Organ Update 20
UPDATE Compiled by Boz Oram
boz@historyinharmony.com
www.historyinharmony.com
Welcome to Update Number 20 – and a big welcome to all of the new people who have joined the Update, plus of course our many regular members that have been with me from the early days. Thank you for your continued support and please keep passing this update around and that also includes the magazine editors for all of their help in passing on information.
I have been asked why does the Update sometime arrive and sometimes not – well with a bit of delving, it turns out that people on the Update list are sending the words on to other people, but they sometimes forget! Easiest answer is to just come straight to me and I’ll do the rest.
Christmas is almost here or should I say that the Xmas Puddings have arrived on the shop shelves, but more to the point, the bonfires are being built already in honour of the most famous person to enter the Houses of Parliament in 1605 – Guy Fawkes. Should be a real cracker this year – looking forward to it.
Just reminding you that History in Harmony have just re-launched and updated their website, so it may be worth a look for you – usual address is www.historyinharmony.com
Enough of me rambling.. over to you now.
From Derek and Pauline Legg
Hi Boz,
Many thanks for the la-*test*-('") update. We were interested in the organs at weddings and thought you might like to know that we have had four wedding bookings. One of them for the daughter of a showman, on a bitterly cold winters day, another for a television studio set designer whose husband to be was a barrister, (we might add that the brides dress along with all the dresses worn by the rest of the wedding party left nothing to the imagination), the third for the daughter whose father owned a well known milk producing company and the fourth was for the daughter of a couple who had spent many years in Holland. Another interesting venue that we played at was Alexandra Palace right beneath the Great Willis organ, the acoustics were brilliant and we were broadcast on Radio 5 live.
Regards
Derek and Pauline Legg
Thanks for that – must have been fantastic experiences in all cases. With regard to Ally Pally, yes the acoustics are quite phenomenal and what a place to be broadcast from. I remember going to the Park some two weeks after the Palace had burnt down and had a roaring time there at a steam show. Yehudi Menheuin was one of the instigators of restoring the great Willis organ back to its former glory so that all can hear and appreciate this fine instrument.
December is-a-coming (or to us in the Northern Hemisphere its time to wrap up warm and think of you all in the Southern Hemisphere trying to get cool!)
From the Haarlem Museum in Holland
Talking of acoustics. I have just heard from the team at the Kunkelstitching Haarlem over there in the Netherlands, that they intend to hold a buffet and organ recital sometime in December. Further details as and when I receive them, however Cornelis is asking for numbers to see whether it is financially viable. He has also asked whether we could organise transport and accommodation for the occasion. If you want to see a real cracking collection of mechanical organs, then for a taster of what’s on offer, go to their very interactive website – written in English as well as Dutch www.draaiorgelmuseum.org The museum is just so much fun, especially when the you get plenty of people from all countries converging on this place.
From Wolfgang Brommer in Waldkirch, Germany.
Dear Boz,
Thanks for your email and lot of good information.
To let you and the world know: I will be with the brand new Karakuri-Organ playing in Japan at the World Karakuri-Con-*test*-('") 2005 at EXPO 05 in AICHI /Japan Sunday, September 18th 2005. http://www.karakuri2005.com
It’s a new-styled street-organ where people can play with the automata with 10 different functions such as: percussion, bell ringers, birds etc....... Attached (was) a photo so you can see my new creation. (I had to remove it due to downloading it due to many people not being on broadband – sorry Wolfgang)
Its idea is to bring the younger generation and new people together to get more interest in mechanical music instruments. We -*test*-('")ed it here after our organ festival and all people (adults and children) are thrilled to play it, as it is easy to operate by its hand bellows. The street organ is a 31-note organ with 5 stops.
With best wishes
Wolfgang
Looking at the photos that Wolfgang sent to me, the instrument is rather exciting in its construction and shape, and also has a whole host of what seem to be a series of pipes with old fashioned car horns on the end spewing out from the mouth of a gargoyle Surreal enough for you? To contact Wolfgang then use jaegerbrommer@t-online.de and I am sure that he will send you a photo copy or of course go to their website http://www.jaegerbrommer.de Excellent idea in Japan to get young people interested – we all know that without them, we go to our graves with our hobby.
