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2012 Camp Zama Bon Odori Festival by U.S. Army Garrison Japan

The 53rd annual Bon Odori Festival at Camp Zama was held Aug. 4. The festival is consistently the largest bilateral event of the year for U.S. Army Japan, this year attracting more than 30,000 visitors to the installation. The festival featured live entartainment, games for children, a variety of ethnic foods, bilateral sports, and a fireworks show.

About the United States Army Garrison Japan:

The United States Army Garrison Japan and its 16 supported installation sites are located in the island of Honshu and Okinawa in Japan. The USAG Japan mission is to support the Headquarters, U.S. Army Japan / I Corps (fwd) to ensure mission readiness and the quality of life of the Army community in a sustainable, transforming joint and combined environment.

The USAG-J area of responsibility spans 1,500 miles from north to south of Japan. Camp Zama, home for both HQ USARJ and USAG-J is located approximately 25 miles southwest of Tokyo in the cities of Zama and Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The Camp Zama base cluster includes Sagamihara Housing Area and Sagami General Depot.

Akasaka Press Center is located in the center of Tokyo. The Akizuki/Kure area near Hiroshima is an ammunition depot. Yokohama North Dock is a port facility in the city of Yokohama, a major commerce port and a popular shopping area. USAG Torii Station is located 980 miles southwest of Camp Zama on the island of Okinawa.

We are the Army's home in Japan and the "Garrison of Choice" for Soldiers, Civilians and their Family members. We are committed in becoming the leader in the U.S. Army Installation Management Command by providing world-class installation services.

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To learn more about USAG Japan, please visit:

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Be consistent, no matter what. Achieve as much as possible to grow and build upon you success. 😌 #fit #fitfam #fitspo #fitlife #fitness #fitnessmotivation #inspiration #instafit #instagood #instagram #instagramfitness #igfitness #getfit #ifbb #g by Robin Fradin

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St. Winefride's Well & Shrine, Plessington House, Greenfield St, Holywell, Flintshire, Wales. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

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St Winefride's Well (Welsh: Ffynnon Wenffrewi) is a holy well and national shrine located in the Welsh town of Holywell in Flintshire. The patron saint of the well, St Winefride, was a 7th-century Catholic martyr who according to legend was decapitated by a lustful prince and then miraculously restored to life. The well is said to have sprung up at the spot where her head hit the ground. This story is first recorded in the 12th century, and since then St Winefride's Well has been a popular pilgrimage destination, known for its healing waters. The well is unique among Britain's sacred sites in that it retained a continuous pilgrimage tradition throughout the English Reformation.

During the Middle Ages, the well formed part of the estate of nearby Basingwerk Abbey. It was visited by several English monarchs, including Richard II and Henry IV. Following the establishment of the Church of England, attempts were made by the Protestant authorities to prevent Catholic pilgrimage to the well, but these attempts were unsuccessful. From the 18th century onwards, the well increasingly attracted secular tourism, and it was commonly believed that the well-water had natural healing properties by virtue of its mineral content. Two bath-houses were built on the site in 1869. In 1917, the well dried up as a result of mining operations in the Greenfield valley; to get it flowing again, water had to be diverted from a new underground source.

The chapel above the well was built in the 16th century. It is a grade I listed building and a scheduled ancient monument. It comprises two parts, the upper chapel and the well crypt. The upper chapel has seen a variety of uses, including service as a sessions house and a secular day school, but is presently used for religious worship. The well crypt contains a star-shaped basin that encloses the well-spring, and an 18th-century statue of St Winefride. Both sections of the chapel are under state guardianship and managed by Cadw.

The well complex is currently open to visitors, who may bathe in the water at certain times of day or fill water bottles from an outdoor tap. There is a visitors' centre and museum on the site. Organised group pilgrimages take place several times a year, and during the pilgrimage season, St Winefride's relic is venerated daily in the well crypt.

The story of St Winefride, the 7th-century martyr for whom the well is named, is told in two 12th-century Lives: one written by Robert Pennant, prior of Shrewsbury Abbey, and a shorter work of unknown authorship, known as the Vita Prima. Both works tell substantially the same story of the origin of the well.

Winefride is said to have been the daughter of Teuyth, a chieftain of Tegeingl, who had permitted St Beuno to establish a church within his territory. Beuno became Winefride's religious instructor (later iterations of the story make him Winefride's uncle), and at an early age she took a vow of chastity, intending to devote her life to God. One Sunday morning, while her parents were at Mass, a prince named Caradoc visited their home. Finding Winefride alone, he tried to convince her to sleep with him, threatening to take her by force if she refused. Winefride pretended to consent, only asking that she first be allowed to retire to her room to get changed. By this ruse she managed to escape the house and fled down the valley towards Beuno's church. As she reached it, Caradoc caught up with her and decapitated her with his sword. Her body fell outside the church door, but her head landed inside the threshold, and where it landed, a spring burst forth from the earth.

Beuno came forward and pronounced a curse on Caradoc, who was instantly struck dead. Then Beuno placed Winefride's head back onto her body and prayed for her revival. The prayer was granted and Winefride returned to life, the only trace of her injury being a thin white line around her neck. The two 12th-century sources give differing accounts of her later life, but both agree that she took command of an abbey in Gwytherin, where she eventually died and was buried.

It is not known how long the well has been associated with St Winefride. A fragment of a wooden reliquary from Gwytherin (known as the Arch Gwenfrewi) provides evidence that Winefride was venerated as a saint in the mid-8th century, but the earliest reference to a church in Holywell (which also marks the first time that the town is referred to by that name) is in a document dated 1093, in which the wife of the 1st Earl of Chester grants "the churche of Haliwel" to the monks of St Werburgh's Abbey. It appears that the cult of St Winefride had at this time not achieved any great notoriety, since the medieval historian Giraldus Cambrensis, who visited the area in 1188, does not mention Winefride or the well, and she is also not included in the 12th-century Calendar of Welsh Saints in Cotton Vespasian A.xiv.

The grant of the church to St Werburgh's was confirmed by Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester, in 1119, but in 1135, the town and church of Holywell were given into the possession of the newly-established Basingwerk Abbey in Flintshire. The church was briefly transferred back to St Werbergh's between 1157 and 1196, but then reverted to Basingwerk.

During the late Middle Ages the fame of St Winefride began to spread, as the growth of Marian culture in Europe caused a surge of interest in female saints. One focal point of Winefride's cult was Shrewsbury Abbey, which had taken possession of the saint's remains in 1137, but Holywell also received large numbers of pilgrims, who came to offer their devotions and to take advantage of the reputed healing power of the water.

Among the pilgrims were several English monarchs. The first known royal visit to the well was that of Richard II in 1398. Richard appointed a chaplain to say regular masses at the well; the office came with an annual pension which was kept up by successive monarchs until the 16th century. Henry IV took a pilgrimage to the well in 1403, following his victory at the Battle of Shrewsbury, possibly in order to give thanks to Winefride for saving the life of his son, who had sustained an arrow wound during the battle. On the other hand, Henry's visit may have been politically motivated; by moving north he was positioning himself to head off a potential Welsh invasion, and his devotions at the well sent a message to the people of Cheshire (an area hostile to his rule) that the saint endorsed his victory. Henry seems to have established the first chapel over the well, which is described as having had three strong walls and a "great gate" on the fourth side.

Henry V may have made a pilgrimage from Shrewsbury to Holywell sometime around 1416, though the documentary evidence is ambiguous. The medieval Welsh poet Tudur Aled said of St Winefride's Well that "every earl used to go, every courtier, every king", and mentions a pilgrimage to the site by Edward IV. Though the poem gives no indication of the date of this pilgrimage, Edward was active in the area in 1461, around the time of his crowning; like Henry before him, he may have wished to secure a political advantage by showing that Winefride supported his cause.

The chapel built by Henry IV apparently did not survive for long, possibly because it was not sturdy enough to withstand the force of the water. The chapel that stands on the site today is traditionally said to have been built by Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, shortly after the 1485 Battle of Bosworth, but there is no contemporary evidence to support this claim. A 16th-century poem by Siôn ap Hywel says that the funding for the chapel was provided by Abbot Thomas Pennant of Basingwerk in 1512, and modern historians consider this a more plausible account. Tree-ring dating of one of the building's principal rafters has shown that the roof timbers were likely put in place around 1525.

