Good Morning All

[Brians Cravat]

Good morning everyone.

Normally, Tuesday at Castle Cravat is the day for my Active Retirement Group. This used to be The Local History Group and, it still retains a huge element of that. We tend to have speakers every week who talk on a range of subjects. Looking at the programme for a twelve week 'term' may indicate that the subjects we're due to hear about are rather dry. However, this isn't so. The speaker's are very good and all able to make the subjects interesting. This in turn leads to lots of intelligent discussion. Oddly, one of the best speakers so far this year has been a gentleman who is the official Town Crier of the City of Lichfield. He came with all of his regalia and, explained the history of town criers generally and, in Lichfield particular.

Sadly the group is taking its Easter break so, I'm off for a walk. See you later.

[Rwth of Cornovii]

Hello Brian
Nice to see you. I am very envious of your being able to go for a walk. I start off but it takes about 200 yards before my bad leg can catch up with my good one.

Did the Town crier explain why they say Oyez, and what it means? Obviously something LIKE 'listen up you lot', but it would be gnice to gnow. Sorry, channelling my inner gnursey there. I think it's a bit like 'Last Word' on Radio 4, when all the best obituaries are about people you've never heard of. So sad that people are most missed when you had no idea of how much they did, or how much they changed your life without you knowing.

[goodlookingone]

Not seen anybody here lately.. I was getting Lonely.
The Local History Group (not Necessarily Retirement) are VERY err, Local. Verging on The Personal Ancesstors (Seems My Grandad was involved in Fitting up the Gas-making Site in the Local Railway Station).
There are sundry Retirement Outfits of all slightly different spans of interest, but spread over a Large Area of South East to Mid Essex.
Must go ... Sleeps Needed...

Goodnight each.

[Brians Cravat]

It's nice to see someone else here.

Rwth, I did four and a quarter miles of brisk walking yesterday and, I do relish every day that I can get out. I'm fortunate in that, I have two relatively new knees. (Youngest DGD asks me how old I am and, I explain that most of me is 69 but, my right knee is almost five years old and, my left one is nearly four. Eldest DGD thinks this is wonderful because she is seven in a few weeks and, being older than someone else is important at that age.)

Quite apart from the loss of six stone, I walk on the basis of 'use it or, lose it.

The derivation of 'Oyez', is from the old French word 'ouïr' meaning 'to hear'. I was surprised to learn that, until the 18th C, French was commonly used in English courts. To this day, you may hear 'Oyez, oyez, oyez' to open a court session. It is simply an Anglicized version of 'ouïr' meaning 'hear ye' or 'hear this'. The latter translation explains its use by Town Criers.

GLO, I gather that, long before I joined, the 'Local History Group' was just dedicated to the very tight local area. However, they soon began to run short of subjects. I guess that there are only so many talks that you can hear on nail making, limestone quarrying, salt dealing etc.

So, it became a much wider remit hence, the Town Crier. We had someone to talk about being a Pantomime Dame, someone else talking about Percy Thrower, ukelele maker and player, a local published poet etc. As I!ve said previously, it's to have something that isn't interesting. I'm glad I joined.

[goodlookingone]

Yes, Brian.. I'm wondering how much of that Ancient Essex Industry (Seasalt Harvesting) still has the Original Roman pans on that original site.

[goodlookingone]

Well, Theres a co-incidence.. As soon as I mentionn County History....
Just got an e-mail re Local arcavists having a programme of Various Local Speakers Having County Lecture/discussions in The Record Office. Seems that Sam Courtauld had a Weaving Factory in The North of the County... And I only thought Mr Nobels Dynamite Works was the County's (pre ball bearing and Radio Works) only claim to Industry..
Must sort Medic Diary ASAP and book some visits.

[Brians Cravat]

GLO, sorry OH and I have been out and about. The programme of talks looks interesting.

Our group was fortunate whethe current group leader took over. He's written. Lot of books on the local area but, he was a lecturer with the Workers Education Association. In fact, I first got to know him when he taught the 'Introduction to Person-centred Counselling' course that I did at a local college about fifteen years ago. Most importantly, he is also on a local talks circuit and as such, has knowledge of other speakers on the circuit.

