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Courageous Courage

Courageous skeleton ghost

River Styxx

Some parts of the storm drain called Hundredth can only be reached by crawling on your hands and knees through the murky water and through a very small pipe. Only the brave and the extreme will ever get to touch these bricks

COURAGEOUS - Seastreak - in New York, USA. September, 2022. Copyright Tom Turner

Nearly bowled by a Redditch bound class 116 the photograph was taken of 50 032 approaching University station on 24th March 1982. Courageous was in charge of the 06.05 Plymouth - Liverpool, it would be swapped at New Street for an electric for the West Coast route. The prominent chimney and factory in the background was the Birmingham Battery Company at Selly Oak, now demolished. On the bank to the right is a small brick building the roof of which was a wonderful place to spend a sunny lunchtime with a camera.

Copyright Geoff Dowling; All rights reserved

Courageous and Captivating!

Prepare to be amazed by the extraordinary bravery of the nine sensational ladies who bared it all for the "Sassy, Saucy & 60" naked calendar, raising a staggering £2,330 in support of Bury Hospice!

 

These fearless women have gone above and beyond, capturing hearts with their empowering calendar. Their boundless spirit and dedication have paid off tremendously, the "Sassy, Saucy & 60" calendar is a celebration of life, vitality, and the remarkable power within every woman!

 

Through their bold and vibrant photoshoots, these remarkable ladies, who are all over 60, have broken barriers, redefined beauty and have all shown that age is just a number.

 

Through their daring endeavour, they have shown incredible support for Bury Hospice. The funds raised will make a substantial impact in providing compassionate care and comfort to individuals facing life-limiting illnesses.

 

Let's give a resounding round of applause to these fearless trailblazers for their extraordinary bravery and their remarkable contribution to Bury Hospice! Your inspiring spirit and generosity are truly exceptional.

50032 'Courageous', Paddington, 13 August 1989.

50032 (Courageous) passing through Lostwithiel (Photo From My Collection)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ2HUfD0QSw&feature=share&amp...

Universal, 15 Chapters, 1938. Starring Larry “Buster” Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Frank Shannon, Beatrice Roberts, Richard Alexander, Donald Kerr, C. Montague Shaw, Wheeler Oakman.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars picks up almost exactly where Flash Gordon left off, with our courageous trio of interplanetary adventurers–Flash Gordon (Larry “Buster” Crabbe), Dale Arden (Jean Rogers), and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon)–returning to Earth from the planet Mongo. They are greeted to a royal welcome, since their voyage has saved the Earth from being destroyed by the late Emperor Ming of Mongo. Zarkov, however, attempts to curb the Earthlings’ ebullience by cautioning them that the defeat and death of Ming does not mean that their planet is free from other threats of extraterrestrial invasion. As usual, Zarkov is correct; shortly after his warning speech, the Martian Queen Azura (Beatrice Roberts) begins an operation designed to siphon off the “nitron” (aka nitrogen) in the Earth’s atmosphere. Azura’s primary goal is to create nitron-powered weapons with which to wage a war against her mortal foes, the Clay People of Mars. She’s indifferent to the devastating effect that it will have on the Earth, while her chief adviser and military consultant regards the destruction of Earth as the main attraction of the plan. That adviser is none other than Ming (Charles Middleton), still very much alive and longing for revenge on Flash and Zarkov for toppling him from his throne and driving him into exile on Mars.

As the Earth begins to experience catastrophic floods and storms, due to the effects of Azura’s “Nitron Lamp,” Zarkov, Flash, and Dale launch another interplanetary trip to discover the cause of the catastrophes, which Zarkov has determined are due to a beam that emanates from outer space. They discover an unexpected stowaway aboard after takeoff–reporter “Happy” Hapgood (Donald Kerr), who had set out to track down Zarkov and get his opinion of the world-wide disasters. Not long after arriving on Mars, our quartet of Earth adventurers find themselves embroiled in the war between Azura and the Clay People. The latter are one-time rivals of the Queen, who have been transformed into living clay by Azura’s magical powers and banished to underground caverns from whence they carry on a guerilla war against Azura’s forces. The Clay People’s king enlists the aid of Flash and his party, as both of them want to stop Azura’s nitron-collecting plans, and, with additional aid from Prince Barin (Richard Alexander)–who arrives on Mars to try to convince the Martians to expel Ming–Flash and his party pit themselves against Azura’s magic, Ming’s machinations, Ming’s savage allies the Forest People, and many other hazards, in their quest to save the Earth.

 

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is fully as good as the first Flash Gordon serial, although its strengths are in slightly different areas. While Trip to Mars doesn’t measure up to Flash Gordon when it comes to colorful characters and fantastic monsters, its focused plotline surpasses the episodic story of the earlier serial. In Flash Gordon, the protagonists merely responded to the perpetual perils that were hurled at them by Ming, King Vultan, and King Kala, while Ming’s own plans for destroying the Earth were largely abandoned after the first chapter in favor of his attempts to marry Dale and destroy Flash. In Trip to Mars, Flash, Dale, and Zarkov initiate events instead of just coping with them, and Ming’s new grand design drives the plot far more strongly than his earlier one, giving the good guys a clear-cut objective (the destruction of the Nitron Lamp) beyond simple escape from Mongo.

While Trip to Mars has no characters to rival Flash Gordon’s King Vultan and no bizarre beasts like the Orangopoid or the Fire Dragon, it still has excellent other-worldly atmosphere. The sets are not as varied and intricate as in the first serial, but still surpass the backdrops of almost any other chapterplay. Especially striking are Ming’s “powerhouse,” with its laboratory equipment and its disintegration room, Azura’s massive palace with its unique architectural design (particularly the futuristic pocket doors), the Clay People’s eerie caves, and the wonderfully-designed realm of the Forest People, with its twisted trees, climbing vines, hidden tunnels amid tree roots, and treehouse-like observation platforms.

 

In addition to the big sets, there are dozens of other major and minor props and special effects that make Trips to Mars memorably atmospheric; there’s the the Martians’ flying capes, the Martian televiewer screens (which are cleverly incorporated into the recap sequences at the beginning of each chapter), the Clay People’s vapor-healing chamber, and the bridge of light that connects Azura’s rocket tower to the rest of her palace and is powered by a simple switch like any Earthling lamp (the scene where Flash and Zarkov are first forced to cross the unsafe-looking thing is quite funny), to name but a few. I also appreciate the fact that Azura’s spaceship squadrons–her “stratosleds”–are designed differently than any of the ships in the first Flash Gordon serial; one would expect the aerial fleets of differing planets to differ in appearance. Another neat touch of internal consistency is the use of three completely different forms of salute by the three principal Martian races–Queen Azura’s subjects, the Clay People, and the Forest People.

The serial’s screenplay maintains good continuity with the previous Flash outing, despite being the work of a completely different team of writers–Ray Trampe, Norman S. Hall, Wyndham Gittens, and Herbert Dalmas. The new writing team avoids any of the clunky lines that occasionally crept into Flash Gordon’s dialogue exchanges; they also, despite having to resort to a few flashbacks to the first serial for padding purposes, manage to make their plot fit its fifteen-chapter length quite nicely. The major plot thread of the heroes’ attempts to destroy Ming and Azura’s Nitron Lamp is skillfully interwoven with several subplots–the Clay People’s efforts to regain their natural shape, the attempts by both Flash and Ming to get hold of the Black Sapphire of Kalu (a talisman that can neutralize Azura’s magic), and Ming’s plot to undermine Azura and seize the Martian throne.

Trip to Mars’ script wisely spreads its plot developments over the course of the serial, instead of introducing all its ideas in the first chapter and letting them tread water until the final one: the Clay People aren’t introduced till the second chapter or the Forest People until the sixth, while Prince Barin first arrives in Chapter Seven. The Nitron Lamp is destroyed in Chapter Nine and rebuilt over the course of the following chapters until it must be destroyed again at the climax, and one of the principal villains is killed off in Chapter Thirteen.

The cliffhangers aren’t quite as varied as in the first Flash serial, due to the lack of the various monsters that frequently attacked Flash for chapter-ending purposes in the earlier outing. However, writers still manage to avoid excessive repetition; for instance, while there are three chapter endings involving stratosled crashes, each one is set up differently–the first has Flash crashing a stratosled into another stratosled to stop it from bombing Dale and Happy, the second has a stratosled crashing on top of Flash and Zarkov, and the third has Flash and the pilots of a ’sled grapping for the controls as it soars towards yet another crash. There’s also an excellent cliffhanger in which Flash, Dale, Happy, and Zarkov are surrounded by an ever-narrowing ring of fire in the Forest People’s kingdom, and a memorably unusual one that has a hypnotized Dale stabbing an unsuspecting Flash in the back.

 

Though Trip to Mars has no swordfights or wrestling matches corresponding to those in Flash Gordon, it still features a nice variety of action scenes–including stratosled dogfights, fights among the vines and treetops of the Forest Kingdom, and chases through Azura’s big palace; the palace sequence in Chapter Five, which has the nimble Flash vaulting through windows to avoid the guards, is a particular standout. Directors Ford Beebe (a Universal serial veteran) and Robert Hill (a talented director who rarely escaped from low-budget independent serials and B-films) do a fine job of orchestrating these action scenes, assisted by stuntmen Eddie Parker (doubling Buster Crabbe), George DeNormand, Tom Steele, Bud Wolfe, and Jerry Frank. All of the aforementioned stuntmen, except Parker, also pop up in minor acting roles.

The performances in Trip to Mars are all first-rate; the returning actors from the first serial are all just as good as they were in Flash Gordon, while the new major players fit in smoothly. Buster Crabbe’s Flash is just as tough, chipper, athletic, and likable as in the first serial–and a good deal more wise and resourceful than before, improvising strategy and coming up with plans in tough situations instead of just trying to batter his way out. Frank Shannon’s Zarkov, as consequence of Flash’s new-found intelligence, has a reduced part, not guiding the good guys’ actions as he did in the first serial; he still functions as the scientific brains of the group, though, and is still as intense, serious, and sincere as before.

Jean Rogers, with her long blonde hair bobbed and dyed brown to better match the comic-strip version of Dale Arden (she’s also dressed in less arresting fashion), isn’t as stunning as in Flash Gordon, but is still a warm, welcome, and lovely presence. Her part here is smaller than in the first serial, though, since Ming is not romantically interested in her this time out (Ming, though no gentleman, evidently prefers blondes). Richard Alexander’s Prince Barin is a lot more self-assured when it comes to delivering dialogue this time around (helped, no doubt, by the absence of any overly high-flown lines), while his convincingly royal bearing and his commanding size are as effective as before.

Charles Middleton’s Ming is even more entertainingly sinister here than he was in Flash Gordon, getting a good deal more screen time and given a more devilish appearance by a notably forked beard. Though still given opportunities to break into tyrannical and bloodthirsty rages (particularly in his insane rant in the final chapter), Middleton spends much of the serial displaying duplicity and sly subtlety instead, since his Ming must pretend to friendship with Azura even while plotting against her. Middleton carries off this slightly more multi-faceted version of Ming masterfully, winning a few laughs with his crafty cynicism while remaining thoroughly sinister and hateful.

 

Beatrice Roberts does a fine job as Queen Azura, eschewing the sneering, aggressive demeanor of other serial villainesses for a regal, dignified manner (with a wryly humorous undercurrent) that contrasts interestingly with her often cruel behavior. Her Azura comes off as selfish and ruthless, but not an abusive tyrant like Ming. Donald Kerr as reporter Happy Hapgood, the other principal new character, is as controversial among fans as most other serial comedy-relief characters are. Speaking for myself, though, I found him quite likable and entertaining; he provides an amusingly commonplace point-of-view towards the fantastic world of Mars and is never obtrusive, gratingly stupid, or obnoxious. Additionally, his character is allowed to be quite heroic and helpful when the chips are down, a far cry from one-dimensional cowardly “comic” pests like Sonny Ray in Perils of Pauline or Lee Ford in SOS Coast Guard.

Wheeler Oakman is very good as Tarnak, Ming’s wily lab assistant and co-conspirator against Azura. C. Montague Shaw, concealed under heavy makeup for most of the serial, conveys an impressive air of ruined dignity as the King of the Clay People and manages to seem both sinister and sympathetic at different times. Usual hero Kane Richmond brings appropriate depth of characterization to his key role as a Martian pilot, who proves instrumental in helping Flash overthrow Ming in the later chapters. Anthony Warde has a small part as Toran, king of the Forest People, but extracts as much snarling nastiness as possible from the role. Future director Thomas Carr is his second-in-command, Kenne Duncan is the officer in charge of Azura’s airdrome, Lane Chandler and Jack Mulhall both appear as pilots of her Death Squadron, and Warner Richmond has a small role as one of Ming’s palace cohorts.

 

Hooper Atchley and James Blaine pop up as self-important Earth scientists, propounding ingenious and inaccurate theories as to the causes of the damage brought about by the Nitron Lamp, while Edwin Stanley is the general presiding over a council comprised of these two and additional savants. Louis Merrill (a radio actor who played character roles in several feature films) has a brief but memorable turn as the blunt and slightly uncouth Dr. Metz, who alone among the scientists has the humility to admit that Zarkov is the only one capable of unravelling the riddle of the disasters. Merrill’s characterization is so vivid that one wishes the actor had taken a larger part in this chapterplay or in other serials.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is a nearly ideal sequel, in that it manages to preserve the basic strengths of its predecessor while deviating from it in some areas and improving on it in others. It’s also a nearly ideal serial, independent of its relation to the earlier Flash Gordon; it balances good acting, atmosphere, action, and plotting in such fine style that it would still be a notable achievement if it were the sole entry in the Flash Gordon series.

  

Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov return from their former space adventures only to find that their enemy, Ming the Merciless of planet Mongo, has a new weapon: a deadly ray that crosses space to wreak havoc on earth. Earth's only hope is for our heroes to take off again and stop the ray at its source on Mars, where they (and a stowaway) familiar to sci-fi serial fans as Happy Hapgood the space traveling reporter). Must battle Ming's ally, Queen Azura, who turns her enemies into lumpish clay people.With the aid of the Clay People and Prince Barin, Flash and his friends are triumphant in destroying the ray and putting an end to the scheme of Ming the Merciless. Can they survive 15 chapters of deadly perils? Find out next week...

