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170808-N-OX430-121 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Aug. 8, 2017) The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) transits alongside the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) during exercise Saxon Warrior 2017, Aug. 8. Saxon Warrior is a United States and United Kingdom co-hosted carrier strike group exercise that demonstrates interoperability and capability to respond to crises and deter potential threats. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Daniel Gaither/Released)
B52 3D Model Download bit.ly/GoToModels or bit.ly/MoreTopRatedModels The Long Lived Cold War Giant the B52 Stratofortress Long Haul Heavy Bomber with nuclear capability, crowded the skies for decades, and was ever ready to deliver a retaliatory strike should the need arise. The massive 8 Engined B 52 is one of the longest serving heavy bomber aircraft in the military.
Phase 1 - Invade Gaza and Degrade Rockets Capability - November 2012
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing an election in January 2013 had clearly put the Gaza attack plans on low gear until after the US Presidential election, following which Israel virtually immediately embarked upon a series of military provocations including sending tanks into Gaza on November 8th that killed a Palestinian child, then 2 days later fired a number of shells into Gaza killing 4 civilians and wounding 38 others.
The trigger for Gaza retaliation was the targeted assassinations of Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari who was killed by a missile that was followed by an extensive bombing campaign to inflame Hamas into retaliating with longer range rockets.
The Israeli Government is using Hamas retaliation as political cover for the justification for an all out air and ground assault against Gaza with the primary objective for seeking out and destroying much of Hamas's longer range rocket stock piles.
Hamas by firing a dozen or so rockets at Tel-Aviv is following Israeli war planners strategy as it plays well to Israeli and western audiences that an assault upon Gaza is justified.
The Gaza War Phase 1 invasion now appears imminent, as already upwards of 100,000 Israeli troops have started to mass on Gaza's border as the bombardment continues to pave it's way for an invasion of Gaza.
The estimated consequences of Phase 1, if inline with the last Gaza war in the run up to the 2009 Israeli elections could see some 2000 Palestinian deaths against an estimated 30 Israeli, and likely to result in a short lived invasion of less than 1 month as Israel would soon require the troops for Phase2.
Given that much of Iranian nuclear infrastructure is deep under ground (under a mountain), limited Israeli ground forces may also be deployed, or tactical nuclear missiles used to vaporise deep under ground infrastructure.
Iranian Response
Iran will have also been under taking war gaming scenarios in which respect witnessing Israel diminishing its capability to respond following an Israeli air attack, Iran may conclude that an Israeli attack were imminent and therefore may choose to strike first before Israel attacks.
However the problem for an Iranian first strike following an Israeli invasion of Lebanon is that it would draw the United States into the unfolding war, in which respect Iran is effectively in a lose, lose situation as the outcome would be the same as Iran's air, missile and nuclear infrastructure would be greatly degraded.
However, the advantage of a first strike would be that it would unite an increasingly rebellious population that are suffering as a consequence of hyperinflation behind the Iranian leadership.
There is also an alterative scenario that could scupper Israel's attack plans which is if Iran decided to comply with UN resolutions regarding its nuclear programme, for which there is no real sign unless behind the scenes negotiations are taking place, in fact Israel starting to dismantle Iran's capability to deter an Israeli air attack will likely result in an acceleration of the Iranian Nuclear programme as Iran attempts to detonate a series of nuclear tests as a warning against an attack, as we have seen countless times in the past such as at the height of the India / Pakistan confrontation of a decade or so ago.
The bottom line is that the Israeli Government had put its military plans on hold until after the US Presidential Election, following which it has now implemented it's 3 stage plan the ultimate goal for which is the destruction of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, towards which it is using the cover of actions in defence of attacks from Gaza that the Israeli elite has engineered as part of a series of war gaming scenarios and plans put together many months ago.
These plans have now been put into action and the events in motion suggest that we will first see a Gaza invasion, then of Lebanon, followed by a strike against Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, all within the next 3 months so as to chime with the January Israeli general election that Prime Minister Netanyahu aims to win.
In respect of the consequences for a region wide war, Israel has miscalculated in their rush to implement plans, as they see the country's security being underwritten by the United States therefore have ignored the wider middle eastern, Russia, and China dimensions to a conflict that they seem determined to instigate.
For instance we could see that whilst the US is preoccupied in another war in the middle east, that China uses that as an excuse to seize the East China Sea Islands that it disputes with Japan and thus change the whole strategic balance of East Asia / Pacific that the US has dominated since the end of World War 2.
Current Probabilities
The probability of an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza - 90%.
An invasion of Lebanon - 70%.
An conventional attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure before the end of January 2013 - 65%.
Use of tactical nuclear weapons on Iran's deep under ground nuclear infrastructure - 40%.
Probability that Iran will do a deal with the US / UN and disarm before being attacked - 20%.
Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. - George Orwell
Source & Comments: www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article37585.html
By Nadeem Walayat
Copyright © 2005-2012 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.
[1]
Broadway Tower was inspired by the famous Capability Brown and completed in 1799 from designs by the renowned architect James Wyatt. It was built for the Earl of Coventry as a folly to his Springhill Estate and dedicated to his wife Peggy.
Legend has it Broadway Tower was used as a signalling tower between Springhill Estate and Croome Court near Worcester, which can be seen from the roof platform.
Many famous people have had association with Broadway Tower, including Sir Thomas Phillips and the pre-Raphaelite artists William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Rosetti.
Broadway Tower is open to the public allowing you to travel into the past of this important building and visit the viewing platform constituting the highest point in the Cotswolds at 1089 feet or 331.6 metres altitude.
[2]
Broadway Tower is a folly located on Broadway Hill, near the village of Broadway, in the English county of Worcestershire, at the second highest point of the Cotswolds after Cleeve Hill. Broadway Tower's base is 1,024 feet (312 metres) above sea level. The tower itself stands 55 feet (17 metres) high.
The "Saxon" tower was designed by James Wyatt in 1794 to resemble a mock castle, and built for Lady Coventry in 1799. The tower was built on a "beacon" hill, where beacons were lit on special occasions. Lady Coventry wondered if a beacon on this hill could be seen from her house in Worcester - approximately 22 miles (35 km) away - and sponsored the construction of the folly to find out. The beacon could be seen clearly.
Over the years, the tower was home to the printing press of Sir Thomas Phillips, and served as a country retreat for artists including William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones who rented it together in the 1880s.
Today, the tower is a tourist attraction and the centre of a country park with various exhibitions open to the public at a fee as well as a gift shop. The place is on the Cotswold Way and can be reached by following the Cotswold Way from the A44 road at Fish Hill, or by a steep climb out of Broadway village. Near the tower is a memorial to the crew of an A.W.38 Whitley bomber that crashed there during a training mission in June 1943.
DPAC & UK Uncut protest against benefit cuts at DWP - 31.08.2012
Following their earlier joint protest that morning at the Euston headquarters of ATOS Origin - the French IT company which has sponsored the paralympics, despite its role in forcing tens of thousands of severely sick and disabled people off their life-saving benefits after declaring them "Fit for Work" following the seriously flawed Work Capability Assessment stipulated by the Dept. fo0r Work and Pensions (DWP), DPAC and UK Uncut activists descended on the Westminster headquarters of the DWP and protested outside.
Several activists managed to get inside the entrance foyer of the government building, which was the trigger for a short-but-overly-aggressive encounter with a large number of Territorial Support Group police who waded into the disabled and able-bodied protesters to force them away from the front of the building which houses the offices of Secretary for State for Work and Pensions Ian Duncan Smith and Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller.
During the quite unnecessary action against the peaceful protesters - several in wheelchairs - one disabled man was thrown out of his wheelchair to the ground, breaking his shoulder. Another man's motorised wheelchair was broken in the fracas, and one man was arrested.
Some of the protesters managed to speak to Maria Miller, MP, and told her to her facve how much misery and human despair her department's policies of demonisation of the disabled - portraying them publicly as workshy scroungers and benefits cheats, even though Disability Benefit fraud is extremely small, only 0.4% of the overall benefits budget, despite frequent, outrageous lies peddled by the DWP and minister Ian Duncan Smith as it behaves no better than the German government in the years running up to World War II as they turn the public against the very weakest, most vulnerable members of the British population, blaming disabled people for the country's economic misery - cause by corrupt bankers.
All photos © 2012 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or reblog my images without my written permission.
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DPAC & UK Uncut hold ATOS Closing Ceremony - 31.08.2012
As the Grand Finale to a week-long national campaign of protests against French IT company ATOS Origin and its spinoff ATOS Healthcare which carries out the much-criticised Wirk Capability Assessments on behalf of the DWP, which has seen tens of thousands of severely sick and disabled people declared to be "Fit for Work" and thrown off their disability benefits, several hundred activists from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts), WinVisible, Disabled Activists' Network, UK Uncut, Right to Work Campaign, Unite the Union, the GMB Union, Occupy London and the National UNion of Students descended on ATOS' London headquarters to carry out what they had billed as the "ATOS Closing Ceremony" - a reference to ATOS' hugely derided sponsorship of the Paralympic Games which is, say the activists, an act of spectatular cynicism by a corporation which is currently contracted by the Cameron government to the tune of £100 million to conduct the much-feared medical assessments without any reference whatsoever to peoples' medical notes of histories.
For two hours the crowd chanted slogans, listened to oral testimonies from people whose lives have been badly affected by ATOS decisions, heard accounts of people driven into such despair by dealing with ATOS that they have comitted suicide, and also heard many accounts of seriously ill people thrown off their benefits by ATOS who have been forced to look for work - having been declared fit for work - and who have died shortly afterwards. The list of people irreperably harmed by ATOS' computer-driven tick-box assessment which cannot possibly take into account the huge range of physical and mental disabilities seems endless.
Following some dogged Freedom of Information requests by two Daily Mirror journalists earlier this year it is now known that an average of 32 sickness or disability benefit claimnants who have been thrown off their benefits by the DWP following an ATOS zero-point rating and placed in the Work-Related Activity Group or who have been put on Jobseeker's Allowance have died shortly afterwards. In many instances relatives of the deceased have claimed that the stress of being treated in such an inhumane way by ATOS contributed to their deaths.
