Organ Update 38 (21/04/07)
History in Harmony UPDATE #38 Compiled by Boz Oram boz@historyinharmony.com www.historyinharmony.com Welcome to Update Number 38 – and again welcome to all members new and existing on the History in Harmony Update. Please feel free to contact me at the usual address boz@historyinharmony.com and if others would like to join, then let them know and I’ll gladly send out a copy to them. All links and websites have been checked out beforehand. They should all work just at the click of a button – some however can be a bit slow to load up. I haven’t come across any viruses and all seem to be clean. Do make sure though beforehand and don’t take my word for it. I have a number of other items for the next edition, but please keep them coming as your views and shows are most welcome. Quick News I notice that the sole surviving Burrell portable single cylindered engine now lives in New Zealand. Numbered 1475 and built in 1890 - this was the first steam engine I ever tried to buy! It was up for sale in 1980 and I thought that I’d ask everyone I knew how much it would be worth, bearing in mind that the firebox looked more like an out of control stomach, there were more wooden stoppers in the tubes that could be found in a brewery, the wheels were non original and really the only thing that would be salvageable was the cylinder, flywheel and motionwork. A top price of £350 was the highest figure I got from anyone, so I decided to go up to £500 as no one would be foolish to go over that figure. The lot was third in line on the engines and I was standing on top of the engine expecting it to go to me. “What am I bid?” was the auctioneer’s chant. I just nearly wanted to drop dead when the bidding started at £500! The engine went for £850 I think plus buyer’s premium etc. I was most likely lucky to get away with that as I had nowhere to store it and what was I ever going to do with a portable engine. Later on we as a family got hold of the Savage electric light engine – itself a portable engine! I also note that East Anglian Traction Engine Society (EATES) http://www.eates.org/ members Keith Honour and Hugh Dyson are releasing a video of the film archive of the late Steve Neville. Steve was a real founder member of this preservation world that we live in and was foremost in making sure that they survived into the future. He was possible one of the best orators that I was ever likely to hear and his knowledge was truly phenomenal. There is a maximum run of 400 copies and a first come first served basis will take place. It covers driving Bodicea through the McLaren works, steamrollers working in East Anglia and many legendry trips in the UK and Europe. Further information from Hugh Dyson on hughdyson@callnetuk.com From Cornelis Ruijgvoorn in the Netherlands Hi Boz, Just some news from Holland On Saturday 12th May from 10:00 till 17:00hrs the 9th organ show in Leiden will take place. Some 20 organs will play inside the Hooglandse Kerk (a medieval cathedral in the centre of Leiden). To promote this they made a very nice and funny little video item on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8t6_wvgPxw. One of the attractions usually is a Johan Weima's Mortier (from the Haarlem Organ Museum) while accompanying classical singers. Just a small postscript about Leiden. In the 16 century, twice the Spanish besieged the town. The first siege (1573- march 1574) failed, however the second starting a month later, reducing the population to half due to plague and starvation, and revolted against the Burgomaster Van der Werff, who offered his body to the famished. Revived by his courage, the inhabitants continued with their resistance. Finally, William the Silent had the idea of breaching the dikes to flood the surrounding land. On the 3rd October the Spanish retreated due to the Sea Beggars floating across the flood in flat-bottomed boats. The Spaniards razed the siege and abandoned a pot of beef stew at the foot of the ramparts, which helped save a number of the resistance. From that time onwards, a commemorative feast Leidens Ontzet http://www.leiden.edu/index.php3?c=161 takes place with a historical procession handing out herrings, white bread and the eating of beef stew (hutspot). William the Silent wanted to reward the people with their bravery and offered either a hospital or a University. The people chose the University and is the first University of Holland started in 1575. Swiss Tour We’ve been asked for this tour. If you need a booking form, please contact me for a booking form and I’ll send it down the email wires to boz@historyinharmony.com The Mechanical Music Festival Thun- Itinerary 12th July 2007. The Journey by rail or air to Basel in Switzerland. From this point, the tour will be by coach. Overnight Mercure Hotel Basel. 13th July 2007. A visit to the collection of Mr Peter Rohrer before travelling onward to Thun where we will stay at the Minotel Elite Hotel which is just a few minutes away from the festival. We will visit the Thun Steam Railway sheds and then the evening is at leisure. 14th July 2007. Thun Organ Festival. Thun is just one of Switzerland’s famous music festivals. The International Barrel Organ Festival has now become one of the traditional summer events in Thun. Every second year over 200 organs from different countries arrange to meet here. And it is not only mechanical organs which can be heard at the international festival, there are also clowns and magicians in action and the street ballad singers and minstrels, fire eaters and magicians bring a very special atmosphere to the alleys and squares of Thun. 15th July 2007. Today there is an option. You can either stay at the festival and enjoy instruments of all sizes and other events not seen on Saturday, or there is an optional excursion up into the mountains to the Jungfrauhoch (not included). 16th July 2007. First a visit to the Museum of Timepieces and Mechanical Musical Instruments in Oberhofen before taking a gentle drive through the mountainous and scenic countryside to Lucerne. We check into the Hertsenstein Resort for the next three nights. 17th July 2007 - Lucern Transport Museum. The Swiss Museum of Transport and Communication consists of the Museum of Transport, Switzerland's only IMAX Theatre and large planetarium, the Hans Erni Museum, along with numerous other attractions. 18th July 2007 Lake Lucerne is Switzerland’s most famous lake, well known all over Europe. We take a steamboat from Weggis to Vitznau for a trip up the Mount Rigi Railway. Since 1871, this has been Europe's first ever mountain railway and has brought visitors from Vitznau up to Mt. Rigi. Many of the locomotives and coaches from the early years of the mountain railway have been painstakingly and professionally restored to their former splendour, and they now stand ready for their passengers. 19th July 2007 – transfer to Basel for the return journey to England. Price per person: £799 sharing a twin room. Single room cost: £929. This includes, seven nights accommodation half board, coach travel from Basel. All entrances except the Jungfrau excursion, which will cost approximately £65 for the day. The flight or rail is not included: as an example, British Airways are currently offering flights at £49 each way, Easyjet are under £100 including taxes. The cost of the rail should be between £65 and £120 but the costs are not yet available to book. Naturally we can make any reservation to suit your requirements. The tour is based on a minimum of 20 persons travelling and if this number is not reached by 12th June, then we will be forced to apply a supplement for the tour to go ahead. We would contact you all, to discuss this nearer the time. For overseas visitors, please contact Linda directly as we can then accommodate your requirements if you want to arrive earlier or stay later on after the tour. Geraardsbergen 2007. I will write up this year’s information for the next edition. There are a few that want to go to this really good event – please, please let me know if you want to go and we can sort it out. It will be dependent on numbers so let us know as soon as possible. FOPS Day at Hollycombe Steam Collection http://www.hollycombe.co.uk/ At the end of March, the FOPS had their Annual General Meeting at Hollycombe near to Liphook in Hampshire. For those of you who have never been to this place it is a collection of extremely rare fairground equipment a well as steam vehicles (road and rail) as well as a goodly collection of vintage showman’s living vans. The collection was started by Commander Baldock on his land many years ago, then much of it was sold to Madame Tussauds, to then at a later stage, return back to Hollycombe. Unfortunately, The Commander died just a couple of years ago, but luckily left the whole collection in trust so that it could be opened to the Public. Well as we all know, when a figurehead dies, it can leave a real chasm to fill. Providentially, the volunteers have managed to secure funding to house much of the collection undercover in the wintertime and has now got a good visitor centre, but much more needs to be done to get even more shelter for the collection. That is something for the future and is on their list of things to do, however as we all know the fairground rides all have to be tested to make sure that they are safe for the General Public to ride upon (especially in these sad days of litigation) and the safety inspector took his long job rather too seriously making it awkward for the members of FOPS to actually get into the collection before the meeting. A few organs had arrived, but the others that were booked to be there, were unfortunately unable to make it for their own various reasons. It happens that way sometimes. There are of course a number of organs in the collection that now need a bit of restoration and have just got themselves someone who is sympathetic to help maintain them and at least keep them going until funds become available. Again it is always a nightmare for any collection to keep everything in tip-top condition, but with a bit of education and general help with the instruments, the place has enormous potential and is an ideal place to visit if you are in the area. There are many different events that take place throughout the year, however just two of them are when the bluebells flower and the rhododendrons bloom. Keep your eyes peeled for this one, as Hollycombe is one of the most exciting places to visit at that time of year. http://www.geocities.com/hollycombest/ http://website.lineone.net/~jbaldock/holly.htm The Soviet Tu-144 Many of you who have come with History in Harmony to the Model Engineering Exhibition in January and will have seen the supersonic transport aircraft Tu-144 No 77112 at the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim, however due to a lack of details abut these aircraft, it has been difficult to ascertain what happened to them all, however grateful thanks to Ian Senior, we have a better understanding. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2818640 http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/tu144/index.shtml The first supersonic transport aircraft (SST) constructed under the direction of the Soviet Tupolev design bureau was the Tupolev Tu-144 and our Western observers nicknamed it Concordski. The prototype first flew on 31st December 1968 near to Moscow, two months before Concorde. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uW5sLug_0 (moving film) The Tu-144 first broke the sound barrier on 5th June 1969 and on July 5th 1969 became the first passenger aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and it also became also the fastest commercial airliner ever to have flown (as of April 2007). Following the horrific crash of aircraft 77102 on June 6th 1973 at the Paris Air Show, the aircraft continued its service in Russia transporting cargo. A limited commercial service started in 1977, however this finished a year later following another crash – this was while another aircraft was being delivered. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPQlbhgD4YQ (Moving film) Further use of the aircraft was restricted to cargo and mail until the fleet was retired in the mid-eighties. Sixteen airworthy Tu-144’s were constructed: Tu-144 No 68001 Prototype Scrapped Tu-144S models had NK turbofan engines Tu-144S No 77101 pre-production model Scrapped Tu-144S No 77102 1st model produced at Voronezh Aircraft Factory (VASO) where all subsequent models were built, crashed in Paris Tu-144S No 77103 Location unknown – most likely scrapped Tu-144S No 77104 Location unknown – most likely scrapped Tu-144S No 77105 Modified to a test Tu-144 – scrapyard Zhukovsky airbase (1993) Tu-144S No 77106 Cargo flights between Moscow and Kazakhstan @ Monino Museum Tu-144S No 77107 Displayed at Kazan Aviation Production Complex Tartarstan Tu-144S No 77108 Stored @ Samara Ouchebny (Research Institute) Tu-144S No 77109 Hulk at VASO Tu-144S No 77110 Passenger craft. Displayed Museum of Civil Aviation Ulyanovsk Tu-144D models had the more powerful RD 36-51 engines with better fuel efficiency and a longer range Tu-144D No 77111 Crashed on May 23rd 1978 and was scrapped Tu-144D No 77112 Only aircraft outside of Russia and was acquired by German Collector Herman Lehyer for $500,000 - displayed at Sinsheim alongside the European rival Concorde Tu-144D No 77113 Was on display at Tupolev Bureau Zhukovsky – possibly scrapped Tu-144D No 77114 Once leased to an American Consortium in the early 90’s who made it airworthy at a cost of $350 million and was used as test bed research into new style supersonic aircraft. The aircraft was designated Tu-144LL (LL meaning flying laboratory) When the programme ended, it was offered for auction and provisionally sold for $11 million, however the Russian Military refused permission to allow it out of the country, as the new NK-321 engines it now had fitted, had now become classified technology. The aircraft is stored at the Tupolev Bureau, Zhukovsky. Tu-144D No 77115 Last completed and is on display Tupolev Bureau Zhukovsky Tu-114 No 77116 Not completed, but in store at VASO http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/Tupulov/Aero59.htm So there you have it – quite a remarkable and interesting aircraft that got awful publicity from its crash at the Paris Airshow. Continuing on in an aircraft vein The World Famous RED ARROWS http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/ http://www.redarrows.com/ Recently it had been reported that the Red Arrows, the world famous aerobatic display team and the public face of the UK’s Royal Air Force was to be disbanded due to financial cutbacks from the Government, however the Ministry of Defence confirmed on the 7th April that the cost cutting review had been shelved for the time being and armed forces minister Adam Ingram said “I have given a firm commitment – there is no threat to the Red Arrows”. Well we’ll wait and see, however there was a petition on the Downing Street website of 56,000 people, but better still, people have also been writing to their Members of Parliament (MPs) protesting at the plans to scrap the display team. It seems that with the MPs support towards the Red Arrows, the Government has found it difficult to continue with their cost cutting exercise. Last month, a highly unusual move was taken by Chief Marshall Sir Glenn Torpy, the Chief of the Air Staff, http://www.rafmarham.co.uk/relations/stories-2006/cas-2006.htm to let it be known that he saw the retention of the display team as essential to the morale of the RAF. The nine jet team and their many pilots have become over the years, a byword for skill and daring with the team’s formation displays in which they fly a mere six feet apart from each other at a whopping 400mph trailing red, white and blue smoke trails; have attracted plaudits from around the world as well as generating plenty of business for the British Aero industry. It seems that their fate may last until 2010, when the Hawk aircraft will reach the end if it’s planned life. http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/hawk/ http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/hawk.cfm At least the fantastic Red Arrows will survive for a bit longer, however a more long-term commitment from Government really ought to be on the lips of all members of Parliament, as the backbone of British Industry is crumbling fast under the poor reinvestment from our Chancellor of the Exchequer. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16740 http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/92/92822.html Some people realise the potential of their heritage The Mona Lisa http://www.cite-sciences.fr/english/ala_cite/expo/explora/image/mona/en.php (do go to this one – you’ll enjoy it) Possibly the most well known painting ever to have been painted is the Mona Lisa on exhibition in the Louvre in Paris. She is the mystery woman whose enigmatic smile has forever been captured in Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa, however new research has revealed that her identity was the wife of a silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo who was a friend of the artist’s father, Messer Piero. http://tinyurl.com/2rtxb7 Art experts have long suspected that Lisa Gherardini was the sitter, but in January, Italian scholar, Professor Guiseppi Pallanti found a death certificate in a Florentine church, and this is though to be the final piece of the jigsaw. An Italian genealogist has since identified two living descendents of Lisa Gherardhini who says that a family legend also points to their ancestor being the woman with the enchanting smile. Natalia Guicciardini Strozzi and her sister Irina of Cusano have been told since they were young children that they were descendents saying that “it is wonderful to be able to say that we are modern women, but we are also preserving the extraordinary memories of the past” Professor Pallanti built up a detailed picture or who Lisa Gherardini was, where she lived and where she died. He also believes that da Vinci’s father commissioned the painting as a gift to his friend del Giocondo and started the painting on Poplar Wood in 1503 and took four years to complete it. It was taken from Italy to France in 1516 when King François I invited Leonardo to work new his castle in Amboise (where he is buried). The King bought the painting for 4,000 écus – about £50,000 in modern day money and kept it at Fontainbleau, where it remained until Louis XIV moved it. There are at least two early copies of the Mona Lisa, which claim to be authentic, but most historians dismiss this view. There are also copies of the painting showing her as a nude, fuelling speculation of a lost Leonardo original. Who knows? What I do know is that millions of people have been touched by this portrait and will continue to do so for many years to come. Family Tree Mona Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini. = Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. I I Piero (1496) = Maddelena Ridolfi Andrea I I ________________________I I Maddalena del Giocondo = Niccolo del Garbo I Baccio del Garbo = Lisabetta de’ Mozzi I Pier Giannozzo Mozzi del Garbo = Teresa Guadagini I Clementina Mozzi del Garbo = Lorenzo Magani I Alfonsina Magnani = Luigi Bombicci Pontelli I Cesare Bombicci Pontelli = Giuseppina Niccolini I Mari Luisa Bombicci Pontelli = Conte Guicciardini I Girolamo Strozzi Guicciardini = Trina Reine I I Natalia Strozzi Irina Strozzi The Louvre painting has for centuries been known in Italy as La Gionconda, meaning the lighthearted one and as Natalia said, “don’t forget, Lisa was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, which is where the name Gioconda came from – that’s too much of a coincidence.” Even more heritage Pinkney’s Green returns! Yes the truly excellent Pinkney’s Green Steam Fair, run by the Carter Family has returned - the local population were disgusted by the landowners to stop steam working. Petitions, letters in the Maidenhead Advertiser and a general massive support from so many people have secured that this show will take place this year. Hopefully it will continue in perpetuity, but it also might be the only chance for anyone to be seeing a real fair being run by real steam engines for a real paying public.. Yes the 12/13th May is the date for you to put into your notebooks to show some support and solidarity of a family putting everything on the line to make sure that the show goes on. As a special this year, there are two important aspects. The first is a road run of the showman’s engines going from Maidenhead Bridge at 11 am to the fairground at Pinkney’s Green (please remember to not park your cars in stupid places to get that elusive picture) and possibly the most talked about Burrell Showman’s engine in recent years – The Philadelphia no 3413, that has come out of hiding for about 40 or so years to have been rebuilt by Jimmer Marsh, now working down in Sussex. I had the good fortune of seeing it in the flesh just a couple of weeks ago and it looks like a million dollars (I would suspect that it also cost somewhere about the same price to buy and restore it too!). Going on the many previous engines that Jimmer has restored, then this Burrell will be another exceptional workhorse and it’ll be good to see another engine designed and built to work, doing just that at Pinkney’s Green. One Line Gags Recently in a poll of comedians, film fans and writers came up with their top ten one-liners and I must say that a couple are funny, but when Ray Galton, who wrote with Alan Simpson plays like Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe and Son, came up with his own one liners that will most likely stand the test of time. 1 Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member. Groucho Marx http://www.groucho-marx.com/ 2 You can lead a whore to culture, but you cannot make her think. Dorothy Parker. http://www.levity.com/corduroy/parker.htm http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Dorothy_Parker 3 Anybody who hates children and dogs can’t be all-bad. WC Fields http://www.webtrec.com/wcfields/ 4 Never give a sucker an even break. WC Fields http://www.juggling.org/fame/fields/ 5 I never drink water – fish (have sex) in it WC Fields http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/W._C._Fields/ 6 He rose without a trace Kitty Muggeridge/Peter Cook http://www.petercook.net/ 7 http://www.stabbers.org/ on Sir David Frost http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/737846.stm 7 A pint? Why that’s nearly an armful. Hancock’s Half Hour. http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/ The Blood Donor 8 Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain? Hancock’s Half Hour, Twelve Angry Men 9 I never forget a face – but in your case I’ll make an exception Groucho Marx 10 When asked how his play Goodnight Vienna was doing in the fishing port of Grimsby, the playwright Eric Maschwitz said: “About as well as Goodnight Grimsby would do in Vienna. http://www.musical-theatre.net/html/composers/ericmaschwitz.html And the other top ten………. Well I found a couple that I thought amusing…. 1 Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me! Kenneth Williams – Carry on Cleo (1964) http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/audio?p=kenneth+williams&fr=srp-iy 2 Surely you can’t be serious? I am serious – and don’t call me Shirley. Leslie Nielsen – Airplane (1980) http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000558/ 3 Remember you’re fighting for this woman’s honour, which is probably more than she ever did. Groucho Marx – Duck Soup (1933) http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Groucho_Marx 4 Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here – this is the War Room. Peter Sellers – Dr Strangelove (1963) The remainder relied upon you actually seeing the film in question and being “in” on the joke. Am I becoming old fashioned? And for a couple more sayings – this time from Bob Dylan http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/audio?p=bob+dylan&fr=srp-iy http://www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/home/main.html It’s not me, it’s the songs. I’m just the postman who delivers them. Some people feel the rain – others get wet. The picture you have in your mind of what you’re about will come true. People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient….. and then repent. And finally……. Folk singing is just a bunch of fat people. Mmmmm! I sang (or that’s what I thought it was) in a folk pub one night – they all clapped and cheered wildly – mind you it was late in the evening and copious quantities of porter and ale had been consumed by that time in the evening. I also have to point out that I was really thin at the time, unlike my gently ample proportions of now! DNA http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/ http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/dna/dna.htm One of the unfortunate aspects of our lives is that we all get older and with that comes the inevitable end of life syndrome more commonly known as death. Well folks, you can live on indefinitely in a physical form in the shape of a diamond if you so desire. Modern techniques can recreate diamonds so well that only a specialist can tell the difference and supposedly, they are less expensive than the real thing. I must admit I haven’t bought a diamond for quite a while, so I’ll need one of the ladies to confirm that little statement! Anyway, in order to make the diamond, you need to of course be cremated, however a question that I have wondered is whether your DNA continues on in the diamond. Fortunately for me (and I guess you too) here’s the answer. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/8205/8205diamonds.html Deoxyribonucleic Acid (now you know what DNA stands for) is a nucleic acid containing genetic instructions for the development and functioning of our living organs. It has, as you will have seen on science programmes, a double helix structure that makes it particularly hardy, however it begins to loose its formation at about 93C. Most cremation incinerators operate at a temperature of between 800C and 1,000C for between one and three hours – depending upon capacity of numbers and of course body size. This in turn will obliterate any DNA left in the body, so in answer to the question, none of your physical structure will be left, however the essence of your soul will. This brings me neatly onto the subject of cremations. Blaze Away and all of that Jazz When Princess Margaret, http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page948.asp sister of our present Queen Elizabeth http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp died, her express instruction was to be cremated, many of the newspapers cried out in horror that a Royal should be disposed of in such a way. Funnily enough Princess Louise, http://www.britannia.com/history/biographies/louise.html Queen Victoria’s http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page118.asp daughter who died in 1939, had already set a precedent here and is along the line of modern day thinking as a quick, inexpensive and clean alternative to burial in the ground. Church gravesites are becoming increasingly more difficult to find and of course, some church administrations are charging almost Poole Harbour rates to intern people on the land. It seems that in the UK up to 70% of people now choose this way of finishing their present time on Earth, however it was as late as the 19th century that cremation was viewed with an absolute horror and distaste, (except for stake burning whilst the body was alive!) perpetrated by none other than those who would benefit from keeping the deceased on their land paying for a plot. Cremation introduction, or more correctly re-introduction into our way of life, came about as a result of a most bizarre legal court case. Since our Viking ancestors, who believed that cremation was the best way of sending their loved ones into the afterlife and to Valhalla, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla the home of the Norse Gods, the act of burning someone was almost unheard of in Europe (other than burning at the stake for being a heretic) especially from the Church/Government saying that it was Pagan Barbarism, however in 1883, Dr William Price, http://www.welshicons.org.uk/html/dr_william_price.html an 83 year old Druid Priest cremated his 5-year-old son in accordance with Druid practice. The Police took a dim view of the cremation and hauled Dr Price off to the local Magistrates Court at South Glamorgan Assizes in Cardiff. The Judge, Mr Justice Stephen ruled that cremation was a legal act, provided that “no nuisance” was caused to others and consequently the case went to Dr Price. His victory paved the way for the rest of us to make a choice and use a form of burial that was suitable to us and not someone else ideas. No one knows when cremation became used as a way of disposing of bodies, however it is known that ancient humans and the Neanderthal peoples buried, but also took to burning their loved ones, warriors or more importantly those who had died with fever or plague. Certainly, throughout Europe cremation was widespread during the Stone Age and elaborate urns with the remains of previous lives date from 3,000BC being found in western Russia. The earliest record in Britain was in 1658 with an essay entitled Hydriotaphia: Urn Burial by Sir Thomas Browne. About 100 years later Honoretta Pratt http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/Ladies%201st%20-%20H.htm wrote about the dangers of rotting bodies underground and polluting the air and she left instructions that her remains be burnt – her wishes were carried out. The Romans originally welcomed it with open arms, but by the time of the 4th century, burial had replaced it except in times of plague and war. It wasn’t until the 18th century when a growing number of people realised that burying people underground might not be the most suitable place especially when it was established that disease was caused by microbes and now with doctors and scientists saying that burying many thousands of people just a short distance below the surface, in the middle of Europe’s rapidly expanding cities, might constitute a rather major health hazard. It was only until technical advances in Italy made mass cremation a realistic possibility, as previous attempts of being reliable and efficient had been a bit hit and miss. At the Vienna Exposition in 1873, http://expomuseum.com/1873/ Professor Brunetti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation presented his cremation chamber – a retort, which achieved the desired effect, cleanly and ecologically superior to what had gone before and showed that by heating the remains to a temperature of some 870C, the process of dehydration and thermal decomposition reduced the deceased to small particles that could then be ground to fine ash. It seems that one of the visitors to the Vienna Exposition was Queen Victoria’s physician, a certain Sir Henry Thompson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Thompson and when he returned back to the UK, he became a total convert to the cremation invention – two reasons for this the first was for the sanitary precautions that this form of burial created, but the Victorians also had a rather morbid paranoia of being buried alive which meant that this was meant to be a bit of comfort to the victim to burn them to a frazzle should they wake up inside the coffin. The legal status of cremation however was still unclear, so in 1874, Sir Henry formed the Cremation Society of England http://www.srgw.demon.co.uk/CremSoc/History/HistSocy.html with many eminent people, however Queen Victoria wasn’t persuaded and was totally opposed to cremation all of her life. The first attempt to build a crematorium in England was on land given to the Society in North London, however it failed because of Bishop of Rochester, within whose jurisdiction the cemetery lay, prohibited the establishment of a crematorium on his public land, however the Society finally did find a site at Woking in Surrey http://www.woking.gov.uk/woking/heritage/crem. A team of Italian engineers came to supervise the construction of Europe’s first crematorium and on 17th March 1879, a horse was cremated there in less than two hours. Even though this was very successful, there was opinion against it and the Vicar of Woking led a group of representatives to the Home Secretary, Sir Richard Cross, who was persuaded that cremation could be used to prevent the discovery of poison or violence in the detection of death. He refused to approve the new practice until an Act of Parliament had been passed. There were no more experiments until 1882 when a Dorset man, Captain Hanham http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/articles/print.asp?ID=573 http://www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk/feature/mccaffery/Col_Hugh_Crofton.htm (I may have got this one mixed up with someone else, but he has an interesting history anyway!) requested that two of his deceased family members were cremated. Unfortunately, the society fearing legal recriminations refused to oversee the cremations, but Hanham carried them out on his own land. The Police took no action, but it was when Doctor William Price had gone to Court and had received the victory that he justly deserved for the burning of his young son, that the Society saw no bar to proceeding and prepared to carry out the first official cremation in Britain since Viking times. This was in 1885 for a Mrs Pickersgill http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,649734,00.html at the Woking Crematorium – in 1902 an Act of Parliament was passed to regulate cremations in England and Wales. The US had their first crematorium in 1876, however there are still certain faiths that are opposed to cremation, however there are many others that positively embrace it. A tasty little Rhyme Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better, To paint a picture or write a letter, Bake a cake or plant a seed, Ponder the difference between want and need? Dust if you must, but there’s not much time, With rivers to swim and mountains to climb, Music to hear and books to read, Friends to cherish and a life to lead. Dust if you must, but the world’s out there With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, A flutter of snow, a shower of rain, This day will not come ‘round again. Dust if you must, but bear in mind, Old Age will come and it’s not always kind, And when you go and go you must, You, yourself, will make more dust. Anon. Bringing it right up-to-date – Crematoriums are now having to order bigger furnaces to cope with coffins that are now much larger than the original sizes. As the size of some people is increasing, the funerals of the largest people are sometimes forced to a different venue with larger furnaces for the funeral service to take place and it seems that council tax payers are having to fund the refurbishing. Standard coffins are between 16 and 20” in width, however coffins are now increasingly being made up to 44 inches across and a high proportion of the 650 or so crematoriums in the UK are ordering bigger furnaces, The thought of putting someone’s body onto a boat and setting it alight would alleviate the size situation, somehow I don’t think that that the Old Viking cremation of setting light to their loved one on a ceremonial Viking ship will happen again. Which rather loosely brings me onto to boats…. Now a number of years ago, I met a chap who was building a concrete boat – actually it was a yacht and he was going to sail it from South Africa to Australia – this never actually happened, but it sowed the seed in my brain for an article in later years. The boat was totally indistinguishable from any other form of vessel, however it had fantastic reinforcing throughout its structure so would take a lot to destroy it and was the ideal vessel to travel across the open seas. A bit of history now about these mis-understood vessels: Ferro-Cement http://www.ferroboats.com/ is the term used to describe the boat building method of using steel wire mesh being covered with a cement and sand plaster and is based upon patents that were originally taken out in the 19th century by French inventor Joseph-Louis Lambot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-Louis_Lambot who called his innovation Ferciment. He produced two boats from his home in Miraval in Southern France – the first in 1848 and the second, which was shown at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1855. The Italian engineer, Carlo Gambellini improved upon Lambot’s design(s) and created several barges during the 1870 to 1880’s period. During and before WWI, several Ferro-cement of smaller proportions were built in the UK and now the oldest of these, the Violette http://www.steamindex.com/archive/arch4.htm built in 1917 is now used for a floating, boating association clubhouse on the River Medway and is still afloat. The first ocean going concrete ship Namsenfjord was launched on August 2nd 1917 from the shipyards of NK Fougner and after the success of this ship, many more concrete vessels were constructed. Also in 1917 when the US entered the war, there was a shortage of steel and at the same time there was of course a shortage of ship, so the US government started building 24 concrete ships, but only 12 were started with none actually completed by the end of the war, however those twelve were finished and sold for light trading, storage and scrap. During the Second World War, many ferro-concrete barges (FCB’s) played a crucial role, especially in the D-Day landings as part of Mulberry Harbour defences, as well as being used for fuel and munitions transportation and of course the famous floating pontoons, with some being fitted with engines and used as mobile canteens or troop carriers. There are some still abandoned wrecks in the Thames Estuary and two remain in civilian use moored at Westminster. At the end of WW2, the end of large-scale concrete shipbuilding happened, but smaller scale recreational boats are still being built and are normally done by amateur boat builders. It is the most cost effective and easiest form of boat building boats of more than 25 feet in length, especially as no special tools or weather proof buildings need to be used. I’m proud of our Judges! Magistrate, Alan Williams http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23392194-details/Rebel+magistrate+resigns+over+'immoral+victim+fee'/article.do is facing the sack after refusing to impose the controversial £15 victim’s surcharge because he says it is morally wrong. Our Government has ruled that the charge must be imposed on anyone who receives a Court fine, which includes speeding motorists and people who don’t pay their TV licence. The reason for the backlash is due to the fact that the ruling does not apply to those who actually commit these crimes such as rapists and murderers who get sent to gaol. In the first known case of its kind, Ely magistrates in Cambridgeshire refused to impose the charge on a teenager caught with a small amount of cannabis on their person. “The court on this occasion is not going to impose the £15 surcharge – we feel the surcharge is morally wrong and may be in contravention of aspects of law. This is the decision of this bench alone – it is not the policy of the East Cambridgeshire