The Deadly Ray From Mars was an edited version of the 1938 Universal serial "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" that was released to TV in a syndication package in 1966.

Mars Attacks the World was the feature version of the 1938 serial titled Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars. aka "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars" - USA (TV title)

Mars Attacks the World is the feature compilation version of the serial Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, while Rocket Ship is the the feature compilation of the serial Flash Gordon.

Jean Rogers as Dale Arden

Charles Middelton as Emperor Ming

Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkov

Beatrice Roberts as Queen Azura

Richard Alexander as Prince Barin

Montague Shaw as The Clay King

Donald Kerr as Happy Hapgood the space traveling reporter.

The title of this serial was originally going to be "Flash Gordon and the Witch Queen of Mongo." It was changed so that Universal could save money by shooting the outdoor scenes on the back lot and not have to build costly sets, and by reusing the set for Emperor Ming's palace.

In the stock footage from Flash Gordon, shown in this film, as Flash is telling The Clay People about his previous encounter with Emperor Ming, Ming is bald and Dale Arden has blond hair. In this sequel, Ming has "pasted on" hair and Dale is a brunette. It has been reported that Jean Rogers (Dale Arden) had many other film roles pending at that time (1938) which had called for her to portray a brunette.

King Features Syndicate released the 3 Flash Gordon serials as well as "Buck Rogers," Red Barry", "Ace Drummond" and other comic strip cliffhangers to US TV in 1951. Because the television show Flash Gordon, starring Steve Holland as Flash, was in syndication in late 1953, the three Universal Pictures Flash Gordon theatrical serials were retitled for TV broadcast. Flash Gordon became "Space Soldiers", Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars became "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars", and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe became "Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe". To this day both the 3 original "Flash Gordon" serial titles and the 3 "Space Soldiers" titles are used.

Chapter Titles:

1. New Worlds To Conquer

2. The Living Dead

3. Queen of Magic

4. Ancient Enemies

5. The Boomerang

6. Treemen of Mars

7. Prisoner of Monga

8. Black Sapphire of Kalu

9. Symbol of Death

10. Incense of Forgetfulness

11. Human Bait

12. Ming the Merciless

13. Miracle of Magic

14. Beasts at Bay

15. An Eyes For An Eye

 

“Captains Courageous” is a coming-of-age tale of fishing off the New England coast. It is the story of Harvey Cheyne, a spoiled rich kid, who stumbles overboard an ocean liner and is rescued by fisherman Manuel Fidello off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and brought aboard a small fishing boat. There he meets Disko Troop, captain of the fishing boat, who refuses to take the young man back to port but agrees to take him on as part of the crew against Harvey’s wishes. Over the course of the novel, Harvey befriends the captain’s son Dan and has some sense knocked into him. Dan helps the arrogant, overly pampered Harvey become a hard-working, self-reliant man at sea.

 

“Captains Courageous” is also an excellent portrayal of life in the Gloucester fishing fleet of Massachusetts, written while the newlywed Kipling lived in Vermont. Although Kipling lived in Vermont several years and was married to an American this is his only novel with entirely American settings, themes and major characters. The American edition of the book is dedicated to James Conland, M.D., of Brattleboro, Vermont. Dr. Conland had brought the Kiplings elder daughter into the world and had been a member of the Massachusetts fishing fleet. It is he who took Kipling to explore the wharves and quays of Boston and Gloucester.

 

Considered one of the great sea novels of the 19th century, “Captains Courageous” was made into an excellent Victor Fleming film in 1937 starring Freddie Bartholomew (Harvey Cheyne), Spencer Tracy (his rescuer Manuel Fidello),

Lionel Barrymore (Captain Disko Troop) and Mickey Rooney (Dan Troop).

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqxk0bYt4U8

 

Berthed in Aberdeen Harbour,this vessel is operated by the Craig Group of Aberdeen.

Houston Ship Channel from Fort San Jacinto Historic Point Galveston November 21, 2017, an overcast, drizzly day.

 

OSG Courageous Towing Vessel USCG Doc 1231405 Overseas Shipholding Group Wilmington DE

2.4.1986.

Large logo Class 50 No 50032 'Courageous' arrives at Paddington station with a train from Reading. It looks to have some minor damage at the front end. 50032 was scrapped in 1991.

Scanned from from one of my 35mm Ilfochrome slides.

50032 "Courageous" stands in the early morning gloom at Paddington on 24th October 1987.

 

On 17 June 2023, Courageous (Bagnall), crosses the Ashton swing bridge on the Ribble Steam Railway.

On 17 June 2023, Courageous (Bagnall), is about to cross the Ashton swing bridge on the Ribble Steam Railway.

Rachel C is Courageously Vulnerable (CV) in this image. That is she's transparent and vulnerable in a radically different way. It is strength and confidence knowing that you are willing and committed to love and reject the limitations of fear, which is just insecurity and uncertainty. It starts with acceptance of yourself and awareness of belonging, from there you can reach out and cross the daunting divide of fear and rejection, and be yourself. The cool thing is we are all attracted to sincerity and vulnerability. I'm touched by the energy that emanates from Rachel C in this photo. I'm glad I met her, she's a wonderful person. She's 18 yrs old and studying acting at INOVA. Washington DC, 1 October 2017.

15.5.09

 

We're driving towards the orphanage. The highway is lonely, save for a few languid trucks ambling along. It is damp too, and a thick fog covers the countryside: a single light here or there provides the only hint of civilization amidst the interminable verdure. Inside the van, the smoke of cigarettes past wafts in the air, lingering like a lost soul. I inhale, and quickly cough. I subsequently open the window to the enveloping darkness outside, so slightly as to not disturb my companions in the back. The roar of the road echoes in my ears.

 

An unexpected wrench was thrown into our travel plans today. The trip began expediently enough as the bus on which Candy and I rode reached the Shenzhen airport with hours to spare; however, the unscheduled hiccups soon followed. We received an announcement over the public address system notifying us of a flight delay, due to a mysterious military maneuver, we deduced, high in the Shenzhen skies. Several more sonorous reminders came in punctual succession over the next six hours. It seemed as though we would be stuck, stranded really, at the airport forever, or for the day at least. Thankfully, after the police arrested some of the more aggrieved passengers, we finally boarded the plane and took off for central China. We were blessed to be on our way at last, none of us having blown a gasket during the afternoon tedium.

 

One more pitch black road awaited, down a single lonely lane lined with swarthy trees, standing as though sentries, and at length we arrived at the orphanage. The car stopped in a clearing, and we stepped out, onto a cement lot with soft puddles spread silently beneath our feet. We squinted into the twilight, our eyes trying to make sense of the surroundings. Our bags were unloaded, we made our way to the rooms, and soon enough fell asleep. I think we all enjoyed the repose, rendered especially comfortable by the new guest rooms in which we were staying.

 

16.5.09

 

We have only been here for barely 24 hours, yet it feels as though we have been here for much longer, as if time at some point in our journey decided to slow itself to a crawl. Maybe it was because of the litany of activities that we packed into the span of several hours, or perhaps it was the lack of worldly distractions, allowing us to focus solely on our mission, that caused us to suspend the hands of that imaginary clock in our mind. Whatever the case, we've enjoyed every minute at the orphanage; it is time definitely well spent in service!

 

Morning call was at 6:20; and after a prayer meeting we went down to finally visit the kids. They were playing on the vast driveway of the orphanage, savoring their moment of freedom before breakfast. To see so many friendly faces, in spite of their precarious physical and filial circumstance was definitely encouraging. I made a multitude of new friends; and did my best throughout the day to impact those kids with joy, honesty and patience. It is a powerful cocktail which brings love immediately to many.

 

The food at the orphanage is without processing, as natural as victuals can be in these days of impersonal industrial production. Large chunks of mantou, steaming bowls of soupy congee, and salty vegetables with slivers of meat have characterized our meals. It is the kind of humble stuff that lengthens life spans, and disciplines the palate.

 

We presented a wide range of activities - structured and unstructured; whole class and small group - to the kids, in the hope that we would manage them as much as amuse. In the morning, as though breaking the ice once were not enough, we ran through a series of dizzying, if not at times totally incoherent, activities designed to familiarize our dispositions to each other. Later, we established a makeshift fun fair, at which we ushered the children to rooms filled with (board) games, and puzzles, and other, more colorful activities such as face painting and balloon making. The kids couldn't at length contain their enthusiasm, busting into and out of rooms with impunity, soaking in the rapturous atmosphere. In the afternoon, our team attempted to tire them out: running topped the agenda, and by leaps and bounds, the activities, whether straightforward relays or schoolyard classics like duck duck goose and red light, green light, indeed began to tucker our charges out. We, too, were pretty beat by the time night began to creep over the horizon!

 

17.5.09

 

Yesterday evening, we surprised the students with a musical performance, followed by forty minutes of bubble-blowing madness; to be sure, the students could not appreciate our somewhat accurate rendition of Amazing Grace so much as the innocent madness of dipping one's hands in a solution of dish detergent and corn syrup and then whispering a bubble to life; and indeed, the moment the Disney branded bubble-making machines churned the first batch of bubbles into the air, with much rapidity weaving their frenetic pattern of fun, chaos erupted in the room. The students stormed the soap basin, and almost overwhelmed my teammates who valiantly held the Snitch and Pooh high above the heads of the clamoring kids.

 

During the evening's festivities, I grew progressively ill, until at last I dashed out of the room to sneeze. Outside, in the cool of the night, under a cloud of stars beaming so far away in the deep of space, I exploded in a rancor of sneezing. The fit lasted for five minutes, an inexorable depression in my system which sent both my body and my esteem tumbling down. I felt bad, not only for my exceedingly rickety health, but for my teammates and the children who may have been exposed to my sickness as it incubated within me; furthermore, everyone in the classroom was saying goodbye and all I could do was rid myself of a sniffle here and there, in between rounds of bursting from nostrils and sinuses. I was impotent, as though one of my insignificant droplets on the floor!

 

18.5.09

 

We are in a car heading towards a famous historical site in Henan. The driver's drawl slips slowly from his mouth, and what he says resonates intelligibly in our ears. Candy, Tanya and the driver are discussing Chinese mythology, and history, which, for better or for worse seem to be inextricably intertwined. We narrowly just now missed hitting an idle biker in the middle of the road; in dodging our human obstacle, the car swerved into the oncoming traffic, sending us flying inside the cabin. Reciting a verse from a worship song calmed our frazzled nerves.

 

How to describe the children? Many of them smiled freely, and were so polite when greeted that undoubtedly they had been trained well at some point in the tumult of their life education. Precociousness was also a common characteristic shared by the kids, whose stunted bodies belied the mature, perspicacious thoughts hiding just underneath the skin. Of course, in our time together we were more merry than serious, that quality being best left for the adults working silently in their rooms; and to that effect, the kids brought out their funny bones and jangled them in the air to stir up the excitement and to destroy by a jocular clamor any hint of a dull moment – we really laughed a lot. At last, although not all of them seemed interested in our staged activities – rather than feign enthusiasm and eagerness, some skipped our events altogether – those who did participate, most of them in fact, enjoyed themselves with abandon, helping to create that delightful atmosphere where the many sounds of elation reign.

 

Of the students whom I had the opportunity to know personally, several still stick out in my mind, not the least for my having christened a few of them with English names! David was bold, and courageous, willing to soothe crying babes as much as reprimand them when their capricious actions led them astray; he had a caring heart not unlike a shepherd who tends to his young charges. Edward, who at 13 was the same age as David, definitely grew emotionally, not to mention physically attached to me. He was by my side for much of the weekend, grabbing onto my hand and not letting go, to the point where I in my arrogance would detach my fingers within his, ever so slightly, as if to suggest that a second more would lead to a clean break - I know now that with the cruel hands of time motoring away during the mission, I shouldn't have lapsed into such an independent, selfish state; he should have been my son. Another child who became so attached to the team as to intimate annoyance was the boy we deemed John's son, because the boy, it seemed, had handcuffed himself to our teammate, and would only free himself to cause insidious mischief, which would invariably result in an explosion of hysterics, his eyes bursting with tears and his mouth, as wide as canyon, unleashing a sonorous wail when something went wrong. On the other hand, Alice remained in the distance, content to smile and shyly wave her hand at our team while hiding behind her sisters. And last but not least, of our precious goonies, Sunny undoubtedly was the photographer extraordinaire, always in charge of the school's camera, snapping away liberally, never allowing any passing moment to escape his shot.

 

That I learned on this trip so much about my teammates verily surprised me, as I thought the relationships that we had established were already mature, not hiding any new bump, any sharp edge to surprise us from our friendly stupor. So, consider myself delightfully amazed at how a few slight changes in the personality mix can bring out the best, the most creative and the strangest in the group dynamic: admittedly, Candy and Tanya were the ideal foils for John, they eliciting the most humorous observations and reactions from my house church leader, they expertly constructing a depth of character that even last week, in the wake of the Guangdong biking trip, I never knew existed! Most of all, I'm glad to have been a part of such a harmonious fellowship, for the fact that we could prayer together as one, and encourage each other too, and all the more as we saw the day approaching.

Pastor Bryan Marvel, Meadowbrook Church

Luke 7:11-17

Class 50 no. 50032 (Courageous) sits forlorn inside Old Oak Common shed on 29th December 1990. The loco, now minus nameplates was withdrawn from service in October 1990 and was having useful comnponents recovered to assis in the maintenance of other members of the Class 50 fleet at this time.

 

Soon, she would be reduced to scrap metal in a skip - a horrible way to treat my favourite loco.

A courageous but also very reckless toa of fire, Rulor was created without the ability to sense pain. In some respects this has made him stronger and tirelessly but this means he doesn't know when to stop when he has been seriously hurt.

However a recent injury to his shoulders has brought him back with his feet on the ground.

Visit our Vietnam travel log, Vietnam travel diary, Vietnam vlog:

www.flickr.com/photos/natureboheme/collections/7215762238...

