Celebration

Pimms at Little Hampden last week

Barbecue at Great Missenden this Sunday

Thank you reception

I think everyone enjoyed tonight’s reception to thank all who contributed to our Appeal.

And a few fun pics - captions?

Little Hampden Bell

We had a visit from Matthew Smith on Friday evening. Matthew is a bellringer at kimble but he is currently visiting all the bells in Bucks to collect inscriptions so that he can update the 1897 book “The Church Bells of Buckinghamshire” written by Alfred Cocks.

Our bell at Little Hampden, which is mounted in the first floor of the timber-framed porch, is dated 1791 and was cast by Thomas Mears of London. Matthew reported that this was the year that Thomas took over the foundry from his father so our bell is one of his first. The bell is slung between two wooden beams with no metal bearings. It looks as if the original mounting was nearer the North end of the porch where there are grooves in the beams and another hole for the bellrope in the floor beams. The speculation is that these grooves were wearing too close to the bottom of the beam so rather than repairing them, the bell was simply moved and hung on two new beams. The new beams appear to have been cut with a circular saw whereas the original would have been cut by hand.

Matthew has worked with bells but is currently employed by Smith of Derby - clockmakers. Not watchmakers - but Church and Tower clocks. Have a look at their web site www.smithofderby.com.

Our bell is not very secure and Matthew is going to quote for repairing it so we can ring it at services and weddings. I’ll keep you posted.

Alfred Cocks sounds an interesting character. As well as writing “The Church Bells of Buckinghamshire; Their Inscriptions, Founders, Uses and Traditions, Etc.” to give it it’s full title, he was secretary of the Buckinghamshire Archeological Society. Their history has two interesting references:

Alfred  Cocks  had  published  his  monumental Church Bells of  Buckinghamshire  in  1897, a work of  enduring scholarship, and  his  many contributions  to  Records  ranging  from Great  Marlow Church  in  1866 to  the Penn version  of  the Mummers play forty years  later were always scholarly. On a lighter note his three articles which he called Contributions  to  a  Buckinghamshire Vocabulary (VII. 61 and 284, IX.  124) where he records  local dialect, then rapidly being lost, make almost compulsive reading.
Crabbling:  Noise of a pot boiling
Unmournful:  Very,  'She wus unmournful ugly'
Drotchek: Slut
Cribbling:  Lame  'He goes proper cribbling'
Clats:  Horse droppings
Mizzy-muzzy:  'My  poor  head's all ofu mizzy-muzzy'
...
Secretaries:
1896-1908  ALFRED HENEAGE COCKS  (1864-1928) FSA. He was a meticulous scholar and a distinguished naturalist who contributed much to the Society but was a prickly colleague. His many articles cover a wide field but he is best remembered for the monumental The Church Bells of Buckinghamshire published in 1897 which whilst a work of scrupulous scholarship is not improved by the alarming varieties of typeface which he insisted on using.

100 years of IBM

IBM is 100 years old today. It  struck me that I worked for IBM for one third of this time! It was a good company to work for and much more than a technology company. The IBM 100 web sites list lots of the company's interesting achievements. As well as lots of technical ones there were many early employment and management innovations that were later adopted by other organisations. IBM employed its first disabled employee in 1914, it had an equal employment opportunity policy from 1953, well before the legislation required it. 

The technical innovations are significant, too: early commercial digital computers, the PC, the floppy disk, the selectric (golfball) typewriter, the term 'word processing', fractal geometry, the scanning tunnelling microscope, laser surgery and the UPC barcode. Have a look at the IBM 100 icons of progress web site

Jacqui’s new handbag

I’ve been helping Jacqui and Nadine with their web site:

While agreeing the photos for the site this morning, Jacqui’s new handbag arrived. Her expression says it all!

But they did settle down to some work eventually...

Flower festival

First pictures

Inspiring youngsters - again

Last Saturday saw the first fundraising event run by our Wyred youth group in support of their plan to visit Africa in the summer of 2012. They organised a dinner in the Oldham Hall - they made no charge but donations were requested. The evening was a great success and the Wyred team were extremely professional - very inspirational.

Inspiring youngsters

I’m not very often moved by an article in the papers but this one from Friday really got to me:

Mrs Obama taught me Oxford can be more than a dream

She made me feel so confident I forgot about the cameras

Aneesah Siddiqui
The Times, May 27 2011 12:01AM

Before Wednesday Oxford University was totally beyond my aspirations. I knew about its elite status, but I believed that, because of the expense, I would never get there. After my unbelievable experience I now believe that any money paid to attend this university would be worth it. No price can be put on such an amazing education, surely?

On the coach from our school to Oxford to meet Michelle Obama, the atmosphere was electric. First we took part in a workshop led by three inspirational female academics. The physics lecturer really connected with me because I love science — I’m taking food technology, health and social care at GCSE and I began to think about working with her one day. This day was already like a dream.

Lunch at Wadham College was incredible. I was captivated by the room, the stained glass, the portraits, the people who had been there through history. It seemed wrong to be sitting eating sandwiches, as it felt as if the room had only been used for banquets! This was a good opportunity to talk to the Oxford University mentors looking after us. I was paired with a PPE student who said that he would help with my application when the time comes. He advised me to go for hard subjects at A level, so now I’m going to put my head down and do maths, physics and biology.

