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If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says
"15 miles to the Love Shack"
Love Shack, yeah, yeah
I'm headin' down the Atlanta highway
Lookin' for the love getaway
Headed for the love getaway
I got me a car, it's as big as a whale
And we're headin' on down to the Love Shack
I got me a Chrysler, it seats about 20
So hurry up and bring your jukebox money
The love shack is a little old place
Where we can get together
Love Shack, baby (a-Love Shack, baby)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (Love, baby, that's where it's at)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (Love, baby, that's where it's at)
Sign says (woo) "Stay away, fools"
'Cause love rules at the Love Shack
Well, it's set way back in the middle of a field
Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back
Glitter on the mattress
Glitter on the highway
Glitter on the front porch
Glitter on the highway
The Love Shack is a little old place
Where we can get together
Love Shack, baby (Love Shack, baby)
Love Shack, that's where it's at
Love Shack, that's where it's at
Huggin' and a-kissin'
Dancin' and a-lovin'
Wearin' next to nothin'
'Cause it's hot as an oven
The whole shack shimmies
Yeah, the whole shack shimmies
The whole shack shimmies when everybody's
Movin' around and around and around and around
Everybody's movin', everybody's groovin', baby
Folks linin' up outside just to get down
Everybody's movin', everybody's groovin', baby
Funky little shack
Funky little shack
Hop in my Chrysler
It's as big as a whale and it's about to set sail
I got me a car
Like, it seats about 20
So come on and bring your jukebox money
The Love Shack is a little old place where we can get together
Love Shack, baby (a-Love Shack, baby)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (Love, baby, that's where it's at, yeah)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (Love, baby, that's where it's at)
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
Knock a little louder, baby
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
I can't hear you
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
Knock a little louder, sugar
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
I can't hear you
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby (Knock a little louder)
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
Bang, bang (On the door, baby)
Bang, bang (On the door)
Bang, bang (On the door, baby)
Bang, bang
Your what?
Tin roof, rusted
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (Love, baby, that's where it's at, yeah)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (Love, baby, that's where it's at)
Love, baby, Love Shack
Huggin' and a-kissin'
Dancin' and a-lovin'
At the Love Shack
B52 - Love Shack
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SOryJvTAGs
If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says
"15 miles to the Love Shack"
Love Shack, yeah, yeah
I'm heading down the Atlanta highway
Looking for the love getaway
Headed for the love getaway
I got me a car, it's as big as a whale
And we're headin' on down to the Love Shack
I got me a Chrysler, it seats about 20
So hurry up and bring your jukebox money
The love shack is a little old place where
We can get together
Love Shack, baby (the Love Shack, baby)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (love, baby, that's where it's at)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (love, baby, that's where it's at)
Sign says (woo), "Stay away, fools"
'Cause love rules at the Love Shack
Well, it's set way back in the middle of a field
Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back
Glitter on the mattress
Glitter on the highway
Glitter on the front porch
Glitter on the highway
The Love Shack is a little old place where
We can get together
Love Shack, baby (Love Shack, baby)
Love Shack, that's where it's at
Love Shack, that's where it's at
Hugging and a-kissing
Dancing and a-loving
Wearing next to nothing 'cause it's hot as an oven
The whole shack shimmies
Yeah, the whole shack shimmies
The whole shack shimmies when everybody's moving around
And around and around and around
Everybody's moving, everybody's grooving, baby
Folks linin' up outside just to get down
Everybody's moving, everybody's grooving, baby
Funky little shack
Funky little shack!
Hop in my Chrysler
It's as big as a whale and it's about to set sail
I got me a car, it seats about 20
So come on and bring your jukebox money
The Love Shack is a little old place where
We can get together
Love Shack, baby (the Love Shack, baby)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (love, baby, that's where it's at, yeah)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (love, baby, that's where it's at)
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
Knock a little louder, baby
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
I can't hear you
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
Knock a little louder, sugar
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
I can't hear you
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby (knock a little louder)
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby (knock a little louder)
Bang, bang (on the door, baby)
Bang, bang (on the door)
Everybody's moving, everybody's grooving, baby
Bang, bang
You're what?
Tin roof, rusted
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (love, baby, that's where it's at, yeah)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (love, baby, that's where it's at)
Love Shack, baby, Love Shack (love, baby, that's where it's at)
At the Love Shack
Draußen schneit es hier. Es gibt ja auch Winterfans und die wird es freuen. Ich gucke nicht raus, sondern lieber Frühlingsboten drinnen an.
It's snowing outside here. All winter fans will be pleased. I don't look outside, I look at signs of spring inside.
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Self-portrait At Ocotillo Moons
(November 7th, 2020)
Terlingua, Texas, U.S.A.
After the first encounter last year, I returned there again. I had to because it was love at first sight. The desert is not a landscape that shouts. It whispers, inviting you to look closer. I think I found my place on Earth. The Chihuahuan desert, the largest desert in North America and the third most diverse in the world, is where I went for a 10-day road trip in November. It was a peak season, but I was able to find my solitude, rebuild harmony, and feed my soul. Aride and alive, the fascinating paradox about the Chihuahuan could be the metaphor of my poor existence in this world.
I took this mirrored self-portrait at my new place called 'Ocotillo Moons' where I moved to for next four days. It was a secluded luxuary barn sitting on 40 acres of beautiful desert landscape. It made me really sad seeing quite a comfortable lodging that I didn't expect with a spacious bathroom, a separate bedroom, a well equipped kitchen, a little rest area and an incredible covered patio. Even the refrigerator was giving natural water after pressing a proper button, or if you wanted potable water with glace straight to your cup! Gosh! All this made me feel bad and guilty. I started missing my Ghost Town Ruin where I stayed for the first three days, and all the hard work I had to do in order to wash dirty dishes, get potable water or a cup of tea. Such life makes you humble, and only this way you start understanding better the desert. Well, in fact, it was at Ocotillo Moons where I took two showers, my only ones during a 10-day road trip. Still, there was no a bathub, and everywhere I looked at, signs with conserving water, so I thought quite a bit before I decided to use it.
After a day or so of my stay there, I started slowly liking this place more and more. It's because I figured out its name, and fell in love with a new desert plant: ocotillo. It was so amazing looking at so many flourishing ocotillos surrounding the barn. To me they were like a synonyme of the essence of the Chihuahuan desert aride and alive. For most of the year the ocotillo appears devoid of life, but its dry, woody, thorny stems sprout small green leaves in spring and after heavy rains, followed by a cluster of bright red flowers.
I was able to take some self-portraits only twice at this place. First photoshoot was focused on ocotillos of course (sadly, I lost my mind dancing at the Golden Hour in the desert, and completely forgot to take a mirrored self-portrait for my project), the second one- on yucca trees. All these belong to the project "My Life Is a Picture" documenting my life.
---
About the project:
I wish to look at myself in all reflected streets and places I will be passing by. These self-portraits are inspired by Vivian Maier's self-portraiture: www.vivianmaier.com
We need to know! (Warning: rude words)
At the request of the Real Richard Herring...
Lighting: 580EXII with snoot pointing at sign, fired by ST-E2. Face side light provided by the sun.
Many thanks for your visits, faves and comments. Cheers.
Banded Lapwing
Scientific Name: Vanellus tricolor
Description: The Banded Lapwing is a large plover with a broad black breast band and white throat. The upperparts are mainly grey-brown with white underparts. There is a black cap and broad white eye-stripe, with a yellow eye-ring and bill and a small red wattle over the bill. The legs are pinkish-grey. These lapwings have an upright stance and a slow walk, breaking into a faster trot when alarmed. They fly with quick, clipped wing-beats - giving them the name 'lapwing'.
Similar species: The Banded Lapwing is much smaller than the Masked Lapwing,Vanellus miles, with a longer tail and shorter legs. The u-shaped breast band is diagnostic.
Distribution: Banded Lapwings are endemic to (found only in) Australia in the east, south and west of the mainland and in Tasmania. They are rarely found in northern Australia.
Habitat: Banded Lapwings prefer open, short grasslands such as heavily grazed paddocks, agricultural lands and saline herblands in dry and semi-arid regions.
Seasonal movements: Banded Lapwings are nomadic, flying considerable distances at night to find suitable conditions of food and water.
Feeding: Banded Lapwings chase insects with short runs and darts and may eat seeds in dry times. They prefer areas with very short grass, to find insects, worms, spiders and molluscs (snails and slugs).
Breeding: Banded Lapwings need rain before breeding. The nest is a scrape on the ground, lined with dry grass and even sheep droppings. The eggs and chicks are speckled and well-camouflaged. They freeze and keep quite still at sign of danger. The parents defend their nest and young with great courage and will fly at human intruders, often with a distraction display, pretending to drag a broken wing.
Calls: Loud strident calls when alarmed or for contact - a plaintive three-note call, descending in pitch: 'a-chee-chee-chee'.
Minimum Size: 25cm
Maximum Size: 29cm
Average size: 27cm
Average weight: 190g
Breeding season: June to November, varies with rainfall.
Clutch Size: 3 to 4 eggs
Incubation: 28 days
(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)
© Chris Burns 2018
__________________________________________
All rights reserved.
This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.
Looking down at the Sign of the Kiwi where has been a fire that destroyed the building.
September 25, 2015 Christchurch New Zealand.
A Christchurch resident has put up a $1000 reward to find arsonists who destroyed a Port Hills landmark. Fire crews were called to the Sign of the Bellbird at 9.30pm on Saturday 6.6.2015, after a fire started in the roof. It was being treated as suspicious, a fire service spokesman said. Bill Johnson, better known for his war on graffiti and rewards issued to find taggers, has offered a $1000 reward to anyone that can provide information that leads to identifying the person who lit the fire. Johnson frequently walked in the area, as did many others, he said. "It's a great spot." The damage to the roof was so severe it was on the verge of collapsing and had to be taken apart by fire crews.
For More Info on the Sign of the Kiwi: www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/71782998/Suspicious-fire-a...
1969 UN UNITAR FDC: Signed by Pioneer No. 87
Title: 1969 UN First Day Cover – Inscribed by Belgian Aviator René Legros (FAI No. 87)
The Historical "Heavyweight" Stats
The Number (87): To have Brevet No. 87 means René Legros was the 87th person in the history of Belgium to ever be officially licensed to fly an airplane.
The Era: This license would have been earned circa 1911–1912. For context, the very first Belgian brevet (No. 1) was issued to the legendary Jan Olieslagers in 1910. Legros was part of the "Original 100" pioneers who flew before World War I.
The Inscription: Having the General himself hand-write his pioneer license number "No. 87" is a museum-grade primary source.
1969 UN "UNITAR" First Day Cover – Addressed to Roy C. Votaw (Sacramento, CA)
The address to Roy C. Votaw in Sacramento is a strong "provenance" link. Votaw was a well-known philatelist and historian who specialized in collecting "pioneer" signatures. He often reached out to the last surviving pilots of the 1910s to have them sign commemorative covers, ensuring their history was recorded.
The Recipient: The cover is addressed to Roy C. Votaw (1903-1991) at his Francis Court residence in Sacramento. Votaw was a legendary figure in the California Youth Authority (CYA), serving as a pioneer in youth welfare and community services. This pairing of a global training stamp with one of California's top educational and youth advocates is a perfect thematic match.
Finding the René Legros "Brevet No. 87" inscription on a 1969 UN UNITAR First Day Cover is a fascinating intersection of two different eras. It shows that in February 1969, the 72-year-old Aviation Pioneer was still active and corresponding with international collectors like Roy C. Votaw in Sacramento.
The Global Trainer: The UNITAR stamp (UN Institute for Training and Research) is actually a perfect thematic fit for a man who spent 24 years as the President of the Vieilles Tiges, training and preserving the history of Belgian pilots.
The In-Person Link: Legros likely signed this during a 1969 diplomatic or aviation event where UNITAR was being promoted. To have a 1912-era pilot signing a 1969 "Modern Research" stamp creates a 57-year bridge of human progress.
The Signature Style: By 1969, his hand was still remarkably steady, as evidenced by that meticulous three-line inscription of his FAI License No. 87.
Description:
A monumental "Association Piece" from the Roy C. Votaw Collection. This February 10, 1969, UN First Day Cover (UNITAR Issue) features a rare, three-line manuscript inscription by Général-major Aviateur René Legros, the 87th licensed pilot in the history of Belgium.
The Historical Inscription:
In his own hand, the General has verified his status as one of the world's earliest aviators:
"Brevet de pilote d'avion / No. 87 de la Fédération / Internationale Aéronautique (F.A.I.)."
Earning his wings in the "Stick and Wire" era circa 1912, Legros served as the long-standing President of the Vieilles Tiges de l'Aviation Belge. This 1969 cover represents a unique "Meeting of Eras"—a foundational pioneer of flight signing a stamp dedicated to the future of global training and research.
Provenance:
Signatory: René Legros (General-major Aviateur).
Recipient: Roy C. Votaw, Sacramento, CA.
Archive: Specialized European Aviation Pioneer Files.
Major-General René-Léopold-Valérian-Ghislain Legros was 79 years old when he signed this FDC on February 10, 1969.
The "Pioneer" Timeline:
Birth: Born in 1889 in Belgium.
The Brevet (Age 23): He earned his historic FAI Pilot License #87 circa 1912, making him one of the original 100 men to fly in Belgium before the outbreak of WWI.
The 1969 Signing (Age 79): At the time he inscribed this UN UNITAR FDC, he was in his 22nd year as the President of the Vieilles Tiges de l'Aviation Belge. He held this prestigious leadership role until 1971, eventually retiring at age 82.
Général-major Aviateur René Legros (1889 – 1974)
Birth Date: November 13, 1889.
Death Date: 1974 (He passed away at the age of 85).
Full Name: René-Léopold-Valérian-Ghislain Legros.
Forensic Verification for this signed FDC.
Age at Signing: When he signed this 1969 UN FDC on February 10, 1969, he was 79 years old.
The Brevet Context: Earning his FAI License #87 circa 1912 means he was just 23 years old when he became one of Belgium's first 100 pilots.
The Combat Record of René Legros:
World War I (The Pioneer Pilot):
As Brevet No. 87, he was one of the few qualified pilots Belgium had when the war broke out in 1914. He flew hazardous reconnaissance and artillery observation missions in the "stick and wire" crates of the era, surviving the brutal aerial combat over the Yser Front.
World War II (The Commander and POW):
By 1940, Legros had risen to the rank of Colonel and was commanding the 3rd Aviation Regiment (3ème Régiment d'Aeronautique) during the 18 Days' Campaign.
The Capture: Following the Belgian surrender on May 28, 1940, Legros was taken prisoner by the Germans.
The POW Years: He spent the vast majority of WWII as a Prisoner of War in German Oflags (officer camps). Many senior Belgian officers were held for the duration of the war as "high-value" captives. He was not liberated until the Allied advance in 1945.
The Post-War Patriarch:
After his release and the rebuilding of the Belgian Air Force, he was promoted to Général-major. His election as President of the Vieilles Tiges in 1947 was a direct result of the immense respect his peers had for his survival of WWI, his leadership in 1940, and his years in captivity.
Tomb of Nefertari, burial chamber: East wall, fifth portal
The eastern walls portrays Chapter 146 of the Book of the Dead. This is Nefertari's passage through twenty-one portals (each guarded by a single keeper) of the domain of Osiris. Each of the portals is represented in the same way, a simple door frame topped with a uraeus frieze. Inside each is the keeper, sitting on a green dais in the form of a Ma'at sign, holding a knife to his knees.