 

Cống hiến, ngưỡng mộ và tôn trọng phụ nữ can đảm của Việt Nam.

Tribute, Admiration and Respect for the Courageous Women of Vietnam.

Hommage, Admiration et Respect pour les Courageuses Femmes du Vietnam.

 

Mots clefs:

Vietnam vietnamese women woman lady ladies "vietnamese woman" "vietnamese women" vietnamienne femme fille vietnamesische vietnamita bьетнамская "phụ nữ" "Đàn bà" "giống cái" "con gái" Việt "vietnamese ladies" amazing attractive awesome beautifull charming cute delicious delightful extraordinary fantastic gorgeous graceful honney happiness incredible kindness lovely nice oustanding pleasant pretty priceless smile smiling stunning super sweethearth sweetmeat unbelievable unforgettable wonderfull agréable extraordinaire gentille gracieuse heureuse magnifique mignonne ravissante souriante sourire splendide superbe

 

Autres mots clefs:

ánh sáng, màu sắc, đáng yêu, tuyệt vời, tuyệt vời, đẹp, quyến rũ, dễ thương, ngon, thú vị, phi thường, tuyệt vời, tuyệt vời, tuyệt đẹp, duyên dáng, đáng kinh ngạc ngọt ngào, không thể tin được, khó quên, tuyệt vời,

светлый, цветной, восхитительный, удивительный, удивительный, красивый, очаровательный, милый, восхитительный, восхитительный, необыкновенный, невероятный, фантастический, великолепный, грациозный, невероятный, прекрасный, великолепный, красивый, выдающийся, приятный, симпатичный, бесценный, потрясающий, супер, сладкий, невероятный, незабываемый, чудесный,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ2HUfD0QSw&feature=share&amp...

Universal, 15 Chapters, 1938. Starring Larry “Buster” Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton, Frank Shannon, Beatrice Roberts, Richard Alexander, Donald Kerr, C. Montague Shaw, Wheeler Oakman.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars picks up almost exactly where Flash Gordon left off, with our courageous trio of interplanetary adventurers–Flash Gordon (Larry “Buster” Crabbe), Dale Arden (Jean Rogers), and Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon)–returning to Earth from the planet Mongo. They are greeted to a royal welcome, since their voyage has saved the Earth from being destroyed by the late Emperor Ming of Mongo. Zarkov, however, attempts to curb the Earthlings’ ebullience by cautioning them that the defeat and death of Ming does not mean that their planet is free from other threats of extraterrestrial invasion. As usual, Zarkov is correct; shortly after his warning speech, the Martian Queen Azura (Beatrice Roberts) begins an operation designed to siphon off the “nitron” (aka nitrogen) in the Earth’s atmosphere. Azura’s primary goal is to create nitron-powered weapons with which to wage a war against her mortal foes, the Clay People of Mars. She’s indifferent to the devastating effect that it will have on the Earth, while her chief adviser and military consultant regards the destruction of Earth as the main attraction of the plan. That adviser is none other than Ming (Charles Middleton), still very much alive and longing for revenge on Flash and Zarkov for toppling him from his throne and driving him into exile on Mars.

As the Earth begins to experience catastrophic floods and storms, due to the effects of Azura’s “Nitron Lamp,” Zarkov, Flash, and Dale launch another interplanetary trip to discover the cause of the catastrophes, which Zarkov has determined are due to a beam that emanates from outer space. They discover an unexpected stowaway aboard after takeoff–reporter “Happy” Hapgood (Donald Kerr), who had set out to track down Zarkov and get his opinion of the world-wide disasters. Not long after arriving on Mars, our quartet of Earth adventurers find themselves embroiled in the war between Azura and the Clay People. The latter are one-time rivals of the Queen, who have been transformed into living clay by Azura’s magical powers and banished to underground caverns from whence they carry on a guerilla war against Azura’s forces. The Clay People’s king enlists the aid of Flash and his party, as both of them want to stop Azura’s nitron-collecting plans, and, with additional aid from Prince Barin (Richard Alexander)–who arrives on Mars to try to convince the Martians to expel Ming–Flash and his party pit themselves against Azura’s magic, Ming’s machinations, Ming’s savage allies the Forest People, and many other hazards, in their quest to save the Earth.

 

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is fully as good as the first Flash Gordon serial, although its strengths are in slightly different areas. While Trip to Mars doesn’t measure up to Flash Gordon when it comes to colorful characters and fantastic monsters, its focused plotline surpasses the episodic story of the earlier serial. In Flash Gordon, the protagonists merely responded to the perpetual perils that were hurled at them by Ming, King Vultan, and King Kala, while Ming’s own plans for destroying the Earth were largely abandoned after the first chapter in favor of his attempts to marry Dale and destroy Flash. In Trip to Mars, Flash, Dale, and Zarkov initiate events instead of just coping with them, and Ming’s new grand design drives the plot far more strongly than his earlier one, giving the good guys a clear-cut objective (the destruction of the Nitron Lamp) beyond simple escape from Mongo.

While Trip to Mars has no characters to rival Flash Gordon’s King Vultan and no bizarre beasts like the Orangopoid or the Fire Dragon, it still has excellent other-worldly atmosphere. The sets are not as varied and intricate as in the first serial, but still surpass the backdrops of almost any other chapterplay. Especially striking are Ming’s “powerhouse,” with its laboratory equipment and its disintegration room, Azura’s massive palace with its unique architectural design (particularly the futuristic pocket doors), the Clay People’s eerie caves, and the wonderfully-designed realm of the Forest People, with its twisted trees, climbing vines, hidden tunnels amid tree roots, and treehouse-like observation platforms.

 

In addition to the big sets, there are dozens of other major and minor props and special effects that make Trips to Mars memorably atmospheric; there’s the the Martians’ flying capes, the Martian televiewer screens (which are cleverly incorporated into the recap sequences at the beginning of each chapter), the Clay People’s vapor-healing chamber, and the bridge of light that connects Azura’s rocket tower to the rest of her palace and is powered by a simple switch like any Earthling lamp (the scene where Flash and Zarkov are first forced to cross the unsafe-looking thing is quite funny), to name but a few. I also appreciate the fact that Azura’s spaceship squadrons–her “stratosleds”–are designed differently than any of the ships in the first Flash Gordon serial; one would expect the aerial fleets of differing planets to differ in appearance. Another neat touch of internal consistency is the use of three completely different forms of salute by the three principal Martian races–Queen Azura’s subjects, the Clay People, and the Forest People.

The serial’s screenplay maintains good continuity with the previous Flash outing, despite being the work of a completely different team of writers–Ray Trampe, Norman S. Hall, Wyndham Gittens, and Herbert Dalmas. The new writing team avoids any of the clunky lines that occasionally crept into Flash Gordon’s dialogue exchanges; they also, despite having to resort to a few flashbacks to the first serial for padding purposes, manage to make their plot fit its fifteen-chapter length quite nicely. The major plot thread of the heroes’ attempts to destroy Ming and Azura’s Nitron Lamp is skillfully interwoven with several subplots–the Clay People’s efforts to regain their natural shape, the attempts by both Flash and Ming to get hold of the Black Sapphire of Kalu (a talisman that can neutralize Azura’s magic), and Ming’s plot to undermine Azura and seize the Martian throne.

Trip to Mars’ script wisely spreads its plot developments over the course of the serial, instead of introducing all its ideas in the first chapter and letting them tread water until the final one: the Clay People aren’t introduced till the second chapter or the Forest People until the sixth, while Prince Barin first arrives in Chapter Seven. The Nitron Lamp is destroyed in Chapter Nine and rebuilt over the course of the following chapters until it must be destroyed again at the climax, and one of the principal villains is killed off in Chapter Thirteen.

The cliffhangers aren’t quite as varied as in the first Flash serial, due to the lack of the various monsters that frequently attacked Flash for chapter-ending purposes in the earlier outing. However, writers still manage to avoid excessive repetition; for instance, while there are three chapter endings involving stratosled crashes, each one is set up differently–the first has Flash crashing a stratosled into another stratosled to stop it from bombing Dale and Happy, the second has a stratosled crashing on top of Flash and Zarkov, and the third has Flash and the pilots of a ’sled grapping for the controls as it soars towards yet another crash. There’s also an excellent cliffhanger in which Flash, Dale, Happy, and Zarkov are surrounded by an ever-narrowing ring of fire in the Forest People’s kingdom, and a memorably unusual one that has a hypnotized Dale stabbing an unsuspecting Flash in the back.

 

Though Trip to Mars has no swordfights or wrestling matches corresponding to those in Flash Gordon, it still features a nice variety of action scenes–including stratosled dogfights, fights among the vines and treetops of the Forest Kingdom, and chases through Azura’s big palace; the palace sequence in Chapter Five, which has the nimble Flash vaulting through windows to avoid the guards, is a particular standout. Directors Ford Beebe (a Universal serial veteran) and Robert Hill (a talented director who rarely escaped from low-budget independent serials and B-films) do a fine job of orchestrating these action scenes, assisted by stuntmen Eddie Parker (doubling Buster Crabbe), George DeNormand, Tom Steele, Bud Wolfe, and Jerry Frank. All of the aforementioned stuntmen, except Parker, also pop up in minor acting roles.

The performances in Trip to Mars are all first-rate; the returning actors from the first serial are all just as good as they were in Flash Gordon, while the new major players fit in smoothly. Buster Crabbe’s Flash is just as tough, chipper, athletic, and likable as in the first serial–and a good deal more wise and resourceful than before, improvising strategy and coming up with plans in tough situations instead of just trying to batter his way out. Frank Shannon’s Zarkov, as consequence of Flash’s new-found intelligence, has a reduced part, not guiding the good guys’ actions as he did in the first serial; he still functions as the scientific brains of the group, though, and is still as intense, serious, and sincere as before.

Jean Rogers, with her long blonde hair bobbed and dyed brown to better match the comic-strip version of Dale Arden (she’s also dressed in less arresting fashion), isn’t as stunning as in Flash Gordon, but is still a warm, welcome, and lovely presence. Her part here is smaller than in the first serial, though, since Ming is not romantically interested in her this time out (Ming, though no gentleman, evidently prefers blondes). Richard Alexander’s Prince Barin is a lot more self-assured when it comes to delivering dialogue this time around (helped, no doubt, by the absence of any overly high-flown lines), while his convincingly royal bearing and his commanding size are as effective as before.

Charles Middleton’s Ming is even more entertainingly sinister here than he was in Flash Gordon, getting a good deal more screen time and given a more devilish appearance by a notably forked beard. Though still given opportunities to break into tyrannical and bloodthirsty rages (particularly in his insane rant in the final chapter), Middleton spends much of the serial displaying duplicity and sly subtlety instead, since his Ming must pretend to friendship with Azura even while plotting against her. Middleton carries off this slightly more multi-faceted version of Ming masterfully, winning a few laughs with his crafty cynicism while remaining thoroughly sinister and hateful.

 

Beatrice Roberts does a fine job as Queen Azura, eschewing the sneering, aggressive demeanor of other serial villainesses for a regal, dignified manner (with a wryly humorous undercurrent) that contrasts interestingly with her often cruel behavior. Her Azura comes off as selfish and ruthless, but not an abusive tyrant like Ming. Donald Kerr as reporter Happy Hapgood, the other principal new character, is as controversial among fans as most other serial comedy-relief characters are. Speaking for myself, though, I found him quite likable and entertaining; he provides an amusingly commonplace point-of-view towards the fantastic world of Mars and is never obtrusive, gratingly stupid, or obnoxious. Additionally, his character is allowed to be quite heroic and helpful when the chips are down, a far cry from one-dimensional cowardly “comic” pests like Sonny Ray in Perils of Pauline or Lee Ford in SOS Coast Guard.

Wheeler Oakman is very good as Tarnak, Ming’s wily lab assistant and co-conspirator against Azura. C. Montague Shaw, concealed under heavy makeup for most of the serial, conveys an impressive air of ruined dignity as the King of the Clay People and manages to seem both sinister and sympathetic at different times. Usual hero Kane Richmond brings appropriate depth of characterization to his key role as a Martian pilot, who proves instrumental in helping Flash overthrow Ming in the later chapters. Anthony Warde has a small part as Toran, king of the Forest People, but extracts as much snarling nastiness as possible from the role. Future director Thomas Carr is his second-in-command, Kenne Duncan is the officer in charge of Azura’s airdrome, Lane Chandler and Jack Mulhall both appear as pilots of her Death Squadron, and Warner Richmond has a small role as one of Ming’s palace cohorts.

 

Hooper Atchley and James Blaine pop up as self-important Earth scientists, propounding ingenious and inaccurate theories as to the causes of the damage brought about by the Nitron Lamp, while Edwin Stanley is the general presiding over a council comprised of these two and additional savants. Louis Merrill (a radio actor who played character roles in several feature films) has a brief but memorable turn as the blunt and slightly uncouth Dr. Metz, who alone among the scientists has the humility to admit that Zarkov is the only one capable of unravelling the riddle of the disasters. Merrill’s characterization is so vivid that one wishes the actor had taken a larger part in this chapterplay or in other serials.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is a nearly ideal sequel, in that it manages to preserve the basic strengths of its predecessor while deviating from it in some areas and improving on it in others. It’s also a nearly ideal serial, independent of its relation to the earlier Flash Gordon; it balances good acting, atmosphere, action, and plotting in such fine style that it would still be a notable achievement if it were the sole entry in the Flash Gordon series.

  

Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov return from their former space adventures only to find that their enemy, Ming the Merciless of planet Mongo, has a new weapon: a deadly ray that crosses space to wreak havoc on earth. Earth's only hope is for our heroes to take off again and stop the ray at its source on Mars, where they (and a stowaway) familiar to sci-fi serial fans as Happy Hapgood the space traveling reporter). Must battle Ming's ally, Queen Azura, who turns her enemies into lumpish clay people.With the aid of the Clay People and Prince Barin, Flash and his friends are triumphant in destroying the ray and putting an end to the scheme of Ming the Merciless. Can they survive 15 chapters of deadly perils? Find out next week...

The Deadly Ray From Mars was an edited version of the 1938 Universal serial "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" that was released to TV in a syndication package in 1966.

