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"Execute Order 66"
"That will be done my Lord"
The Battle of Kashyyyk, on the brink of the execution of Order 66.
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This morning (Tuesday 1 February 2022), we executed warrants at six properties in the Chadderton area.
A 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A second 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.
A 26-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A 27-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
The warrants were executed as part of Operation Gabel - an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of two teenage girls in 2012/2013.
Inspector Nick Helme, of GMP's Oldham district, said: "This morning's action at several properties in the Chadderton area was a result of just one of a number of ongoing investigations into historic child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester.
"I can assure members of the public and warn offenders that investigating this type of crime is a top priority for the force. Regardless of time passed, dedicated teams in a specialist unit leave no stone unturned whilst gathering evidence to make arrests with the intention of bringing suspects to face justice.
"I hope these warrants build public trust and confidence that Greater Manchester Police is committed to fighting, preventing and reducing CSE to keep people safe and care for victims - giving them the faith they need in the force to come forward.
Greater Manchester is nationally recognised as a model of good practice in terms of support services available to victims.
If you or someone you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, we encourage you not to suffer in silence and report it to the police, or a support agency so you can get the help and support available.
- Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. We offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by telephoning 0161 276 6515.
-Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call us on 0161 273 4500 or email us at help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk
- Survivors Manchester provides specialist trauma informed support to boys and men in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.
Designed by Agustin Saez, the beautiful pulpit was executed in Philippine hardwood by master sculptor, Isabelo Tampingco.
Photo from
Interesting Manila.
More about the Church of San Ignacio:
The Philippine Jesuits
On the 6th of February 1945, the Jesuit church of San Ignacio, in Intramuros was put to the torch. There was so much wood in the church that it took all of four days for the conflagration to consume the buffet of tropical hardwoods – narra, tindalo, magcono, molave – cut from the mountain fastness of Surigao and transported to Manila seven decades previous. And, as if this were not humiliation enough, for a church hailed in its time as a masterpiece of art and architecture, on 23 February, bombs and mortars pummeled the smoldering structure, sending it prostrate to the ground.
Now a ruined and empty shell, stripped of its marble and brick, standing derelict along Arsobispado Street in Intramuros, it is hard to believe that this church was hailed by its architect, Felix Roxas as the Jesuits “sueno dorado,” – their golden dream, the fulfillment of many years of planning and work, and bargaining with patrons, the principal patron being Pedro Payo, O.P., Archbishop of Manila. He donated the land for the church by carving out a piece from his own private garden.
A structure 42.40 by 20.00 meters in size, the San Ignacio was a mere chapel by colonial standards where churches measured on the average 80 by 40 meters. Some like Sarrat church in Ilocos to more than 100 meters in length. Despite its small size, the best architects and artists of Manila poured their talent into this church.
Felix Roxas, the church’s principal architect, was a Filipino trained in Europe who spent part of his young career in India and England. There he must have picked up his affection for Revivalist architecture, the vogue of the era. When earthquake ruined the neoclassical Dominican church in 1863, Roxas designed for the friars a new church in the neo-Gothic idiom. With the commission for the Jesuits he opted for a church classical and Renaissance in temper to allude to the times when the Society of Jesus was founded. He planned the church as a single nave flanked by wide aisles, above them run galleries to accommodate a more churchgoers. Roxas did not live to see the church completed. The Jesuit brother, Francisco Riera, took charge of construction and saw the church to completion. Riera was so enamored with the San Ignacio’s design, practical as it was beautiful, that when his superior sent him to assists the Jesuits in Mindanao, he based his own designs for the churches at Tagoloan, Jasaan and Balingasag on the San Ignacio.
Agustin Saez designed the altars and the pulpit. Saez was at one time director of the Academía de Dibujo y Pintura, the art academy sponsored by the crown, and instructor in painting and drawing at the Ateneo Municipaál de Manila. The Philippines’ national hero, José Rizal studied under him at the Ateneo. For the altars, Saez worked with the classical idiom using Corinthian columns, arches, vases and statues of angels as basic design elements. Saez employed Francisco Rodoreda, a Spaniard to complete the carving of the marble altars imported from Italy. For the main altar, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper was interpreted in white Carara.
As designed by Saez, the pulpit depicted the Descent of the Spirit and Christ’s Great Commission, separated by allegories of Faith, Hope and Charity. To execute this masterpiece in tropical hardwood, the services of the best sculptor in Manila, Isabelo Tampingco and his atelier were employed. Tampingco came from a mestizo Chinese family, had worked on the interior of the Santo Domingo and was a consistent winner of awards in the Philippines and in Spain, where his works were displayed in regional and international expositions. Tampingco worked with his father-in-law, Crispulo Hocson, and the Filipino master carver, Manuel Flores and some 30 artisans. Flores carved the image of San Ignacio, whose eyes are raised to the heavens, following the words of Pedro de Ribadeneyra “aquel Padre que siempre mira al cielo.” Flores also carved the statue of the Sacred Heart and Hocson, the statue of the Immaculate Conception.
But it was the ceiling and the woodwork decorating the church that made it the toast of Manila. Tampingco, following Renaissance design, built an artesonado or coffered ceiling. The ceiling was neatly divided into squares of equal dimensions in which acanthus leaves were enclosed by braid and strap work. At the church crossing, Tampingco depicted a host of Jesuit saints and over the sanctuary, the Holy Spirit in a burst of glory.
The church took eleven years to build and was inaugurated on 31 July 1889, after a weeklong ceremony that must have made staid Manilenos ooh and ah. At night, the Jesuits illumined the church with “luz electrica,” and commissioned the painter, Felix Martínez to paint transparent paintings of Jesuit saints. These were mounted on the windows of the choir loft and illuminated from within. Felix Martinez, known for his genre works and murals, also painted the interior of the San Sebastian church in Quiapo.
After the great fire that destroyed part of Intramuros and the old Ateneo on 13 August 1932, the Jesuits thought of transferring San Ignacio to Ermita. But because this would damage the church, they decided against it. In 1939, two years short of the Second World War, a rector was appointed to the church, making it a quasi parish, to the delight of Manilenos who liked the church for weddings.
The church is no more. Only memories remain of it: a handful of pictures and some architectural plans, including Roxas’s initial design. But for Filipinos of a previous generation, the San Ignacio was a vibrant repository of, by now, legendary and halcyon years. On his way to his execution on 31 December 1896, José Rizal espied the twin towers of the San Ignacio near his alma mater, the Ateneo Municipal. He remarked how he spent the happiest moments of his youth there.
San Ignacio, the website of the Philippine Jesuits has chosen the San Ignacio church as its identifying graphic to speak of the continuity of the Philippine province of today and of yesterday. That continuity has been characterized by a singular affection for the Philippines, an affection that fosters the best the Filipino can be.
Operating as UA753, executing a go-around after its approach to 26R when the previous arrival failed to exit the runway in time.
ATL - Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
Taken from the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta hotel
Goddess Kali standing on the chest of Lord Shiva -
A formation in executing the nearly extinct Gotipua Dance at our Durga Puja Cultural Festival of 2013 - of South Madras Cultural Association, Chennai, India.
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Gotipua is a traditional dance form in the state of Orissa, India, and the precursor of Odissi classical dance. It has been performed in Orissa for centuries by young boys, who dress as women to praise Jagannath and Krishna. The dance is executed by a group of boys who perform acrobatic figures inspired by the life of Radha and Krishna. The boys begin to learn the dance at an early age until adolescence, when their androgynous appearance changes. In the Oriya language Gotipua, means "single boy" (goti-pua). Raghurajpur, Orissa (near Puri) is an historic village known for its Gotipua dance troupes.
To transform into graceful feminine dancers the boys do not cut their hair, instead styling it in a knot and weaving garlands of flowers into it. They make up their faces with mixed white and red powder. Kajal (black eyeliner) is broadly applied around the eyes to give them an elongated look. The bindi usually round, is applied to the forehead, surrounded with a pattern made from sandalwood. Traditional paintings adorn the face, which are unique to each dance school.
The costume has evolved over time. The traditional dress is a Kanchula, a brightly coloured blouse with shiny decorations. An apron-like, embroidered silk cloth (nibibandha) is tied around the waist like a ruffle and worn around the legs. Some dancers still adhere to tradition by wearing a pattasari: a piece of thin fabric about 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, worn tightly with equal lengths of material on both sides and a knot on the navel. However, this traditional dress is often replaced by a newly designed cloth which is easier to put on.
Dancers wear specially designed, beaded jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, armbands and ear ornaments. Nose-piercing jewelry has been replaced with a painted motif. Ankle bells are worn, to accentuate the beats tapped out by the feet. The palms of the hands and soles of the feet are painted with a red liquid known as alta. The costume, jewelry and bells are considered sacred.
Long ago, the temples in Orissa had female dancers known as devadasi (or mahari), who were devoted to Jagannath, which gave rise to Mahari dance. Sculptures of dancers on bas-reliefs in temples in Orissa (and the Konark Sun and Jagannath Temples in Puri) demonstrate this ancient tradition. With the decline of mahari dancers around the 16th century during the reign of Rama Chandra Dev (who founded the Bhoi dynasty), boy dancers in Orissa continued the tradition. Gotipua dance is in the Odissi style, but their technique, costumes and presentation differ from those of the mahari; the singing is done by the dancers. Present-day Odissi dance has been influenced by Gotipua dance. Most masters of Odissi dance (such as Kelucharan Mohapatra, from Raghurajpur) were Gotipua dancers in their youth.
Odissi dance is a combination of tandava (vigorous, masculine) and lasya (graceful, feminine) dances. It has two basic postures: tribhangi (in which the body is held with bends at the head, torso and knees) and chouka (a square-like stance, symbolizing Jagannath). Fluidity in the upper torso is characteristic of Odissi dance, which is often compared to the gentle sea waves which caress the Orissa beaches.
Each year, the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre organizes the Gotipua Dance Festival in Bhubaneswar.
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotipua
Vintage photo. Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding (P.J. Hogan, 1997).
British actor Rupert Everett (1959) grew up in privileged circumstances, but the wry, sometimes arrogant intellectual was a rebel from the very beginning. He had his breakthrough in Another Country (1984) as an openly gay student at an English public school in the 1930s. He has since appeared in many other films including The Comfort of Strangers (1990), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) and An Ideal Husband (1999).
Rupert James Hector Everett was born in Burnham Deepdale, Great Britain to Major Anthony Michael Everett and his wife Sara née Maclean. He has a brother, Simon Anthony Cunningham Everett. Everett was brought up as a Roman Catholic. From the age of seven, Everett was educated at Farleigh School, Hampshire, and from the age of thirteen was educated by Benedictine monks at Ampleforth College, Yorkshire. At this prestigious Roman Catholic public school. he trained classically on the piano. He dropped out of school at 16 and ran away to London to become an actor. In order to support himself, he worked as a male prostitute for drugs and money. After being dismissed from the Central School of Speech and Drama ((University of London) for clashing with his teachers, he travelled to Scotland and got a job at the avant-garde Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow. Everett's break came in 1981 at the Greenwich Theatre and later West End production of 'Another Country', playing a gay schoolboy opposite Kenneth Branagh. His character, Guy Bennett, is based on the double agent Guy Burgess. The play was filmed, Another Country (Marek Kanievska, 1984) with Cary Elwes and Colin Firth. Brian J. Dillard at AllMovie: “Rupert Everett and Colin Firth give strong, economical performances as the homosexual dandy and the fervent Marxist who, for different reasons, chafe at the restrictions of their society. Both characters are callow and self-absorbed, but Firth's principled thinker and Everett's ambitious romantic undergo subtle transformations that make them ultimately sympathetic.” He followed on with Dance With a Stranger (Mike Newell, 1985), based on the true story of Ruth Ellis (Portrayed by Miranda Richardson), the last woman to be executed in England. In Italy, he starred in the Gabriel Garcia Marquez adaptation Cronaca di una morte annunciata/ Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Francesco Ros, 1987i) with Ornella Muti. Everett began to develop a promising film career until he co-starred with Bob Dylan in the huge flop Hearts of Fire (Richard Marquand, 1987). Around the same time, Everett recorded and released an album of pop songs entitled Generation of Loneliness. Despite being managed by the largely successful pop svengali Simon Napier-Bell (who steered Wham! to international fame), the public didn't take to his change in direction. The shift was short-lived, and he would only return to pop indirectly by providing backing vocals for his friend Madonna on her 1999 cover of 'American Pie' and on the track 'They Can't Take That Away from Me' on Robbie Williams' 'Swing When You're Winning' in 2001. Following this flop, Everett disappeared for a while, taking up residence in Paris and writing a semi-autobiographical novel, 'Hello, Darling, Are You Working?'. He also came out as gay.
Rupert Everett returned to the screen opposite Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren in The Comfort of Strangers (Paul Schrader, 1990). He was successful as the fat and lazy Prince of Wales (the later George IV) in The Madness of King George (Nicholas Hytner, 1994), and appeared among the all star cast of Prêt-à-Porter (Robert Altman, 1994). The Italian comics character Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi, is graphically inspired by him. Everett appeared in a film adaptation, Dellamorte Dellamore/Cemetery Man (Michele Soavi, 1994) as a killer of zombies. In 1995 he released a second novel, 'The Hairdressers of St. Tropez'. His film career was revitalized by his award-winning performance in the comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (P.J. Hogan, 1997), playing Julia Roberts's gay friend. Robert Firsching at AllMovie: “Rupert Everett is terrific as Roberts' gay confidant, and there are some surprising scenes, including a woman with her tongue stuck to an ice sculpture in a most untoward location. It was a huge hit at the box office, with enough genuine romance to satisfy purists and enough bite for those with a slightly different attitude.”Everett has since appeared in a number of high-profile film roles, including as Christopher Marlowe in Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998), Lord Arthur Goring in An Ideal Husband (Oliver Parker, 1999) and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Michael Hoffman, 1999). In 1999, he also played Madonna's best friend in The Next Best Thing (John Schlesinger. 1999), and the villainous Sanford Scolex/Dr. Claw in Disney's Inspector Gadget (David Kellogg, 1999) with Matthew Broderick.
Rupert Everett became a Vanity Fair contributing editor and wrote a film screenplay on playwright Oscar Wilde's final years. He also appeared in another film adaptation of a Wilde play, The Importance of Being Earnest (Oliver Parker, 2002) with Colin Firth. Later roles include his royal portrayals in To Kill a King (Mike Barker, 2003) and Stage Beauty (Richard Eyre, 2004), In 2006, he published a memoir, 'Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins', in which he revealed he had a six-year affair with British television presenter Paula Yates. Since then, Everett lead the 2007 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, played a double role in the film St. Trinian's (Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson, 2007) and the sequel St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson, 2009), and has appeared several times on TV, causing regularly some outrage. In recent years, Everett has returned to his acting roots appearing in several theatre productions; He made his Broadway debut in 2009 in the Noël Coward play 'Blithe Spirit', starring alongside Angela Lansbury. During the summer of 2010, he played in a revival of 'Pygmalion' as Professor Henry Higgins at the Chichester Festival Theatre and reprised this role in 2011, at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End, starring alongside Diana Rigg as Higgins's mother and Kara Tointon as Eliza.
Rupert Everett went on to play Oscar Wilde in 'The Judas Kiss' in 2013 and was about to play George on Broadway in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' when the play closed before it officially opened due to the COVID pandemic in 2020. On TV, he played the effortlessly suave Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (Simon Cellan Jones, 2004), the Marquis de Feron in the British series The Musketeers (2016) and Carroll Quinn in a second British series Adult Material (Dawn Shadforth, 2020). Known for his aloof handsomeness and often smug, piss-elegant characters, he engagingly portrayed a jet-setter in the contemporary film People (Fabien Onteniente, 2004); provided the voice of the unprincely Prince Charming in the animated features Shrek 2 (Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon, 2004) and Shrek the Third (Chris Miller, Raman Hui, 2007); played a British defector opposite Sharon Stone in the romantic thriller A Different Loyalty (Marek Kanievska, 2004) and a millionaire playboy involved in a hit-and-run in Separate Lies (Julian Fellowes, 2005). He also has a part in the comedy film Wild Target (Jonathan Lynn, 2010), starring Bill Nighy, and the comedy Hysteria (Tanya Wexler, 2011) about the first vibrator. He appeared as King George VI (father of Queen Elizabeth) opposite Emily Watson's Queen Mum in the romantic dramedy A Royal Night Out (Julian Jarrold, 2015). He also played a monsignor in Altamira (Hugh Hudson, 2016) opposite Antonio Banderas. He wrote and directed The Happy Prince (Rupert Everett, 2018), in which he also starred as tortured gay playwright Oscar Wilde during his last days. His co-star was Colin Firth, the co-star of his film debut, Another Country. Although Rupert Everett urged in 2009 gay stars not to 'come out' and to keep their sexuality a secret as it could end their film career’, he himself is a living testament disproving the theory that a truly talented and successful romantic leading man cannot survive the career-killing stigma of being openly gay.
Sources: Brian J. Dillard (AllMovie), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
One of a series of very naiive illustrations for a cycle of song lyrics I wrote some years ago now. They are deliberately Ingoldsby-like. Here's the whole cycle:
Fingers Pale
a compendium of ghostly songs
The Ghostly Witness
Annie Walker and her cousin
Shared the self-same bed,
She bore a child within her womb
But he would not be wed.
So William Walker took a pick
And cleaved her pretty head,
And in a mineshaft dank and cold
He let her grisly body mould
And swore that she was dead.
A Miller worked, a-grinding corn,
An honest man but poor,
When all at once dead Annie Walker
Stepped in through his door.
Her head was fairly cleaved in twain
And dripped with brains and gore.
Her hair was wet and hanging down
And blood-bespattered was her gown,
A-dripping on the floor.
Her blue lips parted and she spoke,
Her tongue was black with grime,
“Oh Walker did away with me,
Murdered in my prime!
His boots, besmeared with clotted blood
He left outside the mine.
He dragged me down into the hole,
My corpse decays amid the coal,
My bones leach into lime!”
The Miller quaked with mortal fear,
“Why hast thou come to me?”
His feet were frozen to the floor
Though he was wont to flee.
The corpse said, “Justice I require,
And leave it up to thee!
I’ll haunt thee, Miller, taunt thee nightly
Until they bind up Walker tightly
And hang him from a tree!”
He knelt to wash away the clots
Congealing on the floor,
But as he scrubbed, the dead girl’s blood
Returned in gouts of cruor,
And fast the Miller ran away
Across the misty moor.
She followed hard upon his trail
And clutched him with her fingers pale
And harrassed him the more.
He went unto the magistrate
And made the matter plain;
He told how Walker used his pick
And left poor Annie slain.
They found the body in the mine
The skull pierced to the brain,
Limbs akimbo, neck awry,
And Walker’s boots were stashed nearby
Besmirched with bloody stains.
There is a gibbet on a tree,
And Walker’s hanging there.
His eyes are fixed on Annie’s grave
With dull and sightless stare;
The ravens watch his twitching corpse
And pluck his lanky hair.
In tufts they pull it from the roots,
And all because he left his boots
Beside his cousin fair.
Source Material: Legend, with some basis in fact, associated with the coal mining communities of Framwellgate Moor and Chester-le-Street, County Durham. J.W. Dickenson’s Further Tales of Old Durham, 1988.
The Sprightly Tailor
The great MacDonald of Saddell
He loved his Sprightly Tailor well
No phantom coming up from hell
Could scare the Sprightly Tailor.
MacDonald wanted for to use
A pair of fringed and tartan trews
But he despaired until the news
Came to the Sprightly Tailor.
The Tailor leapt up with a grin,
“Oh Master, when can I begin
To work with thimble, thread and pin?”
Cried the Sprightly Tailor.
MacDonald said, “Ye’ll start tonight:
Make my trews and stitch them right
And have them ready by daylight,
You boastful Sprightly Tailor.
But you shall stitch them in the church
That lies in yonder grove of birch,
And you must fly not from your perch!
Be stalwart, Sprightly Tailor!”
The Sprightly Tailor’s noble host
Did raise his arm in silent toast
For in the church there dwelt a ghost
To scare the Sprightly Tailor.
“I fear it not,” the Tailor taunted,
“Though the church be ruined and haunted.
Through the land the name be vaunted
Of the Sprightly Tailor!”
He sat upon a granite tomb
And all about him crept the gloom;
It curled around the ruined room
And round the Sprightly Tailor.
Upon his thumb he put his thimble,
Fast then worked his fingers nimble
‘Til the ground began to tremble
‘Neath the Sprightly Tailor.
A tombstone lifted up nearby;
A head rose up with gleaming eye,
But neither groan nor fearful cry
Escaped the Sprightly Tailor.
The head let out an awful low;
It said, “I’m coming out, you know!”
“I see your head but this I’ll sew,”
Replied the Sprightly Tailor.
The spectre rose up to the chest
But still the Tailor did not rest,
“MacDonald’s trews must be the best
Made by the Sprightly Tailor!”
The spectre comes out to his britches;
The altar quakes; the pavement pitches
And slightly longer grow the stitches
Of the Sprightly Tailor.
The spectre steps out on the floor,
The Tailor stitches more and more
With not one glance towards the door
From the Sprightly Tailor.
The spectre’s voice foretells abuse,
The Tailor finishes the trews,
And not one moment does he lose,
That nimble Sprightly Tailor.
He blows his candle and he flees;
The spectre’s rasping wrathful wheeze
Shakes the rocks and hills and trees
Around the Sprightly Tailor.
The spectre chased him through the glen;
The Tailor hid at Saddell, then
The spectre went back to his den
And cursed the Sprightly Tailor.
Back to hell then went the lich;
No other Tailor was so rich
Thanks to the somewhat longer stitch
Of the Sprightly Tailor.
Source Material: Scottish fairy tale. Joseph Jacobs, Celtic Fairy Tales, Twickenham, 1994, pp. 61-64. He derived the tale from Notes and Queries, December 21, 1861.