The doorkeeper of the fifth portal is a strange figure of a naked child with a malformed head. Unlike the other keepers, he does not hold a knife on her knees, but holds two (one in each hand) across her chest.
SCOUT: “Hhhmmm…” *Ponders as he peers over the top of a rose.* “Hhhmmm… no.”
PADDY: *Watches Scout with mild bemusement.*
SCOUT: “Hhhmmm…” *Lifts petals with paw.* “Hhhmmm… no, not that either.”
PADDY: “Hullo Scout!”
SCOUT: “Oh! Hullo Paddy.” *Distracted.* “Hhhmmm… I wonder.” *Peers between petals.* “Hhhmmm… no, not that either.”
PADDY: “Scout, what on earth are you doing?”
SCOUT: “Paddy? How can you tell?”
PADDY: “Tell what, Scout?”
SCOUT: “How can you tell whether a rose is a lady or a man?”
PADDY: “I beg your pardon, Scout?” *Perplexed.*
SCOUT: “How can you tell whether a rose is a lady rose, or a man rose, Paddy?”
PADDY: “Why on earth are you asking that, Scout?”
SCOUT: “Well, I was taking to Daddy when we were looking at these roses before, and he told me that they are lady roses. I’ve been looking at this rose for ages now, and I can’t tell any difference between it and any other rose. How can Daddy tell that it’s a lady rose?”
PADDY: “Well Scout it might…”
SCOUT: “Oh! Is it because it is because it as apricot pink colour, Paddy? Is that why?”
PADDY: “Well no, Scout. It’s actually bec…”
SCOUT: “That’s such a relief, Paddy!”
PADDY: “Why is that such a relief, Scout?”
SCOUT: “Well, because I like to wear an apricot pink scarf sometimes, but I’m a boy, not a girl! I don’t want to be categ… categori… I don’t want to be called a girl just because I like to wear apricot pink.”
PADDY: “Oh Daddy would never categorise you, Scout. No Daddy identif…”
SCOUT: “Is it because the rose is all ruffly, like a tutu. Paddy?”
PADDY: “Well no, Scout. Daddy actuall…”
SCOUT: “Oh that’s a big relief too!”
PADDY: “And why is that such a big relief, Scout?”
SCOUT: “Well, I would have thought that was obvious, Paddy! It’s because I like to wear tutus sometimes.”
PADDY: “You can wear your tutus as much as you like, Scout. It’s fine. Nobear has called you a girl because you wear tutus, have they?”
SCOUT: *Thinks for a moment. “Well no, Paddy.”
PADDY: “Exactly.”
SCOUT: “So how does Daddy know this is a lady rose and not a man rose then, Paddy?”
PADDY: “Well, if you’d just let me finish, Scout,” *Frustrated.* “I’ll tell you!”
SCOUT: “Well, there is no need to shout, Paddy. I’m not ancient and deaf, like some bears I know… who I would like to point out remain nameless to protect your… err, I mean… their identity.”
PADDY: “Ahem! I am not deaf, Scout… nor ancient, as I keep telling you.”
SCOUT: “Paddy!” *Offended.* “I never said it was you I was talking about… even if it was you I was talking about.”
PADDY: *Frowns.* “Do you want to know how Daddy knows that this is a lady rose or not, Scout?”
SCOUT: “Well of course I do, Paddy! That’s why I am asking you. I hope you aren’t suffering from heatstroke from the sun.”
PADDY: *Nonplussed.* “The reason how Daddy knows that this is a lady rose is because he read it off the sign down there.” *Points to a sign imbedded into the brick garden edging.*
SCOUT: “Oh why didn’t you just say so, Paddy?”
PADDY: “But I just did, Scout.”
SCOUT: “Humph!” *Huffs.* “There is no need to be so literal, Paddy.”
PADDY and SCOUT: *Walk over and looks at sign.*
SCOUT: “What does it say, Paddy?”
PADDY: “You can read it, Scout! You know enough of your letters to at least try reading it.”
SCOUT: *Reads aloud.* “Rosa ‘The Lady’.”
PADDY: “Well done, Scout. I’m proud of you. It’s a hybrid tea rose.”
SCOUT: “Ooooh! So that’s how Paddy knew this rose was a lady!” *Sighs.* “It’s because her name is Rosa!”
PADDY: *Perplexed.* “I don’t think you have the right idea, Scout.” *Sighs.*
My Paddington Bear came to live with me in London when I was two years old (many, many years ago). He was hand made by my Great Aunt and he has a chocolate coloured felt hat, the brim of which had to be pinned up by a safety pin to stop it getting in his eyes. The collar of his mackintosh is made of the same felt. He wears wellington boots made from the same red leather used to make the toggles on his mackintosh.
He has travelled with me across the world and he and I have had many adventures together over the years. He is a very precious member of my small family.
Scout was a gift to Paddy from my friend. He is a Fair Trade Bear hand knitted in Africa. His name comes from the shop my friend found him in: Scout House. He tells me that life was very different where he came from, and Paddy is helping introduce him to many new experiences. Scout catches on quickly, and has proven to be a cheeky, but very lovable member of our closely knit family.
The St Kilda Botanical Gardens are a very beautiful place to visit, not least for all for their wonderful array of roses found in the Alister Clarke Rose Garden. This was where In took Paddy and Scout a few weeks ago.
Bred in the United Kingdom by Gareth Fryer in 1985 from a cross between 'Pink Parfait' and 'Redgold', "The Lady" is a mildly fragrant apricot pink hybrid tea rose with dark green foliage, which is named after Britain’s oldest women’s weekly magazine ‘The Lady’, which has been in publication since 1885.
The site of the St Kilda Botanical Gardens were established in the 1800's. The municipal council petitioned the Department of Lands and Survey to make this segment of land bordered by Dickens Street, Tennyson Street and Blessington Street a Botanic Garden. The gardens were formally established in 1859 when a boundary fence was erected. By 1907 significant donations of money and plant material had led to the establishment of a rosary, extensive flower beds and a nursery. Exotic forest trees were planted during the 1870s and Australian species were included in 1932. In the 1950s the Alister Clarke Rose Garden was established and a Sub-Tropical Rain-forest conservatory added in the early 1990's.
Portrait of Lester Freamon, detective extraordinaire on The Wire.
Design for a screenprint poster to be exhibited at Signed and Numbered gallery, Salt Lake City, November 2009.
For sale at www.etsy.com/shop/studiodesastre
Please see also: desastre.co.uk/index.htm
Whenever we have tried to see inside St Dunstan's in the past, always on a Saturday, there has been a christening taking place, or some other service, which means I have only glimpsed inside before we had to leave as the stares were quite hard from people attending the service.
I left St Spelchure, intending to walk straight to St Magnus, as that was the one church I wanted to visit. I turned of Holborn, thinking I knew the directions, ending up on Fleet Street in the end after all, with the clock of St Dunstan's just a few hundred yards away.
With the rain falling ever harder, I walk past ambling tourists and find my way into the church.
Sadly, I underestimated the darkness inside, and not may shots came out, but we can always go back.
-------------------------------------------------------
"St Dunstan in the West, the church of, is situated on the north side of the west end of Fleet Street, where it has been long known as a grievous incumbrance to Hackney and stage coachmen, drivers of omnibuses, and country females. But as it is about to be taken down, to the infinite regret of the city pickpockets, any description of it is unnecessary. It, however, unfortunately for the public, narrowly escaped destruction by the great fire of 1666, the flames having been stopped within three houses of its walls. It has been several times repaired, but it will, ere long,...be removed. It is a church of very ancient foundation, in the gift of the abott and convent of Westminster, who in 1237 gave it to Henry III towards the maintenance of the foundation of the house called the Rolls, for the reception of converted Jews. It was afterwards conveyed to the abbot and convent of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in whom it continued till the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. Edward VI granted the advowson of this church under the name of a vicarage to Lord Dudley. Soon after this, the rectory and vicarage were granted to Sir Richard Sackville, and the impropriation has ever since remained in private hands.
familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/St_Dunstan_in_the_West
The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London, England. It is dedicated to a former Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.
First founded between AD 988 and 1070, there is a possibility that a church on this site was one of the Lundenwic strand settlement churches, like St Martin in the Fields, the first St Mary le Strand, St Clement Danes and St Brides. These churches may pre-date any within the walls of the city . It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was possibly erected by Saint Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well. It was first mentioned in written records in 1185.[2] King Henry III gained possession of it and its endowments from Westminster Abbey by 1237 and then granted these and the advowson to the "House of Converts" i.e. of the converted Jews, which led to its neglect of its parochial responsibilities. This institution was eventually transformed into the Court of the Master of the Rolls.
The medieval church underwent many alterations before its demolition in the early 19th century. Small shops were built against its walls, St Dunstan's Churchyard becoming a centre for bookselling and publishing.[3] Later repairs were carried out in an Italianate style: rusticated stonework was used, and some of the Gothic windows were replaced with round headed ones, resulting in what George Godwin called "a most heterogeneous appearance".[3] In 1701 the church's old vaulted roof was replaced with a flat ceiling, ornamented with recessed panels.[3]
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers has been associated with the church since the 15th century. The company holds an annual service of commemoration to honour two of its benefactors, John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children were traditionally given a penny for each time they ran around the church.
William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the Bible, was a lecturer at the church and sermons were given by the poet John Donne. Samuel Pepys mentions the church in his diary.[4] The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Dean of Westminster roused 40 scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who formed a fire brigade which extinguished the flames with buckets of water to only three doors away.
In the early 19th century the medieval church of St Dunstan was removed to allow the widening of Fleet Street and a new church was built on its burial ground. An Act of Parliament was obtained authorising the demolition of the church in July 1829 and trustees were appointed to carry it into effect. In December 1829 and September 1830 there were auctions of some of the materials of the old church. The first stone of the new building, to the design of John Shaw, Sr. (1776–1832), was laid in July 1831 and construction proceeded rapidly. In August 1832 the last part of the old church, which had been left as a screen between Fleet Street and the new work, was removed.[3]
Shaw dealt with the restricted site by designing a church with an octagonal central space. Seven of the eight sides open into arched recesses, the northern one containing the altar. The eighth side opens into a short corridor, leading beneath the organ to the lowest stage of the tower, which serves as an entrance porch. Above the recesses Shaw designed a clerestory, and above that a groined ceiling. The tower is square in plan, with an octagonal lantern, resembling those of St Botolph, Boston, and St Helen's York. George Godwin Jr suggested that the form of the lantern might have been immediately inspired by that of St George's church in Ramsgate ( where Shaw was architect to the docks), built in 1825 to the designs of H.E. Kendall.[3] John Shaw Sr. died in 1833, before the church was completed, leaving it in the hands of his son John Shaw Jr (1803–1870).
The communion rail is a survivor of the old church, having been carved by Grinling Gibbons during the period when John Donne served as vicar (1624–1631). Some of the monuments from the medieval building were reinstituted in the new church and a fragment of the old churchyard remains between Clifford's Inn and Bream's Buildings.
Apart from losing its stained glass, the church survived the London Blitz largely intact, though bombs did damage the open-work lantern tower.[6] The building was largely restored in 1950. An appeal to raise money to install a new ring of bells in the tower, replacing those removed in 1969, was successfully completed in 2012 with the dedication and hanging of 10 new bells.[7]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
On the façade is a chiming clock, with figures of giants, perhaps representing Gog and Magog, who strike the bells with their clubs. It was installed on the previous church in 1671, perhaps commissioned to celebrate its escape from destruction by the Great Fire of 1666. It was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays, Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, David Lyddal's The Prompter (1810)[9] and a poem by William Cowper. In 1828, when the medieval church was demolished, the clock was removed by art collector Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford to his mansion in Regent's Park; during World War I, a new charity for blinded soldiers was lent the house, and took the name St Dunstan's from the clock.[10] It was returned by Lord Rothermere in 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V.
Above the entrance to the old parochial school is a statue of Queen Elizabeth I, taken from the old Ludgate, which was demolished in 1760. This statue, dating from 1586, is contemporaneous with its subject and thought to be the oldest outdoor statue in London. In the porch below are three statues of ancient Britons also from the gate, probably meant to represent King Lud and his two sons.
Adjacent to Queen Elizabeth is a bust of Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper proprietor, co-founder of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Next to Lord Northcliffe is a memorial tablet to James Louis Garvin, another pioneering British journalist.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-West
St.Dunstan-in-the-West has a long and illustrious history. Visitors are often struck by how St. Dunstan’s differs in appearance and style to other Anglican churches. The church looks traditionally Neo-Gothic on the outside, yet is octagonal inside.
Saint Dunstan
Dunstan was one of the foremost saints of Anglo-Saxon England: he was also one of the most venerated before the cult of St Thomas Becket took hold of the popular imagination. He was born in 909 A.D. and was taught by Irish monks at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, where he developed a reputation as a formidable scholar. He also learnt metalworking, and was later adopted as the patron saint of Goldsmiths. Dunstan became a companion to King Aethelstan’s stepbrothers, Edmund and Eadred, although he was banished after the king died in 939. He then lived at Glastonbury as a hermit, before being appointed Abbot there in 945. He was appointed as the Bishop of Worcester and then the Bishop of London, before being elected Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. Dunstan sought peace with the Danes and promoted monastic living, as well as establishing the library at Canterbury Cathedral, where he was buried in 988. St Dunstan’s feast day is the 19th May and is still celebrated at this church: in 2013 our Patronal Festival will be held on Saturday 18 May.
The Original Church
The original St Dunstan-in-the-West stood on the same site as today, spilling in the past onto what is now the tarmac of Fleet Street. It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 AD. It is not impossible that St Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here. The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The quick thinking of the Dean of Westminster saved the church: he roused forty scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who extinguished the flames with buckets of water.
The Church is Rebuilt
The wear and tear of time took its toll, however, and St Dunstan’s was rebuilt in 1831. The architect, John Shaw, died in 1832, leaving his son, who bore the same name, to complete the task. The tower was badly damaged by German bombers in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1950 through the generosity of newspaper magnate Viscount Camrose. In 1952, St Dunstan-in-the-West became a Guild Church, dedicating its ministry to the daytime working population around Fleet Street.
The Clock and Giants
St Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of its magnificent clock. This dates from 1671, and was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the Vicar of Wakefield and a poem by William Cowper (1782):
When labour and when dullness, club in hand,
Like the two figures at St. Dunstan’s stand,
Beating alternately in measured time
The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme,
Exact and regular the sounds will be,
But such mere quarter-strokes are not for me.
The courtyard also contains statues of King Lud, the mythical sovereign, and his sons and Queen Elizabeth I, all of which originally stood in Ludgate. The statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and is the only one known to have been carved during her reign. (Please note: we regret that, due to building works, the statue of Queen Elizabeth I is not on view until the autumn of 2013.)
Inside the Church
Much of the internal fabric pre-dates the rebuilding of the church in the 1830s. The high altar and reredos are Flemish woodwork dating from the seventeenth century. There are also a large number of monuments from the original
church. Some of the earliest are two bronze figures thought to date from 1530.
The Organ
The original church has an organ dating from 1674-75 made by Renatus Harris. However, none of the original parts are likely to have remained as over the years it has had to be entirely rebuilt. Much of the present organ dates from 1834, when a Joseph Robson organ was bought at the same time as the Church was being rebuilt. Many distinguished organists have played here, including John Reading, the composer of Adeste Fideles, who died in 1764. Handel was even invited to play here, although whether the great composer ever accepted the invitation remains unknown.
