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Prestbury Parish MagazineJune 2017Download the PDF version (4,784 KB) ![]()
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I have been fortunate enough to ride camels, many times, predominantly in Africa, and usually dromedaries although I have ridden Bactrian in Outer Mongolia. In Africa usually this has been in the Sahara, on one spectacular occasion leaving the sand shrouded confines of Timbuktu and heading out into the jaundiced sea of sand that surrounds this ancient university town, with its great Arabic Library, for a Bedouin camp several kilometres into the desert. My main experience with camels however was crossing the Gibson Desert, in Central Australia, named after Alfred Gibson, an explorer who died of dehydration when travelling alone in this desert region. The Gibson is situated to the west of Alice Springs in Central Australia. With my late wife, Jackie, I joined an expedition to fix the position of the Crawford Rock Holes. Surveying, in the desert, prior to the development of GPS was notoriously difficult due to mirage and lack of fixed points. A previous crossing had reported that the rock holes, vital as a mid-crossing water supply, were not at the position shown on the existing maps. They could not be found and questions were raised as to their continued existence. The last recorded visit to the Crawford Rock Holes was some 70 years previously. On this expedition there were 13 of us humans and 17 camels to carry our supplies, which included one tonne of water and five litres of port!!! All were in plastic Jerry cans, as well as a two weeks’ worth of food. We were not to see fresh supplies of either for two full weeks!!
We cobs (cobbers) were trained by the cameleers to handle one camel each, my allocated camel was ‘Lofty’, no physical description needed. He was a strong but compliant camel (by camel standards) who did not usually, bite, kick or spit. At night our job was to hobble the front legs of our camel, prior to releasing them for the night to graze on what they could find of camel thorn etc. Hobbling, is not a job for the squeamish, and is carried out by a judicious approach to the head and having established the mood of the camel to turn alongside with one’s rear end facing the rear legs of the camel, with one’s body firmly pressed against the flea-infested flank of the camel’s body. Thus if the camel decided to kick there was some soft protection in the form of one’s buttocks. Then the procedure is to gently run one’s hand down the leg of the camel, lift its foot gently but firmly and slip the right hobble over the right foot. Then reaching underneath, keeping close personal contact repeat the procedure for the left leg, finally checking that the hobble is comfortable and gives sufficient movement without allowing the camel to run. After a freezing night, with temperatures down to -10ºC, tucked in our swags rolled out on the ground, it was our job, at first light, to find our camel, who may by now be a kilometre or so away and lead it back into ‘the camp’. Here we ‘hooshed’ them down ie got them to crouch on their knees by the repeated imprecation of “Hoosh! Hoosh!” and then set to clean them up by running our fingers through their hair to remove all scraps of twig and spinifex trapped in the long hair that might cause discomfort to the camel once its saddle was in place. Such rubbish becomes firmly ensconced under the finger nails. Then to place two sets of their own blankets over their hump and then the heavy wooden saddle, this has a belly strap which can only be fixed in place by burrowing in the sand below the camel’s belly and passing one end through before nipping round the other side to connect it up before the camel shifts and traps the end, or your hand, under its extensive belly, and then by lifting the tail fix the excreta-covered tail rope in place. As I said, “Not for the squeamish!” Onto the saddles are strapped the supplies. These vary in quantity as time goes on. Diminishing water and food are distributed evenly between the 17 camels. It was then our job to walk, no riding allowed, these are strictly pack animals, alongside the string of camels checking that kit is secure and that they were coping with traversing the dunes in day time temperatures of 40ºC or higher. Water for the camels was from the occasional salt ‘lake’. Having reached the approximate position of the Crawford Rock Holes we began to quarter the dunes. These were covered mainly in spinifex, scrub bushes and desert oaks of limited growth. After three quarters of a day of a line check, spread over several kilometres, we heard the extraordinary sound of birds singing and then amazingly, we found, in a depression, amongst the scrub, three slime covered holes of less than a metre diameter. These contained slime covered water about ½ metre below the surrounding surface. The camels drank their fill!!! All this time surrounded by yellow chats sitting on and in the scrub totally unafraid of our presence or flying in clouds around them and us. We had seen no birds or humans for a week and were not to see any more for a further week, an oddity of the natural world. The only evidence of human existence was a discarded, broken, rubbing stone, used by Aboriginal people to break down vegetable matter. After discussion we decided to refill only one jerry can, with the green slime-water, for final emergency use. We were at this point, we calculated, approximately 2 litres up on our estimated water consumption per person per day to be used for ALL purposes including drinking. Only one tin mug of Dettol water was available each day for the washing of finger tips and only then before the evening meal. Any human body odours were overcome by strong camel scent! Having a GPS set with us we were, for the first time in history, to fix the Crawford Rock Holes with accuracy. There was a great sense of achievement as the holes were some 3 kilometres out of position which could make a vital difference to the survival of future cross-Gibson expeditions. God’s working creatures such as camels may be smelly, bad tempered and aggressive but we could not on this occasion have accomplished this vital task without them. John Moles Animal Adventures at the Library this summer!Prestbury Library is usually busy with people rather than animals but this summer we’re welcoming some special animal friends! The 2017 theme for the popular Summer Reading Challenge is Animal Detectives. Coming soon is a fabulous range of story books for ages 4-11 all with animal characters. We already have a great new selection of non-fiction books on the shelves featuring creatures from around the world.