During the protest at Triton Square the 500-strong crowd were entertained by a street theatre performance which saw a fraudulent "ATOS Miracle Cure" booth set up. The "ATOS Reverend" would lay hands on a disabled person and tell them that "by the power of ATOS you are no longer disabled", and sent them through the ATOS Miracle Cure arch, but sadly once through the arch the disabled people realised they had been tricked and they were still, of course, disabled... but worse was to come, as each disabled person was then confronted by an "ATOS Doctor" who stated that because they were now officially no longer disabled and were fit for work they could now be assigned to do their dream jobs, to which end the phoney doctor handed each person a sheet of paper on which was written "100 meter runner", "Bar Tender", "Mountain Climber" and other completely unsuitable job titles.
At around 2:30pm a section of the crowd took off and headed for Westminster where they picketed outside the Department for Work and Pensions, during which an over-agressive action by the police resulted in a disabled man's shoulder being broken as he was knocked off his wheelchair when police shoved protesters into him.
All photos © 2012 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or reblog my images without my written permission.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application
Media buyers should email me directly or view this story on <a href="http://www.demotix.com/users/pete-riches/profile.
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From the sand dunes of Essaouira to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, the all-new Range Rover demonstrates its full breadth of capability in Morocco.
By Agostino Carlini
Joseph Damer, 1st Earl of Dorchester (12 March 1718 – 1798) was a wealthy landowner particularly associated with the reshaping of Milton Abbey and the creation of the village of Milton Abbas in Dorset, south-west England.
Born into a wealthy family (his great-uncle was a money-lender in Ireland), Damer was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,[citation needed] and became Member of Parliament (MP) for Weymouth in 1741 at the age of 21. He later represented Bramber in Sussex (1747) and Dorchester (1754). Damer was created Baron Milton of Shrone Hill, Tipperary, Ireland on 30 May 1753 and Baron Milton of Milton Abbey on 10 May 1762.
He married Lady Caroline Sackville, daughter of the 1st Duke of Dorset on 27 July 1742. Ten years later, he purchased Milton Abbey and embarked on an ambitious project to reshape the surrounding valley.
He replaced some existing buildings at the Abbey with a mansion house (designed initially by architect John Vardy, then by Sir William Chambers, and completed by James Wyatt) for his own use. Landscape gardener Capability Brown was commissioned to remodel the surrounding grounds.
As a wealthy landowner Damer also set about the systematic removal of the neighbouring small town of Middleton and its residents. By 1780, most of the residents had been relocated to a new purpose-designed and built model village, Milton Abbas, approximately half a mile south-east of the Abbey; the town's school was moved to Blandford Forum, seven miles away. The original town was razed to the ground and landscaped, most of the site disappearing beneath a new ornamental lake.
When his wife died on 24 March 1775 at the age of 57 he commissioned the Italian sculptor Agostino Carlini to create a magnificent tomb to her memory in the Abbey Church.
Earlier, in 1751, Damer also commissioned Vardy to build him a London residence on Park Lane. After Damer became the first Earl of Dorchester and Viscount Milton in 1792, this mansion became The Dorchester. Although Vardy's mansion was replaced by an Italianate building during the mid-19th century, the name lives on: today it is a world famous luxury hotel: The Dorchester.
170808-N-KB401-058 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Aug. 8, 2017) From left to right, the Royal Navy Duke-class frigate HMS Westminster (F 237), the Royal Navy Duke-class frigate HMS Iron Duke (F 234), the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), the Royal Norwegian Navy frigate Helge Ingstad (F 313), the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75), and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) sail in formation during exercise Saxon Warrior 2017, Aug. 8. Saxon Warrior is a United States and United Kingdom co-hosted carrier strike group exercise that demonstrates interoperability and capability to respond to crises and deter potential threats. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael B. Zingaro/Released)
[1]
Broadway Tower was inspired by the famous Capability Brown and completed in 1799 from designs by the renowned architect James Wyatt. It was built for the Earl of Coventry as a folly to his Springhill Estate and dedicated to his wife Peggy.
Legend has it Broadway Tower was used as a signalling tower between Springhill Estate and Croome Court near Worcester, which can be seen from the roof platform.
Many famous people have had association with Broadway Tower, including Sir Thomas Phillips and the pre-Raphaelite artists William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Rosetti.
Broadway Tower is open to the public allowing you to travel into the past of this important building and visit the viewing platform constituting the highest point in the Cotswolds at 1089 feet or 331.6 metres altitude.
[2]
Broadway Tower is a folly located on Broadway Hill, near the village of Broadway, in the English county of Worcestershire, at the second highest point of the Cotswolds after Cleeve Hill. Broadway Tower's base is 1,024 feet (312 metres) above sea level. The tower itself stands 55 feet (17 metres) high.
The "Saxon" tower was designed by James Wyatt in 1794 to resemble a mock castle, and built for Lady Coventry in 1799. The tower was built on a "beacon" hill, where beacons were lit on special occasions. Lady Coventry wondered if a beacon on this hill could be seen from her house in Worcester - approximately 22 miles (35 km) away - and sponsored the construction of the folly to find out. The beacon could be seen clearly.
Over the years, the tower was home to the printing press of Sir Thomas Phillips, and served as a country retreat for artists including William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones who rented it together in the 1880s.
Today, the tower is a tourist attraction and the centre of a country park with various exhibitions open to the public at a fee as well as a gift shop. The place is on the Cotswold Way and can be reached by following the Cotswold Way from the A44 road at Fish Hill, or by a steep climb out of Broadway village. Near the tower is a memorial to the crew of an A.W.38 Whitley bomber that crashed there during a training mission in June 1943.
SAC 01 NATO Strategic Airlift Capability Boeing C-17A Globemaster III - cn F-207 take- off @TRD/ENVA 02.03.18
DPAC & UK Uncut hold ATOS Closing Ceremony - 31.08.2012
As the Grand Finale to a week-long national campaign of protests against French IT company ATOS Origin and its spinoff ATOS Healthcare which carries out the much-criticised Wirk Capability Assessments on behalf of the DWP, which has seen tens of thousands of severely sick and disabled people declared to be "Fit for Work" and thrown off their disability benefits, several hundred activists from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts), WinVisible, Disabled Activists' Network, UK Uncut, Right to Work Campaign, Unite the Union, the GMB Union, Occupy London and the National UNion of Students descended on ATOS' London headquarters to carry out what they had billed as the "ATOS Closing Ceremony" - a reference to ATOS' hugely derided sponsorship of the Paralympic Games which is, say the activists, an act of spectatular cynicism by a corporation which is currently contracted by the Cameron government to the tune of £100 million to conduct the much-feared medical assessments without any reference whatsoever to peoples' medical notes of histories.
For two hours the crowd chanted slogans, listened to oral testimonies from people whose lives have been badly affected by ATOS decisions, heard accounts of people driven into such despair by dealing with ATOS that they have comitted suicide, and also heard many accounts of seriously ill people thrown off their benefits by ATOS who have been forced to look for work - having been declared fit for work - and who have died shortly afterwards. The list of people irreperably harmed by ATOS' computer-driven tick-box assessment which cannot possibly take into account the huge range of physical and mental disabilities seems endless.
Following some dogged Freedom of Information requests by two Daily Mirror journalists earlier this year it is now known that an average of 32 sickness or disability benefit claimnants who have been thrown off their benefits by the DWP following an ATOS zero-point rating and placed in the Work-Related Activity Group or who have been put on Jobseeker's Allowance have died shortly afterwards. In many instances relatives of the deceased have claimed that the stress of being treated in such an inhumane way by ATOS contributed to their deaths.
During the protest at Triton Square the 500-strong crowd were entertained by a street theatre performance which saw a fraudulent "ATOS Miracle Cure" booth set up. The "ATOS Reverend" would lay hands on a disabled person and tell them that "by the power of ATOS you are no longer disabled", and sent them through the ATOS Miracle Cure arch, but sadly once through the arch the disabled people realised they had been tricked and they were still, of course, disabled... but worse was to come, as each disabled person was then confronted by an "ATOS Doctor" who stated that because they were now officially no longer disabled and were fit for work they could now be assigned to do their dream jobs, to which end the phoney doctor handed each person a sheet of paper on which was written "100 meter runner", "Bar Tender", "Mountain Climber" and other completely unsuitable job titles.
At around 2:30pm a section of the crowd took off and headed for Westminster where they picketed outside the Department for Work and Pensions, during which an over-agressive action by the police resulted in a disabled man's shoulder being broken as he was knocked off his wheelchair when police shoved protesters into him.
All photos © 2012 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or reblog my images without my written permission.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application
Media buyers should email me directly or view this story on <a href="http://www.demotix.com/users/pete-riches/profile.
Standard NUJ rates apply.
From the sand dunes of Essaouira to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, the all-new Range Rover demonstrates its full breadth of capability in Morocco.
From the sand dunes of Essaouira to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, the all-new Range Rover demonstrates its full breadth of capability in Morocco.
DPAC and TUC Disabled Workers block Tottenham Court Road - London 22.05.2013
Activists from DPAC and disabled workers attending the TUC Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in Central London for an hour and a half as they protested loudly against punitive government cuts to disability benefits and services which is impacting disastrously - and already fatally - on our most vulnerable citizens.
**From the DPAC website **
On the day of the success of the High Court ruling ruling against the Work Capability Assessment, activists from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and disabled workers attending the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in an unprecedented act of solidarity.
This Government has repeatedly used the language of division, trying to divide workers and claimants, public and private sectors workers, non-disabled and disabled people. Today we strike back as one, united voice.
The Cuts imposed by the ConDem Government under the cloak of ‘Austerity’ impact on disabled people in every area of life. The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will tens of thousands of disabled workers, and will force many of them out of their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people both receive and deliver public services as workers in Public Service Departments, Local Authorities and the Voluntary Sector. ILF and DLA play critical roles in maintaining people in these jobs. The 1% uplift limit on Benefits, Universal Credit and the Bedroom Tax will impact on many disabled people both in and out of work.
