Organ Update 46
History in Harmony UPDATE #46 Compiled by Boz Oram boz@historyinharmony.com www.historyinharmony.com Welcome to Update Number 46 – and a hearty welcome to 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 a copy out to them. All links and websites have been checked out beforehand. They should all work just at the click of a button from your mouse. I do know that some of you have slow broadband, but the web addresses are normally worth clicking onto. Intro Both Linda and I have returned from two really super tours, one out in the Czech Republic and the former Eastern Germany and the other to the Dordt in Stoom Festival in Holland. Firstly thanks to all of the suppliers, collections and exhibitors for such a great time for all of us but mostly to you the passengers who all seemed to have a great time too! It was really good for us too, to see so many new passengers on the trips. They will be written up in due course, once I’ve caught up with various bits and pieces. My mother, Lan has just come out of hospital after a bit of a major overhaul, but all is looking good and rosy. The painting of the living wagon has taken a bit of a back seat as the rains and winter have descended upon us again, but I will continue on with the experimentation of paint. Phil has been marvelous in his tuition over the interweb from Craftsmaster Paints and its beginning to look a lot better. I’ve also been trying a bit of signwriting and so far have realized that I need a hell of a lot of practice in setting out and then actually painting the words and lines. The Haarlem organ festival has taken place today and looking at the web cam that was showing the main square, it was a resounding success and lovely sunshine - maybe someone could let me know what happened there. Anyway enough from me – welcome to Update Number 46 and I hope you enjoy it. As ever, if there are any things that you can enlighten others about, please do drop me a line and I’ll endeavor to print it in the next edition. >From Howard Snowden Sinsheim Model Engineering Exhibition 2008 The Sinsheim Model Engineering Exhibition in Germany in early January is quite unique in the world – covering a vast indoor area that has plenty of 5 and 7 1/4in railway track (about 14km) upon which many types of locomotive trundle around with youngsters either taking part in the show, driving locomotives or being on stalls. With so many wishing to take part this year, a ticketing system had been introduced to control the number of vehicles on the track at any one time. There are also plenty of trade stands for all sizes, shapes and types of model engineering and of course the spare parts available in Germany. A visit to the show was organised by History in Harmony, a specialist UK tour operator and in addition to the exhibition, this also included an excursion to the outstanding Mercedes Benz Museum at Stuttgart, housed in a purpose built building that is best described as a ‘vision of steel, glass and concrete’ forming a double helix based upon the human being’s genetic makeup – wow! On entering the building you ascend, via a lift, to the eighth floor and begin your journey through time from 1886 to the present day. Each successive floor has a series of galleries, in three sections, themed to particular developments and uses and consequences of inventions associated with the development of Mercedes road vehicles from the early pioneering work of Gotlieb Daimler, Karl Benz and the legendary designer Wilhelm Maybach through to the present day; as you make your way down on gentle sloping ramps between the floors the outer walls depict scenes and events related to the relative time zone you are passing through. The attention to detail both with the collection and facilities offered to the visitor is remarkable, an experience like no other in any museum I have visited over the years. The tour also visited the Feldbahn Narrow Gauge Industrial Railway Society, just 12km from Sinsheim. This group of enthusiasts are collecting artefacts and rolling stock from factories, docks, old quarries and mine workings. These are painstakingly restored and demonstrated during the summer months when they have regular open days. Some of the Rail Tipper trucks have been converted for passenger use with wooden seating and a canvas tilt, these give rides to the visitors on the track. Currently the society is applying for permission to extend the track around the local amateur football club pitch. A Sunday morning ‘kick-about’ was in progress when we arrived, a team member came across to greet us, it turned out he was originally from Nottingham and worked at the Mercedes foundry, and asked if we had come along to support his team! There was a further excursion to the Autotechnic Museums at Sinsheim and Speyer throughout the busy three days of our visit; these world famous collections regularly change as more and more private collectors ask to exhibit. The Model Engineering show together with all the other interesting places to visit in the region is something to look forward to next year to chase away the winter blues. The January tour to Sinsheim in 2009 is booking up rather rapidly especially as the tour has been written about in a number of other areas, but mainly Model Engineer – interested people should please phone 08700 113994 or email tours@historyinharmony.com Tunes found of Utube of old TV programmes The Avengers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvmgrnsaE1U&feature=related James Bond http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTtPtcEM_Ng&feature=related Man From Uncle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC88U1SyQQw&feature=related Mission Impossible http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k55NuWQCh78&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfes3VTT2bU&feature=related Hawaii 5-O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepyGm9Me6w&feature=related The Saint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phvZf6EHac4&NR=1 Humphrey Lyttelton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRFzVdvNQXo&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbdNHgH9Cz8 >From CCP Hi Boz, Attached the official English press release by the Utrecht Museum concerning the sale of the complete Perlee collection to them. P R E S S R E L E A S E The Perlee family, Netherlands’ most famous organ family, announced today that their collection of 12 street organs will find a new home in the “National Museum from Musical Clock to Streetorgan” (Utrecht). The family firm G. Perlee Draaiorgels is the oldest organ renting company of the Netherlands, founded by Leon Warnies in 1875. The Perlee family will concentrate on the restoration and repair of the street organs and wishes to present the collection in a more museal way. The family’s main consideration to house the collection in the Utrecht museum after more than a century is the worldwide leading position of the museum in the field of mechanical music. Organ renting firms, with the Perlee family as most important representative, played a major part in the flourishing street organ culture of the Netherlands in the first half of the 20th century. Tine Van Leeuwen-Perlee, who will celebrate her 70th birthday on April 22nd and her son Leon (46) are themselves, apart from their collection, figureheads of that Dutch street organ culture as well. They travelled throughout the world with their street organs to give concerts. Netherlands’ most famous street organ, “de Arabier” (the Arab) from their collection, is listed as part of national inheritance. The Dutch cultural council writes: “The