In 1534, Henry VIII officially rejected the authority of the Pope and established the Church of England, an act that dramatically altered the nation's religious landscape. Catholicism was outlawed, and traditional practices such as pilgrimage and the veneration of saints were condemned as heretical. Despite this, St Winefride's Well continued to attract large numbers of Catholic pilgrims throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The well's uninterrupted pilgrimage tradition makes it unique among the sacred sites of Britain.

Basingwerk Abbey was dissolved circa 1537. The abbey's possessions reverted to the Crown, and St Winefride's Well was leased out to a member of the royal household, who in turn leased it to one William Holcroft. The terms of the lease entitled Holcroft to receive all donations offered by pilgrims at the shrine, but he soon came into conflict with a group of local Catholics, who brought their own donation boxes to the well and urged the pilgrims not to give their money to a servant of the king. The zeal of the locals helped protect the well chapel from the organized iconoclasm of the following decades, and the income generated by the site gave the authorities good reason not to suppress its operation.

However, anti-Catholic laws were more rigorously enforced during the reign of Elizabeth I, after the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis commanded English Catholics to rebel against their monarch. Any large gathering of Catholics was henceforth considered a threat to national security; notwithstanding this, the well's popularity as a pilgrimage site was undiminished. In 1579, Elizabeth ordered that the water be tested to determine if it had any natural curative properties. If so, access was to be restricted only to "diseased persons"; if not, then the chapel was to be torn down. It is unknown what resulted from this order, but the chapel remained standing and pilgrimage continued. In 1590, the Society of Jesus dispatched John Bennett to minister to Catholics in Holywell, and the Jesuits maintained a presence in the town up until the 20th century.

In 1605, under the reign of James I, the Jesuit Henry Garnet led a pilgrimage from Enfield to St Winefride's Well, stopping along the way at the homes of several people who were later implicated in the Gunpowder Plot. Garnet was accused of using the pilgrimage as cover for a "conference of the conspirators", though modern historians consider this unlikely. The backlash against the failed plot resulted in even greater legal intolerance of Catholics and sharper punishments for recusancy (refusal to attend Anglican services). Catholics were required to take an Oath of Allegiance which denied the authority of the Pope over the king.

In 1617, Bishop Richard Parry made an effort to prevent the "superstitious flocking" of Catholics to St Winefride's Well by requiring "that the oath of supremacie and allegiance be ordered unto all such strangers (before they go to the Well) as shall refuse to come to church, by which reason whereof the great concourse is stopped". If Parry did succeed in keeping pilgrims from the well, his victory was short-lived. Just three years later, a Catholic source reported that the Bishop of Bangor, Lewis Bayly, "went in person to arrest the priests and Catholics" who were visiting the well around the time of Winefride's feast day, whereupon "the people from about the countryside rose up, even though most of them are heretics [Protestants] and seized the bishop and handled him roughly and then threw him into a ditch".

In 1626, Chief Justice of Chester John Bridgeman undertook to solve the problem of St Winefride's. He ordered local innkeepers to pass the names of their guests on to the authorities, and summoned all recusants to take the Oath of Allegiance in court. Before the year was out, he confidently reported that pilgrimage to the well had ceased. Once again, however, this success was only temporary. On 3 November 1629, a crowd of 1,400 "knights, ladies, gentlemen and gentlewomen of divers countries", along with an estimated 150 Catholic priests, gathered at the well to celebrate St Winefride's feast day. The Bishop of St Asaph, in his annual reports to the Archbishop of Canterbury, repeatedly complained about the number of people visiting the well, until in 1637 John Bridgeman returned to the fray. This time, he instituted more extreme measures to stem the tide of pilgrimage. All but two of the inns at Holywell were closed, the statue of Winefride in the shrine was disfigured, the iron posts around the spring for the support of the bathers were removed, and orders were given to report the names and addresses of every pilgrim. Bridgeman also suggested building a wall to block access to the well-basin; it is unknown whether he actually attempted this, but the columns of the basin exhibit signs of damage that may be consistent with such an attempt. Further damage to the chapel occurred during the English Civil War, possibly by the Parliamentary soldiers who passed through Holywell in November 1643.

Not all Protestants denied the efficacy of healing wells, though they did not believe the cures to be effected by any supernatural agency. Medicinal spas had become popular during the Elizabethan era, and 17th-century physicians sought to prove that certain springs could provide powerful health benefits on account of the mineral content of the water. There are many recorded visits to St Winefride's Well by Protestants, with at least one having received permission from his parish priest to make the journey. Contemporary Catholic sources report several miraculous cures and conversions of Protestants at the well.

The accession to the throne in 1685 of the Catholic James II brought a brief period of respite to the persecuted pilgrims. James's wife, Mary of Modena, settled a debate between the Jesuits and the secular clergy at Holywell by giving the well chapel into the sole possession of the Jesuits. James visited the well in August 1687 to pray for a son, and donated £30 for the repair of the upper chapel, which until that time was being used as a sessions house. The following year, however, James was deposed by William and Mary, and England once again became a Protestant country.

During the 18th century, St Winefride's Well was increasingly frequented not only by pilgrims but also by tourists and curiosity seekers. Travel was becoming easier, and newspapers and pamphlets were spreading the word about the well and its healing waters. The well became an essential stop on the tourist itinerary; among those who visited were Celia Fiennes, Daniel Defoe and Samuel Johnson. The secularization of holy wells continued, with cures being attributed to the chemical composition of the water rather than to the intervention of the patron saint. In 1722, the upper chapel was converted into a day school. In 1795, the antiquary Thomas Pennant noted that the number of Catholic pilgrims visiting the well had "considerably decreased".

This was to change in 1805, when a dramatic and heavily-publicized cure sparked a revival of interest. A young woman named Winefrid White, who for years had been paralyzed down the left side and unable to walk without a crutch, bathed in St Winefride's Well and made an immediate recovery. Bishop John Milner published an account of the incident, in which he collated the testimonies of multiple witnesses and described the event as an "evident miracle" which defied scientific explanation. This public affirmation of the miraculous power of the well, helped along by the growing Romantic fascination with medieval history, reignited Holywell's pilgrimage tradition. The upper chapel was once again used for religious services from 1841.

In 1859, it was discovered that the foundations of the chapel had eroded away, and the building was in a dangerous condition. The water was diverted for several days while workmen underpinned the well pool with ashlar stone and flagged the plunge bath. In 1869, work began on the construction of two new buildings in the vicinity of the well. The first, called the Well House, was a three-storey bath-house which doubled as the caretaker's residence; the second was a swimming pool called the Westminster Bath. These buildings were completed by April 1871. A turnstile was installed at the entrance to the well complex, and a fee was charged for admittance. In 1886, a statue of St Winefride was placed in the niche at the entrance to the well, which had stood empty since the 1630s.

On 5 January 1917, St Winefride's Well ran dry. The water supply had been tapped by a drainage tunnel that was under construction near Bagillt. It had already been observed in 1885 that the drainage schemes connected with the lead mining operations in the Greenfield valley were affecting the output of the well, but the concerns of Holywell residents had been overridden. After the well dried up completely, the search began for an alternative source. A disused mine shaft northwest of Holywell was converted into a pumping plant, which was used to raise an underground water supply and divert it along a drainage tunnel known as the Holway Level. Water was then piped from this tunnel into the well basin. The well began to flow again on 22 September, and there was no indication that the water had lost any of its curative powers.

In 1930, the first section of the stream that issues from the plunge bath was covered over, and the former brewery that stood beside the stream was demolished. The site was landscaped into a garden called St Winefride's Park. In the 1990s, the Well House was transformed into a museum and library, and the Westminster Bath into a visitors' centre. In 2010, the guardianship of the well crypt was transferred to Cadw (who had already been responsible for the maintenance of the upper chapel since the mid-twentieth century). Restoration work was carried out in the crypt which involved strengthening the masonry, replacing missing flooring slabs, and repairing damage caused by humidity, candle-smoke and fires. New gates and railings were also erected.

The site was designated a national shrine in November 2023.

Numerous miracles have been attributed to the well, from the 12th century down to the present day. The two earliest Lives contain lengthy accounts of miraculous cures which came about through Winefride's intercession, and of punishments visited upon those who violated the sanctity of the site. A list of supposed miracles occurring in the 17th century was compiled by the Jesuit priest Philip Metcalf, and an account of 18th- and 19th-century miracles was provided by Charles De Smedt. A further update, including 20th-century cures, was written by Herbert Thurston in 1922. Until the 1960s, crutches and surgical boots left behind by pilgrims were arranged around the well or hung up on the walls; some of these crutches are now on display in the visitors' centre.