Andrew Coffey
The rain came down on Andrew Coffey
Drenched upon his mare,
A mad March wind blew through the trees
‘Til Andrew did not dare
To ride his horse another ell
Lest she stumbled, lurched or fell,
And where he was, he could not tell
And did not seem to care.
“I see a light,” said Andrew Coffey,
“Burning by the pond,”
He led his mare with sinking step
Through fern and bracken frond,
Until they came unto a hut
But the door was bolted shut,
“There may be other houses but
I dare not ride beyond.”
“May I come in?” called Andrew Coffey;
The door swung open wide,
And clinging cobwebs thick with dust
Hung in the room inside.
A lantern glowed upon a chair
But its owner was not there,
And Andrew Coffey did not dare
To put the lamp aside.
Upon the floor sat Andrew Coffey,
His breath a cloud of mist,
When from a cupboard came a voice,
And the sound of rapping fist.
“ANDREW COFFEY!” cried it then,
And “ANDREW COFFEY!” once again,
“Tell me a tale of ghostly men,”
The voice hoarsely hissed.
“Oh no indeed!” said Andrew Coffey,
“I dare not tell a tale,
For I’m afraid,” said Andrew Coffey,
His face was grim and pale.
“ANDREW COFFEY!” cried it then,
And “ANDREW COFFEY!” once again,
“Tell me a tale of ghostly men!
You’ll be sorry if you fail!”
“Oh no indeed!” said Andrew Coffey,
“I know not what to say!”
And from the cupboard lurched a corpse
With beard grizzled grey.
“Patrick Rooney!” cried he then,
And “Patrick Rooney!” once again,
“Lost overboard with all his men
A year ago today!”
From the hut fled Andrew Coffey
But his horse he could not see.
He ran away with frenzied fear
Straight into a tree.
His head was reeling, blind his eyes,
Spreadeagled ‘neath the whirling skies,
His ears rung with Rooney’s cries
Clamouring to be free.
When sight came back to Andrew Coffey,
He heard two men behind,
A-carrying dead Patrick Rooney
Trussed up like a hind.
Beyond the tree then did they sit
And soon they had a fire lit,
With Patrick Rooney on a spit -
But Rooney did not mind.
“Oh who will turn dead Patrick Rooney?”
Said one man to the other.
“There’s just the man!” said Patrick Rooney
Amid the smoke and pother.
“ANDREW COFFEY!” cried he then,
And “ANDREW COFFEY!” once again,
“Turn my spit to help these men,
If it’s not too much bother!”
So Andrew turned dead Patrick Rooney,
Slung o’er the spitting fire,
When all at once dead Patrick Rooney,
Indignantly cried, “Sire!
You’re burning me, you fiend, you cad!
Now that makes me really mad!
Never was a cook so bad!”
Cried Rooney red with ire.
Then Andrew saw dead Patrick Rooney
Climb down from the spit.
“Look at my scorch marks, Andrew Coffey,
You really are a twit!”
Then all at once the corpse was gone
And Andrew Coffey wandered on
Until a hut he came upon
By lonely lantern lit.
“May I come in?” called Andrew Coffey;
The door swung open wide,
And there was half-cooked Patrick Rooney
Upon the chair inside.
“ANDREW COFFEY!” cried he then,
And “ANDREW COFFEY!” once again,
“Tell me a tale of ghostly men!
I will not be denied!”
Then such a tale told Andrew Coffey,
To make mere mortals quake.
He told the tale of Patrick Rooney,
The walls around did shake.
“PATRICK ROONEY!” Andrew said,
And “PATRICK ROONEY! Living dead!”,
‘Til Andrew Coffey fell out of bed
And sat up wide awake.
Source Material: Irish fairy tale. Joseph Jacobs, Celtic Fairy Tales, Twickenham, 1994, pp. 200-205. He derived the tale from D.W. Logie and Alfred Nutt.
Croglin Grange
Two brothers and a sister rented Croglin Grange,
A house with little character, not untoward nor strange,
And soon the sister set about, the decor to arrange
In Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
The sister’s bedroom window had a splendid view
Overlooking field and hedgerow, and the churchyard too,
And nobody expected too much bother or ado
In Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
The night was somewhat sultry; no wind was in the air.
The sister sat a-knitting upon her bedroom chair,
When in through the window she saw two black eyes stare
Into Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
It scratched upon the window, it picked apart the lead,
And in through the casement it thrust its shrivelled head,
And she began to doubt what the advertisements had said
About Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
It grabbed her by her slender, pale and gentle wrist;
It touched her pretty chin with its yellow, bony fist,
And her tender throat was by blackened lips a-kissed
In Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
She let out a scream before she swayed and swooned,
And her two stalwart brothers burst into the room,
She lay beneath the curtains, swaying in the gloom
In Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
All that they could find was two welts upon her throat,
While outside the window the fiend did gasp and gloat,
The blood in there is plentiful, it made a mental note
About Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
Then one of the brothers looked down below,
And saw the creature’s teeth in a pearly, shining row;
He took a careful aim and he shot it with his bow
From Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
It gave a fearful cry as they rushed into the night;
They followed its footsteps by flickering lantern light
Until they came upon a tomb, a dark and dreary sight
Nearby Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
They hauled away the tombstone, and horribly they cried,
For half-eaten human bodies were strewn about inside,
It was sitting in its casket, its grin was red and wide,
Laughing, Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
One brother threw the lantern, it burst and spattered fire,
The creature waved its arms with wrath and rage and ire,
And as it was consumed it pronounced its curses dire
Upon Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
There’s a lovely house to let, the furnishings are nice,
It comes with guarantees against silverfish or mice,
And the landlords aren’t disposed to haggle o’er the price
Of Croglin Grange, Croglin Grange,
There’s nothing strange about Croglin Grange.
Source material: English folk-tale. Augustus Hare’s more complex version, which, for the sister at least, has a happier ending, may be read in Kevin Crossley-Holland (Ed.) Folk Tales of the British Isles, London, 1985, pp. 203-207. There are comparatively few English vampire tales, and the notion that vampires are killed by fire, rather than by means of a stake through the heart, appears to be unique to this one.
The Milk-White Doo
There once was a farmer who had a little lad,
And his name was Curly Locks; he looked just like his Dad;
He had a little sister; Golden Tresses, pretty miss,
At night he tucked them up in bed, gave each of them a kiss.
Their mother died in childbirth, their father struggled on,
But in the day he had to work; for hours he was gone,
And soon he was tired of a widower’s hard life;
He said “I think I’ll have to go and get another wife!”
Now this woman was a termagant, she beat him black and blue,
And when he went into the fields, she thrashed the children too.
She thrashed them with her distaff, she thrashed them with her whip,
She said, “I’ll thrash you harder still,” and curled her wicked lip.
Their father went a-hunting and shot a hare for stew,
The woman put it on to boil and threw the boy in too,
And when the father ate the stew, he got an awful shock,
For he found himself a-chewing on the foot of Curly Locks.
Chorus:
Oh Mammy put me in the stew,
Daddy had my bones to chew,
And I am coming after you
I’th’ form o’th’ Milk White Doo!
“Oh it is Curly Locks’s foot!” distraught the father cried,
“Nay! ‘Tis but a piece of hare,” the wicked woman lied,
And soon the stew was finished off, they licked the cauldron clean,
And after that poor Curly Locks was never ever seen.
But Golden Tresses took the bones and buried them outside,
Then she knelt upon her knees, and mournfully she cried,
And from the grave the Doo arose, and opened pinions white;
It kissed her cheek and then it flew away into the night.
It came upon a washerwoman, and unto her did sing,
She quickly handed o’er the clothes, it tucked them ‘neath its wing;
It found a man a-counting money, and unto him did coo,
The fellow said, “This bag of silver I give unto you.”
It came upon a miller-boy, a-grinding yellow corn,
And flew with millstone in its beak, through the misty morn,
Till it alighted on the house, and rapped on window sill,
And all the family came outside, looking pale and ill.
Chorus
First there came wee Golden Tresses, the Doo lifted its wing,
It gave her all the pretty clothes, and unto her did sing:
“My sister buried all my bones, she wept that I should die!”
It kissed her once more on the cheek; the stepmother said, “Fie!”
Then there came the father grieving, the Doo lifted its wing,
It gave him all the silver bright, and unto him did sing:
“You ate me up unknowingly, you knew not it was I!”
The father wept and wrung his hands; the stepmother said, “Fie!”
And then at last the woman came, the Doo lifted its wing,
It held the great millstone aloft, and unto her did sing:
“You put my body in the stew, and made my sister cry,
And for this, you evil witch, I swear that you shall die!”
It dropped the millstone on her head, it crushed her every bone,
And all the clearing echoed with her awful dying groan,
The Milk-White Doo, it gave a coo, flapped it wings and then,
I have heard tell the Milk-White Doo was never seen again.
Chorus
Source material: Scottish folk-tale, origin unknown, from Scottish Fairy Tales, Senate, 1994, pp. 166-172.
The Bride of Baldoon
Janet Dalrymple loved Archibald Rutherford,
The penniless nobleman gave her his heart,
But both of her parents scorned Archibald Rutherford;
They each disapproved of the match from the start.
Dalrymple said, “Daughter, soon you’ll be married, child,
To brave David Dunbar, the heir to Baldoon.”
Poor Janet trembled, she blanched and her eyes were wild,
And then she fell at his feet in a swoon.
Janet Dalrymple will haunt the ruins evermore;
Janet Dalrymple, the bride of Baldoon.
She wept and she pleaded for Archibald Rutherford,
Her mother sat silent, and stony her stare.
Her father said, “Plagues upon Archibald Rutherford!
Should he step o’er this threshold, I’d have him beware!”
So they wed her to Dunbar upon a bright summer’s day,
And she pledged her troth to the lord of Baldoon.
The priest told him, “Kiss the bride”; she turned her face away,
Her pouting lips quivered, “My death shall come soon.”
Janet Dalrymple will haunt the ruins evermore;
Janet Dalrymple, the bride of Baldoon.
To the nuptial chamber they dragged the unwilling bride;
They bolted the door and they wished them sweet dreams,
And late in the night fearful noises were heard inside;
The servants awoke to hear Lord Dunbar’s screams.
They rushed to the chamber, the maids’ slippers on the floor,
Their feet clattered on the stone stairs of Baldoon,
And there lay Lord Dunbar all covered with gouts of gore,
His wife pale and wan in the light of the moon.
Janet Dalrymple will haunt the ruins evermore;
Janet Dalrymple, the bride of Baldoon.
Her face was contorted, maniacal was her smile;
She muttered in syllables strange to their ears -
They say Janet Dalrymple died ‘ere a little while,
Her dress stained with blood and her cheeks streaked with tears.
Wisteria and ivy festoon all the crumbling walls,
Ground-elder takes over the road to Baldoon,
And wailing, her ghost wanders through its deserted halls
And Lord Dunbar’s lifeblood still drips on her shoon.
Janet Dalrymple will haunt the ruins evermore;
Janet Dalrymple, the bride of Baldoon.
Source material: Based on events surrounding a wedding which occurred on 24 August 1669, also recorded by Sir Walter Scott in his novel, The Bride of Lammermoor. See also Simon Marsden, Phantoms of the Isles: Further Tales from the Haunted Realm, Exeter, 1990, p.11. Baldoon Castle is in Wigtownshire, Scotland.
Plas Teg
Distraught was John Trevor, his dead wife turned cold,
He sat in his carriage and whipped at his steed,
The poor creature shied and she slipped on the mould:
John Trevor went back to Plas Teg for to bleed.
In the Regency Bedroom, John Trevor died;
His skull had been fractured, and bleeding his brain,
And still his pale ghost calls out for his bride,
Wringing white hands and groaning with pain.
Chorus:
The grounds are all overgrown, weathered the stone,
The house is as gaunt and as grey as a tomb,
And evil stalks everywhere, nought will atone,
For spectres and wraiths wander through every room.
Two lovers were courting, he asked for her hand,
She loved the man dearly, but evil befell:
He died in a duel for an acre of land,
She went to Plas Teg, drowned herself in the well.
She wanders the grounds, her drowned lips turned blue;
She lurks in the well, and her hands claw the stone,
And on moonlit nights she arises anew,
The cold garden echoes her agonised moan.
Chorus
The gatekeeper stood his watch, one stormy night
When something approached him, rustling leaves,
They say that his face was contorted with fright;
He flew to Plas Teg, hung himself from the eaves.
Yet still his ghost watches and waits at the gate
His grey hair unruffled by cool evening breeze,
You can still hear him weeping, bemoaning his fate,
As dark spectral riders approach through the trees.
Chorus
The Indian Bedroom, once used as a court:
Now it lies empty, for none can abide
The place were the felons for mercy besought,
For here they were sentenced and here they died:
The rafters bear marks where the gibbet-rope hung;
Here is the lever that sprung the trap-door;
Into that corner their bodies were slung;
Here are the marks where their boots dragged the floor.
Chorus
Source material: Plas Teg is a Jacobean mansion in Clwyd, Wales, and is the scene of an extraordinary number of violent deaths and ghostly manifestations. It is pictured and described in Simon Marsden, Phantoms of the Isles: Further Tales from the Haunted Realm, Exeter, 1990, p. 20.
Johnny One-Arm
John Chiesly lived in Dalry town,
He was unhappily married:
He was enslaved by his termagant wife;
She nagged and bitched and harried.
He took his case to a court of law,
Alimony was enforced,
The yearly settlements left John Chiesly
Unhappily divorced.
Unhappily divorced was he
And still unhappier yet to be:
He cursed the day that he was wed
And he shot her lawyer in the head;
He shot him dead in Old Bank Close,
It was a terrible deed:
A capital crime of the grimmest sort
As all the town agreed.
And so, the arm which held the gun
They chopped off at All Hallows,
They dragged him down the Royal Mile
And hung him on the gallows.
And on the gallows then hung he
A gruesome sight for all to see,
And at his mouldering corpse they jeered
Until one night it disappeared.
It disappeared one stormy night,
‘Twas nowhere to be found,
And ghostly laughter, screams and wails
Were heard from all around,
From all around the screeching came,
John Chiesley went a-walking
And all Edinburgh quaked with fear
When his ghost was stalking.
His ghost went stalking every night,
He gave the ladies such a fright;
They fainted in the streets for fear
Of Johnny One-Arm drawing near.
Johnny One-Arm drawing near,
His right side smeared with gore
Johnny with the menacing leer,
For mercy they implore.
He terrorises rich and poor,
Thin lads and maidens bonny,
And streams of blood gush on the floor
From the stump of One-Armed Johnny.
One-Armed Johnny, unhappily wed,
Should not have tried divorce instead:
Unhappy marriage may be daunting,
But ‘tis better than unhappy haunting.
Source material: John Chiesly sought divorce in 1688, and murdered Sir George Lockhart out of anger at the terms of the divorce settlement. In 1965, builders uncovered a skeleton in Dalry, lacking one arm. The remains were re-interred, and the hauntings ceased. Reported in Lily Seafield, Scottish Ghosts, New Lanark, 1999, pp. 42-43.
Sister Grizel
In the West Bow of Edinburgh
Lived Major Thomas Weir,
Along with charming Grizel,
She was his sister dear.
A pillar of society,
Well known for his propriety,
But he soon gained notoriety
And filled the town with fear.
He seemed to be a holy man,
And when the people met for prayer,
Major Thomas Weir
Was invariably there,
His standing was prestigious,
They all thought him religious,
And of his sins prodigious
They all were unaware,
Except for idle gossipers,
Who revelled in their scorn:
They noticed how he bore a staff
Of gnarled and dark blackthorn,
“He is a warlock, this we say!”
And all the citizens said “Nay!”
But pretty soon they’d rue the day
That Major Weir was born.
He stood up in the meeting house
When others knelt to pray,
And all assumed that he would have
Some holy words to say,
But out came his confessions vile,
All uttered with contorted smile,
And he was laughing all the while
Describing his foul play:
“Incestuous are my desires
For Grizel shares my bed,
We court the devil, conjouring
With all the living dead!
We’re indecently familiar,
With occult memorabilia,
And we indulge in necrophilia
By Satan are we wed!”
Priests and doctors questioned him
And found that he was sane,
And he retold his awful tale
Again and again.
He could not, would not be ignored,
He waved his black staff like a sword,
And like a devil gouged and clawed
And writhed as if in pain.
For crimes of witchcraft strangled,
His body burnt with fire,
His blackthorn staff was also
Thrown upon the pyre.
His sinews jerking as they burned,
The dead eyes in their sockets turned,
And in the flames the black staff squirmed,
The scene was grim and dire.
And then they dragged out Grizel too
To hang upon the scaffold,
She stripped her clothes off on the spot,
Stood trembling in the cold.
About her neck they tied a rope,
And up the ladder she did grope,
And as she dropped, screamed, “How I hope
For hellish fires untold!”
For fifty years their house stood empty,
Dark and dismal sight,
And from its halls came laughter grim,
And groanings in the night.
You may yet hear a strangled squeal,
Or the sound of Grizel’s spinning wheel –
Sounds fit to make the blood congeal
With pure unholy fright.
In the West Bow of Edinburgh
Lived Major Thomas Weir,
Along with charming Grizel,
She was his sister dear.
And though their dwelling stands no more
Still devils come with unsheathed claw
And pound upon its spectral door
To fill the town with fear.
Source material: Major Weir, formerly a Covenanter, made his confession in Edinburgh in1670, and was executed in April of that year. The story, along with accounts of the spectral apparitions associated with him and his sister Grizel are recorded in Lily Seafield’s Scottish Ghosts, New Lanark, 1999, pp. 50-52. The staffs carried by witches were often of blackthorn, and the blackthorn itself was thought to be an unlucky tree.
The Passenger
Puddles reflect a crescent moon,
The cartwheels creak and lurch,
The horses, blinkered, breathing fog
Pass ghostly trunks of birch.
Atop the trap, the coachman sits,
He lightly flicks the whip,
Mist creeps in tendrils all around;
He feels their clammy grip.
He drives on through a sunken lane,
And darkness closes round;
But for hooves and turning wheels
There is no other sound.
Empty is the seat behind,
And yet he feels a breath
Upon the bare nape of his neck,
As cold as musty death.
He shudders, flicks the whip again,
“’Twas only in my mind,”
He grits his teeth, resists the urge
To turn and look behind.
But icy chills run down his spine;
He drives the horses more.
White fingers clutch about his throat,
Each nail a blackened claw.
And as he writhes and chokes to death
Within their stony grip,
His glazing eyes look at its face;
It curls its shrivelled lip.
The horses bolt, the cart careers
Down the sunken lane;
It overturns, the wheels revolve,
Glistening in the rain.
And from the creaking, splintered cart
Shall the strangled coachman rise;
Like blackened claws his fingernails;
Like shrivelled grapes, his eyes.
His passenger has disappeared,
His steeds lie side by side;
He goes to seek another coach,
The back seat for to ride.
Source material: An overactive imagination, perhaps. The “sunken lane” is now the A436.
The Bridge of the White Spirit
In Kidwelly castle lived Sir Elidir,
A crusader, and a valiant knight.
Nest was his daughter; she brought him good cheer,
When she laughed, he was filled with delight.
She lived with two brothers, Gruffydd and Rhys,
She was gentle in manner, and matchless in grace,
But jealous young Gladys, Sir Elidir’s niece
Hoped to entwine her in darkest disgrace,
For Nest loved a Norman, Sir Walter by name,
Though she could have married the best man in Wales.
Said Gladys, “I’ll bring those lovers to shame
The next time her father sets his red sails –
Whilst he is far gone, on some holy crusade,
Sir Walter and Nest shall be sorely betrayed!”
The Tomb of our Lord was besieged by the Turks,
And Sir Elidir took up the Cross,
Gladys began with her treacherous works,
She brought nothing but dolour and loss.
She made love to Gruffydd, but cared for him nought,
And told him of Nest and her forbidden love.
Favours exchanged, he was easily bought;
He said, “What’s a sister, when push comes to shove?”
He called his retainer, Meurig the sly,
“Thou knowest Sir Walter, the young Norman lord?
Thou wouldst grow rich, should he happen to die –
Here – take this gold; you may borrow this sword.”
And Meurig, he nodded and took up his pay;
He took sword and scabbard, and sidled away.
On the wide river Gwendraeth, a bridge lay in mist,
Where Nest met Sir Walter, for dalliance sweet,
But the dismal day came, and a third kept the tryst,
Stealthily creeping on noiseless feet.
She saw the dark shadow draw close to her love,
The glint of the sword, and she heard his death-cry.
He fell from the bridge, and she wailed above,
Then she leapt o’er the edge with a heartbroken sigh.
The wide, raging water washed both out to sea;
At Cefn Sidan, they washed up on the sands.
A gaping wound punctured his heart, plain to see,
And clutching his waist, her cold, lifeless hands.
But when evil Gladys heard news of their fate,
She rubbed her hands gladly, afire with hate.
Far off in the Holy Land, Elidyr heard
Of the death of his daughter, and died of the grief,
And Meurig looked pale, uttered never a word,
And no earthly counsel could bring him relief,
For the ghost of poor Nest, all shrouded in white,
Followed him everywhere, haunted his home,
A-weeping by day, and a-moaning by night;
He fled, as a pilgrim, and wandered to Rome.
He went to the Holy Land, Cross on his chest;
The white spirit followed with pitiful wails.
She wrung her white hands, she beat her fair breast;
She followed him back to Kidwelly in Wales,
And taken with fever, priest by his bed-side,
He grimly told all, then he lay back and died.
Source material: Eirwen Jones, Folk-Tales of Wales, London, 1947, pp. 88-94.
King Henry’s Knowe
King Henry lived for lust and war,
For brazen rape and plunder;
He left a wake of grisly gore,
And white skulls cleaved asunder.
He lived by blood and died by sword,
Beheaded by a Norman lord,
His body fell like thunder.
They buried him within a barrow,
His head they buried too;
No farmer came near with his harrow,
For fear he’d come to rue
That ‘ere he stepped upon that mound;
The shadows crept across the ground,
And only nightshades grew.
