Mylai Kolam drawing competition, as a part of Pongal festival, Chennai,India held at Mylapore.

  

Kolam (Tamil: கோலம் kõlaṁ) is a form of painting that is drawn using rice powder/chalk/chalk powder/white rock powder often using naturally/synthetically colored powders in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and most parts of Kerala and some parts of Goa, Maharashtra, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and a few other Asian countries. A Kolam is a geometrical line drawing composed of curved loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots. In South India, it is widely practised by female Hindu family members in front of their homes.

You can follow me also on Getty | 500 px | Deviant Art

 

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and, as of 2010, the world's most recent nation to become a republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India. With an area of 147,181 square kilometres (56,827 sq mi) and a population of approximately 30 million, Nepal is the world's 93rd largest country by land mass and the 41st most populous country. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the country's largest metropolitan city.

 

Nepal is a country of highly diverse and rich geography, culture, and religions. The mountainous north has eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including the highest, Sagarmatha, known in English as Mount Everest. The fertile and humid south is heavily urbanized. It contains over 240 peaks more than 6,096 metres (20,000 ft) above sea level.

 

By some measures, Hinduism is practised by a larger majority of people in Nepal than in any other nation. Buddhism, though a minority faith in the country, is linked historically with Nepal as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, who as the Gautam Buddha gave birth to the Buddhist tradition.

 

A monarchy throughout most of its history, Nepal was ruled by the Shah dynasty of kings from 1768, when Prithvi Narayan Shah unified its many small kingdoms. In 2006, however, decade-long People's Revolution by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) along with several weeks of mass protests by all major political parties of Nepal culminated in a peace accord, and the ensuing elections for the constituent assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of the abdication of the last Nepali monarch Gyanendra Shah and the establishment of a federal democratic republic in May 28, 2008. The first President of Nepal, Ram Baran Yadav, was sworn in on 23 July 2008.

 

The word "Nepal" is believed by scholars to be derived from the word "Nepa:" which refers to the Newar Kingdom, the present day Kathmandu Valley. With Sanskritization, the Newar word Nepa became Nepal. The Newars of present day Nepal, refer to all the inhabitants of Kathmandu valley and its peripheries (called "Nepa:") before the advent of Shah dynasty.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal

 

A couple of years later the Dutch rail infrastructure manager wanted to stop all Class DE 1024 locomotives, since they forgot to check their ability to cross bridges... As that was practised many times in the meantime, it was a no-brainer ;-)

The Glasshouse is an international centre for musical education and concerts on the Gateshead bank of Quayside in northern England. Opened in 2004 as Sage Gateshead and occupied by North Music Trust The venue's original name honours a patron: the accountancy software company The Sage Group.

 

History

Planning for the centre began in the early 1990s, when the orchestra of Sage Gateshead, Royal Northern Sinfonia, with encouragement from Northern Arts, began working on plans for a new concert hall. They were soon joined by regional folk music development agency Folkworks, which ensured that the needs of the region's traditional music were taken into consideration and represented in Sage Gateshead's programme of concerts, alongside Rock, Pop, Dance, Hip Hop, classical, jazz, acoustic, indie, country and world, Practice spaces for professional musicians, students and amateurs were an important part of the provision.

 

The planning and construction process cost over £70 million, which was raised primarily through National Lottery grants. The contractor was Laing O'Rourke. The centre has a range of patrons, notably Sage Group which contributed a large sum of money to have the building named after it. Sage plc has helped support the charitable activities of Sage Gateshead since its conception. The venue opened over the weekend 17–19 December 2004.

 

Sage Gateshead was developed by Foster and Partners following an architectural design competition launched in 1997 and managed by RIBA Competitions. Over 100 architects registered their interest and 12 – a mixture of local, national and international talent – were invited to prepare concept designs. A shortlist of six was then interviewed with Foster and Partners unanimously selected as the winner. The Design has gone on to win a number of awards: the RIBA Inclusive Design Award, Civic Trust Award and The Journal North East Landmark of the Year Award.

 

As a conference venue, the building hosted the Labour Party's Spring conference in February 2005 and the Liberal Democrat Party conference in March 2012. On 18 August 2009, Sage Gateshead was selected to host the 2010 and 2011 National Union of Students annual conference. The 2010 Annual Conference took place 13–15 April 2010.

 

In 2022 The Sage Group announced that they were also sponsoring a new development that is being built next to Sage Gateshead which will be called The Sage. Sage Gateshead announced that they will be finding a new name for the venue prior to The Sage opening in 2024. On 13 September 2023 the venue announced its new name, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music.

 

Building

The centre occupies a curved glass and stainless steel building designed by Foster and Partners, Buro Happold (structural engineering), Mott MacDonald (engineering consultants) and Arup (acoustics), with views of Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides, the Tyne Bridge and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

 

The Glasshouse contains three performance spaces; a 1,700-seater, a 450-seater, and a smaller rehearsal and performance hall, the Northern Rock Foundation Hall. The rest of the building was designed around these three spaces to allow for maximum attention to detail in their acoustic properties. Structurally it is three separate buildings, insulated from each other to prevent noise and vibration travelling between them. The gaps between them may be seen as one walks around inside. A special 'spongy' concrete mix was used in the construction, with a higher-than-usual air capacity to improve the acoustic. These three buildings are enclosed (but not touched) by the now-famous glass and steel shell. Sage One was intended as an acoustically perfect space, modelled on the Musikverein in Vienna. Its ceiling panels may be raised and lowered and curtains drawn across the ribbed wooden side walls, changing the sound profile of the room to suit any type of music. Sage Two is a smaller venue, possibly the world's only ten-sided performance space.

 

The building is open to the public throughout the day.

 

Concerts

The Glasshouse will host concerts from a wide range of internationally famous artists, and those who have played at the venue include Above and Beyond, Blondie, James Brown, Bonobo, Andy Cutting, De La Soul, Nick Cave, George Clinton, Bill Callahan, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dillinger, Grace Jones, Gretchen Peters, Elbow, Explosions in the Sky, the Fall, Herbie Hancock, Mogwai, Morrissey, Mumford & Sons, Pet Shop Boys, Sunn O))), Nancy Sinatra, Snarky Puppy, Sting, Yellowman, Shane Filan of Westlife and others. In February 2015, it was one of the hosts of the second annual BBC Radio 6 Music Festival.

 

It is also home to Royal Northern Sinfonia, of which The Guardian wrote there is "no better chamber orchestra in Britain", and frequently hosts other visiting orchestras from around the world. The current music director for Royal Northern Sinfonia is the pianist and conductor Lars Vogt. In late 2014, Royal Northern Sinfonia collaborated with John Grant, performing at Sage Gateshead, and other venues throughout the UK. Recordings from this tour were made available as a limited edition CD and 12" record via Rough Trade Records in 2015.

 

Opinion

There has been popular debate surrounding what was Sage Gateshead. The venue is popular in the local area because of its concerts, and also its accessible learning courses for all ages and its constant interaction with local schools and academies through programmes such as Sing Up and the option of school visits.

 

Awards

2019: UK National Lottery 25th Birthday Award - Best Arts, Culture and Film

2019: Julie's Bicycle Creative Green 2 Star

2019: Gold Standard - Attitude is Everything

2018: Gold Award for Inclusive Tourism (North East Tourism Awards)

2018: Gold Award for Business Tourism (Visit England Awards for Excellence)

2005: Local Authority Building of the Year

2005: British Construction Industry Awards

2005: RIBA Award for Inclusive Design

 

Gateshead is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The town shares the Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge and multiple other bridges with Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Historically part of County Durham, under the Local Government Act 1888 the town was made a county borough, meaning it was administered independently of the county council.

 

In the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 120,046 while the wider borough had 200,214.

 

History

Gateshead is first mentioned in Latin translation in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People as ad caput caprae ("at the goat's head"). This interpretation is consistent with the later English attestations of the name, among them Gatesheued (c. 1190), literally "goat's head" but in the context of a place-name meaning 'headland or hill frequented by (wild) goats'. Although other derivations have been mooted, it is this that is given by the standard authorities.

 

A Brittonic predecessor, named with the element *gabro-, 'goat' (c.f. Welsh gafr), may underlie the name. Gateshead might have been the Roman-British fort of Gabrosentum.

 

Early

There has been a settlement on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne, around the old river crossing where the Swing Bridge now stands, since Roman times.

 

The first recorded mention of Gateshead is in the writings of the Venerable Bede who referred to an Abbot of Gateshead called Utta in 623. In 1068 William the Conqueror defeated the forces of Edgar the Ætheling and Malcolm king of Scotland (Shakespeare's Malcolm) on Gateshead Fell (now Low Fell and Sheriff Hill).

 

During medieval times Gateshead was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Durham. At this time the area was largely forest with some agricultural land. The forest was the subject of Gateshead's first charter, granted in the 12th century by Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham. An alternative spelling may be "Gatishevede", as seen in a legal record, dated 1430.

 

Industrial revolution

Throughout the Industrial Revolution the population of Gateshead expanded rapidly; between 1801 and 1901 the increase was over 100,000. This expansion resulted in the spread southwards of the town.

 

In 1854, a catastrophic explosion on the quayside destroyed most of Gateshead's medieval heritage, and caused widespread damage on the Newcastle side of the river.

 

Sir Joseph Swan lived at Underhill, Low Fell, Gateshead from 1869 to 1883, where his experiments led to the invention of the electric light bulb. The house was the first in the world to be wired for domestic electric light.

 

In the 1889 one of the largest employers (Hawks, Crawshay and Company) closed down and unemployment has since been a burden. Up to the Second World War there were repeated newspaper reports of the unemployed sending deputations to the council to provide work. The depression years of the 1920s and 1930s created even more joblessness and the Team Valley Trading Estate was built in the mid-1930s to alleviate the situation.

 

Regeneration

In the late noughties, Gateshead Council started to regenerate the town, with the long-term aim of making Gateshead a city. The most extensive transformation occurred in the Quayside, with almost all the structures there being constructed or refurbished in this time.

 

In the early 2010s, regeneration refocused on the town centre. The £150 million Trinity Square development opened in May 2013, it incorporates student accommodation, a cinema, health centre and shops. It was nominated for the Carbuncle Cup in September 2014. The cup was however awarded to another development which involved Tesco, Woolwich Central.

 

Governance

In 1835, Gateshead was established as a municipal borough and in 1889 it was made a county borough, independent from Durham County Council.

 

In 1870, the Old Town Hall was built, designed by John Johnstone who also designed the previously built Newcastle Town Hall. The ornamental clock in front of the old town hall was presented to Gateshead in 1892 by the mayor, Walter de Lancey Willson, on the occasion of him being elected for a third time. He was also one of the founders of Walter Willson's, a chain of grocers in the North East and Cumbria. The old town hall also served as a magistrate's court and one of Gateshead's police stations.

 

Current

In 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, the County Borough of Gateshead was merged with the urban districts of Felling, Whickham, Blaydon and Ryton and part of the rural district of Chester-le-Street to create the much larger Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead.

 

Geography

The town of Gateshead is in the North East of England in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear, and within the historic boundaries of County Durham. It is located on the southern bank of the River Tyne at a latitude of 54.57° N and a longitude of 1.35° W. Gateshead experiences a temperate climate which is considerably warmer than some other locations at similar latitudes as a result of the warming influence of the Gulf Stream (via the North Atlantic drift). It is located in the rain shadow of the North Pennines and is therefore in one of the driest regions of the United Kingdom.

 

One of the most distinguishing features of Gateshead is its topography. The land rises 230 feet from Gateshead Quays to the town centre and continues rising to a height of 525 feet at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Sheriff Hill. This is in contrast to the flat and low lying Team Valley located on the western edges of town. The high elevations allow for impressive views over the Tyne valley into Newcastle and across Tyneside to Sunderland and the North Sea from lookouts in Windmill Hills and Windy Nook respectively.

 

The Office for National Statistics defines the town as an urban sub-division. The latest (2011) ONS urban sub-division of Gateshead contains the historical County Borough together with areas that the town has absorbed, including Dunston, Felling, Heworth, Pelaw and Bill Quay.

 

Given the proximity of Gateshead to Newcastle, just south of the River Tyne from the city centre, it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as being a part of Newcastle. Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council teamed up in 2000 to create a unified marketing brand name, NewcastleGateshead, to better promote the whole of the Tyneside conurbation.

 

Economy

Gateshead is home to the MetroCentre, the largest shopping mall in the UK until 2008; and the Team Valley Trading Estate, once the largest and still one of the larger purpose-built commercial estates in the UK.

 

Arts

The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art has been established in a converted flour mill. The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, previously The Sage, a Norman Foster-designed venue for music and the performing arts opened on 17 December 2004. Gateshead also hosted the Gateshead Garden Festival in 1990, rejuvenating 200 acres (0.81 km2) of derelict land (now mostly replaced with housing). The Angel of the North, a famous sculpture in nearby Lamesley, is visible from the A1 to the south of Gateshead, as well as from the East Coast Main Line. Other public art include works by Richard Deacon, Colin Rose, Sally Matthews, Andy Goldsworthy, Gordon Young and Michael Winstone.

 

Traditional and former

The earliest recorded coal mining in the Gateshead area is dated to 1344. As trade on the Tyne prospered there were several attempts by the burghers of Newcastle to annex Gateshead. In 1576 a small group of Newcastle merchants acquired the 'Grand Lease' of the manors of Gateshead and Whickham. In the hundred years from 1574 coal shipments from Newcastle increased elevenfold while the population of Gateshead doubled to approximately 5,500. However, the lease and the abundant coal supplies ended in 1680. The pits were shallow as problems of ventilation and flooding defeated attempts to mine coal from the deeper seams.

 

'William Cotesworth (1668-1726) was a prominent merchant based in Gateshead, where he was a leader in coal and international trade. Cotesworth began as the son of a yeoman and apprentice to a tallow - candler. He ended as an esquire, having been mayor, Justice of the Peace and sheriff of Northumberland. He collected tallow from all over England and sold it across the globe. He imported dyes from the Indies, as well as flax, wine, and grain. He sold tea, sugar, chocolate, and tobacco. He operated the largest coal mines in the area, and was a leading salt producer. As the government's principal agent in the North country, he was in contact with leading ministers.

 

William Hawks originally a blacksmith, started business in Gateshead in 1747, working with the iron brought to the Tyne as ballast by the Tyne colliers. Hawks and Co. eventually became one of the biggest iron businesses in the North, producing anchors, chains and so on to meet a growing demand. There was keen contemporary rivalry between 'Hawks' Blacks' and 'Crowley's Crew'. The famous 'Hawks' men' including Ned White, went on to be celebrated in Geordie song and story.

 

In 1831 a locomotive works was established by the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, later part of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. In 1854 the works moved to the Greenesfield site and became the manufacturing headquarters of North Eastern Railway. In 1909, locomotive construction was moved to Darlington and the rest of the works were closed in 1932.

 

Robert Stirling Newall took out a patent on the manufacture of wire ropes in 1840 and in partnership with Messrs. Liddell and Gordon, set up his headquarters at Gateshead. A worldwide industry of wire-drawing resulted. The submarine telegraph cable received its definitive form through Newall's initiative, involving the use of gutta-percha surrounded by strong wires. The first successful Dover–Calais cable on 25 September 1851, was made in Newall's works. In 1853, he invented the brake-drum and cone for laying cable in deep seas. Half of the first Atlantic cable was manufactured in Gateshead. Newall was interested in astronomy, and his giant 25-inch (640 mm) telescope was set up in the garden at Ferndene, his Gateshead residence, in 1871.

 

Architecture

JB Priestley, writing of Gateshead in his 1934 travelogue English Journey, said that "no true civilisation could have produced such a town", adding that it appeared to have been designed "by an enemy of the human race".

 

Victorian

William Wailes the celebrated stained-glass maker, lived at South Dene from 1853 to 1860. In 1860, he designed Saltwell Towers as a fairy-tale palace for himself. It is an imposing Victorian mansion in its own park with a romantic skyline of turrets and battlements. It was originally furnished sumptuously by Gerrard Robinson. Some of the panelling installed by Robinson was later moved to the Shipley Art gallery. Wailes sold Saltwell Towers to the corporation in 1876 for use as a public park, provided he could use the house for the rest of his life. For many years the structure was essentially an empty shell but following a restoration programme it was reopened to the public in 2004.

 

Post millennium

The council sponsored the development of a Gateshead Quays cultural quarter. The development includes the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, erected in 2001, which won the prestigious Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2002.