Last year hundreds of Prestbury children took part in the Summer Reading challenge and really enjoyed it. They read 6 books over the summer and received stickers, posters and eventually the much-prized gold medal. A special four-legged guest at Prestbury this summer Watch out for our very special four-legged visitor coming to the library to see us this summer. We do like our animal guests at Prestbury. Did your children or grandchildren come and see the frogs and snakes last year?! Keep an eye out for more details in the library or on our Facebook page. Know a teenager who’d like to help us with the Challenge this summer? Do you know a teenager or young adult (13-24) with spare time this summer? Volunteering to help with the Summer Reading Challenge can be a great way to gain confidence and experience working with younger children.
Please pop into the library for more information. More ideas also found at www.readinghack.org.uk
Jo, Karen, Laura, Becky and Tessa Council Tax Exemption for Care LeaversThe Children’s Society works with some of the most disadvantaged children in England and Wales. As you can imagine, this covers a broad range of work. Each month we are bringing you a story from one of the areas of our work. Last month we talked about the impact of social media on mental health. This month focuses on one of our campaigns where we are asking for council tax exemption for care leavers. Care leavers can be a particularly vulnerable group when it comes to council tax.
We are asking councils to make care leavers exempt from paying council tax until they turn 25; giving these young people a few valuable years to learn how to manage their finances and have a better chance at avoiding problem debt in the future. Our research in the past has shown us just how quickly debt can spiral out of control. Thanks to lots of support, we have now secured a council tax exemption for care leavers in fourteen local councils and the campaign continues to gain momentum. Some councils which are supporting young carers include Oldham, Greenwich, Bolton, Coventry and Wolverhampton. Unfortunately, Gloucestershire has not yet agreed to support young carers and we have had to take a public pause from our campaigning work during the election, but we will be picking this up again after 8th June. Following the election, we would greatly appreciate your support for this campaign. All you need to do is go to our website and send an email to your local council to show them how important this matter is to you and many others. Wouldn’t it be great if Gloucestershire council could ensure a fairer start for care leavers? It’s great that some councils have already agreed to this and the other good news is that after working with the Welsh Government and the National Assembly for Wales over the previous months, we have been told that the Welsh Government is likely to announce after the elections this month that it will exempt care leavers across Wales from paying council tax. Your donations, actions, prayers and time enable our work with young care leavers. This is a campaign that will affect vulnerable children and young people all over the country, and we have a great opportunity to influence what happens here in our very own community. Thank you. Roseann Thompson Marle Hill WIWe had a very busy evening at our meeting in May. Peter Bryant, the recently retired County Secretary, opened the evening with an illustrated talk about his career. He joined the RAF as a dog handler serving in Cyprus during the troubles there and then in Northern Ireland, was a body guard in Belize – where he also DJ’d on the services radio, took a commission and was stationed at Valley, Anglesey, Stanmore and then Innsworth. After serving for 26 years in the RAF he retired and took up a post as Secretary of the Royal Flying Pigeon Association for 10 years – to continue his career in the ‘Royal flying’ world! After a short time at the National Trust, doing maternity leave cover, he spotted the advert for a Secretary at the Gloucestershire Federation of WI’s, and applied as a joke. He got the job! So far, the only male WI County Secretary in the country. Peter spent over six years at the post and was a very efficient and hard worker with entertainment thrown in - he says that dealing with the pigeons and their owners was more stressful! He is much missed at WI House, though Lindsay, the new Secretary, is quickly finding her feet. Next on the agenda were the discussions and voting on the two Resolutions to be debated at the National Annual Meeting in Liverpool in June. The subjects were on Plastic Soup (the accumulation of plastic residue, especially in the sea) and Loneliness. The holiday in Lincolnshire was much enjoyed by a number of members, despite the weather being a bit chilly and wet. Visits were to Burghley House, Grantham, Southwell with its Workhouse and beautiful Minster, Lincoln – where Sue and I were pelted with hailstones as we walked round the Castle walls - and Newent where we went on a boat trip on the River Trent. On the way home we called in on the late Geoff Hamilton’s gardens at Barnsdale, that are now run by his son Nick. There are 37 separate gardens which were developed for his Gardeners’ World programmes. As usual on these kinds of outings, the coaches were full of plants and shrubs, to be