Vincent's Story

Today's musical choice is a song about being content with what you've got and holding on to optimism in times of difficulty. It may or may not be to your taste musically but I hope you'll at least find the story behind it interesting. It was told to me by someone who was brought up in Jamaica and was a big fan of reggae music. If there are any mistakes in this account they are almost certainly mine.

On the record label it read:

No Woman No Cry

(V Ford)

Bob Marley and the Wailers

But just who was V Ford?

Vincent Ford, often known simply by his nickname "Tata", was born in Trenchtown, one of the poorest areas of Kingston, Jamaica. He was a friend of the young Bob Marley and managed to keep him out of serious trouble during his youth. Although never a wealthy man, Vincent was a source of advice and encouragement to those he knew and was always willing to share whatever he had with his friends. He eventually ran a soup kitchen to help the poor of his neighbourhood. 

In the 1970s his friend Bob Marley suddenly became a worldwide star, though his Rastafarian beliefs were often at odds with the music industry. In particular he was in dispute with his manager over song-writing royalties. Marley had no objection to his manager receiving a cut of the money from the tours he organised, or the record deals he negotiated on the band's behalf, but he didn't see why he should be entitled to share in the proceeds of the songwriting, in which he had no creative part. Like many young musicians of that era Bob had signed a contract without reading the small print and could do nothing to change things.

Despite his rather chaotic lifestyle and his consumption of industrial quantities of marijuana, Marley was an astute man and soon saw a way through the impasse: rather than claim authorship of the songs himself he would attribute them to his close friends and family, thereby depriving his management of their cut while still providing for those he cared about. And thus it was that Vincent Ford, a man with no previous musical pedigree, found himself the writer of four of Marley's songs, including his biggest hit.

Nobody really believed the story about him composing the song,  but lawyers couldn't disprove it and Ford was too smart to ever answer the question directly. And so the work of the Trenchtown soup kitchen was able to continue and Vincent Ford himself came to rely on his friend's generosity when he became a wheelchair-user during the last years of his life.

Remember: "Ever'thing's gonna be alright, ever'thing's gonna be alright......"


Take care.

Lunchtime Concert

It's a wonderful thing to have a musical maestro living in the neighbourhood. This particular one perches in the trees directly outside my window and performs regular recitals for everyone in this little cul-de-sac, though he's actually singing to a rather dowdy brown bird, the female Blackbird who is the object of his affections.

I rather hoped he'd be centre stage during the dawn chorus I shared with you yesterday - he was there but chose a position in the wings, letting others take lead vocals. However he apparently does requests and, sure enough, almost as soon as I'd published yesterday's post he was out there performing solo (almost) just for me - and for you too....

Little does he know that his song may now be heard all over the world.


Take care.

One Morning Early

Even the dark cloud of Covid19 has an unexpected bright lining of silvery, early-morning birdsong, without the intrusive distraction of early morning traffic rumbling along the distant A10. You don't normally notice the sound of the road but the unforgiving ear of my little sound recorder registers everything. This is just under three minutes of the half-hour or so that I recorded....

(don't bother to watch the picture -it doesn't change!)

There's a Blackbird singing away manfully and tunefully behind the incisive chirps of Blue Tits and Great Tits. A Pheasant shouts "Go back!" and a cockerel crows in the distance. Magpies and Crows can be heard passing overhead. Wood Pigeons coo "take two cows Taffy" and sometimes I think I can a Robin in the background. There may be others too; I know there was a Jay and a Wren on the longer recording.

Anyway that gives you an insight on what sort of things I get up to if I wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning, though scrupulous editing has saved you from the sounds emanating from the bathroom.


Take care.

Churches Revisited

Back in September 2011, soon after I started this blog, I gave readers a tour around an English village church. Someone was foolish enough to request more such posts and I was only too happy to oblige. I'm not sure how many churches I've visited since but it must be over a hundred, and every one of them is different and every one is a precious historical document.