The removal of many of our basic rights affect not just disabled people, but all of us. For example, the removal of Legal Aid for medical negligence claims comes at the same time as every single contract within the Health Service is open to tender by private companies. This has serious and significant implications for each and every one of us who make up the 99%.
But not everyone is being hit by austerity. While multi-nationals like Atos and Capita make fortunes, tax avoidance and evasion to the tune of tens of billions goes uncollected. The wealthiest 1000 UK residents increased their wealth by some 35 billion last year while disabled people and the poorest members of society were pushed into poverty and despair as the targets of brutal cuts.
Disabled activists have led the fightback against this Government since the beginning, and today disabled activists and workers lead the way again in the first joint, co-ordinated direct action by campaigners and unions on the streets of the U.K.
Shabnam O Saughnessy from DPAC said: "We are delighted to be joined on the streets today by our union comrades. This represents the first steps towards uniting resistance from communities and workplaces. It dispels the myth of disabled people as scroungers and workshy. We are not some separate group of others, we are your friends and neighbours, we work alongside you. Many millions of disabled people are being affected by cuts, and today is about getting our voices heard."
Mandy Hudson, co-chair of the TUC disabled workers committee said: "Trade unionists would like to send a clear message to this government that trade unions, workers and grass roots disabled groups stand together against the onslaught of vicious cuts rained down upon us by the Condems."
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Croome Court is a mid 18th century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by an extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Pershore in south Worcestershire. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry, and was Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the internal rooms of the mansion were designed by Robert Adam.
The mansion house is owned by Croome Heritage Trust, and is leased to the National Trust who operate it, along with the surrounding parkland, as a tourist attraction. The National Trust own the surrounding parkland, which is also open to the public.
Location[edit]
Croome Court is located near to Croome D'Abitot, in Worcestershire,[1] near Pirton, Worcestershire.[2] The wider estate was established on lands that were once part of the royal forest of Horewell.[3] Traces of these older landscapes, such as unimproved commons and ancient woodlands, can be found across the former Croome Estate.[4]
House[edit]
Croome Court South Portico
History[edit]
The foundations and core of Croome Court, including the central chimney stack structure, date back to the early 1640s.[5] Substantial changes to this early house were made by Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry.[6]
In 1751, George Coventry, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate, along with the existing Jacobean house. He commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown, with the assistance of Sanderson Miller, to redesign the house and estate.[7][1] It was Brown's "first flight into the realms of architecture" and a "rare example of his architectural work",[8] and it is an important and seminal work.[9] It was built between 1751 and 1752, and it and Hagley Hall are considered to be the finest examples of Neo-Palladian architecture in Worcestershire. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Croome Court include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire).[1] Robert Adam worked on the interior of the building from 1760 onwards.[10]
The house has been visited by George III,[2][11] as well as Queen Victoria[7] during summers when she was a child, and George V (then Duke of York).[11]
A jam factory was built by the 9th Earl of Coventry, near to Pershore railway station, in about 1880, to provide a market for Vale of Evesham fruit growers in times of surplus. Although the Croome connection with jam making had ceased, during the First World War, the building was leased by the Croome Estate Trust to the Huddersfield Fruit Preserving Company as a pulping station.[12]
The First World War deeply affected Croome, with many local casualties, although the house was not requisitioned for the war effort. This is possibly because it was the home of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, who needed a residence for his many official engagements.[13]
During the Second World War Croome Court was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works and leased for a year to the Dutch Government as a possible refuge for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. However, evidence shows that they stayed two weeks at the most, perhaps because of the noise and fear created by the proximity of Defford Aerodrome. They later emigrated to Canada.[14]
In 1948 the Croome Estate Trust sold the Court, along with 38 acres (15 ha) of land, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, and the mansion became St Joseph's Special School, which was run by nuns[15] from 1950[11] until 1979.[15]
The house was listed on 11 August 1952; it is currently Grade I listed.[10]
In 1979 the hall was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement), who used it as their UK headquarters and a training college[16] called Chaitanya College,[15] run by 25 members of the movement.[16] During their tenure they repainted the Dining Room.[17] In 1984 they had to leave the estate for financial reasons. They held a festival at the hall in 2011.[16]
From 1984 onwards various owners tried to use the property as a training centre; apartments; a restaurant and conference centre; and a hotel and golf course,[15] before once more becoming a private family home,[2][15] with outbuildings converted to private houses.[15]
The house was purchased by the Croome Heritage Trust, a registered charity,[18] in October 2007,[19] and it is now managed by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. It opened to the public in September 2009, at which point six of the rooms had restored, costing £400,000, including the Saloon. It was estimated that another £4 million[2][20] to £4.8 million would be needed to restore the entire building. Fundraising activities for the restoration included a 2011 raffle for a Morgan sports car organised by Lord and Lady Flight. After the restoration is complete, a 999-year lease on the building will be granted to the National Trust.[21] An oral history project to record recollections about Croome was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.[15] As of 2009, the service wing was empty and in need of substantial repair.[22]
Exterior[edit]
The mansion is faced with Bath stone,[7] limestone ashlar, and has both north and south facing fronts. It has a basement and two stories, with three stories in the end pavilions. A slate roof, with pyramid roofs over the corner towers, tops the building, along with three pair-linked chimneys along the axis of the house.[10]
Both fronts have 11 bays, split into three central sets of three each, and one additional bay each side. The north face has a pedimented centre, with two balustraded staircases leading to a Roman Doric doorcase. The south face has a projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico and Venetian windows. It has a broad staircase, with cast stone sphinxes on each side, leading to a south door topped with a cornice on consoles. The wings have modillion cornice and balustrade.[10]
A two-story L-shaped service wing is attached to the east side of the mansion. It is made of red brick and stone, with slate roofs.[10] It was designed by Capability Brown in 1751-2.[22] On the far side of the service wing, a wall connects it to a stable court.[10]
Interior[edit]
The interior of the house was designed partially by Capability Brown, with plasterwork by G. Vassalli, and partially by Robert Adam, with plasterwork by J. Rose Jr. It has a central spine corridor. A stone staircase, with iron balusters, is at the east end.[10]
The entrance hall is on the north side of the building, and has four fluted Doric columns, along with moulded doorcases. To the east of the entrance hall is the dining room, which has a plaster ceiling and cornice, while to the west is a billiard room, featuring fielded panelling, a plaster cornice, and a rococo fireplace. The three rooms were probably decorated around 1758-59 by Capability Brown.[10] The dining room was vibrantly repainted by the Hare Krishnas in the 1970s-80s.[17]
The central room on the south side is a saloon, probably by Brown and Vassalli. It has an elaborate ceiling, with three panels, deep coving, and a cornice, along with two Ionic fireplaces, and Palladian doorcases.[10] George III was entertained by George Coventry, the 6th Earl, in the house's Saloon.[2] A drawing room is to the west of the saloon, and features rococo plasterwork and a marble fireplace.[10]
To the east of the saloon is the Tapestry Room.[10] This was designed in 1763-71, based on a design by Robert Adam, and contained tapestries and furniture covers possibly designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot, and made by Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins.[23] Around 1902 the ninth Earl sold the tapestries and seating to a Parisian dealer. In 1949 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the ceiling, floor, mantlepiece, chair rails, doors and the door surrounds, which were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1958. In 1959 the Kress Foundation also helped the Metropolitan Museum acquire the chair and sofa frames, which they recovered using the original tapestry seats.[7][23] A copy of the ceiling was installed in place of the original.[10] As of 2016, the room is displayed as it would have looked after the tapestries had been sold, with a jug and ewer on display as the only original decoration of the room that remains in it. The adjacent library room is used to explain what happened to the tapestry room;[17] the former library was designed by Adam, and was dismantled except for the marble fireplace.[10]
At the west side of the building is a long gallery,[10] which was designed by Robert Adam and installed between 1761 and 1766. It is the best preserved of the original interior (little of the rest has survived in situ).[1] It has an octagonal panelled ceiling, and plaster reliefs of griffins. A half-hexagonal bay faces the garden. The room also contains a marble caryatid fireplace designed by J Wilton.[10] As of 2016, modern sculptures are displayed in empty niches along the Long Gallery
wikipedia
Croome Court is a mid 18th century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by an extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Pershore in south Worcestershire. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry, and was Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the internal rooms of the mansion were designed by Robert Adam.
The mansion house is owned by Croome Heritage Trust, and is leased to the National Trust who operate it, along with the surrounding parkland, as a tourist attraction. The National Trust own the surrounding parkland, which is also open to the public.