Time marched on and men forgot
What horror lay within;
Death-watch beetles, worms and rot
Devoured his flesh of sin.
Roots twined round his severed head,
And on the chamber of the dead
The barrow roof caved in.
A ploughboy and a comely maid
Came to the sunken hill;
There among the nightshades laid
They thought to have their will.
Threads of gossamer in the air,
And something gently tugged her hair;
The air grew thick and still.
Then fingers wrapped around her jaw;
She gave a half-choked cry,
The fingers tightened more and more,
Her neck twisted awry,
The ploughboy vainly clutched her wrist,
But, strangled by the bony fist,
There came her dying sigh.
The ploughboy ran, all blenched with fear,
He dare not turn his head;
His path was paved with shadows drear,
It seemed the sunset bled.
And men returned with pick and spade
To seek the body of the maid,
Their faces white with dread.
Deep they dug the hardened ground,
Their moonlit faces wan;
The ploughboy trembled by the mound,
“Where has my darling gone?”
They tossed out clods of soil and rock,
And shreds of her soft, floral frock;
‘Twas grim to look upon.
The fingers still about her throat,
Earth filled her open eyes,
The crownèd skull did seem to gloat
O’er its unbreathing prize.
They crushed his jewels and burnt his bones,
And buried her with mournful moans,
‘Neath nightshades now she lies.
Source material: King Henry’s Knowe is a sunken barrow near to Glasgow. The story, we like to think, is imagined.
The Iron Door
The Ogilvies and Lindsays
Had feuded many a year;
The Ogilvies came to Glamis,
Driven there by fear.
Lord Glamis opened up the gate;
He ushered them within,
He led them to a secret chamber
And then he locked them in.
Lord Glamis left them there to starve,
And not one dying groan
Escaped the solid iron door
And walls of dripping stone.
They clawed the lock with fingernails;
They tore each other’s hair;
They tried to dig out through the floor
But met with flagstones bare.
And of their fate was nothing heard
For a hundred years or more;
‘Til the Earl of Strathmore found a key
And opened up the door,
And father, children, mother, babe,
He found them all within,
Reduced to scattered piles of bone
And strips of rotted skin.
Strathmore felt the rising gall;
He swooned upon the floor.
He woke up in the dripping dark,
And locked was the iron door.
Source material: Lily Seafield, Scottish Ghosts, New Lanark, 1999, p. 72. There are many legends concerning secret rooms in Glamis Castle; a fact which is not surprising when one considers that some of the walls are four metres thick. The final verse is a fictional embellishment.
The Ghost of Gourlay
Shepherd Gourlay of Dumfries
Was smitten by a girl.
She was a pretty sight to see,
Her hair in tousled curl,
But Mary Graham wasn’t quite
Sweetness, loveliness and light;
To court her wasn’t for the best,
As Gourlay’s ghost can well attest.
One night Gourlay went to call
At Mary Graham’s farm;
His palms were sweaty, heart a-flutter,
Deluded by her charm.
But when he got there, lo! he saw
Her thrashing someone on the floor;
Her brothers kicked the chap as well
As Gourlay’s ghost is bound to tell.
Their victim was a pedlar lad,
And when he limp was lying,
They picked him up and strangled him,
And Gourlay watched his dying.
Then poor Gourlay ran full sore,
Not stopping ‘til he reached his door,
But sealed already was his fate,
As Gourlay’s ghost will oft relate.
Gourlay avoided Mary Graham
For doing deeds so dire;
His ex-fiancé came to see him,
And lightly did enquire:
“Why, my love, do you not visit?
You’re looking pale! Pray tell, what is it?”
And Gourlay blurted out the truth,
As Gourlay’s ghost will say, forsooth:
“I saw you beat a man to death,
And I felt quite disgusted.
‘Now do you think,’ I asked myself,
‘That this woman can be trusted?
Oh no indeed - I think not,
Although I fancy you a lot.”
And Mary Graham walked away,
As Gourlay’s ghost is apt to say.
Gourlay kept away from girls;
He dare not court another;
He told nobody what he’d seen,
Except his loving mother.
One day the Grahams ambushed him;
Their fists were clenched, their faces grim,
And Gourlay ran into a river,
As Gourlay’s ghost tells, with a shiver.
He grabbed hold of a tuft of grass
Upon the river bank;
They pelted him with clods and rocks,
And from their blows he shrank;
The waters eddied all around,
And Shepherd Gourlay slowly drowned,
His lungs with icy water spluttering,
As Gourlay’s ghost is fond of uttering.
When Gourlay’s mother found him dead,
She notified the law,
But Mary Graham and her brothers
Were not seen ever more,
And by the river, late at night,
Passers-by receive a fright:
They hear his final, gasping breath,
As Gourlay re-enacts his death.
Source material: Lily Seafield, Scottish Ghosts, New Lanark, 1999, pp. 178-180. The events described occurred in Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, at an unspecified date.
The Gloomèd Dory
Chorus:
Never go without a lantern
Upon the frosty moor;
For on the moor there dwells a phantom
Beast with taloned claw.
Don’t go out on a winter’s night,
When the ground is hoary:
You’re likely to be gobbled up
By the Gloomèd Dory.
Sir Melyagaunce the Mighty rode his steed one night
To see the stars atop the moor, far from hearth and light.
He felt its hot breath at his neck; the Dory then began
To open up his armour just like an old tin can.
Its baleful eyes were glowing, its jaw did drip with drool,
And Melyagaunce the mighty was devoured by the ghoul,
And all they found when morning came, as the snow did settle,
Was a grisly pool of blood and a pile of chewed-up metal.
Chorus
Whitewhisker the Magician went to make illusions
Out upon the windswept moor where there’d be no intrusions,
For mages value privacy when practising their magic,
But the venue was unsuitable; the end result was tragic.
The Gloomèd Dory ate him up; it even ate his cat;
The only thing it left behind was his silly pointy hat,
And that had tooth-marks plain to see, and lots of frothy spittle,
But of his body there was nought, and of his beard, but little.
Chorus
Pontificamus, pious priest went there one night to pray;
He took his prayer book from his cloak, his offices to say,
But as he knelt amid the waste, the Dory sidled by;
It ate all but his amulets, and no one heard his cry.
His prayer-book too it left behind, marked with bloody clot,
And a remnant of his scapular, smeared with Dory snot.
Its footprints could be clearly seen, imprinted in the mud,
And pools of mucus where it stopped awhile to chew its cud.
Chorus
Stultissimus the King’s own fool was in need of a pee,
He went out on the darksome moor, the time was half-past three.
He opened up his trouser buttons, sighing with relief,
And that is why his willy was the first to come to grief,
And after that the Dory ate the jester, bone and skin,
Complaining as he crunched him up that he was far too thin,
And all he left behind was a bauble (badly mangled)
And the strings of his violin, though these were somewhat tangled.
Chorus
Haughty Lady Esmerelda, bedecked with shining stones,
Went on the moor to take the air, she heard its dismal groans;
It choked her with her string of pearls and had her guts for starters;
It even ate the little rubies stitched into her garters.
It crunched her diamonds with its teeth; it didn’t leave a thing;
It even swallowed Esmerelda’s gold eternity ring.
So heed, I prithee, my dear friend, the moral of this story:
If you travel on the moor, do watch out for the Dory!
Source material: An error made by the lyricist whilst hurriedly typing the words “doomed glory”, leading naturally to idle speculation.
The Laird of Littledean
In Littledean there stands a tower; ivy climbs the walls.
Toadflax grows upon the mortar; slate cascades and falls,
For Littledean has lost her Laird; the Hand wrung out his breath,
And though the bracken fills the grounds, the tower reeks of death.
The Laird was hated, loathed and feared by all in Littledean:
He kicked to death a stableboy; none dared to come between.
No crueller husband ever lived, and Margaret his wife
Passed all her long, imprisoned days in fear for her life.
He brought her out to serve his friends when they were drinking ale,
Though there were bruises on her face and on her wrists so pale.
He spat at her, he slapped her cheek, though she had served them well;
He said, “You slut, I’d get more warmth from a woman born in hell.”
At this, his poor wife turned to him; she fixed him with her eye,
“Oh, you’ll live to regret those words, then you shall surely die!”
And when his friends said their goodbyes, he went by lantern light
To saddle up his chestnut horse, and rode off through the night.
He came into a woodland glade, lit by moonshine wan,
And fronds of ferns covered up the ground he rode upon.
A cottage with an open door; light from a flickering fire,
And he rode on towards the door, driven by desire.
He bent his head and looked within, the horse’s breath a-steaming.
He saw a lass so beautiful he thought he must be dreaming.
She sat beside a spinning wheel, and drew a length of thread;
She looked at him and laughed aloud; it filled the Laird with dread.
Her finger snapped the woollen thread; the horse reared with fright;
They galloped back to Littledean; the hoofbeats rent the night.
But when the dawn glowed mute and pale, he strapped his spurs once more,
To seek the lovely woman behind the oaken door.
In vain he sought her all that day, then homeward did he ride,
But he came upon a woman standing by the riverside,
And on the banks, where iris grew, the pair of them made love.
Silhouetted by the dusk, his tower loomed above.
And every night his passion drove him to the river’s edge.
She drew his clothes off, pulled him down among the reed and sedge.
His wife hired men to follow him and catch them unaware:
Hard they searched, but all they found was a startled hare.
And when the Laird rode to his tryst, hares leapt at his horse;
She reared up, he drew his sword, and slashed with all his force.
He turned to see a red-eyed hare squeal and limp away;
The bright blood from its severed paw gleamed on his corselet grey.
As he rode back for Littledean, his face was drawn and white;
He put his hand into his pouch, then drew it out in fright.
“It grabbed me!” cried the unnerved Laird, and he could barely stand,
For firmly clenched about his thumb was a woman’s severed hand.
He ran the hand through with his sword; into the river deep
He hurled it, and as he looked up, he saw the woman creep
Through the rushes by its side, her dress was stained and muddy,
And leering, she held up her wrist; the stump was red and bloody.
“My hand you took!” the woman hissed, “And my hand you’ll retain!”
He climbed back to the gloomy tower, cursing in the rain.
He sat down by his fireside; a hand clenched ‘round his fist.
He hurled it from a turret window, through the rain and mist.
He lay down in his feather bed, and bade his heart be calm,
But something shot out from the sheets and clenched about his arm.
He threw it in the roaring fire, hysterical with fear,
And when his servants knocked next morn, no answer could they hear.
At last they battered down the door; he lay beside his bed.
They rolled him over, but the Laird was stiff and cold and dead,
And on the death certificate, the doctor left his note:
“Contusions, made by unknown Hand, about the victim’s throat.”
In Littledean there stands a tower;
Ivy climbs the walls.
Toadflax grows upon the mortar;
Slate cascades and falls,
For Littledean has lost her Laird;
The Hand wrung out his breath,
And though the bracken fills the grounds,
The tower reeks of death.
Source material: Lily Seafield, Scottish Ghosts, New Lanark, 1999, pp. 79-81. Littledean tower is near the village of Maxton, Roxburghshire.
The Marble Finger
My Laura was lost
On a warm moonlit night;
Now Laura is gone,
And nought make it right.
They were man-size in marble;
She lies cold and pale,
And clenched in her hand
Is the proof of my tale:
Amid jasmines and roses
Our little house stood,
And a path to the church
Passed two fields and a wood,
And oft-times we walked it
When moths took to air,
And I’d hold her white hand
As the moon caught her hair.
A low Norman doorway
Led into the nave;
With brasses and flagstones
The aisles were paved,
And knights in white marble
Lay in a pair,
Recumbent on tombstones,
Their hands held in prayer.
And oft-times we kissed
And long minutes would pass;
The moonlight cast colours
As it shone through the glass,
And all would be silent
But for our hearts’ beat,
And we’d walk arm in arm
Back home through the wheat.
But one night my Laura
Looked haggard and white;
“I’ve forebodings of evil;
I’ll not walk tonight.”
So I strolled to the church;
Took the path on my own,
Yet I lived to regret
That I left her alone.
Through the low Norman doorway
I went into the nave;
With brasses and flagstones
The aisles were paved,
And two noble tombstones
Lay by the altar.
“There’s something amiss,”
I felt my heart falter.
Where were the knights
Recumbent and cold?
Could I hear their footsteps
As they trod on the mould?
I ran to the tombstones
But bare was each one.
Smooth was the marble;
The knights were both gone.
I ran from the church,
And fear gripped my mind.
I thought I heard footsteps,
Tramping behind.
I leapt o’er the style
And homeward I ran,
When I met with my neighbour
A kind Irish man.
“Now, why all this hurry?”
The Irishman said,
“Calm down and speak, man,
Don’t worry your head!”
“The figures in marble!
They’re walking abroad!”
The Irishman stared,
And with laughter he roared.
“Yer eyes are deceiving ye,
Lad, to be sure!”
He took hold of my arm;
Led me to the church door.
We looked down the nave,
And there lay each knight,
Cold on his tomb,
And I choked at the sight.
I ran to the knights;
They lay lifeless and bland.
One was missing a finger
From his right hand,
So we hurried for home,
And hark what we saw there:
My Laura lay dead
On the drawing-room chair.
I held my dead Laura;
Her hand slumped by her side,
And I wept for my darling,
My lover, my bride.
My friend knelt beside her
And held her limp wrist;
And a white marble finger
Was clenched in her fist.
My Laura was lost
On a warm moonlit night;
Now Laura is gone,
And nought make it right.
They were man-size in marble;
She lies cold and pale,
And clenched in her hand
Is the proof of my tale.
Source material: Edith Nesbit (1858-1924), ‘Man-Size in Marble’, in Rex Collings (Ed.), Classic Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories, Hertfordshire, 1996, pp. 185-194.
Rabbie Heckspeckle
Rabbie was a cobbler, in Selkirk plied his trade,
And all the gentry wore his shoes, so soft and finely made.
Nimble were his fingers, his fame was widely spread:
The shoes of Rabbie Heckspeckle – wanted by the dead.
Well before the dawn he was working at his last;
A stranger came into his shop, his countenance downcast;
Rabbie hammered home a nail for all that he was worth,
Then greeted his dark visitor, who smelled of fresh-turned earth.
Chorus:
Rabbie, Rabbie Heckspeckle, what a bloody mess!
It really isn’t pleasant when a dead man seeks redress.
Rabbie, Rabbie Heckspeckle, stealing from the dead,
You shouldn’t be surprised if he bashes in your head!
“Welcome to ye, Sir,” said he, with a happy croon,
“Mayhap I can furnish ye with a pair o’ shoon?”
He showed the gloomy stranger samples of his wares;
The stranger’s pasty finger pointed out a pair.
“Why, that pair’s too small, Sir; ye’ll want a looser fit;
I’ll whip ye up another pair if ye would care to sit.”
But, “No,” replied the customer, “I’ll come tomorrow morn –
Be sure to have them ready well before the dawn.”
Rabbie worked all day, and no finer shoes were made,
The stranger rang before next dawn; he knew he’d be well paid.
The shoes fit very snugly; said the stranger, “What’s the cost?”
A handful of silver coins upon the bed he tossed.
But when the stranger left, the cobbler did follow,
Through the darkened streets, into a misty hollow,
And there stood a graveyard, and with a thrill of fear,
He saw the man lie on a tomb and slowly disappear.
Since Rabbie was respected, the town believed his tale;
They dug up the grave, all in the morning pale.
The body lay there white and cold; its face bore not a freckle,
And on its upturned feet were the shoes made by Heckspeckle.
Heckspeckle stood a while, a-scratching his head,
“What use are shoes so fine on a body that is dead?”
He pulled the shoes off one by one, tucked beneath his arm –
No wonder Rabbie Heckspeckle came to grief and harm.
The body they re-buried, and homeward Rabbie went;
He whistled as he worked, and he was well content.
At night he lay within his bed, laughing ghosts to scorn,
But there came a ring upon his bell, an hour before the dawn.
They say that Rabbie Heckspeckle disappeared that night,
A trail of loamy footprints revealed by morning light.
To the cemetery they tracked them, dug up the grave once more,
And found the body wearing shoes, as it had done before.
And with its pallid fingers it clutched a cobbler’s last,
And when they stopped to pick it up, the fingers held it fast.
They hurried with a lantern, and shined the light within:
Behold! Upon the last, spattered blood and shreds of skin.
If cobbling is your trade then be proud of what you do,
And if you wish to serve a corpse, why, Sir, that’s up to you!
But if it comes to exhumations, I beg you, Sir, refrain!
And once he’s paid you for your shoes, don’t take them back again!
Source material: Lily Seafield, Scottish Ghosts, New Lanark, 1999, pp. 158-160.
The Capuchin Friars first arrived in Dublin in 1615, but it was not until 1624 that the first friary was established, in Bridge Street. They came to Church Street in 1690, shortly after the Battle of the Boyne and opened a “Mass house” at the site of the present Church. The Mass house was enlarged in 1796. The present Church dates from 1881. The architect was James J.McCarthy. The altar and reredos was designed by James Pearse, the father of Pádraig and Willie Pearse who were executed after the 1916 Rising. It was friars from the Church Street community that attended those executed in 1916 and administered the last rites.
Today the friars serve the local community through parish work and through the Capuchin Day Centre. The Capuchin Mission Office which supports the work of the Irish friars overseas, in Zambia, South Africa, New Zealand and Korea is also located in Church Street. St Mary of the Angels is not a parish church, however, the Friars also have responsibility for Halston Street Parish, one of the oldest in Dublin City Centre.
A formation in executing the nearly extinct Gotipua Dance at our Durga Puja Cultural Festival of 2013 - of South Madras Cultural Association, Chennai, India.
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Gotipua is a traditional dance form in the state of Orissa, India, and the precursor of Odissi classical dance. It has been performed in Orissa for centuries by young boys, who dress as women to praise Jagannath and Krishna. The dance is executed by a group of boys who perform acrobatic figures inspired by the life of Radha and Krishna. The boys begin to learn the dance at an early age until adolescence, when their androgynous appearance changes. In the Oriya language Gotipua, means "single boy" (goti-pua). Raghurajpur, Orissa (near Puri) is an historic village known for its Gotipua dance troupes.
To transform into graceful feminine dancers the boys do not cut their hair, instead styling it in a knot and weaving garlands of flowers into it. They make up their faces with mixed white and red powder. Kajal (black eyeliner) is broadly applied around the eyes to give them an elongated look. The bindi usually round, is applied to the forehead, surrounded with a pattern made from sandalwood. Traditional paintings adorn the face, which are unique to each dance school.
The costume has evolved over time. The traditional dress is a Kanchula, a brightly coloured blouse with shiny decorations. An apron-like, embroidered silk cloth (nibibandha) is tied around the waist like a ruffle and worn around the legs. Some dancers still adhere to tradition by wearing a pattasari: a piece of thin fabric about 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, worn tightly with equal lengths of material on both sides and a knot on the navel. However, this traditional dress is often replaced by a newly designed cloth which is easier to put on.
Dancers wear specially designed, beaded jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, armbands and ear ornaments. Nose-piercing jewelry has been replaced with a painted motif. Ankle bells are worn, to accentuate the beats tapped out by the feet. The palms of the hands and soles of the feet are painted with a red liquid known as alta. The costume, jewelry and bells are considered sacred.
Long ago, the temples in Orissa had female dancers known as devadasi (or mahari), who were devoted to Jagannath, which gave rise to Mahari dance. Sculptures of dancers on bas-reliefs in temples in Orissa (and the Konark Sun and Jagannath Temples in Puri) demonstrate this ancient tradition. With the decline of mahari dancers around the 16th century during the reign of Rama Chandra Dev (who founded the Bhoi dynasty), boy dancers in Orissa continued the tradition. Gotipua dance is in the Odissi style, but their technique, costumes and presentation differ from those of the mahari; the singing is done by the dancers. Present-day Odissi dance has been influenced by Gotipua dance. Most masters of Odissi dance (such as Kelucharan Mohapatra, from Raghurajpur) were Gotipua dancers in their youth.
Odissi dance is a combination of tandava (vigorous, masculine) and lasya (graceful, feminine) dances. It has two basic postures: tribhangi (in which the body is held with bends at the head, torso and knees) and chouka (a square-like stance, symbolizing Jagannath). Fluidity in the upper torso is characteristic of Odissi dance, which is often compared to the gentle sea waves which caress the Orissa beaches.
Each year, the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre organizes the Gotipua Dance Festival in Bhubaneswar.
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotipua
La mise au tombeau en terre cuite fut executée au XIX° par l’atelier toulousain de Virebent. Il s'agit d'une copie de l'oeuvre du XVI° en pierre polychrome qui se trouve au Metropolitan Museum de New York !
On retrouve là, autour du christ, les sept personnages habituels dans les représentations de la mise au tombeau :
- soutenant la Vierge éplorée, dans une attitude d'afflixion retenue : d'un côté,Marie-Jacobé, épouse de Cléophas et cousine de la mère de Jésus, de l'autre, Marie-Salomé;
- aux pieds du Christ qu'elle avait essuyés de ses cheveux, Marie-Madeleine, belle et élégante jeune femme au fin visage, le regard tourné vers le ciel, ses longs cheveux défaits sous un voile léger, tient le vase contenant les parfums qui ont servi pour embaumer le corps du Christ;
- Jean, "celui que Jésus aimait", occupe dans la composition de cette oeuvre, une position symétrique à celle de Marie-Madeleine, tous les deux un peu à l'écart, dans leur solitude douloureuse. Tête nue, il tient la couronne d'épines;
- Les deux hommes portant le linceul :
Joseph d'Arimathie, membre du Sanhédrin, qui demanda à Pilate le corps de Jésus. Vieillard dont la tenue vestimentaire et le collier d'or révèle le statut de notable;
En face de lui, Nicomède, plus jeune, porte aussi une bourse au côté, ce qui signifie peut-être qu'il a lui aussi participé au financement de la sépulture de Jésus.