 

Former brutalism

The brutalist Trinity Centre Car Park, which was designed by Owen Luder, dominated the town centre for many years until its demolition in 2010. A product of attempts to regenerate the area in the 1960s, the car park gained an iconic status due to its appearance in the 1971 film Get Carter, starring Michael Caine. An unsuccessful campaign to have the structure listed was backed by Sylvester Stallone, who played the main role in the 2000 remake of the film. The car park was scheduled for demolition in 2009, but this was delayed as a result of a disagreement between Tesco, who re-developed the site, and Gateshead Council. The council had not been given firm assurances that Tesco would build the previously envisioned town centre development which was to include a Tesco mega-store as well as shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, offices and student accommodation. The council effectively used the car park as a bargaining tool to ensure that the company adhered to the original proposals and blocked its demolition until they submitted a suitable planning application. Demolition finally took place in July–August 2010.

 

The Derwent Tower, another well known example of brutalist architecture, was also designed by Owen Luder and stood in the neighbourhood of Dunston. Like the Trinity Car Park it also failed in its bid to become a listed building and was demolished in 2012. Also located in this area are the Grade II listed Dunston Staithes which were built in 1890. Following the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of almost £420,000 restoration of the structure is expected to begin in April 2014.

 

Sport

Gateshead International Stadium regularly holds international athletics meetings over the summer months, and is home of the Gateshead Harriers athletics club. It is also host to rugby league fixtures, and the home ground of Gateshead Football Club. Gateshead Thunder Rugby League Football Club played at Gateshead International Stadium until its purchase by Newcastle Rugby Limited and the subsequent rebranding as Newcastle Thunder. Both clubs have had their problems: Gateshead A.F.C. were controversially voted out of the Football League in 1960 in favour of Peterborough United, whilst Gateshead Thunder lost their place in Super League as a result of a takeover (officially termed a merger) by Hull F.C. Both Gateshead clubs continue to ply their trade at lower levels in their respective sports, thanks mainly to the efforts of their supporters. The Gateshead Senators American Football team also use the International Stadium, as well as this it was used in the 2006 Northern Conference champions in the British American Football League.

 

Gateshead Leisure Centre is home to the Gateshead Phoenix Basketball Team. The team currently plays in EBL League Division 4. Home games are usually on a Sunday afternoon during the season, which runs from September to March. The team was formed in 2013 and ended their initial season well placed to progress after defeating local rivals Newcastle Eagles II and promotion chasing Kingston Panthers.

 

In Low Fell there is a cricket club and a rugby club adjacent to each other on Eastwood Gardens. These are Gateshead Fell Cricket Club and Gateshead Rugby Club. Gateshead Rugby Club was formed in 1998 following the merger of Gateshead Fell Rugby Club and North Durham Rugby Club.

 

Transport

Gateshead is served by the following rail transport stations with some being operated by National Rail and some being Tyne & Wear Metro stations: Dunston, Felling, Gateshead Interchange, Gateshead Stadium, Heworth Interchange, MetroCentre and Pelaw.

 

Tyne & Wear Metro stations at Gateshead Interchange and Gateshead Stadium provide direct light-rail access to Newcastle Central, Newcastle Airport , Sunderland, Tynemouth and South Shields Interchange.

 

National Rail services are provided by Northern at Dunston and MetroCentre stations. The East Coast Main Line, which runs from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, cuts directly through the town on its way between Newcastle Central and Chester-le-Street stations. There are presently no stations on this line within Gateshead, as Low Fell, Bensham and Gateshead West stations were closed in 1952, 1954 and 1965 respectively.

 

Road

Several major road links pass through Gateshead, including the A1 which links London to Edinburgh and the A184 which connects the town to Sunderland.

 

Gateshead Interchange is the busiest bus station in Tyne & Wear and was used by 3.9 million bus passengers in 2008.

 

Cycle routes

Various bicycle trails traverse the town; most notably is the recreational Keelmans Way (National Cycle Route 14), which is located on the south bank of the Tyne and takes riders along the entire Gateshead foreshore. Other prominent routes include the East Gateshead Cycleway, which connects to Felling, the West Gateshead Cycleway, which links the town centre to Dunston and the MetroCentre, and routes along both the old and new Durham roads, which take cyclists to Birtley, Wrekenton and the Angel of the North.

 

Religion

Christianity has been present in the town since at least the 7th century, when Bede mentioned a monastery in Gateshead. A church in the town was burned down in 1080 with the Bishop of Durham inside.[citation needed] St Mary's Church was built near to the site of that building, and was the only church in the town until the 1820s. Undoubtedly the oldest building on the Quayside, St Mary's has now re-opened to the public as the town's first heritage centre.

 

Many of the Anglican churches in the town date from the 19th century, when the population of the town grew dramatically and expanded into new areas. The town presently has a number of notable and large churches of many denominations.

 

Judaism

The Bensham district is home to a community of hundreds of Jewish families and used to be known as "Little Jerusalem". Within the community is the Gateshead Yeshiva, founded in 1929, and other Jewish educational institutions with international enrolments. These include two seminaries: Beis Medrash L'Morot and Beis Chaya Rochel seminary, colloquially known together as Gateshead "old" and "new" seminaries.

 

Many yeshivot and kollels also are active. Yeshivat Beer Hatorah, Sunderland Yeshiva, Nesivos Hatorah, Nezer Hatorah and Yeshiva Ketana make up some of the list.

 

Islam

Islam is practised by a large community of people in Gateshead and there are 2 mosques located in the Bensham area (in Ely Street and Villa Place).

 

Twinning

Gateshead is twinned with the town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in France, and the city of Komatsu in Japan.

 

Notable people

Eliezer Adler – founder of Jewish Community

Marcus Bentley – narrator of Big Brother

Catherine Booth – wife of William Booth, known as the Mother of The Salvation Army

William Booth – founder of the Salvation Army

Mary Bowes – the Unhappy Countess, author and celebrity

Ian Branfoot – footballer and manager (Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton)

Andy Carroll – footballer (Newcastle United, Liverpool and West Ham United)

Frank Clark – footballer and manager (Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest)

David Clelland – Labour politician and MP

Derek Conway – former Conservative politician and MP

Joseph Cowen – Radical politician

Steve Cram – athlete (middle-distance runner)

Emily Davies – educational reformer and feminist, founder of Girton College, Cambridge

Daniel Defoe – writer and government agent

Ruth Dodds – politician, writer and co-founder of the Little Theatre

Jonathan Edwards – athlete (triple jumper) and television presenter

Sammy Johnson – actor (Spender)

George Elliot – industrialist and MP

Paul Gascoigne – footballer (Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers and Middlesbrough)

Alex Glasgow – singer/songwriter

Avrohom Gurwicz – rabbi, Dean of Gateshead Yeshiva

Leib Gurwicz – rabbi, Dean of Gateshead Yeshiva

Jill Halfpenny – actress (Coronation Street and EastEnders)

Chelsea Halfpenny – actress (Emmerdale)

David Hodgson – footballer and manager (Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Sunderland)

Sharon Hodgson – Labour politician and MP

Norman Hunter – footballer (Leeds United and member of 1966 World Cup-winning England squad)

Don Hutchison – footballer (Liverpool, West Ham United, Everton and Sunderland)

Brian Johnson – AC/DC frontman

Tommy Johnson – footballer (Aston Villa and Celtic)

Riley Jones - actor

Howard Kendall – footballer and manager (Preston North End and Everton)

J. Thomas Looney – Shakespeare scholar

Gary Madine – footballer (Sheffield Wednesday)

Justin McDonald – actor (Distant Shores)

Lawrie McMenemy – football manager (Southampton and Northern Ireland) and pundit

Thomas Mein – professional cyclist (Canyon DHB p/b Soreen)

Robert Stirling Newall – industrialist

Bezalel Rakow – communal rabbi

John William Rayner – flying ace and war hero

James Renforth – oarsman

Mariam Rezaei – musician and artist

Sir Tom Shakespeare - baronet, sociologist and disability rights campaigner

William Shield – Master of the King's Musick

Christina Stead – Australian novelist

John Steel – drummer (The Animals)

Henry Spencer Stephenson – chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II

Steve Stone – footballer (Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Portsmouth)

Chris Swailes – footballer (Ipswich Town)

Sir Joseph Swan – inventor of the incandescent light bulb

Nicholas Trainor – cricketer (Gloucestershire)

Chris Waddle – footballer (Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield Wednesday)

William Wailes – stained glass maker

Taylor Wane – adult entertainer

Robert Spence Watson – public benefactor

Sylvia Waugh – author of The Mennyms series for children

Chris Wilkie – guitarist (Dubstar)

John Wilson - orchestral conductor

Peter Wilson – footballer (Gateshead, captain of Australia)

Thomas Wilson – poet/school founder

Robert Wood – Australian politician

One of the four forms of bullfighting praticed in the world but it differs from the other three by two features, first it is practised exclusevely with cows and not bulls, the other feature it shares with the Camargue races, is that there is no killing, or hurting of the animal, either during the race, or after.

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

This beautiful natural harbour is situated just a couple of miles south of the busy harbour village of Port Isaac and offers safe bathing waters on calm days. The odd boat chugs in and out now and again, for a nose, but other than that the place is a tranquil cove that conjures up images from the past. There are stunning cliff walks and plenty of nooks and crannies on the beach to poke around in when the tide is low. To find Port Quin just head on past the turning for Port Isaac as if you where going to Polzeath, and look for the tower of the church at St Endellion. This tower was used as a navigation aid to ships in days gone by, but now guides sightseers towards one of the most dramatic stretches of coastline in the whole of England. Just before you reach the Church at St Endellion, you will find a narrow country lane leading down to the Longcross Victorian Gardens, here the turning for Port Quin is clearly signposted. There is a definite feeling of days gone by as you travel down this lane, following the twists around tight little bends that take you ever nearer the sea. Port Quin was abandoned on two occasions, once when the pilchards failed and once when all the men were drowned at sea, and is still sometimes referred to has the "Village that died", because late one stormy night, sometime in the19th century, the entire male population were drowned at sea whilst out fishing. The women of the village were unable to continue without their men folk, their hardship became intolerable and Port Quin was left deserted, with the fishermen's cottages falling into disrepair, ruin and the sea. You can still see the fish cellars there today. But the Port is now mainly a tourist spot with a scattering of National Trust properties and a couple of private dwellings. It is also rumoured that Viking longboats came ashore here and apparently, the remains of one that was buried, are here about. The headland on the south side of Port Quin is known as Doyden Point whereon you will find Doyden Castle, which was built in 1830 as a retreat for some local businessman, where, it is reputed the partying and gambling were quite excessive! Now it is a National Trust holiday property has is nearby Doyden House. Has recently has 12/06/05 25–30 Common dolphins were spotted off Port Quin Bay. A sign that the water is getting warmer is the appearance of the rare pink sea fan which has been recorded at the Mouls off Port Quin, which is a new, previously unrecorded site. Port Quin has been a location for the TV series Poldark (1975-77). Based on Winston Grahams Four Poldark novels, this C18th Cornish Romantic drama followed the life of Ross Poldark. More recently Amy Foster (1996)used Port Quin as a location. Port Quin is also one of the places that inspired Marcia Willet during the writing of her book, "The Golden Cup". Sir John Betjemen also had a special affection for this neck of the woods..... "St.Endellion! St.Endellion! The name is like a ring of bells...", First and Last Loves (1952). His last resting place can be found at St Enodoc in the dunes of Daymer. The church at St Endellion is dedicated to St Endelienta and has many legends about the saint whom gave her name to this church and parish. One suggests that she was the daughter of the Welsh King Broccan, another that she was the god-daughter of King Arthur, who helped her when a local lord killed her cow. It is the only church known to be dedicated to this saint. The parish is on the north coast of Cornwall south of Port Isaac. The high ground upon which the church stands renders its tower a conspicuous object at a considerable distance, and was a landmark from the sea. The organ for the Collegiate Church of St Endellion was made in 2001 and is based on early 18th century English organs, mainly the Father Smith organ at St Mary Finedon in Northamptonshire and the Gerard Smith organ at St Lawrence Whitchurch in Middlesex. If you look you will find St Endelienta's emblematic cow in the middle of the central pipe shade. The Long Cross at St Endellion or St Endellion Pillar was first mentioned in 1753 by a J Tregeare. In 1753 a James Tregeare collected notes for Borlase...He referred to a cross standing on the boundary of Roscarrock Barton, between Roscarrock and St. Endellion Church `with a barbarous inscription'...The stone was certainly recorded in 1821 as being at the junction of the roads above Roscarrock higher-town gate and thrown down and broken within these few years'. In 1873 Maclean recorded that the stone had been `removed by the late Mr. Symons of Gonvena to Doydon Head near Port Quin, on the western side of the creek'...The stone remained on Doydon Head until `the end of 1932', when it was replaced in its original position, where it still is'. The stone is a cross- marked pillar-stone, made from local granite, that appears un-carved, although a cross in relief has been noted on the back of the stone. There is a national trust car park at Port Quin and Kayaking and Cliff Jumping are popular sports that are practised from this cove. On the 24th August 2010, David Cameron, the serving Prime Minister, was on holiday in North Cornwall when his wife, Samantha, went into labour at Truro's Royal Cornwall Hospital and gave birth to a healthy baby girl that they chose to name Florence Rose Endellion Cameron. The Cameron's' new baby Florence is only the third baby to be born to a serving prime minister since 1849