Further reading from the karakuri website
It is thought that Hisashige Tanaka, who went under the nom d'art Karakuri Giemon, created the karakuri Writing Doll between 1840 and 1850 at the end of the Edo Period when Tanaka worked in Osaka and Kyoto. It is assumed that Writing Doll then fell into the hands of an American collector around the time of the fall of the Shogunate, but the background and route of Writing Doll's trip to the USA, and what became of it once it got there remains a mystery, leading experts to refer to it as the "phantom karakuri".
Incredibly, however, a karakuri researcher from Osaka managed to confirm the Writing Doll's whereabouts and brought it back to its home country last November after an assumed absence of 150 years. The doll rests on a stand measuring 50cm wide and deep and 30cm high; in its right hand it holds a brush, which it uses to write on a piece of paper attached to the board in front driven by a wind-up mechanism that allows it to write automatically. Given the types of cam loaded inside the stand and the mechanism of the doll, it is thought that the Writing Doll is capable of writing multiple characters.
The Writing Doll boasts a very high standard of karakuri technology that rivals Tanaka's masterpieces the Myriad-year Clock* and Bow-drawing Boy**, and one appraising institution went so far as to say that the Writing Doll changes heretofore evaluations of Edo Period technology. In a tantalizing development, it is still unknown at this stage what the doll writes in what manner.
With limited time left to restore the Writing Doll to its former appearance, the clock is ticking down to the first public demonstration in Japan of the Writing Doll at the Edo High-Tech Karakuri Performance & World Karakuri Con-*test*-('"), the major event of Aichi Week Part II at the Aichi Expo, on September 18 & 19, 2005.
Magab Boat Retraces Historic Sail
By Aftab H Kola
MUSCAT Oman (eTurboNews) – Oman began retracing its maritime prowess on September 7th when the Magan boat, a reconstructed reed vessel dating back to the third millennium BC, set sail from Sur to Mandvi in Gujarat, India. Tom Vosmer, Magan Boat Project director of design and construction, said that the boat is to sail exactly as it did thousands of years ago, using the same navigational equipment, and similar food and cargo as used by the Bronze Age people. The ancient vessel design, with a crew of 8 modern mariners equipped with their primeval mariner’s direction finding equipment (although not said in the article, most likely is just the stars) is set to stop in Dwarka, also in Gujarat, before it docks in the Mandvi wharf, two weeks from now. It is 12 metres long and 3.8 metres wide and the Magan Boat is carrying copper ingots, dates, diorite, shells, steatite vessels and hides, representing cargo that was carried from Oman in those early days. The boat was constructed using reed bundles, bound with date palm fibre rope to form the hull of the vessel and then covered with a woven mat made from split reeds.
The Magan Boat Project is an ambitious and nostalgic trip down memory lane aimed at the reconstruction of the cultural and trade dialogue that existed nearly 5,000 years ago between the Sultanate of Oman and India.
More sea adventures….
Steam and Sail share an anniversary year.
From Graham Mackenzie, Director of the Steam Ship Shieldhall
Not only is this year the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar, but is also the 50th year for the steamship "Shieldhall" and to mark this special celebration, on Trafalgar Day itself, the 21st October, "Shieldhall" will be making an excursion from Southampton towards Portsmouth, but certainly along the eastern Solent through Spithead.
During the course of the day, there will be a commentary regarding the various events that would have taken place in the Solent 200 years ago, to provide passengers with an insight into the organisation and operation of the Royal and Merchant Navies, 200 years ago.
As a matter of course, passengers will be invited onto the Bridge and down into the Engine room and Boiler room of "Shieldhall" during the excursion to experience the conditions that would have applied 50 years ago and back to the dawn of the steam age at sea.
To satisfy the inner person, a traditional lunch will be available at extra cost, and it is expected to be Roast Beef with veg (keeps the scurvy away) with cheese and biscuits (no weevils) to follow. A tot of rum will be included with lunch.
Numbers will be limited to 100 passengers to ensure that everyone can be fed during the voyage and the price is a bargain at £25 per person.
Departure from 48 Berth, Southampton Eastern Docks is scheduled for 10:00 with a return at 16:00. The actual itinerary on the day is still being developed and may include a pleasant surprise.
Bookings for this special event should be made with Blue Funnel Cruises on 023 8022 3278.
We look forward to welcoming you aboard,
Graham
Graham Mackenzie
Managing Director, Solent Steam Packet (Services) Ltd
Mobile Phone 07751 603 190
Visit our website at www.ss-shieldhall.co.uk
Having been on the Shieldhall on a number of occasions, this is a real must if you are interested in steam, the sea or just an excellent day out on the Solent.