St Winefride's Well remains a popular pilgrimage destination, and its long association with healing has earned Holywell the title of "the Lourdes of Wales". The traditional method of bathing in the well is to pass three times through the small pool adjacent to the spring while reciting one decade of the Rosary, and then to move into the outer pool and kneel on a submerged stone, known as St Beuno's stone, for as long as it takes to complete the prayer. 18th-century visitors also reported a tradition of ducking one's head under the water to kiss St Beuno's stone and make a wish. The ritual of the triple immersion has its origin in Robert of Shrewsbury's Life of Winefride, in which Beuno prophesies to Winefride as follows:

Whoever shall at any time, in whatsoever sorrow or suffering, implore your aid for deliverance from sickness or misfortune, shall at the first, or the second, or certainly the third petition, obtain his wish, and rejoice in the attainment of what he asked for.

A 1670 drawing of the chapel shows a small structure to one side of the main spring, labelled "The Little Spring for the cure of sore eyes". Thomas Pennant, writing in 1796, described the ritual connected with this spring: "The patient made an offering to the nymph of the spring, of a crooked pin, and sent up at the same time a certain ejaculation, by way of charm: but the charm is forgotten, and the efficacy of the waters lost." The site of the Little Spring is now buried beneath the Well House.

Today, the well is open to the public, but bathing is permitted only at certain times. Filtered well-water is available from a tap; historically, the water has been thought to retain its potency even when removed from the site. The museum within the complex exhibits a piece of the True Cross along with the relics of various saints, including the surviving fragment of the Arch Gwenfrewi and a piece of bone believed to be Winefride's.

Organised group pilgrimages take place several times a year. The most popular of these is the June pilgrimage, which involves a procession from the nearby St Winefride's Church to the well, a Mass in the well garden given by the Bishop of Wrexham, and the veneration of Winefride's relic. During the pilgrimage season (from Pentecost to the last Sunday in September), there is a daily service in the well crypt.

The spring feeding St Winefride's Well was once much stronger than it is today.[69] In the late Medieval period, it was said that anything dropped into the well would be carried away downstream before it had time to sink. The poet John Taylor wrote in 1652 that the well "doth continually work and bubble with extreme violence, like a boiling cauldron or furnace". In 1731, a group of Anglican visitors measured the time it took for the well basin to fill, and concluded that the spring "raises more than one hundred tons of water in a minute". This estimate matches that recorded by Samuel Johnson in his diary when he passed through the area in 1774:

The spring called Winifred's Well is very clear, and so copious that it yields one hundred tuns of water in a minute. It is all at once a very great stream which within perhaps thirty yards of its eruption turns a mill and in a course of two miles eighteen more.

In 1859, the draining of the well basin for repair work gave another opportunity of measuring the power of the spring. On this occasion, the reported output was 22½ tons per minute. In the modern day, the spring is still said to yield an unusually large quantity of water. A pile of stones has been placed over its point of emergence to prevent it from becoming a fountain.

In former times the bed of the stream was littered with red stones, which according to legend were permanently stained with Winefride's blood. The actual cause of the stones' colour may have been natural iron deposits in the water, or the presence of a red-coloured algae, Trentepohlia jolithus, which can still be seen growing on the north wall today. The well was also known for its moss, which reportedly had a sweet smell and was referred to as "St Winefride's hair". The stones and the moss were commonly taken from the site by pilgrims, who treated them as charms or relics. One sceptical visitor, Celia Fiennes, claimed in 1698 that the well's custodians replenished the moss daily from a nearby hill.

The well chapel is a grade I listed building (designated 1951) and a scheduled ancient monument. It comprises two parts: the upper chapel, where church services are held, and the well crypt beneath it, which encloses the spring. The hillside has been cut away so that the crypt can be entered from the north, while the upper chapel is entered from the south.

The building is in the Perpendicular style. Its exterior walls are of coursed sandstone, which was imported from the Wirral towns of Storeton and Bebington. It has a low-pitched roof with a crenellated parapet. The upper chapel comprises a four-bay nave, a three-bay north aisle, and a semi-octagonal chancel, with window tracery featuring a mix of basket arches and ogee arches. There is a narrow stone bench around the chancel interior, and sockets in the stonework which suggest that a rood screen was once installed in the chancel arch. The roof is arch-braced and decorated with foliage bosses. The corbels supporting the braces and the arches of the north arcade are carved into a variety of figures, including animals, grotesques, and family emblems.

An external staircase at the west end of the chapel (now blocked) leads down into a gallery that overlooks the well crypt, and then down into the crypt itself through a spandrelled doorway that was once the principal entrance. There are two more doorways in the north wall of the crypt, surmounted by large unglazed windows. Another unglazed window, stretching nearly the entire height of the crypt, sits between them, looking out onto the plunge pool. A band of carved animals runs along the outer wall. The crypt's interior is centred around the star-shaped well basin, which supports a ring of stone columns. The columns were once linked by traceried screens, with basket-arched openings providing a view of the spring. Above the spring is a tierceron vault, with a pendant boss that displays six scenes from the life of St Winefride. The vaulted ceiling of the crypt contains many other carved bosses representing various subjects. In the northeast corner is a niche with a crocketed canopy, which holds a statue of St Winefride.

Holywell is a market town and community in Flintshire, Wales. It lies to the west of the estuary of the River Dee. The community includes Greenfield.

The name Holywell is literally holy + well in reference to St Winefride's Well, which is situated in the town. Similarly, its Welsh name, Treffynnon, is a compound of tre "town" + ffynnon "well", meaning "town of [the] well".

The market town of Holywell is known for St Winefride's Well, a holy well surrounded by a chapel. It has been a site of Christian pilgrimage since about 660, dedicated to Saint Winefride who, according to legend, was beheaded there by Caradog who attempted to attack her. The well is one of the Seven Wonders of Wales and the town bills itself as The Lourdes of Wales. Many pilgrims from all over the world continue to visit Holywell and the well.

From the 18th century, the town grew around the lead mining and cotton milling industries. The water supply from the mountains above the town, which flows continually and at a constant temperature, supplies the well and powered many factories in the Greenfield Valley. In addition to lead and cotton, copper production was of great importance. Thomas Williams, a lawyer from Anglesey, built factories and smelteries for copper in Greenfield Valley, bringing the copper from Anglesey to St. Helens and then to Greenfield Valley where it was used to make items including manilas (copper bracelets), neptunes (large flat dishes to evaporate seawater to produce salt) and copper sheathing. The copper sheathing was used to cover the hulls of the wooden ships trading in the warmer Caribbean waters, giving rise to the expression 'copper bottomed investment'. The sheathing was also applied to Royal Navy ships and was instrumental in Nelson's victories - two copper plates from HMS Victory are in Greenfield Valley Heritage Park museum. The wealth generated from these industries led to the development of the town. Holywell Town Hall was completed in 1896.

St James' Parish Church is a grade II* listed building and Holy Trinity Church in Greenfield is grade II listed. The town is also served by the modern St Peter's Church on Rose Hill, consecrated in 2008.

Holywell Junction railway station in Greenfield was on the North Wales Coast Line. The station was closed in 1966, and trains now run fast through what remains of the station. The station building, by Francis Thompson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway (1848), is listed Grade II*. There is a campaign to reopen the station.

Holywell Town station, at the head of the steeply-climbing LNWR branch from Holywell Junction, opened in 1912 and finally closed in 1957.

In the 2011 census the population of the community, which includes the village of Greenfield, was recorded as 8,886. The census figure for the larger Holywell built-up area was 9,808.

Holywell is split into four distinct areas: Pen-y-Maes, the Strand, the Holway and the town centre. The Holway, located on the west side of the town, is the largest of the residential areas of Holywell. The near-contiguous village of Greenfield is located to the north east of the town on the B5121 road.

Villages within the Holywell catchment area include: Bagillt, Brynford, Carmel, Gorsedd, Halkyn, Holway, Licswm, Lloc, Mostyn, Pantasaph, Pentre Halkyn, Rhes-y-Cae, Trelawnyd, Whitford and Ysceifiog. In addition there are other smaller scattered communities within this area. All of these are within a six-mile radius of Holywell. These villages are all connected to Holywell by a frequent bus service.