bench.” This surcharge has been muted for three years, but when introduced earlier this month, there was surprise that it only applies to offenders fined by the courts. Criminals given any other punishment will escape the fine, which means that serious crimes will not be subjected to this £15 surcharge. It is alleged that the surcharge will eventually be added to all on-the-spot fines – including tickets for speeding, mobile phone use whilst driving plus a whole host more “offences”. In the hope of averting a backlash, it is said that motorists will be spared the first time they are trapped by a speed camera as long as they do not challenge the offence in court! That sounds suspiciously unlike any democracy that I know or have known. Reading the media further, there are other Justices of the Peace also coming out in favour of Magistrate Alan Williams, but there seems to be a blanket of news since it first started, so I can’t let you know what is now happening now. And they say that this country is a democracy? Since writing this, I have found another small article mentioning that a further two more magistrates have resigned due to the £15 levy (or stealth tax). The latest (April 17th 2007) is Christopher Foster served on the bench in Boston Lincolnshire saying that “the government is interfering with judicial sentencing and this is a tax, not a fine. What is there to stop the tax next year being £100 for each offence?” He further mentions that his sole reason for resigning is purely the surcharge – he is not a tax collector and the only way to fight this is by resigning. If he remains a magistrate, he must stick to the law. It also seems that the former Home Secretary minister David Blunkett initially proposed the levy. He unfortunately has to resign from office due to odd things happening that shouldn’t have happened. It also seems that anyone and that includes those who might disagree with paying a dog licence will also have to fund this surcharge. Plans to make more serious offenders pay higher surcharges than £15 were abandoned because court computers were unable to make the necessary calculation, which makes it more sensible to leave it to the Judges and Magistrates in the first place. Where to go? The year is now starting with quite a few venues to go to – the two main magazines in the UK have admirable websites for you to go to. They both produce an event list that is extremely comprehensive and well worth getting hold of. I also know that the FOPS have now stopped its event list, as there are now so many other booklets to consult. I totally agree with their stance especially as it relies upon people letting them know what’s going on in the first place. Unfortunately, and this Update also suffers from the same disease, people seem reticent to tell anyone that their show is taking place and wonder why their show suffers from lack of support. Most periodicals will let you advertise free of charge so it only takes the time to write something and either post it of send it via email. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/ http://www.oldglory.co.uk/ http://www.vintagespirit.co.uk/ APRIL 22ND DRIVE IT DAY http://www.fbhvc.co.uk/events/events-fbhvc.htm Yes, why not take your prized possession out onto the roads this April Sunday and show the rest of the world that you have something to be proud of. Spend some time letting people know that we have a fantastic heritage within our countries. Further details available from the Federation of British Historic Vehicles Clubs, but I’m sure that those of you who are in other lands might take up the gauntlet too and have a troddle around through the lanes and enjoy the day out preserving our future. It isn’t going to survive if nothing happens and no one makes the effort. Talking of survival Amazingly, a local council has decided to literally tip 22 complete and ancient bicycles into a landfill tip site in Newcastle upon Tyne! It seems that the council was owed some rent arrears amounting to £160, they decided rather than sell the collection off, which would have covered their cost many fold over, they have destroyed and made sure that nobody can have the opportunity of preserving this collection. The totally unique NUT bicycle (1899-1901) and Austin cycle (1903) have followed the others into the ground to be seen or enjoyed no more. Newcastle’s boast “City of Culture” seems a bit thin here, especially as some of the bicycles were lent freely to the council so that they would support their own shows. Even more important don’t you think to therefore go and display your own stuff around the country and show others that it still exists before some bright spark decides to scrap anything over a year old. Snippets St Augustine, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm who died on the 28th August 430, is said to have been the first person to read to himself silently, without moving his lips. Sir Edward Elgar http://www.elgar.org/ was in a London cab when he heard one of his most popular pieces – Salut d’Amour – being churned out on a barrel organ. He told the cabbie to slow down and threw a sovereign coin to the street musician with the acid remark: “here you are – you’re earning more from it than I ever did!” Many years earlier, Elgar had sold the copyright for two guineas – a pittance worth about £150 today – never thinking the piece would become so popular. Money remained a seething issue for much of his life (1857-1934), despite being the best-loved composer since Purcell. Daily Express 3/5/96. “I only know two tunes. One of them is Yankee Doodle, and the other isn’t” Ulysses S. Grant 1822-1885. http://www.mscomm.com/~ulysses/ A musicologist is a man who can read music, but can’t hear it. Sir Thomas Beecham 1879 – 1961. http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Sir_Thomas_Beecham “There is no doubt that the first requirement for a composer is to be dead” Arthur Honegger 1892 – 1955. http://www.karadar.it/Dictionary/honegger.html “No, I’m breaking it in for a friend” Groucho Marx 1895 – 1977: when asked if Groucho was his real name. http://www.marx-brothers.org/ From Patrick MacAfee from the US Dear Boz: I am continuing to remember the trip with the very fondest of memories…I am still reeling from all the wonders!!! (Thanks for that Patrick) Don tells me you wanted the little story about the notes and music. Well, going into a dim and distant memory…I remember it going something like this: “I overheard Eugene Ormandy, the famous former Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra tell a very anxious and frustrated world famous pianist not to worry about the rehearsal, which was not going well. He, the pianist was “trying too hard.” The pianist was apologizing, “perdone me maestro, Signore, perdone me!!! The notes…I have only the notes…and am approaching them all wrong. Chiding the pianist to relax, and be more present, Ormandy said, that the notes are not the music, and that when the auditorium is filled, his blessing, that is his talent would take over - the notes would not loom so large and that the music would come. Ormandy noting, “ah yes, remember, the notes are not necessarily the music.” “If you continue to try so hard, the music can’t come, because of your attention to only the notes and not the feelings and wonderment that they convey.” Boz, over the years I have heard this idea expressed in many ways. Another impression behind this concept is… “Don’t do something, just stand there!!!” … attention given to being, rather than doing. Be well. Patrick MacAfee Thanks for that Patrick – I certainly have had terrible problems when I try to make music from the thinking part of my anatomy – all feeling goes and the stupidity of what others might want to enjoy comes in. Not a good concept as you might only satisfy one person in a million. Better to satisfy the person who is actually going to listen to the instrument on a regular basis and each time that music is played, the million to one odds, get shorter! Nairn Transport Two New Zealand brothers, Gerald and Norman Nairn after WWI, started the bus company Nairn Transport. Originally they set up a car selling business in Beirut, however their business was slow to take off that they decided to diversify and opened a taxi service that had two second-hand Cadillac vehicles on the 70-mile drive between Beirut and Haifa in Palestine and from that point, the Nairn Transport Company was formed. Previously this journey had taken days to cover by horse and cart, but now was able to be done in just one day. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198104/the.nairn.way.htm In 1923, the British Consul in Damascus asked for a feasibility study to be undertaken to see whether it was possible to cross the Syrian Desert by vehicle. They had many negotiations with the Bedouin tribal chiefs who also helped to give safe passage against marauding bandits. By the end of the year, the Nairn Brothers had set up the cross-desert route. On the back of this they also set up a regular mail service between Damascus and Baghdad and by using a desert track, the time taken between India and Europe was cut to just ten days as opposed to the six weeks taken by ship going through the Suez Canal. The Brothers Nairn obviously liked the Cadillac vehicles as they invested in more of their touring cars for more comfort on the unmade roads. The vehicles had to cope with mountains, mountain passes between Beirut and Damascus, desert driving with plenty of sand as well as reliable maintenance free engines and running gear, so much so that they soon got the contracts from the British, Italian, German, French, American and Russian embassies to carry their diplomatic pouches and as a consequence were making two journeys per week. In 1926, just three years from getting their crossing through the desert, they were operating American made Safeway Buses capable of carrying 16 passengers plus two tones of luggage and personal effects and it is said that many well-known people used this excellent service including one such writer called Agatha Christie. During the 1930’s, they added some comfort to the journeys by using Buick Aerocar Coupés that towed small coaches capable of carrying ten passengers; later a 24 passenger American Car Foundry coach and then the piece de resistance – a Marmon-Harrington 38-seater powered by a 50 hp tractor unit with airstream panelling where the passengers enjoyed air conditioning, a buffet and a toilet on board. The advertising blurb boasts of air conditioning, no heat, no dust, and appetizing meals en route during the 500 miles, in expensive vehicles that were the envy of the World! Certainly they were very forward in their thinking and I would hope that they charged for the privilege World War 2 came and went and the company went into decline due to the advent of air travel and local political complications. The Nairn brothers left the business by the 1950’s handing it over to the company’s employees. The firm continued on until 1956 when the Iraqi customs officials decided to impose a customs guarantee that was so rigid that the company had to cancel the Damascus Baghdad service. Norman stayed in the Lebanon and Gerald Nairn returned to New Zealand. SV Carrick North Ayrshire Council has allowed a decision to scrap the world’s oldest clipper ship. It is to be dismantled after surviving for 143 years by the Scottish Marine Museum. Originally called the City of Adelaide, being one of the ships that took out early settlers to Australia, the ship would have cost £10 million to restore back to its former glory and it really is a very sad end to what is a unique piece of maritime history. The ship will be dismantled slowly to see how 1864 construction methods were done and the salvageable parts are being offered to other museums so that all is not lost. The SV Carrick is 46th in line for the most important and historic vessels published by the National Historic Ships Committee. Thanks for your continued support and please keep passing this update around – New people are welcome and all you have to do is email me at boz@historyinharmony.com and I’ll do the rest Previous Updates? – then look no further Go to forumer.com/" target="_blank">http://organ.10.forumer.com/ and click onto Boz’s Box. For all of the previous Updates go to the above address - very good interactive website that is looked after by our up and coming generation of enthusiastic people. Do make the effort to look at this website and interact with it if you can. If you have any interesting news, can you please 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. Apologies if I have missed out you special event, but if you don’t let me know, then I can’t rectify the situation. 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 from the address on my list. 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. Apologies to all of you who are from other non-speaking English countries. You can of course paste parts of the writing into translation websites and it might make a bit more sense to you. This one is a free site http://www.freetranslation.com/ but I am sure that there are others that might be suitable. Kind wishes to all Boz Oram boz@historyinharmony.com