Mars Attacks the World was the feature version of the 1938 serial titled Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars. aka "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars" - USA (TV title)

Mars Attacks the World is the feature compilation version of the serial Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, while Rocket Ship is the the feature compilation of the serial Flash Gordon.

Jean Rogers as Dale Arden

Charles Middelton as Emperor Ming

Frank Shannon as Dr. Zarkov

Beatrice Roberts as Queen Azura

Richard Alexander as Prince Barin

Montague Shaw as The Clay King

Donald Kerr as Happy Hapgood the space traveling reporter.

The title of this serial was originally going to be "Flash Gordon and the Witch Queen of Mongo." It was changed so that Universal could save money by shooting the outdoor scenes on the back lot and not have to build costly sets, and by reusing the set for Emperor Ming's palace.

In the stock footage from Flash Gordon, shown in this film, as Flash is telling The Clay People about his previous encounter with Emperor Ming, Ming is bald and Dale Arden has blond hair. In this sequel, Ming has "pasted on" hair and Dale is a brunette. It has been reported that Jean Rogers (Dale Arden) had many other film roles pending at that time (1938) which had called for her to portray a brunette.

King Features Syndicate released the 3 Flash Gordon serials as well as "Buck Rogers," Red Barry", "Ace Drummond" and other comic strip cliffhangers to US TV in 1951. Because the television show Flash Gordon, starring Steve Holland as Flash, was in syndication in late 1953, the three Universal Pictures Flash Gordon theatrical serials were retitled for TV broadcast. Flash Gordon became "Space Soldiers", Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars became "Space Soldiers' Trip to Mars", and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe became "Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe". To this day both the 3 original "Flash Gordon" serial titles and the 3 "Space Soldiers" titles are used.

Chapter Titles:

1. New Worlds To Conquer

2. The Living Dead

3. Queen of Magic

4. Ancient Enemies

5. The Boomerang

6. Treemen of Mars

7. Prisoner of Monga

8. Black Sapphire of Kalu

9. Symbol of Death

10. Incense of Forgetfulness

11. Human Bait

12. Ming the Merciless

13. Miracle of Magic

14. Beasts at Bay

15. An Eyes For An Eye

  

Woodham Radars Res. 0

Margaretting S&S Club Res.4

15.5.09

 

We're driving towards the orphanage. The highway is lonely, save for a few languid trucks ambling along. It is damp too, and a thick fog covers the countryside: a single light here or there provides the only hint of civilization amidst the interminable verdure. Inside the van, the smoke of cigarettes past wafts in the air, lingering like a lost soul. I inhale, and quickly cough. I subsequently open the window to the enveloping darkness outside, so slightly as to not disturb my companions in the back. The roar of the road echoes in my ears.

 

An unexpected wrench was thrown into our travel plans today. The trip began expediently enough as the bus on which Candy and I rode reached the Shenzhen airport with hours to spare; however, the unscheduled hiccups soon followed. We received an announcement over the public address system notifying us of a flight delay, due to a mysterious military maneuver, we deduced, high in the Shenzhen skies. Several more sonorous reminders came in punctual succession over the next six hours. It seemed as though we would be stuck, stranded really, at the airport forever, or for the day at least. Thankfully, after the police arrested some of the more aggrieved passengers, we finally boarded the plane and took off for central China. We were blessed to be on our way at last, none of us having blown a gasket during the afternoon tedium.

 

One more pitch black road awaited, down a single lonely lane lined with swarthy trees, standing as though sentries, and at length we arrived at the orphanage. The car stopped in a clearing, and we stepped out, onto a cement lot with soft puddles spread silently beneath our feet. We squinted into the twilight, our eyes trying to make sense of the surroundings. Our bags were unloaded, we made our way to the rooms, and soon enough fell asleep. I think we all enjoyed the repose, rendered especially comfortable by the new guest rooms in which we were staying.

 

16.5.09

 

We have only been here for barely 24 hours, yet it feels as though we have been here for much longer, as if time at some point in our journey decided to slow itself to a crawl. Maybe it was because of the litany of activities that we packed into the span of several hours, or perhaps it was the lack of worldly distractions, allowing us to focus solely on our mission, that caused us to suspend the hands of that imaginary clock in our mind. Whatever the case, we've enjoyed every minute at the orphanage; it is time definitely well spent in service!

 

Morning call was at 6:20; and after a prayer meeting we went down to finally visit the kids. They were playing on the vast driveway of the orphanage, savoring their moment of freedom before breakfast. To see so many friendly faces, in spite of their precarious physical and filial circumstance was definitely encouraging. I made a multitude of new friends; and did my best throughout the day to impact those kids with joy, honesty and patience. It is a powerful cocktail which brings love immediately to many.

 

The food at the orphanage is without processing, as natural as victuals can be in these days of impersonal industrial production. Large chunks of mantou, steaming bowls of soupy congee, and salty vegetables with slivers of meat have characterized our meals. It is the kind of humble stuff that lengthens life spans, and disciplines the palate.

 

We presented a wide range of activities - structured and unstructured; whole class and small group - to the kids, in the hope that we would manage them as much as amuse. In the morning, as though breaking the ice once were not enough, we ran through a series of dizzying, if not at times totally incoherent, activities designed to familiarize our dispositions to each other. Later, we established a makeshift fun fair, at which we ushered the children to rooms filled with (board) games, and puzzles, and other, more colorful activities such as face painting and balloon making. The kids couldn't at length contain their enthusiasm, busting into and out of rooms with impunity, soaking in the rapturous atmosphere. In the afternoon, our team attempted to tire them out: running topped the agenda, and by leaps and bounds, the activities, whether straightforward relays or schoolyard classics like duck duck goose and red light, green light, indeed began to tucker our charges out. We, too, were pretty beat by the time night began to creep over the horizon!

 

17.5.09

 

Yesterday evening, we surprised the students with a musical performance, followed by forty minutes of bubble-blowing madness; to be sure, the students could not appreciate our somewhat accurate rendition of Amazing Grace so much as the innocent madness of dipping one's hands in a solution of dish detergent and corn syrup and then whispering a bubble to life; and indeed, the moment the Disney branded bubble-making machines churned the first batch of bubbles into the air, with much rapidity weaving their frenetic pattern of fun, chaos erupted in the room. The students stormed the soap basin, and almost overwhelmed my teammates who valiantly held the Snitch and Pooh high above the heads of the clamoring kids.

 

During the evening's festivities, I grew progressively ill, until at last I dashed out of the room to sneeze. Outside, in the cool of the night, under a cloud of stars beaming so far away in the deep of space, I exploded in a rancor of sneezing. The fit lasted for five minutes, an inexorable depression in my system which sent both my body and my esteem tumbling down. I felt bad, not only for my exceedingly rickety health, but for my teammates and the children who may have been exposed to my sickness as it incubated within me; furthermore, everyone in the classroom was saying goodbye and all I could do was rid myself of a sniffle here and there, in between rounds of bursting from nostrils and sinuses. I was impotent, as though one of my insignificant droplets on the floor!

 

18.5.09

 

We are in a car heading towards a famous historical site in Henan. The driver's drawl slips slowly from his mouth, and what he says resonates intelligibly in our ears. Candy, Tanya and the driver are discussing Chinese mythology, and history, which, for better or for worse seem to be inextricably intertwined. We narrowly just now missed hitting an idle biker in the middle of the road; in dodging our human obstacle, the car swerved into the oncoming traffic, sending us flying inside the cabin. Reciting a verse from a worship song calmed our frazzled nerves.

 

How to describe the children? Many of them smiled freely, and were so polite when greeted that undoubtedly they had been trained well at some point in the tumult of their life education. Precociousness was also a common characteristic shared by the kids, whose stunted bodies belied the mature, perspicacious thoughts hiding just underneath the skin. Of course, in our time together we were more merry than serious, that quality being best left for the adults working silently in their rooms; and to that effect, the kids brought out their funny bones and jangled them in the air to stir up the excitement and to destroy by a jocular clamor any hint of a dull moment – we really laughed a lot. At last, although not all of them seemed interested in our staged activities – rather than feign enthusiasm and eagerness, some skipped our events altogether – those who did participate, most of them in fact, enjoyed themselves with abandon, helping to create that delightful atmosphere where the many sounds of elation reign.

 

Of the students whom I had the opportunity to know personally, several still stick out in my mind, not the least for my having christened a few of them with English names! David was bold, and courageous, willing to soothe crying babes as much as reprimand them when their capricious actions led them astray; he had a caring heart not unlike a shepherd who tends to his young charges. Edward, who at 13 was the same age as David, definitely grew emotionally, not to mention physically attached to me. He was by my side for much of the weekend, grabbing onto my hand and not letting go, to the point where I in my arrogance would detach my fingers within his, ever so slightly, as if to suggest that a second more would lead to a clean break - I know now that with the cruel hands of time motoring away during the mission, I shouldn't have lapsed into such an independent, selfish state; he should have been my son. Another child who became so attached to the team as to intimate annoyance was the boy we deemed John's son, because the boy, it seemed, had handcuffed himself to our teammate, and would only free himself to cause insidious mischief, which would invariably result in an explosion of hysterics, his eyes bursting with tears and his mouth, as wide as canyon, unleashing a sonorous wail when something went wrong. On the other hand, Alice remained in the distance, content to smile and shyly wave her hand at our team while hiding behind her sisters. And last but not least, of our precious goonies, Sunny undoubtedly was the photographer extraordinaire, always in charge of the school's camera, snapping away liberally, never allowing any passing moment to escape his shot.

 

That I learned on this trip so much about my teammates verily surprised me, as I thought the relationships that we had established were already mature, not hiding any new bump, any sharp edge to surprise us from our friendly stupor. So, consider myself delightfully amazed at how a few slight changes in the personality mix can bring out the best, the most creative and the strangest in the group dynamic: admittedly, Candy and Tanya were the ideal foils for John, they eliciting the most humorous observations and reactions from my house church leader, they expertly constructing a depth of character that even last week, in the wake of the Guangdong biking trip, I never knew existed! Most of all, I'm glad to have been a part of such a harmonious fellowship, for the fact that we could prayer together as one, and encourage each other too, and all the more as we saw the day approaching.

(further pictures and informations you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Palais Ephrussi

1, University Ring 14

Architect Theophil Hansen 1873

Family:

Address: Franzensring to Universitätsring

Progenitor Ephrussi-Sephardic Greek from Russia

Family tree - family vault at the Central Cemetery

Ignaz leaves the palace built on the ring

Viktor is arrested by the Nazis

The hare with amber eyes

Palais:

A small but fine Heinrichshof - Förstersche group

The neighbor: Palais Lieben

Piano nobile in inconspicuous 1 floor

Interior of Hitler's Professor

Location: Story of the Schottentor

From Franzensring to Universitätsring

The Ephrussi family name is relatively unknown in Vienna.

The Palais Ephrussi, so the building at the ring road, however, many Viennese is familiar, was there but housed the administration of Casinos Austria from 1969 to 2009 housed. The company inscription 'decorates' still the facade.

Today, the property is home of a law firm, led by the President of the Bar Association Gerhard Benn-Ibler.

Students across the university is probably more known McDonald, who has rented the ground floor of the adjacent house.

At that time the palace was at Franzensring. It began at the Parliament and reached to the university. In 1934 one part of it was renamed in Dr. Karl Lueger-Ring. This remained so until 2012. Now it's called University Ring.

The other part even had a more eventfull naming:

1934 Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Ring

1940 Josef Bürckel-Ring

1945 Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Ring

1949 Parliament-Ring

1956 Dr. Karl Renner Ring

Palais Ephrussi, opposite the University

Progenitor Ephrussi - Sephardic Greek from Russia

Ephrussi sounds strange and a bit exotic. One does not really know how to write the word, if you have not seen it before. Hardly anyone suspects that the ancestor of the dynasty, Charles Joachim (1792 - 1864), from Odessa in Russia was - and yet less that this was a Sephardic Greek.

He built a business empire, beginning with grain exports from Ukraine, then investing in the construction of infrastructure: bridges, railways, port facilities. And this, of course, also included the establishment of a bank - with offices in Paris and Vienna.

Offices in Paris - Vienna - Odessa

Pedigree

1. generation

Charles Joachim (1792 - 1864)

2. generation

Ignaz (1829 - 1899)

Leon (1826 - 1878)

3. generation

Viktor (1860 - 1945)

Charles (1849 - 1905)

4. generation

Elisabeth Waal (1899 - 2001)

Ignaz Ephrussi 'Iggie' (1906 - 2011)

5. generation

Victor de Waal

6. generation

Edmund de Waal (1964 - )

Son Ignaz has built the palace

Son Ignaz (1829 - 1899) took over in 1860 the financial transactions in Vienna, his brother Leonid (1826 - 1878) went to Paris and became 'Leon'

As the progenitor Charles died, he was laid to rest in the family vault Ephrussi at the Central Cemetery, not far from the gate 1

(There were later also Ignaz and his wife Emilie, born Porges 1836-1900, buried.)

Ephrussi family vault at the Central Cemetery, Gate 1

Son Ignaz was now head of the Viennese house and reputable in society. He was knighted by the emperor, bestowed him in 1871 with the Order of the Iron Crown, Third Class - although Ignaz throughout his life remained Russian citizen.

Economically he experienced a further upswing, founded more stores, also in London. It is said that the Ephrussi were the second richest banking family after the Rothschilds.

Therefore Ignaz could afford it to take on one of the most successful Ringstrasse architects, Theophil Hansen, 1869 for the construction of his palace. This one had a year earlier started with the construction of the Palais Epstein.

Apart from that Hansen had by his Athens stays good contacts with the Greek society of Vienna and came so to orders such as the Palais Sina am Hohen Markt or the Greek Orthodox Church at the meat market (Fleischmarkt).

Hansen Memorial, Parliament (detail)

Netsuke figurines come in the family

Around the time of the Palais building acquired Ignaz' extremely art-loving cousin Charles (1849 - 1905), who could afford to live as a bohemian and did not have to work, a collection of small carved Japanese figures, netsuke. Those were used in the attachment of kimono belts and were made of ivory, jade or horn.