Change of date…..
From Des Lang in Australia
Dear Boz the rally that you have listed at Bombala in November has been changed to Wagga on the last weekend in October - 29th 30th
Regards Des.
Thanks for that Des
Remember! 17th & 18th of September.
Only a week to go now for what are two excellent shows and the best thing that has happened to the preservation scene for many long years! Rash statement maybe but do go and visit these enjoyable presentations.
Firstly:
The long established Old Warden Steam Rally; http://www.bseps.org.uk/ is a most interesting show that encompasses the whole of the preservation movement. The best thing is that everyone who goes there actually wants to go, which means that they are enjoying themselves. The public also enjoys it as well mainly due to the exhibitors enjoying themselves which makes the public want to come again – which makes the exhibitors want to come again! Brilliant show and when talking to Mark Worby the other day, he said that the show has managed to get mostly all of the engines saved by John Crawley (one of the founding fathers of the preservation movement in the UK) and this year is the start of their 50th anniversary year of the Bedford Society. So good luck to the organisers and good luck to the club that puts the show on.
On the other side of the coin, the family orientated Carter family are putting on the Scammell Showtrac Special at Croxley Green, Watford. Everything is to be powered by Scammell Showtrac for the first time ever! No not just the Carter’s Steam Fair, but any fair totally by Scammell. Now that should be a sight and sound never to be missed – remember that the show will be going on ‘till the evening. This will be a most spectacular sight, just to see so many of these types of vehicle working in one place and doing the job that they were intended for. More information is available at http://www.carters-steam-fair.co.uk/
Both shows are put together with the family in mind and when entering the Old Warden Show, once paying the ticket price, precious little is left to pay for, and with Carter’s Fair there is not entrance charge at all! Can you believe that in this day and age – something of beauty can still be enjoyed for free – well done to both shows for continuing on in the tradition of giving value for money. They are within a stone’s throw of each other so support then if you can.
Auction Houses
An interesting website for those collectors who are interested in tin toys is www.Breker.com. Just had a look at it and there are plenty of things for you to look at and possibly buy.
Heroes Return
There have been many parades and plenty of celebrations about the end of WW2 plus the Media has been telling us about the unknown feelings that our ancestors may have had – I have been supplied with some websites from Stuart Buchanan MacWatt that actually bring the whole reason for war hopefully to a close. The best place in my mind that brings the futility of war to the fore is WW1 war site Vimy Ridge – that’s enough reason to never go to war ever again.
This is a useful Canadian site
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/courage/cemeteries.html
From which I have taken the following:
Italian War Cemeteries
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/courage/italiancemeteries.html
Anzio: 2,200 Brits buried
Salerno: 1750 Brits buried
Both could be done in one tour
German War Cemeteries
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/courage/germancemeteries.html
Berlin: 2700 Brits buried
Reichswald: 6400 Brits buried
Oldenburg: 650 Brits. buried
North African War Cemeteries
El Alamein, Egypt
http://www.egy.com/landmarks/96-10-12.shtml
11945 Brits
This, together with the Italian and German mausoleums lies on the Alexandria –Libya road. Also commemorates the fallen in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Persia and RAF personnel who died in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greece, Crete and the Aegean, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Somalilands, the Sudan, East Africa, Aden and Madagascar.
Malta
http://www.greenman.demon.co.uk/texts/cwgc.htm
694 commonwealth burials
Stuart Buchanan MacWatt
The Travelsleuth
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which was founded by Sir Fabian Ware, has ensured that the memory of the ultimate sacrifice, which was made by so many people of all fighting personnel, will be honoured and preserved.
I have just included just the British, but please do remember that there are war graves for ALL countries of the world, but a good place to start is the Canadian Site http://collections.ic.gc.ca/courage/cemeteries.html as the Canadians actually respect their fallen by allowing their students to run the war graves and sites – the sites are also living places.
Great Dorset Steam Fair 2005 UK
The Great Dorset Steam Fair is a great place to meet people. As they say in the rest of the world, if you sit on the sidewalk of the most famous Parisian street for long enough, mostly anyone that is well-known will pass you by. Well the same seems to be true of the GDSF, fortunately though, it is all rather compressed into just under a week, and the places that you meet people – the mind boggles.
However I digress, it is one of the grea-*test*-('") meeting places, and people from all over the world congregate here really just to enjoy each other’s company. Thanks to all of you who are on the Update who also have given me the generous pat on the back for compiling this. Well all I can say is that without you and your support, then this would not exist.