History in Harmony UPDATE #38 Compiled by Boz Oram boz@historyinharmony.com www.historyinharmony.com Welcome to Update Number 38 – and again welcome to all members new and existing on the History in Harmony Update. Please feel free to contact me at the usual address boz@historyinharmony.com and if others would like to join, then let them know and I’ll gladly send out a copy to them. All links and websites have been checked out beforehand. They should all work just at the click of a button – some however can be a bit slow to load up. I haven’t come across any viruses and all seem to be clean. Do make sure though beforehand and don’t take my word for it. I have a number of other items for the next edition, but please keep them coming as your views and shows are most welcome. Quick News I notice that the sole surviving Burrell portable single cylindered engine now lives in New Zealand. Numbered 1475 and built in 1890 - this was the first steam engine I ever tried to buy! It was up for sale in 1980 and I thought that I’d ask everyone I knew how much it would be worth, bearing in mind that the firebox looked more like an out of control stomach, there were more wooden stoppers in the tubes that could be found in a brewery, the wheels were non original and really the only thing that would be salvageable was the cylinder, flywheel and motionwork. A top price of £350 was the highest figure I got from anyone, so I decided to go up to £500 as no one would be foolish to go over that figure. The lot was third in line on the engines and I was standing on top of the engine expecting it to go to me. “What am I bid?” was the auctioneer’s chant. I just nearly wanted to drop dead when the bidding started at £500! The engine went for £850 I think plus buyer’s premium etc. I was most likely lucky to get away with that as I had nowhere to store it and what was I ever going to do with a portable engine. Later on we as a family got hold of the Savage electric light engine – itself a portable engine! I also note that East Anglian Traction Engine Society (EATES) http://www.eates.org/ members Keith Honour and Hugh Dyson are releasing a video of the film archive of the late Steve Neville. Steve was a real founder member of this preservation world that we live in and was foremost in making sure that they survived into the future. He was possible one of the best orators that I was ever likely to hear and his knowledge was truly phenomenal. There is a maximum run of 400 copies and a first come first served basis will take place. It covers driving Bodicea through the McLaren works, steamrollers working in East Anglia and many legendry trips in the UK and Europe. Further information from Hugh Dyson on hughdyson@callnetuk.com From Cornelis Ruijgvoorn in the Netherlands Hi Boz, Just some news from Holland On Saturday 12th May from 10:00 till 17:00hrs the 9th organ show in Leiden will take place. Some 20 organs will play inside the Hooglandse Kerk (a medieval cathedral in the centre of Leiden). To promote this they made a very nice and funny little video item on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8t6_wvgPxw. One of the attractions usually is a Johan Weima's Mortier (from the Haarlem Organ Museum) while accompanying classical singers. Just a small postscript about Leiden. In the 16 century, twice the Spanish besieged the town. The first siege (1573- march 1574) failed, however the second starting a month later, reducing the population to half due to plague and starvation, and revolted against the Burgomaster Van der Werff, who offered his body to the famished. Revived by his courage, the inhabitants continued with their resistance. Finally, William the Silent had the idea of breaching the dikes to flood the surrounding land. On the 3rd October the Spanish retreated due to the Sea Beggars floating across the flood in flat-bottomed boats. The Spaniards razed the siege and abandoned a pot of beef stew at the foot of the ramparts, which helped save a number of the resistance. From that time onwards, a commemorative feast Leidens Ontzet http://www.leiden.edu/index.php3?c=161 takes place with a historical procession handing out herrings, white bread and the eating of beef stew (hutspot). William the Silent wanted to reward the people with their bravery and offered either a hospital or a University. The people chose the University and is the first University of Holland started in 1575. Swiss Tour We’ve been asked for this tour. If you need a booking form, please contact me for a booking form and I’ll send it down the email wires to boz@historyinharmony.com The Mechanical Music Festival Thun- Itinerary 12th July 2007. The Journey by rail or air to Basel in Switzerland. From this point, the tour will be by coach. Overnight Mercure Hotel Basel. 13th July 2007. A visit to the collection of Mr Peter Rohrer before travelling onward to Thun where we will stay at the Minotel Elite Hotel which is just a few minutes away from the festival. We will visit the Thun Steam Railway sheds and then the evening is at leisure. 14th July 2007. Thun Organ Festival. Thun is just one of Switzerland’s famous music festivals. The International Barrel Organ Festival has now become one of the traditional summer events in Thun. Every second year over 200 organs from different countries arrange to meet here. And it is not only mechanical organs which can be heard at the international festival, there are also clowns and magicians in action and the street ballad singers and minstrels, fire eaters and magicians bring a very special atmosphere to the alleys and squares of Thun. 15th July 2007. Today there is an option. You can either stay at the festival and enjoy instruments of all sizes and other events not seen on Saturday, or there is an optional excursion up into the mountains to the Jungfrauhoch (not included). 16th July 2007. First a visit to the Museum of Timepieces and Mechanical Musical Instruments in Oberhofen before taking a gentle drive through the mountainous and scenic countryside to Lucerne. We check into the Hertsenstein Resort for the next three nights. 17th July 2007 - Lucern Transport Museum. The Swiss Museum of Transport and Communication consists of the Museum of Transport, Switzerland's only IMAX Theatre and large planetarium, the Hans Erni Museum, along with numerous other attractions. 18th July 2007 Lake Lucerne is Switzerland’s most famous lake, well known all over Europe. We take a steamboat from Weggis to Vitznau for a trip up the Mount Rigi Railway. Since 1871, this has been Europe's first ever mountain railway and has brought visitors from Vitznau up to Mt. Rigi. Many of the locomotives and coaches from the early years of the mountain railway have been painstakingly and professionally restored to their former splendour, and they now stand ready for their passengers. 19th July 2007 – transfer to Basel for the return journey to England. Price per person: £799 sharing a twin room. Single room cost: £929. This includes, seven nights accommodation half board, coach travel from Basel. All entrances except the Jungfrau excursion, which will cost approximately £65 for the day. The flight or rail is not included: as an example, British Airways are currently offering flights at £49 each way, Easyjet are under £100 including taxes. The cost of the rail should be between £65 and £120 but the costs are not yet available to book. Naturally we can make any reservation to suit your requirements. The tour is based on a minimum of 20 persons travelling and if this number is not reached by 12th June, then we will be forced to apply a supplement for the tour to go ahead. We would contact you all, to discuss this nearer the time. For overseas visitors, please contact Linda directly as we can then accommodate your requirements if you want to arrive earlier or stay later on after the tour. Geraardsbergen 2007. I will write up this year’s information for the next edition. There are a few that want to go to this really good event – please, please let me know if you want to go and we can sort it out. It will be dependent on numbers so let us know as soon as possible. FOPS Day at Hollycombe Steam Collection http://www.hollycombe.co.uk/ At the end of March, the FOPS had their Annual General Meeting at Hollycombe near to Liphook in Hampshire. For those of you who have never been to this place it is a collection of extremely rare fairground equipment a well as steam vehicles (road and rail) as well as a goodly collection of vintage showman’s living vans. The collection was started by Commander Baldock on his land many years ago, then much of it was sold to Madame Tussauds, to then at a later stage, return back to Hollycombe. Unfortunately, The Commander died just a couple of years ago, but luckily left the whole collection in trust so that it could be opened to the Public. Well as we all know, when a figurehead dies, it can leave a real chasm to fill. Providentially, the volunteers have managed to secure funding to house much of the collection undercover in the wintertime and has now got a good visitor centre, but much more needs to be done to get even more shelter for the collection. That is something for the future and is on their list of things to do, however as we all know the fairground rides all have to be tested to make sure that they are safe for the General Public to ride upon (especially in these sad days of litigation) and the safety inspector took his long job rather too seriously making it awkward for the members of FOPS to actually get into the collection before the meeting. A few organs had arrived, but the others that were booked to be there, were unfortunately unable to make it for their own various reasons. It happens that way sometimes. There are of course a number of organs in the collection that now need a bit of restoration and have just got themselves someone who is sympathetic to help maintain them and at least keep them going until funds become available. Again it is always a nightmare for any collection to keep everything in tip-top condition, but with a bit of education and general help with the instruments, the place has enormous potential and is an ideal place to visit if you are in the area. There are many different events that take place throughout the year, however just two of them are when the bluebells flower and the rhododendrons bloom. Keep your eyes peeled for this one, as Hollycombe is one of the most exciting places to visit at that time of year. http://www.geocities.com/hollycombest/ http://website.lineone.net/~jbaldock/holly.htm The Soviet Tu-144 Many of you who have come with History in Harmony to the Model Engineering Exhibition in January and will have seen the supersonic transport aircraft Tu-144 No 77112 at the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim, however due to a lack of details abut these aircraft, it has been difficult to ascertain what happened to them all, however grateful thanks to Ian Senior, we have a better understanding. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2818640 http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/tu144/index.shtml The first supersonic transport aircraft (SST) constructed under the direction of the Soviet Tupolev design bureau was the Tupolev Tu-144 and our Western observers nicknamed it Concordski. The prototype first flew on 31st December 1968 near to Moscow, two months before Concorde. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uW5sLug_0 (moving film) The Tu-144 first broke the sound barrier on 5th June 1969 and on July 5th 1969 became the first passenger aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and it also became also the fastest commercial airliner ever to have flown (as of April 2007). Following the horrific crash of aircraft 77102 on June 6th 1973 at the Paris Air Show, the aircraft continued its service in Russia transporting cargo. A limited commercial service started in 1977, however this finished a year later following another crash – this was while another aircraft was being delivered. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPQlbhgD4YQ (Moving film) Further use of the aircraft was restricted to cargo and mail until the fleet was retired in the mid-eighties. Sixteen airworthy Tu-144’s were constructed: Tu-144 No 68001 Prototype Scrapped Tu-144S models had NK turbofan engines Tu-144S No 77101 pre-production model Scrapped Tu-144S No 77102 1st model produced at Voronezh Aircraft Factory (VASO) where all subsequent models were built, crashed in Paris Tu-144S No 77103 Location unknown – most likely scrapped Tu-144S No 77104 Location unknown – most likely scrapped Tu-144S No 77105 Modified to a test Tu-144 – scrapyard Zhukovsky airbase (1993) Tu-144S No 77106 Cargo flights between Moscow and Kazakhstan @ Monino Museum Tu-144S No 77107 Displayed at Kazan Aviation Production Complex Tartarstan Tu-144S No 77108 Stored @ Samara Ouchebny (Research Institute) Tu-144S No 77109 Hulk at VASO Tu-144S No 77110 Passenger craft. Displayed Museum of Civil Aviation Ulyanovsk Tu-144D models had the more powerful RD 36-51 engines with better fuel efficiency and a longer range Tu-144D No 77111 Crashed on May 23rd 1978 and was scrapped Tu-144D No 77112 Only aircraft outside of Russia and was acquired by German Collector Herman Lehyer for $500,000 - displayed at Sinsheim alongside the European rival Concorde Tu-144D No 77113 Was on display at Tupolev Bureau Zhukovsky – possibly scrapped Tu-144D No 77114 Once leased to an American Consortium in the early 90’s who made it airworthy at a cost of $350 million and was used as test bed research into new style supersonic aircraft. The aircraft was designated Tu-144LL (LL meaning flying laboratory) When the programme ended, it was offered for auction and provisionally sold for $11 million, however the Russian Military refused permission to allow it out of the country, as the new NK-321 engines it now had fitted, had now become classified technology. The aircraft is stored at the Tupolev Bureau, Zhukovsky. Tu-144D No 77115 Last completed and is on display Tupolev Bureau Zhukovsky Tu-114 No 77116 Not completed, but in store at VASO http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/Tupulov/Aero59.htm So there you have it – quite a remarkable and interesting aircraft that got awful publicity from its crash at the Paris Airshow. Continuing on in an aircraft vein The World Famous RED ARROWS http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds/ http://www.redarrows.com/ Recently it had been reported that the Red Arrows, the world famous aerobatic display team and the public face of the UK’s Royal Air Force was to be disbanded due to financial cutbacks from the Government, however the Ministry of Defence confirmed on the 7th April that the cost cutting review had been shelved for the time being and armed forces minister Adam Ingram said “I have given a firm commitment – there is no threat to the Red Arrows”. Well we’ll wait and see, however there was a petition on the Downing Street website of 56,000 people, but better still, people have also been writing to their Members of Parliament (MPs) protesting at the plans to scrap the display team. It seems that with the MPs support towards the Red Arrows, the Government has found it difficult to continue with their cost cutting exercise. Last month, a highly unusual move was taken by Chief Marshall Sir Glenn Torpy, the Chief of the Air Staff, http://www.rafmarham.co.uk/relations/stories-2006/cas-2006.htm to let it be known that he saw the retention of the display team as essential to the morale of the RAF. The nine jet team and their many pilots have become over the years, a byword for skill and daring with the team’s formation displays in which they fly a mere six feet apart from each other at a whopping 400mph trailing red, white and blue smoke trails; have attracted plaudits from around the world as well as generating plenty of business for the British Aero industry. It seems that their fate may last until 2010, when the Hawk aircraft will reach the end if it’s planned life. http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/hawk/ http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/hawk.cfm At least the fantastic Red Arrows will survive for a bit longer, however a more long-term commitment from Government really ought to be on the lips of all members of Parliament, as the backbone of British Industry is crumbling fast under the poor reinvestment from our Chancellor of the Exchequer. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16740 http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/92/92822.html Some people realise the potential of their heritage The Mona Lisa http://www.cite-sciences.fr/english/ala_cite/expo/explora/image/mona/en.php (do go to this one – you’ll enjoy it) Possibly the most well known painting ever to have been painted is the Mona Lisa on exhibition in the Louvre in Paris. She is the mystery woman whose enigmatic smile has forever been captured in Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa, however new research has revealed that her identity was the wife of a silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo who was a friend of the artist’s father, Messer Piero. http://tinyurl.com/2rtxb7 Art experts have long suspected that Lisa Gherardini was the sitter, but in January, Italian scholar, Professor Guiseppi Pallanti found a death certificate in a Florentine church, and this is though to be the final piece of the jigsaw. An Italian genealogist has since identified two living descendents of Lisa Gherardhini who says that a family legend also points to their ancestor being the woman with the enchanting smile. Natalia Guicciardini Strozzi and her sister Irina of Cusano have been told since they were young children that they were descendents saying that “it is wonderful to be able to say that we are modern women, but we are also preserving the extraordinary memories of the past” Professor Pallanti built up a detailed picture or who Lisa Gherardini was, where she lived and where she died. He also believes that da Vinci’s father commissioned the painting as a gift to his friend del Giocondo and started the painting on Poplar Wood in 1503 and took four years to complete it. It was taken from Italy to France in 1516 when King François I invited Leonardo to work new his castle in Amboise (where he is buried). The King bought the painting for 4,000 écus – about £50,000 in modern day money and kept it at Fontainbleau, where it remained until Louis XIV moved it. There are at least two early copies of the Mona Lisa, which claim to be authentic, but most historians dismiss this view. There are also copies of the painting showing her as a nude, fuelling speculation of a lost Leonardo original. Who knows? What I do know is that millions of people have been touched by this portrait and will continue to do so for many years to come. Family Tree Mona Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini. = Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. I I Piero (1496) = Maddelena Ridolfi Andrea I I ________________________I I Maddalena del Giocondo = Niccolo del Garbo I Baccio del Garbo = Lisabetta de’ Mozzi I Pier Giannozzo Mozzi del Garbo = Teresa Guadagini I Clementina Mozzi del Garbo = Lorenzo Magani I Alfonsina Magnani = Luigi Bombicci Pontelli I Cesare Bombicci Pontelli = Giuseppina Niccolini I Mari Luisa Bombicci Pontelli = Conte Guicciardini I Girolamo Strozzi Guicciardini = Trina Reine I I Natalia Strozzi Irina Strozzi The Louvre painting has for centuries been known in Italy as La Gionconda, meaning the lighthearted one and as Natalia said, “don’t forget, Lisa was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, which is where the name Gioconda came from – that’s too much of a coincidence.” Even more heritage Pinkney’s Green returns! Yes the truly excellent Pinkney’s Green Steam Fair, run by the Carter Family has returned - the local population were disgusted by the landowners to stop steam working. Petitions, letters in the Maidenhead Advertiser and a general massive support from so many people have secured that this show will take place this year. Hopefully it will continue in perpetuity, but it also might be the only chance for anyone to be seeing a real fair being run by real steam engines for a real paying public.. Yes the 12/13th May is the date for you to put into your notebooks to show some support and solidarity of a family putting everything on the line to make sure that the show goes on. As a special this year, there are two important aspects. The first is a road run of the showman’s engines going from Maidenhead Bridge at 11 am to the fairground at Pinkney’s Green (please remember to not park your cars in stupid places to get that elusive picture) and possibly the most talked about Burrell Showman’s engine in recent years – The Philadelphia no 3413, that has come out of hiding for about 40 or so years to have been rebuilt by Jimmer Marsh, now working down in Sussex. I had the good fortune of seeing it in the flesh just a couple of weeks ago and it looks like a million dollars (I would suspect that it also cost somewhere about the same price to buy and restore it too!). Going on the many previous engines that Jimmer has restored, then this Burrell will be another exceptional workhorse and it’ll be good to see another engine designed and built to work, doing just that at Pinkney’s Green. One Line Gags Recently in a poll of comedians, film fans and writers came up with their top ten one-liners and I must say that a couple are funny, but when Ray Galton, who wrote with Alan Simpson plays like Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe and Son, came up with his own one liners that will most likely stand the test of time. 1 Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member. Groucho Marx http://www.groucho-marx.com/ 2 You can lead a whore to culture, but you cannot make her think. Dorothy Parker. http://www.levity.com/corduroy/parker.htm http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Dorothy_Parker 3 Anybody who hates children and dogs can’t be all-bad. WC Fields http://www.webtrec.com/wcfields/ 4 Never give a sucker an even break. WC Fields http://www.juggling.org/fame/fields/ 5 I never drink water – fish (have sex) in it WC Fields http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/W._C._Fields/ 6 He rose without a trace Kitty Muggeridge/Peter Cook http://www.petercook.net/ 7 http://www.stabbers.org/ on Sir David Frost http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/737846.stm 7 A pint? Why that’s nearly an armful. Hancock’s Half Hour. http://www.tonyhancock.org.uk/ The Blood Donor 8 Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain? Hancock’s Half Hour, Twelve Angry Men 9 I never forget a face – but in your case I’ll make an exception Groucho Marx 10 When asked how his play Goodnight Vienna was doing in the fishing port of Grimsby, the playwright Eric Maschwitz said: “About as well as Goodnight Grimsby would do in Vienna. http://www.musical-theatre.net/html/composers/ericmaschwitz.html And the other top ten………. Well I found a couple that I thought amusing…. 1 Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me! Kenneth Williams – Carry on Cleo (1964) http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/audio?p=kenneth+williams&fr=srp-iy 2 Surely you can’t be serious? I am serious – and don’t call me Shirley. Leslie Nielsen – Airplane (1980) http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000558/ 3 Remember you’re fighting for this woman’s honour, which is probably more than she ever did. Groucho Marx – Duck Soup (1933) http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Groucho_Marx 4 Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here – this is the War Room. Peter Sellers – Dr Strangelove (1963) The remainder relied upon you actually seeing the film in question and being “in” on the joke. Am I becoming old fashioned? And for a couple more sayings – this time from Bob Dylan http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/audio?p=bob+dylan&fr=srp-iy http://www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/home/main.html It’s not me, it’s the songs. I’m just the postman who delivers them. Some people feel the rain – others get wet. The picture you have in your mind of what you’re about will come true. People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient….. and then repent. And finally……. Folk singing is just a bunch of fat people. Mmmmm! I sang (or that’s what I thought it was) in a folk pub one night – they all clapped and cheered wildly – mind you it was late in the evening and copious quantities of porter and ale had been consumed by that time in the evening. I also have to point out that I was really thin at the time, unlike my gently ample proportions of now! DNA http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/ http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/dna/dna.htm One of the unfortunate aspects of our lives is that we all get older and with that comes the inevitable end of life syndrome more commonly known as death. Well folks, you can live on indefinitely in a physical form in the shape of a diamond if you so desire. Modern techniques can recreate diamonds so well that only a specialist can tell the difference and supposedly, they are less expensive than the real thing. I must admit I haven’t bought a diamond for quite a while, so I’ll need one of the ladies to confirm that little statement! Anyway, in order to make the diamond, you need to of course be cremated, however a question that I have wondered is whether your DNA continues on in the diamond. Fortunately for me (and I guess you too) here’s the answer. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/8205/8205diamonds.html Deoxyribonucleic Acid (now you know what DNA stands for) is a nucleic acid containing genetic instructions for the development and functioning of our living organs. It has, as you will have seen on science programmes, a double helix structure that makes it particularly hardy, however it begins to loose its formation at about 93C. Most cremation incinerators operate at a temperature of between 800C and 1,000C for between one and three hours – depending upon capacity of numbers and of course body size. This in turn will obliterate any DNA left in the body, so in answer to the question, none of your physical structure will be left, however the essence of your soul will. This brings me neatly onto the subject of cremations. Blaze Away and all of that Jazz When Princess Margaret, http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page948.asp sister of our present Queen Elizabeth http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp died, her express instruction was to be cremated, many of the newspapers cried out in horror that a Royal should be disposed of in such a way. Funnily enough Princess Louise, http://www.britannia.com/history/biographies/louise.html Queen Victoria’s http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page118.asp daughter who died in 1939, had already set a precedent here and is along the line of modern day thinking as a quick, inexpensive and clean alternative to burial in the ground. Church gravesites are becoming increasingly more difficult to find and of course, some church administrations are charging almost Poole Harbour rates to intern people on the land. It seems that in the UK up to 70% of people now choose this way of finishing their present time on Earth, however it was as late as the 19th century that cremation was viewed with an absolute horror and distaste, (except for stake burning whilst the body was alive!) perpetrated by none other than those who would benefit from keeping the deceased on their land paying for a plot. Cremation introduction, or more correctly re-introduction into our way of life, came about as a result of a most bizarre legal court case. Since our Viking ancestors, who believed that cremation was the best way of sending their loved ones into the afterlife and to Valhalla, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla the home of the Norse Gods, the act of burning someone was almost unheard of in Europe (other than burning at the stake for being a heretic) especially from the Church/Government saying that it was Pagan Barbarism, however in 1883, Dr William Price, http://www.welshicons.org.uk/html/dr_william_price.html an 83 year old Druid Priest cremated his 5-year-old son in accordance with Druid practice. The Police took a dim view of the cremation and hauled Dr Price off to the local Magistrates Court at South Glamorgan Assizes in Cardiff. The Judge, Mr Justice Stephen ruled that cremation was a legal act, provided that “no nuisance” was caused to others and consequently the case went to Dr Price. His victory paved the way for the rest of us to make a choice and use a form of burial that was suitable to us and not someone else ideas. No one knows when cremation became used as a way of disposing of bodies, however it is known that ancient humans and the Neanderthal peoples buried, but also took to burning their loved ones, warriors or more importantly those who had died with fever or plague. Certainly, throughout Europe cremation was widespread during the Stone Age and elaborate urns with the remains of previous lives date from 3,000BC being found in western Russia. The earliest record in Britain was in 1658 with an essay entitled Hydriotaphia: Urn Burial by Sir Thomas Browne. About 100 years later Honoretta Pratt http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/Ladies%201st%20-%20H.htm wrote about the dangers of rotting bodies underground and polluting the air and she left instructions that her remains be burnt – her wishes were carried out. The Romans originally welcomed it with open arms, but by the time of the 4th century, burial had replaced it except in times of plague and war. It wasn’t until the 18th century when a growing number of people realised that burying people underground might not be the most suitable place especially when it was established that disease was caused by microbes and now with doctors and scientists saying that burying many thousands of people just a short distance below the surface, in the middle of Europe’s rapidly expanding cities, might constitute a rather major health hazard. It was only until technical advances in Italy made mass cremation a realistic possibility, as previous attempts of being reliable and efficient had been a bit hit and miss. At the Vienna Exposition in 1873, http://expomuseum.com/1873/ Professor Brunetti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation presented his cremation chamber – a retort, which achieved the desired effect, cleanly and ecologically superior to what had gone before and showed that by heating the remains to a temperature of some 870C, the process of dehydration and thermal decomposition reduced the deceased to small particles that could then be ground to fine ash. It seems that one of the visitors to the Vienna Exposition was Queen Victoria’s physician, a certain Sir Henry Thompson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Thompson and when he returned back to the UK, he became a total convert to the cremation invention – two reasons for this the first was for the sanitary precautions that this form of burial created, but the Victorians also had a rather morbid paranoia of being buried alive which meant that this was meant to be a bit of comfort to the victim to burn them to a frazzle should they wake up inside the coffin. The legal status of cremation however was still unclear, so in 1874, Sir Henry formed the Cremation Society of England http://www.srgw.demon.co.uk/CremSoc/History/HistSocy.html with many eminent people, however Queen Victoria wasn’t persuaded and was totally opposed to cremation all of her life. The first attempt to build a crematorium in England was on land given to the Society in North London, however it failed because of Bishop of Rochester, within whose jurisdiction the cemetery lay, prohibited the establishment of a crematorium on his public land, however the Society finally did find a site at Woking in Surrey http://www.woking.gov.uk/woking/heritage/crem. A team of Italian engineers came to supervise the construction of Europe’s first crematorium and on 17th March 1879, a horse was cremated there in less than two hours. Even though this was very successful, there was opinion against it and the Vicar of Woking led a group of representatives to the Home Secretary, Sir Richard Cross, who was persuaded that cremation could be used to prevent the discovery of poison or violence in the detection of death. He refused to approve the new practice until an Act of Parliament had been passed. There were no more experiments until 1882 when a Dorset man, Captain Hanham http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/articles/print.asp?ID=573 http://www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk/feature/mccaffery/Col_Hugh_Crofton.htm (I may have got this one mixed up with someone else, but he has an interesting history anyway!) requested that two of his deceased family members were cremated. Unfortunately, the society fearing legal recriminations refused to oversee the cremations, but Hanham carried them out on his own land. The Police took no action, but it was when Doctor William Price had gone to Court and had received the victory that he justly deserved for the burning of his young son, that the Society saw no bar to proceeding and prepared to carry out the first official cremation in Britain since Viking times. This was in 1885 for a Mrs Pickersgill http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,649734,00.html at the Woking Crematorium – in 1902 an Act of Parliament was passed to regulate cremations in England and Wales. The US had their first crematorium in 1876, however there are still certain faiths that are opposed to cremation, however there are many others that positively embrace it. A tasty little Rhyme Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better, To paint a picture or write a letter, Bake a cake or plant a seed, Ponder the difference between want and need? Dust if you must, but there’s not much time, With rivers to swim and mountains to climb, Music to hear and books to read, Friends to cherish and a life to lead. Dust if you must, but the world’s out there With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, A flutter of snow, a shower of rain, This day will not come ‘round again. Dust if you must, but bear in mind, Old Age will come and it’s not always kind, And when you go and go you must, You, yourself, will make more dust. Anon. Bringing it right up-to-date – Crematoriums are now having to order bigger furnaces to cope with coffins that are now much larger than the original sizes. As the size of some people is increasing, the funerals of the largest people are sometimes forced to a different venue with larger furnaces for the funeral service to take place and it seems that council tax payers are having to fund the refurbishing. Standard coffins are between 16 and 20” in width, however coffins are now increasingly being made up to 44 inches across and a high proportion of the 650 or so crematoriums in the UK are ordering bigger furnaces, The thought of putting someone’s body onto a boat and setting it alight would alleviate the size situation, somehow I don’t think that that the Old Viking cremation of setting light to their loved one on a ceremonial Viking ship will happen again. Which rather loosely brings me onto to boats…. Now a number of years ago, I met a chap who was building a concrete boat – actually it was a yacht and he was going to sail it from South Africa to Australia – this never actually happened, but it sowed the seed in my brain for an article in later years. The boat was totally indistinguishable from any other form of vessel, however it had fantastic reinforcing throughout its structure so would take a lot to destroy it and was the ideal vessel to travel across the open seas. A bit of history now about these mis-understood vessels: Ferro-Cement http://www.ferroboats.com/ is the term used to describe the boat building method of using steel wire mesh being covered with a cement and sand plaster and is based upon patents that were originally taken out in the 19th century by French inventor Joseph-Louis Lambot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-Louis_Lambot who called his innovation Ferciment. He produced two boats from his home in Miraval in Southern France – the first in 1848 and the second, which was shown at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1855. The Italian engineer, Carlo Gambellini improved upon Lambot’s design(s) and created several barges during the 1870 to 1880’s period. During and before WWI, several Ferro-cement of smaller proportions were built in the UK and now the oldest of these, the Violette http://www.steamindex.com/archive/arch4.htm built in 1917 is now used for a floating, boating association clubhouse on the River Medway and is still afloat. The first ocean going concrete ship Namsenfjord was launched on August 2nd 1917 from the shipyards of NK Fougner and after the success of this ship, many more concrete vessels were constructed. Also in 1917 when the US entered the war, there was a shortage of steel and at the same time there was of course a shortage of ship, so the US government started building 24 concrete ships, but only 12 were started with none actually completed by the end of the war, however those twelve were finished and sold for light trading, storage and scrap. During the Second World War, many ferro-concrete barges (FCB’s) played a crucial role, especially in the D-Day landings as part of Mulberry Harbour defences, as well as being used for fuel and munitions transportation and of course the famous floating pontoons, with some being fitted with engines and used as mobile canteens or troop carriers. There are some still abandoned wrecks in the Thames Estuary and two remain in civilian use moored at Westminster. At the end of WW2, the end of large-scale concrete shipbuilding happened, but smaller scale recreational boats are still being built and are normally done by amateur boat builders. It is the most cost effective and easiest form of boat building boats of more than 25 feet in length, especially as no special tools or weather proof buildings need to be used. I’m proud of our Judges! Magistrate, Alan Williams http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23392194-details/Rebel+magistrate+resigns+over+'immoral+victim+fee'/article.do is facing the sack after refusing to impose the controversial £15 victim’s surcharge because he says it is morally wrong. Our Government has ruled that the charge must be imposed on anyone who receives a Court fine, which includes speeding motorists and people who don’t pay their TV licence. The reason for the backlash is due to the fact that the ruling does not apply to those who actually commit these crimes such as rapists and murderers who get sent to gaol. In the first known case of its kind, Ely magistrates in Cambridgeshire refused to impose the charge on a teenager caught with a small amount of cannabis on their person. “The court on this occasion is not going to impose the £15 surcharge – we feel the surcharge is morally wrong and may be in contravention of aspects of law. This is the decision of this bench alone – it is not the policy of the East Cambridgeshire bench.” This surcharge has