Tous ces personnages, dans leur verticalité et leurs vêtements colorés, contrastent avec l'horizontalité du Christ, le dénuement du corps abandonné dans les plis du linceul blanc.
Dawn raids saw officers in Oldham execute six drugs warrants as part of a crackdown on drug dealing in the district.
At around 6.15am this morning (Thursday 2 July 2020), officers from GMP’s Oldham division raided an address on Chamber Road, Coppice, and at five properties in the Glodwick area.
The action comes after concerns were raised in the community regarding the dealing of drugs in the area.
Neighbourhood Inspector Steve Prescott, of GMP’s Oldham division, said: “We hope that today’s operation demonstrates not only how keen we are to tackle drugs across the district and the Force, but also our endeavours to listen to community concerns and to act upon them.
“Today’s action is a significant part of tackling the issues around drugs that we see too often in our societies and the devastating impact they can have on individuals, their families and loved ones as well as the wider community.
“This action will have caused a huge amount of disruption for the criminals who seek to infiltrate these substances onto our streets and degrade the quality of life for so many.
“Anyone with concerns about the dealing of such drugs in their area should not hesitate to contact police; safe in the knowledge that we are prepared to strike back against those who operate in this destructive and illegal industry.”
To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit
You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.
Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.
You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.
You can access many of our services online at www.gmp.police.uk
Officers execute daybreak raids as part of a firearms investigation in Cheetham Hill.
This morning, Thursday 21 May, officers from the North Manchester division carried out raids at two addresses in Cheetham Hill as part of an ongoing investigation into a firearms discharge, which took place last week on Monday 11 May 2020.
In the early hours of that morning, at around 1.15am, police were called to reports of between two and four gunshot sounds on Galsworthy Avenue.
No injuries were reported but some damage was caused to a vehicle on the street.
During today's raids officers seized a quantity of cash as part of the direct action. One man was arrested.
Speaking after the raids, Superintendent Rebecca Boyce, of GMPs North Manchester district, said: “First and foremost I sincerely hope that this morning’s activity shows to the people of Cheetham Hill just how seriously we continue to take incidents of this nature. We will explore every line of enquiry available to us and leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of justice.
“Guns and violence have no place on our streets; and anyone who is harbouring weapons of this nature or taking part in this kind of criminal activity should know that we do not take these incidents lightly. Anyone who brandishes a weapon within our communities and ultimately puts the lives of others at risk can expect to be investigated by us.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to protecting people and making the streets of Cheetham Hill a safer place, we have been working closely with partners, including Manchester City Council –both Adult and Children’s Services and housing providers. This prevention work is absolutely vital if we are to support those most vulnerable in our society and put a stop to this type of offending. A huge priority for us is discouraging people from taking this path and turning to this kind of criminality and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners who have continued to support us in this.
“We have been always very clear that we cannot do this alone and would like to continue to appeal to the public to help us. Often, answers lie within communities and this type of criminal activity can only be halted completely with the support of those with information. If people would prefer to speak anonymously, they can do so by contacting the independent charity Crimestoppers.”
Anyone with any information should contact police on 0161 856 3924 quoting incident number 124 of 11/05/2020. Details can also be anonymously passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
By James Gillespie Graham, 1823; executed by R. Hutchinson (1826 - 1830). 3-storey, 7-bay classical terrace with unified townhouse façade; basement area to street including some vaulted cellars and retaining walls. Sandstone ashlar, droved at basement, channelled at ground floor. Entrance platts oversailing basement. Base course at ground floor; banded cill courses at 1st and 2nd floors. Corniced eaves course with blocking course above. Doors in round arched surrounds, fanlight with radial glazing. Cast-iron anthemion balconies at 1st floor.
A well composed classical terrace with Greek motifs such as anthemion balconies. The composition is well detailed and has been retained largely unaltered.
Alva Street lay on land belonging to Lord Alva, who acted as a trustee for James Erskine. The plan for this part of his estate was drawn up by Gillespie Graham, but the land was sold in 1825 to a lawyer, James Stuart. Nothing was done to develop the site, and the land was sold again to a builder (Robert Hutchison) in 1826. It was under his ownership that the street was built to the original Gillespie Graham plan by 1830.
James Gillespie Graham was best known for designing predominantly Gothic churches and castellated country houses. He produced relatively little classical work, but in addition to Gray's House in Elgin his most notable work was the Moray Estate. The monumental style of the architecture, in which he was influenced by Adam's Charlotte Square can also be seen in Alva Street which takes the form of end pavilions flanking a central run of terraced townhouses.
You can see here clearly the shortcomings of Canon’s new RF lens design philosophy where they believe in-body lens corrections will be the saviour of poor and cheap design. High vignetting and massive distortion being commonplace across the range results in stretched corners with poor performance, not impressive in this age of modern lens design.
St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire
How often she has gazed from castle windows o'er,
And watched the daylight passing within her captive wall,
With no-one to heed her call.
The evening hour is fading within the dwindling sun,
And in a lonely moment those embers will be gone
And the last of all the young birds flown.
Her days of precious freedom, forfeited long before,
To live such fruitless years behind a guarded door,
But those days will last no more.
Tomorrow at this hour she will be far away,
Much farther than these islands,
Or the lonely Fotheringay.
Sandy Denny, Fotheringay by Fairport Convention, 1969
As any experienced pub quizzer will be able to tell you, Cambridgeshire shares borders with more other counties than any other English county, and one of the pleasures of exploring its churches by bike is to occasionally pop over a border and cherry-pick some of the best churches nearby. I had long wanted to visit Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire, and it is only ten miles west of Peterborough, and so I thought why not? I could also take in its near neighbours Nassington and Warmington, both noted as interesting churches.
Fotheringhay is a haunted place. It is haunted by noble birth and violent death, by its pivotal importance as a place in 15th Century English politics, and by its desolation in later centuries - not to mention by one significant event in the last couple of years.
The view of the church from the south across the River Nene is one of the most famous views of a church in England - there can be few books about churches which do not include it. The tower is a spectacular wedding cake, the square stage surmounted by an octagonal bell stage. This is not an unusual arrangement in the area of the Nene and Ouse Valleys, but nowhere is it on such a scale and with such intricacy as this.
The nave is also vast, a great length of flying buttresses running above each aisle, and walls of glass, great perpendicular windows designed to let in light and drive out superstition. What you cannot see from across the river is that, behind the big oak tree, the church has no chancel.
Inside, it is a square box full of light divided by great arcades that march resolutely eastwards towards a large blank wall. Heraldic shields stand aloof up in the arcades, and the one fabulous spot of colour is the great pulpit nestled in the south arcade, another sign that this building was designed to assert the doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church. This place swallows sound and magnifies light. It is thrilling, awe-inspiring. What happened here?
In the medieval period, Fotheringhay Castle was the powerbase of the House of York. The church was built as a result of a bequest by Edward III, who died in 1370. It was complete by the 1430s, with a college of priests and a large nave for the Catholic devotions of the people.
Over the next century it would house the tombs of, among others, Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York and grandson of Edward III who was killed in 1415 at Agincourt, and Richard Plantaganet, 3rd Duke of York, who was killed in the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. It was Richard's claim to the throne of England which had led to the Wars of the Roses. His decapitated head was gleefully displayed on a pike above Micklegate Bar in York by the victorious Lancastrian forces. Also killed in the battle was Richard's 17 year old son Edmund.
But the Lancastrian delight was shortlived, for by the following year Richard's eldest son had become King as Edward IV. He immediately arranged for the translation of the bodies of his father and brother from their common grave at Pontefract back to Fotheringhay.
It was recorded that on 24 July the bodies were exhumed, that of the Duke garbed in an ermine furred mantle and cap of maintenance, covered with a cloth of gold lay in state under a hearse blazing with candles, guarded by an angel of silver, bearing a crown of gold as a reminder that by right the Duke had been a king.
On its journey, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, with other lords and officers of arms, all dressed in mourning, followed the funeral chariot, drawn by six horses, with trappings of black, charged with the arms of France and England and preceded by a knight bearing the banner of the ducal arms.
Fotheringhay was reached on 29 July, where members of the college and other ecclesiastics went forth to meet the cortege. At the entrance to the churchyard, King Edward waited, together with the Duke of Clarence, the Marquis of Dorset, Earl Rivers, Lord Hastings and other noblemen. Upon its arrival the King made obeisance to the body right humbly and put his hand on the body and kissed it, crying all the time.
The procession moved into the church where two hearses were waiting, one in the choir for the body of the Duke and one in the Lady Chapel for that of the Earl of Rutland, and after the King had retired to his closet and the princes and officers of arms had stationed themselves around the hearses, masses were sung and the King's chamberlain offered for him seven pieces of cloth of gold 'which were laid in a cross on the body.
The sorrowing Edward IV donated the great pulpit for the proclamation of the Catholic faith. And then in 1483 he died. He was succeeded as tradition required by his son, the 12 year old Edward V. But three months after his father's death the younger Edward was also dead, in mysterious circumstances. He was succeeded by his uncle, who had been born here in Fotheringhay in 1452, and who would reign, albeit briefly, as Richard III.
Was Richard III really the villain that history has made him out to be? Did he really murder his nephew to achieve the throne? Within two years he had also been killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and the Lancastrians were finally triumphant. Henry VII established the Tudor dynasty, and, as we all know, history is written by the victors, not by the losers.
But Fotheringhay had one more dramatic scene to set in English history before settling back into obscurity, and this time it involved the Tudors. In September 1586 a noble woman of middle years arrived at Fotheringhay Castle under special guard, and was imprisoned here. Her name was Mary, and she was on trial for treason.
It is clear today that most of the evidence was entirely fictional, but the powers of the day had good reason to fear Mary, for she had what appeared to many to be a legitimate claim to the English throne. She was the daughter of James V of Scotland, and had herself become Queen of Scotland at the age of just six weeks. She spent her childhood and youth in France while regents governed the nation in her stead, and she married Francis, the Dauphin of France, who became King of France in 1559. Briefly, Mary was both Queen of Scotland and Queen Consort of France, but in 1561 Francis died, and Mary returned to Scotland to govern her own country.
But there was a problem. Mary was a Catholic. Scotland had led the way in the English-speaking Reformation with a particularly firebrand form of Calvinism, and the protestant merchants of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee were aghast at the prospect of a Catholic monarch.
And there was a further problem. Scotland was currently at peace with its neighbour England, where Queen Elizabeth I had brought some stability to the troubled country. But the Catholic Church did not recognise Elizabeth as the rightful monarch of England, because it was considered that her father Henry VIII's divorce from his first wife Katherine of Aragon was invalid. As he had divorced Katherine to marry Elizabeth's mother Ann Boleyn, Catholics considered that the rightful line of succession had passed horizontally from Henry VIII to his deceased elder sister and then on to her descendants, the most senior of whom was Mary, Queen of Scotland.
Mary remarried in Scotland, but her husband was murdered, and she was forced to abdicate her throne in favour of their one year old baby. He would be brought up by protestant regents and advisors, and would reign Scotland as James VI. His protestant faith allowed the English crown to recognise the line's legitimate claims, and in 1603 James VI of Scotland became James I of England, the first monarch to govern both nations.
But that was all in the future. After her abdication, Mary fled south to seek the protection of her cousin Elizabeth. She spent most of the next 18 years in protective custody. A succession of plots and conspiracies implicated her, and finally on 8th February 1587, at the age of 44, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.
One of her son James's first acts on ascending the English throne was to order that the castle where his mother had been shamefully imprisoned and executed be razed to the ground.
The chancel of Fotheringhay church and its College of Priests were already gone by then, demolished after the Reformation, leaving the York tombs exposed to the elements. it is said that Elizabeth herself, on a visit to Fotheringhay in 1566, insisted that they be brought back into the church.
Fotheringhay church settled back into obscurity. During the long 18th Century sleep of the Church of England it suffered neglect and disuse, but was restored well in the 19th Century. A chapel was designated for the memory of the York dynasty during the 20th Century, a sensitive issue for the Church of England which does not recognise prayers for the dead, but they can happen here in the Catholic tradition.
Today, the population of Fotheringhay cannot be much more than a hundred, an obscure backwater in remote north-east Northamptonshire, consisting of little more than its grand church set above the water meadows of the River Nene. But there was one more day in the public light to come.
In 2012, an archaeological dig in the centre of the city of Leicester, some 30 miles from here, uncovered a skeleton which had been buried in such a manner that it seemed it might be the dead King Richard III. Carbon dating and DNA matching proved that it was so. A controversy erupted about where the dead king might be reburied. Leicester Cathedral seemed the obvious place, although pompous claims were made by, among others, the MP for York, for him to be buried in York Minster. But there was also a case for the remains being returned here, to the quiet peace of Fotheringhay.
In the event reason held sway and Richard was reburied in Leicester, but Fotheringhay church, along with Leicester Cathedral, York Minster and Westminster Abbey, was one of four sites to host books of remembrance for Richard III.
In June 2015 I was surprised to find that the book here was still in use at the west end of the nave, and is still regularly signed by people. Perhaps they think it is the visitors book.
The silence of the church and the quiet peace of the graveyard are in dramatic contrast to the sensationalism of the media over the controversy and the razzamatazz of Richard's reburial in Leicester Cathedral. But now the circus has moved on, and Fotheringhay is still here. And white roses are scattered in the church every year on Richard III's birthday.
Ce panneau en chêne, exécuté en 1744, est due à François Poche, ébéniste et auteur de toutes les boiseries ornant les salles de l'abbaye. Au centre, l'inscription en latin reprend les paroles de l'apôtre Paul dans l'Epître aux Corinthiens : "Que tout se fasse selon l'ordre." Au sommet figure une horloge réalisée en 1744 par l'horloger caennais Gautier.
This oak panel, made in 1744, is the work of François Poche, a cabinetmaker and the creator of all the wood paneling adorning the rooms of the abbey. In the center, the Latin inscription quotes the words of the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Corinthians: "Let all things be done in order." At the top is a clock made in 1744 by the Caen clockmaker Gautier.
As a result of Simon Liu's masterfully executed Red Brick Game at Brickworld last year, Dave Sterling's slice of Steampunk heaven the Blunderbuss was up for auction as the grand prize at this year's event.
But rumors began to spread that if he won this creation, the impish Brother Simon would smash it to pieces and turn it into a spaceship! Clearly this meant war...
So after getting into something of a bidding war with the one and only (but super nice) Steve Jackson, I was able to ensure that the Blunderbuss would stay in one piece - and return to Seattle!
Gracious to the end, Simon gave me a rare steampunk version of his Frog Pod. Dave was up for smashing that and turning it into a gun. But in the end we decided to incorporate it into Dave's creation: It is now the gun's safety!
Dave showed how me how to disassemble and reassemble it. And despite the effects of repeated visits to the Long Island Ice Tea Keg, some of it must have stuck, because here it is on display in my dining room...
Acrylic on hardboard; 120 x 98 cm.
Zdzisław Beksiński was a renowned Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor who is best known as a fantasy artist. Beksiński executed his paintings and drawings either in what he called a 'Baroque' or a 'Gothic' manner. The first style is dominated by representation, with the best-known examples coming from his 'fantastic realism' period when he painted disturbing images of a surrealistic, nightmarish environment. The second style is more abstract, being dominated by form, and is typified by Beksiński's later paintings. Beksiński was murdered in 2005.
Zdzislaw Beksinski was born in Poland in the town of Sanok near the Carpathians Mountains in 1929. After a childhood was spent during the Second World War, Beksinski went on to university where he studied architecture in Cracow. Subsequent to this education he spent several years as a construction site supervisor, a job he hated, frought with pressures and countless boring details. He would soon throw himself into the arts. In 1958, Beksinski began to gain critical praise for his photography, and later went on to drawing. His highly detailed drawings are often quite large, and may remind some of the works of Ernst Fuchs in their intricate, and nearly obsessive rendering.
Beksinski eventually threw himself into painting with a passion, and worked constantly, always to the strains of classical music. He soon became the leading figure in contemporary Polish art.
Beksinski and his family moved to Warsaw in 1977. The artist had many exhibitions throughout his native Poland and Europe. He rarely attended any of them. Bekinski's art hangs in the National Museums Warsaw, Sanok, Crakow, Poznan, and the Goteborgs Art Museum in Sweden. Zdzislaw Beksinski was murdered in his home during a robbery attempt in 2005.
"I have quite simply been trying, from the very beginning, to paint beautiful paintings."
Beksinki's remarkable drawings possess a strength in both mood and subject matter. Like his later paintings, they are intensely haunting and mysterious. The drawings, particularly, project a nightmarish quality reminiscent of the surrealist, Bohemian master, Alfred Kubin.
"I react strongly to images that have no obvious answer to their mysteries. If there is a key to their construction, they are simply illustration."
Beksinski began painting in oils on masonite around the year 1970. His ability to manipulate the effects of light quickly became a hallmark of his work, and can only be compared with the renown abilities of William Turner. Beksinski's paintings aremasterfully rendered, monumental enigmans. One thing they share is an aesthetic of beauty so potent that it overpowers any desperate nature of the given subject matter, as is similarly the case with Swiss artist, H.R. Giger. The paintings as a whole are wonderfully dark, and allow the viewer to interperet them as they will, as they will certainly get no help from this particular artist. As Magritte said: "The purpose of art is mystery."
"The blend of vivid colors in relation to other more subdued colors in my paintings is like a musical theme. As in a symphony, a motif occurs, is blurred, comes back in crescendo, is finally accentuated and becomes pure and complete."
Paintings from the 1980s
"Meaning is meaningless to me. I do not care for symbolism and I paint what I paint without medating on a story."
Paintings and Computer Graphics from the 1990s Beksniski's paintings have grown less representational over the years and now seem almost abstract in nature. Color and texture and now the proncipal themes in themselves. Not so odd, as the artist began his career in the abstract realm. His recent computer art, however, continues the lineage of fantastic realism, and the artist never allows the technology to get in the way of that he is attempting to convey creatively.
Artwork "Gangsta boy praying in a graffiti church" by Banksy, seen at the Banksy exhibition at the Moco Museum, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland (North Holland), Netherlands
Some background information:
Banksy is an anonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist and film director. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy's artwork grew out of the Bristol underground scene. He also created a documentary film named "Exit Through the Gift Shop", billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie". In January 2011, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Banksy’s career as a freehand graffiti artist started in 1990. During his early years he met Bristol photographer Steve Lazarides, who later became his agent. Banksy's first known large wall mural was "The Mild Mild West" painted in 1997 to cover advertising of a former solicitors' office on Stokes Croft in Bristol. It depicts a teddy bear lobbing a Molotov cocktail at three riot police. By 2000 he had turned to the art of stencilling after realising how much less time it took to complete a work. He claims that he changed to stencilling while hiding from the police under a rubbish lorry, when they noticed the stencilled serial number. By employing this technique, he soon became more widely noticed for his art around Bristol and London.
Banksy's stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. Subjects often include rats, apes, policemen, soldiers, children, and the elderly.
In the early 2000s Banksy’s reputation took off. After Christina Aguilera had bought an original of Queen Victoria as a lesbian and two prints for 25,000 £, in October 2006, a set of Kate Moss paintings was sold at Sotheby's London for 50,400 £, setting an auction record for Banksy's work. In December 2006, journalist Max Foster coined the phrase, "the Banksy effect", to illustrate how interest in other street artists was growing on the back of Banksy's success. In April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work "Space Girl and Bird" fetching £288,000 (about 576,000 US$) at Bonhams of London. In 2008, a couple from Norfolk, UK, made headlines in Britain when they decided to sell their mobile home that contains a 30-foot mural, entitled "Fragile Silence", done by Banksy a decade prior to his rise to fame. The mobile home purchased by the couple eleven years ago for 1,000 £, was sold for 500,000 £.
In 2010, the US-American "Time Magazine" classed Banksy as one of the 100 most influential people of the world. As of 2014, Banksy was regarded as a British cultural icon, with young adults from abroad naming the artist among a group of people that they most associated with UK culture, which included William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth II, David Beckham, The Beatles, Charlie Chaplin, J. K. Rowling, Elton John and Adele.
In August 2015, Banksy opened Dismaland, a temporary art project and large scale group show lampooning Disneyland. It was permanently closed at the end of September 2015. The "theme park" was located in the seaside resort town Weston-super-Mare, UK. High demand for tickets to the exhibition caused the Dismaland website to crash repeatedly. Some wondered whether or not this was deliberately contrived by Banksy as part of the irony of the Dismaland experience. Even many celebrities were attracted to the venue, such as Brad Pitt, Jack Black, Nicholas Hoult, Russell Brand and Daddy G.
In March 2017, Banksy opened "The Walled Off Hotel”, designed by himself, in the Israeli city of Bethlehem. The hotel is located directly next to the Israeli West Bank barrier, converting this locational disadvantage into an advantage. The ugly barrier can be seen from many hotel rooms. According to the website, the hotel’s aim is to break even and put any profits back into local projects then. The "The Walled Off Hotel” offers rooms for both low-budget and high-end tourists as well as for all people in between. A night in a mass accommodation bunk bed costs 30 US$, while the presidential suite can be booked for 965 US$ per night. But whatever you book, it’s always an artistic and rather surreal experience.
Despite all his different projects, Banksy has never ceased creating street art as well as indoor art. One of his newest works is a giant Brexit mural painted on a house in the city of Dover in May 2017. The Banksy exhibition at the Moco Museum Amsterdam, that was already extended several times, gives a great review of his artwork. The Moco (Modern Contemporary) Museum Amsterdam is located in the Villa Alsberg, which is set in the middle of the Amsterdam Museumplein, on the opposite site of the famous Rijksmuseum. The museum is a private initiative of gallery owners Lionel and Kim Logchies, who worked with renowned artists like Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. But both have also developed a big interest in the up and coming street art movement and they keep themselves up to date about all novelties within the underground scene.
