Perhaps I had ambitions to be an MP - or an undertaker!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009




















This picture of an area in the High Street, Glasgow was taken by the famous photographer Thomas Annan circa 1870

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For a number of years now Jean and I have visited our doctor’s surgery to have the anti-flu injection, and one afternoon last week we had this done.

This time however we were asked if we would like to take a memory test. Like most folk of our age there are occasions when we forget someone’s name or when our memory plays tricks on us. So having agreed to the test, we were directed to another part of the surgery.

We were seen separately and asked at the start to memorise an address which we had to recall later. The questions were simple, such as - in which year did the Second World War begin, what’s your age, what’s the name of the Queen, etc. We were also asked to count down backwards from 20. We passed of course and came away pleased with ourselves.

However, later on at home, when we were discussing the test, we found that neither of us could remember all the questions we had been asked!!!!

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FORGOTTEN FAVOURITES 
This Serenade by the Dutch composer Jonny Heykens (1884-1945) was popular in the 1930s. In 1943 a Japanese radio station broadcasting to their armed forces made it their signature tune, and after the war it was adopted as the theme tune of Japanese railways.



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The picture below will be familiar to older folks. I remember that the character Shock-headed Peter appeared in an old Chatterbox Annual that had belonged to one of my father’s siblings.
Created by Heinrich Hoffman, Der Struwwelpeter consisted of ten German stories, each with a moral.



















See Slovenly Peter! Here he stands,
With his dirty hair and hands.
See! his nails are never cut;
They are grimed as black as soot;
No water for many weeks,
Has been near his cheeks;
And the sloven, I declare,
Not once this year has combed his hair!
Anything to me is sweeter
Than to see shock-headed Peter.  (Tr. Anon)

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A MEMORY

My mother born in 1896 was the eldest in her family and next to her was George. On leaving school he became a clerk in a local iron foundry. He fought in the trenches in the First World War. As a result of being wounded, he lost the complete use of an arm. He became a Baptist minister and some time later Secretary of the Baptist Union in Scotland.

I remember that occasionally he would visit his parents on a Saturday afternoon, when we were there. He and Grandpa would sit having serious discussions about church affairs. One name kept cropping in their talk, as in “according to Spurgeon” and “Spurgeon says.”

Many years later I discovered that they were referring to Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a famous 19th century Baptist preacher and writer.

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SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
My new site begins on Saturday 31st October with “A Hallowe’en Story” and will feature a different tale every week.
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

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This video from the British Film Institute shows Tower Bridge road market, London in 1931. There’s no sound track.



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Wednesday, October 21, 2009



















This is Jean’s paternal grandmother Jane Mackenzie who was born in 1870. The photo was taken around 1888.

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This week’s quote - When saving for old age, be sure to put away a few pleasant thoughts. (Anon)

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I THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE, but no, it’s absolutely true!

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina is having a bible-burning event at Hallowe’en, and are urging everyone to bring bibles - that is, with the exception of the King James Version which is the only one God approves of! They give also a long list of authors whose books they want to destroy, and the writers include Billy Graham, Mother Teresa and the Pope!!!

It looks as if they’re going to have a marvellous time, for they promise great preaching and singing plus a barbeque.

Well, I don’t wish them any harm, but with any luck a spark from the bonfire might set their church alight!!!

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FORGOTTEN FAVOURITES  - My choice this time is a song which was an international success -  “Suddenly there’s a valley” sung here by Jo Stafford. Edith Piaff had a hit with the French version in 1956 and Petula Clark’s record made the top ten in the UK. I was surprised to learn that Vera Lynn recorded the song in German, the title of which translates as “Follow your heart’s advice.”
  


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This is a preliminary notice of a new a new website which I am devising. It begins very appropriately on Hallow’een Saturday 31st October -

SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD

http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

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I was looking again at the film of the Band of Hope procession, which was shown in this blog last week, and I noticed that, among the many banners on display, there was one “The Ragged School.”

This reminded me that, when I was a child, my mother used to say that my father had been a pupil at the “ragged” school. Despite the fact that I knew both my parents went to the same primary school, I pictured him as a small boy dressed in rags.

