming from neighbouring villages which had no schools. Goodness knows how they all fitted in to the tiny building. As you can see it's connected to the house next door which was the schoolmaster's house.

And opposite stands the Victorian school building, now a private house. My brother attended for a short while but I was already at grammar school when we moved into the village.

Well, we don't seem to have travelled very far at all. Another day perhaps.

Take care.

Squeezeboxing

On the 23rd of May, 1829, a Herr Zyril Demian of Vienna received a patent "on the invention of a new instrument, called accordion". Within 20 years tens of thousands of sqeezeboxes were being produced every year and exported to all corners of the world. A new craze was sweeping the world.

Most people will be familiar with the piano accordion with its piano-type keyboard at one end and a mass of little buttons operating the basses and chords at the other, the two being joined by a bellows which pumps air to both ends. There is however a huge number of variations on the theme and while the piano-accordion is a fully chromatic instrument, capable of playing in any key, many squeezeboxes are diatonic instruments which are confined to one or two keys. The instrument seen above is my little darling, a Saltarelle 'Le Bouebe' closed-fingerboard two-row melodeon in D/G, "Sally" for short.

"Sally" is an excellent instrument for pumping out country dance music from England, Scotland, USA and elsewhere. The system requires frequent changes of direction of the bellows which gives a bouncy feel to the music. It's basically the same system as is used on a mouth-organ or harmonica but instead of sucking and blowing with the mouth you use the bellows. "Nothing but a mouth-organ with an iron lung" was how I once heard it described.

The joys of playing the instrument are neatly described by John Kirkpatrick, as finer squeezeboxer as you're ever likely to hear:
   " These......instruments sometimes take on a vigorous life of their own which can defeat even the most determined practitioner. As well as contributing a varied repertoire of mechanical noises - clicks from the buttons, bumps from the bellows, and sudden rushes of air in tunes which stubbornly refuse to allow an equal quota of pushes and pulls - they can whisk the player off unawares along all kinds of unexpected and uncharted paths. Rather than standing four-square among their limitations, they turn the most predictable tune into a hair-raising adventure!"

Some little known squeezebox facts:
      -  the Zulu people of southern Africa refer to the concertina as a "Squashbox"
      -  the ancestor of these instruments, the Chinese lu sheng, a kind of mouth organ, has been in existence for around two thousand years.
      -  Hitler hated the squeezebox and the Nazi party passed laws to prevent accordion bands from playing classical music.
      -  the blues songster Leadbelly played a simple melodeon. He called it a "windjammer".
      -  the word "squeezebox" is known in Welsh, but because the language is lacking in the letters Q, Z and X it is spelt "scwisbocs". Welsh also lacks the letter J, which is inconvenient for about half the population who bear the surname Jones.
  

Take care.

PS - This is nothing to do with accordions but I've just been listening to the news on the radio. A spokesman for the Labour party has just accused the Conservative government of "sitting on their hands and twiddling their thumbs"! Must try that!

By The Wayside....

......being another collection of oddities and curiosities from this land called England.


Cromwell's House

Cromwell's house in Ely....

In Ely just a stone's throw from the Cathedral stands this rather fine building which was once the house of Oliver Cromwell. He actually inherited the house and the position of Collector Of Tithes for the Cathedral from his uncle. Cromwell lived a fairly quiet life for his first 40 years, also having a smallholding in St Ives raising chickens and sheep for a while. He was born in Huntingdon and all three small market towns - Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives - claim him as one of their own. Depending on your point of view he was either a murderous opportunist or a great fighter for liberty and equality. He remains the only man to overthrow the monarchy - so far!

....and his statue in St Ives.

Another Lock-up

At the road junction in Barley stands another lock-up where troublemakers were apprehended until they could be dealt with by the courts. It doesn't look a particularly comfortable place to spend the night as there's neither the room to stand up or lie down; better to cause trouble elsewhere!


Unique Pub Sign

Very close to the primitive building above stands this rather grand pub sign; the only one that I've ever seen (and I've seen a few!) that goes right across the road. Whatever you think about hunting with dogs "The Fox And Hounds" serves a very nice pint and some good food.