The town centre contains many small businesses and national stores, serving not only the shopping needs of the people of the town itself, but also those of the surrounding villages within the town's natural catchment area. Part of the centre of the historic market town has been designated a conservation area.

The town contains a secondary school with over 500 pupils and a leisure centre, as well as four primary schools.

Holywell has a local football team, Holywell Town who play in the Cymru North league.

The old cottage hospital was located in Pen-y-Maes until it closed. A new facility, known as the Holywell Community Hospital, opened in March 2008.

Although Holywell does not have a cricket team carrying the name of the town; a number of junior and senior cricketers from the area play for nearby village team Carmel & District Cricket Club whose ground is located a short distance from Holywell between the villages of Carmel and Lloc.

In 2007, a group of locals proposed a circular walk way, the "St Beuno's Circular Walk", joining all of the historical and religious locations of the town.

Notable people

Saint Winifred, a 7th century Welsh virgin martyr, inspired St Winefride's Well

Thomas Pennant (1726–1798) naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian; lived at Downing Hall near Whitford.

Rear Admiral Thomas Totty (1746–1802) naval officer of the Napoleonic Wars.

Sarah Edith Wynne (1842–1897) operatic soprano and concert singer.

Teresa Helena Higginson (1844–1905) Roman Catholic mystic.

Charles Sidney Beauclerk (1855–1934), Catholic priest, revived the town as a pilgrimage centre.

Frederick Rolfe (1860–1913), gay novelist and obsessive letter writer; died in Venice

Emlyn Williams (1905–1987) writer, dramatist and actor, attended Holywell Grammar School

Sir Ronald Waterhouse (1926–2011), High Court judge.

Dorothy Miles (1931–1993) poet and activist in the deaf community.

Jennifer Toye (1933–2022), operatic soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Ann Clwyd (born 1937 in Pentre Halkyn) politician, MP for Cynon Valley for 35 years; went to Holywell Grammar School.

Jonathan Pryce (born 1947), actor on film and TV, educated at Holywell Grammar School

Gareth Jones (born 1961), TV presenter, (Gaz Top) brought up in Holywell.

Richard and Adam (Johnson) (born ca.1980), classical singers.

Sport

Gerry Hitchens (1934–1983), footballer with over 500 club caps, retired to Holywell from 1977 where he is buried.

Alan Fox (1936–2021) footballer with 441 club caps mainly for Wrexham A.F.C.

Mike England (born 1941), footballer and manager, with 622 club caps and 44 for Wales

Ron Davies (1942–2013), footballer with 644 club caps and 29 for Wales

Barry Horne (born 1962), footballer with 570 club caps and 59 for Wales

Ian Buckett (born 1967), Wales rugby player, born near here and attended school in Holywell.

Gareth Jelleyman (born 1980) footballer with over 360 club caps

Flintshire (Welsh: Sir y Fflint) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It has a maritime border with Merseyside along the Dee Estuary to the north, and land borders with Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. Connah's Quay is the largest town, while Flintshire County Council is based in Mold.

The county covers 169 square miles (440 km2), with a population of 155,000 in 2021. After Connah's Quay (16,771) the largest settlements are Flint (13,736), Buckley (16,127) and Mold (10,123). The east of the county is industrialised and contains the Deeside conurbation, which extends into Cheshire and has a population of 53,568. The adjacent coast is also home to industry, but further west has been developed for tourism, particularly at Talacre. Inland, the west of the county is sparsely populated and characterised by gentle hills, including part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB.

The county is named after the historic county of the same name, which was established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and has notably different borders. The county is considered part of the Welsh Marches and formed part of the historic Earldom of Chester and Flint.

Flintshire takes its name from the historic county of Flintshire, which also formed an administrative county between 1889 until 1974 when it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972. The re-establishment of a principal area in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 does not share the same boundaries and covers a smaller area.

At the time of the Roman invasion, the area of present-day Flintshire was inhabited by the Deceangli, one of the Celtic tribes in ancient Britain, with the Cornovii to the east and the Ordovices to the west. Lead and silver mine workings are evident in the area, with several sows of lead found bearing the name 'DECEANGI' inscribed in Roman epigraphy. The Deceangli appear to have surrendered to Roman rule with little resistance. Following Roman Britain, and the emergence of various petty kingdoms, the region had been divided into the Hundred of Englefield (Welsh: Cantref Tegeingl), derived from the Latin Deceangli.

It became part of the Kingdom of Mercia by the 8th century AD, with much of the western boundary reinforced under Offa of Mercia after 752, but there is evidence that Offa's Dyke is probably a much earlier construction. By the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 it was under the control of Edwin of Tegeingl, from whose Lordship the Flintshire coat of arms is derived.

Edwin's mother is believed to have been Ethelfleda or Aldgyth, daughter of Eadwine of Mercia. At the time of the establishment of the Earldom of Chester, which succeeded the Earl of Mercia, the region formed two of the then twelve Hundreds of Cheshire of which it remained a part for several hundred years.

Flintshire today approximately resembles the boundaries of the Hundred of Atiscross as it existed at the time of the Domesday Book. Atiscross, along with the Hundred of Exestan, was transferred from the Earldom of Chester to the expanding Kingdom of Gwynedd from the west in the 13th century following numerous military campaigns. This region, as well as an exclave formed from part of the Hundred of Dudestan (known as Maelor Saesneg), later formed the main areas of Flintshire, established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 under Edward I. It was administered with the Palatinate of Chester and Flint by the Justiciar of Chester. The county was consolidated in 1536 by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 under the Tudor King Henry VIII, when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of England; it included the detached exclave of Welsh Maelor.

Flintshire as a separate local authority remained in existence until 1974 when it was merged with those of Denbighshire and Edeyrnion Rural District to form the administrative county of Clwyd. Clwyd was abolished 22 years later and Flintshire reorganised in its present form in 1996. However, some parts of the historic country are not included within the present administrative boundaries: significantly English Maelor was incorporated into Wrexham County Borough, and St Asaph, Prestatyn and Rhyl into Denbighshire.

The current administrative area of Flintshire (a unitary authority and Principal area) came into existence in 1996, when the former administrative counties in Wales were split into smaller areas. The principal area was formed by the merger of the Alyn and Deeside and Delyn districts. In terms of pre-1974 divisions, the area comprises:

the former borough of Flint

the urban districts of Buckley, Connah's Quay, Holywell, Mold

the rural district of Holywell Rural District

all of Hawarden Rural District except the parish of Marford and Hosley

The district of Rhuddlan, which was also formed entirely from the administrative county of Flintshire was included in the new Denbighshire instead. Other parts of the pre-1974 administrative Flintshire to be excluded from the principal area are the Maelor Rural District and the parish of Marford and Hoseley, which became part of the Wrexham Maelor district in 1974 and are now part of Wrexham County Borough.

Flintshire is a maritime county bounded to the north by the Dee estuary, to the east by Cheshire, to the west by Denbighshire and to the south by Wrexham County Borough. The coast along the Dee estuary is heavily developed by industry and the north coast much developed for tourism. The Clwydian Range occupies much of the west of the county. The highest point is Moel Famau (1,820 feet/554 metres). Notable towns include Buckley, Connah's Quay, Flint, Hawarden, Holywell, Mold, Queensferry, and Shotton. The main rivers are the Dee (the estuary of which forms much of the coast), and the River Alyn.

Located on the North Wales Coast Line (Holyhead to Chester) with services run by Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales specifically calling at Flintshire stations such as Flint and Shotton with an interchange at Shotton with the Borderlands Line, which links it and other Flintshire stations with the Liverpool area and Wrexham.

Parts of Flintshire have major manufacturing industries. Amongst these are an advanced Toyota plant that manufactures engines, Eren Paper,[6] and Airbus UK, making the wings for the A320, A330 and A350 aircraft at Broughton.

There are daily flights of the Airbus BelugaXL transport aircraft of Airbus wings from Broughton.

Flintshire is also known for its internet companies, the largest and most well known being Moneysupermarket.com based in Ewloe.

Flintshire included much of the North Wales Coalfield, with the last colliery at Point of Ayr closing in 1996.