Some more words about Banksy’s identity:
Banksy's name and identity remain unknown and it has been stated that the reason for this secrecy is that graffiti is still a crime. A commonly cited 2008 "Mail on Sunday" investigation of several former schoolmates and associates stated that the artist is believed to be Robin Gunningham, a former pupil at the public Bristol Cathedral School. This suggestion was corroborated in 2016 by a study of the locations in which Banksy's art has been found, which showed that the incidence of Banksy's works correlated with the known movements of Gunningham.
In August 2016, Scottish journalist Craig Williams published an investigative piece in which he connected the timing of Banksy's murals with the touring schedule of the trip hop band Massive Attack. Williams put forward the suggestion that Banksy's work could be the work of a collective, and that Banksy himself may be Massive Attack's frontman, Robert Del Naja. Del Naja had been a graffiti artist during the 1980s prior to forming the band and had previously been identified as a personal friend of Banksy. In June 2017, English musician Goldie referred to Banksy as Rob (or Robert), during an interview with the hip hop recording artist Scroobius Pip. It has been argued that Goldie could have been referring to either Robert Del Naja or Robin Gunningham, or even neither of them.
Goddess Durga killing the Demon Mahishashura (Buffalo Demon).
A formation in executing the nearly extinct Gotipua Dance at our Durga Puja Cultural Festival of 2013 - of South Madras Cultural Association, Chennai, India.
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Gotipua is a traditional dance form in the state of Orissa, India, and the precursor of Odissi classical dance. It has been performed in Orissa for centuries by young boys, who dress as women to praise Jagannath and Krishna. The dance is executed by a group of boys who perform acrobatic figures inspired by the life of Radha and Krishna. The boys begin to learn the dance at an early age until adolescence, when their androgynous appearance changes. In the Oriya language Gotipua, means "single boy" (goti-pua). Raghurajpur, Orissa (near Puri) is an historic village known for its Gotipua dance troupes.
To transform into graceful feminine dancers the boys do not cut their hair, instead styling it in a knot and weaving garlands of flowers into it. They make up their faces with mixed white and red powder. Kajal (black eyeliner) is broadly applied around the eyes to give them an elongated look. The bindi usually round, is applied to the forehead, surrounded with a pattern made from sandalwood. Traditional paintings adorn the face, which are unique to each dance school.
The costume has evolved over time. The traditional dress is a Kanchula, a brightly coloured blouse with shiny decorations. An apron-like, embroidered silk cloth (nibibandha) is tied around the waist like a ruffle and worn around the legs. Some dancers still adhere to tradition by wearing a pattasari: a piece of thin fabric about 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, worn tightly with equal lengths of material on both sides and a knot on the navel. However, this traditional dress is often replaced by a newly designed cloth which is easier to put on.
Dancers wear specially designed, beaded jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, armbands and ear ornaments. Nose-piercing jewelry has been replaced with a painted motif. Ankle bells are worn, to accentuate the beats tapped out by the feet. The palms of the hands and soles of the feet are painted with a red liquid known as alta. The costume, jewelry and bells are considered sacred.
Long ago, the temples in Orissa had female dancers known as devadasi (or mahari), who were devoted to Jagannath, which gave rise to Mahari dance. Sculptures of dancers on bas-reliefs in temples in Orissa (and the Konark Sun and Jagannath Temples in Puri) demonstrate this ancient tradition. With the decline of mahari dancers around the 16th century during the reign of Rama Chandra Dev (who founded the Bhoi dynasty), boy dancers in Orissa continued the tradition. Gotipua dance is in the Odissi style, but their technique, costumes and presentation differ from those of the mahari; the singing is done by the dancers. Present-day Odissi dance has been influenced by Gotipua dance. Most masters of Odissi dance (such as Kelucharan Mohapatra, from Raghurajpur) were Gotipua dancers in their youth.
Odissi dance is a combination of tandava (vigorous, masculine) and lasya (graceful, feminine) dances. It has two basic postures: tribhangi (in which the body is held with bends at the head, torso and knees) and chouka (a square-like stance, symbolizing Jagannath). Fluidity in the upper torso is characteristic of Odissi dance, which is often compared to the gentle sea waves which caress the Orissa beaches.
Each year, the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre organizes the Gotipua Dance Festival in Bhubaneswar.
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotipua
A nicely executed conversion, had me racking my brain trying to remember whether Dodge had actually built this one themselves. Based on a regular 1500 SLT 4x4 Quad Cab with the short bed, but obviously stretched a little.
Seen near a highway onramp in Long Island City. It has the 230hp 5.2 litre V8 according to the VIN, assembled in Mexico.
From the Journals of Jedi Master Mi-Tew:
Day 3,692
Me and my apprentice were sent to inflitrate the Separatist-operated planet Kriv, a place dedicated to the Sith. Dressed as one a technician and the other smuggler, we got to the ground successfully, snuck into a Sith Temple, and shut down the field surrounding the planet, allowing our troops to get in. Our cover blown, we dashed through the winding corridors. After turning one corner, I was stabbed in the shoulder by a Child of Bane, one of the cultists. I easily dispatched of him, but was heavily hampered. My apprentice, thank Mortis, used the force and healed my wound, and we got out without further delay.
As soon as we got out, though, we came into the middle of a gunfire. Droids, Children of Bane, and Clones fought among each other. In the end, only two Clone Troopers were left, and one Droid. As I dispatched of the mechanical scum, above me I heard a hologram say "Execute Order 66." Suddenly, both troopers turned on us. My apprentice was cut off guard and fell almost instantaneously. Pulling out the pistol from my disguise as a smuggler, I easily dispatched the trooper aiming at me, still finishing off the Droid. I turned, made eye contact with the Clone Sniper above, and force pushed him away.
Except....
I lost connection to the force. Somehow, someway.
In shock, I narrowly blocked the blasts with my saber, shot the trooper with a pistol, and fled to find someway off this desolate planet.
A formation in executing the nearly extinct Gotipua Dance at our Durga Puja Cultural Festival of 2013 - of South Madras Cultural Association, Chennai, India.
______________________________________________________________________ _______________
Copyright © learning.photography.
All rights reserved. All images contained in this Photostream remain the property of learning.photography and is protected by applicable Copyright Law. Any images from this Photostream may not be reproduced, copied, or used in any way without my written permission.
Thanks for your Visit, Comments, Favs and Awards !
No private group or multiple group invites please !
Those who have not uploaded any photograph yet, or have uploaded a very few photographs, should not mark me Contacts or comment on my photo. I may block them.
______________________________________________________________________ _______________
Gotipua is a traditional dance form in the state of Orissa, India, and the precursor of Odissi classical dance. It has been performed in Orissa for centuries by young boys, who dress as women to praise Jagannath and Krishna. The dance is executed by a group of boys who perform acrobatic figures inspired by the life of Radha and Krishna. The boys begin to learn the dance at an early age until adolescence, when their androgynous appearance changes. In the Oriya language Gotipua, means "single boy" (goti-pua). Raghurajpur, Orissa (near Puri) is an historic village known for its Gotipua dance troupes.
To transform into graceful feminine dancers the boys do not cut their hair, instead styling it in a knot and weaving garlands of flowers into it. They make up their faces with mixed white and red powder. Kajal (black eyeliner) is broadly applied around the eyes to give them an elongated look. The bindi usually round, is applied to the forehead, surrounded with a pattern made from sandalwood. Traditional paintings adorn the face, which are unique to each dance school.
The costume has evolved over time. The traditional dress is a Kanchula, a brightly coloured blouse with shiny decorations. An apron-like, embroidered silk cloth (nibibandha) is tied around the waist like a ruffle and worn around the legs. Some dancers still adhere to tradition by wearing a pattasari: a piece of thin fabric about 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, worn tightly with equal lengths of material on both sides and a knot on the navel. However, this traditional dress is often replaced by a newly designed cloth which is easier to put on.
Dancers wear specially designed, beaded jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, armbands and ear ornaments. Nose-piercing jewelry has been replaced with a painted motif. Ankle bells are worn, to accentuate the beats tapped out by the feet. The palms of the hands and soles of the feet are painted with a red liquid known as alta. The costume, jewelry and bells are considered sacred.
Long ago, the temples in Orissa had female dancers known as devadasi (or mahari), who were devoted to Jagannath, which gave rise to Mahari dance. Sculptures of dancers on bas-reliefs in temples in Orissa (and the Konark Sun and Jagannath Temples in Puri) demonstrate this ancient tradition. With the decline of mahari dancers around the 16th century during the reign of Rama Chandra Dev (who founded the Bhoi dynasty), boy dancers in Orissa continued the tradition. Gotipua dance is in the Odissi style, but their technique, costumes and presentation differ from those of the mahari; the singing is done by the dancers. Present-day Odissi dance has been influenced by Gotipua dance. Most masters of Odissi dance (such as Kelucharan Mohapatra, from Raghurajpur) were Gotipua dancers in their youth.
Odissi dance is a combination of tandava (vigorous, masculine) and lasya (graceful, feminine) dances. It has two basic postures: tribhangi (in which the body is held with bends at the head, torso and knees) and chouka (a square-like stance, symbolizing Jagannath). Fluidity in the upper torso is characteristic of Odissi dance, which is often compared to the gentle sea waves which caress the Orissa beaches.
Each year, the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre organizes the Gotipua Dance Festival in Bhubaneswar.
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotipua
Guo Xi developed a strategy of depicting multiple perspectives called "the angle of totality." Because a painting is not a window, there is no need to imitate the mechanics of vision and view a scene from only one spot.The lesser, bending trees Guo Xi described anthropomorphically as holding one's creeds within oneself; the crouching, gnarled trees were seen analogous to an individual clinging to his own virtues; and the vertical trees were compared to those individuals who remain abreast of their environmental conditions (politics) and flourish.Early Spring, done in 1072, is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Northern Song monumental landscape tradition. It is a rare example of an early painting executed by a court professional who signed and dated his work.
depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/4lndguox.htm
“Transporting through the Three Vehicles” ( 三車搬運 Sanche Banyun ) is a term of Inner Alchemy ( 內丹 Neidan ). Drawn by an ox, a sheep or a deer respectively, the “three vehicles” signify the different Fire Phases ( 火候 Huohou ) in the practice of Inner Alchemy. According to the Transmission of Dao by Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin ( 鍾呂傳道集 Zhonglu Chuandaoji ), they actually refer to the three forms of “River Chariot” ( 河車 Heche ), vehicles used for carrying things across river. “Crossing river” is indeed another metaphor in Inner Alchemy. The ancients derived inspiration from the phenomenon that the leaves falling onto river can carry things, and so invented “boats”, the “river chariots”. A “River Chariot” is needed for “crossing river”. Daoist Inner Alchemy associated it with the process of refining the vital breath. In the opinion of Daoist believers, there is more Yin than Yang in human body, which indicates that water is the major channel in human body. In other words, there exists a particular river course in human body, and the main points of refining the vital breath consist in walking in the river course, leading the vital breath with the mind and recycling it through the whole body, so as to produce the great elixir. Then what does the “River Chariot” exactly refer to in the Cultivation and Refinement ( 修煉 Xiulian ) of Inner Alchemy? There have always been different arguments. The chapter “On the River Chariot” in the Transmission of Dao by Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin points out that the River Chariot is formed “in the water in the due north”. Among the Five Agents ( 五行 Wuxing ), “water” is situated in the due north. It represents the kidney in human body, where the “true breath” is stored. The “orthodox breath” generated by the “true breath” is just the River Chariot. How can one run this true breath to produce the inner elixirs? Many passes have to be traversed, especially weilü, jiaji and yuzhen, namely the “Three Passes”. During the practice of Inner Alchemy, only when being abundant can the Original Vital Breath ( 元氣 Yuanqi ) pass the “Three Passes”. If it runs too slowly or even halts, one may conduct it appropriately. However, this can be done only after the vital breath moves. Otherwise, it is as good as trying to help the shoots grow by pulling them upward, and all the previous efforts will be wasted. When guiding the vital breath, one should increase Yang for nine times and decrease Yin for six times. This is the carrying skill of the “ox chariot”. It is so-called because the “carrying” speed is so low that it seems the chariot is pulled by an “ox”. After practicing for some time, one has abundant Original Vital Breath and becomes skillful. Then he can speed up conveniently, increasing Yang for thirty-six times and decreasing Yin for twenty-four times. This is the carrying skill of the “sheep chariot”. It is self-evident that the speed of a sheep is higher than that of an ox, so the carrying skill of a “sheep chariot” is a natural improvement upon that of an “ox chariot”. When the Reversion Elixir ( 還丹 Huandan ) functions satisfactorily and easily of itself, and the inhaled vital breath can ascend to the point of niwan, one should increase Yang for 216 times and decrease Yin for 144 times, which corresponds to the great numerology of the theory of changes. This is the carrying skill of the “deer chariot”. At this moment, the vital breath in human body circulates in the twelve main and collateral channels and the eight particular passages, which means the “big Cosmic Orbit ” ( 周天 Zhoutian ) is unblocked. It deserves attention that the three vehicles of “ox, sheep and deer” are just description of the Fire Phases of Inner Alchemy. The practitioners are not requested to strive for “acceleration” sedulously. As far as the mind is concerned, the primary principle in controlling the “Fire Phases” is spontaneity. One should not act with undue haste, or else all that has been achieved will be spoiled. We must keep it firmly in mind.
en.daoinfo.org/wiki/Transporting_through_the_Three_Vehicles
Basically the understanding of the meaningChinese traditional culture, the seemingly lifeless painting give expressions to the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire,earth) (black turtle, green dragon, silver crane ,white tiger) that can be materials from paramagnetic rock and waidan (外丹). of Fen Shui implied in traditional paintings, and will set up a practical alchemical lab with its array of beakers, vials and fires and take you through the process of making plant medicines in the traditional way, full of its extracted life forces.early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as geomancy or Feng shui, astrology, traditional Chinese medicine, music, military strategy, and martial arts. The system is still used as a reference in some forms of complementary and alternative medicine and martial arts.The Wu Xing (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: Wǔ Xíng), also known as the Five Elements, Five Phases, the Five Agents, the Five Movements, Five Processes, the Five Steps/Stages and the Five Planets is the short form of "Wǔ zhǒng liúxíng zhī qì" (五種流行之氣) or "the five types of chi dominating at different times".It is a fivefold conceptual scheme that many traditional Chinese fields used to explain a wide array of phenomena, from cosmic cycles to the interaction between internal organs, and from the succession of political regimes to the properties of medicinal drugs. The "Five Phases" are Wood (木 mù), Fire (火 huǒ), Earth (土 tǔ), Metal (金 jīn), and Water (水 shuǐ). This order of presentation is known as the "mutual generation" (相生 xiāngshēng) sequence. In the order of "mutual overcoming" (相剋/相克 xiāngkè), they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing
In ancient China, “Dragon” and “Tiger” used to act as two of the four mysterious animals, which were the emblems for the 28 Stellar Spirits ( 二十八星宿 ershiba xingxiu ) Among them, the “Blue Dragon” stood for the Seven Stellar Spirits of the east, and the “White Tiger” symbolized the Seven Stellar Spirits of the west. In ancient China, “east” also stood for Yang, and “west” for Yin. Accordingly, the image of the two animals was linked to Yin or Yang separately. Among ordinary Chinese, “Dragon” and “Tiger” were developed into symbolic images for “male” and “female” separately. As a result, the marriage between a man and a woman used to be known as a relation between a dragon and a tiger. In Daoist theories about the Golden Elixir, the symbolism of the “Dragon” and “Tiger” was popularly used and further developed. In books on Outer Alchemy, the “Dragon” became the symbol of Lead, and “Tiger” the symbol of Mercury. In the later period, when the theory of Outer Alchemy was borrowed by scholars of Inner Alchemy, accordingly, the “Dragon” and “Tiger” became symbols for elements in the refinement of Inner Alchemy: “Dragon” used to act as a metaphor of Spirit or Spiritual Nature, and “Tiger” as a metaphor of Vital Breath or Desire. According to the Direct Pointers to the Great Elixir ( 《大丹直指》 dadan zhizhi ) by Qiu Chuji, “Dragon” was also known as the “Vital Breath of True Yang” ( 正陽之氣 zhengyang zhiqi ), and “Tiger” as the “Water of Perfect Oneness” ( 真一之水 zhenyi zhishui ). Patriarch Qiu said that the “Vital Breath of True Yang” referred to the Vital Breath “Bing”, which existed in “Mind Water” ( 心液 xinye ). Since “Bing” was a representative of Yang in the 12 Celestial Trunks , the “Vital Breath of True Yang” was also known as the “Yang Dragon”; the “Water of Perfect Oneness”, on the other hand, referred to Water “Gui”, which existed in the “Vital Breath of Kidney”. In the 12 Celestial Trunks ( 天干 tiangan ), “Gui” was the emblem of Yin. Accordingly, the “Water of Perfect Oneness” was known as “Yin Tiger”. In ancient China, the “Intercourse of Dragon and Tiger” was used to symbolize a harmonious relation between “Kidney Water” ( 腎水 shenshui ) and “Vital Breath of Mind” because “Mind” belonged to “Fire”, and “Kidney” belonged to “Water”, according to the theory of the “Five Agents” ( 五行 wuxing ). In later periods, it was borrowed to describe a sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, which, the ancient scholars argued, demonstrated a common principle: a stress over a harmonious and complementary relationship between Yin and Yang, the fundamental elements in the Universe..
en.daoinfo.org/wiki/Intercourse_of_Dragon_and_Tiger
Direct Pointers to the Great Elixir
Intercourse of Dragon and Tiger
The primary symbols of yin and yang in ancient China were the white tiger and green dragon, also symbols of autumn and spring, respectively. By the Song dynasty, the Taiji diagram, commonly known in the West as “the yin-yang symbol,” came to represent yin and yang as well…”
Inner Alchemy
Terms of Inner Alchemy
Mind , Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life
Essential Matter , Vital Breath and Spirit
Great Reversion Elixir
Small Reversion Elixir
Integrated Cultivation of Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life
Three Flowers Condensing onto the Head
Transporting through the Three Vehicles
Meeting of the Three Parts
Refining the Mind through the Nine Cauldrons
Intercourse of Dragon and Tiger
Refinement of Essential Matter into Vital Breath
Refinement of Vital Breath into Spirit
Refinement of Spirit Back to Emptiness
Refinement of Emptiness into Dao
Reversing Kan with Li
Centering Merits When Yin And Yang Join
The Five Vital Breaths Oriented to the Origin
Rebirth from the Original Fetus and Bones
Basic Cultivation
Self-Refinement
Harmonizing the Breath
Obtaining the Elixir Drug
Collecting Elixir Drugs
Fire Phases
To Increase Fire
To Reduce Fire
To Nourish in Warmth
Bathing
Unfixed Zi Phase
River Chariot
Mysterious Pearls
Passages and Cavities
Cosmic Orbit
Feminine Alchemy
Cutting the Red Dragon
Refining the Form through the Supreme Yin
Body of Original Chastity
In ancient China, “Dragon” and “Tiger” used to act as two of the four mysterious animals, which were the emblems for the 28 Stellar Spirits ( 二十八星宿 ershiba xingxiu ) Among them, the “Blue Dragon” stood for the Seven Stellar Spirits of the east, and the “White Tiger” symbolized the Seven Stellar Spirits of the west. In ancient China, “east” also stood for Yang, and “west” for Yin. Accordingly, the image of the two animals was linked to Yin or Yang separately. Among ordinary Chinese, “Dragon” and “Tiger” were developed into symbolic images for “male” and “female” separately. As a result, the marriage between a man and a woman used to be known as a relation between a dragon and a tiger. In Daoist theories about the Golden Elixir, the symbolism of the “Dragon” and “Tiger” was popularly used and further developed. In books on Outer Alchemy, the “Dragon” became the symbol of Lead, and “Tiger” the symbol of Mercury. In the later period, when the theory of Outer Alchemy was borrowed by scholars of Inner Alchemy, accordingly, the “Dragon” and “Tiger” became symbols for elements in the refinement of Inner Alchemy: “Dragon” used to act as a metaphor of Spirit or Spiritual Nature, and “Tiger” as a metaphor of Vital Breath or Desire. According to the Direct Pointers to the Great Elixir ( 《大丹直指》 dadan zhizhi ) by Qiu Chuji, “Dragon” was also known as the “Vital Breath of True Yang” ( 正陽之氣 zhengyang zhiqi ), and “Tiger” as the “Water of Perfect Oneness” ( 真一之水 zhenyi zhishui ). Patriarch Qiu said that the “Vital Breath of True Yang” referred to the Vital Breath “Bing”, which existed in “Mind Water” ( 心液 xinye ). Since “Bing” was a representative of Yang in the 12 Celestial Trunks , the “Vital Breath of True Yang” was also known as the “Yang Dragon”; the “Water of Perfect Oneness”, on the other hand, referred to Water “Gui”, which existed in the “Vital Breath of Kidney”. In the 12 Celestial Trunks ( 天干 tiangan ), “Gui” was the emblem of Yin. Accordingly, the “Water of Perfect Oneness” was known as “Yin Tiger”. In ancient China, the “Intercourse of Dragon and Tiger” was used to symbolize a harmonious relation between “Kidney Water” ( 腎水 shenshui ) and “Vital Breath of Mind” because “Mind” belonged to “Fire”, and “Kidney” belonged to “Water”, according to the theory of the “Five Agents” ( 五行 wuxing ). In later periods, it was borrowed to describe a sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, which, the ancient scholars argued, demonstrated a common principle: a stress over a harmonious and complementary relationship between Yin and Yang, the fundamental elements in the Universe..
There is a white tiger with two front legs and a long upright neck. You must read between the lines.
An 1852 edition of The Poetical Works of John Milton, with a macabre twist - it is bound with the skin of an executed murderer !
Visit www.donotresuscitate.co.uk and click on "Archive" to see more info and images...
This morning (Tuesday 1 February 2022), we executed warrants at six properties in the Chadderton area.
A 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A second 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.
A 26-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A 27-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
The warrants were executed as part of Operation Gabel - an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of two teenage girls in 2012/2013.