I'll say this quietly, in case XTD or Fitology Phil are reading this but, our leader is a 'railway nut' (Model and real ones.) We do have to put up with a couple of railway related talks a year.

There's a rumour that he wants to retire and, one or two members are looking to me, as the 'baby of the group' to take over as leader. There are mentions that he gets £60 a week for funding, assessing and, booking speakers. I really don't want the job, thanks.

[goodlookingone]

I should, perhaps, not mention this... I was involved with installation/updating/maintenance programmes for London to Paris/Bruxelles Trains.. All gone now of course - Their twenty year service sent many to the breakers, The EU absorbed the remaining british ones, The service Moved to a Different Depot and Starting terminus, The "North of London's" repainted to one of the Foreign Railway companies that now run BR, and the entire fleet of very palatial Sleepers, sold as Scrap to a Canadian Breaker ... The only wheels they ever turned.. So I'll leave XTD to whichever railway he works for....

[Will the Pedlar]

Just a quick hello, after all of this time.

I had a problem on this computer earlier this year and have only just got around to fixing it and rebuilding the system. (you weren't on other computers).

Nice to see people still around.

Will

[goodlookingone]

I feel a bit pretentious welcome you - You've all been here Longer than I.

Glo

[Brians Cravat]

I should, perhaps, not mention this... I was involved with installation/updating/maintenance programmes for London to Paris/Bruxelles Trains.. All gone now of course - Their twenty year service sent many to the breakers, The EU absorbed the remaining british ones, The service Moved to a Different Depot and Starting terminus, The "North of London's" repainted to one of the Foreign Railway companies that now run BR, and the entire fleet of very palatial Sleepers, sold as Scrap to a Canadian Breaker ... The only wheels they ever turned.. So I'll leave XTD to whichever railway he works for....

Good morning everyone. Personally, I don't mind the occasional talk on railways. However, I'm more interested in the routes and stopping off points than just getting the technical data. We get a lot of "This is the engine that took us to Zurich." We then move on to the next train that took them to Geneva. A few minutes spent on what they did in Zurich, Geneva et al would make the talk less dry.

Despite being trained as a chemist, I have an interest in machines. One of my TV heroes is the late Fred Dibnah and, I shared his enthusiasm for steam driven machinery. I'm proud to have been born and bred and, to live in the Black Country, one of the areas at the heart of the Industrial Revolution.

It's a presentation issue rather than a subjective one.

Busy day ahead at Castle Cravat. First of all, the decorators have finished and we can return the lounge to a room to live in again. Later in the day, we're off to a local cinema to see a production of 'Twelfth Night' live from the National Theatre.

Enjoy your days everyone.

[Will the Pedlar]

I liked Fred Dibnah, too. A natural on TV.

These days most of the program presenters, seem to be "professional" presenters, or celebrity(?) comedians - both with no real interest/knowledge of the subject. Having said that. I do enjoy the Timothy West/Prunella Scales, canal series. Also James May's 'The Reassembler'

Have a good day, all.

[Brians Cravat]

Dibnah was wonderful. A natural.

Love anything to do with canals. Not so sure about Timothy West and Prunella Scales because I'm not totally happy how he speaks to her. Otherwise I like the series.

[goodlookingone]

A Great shame that The World cannot "Preserve Everything" .. Fred Dibnah was much more interesting as a make/restore/repairman than as a demolisher. His "Last " chimney demolish was the Thameside Brickworks, Now Known as Morrison's Supermarket.

[Brians Cravat]

Did you see one of the last series that he did, in which he dug a coal mine in his garden. My OH always most sympathetic towards Fred's wife who she described as long-suffering.

It is pity that we can't preserve everything. I had a discussion elsewhere about the previous Central Library in Birmingham. It was an example of 1960's 'brutalist' architecture and, there was a vigorous campaign to save it from demolition. Prince Charles famously described it as looking like a 'concrete bunker'. In hindsight this was true but, it was representative of the architecture of the day. My view is such buildings, good or bad, should be preserved to allows to learn from the past.