Netherlands has become world famous in the field of street organs during the 20th century. This could happen thanks to the unprecedented flowering of the typical Dutch street organ, almost unknown in other countries. The success of street organs here is the result of the development, in the first decades of last century, of a unique Dutch phenomenon: the organ renting company. These renting companies, which bought and maintained the organs, have cared for the spreading of these instruments throughout the Netherlands. The “Arabier” in the most famous street organ. Due to its national and international success it has become the symbol of the Dutch street organ culture. The Arabier was mentioned in sketches and songs of well-known artists like Wim Kan and Wim Sonneveld; it appeared in TV-shows regularly and adorns the poster of the film “The odd life of Willem Parel”. Thanks to several embellishments by the Perlee firm it has a distinctive sound.” The acquisition of the Perlee collection by the Nationaal Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement means that the collection will stay together and visible to the public, and that they will continue to be maintained and in playing condition. By joining of the two collections the result will be the most important collection of Dutch street organs in the world. A particular element of the agreement is to present the Perlee collection not just as museum pieces but as a living heritance as well. The firm of G. Perlee Draaiorgels will remain active and it will carry out several restorations of the Perlee collection in their own workshop at the Westerstraat in Amsterdam. The Perlee family will also use the Arabier for competitions and concerts outside the museum, and will get changing organs in loan for appearances and demonstrations inside and outside of Amsterdam. - E N D - For more information, interviews or a visit to the museum, please contact Brechje Manschot, marketing manager, phone: + 31(0) 30-2326092, e-mail bmanschot@museumspeelklok.nl. >From Wolfgang Brommer Our best greetings from Waldkirch in the Black Forest Germany: Wolfgang tells me that he is just back from Qingdao in China where the company has been installing another of their manual organs: http://www.orgel-qingdao.de His partner in the business, Mr Heinz Jaeger is still in China finishing off the final voicing and tuning, but hopes to be back in time for the Waldkirch Organ Festival. During the time we had both been in China we were delighted to have a wonderful concert: http://www.orgel-merdingen.de Further News “Pictures of our next pipe organs for a private Church in Germany, one to Japan and also Taiwan. We also have others under construction too: Further details at the website http://www.waldkircher-orgelbau.de and go to news Our workshop will be open during the 9th International Organ Festival here in Waldkirch on June 14th and June 15th. All are welcome to the world of “Jaeger & Brommer”. With our best wishes for a happy weekend and greetings from all of us in Germany and China. Wolfgang Brommer Vice President Waldkirch Organ Foundation Waldkircher Orgelbau Jäger & Brommer Gewerbekanal 3 79183 Waldkirch Tel. 07681/3927 Fax 07681/ 9370 Inhaber: OBM Heinz Jäger & OBM Wolfgang Brommer Ust.-ID-Nr. DE 141970912 http://www.waldkircher-orgelbau.de Thanks for that Wolfgang. I am very pleased to see that the world of organ building is doing so well and I am looking forward to seeing you during the festival, where I’ll enjoy some food and liquid refreshment! Which reminds me. Waldkirch Organ Festival As you know we have a tour going down to the Waldkirch Organ Festival with Dave Wright taking the group down to the Waldkirch Festival. There are just a few places left on the coach and we still have accommodation in the Waldkirch area however if you want to use it, please do get in touch as soon as you possibly can as we will have to let the bed space go. The train tour is now completely full and Peter Craig is guiding down that one. For further details of the tour Wednesday, 11th June Join coach at Dover and leave at approx. 0900hrs arriving Brussels mid-afternoon which will allow plenty of time for sightseeing in this beautiful city. Later we transfer to the Hotel Mercure Louvain-la-Neuve, about 20 km away from Brussels where we have dinner. Thursday 12th June We take a leisurely drive alongside the Rhine, with frequent stops, to Rudesheim, stopping overnight in the Hotel Trapp. Friday, 13th June This morning we visit the mechanical music collection of Siegfried Wendel. After lunch we make our way to the hotel Zum-Schiff in Freiburg, near Waldkirch, our hotel for the next four nights. Here we will have an early evening meal before going to Waldkirch for the Friday opening events. Saturday, 14th June We are taken into Waldkirch to soak up the atmosphere of the Festival and listen to the many organs present. There will be optional excursions to the extensive Mechanical Music Museum at Triberg and to Vöhrenbach's Town Hall to hear their Imhof & Mukle 'Herold' orchestrion. Sunday, 15th June A full day at the Festival for all or for those who do not want two days of organs there will be an optional excursion to the “Flower Island” of Mainau on the Bodensee. Monday, 16th June We make an early start for the journey to Uberlingen for a visit to the Raffin workshops. In the afternoon we return via the Clock Route and visit the clock museum at Furtwangen before returning to the hotel Zum Schiff for the last night. Tuesday 17th June We set off for the start of the journey home where we will spend the afternoon and overnight stop in Luxembourg City, staying in the Ibis Hotel on the south side of the city. Wednesday, 18th June The final day of our tour takes us to Lille to visit the Musee de la Musique Mecanique d’Haubourdin. We then make our way to Calais to catch an early evening ferry to Dover where the tour ends. The theme this year is Paris in Waldkirch. Words courtesy of Elztal Museum The town of Waldkirch and the Elztal Museum are pleased to invite to the 9th International Organ Festival on 13 - 15 June 2008. It will be run under the motto: Paris in Waldkirch. The large and acclaimed organ construction company Gavioli & Cie in Paris opened a branch in Waldkirch in 1896. Richard Bruder became the branch’s Director. As a result, Gavioli profited from the name of Bruder, highly respected in organ construction circles, and could employ the well-trained craftsmen of Waldkirch for their production. Waldkirch’s traditional companies also gained from the opening of the French competitor’s branch. A large number of excellent instruments, which combined the precision of traditional Waldkirch craftsmanship with modern French expertise, were created in Gavioli’s Waldkirch branch up to 1908. The Elztal Museum has a large 89er Gavioli from the time of 1907, produced in Waldkirch, which is currently being restored. The restoration work will be completed by the 2008 Organ Festival, so that the large instrument and Gavioli will be the centre of attention. As always, the Elztal Museum, which organises the organ festival, is determined to offer the friends of organ construction and the collectors of beautiful old instruments a varied, interesting and entertaining programme. A multitude of international guests are again invited. More than 100 historical instruments, built in Waldkirch as well as in other important centres, are expected to attend the Organ Festival in Waldkirch from all over the world. The organiser wishes to display as many historically interesting instruments as possible, in the interests of the friends of mechanical