Inspector Nick Helme, of GMP's Oldham district, said: "This morning's action at several properties in the Chadderton area was a result of just one of a number of ongoing investigations into historic child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester.
"I can assure members of the public and warn offenders that investigating this type of crime is a top priority for the force. Regardless of time passed, dedicated teams in a specialist unit leave no stone unturned whilst gathering evidence to make arrests with the intention of bringing suspects to face justice.
"I hope these warrants build public trust and confidence that Greater Manchester Police is committed to fighting, preventing and reducing CSE to keep people safe and care for victims - giving them the faith they need in the force to come forward.
Greater Manchester is nationally recognised as a model of good practice in terms of support services available to victims.
If you or someone you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, we encourage you not to suffer in silence and report it to the police, or a support agency so you can get the help and support available.
- Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. We offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by telephoning 0161 276 6515.
-Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call us on 0161 273 4500 or email us at help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk
- Survivors Manchester provides specialist trauma informed support to boys and men in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.
Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bavaria, Wehrmacht Captain. A commemorative plaque on St. Stephen's Cathedral (side of the gate Singertor) recalls that in April 1945 Klinkicht refused to execute the order to bombard the cathedral.
Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bayern, Wehrmachtshauptmann. Eine Gedenktafel am Stephansdom (Seite des Singertors) hält in Erinnerung, dass sich Klinkicht im April 1945 geweigert hatte, den Befehl zur Beschießung des Doms auszuführen.
Fire in St. Stephen's Cathedral: eyewitnesses cried in the face of devastation.
Despite great need after the war, the landmark of Austria was rebuilt within seven years.
04th April 2015
What happened in the heart of Vienna 70 years ago brought tears to many horrified residents. On 12 April 1945, the Pummerin, the largest bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral, fell as a result of a roof fire in the tower hall and broke to pieces. The following day, a collapsing retaining wall pierced through the vault of the southern side choir, the penetrating the cathedral fire destroyed the choir stalls and choir organ, the Imperial oratory and the rood screen cross. St. Stephen's Cathedral offered a pitiful image of senseless destruction, almost at the end of that terrible time when the Viennese asked after each bombing anxiously: "Is Steffl still standing?"
100 grenades for the cathedral
Already on April 10, the cathedral was to be razed to the ground. In retaliation for hoisting a white flag on St. Stephen's Cathedral, the dome must be reduced to rubble and ash with a fiery blast of a hundred shells. Such was the insane command of the commander of an SS Artillery Division in the already lost battle for Vienna against the Red Army.
The Wehrmacht Captain Gerhard Klinkicht, from Celle near Hanover, read the written order to his soldiers and tore the note in front of them with the words: "No, this order will not be executed."
What the SS failed to do, settled looters the day after. The most important witness of the events from April 11 to 13, became Domkurat (cathedral curate) Lothar Kodeischka (1905-1994), who, as the sacristan director of St. Stephen, was practically on the spot throughout these days. When Waffen-SS and Red Army confronted each other on the Danube Canal on April 11, according to Kodeischka a report had appeared that SS units were making a counter-attack over the Augarten Bridge. Parts of the Soviet artillery were then withdrawn from Saint Stephen's square. For hours, the central area of the city center was without occupying forces. This was helped by gangs of raiders who set fire to the afflicted shops.
As a stone witness to the imperishable, the cathedral had defied all adversity for over 800 years, survived the conflagrations, siege of the Turks and the French wars, but in the last weeks of the Second World War St. Stephen was no longer spared the rage of annihilation. Contemporary witness Karl Strobl in those days observed "an old Viennese lady who wept over the burning cathedral".
The stunned spectators of destruction were joined, according to press reports, by a man in baggy trousers and a shabby hat, who incidentally remarked, "Well, we'll just have to rebuild him (the dome)." It was Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. Only a few weeks later, on May 15, 1945, the Viennese archbishop proclaimed to the faithful of his diocese: "Helping our cathedral, St. Stephen's Cathedral, to regain its original beauty is an affair of the heart of all Catholics, a duty of honor for all."
April 1945
In April 1945, not only St. Stephen's Cathedral burned. We did some research for you this month.
April 6: The tallest wooden structure of all time, the 190 meter high wooden tower (short-wave transmitter) of the transmitter Mühlacker, is blown up by the SS.
April 12: Following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd US President.
April 13: Vienna Operation: Soviet troops conquer Vienna.
April 25: Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer, member of the ABBA group, is born.
April 27: The provisional government Renner proclaims the Austrian declaration of independence.
April 30: The Red Army hoists the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of the Third Reich, commits suicide with Eva Braun.
Brand im Stephansdom: Augenzeugen weinten angesichts der Verwüstung.
Trotz großer Not nach dem Krieg wurde das Wahrzeichen Österreichs binnen sieben Jahren wieder aufgebaut.
04. April 2015
Was vor 70 Jahren im Herzen Wiens passierte, trieb vielen entsetzten Bewohnern die Tränen in die Augen. Am 12. April 1945 stürzte die Pummerin, die größte Glocke des Stephansdoms, als Folge eines Dachbrandes in die Turmhalle herab und zerbrach. Tags darauf durchschlug eine einbrechende Stützmauer das Gewölbe des südlichen Seitenchors, das in den Dom eindringende Feuer zerstörte Chorgestühl und Chororgel, Kaiseroratorium und Lettnerkreuz. Der Stephansdom bot ein erbarmungswürdiges Bild sinnloser Zerstörung, und das fast am Ende jener Schreckenszeit, in der die Wiener nach jedem Bombenangriff bang fragten: "Steht der Steffl noch?"
100 Granaten für den Dom
Bereits am 10. April sollte der Dom dem Erdboden gleichgemacht werden. Als Vergeltung für das Hissen einer weißen Fahne auf dem Stephansdom ist der Dom mit einem Feuerschlag von 100 Granaten in Schutt und Asche zu legen. So lautete der wahnwitzige Befehl des Kommandanten einer SS-Artillerieabteilung im schon verlorenen Kampf um Wien gegen die Rote Armee.
Der aus Celle bei Hannover stammende Wehrmachtshauptmann Gerhard Klinkicht las die schriftlich übermittelte Anordnung seinen Soldaten vor und zerriss den Zettel vor aller Augen mit den Worten: "Nein, dieser Befehl wird nicht ausgeführt."
Was der SS nicht gelang, besorgten einen Tag später Plünderer: Zum wichtigsten Zeugen der Geschehnisse vom 11. bis 13. April wurde Domkurat Lothar Kodeischka (1905–1994), der als Sakristeidirektor von St. Stephan in diesen Tagen praktisch durchgehend an Ort und Stelle war. Als am 11. April Waffen-SS und Rote Armee einander am Donaukanal gegenüberstanden, war laut Kodeischka die Nachricht aufgetaucht, SS-Einheiten würden einen Gegenstoß über die Augartenbrücke unternehmen. Teile der sowjetischen Artillerie wurden daraufhin vom Stephansplatz abgezogen. Für Stunden sei der zentrale Bereich der Innenstadt ohne Besatzung gewesen. Dies nützten Banden von Plünderern, die Feuer in den heimgesuchten Geschäften legten.
Als steinerner Zeuge des Unvergänglichen hatte der Dom über 800 Jahre hinweg "allen Widrigkeiten getrotzt, hatte Feuersbrünste, Türkenbelagerungen und Franzosenkriege überstanden. Doch in den letzten Wochen des Zweiten Weltkrieges blieb auch St. Stephan nicht mehr verschont vor der Wut der Vernichtung. Zeitzeuge Karl Strobl beobachtete damals "eine alte Wienerin, die über den brennenden Dom weinte".
Zu den fassungslosen Betrachtern der Zerstörung gesellte sich laut Presseberichten ein Mann in ausgebeulten Hosen und mit abgeschabtem Hut, der so nebenbei bemerkte: "Na, wir werden ihn (den Dom) halt wieder aufbauen müssen." Es handelte sich um Kardinal Theodor Innitzer. Nur wenige Wochen danach, am 15. Mai 1945, ließ der Wiener Erzbischof an die Gläubigen seiner Diözese verlautbaren: "Unsere Kathedrale, den Stephansdom, wieder in seiner ursprünglichen Schönheit erstehen zu helfen, ist eine Herzenssache aller Katholiken, eine Ehrenpflicht aller."
April 1945
Im April 1945 brannte nicht nur der Stephansdom. Wir haben für Sie recherchiert wa noch in diesem Monat geschah.
6. April: Das höchste Holzbauwerk aller Zeiten, der 190 Meter hohe Holzsendeturm des Senders Mühlacker, wird von der SS gesprengt.
12. April: Nach dem Tod von Präsident Franklin D. Roosevelt wird Harry S. Truman als 33. Präsident der USA vereidigt.
13. April: Wiener Operation: Sowjetischen Truppen erobern Wien.
25. April: Björn Ulvaeus, schwedischer Sänger, Mitglied der Gruppe ABBA, kommt zur Welt.
27. April: Von der provisorischen Regierung Renner wird die österreichische Unabhängigkeitserklärung proklamiert.
30. April: Die Rote Armee hisst die sowjetische Fahne auf dem Reichstagsgebäude. Adolf Hitler, der Diktator des Dritten Reiches, begeht mit Eva Braun Selbstmord.
www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/150jahre/ooenachrichten/Vo...
Al poblet natal de Lluís Companys es troba un jardi memorial en record de la seva figura i del seu assassinat per el regim feixista de Franco. Recordem que el paripé de consell de guerra que l'hi va fer aquest regim encara no ha estat anulat per l'estat espanyol.
Ah, i recordar també que aquest monument en record de Companys ha sofert nombrosos atacs per part de gentussa feixista, en especial a partir del avenç de Catalunya cap a la independència.
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llu%C3%ADs_Companys_i_Jover
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Tarr%C3%B2s
www.ara.cat/politica/Lluis_Companys-Tornabous-Tarros-monu...
www.elpuntavui.cat/politica/article/17-politica/904679-el...
També vaig estar el 2011 a la casa on fou arrestat per la Gestapo a La Baule:
==================================
This is the memorial to the President of Catalonia Lluís Companys i Jover, executed with a mock trial by the fascist Spanish government in 1940. He was President of the Catalan government from 1933 to 1934 and from 1936 to 1940 (but in exile from 1939). With the fascist ocupation of Catalonia, he went to the exile in France, but just a year later, in 1940, France too was invaded by Germany. The Gestapo captured him and was executed in Monjuic Castle (Barcelona) by firing squad. He was the only democratically elected president executed in Europe!
But even now this memorial in his hometown of El Tarrós has been desecrated by fascist several times in the last few years. These attacks have been fueled by the Catalan independence movement, which the fascists hate.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llu%C3%ADs_Companys
I've been in the house in La Baule where he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1940:
Afghanistan's infamous Pul-e Charkhi Prison on the eastern edge of Kabul. Inmates reported being beaten and electrocuted there during in the 1980s and 90s. Others were allegedly buried alive and human rights groups suspect the grounds contain many mass graves, as yet undocumented. In 2006, just weeks after seven inmates escaped, five people were killed during a four-day riot in which inmates seized control of the prison. Today it houses a volatile mixture of criminals, insurgents and political prisoners. It is also where Afghanistan carries out its capital punishments. President Hamid Karzai rarely signs execution warrants, but 14 people were executed in November 2012 and 15 people were executed in chaotic conditions in October 2007.
Centaurea cyanus, commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button, is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "corn", referring to grains, such as wheat, barley, rye, or oats), hence its name. It is now endangered in its native habitat by agricultural intensification, particularly by over-use of herbicides. However, Centaurea cyanus is now also naturalised in many other parts of the world, including North America and parts of Australia through introduction as an ornamental plant in gardens and as a seed contaminant in crop seeds.
Description
Centaurea cyanus is an annual plant growing to 40–90 cm tall, with grey-green branched stems. The leaves are lanceolate and 1–4 cm long. The flowers are most commonly an intense blue colour and arranged in flowerheads (capitula) of 1.5–3 cm diameter, with a ring of a few large, spreading ray florets surrounding a central cluster of disc florets. The blue pigment is protocyanin, which in roses is red. Fruits are approx. 3.5 mm long with 2–3 mm long pappus bristles. It flowers all summer.
Distribution
Centaurea cyanus is native to temperate Europe, but is widely naturalized outside its native range.
It has been present in Britain and Ireland as an archaeophyte (ancient introduction) since the Iron Age. In the United Kingdom, it has declined from 264 sites to just 3 sites in the last 50 years.
In reaction to this, the conservation charity Plantlife named it as one of 101 species it would actively work to bring 'back from the brink'.
In the County Clare (VC H9) in Ireland, Centaurea cyanus is recorded in arable fields as very rare and almost extinct, while in the North-East of Ireland, it was abundant before the 1930s.
Genetics and breeding
Centaurea cyanus is a diploid flower (2n = 24). The genetic diversity within populations is high, although there could be a future decline in diversity due to population fragmentation and intensive agriculture. In general, Centaurea cyanus is a self-incompatible species. However, selfing still occurs occasionally, but results in inbreeding depression.
Cultivars
Several cultivars of Centaurea cyanus with varying pastel colours, including pink and purple, have been selected for ornamental purposes. The species is also grown for the cut flower industry in Canada for use by florists. Doubled blue cultivars (such as 'Blue Boy' or 'Blue Diadem') are most commonly used for this purpose, but white, pink, lavender and black (actually a very dark maroon) cultivars are also used, albeit to a lesser extent.
Breeding goals
As for all ornamental plants, important goals of Centaurea cyanus breeding include the induction of phenotypic variation (e.g. in flower coloration, size and shape, foliage characteristics or plant height), higher flower yield, resistance to pests and diseases as well as tolerance to abiotic stress (e.g., extreme temperatures, drought or salinity).
Ecology
Weed in arable crops
Centaurea cyanus is considered a noxious weed in arable crops, especially cereals and rapeseed. In winter wheat, one plant per m2 can cause a yield loss of up to 30 kg / ha. Centaurea cyanus produces around 800 seed per plant, which are either shed shortly before the harvest of cereals, or they are threshed together with the cereal grains, contributing to the further spread of the species by the harvesting machinery and contaminated seed. The occurrence of Centaurea cyanus strongly decreased during the last decades due to improved seed cleaning, more intensive nitrogen fertilization and herbicide use. However, Centaurea cyanus has become more common in cropland due to an increase in crop rotations dominated by winter cereals and rapeseed and the use of more selective herbicides with a low effectiveness against Centaurea cyanus. In addition, the emergence of resistance against the herbicide class of sulfonylureas has been reported recently. Due to its strong roots, Centaurea cyanus is difficult to control mechanically in spring.
Fodder for insects and birds
The pollen of Centaurea cyanus is used by several different insect species. Insects of the orders Hymenoptera and Diptera are particularly attracted by the flower. As Centaurea cyanus is a self-incompatible species, it needs external pollination. The nectar of Centaurea cyanus is very sweet with a sugar content of 34%. Due to its high sugar production of up to 0.2 mg sugar per day and flower, the species is highly appreciated by beekeepers.
The seeds of Centaurea cyanus are one of the favourite foods of the European goldfinch.
Control of insect pests
Centaurea cyanus was found to produce volatiles attracting Microplitis mediator, which is a major parasitoid of the cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae), which is the most important pest of cabbage (Brassica oleracea) in central Europe. Planting Centaurea cyanus in cabbage fields as a companion plant was thus suggested as an alternative to the widespread use of insecticides to control Mamestra brassicae. Field experiments showed that planting Centaurea cyanus in cabbage fields at a density of 1 plant / m2 can result in a significant increase in parasitation of Mamestra brassicae larvae, predation of Mamestra brassicae eggs (e.g. by carabid beetles or spiders) and ultimately cabbage yield.
Cultivation
Soil and climate requirements
Centaurea cyanus requires full sun and neutral (pH 6.6–7.5) to mildly alkaline (pH 7.6–7.8), moist and well-drained soil. However, Centaurea cyanus is quite tolerant to drought once established.
Sowing
For summer-blooming plants, sowing should be executed in late spring. In moderate climates, however, it is also possible to sow Centaurea cyanus in early fall. In this case, plants will already start to flower in the following spring. Recommended spacing between plants is approx. 20 to 30 cm. Centaurea cyanus can germinate from up to 10 cm depth, but the best result is obtained at 1 cm sowing depth. Germination occurs quickly after sowing.
Fertilization and cultural practices
High phosphorus fertilization in mid-summer will increase flower production. Mulching is recommended to prevent drying out of the soil and exposure of the root system to the sun.
Pests and diseases
In general, Centaurea cyanus is not very susceptible to pests and plant diseases. However, it may be affected by stem rot and stem rust if grown too tightly or by powdery mildew. Furthermore, aphids and leafhoppers can cause relevant damage to Centaurea cyanus.
Seed harvesting
Seeds are harvested either by hand or, in an agricultural setting, with a seed harvesting machine. On average there are 97,000 seeds in a pound of cornflower seeds.
Hand collecting can be time-consuming and yields are rather low.
A seed harvesting machine is more efficient than collecting the seeds by hand, but it is costly. The main principle of such a machine is that it brushes the ripe seeds off the plant and creates a cross flow fan action that generates sufficient air velocity to hold and gather the seeds into the seed bunker.
Pruning
Deadheading will encourage the plant to produce more blooms. Cornflowers are often used for ornamental purposes and by cutting them, up to their third leaves, they will produce more blooms and grow a bigger stem.
Uses
The flowers of Centaurea cyanus can be eaten raw, dried or cooked. Dried petals are used in foods, including in spices. Their main purpose is to add colour to food. There are cheeses or oils that contain raw petals. Petals can also be added to salads, drinks, or desserts for garnishing purposes in raw or dried form.
Beverages
Dried petals are also used in teas and other beverages. Blue cornflower petals are sometimes one of the ingredients in Lady Grey tea.
Ornamental use
Centaurea cyanus is used as an ornamental plant. There are varieties with blue, white, purple, pink or even black petals.
Pigment
The blue color of Centaurea cyanus is due to protocyanin, an anthocyanin pigment that is also found in roses. Different anthocyanins derived from Centaurea cyanus are used as natural additives in food products, such as yoghurts.
Medicinal purpose
Centaurea cyanus contains a wide range of pharmacologically active compounds, such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and aromatic acids. Especially the flower head finds application in herbal medicine, but leaves and seeds are also used for pharmacological purposes, albeit to a lesser extent.
In particular, extracts from the flower heads have anti-inflammatory properties used in the treatment of minor ocular inflammations. Antioxidant properties are high due to ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds. Furthermore, extracts of the flower head and vegetative parts of the plant were shown to have gastroprotective effects due to their content of quercetin, apigenin and caffeic acid derivates.
Phytoremediation
Centaurea cyanus has been evaluated for phytoremediation of soils contaminated with lead. Inoculation of the contaminated soil with Glomus spp. (fungus) and Pseudomonas spp. (bacterium) would significantly enhance the biomass production and lead uptake of Centaurea cyanus.
Folklore and symbolism
In folklore, cornflowers were worn by young men in love; if the flower faded too quickly, it was taken as a sign that the man's love was not returned.
The blue cornflower was one of the national symbols of Germany. This is partly due to the story that when Queen Louise of Prussia was fleeing Berlin and pursued by Napoleon's forces, she hid her children in a field of cornflowers and kept them quiet by weaving wreaths for them from the flowers. The flower thus became identified with Prussia, not least because it was the same color as the Prussian military uniform. After the unification of Germany in 1871, it went on to become a symbol of the country as a whole. For this reason, in Austria the blue cornflower is a political symbol for pan-German and rightist ideas. It was worn as a secret symbol identifying members of the then-illegal NSDAP in Austria in the 1930s. Members of the Freedom Party wore it at the openings of the Austrian parliament since 2006. After the last general election 2017 they replaced it with the edelweiss.
It was also the favourite flower of Louise's son Kaiser Wilhelm I. Because of its ties to royalty, authors such as Theodor Fontane have used it symbolically, often sarcastically, to comment on the social and political climate of the time.
The cornflower is also often seen as an inspiration for the German Romantic symbol of the Blue Flower.
Due to its traditional association with Germany, the cornflower has been made the official symbol of the annual German-American Steuben Parade.
The blue cornflower has been the national flower of Estonia since 1969 and symbolizes daily bread to Estonians. It is also the symbol of the Estonian Conservative People's Party.
It is also the symbol of the Finnish National Coalition Party, and the Liberal People's Party of Sweden, where it has since the dawn of the 20th century been a symbol for social liberalism.
It is the official flower of the Swedish province of Östergötland and the school flower of Winchester College and also of Dulwich College, where it is said to have been the favourite flower of the founder, Edward Alleyn.
In France the bleuet de France is the symbol of the 11 November 1918 armistice and, as such, a common symbol for veterans (especially the now defunct poilus of World War I), similar to the Remembrance poppies worn in the United Kingdom and in Canada.
The cornflower is also the symbol for motor neurone disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Cornflowers are sometimes worn by Old Harrovians, former pupils of the British Harrow School.
A blue cornflower was used by Corning Glass Works for the initial release of Corning Ware Pyroceram cookware. Its popularity in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia was so high that it became the symbol of Corning Glass Works.
Created in 1910 by Melbourne stained glass manufacturer Ferguson and Urie, the Saint Simon Peter stained glass window and its pair the Saint Andrew stained glass window may be found in the western wall of the north transept of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church. Dedicated to the memory of Alexander Purves MacAdam the Saint Simon Peter stained glass window is installed next to the Saint Andrew stained glass window which is dedicated to his wife Barbara who preceded him in death in 1904. Both windows were presented by their daughters Maggie and Effie MacAdam.