"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album (often called Led Zeppelin IV). It is often referred to as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume. The song begins in a slow tempo with acoustic instruments (guitar and recorders) before introducing electric instruments. The final section is an uptempo hard rock arrangement highlighted by Page's intricate guitar solo accompanying Plant's vocals that end with the plaintive a cappella line: "And she's buying a stairway to heaven"."Stairway to Heaven" was voted in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs,and was placed at number 31 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been officially released as a single there.[8] In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's Mothership release, "Stairway to Heaven" hit No. 37 on the UK Singles Chart.The recording of "Stairway to Heaven" commenced in December 1970 at Island Records' new Basing Street Studios in London. The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV at Headley Grange, Hampshire, in 1971.Page then returned to Island Studios to record his guitar solo.The song originated in 1970 when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were spending time at Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in Wales, following Led Zeppelin's fifth American concert tour. According to Page, he wrote the music "over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night".Page always kept a cassette recorder around, and the idea for "Stairway" came together from bits of taped music:I had these pieces, these guitar pieces, that I wanted to put together. I had a whole idea of a piece of music that I really wanted to try and present to everybody and try and come to terms with. Bit difficult really, because it started on acoustic, and as you know it goes through to the electric parts. But we had various run-throughs [at Headley Grange] where I was playing the acoustic guitar and jumping up and picking up the electric guitar. Robert was sitting in the corner, or rather leaning against the wall, and as I was routining the rest of the band with this idea and this piece, he was just writing. And all of a sudden he got up and started singing, along with another run-through, and he must have had 80% of the words there ... I had these sections, and I knew what order they were going to go in, but it was just a matter of getting everybody to feel comfortable with each gear shift that was going to be coming.Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones recalled this presentation of the song to him following its genesis at Bron-Yr-Aur:Page and Plant would come back from the Welsh mountains with the guitar intro and verse. I literally heard it in front of a roaring fire in a country manor house! I picked up a bass recorder and played a run-down riff which gave us an intro, then I moved into a piano for the next section, dubbing on the guitars.In an interview he gave in 1977, Page elaborated:I do have the original tape that was running at the time we ran down "Stairway To Heaven" completely with the band. I'd worked it all out already the night before with John Paul Jones, written down the changes and things. All this time we were all living in a house and keeping pretty regular hours together, so the next day we started running it down. There was only one place where there was a slight rerun. For some unknown reason Bonzo couldn't get the timing right on the twelve-string part before the solo. Other than that it flowed very quickly.The first attempts at lyrics, written by Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised and Page claimed, "a huge percentage of the lyrics were written there and then".Jimmy Page was strumming the chords and Robert Plant had a pencil and paper. Plant later said that suddenly,My hand was writing out the words, 'There's a lady is sure [sic], all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven'. I just sat there and looked at them and almost leapt out of my seat." Plant's own explanation of the lyrics was that it "was some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration. The first line begins with that cynical sweep of the hand ... and it softened up after that.The lyrics of the song reflected Plant's current reading. The singer had been poring over the works of the British antiquarian Lewis Spence, and later cited Spence's Magic Arts in Celtic Britain as one of the sources for the lyrics to the song.In November 1970, Page dropped a hint of the new song's existence to a music journalist in London:It's an idea for a really long track.... You know how "Dazed and Confused" and songs like that were broken into sections? Well, we want to try something new with the organ and acoustic guitar building up and building up, and then the electric part starts.... It might be a fifteen-minute track.Page stated that the song "speeds up like an adrenaline flow". He explained:Going back to those studio days for me and John Paul Jones, the one thing you didn't do was speed up, because if you sped up you wouldn't be seen again. Everything had to be right on the meter all the way through. And I really wanted to write something which did speed up, and took the emotion and the adrenaline with it, and would reach a sort of crescendo. And that was the idea of it. That's why it was a bit tricky to get together in stages.The complete studio recording was released on Led Zeppelin IV in November 1971. The band's record label, Atlantic Records was keen to issue this track as a single, but the band's manager Peter Grant refused requests to do so in both 1972 and 1973. The upshot of that decision was that record buyers began to invest in the fourth album as if it were a single. In the US, Atlantic issued "Stairway to Heaven" as a 7" promotional single in 1972.The song consists of several distinct sections, beginning with a quiet introduction on a finger-picked six-string guitar and four recorders in a Renaissance music style (ending at 2:15) and gradually moving into a slow electric middle section (2:16–5:33), then a long guitar solo (5:34–6:44), before the faster hard rock final section (6:45 to 7:45), ending with a short vocals-only epilogue. Plant sings the opening, middle and epilogue sections in his mid vocal range, but sings the hard rock section in his higher range which borders on falsetto.Written in the key of A minor, the song opens with an arpeggiated, finger-picked guitar chord progression with a chromatic descending bassline A-G#-G-F#-F. John Paul Jones contributed overdubbed wooden bass recorders in the opening section (he used a Mellotron and, later, a Yamaha CP70B Grand Piano and Yamaha GX1 to synthesise this arrangement in live performances)[ and a Hohner Electra-Piano electric piano in the middle section.The sections build with more guitar layers, each complementary to the intro, with the drums entering at 4:18. The extended Jimmy Page guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1959 Fender Telecaster given to him by Jeff Beck (an instrument he used extensively with the Yardbirds)plugged into a Supro amplifier,although in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine, Page also claimed, "It could have been a Marshall, but I can't remember".Three different improvised solos were recorded, with Page agonising about deciding which to keep. Page later revealed, "I did have the first phrase worked out, and then there was the link phrase. I did check them out beforehand before the tape ran." The other guitar parts were played using a Harmony Sovereign H1260 acoustic guitar and a Fender Electric XII guitar (a 12-string guitar that was plugged directly to the soundboard); these can be heard on the left and right recording channels respectively. For live versions, Page switched to a Heritage Cherry Gibson EDS-1275 6/12 Doubleneck guitar. The final progression is a i-VII-VI (natural minor) progression (Am-G-F), a mainstay of rock music.Another interesting aspect of the song is the timing of the lead-up to the famous guitar solo. While staying in 4/4 throughout this section, most of the accents shift to the eight notes. This makes the rhythm figure challenging for some musicians, but adds a feeling of anticipation to the approaching guitar solo.Sound engineer Andy Johns recalls the circumstances surrounding the recording of Page's famous solo:I remember Jimmy had a little bit of trouble with the solo on "Stairway to Heaven"... [H]e hadn't completely figured it out. Nowadays you sometimes spend a whole day doing one thing. Back then, we never did that. We never spent a very long time recording anything. I remember sitting in the control room with Jimmy, he's standing there next to me and he'd done quite a few passes and it wasn't going anywhere. I could see he was getting a bit paranoid and so I was getting paranoid. I turned around and said "You're making me paranoid!" And he said, "No, you're making me paranoid!" It was a silly circle of paranoia. Then bang! On the next take or two he ripped it out.According to Page, "Stairway to Heaven"...crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there and showed the band at its best... as a band, as a unit. Not talking about solos or anything, it had everything there. We were careful never to release it as a single. It was a milestone for us. Every musician wants to do something of lasting quality, something which will hold up for a long time and I guess we did it with "Stairway".[Pete] Townshend probably thought that he got it with Tommy. I don't know whether I have the ability to come up with more. I have to do a lot of hard work before I can get anywhere near those stages of consistent, total brilliance.The inaugural public performance of the song took place at Belfast's Ulster Hall on 5 March 1971.[16] Bassist John Paul Jones recalls that the crowd was unimpressed: "They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew".However, Page stated about an early performance at the LA Forum, before the record had even come out, that:I'm not saying the whole audience gave us a standing ovation, but there was this sizable standing ovation there. And I thought: 'This is incredible, because no one's heard this number yet. This is the first time they're hearing it!' It obviously touched them, you know. And that was at the L.A. Forum, so I knew we were onto something with that one.The world radio premiere of "Stairway to Heaven" was recorded at the Paris Cinema on 1 April 1971, in front of a live studio audience, and broadcast three days later on the BBC..The song was performed at almost every subsequent Led Zeppelin concert, only being omitted on rare occasions when shows were cut short for curfews or technical issues. The band's final performance of the song was in Berlin on 7 July 1980, which was also their last concert until 10 Dec 2007 at London's O2 Arena; the version was the longest, lasting almost fifteen minutes, including a seven and a half-minute guitar solo.Jimmy Page used a double-necked guitar to perform "Stairway to Heaven" live.When playing the song live, the band would often extend it to over ten minutes, with Page playing an extended guitar solo and Plant adding a number of lyrical ad-libs, such as "Does anybody remember laughter?", "And I think you can see that" (as seen in the film The Song Remains the Same), "Does anybody remember forests?" (As seen on the live performance in Seattle 1977), "wait a minute!" and "I hope so". For performing this song live, Page used a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck guitar so he would not have to pause when switching from a six to a twelve string guitar.By 1975, the song had a regular place as the finale of every Led Zeppelin concert. However, after their concert tour of the United States in 1977, Plant began to tire of "Stairway to Heaven": "There's only so many times you can sing it and mean it ... It just became sanctimonious."The song was played again by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at the Live Aid concert in 1985;[ at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, with Jason Bonham on drums; and by Jimmy Page as an instrumental version on his solo tours.By the late 1980s, Plant made his negative impression of the song clear in interviews. In 1988, he stated:I'd break out in hives if I had to sing ("Stairway to Heaven") in every show. I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don't know. It's just not for me. I sang it at the Atlantic Records show because I'm an old softie and it was my way of saying thank you to Atlantic because I've been with them for 20 years. But no more of "Stairway to Heaven" for me.However, by the mid-1990s Plant's views had apparently softened. The first few bars were played alone during Page and Plant tours in lieu of the final notes of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", and in November 1994 Page and Plant performed an acoustic version of the song at a Tokyo news station for Japanese television. "Stairway to Heaven" was also performed at Led Zeppelin's reunion show at the O2 Arena, London on 10 December 2007. This song is played a whole step lower.Plant cites the most unusual performance of the song ever as being that performed at Live Aid: "with two drummers (Phil Collins and Tony Thompson) while Duran Duran cried at the side of the stage – there was something quite surreal about that."Footage of the song being played live is preserved on the band's concert film The Song Remains the Same, featuring a performance from Madison Square Garden in 1973, and on the Led Zeppelin DVD, featuring a performance from Earls Court Arena in 1975. Official audio versions are also available on The Song Remains the Same's accompanying soundtrack, on Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions (a performance from London's Paris Theatre in 1971) and on How the West Was Won (a performance from the Long Beach Arena in 1972). There are also hundreds of audio versions which can be found on unofficial Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings."Stairway to Heaven" is often rated among the greatest rock songs of all time.According to music journalist Stephen Davis, although the song was released in 1971, it took until 1973 before the song's popularity ascended to truly "anthemic" status. As Page himself recalled, "I knew it was good, but I didn't know it was going to be almost like an anthem ... But I knew it was the gem of the album, sure.""Stairway to Heaven" continues to top radio lists of the greatest rock songs, including a 2006 Guitar World readers poll of greatest guitar solos.[36] On the 20th anniversary of the original release of the song, it was announced via U.S. radio sources that the song had logged up an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays – back to back, that would run for 44 years solid. As of 2000, the song had been broadcast on radio over three million times.In 1990 a St Petersburg, Florida station kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight.It is also the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music in rock history, clocking up an average of 15,000 copies yearly.In total, over one million copies have been sold.[The song's length precluded its release in full form as a single.Despite pressure from Atlantic Records the band would not authorise the editing of the song for single release, making "Stairway to Heaven" one of the most well-known and popular rock songs never to have been released as a single. It did, however, appear on two promotional discs in the United States, one of them featuring the 7:55 track on each side, and the other as a 7" 331⁄3 record produced for jukebox operators with "Stairway..." on one side and both "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll" on the other. Other "single" appearances were on an Australian EP, and in 1991 as an added bonus with a 20th anniversary promo book.The group's recording of this song also appeared as the sole Led Zeppelin track in the 1977 Atlantic Records 2-LP promotional sampler album, We've Got Your Music, marking the first time that Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" made its official debut appearance in an American-released various artists compilation collection.On the 20th anniversary of the song's release, Esquire magazine featured an article on the song's success and lasting influence. Karen Karbo wrote:It's doubtful that anyone knew it would become the most popular rock song of all time. After all, it's eight minutes long and was never released as a single. Even "Hey Jude" was shorter, was a 45, and enjoyed the benefits of comprehensible words and a sing-along chorus. But "Hey Jude" isn't the most requested song of all time on FM rock stations. Nobody ever had a "Hey Jude" theme prom or played the song at weddings and funerals like "Stairway." "Stairway" couldn't succeed today. Back in 1971, FM deejays prided themselves on digging deep into albums to come up with oddball, cultish favorites. With its near-oppressive length, erratic changes, and woo-woo lyrics, the quasi-medieval anthem was a perfect choice. It continues to be a favorite among music listeners who are younger than the song itself, listeners who, in some cases, were no doubt conceived while the tune blasted from car speakers.In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine put it at number 31 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". An article from the 29 January 2009 Guitar World magazine rated Jimmy Page's guitar solo at number one in the publication's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in Rock and Roll History.[40] Since 2001, the New York City-based classic rock radio station Q104.3 has ranked "Stairway to Heaven" no. 1 on their annual "Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time".Erik Davis, a social historian and cultural critic, commented on the song's massive success, subsequent backlash and enduring legendary status:"Stairway to Heaven" isn't the greatest rock song of the 1970s; it is the greatest spell of the 1970s. Think about it: we are all sick of the thing, but in some primordial way it is still number one. Everyone knows it... Even our dislike and mockery is ritualistic. The dumb parodies; the Wayne's World-inspired folklore about guitar shops demanding customers not play it; even Robert Plant's public disavowal of the song—all of these just prove the rule. "Stairway to Heaven" is not just number one. It is the One, the quintessence, the closest AOR will ever get you to the absolute.Page has himself commented on the song's legacy:The wonderful thing about "Stairway" is the fact that just about everybody has got their own individual interpretation to it, and actually what it meant to them at their point of life. And that's what's so great about it. Over the passage of years, you know, people come to me with all manner of stories about, you know, what it meant to them at certain points of their lives. About how it's got them through some really tragic circumstances ... Because it's an extremely positive song, it's such a positive energy, and, you know, people have got married to [the song].Robert Plant once gave $1,000 to listener-supported radio station KBOO in Portland, Oregon during a pledge drive after the disc jockey solicited donations by promising the station would never play "Stairway to Heaven". Plant was station-surfing in a rental car he was driving to the Oregon Coast after a solo performance in Portland and was impressed with the non-mainstream music the station presented. Asked later "why?" Plant replied that it wasn't that he didn't like the song, but he'd heard it before.Claims of backward masking.In a January 1982 television program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network hosted by Paul Crouch, it was claimed that hidden messages were contained in many popular rock songs through a technique called backward masking. One example of such hidden messages that was prominently cited was in "Stairway to Heaven."The alleged message, which occurs during the middle section of the song ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now...") when played backward, was purported to contain the Satanic references "Here's to my sweet Satan" and "I sing because I live with Satan."Following the claims made in the television program, California assemblyman Phil Wyman proposed a state law that would require warning labels on records containing backward masking. In April 1982, the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly held a hearing on backward masking in popular music, during which "Stairway to Heaven" was played backward. During the hearing, William Yarroll, a self-described "neuroscientific researcher," claimed that backward messages could be deciphered by the human brain.The band itself has for the most part ignored such claims. In response to the allegations, Swan Song Records issued the statement: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards." Led Zeppelin audio engineer Eddie Kramer called the allegations "totally and utterly ridiculous. Why would they want to spend so much studio time doing something so dumb?"Robert Plant expressed frustration with the accusations in a 1983 interview in Musician magazine: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway to Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven

The origins of firm’s name, Parnassus Investments, is tied to Mount Parnassus. The mountain is located in central Greece, and its twin peaks rise more than 8,000 feet above sea level. The mountain plays a prominent role in Greek mythology because on its southern slope, overlooking the Gulf of Corinth, lies Delphi, site of the famous oracle. There were many oracles in ancient Greece, but only the one at Delphi achieved a record of reliability.Greek god Apollo inspired the prophesies that the Delphic oracle communicated to the people. The most “Greek” of the gods, Apollo represented enlightenment and civilization and presided over the establishment of cities. Identified with the development of Greek codes of law, Apollo was also the god of light, a master musician and a skilled archer.The oracle obtained a great deal of knowledge and information from talking to people who came from all over the Greek world to consult at the shrine of Apollo. Quite often, the oracle went against the prevailing wisdom of the time. Just like the oracle, our investment team gathers information from a wide range of sources and thinks independently of prevailing market sentiment.

www.parnassus.com/our-firm/legend.aspx

A son of Cleopompus or Poseidon and the nymph Cleodora, is said to have been the founder of Delphi, the inventor of the art of foretelling the future from the flight of birds, and to have given his name to Mount Parnassus. (Paus. x. 6. § 1.)

www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/P/Parnassus.html

THE THRIAI (or Thriae) were three prophetic Nymphs of Mount Parnassos in Phokis (central Greece). They were minor goddesses of the art of divinitation by pebbles and of the birds of omen. Hermes received them as a gift from the god Apollon.The Thriai may have been identified with the Korykiai, Nymphs of the prophetic springs of Mount Parnassos, or with the Nymphai Themeides daughters of the oracular goddess Themis. They also appear to be related to the Melissai, bee and honey nymphs.THRIAE (Thriai), the name of three prophetic nymphs on Mount Parnassus, by whom Apollo was reared, and who were believed to have invented the art of prophecy by means of little stones (thriai), which were thrown into an urn. (Hom. Hymn. in Merc. 552 ; Schol. ad Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 45 ; comp. Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 814.)Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes 550 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) :

"[Apollon to Hermes:] ‘There are certain holy ones, sisters born--three virgins gifted with wings: their heads are besprinkled with white meal, and they dwell under a ridge of Parnassos. These are teachers of divination apart from me, the art which I practised while yet a boy following herds, though my father paid no heed to it. From their home they fly now here, now there, feeding on honey-comb and bringing all things to pass. And when they are inspired through eating yellow honey, they are willing to speak the truth; but if they be deprived of the gods' sweet food, then they speak falsely, as they swarm in and out together. These, then, I give you; enquire of them strictly and delight you heart: and if you should teach any mortal so to do often will he hear your response--if he have good fortune. Take these, Son of Maia . . .’So he spake. And from heaven father Zeus himself gave confirmation to his words, and commanded that glorious Hermes should be lord over all birds of omen . . . and also that he only should be the appointed messenger to Aides, who, though he takes no gift, shall give him no mean prize."

[Translator's commentary: The Thriai, who practised divination by means of pebbles (also called thriai). In this hymn they are represented as aged maidens, but are closely associated with bees and possibly are here conceived as having human heads and breasts with the bodies and wings of bees.

www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NymphaiThriai.html

Kyūdō is the Japanese martial art of archery. Experts in kyūdō are referred to as kyūdōka (弓道家?). Kyūdō is based on kyūjutsu ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. Kyūdō is practised by thousands of people worldwide. As of 2005, the International Kyudo Federation had 132,760 graded members. (Wikipedia)

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She has just given brother Hann a master class in moth-catching. She sat watching him incredulously, as he jumped, leaped, and swatted vainly at a moth fluttering outside. Finally she could stand it no more, and darted straight up to the poor moth, pounced with practised ease, and the creature was no more. No further details necessary! All in about 5 seconds flat. I've heard that girl cats are much better hunters than the boys, now I believe it!