music and old instruments and, above all, to invite old Waldkirch organs to the Organ Festival. The organ town of Waldkirch transforms into a lively open-air stage and makes the old days come alive again. Masterpieces of the art of organ construction like barrel, concert and fair organs will enchant audiences with a nostalgic atmosphere in the streets around the Elztal Museum. Concerts, jazz and Caribbean sounds as well as exhibitions will create a link with the present - and a barrel organ will be raffled off among festival visitors. On the open day masters of organ construction will show their pipes and can be watched at work in their workshops. Culinary treats await the visitors at the town festival, which takes place simultaneously in the alleys of the old part of the town. >From Shane Seagrave Continuing on with regard to the steam punk article in the Update’s last edition I love steampunk and was an early user; had a steam-powered gramophone but governor problems were a bit of a problem. Tended to play an LP in 4.67 seconds and 78's usually melted before I could get the tone-arm over the disc! I think you’ll find these websites interesting as well to go with the others http://steampunkworkshop.com http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/steampunk.htm www.boingboing.net/steampunk Thanks for that Shane. It is truly a fascinating area that I hadn’t heard of before. >From Björn Isebaert in Belgium. Dear MechaMusica member, It is not without pride that we can announce that the website of our society is now online (with thanks to Tom Claes!). You can find it at http://www.mechamusica.be/. Access to the website is, of course, free! You can register with a self-chosen username (we prefer FirstnameLastname) and your e-mail address; you will then receive a password via e-mail. If you are a paying member of MechaMusica vzw, you can get access to the member section. Therefore, you should use this format as a login: FirstnameLastnameMembershipnumber. When we have verified your membership, your access rights will be extended to those of a paying member and you’ll be able to access the members’ section. (Those who have not yet received their membership card can contact the secretary.) Of course, we encourage you to make suggestions about our site; therefore, you can contact one of the committee members. Kind regards, Björn Isebaert Good News The MechaMusica group was formed at the end of last year and bearing in mind that many of the musical instruments that we listen to and look at were originally built in Belgium and that there are still many organ builders in that country, then it seemed rather special that this country did have their own group representing their rich heritage of mechanical organs. Many became members at the Geraardsbergen Organ Festival and the first group meeting was at the Café Beveren on the docks in Antwerp. It was a highly successful meeting and were able to celebrate the continuous music that has come out of the 92key Decap organ that has the accolade of being in the same placer longer than anywhere else in the world! Bad News I hear that the café at Putte has now closed, even though the townsfolk signed a petition and supported the café as much as humanly possible. Where the semi-electronic organ is at this moment, I’m not too sure. We wait with baited breath to see what the future holds. Utube moments The Savage Electric Light Engine, number 537 is currently going through a bit of tender loving care and has had new tubes fitted and an all clear from the boiler inspector on the dry examination. It has not been seen in public for a number of years now but hopefully will be out and about this year. This bit of video was filmed by Karl on his camera phone and downloaded. There is a flash at the end where a spider managed to short out a wire in the electrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jue0Ws7Gg0 That sinking feeling A few years ago, some sunken Fowler Steam Ploughing Engines were found in the North Sea and a full and detailed article was written in Steaming, the magazine of the National Traction Engine Trust http://www.ntet.co.uk Here are a few images of the engines under water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGR7vaWKRx0 European Steam Ploughing Yes this is a very efficient way of ploughing a field via steam ploughing. What it does is allows the air into the soil and doesn’t compact it hardly at all, unlike the modern tractor so the crops grow a lot more freely, giving a much better yield. Just ask the farmer at the Great Dorset Steam Fair which acreage works better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M28g1xfGU7E&feature=related A bit more Steam Ploughing In my dim and distant past, I did a lot of dredging with Plough engines Windsor and Sandringham and managed to learn a lot about a past life that few people really know about. Steam Ploughing on Windsor is rather alien to me, as I always expect to be in some bog or other with minimum room, rain beating down on me or being completely knackered from a full day’s work, however the engine can also do ploughing as well! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYRyvL0T7zI&feature=related Robert Goddard 1882-1945“It has often proved true that the dream of yesterday, is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow”. RHG 1904. From a young man, the American Robert Hutchings Goddard had known exactly what he was going to do with his life and on one October day in 1899, he had an all-consuming vision whilst chopping off branches off a cherry tree in his garden (didn’t someone else have a bit of a to-doo with a cherry tree out in the US once?) anyway he had this idea, vision obsession, call it what you will but his thought was how wonderful it would be to make a device that had the possibility of ascending to Mars. In his own words “I was a different boy when I descended the tree from when I ascended, for existence at last seemed very purposive” Sceptics, ignoramus, general slating and complete Cretins. A few years later on the 13th January 1920, a reporter from the New York Times found out about Goddard’s vision and blatantly printed its own version of armchair science against Goddard and totally mocked him for it saying that the doctor of physics, now teaching at Clark University in Worcester Massachusetts, “lacked the knowledge that was ladled out daily in the high school” and “that it would be impossible for a rocket to move forward outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, because there was no atmosphere for it to push against in order to gain propulsion”. This, as you can imagine would normally put you off continuing with your work, fortunately he had previously done the calculations in 1907, and also already written a paper A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes published in 1919. Fortunately there were other people out there with plenty more chromosomes in their brains who realised that going out into the world of Space was quite probable and this included Russian Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) and German Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) and with his proof and support, he responded to the article with the words “Every vision is a joke, until the first man accomplishes it!” In fact the New York Times most likely spurred him on to prove the paper wrong, which possibly wasn’t that difficult if modern papers are anything to go by. Goddard laid down the foundations for space travel and began to work with liquid fuels rather than gunpowder, which was most likely the most effective and efficient