As heritage (Note: according to other sources, as a gift ) within the family this exotic extravaganza came to Vienna's Palais, where Ignaz resided with family.

Son Victor is arrested by Nazis

In the family Ephrussi it came again to an alteration of generations: Viktor (1860-1945) took over the house. He was with Emilie, called 'Emmy', a born Schey, married.

The marriage was not happy, allegedly, in a manner of speaking the bride was in love with another man. Nevertheless, rapidly three children were born, almost 20 years later, another son - the father was at this time, however, almost certainly Emmys lover (but it was not talked about it).

The family survived reasonably sound an safe to the end of the monarchy, the first World War and the interwar period. But in 1938 came the Nazis, arrested the nearly 80-year-old Viktor in his palace and looted his valuables .

Viktor von Ephrussi

Against the Gestapo violence there were no means, only stratagems: Viktor's maid Anna scurried over and over again among the henchmen.

She succeeded every time to hide some of the small netsuke figurines under her apron, which she then hid in her room.

And she did not say a word to any of them. Not even the stately family.

Viktor was arrested, interrogated in the Hotel Metropol at Morzinplatz and forced to renounce all of his possessions in order to obtain an exit permit.

For his wife Emmy finally all of this became too much. She swallowed an increased dose of heart medications and died.

The Hotel Metropol as an interrogation center

The hare with amber eyes

Viktor was able to flee to England, where he died shortly before the end of the war. His daughter Elizabeth married into the Dutch family de Waal.

She returned in 1945 after the war to Vienna. In the meantime offices of the U. S. Army had moved Into the palais. Vienna should now remain occupied for ten years. Some of the old furnitures were still there. And Anna, the maid.

She handed out Elizabeth the netsuke figures which she could hide then. 264 by the number. A courageous woman. And no one knows her last name. Nobody has asked her for it.

Elizabeth's grandson Edmund has written the story of six generations in the book 'The Hare with the Amber Eyes'. A bestseller: sold 200 000 times.

The Bestseller

Netsuke Figures (Bid: Asian shop Bräunerstraße)

The war-damaged palace was in 1950 returned to the family. Meanwhile impoverished, it had to sell it for only $ 30 000. Were deferred only a few tapestries and books. For the compulsory expropriation of the bank a compensation of $ 5,000 was paid out - with the commitment that they would make no further claims .

As the palace changed hands in 2009, a sum of about 30 million euros has been rumored.

A small but fine Heinrichshof

The Palais Ephrussi extends on the ring road side over nine window axes, on the Schottengasse eight window axes.

The building is a scaled down version of the Heinrichshof which Hansen 1861-63 had built for the brick Baron Heinrich Drasche opposite the Court Opera (destroyed in 1945).

Heinrichshof, 1863

Palais Ephrussi on the left, then the Förstersche group

Theophil Hansen renounced of an accentuation of the center in favor of monumental tower-like corner projections giving the impression that the building stands free. The corner risalit was a characteristic of the baroque palace architecture (example: Schloss Belvedere). It was Hansen's innovative idea to incorporate this motif into the housing. In the business office at the corner of Schottengasse moved in the large, as well furnished by Hansen Café Hembsch.

University (left), Förstersche group (middle), Café Landtmann (right)

Hansen worked very closely with the architects of the adjacent building groups, which also had familial backgrounds: He was with Sophie, sister of Emil Foerster (1838 -1909) married. The brother took over the design on the ring road side, Carl Tietz on the back side at the Palais Lieben. In the literature, this complex of buildings of aesthetic and formal unity went down in history as the 'Förstersche group'.

Unfortunately, the part of the building complex (No. 10, to Mölkerbastei) was severely damaged by bombing in World War II and replaced by a new building.

Palais Ephrussi with caryatids, next to # 12

University Ring No. 10: New in 1966, Carl Appel

The neighbor: Palais Lieben

View Schottengasse:

Left Palais Lieben (8 window axes), right Palais Ephrussi (8 window axes)

One is inclined to attribute the Palais Ephrussi the entire complex. But on the side Schottengasse it includes only the first eight window axes.

If you look closely you can clearly see this on the basis of the color difference of the facade and the gilded, or not gilded balcony lattices.

Ephrussis' immediate neighbors were at the corner Schottengasse/Mölkerbastei the Lieben family, on the ring road side the Iron Baron Mayr-Melnhof (No. 12), No. 10 owned Theresa Blum (destroyed in 1945).

Corner Mölkerbastei/Schottengasse

Piano nobile in inconspicuous 1st floor

Italian flair with plenty of balconies

University Ring (above), Schottengasse (right)

The palace is through ledges horizontally divided into three zones ( base, 'piano nobile', Attica), nevertheless dominates the vertical order: pilasters embrace the second and third floor and the optical impression is further extended by the Terrakottakaryatiden (Terracotta caryatides) that carry the woodwork.

The entire attic floor lies something set back and is circumscribed by a gilded tendrils grid (the thus created balcony room provides surely a nice residential feeling, moreover, perhaps with a view to the Vienna Woods.)

The color scheme of the facade is particularly eye-catching and gives an Italian flair: red brick color with yellow stucco.

Hansen accentuates with the Palais Ephrussi in the first floor the main entrance and the sides with columns, wearing balconies. The shape of the balusters will be taken up later in the opposite University.

The lower floors were rusticated in the neo-Renaissance style, the appear massive and simple.

On the first floor, above the balcony, were the apartment of the landlord and the representative rooms - and not, as one might suspect, a floor above.

Terracotta Jewelry: The head of Mercury protrudes from the Arkanthusblättern (arcanthus leaves) of the capital. Fruit garlands adorn the tower walls between the pilaster capitals.

Detail balcony lattices

Interior of Hitler's Professor

Entrance hall

Transversely embedded courtyard with a glass roof

1 bedroom

2 Damensalon (ladie's salon)

3 dance lounge (including main entrance)

4 reception room

5 smoking-room, billiard room

6 Dining Room

(Note: In the Palais no tours are possible, only the reception area on the ground floor can be visited during business hours.)

Floor plan main floor

Ignaz Ritter von Ephrussi expressly wished from the architect to his main floor a separate staircase, which must not beeing used by any other house party. For the tenants were to build three floors with a convenient main and kitchen stair. On the ground floor a stable for four horses was provided. There are two basement levels.

For the interior design none other than Christian Griepenkerl was taken that equipped the main floor with painting cycles.

Later this one will Adolf Hitler refuse admission to the Academy of Arts because of "insufficient sample drawings".

The ceiling paintings in the Palais show Greek Zeus adventures and Jewish themes (images from the Book of Esther). In other respects, too, it was made sure that nothing was lacking: precious wood floors, expensive fireplaces, elegant marble - and a lot of gold. Inside and outside.

In sunlight, the balcony lattices shine far into the distance. No other Ringstraßenpalais (ring road palais) afforded this beauty .

Terracotta decorations, detail (Mercury)

Location - history from Schottentor

View before 1900 with still intact Gehtor (walking gate) of the Schottentor (gate).

Tor - Tower - Residential House

In the Middle Ages the Babenberg Jasomirgott took Irish-Scottish monks to Vienna. They founded on the ancient Roman road (traffic artery) leading to the west a convent and a school. The name Schottenviertel became customary.

The Schottentor was a part of the fortification. Mentioned it is for the first time in 1276, from 1291 on it was called the Schottenburgtor (Scottish castle gate), later only Schottentor.

The above the gate situated tower was extended in 1418, 1716 were converted into a house gate and tower, which belonged 1775-95 to the couple Eva and Anton Prohaska and 1812 to Protomedicus Edward Guldner von Lobes.

1839 has been demolished.

Old Schottentor Schottenkloster (monastery) 1683

Already in 1656 had been built a new (outer) gate in front of the old Schottentor. 1840 it was replaced by a neoclassical building, similar to the exterior castle gate.

However, as so inconvenient The five passages at Schottentor proved that the new gate soon, " the 5 follies " was the nickname . Supposedly, have been held to narrow the driving gates. And for pedestrians , it was a zig- zag course .

 

The new Schottentor was already 20 years after its establishment , in 1862 , demolished, only a Gehtor has been preserved until 1900. Then they demolished the remaining groups together with four houses of Mölkerbastei .

 

The term Schottentor found today on any street sign, only the metro station at the University bears the name - much to the chagrin of some Vienna tourists from the next station - can be misleading - Scots ring.

 

Old Schottentor to 1839

 

Schottentor , plan 1799

 

New Schottentor 1840

  

View Schottengasse with Schottentor ( direction Votive Church ) , circa 1840

 

View Schottentor - outside, around 1840

 

View Schottentor - outside, around 1840

 

Outside, around 1840

Outside, around 1840

 

New ablation Schottentor 1862

  

left: Palais Ephrussi

1875 - 1920 : Maximilian Course ( Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, initiated the building of the Votive Church )

1920 - 1934 : Liberty Square

1934 - 1938 : Dollfußplatz

1938 - 1945 : Hermann Goering place

1945 - 1946 : Liberty Square

1946 - Roosevelt Square ( with Sigmund Freud Park )

After the 2nd World War I circulated the following joke in Vienna: A visitor from the provinces asks in a Viennese tram :

 

" What is the name of the place over there? " "That is the Town Hall Square , formerly Adolf- Hitler-Platz . " A little further asks the visitors again :

" And what is there in the building? " "This is the Parliament , formerly County House . " Again, the tram runs a piece .

" And what is this place?" "This is the Stalin Square , formerly Schwarzenberg Platz . " The visitor gets out and says goodbye with the words:

"Goodbye , formerly Heil Hitler . "

 

View after 1900

external link : Image Indoors on f1.online

 

Link :

Alphonse Thorsch

A banker was almost as rich as Rothschild - the extinction

  

Tomb of Thorsch family , Central Cemetery , Gate 1

 

sources:

  

Dehio S 336 , Czeike , Archives Publishing

Viennese palace , W. Kraus, P. Müller, Blanck stone Verlag, 1991

The Ringstrasse , a European architectural idea , Barbara Dmytrasz , Amalthea Verlag, 2008

Vienna in old postcards, Czeike , 1989

Vienna pictures from the youth of our Emperor , Gerlach, 80 born FJ

  

The Press : The Ephrussi family scattered to the winds

The Standard : Prison of gold

www.viennatouristguide.at/Palais/ringstrasse/ephrussi.htm

15.5.09

 

We're driving towards the orphanage. The highway is lonely, save for a few languid trucks ambling along. It is damp too, and a thick fog covers the countryside: a single light here or there provides the only hint of civilization amidst the interminable verdure. Inside the van, the smoke of cigarettes past wafts in the air, lingering like a lost soul. I inhale, and quickly cough. I subsequently open the window to the enveloping darkness outside, so slightly as to not disturb my companions in the back. The roar of the road echoes in my ears.

 

An unexpected wrench was thrown into our travel plans today. The trip began expediently enough as the bus on which Candy and I rode reached the Shenzhen airport with hours to spare; however, the unscheduled hiccups soon followed. We received an announcement over the public address system notifying us of a flight delay, due to a mysterious military maneuver, we deduced, high in the Shenzhen skies. Several more sonorous reminders came in punctual succession over the next six hours. It seemed as though we would be stuck, stranded really, at the airport forever, or for the day at least. Thankfully, after the police arrested some of the more aggrieved passengers, we finally boarded the plane and took off for central China. We were blessed to be on our way at last, none of us having blown a gasket during the afternoon tedium.

 

One more pitch black road awaited, down a single lonely lane lined with swarthy trees, standing as though sentries, and at length we arrived at the orphanage. The car stopped in a clearing, and we stepped out, onto a cement lot with soft puddles spread silently beneath our feet. We squinted into the twilight, our eyes trying to make sense of the surroundings. Our bags were unloaded, we made our way to the rooms, and soon enough fell asleep. I think we all enjoyed the repose, rendered especially comfortable by the new guest rooms in which we were staying.

 

16.5.09

 

We have only been here for barely 24 hours, yet it feels as though we have been here for much longer, as if time at some point in our journey decided to slow itself to a crawl. Maybe it was because of the litany of activities that we packed into the span of several hours, or perhaps it was the lack of worldly distractions, allowing us to focus solely on our mission, that caused us to suspend the hands of that imaginary clock in our mind. Whatever the case, we've enjoyed every minute at the orphanage; it is time definitely well spent in service!

 

Morning call was at 6:20; and after a prayer meeting we went down to finally visit the kids. They were playing on the vast driveway of the orphanage, savoring their moment of freedom before breakfast. To see so many friendly faces, in spite of their precarious physical and filial circumstance was definitely encouraging. I made a multitude of new friends; and did my best throughout the day to impact those kids with joy, honesty and patience. It is a powerful cocktail which brings love immediately to many.

 

The food at the orphanage is without processing, as natural as victuals can be in these days of impersonal industrial production. Large chunks of mantou, steaming bowls of soupy congee, and salty vegetables with slivers of meat have characterized our meals. It is the kind of humble stuff that lengthens life spans, and disciplines the palate.

 

We presented a wide range of activities - structured and unstructured; whole class and small group - to the kids, in the hope that we would manage them as much as amuse. In the morning, as though breaking the ice once were not enough, we ran through a series of dizzying, if not at times totally incoherent, activities designed to familiarize our dispositions to each other. Later, we established a makeshift fun fair, at which we ushered the children to rooms filled with (board) games, and puzzles, and other, more colorful activities such as face painting and balloon making. The kids couldn't at length contain their enthusiasm, busting into and out of rooms with impunity, soaking in the rapturous atmosphere. In the afternoon, our team attempted to tire them out: running topped the agenda, and by leaps and bounds, the activities, whether straightforward relays or schoolyard classics like duck duck goose and red light, green light, indeed began to tucker our charges out. We, too, were pretty beat by the time night began to creep over the horizon!