McMahons Point:

 

McMahons Point on Lavender Bay was not always a place of luxury residential dwellings with superb views to the harbour and the city of Sydney. From the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century it was an important industrial waterfront landscape which provided northsiders with workers' cottages, ferry wharves and boatbuilding yards. It is west of Lavender Bay, previously known as both Hulk Bay, after the convict hulk moored there, and Quiberee Bay, an Aboriginal word meaning a fresh spring of water. Other Aboriginal names for the Blues/McMahons Point peninsula are Warung or Warrungarea.

 

The Cammeraygal:

 

The Aboriginal people who inhabited these foreshores, rocky cliffs and points were known as the Cammeraygal. Their land covered most of the lower north shore and included what is now McMahons Point. As early as the 1790s, soon after European settlement in Port Jackson, large land grants displaced the Cammeraygal, as did the land granted to William Blue in 1817. Blues Point, as it became known, is the southern tip of the peninsula which includes McMahons Point. Before European settlement and use of the southern peninsulas of northern Sydney as transport corridors, Aboriginal tracks linked the Cammeraygal land. One of these tracks originated further up the shore at Crows Nest, winding its way to McMahons Point and other special places along the foreshores.

 

Michael McMahon the brush maker:

 

Although originally part of the Blue land grant, the larger area of the peninsula became known as McMahons Point in honour of Michael McMahon. From the 1860s, McMahon had made the north shore of Sydney his home and practised his trade as a brush maker. His work was widely appreciated, which led to a government contract and a bronze medal at the Intercolonial Exhibition in Victoria in 1867. [3]

 

In 1870 the Borough of Victoria incorporated, taking in McMahons Point and Blues Point and stretching from the shores of Lavender Bay (named after George Lavender, boatswain on the convict hulk The Phoenix) to Berrys Bay.

 

As a local politician, Michael McMahon loudly proclaimed the rights of northsiders to have a regular fresh water supply. He also forcefully defended his constituents, especially their rights to reliable transport. Unhappy with private ferry services, he called for the government to run ferries to ensure a consistent and official timetable. He was known for his stand on a harbour crossing, and served on the committee to investigate a tunnel option. When the cable tramway from Milsons Point to St Leonards Park opened in 1886, McMahon, as the mayor of Victoria, welcomed the governor with an impassioned speech for a proper railway for the north shore, not just trams and ferries. [4] During the Royal Commission on City and Suburban Railways in 1890, McMahon, now an alderman on the newly-formed North Sydney Council, pressed for McMahons Point as the northern arm of the bridge from Dawes Point.

 

Boatbuilding on McMahons Point:

 

McMahons Point on Lavender Bay was known for its boatbuilding and repair industry from the late 1800s. William Dunn established a business on the western side of the bay, and small boatyards sprang up on its eastern shore. The twentieth century saw these small businesses grow into a thriving strip of engineering workshops and boatbuilding yards. One of the largest was the Neptune Engineering and Slipway Company. It occupied the western edge of the mouth of the bay until 1987, when it were replaced with luxury apartments. Four generations of the Meredith boatbuilding family worked in the slipways and repair works, and during World War II were busy working on merchant and naval shipping repairs. Neptune designed and constructed the first marine diesel engine on this site. The Merediths had moved into this site when it was vacated by WL Holmes & Company in 1904. William Holmes moved further up McMahons Point and continued to build yachts, trawlers and lighters. His company also worked for the navy during the war.

 

We worked probably seven days and seven nights a week during the war. Every ship that came in had a wooden life boat on. There was not a wooden lifeboat that would have floated. I remember them burning the paint off some of the lifeboats and we'd come to the grey from the first world war underneath.

 

The Holmes boatbuilders were also associated with a bit of infamy: the Shark Arm case. The investigation of this mysterious Sydney crime case led police to the Holmes boatyard after a captured shark disgorged a tattooed arm in the Coogee Aquarium in 1935. The dead man, identified by his tattoo, was a known small-time criminal who had a connection to Holmes.

 

At the end of the twentieth century, only traces of this industrial landscape survived. In spite of the residential development on the Neptune site, Bob Gordon, a small-scale builder of wooden boats, finished his last boat at the mouth of the bay amongst the remnants of the machinery and slipway which survived the redevelopment.

 

Redevelopment and change:

 

Michael McMahon's advocacy for the rights of the residents of McMahons Point in the nineteenth century can be seen as a forerunner of the fights against the 1950s scheme for the whole of the area to be bulldozed and turned into a landscape of high-rise and medium-density residential apartment blocks, proposed by a consortium of architects and developers, including Harry Seidler.

 

In a location that attracted workers who needed to cross the harbour, and with the growth of transport services, apartment blocks were constructed as early as the 1920s and 1930s. This provided more affordable housing close to the city. The recurrent need for more residential redevelopment helped sweep away any remnant of the early ferry trade and boatbuilders that dotted the foreshores. In the1950s, during the making of the County of Cumberland Plan, the whole of the peninsula was designated for industrial use. As North Sydney already had gas works, oil storage depots, boatbuilding yards and ferry wharves, it was assumed that continuation and extension of this activity would be readily accepted by the local council and residents. This was not the case where it concerned the residential areas of the point, and objections were lodged by North Sydney Council. With support from residential groups, such as the McMahons Point/Lavender Bay Progress Association, the decision was eventually overturned.

 

However, this did not easily translate to a peaceful and residential McMahons Point. Support for revoking the industrial zoning came from architects such as Harry Seidler, Lyle Dunlop and Harry Howard, representing the McMahons Point Redevelopment Scheme. They proposed a 'blank canvas' for the area, comprehensive demolition of the 'industrial blight' and a unique opportunity for urban renewal, a modern planning concept for a progressive city. [6] Following a successful resident action, widespread demolitions did not proceed and the only building approved for construction at that time was the Blues Point Tower (designed by Harry Seidler) which dominates the foreshores of North Sydney.

 

Some demolitions occurred and the subsequent high-rise boom of the latter half of the twentieth century did not bypass McMahons Point. However, many of its older workers' cottages and Victorian terrace houses have survived, and have been upgraded as part of the gentrification of the peninsula. In the late twentieth century, McMahons Point was no longer just the home of ferry workers, railwaymen, fishermen and boatbuilders, and appealed to those who could afford to purchase, restore and preserve these earlier dwellings. It is now a conservation area under North Sydney Council's Local Environment Plan 2001.

 

Source: Dictionary of Sydney.

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

 

For centuries Azerbaijan was part of the Silk Road, the network of trading routes connecting Asia and Europe. It

was probably merchants who learned about the eternal fires

of Surakhany first. The temple of the Atashgah was rebuilt

by fire-worshippers from different countries including India

at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries,

and it continued to grow and function until the 19th century.

 

The Atashgah temple housed different kinds of worshippers. Merchants stopped here for short periods of time but their donations were vital for the continued existence of the temple. Meanwhile, the temple had permanent inhabitants like ascetics who practised quite extreme forms of devotion

and self-denial.

 

Seen here a sample case with tobacco varieties produced by Crüwell a tobacco companie in Bielefeld/Germany ca. 1950.

 

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

 

Le kyūdō (弓道, litt. « la voie de l'arc »?) est un art martial Japonais (budō), issu du tir à l'arc guerrier (kyūjutsu).

 

Cette discipline se singularise de sa contrepartie occidentale par les influences mélangées propres à la culture japonaise: le zen, le Confucianisme, mais aussi le taoïsme et shintoisme.

 

Le kyūdō est une des voies martiales japonaises, cherchant le développement de la discipline du corps et du groupe, par la maîtrise des gestes. Le pratiquant recherche un mouvement parfait, pour pouvoir transcender à la fois l'esprit et le corps. Le principe consiste à percer une feuille de papier servant de cible, avec un minimum de tension musculaire et un maximum d'énergie spirituelle, ki. La gestuelle esthétique résulte d'une chorégraphie codifiée. Atteindre précisément la cible est la conséquence du bon équilibre entre un corps et un esprit disciplinés et harmonisés. Le deuxième pendant de cette discipline est le développement du tir dans un comportement social entre archers, c'est-à-dire l'étiquette: un tir ne se déroule pas sans qu'un archer ne tienne compte du contexte, de l'environnement et des personnes présentes.

On a retrouvé des vestiges d'arcs vieux de deux mille ans. Utilisé autant pour la chasse que pour la guerre, l'arc était l'unique arme capable de tuer à distance et fut une des armes de prédilection des guerriers japonais (kyūjutsu) avec le sabre, surtout entre le XIIe siècle et le XVIe siècle. Il disparaît alors peu à peu au profit du mousquet, importé par les Portugais. Cette école de guerre nommée alors kyūjutsu, s'est distinguée sous un nom d'école : heikiryū. Bien que cette technique de combat ait été perpétuée jusqu'à nos jours, en gardant ses gestes millénaires, elle a néanmoins perdu un certain sens en l'absence de combat avec des arcs.

 

Parallèlement au développement de celle-ci, une autre école de tir à l'arc s'est développée : l'Ogasawa-ryū. Cette dernière délaisse complètement l'aspect guerrier de l'arc pour ne retenir que son aspect symbolique, et l'utilise dans les rituels. Très proche des prêtres shintos, cette école use des pouvoirs magiques assimilés à l'arc dans la tradition japonaise. Ainsi, on baptise la construction de tout nouvel édifice au Japon par un lancé de flèches purificatrices, avant d'installer un arc sur le toit de la maison. De même, lors d'une naissance, on peut demander un tir de purification. On connaît aussi la danse de l'arc des sumos, qui a la même vocation.

 

Kyudo (弓道 kyūdō?, way of the bow) is the Japanese martial art (gendai budō) of archery; kyudo practitioners are referred to as kyūdōka (弓道家?). Kyudo is based on kyūjutsu (art of archery), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan.[1] Kyudo is practised by thousands of people worldwide. As of 2005, the International Kyudo Federation had 132,760 graded members.[2]

 

The beginning of archery in Japan is, as elsewhere, pre-historical. The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are from the Yayoi period (ca. 500 BC–300 AD). The first written document describing Japanese archery is the Chinese chronicle Weishu (dated around 297 AD), which tells how in the Japanese isles people use "a wooden bow that is short from the bottom and long from the top."[3]

Emergence

 

The changing of society and the military class (samurai) taking power at the end of the first millennium created a requirement for education in archery. This led to the birth of the first kyudo ryūha (style), the Henmi-ryū, founded by Henmi Kiyomitsu in the 12th century.[4] The Takeda-ryū and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryū were later founded by his descendants. The need for archers grew dramatically during the Genpei War (1180–1185) and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū (Ogasawara Nagakiyo), began teaching yabusame (mounted archery).

Civil war

 

From the 15th to the 16th century Japan was ravaged by civil war. In the latter part of the 15th century Heki Danjō Masatsugu revolutionized archery with his new and accurate approach called hi, kan, chū (fly, pierce, center), and his footman's archery spread rapidly. Many new schools were formed, some of which, such as Heki-ryū Chikurin-ha, Heki-ryū Sekka-ha and Heki-ryū Insai-ha, remain today.

 

שת היפנית, יוּ‏מִי, ארוכה מהיורה, אורכה מעל שני מטרים ויכול להגיע אף לשני מטרים וחצי. מסורתית, יומי עשויה במבוק, עץ ועור, אך מתאמנים רבים, במיוחד מתאמנים מתחילים, משתשמשים בקשתות העשויים חומרים סינתטיים, היות שקשת במבוק יקרה יותר ורגישה לתנאי מזג אויר קיצונים. אורך היוּ‏מִי תלוי באורך הדריכה של המתאמן, המושפע מגובהו.

 

החץ היפני עשוי במבוק ומעוטר בנוצות. בעבר, נהגו להשתמש בנוצות עיט ונץ; היום החצים מעוטרים בנוצות תרנגולי הודו וברבורים. מבדילים בין שני מיני חצים: הָאיָה, חצי זכר, המסתובבים בכיוון השעון במעופם, ואוֹ‏טוֹ‏יַ‏ה, חצי נקבה המסתובבים נגד כיוון השעון.

 

מתאמן בקיודו לובש כפפת עור על יד ימין, הנקראת יוּ‏גַ‏קֵה. לכפפה זו בדרך-כלל שלוש או ארבע אצבעות בהתאם למשקל הדריכה של הקשת – לרוב משתמשים בכפפת שלוש אצבעות עם קשתות עם משקל דריכה עד 20 קילוגרם ובכפפת 4 אצבעות לקשתות עם משקל דריכה של יותר מ-20 קילוגרם. קיימים סוגים נפוצים פחות של הכפפה בעלי אצבע אחת, לשימוש מתאמנים מתחילים, וחמש אצבעות.

דרגות

 

בקיודו משתמשים בדרגות קיוּ‏, דרגות מתחילים, ודַ‏אן, דרגות מתקדמים, בדומה לאמנויות לחימה יפניות אחרות. הארגון הכלל-יפני לקיודו בוחן לדרגות קיו 3 עד קיו 1 ולדרגות דאן 1 עד דאן 9. בניגוד לשאר אמנויות לחימה, בקיודו לא משתמשים בחגורות צבעוניות לציון דרגה.

 

בנוסף לדרגות קיו ודאן, בקיודו קיימות דרגות הוראה:

 

רֵנשִי – לקבלת דרגה זו, חייב המתאמן להיות בדרגת דאן 5 ומעלה ולהיות בעל אופי חזק ויכולות הוראה. זהוי הדרגה המרבית אליה ניתן להיבחן מחוץ ליפן.

קיוֹ‏שִי – דרגה מתקדמת יותר, המחייבת דאן 6, יכולות הוראה ומנהיגות, וכמות שנים מסוימת בדרגת רנשי.

הָ‏אנשִי – הדרגה העליונה, המחייבת דאן 8, התנהגות ברמה הגבוהה ביותר ושליטה מלאה ומושלמת באמנות הקיודו, ותרומה משמעותית לאמנות.

 

source wikipédia

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

Lefkara village is situated at the foot of the Troodos Mountains in the south eastern region, 650m above sea level, 45 km from Nicosia, 30 km from the Larnaca.

 

Lefkara is most famous for its silver and lace making, skills which have been practised in the village since Venetian times.

 

Cyprus is an island in the Eastern Basin of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean and the world's 80th largest island by area.

 

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

 

Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

 

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

 

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

 

One of the four forms of bullfighting praticed in the world but it differs from the other three by two features, first it is practised exclusevely with cows and not bulls, the other feature it shares with the Camargue races, is that there is no killing, or hurting of the animal, either during the race, or after.

Although we didn't go in the museum, I just had to get a photo of these exhibits outside! We stopped here for ice creams (and nearly got pneumonia in the cold wind!!)

 

The museum was established in 2011 by The Historical Diving Society. It is located in a Victorian military battery in Gosport on the shores of The Solent. It is the only museum of its kind in the UK. Gosport has a claim to being the ‘home’ of the global diving industry. In 1832 the Deane brothers (the inventors of the diving helmet) carried out the world’s first commercial dive just off the coast of the Isle of Wight. John Deane subsequently moved to Gosport to continue working on local wrecks. Their invention suddenly made underwater exploration possible and the new ‘art of diving’ was soon practised all around the world. The prototype helmet which the Deane brothers used to perfect their diving helmet is currently on display in the Diving Museum. (From the museum website)

I heard the first male Tawny calling from the wood behind my house last night. I don't normally hear them until the end of the month or early October.

 

5 years ago, I worked on a Tawny project often aided and abetted by Paul and Andy. I posted several images at the time in my Tawny album.

 

I thought it would be a good idea to re-visit the project so I had my first go tonight. It was a last minute decision but the flashes were charged so I went back to the same wood where it all began.

  

It was a particularly dark night and I could barely make out the perch. A blackbird gave an alarm call and I remembered this is exactly how it began 5 years ago. This was the signal that the Tawny had begun to hunt.

  

I didn't have to wait long before I could just make out the outline of the Tawny on the perch. I couldn't make out which way he was facing so I used the same well practised drill that worked so well in the past.

 

I gave a tiny squeak between my teeth and hit the shutter. When the 2 flashes fired, I could see he had his back to me but the tiny squeak got him looking straight down the barrel of the lens. I would otherwise have only got a shot of the back of his head.

 

It's a simple shot to start with, hopefully there will be more to come.

   

The sun sinks low in the west as Class 43 locomotive No. 43378 speeds through Yatton station at the front of 1E63, the 15:27 Plymouth to Leeds service on Friday 29th October 2021. Sister locomotive No. 43207 was at the rear. This was the last weekday working of 1E63 in British Summer Time.