Location[edit]
Croome Court is located near to Croome D'Abitot, in Worcestershire,[1] near Pirton, Worcestershire.[2] The wider estate was established on lands that were once part of the royal forest of Horewell.[3] Traces of these older landscapes, such as unimproved commons and ancient woodlands, can be found across the former Croome Estate.[4]
House[edit]
Croome Court South Portico
History[edit]
The foundations and core of Croome Court, including the central chimney stack structure, date back to the early 1640s.[5] Substantial changes to this early house were made by Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry.[6]
In 1751, George Coventry, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate, along with the existing Jacobean house. He commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown, with the assistance of Sanderson Miller, to redesign the house and estate.[7][1] It was Brown's "first flight into the realms of architecture" and a "rare example of his architectural work",[8] and it is an important and seminal work.[9] It was built between 1751 and 1752, and it and Hagley Hall are considered to be the finest examples of Neo-Palladian architecture in Worcestershire. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Croome Court include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire).[1] Robert Adam worked on the interior of the building from 1760 onwards.[10]
The house has been visited by George III,[2][11] as well as Queen Victoria[7] during summers when she was a child, and George V (then Duke of York).[11]
A jam factory was built by the 9th Earl of Coventry, near to Pershore railway station, in about 1880, to provide a market for Vale of Evesham fruit growers in times of surplus. Although the Croome connection with jam making had ceased, during the First World War, the building was leased by the Croome Estate Trust to the Huddersfield Fruit Preserving Company as a pulping station.[12]
The First World War deeply affected Croome, with many local casualties, although the house was not requisitioned for the war effort. This is possibly because it was the home of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, who needed a residence for his many official engagements.[13]
During the Second World War Croome Court was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works and leased for a year to the Dutch Government as a possible refuge for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. However, evidence shows that they stayed two weeks at the most, perhaps because of the noise and fear created by the proximity of Defford Aerodrome. They later emigrated to Canada.[14]
In 1948 the Croome Estate Trust sold the Court, along with 38 acres (15 ha) of land, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, and the mansion became St Joseph's Special School, which was run by nuns[15] from 1950[11] until 1979.[15]
The house was listed on 11 August 1952; it is currently Grade I listed.[10]
In 1979 the hall was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement), who used it as their UK headquarters and a training college[16] called Chaitanya College,[15] run by 25 members of the movement.[16] During their tenure they repainted the Dining Room.[17] In 1984 they had to leave the estate for financial reasons. They held a festival at the hall in 2011.[16]
From 1984 onwards various owners tried to use the property as a training centre; apartments; a restaurant and conference centre; and a hotel and golf course,[15] before once more becoming a private family home,[2][15] with outbuildings converted to private houses.[15]
The house was purchased by the Croome Heritage Trust, a registered charity,[18] in October 2007,[19] and it is now managed by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. It opened to the public in September 2009, at which point six of the rooms had restored, costing £400,000, including the Saloon. It was estimated that another £4 million[2][20] to £4.8 million would be needed to restore the entire building. Fundraising activities for the restoration included a 2011 raffle for a Morgan sports car organised by Lord and Lady Flight. After the restoration is complete, a 999-year lease on the building will be granted to the National Trust.[21] An oral history project to record recollections about Croome was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.[15] As of 2009, the service wing was empty and in need of substantial repair.[22]
Exterior[edit]
The mansion is faced with Bath stone,[7] limestone ashlar, and has both north and south facing fronts. It has a basement and two stories, with three stories in the end pavilions. A slate roof, with pyramid roofs over the corner towers, tops the building, along with three pair-linked chimneys along the axis of the house.[10]
Both fronts have 11 bays, split into three central sets of three each, and one additional bay each side. The north face has a pedimented centre, with two balustraded staircases leading to a Roman Doric doorcase. The south face has a projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico and Venetian windows. It has a broad staircase, with cast stone sphinxes on each side, leading to a south door topped with a cornice on consoles. The wings have modillion cornice and balustrade.[10]
A two-story L-shaped service wing is attached to the east side of the mansion. It is made of red brick and stone, with slate roofs.[10] It was designed by Capability Brown in 1751-2.[22] On the far side of the service wing, a wall connects it to a stable court.[10]
Interior[edit]
The interior of the house was designed partially by Capability Brown, with plasterwork by G. Vassalli, and partially by Robert Adam, with plasterwork by J. Rose Jr. It has a central spine corridor. A stone staircase, with iron balusters, is at the east end.[10]
The entrance hall is on the north side of the building, and has four fluted Doric columns, along with moulded doorcases. To the east of the entrance hall is the dining room, which has a plaster ceiling and cornice, while to the west is a billiard room, featuring fielded panelling, a plaster cornice, and a rococo fireplace. The three rooms were probably decorated around 1758-59 by Capability Brown.[10] The dining room was vibrantly repainted by the Hare Krishnas in the 1970s-80s.[17]
The central room on the south side is a saloon, probably by Brown and Vassalli. It has an elaborate ceiling, with three panels, deep coving, and a cornice, along with two Ionic fireplaces, and Palladian doorcases.[10] George III was entertained by George Coventry, the 6th Earl, in the house's Saloon.[2] A drawing room is to the west of the saloon, and features rococo plasterwork and a marble fireplace.[10]
To the east of the saloon is the Tapestry Room.[10] This was designed in 1763-71, based on a design by Robert Adam, and contained tapestries and furniture covers possibly designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot, and made by Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins.[23] Around 1902 the ninth Earl sold the tapestries and seating to a Parisian dealer. In 1949 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the ceiling, floor, mantlepiece, chair rails, doors and the door surrounds, which were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1958. In 1959 the Kress Foundation also helped the Metropolitan Museum acquire the chair and sofa frames, which they recovered using the original tapestry seats.[7][23] A copy of the ceiling was installed in place of the original.[10] As of 2016, the room is displayed as it would have looked after the tapestries had been sold, with a jug and ewer on display as the only original decoration of the room that remains in it. The adjacent library room is used to explain what happened to the tapestry room;[17] the former library was designed by Adam, and was dismantled except for the marble fireplace.[10]
At the west side of the building is a long gallery,[10] which was designed by Robert Adam and installed between 1761 and 1766. It is the best preserved of the original interior (little of the rest has survived in situ).[1] It has an octagonal panelled ceiling, and plaster reliefs of griffins. A half-hexagonal bay faces the garden. The room also contains a marble caryatid fireplace designed by J Wilton.[10] As of 2016, modern sculptures are displayed in empty niches along the Long Gallery
wikipedia
Incredibly rare shots of an Atlantic puffin were taken by photographer Sam Hobson on the Sony RX10 III, which features an extended 600mm super-telephoto zoom lens and silent shutter capability, to ensure the endangered animal was not disturbed
DPAC & UK Uncut hold ATOS Closing Ceremony - 31.08.2012
As the Grand Finale to a week-long national campaign of protests against French IT company ATOS Origin and its spinoff ATOS Healthcare which carries out the much-criticised Wirk Capability Assessments on behalf of the DWP, which has seen tens of thousands of severely sick and disabled people declared to be "Fit for Work" and thrown off their disability benefits, several hundred activists from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts), WinVisible, Disabled Activists' Network, UK Uncut, Right to Work Campaign, Unite the Union, the GMB Union, Occupy London and the National UNion of Students descended on ATOS' London headquarters to carry out what they had billed as the "ATOS Closing Ceremony" - a reference to ATOS' hugely derided sponsorship of the Paralympic Games which is, say the activists, an act of spectatular cynicism by a corporation which is currently contracted by the Cameron government to the tune of £100 million to conduct the much-feared medical assessments without any reference whatsoever to peoples' medical notes of histories.
For two hours the crowd chanted slogans, listened to oral testimonies from people whose lives have been badly affected by ATOS decisions, heard accounts of people driven into such despair by dealing with ATOS that they have comitted suicide, and also heard many accounts of seriously ill people thrown off their benefits by ATOS who have been forced to look for work - having been declared fit for work - and who have died shortly afterwards. The list of people irreperably harmed by ATOS' computer-driven tick-box assessment which cannot possibly take into account the huge range of physical and mental disabilities seems endless.
Following some dogged Freedom of Information requests by two Daily Mirror journalists earlier this year it is now known that an average of 32 sickness or disability benefit claimnants who have been thrown off their benefits by the DWP following an ATOS zero-point rating and placed in the Work-Related Activity Group or who have been put on Jobseeker's Allowance have died shortly afterwards. In many instances relatives of the deceased have claimed that the stress of being treated in such an inhumane way by ATOS contributed to their deaths.
During the protest at Triton Square the 500-strong crowd were entertained by a street theatre performance which saw a fraudulent "ATOS Miracle Cure" booth set up. The "ATOS Reverend" would lay hands on a disabled person and tell them that "by the power of ATOS you are no longer disabled", and sent them through the ATOS Miracle Cure arch, but sadly once through the arch the disabled people realised they had been tricked and they were still, of course, disabled... but worse was to come, as each disabled person was then confronted by an "ATOS Doctor" who stated that because they were now officially no longer disabled and were fit for work they could now be assigned to do their dream jobs, to which end the phoney doctor handed each person a sheet of paper on which was written "100 meter runner", "Bar Tender", "Mountain Climber" and other completely unsuitable job titles.
At around 2:30pm a section of the crowd took off and headed for Westminster where they picketed outside the Department for Work and Pensions, during which an over-agressive action by the police resulted in a disabled man's shoulder being broken as he was knocked off his wheelchair when police shoved protesters into him.
All photos © 2012 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or reblog my images without my written permission.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application
Media buyers should email me directly or view this story on <a href="http://www.demotix.com/users/pete-riches/profile.
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Croome Court is a mid 18th century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by an extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Pershore in south Worcestershire. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry, and was Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the internal rooms of the mansion were designed by Robert Adam.
The mansion house is owned by Croome Heritage Trust, and is leased to the National Trust who operate it, along with the surrounding parkland, as a tourist attraction. The National Trust own the surrounding parkland, which is also open to the public.