found new homes in Gloucestershire! The May activities included a tea afternoon at Gloria’s where we enjoyed her beautiful garden (though it was a bit damp and too chilly to sit outside), a skittles evening, Craft and Book Club meetings, tea at Eileen’s and a meal at Moran’s. Dame Janet Trotter gave a very interesting and inspiring talk at the Cleeve Hill Group Meeting. We also partook in a Shibori beading day, a morning dying a silk infinity scarf and a County walk. After a slight hitch in the County Skittles Tournament we have been awarded a bye, and so go into the next round for the Trophy, where we are due to play Benhall WI. The June programme is looking very busy. Several of us are off to Liverpool to the National Annual Meeting, I am stewarding. Then we have the Three Counties Show at Malvern. There we have teams of members going to help with the catering, sales and craft demonstrating over the three days. We have a change to the July programme. We now have Ged Cassel giving a talk on ‘Florida and the Everglades’. Visitors are always made welcome if you would like to join us for the evening. We shall meet at St Nicolas’ Hall, Swindon Lane at 7.30pm on Monday 3rd July. May I take this opportunity to congratulate Sue Davies, our President, on completing her WI Advisor training, for which she is now qualified? Sara Jefferies Prestbury WIOn Monday 12th June Graham Minett will be giving us a talk on “A writer’s Journey” from how he got started and all the ups and downs of being a writer. It promises to be an interesting evening.
Other WI news… On the 18th April our skittles team met Tibberton and Taynton WI at the Cheese Rollers in Shurdington for our first round in the skittles league. It was a fun evening made even better by the fact we won by 31 pins! We held our Annual Resolutions meeting on Monday 8th May, which was followed by a Fish and Chip supper. Afterwards we were entertained by the first “Public Performance” of our Ukulele group, whose varied repertoire was very much enjoyed by all!
Visitors are always welcome at our WI meetings. They are held on the second Monday of each month and start at 7.15pm in the WI Hall on Prestbury Road. For further information on WI activities please contact Hilary Brick on 01242 517964. Hilary Brick Animals and HumansWe share this wonderful planet with other living things - animals and plants - fauna and flora. “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love” we sing at harvest festivals. Ever since I was a boy I’ve felt that I should help tiny creatures if I found them struggling - a washed out worm on asphalt after a rain storm or a struggling fly on a water butt. I still feel that it’s a bit soppy moving worms back to safety - sentimental nonsense - but I still do it. In my younger explorations of my faith I came across the medical missionary, philosopher and musician, Albert Schweitzer, who wrote an influential work on ethics called Reverence for Life. I’m no expert on ethics but Schweitzer’s thoughts have stayed with me. Reverence for Life has much to say about relations between human beings and the animal world. He stresses that we must do to every animal all the good we possibly can. Humanity has a debt to be paid to the animal world. Animals who serve man in any way are owed a debt for what they do for us. None of us must allow any suffering that can be avoided. In the case of pets and particularly dogs somebody once said to me that we should believe there is an unwritten contract between humans and the pet animals they feed and look after. Our side of the contract is to give love and care and the pet’s role is to give us loyalty and doggy love. People keep pets for all sorts of reasons. Pets give us companionship and a feeling that we have a ‘friend’ who cares and accepts us as we are. People who live alone are helped when they have a pet to share their life. There are, of course, many working animals such as horses and donkeys and mules who give daily service to their owners. Sheep dogs are essential to hill farmers. I could go on.... At different periods two black Labrador Retrievers have played a great part in my life and I owe a lot to them. In my boyhood the first came with the name of Tim. When my family were living at an old farmhouse during the Second World War I was lucky enough to be able to befriend and learn from Tim. Tim was my great friend when I lived in a Hampshire village as a 9 and 10 years old. I will never forget the time when Tim followed my brother and me to the ancient village church. Being a shy little boy I was so embarrassed and I asked our Sunday School teacher if I should take Tim home. “No,” she replied, “he can stay - the shepherds used to bring their dogs to church.” So Tim stayed sitting on the kneelers between the pews as good as gold. Later in life, taking assemblies in primary schools, I thought it would be a good idea - as a ‘visual aid’ - to take him with me and get him to catch titbits. I asked the assembled children to predict how many he would catch - part of introducing the new National Curriculum. It worked well and I had lots of drawings to decorate my office! I don’t think I can put Bonzo down as a working dog but he was a lovely pet and so good even with two hundred or so pats as the children left the hall! I’ve been in love with dogs all my life and