[Will the Pedlar]

I saw that coal-mine one. Excellent!

I liked his final tours series as well, where he'd already been diagnosed with cancer, but took his steam engine and trailer around some of the places he'd done in earlier episodes. Saw his steam engine 5-6 years back at a steam-engine rally.

I think Tim West perhaps talks to his wife like that, because of her illness. I like all of those sorts of series.
I even like the Michael Portillo series - I could never stand him as a politician.

[Brians Cravat]

Good morning all.

Last night, we went to see the live broadcast of 'Twelfth Night' from the National Theatre. Tamsin Grieg (Debbie Aldridge in the Archers) plays Malvolia. Normally, this is a male role, as Malvolio. Of course the play is based around males being mistaken for girls and, vice versa.

Walking with my Action Heart Group this morning. I have not suffered with heart problems but, the walks don't just have a recuperative background but also a preventative one. We do around four to five miles over fairly mixed terrain. Most of my weekly walks are done alone so, it's quite pleasant to go with a sociable group tooo.

Remainder of the day will be spent with our three year-old granddaughter.

I also enjoy the Michael Portillo series about the 'Bradshaw's' guide. Not sure about his choice of jacket and trousers at times but, the series is an enjoyable one. Like you Will,I wasn't so keen on him as a politician.

[Rwth of Cornovii]

I've heard lots of good things about "Twelfth Night". It must be my favourite Shakespeare play because I've seen more productions of that than any of the others.

My favourite Fred Dibnah incident was when he was on Desert Island Discs, and he asked for a Steam Engine. Disabled of course Then for his book, he asked for back numbers of The Engineer. Such was his seeming innocence that he got away with such cunning. I don't doubt that if the shipwreck didn't have the missing parts, he'd soon be able to machine them from something similar.

My drama group acquaintances were very moderate in their praise for Prunella Scales. She seemed so insecure, that her adjudication at Am Dram festivals were very negative. Most of them never had any professional aspirations on the boards but just wanted to become better at their amateur endeavours. Of course, nobody deserves to get Alzheimers, but apparently when Blunders met them on a coastal voyage, he was very nice and she was hostile. The Madocs, were the opposite. She was lovely and he was just conceited.

[Brians Cravat]

I think that, for all of his act as a bluff Northerner, Dibnah had a charm of his own. I'm sure that, if you ran into him in the local pub, he'd share a pint and, talk enthusiastically on engineering and mechanics. I have a copy of his biography in one of the bookcases.

I've seen quite a few Shakespeare productions in recent years. Sadly, I think that having to do a Shakespeare play for 'O' level deterred me for long time. However, I've seen production by the RSC, The National Theatre and Am-dram productions recently and enjoyed them all. I heard one elderly lady grumbling that Malvolio was cast as a woman. However, the language isn't gender specific and, Tasmin Grieg played it in a spirit of high farce and, was really funny. She interacted with the audience on several occasions, something that would surely have been the norm in the original Globe Theatre with a standing audience close to the stage.

Tim West describes Pru Scales condition as 'slight' and perhaps, by sometimes being stern he is trying to create a secure environment for her.

[Will the Pedlar]

Brian. Walks alone, are a sign of needing a small dog, to keep you company and to help keep you fit. It works for me.

This is the perfect area for dog walking and the 3-4 miles or more, which my dog walks me each day are most enjoyable. I'm surrounded on all sides by hills and mountains. A couple of them are around 2,000 ft. But out of choice the ones we walk are around 1,000ft. It's pure coincidence that they're the nearest, honest

It's been ages since I saw any 'live' Shakespeare. TBH I'm more a Gilbert & Sullivan fan. I think the last Shakespeare I saw, was a nearby am-dram of Winter's Tale, about 10 years back.
I want, when spare time in London is convenient, to see something, anything at The Globe. I've visited it - done the tour - but time has never fitted-in with a performance. Interaction with the audience is expected there and as you say would have been the norm in WS's time.
A lot of G & S productions don't seem to take any notice of the 4th wall either. Great stuff.

Will.