Flintshire is home to Shotwick Solar Park, currently the largest photovoltaic solar array in the UK. It was built in 2016 and covers 250 acres of the south western edge of the Wirral Peninsula near the village of Shotwick. It has a maximum generating capacity of 72.2 MW and is connected directly to the largest paper-mill in the UK, UPM Shotton Paper.

Flintshire was home to a thriving steel industry with many of the local communities and homes being built around this sector. Steelmaking came to an end in 1980 with the loss of 6500 on one day. The Shotton Steelworks site, now owned by Tata Steel, continues to produce coated steel products, mainly for the construction industry.

On 19 November 2004, Flintshire was granted Fairtrade County status.

Flintshire County Council is the Local Education Authority of Flintshire. It runs 72 primary schools, 2 special schools and 11 secondary schools. Six of the primary schools and one comprehensive are Welsh medium schools.

Four of the secondary schools have come together with Coleg Cambria to form the Deeside Consortium.

In December 2022, the Climate Change Committee met and Buckley Bistre West councillor Carolyn Preece recommended weekly vegan school meals in the local schools to combat climate change.

Flintshire's local newspapers include two daily titles, North Wales Daily Post and The Leader.

There are two radio stations broadcast in the area – Communicorp station Heart North and Mid Wales and Global Radio station Capital North West and Wales broadcast from the studios based in Wrexham. Whilst BBC Cymru Wales runs a studio and newsroom for their radio, television and online services located at Glyndŵr University but does not base their broadcasting there.

An online news website covering the Flintshire area, Deeside.com, operates from Deeside.

Flintshire has been traditionally a Labour Party stronghold, but in the 2019 general election, the Welsh Conservatives won the Delyn constituency.

The Alyn and Deeside constituency is a historically and still is a Welsh Labour Party constituency, which is represented by Mark Tami.

Notable people

Gareth Allen (born 1988 in Mynydd Isa, near Buckley), former professional snooker player.

Saint Asaph, 6th century Christian saint, the first Bishop of St Asaph

Claire Fox (born 1960), writer, journalist, lecturer and politician; grew up in Buckley

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), 12 years as Prime Minister; retired to Hawarden Castle.

Jade Jones (born 1993 Bodelwyddan), taekwondo athlete; 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist

Michael Owen (born 1979), footballer with 362 club caps and 89 for England went to school in Hawarden

Ian Rush (born 1961 in St Asaph), footballer with 602 club caps and 73 for Wales

Gary Speed (1969 in Mancot – 2011), footballer and manager with 677 club caps and 85 for Wales

Frances Williams (c. 1760–1801), first Welsh woman to settle in Australia

Flintshire has one formal twinning arrangement with:

Germany Menden, Germany

Zug Faith in Finance October 31 2017 by ARC - The Alliance of Religions and Conservation

ARC, ZUG, SWITZERLAND: PHOTO CREDIT SIIA/Stokasmud www.stokasmud.com

Financial investors and leaders of more than 30 different faith traditions representing over 500 faith investment groups and billions of dollars in assets, met in Zug's beautiful Lassalle-Haus retreat centre together with the UN and some key impact investment funds, for a unique international meeting on Faith in Finance. Asking the question: “what do you do with your investments to make a better planet?” they launched the Zug Guidelines on Faith-Consistent Investment and a new alliance to support this movement. More details see www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=674 and for press coverage arcworld.org/news.asp?pageID=864. At podium: Klaus Michael Christensen, Swiss Impact Investment Association SIIA

Lark Rufous-naped by Michael Heyns

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Rooineklewerik

(Mirafra africana)

The rufous-naped lark (Mirafra africana) or rufous-naped bush lark is a widespread and conspicuous species of lark in the lightly wooded grasslands, open savannas and farmlands of the Afrotropics. Males attract attention to themselves by their bold and repeated wing-fluttering displays from prominent perches, which is accompanied by a melodious and far-carrying whistled phrase. This rudimentary display has been proposed as the precursor to the wing-clapping displays of other bush lark species. They have consistently rufous outer wings and a short erectile crest, but the remaining plumage hues and markings are individually and geographically variable. It has a straight lower, and longish, curved upper mandible.

The rufous-naped lark is geographically very variable, and is taken to form a species complex with the allopatric red-winged lark of East Africa, and perhaps with the Somali lark. It is a smaller version of the first, with a finer bill and shorter tail, but their morphological and vocal features do not intergrade where their ranges meet. The rufous nape is an equivocal field character, being absent in the tropical races[8] and in some individuals.

Due to the inherent variability of the species, some of the 23–25 odd races are perhaps insufficiently distinct or clinal. Consequently, M. a. rostrata and M. a. zuluensis are sometimes merged with M. a. africana, and M. a. okahandjae with M. a. pallida. On the other hand, a few taxa are arguably incipient or full species. The distinctly plumaged blackish lark comprises races M. a. nyikae and M. a. nigrescens, and is altitudinally isolated from M. a. transvaalensis in nearby Tanzania. Malbrant's lark, M. (a.) malbranti, which ranges from Gabon to Angola, has a fairly distinct display flight, but may intergrade with M. a. kabalii in Zambia.

Sharpe's lark, M. (a.) sharpii, of northwestern Somalia, has almost plain, coppery red upper parts and is sometimes (e.g., by Sibley and Monroe) regarded as a separate and endangered species. Its small range of some 21,200 km2 is impacted by overgrazing and conversion to croplands. It may however be conspecific with Somali lark, M. (a.) somalica, which differs by its very long bill and white edges to the outer tail feathers. The Somali lark is sometimes considered a race of rufous-naped lark, but is alternatively deemed a full species in Mirafra or Certhilauda.

Twenty-three subspecies are recognized:

M. a. henrici Bates, 1930 is found from Guinea to south-western Ivory Coast.

M. a. batesi Bannerman, 1923 was originally described as a separate species. It is found from central Nigeria to south-eastern Niger and western Chad.

M. a. stresemanni Bannerman, 1923, the "Cameroon rufous-naped lark", was originally described as a separate species. It is found in north-central Cameroon.

M. a. bamendae Serle, 1959 is found in western Cameroon.

M. a. kurrae Lynes, 1923, the "Darfur rufous-naped lark", is found in western Sudan.

M. a. tropicalis Hartert, 1900, the "Uganda rufous-naped lark", is found from eastern Uganda and western Kenya to north-western Tanzania

M. a. sharpii Elliot, DG, 1897, or "Sharpe's lark", is also known as the "red Somali lark" or "Somali lark", but should not be confused with M. (a.) somalica. It was originally described as a separate species, and is found in north-western Somalia.[14]

M. a. ruwenzoria Kinnear, 1921, the "Rwenzori rufous-naped lark", is found from the DRC to south-western Uganda.

M. a. athi Hartert, 1900, the "Athi rufous-naped lark", is found from central Kenya to north-eastern Tanzania.

M. a. harterti Neumann, 1908, the "Ukamba rufous-naped lark", is also known as "Kikuyu rufous-naped lark". It is found in south-central Kenya.

M. a. malbranti Chapin, 1946, or "Malbrant's lark", was originally described as a separate species. It is found from Gabon to central Angola and the southern DRC.

M. a. chapini Grant, CHB & Mackworth-Praed, 1939 is found in south-eastern DRC and north-western Zambia.

M. a. occidentalis (Hartlaub, 1857), the "Gabon rufous-naped lark", is found in western Angola.

M. a. kabalii White, CMN, 1943 is found in north-eastern Angola and north-western Zambia.

M. a. gomesi White, CMN, 1944 is found in eastern Angola and western Zambia.

M. a. grisescens Sharpe, 1902, the "Matabele rufous-naped lark", was originally described as a separate species. Found in western Zambia, northern Botswana and north-western Zimbabwe.

M. a. pallida Sharpe, 1902, the "Damara rufous-naped lark", was originally described as a separate species. It is found in south-western Angola and north-western Namibia.

M. a. ghansiensis (Roberts, 1932) is found in eastern Namibia and western Botswana.

M. a. nigrescens Reichenow, 1900, the "Ukinga rufous-naped lark", was originally described as a separate species. It is found in north-eastern Zambia and southern Tanzania.