way of powering the space vehicles. By 1925, he produced a prototype rocket fuelled by Gasoline and liquid oxygen and it succeeded in lifting its own weight for the first time in a controlled test. Just a mere three months later on the 16th March 1926, the world’s first launch of a liquid fuel propelled rocket took place at his Aunt Effie’s farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. The ten-foot rocket travelled just 41 feet into the air and 184 feet in distance in two and a half seconds – not a great journey in length compared to modern day standards, but it had actually worked. Over the next decade, he receive funding from the Guggenheim family from 1930 he sent some thirty more rockets into the sky and each one an improvement on the last gradually increasing their reliability and altitude. He filed for patents for better control, better guidance, and better fuel pump mechanisms and by 1935 he launched a rocket that travelled faster than the speed of sound and by 1937 in March, he sent a rocket 1.7 miles in altitude. The US Government had totally disregarded all of Goddard’s work so of course he had to rely upon his own wits and other’s investment in him, however as we all know, there was the space race that started inn the 40’s that involved plenty of countries but mainly Russia and the USA. The US government finally turned to Goddard’s developments and experiments as a base from which to start and indeed, the government was eventually forced to pay one million dollars (that’s $1,000,000 I think in good old fashioned money) for patent infringement to Goddard’s widow in acknowledgement of the use they had made of his designs! Postscript By the time man had landed on the moon in 1969, Goddard had long since passed on into spiritual realms, however a correction to the 1920 editorial by the New York Times three days before Neil Armstrong’s historic first lunar steps vindicated the man who had played a large part in actually getting him there onto the Moon. They wrote, “It is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in atmosphere. The Times regrets the error” Postscript Now strange that I ought to write about Robert Goddard such a long time ago (each article takes about 6 months to achieve with research and delving into dead end areas) that I should see on the TV that finally Mars has had a probe land onto its surface. PHOENIX LANDER AT ITS MARTIAN DESTINATION This evening, 171 million miles beyond its builders' ability to do anything but watch and bite their nails as they monitor events that happened 15 minutes earlier, NASA's appropriately named Phoenix spacecraft slammed into the upper atmosphere of Mars for landing on the red planet's frozen surface. PREVIEW STORY: http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/phoenix/080522landingpre.html Exhumation – it is a good thing? Some twenty years or so ago, I did a spot of travelling around the world and one of those places was New Zealand. Now I had a few addresses to go on and when I arrived in Auckland, the financial capital of the country, I had a name. I went to the phone book and met the charming and splendid dentist Russell Ward, (who I’ve just re-met after some 20 years and man, you just don’t change, thank goodness!) who told me that there was going to be a steam up that coming weekend and would I like to join up. After consulting my social diary, I found out that I was doing Jack Sh’one-t (nothing) and what a great idea. That weekend of steaming a nice little Garrett 4CD tractor, I also met Mike Barnes down near to Fielding, where there is a large shed full up with all sorts of steam engines. During the time spent there, I managed to play with a few engines and if I remember right winched out a couple of trees, did a road run, learnt how to fire an engine on wood as well as made a lot of new friends. During one of the many conversations, I found out that some of these old engines, after their useful time on this Planet would be either thrown or dug into river embankments to help stop erosion and of course it was another way of getting rid of something without spending any money. It is in some ways quite fortuitous that this form of wanton destruction actually has saved many a steamer from the scrapman’s torch to be resurrected by someone out there who has an interest. Mostly the engines were portable engines that had been superseded by the now plentiful tractor with its pulling power but above all a PTO (power take off) that could be used to drive any belt driven machinery that happened to be laying around Move on a couple of decades now and it turns out that there were engines other than just portable ones that were deposited into river banks and the latest is a Burrell single crank compound from 1899 vintage with the number 2155 stamped on the engine. A feature spread has been published in the March 2008 edition of Vintage Spirit and Old Glory and shows the extrication of the old steamer and has a very in depth write up of how they managed to first of all find it as the river had now changed course and the use of metal detectors to locate the machine. Digging around it without putting the digger’s bucket through any of the essential parts of it; removing the clay and mud, pulling against the suction of the clay and then finally getting it onto a bit of level land took all day long. It was found that the wheels still turned however the perch bracket and front wheels decided that it was time for them to take another route and depart from the smoke box. Amazingly enough, the engine is complete apart from a broken steering wheel and a missing governor that may well have come off when it was unceremoniously thrown into the creek. Good luck to John Munro who has started on this highly daunting project and no doubt, Vintage Spirit and Old Glory will give various updates on the progress of this engine. I expect it to take more than a couple of years to complete though! Postscript. Since writing this, I see that another Burrell traction engine No 3325, this one in a much finer shape that the exhumed one has decided to plop itself into the bank of a water-filler ditch on the side of the road in New Zealand. Once one balance (looking at the previous story) has been upset, then another has to fill the void – is that how it works? Fortunately both crewmembers escaped unscathed even though the steersman Phillipa Eves was thrown off the engine and driver Mark Tutty was pinned underneath the engine in the ditch. Fortunately help was at hand as another engine was nearby and Mark was pulled clear. It appears that the support brackets had been strengthened and when putting the steering chains back onto the engine, they were not sufficiently tightened up, which led to increased movement in the modus operandi technique of keeping the thing in a straight line. Both crew members are well enough to play with the engine again that was pulled out of the ditch that night with minimal damage due to the swamp like sogginess of the muck in the bottom of the ditch, with only a broken chimney, the governors bent and a broken lubricator pipe. The engine was in steam the next day so the owner and steersman are lucky people. I would have to point out that if they decide to do it again, then do paint the underside of the tender – you know a bit like changing your underwear every day – you never know when you might be seen by someone else, especially when upside down! The Scarborough Fair Collection OPEN Many of us have been waiting for well-known preservationist Graham Atkinson to open the doors to this excellent collection. I saw it a couple of years ago at the FOPS