Location[edit]
Croome Court is located near to Croome D'Abitot, in Worcestershire,[1] near Pirton, Worcestershire.[2] The wider estate was established on lands that were once part of the royal forest of Horewell.[3] Traces of these older landscapes, such as unimproved commons and ancient woodlands, can be found across the former Croome Estate.[4]
House[edit]
Croome Court South Portico
History[edit]
The foundations and core of Croome Court, including the central chimney stack structure, date back to the early 1640s.[5] Substantial changes to this early house were made by Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry.[6]
In 1751, George Coventry, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate, along with the existing Jacobean house. He commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown, with the assistance of Sanderson Miller, to redesign the house and estate.[7][1] It was Brown's "first flight into the realms of architecture" and a "rare example of his architectural work",[8] and it is an important and seminal work.[9] It was built between 1751 and 1752, and it and Hagley Hall are considered to be the finest examples of Neo-Palladian architecture in Worcestershire. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Croome Court include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire).[1] Robert Adam worked on the interior of the building from 1760 onwards.[10]
The house has been visited by George III,[2][11] as well as Queen Victoria[7] during summers when she was a child, and George V (then Duke of York).[11]
A jam factory was built by the 9th Earl of Coventry, near to Pershore railway station, in about 1880, to provide a market for Vale of Evesham fruit growers in times of surplus. Although the Croome connection with jam making had ceased, during the First World War, the building was leased by the Croome Estate Trust to the Huddersfield Fruit Preserving Company as a pulping station.[12]
The First World War deeply affected Croome, with many local casualties, although the house was not requisitioned for the war effort. This is possibly because it was the home of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, who needed a residence for his many official engagements.[13]
During the Second World War Croome Court was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works and leased for a year to the Dutch Government as a possible refuge for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. However, evidence shows that they stayed two weeks at the most, perhaps because of the noise and fear created by the proximity of Defford Aerodrome. They later emigrated to Canada.[14]
In 1948 the Croome Estate Trust sold the Court, along with 38 acres (15 ha) of land, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, and the mansion became St Joseph's Special School, which was run by nuns[15] from 1950[11] until 1979.[15]
The house was listed on 11 August 1952; it is currently Grade I listed.[10]
In 1979 the hall was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement), who used it as their UK headquarters and a training college[16] called Chaitanya College,[15] run by 25 members of the movement.[16] During their tenure they repainted the Dining Room.[17] In 1984 they had to leave the estate for financial reasons. They held a festival at the hall in 2011.[16]
From 1984 onwards various owners tried to use the property as a training centre; apartments; a restaurant and conference centre; and a hotel and golf course,[15] before once more becoming a private family home,[2][15] with outbuildings converted to private houses.[15]
The house was purchased by the Croome Heritage Trust, a registered charity,[18] in October 2007,[19] and it is now managed by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. It opened to the public in September 2009, at which point six of the rooms had restored, costing £400,000, including the Saloon. It was estimated that another £4 million[2][20] to £4.8 million would be needed to restore the entire building. Fundraising activities for the restoration included a 2011 raffle for a Morgan sports car organised by Lord and Lady Flight. After the restoration is complete, a 999-year lease on the building will be granted to the National Trust.[21] An oral history project to record recollections about Croome was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.[15] As of 2009, the service wing was empty and in need of substantial repair.[22]
Exterior[edit]
The mansion is faced with Bath stone,[7] limestone ashlar, and has both north and south facing fronts. It has a basement and two stories, with three stories in the end pavilions. A slate roof, with pyramid roofs over the corner towers, tops the building, along with three pair-linked chimneys along the axis of the house.[10]
Both fronts have 11 bays, split into three central sets of three each, and one additional bay each side. The north face has a pedimented centre, with two balustraded staircases leading to a Roman Doric doorcase. The south face has a projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico and Venetian windows. It has a broad staircase, with cast stone sphinxes on each side, leading to a south door topped with a cornice on consoles. The wings have modillion cornice and balustrade.[10]
A two-story L-shaped service wing is attached to the east side of the mansion. It is made of red brick and stone, with slate roofs.[10] It was designed by Capability Brown in 1751-2.[22] On the far side of the service wing, a wall connects it to a stable court.[10]
Interior[edit]
The interior of the house was designed partially by Capability Brown, with plasterwork by G. Vassalli, and partially by Robert Adam, with plasterwork by J. Rose Jr. It has a central spine corridor. A stone staircase, with iron balusters, is at the east end.[10]
The entrance hall is on the north side of the building, and has four fluted Doric columns, along with moulded doorcases. To the east of the entrance hall is the dining room, which has a plaster ceiling and cornice, while to the west is a billiard room, featuring fielded panelling, a plaster cornice, and a rococo fireplace. The three rooms were probably decorated around 1758-59 by Capability Brown.[10] The dining room was vibrantly repainted by the Hare Krishnas in the 1970s-80s.[17]
The central room on the south side is a saloon, probably by Brown and Vassalli. It has an elaborate ceiling, with three panels, deep coving, and a cornice, along with two Ionic fireplaces, and Palladian doorcases.[10] George III was entertained by George Coventry, the 6th Earl, in the house's Saloon.[2] A drawing room is to the west of the saloon, and features rococo plasterwork and a marble fireplace.[10]
To the east of the saloon is the Tapestry Room.[10] This was designed in 1763-71, based on a design by Robert Adam, and contained tapestries and furniture covers possibly designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot, and made by Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins.[23] Around 1902 the ninth Earl sold the tapestries and seating to a Parisian dealer. In 1949 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the ceiling, floor, mantlepiece, chair rails, doors and the door surrounds, which were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1958. In 1959 the Kress Foundation also helped the Metropolitan Museum acquire the chair and sofa frames, which they recovered using the original tapestry seats.[7][23] A copy of the ceiling was installed in place of the original.[10] As of 2016, the room is displayed as it would have looked after the tapestries had been sold, with a jug and ewer on display as the only original decoration of the room that remains in it. The adjacent library room is used to explain what happened to the tapestry room;[17] the former library was designed by Adam, and was dismantled except for the marble fireplace.[10]
At the west side of the building is a long gallery,[10] which was designed by Robert Adam and installed between 1761 and 1766. It is the best preserved of the original interior (little of the rest has survived in situ).[1] It has an octagonal panelled ceiling, and plaster reliefs of griffins. A half-hexagonal bay faces the garden. The room also contains a marble caryatid fireplace designed by J Wilton.[10] As of 2016, modern sculptures are displayed in empty niches along the Long Gallery
wikipedia
DPAC and TUC Disabled Workers block Tottenham Court Road - London 22.05.2013
Activists from DPAC and disabled workers attending the TUC Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in Central London for an hour and a half as they protested loudly against punitive government cuts to disability benefits and services which is impacting disastrously - and already fatally - on our most vulnerable citizens.
**From the DPAC website **
On the day of the success of the High Court ruling ruling against the Work Capability Assessment, activists from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and disabled workers attending the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in an unprecedented act of solidarity.
This Government has repeatedly used the language of division, trying to divide workers and claimants, public and private sectors workers, non-disabled and disabled people. Today we strike back as one, united voice.
The Cuts imposed by the ConDem Government under the cloak of ‘Austerity’ impact on disabled people in every area of life. The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will tens of thousands of disabled workers, and will force many of them out of their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people both receive and deliver public services as workers in Public Service Departments, Local Authorities and the Voluntary Sector. ILF and DLA play critical roles in maintaining people in these jobs. The 1% uplift limit on Benefits, Universal Credit and the Bedroom Tax will impact on many disabled people both in and out of work.
The removal of many of our basic rights affect not just disabled people, but all of us. For example, the removal of Legal Aid for medical negligence claims comes at the same time as every single contract within the Health Service is open to tender by private companies. This has serious and significant implications for each and every one of us who make up the 99%.
But not everyone is being hit by austerity. While multi-nationals like Atos and Capita make fortunes, tax avoidance and evasion to the tune of tens of billions goes uncollected. The wealthiest 1000 UK residents increased their wealth by some 35 billion last year while disabled people and the poorest members of society were pushed into poverty and despair as the targets of brutal cuts.
Disabled activists have led the fightback against this Government since the beginning, and today disabled activists and workers lead the way again in the first joint, co-ordinated direct action by campaigners and unions on the streets of the U.K.
Shabnam O Saughnessy from DPAC said: "We are delighted to be joined on the streets today by our union comrades. This represents the first steps towards uniting resistance from communities and workplaces. It dispels the myth of disabled people as scroungers and workshy. We are not some separate group of others, we are your friends and neighbours, we work alongside you. Many millions of disabled people are being affected by cuts, and today is about getting our voices heard."
Mandy Hudson, co-chair of the TUC disabled workers committee said: "Trade unionists would like to send a clear message to this government that trade unions, workers and grass roots disabled groups stand together against the onslaught of vicious cuts rained down upon us by the Condems."
--------------------------------------------------------
All photos © 2013 Pete Riches
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A late April 2019 visit to Croome in Worcestershire, the estate is now run by the National Trust. Croome Park is quite big, and you can walk around the grounds and see the various landmarks there.
The Walled Garden at Croome Court. This garden is private, and it costs £5 per person to enter. You can get drinks and cakes, here, but you can donate some money when you get them.
There was outdoor sculpture trails around the walled garden to see. It changes every 3 months.
The first garden at Croome was developed in the late 17th century by Ann Somerset, the wife of Thomas Coventry, 2nd Earl of Coventry, along with William Shenstone. A kitchen garden was laid out in the early 18th century, at a time when Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry was making large changes to the house and garden, which subsequently became the walled garden.
The earliest plan for a walled garden dates from about 1750, when George William Coventry, the heir of the 5th Earl at the time, changed the shape of the walls from square to the rhomboid shape that exists today, mentored by Sanderson Miller. This created a garden of over 7 acres (2.8 ha), which may have made it the largest 18th-century walled garden in Europe. The increase in size allowed the garden to encompass a classical greenhouse on the eastern side of the garden. The walls of the garden were under construction at the time, probably replacing hedges. The date that the walls were finished is uncertain, but there is evidence that they must have been completed by 1752.
Unlike the mansion and the park, the walled garden was largely unchanged by Capability Brown, but it did receive new hot houses to house melons, pineapples, peaches, and vines, and in 1766 a stone-curbed circular pool was created, with a sundial designed by Adam.
In about 1806 a 13 feet (4.0 m)-high free-standing east-west hot wall was built, slightly off-centre, serviced by five furnaces. It is historically significant as it is one of the first such structures ever built.
Almost the entire 18th century records of the garden survive; together with the garden they are a nationally important part of garden history, and the history of Worcestershire. The garden and its glass houses were mentioned in Gardening World in 1887.
During the 20th century the garden was abandoned and fell into disrepair. They were purchased by Chris and Karen Cronin, who started restoring them in Summer 2000, including restoring many buildings and the greenhouses. They opened to the public for the first time in August 2014. They are privately operated, not being part of the National Trust.
Flowers seen in the Walled Gardens.
From the sand dunes of Essaouira to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, the all-new Range Rover demonstrates its full breadth of capability in Morocco.
From the sand dunes of Essaouira to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, the all-new Range Rover demonstrates its full breadth of capability in Morocco.
Disabled activists hold '10,000 Cuts and Counting' memorial outside Parliament - London 27.09.2013
Disability rights activists from DPAC and WOW Petition held a memorial for the more than 10,000 disabled and sick people who died shortly after or during their Work Capability Assessments at the hands of controversial French IT company ATOS, at the behest of the Department for Work and Pensions. The event was led by the Dean of St Pauls Cathedral, Dr David Ison, and human rights campaigner Mohammed Ansar, and took place in front of a carpet of white flowers laid on Parliament Square to represent the tragic victims of the Coalition government's ideological brutality and unutterable cruelty towards the sick, the disabled and the dying.