Short resumes of the Great Dorset Steam Fair will be everywhere in the UK, however to those who don’t have access to British magazines and newspapers, here’s a small bit of the show for you to read.
Basically it originally started as the Great Working of Traction Engines and was held at the old Stourpaine site (a steamer will be there in honour of the old show on the 17th and 18th of this month), however due to the popularity of the steam machines, mechanical organs, cars, old lorries and tractors, the event outgrew itself and moved to Everley Hill and then to the Tarrent Hinton site where it seems to have been for ever. On the main A354 road, the access is quite easy compared to the old sites and the queues this year were really not too bad so I guess that the car parks were being well run.
Interesting exhibits? Well actually plenty but there were just a couple that stood out for me. The first is the rather amazing model of the Ruston Hornsby chain track tractor where the original one had originally been built to haul coal from a mine to a destination, a rather long distance away in the Yukon over there in Canada. It was able to carry 60 tons of coal, however the theory of the driver of the model to whom I spoke, was that most likely the steam engine would have burnt all of its cargo in order to get to its destination! Fine for us boys and girls who want to play, but not too good if you want to make a living! An excellent model and good to see a builder make something that is not around anymore. Also good to see the Howard Family with Fowler showman’s engine Renown back totally rebuilt and in pristine condition after the very destructive fire that engulfed the engine, workshop and a whole series of collected artefacts that didn’t escape the devastation of the fire. Also in the Showman’s frame was the re-emergence of the Burrell 8 horse power Scenic Show engine Earl Beatty, out and about some 50 years after being taken apart for a rebuild. Well done to all concerned – an excellent job.
Wood sawing area also featured the rather splendid Irish contingent that made all feel really welcome with plenty of the Liffy Water. Heavy Horses as per usual, but something that many people miss is that this is possibly the largest gathering of these magnificent beasts in one place, with many of them working. Good to see the steam motorcycle of Geoff Hudspith on the Wall of Death again after its inauguration at the St Agnes rally in Cornwall. Organs we there a plenty, but the one that seemed to stand out this year was the Bruder fair organ of Bill and Rosanna Harris – recently rebuilt by David Burville, I think this was its first public outing and the amount of people listening to it was quite astounding. I also saw the excellent surreal organ from Alan Pell, which is a true Barrel Organ. Alan has fitted an organ right inside an old beer barrel and has a series of tuned (at this moment Stella Artois, but a sponsor might change this!) bottles standing on the top and at the same time the organ grinder can also pour a decent beer for its discerning public. Well-done Alan for going into my realms of fantasy! The van Eyk of John and Kevin Selwood is a real corker as well as Nick Baker’s Bursens Carillon being hand-wound by mainly the organ’s rebuilder Rob Harris and the accomplice Shane Seagrave. The talk of the trade stands was the stand Craftmaster Paint so maybe I can get a bit of information to pass onto the rest of you about its qualities – a few bits of equipment on site had been painted in the said paint and certainly the finish was very good, but was that down to the painter….. or the paint? Talking of paint, one of the most remarkable restorations is that of Joe Chaimberlain – a Burrell crane engine that really is just to be seen to be believed. Well done on the restoration front there, but plenty of paint needed to cover up the ironwork. Good to see the Boxing and Wrestling Booth of Ron Taylor again featured there at the show and thanks to Tom and Ernie for the help on the engine.
Dr Busker as per usual had his excellent singing band in the Real Ale tent and I must say that the cheers at the end of each performance would blow the roof off an ordinary tent – such is his following. I must thank him also for the impromptu recital for me on the Saturday morning at 8am! Yes all of us were up and about and in the Heavy Haulage area having a good listen as the 70-ton railway locomotive being hauled by the McLaren haulage engine Bodicea later on in the day – not totally the full weight, because there was also the weight of the trailer with copious wheels, plus the prime mover as well! The McLaren had originally been built for use in the battlefield, it never made it, as WW1 had finished, but you really appreciate the power of this magnificent machine when pulling a full load. Well done to Bob Jameson, high in the echelons of the Steam Plough Club for good ploughing and steam displays with his 18 horsepower engine Repulse and of course the only working Hayes windlass roundabout plough and tackle – amazingly the first time it had been used since 1884 was at the 2001 show. Plenty of good food, but the best for me were the bangers and mash with excellent onion gravy and the best tea was at Art’s Cider Shack again. It also seems that Rolf Harris, or a rather good look-a-like has taken on the role of enjoying steam engines with the Witney group, and the saying “can you guess what it is yet mate?” seemed to be the saying of the show. There was also the Bruder Model 74, supplied in 1924 and this was its first public appearance in ownership – hopefully more about this instrument in a future issue. Commercial vehicles a plenty and the working tractors seemed to have less room to work in, but a jolly good display nevertheless from those boys out on the range.