 

Notice the family group on platform 1, far left. A few minutes earlier the older child had been exploring the station's garden*, while the little one practised his or her new-found skill of walking. For me, it is the witnessing of simple, everyday events like these that often enriches time spent at railway stations while waiting to get that imagined classic shot.

 

* The garden lies adjacent to the platform. It was restored in 1999 and since then has been maintained by the Friends of Yatton Station for the benefit of passengers and passers-by. I will try to include it in a future offering.

The fishing village of Bolungarvík lies in the bay of the same name and is framed by the prominent mountains Óshyrna, located here above Ósvör, and Tra∂rhyrna, above the village itself.

Because of Bolungarvík's proximity to rich fishing grounds, fishing has been practised from here since the beginning of Iceland's settlement. Fishing huts were built along the coast, but for a long time there was no permanent settlement here. In 1890 a shop was opened in Bolungarvík and gradually people settled here. In 1903 Bolungarvík was officially designated as a trading centre and in 1911 the construction of the harbour began. Fishing is still the most important industry in the village today.

Here in Ósvör you can see how fishing was practised in Bolungarvík and throughout the country in past centuries. Reconstruction of the old fishing huts began in 1988 and today the place looks almost the same as it did in the past.

The Ósvör Museum was built in memory of ways of working that have disappeared in Iceland today. There is a fisherman's hut, a salt house, a fish drying shed, an open rowing boat, a winch and a fish drying area.

  

Der Fischerort Bolungarvík liegt in der gleichnamigen Bucht und wird von den markanten Bergen Óshyrna, hier oberhalb von Ósvör gelegen, und Tra∂rhyrna, oberhalb des Ortes selbst, eingerahmt.

Wegen der Nähe Bolungarvíks zu den reichen Fischgründen wurde von hier aus schon seit Beginn der Besiedlung Islands Fischerei betrieben. Fischerhütten wurden entlang der Küste errichtet, doch lange Zeit gab es hier keine feste Siedlung. Im Jahr 1890 wurde in Bolungarvík ein Geschäft eröffnet und nach und nach siedelten sich Menschen an. 1903 wurde Bolungarvík offiziell als Handelsplatz ausgewiesen und 1911 begann der Bau des Hafens. Fischerei ist bis heute der wichtigste Wirtschaftszweig des Ortes.

Hier in Ósvör kann man sehen, wie Fischerei in Bolungarvík und im ganzen Land in den vergangenen Jahrhunderten praktiziert wurde. 1988 wurde mit dem Wiederaufbau der alten Fischerhütten begonnen und heute sieht der Ort wieder fast genauso aus wie früher.

Das Museum Ósvör wurde in Erinnerung an heute in Island verschwundene Arbeitsweisen errichtet. Hier gibt es eine Fischerhütte, ein Salzhaus, einen Schuppen zum Trocknen von Fisch, ein offenenes Ruderboot, eine Seilwinde und einen Fischtrockenplatz.

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

Training occurs prior to any big event. Proof of concept, being match fit, learning roles, refinement, gestures, movements and timings. Being in a team or performing as an individual.

 

In this image we see an illustration of an earthwork currently known as a Neolithic 'cursus' and here renamed a 'Transport Dragon Run': here a training ground - in two days, a gathering.

 

This form of early British Isles Neolithic earthwork sags over time; fails ever to be restored back into vivid form and space, and even gets ploughed back into soil or aligned aside traffic jams, electric windows and passing snaps.

 

Here the 'Transport Dragon Run' has a long barrow at one end, and a terminal post hole, and so is mildly inspired by the 3km long 'Stonehenge Greater cursus' of around 3500 BC. This earthwork came into time during the lifespan of the nearby 'Pedestal circle' at 'Robin Hood Ball' (4000-3000 BC) and originated some 400 years prior to another nearby earthwork, that of the pre megalithic Stonehenge 1 (3100 BC): a causewayed henge, almost like a simplified memory of a pedestal circle, where display took over from capacity for individual 'Transport Dragons' to execute outwards tangential rush.

 

[See linked below for an associated Flickr post and drawing that illustrates the early Neolithic 'Causewayed Enclosure' earthworks as 'Pedestal circles' for grouped 'Transport Dragons'. See past posts and a Flickr album for a full explanation of the 'Transport Dragon' and how it was enhanced and enabled by the invention of the 'Tension lever' - currently known as the 'Bâton percé' - again, research and Flickr album via this Photostream]

 

The dates of the Neolithic vary from east to west and south to north, as do details of regional megalithic, petroglyphic and earthwork manifestation. In the UK, the landscape-art of ditch, bank and raised stone perhaps started with the 'Pedestal Circles': earthworks for groups of late period residual 'Transport Dragons'. The 100 examples of 'Pedestal Circles' were built between 4900 and 4800 BC. Stonehenge 1 had many of the qualities of a causewayed enclosure and this ripple for a true future megasite was thrown around 3100 BC, so 1700 years after the 'Pedestal circle' building boom. In-between are found the hyperbolic and intoxicatingly unusual earthworks currently known as 'cursus' and here referred to as 'Transport Dragon Runs'.

 

In summary: the following chronology relates to parts of Britain:

- 'Pedestal circles' (Causewayed enclosures) 3700-3625 BC

- Approximative 100 year buffer

- 'Transport dragon runs' (Cursus) approx' 3500-2920 BC

- The 'Stonehenge 1' earthwork 3100 BC

- Approximative 100 year buffer

- Start of the age of megalithic stone circles: around 3000 BC.

 

Earthwork mounds (barrows/Tumuli) of varied silhouette and armature tended to start after the Pedestal circles and then coincide with the 'Transport Dragon Runs' to then carry on for several ages.

 

Examples of 'Transport Dragon Runs' include the 10km long Dorset Cursus; the triple henged megasite with dissecting cursus of 'Thornborough', and of course the examples on sites that would later be remembered as 'Newgrange' and 'Stonehenge'. From just 46m long to a staggering 9.7km, there was something in the function of a 'Cursus' that accepted flexibility of local expression. Some examples crossed rivers, many occurred near rivers. Which ever size you choose, the builders of the peripheral banks (via exterior ditch) would need to find a serious and compelling 'self' motivation, or they might need to be bullied and threatened into work by physical and/or psychological strategy. This latter option seems to be snug with the zeitgeist of today's video-game generation, and several prehistory commentators describing 'religious dictators', late prehistoric 'Lords' and other examples of back-dated Medievalism and Empire-ista. In effect, we are currently asked to imagine images of 'overlords' wanting parade grounds - the current Wiki.

 

There are upwards of 200 known examples of this hard won and early landscape earthwork. The early to mid Neolithic enjoyed still enjoyed forests and scrub interstitial. Parades are very human and not a jarring concept, but post Mesolithic clans might easily doubt a would-be leader's judgement regarding excessive bank and ditch circumferences. Individuals could simply disappear into the quiet and croft. I think that it is also easy to see that parades do not need 9.7km earthwork lines to be majestic or compelling, but do need more than 46m; and that parades that pass over rivers would arrive as 'pétards mouillés' more than respectable heroes or dynamic energies from within Mother Nature's array of lifeforces.

 

I propose the "Transport Dragon Run' as an alternative explanation to 'Cursus', and those who have read my explanation of the 'Pedestal circle' (Causewayed enclosure) will no doubt already see how the two can be linked and phase-change from circle into elongated oblong.

 

In the text for the associated post on the anterior earthworks of 'Pedestal circles' (Causewayed Enclosures), I offer arguments that the circles were pedestals for 'Transport Dragons'. Each pedestal had it's own exit (causeway) accessed exclusively by each gathered Transport Dragon. Transport Dragons can surge forwards with ease, perhaps reverse with difficulty (people inside walking backwards or turning whilst holding the interior frame structure) and shuffle sideways with a clumsy fall. From these early circular earthworks, gathered residual Transport Dragons could meet to trade, and mix with newcomers and sedentary crofters who had lost their implicit association with a mythological clan frame. The ability for each Transport Dragon to rush down and tangentially out of a causeway, gave the Pedestal rings a military capacity which could be applied to assure a traditional use and respect for the animate landscape (free riverside passage and so on). Now, if circles were the traditional way for clans of Transport Dragons to meet, then there were downsides that might appear over time. Pedestal circles were static, and the new sedentary populations may not witness the power potential of the form. Likewise, some Transport Dragons may slow down to a point that they loose their vitality, and the emergent properties of several strong legs powering a weighted ornamental and mythological frame might suffer from fitness issues (varied rupestra and ceramic sculptures from the Neolithic can be seen to depict overweight individuals). Here, the Cursus/Transport Dragon Run was in effect an extended Pedestal Circle, with the new interior space perfect for training and displays of acumen, stealth, resilience and sheer power.

 

As the landscape slowed and the cadence of long journeys reduced down, some Transport Dragons localised to help with earthworks, post glacial monolith moving, clapper bridge adjustment and earth and tree moving around rivers. Being guardians of a 'Transport Dragon Run' enabled these residual clans to retain their local meaning and the idiosyncratic belief systems of each mythical frame from specific deep human prehistories. This desire to remain alive with past and future ideas and beliefs and holistically vital for practical culture would in my mind be enough to motivate this subset of the population to stay strong and dig and build without being threatened or conned.

 

The above image shows a Transport Dragon Run many years into its period of use. It has lived and it has grown with nature. Three transport Dragons can be seen towards the end of a practise run. For most of the run the fire has been guarded in the sculptured cob jaws as embers of potential energy. On the final 'New Year's' day, they will need to cross the line with the embers turned into a blaze of fire - and here they are practising.

 

Trade can now be from each end, as can other episodes of people and place. Some Transport Dragon runs are known for endurance (9.7km), some examples for pomp and none lineal runs (Thornborough), and some examples for sprints (46m); some are known for cross-country obstacle, and some also aligned into the spirit of the sun, the moon and the stars. On big days, there were parades along all or a portion of the run. Some Transport Dragons were never raced but simply appeared on banks to interact. Some teams practised on basic frames (illustrated above) which saved the ornamental and meaningful examples for big occasions. Some Transport Dragons stayed local to a dragon run, others dedicated schedules to travel between regional examples. Many locals 'supported' a Transport Dragon without having lived and earned its Mythology. A sense of greater space than a single Neolithic life could know. Of the Transport Dragons that fixed to a place, local services against bandits were offered. This premegalithic Britain was a strong population and landscape role model on display to the watching: for this illustration, 'Saltimbanques', 'Princesses' waiting to be carried, children with outlandish high hats and tasselled sticks, and rowdy early arrivals for the future crowd. To the far side, a group practise a whirling dance around a camp fire, and in the far distance more Transport Dragons are looked at and crafted prior to a breath-taking run of extraordinary technique.

 

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year to Flickr and its diverse community. Looking forward...

 

AJM 29.12.21

   

Taken in Wales. While Zandri practised her fly fishing cast, I was photographing the birds.

Dubbo Courthouse was completed in 1890 to a design by Colonial Architect James Barnet.

 

Prior to 1847, legal and civic matters were administered in the town of Wellington. In December 1846, a Court of Petty Sessions was established in Dubbo. A wooden courthouse was constructed in 1848. This building serviced the wider region of Dubbo, as by 1851 the population of Dubbo was still just 47 people.

 

A District Court was established in Dubbo in 1858 and a Court of Quarter Sessions was established the following year. A second courthouse and watch house constructed of stone was completed in 1863 at a cost of £1,567. Following the establishment of the Municipal District of Dubbo in 1872, Council meetings were held in this courthouse.

 

In the 1880s, a new courthouse for Dubbo was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet. This was likely in response to the increased workload created by the new gaol in Dubbo and the growth of the town. The courthouse was completed by the end of the decade and backed onto the gaol. A residence and two cells were also constructed on the grounds. The previous courthouse was then used as a drill hall for the local regiment.

 

Sir Frederick Pottinger was one of the earliest Clerks of Petty Sessions in Dubbo, appointed to the position in 1860. Pottinger was a wealthy heir and Second Baronet in England who squandered his inheritance on horse racing and was forced to migrate to Australia. In 1862, Pottinger was appointed Inspector of Police for the Western District. In this post he enthusiastically pursued bushrangers, capturing Ben Hall once amongst others.

 

Dubbo Courthouse was enlarged in 1981 with the construction of two additional courtrooms, chambers for Judge and Magistrate and ancillary accommodation including a large Petty Sessions Office and a Sheriff’s Office. These new works were officially opened by the Premier on 10 February 1981. The total cost was $2.1 million.

 

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The history of Dubbo's courthouse is intertwined with the growth of the town and the establishment of law and order in the region. The first court of petty sessions was held in Dubbo in 1846, and the police residence, courthouse, and lock-up were constructed between 1847 and 1848. The original courthouse was located on Macquarie Street, which was later closed when the Brisbane Street Courthouse opened in 1889. The Brisbane Street Courthouse was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet and was likely built in response to the increased workload from the new gaol and the town's growth.

 

Colonial Architect James Barnet:

 

James Johnstone Barnet (1827 - 1904), architect, was born at Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland, son of Thomas Barnet, builder, and his wife Mary, née McKay. After education at the local high school he went to London in 1843 and was apprenticed to a builder. He then studied drawing and design under W. Dyce, R.A. and architecture with C. J. Richardson, F.R.I.B.A., and became clerk of works to the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. On the 22nd of July 1854 he married Amy, daughter of John and Elizabeth Gosling; they sailed for Sydney and arrived in December. He engaged in building operations before he became clerk of works at the University of Sydney. In 1860 he joined the Colonial Architect's Office; two years later he became its acting head and in 1865 colonial architect; he held the position until 1890 when the office was reorganised.

 

Barnet was responsible for the building of defence works at Port Jackson, Botany Bay, and Newcastle, courthouses, lock-ups, police stations, and post offices throughout New South Wales (NSW) and several lighthouses including the Macquarie Lighthouse on South Head, which replaced an earlier one designed by Francis Greenway. In Sydney, he designed and supervised the construction of several important public buildings: a new wing to the Australian Museum, the General Post Office, Colonial Secretary's Office, Public Works and Lands Buildings, Customs House, Public Library, the Medical School at the University of Sydney and the Callan Park Lunatic Asylum. He was also responsible for additions to the Tarban Creek Asylum and the maintenance of other public buildings. The total cost of public works carried out or in progress under his direction to 1881 was £3,598,568 for 1490 projects.

 

When the Duke of Edinburgh visited Sydney in 1868 Barnet was given charge of arrangements for the royal reception and in 1879 was responsible for the design and erection of the Sydney International Exhibition building on five acres of the Botanical Gardens. The design was prepared and the work completed in nine months with the aid of night shifts using the first electric light in Sydney. Preparation of 412 drawings and of all accounts and payment of moneys as well as oversight of the work were part of Barnet's responsibility. Whilst the work was in progress he was continually attacked in parliament and in the press. As an indication of its censure parliament disallowed his forage allowance in 1879. A sum of £50,000 had been voted for the project but the final cost was £184,570. Barnet explained the increased cost as the result of hurried planning and the use of more durable material than originally intended. The building 'took the public taste' and when the exhibition ended he was paid a gratuity of £500, an amount he considered totally inadequate.

 

The new wing for the Australian Museum was intended for a museum of natural history and a sculpture gallery. In 1873 the management of Gerard Krefft as curator was considered by the trustees to be highly unsatisfactory and on 24 February 1874 a select committee of the Legislative Assembly was appointed to investigate. Despite Barnet's denials it reported that the old building was satisfactory although in poor repair, but the new wing was 'extremely defective' with 'abundant evidence of the architect's desire to subordinate utility to ornament'; in no circumstances should the colonial architect be permitted to continue his mistakes in the uncompleted work. In spite of the committee's findings Barnet was soon acclaimed as an architect of skill and imagination. On 1 September at the official opening of the General Post Office the postmaster-general, (Sir) Saul Samuel, paid a glowing tribute to his work. The first contracts for the foundation and basement had been let in February 1866 but were delayed by negotiations for extending the site and the needs of urgent defence work. To make the most of the narrow site an extra storey was added, mezzanine galleries were built above the ground floor and the main building extended over an arcade built above the footpath. Pyrmont sandstone, in blocks 'of a magnitude never before attempted in these colonies', was used and fireproof concrete 'of original composition' formed the vaulted dome ceilings.

 

For decoration of the Pitt Street frontage Barnet planned carvings which would portray selected arts, sciences, and customs of the day. In 1883 these came under criticism from the postmaster-general, William Trickett. The inevitable board of inquiry commended Barnet's intention but complained that the carvings were not a faithful record, approaching 'far more to the unnatural and burlesque than … to the real', an opinion which made Barnet doubt the artistic taste of his judges. The subject was dropped although occasional notices in the press referred to the entertainment of visitors by the 'grotesque' carvings.