The various speakers included Michael Meacher MP, John McDonnell MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Ellen Clifford (Inclusion London), Paula Peters (DPAC), Clare Glasman (WinVisible), Ian Jones (WOW Petition), Wayne Beckman (WOW Petition), Ian Chamberlain (WOW Petition), Dr Louise Irvine, Michael Horne and Dickie Upton.
All photos © Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter or reblog or retransmit my images without my permission.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application
Media buyers should email me directly or see this story on DEMOTIX.
Standard NUJ rates apply.
DPAC & UK Uncut hold ATOS Closing Ceremony - 31.08.2012
As the Grand Finale to a week-long national campaign of protests against French IT company ATOS Origin and its spinoff ATOS Healthcare which carries out the much-criticised Wirk Capability Assessments on behalf of the DWP, which has seen tens of thousands of severely sick and disabled people declared to be "Fit for Work" and thrown off their disability benefits, several hundred activists from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts), WinVisible, Disabled Activists' Network, UK Uncut, Right to Work Campaign, Unite the Union, the GMB Union, Occupy London and the National UNion of Students descended on ATOS' London headquarters to carry out what they had billed as the "ATOS Closing Ceremony" - a reference to ATOS' hugely derided sponsorship of the Paralympic Games which is, say the activists, an act of spectatular cynicism by a corporation which is currently contracted by the Cameron government to the tune of £100 million to conduct the much-feared medical assessments without any reference whatsoever to peoples' medical notes of histories.
For two hours the crowd chanted slogans, listened to oral testimonies from people whose lives have been badly affected by ATOS decisions, heard accounts of people driven into such despair by dealing with ATOS that they have comitted suicide, and also heard many accounts of seriously ill people thrown off their benefits by ATOS who have been forced to look for work - having been declared fit for work - and who have died shortly afterwards. The list of people irreperably harmed by ATOS' computer-driven tick-box assessment which cannot possibly take into account the huge range of physical and mental disabilities seems endless.
Following some dogged Freedom of Information requests by two Daily Mirror journalists earlier this year it is now known that an average of 32 sickness or disability benefit claimnants who have been thrown off their benefits by the DWP following an ATOS zero-point rating and placed in the Work-Related Activity Group or who have been put on Jobseeker's Allowance have died shortly afterwards. In many instances relatives of the deceased have claimed that the stress of being treated in such an inhumane way by ATOS contributed to their deaths.
During the protest at Triton Square the 500-strong crowd were entertained by a street theatre performance which saw a fraudulent "ATOS Miracle Cure" booth set up. The "ATOS Reverend" would lay hands on a disabled person and tell them that "by the power of ATOS you are no longer disabled", and sent them through the ATOS Miracle Cure arch, but sadly once through the arch the disabled people realised they had been tricked and they were still, of course, disabled... but worse was to come, as each disabled person was then confronted by an "ATOS Doctor" who stated that because they were now officially no longer disabled and were fit for work they could now be assigned to do their dream jobs, to which end the phoney doctor handed each person a sheet of paper on which was written "100 meter runner", "Bar Tender", "Mountain Climber" and other completely unsuitable job titles.
At around 2:30pm a section of the crowd took off and headed for Westminster where they picketed outside the Department for Work and Pensions, during which an over-agressive action by the police resulted in a disabled man's shoulder being broken as he was knocked off his wheelchair when police shoved protesters into him.
All photos © 2012 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or reblog my images without my written permission.
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Croome Court is a mid 18th century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by an extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Pershore in south Worcestershire. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry, and was Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the internal rooms of the mansion were designed by Robert Adam.
The mansion house is owned by Croome Heritage Trust, and is leased to the National Trust who operate it, along with the surrounding parkland, as a tourist attraction. The National Trust own the surrounding parkland, which is also open to the public.
Location[edit]
Croome Court is located near to Croome D'Abitot, in Worcestershire,[1] near Pirton, Worcestershire.[2] The wider estate was established on lands that were once part of the royal forest of Horewell.[3] Traces of these older landscapes, such as unimproved commons and ancient woodlands, can be found across the former Croome Estate.[4]
House[edit]
Croome Court South Portico
History[edit]
The foundations and core of Croome Court, including the central chimney stack structure, date back to the early 1640s.[5] Substantial changes to this early house were made by Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry.[6]
In 1751, George Coventry, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate, along with the existing Jacobean house. He commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown, with the assistance of Sanderson Miller, to redesign the house and estate.[7][1] It was Brown's "first flight into the realms of architecture" and a "rare example of his architectural work",[8] and it is an important and seminal work.[9] It was built between 1751 and 1752, and it and Hagley Hall are considered to be the finest examples of Neo-Palladian architecture in Worcestershire. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Croome Court include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire).[1] Robert Adam worked on the interior of the building from 1760 onwards.[10]
The house has been visited by George III,[2][11] as well as Queen Victoria[7] during summers when she was a child, and George V (then Duke of York).[11]
A jam factory was built by the 9th Earl of Coventry, near to Pershore railway station, in about 1880, to provide a market for Vale of Evesham fruit growers in times of surplus. Although the Croome connection with jam making had ceased, during the First World War, the building was leased by the Croome Estate Trust to the Huddersfield Fruit Preserving Company as a pulping station.[12]
The First World War deeply affected Croome, with many local casualties, although the house was not requisitioned for the war effort. This is possibly because it was the home of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, who needed a residence for his many official engagements.[13]
During the Second World War Croome Court was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works and leased for a year to the Dutch Government as a possible refuge for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. However, evidence shows that they stayed two weeks at the most, perhaps because of the noise and fear created by the proximity of Defford Aerodrome. They later emigrated to Canada.[14]
In 1948 the Croome Estate Trust sold the Court, along with 38 acres (15 ha) of land, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, and the mansion became St Joseph's Special School, which was run by nuns[15] from 1950[11] until 1979.[15]
The house was listed on 11 August 1952; it is currently Grade I listed.[10]
In 1979 the hall was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement), who used it as their UK headquarters and a training college[16] called Chaitanya College,[15] run by 25 members of the movement.[16] During their tenure they repainted the Dining Room.[17] In 1984 they had to leave the estate for financial reasons. They held a festival at the hall in 2011.[16]
From 1984 onwards various owners tried to use the property as a training centre; apartments; a restaurant and conference centre; and a hotel and golf course,[15] before once more becoming a private family home,[2][15] with outbuildings converted to private houses.[15]
The house was purchased by the Croome Heritage Trust, a registered charity,[18] in October 2007,[19] and it is now managed by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. It opened to the public in September 2009, at which point six of the rooms had restored, costing £400,000, including the Saloon. It was estimated that another £4 million[2][20] to £4.8 million would be needed to restore the entire building. Fundraising activities for the restoration included a 2011 raffle for a Morgan sports car organised by Lord and Lady Flight. After the restoration is complete, a 999-year lease on the building will be granted to the National Trust.[21] An oral history project to record recollections about Croome was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.[15] As of 2009, the service wing was empty and in need of substantial repair.[22]
Exterior[edit]
The mansion is faced with Bath stone,[7] limestone ashlar, and has both north and south facing fronts. It has a basement and two stories, with three stories in the end pavilions. A slate roof, with pyramid roofs over the corner towers, tops the building, along with three pair-linked chimneys along the axis of the house.[10]
Both fronts have 11 bays, split into three central sets of three each, and one additional bay each side. The north face has a pedimented centre, with two balustraded staircases leading to a Roman Doric doorcase. The south face has a projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico and Venetian windows. It has a broad staircase, with cast stone sphinxes on each side, leading to a south door topped with a cornice on consoles. The wings have modillion cornice and balustrade.[10]
A two-story L-shaped service wing is attached to the east side of the mansion. It is made of red brick and stone, with slate roofs.[10] It was designed by Capability Brown in 1751-2.[22] On the far side of the service wing, a wall connects it to a stable court.[10]
Interior[edit]
The interior of the house was designed partially by Capability Brown, with plasterwork by G. Vassalli, and partially by Robert Adam, with plasterwork by J. Rose Jr. It has a central spine corridor. A stone staircase, with iron balusters, is at the east end.[10]
The entrance hall is on the north side of the building, and has four fluted Doric columns, along with moulded doorcases. To the east of the entrance hall is the dining room, which has a plaster ceiling and cornice, while to the west is a billiard room, featuring fielded panelling, a plaster cornice, and a rococo fireplace. The three rooms were probably decorated around 1758-59 by Capability Brown.[10] The dining room was vibrantly repainted by the Hare Krishnas in the 1970s-80s.[17]
The central room on the south side is a saloon, probably by Brown and Vassalli. It has an elaborate ceiling, with three panels, deep coving, and a cornice, along with two Ionic fireplaces, and Palladian doorcases.[10] George III was entertained by George Coventry, the 6th Earl, in the house's Saloon.[2] A drawing room is to the west of the saloon, and features rococo plasterwork and a marble fireplace.[10]
To the east of the saloon is the Tapestry Room.[10] This was designed in 1763-71, based on a design by Robert Adam, and contained tapestries and furniture covers possibly designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot, and made by Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins.[23] Around 1902 the ninth Earl sold the tapestries and seating to a Parisian dealer. In 1949 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the ceiling, floor, mantlepiece, chair rails, doors and the door surrounds, which were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1958. In 1959 the Kress Foundation also helped the Metropolitan Museum acquire the chair and sofa frames, which they recovered using the original tapestry seats.[7][23] A copy of the ceiling was installed in place of the original.[10] As of 2016, the room is displayed as it would have looked after the tapestries had been sold, with a jug and ewer on display as the only original decoration of the room that remains in it. The adjacent library room is used to explain what happened to the tapestry room;[17] the former library was designed by Adam, and was dismantled except for the marble fireplace.[10]
At the west side of the building is a long gallery,[10] which was designed by Robert Adam and installed between 1761 and 1766. It is the best preserved of the original interior (little of the rest has survived in situ).[1] It has an octagonal panelled ceiling, and plaster reliefs of griffins. A half-hexagonal bay faces the garden. The room also contains a marble caryatid fireplace designed by J Wilton.[10] As of 2016, modern sculptures are displayed in empty niches along the Long Gallery
wikipedia
DPAC and TUC Disabled Workers block Tottenham Court Road - London 22.05.2013
Activists from DPAC and disabled workers attending the TUC Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in Central London for an hour and a half as they protested loudly against punitive government cuts to disability benefits and services which is impacting disastrously - and already fatally - on our most vulnerable citizens.