The real stars of the show however were actually uninvited guests. A Robey portable from about the year 1868 came to the show and unbeknown to everyone also had a bee’s nest inside it. Well we were looking for a load to pull with the Foster traction engine and so when asked whether the dinosaur display of Wookey Hole, down there in Somerset and Carters Steam Fair based in Maidenhead http://www.carters-steam-fair.co.uk/ display vehicle could be pulled around the ring. “Yes” was the answer. So whilst coupling up the steamer to a ball hitch coupling, the bees decided that it was too hot in the portable and swarmed into the dinosaur. Fortunately there were some bee-keepers who came to our aid and what with Robert Crabbe and myself holding the step ladder for Mrs Bee (sorry, but I didn’t catch her name) trying to put them into a box with them in proper bee kit and us two in enginemen kit and no protection at all! In the end it was decided to haul the trailer around the playpen and see what would happen. The bees seemed to be very much at home in the dinosaur and became very sleepy (we were told that this was most likely the only living dinosaur in the land). For more details about the dinosaur and its escapades, go to http://www.wookey.co.uk/ The sad part was when the dinosaur left on the Sunday evening for Wookey Hole, there was a lone bee left trying to find all of his friends……………
There was plenty more at the show – well you’d expect it on 500 acres of land with all sorts of shenanigans going on, but I guess that the best thing to do is go onto one of the websites that portray this show in colour and possibly more sensibly than I could ever do. Thanks to the team of the Great Dorset Steam Fair for holding it once again.
Magazines that will most likely feature the show are: Old Glory; Vintage Spirit, World’s Fair, Steam Traction, Model Engineer, Classic Bus, Vintage Roadscene, Vintage Tractor plus others that will give some report on the show. Many also have websites – just pop into them and let me know what you found. The best of course ought to be the shows own site, itself being www.steam-fair.co.uk/ which should be looking grand with plenty of pictures and write-ups of the whole show.
From Old Glory Magazine www.oldglory.co.uk
Steam Euro Events 2005
17-18 September Steam Run in Hagen, Open Air Museum. Tel 0049 211 251679 D
17-18 September Railway Steam Days Bochum-Dalhausen 0049 234 492516 D
24-25 September Steam days Eslohe. Herr Keite tel 0049 2973 6950 f.j.keite@gmx.de
24-25 September Threshing Festival Oude-Nieuwe Horn Friesland, Netherlands NL
1-2 October Steam Threshing at Hessenpark Neu Anspach: Herr Renz 0049 6081 5881 – 24 D
2 October Double Celebration – 30 years of the Hielscher model firm and 10cyears of the FKS at the Hielscher premises in Wuppertal: info@hielscher-dampfmodelle.de D
16 October Railway Museum steam day Bochum-Dalhausen 0049 234 492516 D
29 October Steam Day at the Rijnhal, Arnhem 0031 263 229111 www.rijnhal.nl NL
Steam Euro Events 2006 so far
13-15 January 10th Live Steam Festival – indoors at the Sinsheim Exhibition Halls D
19-21 May Dordt in Stoom, Dordrecht, Holland NL
2nd June 2006 Carousel Tour of Germany D
12th July 2006 Mechanical Music in the Black Forest, France and Switzerland
Methinks that there are plenty more shows and festivals, but without the information, I can’t pass it on, so please……
Also from Old Glory Magazine
The Power of the Past event, was due to be held on 24-25 September at Wantisden Valley, near Woodbridge in East Anglia, however after a series of risk assessments, the team behind the event have decided to scrap this year’s event. Event Organiser Kate Leith said: “It's down to how we feel about the health and safety of the show. Because we have working demonstrations throughout, we just felt that we weren’t happy that we could hold the show, feeling as though anything might happen”
I’m just pleased that I have been to this show as it was a cracking one with everything working – makes you wonder where it all will end though. Maybe a bit of a united front on the preservation scene between all of the different societies might help.
Almost Finally………..