Saint Simon Peter (Saint Peter) was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. He is often called the Prince of the Apostles. Jesus promised Peter a special place in his church. He is commonly identified as the first Bishop of Rome and the founder of the Church of Antioch and the Roman Church. He holds in his right hand his most commonly recognised symbols; the Keys to Heaven, in this case two, one executed in silver and the other gold. Traditionally he is portrayed in papal vestments with a white beard, however in this window he has a brown beard and is dressed elegantly, but his robes would hardly be classified as papal. The pane below Saint Simon Peter features a biblical quote from Matthew XVI - 16: "Simon Peter said - Thou art the Christ and the Son of the living God."
Saint Andrew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, brother of Saint Peter, and is generally agreed that he was the first-called of the Christian Apostles. Crucified on a saltire, which became known as a Saint Andrew's Cross after his martyrdom, in this window Saint Andrew is portrayed leaning against such a cross. This stained glass window is very similar in design and has a similar colour scheme to an earlier Saint Andrew Window created by Ferguson and Urie at Christ Church, Brunswick. The pane below Saint Andrew features a biblical quote from John I - 41 - 42: "Andrew bindeth his own brother Simon and brought him to Jesus."
The Saint George's Presbyterian Church's 1876 - 1926 Jubilee Souvenir Book identifies Mr. Alexander Purves MacAdam as "Another of the pioneers of our Church, being a member of the first Board of Management. In I88I he was elected Treasurer, and held this office until 1885. He was a Trustee until 1905. Mr. MacAdam was a liberal contributor to Church funds for many years."
The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church, which stands on busy Chapel Street in St Kilda East, is a well known and loved local landmark, not least of all because of its strikingly tall (33.5 metre or 110 foot) banded bell tower which can be spotted from far away. In the Nineteenth Century when it was built, it would have been even more striking for its great height and domineering presence. Designed by architect Albert Purchas, the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is often referred to as his ecclesiastical tour-de-force, and it is most certainly one of his most dramatic and memorable churches.
The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was constructed on a plot of land reserved in Chapel Street for the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1866. Initially services were held in a small hall whilst fundraising efforts advanced the erection of a church. The architect Albert Purchas was commissioned to design the church and the foundation stone for the western portion of the nave was finally laid in April 1877 by Sir James McCulloch. The first service was held in the church on the 1st of October 1877. The first clergyman of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was the Reverend John Laurence Rentoul (father to world renown and much loved Australian children's book illustrator Ida Rentoul Outhwaite). However, the swelling Presbyterian congregation of St Kilda and its surrounding districts quickly outgrew the initial Saint George's Presbyterian Church building, so Albert Purchas was obliged to re-design and enlarge the church to allow a doubling in capacity. Robert S. Ekins was the contractor and his tender was £3000.00. It is this imposing church building, reopened in 1880, that we see today. The "Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil" noted that the total length of the building was 118 feet and 6 inches (36 metres), by 40 foot (12 metres) wide and that the striking octagonal tower to the north-west was 110ft 6 in high. It perhaps reflected better the wealth and aspirations of the congregation.
The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is constructed on bluestone foundations and is built in an ornate polychromatic Gothic Revival style in the tradition of English designers like William Butterfield and John L. Pearson. Built of red brick building, it is decorated in contrasting cream bricks and Waurn Ponds freestone dressings. It features a slate roof with prominent roof vents, iron ridge cresting and fleche at the intersection of the nave and transepts. The front facade of the church is dominated by the slender, banded octagonal tower topped by a narrow spire. The entrance features a double arched portal portico. The facade also features a dominant triangular epitrochoidal (curved triangular form) rose window. The church, like its bluestone neighbour All Saints Church of England, is built to a T-shaped plan, with an aisleless nave, broad transepts and internal walls of cream brick, relieved with coloured brickwork. The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was one of the first major church design in Melbourne in which polychrome brickwork was lavishly employed both externally and internally.
The inside of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is equally as grand as the exterior, with ornamental Gothic Revival polychromatic brickwork, a lofty vaulted ceiling, deal and kauri pine joinery and pulpit and reredos of Keene's cement. The building originally contained a complete set of Victorian stained glass windows by well known and successful Melbourne manufacturers Ferguson and Urie, all of which remain intact today except for one of the non-figurative windows which was replaced by a memorial window to Samuel Lyons McKenzie, the congregation’s beloved minister, who served from 1930 to 1948, in 1949. The earliest of the Ferguson and Urie windows are non-figurative windows which feature the distinctive diaper pattern and floral motifs of Fergus and Urie's work, and are often argued to be amongst the finest of their non-figurative designs. The large triple window in the chancel was presented by Lady McCulloch in memory of the ‘loved and dead’. Another, in memory of John Kane Smyth, the Vice-Consul for the United States of America in Melbourne, has the American Stars and Stripes on the top ventilator above it. An organ by Thomas C. Lewis of London, one of the leading 19th century English organ builders, was installed in the south transept in 1882. It was designed to blend with its architectural setting, with pipework styled to avoid the obstruction of windows. The action of this organ was altered in 1935, but the pipework, and the original sound, have been retained.
Over the years many spiritual and social activities were instituted at Saint George’s, Presbyterian Church some of short duration such as the Ladies’ Reading Club which operated between 1888 and 1893. There were segregated Bible classes for young men and women, the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union, formed in 1892, a cricket club and a floral guild. Guilds teaching physical culture for girls, boys and young men began in 1904. They were entirely financed by John Maclellan and the idea extended to other denominations throughout Victoria. John Maclellan died in 1936 and the guilds ceased at Saint George’s Presbyterian church through lack of funds although in 1977 the members of the girls’ guild were still holding bi-annual reunions and raising money for charity. Sadly, the Presbyterian congregations may have been large in the Nineteenth Century, but by St George's Presbyterian Church's 110th centenary, its doors had already closed during the week due to dwindling numbers and an ageing congregation as a result of the general decline in church attendances after the Second World War exacerbated by the changing nature of St Kilda and the decrease in numbers of residents living in the vicinity of the church. So it stood, forlorn and empty and seemingly nothing more than a relic of a glorious but bygone religious past. However in 1990, Saint Michael's Grammar School across the road leased the Victorian Heritage listed building during weekdays, and it was eventually sold to them in 2015. It now forms part of the school's performing-arts complex, and it has a wonderful new lease of life.
St George's Presbyterian Church is sometimes hired out for performances, and I had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to hear Handel's Messiah performed there in 2009. The ecclesiastical acoustics made the performance all the more magnificent. I remember as I sat on one of the original (hard) kauri pine pews, I looked around me and admired the stained glass and ornamental brickwork. I tried without success over several subsequent years to gain access to the church's interior, settling for photographs of the exterior instead, but it wasn't until 2018 that I was fortunate enough to gain entry to photograph the church's interior. The former St George's Presbyterian Church was opened up to the public for one Sunday morning only as part of Open House Melbourne in July 2018. It was a fantastic morning, and I am very grateful to the staff who manned the church for the day and watched bemused as I photographed the stained glass extensively and in such detail.
Albert Purchas, born in 1825 in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, was a prominent Nineteenth Century architect who achieved great success for himself in Melbourne. Born to parents Robert Whittlesey Purchas and Marianne Guyon, he migrated to Australia in 1851 to establish himself in the then quickly expanding city of Melbourne, where he set up a small architect's firm in Little Collins Street. He also offered surveying services. His first major building was constructing the mansion "Berkeley Hall" in St Kilda on Princes Street in 1854. The house still exists today. Two years after migrating, Albert designed the layout of the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton. It was the first "garden cemetery" in Victoria, and his curvilinear design is still in existence, unaltered, today. In 1854, Albert married Eliza Anne Sawyer (1825 - 1869) in St Kilda. The couple had ten children over their marriage, including a son, Robert, who followed in his father's footsteps as an architect. Albert's brother-in-law, Charles Sawyer joined him in the partnership of Purchas and Sawyer, which existed from 1856 until 1862 in Queens Street. The firm produced more than 140 houses, churches, offices and cemetery buildings including: the nave and transepts of Christ Church St Kilda between 1854 and 1857, "Glenara Homestead"in Bulla in 1857, the Melbourne Savings Bank on the corner of Flinders Lane and Market Street (now demolished) between 1857 and 1858, the Geelong branch of the Bank of Australasia in Malop Street between 1859 and 1860, and Beck's Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine in 1861. When the firm broke up, Albert returned to Little Collins Street, and the best known building he designed during this period was Saint. George's Presbyterian Church in St Kilda East between 1877 and 1880. The church's tall polychomatic brick bell tower is still a local landmark, even in the times of high rise architecture and development, and Saint, George's itself is said to be one of his most striking church designs. Socially, Albert was vice president of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects for many years, before becoming president in 1887. He was also an inventor and philanthropist. Albert died in 1909 at his home in Kew, a wealthy widower and much loved father.
The stained glass firm of Ferguson and Urie was established by Scots James Ferguson (1818 – 1894), James Urie (1828 – 1890) and John Lamb Lyon (1836 – 1916). They were the first known makers of stained glass in Australia. Until the early 1860s, window glass in Melbourne had been clear or plain coloured, and nearly all was imported, but new churches and elaborate buildings created a demand for pictorial windows. The three Scotsmen set up Ferguson and Urie in 1862 and the business thrived until 1899, when it ceased operation, with only John Lamb Lyon left alive. Ferguson and Urie was the most successful Nineteenth Century Australian stained glass window making company. Among their earliest works were a Shakespeare window for the Haymarket Theatre in Bourke Street, a memorial window to Prince Albert in Holy Trinity, Kew, and a set of Apostles for the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church. Their palatial Gothic Revival office building stood at 283 Collins Street from 1875. Ironically, their last major commission, a window depicting “labour”, was installed in the old Melbourne Stock Exchange in Collins Street in 1893 on the eve of the bank crash. Their windows can be found throughout the older suburbs of Melbourne and across provincial Victoria.
This morning (Tuesday 1 February 2022), we executed warrants at six properties in the Chadderton area.
A 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A second 25-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.
A 26-year-old was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A 27-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
A 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of rape and trafficking a person within the UK for sexual exploitation.
The warrants were executed as part of Operation Gabel - an investigation into the child sexual exploitation of two teenage girls in 2012/2013.
Inspector Nick Helme, of GMP's Oldham district, said: "This morning's action at several properties in the Chadderton area was a result of just one of a number of ongoing investigations into historic child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester.
"I can assure members of the public and warn offenders that investigating this type of crime is a top priority for the force. Regardless of time passed, dedicated teams in a specialist unit leave no stone unturned whilst gathering evidence to make arrests with the intention of bringing suspects to face justice.
"I hope these warrants build public trust and confidence that Greater Manchester Police is committed to fighting, preventing and reducing CSE to keep people safe and care for victims - giving them the faith they need in the force to come forward.
Greater Manchester is nationally recognised as a model of good practice in terms of support services available to victims.
If you or someone you know has been raped or sexually assaulted, we encourage you not to suffer in silence and report it to the police, or a support agency so you can get the help and support available.
- Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. We offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by telephoning 0161 276 6515.
-Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call us on 0161 273 4500 or email us at help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk
- Survivors Manchester provides specialist trauma informed support to boys and men in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.
Falguiere executed two versions of Diana, one standing and one running. This is the first of several drawings and engravings of late 19th century French statues that I found in an Internet Archive book. The page reproductions were very pale, so I've darkened and greyscaled them and removed a few spots.
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The village has often been used as a location for films, such as The Captive Heart (1950), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Witches, The Legacy, Dance with a Stranger and the opening scenes of the remake of The Avengers starring Ralph Fiennes and also some scenes in 101 Dalmatians. Hambleden was also used in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers to depict Easy Company's training in England. Also, the Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, included a month-long location shoot at Lime Tree Valley, in Hambleden. There is only one Shop/Post Office in the centre of the village. Other properties have facades that are more in keeping with a traditional country village. In 1979 Hambleden church was the setting for a programme featuring Harry Secombe called "Cross on the Donkey's Back". It was an Easter programme by Thames Television and also featured a group of school children from Hambleden C of E School. The 2010 film Nanny McPhee Returns also used parts of the village in some of their scenes. The church was used in Agatha Christie's Poirot's episode Sad Cypress.
Hambleden is a small village and civil parish within Wycombe district in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about four miles west of Marlow, and about three miles north east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest and Frieth, and the hamlets of Colstrope, Mill End, Moor End, Parmoor, Pheasant's Hill and Skirmett. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'crooked or irregularly-shaped hill'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hanbledene, though previously in 1015 it was known as Hamelan dene. St Thomas Cantilupe, the Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Hereford, was born in Hambleden in 1218. In 1315 a Royal charter was granted to hold a market in the village, and a fair on St Bartholomew's Day (24 August) every year. The charter was reconfirmed in 1321, though appears to have not lasted much longer than this. The village was a base for USA soldiers during the buildup to D-Day in 1944. The brick and flint cottages in the centre of the village conform to a similar design and have dormer windows topped with red tiles. St Mary's church dates from the 14th century and includes a conspicuous memorial to Cope D'Oyley (who died in 1633) and his family. The tower contains eight bells and the ceiling is quite intricately decorated in parts. The post office in the village serves also as the local shop and cafe. The Elizabethan manor house opposite the church, now the home of Maria Carmela Viscountess Hambleden, was built in 1603 of flint and brick for Emanuel 11th Baron Scrope who became Earl of Sunderland. Charles I stayed there overnight in 1646 while fleeing from Oxford. The Manor House, Hambleden is also the former home of Lord Cardigan who led the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade. Another notable (Listed Grade II*) building is Kenricks which overlooks the cricket ground and was the previous manor house and the home of Philadelphia Carey Lady Scrope, a cousin and Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. On her death in 1627 it became The Rectory and was altered in 1724 by the Rector Rev Dr Scawen Kenrick. It ceased to be The Rectory in 1938 and was acquired by the 3rd Viscount Hambleden and renamed Kenricks. Roman remains were unearthed to the south of the village in 1912. A contested theory was put forward in 2010 that a military brothel might have formed part of the Yewden villa site, after archaeologists discovered skeletal remains of what appeared to be 97 newborn babies. Saint Thomas Cantilupe was born in the old Manor House (now Kenricks) in 1218. He became Chancellor of Oxford University, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of England. He was canonised by Pope John XXII in 1320 and was the last Englishman to be canonised before the Reformation. The Hambleden Estate was held by the Scrope family from 1365 to 1627. Philadelphia Carey, 10th Lady Scrope was a granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Queen Anne who was executed by Henry VIII in 1536. The Estate was acquired in 1925 by Frederick Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambleden who owned the adjoining Greenlands Estate. The Smith family sold the western part of the Estate in 2008 to the Swiss financier Urs Schwarzenbach. Major General Miles Fitzalan-Howard 17th Duke of Norfolk lived in the parish until his death in 2002 and his widow Anne continues to live there. Lord Cardigan, famous for his role in leading the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade, was born in the Manor House in 1797. The sea chest that he took to the Crimea can be seen in the church. Roger Marquis, 2nd Earl of Woolton lived at Kenricks in the 1960s. Phil Vickery, Rugby Union London Wasps player and England 2003 World Cup Winner, lived in Hambleden.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Boeing B-787-8 Dreamliner s/n 38611 (2013) British Airways G-ZBJC (Executing Go-Around on Short Final) @ Toronto Pearson IA (CYYZ), ON Canada
A formation in executing the nearly extinct Gotipua Dance at our Durga Puja Cultural Festival of 2013 - of South Madras Cultural Association, Chennai, India.
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Gotipua is a traditional dance form in the state of Orissa, India, and the precursor of Odissi classical dance. It has been performed in Orissa for centuries by young boys, who dress as women to praise Jagannath and Krishna. The dance is executed by a group of boys who perform acrobatic figures inspired by the life of Radha and Krishna. The boys begin to learn the dance at an early age until adolescence, when their androgynous appearance changes. In the Oriya language Gotipua, means "single boy" (goti-pua). Raghurajpur, Orissa (near Puri) is an historic village known for its Gotipua dance troupes.
To transform into graceful feminine dancers the boys do not cut their hair, instead styling it in a knot and weaving garlands of flowers into it. They make up their faces with mixed white and red powder. Kajal (black eyeliner) is broadly applied around the eyes to give them an elongated look. The bindi usually round, is applied to the forehead, surrounded with a pattern made from sandalwood. Traditional paintings adorn the face, which are unique to each dance school.
The costume has evolved over time. The traditional dress is a Kanchula, a brightly coloured blouse with shiny decorations. An apron-like, embroidered silk cloth (nibibandha) is tied around the waist like a ruffle and worn around the legs. Some dancers still adhere to tradition by wearing a pattasari: a piece of thin fabric about 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, worn tightly with equal lengths of material on both sides and a knot on the navel. However, this traditional dress is often replaced by a newly designed cloth which is easier to put on.
Dancers wear specially designed, beaded jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, armbands and ear ornaments. Nose-piercing jewelry has been replaced with a painted motif. Ankle bells are worn, to accentuate the beats tapped out by the feet. The palms of the hands and soles of the feet are painted with a red liquid known as alta. The costume, jewelry and bells are considered sacred.
Long ago, the temples in Orissa had female dancers known as devadasi (or mahari), who were devoted to Jagannath, which gave rise to Mahari dance. Sculptures of dancers on bas-reliefs in temples in Orissa (and the Konark Sun and Jagannath Temples in Puri) demonstrate this ancient tradition. With the decline of mahari dancers around the 16th century during the reign of Rama Chandra Dev (who founded the Bhoi dynasty), boy dancers in Orissa continued the tradition. Gotipua dance is in the Odissi style, but their technique, costumes and presentation differ from those of the mahari; the singing is done by the dancers. Present-day Odissi dance has been influenced by Gotipua dance. Most masters of Odissi dance (such as Kelucharan Mohapatra, from Raghurajpur) were Gotipua dancers in their youth.
Odissi dance is a combination of tandava (vigorous, masculine) and lasya (graceful, feminine) dances. It has two basic postures: tribhangi (in which the body is held with bends at the head, torso and knees) and chouka (a square-like stance, symbolizing Jagannath). Fluidity in the upper torso is characteristic of Odissi dance, which is often compared to the gentle sea waves which caress the Orissa beaches.
Each year, the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre organizes the Gotipua Dance Festival in Bhubaneswar.
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotipua
Rochester is a town and historic city in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is situated at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London.
Rochester was for many years a favourite of Charles Dickens, who owned nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham,[1] basing many of his novels on the area. The Diocese of Rochester, the second oldest in England, is based at Rochester Cathedral and was responsible for the founding of a school, now The King's School in 604 AD,[2] which is recognised as being the second oldest continuously running school in the world. Rochester Castle, built by Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, has one of the best preserved keepsin either England or France, and during the First Barons' War (1215–1217) in King John's reign, baronial forces captured the castle from Archbishop Stephen Langton and held it against the king, who then besieged it.[3]
Neighbouring Chatham, Gillingham, Strood and a number of outlying villages, together with Rochester, nowadays make up the MedwayUnitary Authority area. It was, until 1998,[4]under the control of Kent County Council and is still part of the ceremonial county of Kent, under the latest Lieutenancies Act.[5]
Toponymy[edit]
The Romano-British name for Rochester was Durobrivae, later Durobrivis c. 730 and Dorobrevis in 844. The two commonly cited origins of this name are that it either came from "stronghold by the bridge(s)",[6] or is the latinisation of the British word Dourbruf meaning "swiftstream".[7]Durobrivis was pronounced 'Robrivis. Bede copied down this name, c. 730, mistaking its meaning as Hrofi's fortified camp (OE Hrofes cæster). From this we get c. 730 Hrofæscæstre, 811 Hrofescester, 1086 Rovescester, 1610 Rochester.[6] The Latinised adjective 'Roffensis' refers to Rochester.[7]
Neolithic remains have been found in the vicinity of Rochester; over time it has been variously occupied by Celts, Romans, Jutes and/or Saxons. During the Celtic period it was one of the two administrative centres of the Cantiaci tribe. During the Roman conquest of Britain a decisive battle was fought at the Medway somewhere near Rochester. The first bridge was subsequently constructed early in the Roman period. During the later Roman period the settlement was walled in stone. King Ethelbert of Kent(560–616) established a legal system which has been preserved in the 12th century Textus Roffensis. In AD 604 the bishopric and cathedral were founded. During this period, from the recall of the legions until the Norman conquest, Rochester was sacked at least twice and besieged on another occasion.
The medieval period saw the building of the current cathedral (1080–1130, 1227 and 1343), the building of two castles and the establishment of a significant town. Rochester Castle saw action in the sieges of 1215 and 1264. Its basic street plan was set out, constrained by the river, Watling Street, Rochester Priory and the castle.
Rochester has produced two martyrs: St John Fisher, executed by Henry VIII for refusing to sanction the divorce of Catherine of Aragon; and Bishop Nicholas Ridley, executed by Queen Mary for being an English Reformation protestant.
The city was raided by the Dutch as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch, commanded by Admiral de Ruijter, broke through the chain at Upnor[8] and sailed to Rochester Bridge capturing part of the English fleet and burning it.[9]
The ancient City of Rochester merged with the Borough of Chatham and part of the Strood Rural District in 1974 to form the Borough of Medway. It was later renamed Rochester-upon-Medway, and its City status transferred to the entire borough. In 1998 another merger with the rest of the Medway Towns created the Medway Unitary Authority. The outgoing council neglected to appoint ceremonial "Charter Trustees" to continue to represent the historic Rochester area, causing Rochester to lose its City status – an error not even noticed by council officers for four years, until 2002.[10][11]
Military History
Rochester has for centuries been of great strategic importance through its position near the confluence of the Thames and the Medway. Rochester Castle was built to guard the river crossing, and the Royal Dockyard's establishment at Chatham witnessed the beginning of the Royal Navy's long period of supremacy. The town, as part of Medway, is surrounded by two circles of fortresses; the inner line built during the Napoleonic warsconsists of Fort Clarence, Fort Pitt, Fort Amherst and Fort Gillingham. The outer line of Palmerston Forts was built during the 1860s in light of the report by the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdomand consists of Fort Borstal, Fort Bridgewood, Fort Luton, and the Twydall Redoubts, with two additional forts on islands in the Medway, namely Fort Hoo and Fort Darnet.