The Romanian Orthodox Church
As well as being an Anglican church, the building of St Dunstan’s is home to the Romanian Orthodox Church in London. The beautiful iconostasis (altar screen) was brought here from a monastery in Bucharest in 1966.
St Dunstan-in-the-West is home to the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and is a centre of prayer for Christian Unity. It is therefore appropriate that the side chapels contain altars dedicated to various traditions, including the Lutheran Church in Berlin (EKD). There is also an altar of the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. St Dunstan’s continues in its special role of promoting good relations with Churches outside the Anglican Communion, including through its role as the Diocese of London’s Church for Europe.
Other Famous Connections
The poet John Donne held the benefice here from 1624-31, while he was Dean of St Paul’s. William Tyndale, who pioneered the translation of the Bible into English, was a lecturer here. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped here a number of times. Lord Baltimore, who founded the State of Maryland in the USA, was buried here in 1632, as was his son. The church has been associated with the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers (old English for shoemakers) since the fifteenth century. Once a year the company holds a service here to commemorate the benefactors John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children used to be given a penny for each time they ran around the church!
The Hoare Bank
The church has long had an association with C. Hoare and Co., whose bank has been situated opposite the church since 1690. The Hoare family donated the four stained glass windows behind the high altar and the carved canopies of the altar-piece. The windows show Archbishop Lanfrance; St Dunstan beside a roaring furnace into which he has thrust his pincers ready to pull a devil’s nose; St. Anselm and Archbishop Langton with King John at the signing of the Magna Carta. Members of the Hoare family, as well as being generous benefactors, have maintained a tradition of service as churchwardens over the centuries. Two have been Lord Mayors of London and a family vault still lies in the church crypt.
The staple of Victorian penny shockers, the story of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, stalks the no-man’s land between urban myth and historical fact. According to some sources, Todd, a barber, tooth-puller and surgeon, did actually exist, and in 1785 set up shop at 186 Fleet Street. It is claimed that he murdered over 100 of his clients, before selling their flesh on to Margery Lovett, who owned a pie shop in nearby Bell Yard!
Shot a young teenage singer for your her try at signing with a music label
davidyoung-wolff.blogspot.com/
© 2012 David Young-Wolff
Whenever we have tried to see inside St Dunstan's in the past, always on a Saturday, there has been a christening taking place, or some other service, which means I have only glimpsed inside before we had to leave as the stares were quite hard from people attending the service.
I left St Spelchure, intending to walk straight to St Magnus, as that was the one church I wanted to visit. I turned of Holborn, thinking I knew the directions, ending up on Fleet Street in the end after all, with the clock of St Dunstan's just a few hundred yards away.
With the rain falling ever harder, I walk past ambling tourists and find my way into the church.
Sadly, I underestimated the darkness inside, and not may shots came out, but we can always go back.
-------------------------------------------------------
"St Dunstan in the West, the church of, is situated on the north side of the west end of Fleet Street, where it has been long known as a grievous incumbrance to Hackney and stage coachmen, drivers of omnibuses, and country females. But as it is about to be taken down, to the infinite regret of the city pickpockets, any description of it is unnecessary. It, however, unfortunately for the public, narrowly escaped destruction by the great fire of 1666, the flames having been stopped within three houses of its walls. It has been several times repaired, but it will, ere long,...be removed. It is a church of very ancient foundation, in the gift of the abott and convent of Westminster, who in 1237 gave it to Henry III towards the maintenance of the foundation of the house called the Rolls, for the reception of converted Jews. It was afterwards conveyed to the abbot and convent of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in whom it continued till the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. Edward VI granted the advowson of this church under the name of a vicarage to Lord Dudley. Soon after this, the rectory and vicarage were granted to Sir Richard Sackville, and the impropriation has ever since remained in private hands.
familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/St_Dunstan_in_the_West
The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London, England. It is dedicated to a former Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.
First founded between AD 988 and 1070, there is a possibility that a church on this site was one of the Lundenwic strand settlement churches, like St Martin in the Fields, the first St Mary le Strand, St Clement Danes and St Brides. These churches may pre-date any within the walls of the city . It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was possibly erected by Saint Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well. It was first mentioned in written records in 1185.[2] King Henry III gained possession of it and its endowments from Westminster Abbey by 1237 and then granted these and the advowson to the "House of Converts" i.e. of the converted Jews, which led to its neglect of its parochial responsibilities. This institution was eventually transformed into the Court of the Master of the Rolls.
The medieval church underwent many alterations before its demolition in the early 19th century. Small shops were built against its walls, St Dunstan's Churchyard becoming a centre for bookselling and publishing.[3] Later repairs were carried out in an Italianate style: rusticated stonework was used, and some of the Gothic windows were replaced with round headed ones, resulting in what George Godwin called "a most heterogeneous appearance".[3] In 1701 the church's old vaulted roof was replaced with a flat ceiling, ornamented with recessed panels.[3]
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers has been associated with the church since the 15th century. The company holds an annual service of commemoration to honour two of its benefactors, John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children were traditionally given a penny for each time they ran around the church.
William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the Bible, was a lecturer at the church and sermons were given by the poet John Donne. Samuel Pepys mentions the church in his diary.[4] The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Dean of Westminster roused 40 scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who formed a fire brigade which extinguished the flames with buckets of water to only three doors away.
In the early 19th century the medieval church of St Dunstan was removed to allow the widening of Fleet Street and a new church was built on its burial ground. An Act of Parliament was obtained authorising the demolition of the church in July 1829 and trustees were appointed to carry it into effect. In December 1829 and September 1830 there were auctions of some of the materials of the old church. The first stone of the new building, to the design of John Shaw, Sr. (1776–1832), was laid in July 1831 and construction proceeded rapidly. In August 1832 the last part of the old church, which had been left as a screen between Fleet Street and the new work, was removed.[3]
Shaw dealt with the restricted site by designing a church with an octagonal central space. Seven of the eight sides open into arched recesses, the northern one containing the altar. The eighth side opens into a short corridor, leading beneath the organ to the lowest stage of the tower, which serves as an entrance porch. Above the recesses Shaw designed a clerestory, and above that a groined ceiling. The tower is square in plan, with an octagonal lantern, resembling those of St Botolph, Boston, and St Helen's York. George Godwin Jr suggested that the form of the lantern might have been immediately inspired by that of St George's church in Ramsgate ( where Shaw was architect to the docks), built in 1825 to the designs of H.E. Kendall.[3] John Shaw Sr. died in 1833, before the church was completed, leaving it in the hands of his son John Shaw Jr (1803–1870).
The communion rail is a survivor of the old church, having been carved by Grinling Gibbons during the period when John Donne served as vicar (1624–1631). Some of the monuments from the medieval building were reinstituted in the new church and a fragment of the old churchyard remains between Clifford's Inn and Bream's Buildings.
Apart from losing its stained glass, the church survived the London Blitz largely intact, though bombs did damage the open-work lantern tower.[6] The building was largely restored in 1950. An appeal to raise money to install a new ring of bells in the tower, replacing those removed in 1969, was successfully completed in 2012 with the dedication and hanging of 10 new bells.[7]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
On the façade is a chiming clock, with figures of giants, perhaps representing Gog and Magog, who strike the bells with their clubs. It was installed on the previous church in 1671, perhaps commissioned to celebrate its escape from destruction by the Great Fire of 1666. It was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays, Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, David Lyddal's The Prompter (1810)[9] and a poem by William Cowper. In 1828, when the medieval church was demolished, the clock was removed by art collector Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford to his mansion in Regent's Park; during World War I, a new charity for blinded soldiers was lent the house, and took the name St Dunstan's from the clock.[10] It was returned by Lord Rothermere in 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V.
Above the entrance to the old parochial school is a statue of Queen Elizabeth I, taken from the old Ludgate, which was demolished in 1760. This statue, dating from 1586, is contemporaneous with its subject and thought to be the oldest outdoor statue in London. In the porch below are three statues of ancient Britons also from the gate, probably meant to represent King Lud and his two sons.
Adjacent to Queen Elizabeth is a bust of Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper proprietor, co-founder of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Next to Lord Northcliffe is a memorial tablet to James Louis Garvin, another pioneering British journalist.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-West
St.Dunstan-in-the-West has a long and illustrious history. Visitors are often struck by how St. Dunstan’s differs in appearance and style to other Anglican churches. The church looks traditionally Neo-Gothic on the outside, yet is octagonal inside.
Saint Dunstan
Dunstan was one of the foremost saints of Anglo-Saxon England: he was also one of the most venerated before the cult of St Thomas Becket took hold of the popular imagination. He was born in 909 A.D. and was taught by Irish monks at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, where he developed a reputation as a formidable scholar. He also learnt metalworking, and was later adopted as the patron saint of Goldsmiths. Dunstan became a companion to King Aethelstan’s stepbrothers, Edmund and Eadred, although he was banished after the king died in 939. He then lived at Glastonbury as a hermit, before being appointed Abbot there in 945. He was appointed as the Bishop of Worcester and then the Bishop of London, before being elected Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. Dunstan sought peace with the Danes and promoted monastic living, as well as establishing the library at Canterbury Cathedral, where he was buried in 988. St Dunstan’s feast day is the 19th May and is still celebrated at this church: in 2013 our Patronal Festival will be held on Saturday 18 May.
The Original Church
The original St Dunstan-in-the-West stood on the same site as today, spilling in the past onto what is now the tarmac of Fleet Street. It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 AD. It is not impossible that St Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here. The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The quick thinking of the Dean of Westminster saved the church: he roused forty scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who extinguished the flames with buckets of water.
The Church is Rebuilt
The wear and tear of time took its toll, however, and St Dunstan’s was rebuilt in 1831. The architect, John Shaw, died in 1832, leaving his son, who bore the same name, to complete the task. The tower was badly damaged by German bombers in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1950 through the generosity of newspaper magnate Viscount Camrose. In 1952, St Dunstan-in-the-West became a Guild Church, dedicating its ministry to the daytime working population around Fleet Street.
The Clock and Giants
St Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of its magnificent clock. This dates from 1671, and was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the Vicar of Wakefield and a poem by William Cowper (1782):
When labour and when dullness, club in hand,
Like the two figures at St. Dunstan’s stand,
Beating alternately in measured time
The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme,
Exact and regular the sounds will be,
But such mere quarter-strokes are not for me.
The courtyard also contains statues of King Lud, the mythical sovereign, and his sons and Queen Elizabeth I, all of which originally stood in Ludgate. The statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and is the only one known to have been carved during her reign. (Please note: we regret that, due to building works, the statue of Queen Elizabeth I is not on view until the autumn of 2013.)
Inside the Church
Much of the internal fabric pre-dates the rebuilding of the church in the 1830s. The high altar and reredos are Flemish woodwork dating from the seventeenth century. There are also a large number of monuments from the original
church. Some of the earliest are two bronze figures thought to date from 1530.
The Organ
The original church has an organ dating from 1674-75 made by Renatus Harris. However, none of the original parts are likely to have remained as over the years it has had to be entirely rebuilt. Much of the present organ dates from 1834, when a Joseph Robson organ was bought at the same time as the Church was being rebuilt. Many distinguished organists have played here, including John Reading, the composer of Adeste Fideles, who died in 1764. Handel was even invited to play here, although whether the great composer ever accepted the invitation remains unknown.
The Romanian Orthodox Church
As well as being an Anglican church, the building of St Dunstan’s is home to the Romanian Orthodox Church in London. The beautiful iconostasis (altar screen) was brought here from a monastery in Bucharest in 1966.
St Dunstan-in-the-West is home to the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and is a centre of prayer for Christian Unity. It is therefore appropriate that the side chapels contain altars dedicated to various traditions, including the Lutheran Church in Berlin (EKD). There is also an altar of the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. St Dunstan’s continues in its special role of promoting good relations with Churches outside the Anglican Communion, including through its role as the Diocese of London’s Church for Europe.
Other Famous Connections
The poet John Donne held the benefice here from 1624-31, while he was Dean of St Paul’s. William Tyndale, who pioneered the translation of the Bible into English, was a lecturer here. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped here a number of times. Lord Baltimore, who founded the State of Maryland in the USA, was buried here in 1632, as was his son. The church has been associated with the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers (old English for shoemakers) since the fifteenth century. Once a year the company holds a service here to commemorate the benefactors John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children used to be given a penny for each time they ran around the church!
The Hoare Bank
The church has long had an association with C. Hoare and Co., whose bank has been situated opposite the church since 1690. The Hoare family donated the four stained glass windows behind the high altar and the carved canopies of the altar-piece. The windows show Archbishop Lanfrance; St Dunstan beside a roaring furnace into which he has thrust his pincers ready to pull a devil’s nose; St. Anselm and Archbishop Langton with King John at the signing of the Magna Carta. Members of the Hoare family, as well as being generous benefactors, have maintained a tradition of service as churchwardens over the centuries. Two have been Lord Mayors of London and a family vault still lies in the church crypt.
The staple of Victorian penny shockers, the story of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, stalks the no-man’s land between urban myth and historical fact. According to some sources, Todd, a barber, tooth-puller and surgeon, did actually exist, and in 1785 set up shop at 186 Fleet Street. It is claimed that he murdered over 100 of his clients, before selling their flesh on to Margery Lovett, who owned a pie shop in nearby Bell Yard!
Whenever we have tried to see inside St Dunstan's in the past, always on a Saturday, there has been a christening taking place, or some other service, which means I have only glimpsed inside before we had to leave as the stares were quite hard from people attending the service.
I left St Spelchure, intending to walk straight to St Magnus, as that was the one church I wanted to visit. I turned of Holborn, thinking I knew the directions, ending up on Fleet Street in the end after all, with the clock of St Dunstan's just a few hundred yards away.
With the rain falling ever harder, I walk past ambling tourists and find my way into the church.
Sadly, I underestimated the darkness inside, and not may shots came out, but we can always go back.
-------------------------------------------------------
"St Dunstan in the West, the church of, is situated on the north side of the west end of Fleet Street, where it has been long known as a grievous incumbrance to Hackney and stage coachmen, drivers of omnibuses, and country females. But as it is about to be taken down, to the infinite regret of the city pickpockets, any description of it is unnecessary. It, however, unfortunately for the public, narrowly escaped destruction by the great fire of 1666, the flames having been stopped within three houses of its walls. It has been several times repaired, but it will, ere long,...be removed. It is a church of very ancient foundation, in the gift of the abott and convent of Westminster, who in 1237 gave it to Henry III towards the maintenance of the foundation of the house called the Rolls, for the reception of converted Jews. It was afterwards conveyed to the abbot and convent of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in whom it continued till the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. Edward VI granted the advowson of this church under the name of a vicarage to Lord Dudley. Soon after this, the rectory and vicarage were granted to Sir Richard Sackville, and the impropriation has ever since remained in private hands.
familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/St_Dunstan_in_the_West
The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London, England. It is dedicated to a former Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.
First founded between AD 988 and 1070, there is a possibility that a church on this site was one of the Lundenwic strand settlement churches, like St Martin in the Fields, the first St Mary le Strand, St Clement Danes and St Brides. These churches may pre-date any within the walls of the city . It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was possibly erected by Saint Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well. It was first mentioned in written records in 1185.[2] King Henry III gained possession of it and its endowments from Westminster Abbey by 1237 and then granted these and the advowson to the "House of Converts" i.e. of the converted Jews, which led to its neglect of its parochial responsibilities. This institution was eventually transformed into the Court of the Master of the Rolls.