M. a. isolata Clancey, 1956 is found in south-eastern Malawi.

M. a. nyikae Benson, 1939 is found in eastern Zambia, northern Malawi and south-western Tanzania.

M. a. transvaalensis Hartert, 1900, the "Transvaal rufous-naped lark", is found from Tanzania to northern South Africa.

M. a. africana Smith, 1836 is found in south-eastern South Africa.

The rufous-naped lark is a fairly large and robust lark species,[3] with rather heavy flight. The sexes are similar, but males average larger and heavier. Adults are individually and geographically variable. It measures 15–18 cm from bill tip to tail tip[16] and weighs 40-44 g. The streaked upper parts, short erectile crest, creamy-buff eyebrow that merges with the lore, and the rufous flight feathers are easily discernible features.The hindcrown and nape are streaked along the feather centers while the margins vary from chestnut, rufous or pinkish buff to greyish brown. The wings appear conspicuously rufous in flight, while the outer edges of the primaries show up as a rufous panel on the closed wing. The underwing coverts are rufous, and upper coverts are broadly edged tawny or buff (or grey in race grisescens). The tail is dark brown, but the outer webs of the outer tail feathers vary from buff (cf. africana and sharpii) to tawny or bright rufous.The mantle is lighter brown than the back, and the rump still darker brown. The flanks are a shade darker than the rufous-buff belly, but regionally the plumage may also be stained red by soil. The throat is unmarked but the pale rufous upper breast is streaked and spotted darker brown. The eyes are hazel brown, the longish bill is blackish and pinkish, and the feet pink to pinkish brown. Juveniles have bold black spotting on the crown, mantle and wing coverts, all edged with buff, while the breast spotting is more blotchy or diffuse.

M. a. athi of the Kenyan highlands is typically coloured, but like other tropical races, lacks the rufous nape. Most accepted races are distinguished based on the colour of the back or underpart plumage, or the amount of streaking on the ear coverts and flanks. High altitude races M. a. nyikae and M. a. nigrescens, which occur above 2,000 meters, have very dark upper part plumages and increased flank streaking. M. a. tropicalis which is found above 1,000 meters has a solid rufous wash over the underparts. Of the southern African races, those in the southeast are the largest and darkest (cf. M. a. africana and M. a. rostrata), with a cline towards lightly streaked and pale pinkish plumages in the northwest.

The rufous-naped lark is found in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It has a very large but discontinuous[19] range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 5,600,000 km2. Its range is believed to be increasingly fragmented in the north, from which a declining population is inferred. The southern African population has not contracted in range or abundance, save for areas of extensive cultivation or urbanization. Livestock ranching is believed to have created bare patches in grasslands, which they favour. The populations of southern Mozambique and Swaziland have been estimated at >50,000 and 100,000 individuals respectively.

It tolerates a range of dry or mesic habitats, typically bushy grassland or sparsely wooded savannah. It also occurs along the fringes of marshes, in woodland clearings or in the fragmented ecotone of woodland and grassland. It is present from near sea level in the south, to about 3,000 meters near the equator. In Zimbabwe it occurs from 900 to 1,800 meters, and in East Africa from 1,000 to 3,000 meters. Termitaria, bushes, small trees or fence posts provide perches for display, while a combination of tall and short grass provides cover and foraging space. In southern Africa it occurs only sparsely in grassy fynbos, grassy karoo and upland sour grasslands, but has high reporting rates in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, in miombo and in sweet or mixed grasslands.

The rufous-naped lark is sedentary, territorial and monogamous. It is often sluggish, allowing a close approach. Short distances are covered in low, level or undulating flight, or it may flee an intruder by running and dodging through grass haphazardly. It may be difficult to flush from grass, and is easily overlooked when not singing.

At any time of the year, but especially when the rains commence, a male will spend hours calling from a conspicuous perch. A clear, somewhat variable, whistled phrase of three to five syllables is typical, which may be rendered as tseep-tseeoo, teeoo-teewee or chiwiki-chiwi. The song may be changed after each 20 or so repetitions. During some intermissions the wings are audibly fluttered in the few seconds between phrases. This results in a quick prrrrt or phrrrp rattle, and may lift the bird off its perch. The crest is also lifted during display. It may alternatively sing a rudimentary song consisting of whistles, tweets and trills (distinguishable as imitated calls), during short flights over the grass or during an upward spiraling flight, before it planes down. Race malbranti in particular, may sing during a straight and direct display flight and clap its wings above its back. Perched males may also string together fragments of the songs of various grassland birds. It utters peewit, tweekiree or pree, pree notes in alarm.

Wikipedia

Zug Faith in Finance by ARC - The Alliance of Religions and Conservation

ARC, ZUG, SWITZERLAND: PHOTO CREDIT SIIA/Stokasmud www.stokasmud.com. Financial investors and leaders of more than 30 different faith traditions representing over 500 faith investment groups and billions of dollars in assets, met in Zug's beautiful Lassalle-Haus retreat centre together with the UN, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and some key impact investment funds, for a unique international meeting on Faith in Finance. Asking the question: “what do you do with your investments to make a better planet?” they launched the Zug Guidelines on Faith-Consistent Investment and a new alliance to support this movement. More details see www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=674 and for press coverage arcworld.org/news.asp?pageID=864

Carriage by Vladimír Turner

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The long series of films, videos, engaged interventions in public space, performances, and object installations provide a consistent testimony to the power of the themes reflected. For many years, Vladimír Turner has persistently pointed out problematic, and often strongly cautionary, moments of Anthropocene civilisation in various places around the world. The enchanted mechanism of consumption-production, the deceitfulness of marketing strategies, the extraction of non-renewable resources, the brutal devastation of the landscape, mass tourism, the misconception of the possibility of shackling the organism of a big city to a structure of order, gentrification, homelessness, inhumane methods of political systems. In fact, the theme of the essence of pure humanity, personal and social responsibility towards the landscape, nature, and a sustainable way of life based on local self-sufficiency is recalled again and again. He points out the themes through matter-of-factly simple acts. This makes the awareness of the necessity of individual engagement all the more intense. Although his conceptual works have an activist character, often dealing with the subversion of paradox, the expressive power of the pure artistry cannot be ignored. Through his installation for the Veleslavín station, Vladimír Turner verbalises the sculptural situation with the themes of sustainable mobility, fossil fuels, international trade, the relationship of motoring vs. train transport, and exodus and nomadism as consequences of climate change. He chooses the form of a specifically modified Volvo car, with an appeal to the constant presence of the potential of a natural human resource. The ideas of the installation are directly related to the genesis of the artist’s intended film, in which he finds himself in the role of an aborigine, the last survivor on planet Earth, who begins to build everything necessary to live from the garbage all around him. “System Change! Not Climate Change!” (VT)

2012 Camp Zama Bon Odori Festival by U.S. Army Garrison Japan

The 53rd annual Bon Odori Festival at Camp Zama was held Aug. 4. The festival is consistently the largest bilateral event of the year for U.S. Army Japan, this year attracting more than 30,000 visitors to the installation. The festival featured live entartainment, games for children, a variety of ethnic foods, bilateral sports, and a fireworks show.

About the United States Army Garrison Japan:

The United States Army Garrison Japan and its 16 supported installation sites are located in the island of Honshu and Okinawa in Japan. The USAG Japan mission is to support the Headquarters, U.S. Army Japan / I Corps (fwd) to ensure mission readiness and the quality of life of the Army community in a sustainable, transforming joint and combined environment.

The USAG-J area of responsibility spans 1,500 miles from north to south of Japan. Camp Zama, home for both HQ USARJ and USAG-J is located approximately 25 miles southwest of Tokyo in the cities of Zama and Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The Camp Zama base cluster includes Sagamihara Housing Area and Sagami General Depot.

Akasaka Press Center is located in the center of Tokyo. The Akizuki/Kure area near Hiroshima is an ammunition depot. Yokohama North Dock is a port facility in the city of Yokohama, a major commerce port and a popular shopping area. USAG Torii Station is located 980 miles southwest of Camp Zama on the island of Okinawa.

We are the Army's home in Japan and the "Garrison of Choice" for Soldiers, Civilians and their Family members. We are committed in becoming the leader in the U.S. Army Installation Management Command by providing world-class installation services.

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To learn more about USAG Japan, please visit:

Official Website - www.usagj.jp.pac.army.mil

Facebook - www.facebook.com/usagj

Flickr - www.flickr.com/usagj

El Perú recibió por parte de México ayuda para los damnificados, consistente en equipos de bombeo de lodo y un grupo de rescatistas by Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores

Slideshare - www.slideshare.net/usagjapan

USARJ This Week on YouTube - www.youtube.com/usarjthisweek

Great Canadian Beer Festival 2012 by Rick Green

The GCBF seems to consistently offer warm, sunny weather. large tents at the centre of the field offer punters a retreat from the heat.