Two Unusual Churches

Not all our English churches are either ancient or grand. Above is the little thatched church at Duddenhoe End which is beautiful but not that old. And below is the "Revelation" church at Meldreth which stands in a back yard but is used for worship every week.

Ho-ho, What's this?

This difficult-to-describe feature is known, not as a "ho-ho", but a "ha-ha". This kind of sunken fence was quite the thing to have in a grand country house if you wanted both a beautiful flower garden and a deer-park. Gardens and deer don't exactly go together so the "ha-ha" was invented to keep the deer to the left of the picture away from the flowers which were grown on the right, while giving those in the house uninterrupted views across both. Nobody seems to know why it's called a "ha-ha", unless it was a cruel response to unwitting souls who fell in!

Cottage Colours

Even the most unobservant traveller couldn't fail to notice this cottage in Linton, looking as if it's been decorated by a ten-year-old girl aiming to annoy her parents. Interestingly, pink, though not as shocking as this example, was frequently seen on the walls of country cottages; ox-blood was mixed with the lime-wash to give the effect.

Love Is Eternal

Ever wondered what becomes of all those hearts carved on trees by young lovers? Just occasionally they survive, growing deeper with the years. Lets hope that their love did the same.

Take care.

Glittering Prizes!

Apparently this blog has been selected by Granny Sue at

Granny Sue's News And Reviews

for something called a "Liebster Award".

 The "Liebster Blog" award is given to up-and-coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

"Liebster", she informs me, is a German word meaning

"cutest".

It's a long while since such a word was used in conjunction with the grizzled individual that I've become, but I was always taught to accept graciously and give generously so

"Thank you, Granny Sue"

or as I think of her Cousin Sue, for she is indeed my cousin.

 I should make it clear though,

before we are accused under the Old Pals Act,

 that my cousin and I have never met except through our respective blogs.

Something always got between us -

The Atlantic Ocean!

Granny Sue lives in West Virginia and is a storyteller and poet. If, like me, you'll probably never visit her home among the mountains then visit her blog for what is surely the next best thing.

There are strict and important rules, I'm told, which go with such prestigious awards:

1. Thank the giver and link back to her/him.
2. Reveal your top picks and leave a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

 Which leaves No 2 unanswered. So here's the giving generously part:

Stardust English Talk

Quite possibly the most beautiful place to touch down in the whole Blogosphere.

 I'll let the writer introduce herself:

"I’m a Japanese, non-native speaker of English, who was born and raised in Kobe, a cosmopolitan port city, and now live in Nara, the cradle of Japanese culture. I'm happy to share things and places I love with you and exchange ideas and thoughts."

Yoko alias stardust. 

Wayfarin' Stranger

"I am a retired scientist, educator, and administrator. I'm of Scots-Irish and English descent and have deep roots (8 generations) in Appalachia, primarily eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia. My professional interests and training are in ecology and environmental quality; my post-professional interests are sufficiently numerous and varied to assure I will never be bored. Jim"

 Posts about his home area. Written with skill, knowledge and sincerity and illustrated with fine photographs.

Salt And Light (incorporating Saltaire Daily Photo)

Great photography and plenty of historical background of her Yorkshire home by a lady calling herself "jenny freckles".

Also one of the most faithful followers of my blog -

but I'd recommend a visit to Salt And Light even if she wasn't!

Doug's Photo Blog

If you visit, and you really should, you'll be welcomed with the following words:

"Thought I'd create a new venue for my photography and have some fun with it! I'm pulling a wide selection of images from my files and displaying them on my blog, including contemporary Charleston photography, shots from various travels, color abstracts, plus anything else interesting. Hope you enjoy....."

As finer photographs as you'll find anywhere.

And last but by no means least

Flying High!

 

Written by Pam. I just admire her love and enthusiasm for all our feathered friends be they rare and exotic or the everyday species around her home.

 

"My interest in birds and nature stemmed initially after seeing a Nuthatch while on a short break at Center Parcs in Nottingham several years ago. I am a keen bird/nature watcher and also enjoy all other aspects of the natural world around us. I am learning more as each season comes and goes."

But really I could have chosen any of the list on the right-hand sidebar of this blog; I love 'em all.

Take care.