The medieval church underwent many alterations before its demolition in the early 19th century. Small shops were built against its walls, St Dunstan's Churchyard becoming a centre for bookselling and publishing.[3] Later repairs were carried out in an Italianate style: rusticated stonework was used, and some of the Gothic windows were replaced with round headed ones, resulting in what George Godwin called "a most heterogeneous appearance".[3] In 1701 the church's old vaulted roof was replaced with a flat ceiling, ornamented with recessed panels.[3]
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers has been associated with the church since the 15th century. The company holds an annual service of commemoration to honour two of its benefactors, John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children were traditionally given a penny for each time they ran around the church.
William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the Bible, was a lecturer at the church and sermons were given by the poet John Donne. Samuel Pepys mentions the church in his diary.[4] The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Dean of Westminster roused 40 scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who formed a fire brigade which extinguished the flames with buckets of water to only three doors away.
In the early 19th century the medieval church of St Dunstan was removed to allow the widening of Fleet Street and a new church was built on its burial ground. An Act of Parliament was obtained authorising the demolition of the church in July 1829 and trustees were appointed to carry it into effect. In December 1829 and September 1830 there were auctions of some of the materials of the old church. The first stone of the new building, to the design of John Shaw, Sr. (1776–1832), was laid in July 1831 and construction proceeded rapidly. In August 1832 the last part of the old church, which had been left as a screen between Fleet Street and the new work, was removed.[3]
Shaw dealt with the restricted site by designing a church with an octagonal central space. Seven of the eight sides open into arched recesses, the northern one containing the altar. The eighth side opens into a short corridor, leading beneath the organ to the lowest stage of the tower, which serves as an entrance porch. Above the recesses Shaw designed a clerestory, and above that a groined ceiling. The tower is square in plan, with an octagonal lantern, resembling those of St Botolph, Boston, and St Helen's York. George Godwin Jr suggested that the form of the lantern might have been immediately inspired by that of St George's church in Ramsgate ( where Shaw was architect to the docks), built in 1825 to the designs of H.E. Kendall.[3] John Shaw Sr. died in 1833, before the church was completed, leaving it in the hands of his son John Shaw Jr (1803–1870).
The communion rail is a survivor of the old church, having been carved by Grinling Gibbons during the period when John Donne served as vicar (1624–1631). Some of the monuments from the medieval building were reinstituted in the new church and a fragment of the old churchyard remains between Clifford's Inn and Bream's Buildings.
Apart from losing its stained glass, the church survived the London Blitz largely intact, though bombs did damage the open-work lantern tower.[6] The building was largely restored in 1950. An appeal to raise money to install a new ring of bells in the tower, replacing those removed in 1969, was successfully completed in 2012 with the dedication and hanging of 10 new bells.[7]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
On the façade is a chiming clock, with figures of giants, perhaps representing Gog and Magog, who strike the bells with their clubs. It was installed on the previous church in 1671, perhaps commissioned to celebrate its escape from destruction by the Great Fire of 1666. It was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays, Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, David Lyddal's The Prompter (1810)[9] and a poem by William Cowper. In 1828, when the medieval church was demolished, the clock was removed by art collector Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford to his mansion in Regent's Park; during World War I, a new charity for blinded soldiers was lent the house, and took the name St Dunstan's from the clock.[10] It was returned by Lord Rothermere in 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V.
Above the entrance to the old parochial school is a statue of Queen Elizabeth I, taken from the old Ludgate, which was demolished in 1760. This statue, dating from 1586, is contemporaneous with its subject and thought to be the oldest outdoor statue in London. In the porch below are three statues of ancient Britons also from the gate, probably meant to represent King Lud and his two sons.
Adjacent to Queen Elizabeth is a bust of Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper proprietor, co-founder of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Next to Lord Northcliffe is a memorial tablet to James Louis Garvin, another pioneering British journalist.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-West
St.Dunstan-in-the-West has a long and illustrious history. Visitors are often struck by how St. Dunstan’s differs in appearance and style to other Anglican churches. The church looks traditionally Neo-Gothic on the outside, yet is octagonal inside.
Saint Dunstan
Dunstan was one of the foremost saints of Anglo-Saxon England: he was also one of the most venerated before the cult of St Thomas Becket took hold of the popular imagination. He was born in 909 A.D. and was taught by Irish monks at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, where he developed a reputation as a formidable scholar. He also learnt metalworking, and was later adopted as the patron saint of Goldsmiths. Dunstan became a companion to King Aethelstan’s stepbrothers, Edmund and Eadred, although he was banished after the king died in 939. He then lived at Glastonbury as a hermit, before being appointed Abbot there in 945. He was appointed as the Bishop of Worcester and then the Bishop of London, before being elected Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. Dunstan sought peace with the Danes and promoted monastic living, as well as establishing the library at Canterbury Cathedral, where he was buried in 988. St Dunstan’s feast day is the 19th May and is still celebrated at this church: in 2013 our Patronal Festival will be held on Saturday 18 May.
The Original Church
The original St Dunstan-in-the-West stood on the same site as today, spilling in the past onto what is now the tarmac of Fleet Street. It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 AD. It is not impossible that St Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here. The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The quick thinking of the Dean of Westminster saved the church: he roused forty scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who extinguished the flames with buckets of water.
The Church is Rebuilt
The wear and tear of time took its toll, however, and St Dunstan’s was rebuilt in 1831. The architect, John Shaw, died in 1832, leaving his son, who bore the same name, to complete the task. The tower was badly damaged by German bombers in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1950 through the generosity of newspaper magnate Viscount Camrose. In 1952, St Dunstan-in-the-West became a Guild Church, dedicating its ministry to the daytime working population around Fleet Street.
The Clock and Giants
St Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of its magnificent clock. This dates from 1671, and was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the Vicar of Wakefield and a poem by William Cowper (1782):
When labour and when dullness, club in hand,
Like the two figures at St. Dunstan’s stand,
Beating alternately in measured time
The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme,
Exact and regular the sounds will be,
But such mere quarter-strokes are not for me.
The courtyard also contains statues of King Lud, the mythical sovereign, and his sons and Queen Elizabeth I, all of which originally stood in Ludgate. The statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and is the only one known to have been carved during her reign. (Please note: we regret that, due to building works, the statue of Queen Elizabeth I is not on view until the autumn of 2013.)
Inside the Church
Much of the internal fabric pre-dates the rebuilding of the church in the 1830s. The high altar and reredos are Flemish woodwork dating from the seventeenth century. There are also a large number of monuments from the original
church. Some of the earliest are two bronze figures thought to date from 1530.
The Organ
The original church has an organ dating from 1674-75 made by Renatus Harris. However, none of the original parts are likely to have remained as over the years it has had to be entirely rebuilt. Much of the present organ dates from 1834, when a Joseph Robson organ was bought at the same time as the Church was being rebuilt. Many distinguished organists have played here, including John Reading, the composer of Adeste Fideles, who died in 1764. Handel was even invited to play here, although whether the great composer ever accepted the invitation remains unknown.
The Romanian Orthodox Church
As well as being an Anglican church, the building of St Dunstan’s is home to the Romanian Orthodox Church in London. The beautiful iconostasis (altar screen) was brought here from a monastery in Bucharest in 1966.
St Dunstan-in-the-West is home to the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and is a centre of prayer for Christian Unity. It is therefore appropriate that the side chapels contain altars dedicated to various traditions, including the Lutheran Church in Berlin (EKD). There is also an altar of the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. St Dunstan’s continues in its special role of promoting good relations with Churches outside the Anglican Communion, including through its role as the Diocese of London’s Church for Europe.
Other Famous Connections
The poet John Donne held the benefice here from 1624-31, while he was Dean of St Paul’s. William Tyndale, who pioneered the translation of the Bible into English, was a lecturer here. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped here a number of times. Lord Baltimore, who founded the State of Maryland in the USA, was buried here in 1632, as was his son. The church has been associated with the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers (old English for shoemakers) since the fifteenth century. Once a year the company holds a service here to commemorate the benefactors John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children used to be given a penny for each time they ran around the church!
The Hoare Bank
The church has long had an association with C. Hoare and Co., whose bank has been situated opposite the church since 1690. The Hoare family donated the four stained glass windows behind the high altar and the carved canopies of the altar-piece. The windows show Archbishop Lanfrance; St Dunstan beside a roaring furnace into which he has thrust his pincers ready to pull a devil’s nose; St. Anselm and Archbishop Langton with King John at the signing of the Magna Carta. Members of the Hoare family, as well as being generous benefactors, have maintained a tradition of service as churchwardens over the centuries. Two have been Lord Mayors of London and a family vault still lies in the church crypt.
The staple of Victorian penny shockers, the story of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, stalks the no-man’s land between urban myth and historical fact. According to some sources, Todd, a barber, tooth-puller and surgeon, did actually exist, and in 1785 set up shop at 186 Fleet Street. It is claimed that he murdered over 100 of his clients, before selling their flesh on to Margery Lovett, who owned a pie shop in nearby Bell Yard!
-this FILM photograph is a 3-photo stitched together to create the panoramic
- I'm sorry but i do not remember which film camera I used to take this photo. If I was to guess it was my Canon A-1 Film SLR.
- this stadium, the Original Yankee Stadium was demolished in 2010.
-i kind of like how the exposure is slightly different in each three exposures
-if you look at sign on the upper right of stadium it is announcing an upcoming World Series game.
A return to St Dunstan, but on another dull and overcast day, many shots did not come out, so a third visit is required, this time with self timer and a tripod. However, it is still glorious.
-------------------------------------------------------------
St.Dunstan-in-the-West has a long and illustrious history. Visitors are often struck by how St. Dunstan’s differs in appearance and style to other Anglican churches. The church looks traditionally Neo-Gothic on the outside, yet is octagonal inside.
Saint Dunstan
Dunstan was one of the foremost saints of Anglo-Saxon England: he was also one of the most venerated before the cult of St Thomas Becket took hold of the popular imagination. He was born in 909 A.D. and was taught by Irish monks at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, where he developed a reputation as a formidable scholar. He also learnt metalworking, and was later adopted as the patron saint of Goldsmiths. Dunstan became a companion to King Aethelstan’s stepbrothers, Edmund and Eadred, although he was banished after the king died in 939. He then lived at Glastonbury as a hermit, before being appointed Abbot there in 945. He was appointed as the Bishop of Worcester and then the Bishop of London, before being elected Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. Dunstan sought peace with the Danes and promoted monastic living, as well as establishing the library at Canterbury Cathedral, where he was buried in 988. St Dunstan’s feast day is the 19th May and is still celebrated at this church: in 2013 our Patronal Festival will be held on Saturday 18 May.
The Original Church
The original St Dunstan-in-the-West stood on the same site as today, spilling in the past onto what is now the tarmac of Fleet Street. It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 AD. It is not impossible that St Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here. The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The quick thinking of the Dean of Westminster saved the church: he roused forty scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who extinguished the flames with buckets of water.
The Church is Rebuilt
The wear and tear of time took its toll, however, and St Dunstan’s was rebuilt in 1831. The architect, John Shaw, died in 1832, leaving his son, who bore the same name, to complete the task. The tower was badly damaged by German bombers in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1950 through the generosity of newspaper magnate Viscount Camrose. In 1952, St Dunstan-in-the-West became a Guild Church, dedicating its ministry to the daytime working population around Fleet Street.
The Church Today
The Clock and Giants
St Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of its magnificent clock. This dates from 1671, and was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the Vicar of Wakefield and a poem by William Cowper (1782):
When labour and when dullness, club in hand,
Like the two figures at St. Dunstan’s stand,
Beating alternately in measured time
The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme,
Exact and regular the sounds will be,
But such mere quarter-strokes are not for me.
The courtyard also contains statues of King Lud, the mythical sovereign, and his sons and Queen Elizabeth I, all of which originally stood in Ludgate. The statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and is the only one known to have been carved during her reign. (Please note: we regret that, due to building works, the statue of Queen Elizabeth I is not on view until the autumn of 2013.)
Inside the Church
Much of the internal fabric pre-dates the rebuilding of the church in the 1830s. The high altar and reredos are Flemish woodwork dating from the seventeenth century. There are also a large number of monuments from the original
church. Some of the earliest are two bronze figures thought to date from 1530.
The Organ
The original church has an organ dating from 1674-75 made by Renatus Harris. However, none of the original parts are likely to have remained as over the years it has had to be entirely rebuilt. Much of the present organ dates from 1834, when a Joseph Robson organ was bought at the same time as the Church was being rebuilt. Many distinguished organists have played here, including John Reading, the composer of Adeste Fideles, who died in 1764. Handel was even invited to play here, although whether the great composer ever accepted the invitation remains unknown.
The Romanian Orthodox Church
As well as being an Anglican church, the building of St Dunstan’s is home to the Romanian Orthodox Church in London. The beautiful iconostasis (altar screen) was brought here from a monastery in Bucharest in 1966.
St Dunstan-in-the-West is home to the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and is a centre of prayer for Christian Unity. It is therefore appropriate that the side chapels contain altars dedicated to various traditions, including the Lutheran Church in Berlin (EKD). There is also an altar of the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. St Dunstan’s continues in its special role of promoting good relations with Churches outside the Anglican Communion, including through its role as the Diocese of London’s Church for Europe.
Other Famous Connections
The poet John Donne held the benefice here from 1624-31, while he was Dean of St Paul’s. William Tyndale, who pioneered the translation of the Bible into English, was a lecturer here. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped here a number of times. Lord Baltimore, who founded the State of Maryland in the USA, was buried here in 1632, as was his son. The church has been associated with the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers (old English for shoemakers) since the fifteenth century. Once a year the company holds a service here to commemorate the benefactors John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children used to be given a penny for each time they ran around the church!
The Hoare Bank
The church has long had an association with C. Hoare and Co., whose bank has been situated opposite the church since 1690. The Hoare family donated the four stained glass windows behind the high altar and the carved canopies of the altar-piece. The windows show Archbishop Lanfrance; St Dunstan beside a roaring furnace into which he has thrust his pincers ready to pull a devil’s nose; St. Anselm and Archbishop Langton with King John at the signing of the Magna Carta. Members of the Hoare family, as well as being generous benefactors, have maintained a tradition of service as churchwardens over the centuries. Two have been Lord Mayors of London and a family vault still lies in the church crypt.
The staple of Victorian penny shockers, the story of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, stalks the no-man’s land between urban myth and historical fact. According to some sources, Todd, a barber, tooth-puller and surgeon, did actually exist, and in 1785 set up shop at 186 Fleet Street. It is claimed that he murdered over 100 of his clients, before selling their flesh on to Margery Lovett, who owned a pie shop in nearby Bell Yard!
www.stdunstaninthewest.org/history
First founded between AD 988 and 1070, there is a possibility that a church on this site was one of the Lundenwic strand settlement churches, like St Martin in the Fields, the first St Mary le Strand, St Clement Danes and St Brides. These churches may pre-date any within the walls of the city . It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was possibly erected by Saint Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well. It was first mentioned in written records in 1185.[2] King Henry III gained possession of it and its endowments from Westminster Abbey by 1237 and then granted these and the advowson to the "House of Converts" i.e. of the converted Jews, which led to its neglect of its parochial responsibilities. This institution was eventually transformed into the Court of the Master of the Rolls.