agm weekend and it was truly impressive then. Since that time, other additions have come into the fold with the famous Condor being looked after by Jonny Verbeeck apprentice trained David Burville. Other types of instrument ranging from Gavioli and Marenghi to the dance style instruments of Mortier and Decap and of course the rather splendid Mǚnich Organfest Instrument. Now in addition to the fantastic instruments is the most famous engine of all – that being The Iron Maiden from the film of the same name, plus a few other steam engines. There are also two WurliTzer organs and they will play on the regular Sunday open days as well as Wednesday afternoon tea dances and from the advance enquiries, there is a lot of interest from ordinary people, tourist groups and local area recreational groups. The Scarborough Fair will be open on Saturday 21st June and celebrating the opening, a gala opening concert will take place with resident organist Kevin Grunhill being joined by Andrew Nix and Nigel Ogden, presenter of Radio Two’s The Organist Entertains Tickets are a mere £8.50. Further details about this event and other specials, you can get more information from email scarboroughfaircollection@yahoo.co.uk or for what is there http://forums.organfax.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=1260 or telephone 01723 586698. Remember those overseas to put 0044 and leave out the first zero. I can’t find a website yet, but no doubt that will come in due course when the collection is more established. Graham isn’t in opposition to travelling either and quite a lot of his collection steam-wise was at the famous Dordrecht Boat festival (Dordt in Stoom) and stayed at the same hotel as us. Unfortunately for you lot (and lucky for him), I didn’t get a chance to have a chat him and find out more about the collection, however I would expect that after the opening ceremony, there’ll be plenty of words said. The Coors Visitor Centre CLOSEDIt appears that this excellent collection is to close in a bid to cut costs. Strange as it may seem, but I’ve been here too and managed to have a really wonderful day enjoying the whole aspect of it. The staff were truly great, the area was so well laid out and a full day could be taken enjoying a tradition that has gone back centuries. I see that the local council is trying to protect it and Labour MP Janet Dean is championing alternative ways of protecting the collection and buildings. Further details http://www.burtonmail.co.uk. It really does seem so inconsistent in this day and age of governments saying one thing positive and then destroying it by total inaction and dithering. We wish Janet Dean MP, good luck and fortune in her quest to save this collection. Perlee Workshop again! Also from Roger Burville I learn that the Perlee Collection has been passed onto the famous Museum Speelklok tot Pierement based in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Many people will know that Leon van Leewen has looked after the Perlee collection and before that his mother and father Tini and Jan. The buildings in Amsterdam are in the process of being rebuilt and with the collection spread out all over the country; it was taking more time to look after the instruments, hence the reason for the decision. Once the Perlee workshop and building has been finished, there is a purpose built museum as well as their workshop facilities and music cutting and arranging department plus all of the instruments that have been in store for more years than they care to mention. There is now enough room to rebuild them without squeezing past countless instruments such as de Pod or maybe the Three Wigs or even the most famous of all, de Arabier (the Arab). Sometimes this takes a lot of heartfelt searching, but the instruments are going to a new home over time to the National Museum and will be looked after in perpetuity. Postscript to the Utrecht Museum Talking of the Utrecht Museum, their workshop has been some distance away from the museum itself and is also being refurbished, however the lady to whom the building belonged has left it lock, stock and barrel to the museum, so now this is all secured there thank goodness. The boys and girls who use the workshop have had to move it to the museum complex and as a consequence can be seen by the public through a glass partition; this of course means that they ought to act their age and not throw bits of stuff around the workshop and make silly faces at each other and do a bit of work! *(as if I can comment!) Nearby, the museum service also has the Utrecht Railway Museum, a mere 15 minutes walk away. Now it has reopened after a major refurbishment and redesigning of the whole complex with money invested from the Government of the Netherlands (see no lottery grant here but a load of cash from the Government who realise that tourism is on the up). Lest We Forget Ernie Taylor from Shane Seagrave Ernie, one of the main contributors to the Worlds Fair will be sadly missed as his insight to all forms of preservation and knowledge of the subjects that he covered was sometimes truly inspirational. I think he knew so many people and also knew who to ask if he needed an answer to a question. Always a person with whom you could talk to but also ask questions and not get an answer that was wrong. He was also an active member of the Somerset Traction Engine Club and I met him more than once on the Continent, both of us asking the same question “what are you doing here?” Yes Ernie will be sadly missed, as he was a great instigator who was really pleased to make sure that the preservation world carried on regardless. Thoughts go to his family and friends. Ron Armstrong also from Shane Seagrave Ron would be seen with his Limonaire fairground organ, parked in the most unlikely places, normally on the side of a hill where no one else would go. The organ was always seen at the Great Dorset Steam Fair at the top of the market traders area with windmills making electricity or showing off the rare hydraulic organ pump. I remember seeing him at the Kew Bridge Pumping Station and he greeted me with the words “what are you doing here?” I can see a pattern here…… Again, a man who had been in the preservation movement for more years that I care to mention and will be sorely missed. Again, our thoughts go to his family and friends Mrs Decap-Daelemans Courtesy of the Kring van Draaiorgelvrienden http://www.draaiorgel.org/english/index.htm On Good Friday, 21st March, 2008, Mrs. Mathilde-Daelemans passed away from the MM. community. Born on 1st June 1909, she was the wife, and later widow of Mr. Camille Decap, who was the founder of the famous organ building firm in Antwerp, Belgium. The firm still exists. >From her lifetime of almost 99 years she was involved in the Decap company for more than 80 years. Until very recently she was in rather good health, and in possession of all her mental abilities. Some people are so lucky to die of old age.... I write this in remembrance of a grand old lady, one of the very few who had the luck to be involved in mechanical organs for so long, and who always enjoyed them till the end. May she rest in peace. Bill Minshull from Gary & Julien Minshull I’m sorry to say that Bill Minshull passed away peacefully on the evening of 11th of this month, following a major operation. I would be grateful if you could pass this on to any of his many friends within the organ world that you may know of. The funeral service was held at Dukinfield crematorium, and the following wake was at the George Hotel, Glossop from 2.30 pm. Regards, Gary Minshull Julien Minshull Our thoughts got to