my wife doesn’t believe I can talk to them! Pets are part of the good gifts that God gives. Thank you for this world so sweet. Ralph Griffin Book Review “Voices from the Titanic” - Edited by Geoff TibballsWhen RMS Titanic left Southampton, on 10th April 1912, she was described as “unsinkable”. She was (at that time) the largest and most luxurious ship that had ever sailed. She was carrying 2,200 passengers and crew, who included some of the most illustrious and wealthiest businessmen in the world. However, just 4 days later, on 14th April 1912, Titanic struck an iceberg, and in 2½ hours, broke up and sank below the waves, lost forever. The inadequate number of lifeboats were launched, carrying mostly women and children (predominantly of 1st and 2nd class) – the rest of the passengers were left to survive as best they could on the stricken ship. Only 674 people survived the disaster. This book is a collection of letters, witness statements and press reports, by survivors (and victims) involved in the tragedy. The letters make heart-breaking reading. Some were sent from the ship, mid-voyage, to parents and friends at home, and tell of future hopes and plans – many of which were never realised. The majority of the witness statements were given by survivors to the Inquest that was held in New York, after the event was made public. It started on 19th April, and lasted for 17 days. One thing that struck me was how many of the witness statements were contradictory. In many of the accounts, the timings and sequence of events are quite different, but every person is adamant that their story is the ‘true’ version. The official report of the findings of the Inquest panel was delivered in a speech that took over 2 hours to read, and listed several errors that collectively sealed the Titanic’s fate, including ‘too few lifeboats’; ‘ignoring the ice warnings from other ships’; ‘travelling too fast’; and ‘no on-board practice of emergency procedures’. The book concludes with 30 pages which contain an alphabetical list of the registered passengers and crew on board the Titanic. The passengers are listed by class, the crew by seniority. The survivors are printed in bold –
I have always been fascinated by the story of the Titanic. I can’t say I enjoyed this book, but it was a case of ‘having started it, I had to finish it’. A tragic sequence of (mostly avoidable) errors, culminating in a senseless loss of many, many lives – what a disaster. Jackie Smith A Life Well Lived
THIS PROMISE COMES just after Jesus has identified the very special covenant between himself and God. He stresses how intertwined this relationship is: ‘Everything is entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son but the Father, and no one knows the Father but the son...’ It separates Jesus from being just another prophet and thus gives far greater significance to this promise. Yet Jesus is also frustrated by the attitude of the towns where he has performed miracles and taught because they fail to recognise his significance, but despite this he makes this loving invitation to us all. I chose this reading for my mother’s funeral service so it has a very special meaning for me. She was not one of life’s complainers and yet many would have considered that she had a lot of issues to complain about. She had been born the illegitimate daughter of a seventeen year old mother who was in service and a Chinese father who had come to this country with his father as economic migrants. In such circumstances in the 1920’s many families considered it better for women to place their children for adoption rather than marry a man who was not white. My grandparents married a year later, even though it meant that my grandmother lost her British citizenship. Sadly my mother’s father died when she was only 10 years old and so when she passed the entrance exam for the local grammar school there was no money to pay for her uniform and books and so she left school at 14 years old with no qualifications. All her life she worked hard in low paid jobs (not least to support myself at that very same grammar school that poverty denied her and subsequently my time at university) and faced a level of racial discrimination that would make many of us squirm but I never heard her once utter any words of resentment for her lot in life. She once applied for a job at the local soap works but when she arrived at interview she was turned away with the words ‘We don’t employ coloureds’. There were no words of anger expressed, we simply never bought Persil washing powder ever again. She bore everything with a quiet dignity. In her final illness, I would like to think that the quiet faith of her Catholic upbringing brought her some comfort. Jesus’s wonderful offer of solace to those who work hard with little recognition seemed so appropriate for her and for so many like her. At this time when there is so much ill feeling expressed in the media about immigration, I never forget that I am the grand–daughter of an economic migrant and remind myself of the burdens that other people have to bear. Whatever the nature of their burdens, be it the loss of a loved one, homelessness, an addiction or serious illness, Jesus offers to share that burden if we will allow him into our lives. Janet Waters
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