**From the DPAC website **
On the day of the success of the High Court ruling ruling against the Work Capability Assessment, activists from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and disabled workers attending the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in an unprecedented act of solidarity.
This Government has repeatedly used the language of division, trying to divide workers and claimants, public and private sectors workers, non-disabled and disabled people. Today we strike back as one, united voice.
The Cuts imposed by the ConDem Government under the cloak of ‘Austerity’ impact on disabled people in every area of life. The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will tens of thousands of disabled workers, and will force many of them out of their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people both receive and deliver public services as workers in Public Service Departments, Local Authorities and the Voluntary Sector. ILF and DLA play critical roles in maintaining people in these jobs. The 1% uplift limit on Benefits, Universal Credit and the Bedroom Tax will impact on many disabled people both in and out of work.
The removal of many of our basic rights affect not just disabled people, but all of us. For example, the removal of Legal Aid for medical negligence claims comes at the same time as every single contract within the Health Service is open to tender by private companies. This has serious and significant implications for each and every one of us who make up the 99%.
But not everyone is being hit by austerity. While multi-nationals like Atos and Capita make fortunes, tax avoidance and evasion to the tune of tens of billions goes uncollected. The wealthiest 1000 UK residents increased their wealth by some 35 billion last year while disabled people and the poorest members of society were pushed into poverty and despair as the targets of brutal cuts.
Disabled activists have led the fightback against this Government since the beginning, and today disabled activists and workers lead the way again in the first joint, co-ordinated direct action by campaigners and unions on the streets of the U.K.
Shabnam O Saughnessy from DPAC said: "We are delighted to be joined on the streets today by our union comrades. This represents the first steps towards uniting resistance from communities and workplaces. It dispels the myth of disabled people as scroungers and workshy. We are not some separate group of others, we are your friends and neighbours, we work alongside you. Many millions of disabled people are being affected by cuts, and today is about getting our voices heard."
Mandy Hudson, co-chair of the TUC disabled workers committee said: "Trade unionists would like to send a clear message to this government that trade unions, workers and grass roots disabled groups stand together against the onslaught of vicious cuts rained down upon us by the Condems."
--------------------------------------------------------
All photos © 2013 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or blog my images without my written permission. I remain at all times the copyright owner of this image.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application solely at my discretion
If you want to use any image found in my Flickr Photostream, please Email me directly.
Media buyers and publications can access this story on Demotix
Standard industry rates apply.
DPAC and TUC Disabled Workers block Tottenham Court Road - London 22.05.2013
Activists from DPAC and disabled workers attending the TUC Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in Central London for an hour and a half as they protested loudly against punitive government cuts to disability benefits and services which is impacting disastrously - and already fatally - on our most vulnerable citizens.
**From the DPAC website **
On the day of the success of the High Court ruling ruling against the Work Capability Assessment, activists from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and disabled workers attending the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in an unprecedented act of solidarity.
This Government has repeatedly used the language of division, trying to divide workers and claimants, public and private sectors workers, non-disabled and disabled people. Today we strike back as one, united voice.
The Cuts imposed by the ConDem Government under the cloak of ‘Austerity’ impact on disabled people in every area of life. The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will tens of thousands of disabled workers, and will force many of them out of their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people both receive and deliver public services as workers in Public Service Departments, Local Authorities and the Voluntary Sector. ILF and DLA play critical roles in maintaining people in these jobs. The 1% uplift limit on Benefits, Universal Credit and the Bedroom Tax will impact on many disabled people both in and out of work.
The removal of many of our basic rights affect not just disabled people, but all of us. For example, the removal of Legal Aid for medical negligence claims comes at the same time as every single contract within the Health Service is open to tender by private companies. This has serious and significant implications for each and every one of us who make up the 99%.
But not everyone is being hit by austerity. While multi-nationals like Atos and Capita make fortunes, tax avoidance and evasion to the tune of tens of billions goes uncollected. The wealthiest 1000 UK residents increased their wealth by some 35 billion last year while disabled people and the poorest members of society were pushed into poverty and despair as the targets of brutal cuts.
Disabled activists have led the fightback against this Government since the beginning, and today disabled activists and workers lead the way again in the first joint, co-ordinated direct action by campaigners and unions on the streets of the U.K.
Shabnam O Saughnessy from DPAC said: "We are delighted to be joined on the streets today by our union comrades. This represents the first steps towards uniting resistance from communities and workplaces. It dispels the myth of disabled people as scroungers and workshy. We are not some separate group of others, we are your friends and neighbours, we work alongside you. Many millions of disabled people are being affected by cuts, and today is about getting our voices heard."
Mandy Hudson, co-chair of the TUC disabled workers committee said: "Trade unionists would like to send a clear message to this government that trade unions, workers and grass roots disabled groups stand together against the onslaught of vicious cuts rained down upon us by the Condems."
--------------------------------------------------------
All photos © 2013 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or blog my images without my written permission. I remain at all times the copyright owner of this image.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application solely at my discretion
If you want to use any image found in my Flickr Photostream, please Email me directly.
Media buyers and publications can access this story on Demotix
Standard industry rates apply.
Spc. Jose D. Castro of the Guam Army National Guard’s mortar platoon, 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry Regiment, signals a partner while properly aligning an 81-M mortar June 12 at Camp Roberts, California, during the 2016 Exportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) exercise. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
Harewood House, near Leeds, West Yorkshire
Harewood House is a Grade 1 Country House near Leeds in West Yorkshire.
It was designed by architects John Carr and Robert Adam and built between 1759 and 1771 for wealthy plantation and slave owner Edwin Lascelles - the 1st Baron Harewood, and is still home to the Lascelles family.
The 1000 acre grounds were designed by Capability Brown.
The house is one of the ten 'Treasure Houses of England'.
A spectacular house and grounds that is well worth a visit, but uncomfortable about the source of the wealth that built it.
Soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard's 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 194th Armored Regiment conduct an attack lane downrange in an M1 Abrams at Camp Ripley Training Center June 15, 2015. The battalion is taking part in the larger brigade-level eXportable Combat Training Capability exercise leading into their upcoming brigade rotation at the National Training Center. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. William Boecker)
[1]
Broadway Tower was inspired by the famous Capability Brown and completed in 1799 from designs by the renowned architect James Wyatt. It was built for the Earl of Coventry as a folly to his Springhill Estate and dedicated to his wife Peggy.
Legend has it Broadway Tower was used as a signalling tower between Springhill Estate and Croome Court near Worcester, which can be seen from the roof platform.
Many famous people have had association with Broadway Tower, including Sir Thomas Phillips and the pre-Raphaelite artists William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Rosetti.
Broadway Tower is open to the public allowing you to travel into the past of this important building and visit the viewing platform constituting the highest point in the Cotswolds at 1089 feet or 331.6 metres altitude.
[2]
Broadway Tower is a folly located on Broadway Hill, near the village of Broadway, in the English county of Worcestershire, at the second highest point of the Cotswolds after Cleeve Hill. Broadway Tower's base is 1,024 feet (312 metres) above sea level. The tower itself stands 55 feet (17 metres) high.
The "Saxon" tower was designed by James Wyatt in 1794 to resemble a mock castle, and built for Lady Coventry in 1799. The tower was built on a "beacon" hill, where beacons were lit on special occasions. Lady Coventry wondered if a beacon on this hill could be seen from her house in Worcester - approximately 22 miles (35 km) away - and sponsored the construction of the folly to find out. The beacon could be seen clearly.
Over the years, the tower was home to the printing press of Sir Thomas Phillips, and served as a country retreat for artists including William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones who rented it together in the 1880s.
Today, the tower is a tourist attraction and the centre of a country park with various exhibitions open to the public at a fee as well as a gift shop. The place is on the Cotswold Way and can be reached by following the Cotswold Way from the A44 road at Fish Hill, or by a steep climb out of Broadway village. Near the tower is a memorial to the crew of an A.W.38 Whitley bomber that crashed there during a training mission in June 1943.
De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver.
The Beaver was designed and built in response to the demands of Canadian bush operators. With its all-metal construction, high-lift wing, and flap configuration, the Beaver was a robust aircraft with excellent short take-off-and-landing capability even with heavy loads. In addition to its success in Canada, the Beaver found acceptance in as many as 60 other countries all over the world. Although not ordered by the RCAF, some 980 served with distinction in the US Army and US Air Force. About 1600 were made.
The Beaver was such a success that more were built than any other aircraft designed and manufactured in Canada. In 1951 it won both the US Air Force and US Army competitions for a utility aircraft. Many were used in Korea, where it was known as the “general’s jeep”.
Built in 1947, this aircraft is the prototype, or first, Beaver to be built. Used as a bush plane in Western Canada for thirty-two years, it was purchased by the Museum from Norcanair in 1980. Its serial number, CF-FHB, incorporates the initials of Frederick Howard Buller, one of the Beaver’s two designers. Buller was a naval architect turned aeronautical engineer and is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.
Remarkably, during its final flight, between Lac la Ronge and Rockcliffe airport, this aircraft crossed paths in Sault Ste. Marie with the second Beaver built, CF-OBS. Russ Bannock, who flew CF-FHB for a portion of its last flight, had also been its test pilot. The preservation of Canada’s first Beaver has been made possible by donations from the Molson Foundation and from de Havilland Canada.
From the sand dunes of Essaouira to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, the all-new Range Rover demonstrates its full breadth of capability in Morocco.
Leominster (pronounced 'Lemster') is an historic market town which dates back to the 7th century.