Great Canadian Beer Festival

1014 Caledonia Ave

Victoria, B.C.

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Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) by Leonora (Ellie) Enking

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Tambo Yanayacu, Iquitos, Peru.

My thanks to Forrest Gump 24 for the ID.

Eichhornia, commonly called water hyacinths, was a polyphyletic genus of the aquatic flowering plants family Pontederiaceae. Since it was consistently recovered in three independent lineages, it has been sunk into Pontederia, together with Monochoria. Each of the three lineages is currently recognized as subgenera in Pontederia.

From Wikipedia -

Eichhornia crassipes, commonly known as Common Water Hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin, and is often considered a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range. It is in the family Pontaderiaceae.

Its habitat ranges from tropical desert to subtropical or warm temperate desert to rainforest zones. It tolerates annual precipitations of 8.2 dm to 27.0 dm (mean of 8 cases = 15.8 dm), annual temperatures from 21.1°C to 27.2°C (mean of 5 cases = 24.9°C), and its pH tolerance is estimated at 5.0 to 7.5. It does not tolerate water temperatures >34°C. Leaves are killed by frost and salt water, the latter trait being used to kill some of it by floating rafts of the cut weed to the sea. Water hyacinths do not grow when the average salinity is greater than 15% that of sea water. In brackish water, its leaves show epinasty and chlorosis, and eventually die.

Because of E. crassipes invasiveness, several biological control agents have been released to control it, including two weevils, Neochetina bruchi Hustache (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Neochetina eichhorniae Warner (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), and the moth Niphograpta albiguttalis (Warren) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Neochetina eichhorniae causes "a substantial reduction in water hyacinth production" (in Louisiana); it reduces plant height, weight, root length, and makes the plant produce fewer daughter plants. N. eichhorniae was introduced from Argentina to Florida in 1972.

Azotobacter chroococcum, an N-fixing bacteria, is probably concentrated around the bases of the petioles. But the bacteria do not fix nitrogen unless the plant is suffering extreme N-deficiency.

Fresh plants contain prickly crystals. This plant is reported to contain HCN, alkaloid, and triterpenoid, and may induce itching. Plants sprayed with 2,4-D may accumulate lethal doses of nitrates, as well as various other nocive elements in polluted environments.

The plant was introduced by Belgian colonists to Rwanda to beautify their holdings and then advanced by natural means to Lake Victoria where it was first sighted in 1988. There, without any natural enemies, it has become an ecological plague, suffocating the lake, diminishing the fish reservoir, and hurting the local economies. It impedes access to Kisumu and other harbors.

The Water Hyacinth has also appeared to the north in Ethiopia, where it was first reported in 1965 at the Koka Reservoir and in the Awash River, where the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority has managed to bring it under moderate control at the considerable cost of human labor. Other infestations in Ethiopia include many bodies of water in the Gambela Region, the Blue Nile from just below Lake Tana into Sudan, and Lake Ellen near Alem Tena.

Bioenergy

Because of its extremely high rate of development, Eichhornia crassipes is an excellent source of biomass. One hectare of standing crop can thus produce more than 70,000 m3 of biogas.

According to Curtis and Duke, one kg of dry matter can yield 370 liters of biogas, giving a heating value of 22,000 KJ/m3 (580 Btu/ft3) compared to pure methane (895 Btu/ft3)

Wolverton and McDonald report only 0.2 m3 methane per kg, indicating requirements of 350 MT biomass/ha to attain the 70,000 m3 yield projected by the National Academy of Sciences (Washington). Ueki and Kobayashi mention more than 200 MT/ha/yr. Reddy and Tucker found an experimental maximum of more than a half ton per day. Bengali farmers collect and pile up these plants to dry at the onset of the cold season; they then use the dry water hyacinths as fuel. They then use the ashes as fertilizer. In India, a ton of dried water hyacinth yield circa 50 liters ethanol and 200 kg residual fiber (7,700 Btu). Bacterial fermentation of one ton yields 26,500 cu ft gas (600 Btu) with 51.6% methane, 25.4% hydrogen, 22.1% CO2, and 1.2% oxygen. Gasification of one ton dry matter by air and steam at high temperatures (800°) gives circa 40,000 ft3 (circa 1,100 m3) natural gas (143 Btu/cu ft) containing 16.6% H3, 4.8% methane, 21.7% CO, 4.1% CO2, and 52.8% N. The high moisture content of water hyacinth, adding so much to handling costs, tends to limit commercial ventures. A continuous, hydraulic production system could be designed, which would provide a better utilization of capital investments than in conventional agriculture, which is essentially a batch operation.

The labour involved in harvesting water hyacinth can be greatly reduced by locating collection sites and processors on impoundments that take advantage of prevailing winds. Wastewater treatment systems could also favourably be added to this operation. The harvested biomass would then be converted to ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen and/or gaseous nitrogen, and fertilizer. The resulting byproducts of water and fertilizer can both be used to irrigate nearby cropland.

Phytoremediation, waste water treatment

The roots of Eichhornia crassipes naturally absorb pollutants, including lead, mercury, and strontium-90, as well as some organic compounds believed to be carcinogenic, in concentrations 10,000 times that in the surrounding water. Water hyacinths can be cultivated for waste water treatment.

Edibility

The plant is used as a carotene-rich table vegetable in Taiwan. Javanese sometimes cook and eat the green parts and inflorescence.

Medicinal use

In Kedah (Java), the flowers are used for medicating the skin of horses. The species is a tonic.

Other Uses

In East Africa, water hyacinth from Lake Victoria is used to make furniture, handbags and rope. The plant is also used as animal feed and organic fertilizer although there is controversy stemming from the high alkaline pH value of the fertilizer.

The Birthday Massacre by wirehead

Only the band that has been consistently #1 on my Last.fm playlist for years.

Poor Chibi has been going through vocal issues of late. Vocal nodules from the screaming. 22% of why I signed up for voice lessons was because I wanted to know how to have an edge to my voice without worrying about vocal nodules or whatnot.... but thankfully, she was able to sing like an angel and shriek like a demon for the show... And the band had a ferociously awesome live vibe that only comes from a pile of actual musicians who have been playing together for quite a while and not pushing play on a laptop.

I mostly danced around and enjoyed the show in an audience of rabid fans, instead of spending the whole time taking pictures. Although I did take a few.

leocarrillodigital25 by fotonomous

TIDE POOLIN'

Leo Carrillo beach in Malibu is consistently one of my favorite places to visit and photograph. I just love climbing around the rocks and investigating the tide pool. There are several ways to get there, but I usually take the 101 North to Malibu Canyon, head south over to Pacific Coast Highway, then West (a right turn) on PCH approximately 25 miles until you hit Leo Carrillo. From the Valley to Leo it's about a 45 minute to hour drive each way. The tide pool is just in front of the #3 lifeguard tower (and incidentally, dogs are allowed on leash from this tower and continuing west up the beach). I just google low tide Malibu to find out the best time to go there and check out the tide pool. Usually there's a several hour window about an hour before to an hour after low tide that's good. If you go after that, the waves usually are just hitting the rocks too hard and it can be dangerous to stand there. I always see tons of starfish (many different colors including orange, light blue, and purple), sea anemones (they are really fun to touch), mussels, crabs (little teeny black ones and bigger red ones), and even little fish swimming in the watery crags and crevices of the tide pool rocks. And I've spotted dolphins and whales from this beach. After an outing at Leo Carrillo, I always stop at this little food shack called Malibu Seafood, located just before you find yourself back at Malibu Canyon. It's totally no frills - you order food inside, wait for your number to be called, and find an open bench to sit down. My fave meals there are swordfish with rice pilaf and salad (the ranch is really good), fish and chips, clam chowder, or a pot of steamed clams in a nice broth.

Leo Carrillo State Park / Malibu photos by Lydia Marcus

As seen on my blog: fotonomous.blogspot.com/2008/08/tide-poolin.html

DG1_0227 by Dave Gill, Premier Weddings & Events

First night 2019!

Consistent Quality Capture -- Always

It's YOUR Moment!

