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Guess Where Heraklion (easy!): guessed by par@Site.
Best viewed Large, On Black.
Tommy Kirk as Dop, Yvonne Craig as Dr. Marjorie Bolen, Warren Hammack as Martian Doctor, Byron Lord as Col. Bob Page. Associate Producer was Ed Tobolowski, written and directed by Larry Buchanan. My summary... it was fairly painless but that's 83 minutes I'll never get back.
Water drop from a tap into a glass full of water coloured with yellow food dye balanced on an empty plastic milk carton held up by 2 washing-up sponges. The background was a wet flannel! No expense spared in the making of this shot!
St Mary, Flowton, Suffolk
A visit in February 2019. Two years previously, I had written: Listen: the winter is cold and dark, but the days are lengthening. On a Sunday in early February which promised gloom, but burst instead into a bright unforecast winter sunlight, I headed back to Flowton. All the way, the fields were dead, the crows in possession. Riding the hills from Nettlestead, I freewheeled down into Somersham and up the other side of the valley. Now the clouds began to gather again, but I was not downhearted, for snowdrops in the hedgerows signalled the yearly cycle beginning again, Spring not unheralded. The world will come back to life, and all too soon it will be May, Mary's month; the hedgerows will be full of birdsong, as the endless cycle of life renews itself. Chaffinches will spiral and fluster in their ritual of courting and nesting; below them, a pair of warblers will twist in a perilous skein over the road surface. A pair of jays will hammer the sky beyond.
This is spring as it has always been, adapting itself minutely from year to year as Suffolk around it changes. A hundred years ago, these lanes were full of people, for in those days the villagers were enslaved to the land. But a farm that might support fifty workers then needs barely two now, and the countryside has emptied, villages reduced to a third of their size. To be a farmworker these days is a solitary calling, and I felt at one with them as I raced over the gentle rises on my bike. In all this journey from Claydon, and apart from a brief frenzy of activity at Somersham, I had seen only one other person, and she was three miles ago. Suffolk is quieter now than at any time since before the Saxons arrived, and nature is returning to it.
In the early spring of 1644, a solemn procession came this way. The body of Captain William Boggas was brought back from the Midlands, where he had been killed in some skirmish or other, possibly in connection with the seige of Newark. The cart stumbled over the ruts and mud hollows, and it is easy to imagine the watching farmworkers pausing in a solemn gesture, standing upright for a brief moment, perhaps removing a hat, as it passed them by.
But no sign of the cross, for this was Puritan Suffolk. Even the Church of England had been suppressed, and the local Priest replaced by a Minister chosen by, and possibly from within, the congregation.
William Boggas was laid to rest in the nave of the church, beside the body of his infant daughter who had died a year earlier. His heavily pregnant widow would have stood by on the cold brick floor, and the little church would have been full, for he was a landowner, and a Captain too.
And the story doesn't end there. So, I cast my mind back to a glorious May day in 2007, with the heat of summer already more than a promise, I arrived again in Flowton. Here, the trees in the hedgerows gathered, and the early leaves sent shadows dappling across the road beneath my wheels. The antiquarian David Davy came this way in a bad mood in 1829, with his friend John Darby on their way to record the memorials and inscriptions of the church: ...we ascended a rather steep hill, on which we travelled thro' very indifferent roads to Flowton; here the kind of country I had anticipated for the whole of the present day's excursion was completely realised. A more flat, wet, unpleasant soil and country I have not often passed over, & we found some difficulty in getting along with safety & comfort.
The roads have changed here since Darby and Davy came, but the church hasn't much. The Victorians were kind to Flowton; perhaps, because the Puritans had been. It has a delicious atmosphere, that of an archetypal English country church. The narrow green sleeve of the graveyard enfolds it, rather formal to the north, but wildly overgrown on the south side. The tower is one of those curious affairs where the upper storeys have been taken down at some time, presumably because they were unsafe. The capped base looks rugged and primitive; one might think it early, even Norman. In fact, this pretty little church is almost all of a 14th century piece, in the Decorated style.
The west face of the tower still has its niches, which once contained the images of Saints who watched over the travellers passing by. Another thing curious about the tower is that it has no west door. Instead, the door is into the south side of the tower. There must be a reason for this, for it exists nowhere else in Suffolk. Perhaps there was another building to the west of the tower. However, there are several churches in this area with towers to the south of their naves, and the entrance through a south door into the porch beneath the tower. Perhaps that was originally the intention here.
The notice in the lychgate says Welcome to Flowton Church.Now, this is easily done, but how rare it is! Does it mean anything? Yes, it does, for this church is always open. I stepped into a sweetly ancient space, a slight damp in the air from the winter now gone.