The medieval church underwent many alterations before its demolition in the early 19th century. Small shops were built against its walls, St Dunstan's Churchyard becoming a centre for bookselling and publishing.[3] Later repairs were carried out in an Italianate style: rusticated stonework was used, and some of the Gothic windows were replaced with round headed ones, resulting in what George Godwin called "a most heterogeneous appearance".[3] In 1701 the church's old vaulted roof was replaced with a flat ceiling, ornamented with recessed panels.[3]
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers has been associated with the church since the 15th century. The company holds an annual service of commemoration to honour two of its benefactors, John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children were traditionally given a penny for each time they ran around the church.
William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the Bible, was a lecturer at the church and sermons were given by the poet John Donne. Samuel Pepys mentions the church in his diary.[4] The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Dean of Westminster roused 40 scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who formed a fire brigade which extinguished the flames with buckets of water to only three doors away.
In the early 19th century the medieval church of St Dunstan was removed to allow the widening of Fleet Street and a new church was built on its burial ground. An Act of Parliament was obtained authorising the demolition of the church in July 1829 and trustees were appointed to carry it into effect. In December 1829 and September 1830 there were auctions of some of the materials of the old church. The first stone of the new building, to the design of John Shaw, Sr. (1776–1832), was laid in July 1831 and construction proceeded rapidly. In August 1832 the last part of the old church, which had been left as a screen between Fleet Street and the new work, was removed.[3]
Shaw dealt with the restricted site by designing a church with an octagonal central space. Seven of the eight sides open into arched recesses, the northern one containing the altar. The eighth side opens into a short corridor, leading beneath the organ to the lowest stage of the tower, which serves as an entrance porch. Above the recesses Shaw designed a clerestory, and above that a groined ceiling. The tower is square in plan, with an octagonal lantern, resembling those of St Botolph, Boston, and St Helen's York. George Godwin Jr suggested that the form of the lantern might have been immediately inspired by that of St George's church in Ramsgate ( where Shaw was architect to the docks), built in 1825 to the designs of H.E. Kendall.[3] John Shaw Sr. died in 1833, before the church was completed, leaving it in the hands of his son John Shaw Jr (1803–1870).
The communion rail is a survivor of the old church, having been carved by Grinling Gibbons during the period when John Donne served as vicar (1624–1631). Some of the monuments from the medieval building were reinstituted in the new church and a fragment of the old churchyard remains between Clifford's Inn and Bream's Buildings.
Apart from losing its stained glass, the church survived the London Blitz largely intact, though bombs did damage the open-work lantern tower.[6] The building was largely restored in 1950. An appeal to raise money to install a new ring of bells in the tower, replacing those removed in 1969, was successfully completed in 2012 with the dedication and hanging of 10 new bells.[7]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
On the façade is a chiming clock, with figures of giants, perhaps representing Gog and Magog, who strike the bells with their clubs. It was installed on the previous church in 1671, perhaps commissioned to celebrate its escape from destruction by the Great Fire of 1666. It was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays, Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, David Lyddal's The Prompter (1810)[9] and a poem by William Cowper. In 1828, when the medieval church was demolished, the clock was removed by art collector Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford to his mansion in Regent's Park; during World War I, a new charity for blinded soldiers was lent the house, and took the name St Dunstan's from the clock.[10] It was returned by Lord Rothermere in 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V.
Above the entrance to the old parochial school is a statue of Queen Elizabeth I, taken from the old Ludgate, which was demolished in 1760. This statue, dating from 1586, is contemporaneous with its subject and thought to be the oldest outdoor statue in London. In the porch below are three statues of ancient Britons also from the gate, probably meant to represent King Lud and his two sons.
Adjacent to Queen Elizabeth is a bust of Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper proprietor, co-founder of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Next to Lord Northcliffe is a memorial tablet to James Louis Garvin, another pioneering British journalist.
St Dunstan-in-the-West is the only church in England to share its building with the Romanian Orthodox community. The chapel to the left of the main altar is closed off by an iconostasis, formerly from Antim Monastery in Bucharest, dedicated in 1966.
Whenever we have tried to see inside St Dunstan's in the past, always on a Saturday, there has been a christening taking place, or some other service, which means I have only glimpsed inside before we had to leave as the stares were quite hard from people attending the service.
I left St Spelchure, intending to walk straight to St Magnus, as that was the one church I wanted to visit. I turned of Holborn, thinking I knew the directions, ending up on Fleet Street in the end after all, with the clock of St Dunstan's just a few hundred yards away.
With the rain falling ever harder, I walk past ambling tourists and find my way into the church.
Sadly, I underestimated the darkness inside, and not may shots came out, but we can always go back.
-------------------------------------------------------
"St Dunstan in the West, the church of, is situated on the north side of the west end of Fleet Street, where it has been long known as a grievous incumbrance to Hackney and stage coachmen, drivers of omnibuses, and country females. But as it is about to be taken down, to the infinite regret of the city pickpockets, any description of it is unnecessary. It, however, unfortunately for the public, narrowly escaped destruction by the great fire of 1666, the flames having been stopped within three houses of its walls. It has been several times repaired, but it will, ere long,...be removed. It is a church of very ancient foundation, in the gift of the abott and convent of Westminster, who in 1237 gave it to Henry III towards the maintenance of the foundation of the house called the Rolls, for the reception of converted Jews. It was afterwards conveyed to the abbot and convent of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in whom it continued till the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. Edward VI granted the advowson of this church under the name of a vicarage to Lord Dudley. Soon after this, the rectory and vicarage were granted to Sir Richard Sackville, and the impropriation has ever since remained in private hands.
familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/St_Dunstan_in_the_West
The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London, England. It is dedicated to a former Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.
First founded between AD 988 and 1070, there is a possibility that a church on this site was one of the Lundenwic strand settlement churches, like St Martin in the Fields, the first St Mary le Strand, St Clement Danes and St Brides. These churches may pre-date any within the walls of the city . It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was possibly erected by Saint Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well. It was first mentioned in written records in 1185.[2] King Henry III gained possession of it and its endowments from Westminster Abbey by 1237 and then granted these and the advowson to the "House of Converts" i.e. of the converted Jews, which led to its neglect of its parochial responsibilities. This institution was eventually transformed into the Court of the Master of the Rolls.
The medieval church underwent many alterations before its demolition in the early 19th century. Small shops were built against its walls, St Dunstan's Churchyard becoming a centre for bookselling and publishing.[3] Later repairs were carried out in an Italianate style: rusticated stonework was used, and some of the Gothic windows were replaced with round headed ones, resulting in what George Godwin called "a most heterogeneous appearance".[3] In 1701 the church's old vaulted roof was replaced with a flat ceiling, ornamented with recessed panels.[3]
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers has been associated with the church since the 15th century. The company holds an annual service of commemoration to honour two of its benefactors, John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children were traditionally given a penny for each time they ran around the church.
William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the Bible, was a lecturer at the church and sermons were given by the poet John Donne. Samuel Pepys mentions the church in his diary.[4] The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The Dean of Westminster roused 40 scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who formed a fire brigade which extinguished the flames with buckets of water to only three doors away.
In the early 19th century the medieval church of St Dunstan was removed to allow the widening of Fleet Street and a new church was built on its burial ground. An Act of Parliament was obtained authorising the demolition of the church in July 1829 and trustees were appointed to carry it into effect. In December 1829 and September 1830 there were auctions of some of the materials of the old church. The first stone of the new building, to the design of John Shaw, Sr. (1776–1832), was laid in July 1831 and construction proceeded rapidly. In August 1832 the last part of the old church, which had been left as a screen between Fleet Street and the new work, was removed.[3]
Shaw dealt with the restricted site by designing a church with an octagonal central space. Seven of the eight sides open into arched recesses, the northern one containing the altar. The eighth side opens into a short corridor, leading beneath the organ to the lowest stage of the tower, which serves as an entrance porch. Above the recesses Shaw designed a clerestory, and above that a groined ceiling. The tower is square in plan, with an octagonal lantern, resembling those of St Botolph, Boston, and St Helen's York. George Godwin Jr suggested that the form of the lantern might have been immediately inspired by that of St George's church in Ramsgate ( where Shaw was architect to the docks), built in 1825 to the designs of H.E. Kendall.[3] John Shaw Sr. died in 1833, before the church was completed, leaving it in the hands of his son John Shaw Jr (1803–1870).
The communion rail is a survivor of the old church, having been carved by Grinling Gibbons during the period when John Donne served as vicar (1624–1631). Some of the monuments from the medieval building were reinstituted in the new church and a fragment of the old churchyard remains between Clifford's Inn and Bream's Buildings.
Apart from losing its stained glass, the church survived the London Blitz largely intact, though bombs did damage the open-work lantern tower.[6] The building was largely restored in 1950. An appeal to raise money to install a new ring of bells in the tower, replacing those removed in 1969, was successfully completed in 2012 with the dedication and hanging of 10 new bells.[7]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
On the façade is a chiming clock, with figures of giants, perhaps representing Gog and Magog, who strike the bells with their clubs. It was installed on the previous church in 1671, perhaps commissioned to celebrate its escape from destruction by the Great Fire of 1666. It was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays, Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, David Lyddal's The Prompter (1810)[9] and a poem by William Cowper. In 1828, when the medieval church was demolished, the clock was removed by art collector Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford to his mansion in Regent's Park; during World War I, a new charity for blinded soldiers was lent the house, and took the name St Dunstan's from the clock.[10] It was returned by Lord Rothermere in 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V.
Above the entrance to the old parochial school is a statue of Queen Elizabeth I, taken from the old Ludgate, which was demolished in 1760. This statue, dating from 1586, is contemporaneous with its subject and thought to be the oldest outdoor statue in London. In the porch below are three statues of ancient Britons also from the gate, probably meant to represent King Lud and his two sons.
Adjacent to Queen Elizabeth is a bust of Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper proprietor, co-founder of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Next to Lord Northcliffe is a memorial tablet to James Louis Garvin, another pioneering British journalist.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-West
St.Dunstan-in-the-West has a long and illustrious history. Visitors are often struck by how St. Dunstan’s differs in appearance and style to other Anglican churches. The church looks traditionally Neo-Gothic on the outside, yet is octagonal inside.
Saint Dunstan
Dunstan was one of the foremost saints of Anglo-Saxon England: he was also one of the most venerated before the cult of St Thomas Becket took hold of the popular imagination. He was born in 909 A.D. and was taught by Irish monks at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, where he developed a reputation as a formidable scholar. He also learnt metalworking, and was later adopted as the patron saint of Goldsmiths. Dunstan became a companion to King Aethelstan’s stepbrothers, Edmund and Eadred, although he was banished after the king died in 939. He then lived at Glastonbury as a hermit, before being appointed Abbot there in 945. He was appointed as the Bishop of Worcester and then the Bishop of London, before being elected Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. Dunstan sought peace with the Danes and promoted monastic living, as well as establishing the library at Canterbury Cathedral, where he was buried in 988. St Dunstan’s feast day is the 19th May and is still celebrated at this church: in 2013 our Patronal Festival will be held on Saturday 18 May.
The Original Church
The original St Dunstan-in-the-West stood on the same site as today, spilling in the past onto what is now the tarmac of Fleet Street. It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 AD. It is not impossible that St Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here. The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The quick thinking of the Dean of Westminster saved the church: he roused forty scholars from Westminster School in the middle of the night, who extinguished the flames with buckets of water.
The Church is Rebuilt
The wear and tear of time took its toll, however, and St Dunstan’s was rebuilt in 1831. The architect, John Shaw, died in 1832, leaving his son, who bore the same name, to complete the task. The tower was badly damaged by German bombers in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1950 through the generosity of newspaper magnate Viscount Camrose. In 1952, St Dunstan-in-the-West became a Guild Church, dedicating its ministry to the daytime working population around Fleet Street.
The Clock and Giants
St Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of its magnificent clock. This dates from 1671, and was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand. The figures of the two giants strike the hours and quarters, and turn their heads. There are numerous literary references to the clock, including in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the Vicar of Wakefield and a poem by William Cowper (1782):
When labour and when dullness, club in hand,
Like the two figures at St. Dunstan’s stand,
Beating alternately in measured time
The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme,
Exact and regular the sounds will be,
But such mere quarter-strokes are not for me.
The courtyard also contains statues of King Lud, the mythical sovereign, and his sons and Queen Elizabeth I, all of which originally stood in Ludgate. The statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and is the only one known to have been carved during her reign. (Please note: we regret that, due to building works, the statue of Queen Elizabeth I is not on view until the autumn of 2013.)
Inside the Church
Much of the internal fabric pre-dates the rebuilding of the church in the 1830s. The high altar and reredos are Flemish woodwork dating from the seventeenth century. There are also a large number of monuments from the original
church. Some of the earliest are two bronze figures thought to date from 1530.
The Organ
The original church has an organ dating from 1674-75 made by Renatus Harris. However, none of the original parts are likely to have remained as over the years it has had to be entirely rebuilt. Much of the present organ dates from 1834, when a Joseph Robson organ was bought at the same time as the Church was being rebuilt. Many distinguished organists have played here, including John Reading, the composer of Adeste Fideles, who died in 1764. Handel was even invited to play here, although whether the great composer ever accepted the invitation remains unknown.
The Romanian Orthodox Church
As well as being an Anglican church, the building of St Dunstan’s is home to the Romanian Orthodox Church in London. The beautiful iconostasis (altar screen) was brought here from a monastery in Bucharest in 1966.
St Dunstan-in-the-West is home to the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, and is a centre of prayer for Christian Unity. It is therefore appropriate that the side chapels contain altars dedicated to various traditions, including the Lutheran Church in Berlin (EKD). There is also an altar of the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. St Dunstan’s continues in its special role of promoting good relations with Churches outside the Anglican Communion, including through its role as the Diocese of London’s Church for Europe.
Other Famous Connections
The poet John Donne held the benefice here from 1624-31, while he was Dean of St Paul’s. William Tyndale, who pioneered the translation of the Bible into English, was a lecturer here. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped here a number of times. Lord Baltimore, who founded the State of Maryland in the USA, was buried here in 1632, as was his son. The church has been associated with the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers (old English for shoemakers) since the fifteenth century. Once a year the company holds a service here to commemorate the benefactors John Fisher and Richard Minge, after which children used to be given a penny for each time they ran around the church!
The Hoare Bank
The church has long had an association with C. Hoare and Co., whose bank has been situated opposite the church since 1690. The Hoare family donated the four stained glass windows behind the high altar and the carved canopies of the altar-piece. The windows show Archbishop Lanfrance; St Dunstan beside a roaring furnace into which he has thrust his pincers ready to pull a devil’s nose; St. Anselm and Archbishop Langton with King John at the signing of the Magna Carta. Members of the Hoare family, as well as being generous benefactors, have maintained a tradition of service as churchwardens over the centuries. Two have been Lord Mayors of London and a family vault still lies in the church crypt.
The staple of Victorian penny shockers, the story of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, stalks the no-man’s land between urban myth and historical fact. According to some sources, Todd, a barber, tooth-puller and surgeon, did actually exist, and in 1785 set up shop at 186 Fleet Street. It is claimed that he murdered over 100 of his clients, before selling their flesh on to Margery Lovett, who owned a pie shop in nearby Bell Yard!
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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.
On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being rolled out to the general public in December. (ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015).