During the First World War the Short Brothers' aircraft manufacturing company developed the first plane to launch a torpedo, the Short Admiralty Type 184, at its seaplane factory on the River Medway not far from Rochester Castle. In the intervening period between the 20th century World Wars the company established a world-wide reputation as a constructor of flying boats with aircraft such as the Singapore, Empire 'C'-Class and Sunderland. During the Second World War, Shorts also designed and manufactured the first four-engined bomber, the Stirling.
The UK's decline in naval power and shipbuilding competitiveness led to the government decommissioning the RN Shipyard at Chatham in 1984, which led to the subsequent demise of much local maritime industry. Rochester and its neighbouring communities were hit hard by this and have experienced a painful adjustment to a post-industrial economy, with much social deprivation and unemployment resulting. On the closure of Chatham Dockyard the area experienced an unprecedented surge in unemployment to 24%; this had dropped to 2.4% of the local population by 2014.[12]
Former City of Rochester[edit]
Rochester was recognised as a City from 1211 to 1998. The City of Rochester's ancient status was unique, as it had no formal council or Charter Trustees nor a Mayor, instead having the office of Admiral of the River Medway, whose incumbent acted as de facto civic leader.[13] On 1 April 1974, the City Council was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, and the territory was merged with the District of Medway, Borough of Chatham and most of Strood Rural District to form a new a local government district called the Borough of Medway, within the county of Kent. Medway Borough Council applied to inherit Rochester's city status, but this was refused; instead letters patent were granted constituting the area of the former Rochester local government district to be the City of Rochester, to "perpetuate the ancient name" and to recall "the long history and proud heritage of the said City".[14] The Home Officesaid that the city status may be extended to the entire borough if it had "Rochester" in its name, so in 1979, Medway Borough Council renamed the borough to Borough of Rochester-upon-Medway, and in 1982, Rochester's city status was transferred to the entire borough by letters patent, with the district being called the City of Rochester-upon-Medway.[13]
On 1 April 1998, the existing local government districts of Rochester-upon-Medway and Gillingham were abolished and became the new unitary authority of Medway. The Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions informed the city council that since it was the local government district that officially held City status under the 1982 Letters Patent, the council would need to appoint charter trustees to preserve its city status, but the outgoing Labour-run council decided not to appoint charter trustees, so the city status was lost when Rochester-upon-Medway was abolished as a local government district.[15][16][17] The other local government districts with City status that were abolished around this time, Bath and Hereford, decided to appoint Charter Trustees to maintain the existence of their own cities and the mayoralties. The incoming Medway Council apparently only became aware of this when, in 2002, it was advised that Rochester was not on the Lord Chancellor's Office's list of cities.[18][19]
In 2010, Medway Council started to refer to the "City of Medway" in promotional material, but it was rebuked and instructed not to do so in future by the Advertising Standards Authority.[20]
Governance[edit]
Civic history and traditions[edit]
Rochester and its neighbours, Chatham and Gillingham, form a single large urban area known as the Medway Towns with a population of about 250,000. Since Norman times Rochester had always governed land on the other side of the Medway in Strood, which was known as Strood Intra; before 1835 it was about 100 yards (91 m) wide and stretched to Gun Lane. In the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act the boundaries were extended to include more of Strood and Frindsbury, and part of Chatham known as Chatham Intra. In 1974, Rochester City Council was abolished and superseded by Medway Borough Council, which also included the parishes of Cuxton, Halling and Cliffe, and the Hoo Peninsula. In 1979 the borough became Rochester-upon-Medway. The Admiral of the River Medway was ex-officio Mayor of Rochester and this dignity transferred to the Mayor of Medway when that unitary authority was created, along with the Admiralty Court for the River which constitutes a committee of the Council.[21]
Like many of the mediaeval towns of England, Rochester had civic Freemen whose historic duties and rights were abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. However, the Guild of Free Fishers and Dredgers continues to the present day and retains rights, duties and responsibilities on the Medway, between Sheerness and Hawkwood Stone.[22] This ancient corporate body convenes at the Admiralty Court whose Jury of Freemen is responsible for the conservancy of the River as enshrined in current legislation. The City Freedom can be obtained by residents after serving a period of "servitude", i.e. apprenticeship (traditionally seven years), before admission as a Freeman. The annual ceremonial Beating of the Boundsby the River Medway takes place after the Admiralty Court, usually on the first Saturday of July.
Rochester first obtained City status in 1211, but this was lost due to an administrative oversight when Rochester was absorbed by the Medway Unitary Authority.[10] Subsequently, the Medway Unitary Authority has applied for City status for Medway as a whole, rather than merely for Rochester. Medway applied unsuccessfully for City status in 2000 and 2002 and again in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Year of 2012.[23] Any future bid to regain formal City status has been recommended to be made under the aegis of Rochester-upon-Medway.
Ecclesiastical parishes[edit]
There were three medieval parishes: St Nicholas', St Margaret's and St Clement's. St Clement's was in Horsewash Lane until the last vicar died in 1538 when it was joined with St Nicholas' parish; the church last remaining foundations were finally removed when the railway was being constructed in the 1850s. St Nicholas' Church was built in 1421 beside the cathedral to serve as a parish church for the citizens of Rochester. The ancient cathedral included the Benedictine monastic priory of St Andrew with greater status than the local parishes.[24] Rochester's pre-1537 diocese, under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome, covered a vast area extending into East Anglia and included all of Essex.[25]
As a result of the restructuring of the Church during the Reformation the cathedral was reconsecrated as the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary without parochial responsibilities, being a diocesan church.[26] In the 19th century the parish of St Peter's was created to serve the burgeoning city with the new church being consecrated in 1859. Following demographic shifts, St Peter's and St Margaret's were recombined as a joint benefice in 1953 with the parish of St Nicholas with St Clement being absorbed in 1971.[27] The combined parish is now the "Parish of St Peter with St Margaret", centred at the new (1973) Parish Centre in The Delce (St Peter's) with St Margaret's remaining as a chapel-of-ease. Old St Peter's was demolished in 1974, while St Nicholas' Church has been converted into the diocesan offices but remains consecrated. Continued expansion south has led to the creation of an additional more recent parish of St Justus (1956) covering The Tideway estate and surrounding area.[28]
A church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin at Eastgate, which was of Anglo-Saxon foundation, is understood to have constituted a parish until the Middle Ages, but few records survive.[29]
Geography
Rochester lies within the area, known to geologists, as the London Basin. The low-lying Hoo peninsula to the north of the town consists of London Clay, and the alluvium brought down by the two rivers—the Thames and the Medway—whose confluence is in this area. The land rises from the river, and being on the dip slope of the North Downs, this consists of chalksurmounted by the Blackheath Beds of sand and gravel.
As a human settlement, Rochester became established as the lowest river crossing of the River Medway, well before the arrival of the Romans.
It is a focal point between two routes, being part of the main route connecting London with the Continent and the north-south routes following the course of the Medway connecting Maidstone and the Weald of Kent with the Thames and the North Sea. The Thames Marshes were an important source of salt. Rochester's roads follow north Kent's valleys and ridges of steep-sided chalk bournes. There are four ways out of town to the south: up Star Hill, via The Delce,[30] along the Maidstone Road or through Borstal. The town is inextricably linked with the neighbouring Medway Towns but separate from Maidstone by a protective ridge known as the Downs, a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
At its most limited geographical size, Rochester is defined as the market town within the city walls, now associated with the historic medieval city. However, Rochester historically also included the ancient wards of Strood Intra on the river's west bank, and Chatham Intra as well as the three old parishes on the Medway's east bank.
The diocese of Rochester is another geographical entity which can be referred to as Rochester.
Climate[edit]
Rochester has an oceanic climate similar to much of southern England, being accorded Köppen Climate Classification-subtype of "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate).[31]
On 10 August 2003, neighbouring Gravesend recorded one of the highest temperatures since meteorogical records began in the United Kingdom, with a reading of 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit),[32]only beaten by Brogdale, near Faversham, 22 miles (35 km) to the ESE.[33] The weather station at Brogdale is run by a volunteer, only reporting its data once a month, whereas Gravesend, which has an official Met Office site at the PLA pilot station,[34] reports data hourly.
Being near the mouth of the Thames Estuary with the North Sea, Rochester is relatively close to continental Europe and enjoys a somewhat less temperate climate than other parts of Kent and most of East Anglia. It is therefore less cloudy, drier and less prone to Atlanticdepressions with their associated wind and rain than western regions of Britain, as well as being hotter in summer and colder in winter. Rochester city centre's micro-climate is more accurately reflected by these officially recorded figures than by readings taken at Rochester Airport.[35]
North and North West Kent continue to record higher temperatures in summer, sometimes being the hottest area of the country, eg. on the warmest day of 2011, when temperatures reached 33.1 degrees.[36]Additionally, it holds at least two records for the year 2010, of 30.9 degrees[37] and 31.7 degrees C.[38] Another record was set during England's Indian summer of 2011 with 29.9 degrees C., the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK for October.
North and North West Kent continue to record higher temperatures in summer, sometimes being the hottest area of the country, eg. on the warmest day of 2011, when temperatures reached 33.1 degrees.[36]Additionally, it holds at least two records for the year 2010, of 30.9 degrees[37] and 31.7 degrees C.[38] Another record was set during England's Indian summer of 2011 with 29.9 degrees C., the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK for October.
Building
Rochester comprises numerous important historic buildings, the most prominent of which are the Guildhall, the Corn Exchange, Restoration House, Eastgate House, as well as Rochester Castle and Rochester Cathedral. Many of the town centre's old buildings date from as early as the 14th century up to the 18th century. The chapel of St Bartholomew's Hospital dates from the ancient priory hospital's foundation in 1078.
Economy
Thomas Aveling started a small business in 1850 producing and repairing agricultural plant equipment. In 1861 this became the firm of Aveling and Porter, which was to become the largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery and steam rollers in the country.[39] Aveling was elected Admiral of the River Medway (i.e. Mayor of Rochester) for 1869-70.
Culture[edit]
Sweeps Festival[edit]
Since 1980 the city has seen the revival of the historic Rochester Jack-in-the-Green May Day dancing chimney sweeps tradition, which had died out in the early 1900s. Though not unique to Rochester (similar sweeps' gatherings were held across southern England, notably in Bristol, Deptford, Whitstable and Hastings), its revival was directly inspired by Dickens' description of the celebration in Sketches by Boz.
The festival has since grown from a small gathering of local Morris dancesides to one of the largest in the world.[40] The festival begins with the "Awakening of Jack-in-the-Green" ceremony,[41] and continues in Rochester High Street over the May Bank Holiday weekend.
There are numerous other festivals in Rochester apart from the Sweeps Festival. The association with Dickens is the theme for Rochester's two Dickens Festivals held annually in June and December.[42] The Medway Fuse Festival[43] usually arranges performances in Rochester and the latest festival to take shape is the Rochester Literature Festival, the brainchild of three local writers.[44]
Library[edit]
A new public library was built alongside the Adult Education Centre, Eastgate. This enabled the registry office to move from Maidstone Road, Chatham into the Corn Exchange on Rochester High Street (where the library was formerly housed). As mentioned in a report presented to Medway Council's Community Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 28 March 2006, the new library opened in late summer (2006).[45]
Theatre[edit]
There is a small amateur theatre called Medway Little Theatre on St Margaret's Banks next to Rochester High Street near the railway station.[46] The theatre was formed out of a creative alliance with the Medway Theatre Club, managed by Marion Martin, at St Luke's Methodist Church on City Way, Rochester[47] between 1985 and 1988, since when drama and theatre studies have become well established in Rochester owing to the dedication of the Medway Theatre Club.[48]
Media[edit]
Local newspapers for Rochester include the Medway Messenger, published by the KM Group, and free newspapers such as Medway Extra(KM Group) and Yourmedway (KOS Media).
The local commercial radio station for Rochester is KMFM Medway, owned by the KM Group. Medway is also served by community radio station Radio Sunlight. The area also receives broadcasts from county-wide stations BBC Radio Kent, Heart and Gold, as well as from various Essex and Greater London radio stations.[49]
Sport[edit]
Football is played with many teams competing in Saturday and Sunday leagues.[50] The local football club is Rochester United F.C. Rochester F.C. was its old football club but has been defunct for many decades. Rugby is also played; Medway R.F.C. play their matches at Priestfields and Old Williamsonians is associated with Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School.[51]
Cricket is played in the town, with teams entered in the Kent Cricket League. Holcombe Hockey Club is one of the largest in the country,[52]and is based at Holcombe Park. The men's and women's 1st XI are part of the England Hockey League.[53] Speedway was staged on a track adjacent to City Way that opened in 1932. Proposals for a revival in the early 1970s did not materialise and the Rochester Bombers became the Romford Bombers.[54]
Sailing and rowing are also popular on the River Medway with respective clubs being based in Rochester.[55][56]
Film[edit]
The 1959 James Bond Goldfinger describes Bond driving along the A2through the Medway Towns from Strood to Chatham. Of interest is the mention of "inevitable traffic jams" on the Strood side of Rochester Bridge, the novel being written some years prior to the construction of the M2 motorway Medway bypass.
Rochester is the setting of the controversial 1965 Peter Watkins television film The War Game, which depicts the town's destruction by a nuclear missile.[57] The opening sequence was shot in Chatham Town Hall, but the credits particularly thank the people of Dover, Gravesend and Tonbridge.
The 2011 adventure film Ironclad (dir. Jonathan English) is based upon the 1215 siege of Rochester Castle. There are however a few areaswhere the plot differs from accepted historical narrative.
Notable people[edit]
Charles Dickens
The historic city was for many years the favourite of Charles Dickens, who lived within the diocese at nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham, many of his novels being based on the area. Descriptions of the town appear in Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations and (lightly fictionalised as "Cloisterham") in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Elements of two houses in Rochester, Satis House and Restoration House, are used for Miss Havisham's house in Great Expectations, Satis House.[58]
Sybil Thorndike
The actress Dame Sybil Thorndike and her brother Russell were brought up in Minor Canon Row adjacent to the cathedral; the daughter of a canon of Rochester Cathedral, she was educated at Rochester Grammar School for Girls. A local doctors' practice,[59] local dental practice[60] and a hall at Rochester Grammar School are all named after her.[61]
Peter Buck
Sir Peter Buck was Admiral of the Medway in the 17th century; knightedin 1603 he and Bishop Barlow hosted King James, the Stuart royal familyand the King of Denmark in 1606. A civil servant to The Royal Dockyardand Lord High Admiral, Buck lived at Eastgate House, Rochester.
Denis Redman
Major-General Denis Redman, a World War II veteran, was born and raised in Rochester and later became a founder member of REME, head of his Corps and a Major-General in the British Army.
Kelly Brook
The model and actress Kelly Brook went to Delce Junior School in Rochester and later the Thomas Aveling School (formerly Warren Wood Girls School).
The singer and songwriter Tara McDonald now lives in Rochester.
The Prisoners, a rock band from 1980 to 1986, were formed in Rochester. They are part of what is known as the "Medway scene".
Kelly Tolhurst MP is the current parliamentary representative for the constituency.
This morning, Thursday 2 February 2017, officers executed warrants at addresses across Miles Platting and Ancoats.
The warrants were executed as part of Operation Rudow a multi-agency operation targeting organised crime and the supply of drugs across Greater Manchester.
Chief Inspector Andy Cunliffe, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: "Drugs ruin lives and destroy communities. We will systematically root out and dismantle groups that seek to profit from flooding our streets with drugs.
"Today, we have made arrests after executing warrants across North Manchester.
"By sharing information with our partners, we are better equipped to tackle organised crime and make it impossible for them to profit from it.
"I'd like to thank the community who came forward with information that has proved vital in making this enforcement action a success.
“We still however, need people to come forward with information to prevent people from benefiting from the proceeds of crime at the demise of others. If you know about it, report it.
"Organised crime has no place on the streets of Greater Manchester and we will continue to work tirelessly to remove the scourge of criminal gangs."
Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
"Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and parish church in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. A Gothic Revival style building constructed between 1876 and 1888 by architect Joseph Connolly, it is considered Connolly's best work. The monumental church contains decorative carving and stained glass executed by skilled craftsmen. The church of Our Lady is one of the 122 parishes in the Diocese of Hamilton and currently has 2,600 families in the congregation.
In 1990, the church was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Pope Francis designated the church a basilica on 8 December 2014.
When John Galt founded Guelph on April 23, 1827, he allocated the highest point in the centre of the newly founded town to Roman Catholics as a compliment to his friend, Bishop Alexander Macdonell, who had given him advice in the formation of the Canada Company. A road was also later cleared leading up to the hill and named after the Bishop, called Macdonell Street.
According to the Guelph Public Library archives, Galt wrote the following statement in the deed transferring the land on which the Church of Our Lady would one day stand: "On this hill would one day rise a church to rival St. Peter's in Rome."
The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Immaculate is the third church to stand on this site, high above the streetscape, overlooking the city of Guelph. The first church, a framed wooden church named St. Patrick's, had been built on the hill by 1835 and was the first structure in Guelph that was painted on both its interior and exterior. It burned to the ground on October 10, 1844.
Construction on St. Bartholomew's Church began shortly after St. Patrick's was destroyed. The new building was completed in 1846. The following inscription appeared on the cornerstone of St. Bartholomew's Church: "To God, the best and greatest. The faithful of Guelph, of the diocese of Toronto have built this new Church, in honour of the blessed Apostle Bartholomew, the first church having been consumed in flames."
Construction of the new church, based on the Cologne Cathedral, began in 1877 under Irish-Canadian architect Joseph Connolly who had designed many churches in Ireland, England and Ontario, notably St. Peter's Cathedral in London, Ontario.
Built of local limestone in High Victorian Gothic Revival style, the Church of Our Lady is considered to be Connolly's masterpiece. The design was inspired by the medieval cathedrals of France, and includes twin towers, a large rose window, pointed windows and an interior design where the chapels radiate from the polygonal apse. Matthew Bell, a well-known Guelph artisan, was responsible for some of the carvings on the exterior as well as on the interior pillars of the church. He died in 1883 as a result of injuries sustained in a fall while working on the building. In 1888, almost twelve years after construction commenced, the church was dedicated to Our Lady Immaculate. The twin towers, which rise to a height of over 200 feet (61 m), were not completed until November 13, 1926. The completed church stands at the head of MacDonell Street as an imposing view terminus, similarly to another major project by Connolly, St. Mary's Church in Toronto.
Guelph (/ˈɡwɛlf/ GWELF; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly 22 km (14 mi) east of Kitchener and 70 km (43 mi) west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wellington County Road 124. It is the seat of Wellington County, but is politically independent of it.
Guelph began as a settlement in the 1820s, established by John Galt, who was in Upper Canada as the first superintendent of the Canada Company. He based the headquarters, and his home, in the community. The area—much of which became Wellington County—was part of the Halton Block, a Crown reserve for the Six Nations Iroquois. Galt is generally considered Guelph's founder.
For many years, Guelph ranked at or near the bottom of Canada's crime severity list. However, the 2017 index showed a 15% increase from 2016. It had one of the country's lowest unemployment rates throughout the Great Recession. In late 2018, the Guelph Eramosa and Puslinch entity had an unemployment rate of 2.3%, which decreased to 1.9% by January 2019, the lowest of all Canadian cities. (The national rate at the time was 5.8%.) Much of this was attributed to its numerous manufacturing facilities, including Linamar." - info from Wikipedia.
Late June to early July, 2024 I did my 4th major cycling tour. I cycled from Ottawa to London, Ontario on a convoluted route that passed by Niagara Falls. During this journey I cycled 1,876.26 km and took 21,413 photos. As with my other tours a major focus was old architecture.
Find me on Instagram.
Today the We're Here group are visiting the Color of Music and Poetry.
I've chosen to illustrate the following poem from John Hegley
Well executed poem
before the blast of the squad
his last request
was a bullet-proof vest
or a God
The single most disgusting thing about setting this shot up was the cigarette. I can still taste it. Bleah.
Executed by Sir NInian Comper in 1911-12, this angel forms part of the Rood above the altar in the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair in London.
Officers investigating the recent spate of firearms discharges in Salford have executed a series of warrants in Little Hulton and Eccles.
In the early hours of this morning, Friday 16 October 2015, officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Salford Division searched nine properties throughout the division in the hunt for firearms linked to the recent shootings in the area.
The warrants were executed as part of a Project Gulf operation designed to tackle organised crime. Gulf is part of Programme Challenger, the Greater Manchester approach to tackling organised criminality across the region.
Seven men and one woman have been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences, ranging from possession with intent to supply to handling stolen goods.
A significant amount of Class A and Class B drugs were seized as part of the operation, though no firearms were found.
Detective Inspector Alan Clitherow said: “This series of warrants are just one element of the continuing and relentless operation being orchestrated to tackle organised crime gangs in Salford.
“They came about as a result of the on-going investigation into the recent spate of firearms discharges in Salford, including the horrific attack of young Christian Hickey and his mother Jayne.
“We wanted to show our communities that we are leaving no stone unturned in the hunt for those responsible for the abhorrent attack on an innocent child and his mother, and that we will not stand for the spate of shootings taking place on our streets in recent weeks.
“But there is still more to do and, as with any fight against organised crime groups embedded in our city, we need residents to come to us with information so we can put a stop to this criminality.
“There has been much said about people breaking this wall of silence in Salford, and once again I urge people to search their consciences and please come forward.
“You could provide the information that may help prevent any further innocent lives being touched by this senseless violence, and prevent further children being injured by thugs that many people within Salford seem so intent on protecting.
“I want to stress that if you come forward with what you know, we can offer you complete anonymity and I assure you that you will have our full support. Or if you don’t feel you can talk to police but you have information, you can speak to Crimestoppers anonymously.”
A dedicated information hotline has been set up on 0161 856 9775, or people can also pass information on by calling 101, or the independent charity, Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.