Gary and Julien and family and friends. Rolls and also Royce The name is synonymous with elegance, reliability and the best in the world and if you haven’t heard of the name then let me give a small potted write up about it. Sir Henry Royce (1863-1933) was the engineering brilliance behind the motor vehicle company and the first Rolls-Royce car was given its first road test on 1st April 1904. The official report of the event that was sent to the media was changed to 31st March for fear that an April Fool’s test might cause unfavourable comment from the readership. His aim in producing any vehicle was reliability however Royce also concentrated his energies on making his vehicles quiet was that he was sure that if motorised transport continued to be noisy, people and especially Parliament would be prejudiced against it and the ridiculous speed limits would never be raised. (1896 Red Flag Act that restricted speeds to 4mph out of town and 2mph within the confines of a built up area). Now on the other hand, the Hon Charles Rolls (1877-1910) was an aristocratic racing driver and car salesman who had a smart showroom, C S Rolls & Co Ltd in Fulham, London and virtually managed single-handed to promote the motorcar to the powers that be, the wealthy and the rest of the population via his connections, charm and dogged enthusiasm to put the car onto the map. In this time the name Rolls-Royce became synonymous with quality and it is unfortunate that in the year 1910, he was killed in an air crack, less than six years after meeting Henry Royce, however his name Rolls continued to be joined with Royce. Now talking of Royce, he was born in Alwalton in Cambridgeshire to an impoverished miller who died in the workhouse when Henry was only 9 years of age. Luckily through he had a generous aunt who paid for his apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway. Three years into a five-year apprenticeship, his aunt’s money ran out but Royce had enough skill to now go out on his own as an engineer. In 1884, with a capital of £70, Royce and fellow electrical engineer Ernest Claremont set up their own company in Manchester and produced arc lamps, lamp holders and finally a best seller, the electric doorbell. They continued with dynamos, switchgear and electric cranes. By the time he was forty, he had bought his first car, however characteristically decided that he could do a better job. By the end of 1903, Royce had built himself a twin cylinder engine and fitted it to a chassis of his own design under the name of Royce & Co Ltd. Royce was producing a superior British car and 200 miles away Rolls was desperate to sell such a vehicle. In comes Henry Edmunds, friend of Rolls and shareholder in Royce & Co Ltd. It didn’t happen straight away, Rolls was too busy to leave his showroom and Royce was too preoccupied with making cars to worry about selling them. Finally Edmunds got them together at the Midland Hotel in Manchester after travelli9ng up from London by train. He ordered 19 cars and then after the partnership took off, Rolls spent most of his time for the next five years demonstrating the Rolls Royce car in all forms of trials. In 1906 Rolls-Royce Limited was formed and the Silver Ghost appeared at the London Motor Show and its launch and early exploits including a 14,000-mile non-stop test made the company and car’s reputation in a matter of months. During this time, Claude Johnson, previously a partner in Rolls’ Fulham showroom and then in due course a partner in Rolls-Royce was quite a dab hand with marketing and promotion and it was his idea to plate the first 40/50 hp Rolls-Royce in silver and aluminium and then christen it the Silver Ghost for its first appearance at the London Motor Show. In fact this vehicle is the only Silver Ghost in existence, all the other examples were classed as 40/50hp motors. The very first owner of a Rolls-Royce was Paris E. Singer who took delivery of a dark green vehicle. Mr Singer was heir to the Singer sowing machine millions, quite a few of which he lavished on the famous dancer Isadora Duncan (who if memory serves me correctly, managed to get her silk scarf tangled up in the rear wheel of a vehicle, ultimately killing her – I won’t go into the gory details). The second person to own a Rolls Royce was Sir Oswald Mosley and the third, a member of the Guinness family. The first Royals becoming owners were Russian. Tsar Nicholas II bought two 40/50’s (Silver Ghosts!) the third was ordered but he failed to drive it due to a bit of a change of power within the regime and a bit of lead poisoning (along with the rest of the family). Prince Felix Yusopov used his Rolls Royce to transport the body of Rasputin to a hole in the ice of the river Neva. After dowsing him with enough cyanide for 12, and more bullets than is healthy, then clubbing him almost to death, because astonishingly, the Russian police said the monk eventually died from drowning. The Rolls Royce didn’t finish after the revolution; Lenin managed to order nine Rolls-Royces and one of them being the only Rolls Royce fitted with half-tracks. In 1927, Warner Brothers asked Broadway Star Al Jolson to appear in an experimental movie with sound. The film was the Jazz Singer, the world’s first talking picture. Jolson’s immortal words “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet thrilled millions. Jolson made $75,000 plus a gift of a Rolls Royce from the delighted Warner Bros Company. One of the first owners in Hollywood was Mary Pickford who had a 1926 Phantom I with a secret liquor store to baffle those nasty Prohibition Agents. Remaining in Hollywood, the car became the star and in the Yellow Rolls-Royce, the original car used in filming was a yellow Barker bodied Phantom II, however sharp eyes will notice that during the film, the car changes at least twice in the course of filming... Back to 1926 and when the screen’s greatest lover, Rudolph Valentino died, millions of females sobbed whilst he went to his grave in New York with a cortège of 18 Rollers. Lord Baden-Powell also had a Rolls-Royce and was a gift from the Scouts, Cubs, Guides and Brownies, each of whom contributed one penny for this magnificent gift. Just because you own the best vehicle, doesn’t mean that you can drive it though. On his return from Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral, the Duke of Gloucester ordered that his chauffeur let him take the wheel. The Duchess advised against this, however the Duke insisted and not too much later, the Rolls Royce was in a field and the Duchess in hospital with a broken arm. The Queen of England (and I think Northern Ireland as that’s the only one left now after Scotland and Wales getting themselves off the register) has about five State Rolls-Royces and are all painted in Royal Claret (a deep red) and black – a tradition going back to the colours of the royal horse-drawn carriages. In fact, Rippon, the pre war royal coachbuilder could claim royal lineal decent from Walter Rippon, official coachbuilder to Queen Elizabeth I. The bodies of the vehicles are washed daily by the old fashioned way of bucket and chamois leather rather than the more raunchy ways of cleaning, as they would scratch the exquisite paintwork. Only one President of the US, Woodrow Wilson is known to have owned a Rolls-Royce and was a gift from his friends just before he died – an Oxford tourer in his Princeton colours. There is an unconfirmed report that F.D.Roosevelt acquired a second-hand 1925 Canterbury Limousine that was formerly the property of a Mrs M.E.Cady. To be continued……………. What’s Up Doc? Some four or five decades ago, our