 

17.5.09

 

Yesterday evening, we surprised the students with a musical performance, followed by forty minutes of bubble-blowing madness; to be sure, the students could not appreciate our somewhat accurate rendition of Amazing Grace so much as the innocent madness of dipping one's hands in a solution of dish detergent and corn syrup and then whispering a bubble to life; and indeed, the moment the Disney branded bubble-making machines churned the first batch of bubbles into the air, with much rapidity weaving their frenetic pattern of fun, chaos erupted in the room. The students stormed the soap basin, and almost overwhelmed my teammates who valiantly held the Snitch and Pooh high above the heads of the clamoring kids.

 

During the evening's festivities, I grew progressively ill, until at last I dashed out of the room to sneeze. Outside, in the cool of the night, under a cloud of stars beaming so far away in the deep of space, I exploded in a rancor of sneezing. The fit lasted for five minutes, an inexorable depression in my system which sent both my body and my esteem tumbling down. I felt bad, not only for my exceedingly rickety health, but for my teammates and the children who may have been exposed to my sickness as it incubated within me; furthermore, everyone in the classroom was saying goodbye and all I could do was rid myself of a sniffle here and there, in between rounds of bursting from nostrils and sinuses. I was impotent, as though one of my insignificant droplets on the floor!

 

18.5.09

 

We are in a car heading towards a famous historical site in Henan. The driver's drawl slips slowly from his mouth, and what he says resonates intelligibly in our ears. Candy, Tanya and the driver are discussing Chinese mythology, and history, which, for better or for worse seem to be inextricably intertwined. We narrowly just now missed hitting an idle biker in the middle of the road; in dodging our human obstacle, the car swerved into the oncoming traffic, sending us flying inside the cabin. Reciting a verse from a worship song calmed our frazzled nerves.

 

How to describe the children? Many of them smiled freely, and were so polite when greeted that undoubtedly they had been trained well at some point in the tumult of their life education. Precociousness was also a common characteristic shared by the kids, whose stunted bodies belied the mature, perspicacious thoughts hiding just underneath the skin. Of course, in our time together we were more merry than serious, that quality being best left for the adults working silently in their rooms; and to that effect, the kids brought out their funny bones and jangled them in the air to stir up the excitement and to destroy by a jocular clamor any hint of a dull moment – we really laughed a lot. At last, although not all of them seemed interested in our staged activities – rather than feign enthusiasm and eagerness, some skipped our events altogether – those who did participate, most of them in fact, enjoyed themselves with abandon, helping to create that delightful atmosphere where the many sounds of elation reign.

 

Of the students whom I had the opportunity to know personally, several still stick out in my mind, not the least for my having christened a few of them with English names! David was bold, and courageous, willing to soothe crying babes as much as reprimand them when their capricious actions led them astray; he had a caring heart not unlike a shepherd who tends to his young charges. Edward, who at 13 was the same age as David, definitely grew emotionally, not to mention physically attached to me. He was by my side for much of the weekend, grabbing onto my hand and not letting go, to the point where I in my arrogance would detach my fingers within his, ever so slightly, as if to suggest that a second more would lead to a clean break - I know now that with the cruel hands of time motoring away during the mission, I shouldn't have lapsed into such an independent, selfish state; he should have been my son. Another child who became so attached to the team as to intimate annoyance was the boy we deemed John's son, because the boy, it seemed, had handcuffed himself to our teammate, and would only free himself to cause insidious mischief, which would invariably result in an explosion of hysterics, his eyes bursting with tears and his mouth, as wide as canyon, unleashing a sonorous wail when something went wrong. On the other hand, Alice remained in the distance, content to smile and shyly wave her hand at our team while hiding behind her sisters. And last but not least, of our precious goonies, Sunny undoubtedly was the photographer extraordinaire, always in charge of the school's camera, snapping away liberally, never allowing any passing moment to escape his shot.

 

That I learned on this trip so much about my teammates verily surprised me, as I thought the relationships that we had established were already mature, not hiding any new bump, any sharp edge to surprise us from our friendly stupor. So, consider myself delightfully amazed at how a few slight changes in the personality mix can bring out the best, the most creative and the strangest in the group dynamic: admittedly, Candy and Tanya were the ideal foils for John, they eliciting the most humorous observations and reactions from my house church leader, they expertly constructing a depth of character that even last week, in the wake of the Guangdong biking trip, I never knew existed! Most of all, I'm glad to have been a part of such a harmonious fellowship, for the fact that we could prayer together as one, and encourage each other too, and all the more as we saw the day approaching.

Ribble Steam Railway - 24/3/2024

Class 50 50032 "Courageous" at Bristol Bath Road depot in September 1987.

“Captains Courageous” is a coming-of-age tale of fishing off the New England coast. It is the story of Harvey Cheyne, a spoiled rich kid, who stumbles overboard an ocean liner and is rescued by fisherman Manuel Fidello off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and brought aboard a small fishing boat. There he meets Disko Troop, captain of the fishing boat, who refuses to take the young man back to port but agrees to take him on as part of the crew against Harvey’s wishes. Over the course of the novel, Harvey befriends the captain’s son Dan and has some sense knocked into him. Dan helps the arrogant, overly pampered Harvey become a hard-working, self-reliant man at sea.

 

“Captains Courageous” is also an excellent portrayal of life in the Gloucester fishing fleet of Massachusetts, written while the newlywed Kipling lived in Vermont. Although Kipling lived in Vermont several years and was married to an American this is his only novel with entirely American settings, themes and major characters. The American edition of the book is dedicated to James Conland, M.D., of Brattleboro, Vermont. Dr. Conland had brought the Kiplings elder daughter into the world and had been a member of the Massachusetts fishing fleet. It is he who took Kipling to explore the wharves and quays of Boston and Gloucester.

 

Considered one of the great sea novels of the 19th century, “Captains Courageous” was made into an excellent Victor Fleming film in 1937 starring Freddie Bartholomew (Harvey Cheyne), Spencer Tracy (his rescuer Manuel Fidello),

Lionel Barrymore (Captain Disko Troop) and Mickey Rooney (Dan Troop).

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqxk0bYt4U8

 

15.5.09

 

We're driving towards the orphanage. The highway is lonely, save for a few languid trucks ambling along. It is damp too, and a thick fog covers the countryside: a single light here or there provides the only hint of civilization amidst the interminable verdure. Inside the van, the smoke of cigarettes past wafts in the air, lingering like a lost soul. I inhale, and quickly cough. I subsequently open the window to the enveloping darkness outside, so slightly as to not disturb my companions in the back. The roar of the road echoes in my ears.

 

An unexpected wrench was thrown into our travel plans today. The trip began expediently enough as the bus on which Candy and I rode reached the Shenzhen airport with hours to spare; however, the unscheduled hiccups soon followed. We received an announcement over the public address system notifying us of a flight delay, due to a mysterious military maneuver, we deduced, high in the Shenzhen skies. Several more sonorous reminders came in punctual succession over the next six hours. It seemed as though we would be stuck, stranded really, at the airport forever, or for the day at least. Thankfully, after the police arrested some of the more aggrieved passengers, we finally boarded the plane and took off for central China. We were blessed to be on our way at last, none of us having blown a gasket during the afternoon tedium.

 

One more pitch black road awaited, down a single lonely lane lined with swarthy trees, standing as though sentries, and at length we arrived at the orphanage. The car stopped in a clearing, and we stepped out, onto a cement lot with soft puddles spread silently beneath our feet. We squinted into the twilight, our eyes trying to make sense of the surroundings. Our bags were unloaded, we made our way to the rooms, and soon enough fell asleep. I think we all enjoyed the repose, rendered especially comfortable by the new guest rooms in which we were staying.

 

16.5.09

 

We have only been here for barely 24 hours, yet it feels as though we have been here for much longer, as if time at some point in our journey decided to slow itself to a crawl. Maybe it was because of the litany of activities that we packed into the span of several hours, or perhaps it was the lack of worldly distractions, allowing us to focus solely on our mission, that caused us to suspend the hands of that imaginary clock in our mind. Whatever the case, we've enjoyed every minute at the orphanage; it is time definitely well spent in service!

 

Morning call was at 6:20; and after a prayer meeting we went down to finally visit the kids. They were playing on the vast driveway of the orphanage, savoring their moment of freedom before breakfast. To see so many friendly faces, in spite of their precarious physical and filial circumstance was definitely encouraging. I made a multitude of new friends; and did my best throughout the day to impact those kids with joy, honesty and patience. It is a powerful cocktail which brings love immediately to many.

 

The food at the orphanage is without processing, as natural as victuals can be in these days of impersonal industrial production. Large chunks of mantou, steaming bowls of soupy congee, and salty vegetables with slivers of meat have characterized our meals. It is the kind of humble stuff that lengthens life spans, and disciplines the palate.

 

We presented a wide range of activities - structured and unstructured; whole class and small group - to the kids, in the hope that we would manage them as much as amuse. In the morning, as though breaking the ice once were not enough, we ran through a series of dizzying, if not at times totally incoherent, activities designed to familiarize our dispositions to each other. Later, we established a makeshift fun fair, at which we ushered the children to rooms filled with (board) games, and puzzles, and other, more colorful activities such as face painting and balloon making. The kids couldn't at length contain their enthusiasm, busting into and out of rooms with impunity, soaking in the rapturous atmosphere. In the afternoon, our team attempted to tire them out: running topped the agenda, and by leaps and bounds, the activities, whether straightforward relays or schoolyard classics like duck duck goose and red light, green light, indeed began to tucker our charges out. We, too, were pretty beat by the time night began to creep over the horizon!

 

17.5.09

 

Yesterday evening, we surprised the students with a musical performance, followed by forty minutes of bubble-blowing madness; to be sure, the students could not appreciate our somewhat accurate rendition of Amazing Grace so much as the innocent madness of dipping one's hands in a solution of dish detergent and corn syrup and then whispering a bubble to life; and indeed, the moment the Disney branded bubble-making machines churned the first batch of bubbles into the air, with much rapidity weaving their frenetic pattern of fun, chaos erupted in the room. The students stormed the soap basin, and almost overwhelmed my teammates who valiantly held the Snitch and Pooh high above the heads of the clamoring kids.

 

During the evening's festivities, I grew progressively ill, until at last I dashed out of the room to sneeze. Outside, in the cool of the night, under a cloud of stars beaming so far away in the deep of space, I exploded in a rancor of sneezing. The fit lasted for five minutes, an inexorable depression in my system which sent both my body and my esteem tumbling down. I felt bad, not only for my exceedingly rickety health, but for my teammates and the children who may have been exposed to my sickness as it incubated within me; furthermore, everyone in the classroom was saying goodbye and all I could do was rid myself of a sniffle here and there, in between rounds of bursting from nostrils and sinuses. I was impotent, as though one of my insignificant droplets on the floor!

 

18.5.09

 

We are in a car heading towards a famous historical site in Henan. The driver's drawl slips slowly from his mouth, and what he says resonates intelligibly in our ears. Candy, Tanya and the driver are discussing Chinese mythology, and history, which, for better or for worse seem to be inextricably intertwined. We narrowly just now missed hitting an idle biker in the middle of the road; in dodging our human obstacle, the car swerved into the oncoming traffic, sending us flying inside the cabin. Reciting a verse from a worship song calmed our frazzled nerves.

 

How to describe the children? Many of them smiled freely, and were so polite when greeted that undoubtedly they had been trained well at some point in the tumult of their life education. Precociousness was also a common characteristic shared by the kids, whose stunted bodies belied the mature, perspicacious thoughts hiding just underneath the skin. Of course, in our time together we were more merry than serious, that quality being best left for the adults working silently in their rooms; and to that effect, the kids brought out their funny bones and jangled them in the air to stir up the excitement and to destroy by a jocular clamor any hint of a dull moment – we really laughed a lot. At last, although not all of them seemed interested in our staged activities – rather than feign enthusiasm and eagerness, some skipped our events altogether – those who did participate, most of them in fact, enjoyed themselves with abandon, helping to create that delightful atmosphere where the many sounds of elation reign.

 

Of the students whom I had the opportunity to know personally, several still stick out in my mind, not the least for my having christened a few of them with English names! David was bold, and courageous, willing to soothe crying babes as much as reprimand them when their capricious actions led them astray; he had a caring heart not unlike a shepherd who tends to his young charges. Edward, who at 13 was the same age as David, definitely grew emotionally, not to mention physically attached to me. He was by my side for much of the weekend, grabbing onto my hand and not letting go, to the point where I in my arrogance would detach my fingers within his, ever so slightly, as if to suggest that a second more would lead to a clean break - I know now that with the cruel hands of time motoring away during the mission, I shouldn't have lapsed into such an independent, selfish state; he should have been my son. Another child who became so attached to the team as to intimate annoyance was the boy we deemed John's son, because the boy, it seemed, had handcuffed himself to our teammate, and would only free himself to cause insidious mischief, which would invariably result in an explosion of hysterics, his eyes bursting with tears and his mouth, as wide as canyon, unleashing a sonorous wail when something went wrong. On the other hand, Alice remained in the distance, content to smile and shyly wave her hand at our team while hiding behind her sisters. And last but not least, of our precious goonies, Sunny undoubtedly was the photographer extraordinaire, always in charge of the school's camera, snapping away liberally, never allowing any passing moment to escape his shot.

 

That I learned on this trip so much about my teammates verily surprised me, as I thought the relationships that we had established were already mature, not hiding any new bump, any sharp edge to surprise us from our friendly stupor. So, consider myself delightfully amazed at how a few slight changes in the personality mix can bring out the best, the most creative and the strangest in the group dynamic: admittedly, Candy and Tanya were the ideal foils for John, they eliciting the most humorous observations and reactions from my house church leader, they expertly constructing a depth of character that even last week, in the wake of the Guangdong biking trip, I never knew existed! Most of all, I'm glad to have been a part of such a harmonious fellowship, for the fact that we could prayer together as one, and encourage each other too, and all the more as we saw the day approaching.