Follow on Instagram: www.instagram.com/http.www.DaveGill.Photography/

Full Un-Watermarked Gallery -- Proceeds to benefit SPCA of Wake County: davegillphotography.shootproof.com/gallery/8516390

86401 at London Kings Cross by Jake Taylor

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Consistent problems on the WCML has resulted in Caledonian Sleeper's 1S25 (2115 London Euston - Inverness/Aberdeen/Fort William service) being diverted into London Kings Cross until further notice.

Here 86401 stands on the blocks at London Kings Cross with the 5S95 empties from Wembley

03/02/2016

Lago sulfureo "Mefite" in località Rocca San Felice by Pro Loco Frigentina

Lago sulfureo "Mefite" in località Rocca San Felice

Materia

Consistenza sottile della natura viva dell’universo,

sostanza grezza del sapore infinito del tempo.

Vista, olfatto, tatto, gusto, udito: strumenti di

indagine, coordinate di analisi.

Aria, acqua, terra, fuoco: elementi di costituzione, qualità dei risultati.

La tavolozza del mondo, le pennellate dei sensi!

Colori, sapori, odori si mescolano a impressioni

tattili e uditive sul respiro caldo della vita, in

cerca della sua fattura intima, della risposta

ultima che compone ed assorbe il mistero

irrisolto del tutto, la Materia vera della realtà,

la sorgente indefinita del sogno,

il borbottìo antico del mondo.

Frigento: un luogo multiforme e multisensoriale, dove permearsi delle pure essenze della Materia. L’aria ben ossigenata e ventilata è la sua energia pulita, nutritiva e su cui investe. L’elevata posizione geografica conferisce una rivitalizzante umidità al suo territorio fertile, pur forte nella sua natura rocciosa. Un fuoco salubre concima segretamente le sue profondità, le sue varie espressioni fisiche: quel ‘ribollìo’ sulfureo in località Mefite (tempio della dea omonima), capricciosa sorgente di benessere, affascinante voce sotterranea di mistero e di storia.

Frigento, Parco Urbano "Panorami"

Linee sensoriali e mentali: testi, immagini e suggestioni dal territorio

Fotografia di Michele Pelosi, Poesia di Michela Famiglietti

Zug Faith in Finance October 31, 2017 by ARC - The Alliance of Religions and Conservation

ARC, ZUG, SWITZERLAND: PHOTO CREDIT SIIA/Stokasmud www.stokasmud.com Financial investors and leaders of more than 30 different faith traditions representing over 500 faith investment groups and billions of dollars in assets, met in Zug's beautiful Lassalle-Haus retreat centre for a unique international meeting on Faith in Finance. Asking the question: “what do you do with your investments to make a better planet?” they launched the Zug Guidelines on Faith-Consistent Investment and a new alliance to support this movement, with a procession through the medieval town of Zug. More details see www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=674 and for press coverage arcworld.org/news.asp?pageID=864

Bill Gates's Top 10 Rules for Success by Angelina Macdougall

He consistently ranks in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people. He's one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. He is also the second-most generous philanthropist in America, having given over $28 billion to charity. He's Bill Gates and here are his Top

ge.tt/569NIdM2/v/0

IMG_0381 by drjeeeol

Consistent report cards for Charlie

MUD CREAM DRENANTE by Centro estetico Diadema

Fango dalla consistenza cremosa, stimolante e rassodante specifico per il corpo, che combina attivi esclusivi con una tecnologia innovativa.

Formulato con ingredienti noti per le spiccate qualità coadiuvanti nel trattamento degli inestetismi cutanei della cellulite, che conferisce alla pelle maggiore elasticità, tono e compattezza.

Non ha bisogno di risciacquo.

Da applicare 3 volte a settimana mattino e sera.

€28

Zug Faith in Finance October 31, 2017 by ARC - The Alliance of Religions and Conservation

ARC, ZUG, SWITZERLAND: PHOTO CREDIT SIIA/Stokasmud www.stokasmud.com.

Financial investors and leaders of more than 30 different faith traditions representing over 500 faith investment groups and billions of dollars in assets, met in Zug's beautiful Lassalle-Haus retreat centre for a unique international meeting on Faith in Finance. Asking the question: “what do you do with your investments to make a better planet?” they launched the Zug Guidelines on Faith-Consistent Investment and a new alliance to support this movement, with a procession through the medieval town of Zug. More details see www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=674 and for press coverage arcworld.org/news.asp?pageID=864

Feb. 17, 2010 by Al Harvey

A consistently crowded venue for the Olympics was Jack Poole Plaza where the Olympic flame welcomed the world

Han sur Lesse, les grottes. by Raymond DEJONG

Les grottes de Han consistent en un ensemble de grottes souterraines à Han-sur-Lesse près de Rochefort, située sur la rivière Lesse en Famenne (Belgique), dans la région géologique appelée Calestienne.

C'est la Lesse, un affluent de la Meuse, qui est à l'origine de ces grottes, par érosion d'une partie de la colline calcaire. La rivière disparaît sous le sol sur une distance d'environ 1 100 mètres (à vol d'oiseau), mais l'eau met 20 heures pour parcourir cette distance. (Wikipédia)

smoke by earley curley

one consistent theme with josh over the years is that he enjoys a smoke. seriously, he really enjoys one, despite the warnings.

Brian Michael Bendis - Emerald City Comic Con 2007 by ed peterson

I have consistently read 5 - 8 books a month by BMB for the last 4 years. Low end, 5 books x $3 per x 12mths x 4 yrs = $720. That seems like an incredible bargain. Don't be a stupid dumb. Go buy some Bendis.

Shed Dormers by Josh Graciano

Consistent design indicates single ownership of every house in the terrace.

Vinyl Window Graphics Are Beautiful! by Signarama Richmond BC

Consistent use of your logo on your windows with vinyl graphics can create huge brand recognition and a world-class customer experience.

Take a lesson from some of the best known retailers: Put your logo everywhere!

Signarama Richmond can design, fabricate, print, and install your window graphics to help you grow your business.

Get a free quote at 604-273-7445 or visit www.signarama.ca/bc-richmond/decals/window .

Obafemi MARTINS by adidasfootball

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The most consistently dangerous Nigeria striker when fit, Obafemi Martins could be the wildcard that Nigeria coach Lars Lagerback needs to escape a tricky Group B at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa this summer. Explosive and deceptively powerful, the forward can stretch a defence and put away goals at a healthy clip. In fact, the Super Eagles can thank the heroics of Martins for even reaching Africa’s first finals, an ironic twist for a star who has been in and out of favour with Nigeria over the years.

El Perú recibió por parte de México ayuda para los damnificados, consistente en equipos de bombeo de lodo y un grupo de rescatistas.

2012 Camp Zama Bon Odori Festival by U.S. Army Garrison Japan

The 53rd annual Bon Odori Festival at CAmp Zama was held Aug. 4. The festival is consistently the largest bilateral event of the year for U.S. Army Japan, this year attracting more than 30,000 visitors to the installation. The festival featured live entertainment, games for children, a variety of ethnic foods, bilateral sports and fireworks show.

About the United States Army Garrison Japan:

The United States Army Garrison Japan and its 16 supported installation sites are located in the island of Honshu and Okinawa in Japan. The USAG Japan mission is to support the Headquarters, U.S. Army Japan / I Corps (fwd) to ensure mission readiness and the quality of life of the Army community in a sustainable, transforming joint and combined environment.

The USAG-J area of responsibility spans 1,500 miles from north to south of Japan. Camp Zama, home for both HQ USARJ and USAG-J is located approximately 25 miles southwest of Tokyo in the cities of Zama and Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The Camp Zama base cluster includes Sagamihara Housing Area and Sagami General Depot.

Akasaka Press Center is located in the center of Tokyo. The Akizuki/Kure area near Hiroshima is an ammunition depot. Yokohama North Dock is a port facility in the city of Yokohama, a major commerce port and a popular shopping area. USAG Torii Station is located 980 miles southwest of Camp Zama on the island of Okinawa.

We are the Army's home in Japan and the "Garrison of Choice" for Soldiers, Civilians and their Family members. We are committed in becoming the leader in the U.S. Army Installation Management Command by providing world-class installation services.

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To learn more about USAG Japan, please visit:

Official Website - www.usagj.jp.pac.army.mil

Facebook - www.facebook.com/usagj

Flickr - www.flickr.com/usagj