government and their administrations decided to run an experiment to see whether they could wreck the prosperity of their own country and see how long it would take – one of their ideas was not to invest in the future of apprenticeships with a result of plenty of apprentice training schools having to close down and few people coming up the ranks. Move on thirty years and last year we had devastating floods that destroyed many thousands of houses. Unfortunately for the occupiers, the majority are still not able to return to their homes, as there is a massive shortage of skilled people to work on them! It really doesn’t take to many chromosomes in the brain to realise what the cause of the problem is does it? “Make a politician work – don’t vote for them and let them get a proper job” Talking of that, our Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling seems to have annoyed our Publicans by being unimaginative again and putting up the cost of alcohol and of course helping stop grown ups able to make their own minds up. He has been barred from many of the pubs in the land. It might be more sensible to ban all politicians, and then something positive might happen. Alister Darling – Britain’s Chancellor (just in case you didn’t know that) http://www.edinburghsucks.com/categories/member-of-parliament/alister-darling/ Ethno Spot Especially for those of you interested in Eastern Mysticism............ Important Zen teachings............ Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me for the path is narrow. In fact, just push off and leave me alone. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a flat tyre. The darkest hour is just before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbour's' milk, that's the time to do it. Sex is like air. It's not important unless you aren't getting any. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. No one is listening until you pass wind. Always remember you're unique. Just like everyone else. Never test the depth of the water with both feet. If you think nobody cares whether you're alive or dead, try missing a couple of mortgage payments. Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in his or her shoes. That way, when you criticise them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes (painful though it may be!) If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day. If you lend someone £20 and never see that person again, it was probably well worth it. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. Some days you are the bug; some days you are the windshield. Don't worry; it only seems kinky the first time. Good judgement comes from bad experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement. A closed mouth gathers no foot. Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works. Brooklands http://www.brooklands.org.uk/intro.htm Back in 1907 - June 17th to be precise after nine months of construction, the world’s first purpose built racing circuit was completed and of course the forerunner of all of the other banked tracks, with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the Brickyard) being completed in 1909. The German Automobil-Verkehrs und Übungs-Straβ (Avus) was started in 1907 but finished in 1921, Italy’s Autodromo di Monza being finished in 1922 and the Linas-Montlhéry of France in 1924. Brooklands was THE place where the superfast, huge aero-engined vehicles could lap at fantastic high speeds on the 2¾ (2.75) mile circuit; it is also where the originator, Hugh Fortescue Locke-King had spent £150,000 building it. It was also the home to Vickers, Sopworth and Hawker as well as being one of the places where Concorde was constructed at BAC’s factory. Amazingly, our administration (John Prescott at the head when this was written – he has since removed himself) has absolutely no interest in the history of our country (see historic ships) and had actually earmarked the land (even though it wasn’t theirs in the first place) for 5,000 houses! Yes the world’s first racetrack according to our rather odd administration should be bulldozed into the ground so that the Government’s figures can be balanced. Fortunately there was an ally in the shape of Mercedes Benz who have their Mercedes Benz World http://www.museum-mercedes-benz.com/?lang=en twinned with their own Stuttgart exhibition seen in January by the Model Engineering Group. A little bit of fun http://youtube.com/watch?v=3rJT5IpyAok Thanks to all who sent this one to me, especially CCP Gravity Back in the last century, a certain reprobate who managed to have a fling was a lazy layabout, a wastrel and someone who got bored very easily, got a job at Bern Patents Office in Switzerland. He then became the world’s most foremost scientist and came up with brand new theories that knocked all the other stuffy science techniques into a cocked hat. His name, as if you needed me to let you know was Albert Einstein, the fellah who brought you the Theory of Relativity, the Space/Time Continuum e=mc2 and the massive theory that once you get outside of the Earth’s Gravitational Pull, time travels at a totally different speed out in the space area compared to the place where we, the population live. Oh how odd that I should watch a programme about gravity the other night and guess what – time works at a different speed in space to us here. Now to prove this, remember your marvellous Satellite Navigation thing that you use in your car that positions you (GPS – Global Positioning) anywhere in the world. That is controlled by the US military in Denver, Colorado and as an offshoot of the many satellites and guff that spins around our Globe, we have the opportunity of using their gismos to find our way around towns and highways of our lands. Now here’s the twist. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your sat nav sends you slightly wrong? Well the answer is that out there in space, time works a lot faster than here on Earth and as a consequence, every satellite clock has to be reset at regular intervals during the day. That wrongness is due to the error that creeps into the clock before resetting! Now if the clocks were not reset, then in a 24-hour day, the drift in positioning would be 10-12 kilometres. Not a great deal you might say, but if someone was sending a guided missile to a specific point and they’d gone for a tea break in Denver and forgotten to move the clocks, the bomb might just be heading not for the installation down the road, but for your house. Believe you me, don’t we put a lot of trust into unknown people from other places and just accept it. Which brings me onto how I was diagnosed with AAADD (Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder). These are some of the symptoms: I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mailbox earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first. But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my chequebook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking. I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye-they that needs to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers. I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: -the car isn’t washed, -the bills aren’t paid, -there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, -the flowers don’t have enough water, -there is still only one check in my check book, -I can’t find the remote, -I can’t find my glasses, -and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys. Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I’m really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to get some help for it, but first I’ll check my e-mail. Do me a favour, will you? Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don’t remember to whom it has been sent. Don’t laugh if this isn’t you yet, your day is coming! GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL, LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPY! Traction Engine Register The Register is published by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, with all proceeds going to preservation projects. Any assistance you can give to publicise the new edition by a mention in newsletters etc would be greatly appreciated. Brian Johnson, Editor Thanks Brian for sending this in. NEW PUBLICATION INFORMATION THE TRACTION ENGINE REGISTER 10th Edition – 2008. The totally revised 10th edition of the Traction Engine Register has been published in May 2008. This unique listing of all the known surviving road steam vehicles in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland has been regularly updated since the first edition in 1968. It includes details of traction engines, steam road rollers, steam wagons, portable engines, steam fire engines and fairground rides and organs engines. The new edition includes four additional pages due to the inclusion of 230 new entries and the addition of no less than seventeen manufacturers previously unrepresented in the UK and Ireland. Most of these increases are a result of imports or repatriations of engines that had been operated in Europe and South America. The listings, now running to 3532 entries, have been thoroughly revised by over 1500 individual changes as a result of changes of ownership and additional technical or historical information. Of the total listing 2753 are self-moving road engines and the remainder wheeled portables, fire engines or static fairground engines. The Register includes numerous pictures illustrating some of the rarest as well as the most typical engines. Sixteen colour illustrations are included. The Traction Engine Register is an invaluable aid to anyone with an interest in road steam engines providing an accurate and authoritive listing of the known survivors. Technical details include the registration and engine numbers, names, engine type and present location. A useful cross-reference table, invaluable to photographers, that identifies engines from their road registration is included. The major clubs, historical resources and museums exhibiting road steam engines are identified. Published by the Southern Counties Historic Vehicles Preservation Trust the Register is available from 2c Hevers Avenue, Horley, Surrey RH6 8DB for £7.95 (£8.50 including postage). Discounts are available to booksellers and enthusiast clubs. To contact the editor please e-mail: tractionenginereg@btinternet.com The Traction Engine Register: 104 pages, perfect bound with card colour cover and 8 pages of full colour illustrations. ISBN: 978 0 946169 05 4 I remember when this publication first came out and it was a total revelation, as we just didn’t have any knowledge about any of the various steam engines in the UK. Now virtually every steamer is chronicled and academically looked after, which is better than mechanical organs, cars lorries or pop-pops. Full marks to the team for continuing with this publication and updating it. It is truly a great publication and pretty damned accurate too. Overseas people to the UK, please ask for cost of postage please. Belisha Beacons To those of you outside of the UK, you most likely haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about, but if you’ve been to the British Isles, then you will have come across pedestrian crossings (painted black and white on the road) and most with flashing amber beacons either side of the crossing. These are known as Belisha Beacons, named after the then Minister of Transport, Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893-1957) who was part of the Liberal Parliament. He also improved the common sense approach to the Highway Code (somewhat being lost nowadays) and finally the 30 miles per hour speed limit. Originally they didn’t flash and the amber globes were illuminated continuously day and night and it was only in the 50’s that the flashing beacons were introduced. At that time there were two sets of parallel studs set into the road surface however that was changed to zigzag white lines. The laws are still the same – no parking or overtaking in that area. Returning back to the 30 mph speed limit, the figure was reached after much scientific research and practical work with all ages and it was found that children and the aged population were able to distinguish more readily the actual speed of 30 mph and could cross the road in safety. Any other speed and it was either too slow or too fast and the judgement became impaired and people got hit. This of course opens up a massive bag of worms as to how fast you should go when children come out of school and when there is no one about, but as a general rule it is sensible to keep to the speed limit at all times. (I’m a fine one to say that as my most recent speeder was in the Czech Republic just 3 weeks ago!) With regard to the maximum speed limit of 70mph on our motorways and dual carriageways, the only reason for this is to reduce the bounce on the road surface. ie at 70mph lets say the force of the bounce is X, then at just 10 mph faster, the bounce at 80mph is double X etc, which means that the roads only have to be built to a sub standard finish unlike say Germany who have a much higher speed limit so the roads are better built. With regard to safety, if someone wants to drive at 130mph, the chances of them dying in a crash is higher which means that there is less chance of them returning to the roads and carrying on being a nuisance. Just a shame other people also get involved. Oops! >From Mike Perrins Dear Boz, I have just read the paragraphs on Big Ben in the latest 'Update' Unfortunately you start with a major error. Augustus Welsby Pugin had nothing to do with the clock at all. The architect of the building was John Barry, the designer of both the clock and the bells was Edmund Beckett Denison, later 1st. Baron Grimthorpe and the actual maker of the clock was E.J. Dent. Barry failed to have the tower built in accordance with his own drawings, which he had supplied to Denison, with the result that there was much less space inside the tower than there should have been. This made it necessary for Denison to design 'Big Ben' with such an unusual shape - wider than it is high - and to have it hoisted up the tower on its side. Pugin designed most of the furniture, fittings and decorations for the interior of the palace. I think the rest of your text is OK. The saga dragged on for decades, involving political jobbery and civil service incompetence on a scale with which we are still all too familiar. Anyone wanting to read the whole story is recommended to ask their public library to track down two books: 'Lord Grimthorpe' by Peter Ferriday published by John Murray in 1957 and 'Big Ben, the bell the clock and the tower' by Peter Macdonald published by Sutton Publishing in 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3827-7. Macdonald mentions that there was an excellent exhibition at Westminster to mark the centenary in 1959 and expresses the hope that there will be something similar for the anniversary in 2009. I always find something of interest in the 'Update' and am grateful for your efforts in compiling it. Yours Sincerely, Mike Perrins. Thanks for your comments Mike. Apologies for the misleading start to the article. Strange how things get misinterpreted but good t