Berrington Hall
A neo-classical mansion built to a design by Henry Holland, set in superb gardens by Capability Brown.
The exterior is restrained classical design, the interiors are stunningly ornate, with painted ceilings and an exceptionally fine entry staircase.
The House
Built in 1778-81 for Thomas Harley, son of the 3rd Earl of Oxford, Berrington Hall is one of the few masterpieces of the architect Henry Holland to survive intact. The interiors are characteristic of Holland’s refined Louis XVI manner and the house is set amidst a park with an artificial 14-acre lake laid out by the landscape designer ‘Capability Brown’ who was also Holland’s business partner and father-in-law.
Thomas Harley made a fortune supplying the British army with clothing and when he decided he needed a new house to showcase his family's prestige and wealth, he called on landscape gardener Capability Brown. It was Brown who chose the location for Berrington Hall, selecting a site that gave sweeping views to the Black Mountains of Wales. While Brown busied himself with creating the parkland and semi-natural landscapes, for which he was famous, the task of building the house itself fell to Brown's son in law, the architect Henry Holland.
Holland began work in 1778 and the house was completed in 1783. He drew upon the popular neo-classical style to create a house with two very different characters. The exterior is plain, sparingly adorned and formal whilst the interior is a riot of lavish colour and ornate decoration.
The interior decoration is unrestrained, with wonderful painted ceilings, ornate plasterwork, and a high dome shedding light onto a spectacular entry staircase. The elegant Georgian theme is augmented by fine furniture most of it French.
Lord Admiral Lord George Rodney was a family friend and visited Berrington Hall frequently. The dining room is hung with huge paintings by Luny depicting Rodney's famous sea battles.
There is also a fascinating glimpse of life 'below stairs', with the Laundry, Butler's Pantry, and Dairy being the highlights.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/berrington-hall/features/the-man...
The Boudoir
Henry Holland designed this colourful and lavish room specifically for the ladies of the house.
Thomas Harley's wife Anne and their daughters would have considered the Boudoir their own private space to write, sew, gossip and entertain other female friends.
futuristic gas pump - ten years from now this is what all gas pumps will look like, with atm/mp3/video capability
DPAC and TUC Disabled Workers block Tottenham Court Road - London 22.05.2013
Activists from DPAC and disabled workers attending the TUC Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in Central London for an hour and a half as they protested loudly against punitive government cuts to disability benefits and services which is impacting disastrously - and already fatally - on our most vulnerable citizens.
**From the DPAC website **
On the day of the success of the High Court ruling ruling against the Work Capability Assessment, activists from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and disabled workers attending the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Disabled Workers Conference blocked Tottenham Court Road in an unprecedented act of solidarity.
This Government has repeatedly used the language of division, trying to divide workers and claimants, public and private sectors workers, non-disabled and disabled people. Today we strike back as one, united voice.
The Cuts imposed by the ConDem Government under the cloak of ‘Austerity’ impact on disabled people in every area of life. The scrapping of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will tens of thousands of disabled workers, and will force many of them out of their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people both receive and deliver public services as workers in Public Service Departments, Local Authorities and the Voluntary Sector. ILF and DLA play critical roles in maintaining people in these jobs. The 1% uplift limit on Benefits, Universal Credit and the Bedroom Tax will impact on many disabled people both in and out of work.
The removal of many of our basic rights affect not just disabled people, but all of us. For example, the removal of Legal Aid for medical negligence claims comes at the same time as every single contract within the Health Service is open to tender by private companies. This has serious and significant implications for each and every one of us who make up the 99%.
But not everyone is being hit by austerity. While multi-nationals like Atos and Capita make fortunes, tax avoidance and evasion to the tune of tens of billions goes uncollected. The wealthiest 1000 UK residents increased their wealth by some 35 billion last year while disabled people and the poorest members of society were pushed into poverty and despair as the targets of brutal cuts.
Disabled activists have led the fightback against this Government since the beginning, and today disabled activists and workers lead the way again in the first joint, co-ordinated direct action by campaigners and unions on the streets of the U.K.
Shabnam O Saughnessy from DPAC said: "We are delighted to be joined on the streets today by our union comrades. This represents the first steps towards uniting resistance from communities and workplaces. It dispels the myth of disabled people as scroungers and workshy. We are not some separate group of others, we are your friends and neighbours, we work alongside you. Many millions of disabled people are being affected by cuts, and today is about getting our voices heard."
Mandy Hudson, co-chair of the TUC disabled workers committee said: "Trade unionists would like to send a clear message to this government that trade unions, workers and grass roots disabled groups stand together against the onslaught of vicious cuts rained down upon us by the Condems."
--------------------------------------------------------
All photos © 2013 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or blog my images without my written permission. I remain at all times the copyright owner of this image.
Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application solely at my discretion
If you want to use any image found in my Flickr Photostream, please Email me directly.
Media buyers and publications can access this story on Demotix
Standard industry rates apply.
From the sand dunes of Essaouira to the peaks of the Atlas Mountains, the all-new Range Rover demonstrates its full breadth of capability in Morocco.
Eduardo Garcia, engineer, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence, retires at the command's Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, headquarters, after almost 40 years of federal civilian service. Col. Douglas Waddingham, director, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Capability Manager for Space and Missile Defense, officiated the ceremony. (U.S. Army photo by Carrie David Campbell)
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft originally designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize loads, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many similarities to its smaller Lockheed C-141 Starlifter predecessor, and the later Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The C-5 is among the largest military aircraft in the world.
The C-5 Galaxy's development was complicated, including significant cost overruns, and Lockheed suffered significant financial difficulties. Shortly after entering service, cracks in the wings of many aircraft were discovered and the C-5 fleet was restricted in capability until corrective work was completed. The C-5M Super Galaxy is an upgraded version with new engines and modernized avionics designed to extend its service life beyond 2040.
The USAF has operated the C-5 since 1969. In that time, the airlifter supported US military operations in all major conflicts including Vietnam, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, as well as allied support, such as Israel during the Yom Kippur War and operations in the Gulf War. The Galaxy has also been used to distribute humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and supported the US Space Shuttle program.
The Lockheed Martin HC-130J Hercules The Combat King II is the U.S. Air Force's only dedicated fixed-wing personnel recovery platform and is flown by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and Air Combat Command (ACC). This C-130J variation specializes in tactical profiles and avoiding detection and recovery operations in austere environments. The HC-130J replaces HC-130P/Ns as the only dedicated fixed-wing Personnel Recovery platform in the Air Force inventory. It is an extended-range version of the C-130J Hercules transport. Its mission is to rapidly deploy to execute combatant commander directed recovery operations to austere airfields and denied territory for expeditionary, all weather personnel recovery operations to include airdrop, airland, helicopter air-to-air refueling, and forward area ground refueling missions. When tasked, the aircraft also conducts humanitarian assistance operations, disaster response, security cooperation/aviation advisory, emergency aeromedical evacuation, and noncombatant evacuation operations.
Features
Modifications to the HC-130J have improved navigation, threat detection and countermeasures systems. The aircraft fleet has a fully-integrated inertial navigation and global positioning systems, and night vision goggle, or NVG, compatible interior and exterior lighting. It also has forward-looking infrared, radar and missile warning receivers, chaff and flare dispensers, satellite and data-burst communications, and the ability to receive fuel inflight via a Universal Aerial Refueling Receptacle Slipway Installation (UARRSI).
The HC-130J can fly in the day; however, crews normally fly night at low to medium altitude levels in contested or sensitive environments, both over land or overwater. Crews use NVGs for tactical flight profiles to avoid detection to accomplish covert infiltration/exfiltration and transload operations. To enhance the probability of mission success and survivability near populated areas, crews employ tactics that include incorporating no external lighting or communications, and avoiding radar and weapons detection.
Drop zone objectives are done via personnel drops and equipment drops. Rescue bundles include illumination flares, marker smokes and rescue kits. Helicopter air-to-air refueling can be conducted at night, with blacked out communication with up to two simultaneous helicopters. Additionally, forward area refueling point operations can be executed to support a variety of joint and coalition partners.
Background
The HC-130J is a result of the HC/MC-130 recapitalization program and replaces Air Combat Command's aging HC-130P/N fleet as the dedicated fixed-wing personnel recovery platform in the Air Force inventory. The 71st and 79th Rescue Squadrons in Air Combat Command, the 550th Special Operations Squadron in Air Education and Training Command, the 920th Rescue Group in Air Force Reserve Command and the 106th Rescue Wing, 129th RQW and 176th Wing in the Air National Guard will operate the aircraft.
First flight was 29 July 2010, and the aircraft will serve the many roles and missions of the HC-130P/Ns. It is a modified KC-130J aircraft designed to conduct personnel recovery missions, provide a command and control platform, in-flight-refuel helicopters and carry supplemental fuel for extending range or air refueling.
In April 2006, the personnel recovery mission was transferred back to Air Combat Command at Langley AFB, Va. From 2003 to 2006, the mission was under the Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Previously, HC-130s were assigned to ACC from 1992 to 2003. They were first assigned to the Air Rescue Service as part of Military Airlift Command.
General Characteristics
Primary function: Fixed-wing Personnel Recovery platform
Contractor: Lockheed Aircraft Corp.
Power Plant: Four Rolls Royce AE2100D3 turboprop engines
Thrust: 4,591 Propeller Shaft Horsepower, each engine
Wingspan: 132 feet, 7 inches (40.4 meters)
Length: 97 feet, 9 inches (29.57 meters)
Height: 38 feet, 9 inches (11.58 meters)
Operating Weight: 89,000 pounds (40,369 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 164,000 pounds (74,389 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 61,360 pounds (9,024 gallons)
Payload: 35,000 pounds (15,875 kilograms)
Speed: 316 knots indicated air speed at sea level
Range: beyond 4,000 miles (3,478 nautical miles)
Ceiling: 33,000 feet (10,000 meters)
Armament: countermeasures/flares, chaff
Basic Crew: Three officers (pilot, co-pilot, combat system officer) and two enlisted loadmasters
Unit Cost: $66 million (fiscal 2010 replacement cost)
Initial operating capability: 2013
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