With visits now in excess of 17.088 Million to my FLICKR site, used primarily these days as a platform to reach friends and family, prospective clients and fellow Flickerinos, I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to FLICKR, GETTY IMAGES and everyone who drops by.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on August 11th 2016
CREATIVE RF gty.im/586342654 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 2,235th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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This photograph was taken in the Golden Hour around sunset at an altitude of Six hundred and forty three metres, at 20:20pm on Thursday 12th May 2016 off the Alaska Highway 1, and 2nd Avenue on the shoreline of the Yukon River in Whitehorse,the capital and largest city of Yukon territory and the largest city in Northern Canada.
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Nikon D800 24mm 1/160s f/10.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Hand held. Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Nikon AF fine tune on (+9)
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 60d 43m 37.33s
LONGITUDE: W 135d 3m 13.26s
ALTITUDE: 643.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 21.62MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Three years ago, summer 2014, I started walking a derelict road nearly every Sunday afternoon. I'd already driven everywhere easily accessible in my home county, paved or not, trying to create a mental map of where each piece connected to the next. Out of the towns, into the backwoods, and down by the shore, I got used to turning around at signs reading: "No Exit", "Dead End", or "No Road Maintenance, Proceed At Own Risk". By the end of 2012, there were no nearby discoveries to be made behind the wheel.
It's not that I don't want to go further, because I'd love to learn every inch of Canada and beyond. But you're lucky to get two weeks vacation a year, so what about the other fifty? There isn't always time for an epic journey, and I don't like putting my sense of adventure on hold. I get more out of my evenings and weekends than most folks, any discovery is thrilling, no matter how near or far from home.
So I started hiking, walking, wherever I saw a sign of the asphalt ending, dirt turning to rock and fading into the forest. I thought I'd finish Annapolis County in a matter of months, an easy rundown of the various roads once busy, now abandoned. But the empty forest is teeming with ancient paths to nowhere, more than I ever believed. There's a little trick to it I've learned, how to find the paths with the most personality. I seek out somewhere with a label, a road sign, even if it's only on the map. I've got no interest in modern logging trails, those are usually dull and heartless, just wide open wanders to a dead-end in the clear-cut. No, you've got to find a street with a name, and follow it past the houses until the power poles peter out.
Now you're in the land of lost highways, bordered by rock walls from fields once cleared but long overgrown, scattered oaks and maples planted in perfect rows for homes where only a foundation remains. You're in the world of a width made in the horse-and-buggy days, ruts cut with wagon wheels, and followed in kind by trucks over rattling rocks. Nothing has changed, no new ditches or shoulders, minor repairs only, and often not even that.
Some can be taken with the roar of off-road vehicles, but I don't recommend it. You might be tempted away from silence, when there's so much you could be hearing. The rustle of leaves, the call of birds and small creatures, the many different tongues of wind. Many of the trails involve ducking under branches, vaulting fallen trunks, navigating sunken bogs, treading rickety or washed-away bridges. There are narrow ridges and breathless climbs, hard-won hills and foot-calloused distance, up and down the North and South Mountains of Annapolis County, and all of the valley beyond. By the end of the year, I should be able to claim that I've walked every one of them.
So what of this image? We're at the far southern reaches of Bloomington Road, said by the locals to have once been the old way to Lunenburg. Is that the truth? No history books give it a mention, but it shows all the signs of a road that meant something. Here at this crossing, five kilometers past the last houses, faded signs of habitation in the black backwoods. There's a concrete foundation just before the bridge, but no hint of what stood there. I should tell you, I've rarely been so stolen by the sleepy trees. The ruts are haunted by ghosts of broken wheels, flat tires, and tired horses – and in the course of my walk, I tripped over another waking dream. Just another step closer to living in my imagination.
"Usual Blurb" © by Wil Wardle. Please do not use this or any of my images without my permission.
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Artwork from Top Left: Stephen Johnson, Leah Busch, Evan Conley, Sunny Belliston-Taylor - See card back for more details and all artists balmorg.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/balm-white-show-at-signs...
tokyo, japan
1973
the city at night
part of an archival project, featuring the photographs of nick dewolf
© the Nick DeWolf Foundation
Image-use requests are welcome via flickrmail or nickdewolfphotoarchive [at] gmail [dot] com
Mario Cuevas Zamora, consul of Mexico and Cal State Fullerton President President Mildred García at signing ceremony for a partnership and scholarship donation to benefit the Abrego Future Scholars Program.
tokyo, japan
1973
the city at night
part of an archival project, featuring the photographs of nick dewolf
© the Nick DeWolf Foundation
Image-use requests are welcome via flickrmail or nickdewolfphotoarchive [at] gmail [dot] com
Whilst Christopher Columbus was discovering Jamaica, an agreement dated 1st March 1494 was signed and sealed whereby the rents of certain properties which he had in the district of Colchester were assigned to Thomas Jopson (Jobson), one of the representatives of the town of Colchester in payment of arrears due for his expenses, namely 6.14s. Amongst the charges specified was the sum of 3d, then a respectable amount, payable annually for the George. There was a further 4d per year for the standard for carrying the sign of the George, no doubt an encroachment on the path or highway. Thomas Jopson lived in St. Runwald’s parish not far from the George.
The central portion of the building is part of a 15th century house which was built some time before 1494. There are still parts of the original George which Thomas Jopson owned in 1494. On the second floor of the hotel there is an original hinge post with remarkable embattled capital which is now incorporated into a wall and can be partially seen at the top of the stairs towards the 300 and 400 bedrooms. This was part of the middle truss of the hall of the original house. On that same staircase there is also a section of the wattle and daub wall dating from the 14th century.
The extensive cellars are also medieval, probably dating from 1450. Some of the niches in the brickwork in these cellars are later, about 1520. Preserved behind a glass wall can be seen several layers of soil which show the old roman street level. One layer, darker than the others, is purported to be ashes left by the fires which raged in the town when Queen Boadecia/Boudicca, ransacked it in AD60.
In room 503 a corbel can be seen, carved in the form of a bearded head; this was once to be found in the original kitchens. In the roof there is an early 16th century beam carved with foliage and figures, and this is no later than the reign of Henry VIII. Many other features have probably been concealed by modernisation and in 1984 a very well preserved section of a wall painting was discovered and put on display near room 201. It is thought to be early 15th century.
The George was remodelled and enlarged during the reign of Charles 1st, and most of the timbers date from this period. The plain old fashioned front hides behind its centuries old traditions of true English Hospitality.
A century or more before the stage coaches began to link up one end of the country with the other, great clumsily built wagons had appeared on the highways of England for the transport of merchandise and those travellers who, by reason of infirmities could not ride, or through poverty could not afford to hire saddle horses. These vehicles, drawn by at least eight horses, made their way along roads in easy stages, stopping each night at such inns as the George until they reached their journeys end. Before the Year 1740 there is record of a wagon plying between Ipswich and Colchester once weekly, the huge vehicle lumbering into the inns yard through the great archway in George Street on Mondays and leaving the following day. A few years later, in addition to this service, a tilted carriage from Ipswich, owned by Thomas shave, stopped at the George every Friday on its way up to London, where it was due on Saturday; passengers being promised “very good and easy places, warm and dry at reasonable rates.” The old archway has since been bricked up but the original frame is still very much in evidence.
During the 1700’s, the George was kept by an innkeeper by the name of Abraham Moor. An innkeeper was a man of position and influence in those days and was regarded as such by his fellow townsman. Abraham died in 1778 after a tenancy of more than thirty years and was succeeded by his wife, Sarah. Upon Sarah’s death three years after her husband, ‘that old good accustomed inn, known by the sign of the George’ was advertised to be let with immediate occupation and was taken by Mr George Smith. During his tenancy the inn was burgled with an assortment of plated tankards, tea pots, teaspoons, pepper boxes and salt taken. Mr Smith died a year later in 1785 and his widow eventually married Peter Bains. In 1823 following the death of Mr and Mrs Baines, the management of the George went to a member of an old local family, Abednig Bland a former town councillor, who was in turn succeeded by John Smith the last of the landlords of the old coaching days.
When the railway reached Colchester in May 1843 it sounded a death knell for the stage-coaches and Mr Smith was quick to seize the opportunity placed before him; was among the first to supply horse-drawn omnibuses to meet the trains. He also ran a similar vehicle to Brightlingsea and one to Braintree called the Pilot. As Walton-on-the-Naze became more fashionable as a seaside resort, this was also served by coaches from the George during the summer months.
During the reign of Queen Victoria, the hotel was considered to be one of the ten superior inns and hotels in Colchester and several coaches inned there, amongst them: The Telegraph, a name first adopted by fast coaches and derived from the system of semaphore signalling of the same name, travelled between London and the sea ports and arrived every day at 1.45am on its journey from London to Yarmouth. At noon the Shannon, the famous Halesworth-London coach whose name recalled ‘Brave Broke’s’ gallant capture of the Chesapeake frigate in Boston harbour in June 1813, drew up on its way to London.
A quaint character at the inn during the latter part of the 18th century was John-Lyon, the ostler,‘ a singularly honest and upright man’, known and respected by all travellers by his frugality and industry. He saved sufficiently to spend his last years in retirement and at his death, in August 1800, aged 64, he left various charitable bequests. He attended the Methodist meeting house dressed in ‘an old drab coat’, which he possessed for more than half a century, with large silver buttons of which he was very proud and a ‘full bottomed wig' which from long service had obtained a yellow hue.
Until 1862 Colchester’s livestock market was held in the high Street and the small bar adjacent to the George was called the Market Tavern. When the Market moved however it became known by the locals as the George Tavern. In 1872 it was owned by Parks, then in 1884by Parks & Glover, from 1894 by E.S Beard. Daniels purchased it in 1910 who sold it to Truman’s in 1959. In 1982 Queens Moat Hotels bought it and sold it on to Mr Michael Slagle in 1994. Truman’s were taken over by Grand Metropolitan who converted the ballroom into bedrooms and created a carvery in the cellar around 1979.
The George was refurbished in 1995 and is now one of the most attractive buildings in the high street. The old bar was taken out to enlarge the entrance area and was repositioned in the lounge. During the building work experts were able to study the medieval framed structure and were able to say that its ground floor showed evidence of shop fronts both facing the high street and George Street, with the owner, presumably living on the first floor. They further noted that the building was originally only two stories, the present day third storey having been added at a later date, together with its Georgian front. This would explain the large timbers showing through the wall on the main staircase landing. They were presumably part of the original ceiling. An interesting display of photographs and other artefacts can be seen near the staircase. During this refurbishment a snack bar that was all that remained of the original carvery and known as 16 down, closed.
In 1996 or thereabouts the hotel, although still owned by Mr Slagle came under the auspicious Best Western Group solely for marketing purposes. He sold the George in 2002 to the London and Edinburgh Inns Group.
In the late 1800’s the George was the headquarters of the cyclists touring group and the Colchester Football Club. Over the years many institutions and local societies have enjoyed the hotel’s welcoming hospitality, good food, fine wines and friendly atmosphere all combining to ensure that the George’s well earned reputation for excellence is still as deserved as it was all those centuries ago when weary travellers broke their journeys at ‘the sign of The George.’
Acknowledgments - Gerald O Rickword, Jess A Jephcott and local studies section, Colchester Library, Resource centre, Colchester Museum Referenced and Compiled by Janet Lelltiott 2004
let’s see so much has happened lately, that got me drifted away from blogging.. taking more photos.. working out more.. everything has been thrown off, side tracked. let me see if i can list them all here
• left my job at gally
After working there for almost four years, being spoiled in every aspect of how a guy’s job should be… but never the less, i am
not regretting in any way. but i will miss my gadgets… friendliest boss that i will ever have. getting to work.. late… well.. no.. “very late”. managed to get away with the strict dressing code. a large office to myself.. cheap parking… plenty of vacations.. i think i still have some left over comp hours that i never got the chance to use up. oh and sick leave other than the regular paid leave days.
• joined a private sector
i am still not sure if i made the right choice.. maybe it’s the fact that i have not yet ‘uprooted’ myself from gallaudet.. after all.. 4 years of habits are pretty hard to rub off… the strict dressing code ( you have to look GOOD, i mean.. with their word ” PROFESSIONAL” yet i have seen people with jeans on dress down days and girls with flip flops.. or what they call ” upscaled slippers ” my ass. let’s see if a guy can get away with this. but the good thing is, i felt more productive, i don’t often have people come and stop by, just being next to me and yank away their life stories while i’m trying to tackle this deadline. cross division standardization, resourcefulness, everything is in a perfect way. not the best, but it’s a huge different comparing to gallaudet. bigger team, my team would only have to worry about the web stuff while others do the ideas, design, QA, and post production etc. talking about giving a break to my brain on different tasks with multiple roles. that, is a relief i seek.
• new mac
been living off my old job’s loaner computer for ages.. never had to spend a penny for tech gear.. other than external HDD upgrades. that helped with my wallet in the past few years, but it came back hurt me in a big way… yuck.
• new hearing aids
yeah working at gallaudet was at ease, i dont have to worry about whereabouts of my hearing aids.. change battery weekly.. but looking at sign language sure did a toll on my eyes.. or it was the readings? but anyway, back to the point. the new job demands hefty use of hearing aids for voice based communication. gone is the hands flying communication and occasionally mumblings that i will never understand. yet.. working without being able to hear, and not being able to lip read like mr bob.. i was a sore looser. but have no fear, two brand new hearing aids are on the way, those are the bleeding edge, ninth generation, latest of latest updated super gadget hearing aids. gone is the air tube, in is the thin wire tube. gone is the cheap and free hearing aids from VR, in is the damage on my bank account. this i tell ya, is FTL!
• going out more
nothing to see here, and yes i do go out!
• completed a mini triathlon sprint
finished at the bottom of double digits.. out of … 400? i was so out of shape. even a 12 year old child beat me by few steps. i swear she head butted me while we were in the pool, although.. she was swimming with her pace and i was trying to survive.
• new bike
Trek 7.3 FX Disc!! yeah baby! it’s the year of being GREEN! muscle power ftw, sore ass ftl!
• new car
ok i guess zero carbon output from the bike can cancel out the massive carbon output from the new car makes this hot ride greener! but anyway, move on
• soon a new house
other than getting sick and tired of staying with my parents after moving out of DC not long ago. time to get my own pad. and i believe i will email you all for a house warming party in near future. so.. keep your eyes on ur email inbox.
• using metro to work
hard to believe eh? i still cant believe i am willing to spend a good 40 mins daily with strangers in an air locked tube going to work. i’m sure there are others find this hard to believe as well. people.. beware.. a free ride leecher is born! be very afraid!
• new right arm 3/4 jacket tattoo
yeah it’s hot and sexy! sans the pain. and a ding on the bank account.
Powell Construction office & design studio. SB-600 CL with diffuser cap pointed at sign. SB-800 inside office to boost interior. PocketWizards. Slight shift down on PC-E.
Behold the Bamboodu Theater -- a portable puppet show for political rallies, civic events and art shows.
I created this street theater experience to engage people of all ages to help change the world through civic action.
Our first scene features Lady Liberty and Mr. Trump, illustrating the eternal fight between hope and fear through animated puppets, visual gags, news tickers and music, powered by Arduino.
The Bamboodu Theater will be on exhibit at Artworks Downtown in San Rafael from April 14 to 28. We also plan to show it at the Tax March in San Francisco on April 15, at Marinovators in the College of Marin on April 22, at the Climate March on April 29 and the Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade on May 30.
I’m very grateful to all the gracious collaborators who helped me create the Bamboodu Theater: Edward Janne, Phyllis Florin, Mark Petrakis, Geo Monley, Jean Bolte and our friends at Pataphysical Studios. Special thanks to Angelique Benicio for inviting us to premiere it at Signs of Hope, her political art show at Artworks Downtown in San Rafael.