Realising that I didn’t know anything about the subject, I decided to rectify this. I’ve discovered that it all began in 1818 when a shoemaker called John Pounds started to teach poor children free of charge.

The concept soon spread with the work of people like Rev Thomas Guthrie in Edinburgh and Sheriff Watson in Aberdeen. There was a big leap forward in 1844 when Lord Shaftsbury founded the Ragged Schools Union, and by 1870, when the Education Act was passed, the number of such schools had reached 350.

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This is a short clip from the 1936 film Modern Times, for which Charlie Chaplin was responsible for the script, the music, the direction and the production, and of course he starred in it. I remember thinking “what a great picture!” when our parents took us to see it probably in 1938.



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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Let us respect grey hair, especially our own. (J.P. Sears)

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I don’t remember there being a Band of Hope organisation in our area when I was a boy. Certainly there were branches everywhere in my parents’ day, and I think that most working-class children in the years before the First World War would attend the meetings. There would be talks, magic lantern shows, singing and probably tea and a bun. More importantly, the children would be encouraged to sign The Pledge in which they promised to abstain from all strong drink.

Founded in 1847 in Leeds, the members of the Band of Hope by the mid-1930s numbered nearly 3 million. After the war the temperance movement declined, and eventually the organisation, realising it had to move with the times, became Hope UK which concerned itself with all aspects of child welfare.

I was delighted to discover this fascinating Mitchell and Kenyon film showing a Band of Hope procession in 1901.



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The Mitchell and Kenyon company were pioneers in film making at the beginning of the last century. There’s a huge collection of their films in the archives of the British Film Institute.

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A NONSENSE POEM

A quiet home had Parson Gray,
Secluded in a vale;
His daughters all were feminine,
And all his sons were male.

How faithfully did Parson Gray
The bread of life dispense--
Well "posted" in theology,
And post and rail his fence.

'Gainst all the vices of the age
He manfully did battle;
His chickens were a biped breed,
And quadruped his cattle.

No clock more punctually went,
He ne'er delayed a minute--
Nor ever empty was his purse,
When he had money in it.

His piety was ne'er denied;
His truths hit saint and sinner;
At morn he always breakfasted;
He always dined at dinner.

He ne'er by any luck was grieved,
By any care perplexed--
No filcher he, though when he preached,
He always "took" a text.

As faithful characters he drew
As mortal ever saw;
But ah! poor parson! when he died,
His breath he could not draw! (Oliver Goldsmith 1728-1774)

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FORGOTTEN FAVOURITES   Here Billy Mayerl plays his own composition “Marigold”. This was a piece I learned when I was having piano lessons.



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CLICKING FOR CHARITY

For many years now I have begun my day on the computer by logging on to the Ecology website. By clicking half-a-dozen times, I’m making a donation to a Fund which helps to save rainforests and endangered wilderness. So far I have personally saved more than five and a half acres.

I then log on to the Hunger site and my click results in a sponsor donating a cup of food. From the top of the Hunger site page you can access more charity sites - Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest and Animal Rescue, and by clicking at the relevant place on each one you are making donations at no cost to yourself.

The two addresses are -

http://www.ecologyfund.com

http://www.thehungersite.com

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Finally this will bring back memories for my family. The song was included in a Johnny Cash album which we had.



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Wednesday, October 7, 2009



FORGOTTEN FAVOURITES

My choice this week is one of Hoagy Carmichael’s many successful hits, sung here by the American group who became famous in the 1930s. When learning to play the piano, this was the first song copy that I bought - it would probably cost me 6d (two and a half pence). This clip was made available by “Barndog44”.



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'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
From Love's shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit,
This bleak world alone? (Thomas Moore 1779-1852, the Irish poet who also wrote “The Minstrel Boy.”)

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“Bathsheba” by Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904)

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Finally, this slide show, produced by “Whirlingtamthebam”, has great images of Scottish folk at work and at play in Victorian and Edwardian times. “The Way We Were” has an accompaniment of Shetland fiddle music. I give it 10 out of 10.



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This week at HAIKU HOMESTEAD -
When is a haiku not a haiku?

http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

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