Here are a dozen that we've seen  (with links to previous posts where relevant) in alphabetical order:

Arkesden

I remember well the first time I went into the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Arkesden. We were having a long period of wet weather, but I decided to go for a walk anyway. I arrived, tired and muddy, and it immediately started raining. I sought shelter in the church porch and decided that, having found the door open, I'd take off my filthy boots and pad around inside in my socks. I'm glad I did as there were a series of interesting monuments inside. I went back a couple of years later when the sun was shining and found a picture-perfect village with many thatched cottages. 

Ayot St Peter

The pretty little church at Ayot St Peter is not as old as the others included here, having been built in 1875. It's usually kept locked, but on National Heritage Days it is open so that the public can enjoy its beautiful Arts & Crafts style interior. I made certain to go on one of those days last September and you can see the photos here.

Barrington

The village of Barrington stands just a few miles from home. It's a very picturesque place with cottages all around its huge village green, one of the largest in England. It's very much part of its community, something which I tried to show here by including the road, road signs and man walking his dog in the photo. It was once the parish of the learned and eccentric Rev Edward Conybeare, some of whose curious tales about the Cambridge colleges I wrote about here.

Bengeo

St Leonard's Church in Bengeo is just about the most perfectly preserved Saxon/Norman church you're ever likely to find. It stands, not in deep countryside as you might expect, but on the edge of the town of Hertford. It owes its preservation to the Victorian family who had just enough money to repair it, but not enough to start knocking it about and "improving" it.

Clothall

Despite being not far from a main road, Clothall Church has the feeling of being a secret, as well as a sacred, place. It may be that its obscure position saved it from the attentions of the Protestant iconoclasts who may have passed by without stopping to destroy the ancient stained-glass windows, which can still be viewed inside.

Cold Christmas

This ruined church is usually known as Cold Christmas church, from the unforgettably-named hamlet nearby, though it actually belonged to Thundridge village which slowly migrated over the centuries down to the main A10 road and left the old church isolated. So when a new church was required it was built nearer to the houses. All that remains here is an ivy-clad tower and stories of witches and ghosts - quite a place on a foggy morning!

Harleston

Deep in the Suffolk countryside is a group of three tiny, little-known, but nevertheless fascinating churches. I visited all three in the course of a pleasant walk back in November 2014. The church at Onehouse looks the most ancient, while that at Shelland is unique in that it's painted pink with bright red beams inside. The third of them is the lovely thatched church at Harleston.

Lavenham

Lavenham church is one of the most magnificent churches you're likely to find anywhere. It was built between 1486 and 1525 with the proceeds from the wool trade, which was huge in the area at that time, and is a fine example of late-Perpendicular church architecture. Despite this it's often missed by visitors to the town who understandably become entranced by the little town of Lavenham itself, which has more half-timbered buildings than any town of its size.

Little Hormead

Little Hormead Church is tucked away in beautiful countryside in Hertfordshire. It contains a very old door, though I've never seen it as it was undergoing restoration work both times when I visited. I really must try again as soon as I can.

Long Melford

Long Melford is another "wool church", built when this area was at the heart of Medieval England's biggest and most lucrative industry. Last time I visited I promised that I'd go back when I had more time to look at its Medieval stained glass, though I still haven't got around to it.

Wiggenhall St Germans

The Silt Fens, or Marshland, of North Cambridgeshire and NW Norfolk were also extremely wealthy in Medieval times. About a year ago I visited the four Wiggenhall churches - the ruined St Peter's, the redundant church of St Mary the Virgin, and the still active churches of St Mary Magdalen and St German's. All four churches are full of interest, especially the wood-carving. There are several more churches in the area which I have yet to investigate.

Woolpit

Last, but certainly not least, we come to the church at Woolpit which has many fine features including an angel roof. 