Courageous are the hands

that reach out to another in need

unarmed of pride

that cripples many

with silence or an empty roar

Creator: Pang Ka (龐卡, b. 1935)

Title: Advance Courageously Under the Guidance of the Red Flag of Mao Zedong Thought (在毛泽东思想红旗指引下, 奋勇前进 / ZAI MAO ZE DONG SI XIANG HONG QI ZHI YIN XIA, FEN YONG QIAN JIN)

Date: 1964

Extent: 1 colour poster 50x76cm

Format: Poster

Image ID: F6207

Rights Info: No known restrictions on access

Repository: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Canada, M5S 1A5

 

Publisher: Shanghai People's Fine Arts Press (上海人民美术出版社)

Imprint: Shanghai, January 1966

Edition: First edition, 1964

General Publication Number (统一书号) T8081·9206

Price: 0.15 yuan

There is a line of churches beside the A2 and along the Nailbourne, which winds its way along the bottom of the valley just down the hill from St Giles.

 

I have been here before, but looking at my shots, I see I took just three shots of the church, none of the building, and so a serious oversight on my part.

 

St Giles sits in a sharp bend in Church Lane, and there are fierce signs demanding that there is no parking, ut where else to park? One of the signs had been knocked over, so I parked in front of that. I was expecting someone to come out and yell at me, but none came, maybe the weather forcing people to stay inside.

 

It has been a dreary day in the Garden of England, and it would have been easy not to go out, but a 20 minute run up the A2, and a sharp turn off it into the Nailbourne valley brings you to a sleepy a village as you could want.

 

-------------------------------------------

 

A flint church dating from the early Norman period, when imported stone for quoins was expensive. This is one of the handful of churches in the county where the corners were rudely formed of flint. In the fourteenth century the chancel was extended to the east and a tower added at the west end. Three well-known nineteenth-century designers were involved at Kingston. The east window is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, the chancel roof by William White and the choir stalls by Norman Shaw. Of medieval date is a plain Perpendicular piscina and a good aumbry, whilst the pulpit is a typical example of sixteenth-century work.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Kingston

 

------------------------------------------

 

A small church with a simple unaisled nave and chancel (no chapels, though a Lady Chapel is, oddly, mentioned in a 1525 will), and an added 15th century W. tower. There are also a 19th century vestry and N. porch.

As Elliston Erwood has shown, the plan of the nave and western part of the chancel (and the whole flint quoins) suggest an early Norman date for the earliest part of the church. The chancel was probably extended about 10 feet eastwards in the early 13th century.

Early in the 14th century four new windows were inserted into the east end of the nave (and by this time, any chancel arch had gone, and the east end walls of the nave cut back. On either side are 2-light windows with trefoiled heads and 'daggered bottomed' quatrefoils over - all under 2 centred arched hoodmoulds (ie just reticulated). The eastern windows in the nave are single-light cinquefoil headed windows which light the E. end of the nave very well. The window on the north is very low, and that on the south has internal shutter hooks at the bottom. Were these windows to light an altar or an early rood screen? There is a corbel (bracket) just west of the S.E. window. In the centre of the S. wall of the nave is a shallow niche under a wide pointed arch. It perhaps blocks an earlier doorway (see scar in render outside), and was perhaps originally for a tomb (Hasted says that there was a flagstone here from which the brass was gone). There was also apparently a 'Decorated' period E. window with a Rose until replaced by the present 3-light E. window in 1897 (?frags. over gateway in churchyard wall west of tower).

In the later part of the 15th century, a massive but small tower, with western angle-buttresses, was added to the west end of the nave after its west wall had been demolished. The tower arch is perhaps earlier. It has a fine 3-light trefoil-headed window over its W. doorway. The top stage of the tower has debased round-headed windows suggesting an early 16th century date. The large Ragstone quoins for the tower are still largely intact - most of the rest of the flint face is covered in render. There is a simple corbelled top. Inside the tower, in the S.W. corner, is a fine 14th century corbelled head.

A pair of two-light perpendicular windows, with square heads (and hoodmould on S.), were added at the west end of the nave on the N. and S. sides, and a fine new doorway with a square head and decorated spandrels inscribed (very worn):

"Pray for the soules of .... Thomas .... and Alys his wyf". This must also be later 15th century (no related will is known), and there is a fine holy water stoup immediately west of the doorway with a square hoodmould. (The porch is 19th century)

The chancel windows and fittings (Sedilia, Piscina and Aumbry) were also renewed in the 15th century. There are single-light windows one either side to the east, and 2-light windows on either side to the west. These have internal side jambs that come down much lower with a bench on the north - that on the south was cut away for the door into the vestry in the later 19th century. The door into the aumbry on the north was acquired, and put in, in 1928, by the Rector.

The nave and chancel both have fine surviving (c. 15th century) crown-post roofs that butt each other. The carved angel truss at the E. end of the chancel was inserted in 1873 when the lath and plaster ceilings were removed by William White.

There is a fine early 17th century pulpit at the S.E. corner of the nave.

Many alterations and repairs were carried out in the 19th century. In 1846, after repair and redecoration, a new floor was laid and new pews were put in. At the same time the W. gallery and chancel screen were removed.

In 1973, as mentioned above, the ceilings were removed, then in the 1880s more repairs were undertaken (another reflooring and reseating in 1886, with new choir stalls by Norman Shaw). The floor tiles in the chancel, also by Norman Shaw, were put in at the same time (see Newman B.O.E. (N.E.+E. Kent), 367).

Finally the east window was renewed in 1897 and the gable top was rebuilt and heightened with a coping.

 

BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc.):

The original material was local flint, but most of this is now covered by the external render used all over the building. There is some use of Caen in windows, etc., and, for the later work, Kentish Rag (from the Sandgate, etc. - boring mollusc holes), best seen in the tower buttress quoins.

 

Under the tower is an early 13th century octagonal font bowl (unusual at this date) on a new base (returned to the church in 1931 after have been discarded over 150 years earlier. (Glynne visiting in 1846 saw a wooden font!).

 

There are 3 bells in the tower, hung for chiming only : one by William le Belyetere (c. 1350) but cracked; one by Joseph Hatch, 1610 and a treble (blank).

 

There is a brass indent on the S. side of the chancel (by vestry door) with only two brass shields in situ.

 

EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: Monument to John Nethersole (ob. 1627) with small kneeling figures. There are also several fine wall monuments.

 

At the beginning of this century, Oyler mentions many hatchments in the church.

 

CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:

Size: Small area N+E+S of church with larger extension to S.E.

 

Condition: Good

 

Apparent extent of burial: Churchyard burials recorded from 1481 (Wills).

 

Exceptional monuments: Some fine 18th century monuments and

headstones (from 1740) around church and still in situ.

 

HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):

 

Patron: The Lord of the Manor of Kingston.

 

Other documentary sources: Test. Cant. (E. Kent, 1907), 183 - Rood light (1472, 1475, 1479, 1491 wills). Also light of B.V.M. and a chapel of Our Lady (1525), and Image of St. Christopher (1472), and Lights of St. Giles (1475) 1491-1499 and St. Margaret (1525). Tabernacle of St. Giles (1478). Also paving the church (1479) and reparation of nave (1505). N.B. also Parish Register No. 2(1744-1812) also contains notes relating to repairs/alterations in 1846, 1873, 1881, 1882, 1886 and 1897.

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD:

Reused materials: Above a gate into the old Rectory garden (N.W. of the tower) are various architectural fragments set up (? from the earlier E. window).

 

SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:

Inside present church: ?Quite good.

 

Outside present church: Narrow trench cut all the way round the outside of the church (except N. and W. of Tower).

 

Quinquennial inspection (date\architect): 1989 ANDREW CLAGUE

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:

The Church and churchyard: A small but fine parish church with fine later medieval roofs, and some good monuments in, and around, the church.

 

REFERENCES: Notes by F.C. Elliston Erwood in Arch. Cant. 59 (1946), 1-2 (and plan of 1927). Also by G.R. Glynne Notes on the Churches of Kent (1877), 130, and Hasted IX (1800), 348-9.

 

Guide book: Leaflet by Margaret Smith (n.d.)

 

Plans & drawings: Plan in Elliston Erwood (above).

 

DATES VISITED: 26th November 1991 REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown

 

www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/KIN.htm

 

-------------------------------------------

 

KINGSTON

LIES the next parish eastward from Bishopsborne, in the upper half hundred of Kinghamford. There is but one borough in it, which extends likewise over the whole of this half hundred.

 

KINGSTON is situated in the same fine healthy and pleasant country of East Kent, the Bourne valley continues through the centre of it, where it is very narrow, not more than a mile from east to west, but the other way it is more than four in length. The village, having the church and parsonage within it stands on the southern side of Barham downs, just on the rise of the hill, on the opposite side of the valley, through which the Nailbourne runs at times, near which the land is very good and fertile. Just above the village is a neat house, sitted up a few years since by Capt. Chicke, and now occupied by Edwin Humphry Sandys, esq. who married Helen, his only daughter and heir, by whom he has five sons and two daughters; the whole of it, with the woods and hills above, forming a part of that beautiful prospect along this vale, so conspicuous from the downs and the high Dover road over them. Above the village the hills rise pretty high to a poor barren and stony country, covered with woods, among which, on the summit of the hill, is that large tract of them called Covert wood, accounted a manor, and belonging to the archbishop; beyond this the parish extends to Parmsted and Linsey bottom, joining the parishes of Upper Hardres, Stelling, and Eleham. On the other side of the Bourne valley northward, the ground rises to an open uninclosed country, taking within its bounds great part of Barham downs, and Ileden and Dennehill, beyond the opposite side of them, and it extends beyond the latter to the scite of Nethersole-house, which stood partly within it. The soil from the vale towards the downs, and on great part of them, is but poor and barren, being chalk, and covered with flints, but the soil on the upper part of the downs, towards Ileden and thereabouts, inclines to a loam, and is more fertile.

 

BARHAM DOWNS, a part of this county so well known by name to almost every one, is a most pleasant range of pasture ground, of considerable extent; for though it is not more than half a mile wide on a medium, yet it is in length upwards of four miles. It is in general high ground, especially towards the east end, where it rises to a pretty high hill. It lies sloping to the south, towards which, along the whole of it, there is the most pleasing prospect as above-mentioned, of the adjacent country, interspersed with the several villages and gentlemens seats, with which it abounds on both sides. On these downs are the county races, and the king's plate is annually run for here in the month of August.

 

On that part of the downs within this parish, there are many remains of Cæfar's works, in his progress through this county, particularly one of his small advanced camps, made square, with the corners a little rounded, and a single agger and vallum on three sides of it, the upper or northern side being left open. It lies on the slope of the hill, facing Kingston-church to the south-west; and from this camp westward there continue several lines of entrenchments, as there do again round and about Dennehill eastward, contiguous to all which there are great numbers of tumulior barrows interspersed over the downs, some of which are of a considerable size, but all of them have been opened, and plundered of their contents. The late Rev. Mr. Faussett, of Heppington, opened upwards of 300 of these tumuli, and greatly enriched his valuable collection of Roman antiquities with the contents of them; among which were discovered several coins of the first and second brass, viz. Claudius, Gallienus-Probus, Carausius, Allectus, and Constantine the Great. He was firmly of opinion, that these tumuli were the graves of the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, of men and women promiscuously buried in them at different times; and that those with military appearances in them were of those who had at some time been soldiers. A denarius of Tiberius was found among the entrenchments near them.—Twine, in his treatise De Rebus Albionicis, p. 75, says, there was a barrow of an immense size opened on these downs, in king Henry VIII.'s time, by Mr. William Diggs, and that there was dug out of it a very large urn, full of ashes and bones of the largest size, with brass and iron helmets and shields of an unusual bigness, but almost wasted away; yet there was nothing to judge by, either of its time, or whom it belonged to. The Roman military way, or Watling-street, runs, along the lower side of the downs, the whole length of them, in a strait line from Canterbury towards Dover. It is made circular, and composed of the soil of the country, chalk and flints blended together, and is at this time the greatest part of it entire, being made use of as the common high road.

 

On these downs, anno 1213, king John encamped with a mighty army of 60,000 men, to oppose Philip, king of France, who was marching to invade this kingdom; but Pandulph, the pope's legate, who was then at the house of the knights templars in this neighbourhood, sent two of them to persuade the king to come to him there, where the king, in the presence of his principal nobles and the bishops, resigned his crown to the legate, as the pope's representative; (fn. 1) and here, in king Henry III.'s reign, Simon Montfort, earl of Leicester, being declared general of their army by the discontented barons, arrayed a numerous army to oppose the landing of queen Eleanor, whom the king had left behind in France.

 

THE MANOR OF KINGSTON was part of those lands which were given by the Conqueror to Fulbert de Dover, and made up together the barony of Fulbert, or Fobert, being held in capite by barony; and Chilham being made the chief seat of it, or caput baroniæ, it came afterwards to be called the barony of Chilham. In his descendants, and in the Strabolgie's, earls of Athol, this manor continued, in like manner as Chilham, till it was forfeited by one of them to the crown, whence it was granted by Edward II. in his 5th year, to Bartholomew de Badlesmere, (fn. 2) who in the 9th year obtained the grant of a fair here, on the feast of St. Leonard the abbot, and free-warren within all his demesne lands in this manor; but his son Giles de Badlesmere died s. p. in the 12th year of king Edward the IIId.'s reign, leaving his four sisters his coheirs, (fn. 3) and upon the division of their inheritance, this manor, with the advowson of the church, was assigned to Sir John Tiptoft, in right of his late wife Margaret, one of them. His son Robert Tiptoft dying in the 46th year of it, without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, of whom Elizabeth, married to Sir Philip le Despencer, on the partition of his estates, had this manor, with the advowson, inter alia, assigned to her. Sir Philip died possessed of it anno 2 Henry VI. upon which it descended to his daughter Margery, then the wife of Roger Wentworth, esq. whose descendant Thomas, lord Wentworth, of Nettlested, alienated it, in the 35th year of that reign, to Thomas Colepeper, esq. of Bedgbury, who soon afterwards conveyed it to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Bishopsborne, in whose descendants it conti nued down to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Bishopsborne, who in 1647 passed away this manor, with the advowson, to Thomas Gibbon, gent. of Westcliffe, who next year settled it on his second son Richard Gibbon, M. D. whose two daughters and coheirs, Dorothy Gibbon, and Anne, wife of the Rev. John Stoning, whose window, her sister Dorothy being deceased unmarried, then became entitled to the whole of it. She left a sole daughter and heir Elizabeth, then the wife of Peter Peters, M. D. of Canterbury, who died possessed of it in 1697. The family of De la Pierre, or Peters, was originally of Flanders. The first of of them who came into England to reside, was Peter Peters, alias De la Pierre, who two years before the restoration purchased the Blackfriars, in Canterbury, where he and his descendants afterwards resided, and practised as physicians with much reputation there, they bore for their arms, Or, three roses, gules. Upon Dr. Peters's death, the inheritance of it descended to his sole daughter and heir Elizabeth, who in 1722 carried it in marriage to Thomas Barrett, esq. of Lee, whose second wife she was. He died possessed of it in 1757, upon which it descended to his only daughter and heir by her, Elizabeth, who entitled her husband the Rev. William Dejovas Byrche, to this manor, with the advowson appendant of the church of Kingston; his arms, Azure, on a chevron, argent, between three fleurs de lis, or, a cross clechee, gules, on a chief of the last, a portcullis, chained of the second, were granted to him in 1758. He died in 1792, as did his widow in 1798, possessed of it, on which it came to SamuelEgerton Brydges, esq. of Denton, who had married their only daughter Elizabeth, and he is the present owner of it. A court leet and court baron is held for this manor.