 

In addition to other official duties, Barnet sat on the commission set up in 1870 to plan the colony's defence. More defence works were recommended for Port Jackson and Barnet was directed to build new batteries and barracks. His work, without 'any technical professional aid', was highly praised by Sir William Jervois and (Sir) Peter Scratchley in 1877. On 16 July 1889 the defence work was removed from Barnet's control and a military works branch of the Public Works Department was created with Lieutenant-Colonel F. R. de Wolski as director. The earlier close relationship between the military and Barnet deteriorated rapidly, partly because of de Wolski's outspoken condemnation of Barnet's ability and partly because of his persistence on tactical delay in handing over plans and documents for defence work. For some time work at Bare Island battery, Botany Bay, had been criticized and rumours of incompetence and dishonest workmanship persisted. On 1 July 1890 a royal commission was appointed to investigate the letting of contracts and to report on the work already completed. The commissioners found that much of the construction was below standard: the colonial architect's supervision had not been adequate, specifications were altered without approval and expenditure insufficiently controlled. Barnet's evidence contradicted that of his subordinates which the commission accepted more readily than his own. Whatever deficiencies had occurred, and there were plenty, were Barnet's sole responsibility; he was found guilty of gross indifference towards his duties and of insubordination to the minister for public works.

 

Although the minister saved Barnet from further punishment, the commission's censure was a regrettable end to a distinguished career. For his part Barnet thought that the commissioners' report was an 'unseemly, cruel, and spiteful exhibition of silly persecution and injustice' and believed that he could have made a satisfactory explanation if given the opportunity; he was also convinced that the commission had been influenced by de Wolski who by invitation had attended many of its meetings and been permitted to comment on the evidence.

 

In his architectural work Barnet had been strongly influenced by the Italian Renaissance, but some of his buildings were on poor sites. He had no sympathy for new styles of architecture which were becoming fashionable in Sydney at the end of the century and tended to ape American trends. He was equally critical of domestic architecture cluttered with useless ornamentation and 'surmounted with blazing red tiles from France'. As colonial architect for twenty-five years he had an important influence on colonial architecture; his public buildings were well built and well designed and stood as a memorial to his ability. References to his work are sprinkled throughout the Sydney Morning Herald in 1863-1904. In 1899 he published Architectural Work in Sydney, New South Wales, 1788-1899.

 

Barnet died on 16 December 1904 and was buried in the Presbyterian section at Rookwood cemetery where his wife had been interred about 1890. He was survived by four daughters and three sons, two of whom practised their father's profession.

 

Source: Old Dubbo Gaol & Australian Dictionary Of Biography.

Practised some horse photography today with my new Ranger RX pack and Rotalux 100x100.

Triggered by PW Mini-TT1 and Power-ST4

Have learned that flash is OK with most horses while reflectors are very scary.

#icelandichorse #RangerRx #Pocketwizard

Piero del Pollaiolo

Temperanza or virtue of Temperance [1470]

Florence, Uffici

 

*****************************************************************

Temperance, considered as the capacity for moderation and the right measure, is shown here as a young woman in the process of mixing hot and cold water, pouring it from a ewer to a basin According to Christian doctrine, she is one of the four cardinal Virtues, together with Fortitude, Justice and Prudence. The panel is part of a cycle of paintings dedicated to the Virtues and commissioned from Piero del Pollaiolo in 1469. The cycle was for the Tribunale di Mercanzia in Piazza della Signoria, Florence and is now in the Uffizi Galleries. This panel, together with Faith, was painted before summer of 1470, partly fulfilling the contract that obliged the painter to provide two panels with the Virtues every three months, starting from 1 January 1470, for a payment of 20 florins for each one.

 

The careful depiction of the jug and metal basin, decorated with precious stones, reflects Piero’s familiarity with goldsmithing, practised by his older brother, Antonio, at extremely high levels.

 

The support of the painting, as for the other five Virtues painted by Pollaiolo – Fortitude was painted by Sandro Botticelli - consists of planks in cypress, a wood able to resist the attack of wood-eating insects and damp.

 

The Tribunale di Mercanzia was the body that decided on the business disputes between Florentine merchants and administered justice among the guilds, known as the Arts. In the 18th century, the wealth and heritage of this judiciary went to the Chamber of Commerce, including the seven paintings of the Virtues, taken to the Uffizi Galleries in 1777.

 

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

Nothing interesting showed up at Lackford Lakes today, so got out the macro lens and practised on some bugs

Mylai Kolam drawing competition, as a part of Pongal festival, Chennai,India held at Mylapore.

  

Kolam (Tamil: கோலம் kõlaṁ) is a form of painting that is drawn using rice powder/chalk/chalk powder/white rock powder often using naturally/synthetically colored powders in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and most parts of Kerala and some parts of Goa, Maharashtra, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and a few other Asian countries. A Kolam is a geometrical line drawing composed of curved loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots. In South India, it is widely practised by female Hindu family members in front of their homes.

   

I really don't see how we would put 35 people in this. We practised getting in and out.

I never realised just how S&M my old Brownie belt is.

 

When he was a young boy, 'Sir Stephen' snuck into his sister's room, whilst she was at gym practice. It didn't take him long to find it, - he held it in front of him in both upturned hands then slowly pulled one end, through his clasped hand til the worn leather end slipped through his fingers, he gave a firm yet quiet whack into his open left palm. His eyelids tightened and a smile emerged as he closed her door and walked purposely across the landing back to his room. His bookcase wedged behind the bedroom door, he indulged his furtive imagination, with Margaret from two-doors-down, he practised with the assorted stolen lengths of rope from last week's 'Knot Tying Badge'. He then formulated his plan for 'training' women for him to master.

 

Did the route of his evil stem from a stiff leather and shiny bondage-ringed Girl Guide belt? Is that why the film opening in the 70's coincided with the phasing out of the lovely, traditional Brownie uniform dresses and belts and the introduction of brown elastic waisted culottes, logoed sweatshirts and heaven forbid, 'bobble hats'?? Is it all the Baden Powell's' fault??

One of the four forms of bullfighting praticed in the world but it differs from the other three by two features, first it is practised exclusevely with cows and not bulls, the other feature it shares with the Camargue races, is that there is no killing, or hurting of the animal, either during the race, or after.

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

The Sisters’ Rice Festival is sometimes called Sisters’ Meal Festival or Eat Sisters’ Rice Festival. The legend is there was once an old man and his wife who had three beautiful daughters. One day while they played on the riverside, the young girls felt lovesick. Zhang Guolao, a bearded God who carried a bamboo tubular drum, possessed the spirits of the girls, telling them to prepare five-colored rolls of glutinous rice filled with shrimp, fish and other special things. When young men came down from the mountain, the beautiful girls presented the rice to them. In this way, the young girls found their marriage partners

 

Sisters’ Meal festival, which takes in the Spring, is specific to southeast Guizhou. During the third lunar month in Shidong, Taijiang County in Southeast Guizhou Province, girls flock to the mountains to collect wild flowers and berries to dye the glutinous rice known as Sister’s Rice and everyone cooks up a storm! A storm of glutinous rice that is — dyed in several colors and formed into balls. Each girl prepares her rice with a symbol then wraps it in a handkerchief or put inside small baskets

The Miao minority “Sisters’ Rice Festival” is a celebration of spring and of love. Dressed in finest embroidered and appliqued clothing, adorned in all their freshly shined silver jewelry, young women set out to attract a suitable mate. That’s the traditional goal, but fun is the name of the game! Two, sometimes three, festival days are filled with dancing, singing, eating, drinking lots of rice wine, watching bull fights and cockfights, and horse racing.

 

The Festival brings villagers from many remote areas together, the girls beautifully dressed in their embroidered costumes. A kaleidoscope of colors, local customs and traditions, signature costumes and hairstyles provide a never-ending fashion show. It is said that the Miao originated from the egg of a butterfly that emerged from a maple tree. The butterfly married a bubble and laid twelve eggs. A mythical bird called the Jiyu watched over the eggs for twelve years and finally they hatched into a Miao man known as Jiangyang, a Thunder God known as Leigong, a water buffalo, snake, dragon, tiger, centipede, elephant and four other omens. All of these symbols are found in the exquisite embroidery and colorful decoration of these artistically talented people.

 

In anticipation of the Sisters’ Rice Festival, the grandmothers, mothers and other female relatives polish and shine the collection of silver neck rings, bracelets, anklets, earrings, hair pins and combs, rings and pendants, phoenix crowns and headpieces that the young courting-age girls will wear. The Miao believe that silver, representing light, dispels evil spirits. Silver is also a symbol of wealth and beauty, and some young women wear several kilograms of it at one time. Dazzling embroidered skirts, blouses, aprons and jackets are decorated with many different tooled silver ornaments. Pretty necks are encircled with bands of silver and linking silver chains that support large shining lockets, glittering beads and hanging tassels. Elaborate silver headpieces crown the heads of the girls as they proudly display their self-made costumes.

 

The festival always begins with special family meals. Sharing traditional foods such as rice that has been colored with the dyes of different leaves, berries and flowers, then cooked in bamboo tubes, and homemade rice wine, is similarly practised among the many Miao tribes. Some of the dyed rice is molded into balls that hold hidden treasures. These rice balls are presented to the young men who come to visit, and each treasure has a different meaning. Pine needles mean “You should give me embroidery needles.” and corn silk is a suggestion of fine yarn. A thorn tells the lucky fellow “You are the one!” Chopsticks or red flower pistils say, “Let’s marry quickly — the sooner the better.” And a single chopstick, some garlic or chili means, “Find someone else!”

Meanwhile, you will find many elders at the cockfighting competitions, trading at the daylong markets, or leisurely rowing long dugout canoes on the river beside the festival ground. This is a time of camaraderie and “catching up.” Mid-morning approaches, and the elders rush off to the bullfights. Excitement rises as the mighty bulls lock horns, trying to wrestle each other to the ground. All day long, one bull after another is defeated and then the final match begins. The winning bull brings great honor and riches to his owner for the following year, so although it is festival, the participants enter into the fights with a certain seriousness. Such anxiety calls for much merriment, eating, drinking and friendly betting. The champion bull’s horns are festooned with chickens, ducks, red ribbons and flowers as he is led around the battleground and through the town, snorting proudly for all to see. Finally he is bathed in the soothing waters of the Qingshui. The crowds thin out as people join picnics and special feasts.

 

The Qingshui riverside becomes lively and exciting as the music and dancing begins. As they walk and dance, the lovely Miao girls jingle and shimmer in the sun. Their cheeks burn with excitement while they flirt with handsome young men, each of whom is searching for a beauty worthy of his strength and handsomeness. Towards evening the newly formed couples break away and begin singing together.

When darkness falls, the festival beat increases as the dragon dances begin. Candles are lit inside the 25-meter-long hollow paper dragons. Battles begin as the fiery dragons weave in and out of the hooting crowds chasing each other. Drums and fireworks complete the noisy atmosphere. Into the evening, the elders continue to make the rounds, greeting their friends, swapping stories and songs, sharing tobacco and wine As the moon rises high in the night sky, young lovers wander off. The mountain paths are busy with the sounds of tinkling footsteps and clear melodious voices singing gentle love songs to the tunes of Lusheng pipes. Long into the night, the partying continues… Bamboo flutes and wooden drums echo sounds throughout the valley as the dawn breaks, beginning the next day’s festivities. As crowds slowly gather, the lovely dancing girls strut like peacocks while the boys look on admiringly.

© Saúl Tuñón Loureda

 

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El Museo de Ciencias de Londres (Science Museum en inglés) es un museo dedicado a la ciencia en Londres; forma parte del Museo Nacional de la Ciencia y la Industria. El museo es una de las atracciones turísticas de Londres.

 

Este museo contuvo la mayoría de los más famosos objetos de los que ahora forman parte del Science Museum. En 1885, las Science Collections fueron renombradas como Science Museum, y en 1893 fue nombrado un director del museo. Las Art Collections fueron rebautizadas como Art Museum que posteriormente sería el Victoria and Albert Museum. La Patent Office fue integrada en el museo en 1901.

 

Desde entonces, y con cambios en su estructura y su filosofía, alberga las colecciones de ciencia, tecnología, industria y medicina más completas del mundo. Su actual ubicación está en South Kensington. Empezó a construirse en 1913 aunque no se pudo terminar y abrir al público hasta 1928, a causa de la Primera Guerra Mundial.

 

El museo es de grandes dimensiones. Tiene cuarenta salas y está dividido por áreas de conocimiento, abarcando desde los inicios de la informática hasta los viajes espaciales pasando por telecomunicaciones, agricultura, matemáticas, geofísica, medicina, etc. La división del museo es tan específica que incluso hay salas dedicadas a Ciencia y Tecnología en el Islam o Ciencia en India. Y aunque más que un museo de ciencia (más interactivo) es un museo de historia de la ciencia (con muchas vitrinas), hay elementos tan divertidos como un cine IMAX, un simulador de realidad virtual o el llamado Launch Pad, que es una zona interactiva donde los niños podrán desde construir un puente hasta pilotar un avión. Incluso uno puede llegar a hacer un descabellado viaje al futuro en uno de los simuladores con los que cuenta.

 

Sin embargo, la gran atracción es el valor de muchos de los objetos que hay en el mismo y que reflejan una parte del progreso del conocimiento humano. Por ejemplo, se puede ver cómo se conserva en formol el cerebro de Charles Babbage (junto con su formidable máquina precursora de las calculadoras) o ver artefactos tan únicos como el original péndulo de Foucault o el motor de vapor de Boulton y Watt.

 

Por ejemplo, en la parte de astronomía, también se pueden llegar a ver cosas tan sorprendentes como el espejo del telescopio Earl of Rosse que durante el siglo XIX se consideraba el espejo más grande del mundo. Sin embargo, hay que admitir que el objeto que más conmoción causa es el módulo de comando del Apolo X: la primera misión tripulada por hombres que logró entrar en la órbita lunar y que fue el antecesor del que llevó al hombre por primera vez a la luna.

 

Actualmente el Science Museum contiene unos 300.000 objetos, entre los que destacan: la locomotora The Rocket de George Stephenson, que es la más antigua locomotora a vapor que existe; una reconstrucción de la molécula del ADN hecha por Francis Crick y James Watson; y algunos de los motores a vapor más recientes.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_de_Ciencias_de_Londres

 

The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and today is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually.[2]

 

Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Science Museum does not charge visitors for admission. Temporary exhibitions, however, may incur an admission fee. It is part of the Science Museum Group, having merged with the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester in 2012.

 

Origin and history

 

A museum was founded in 1857 under Bennet Woodcroft from the collection of the Royal Society of Arts and surplus items from the Great Exhibition as part of the South Kensington Museum, together with what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum. It included a collection of machinery which became the Museum of Patents in 1858, and the Patent Office Museum in 1863. This collection contained many of the most famous exhibits of what is now the Science Museum. In 1883, the contents of the Patent Office Museum were transferred to the South Kensington Museum. In 1885, the Science Collections were renamed the Science Museum and in 1893 a separate director was appointed.[3] The Art Collections were renamed the Art Museum, which eventually became the Victoria and Albert Museum.

 

When Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the new building for the Art Museum, she stipulated that the museum be renamed after herself and her late husband. This was initially applied to the whole museum, but when that new building finally opened ten years later, the title was confined to the Art Collections and the Science Collections had to be divorced from it.[4] On 26 June 1909 the Science Museum, as an independent entity, came into existence.[4] The Science Museum's present quarters, designed by Sir Richard Allison, were opened to the public in stages over the period 1919–28.[5] This building was known as the East Block, construction of which began in 1913 and temporarily halted by World War I. As the name suggests it was intended to be the first building of a much larger project, which was never realized.[6] However, the Museum buildings were expanded over the following years; a pioneering Children's Gallery with interactive exhibits opened in 1931,[4] the Centre Block was completed in 1961-3, the infill of the East Block and the construction of the Lower & Upper Wellcome Galleries in 1980, and the construction of the Wellcome Wing in 2000 result in the Museum now extending to Queensgate.