I hope you've enjoyed that little saunter back through the past life of this blog, and I hope it won't be too long before I can add a few new posts. I feel that our village churches are one of the great, largely unknown parts of our heritage. They lie scattered, with often just a mile or two between them, all over the country. Most are open to the public throughout daylight hours, others have a notice explaining how you can borrow the key from someone living nearby. Don't be shy, go and take a look. Oh, and don't forget to drop a few coins in the collection box to help pay for the upkeep of these fine buildings.


Take care.

Evening Skies

There have been some unlikely shifts in perception in the last few days. There is of course one big subject, but there's not much new to be said about it. Most people seem to be content with a simple "You doing OK?" when they meet and then move on to other matters which, as one matter is pressing down on us unrelentingly, have bobbed unexpectedly to the surface. What's more, these things, which we'd usually keep to ourselves, are discussed in loud voices as we maintain a physical distance from others while, at the same time, we are all in this together.

Thus it is that, with no football to talk about, two middle-aged men might find themselves involved in a conversation about birdsong, wildflowers and sunsets. Oh, and did you know that there's a "super moon" tonight?

A new moon in April is apparently known as a "pink moon", not for its colour but from the flower which they say is blooming at this time in North America, from whose indigenous peoples these poetic terms are derived. Yesterday evening though, perhaps because of the thin cloud layer in the upper atmosphere, it had a glorious golden glow for a few minutes shortly after sunset.

Browsing absent-mindedly through the less-visited parts of the internet yesterday I came across a radio programme which is usually a brief biography of a major figure in the news. This episode however concerned a young Polish pianist whom the presenter had recently discovered and whose music brought his some solace in recent evenings, opening up peaceful, gently shifting landscapes in his mind.

Funny thing that, because somehow I'd discovered the same music at roughly the same time.....

That's Hania Rani playing "Esja", a track on her solo piano album of the same name. It takes its title from a mountain in Iceland.


Take care.

Spring - It's Still Out There!

Just a few photos to let you know that I'm still here! These are shots of the Spring taken with a long lens, pictures that didn't make it into the selection I showed you recently.....

That's all for now. I hope you're all OK out there in Blogland.

 🌈Take care.

End Of The Week

During these strange times it's been no hardship to me to take my walks early in the morning before most people are up and about. Here are a few random things that I've seen in the last few days....

I haven't encountered any really spectacular sunrises yet. Mostly the skies have been very cloudy, though one morning the sky was completely clear. Broken cloud overhead and clear in the east usually gives the best effect, but that's bound to happen one day before we're out of this thing.

I should perhaps have shown this fine memorial bench when I took you on a little tour arround the village recently. It stands outside the village school and was erected on the centenary of the end of WWI. It would be a nice place to sit if not for the activities of the pigeons overhead!

Cowslips summon up images of lazy afternoons with cows grazing beneath overhanging oak trees - but these were found beside the normally busy A10 road! It's nice to see them though, another sign of Spring rolling steadily in.

Canada Geese are always up and about early and a couple were swimming on one of the small fishing lakes near here. Many of our geese (Pink-Footed Geese, White-Fronted Geese, Bean Geese and this year some Barnacle Geese) have flown off to nest further north, leaving Canada Geese and Greylag Geese to raise their goslings around here.

Near the shop these planters made an appearance a while ago. They are designed so that you can lock your bike up to them though very few people seem to take advantage of this. When I used to pop in for a few bits on my way home from work they would have been really useful, but alas they weren't there then.

And a few shadows make interesting patterns on the church wall, which I've chosen to convert to monochrome.

******

I've been dredging through my old CDs for things to play and came across a lot of things I'd forgotten about, especially a lot of re-issues of stuff I had on vinyl back in the day.

At one time Rod Stewart was a kind of late-era beatnik, bumming around Europe, playing songs he loved for passing change and sleeping rough. A few years later he was jetting round the world, sellling records by the million and sleeping with actresses and models! You can't blame the boy, but in between there was a brief period when he wrote and recorded some great stuff......

....like "Mandolin Wind". Just a little reminder of the magic of Rod 'n' Ron. 

Take care.