The brick floors are uneven; I stepped inside carefully. Brick floors are lovely though, and once all churches must have had them. The bricks lend an organic quality to the font, which seems to grow out of them, and they spread up beyond the chancel arch into the chancel itself. Glazed Minton tiles have their place; fortunately, that place is not here. On the south side of the sanctuary there is a great rarity. The piscina that formerly served the altar here still retains its original wooden credence shelf. On the opposite wall is a fine corbel of a madly grinning devil.
I wandered back down into the nave, to the ledger stone of Captain William Boggas. It reads Here lyes waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ the body of William Boggas gent, deere to his Countrey, by whoes free choyce he was called to be Captayne of their vountaries raysed for their defence: pious towards God, meeke & juste towards men & being about 40 yeeres of age departed this life March 18: 1643.
To the north of it lie two more ledgers, the easterly one to his young daughter, which in chilling legalese records the date of her birth and her death in the next ensuing month. To the west of that is one to William, his son, who was born on April 11th 1644.
Now hang on, you may be thinking. How could his son have been born in April 1644 if William senior had died in March 1643?
Simply, in those days the New Year was counted not from January 1st, but from March 25th; this is a quarter day usually referred to as Lady Day, in an echoing memory of the pre-Reformation Feast of the Annunciation. So William Boggas died one month before his son was born, not thirteen. It would be good to tell you that William Junior led a similarly exciting and possibly even longer life than his father. But this was not to be, for he died at the age of just two years old in 1645. As he was given his father's name, we may assume that he was his father's first and only son.
A further point of interest is that both Williams' stones have space ready for further names. But there are none. There would be no more children; how could there be? But William's wife is not buried or even remembered here. Did she move away? Did she marry again, and does she lie in some other similarly remote English graveyard? Actually, it is possible that she doesn't. Since I first wrote this account in 2007, I've come across considerable evidence to show that Boggas's wife was Flowton girl Mary Branston, and she had been married before, to Robert Woodward of Dedham, Essex. Between the time of William Boggas's death in 1644 and the 1647 accounting of the Colony, Mary's daughter and nephews by her first marriage had been transported to the Virginia Colony in the modern United States. Is it possible that Mary went to join them?
And finally, one last visitor. Four months after the birth of the younger William, when the cement on his father's ledger stone was barely dry, the Puritan iconoclast William Dowsing visited this remote place. It was 22 August 1644. The day had been a busy one for Dowsing; Flowton was one of seven churches he visited that day. Like me, he came here after Nettlestead and Somersham. Like me, he noticed the piscina in the sanctuary. Unlike me, he ordered its destruction. This obviously didn't happen; perhaps it was filled in instead.
Dowsing had arrived here in the late afternoon on what was probably a fine summer's day, since the travelling was so easy. I imagined the graveyard that day, full of dense greenery. He came on horseback, and he was not alone.With him came, as an assistant, a man called Jacob Caley.
Caley, a Portman of Ipswich, was well-known to the people of Flowton. He was the government's official collector of taxes for this part of Suffolk. One thinks he must not have been a popular man. What the villagers couldn't know, of course, was that Caley was actually hiding away a goodly proportion of the money he collected.
In 1662, two years after the Commonwealth ended, he was found guilty of the theft of £3000, about a million pounds in today's money. He had collected £118 of this from Flowton alone, and John Blatchly, in Trevor Cooper's new edition of the Dowsing Journals, thinks the amount he was found guilty of stealing is probably understated.
On that May day in 2007 I stepped out into the calm of the graveyard, through clusters of yellow cowslips that were scattered here and there across the tussocky ground. In this place of the dead, I breathed deeply the smell of new life. A cluster of sparrows suddenly erupted from the undergrowth, boiling high above me in busy chatter, and on this bright day I thought this as lovely a place as any I have ever been in Suffolk.
10236 Ewok Village 開箱文到了！
The review is here!
We know it's been a long wait... and to cater for the needs of our English speaking readers, we have prepared the review in both English and Chinese (Both Chinese and English versions cover the same stuff, but the English version has stronger references to the movie)， let's us know what you think at the comment section below.
English version:
forum.legendbricks.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1...
呢三日要大家久等了，所以唔講太多。。。
10236 Ewok Village開箱文已經準備好，大家睇完可以係度發表下意見呀 (編者的話：個人覺得英文版寫得好D，中文版以白話寫成，奈何小弟中文作文能力比較低）！
中文版本：
forum.legendbricks.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1...
Special thanks to the LEGO Group!
Raša, the youngest town in Istria, was built in just 547 days due to the needs of the local coal mine as one of a series of newly built towns (città di fondazione) during the Italian administration, i.e. during the so-called fascist era. Construction of the settlement began at the end of April 1936, in April 1937 most of the buildings were completed, so the residents began moving in, and Raša was officially inaugurated on November 4, 1937 in the presence of the government envoy Horst Venturi and the king's envoy the Duke of Spoleto, and numerous high-ranking state officials. A year later, the new municipality of Raša was established.