When we were walking to the room where we would meet Mrs Obama, I was petrified. My hands were shaking. When she finally came through the door we were beaming. I finally met my role model. She looked angelic in white. When she was delivering her speech, I was transfixed. I couldn’t believe that she cared so much about my school in Islington. I was amazed at how close I was to her and when she came to sit with us, I was just a few seats away.

When we began to ask questions, I was longing for my turn. I was overwhelmed as she gave me her microphone, I was holding Mrs Obama’s microphone: how amazing was that? As I asked my question she made me feel so confident that I forgot there were cameras in the room. I felt as if we were speaking in private — that’s how comforting she was. She made me forget my fears. She said that we were all future leaders and must start now. Then she gave us each a long heartfelt hug and she smelt lovely.

Before I met Mrs Obama I thought that I would have an ordinary job. But now I want to be something that really makes a difference in the world. My name is Aneesah Siddiqui. If I hadn’t met Michelle Obama, you would probably have never heard it. But now — just watch this space!

Aneesah Siddiqui, 15, is a pupil at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School, North London

Does it really take someone with Michelle Obama’s image and character to inspire our children?

Vauban at Saint-Martin-de-Ré

We spent two days at St-Martin-de-Ré, on Ile de Ré, an island in the Atlantic just off La Rochelle. I say an island but it is now connected to the mainland via a 2.9 kilometre bridge. The island was of strategic importance and St Martin was fortified in the 1620s by order of Cardinal Richelieu. The original fortifications are said to have inspired Vauban - the architect of the French defensive buildings. 

In 1627, an English invasion force commanded by the Duke of Buckingham(!) attacked the island in order to relieve the Siege of La Rochelle. After three months of fighting against the French under Marshal Toiras, the Duke was forced to withdraw in defeat. Vauban was engaged to strengthen the fortifications and the result is the walls which today surround the town, together with a stronger fortress that is now a prison. The fortress has it’s own small but well defended harbour - presumably to supply the garrisons posted there.

Today St-Martin-de-Ré is a holiday destination although entry is still defended: cars can’t enter the inner area unless they can pass the barrier. We had to park outside and negotiate the code from our hotel but I don’t think this aimed at keeping the English out!

Saumur and the Loire

We’re just back from a few days in France. The first few days were at Saumur in the Loire valley. We’re always drawn to the magic of the Loire - the river glides through the countryside and seems to be unchanged for centuries. The Chateaux are equally magical - can you believe this really exists?

The crafts which constructed these buildings are still being taught today - the building school in Saumur was doing a masonry lesson...

Looking back over Easter and Lent

Phew, over 2 weeks since I blogged - but it’s been a busy time. OK, so I failed to keep to the Love Life Live Lent activities - although I did manage quite a few. And Zone Plus, the week before Holy Week, was, I think, a success. There are lots of pictures on the web site - www.zoneplus.org.uk. We had nearly 50 youngsters involved and the grinning faces say it all!

Then there was the reading of the Gospels from the King James bible. Very moving for everyone and fascinating to hear the whole story, rather than just extracts. On of the regular volunteer Church cleaners has reported that when he is mopping the floor or whatever he feels in touch with people who have looked after the building - and worshipped there - for hundreds of years. I think we felt the same - the readings will be echoing round the stonework...

The Easter services were good, too. Quiet until Easter day - and then the Churches were full and joyful. Then a day afloat - but mainly spent clearing bird poo off the deck! The oystercatchers are flourishing and look and sound wonderful - until they land en masse on the deck! They completely ignored a neighbouring owner’s attempt to keep them off with yards and yards of strings with attached orange ribbons.

So I think I have caught up at last - at least until I started to draft an application for a grant for the youth activities. But I think we are ticking enough boxes against the Chiltern District Council’s criteria - time will tell!

Zone Plus day 1

Little Hampden - yet again

‘Go for a walk in your neighbourhood and pray about what you see’ says one of the actions this week. Little Hampden looked wonderful today with a blue sky and the trees coming out. I resisted getting out my camera (too busy anyway!) But I did walk down to neighbours - who were out - and walking back spotted the new moon in the evening sky.

Science and posters

Volunteer driving this morning so I had 30 minutes or so waiting in Hospital. I used these to look through the science for children books and to generate a list for the science afternoon at Zone Plus next week. Lots of ideas - I think I have enough. I’ve tried a few out. Yesterday we went to Maplin in Aylesbury for some crocodile clips. I made up some cables today for use with a lemon battery. Two different coins (or two different metals) in a lemon (or other acid) will generate electricity. I tried this with a 2p piece, a 10p piece and an eggcup of vinegar. Not enough to drive anything significant but the meter definitely moved! With 3 lemons the voltage should be measurable and may light up a LED. I’ve also tried out the balloon on bottle experiment to show that air expands and contracts. Half-inflate a balloon and fix it on the top of a plastic bottle. Run the hot tap onto the bottle and the balloon expands. Dip the bottle in iced water and it contracts. Richard has made some heavier weights for the Foucault pendulum so I’ll have to try these out soon.

The lady on the hospital run was a very sprightly 86-year-old so I took advantage of driving past Stoke Mandeville Church to drop off a poster for the Gospel Readings. We diverted a little to Ellesborough for another poster. I think my passenger enjoyed the round trip. I don’t think this aligns with any of the LLLL actions but I feel it’s very much in the spirit!

I also managed to ‘buy something that’s in season in a local shop’ today - potatoes, apples and some wonderful Cornish goat’s cheese. The potatoes are locals, the cheese isn’t from too far away but think the apples were from France - they had ‘le crunch’ stickers.