been muted for three years, but when introduced earlier this month, there was surprise that it only applies to offenders fined by the courts. Criminals given any other punishment will escape the fine, which means that serious crimes will not be subjected to this £15 surcharge. It is alleged that the surcharge will eventually be added to all on-the-spot fines – including tickets for speeding, mobile phone use whilst driving plus a whole host more “offences”. In the hope of averting a backlash, it is said that motorists will be spared the first time they are trapped by a speed camera as long as they do not challenge the offence in court! That sounds suspiciously unlike any democracy that I know or have known. Reading the media further, there are other Justices of the Peace also coming out in favour of Magistrate Alan Williams, but there seems to be a blanket of news since it first started, so I can’t let you know what is now happening now. And they say that this country is a democracy? Since writing this, I have found another small article mentioning that a further two more magistrates have resigned due to the £15 levy (or stealth tax). The latest (April 17th 2007) is Christopher Foster served on the bench in Boston Lincolnshire saying that “the government is interfering with judicial sentencing and this is a tax, not a fine. What is there to stop the tax next year being £100 for each offence?” He further mentions that his sole reason for resigning is purely the surcharge – he is not a tax collector and the only way to fight this is by resigning. If he remains a magistrate, he must stick to the law. It also seems that the former Home Secretary minister David Blunkett initially proposed the levy. He unfortunately has to resign from office due to odd things happening that shouldn’t have happened. It also seems that anyone and that includes those who might disagree with paying a dog licence will also have to fund this surcharge. Plans to make more serious offenders pay higher surcharges than £15 were abandoned because court computers were unable to make the necessary calculation, which makes it more sensible to leave it to the Judges and Magistrates in the first place. Where to go? The year is now starting with quite a few venues to go to – the two main magazines in the UK have admirable websites for you to go to. They both produce an event list that is extremely comprehensive and well worth getting hold of. I also know that the FOPS have now stopped its event list, as there are now so many other booklets to consult. I totally agree with their stance especially as it relies upon people letting them know what’s going on in the first place. Unfortunately, and this Update also suffers from the same disease, people seem reticent to tell anyone that their show is taking place and wonder why their show suffers from lack of support. Most periodicals will let you advertise free of charge so it only takes the time to write something and either post it of send it via email. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/ http://www.oldglory.co.uk/ http://www.vintagespirit.co.uk/ APRIL 22ND DRIVE IT DAY http://www.fbhvc.co.uk/events/events-fbhvc.htm Yes, why not take your prized possession out onto the roads this April Sunday and show the rest of the world that you have something to be proud of. Spend some time letting people know that we have a fantastic heritage within our countries. Further details available from the Federation of British Historic Vehicles Clubs, but I’m sure that those of you who are in other lands might take up the gauntlet too and have a troddle around through the lanes and enjoy the day out preserving our future. It isn’t going to survive if nothing happens and no one makes the effort. Talking of survival Amazingly, a local council has decided to literally tip 22 complete and ancient bicycles into a landfill tip site in Newcastle upon Tyne! It seems that the council was owed some rent arrears amounting to £160, they decided rather than sell the collection off, which would have covered their cost many fold over, they have destroyed and made sure that nobody can have the opportunity of preserving this collection. The totally unique NUT bicycle (1899-1901) and Austin cycle (1903) have followed the others into the ground to be seen or enjoyed no more. Newcastle’s boast “City of Culture” seems a bit thin here, especially as some of the bicycles were lent freely to the council so that they would support their own shows. Even more important don’t you think to therefore go and display your own stuff around the country and show others that it still exists before some bright spark decides to scrap anything over a year old. Snippets St Augustine, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm who died on the 28th August 430, is said to have been the first person to read to himself silently, without moving his lips. Sir Edward Elgar http://www.elgar.org/ was in a London cab when he heard one of his most popular pieces – Salut d’Amour – being churned out on a barrel organ. He told the cabbie to slow down and threw a sovereign coin to the street musician with the acid remark: “here you are – you’re earning more from it than I ever did!” Many years earlier, Elgar had sold the copyright for two guineas – a pittance worth about £150 today – never thinking the piece would become so popular. Money remained a seething issue for much of his life (1857-1934), despite being the best-loved composer since Purcell. Daily Express 3/5/96. “I only know two tunes. One of them is Yankee Doodle, and the other isn’t” Ulysses S. Grant 1822-1885. http://www.mscomm.com/~ulysses/ A musicologist is a man who can read music, but can’t hear it. Sir Thomas Beecham 1879 – 1961. http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Sir_Thomas_Beecham “There is no doubt that the first requirement for a composer is to be dead” Arthur Honegger 1892 – 1955. http://www.karadar.it/Dictionary/honegger.html “No, I’m breaking it in for a friend” Groucho Marx 1895 – 1977: when asked if Groucho was his real name. http://www.marx-brothers.org/ From Patrick MacAfee from the US Dear Boz: I am continuing to remember the trip with the very fondest of memories…I am still reeling from all the wonders!!! (Thanks for that Patrick) Don tells me you wanted the little story about the notes and music. Well, going into a dim and distant memory…I remember it going something like this: “I overheard Eugene Ormandy, the famous former Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra tell a very anxious and frustrated world famous pianist not to worry about the rehearsal, which was not going well. He, the pianist was “trying too hard.” The pianist was apologizing, “perdone me maestro, Signore, perdone me!!! The notes…I have only the notes…and am approaching them all wrong. Chiding the pianist to relax, and be more present, Ormandy said, that the notes are not the music, and that when the auditorium is filled, his blessing, that is his talent would take over - the notes would not loom so large and that the music would come. Ormandy noting, “ah yes, remember, the notes are not necessarily the music.” “If you continue to try so hard, the music can’t come, because of your attention to only the notes and not the feelings and wonderment that they convey.” Boz, over the years I have heard this idea expressed in many ways. Another impression behind this concept is… “Don’t do something, just stand there!!!” … attention given to being, rather than doing. Be well. Patrick MacAfee Thanks for that Patrick – I certainly have had terrible problems when I try to make music from the thinking part of my anatomy – all feeling goes and the stupidity of what others might want to enjoy comes in. Not a good concept as you might only satisfy one person in a million. Better to satisfy the person who is actually going to listen to the instrument on a regular basis and each time that music is played, the million to one odds, get shorter! Nairn Transport Two New Zealand brothers, Gerald and Norman Nairn after WWI, started the bus company Nairn Transport. Originally they set up a car selling business in Beirut, however their business was slow to take off that they decided to diversify and opened a taxi service that had two second-hand Cadillac vehicles on the 70-mile drive between Beirut and Haifa in Palestine and from that point, the Nairn Transport Company was formed. Previously this journey had taken days to cover by horse and cart, but now was able to be done in just one day. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198104/the.nairn.way.htm In 1923, the British Consul in Damascus asked for a feasibility study to be undertaken to see whether it was possible to cross the Syrian Desert by vehicle. They had many negotiations with the Bedouin tribal chiefs who also helped to give safe passage against marauding bandits. By the end of the year, the Nairn Brothers had set up the cross-desert route. On the back of this they also set up a regular mail service between Damascus and Baghdad and by using a desert track, the time taken between India and Europe was cut to just ten days as opposed to the six weeks taken by ship going through the Suez Canal. The Brothers Nairn obviously liked the Cadillac vehicles as they invested in more of their touring cars for more comfort on the unmade roads. The vehicles had to cope with mountains, mountain passes between Beirut and Damascus, desert driving with plenty of sand as well as reliable maintenance free engines and running gear, so much so that they soon got the contracts from the British, Italian, German, French, American and Russian embassies to carry their diplomatic pouches and as a consequence were making two journeys per week. In 1926, just three years from getting their crossing through the desert, they were operating American made Safeway Buses capable of carrying 16 passengers plus two tones of luggage and personal effects and it is said that many well-known people used this excellent service including one such writer called Agatha Christie. During the 1930’s, they added some comfort to the journeys by using Buick Aerocar Coupés that towed small coaches capable of carrying ten passengers; later a 24 passenger American Car Foundry coach and then the piece de resistance – a Marmon-Harrington 38-seater powered by a 50 hp tractor unit with airstream panelling where the passengers enjoyed air conditioning, a buffet and a toilet on board. The advertising blurb boasts of air conditioning, no heat, no dust, and appetizing meals en route during the 500 miles, in expensive vehicles that were the envy of the World! Certainly they were very forward in their thinking and I would hope that they charged for the privilege World War 2 came and went and the company went into decline due to the advent of air travel and local political complications. The Nairn brothers left the business by the 1950’s handing it over to the company’s employees. The firm continued on until 1956 when the Iraqi customs officials decided to impose a customs guarantee that was so rigid that the company had to cancel the Damascus Baghdad service. Norman stayed in the Lebanon and Gerald Nairn returned to New Zealand. SV Carrick North Ayrshire Council has allowed a decision to scrap the world’s oldest clipper ship. It is to be dismantled after surviving for 143 years by the Scottish Marine Museum. Originally called the City of Adelaide, being one of the ships that took out early settlers to Australia, the ship would have cost £10 million to restore back to its former glory and it really is a very sad end to what is a unique piece of maritime history. The ship will be dismantled slowly to see how 1864 construction methods were done and the salvageable parts are being offered to other museums so that all is not lost. The SV Carrick is 46th in line for the most important and historic vessels published by the National Historic Ships Committee. Thanks for your continued support and please keep passing this update around – New people are welcome and all you have to do is email me at boz@historyinharmony.com and I’ll do the rest Previous Updates? – then look no further Go to forumer.com/" target="_blank">http://organ.10.forumer.com/ and click onto Boz’s Box. For all of the previous Updates go to the above address - very good interactive website that is looked after by our up and coming generation of enthusiastic people. Do make the effort to look at this website and interact with it if you can. If you have any interesting news, can you please 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. Apologies if I have missed out you special event, but if you don’t let me know, then I can’t rectify the situation. 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 from the address on my list. 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. Apologies to all of you who are from other non-speaking English countries. You can of course paste parts of the writing into translation websites and it might make a bit more sense to you. This one is a free site http://www.freetranslation.com/ but I am sure that there are others that might be suitable. Kind wishes to all Boz Oram boz@historyinharmony.com