 

The Science Museum now holds a collection of over 300,000 items, including such famous items as Stephenson's Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the first jet engine, a reconstruction of Francis Crick and James Watson's model of DNA, some of the earliest remaining steam engines (Including an example of a Newcomen steam engine, the worlds first steam engine), a working example of Charles Babbage's Difference engine, the first prototype of the 10,000-year Clock of the Long Now, and documentation of the first typewriter. It also contains hundreds of interactive exhibits. A recent addition is the IMAX 3D Cinema showing science and nature documentaries, most of them in 3-D, and the Wellcome Wing which focuses on digital technology.[9] Entrance has been free since 1 December 2001.

 

The museum houses some of the many objects collected by Henry Wellcome around a medical theme. The fourth floor exhibit is called "Glimpses of Medical History", with reconstructions and dioramas of the history of practised medicine. The fifth floor gallery is called "Science and the Art of Medicine", with exhibits of medical instruments and practices from ancient days and from many countries. The collection is strong in clinical medicine, biosciences and public health. The museum is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine.

 

The Science Museum has a dedicated library, and until the 1960s was Britain's National Library for Science, Medicine and Technology. It holds runs of periodicals, early books and manuscripts, and is used by scholars worldwide. It was, for a number of years, run in conjunction with the Library of Imperial College, but in 2007 the Library was divided over two sites. Histories of science and biographies of scientists were kept at the Imperial College Library in London until February 2014 when the arrangement was terminated, the shelves were cleared and the books and journals shipped out, joining the rest of the collection, which includes original scientific works and archives, in Wroughton, Wiltshire.[10] The Imperial College library catalogue search system now informs searchers that volumes formerly held there are "Available at Science Museum Library Swindon Currently unavailable". A new Research Centre with library facilities is promised for late 2015 but is unlikely to have book stacks nearby.

 

The Science Museum's medical collections have a global scope and coverage. Strengths include Clinical Medicine, Biosciences and Public Health. The new Wellcome Wing, with its focus on Bioscience, makes the Museum a leading world centre for the presentation of contemporary science to the public.

 

Some 170,000 items which are not on current display are stored at Blythe House in West Kensington. Blythe House also houses facilities including a conservation laboratory, a photographic studio, and a quarantine area where newly arrived items are examined.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Museum,_London

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

L’Antiga Farmàcia “Hippodrates” - Casa d’Antoniadi, Plòvdiv, Bulgària.

Музейна аптека "Хипократ", Пловдив.

 

ENGLISH

The house was built in 1872 by Dr. Sotir Antoniadi, one of the first people with medical degree in Plovdiv.

Nowadays, it features the Old pharmacy shop Hippocrates and the Museum of Pharmacy, which are unique for Bulgaria. Here you can have insight of the way medicine and pharmacy were practised during the Bulgarian Revival period, up to the beginning of the 20th century – a period when all the medications and pills used to be made of natural ingredients.

A lot of tools and medical equipment, manufactured mainly in Vienna and Berlin, are displayed inside.

The original book with recipes by the healer St. John of Rila still keeps the memory of the century-old art of making remedies.

 

CATALÀ

La casa va ser construïda el 1872 pel Dr Sotir Antoniadi, una de les primeres persones amb un grau mèdic a Plòvdiv.

Avui en dia, compta amb l'antiga botiga de farmàcia Hipòcrates i el Museu de Farmàcia, únics a Bulgària. Aquí podeu conèixer la manera en què es feien els medicament durant el període de Revival búlgar, fins a principis del segle XX. Període en què tots els medicaments i pastilles solien estar fets d'ingredients naturals.

Moltes eines i equips mèdics, fabricats principalment a Viena i Berlín, es mostren a l'interior.

El llibre original amb receptes del sanador Sant Joan de Rila encara conserva la memòria de l'art centenari de fer remeis.

  

www.birdlife.org/datazone/sites/index.html?action=SitHTMD...

 

Site description The site is a National Park covering 36,000 ha of the High Atlas, including the highest mountain in Morocco, Jbel Toubkal (4,167 m). Located only 60 km south of the town of Marrakech, the dramatic mountain scenery attracts thousands of visitors each year, many of whom climb Jbel Toubkal or trek elsewhere in the park. The mountain summits are often only slightly above the level of their surrounding high plateaus, which are separated by deep valleys. The park extends from 1,000 m upwards and therefore encompasses a range of vegetation-types, from forest to alpine meadow. Forest only covers 15% of the park, and consists mainly of the oldest Quercus rotundifolia stands in the High Atlas and Juniperus thurifera. Along the valleys, irrigated agriculture is practised and most of the park is used for extensive livestock-grazing.

 

More than 95 breeding species have been recorded, among them nine species of the Mediterranean North Africa biome. Thirteen raptors are recorded, among them Gypaetus barbatus, which definitely bred in the park until 1980. The Parc National de Toubkal is one of only two areas in Morocco where Apus caffer has been recorded breeding, and also holds several species with quite localized distributions in Africa, such as Rhodopechys sanguinea and Eremophila alpestris.

 

Conservation issues The National Park was created by 'Arrête viziriel' on 19 January 1942. Despite its protected status, the park has been facing growing pressures since the 1960s. Poaching has wiped out some species and overgrazing has destroyed or degraded much of the natural vegetation. Tourism has mushroomed and led to erosion of footpaths—on some days 30-40 tourists may be found together at one time on the summit of Jbel Toubkal, in spite of the long and arduous trek required to reach it. To counter these threats and safeguard wildlife, in the 1950s AEFCS created a reserve for Ammotragus lervia adjacent to the park, and in 1994 enclosed an area of 1,000 ha for the reintroduction of Gazella cuvieri. Both these measures have resulted in the protection of areas of forest habitat which are important for breeding birds. In 1994, a management plan for the park was drawn up under the auspices of AEFCS. Further conservation measures required include the training of local guides; the protection of nest-sites of the rarer bird species, particularly raptors; maintenance of trails to prevent erosion; and the establishment of grazing enclosures to protect endemic plant species.

 

www.birdlife.org/datazone/sites/index.html?action=SitHTMD...

 

Site description The site is a National Park covering 36,000 ha of the High Atlas, including the highest mountain in Morocco, Jbel Toubkal (4,167 m). Located only 60 km south of the town of Marrakech, the dramatic mountain scenery attracts thousands of visitors each year, many of whom climb Jbel Toubkal or trek elsewhere in the park. The mountain summits are often only slightly above the level of their surrounding high plateaus, which are separated by deep valleys. The park extends from 1,000 m upwards and therefore encompasses a range of vegetation-types, from forest to alpine meadow. Forest only covers 15% of the park, and consists mainly of the oldest Quercus rotundifolia stands in the High Atlas and Juniperus thurifera. Along the valleys, irrigated agriculture is practised and most of the park is used for extensive livestock-grazing.

 

More than 95 breeding species have been recorded, among them nine species of the Mediterranean North Africa biome. Thirteen raptors are recorded, among them Gypaetus barbatus, which definitely bred in the park until 1980. The Parc National de Toubkal is one of only two areas in Morocco where Apus caffer has been recorded breeding, and also holds several species with quite localized distributions in Africa, such as Rhodopechys sanguinea and Eremophila alpestris.

 

Conservation issues The National Park was created by 'Arrête viziriel' on 19 January 1942. Despite its protected status, the park has been facing growing pressures since the 1960s. Poaching has wiped out some species and overgrazing has destroyed or degraded much of the natural vegetation. Tourism has mushroomed and led to erosion of footpaths—on some days 30-40 tourists may be found together at one time on the summit of Jbel Toubkal, in spite of the long and arduous trek required to reach it. To counter these threats and safeguard wildlife, in the 1950s AEFCS created a reserve for Ammotragus lervia adjacent to the park, and in 1994 enclosed an area of 1,000 ha for the reintroduction of Gazella cuvieri. Both these measures have resulted in the protection of areas of forest habitat which are important for breeding birds. In 1994, a management plan for the park was drawn up under the auspices of AEFCS. Further conservation measures required include the training of local guides; the protection of nest-sites of the rarer bird species, particularly raptors; maintenance of trails to prevent erosion; and the establishment of grazing enclosures to protect endemic plant species.

  

Some places just elude you and this chimney at the old brickworks at Newmarket kept flying off my radar for years. Now lonely and surrounded by light industry in the inner Brisbane suburb of Alderley, it is not easy to photograph in a pleasing way, so I have wrapped it in the loving arms of a palm tree at the entrance to the industrial estate. Gotcha at last!

 

Newmarket Brickworks Chimney is a heritage-listed brickworks at 117 Mina Parade, Alderley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1912. It is also known as Hoffman Stack. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 March 2000.

Location

117 Mina Parade, Alderley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

 

Official name

Newmarket Brickworks Chimney, Hoffman Stack

 

The Newmarket Brickworks Chimney was constructed in 1912. At this time, it formed part of the new complex constructed by Aleck Anderson, a former Clerk of Works, known as the Brisbane Brick and Builders Supply Company Ltd - or Brisbane Brick, as it was widely known.

 

Brickmaking has been practised in Queensland since the days of the Moreton Bay penal settlement in the 1820s. Local clay was used for making bricks, firstly in Redcliffe, and then in Brisbane Town. The clayfield in the later case was situated near the stream at the back of the convict settlement. A kiln was first built near the river but a new kiln was built at the field. Brick production was well under way by the beginning of 1826. A boost was given to the use of brick in Queensland, following a disastrous fire in Queen Street in 1864. Changes made to Local Government Ordinances in response to this encouraged the use of brick for building, although the costs involved meant that brick were mainly used for commercial and public buildings.

 

The development of the brick manufacturing industry, given the wide availability of timber in Queensland, has been faced with obstacles. A group of Brisbane builders and architects, led by Aleck Anderson, a former Clerk of Works, and also an experienced builder, formed Brisbane Brick and Builders Supply Company Ltd in 1911 to obtain good quality bricks, which were then not plentifully available in Brisbane. The Company based its design on the Hoffman method of brickmaking. The main kiln was known as the "Hoffman Kiln".

 

Mechanisation of brickmaking began in the 1870s. By 1896 the successful Hoffman mechanical method of brickmaking was established in Australia, and for the first time, quality mass-produced bricks could be bought at prices well below those of the hand-made equivalent. The Hoffman method was named after Friedrich Hoffman, an Austrian, who invented the technique in 1859. The Hoffman method enabled drying and firing to take place simultaneously. Known as continuous firing, one chamber would be stacked with "green" bricks, other chambers contained bricks in increasing degrees of dryness, in another chamber firing may just have been commenced, while another may be in full firing, other chambers might be in various degrees of cooling while one chamber might remain empty.

 

Brisbane Brick made its first appearance in the Queensland Post Office Directory (Trades Directory) in 1912-13. As Queensland was essentially a timber state, the building industry developed mainly by the use of timber and the demand for bricks fell below production. Brickyards, quickly piled high with large stocks of unsold bricks, were often forced during those early years to close down for from six months to two years. After one of these closures the Brisbane Brick issued new preference shares to obtain capital to refit and modernise its original plant at Newmarket, and resume manufacturing. From then until the outbreak of World War II, the company stopped production for one or two brief periods. During the war, the Defence Department utilised the Newmarket sheds, kilns and yards to store goods such as clothing, boots and other equipment. The company's engineering staff were engaged to maintain Liberty ships and other defence work. World War II set the brick manufacturing industry back many years, and forced the closure of the company's works at Newmarket.

 

With the end of the war, the brick manufacturing industry then faced the introduction of price controls. At this time, the modernisation of many plants was slowed considerably. With the lifting of price controls many companies, Brisbane Brick included, began a concerted drive to make up for what was considered "lost time". Plants were improved and production methods were streamlined. Demand for bricks for homes and new commercial buildings soon outstripped production and the new industry faced a new, though welcome obstacle, keeping up with growing demand. Brisbane Brick opened Strathpine Bricks Pty Ltd in 1961, at this time the development of new processes, such as the new tunnel kiln equipment to produce bricks, gradually overhauled the shortage. At the time, Newmarket Bricks Pty Ltd, was a subsidiary of Brisbane Brick and Builders Supply Company. The design of the new Strathpine site was considered "as modern as tomorrow - the concept in brickworks design completely removes the traditional image of the old-type works with its towering smoke stack and unattractive factory".

 

Operation of the Newmarket brickworks were continued by PGH. By 1985, the Newmarket site had frontages to Alderley, Wakefield and Yarradale Streets and Mina Parade. In 1987 the brickworks were demolished and the site subdivided. Buildings demolished included the Hoffman kiln, drying kiln, sorting sheds, dome kiln buildings and an extruder presses building. Over the last decade, the site has been fully redeveloped for industrial purposes. At the time of demolition, the chimney was excluded from the demolition permit on the basis of its rarity as a remaining example in Brisbane of a load-bearing brick chimney stack.

Amur Leopard Cub ~ Twycross Zoo ~ Leicester ~ England ~ Monday November 28th 2016.

 

www.flickriver.com/photos/kevenlaw/popular-interesting/ Click here to see My most interesting images

 

Purchase some of my images here ~ www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/24360 ~ Should you so desire...go on, make me rich..lol...Oh...and if you see any of the images in my stream that you would like and are not there, then let me know and I'll add them to the site for you..:))

 

You can also buy my WWT card here (The Otter image) or in the shop at the Wetland Centre in Barnes ~ London ~ www.wwt.org.uk/shop/shop/wwt-greeting-cards/european-otte...

 

I went to Tywcross Zoo in Leicester a few years ago, prior to meeting and greeting the gorgeous singer Katie Melua.:)

Where I got to photograph a couple of critically endangered Amur Leopard cubs, as ya do..Here's one of many shots I captured...Have a Fabulous Hump Day Wednesday Y'all..:)

  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ~ Amur leopard ~ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amur_leopard ~

 

The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and the Jilin Province of northeast China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. In 2007, only 19–26 wild Amur leopards were estimated to survive. Data published by the World Wildlife Fund indicates that there are roughly 70 adult Amur leopards in the wild today. A more recent study places the number of Amur leopards at fewer than 60.

 

The Amur leopard is also known as the Far Eastern leopard.

 

Characteristics ~ Amur leopards differ from other subspecies by a thick coat of spot-covered fur. They show the strongest and most consistent divergence in pattern. Leopards from the Amur River basin, the mountains of north-eastern China and the Korean Peninsula have pale, cream-colored coats, particularly in winter. Rosettes on the flanks are 5 cm × 5 cm (2.0 in × 2.0 in) and widely spaced, up to 2.5 cm (0.98 in), with thick, unbroken rings and darkened centers.

 

Their coat is fairly soft with long and dense hair. The length of hair on the back is 20–25 mm (0.79–0.98 in) in summer and up to 70 mm (2.8 in) in winter. The winter coat varies from fairly light yellow to dense yellowish-red with a golden tinge or rusty-reddish-yellow. The summer pelage is brighter with more vivid coloration pattern. Compared with other leopard subspecies, they are rather small in size, with males larger than females. Males measure from 107 to 136 cm (42 to 54 in) with a 82 to 90 cm (32 to 35 in) long tail, a shoulder height of 64 to 78 cm (25 to 31 in), and a weight of 32.2–48 kg (71–106 lb). Females weigh from 25 to 42.5 kg (55 to 94 lb).

 

Amur leopards have long limbs and are well adapted to walking through deep snow.

 

Distribution and habitat ~ Hermann Schlegel first described an Amur leopard in 1857 on the basis of a skin from Korea. The Amur leopard is the only Panthera pardus subspecies adapted to a cold snowy climate. Fossils of leopards from the Pleistocene period have been excavated in Japan, although identification of the species is uncertain.

 

Previous population and distribution ~

The distribution of the Amur leopard has been reduced to a fraction of its original range. It once extended throughout northeastern ("Manchurian") China, including Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces, and throughout the Korean Peninsula. The species range in Russia was dramatically reduced during the seventies, losing about 80% of its former range. The northern boundary of their existence commenced on the coast of the Sea of Japan at 44°N and ran south at a distance of 15–30 km (9.3–18.6 mi) from the coast to 43°10'N. There it turned steeply westward, north of the Suchan River basin, then north to encompass the source of the Ussuri River and two right bank tributaries in the upper reaches of the Ussuri. There the boundary turned westward toward the bank of Khanka Lake. In the 1950s, leopards were observed 50 km (31 mi) north of Vladivostok and in Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve. The association of Amur leopards with mountains is fairly definite. They are confined more to places where wild sika deer live or where deer husbandry is practised. In winter, they keep to snow-free rocky slopes facing south.

 

Current population and distribution ~

Today, the Amur leopard inhabits about 5,000 km2 (1,900 sq mi). The last remaining viable wild population, estimated at 57 individuals, is found in a small area in the Russian Province of Primorsky Krai, between Vladivostok and the Chinese border. In adjacent China, 7-12 scattered individuals are estimated to remain. In South Korea, the last record of an Amur leopard dates back to 1969, when a leopard was captured on the slopes of Odo Mountain, in South Kyongsang Province.