For more info, visit bit.ly/bamboodu-info
This clip is copyright Steve Mann, and is actually an image from his wearable computer's Wearcam. Here, I believe his wife is watching where he is going through her own Eyecam (she's a cyborg too!) and is giving him directions.
As you can see, the Wearcam uses signal processing to take the advertisement in, turn it white, and then place text on top of it. This way, Steve Mann never has to look down at a device, only at signs in the real world. But instead of the data on those signs being owned by someone else, he owns all of the signs around him. I love this concept.
This highlights a very important difference between augmented reality and computer mediated reality - the ability for something to be taken away from reality vs. the ability to only add to reality.
I'm still trying to figure out the date of this video. If anyone knows, please let me know.
More at: wearcam.org/
Local tourists walk along a short corridor past an open balcony. Some pause at the balcony to have their photos taken by friends on the patio below or to look at signs showing the elevations of Leh Palace.
EPB_9490_cr
Manchester England a Rather small departure & arrival area lots of confused people milling about, waiting looking at signs, asking directions etc
Samyang 8mm Fish-Eye Canon 600D
Local tourists walk along a short corridor past an open balcony. Some pause at the balcony to have their photos taken by friends on the patio below or to look at signs showing the elevations of Leh Palace.
EPB_9483
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken tours Fragmentos Museum and delivers remarks at a signing ceremony to support the comprehensive implementation of the Ethnic Chapter of the 2016 Peace Accord, with Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez, in Bogota, Colombia, on October 3, 2022. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]
The KOM Flash Report for week of April 5 is now here.
KOM Flash Report
for
Week of April 5-11, 2015
(Released 31 hours early due to voluminous material and Easter activities on the agenda)
One of the first comments received regarding the most recent Flash Report came from Barbara Eichhorst in St. Louis. She wrote “Unbelievable all the information you have and yet there is always more to find.”
Well, when that note was received I didn’t have a clue what would be in this report or if there would even be one. What appears as the last article in this report even surprised me. I prefaced it by saying that the largest majority of the readers were given permission not to read it and I haven’t changed my mind. However, there are some things in the article, and in most of the links, that are historical in nature and very interesting. If you aren’t a baseball fan go there now. If you are a baseball fan go to where that article starts and then delete the rest of the report.
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Another reader wants to stay in touch:
John, before I toss this thing out please keep sending your email. Dale Hendricks—Bremerton, WA-- Ponca City Dodgers 1947-48.
Ed note:
Dale Hendricks’ note is a nice segue into the determination of the fate of Robert E. Hughes. They were teammates at Ponca City, OK for a few days in 1947.
A death record for Robert Eugene Hughes in Ancestry.com was shared by Ed Washuta—baseball researcher.
search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=nvdeathindex&s...
For those of you without a computer, here is what the URL revealed
Robert Eugene Hughes
Birth Date:3 Jun 1928
Birth Place:California
Death Date:16 Jan 1991
Death Place:Reno, Washoe, Nevada, USA
Name:Robert E. Hughes
Birth Date:1928
Death Date:1991
Cemetery:Sierra Memorial Gardens Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:Reno, Washoe County, Nevada, USA
Has Bio?:N
URL:http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...
Ed reply:
I think this has to be the guy due to the birth month and day. The year has always been a point of dispute. Thanks for your assistance.
He is buried in Sierra Memorial Gardens in Reno. Thanks again.
Washuta’s reply:
Glad to help. Attached is his page from the 1955 Pacific Coast League Sketch Book. It gives his birth year as 1928.
Ed comment:
The PCL sketch book went into detail about Hughes career which showed him starting in 1947 with Abilene in the West Texas-New Mexico league and then on to Ponca City. He had actually been signed in 1946 by the Dodgers and posted a win with Santa Barbara that year. The PCL sketch book showed that he had moved from Alhambra to Gardenia, California and in the off season his job was that of a policeman. Aside from that the basic information on Hughes’ career is found here: www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hughes004rob After a relatively extensive minor league career it was only justice that allowed him to play in the Pacific Coast league during part of his last season.
Ed reply and comment
That is absolutely the right guy. Thanks. I recall reading the accounts in the Ponca City News about how well Hughes was doing in Sheboygan of the Wisconsin State league. He wound up with a 12-1 record and what galled the sportswriter in Ponca City was that Hughes was a lefty and aside from Tony Brzezowski the Ponca City pitching staff was all right-handed.
“Walking” John A. Jackson spotted?
JOHN -- JOHN ARNOLD JACKSON JUST WALKED PAST MY HOUSE. I KNOW HE IS STILL WALKING. WALT Babcock—Cape Cod, MA
Ed note:
John Jackson was mentioned as pitching to three men in his first and last outing for the 1952 Blackwell, OK Broncos. In that span he walked every man he faced and walked off the field never to return to professional baseball.
If, as Babcock stated, Jackson is still walking and he was headed east, he should be somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
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From the All-time home run king of the KOM league.
Hey John: How are you and your family getting along?
Just caught your e-mail flash reports, thanks a lot. Seeing my name and other former K.O.M players in print again stirs up some great ole memories, you know, what you have accomplished throughout your travels through your K.O.M venture has brought together and given an enormous number of people a great amount of pleasure and has molded together great friendships between people from every state plus those who otherwise would have never known each other in the "K.O.M COMMUNITY" of good old time baseball when a good ole game of baseball was played in small communities and local diamonds was the backbone of their entertainment, nothing could ever compare with my baseball experiences and associations with the "K.O.M COMMUNITY."
I never could get Jim Owens on the phone.
Hey John, it is great hearing from you, talk to you later.
Don Ervin—Springfield, MO
Great Base Ball
Ed comment:
Don Ervin set the record for the most home runs in the history of the KOM (24) that included some guys with great power and who went on in their careers to hit a “ton” of homers. Sometime get on a website and look at the guys who played in the KOM league who went on to pretty good careers. As a hint Mickey Mantle might be a good place to start. Compare Mantle’s number of homers in 1949 with Ervin’s in 1952. Ervin was a member of the 1952 Miami team that included future big league pitchers, Jim Owens and Seth Morehead. He replaced a guy by the name of Bert Convy on the roster when Convy was sent to Salina of the Western Association. Convy went from there to be a rock and roll singer, actor and long time TV game show host. Another teammate, Nick DeMaio made it big time in country music and is still at it. Chester DiEmidio made it as a coach for the Chicago White Sox organization after he retired from his “day” job.
It can be said that Ervin played with guys who made it “big” in just about every capacity known in the realm of human experience. One teammate made it all the way to the “Big House” in Georgia. He wound up in the Federal Reformatory in Atlanta for murder. In fact, Ervin called that facility a number of years ago and they verified his former teammate had been an inmate but had recently passed away, shortly after his release. That inmate and former teammate once called Jim Owens when he was still with the Philadelphia Phillies and asked him to visit when the team was in town to play the Braves. Owens told me he didn’t make the visit.
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Fred Durant Schneider III
Locating the obituary of Fred Schneider, in recent days, has opened an entirely new vista. After coming back from WW II he enrolled at the University of Oklahoma where he played varsity baseball. He was a teammate on that club with Dale Mitchell who played a long time for the Cleveland Indians before winding up with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He went down in history as being the last out in Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
When that last out was made I was sitting in a high school English class with my new Zenith seven transistor radio hidden in my notebook. When the called third strike was made to end that game I made some little outburst that caused my teacher to glance at me in an odd way. As far as I was concerned that pitch was right down the middle. However, when seeing that pitch, on the newsreel at the theater, a short time later, that last offering to Mitchell seemed to me to be high and outside. That was Babe Pinelli’s last game as an umpire and I always figured he wanted to go out with a memorable game. life.time.com/culture/don-larsen-perfect-game-october-8-1...
Back to Fred Schneider. There is a publication from the University of Oklahoma that spoke of the surprising season the Sooners were having in the spring of 1946. Schneider was pitching for them and as a pitcher was hitting at a.666 clip. Dale Mitchell was leading the regular position players with a .545 average. You can read the Sooners stats at this site: digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p22-24_1946v18n9...
On the aforementioned site was a two-sport athlete from Little Rock, Arkansas, Jack Venable. He was a star on the football gridiron as well as the baseball diamond. After a couple of more years at Oklahoma he broke into professional baseball being signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1948 and he was sent to Milford, Delaware in the Eastern Shore league. Most of Venable’s baseball career was spent in Texas towns such as Borger, Gainesville, Amarillo, Pampa and even Clovis, New Mexico in the West Texas-New Mexico league. He did manage to hook on with the Topeka, Kansas Hawks, in 1958, who were a Milwaukee Braves farm club.
While Venable played another two seasons at Oklahoma his pitching partner, Schneider, didn’t get to do so since he had made himself ineligible by playing in five games during the 1946 KOM season.
Since a number of baseball researchers read this publication I’ll answer the question before it is asked. John Justice “Jack” Venable was born February 7, 1926 in Little Rock. The family later moved to Sweet Home, Arkansas where they lived until 1936 and then moved back to Little Rock by 1940. He died May 9, 1981 in Salt Lake City, Utah (Social Security Death Index verifies that is where he received his final benefit check) and was brought back to Alexander, Arkansas for burial. Here is a link to his gravesite. search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FindAGraveUS&h...
There is a snapshot of Venable, in his later years, at this site. www.geni.com/people/Jack-Venable/6000000031682765201
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KOM task brought about a retirement
Last year I mentioned that the Kansas State Historical Society became the keepers of a bunch of old KOM league correspondence. That material would wear down anyone and this past week I received the following. “Dear John: I think I indicated I was retiring in an earlier e-mail. Well--it is official as of March 27. I know we hadn't finished working with you (my fault) but we would like to work with you to transfer the rest of the materials you are donating to the Historical Society. Darrell Garwood will be your contact now. You will be hearing from his soon.
I have really enjoyed working with you and I certainly admire your dedication to documenting the KOM league. It is truly a labor of love for you--as well as getting the players together and helping them communicate with each other.
Best wishes. Pat Michaelis
Ed comment:
While I sent along my congratulations to Pat, I will have to send my condolences to Darrell. Of course, he and I have communicated in the past and both of us are concerned that some of the mold on those old files doesn’t cause health problems. Beware of mold it is bad stuff.
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Bartlesville team photo from 1946 draws attention.
John: From that picture, only Ed Suvada and Ike Henderson (who got into one game as a relief pitcher) played for Keokuk. I have some interesting notes on Suvada. A few years ago I corresponded with a gentleman who was a kid when Suvada played with Keokuk and Suvada befriended him which was heady stuff for the young man. Unfortunately all my notes are back in Keokuk. Do you have a date of death for Suvada? I have the year and month November 1983 but not the date.
Steve Smith--Keokuk IA (Currently in Englewood FL)
Ed reply:
There is a pretty lengthy court case in Chicago where Stephen Suvada, Ed's brother, sued White Trucking Company and a brake manufacturer for selling them a defective vehicle for their milk delivery company. Suvada won that case.
Look on my Flickr site from yesterday. In the narrative below that photo is some material on Suvada along with a link that gives his grave site and the information on the tombstone is accurate. Most baseball records showed him being born in 1923 not 1921. I'm not at the site right now I can get to his day of death in 1983 but it was between the 10th and 12th of November.
A few moments later:
Like I said earlier, he died between the 10th and 12th. Well, it was November 16, 1983 and his grave marker is on the Find-A-Grave citation I linked to in the last report.
One of Suvada's problems was being signed by the White Sox prior to WW II and then missing four seasons in what should have been the learning years in his baseball career. Of course, that was the case of many of the post WW II players who came back, had to lie about their age in order to get a shot at playing. You can look at most of those guys and know that they were older than they claimed. Take a close look at the faces of some of those guys in the 1946 Bartlesville photo. Some of those guys were in their mid-thirties by that time. Wayne Grose was a classic example. He played all through the war for Industrial league teams in Wichita. He was even too old for WW II, or had a special hardship exemption.
Woody Fair, Goldie Howard, Wayne Grose, Winlow “Windy” Johnson, Alex Coleman, Dudley Carson and Rex Bain Hatfield were all WWII era fellows who played Industrial league baseball in Wichita and then moved on to the KOM league at the conclusion of the war and the formation of the new league.. All came in 1946 except Windy Johnson who didn’t show up until 1949. After their KOM careers concluded many former KOM leaguers played for various Wichita area teams. I won’t remember them all but here is what my “Three score ten and more age brain” comes up with: Loren Packard, Jim Morris, Dave Newkirk, Jim Upchurch, Al Kunigonis (aka Kuni), Rex Simpson, Mike Werbach, Clyde Girrens and Steve Kovach
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Keeping up with a former Ponca City Dodger—Robert Lee Henne.
In messing around on the Internet this past week I found where a former KOM leaguer had retired from a college position, last year, that he had held since 1964.
www.polk.edu/news/retirees-honored-at-fourth-annual-lunch... Pull up the foregoing URL and you will see a photo of Bob Henne. He played for the Ponca City Dodgers in 1950 and part of 1951. He attended the 1998 KOM league reunion. I never heard from him after that but the ex-basketball player, turned baseballer, is still alive and well in Winter Haven, Florida.
Henne was on the 1948-49 Kentucky Wildcat basketball team coached by the legendary, Adolph Rupp. That team later wound up in a huge scandal for messing with the bookies. The big names on the team were Alex Groza and Ralph Beard. The following site is for the basketball fans of the “Final Four.” It has all the pertinent data on the team as well as photos. Henne is listed as having attended high school in Bremen, Indiana. www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/roster1948-49.html Don’t rush past this site without looking closely at some of Henne’s peers. Joe B. Hall was on that Kentucky squad and he later coached at his alma mater.
Joe B. Hall, like Bob Henne, both landed in the Midwest. This is a quote about Hall who coached about 90 miles from where this report is being written. “Joe Beasman Hall, better known as Joe B. Hall, (born November 30, 1928) is the former head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky from 1972 to 1985. He previously coached at Central Missouri State University (Warrensburg, MO) and Regis University (Denver, CO) before returning to UK in 1965 to serve as an assistant coach under Adolph Rupp.”
Central Missouri State was the proving ground for future great coaches. Henry Iba coached there as well before going on to an illustrious career at Oklahoma A & M. Last year a coach by the name of Kim Anderson led Central Missouri State to a national NCAA level II championship. The University of Missouri hired him this year. Well, it only goes to show that not every thing turns out as expected. Don’t check Missouri’s record for the 2014-15 season. A case could be made that they were the worst team at the major college level in the nation. The bad news for Missouri is that most of the core of that team has two more years of eligibility. Missouri is the classic example of fans hoping that the nucleus of their team graduates prior to the next season. Now that I have infuriated Missouri alumni I’ll close this section.
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A reminder received on April 1.
And today is the 83rd birthday of one of your OLD KOMers. Kathy
Ed reply:
That note came in response to a pretty fair photo of a sunrise take at 5:45 on April 1st that was shared with the photo recipients. The birthday boy was Leonard Elmer Van de Hey.
He was born April 1, 1932 in Hillsboro, Wisconsin. Here is how I responded to Kathy. “Elmer was 19 when I first saw him. Long and lean. In fact, I saw him first in 1950,
even leaner.”