Bookings are being taken for the German Museums Tour being based from the Model Engineering Exhibition in Sinsheim. This show is a definite must if you have any interest in steam or anything to do with the preservation of old artefacts. Well over 5 kms of 7 ¼” track which allows live steam onto it – something that the UK seems unable to do plus all sorts of live steam vehicles, plus exhibitions and displays from manufacturers, plus the majority of people do actually speak English and all inside a nice warm exhibition hall! The Museums are just magnificent and I’d be surprised if you were not impressed with them. Aircraft set on plinths like Airfix Models, submarines that you can go inside, war stuff from all points of view and a whole host of other bits and pieces such as fashions, collectors who have never thrown anything away (or that’s how it seems!) plus national collections. The date? 12th – 16th January 2006. Just email tours@historyinharmony.com and we’ll supply you with the information.
The long awaited November MOOS Tour will be out in your sweaty palms within a very short space of time. Not a member? Then go to their website www.moos.org.uk for further information on how to join. If you want to come via me, then it is boz@historyinharmony.com and I’ll pass the information on.
Well that’s it from me for the moment, apart from a rather important message after the courtesy notices at the end of this Update.
Grateful thanks again for all contributions and contributors on this particular Update.
If you have any interesting news, please can you supply me with it - all subjects are welcome to be discussed. If you feel that your subject isn’t being covered fully, then please let me know and/or please send in an article to cover it. You can also be anonymous if you so desire!
If you want to use the general material, please do, but please mention History in Harmony as the source and give the web address www.historyinharmony.com please contact me on article use to ask permission from author.
As ever, should you wish to not be included on this update, then please let me know at boz@historyinharmony.com and I’ll remove you forthwith. Conversely, if you know of any other people who would enjoy this email, then please get them to contact me at the same address.
COURTESY NOTICE
Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Update Compiler. It may be on occasions, necessary to edit material. In such cases utmost care will be taken to ensure that alterations or omissions do not alter the context of the subject or create a misleading or false representation. As a matter of courtesy, the author(s) will be consulted about major alterations.
With kind wishes
Boz Oram
The email address for all correspondence is boz@historyinharmony.com
Website www.historyinharmony.com
SUPPLEMENT TO UPDATE #20
This has been forwarded to me via Arthur Nichols as well as David Finn who I would class as very level headed people but who do not enjoy being ripped-off. Read on…
Background:
To people who are not based in the UK this will not mean too much, however plenty of you do come across to the UK and we are trying to actually have a transport system that actually works. Unfortunately we lost many of our rail networks in the 60’s and 70’s in a rather shortsighted political move to save money. As a consequence, we now have to travel right out of our way to do just a few miles as few of the networks connect to anything other than London. The land that the railways ran upon was sold off for a pittance (which must have cost millions in the first place) and bearing in mind that we, who live in the countryside HAVE to use our own transport. It seems that the people in power either live in London or just don’t understand that the rest of the country are struggling to keep going and I feel that this ought to be at least aired to as many people as possible. Just to let you know, even more rail networks are also soon to be closed, which means more misery for all people trying to travel around the UK.
Subject: FW: Rising Petrol Prices - please read and pass on
I am not keen to be Political in the Update, but unfortunately the powers that be, seem unaware to what is actually going on in their country, however see what you think and pass it on if you agree with it.
“We are hitting 95p a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced with
paying £1 a litre. (in fact that already happened last week and in some places is up to £1.10p per litre). Back in April/May time, I am sure that many of you will have had emails asking you to not buy petrol on a certain day. This was, of course, a naïve idea, as you still needed the petrol, so you bought it the day before or the day after.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy petrol on a certain day" campaign. It will really work. Please read it and join in! Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place not sellers. With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.
The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:
For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest
Oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers.
According to the writer, it's really simple to do. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it.....THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (and of course not buy at ESSO/BP) Within the next eight days if over 300 million people will be contacted and if all actually boycott the two fuel suppliers ESSO and BP in the UK, then we are not disrupted and the Powers that be will have to make a choice. Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. (in fact ESSO and BP seem to be the most expensive in my area so it’s not a problem).
PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE 69p a LITRE RANGE.
You really can make this happen!! Just forward this email, and buy your
petrol at Shell, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Jet etc. i.e. boycott
BP and Esso.”
Again, please accept my apologies for putting this into the Update, but the Internet is the most powerful form of getting information to a lot of people who matter. It is unfortunate to single out just two companies, when all are accountable, however only this way will a voice be heard.
Published on iMOD with kind permission of Boz Oram.