 

Leopards cross between Russia, China, and North Korea across the Tumen River despite a high and long wire fence marking the boundary. Ecological conditions along the border in the mountains are not yet monitored. In China, Amur leopards were photographed by camera traps in Wangqing and Hunchun, east Jilin Province, China.[citation needed] The only official North Korean government webportal reported in 2009 that some leopards were in Myohyangsan Nature Reserve located in Hyangsan County. It is likely the southernmost living group of Amur leopard.

 

Amur leopard numbers have been reduced via over hunting of prey and poaching combined with habitat loss from agricultural and urban development. However, both camera-trapping and snow-tracking surveys indicate that the population has been stable over the last 30 years, but with a high rate of turnover of individuals. If appropriate conservation actions are taken, there is great potential for increasing population size, increasing survival rates and habitat recovery in both Russia and China.

 

Ecology and behavior ~ Amur leopards are crepuscular and usually start hunting shortly before sunset. They are active again in the early mornings. During the day, they rest and hide in caves or dense thickets, but rarely hunt. They are solitary, unless females have offspring.

 

They are extremely conservative in their choice of territory. An individual's territory is usually located in a river basin which generally extends to the natural topographical borders of the area. The territory of two individuals may sometimes overlap, but only slightly. Depending on sex, age, and family size, the size of an individual's territory can vary from 5,000–30,000 ha (19–116 sq mi). They may use the same hunting trails, routes of constant migration, and even places for extended rest constantly over the course of many years. At places where wild animals are abundant, leopards live permanently or perform only vertical migrations, trailing herds of ungulates and avoiding snow. In the Ussuri region the main prey of leopards are roe and sika deer, Manchurian wapiti, musk deer, moose, and wild pig. More rarely they catch hare, badger, fowl, and mice. In Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve roe deer is their main prey year-round, but they also prey on young Eurasian black bears less than two years old.

 

When density of ungulates is low, leopards have large home ranges that can be up to 100 km2 (39 sq mi).

 

During a study of radio-collared Amur leopards in the early 1990s, a territorial dispute between two males at a deer farm was documented, suggesting that deer farms are favoured habitats.[15] Female leopards with cubs are relatively often found in the proximity of deer farms. The large number of domestic deer is a reliable food source that may help to survive difficult times.

 

They can run at 37 mi (60 km) per hour, and can leap more than 19 ft (5.8 m) horizontally and up to 10 ft (3.0 m) vertically.

  

The Hagen Open-air Museum (LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen – Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Handwerk und Technik; English: "LWL Open-air Museum Hagen – Westphalian State Museum for Craft and Technics") is a museum at Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded, together with the Detmold Open-air Museum, in 1960, and was first opened to the public in the early 1970s. The museum is run by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL, regional authority for Westphalia and Lippe within North Rhine-Westphalia). It lies in the Hagen neighbourhood of Selbecke south of Eilpe in the Mäckingerbach valley.

 

The open-air museum brings a bit of skilled-trade history into the present, and it takes a hands-on approach. On its grounds stretching for about 42 ha, not only are urban and rural trades simply "displayed" along with their workshops and tools, but in more than twenty of the nearly sixty rebuilt workshops, they are still practised, and interested visitors can, sometimes by themselves, take part in the production.

 

As early as the 1920s, there were efforts by a group of engineers and historical preservationists to preserve technological monuments for posterity. The initiator, Wilhelm Claas, even suggested the Mäckingerbach valley as a good place for a museum to that end. The narrow valley was chosen, as wind, water and wood were the three most important location factors for industry in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 

In 1960, the Westphalian Open-Air Museum was founded, and thirteen years later, the gates opened to the public. Unlike most open-air museums, which show everyday life on the farm or in the country as it was in days gone by, the Hagen Open-Air Museum puts the history of these activities in Westphalia in the fore. From the late 18th century through the early years of the Industrial Revolution to the highly industrialized society emerging in the early 20th century, the visitor can experience the development of these trades and the industry in the region.

 

Crafts and trades demonstrated at the Westphalian Open-Air Museum include ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, tanning, printing, milling, papermaking, and much more. A favourite attraction is the triphammer workshop shown in the image above. Once the hammer is engaged, a craftsman goes to work noisily forging a scythe, passing it between the hammer and the anvil underneath in a process called peening.

 

The Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum is open from March or April until October.

 

Packard (formerly the Packard Motor Car Company) was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana, in 1958.

 

One of the "Three Ps" – alongside Peerless Motor Company and Pierce-Arrow – the company was known for building high-quality luxury automobiles before World War II.[1][2] Owning a Packard was considered prestigious, and surviving examples are often found in museums and automobile collections.[2]

 

Packard vehicles featured innovations, including the modern steering wheel, air-conditioning in a passenger car, and one of the first production 12-cylinder engines, adapted from developing the Liberty L-12 engine used during World War I to power warplanes.

 

During World War II, Packard produced 55,523 units of the two-stage/two-speed supercharger equipped 1,650 cu in (27.0 L) Merlin V-12s engines under contract with Rolls-Royce. Packard also made the 2,490 cu in (40.8 L) versions of the Liberty L-12 V-12 engine. This updated engine powered United States Navy PT boats.

 

After the Second World War, Packard struggled to survive as an independent automaker against the domestic Big Three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler). Packard merged with Studebaker in 1953 and formed the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. This merger was intended to be temporary while an eventual consolidation with American Motors Company (AMC) was planned. Disagreements among the firms' executives thwarted these plans, so Studebaker-Packard remained a separate company. The Packard brand was phased out in 1959 after two years of declining sales of the Studebaker-built 1957 and 1958 model year Packards.

 

History

1899–1905

Packard was founded by James Ward Packard, his brother William, and their partner, George Lewis Weiss, in Warren, Ohio, where 400 Packard automobiles were built at their factory on 408 Dana Street Northeast, from 1899 until 1903. A mechanical engineer, James Packard believed they could build a better horseless carriage than the Winton cars owned by Weiss, an important Winton stockholder, after Packard complained to Alexander Winton and offered suggestions for improvement, which were ignored. Winton replied to the suggestions by essentially telling Packard to "go build your own car".[3] Packard's first car was built in Warren, Ohio, on November 6, 1899.[4]

 

Henry Bourne Joy, a member of one of Detroit's oldest and wealthiest families, bought a Packard. Impressed by its reliability, he visited the Packards and soon enlisted a group of investors, including Truman Handy Newberry and Russell A. Alger Jr. On October 2, 1902, this group refinanced and renamed the New York and Ohio Automobile Company as the Packard Motor Car Company, with James Packard as president. Alger later served as vice president.[5] Packard moved operations to Detroit soon after, and Joy became general manager (later chairman of the board). An original Packard, reputedly the first manufactured, was donated by a grateful James Packard to his alma mater, Lehigh University, and is preserved there in the Packard Laboratory.[6] Another is on display at the Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio.[7]

 

While the Black Motor Company's Black went as low as $375,[8] Western Tool Works' Gale Model A roadster was $500,[9] the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout went for $650,[10] and the Cole 30 and Cole Runabout[11] were $1,500,[12] Packard concentrated on cars with prices starting at $2,600. The marque developed a following among wealthy purchasers in the United States and abroad, competing with European marques like Rolls-Royce, Renault, Isotta Fraschini, and Mercedes-Benz.

 

The 3,500,000 sq ft (330,000 m2) Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit was located on over 40 acres (16 ha) of land. Designed by Albert Kahn Associates, it included an early use of reinforced concrete for an automotive factory when building #10 opened in 1906.[13] Its craftsmen practised over 80 trades. The dilapidated plant stood until demolition commenced in September 2022,[14][15] despite repeated fires.[16] The factory is in close proximity to the current General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, which was the former site of the Dodge Vehicle factory from 1910 until 1980. Architect Kahn also designed the Packard Proving Grounds in Shelby Township, Michigan.

 

Number of Motor Vehicles produced by Packard

 

1903 - ? Vehicles

1904 - 192 Vehicles

1905 - 503 Vehicles

1906 - 803 Vehicles

1907 - 1188 Vehicles

1908 - 1484 Vehicles

1909 - 2726 Vehicles

1910 - 4318 Vehicles

1911 - 3745 Vehicles

1912 - 4559 Vehicles

1913 - 5242 Vehicles

1914 - 4415 Vehicles

1915 - 7923 Vehicles

Wikipedia

II Former Barclays Bank, now mixed commercial use, 1956-60 with late C20 alterations, by Sir William Graham Holford (1907-1975)

 

MATERIALS: Reinforced concrete construction with panels of black two-inch bricks from High Brooms Brick and Tile Company, Southborough, Kent; Canterbury knapped flint and Portland stone dressings. Ground-floor windows are timber, whilst original external doors and first, second and third-floor windows are bronze. The building sits on a plinth of Belgian Fossil marble.

 

PLAN: Narrow, slightly wedge-shaped rectangular plan with long elevations to north and south. Principal stair tower to east, secondary stair to west. Open-plan at ground-floor, at first, second and third-floor rooms open off a corridor to the north running east to west.

 

EXTERIOR: Four-storeys plus basement, with a flat roof. There is a small attic storey to far west. The building has three public-facing elevations; to the north, south and west.

 

The north elevation has nine bays; bays two and eight (from left to right) expressed in stone. The first, second and third-floor windows of these bays are separated by panels of knapped flint and advance as a very shallow oriels over the ground-floor openings beneath. Originally the principal entrance doors were located in these bays; a door, although not original, remains in the second bay. The door in the eighth bay has been replaced with a window. A relief carving of the Barclays griffin logo remains above both openings. Above ground level the remaining bays and floor levels are delineated by a slender stone grid-work in-filled with square panels of brick. To the far east and west ends, the exposed grid terminates with a vertical strip of decorative 'quoining'. The ground-floor windows are separated by plain columns of Issogne green marble, either side of which are quadrant-shaped recesses lined with ribbed bronze sheet. Embedded at the top of the recesses are spotlights, which cast light downwards either side of each window. Beneath the ground-floor windows there were originally panels of knapped flint, however these have been removed. Historic photographs suggest that the door of bay one may be the original door from bay two, and bay one originally had a window at ground-floor.

 

The south elevation is similar to the north elevation, however it is bays two and nine which are expressed in stone and, in this case, the stone border is infilled with knapped flint. Above ground-floor these bays have five horizontal rows of three small square windows, and mark the internal location of the stair wells. There is a figurative carving above the ground-floor openings of both bays. At ground floor, there are large panelled bronze doors in bays one and nine, and a timber door in bay two. The doors in bays one and nine appear to be original to the building, however bay one originally had a window at ground-floor, suggesting this door was originally located in bay two. The windows in bays seven and eight have been converted to doors.

 

The west elevation is a single bay wide with landscape windows at first and second-floor, which advance and rest on three plain triangular corbels. At ground-floor the elevation is blind, with decorative panels of flint 'quoining'. The ground-floor corners of the building are cut back, and four carved stone coins adorn the stone recesses. The coins are: the reverse of a half penny, depicting a ship and with the date 1962, the reverse of a farthing, depicting a wren and with the date 1956, the obverse of a twenty shilling, or pound, coin, with a bust of Charles I, and the reverse of a ten shilling coin depicting St Michael slaying the serpent (also known as an 'Angel' coin), also dating from the reign of Charles I. At third-floor the building steps in at the centre to create a balcony, and above is a small attic storey with a pierced stone screen, to which a flag pole is attached.

 

INTERIOR: Internally the banking hall interior does not survive and suspended ceilings have been installed throughout. On the upper floors the original layout is not known; planning records suggest that the third-floor was originally a caretaker's flat. The principal and secondary stairs remain largely unaltered. The stylish principal stair has an open well; the stairs and landings are floored in white marble with black marble applied to the exposed edges. Paired black metal stick balusters are ringed with a bright brass band and support a rounded hardwood handrail. To the south the wall of the stairwell is lined in black marble, and at second and third-floor the north, east and west walls are lined with narrow hardwood strip panelling; the panels are slightly concave in section. The secondary stair shares similarities of design, however is considerably more modest in size and use of materials.

 

HISTORY: Sunley House was designed in the late 1950s by Sir William Graham Holford (1907-1975), as a local head office for Barclays Bank. The site was formerly occupied by five buildings which formed the west end of Middle Row. The building was opened in 1960 but closed as a bank in the mid 1990s.

 

Holford was born in South Africa, but in 1925 took up a place studying architecture at Liverpool University. In 1933 he set up practice as an architect and town planner, and a few years later became Lever Professor of Civic Design at his old university. During the Second World War Holford supervised a team of architects in the design and construction of munitions workers' hostels for the Ministry of Works, and became principal adviser to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, established in 1943. Holford was involved with the drafting of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, the forerunner of planning law in Britain. With Charles Holden, Holford acted as a planning consultant to the City of London, and together they put forward proposals for the long-term redevelopment of the city. Holford also became planning consultant to the University of Liverpool, Exeter University and Cambridgeshire County Council, as well as architect to Corby New Town Development Corporation. He also worked on plans for Pretoria and Durban, South Africa, as well as Canberra, Australia.

 

Holford was referred to in one obituary as 'the father of town planning as practised today'. In recognition of his contribution to his profession, Holford was knighted in 1953, and made a life peer in 1965. Despite Holford's work not always attracting critical acclaim; he is nevertheless a key figure in town planning, whose influence helped to shape the major redevelopment of towns and cities in the post-war period.

 

Although Holford was involved in a great number of planning schemes, much of this work was undertaken by his firm; Holford Associates, Holford's own involvement being more on the matter of architectural policy, rather than actual design. Sunley House is one of the few examples of Holford's personal work, and it reveals a skilled for pattern and texture, and a true regard for place.

 

The building conforms to no one particular style; although unquestionably a piece of modern architecture, it uses traditional building materials and subtle historicist references to create an aesthetic which is both idiosyncratic and contextual. Holford's use of pattern and materials allows the building to make a bold and modern contribution to the streetscape, without losing the human scale of detailing and texture.

 

SOURCES: Booker, Temples of Mammon, The Architecture of Banking (1990) GE Cherry and L Penny, Holford: a study in architecture, planning and civic design (1986), 219-221 J Newman, The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (1979), 412 'Lord Holford: modern town planning' Building Week, 24 October 1975, 53 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, www.oxforddnb.com, accessed online 26 October 2009 A perspective drawing of the building and a photograph of the building under construction are held at the Royal Institute of British Architects Library and can be viewed online at: www.ribapix.com (accessed 30 October 2009)

 

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Sunley House, a former local head office for Barclays Bank, 14-19 Middle Row, Maidstone, is listed for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: the building is a bold and accomplished piece of modern architectural design which employs a variety of high quality materials and sculptural decoration to create a rich composition of colour, pattern and surface texture * Interior interest: despite the loss of the banking hall interior, the distinctive principal stair survives intact, displaying a stylish use of colour and texture * Designer: the building is a notable work by Sir William Holford, a major figure in post-war town planning

My travels around the UK by car for three weeks with my son. June/July 2019 England.

 

On a short stop at Marazion late in the afternoon.

 

Marazion is a civil parish and town, on the shore of Mount's Bay in Cornwall, England, UK. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Penzance and the tidal island of St Michael's Mount is half-a-mile offshore. At low water a causeway links it to the town and at high water passenger boats carry visitors between Marazion and St Michael's Mount.

 

Remains of an ancient bronze furnace, discovered near the town, tend to prove that tin smelting was practised here at an early period. Marazion was not recorded in the Domesday Book of 1088. Its only charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth I.

For More Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marazion<

Mylai Kolam drawing competition, as a part of Pongal festival, Chennai,India held at Mylapore.

  

Kolam (Tamil: கோலம் kõlaṁ) is a form of painting that is drawn using rice powder/chalk/chalk powder/white rock powder often using naturally/synthetically colored powders in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and most parts of Kerala and some parts of Goa, Maharashtra, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and a few other Asian countries. A Kolam is a geometrical line drawing composed of curved loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots. In South India, it is widely practised by female Hindu family members in front of their homes.

  

Kolams are thought to bestow prosperity to homes. Every morning in Tamil Nadu, millions of women draw kolams on the ground with white rice powder. Through the day, the drawings get walked on, rained out, or blown around in the wind; new ones are made the next day. Every morning before sunrise, the floor of the owners house, or where ever it may be, is cleaned with water and the muddy floor is swept well for an even surface. Wiki.