Ed comment:
One morning, in 1951, Van de Hey and Don Biebel showed up at the Carthage baseball facility while I was cleaning the mud from the spikes from the previous night’s game. They wanted to do some infield practice. Van de Hey wanted to be at shortstop and Biebel, with his catchers mitt was on first. I was told to play second base. I had played a lot of baseball up to that time but not with guys the size of Van de Hey. He wanted to turn a double play and he pounded a ball into his glove and threw to me at second. I could not have been more than 30 feet from him when he fired a bullet that I barely saw coming and it ripped the glove off my hand. I don’t know where the ball went but my glove was halfway to first base. I didn’t want to back down and admit I couldn’t catch balls thrown that hard from that distance but Biebel saved the day by telling Van de Hey to dial it back a bit. At that time in life Van de Hey was probably 16 inches taller and 130 pounds heavier than me. He was also 7.5 years older than the guy whose glove he ripped off with that hard throw. Van de Hey is still 7.5 years older but neither of us could begin to replicate that double play combination of sixty four summers past.
Since I mentioned Van de Hey’s birthday I guess it would be appropriate to list the April birth dates of the rest of the surviving KOM leaguers. They all have something in common, they are all over 80. Here are the names of the players and the day in April on which they were born. If you care to know the teams for whom they played you can check that at: komleaguebaseball.blogspot.com/2008/01/names.html
Mike Santoro (1), Bill Ashcraft (2), James Karrigan (3), Jim Belotti (Bello) (3), Raymond Moore (3), Lynne Stemme (3), Jerry Whalen (4), Sam Kitterman (5), Richard Nolte (6), George Beck (6), Charles Jones (8), Udo Jansen (9), Robert Kapinus (10), Alex Muirhead (11), Frank Urban (11), John Roth (12), Pete Swain (12), Kendall Wherry (13), Charles Kohs (14), Hubert Brooks (14), Bob Dewdney (14), Don Tisnaret (14), Hank Paskiewicz (15), Joe Elble (16), Sam Dixon (17), Steve Kraly (18), John Mudd (22), Lloyd Price (22), Anthony LaCroix (23), Gerald Wiley (23), Darrell Wayne Caves (23), James Cobb (25), Gerald Mayers (26), Robert Henne (28), Ronald and Donald Saatzer (29), Edward Soldo (29), William Eckensberger (29), Victor Damon (30) and Howard “Mace” Pool (30).
A coincidence?
Just moments after finishing the segment on birthdays I had a call from a former KOM leaguer who asked if I was still putting out the KOM league news. He said he hadn’t heard from me in about five years. I told the caller the newsletter was now being sent electronically. He said he didn’t have a computer. I asked him if he knew someone who did and he did. The person with the computer is his son Mickey who he named after a teammate from 1949. Read on and you’ll find out who that was. So, he’ll be receiving these Flash Reports in the near future.
In our conversation the caller asked about a number of former teammates and opponents. He asked if I ever hear from Jim Belotti (Bello) and I told him how coincidental that he asked about him since this is his birthday. The caller said he would call his former teammate and wish him a happy birthday. We talked about Belotti and the caller remembered him as a New Yorker wearing Panama hats, smoking big cigars and wooing all the young ladies in Independence. Those were the days.
So much for suspense. The call came from Keith Speck who pitched for the Independence Yankees in the first game Mickey Mantle ever played in professional baseball. Things haven’t gone well for Speck in recent times. He broke his hip and now resides in a residential care facility at Ft. Collins, Colo. If any of you guys want to get in touch with him let me know. One other fellow Speck asked about was a guy who was on an opposing team in 1949, Dick Getter, at Iola. I told him that I would pass his regards to Getter. So, Dick, Speck says “Hello”
The verbose conclusion:
Now, 99.9% of you are advised NOT to read any further—If you do so you can’t complain or criticize this totally non-KOM league story.
I didn’t invent Hogshooter, Oklahoma
In the Flickr version of the previous Flash Report a short synopsis of the members of the 1946 Bartlesville Oilers was presented. In that section it was mentioned that Bob Horsman lived at Ramona, Oklahoma which was not far from one of my favorite places, Hogshooter, OK. A number of readers probably thought I made that one up. So here is a Flash Report Extra.
“Hogshooter History.” (former names were Truskett and Jordan)
There are actually three different town sites in this area dating to 1900, 1917, and 1920. The residents moved with the various petroleum operations in the surrounding Hogshooter gas field, reportedly named after a Cherokee family and/or local Indians who once shot wild hogs along Hogshooter Creek. The Hogshooter gas field opened in 1907 and was the first significant discovery of "dry" gas in Oklahoma. Dry gas is that which is not produced in association with crude oil, while "wet" gas generally is found with oil.
Jim Truskett was here in 1894 and built a school which operated in various buildings until it was merged with the one in Oglesby in 1958. Jordan's grocery store was here by 1917. Nearby were several natural gasoline plants.
The Hogshooter field is still in production today. “The preceding stolen from Granger Meador’s Web Site.
Education in early day Oklahoma and Indian territories was limited to the availability of subscription, mission, and tribal schools. Generally, American Indian children had accessibility to all three, while blacks and whites could attend subscription and mission schools. Occasionally, tuition-paying white students attended tribal schools. Subscription schools were funded by a monthly tuition fee paid by the parents to the teachers. In turn, the teachers were responsible for securing a place of study and for paying the rent from their earnings. It was not uncommon for classes to be conducted in a tent, dugout, home, or church. Because of the low pay, many teachers were women, and they typically received one dollar per pupil per month. Attendance usually lasted a few months, because children were needed to help with harvesting and other farm chores.
In the early 1890s Charles B. Rhodes (later a U.S. marshal) taught a subscription school in Indian Territory known as Hogshooter, near Hogshooter Creek in present Washington County. Among his diverse group were Indian women and young men who were fugitives from the law. White as well as Cherokee, Delaware, and Quapaw pupils also attended the school. Rhodes accepted cash as well as produce, which he bartered for other items that he needed. Students sat on pine planks, and pine boards painted with lampblack served as a blackboard. With plentiful wildlife in the area, mischievous boys hung dead opossums on the school walls, much to Rhodes’s annoyance.”
Now the story is goes far out in leftfield
My earliest entertainment was from a big floor model Philco radio. I can still recall the call letters of the stations I heard around 1941 or 1942. Most of the call letters of those stations have long disappeared as well as the voices of the entertainers and announcers.
When I sat on my daddy’s knee in the early morning I heard the Washington Post March herald the beginning of the early morning news on KWTO in Springfield, MO. The broadcasts were consumed with WW II stories and daddy listened intently as I spilled my traditional morning cup of hot chocolate on his lap.
At noon he’d come home for lunch and as he prepared to go back to work he would take one stick of gum from his pocket, break it into four pieces for each of my three sisters and myself. As I recall it was Wrigley’s spearmint. As he handed us the sliver of gum each day he’d say “When the war is over you all get a whole stick.” Daddy lived to see the end of the war but not by much. When the war ended he had to go to the store for a pack and when he returned he had purchased Dentyne and that was so disappointing for I had long yearned for a whole stick of Wrigley’s spearmint.
So the radio was my way of keeping up with the war I hoped would end soon so that I would get my first whole stick of gum. While listening to KWTO after daddy went to work I found something else appealing. It was the country music of Slim Pickens Wilson, the Carl Haden Family and many others. I’d sing along with all of those songs after I had heard them a couple of times. I was so enthralled by the music I proclaimed to mother one morning, long before I had started grade school, (no kindergarten in that era) that when I grew up I was going to join the Haden family. See looked at me and inquired “Why don’t you do it now?” I didn’t have a clue where Springfield was except for it being at 550 on the radio dial and I never said another word to mother about my career goals for fear she’d find a way for the Haden family to make me one of their own.
Shortly after finding the Haden family I got good at turning the dial on the old Philco and I located KOAM in Pittsburg, Kansas at 850 on the AM dial. There I heard A. J. Cripe and his Town Talk Boys. Unbeknownst to me at the time one future KOM leaguer was Cripe’s chauffeur—Jim Morris-- and many of the visiting teams staying in the Besse Hotel in Pittsburg watched the live performance of Cripe’s 10:30 a. m. broadcast. And, by the way they thought he was the “corniest” of all country music performers.
In time my radio interest gained momentum and I found Harry Caray and Gabby Street talking about baseball something of which was totally foreign. But, I kept listening and from 1948 through the next decade I did everything in my power to listen to every Cardinal broadcast which sometimes even landed me in “hot water.”
Are you Hogshooter enthusiasts still with me?
During my junior college year at Joplin, MO and then on to where I attended a four year college at Bethany, Oklahoma, I had been exposed to a country music disc jockey on KRMG in Tulsa. His name was Marvin McCullough and like most guys with that first name was called “Marvelous Marv.” He was on before and after the noon news that was read by a legendary voice on that station -- Glenn Condon. McCullough was a bit risqué by the standards of that era but not even close to being so now. He was obsessed by names of small towns and a popular female singer of the era, Wanda Jackson. He was always fantasizing that she was his girl friend. Okay, I think you get the drift that McCullough was a character.
Being from Missouri you never believe anything until it is proven to you. McCullough had a small country band. He’d name towns in the area where he’d be performing and invariably he mentioned Hogshooter every time. I figured that was a fantasy place just like Wanda Jackson was his fantasy girl friend. But, after finishing college and pastoring a year at Davenport, Oklahoma I moved to Tulsa and McCullough was still on the air. After hearing Hogshooter mentioned a few more times (like a thousand) I determined to find it. All I ever found was a cemetery and a creek by that name just south of Bartlesville. (Hey, Bartlesville was a KOM league city so I’m still on topic.)
Tulsa was the first big town in which I had ever lived up to the time I was “Three times seven.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjSUhbOizhA Upon my arrival Pepper Martin, the old Gashouse Gang member of the St. Louis Cardinals, was teamed with Hugh Finnerty doing Tulsa Oiler broadcasts, Jim Hartz was with KOTV on his way to a long tenure with NBC in New York and David Ingels was running the show at KFMJ. KFMJ was the former radio station Fred M. Jones who was the Ford dealer in Tulsa. When he got into the radio business his initials became the call letters. When he sold the station it was purchased by Oral Roberts and the reason Ingels was hired as station manager.
After having been in Tulsa for a short time I had a call from Ingels who was promoting his four part gospel harmony quartet. He had sung for a well known quartet in Florida that went by the name of “The Rebels.” As pastor of a small church he wanted to bring his group to where I was preaching and the fee would be one of those “free will” offerings. We worked out the details and his “Evangelaires” sang for my congregation a number of times. As a result of that I had an invitation from Ingels to do some devotions at sign on and sign off. KFMJ was a dawn to dusk station so I did that for a while. During my time there I thought it would be great to be a radio announcer, disc jockey or something in the radio business. But, that was a crowded field and the competition was fierce in that day and especially in that town. I sure couldn’t compete with McCullough for he had the market cornered on Hogshooter and Wanda Jackson.
While taping some “sermonettes” one morning at KFMJ I was introduced to their afternoon country music disc jockey, Billy Parker. He was a country music entertainer in small venues like Hogshooter but he was playing second fiddle in the Tulsa radio market to McCullough. KFMJ had a radiating power of 1,000 watts and KRMG was a 50,000 watt station. So, you might say that Parker and Yours truly were two small fish at a small radio station. He was getting paid for spinning country records and I was spreading the gospel—gratis.
One thing that Parker could do that I could even dream of doing was write music. He came to work one day and had a song that he had written and recorded. When you are the disc jockey you can play about what you want if the management doesn’t object. The song that Parker had written didn’t impress me and I had been a country music fan all my life. Then, a legendary country music entertainer, Ernest Tubb, heard it and wanted to record it. My thought at the time was “How could a guy who made ‘I’m Walking the Floor Over You,’ and ‘Waltz Across Texas’ ever want to record Parker’s little ditty?
My radio days ended in Tulsa once I agreed to move to El Dorado Springs, Missouri to pastor another congregation. I did a radio program on a rotating basis on KESM in that town but when I turned on Tulsa’s KVOO, another 50,000 watt blow horn, the voice I heard on the prime air-time was Billy Parker. Parker never made any money with that little ditty he sang around KFMJ but when Ernest Tubb got hold of it Parker started making big bucks in royalties. Oh, the name of the song is found here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzcNAYyQog
My aspirations regarding bigger and better things in going to Tulsa never panned out. In fact, it was another rather forgettable place where I stopped along the pathway to the great hereafter. I never met McCullough but met Parker who turned out to be much more successful but I still owe McCullough for introducing me to Hogshooter. And, I know that least there were three people who knew of it. McCullough, a former KOM pitcher-Horsman and a batboy--me.
If you listened to the You Tube song by Ernest Tubb I would like to say in closing “Thanks A Lot.” That covers reading past as well as the current Flash Report.
I did mention Pepper Martin, right? During my time in Tulsa I did meet him. In addition to doing the color commentary for the Tulsa Oilers he spent some time messing with the ball team. One noon hour I went home for lunch which was just across the street from the old Oiler ballpark. I heard the sound of a ball hitting a bat and drove over there on my way back to work. Clad in a very hot suit, on a summer afternoon, I saw an old guy (he was 59 at the time) hitting balls to the outfielders who were Gary Kolb, Jim Beauchamp, Joe Patterson, Felix DeLeon, Elmer Lindsey and a couple of others. The old guy was also fielding the throws returned from the outfielders. I made my way down to the field and stood about 30 feet from him. After a little bit he told me I could shag some of the balls for him if I wished. Of course, I did and that was my only brush with Pepper Martin in my life. As far as his radio commentary went…well, his strong suit was playing the game.
****************************************************************
For extra credit.
Here are some reading links to this article. These links describe some of the information I don’t have room in this report to share. On top of that these sites have photos and video and it is remarkable material from many points of interest.
sghistory.com/index.php?n=R.Rebels
shs.umsystem.edu/rolla/manuscripts/r1095.pdf
www.allmusic.com/artist/billy-parker-mn0000090488/biography
tulsatvmemories.com/hartz.html
www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am...
www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=13171
If you love old baseball film and Roy Acuff singing “The Wabash Cannonball” pull up this URL about Pepper Martin www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9cvGAXpiDc
Pulling up the link for Hugh Finnerty provides some great photos of many of the guys who played in Tulsa and some who didn’t such as Mickey Mantle. Go here: You might spend a long time at this site. books.google.com/books?id=KBA6L4Bl1aQC&pg=PA42&lp...
If you looked up KFMJ on the Internet today you would find that it is now the call letters for a station in Ketchikan, Alaska. So, to see if the foregoing account of my memory is correct you will have to go to this link: tulsatvmemories.com/kfmj.html I didn’t use a single reference in this entire story. It is all attributable to a faulty memory. I added the links after this article was written.
Should you decide you could only look at one link listed in this report I would suggest you read this one on Glenn Condon. He was probably had the most interesting career of them all. www.tulsagal.net/2010/11/tulsa-pioneers-glenn-condon.html
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It’s over!!!
Now, I have mercifully come to the conclusion of another rambling report. My Easter wish is that you found something you liked, something you didn’t know or found something you knew and forgot and enjoyed being reminded of it again.
15/11/2014 Birmingham UK.
Iulia Frasineanu, 15 has her picture taken on the Have a Go at Sign Making stand at The Skills Show 2014. Credit: Professional Images/@ProfImages
[MSA Citation: BRG29-2-1-19-5]
Six individuals pictured. Mayor Thomas D' Alesandro Jr., seated looking at the camera, at signing ceremony.
undated
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