 

ILEDEN, or Ilding, as it was antiently written, is a seat in this parish, situated below the hill, on the opposite or northern side of Barham downs, which was antiently part of the possessions of the family of Garwinton, of Garwinton, not far distant from it; in which name it continued down to William Garwinton, who dying s. p. Joane his kinswoman, married to Richard Haut, was, anno 11 king Henry IV. found to be his heir, and their son Richard Haut having an only daughter and heir Margery, she carried it in marriage to William Isaac, esq. of Patrixborne, whose descendant James Isaac, about the middle of king Henry VII.'s reign, alienated this seat, which had now lost all reputation of being a manor, to Diggs, of Diggs-court, in Barham, in which it staid till the reign of queen Elizabeth, when it was at length sold to Sir Thomas Wilsford, who afterwards rebuilt this seat, and resided at it. He was only son of Thomas Wilsford, of Hartridge, in Cranbrook, and married Mary, daughter and heir of Edward Poynings, by whom he had Sir Thomas Wilsford, of Ileden, and other children. Sir Thomas married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edwin Sandys, of Norborne, by whom he had James and three other sons; of whom, Edward, the third, was captain of a troop of horse, and in holy orders, which was somewhat remarkable; but being a faithful royalist, he was present at the famous battle of Worcester, and among those who courageously fought at one gate of that city, where he was dangerously wounded in the shoulder, whilst the king made his escape at another part of the city; and the university of Oxford soon afterwards, in compliment to the king, conferred on him the degree of D. D. and the king gave him in recompence the vicarage of Lid, where he died, and lies buried in that church. They bore for their arms, Gules, a chevron, ingrailed, between three leopard's faces, or; which coat, impaled with Sandys, is in several of the windows at Ileden; and in the hall of it is the coat of Wilsford, quartering those of Corney, Poynings, Fitzpain, Bryan, Rokesley, Criol, Crevequer, and Averenches. In whose de scendants it continued down to his great-grandson Sir James Wilsford, of Ileden, who in 1668 sold this seat to Sir Robert Faunce, of Maidstone, who afterwards resided here. He was first of St. Margaret's, Rochester, and resided afterwards at different times at Cosington, in Aylesford, Ileden, the Precincts in Canterbury, Bekesborne, Betshanger, and Maidstone, and lies buried at Aylesford. He bore for his arms, Argent, three lions rampant, sable, collared, or. In 1679 he alienated this seat to John Cason, esq. afterwards of Ileden, and he about the year 1690 passed it away to Thomas Turner, esq. of London, descended from William Turner, of Sutton Valence, of the houshold to king Henry VII. being the son of William Turner, alderman of Canterbury. He was clerk of the drapers company. and was a benefactor to the poor of this parish. He had a daughter Elizabeth, married to Sir Thomas Lombe, of London. He died possessed of it in 1715, whose grandson Thomas Turner, esq. changed his name to Payler, for which an act passed, and resided at Ileden, and died possessed of it in 1771. He left one son Thomas, and a daughter Margaret, married to the Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bifrons. Thomas-Watkinson Payler, the son, married Charlotte, one of the daughters of William Hammond, esq. late of St. Albans, by whom he has seven sons and one daughter. They bear for their arms, Turner, per fess, ermine and sable, a pale counterchanged, three fer de molines, two and one, or, quartering Payler, gules, on a bend, or between three lions, passant-guardant, argent, three mullets of six points, pierced, sable. He was succeeded in it by his son Thomas-Watkinson Payler, esq. now of Ileden, the present owner of it.

 

DENNEHILL is another seat on the same side of Barham downs, at the eastern boundary of them, which took its name from the family of Dene, or Denne, of eminent note in this county, the possessors of it in very early times. One of them, Ralph de Den, held much land in Romney Marsh, and at Buckhurst, in Sussex, in the 20th year of William the Conqueror, as appeared by an old roll in the earl of Dorset's possession, being written in the record, son of Robtus Pincerna, a name probably given him from his being butler or sewer to one of our kings before the conquest. Sir Alured de Den was chief steward of the priory of Christ-church in the 29th year of king Henry III. and was a person so singularly esteemed for his wisdom, that when the laws and ordinances of Romney Marsh were compiled, by that venerable judge Henry de Bath, in the 42d year of that reign, this Sir Alured and Nicholas de Handloe were joined with him for that purpose; and what is remarkable, he at that early time sealed with three leopards faces, the antient paternal coat of this family, which afterwards continued owners of this seat, and resided here with much reputation as justices of the peace and other honourable employments of public concern, down to Michael Denne, esq. who lived here in the reigns of king Edward IV. and king Henry VII. being descended by the marriages of his ancestors from the families of Apulderfield, Earde, Arderne, and Combe, among others, whose posterity spread in several branches resident not only in Canterbury and the several neighbouring parishes, but in West Kent likewise. But after this seat had continued in an uninterrupted descent to him from Sir Alured de Denne above-mentioned, and from him again down to Thomas Denne, esq. who was recorder of Canterbury, and died possessed of it in 1655, it went by Mary, his youngest daughter and coheir, in marriage to Vincent Denne. esq. of Canterbury, sergeant-at-law, descended, as has been above-related, from the same stock of ancestry, but he bore for his arms, Argent, on two flaunches, sable, two leopard's faces, or, being the bearing of this younger branch of this family. The elder branch, of Dennehill, bore Sable, three leopards faces, or. (fn. 4) He died possessed of it in 1693, leaving four daughters his coheirs, viz. Dorothy, married to Mr. Thomas Ginder; Mary, to Mr. Stephen Nethersole; Bridget, to Mr. Robert Beake; and Honywood, to Gilbert Knowler, esq. who the next year vested their several interests in this seat by sale in Mr. Robert Beake before-mentioned, who died possessed of the whole of it in 1701, whose heirs, Thomas, Robert, and William Beake, in 1725 sold it to lady Hester Gray, whose husband Sir James Gray had, in 1707, been created a baronet of Scotland, bearing for his arms, Gules, a lion rampant, within a bordure wavy, argent. She conveyed it to her eldest son Sir James Gray, bart. and K. B. who died in 1775, and was succeeded in it by his brother lieutenant-general Sir George Gray, bart. who dying soon afterwards, it came again to his mother lady Hester Gray, and her daughters, Elizabeth Nicholl, widow, and Carolina Gray, who in 1774 joined in the sale of it to John Morse, esq. of London, merchant, who at no small expence greatly improved this seat, and the adjoining grounds belonging to it, and afterwards in 1777 alienated it to Hardinge Scracey, esq. late on of the clerks of the house of commons, who is the present possessor and resides in it, bearing for his arms, Argent, a cross engrailed, gules, between four eagles displayed, sable.

 

PARMESTED, usually called Parmsted, is a manor situated obscurely among the woods, on the opposite side of the parish, more than two miles from the church, close to the boundaries of Upper Hardres, in which parish great part of it lies, south-westward from Kingston church. It was, as early as any evidence drawn from record can discover, the inheritance of a family of the same name; for in several old deeds relating to lands contiguous to it, Hugh de Parmested is named among other witnesses, and most probably he was owner of this manor; but before the end of king Edward II.'s reign this name was become extinct here, and the family of Garwinton were proprietors of it, as appears by an old fine levied anno 8 Edward III. by Hugh Garwinton, in which he passed away his estate at Permested, to Thomas Garwinton, whose greatgrandson William Garwinton, dying s. p. Joane his kinswoman, married to Richard Haut, was anno 11 Henry IV. found to be his next heir, and their son Richard Haut leaving an only daughter and heir Margery, she carried it in marriage to William Isaac, esq. of Patrixborne, whose descendant James Isaac, about the beginning of king Henry VII. alienated it to Edward Knevet, esq. of Stanway, who died in the 16th year of it, leaving an only daughter and heir, married to Sir John Rainsford, but she died s. p. anno 1507, upon which it devolved to her next heir Elizabeth, wife of John Clopton, esq. and only daughter of Margaret, the eldest of the two sisters and coheirs of Edward Knevet, esq. above-mentioned, and they, anno 27 Henry VIII. passed it away by sale to Thomas, lord Cromwell, afterwards earl of Essex, who the next year sold it to Sir Christopher Hales, the king's attorney-general, who died possessed of it anno 33 Henry VIII. and his three daughters and coheirs conveyed it by sale to Thomas Alphew, otherwise Alphy, yeoman, who in the 5th of Elizabeth, alienated it to William Denne. draper, of Maidstone, who again passed it away to Vincent Denne, LL. D. whose grandson Vincent Denne, sergeant-at-law, of Canterbury, died possessed of it in 1693, without male issue, leaving four daughters his coheirs, the youngest of whom Honywood, on the partition of his estates, became entitled to it. She afterwards married Gilbert Knowler, esq. of Herne, whose second wife she was; they afterwards conveyed this manor to Tho. Harris, hopfactor, of Canterbury, who by his last will in 1726, gave it to his grandson Richard Barham, gent. whose son Mr. Richard Harris Barham, of Canterbury, and an alderman of that city, died possessed of it in 1795, and in the trustees of his will the possession of it is now vested.

 

Charities.

WILLIAM TURNER, by will in 1746, gave the yearly sum of 6l. 10s. to purchase wheaten bread, to be distributed to the amount of 2s. 6d. weekly, every Sunday after divine service, to the poor; and he charged the same on his estate in St. Martin'slane, in Bedfordbury; and 10s. likewise yearly to the clerk for his trouble in distributing it. Which is now paid by T. W. Payler, esq.

 

The poor constantly maintained are about twenty, casually ten.

 

THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.

 

The church consists of one isle and one chancel, having a square tower at the west end, in which are three bells. It is dedicated to St. Giles. This church, though small, is neat. In the chancel is a small monument, with two figures kneeling, and inscription, for John Nethersole, esq. of Nethersole, obt. 1546. A monument for Gilbert Boroughs, A. M. twenty-six years rector of this parish, and master of the king's school, Canterbury, obt. 1718. A memorial within the altar-rails, for Margaret, wife of Thomas Turner, esq. of Ileden, obt. 1698. He died in 1718, and lies in the same vault. A monument within the altarrails, for Vincent Denne, sergeant-at-law, and Mary his wife, daughter of Thomas Denne, esq. deceased. He died in 1693; arms, Three leopards saces, which coat in her hatchment is the first, and argent, on two flaunchee, sable, two leopards faces, or, the second. A memorial for John Haslyn, parson of this parish 26 years, obt. August 24, 1600. A memorial for Robert Denne, obt. 1594. In the south wall is a very antient flat stone, under an arch, the brass gone. The altarpiece was given by Thomas Barrett, esq. patron of this church. In the body is a monument for the Turner's, of Ilden, A stone on the pavement, on which were the figures of a man and woman, and inscription in brass, now gone, which was for Thomas Botiller. Four shields of arms; on one an ox, and on another a sheep, the other two gone.

 

This church has always been appendant to the manor of Kingston, and continues so at this time, SamuelEgerton Bridges, esq. lord of that manor, being the present patron of it.

 

¶It is a rectory, and valued in the king's books at sixteen pounds, and the yearly tenths at 1l. 12s. It is now of the yearly certified value of 77l. 3s. In 1588 it was valued at eighty pounds, communicants 123; in 1640 the same. There was formerly a chantry in this church.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol9/pp338-349

August 13th ~ The Day of Long Odds

Leo ~ 19-21°

Element ~ Fire

Ruler ~ The Sun

Symbol ~ The Lion

Mode ~ Intuition

Motto ~ I Create

 

Number & Planet ~ 4 & Uranus

Image ~ Leadership

Stones ~ Yellow Topaz, Tiger's Eye, Ruby, Milky Yellow Amber

Colors ~ Ocher, Golden Hues

Tones ~ E flat major, G sharp minor

Plants ~ Sunflowers, Chamomile, Lavender

Trees & Shrubs ~ Hazel, Almond, Apple

 

Strengths ~ Indomitable, Spirited, Courageous

Meditation ~ "Stay on the path as much as you can. It is your path only"

 

~ The Secret Language of Birthdays by Goldschneider & Jeffers

  

♫♬♪♫♫ Box of Rain ♫♬♪♫♫

 

50032 Courageous stands at Paddington after arriving with 1V98, 1906 from Birmigham New St

'Courageous' and 'Furious' sit outside the now demolished repair shed at Old Oak Common, on a sparkling May morning in 1990. 'Furious' was withdrawn just days later and 'Courageous' succumbed in October of that year.

'Courageous' and 'Princess' behind Strand Rd. works. 5th. June 1968

Photo courtesy and Copyright of Tony Gillett ©

 

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68029 'Courageous' arrives at Scarborough, Friday 2nd October 2020 with 1T29 11:00 York - Scarborough. The Grade II listed Falsgrave North Eastern Railway built sigalbox having been out of use since 2010.

another dosage of my hefty imagination

once again pretending to be a costumed superheroine, albeit one on a break and relaxing

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