During construction, the working name of the settlement was Liburnia, but later the name Arsia (Raša) prevailed, after the river of the same name, which with its tributaries geographically and morphologically defines this area. The Raša River (Arsia flumen), known since ancient times, has repeatedly been a significant border between various state entities, including the Croatian state in the 10th century.
The construction of the settlement was preceded by extensive land reclamation works in the Raša and especially Krapan valleys, in the period from 1928 to 1934, organized by a special Consortium headed by a Labin native, Baron Giuseppe Lazzarini.
Mining activities in this area date back to the 17th century, during the Venetian administration, as the first known concession for coal mining in the Krapan valley dates back to 1626. Continuous coal production took place during the 18th century with about forty miners who produced about 560 tons of coal per year. General industrialization, with the widespread use of the steam engine, enabled significant development of coal mines, so during the Austrian administration, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries annual production increased to about 90,000 tons with the use of about 1,500 workers. At that time, Krapan flourished with the construction of a number of new buildings, both commercial and residential, all in the function of the mine. In 1905, a small church of St. Barbara, the patron saint of miners, was built there.
History of Raša
The Italian administration, due to the needs of its autarkic economy, worked on a significant increase in production, so that in 1936 it amounted to 735,610 tons with plans for a million tons with the use of about 7,000 workers with a tendency for constant growth. That is why the coal mining company "Raša" ("Arsa" Società Anonima Carbonifera) and its true successor A.Ca.I. (Azienda Carboni Italiani) commissioned the construction of a new settlement. The settlement design and construction supervision were entrusted to the Trieste architect Gustavo Pulitzer Finali and his architectural studio STUARD (Ceppi, Lah, Kosovel). He had a unique opportunity to solve the urban planning of the entire settlement and to architecturally design each building. In addition, he designed many interiors, especially public buildings, and created furniture designs, interpreting in his own way the principles of the complete work (Gesamtswerk) that he had adopted at the Munich School. Pulitzer divided the settlement hierarchically, into a workers' and an official part, and a central square that served to connect but also separate these two entities. The workers' part is dominated by a house with four two-room apartments, each with a separate entrance and a piece of garden. He also designed a coal-fired stove that allows heating of the entire apartment. Apartments for officials and managers are more comfortable and are heated by hot water from the city heating plant. A total of 96 houses were built. The town, planned for 2,000 to 3,000 inhabitants, had all the necessary facilities, from the municipal building and gendarmerie station, to schools, kindergartens, post offices, cafes, restaurants, hotels, shops, a cinema and hospital, sports fields and even an outdoor swimming pool of Olympic proportions. The infrastructure was also enviably well-designed: water supply and sewage networks, city lighting and asphalt-paved roads, hot water in all public buildings. Of course, the mine administration was located on the edge of the town.
History of Raša
The heart of the town is the town square, to the design of which the architect paid special attention. It is dominated by the imposing church of St. Barbara with a carefully thought-out roof structure obtained by arranging reinforced concrete arched ribs that are reminiscent of a pit support, just as the square attached bell tower is reminiscent of a miner's lamp, which is found in the municipal coat of arms. The interior of the church, with a very harmonious modern design with simple but refined details of the marble altar and sprinkling font, is enlivened with side ceiling lighting, two elongated glass window openings on the facade and very interesting lighting effects in the side sacristy with a glazed dome. Next to the church is a covered loggia, a building element common in many Istrian towns, which with its openings was supposed to help the air flow and ventilate the square during the summer heat. The main facade also features a stone relief figure of St. Barbara, the work of the Trieste sculptor Ugo Carà. The square was once adorned with a stone statue of a miner-fighter, whose author was the equally famous Trieste sculptor Marcello Mascherini, but the sculpture was immediately
10972 R Raša 26.VI.1959. Putnik Zagreb Fotoslužba Snimio Đuro Griesbach 14751 FK Fotopapir
Raša, najmlađi grad u Istri, zbog potreba tamošnjeg rudnika ugljena, izgrađen je u svega 547 dana kao jedan od niza novo izgrađenih gradova (città di fondazione) u doba talijanske uprave, odnosno u vrijeme tzv. fašističke ere. Izgradnja naselja započela je krajem travnja 1936., u travnju 1937. veći dio zgrada bio je dovršen, pa je počelo useljavanje stanara, a Raša je svečano inaugurirana 4. studenog 1937. u nazočnosti vladinog izaslanika Horsta Venturija i kraljeva izaslanika vojvode od Spoleta te brojnih visokih državnih dužnosnika. Godinu dana kasnije uspostavljena je nova općina Raša.
Tijekom gradnje radni naziv naselja glasio je Liburnia, no kasnije je prevagnuo naziv Arsia (Raša) po istoimenoj rijeci koja sa svojim pritocima geografski i morfološki određuje ovo područje. Rijeka Raša (Arsia flumen), poznata od antičkih vremena, višekratno je bila značajna granična međa između raznih državnih entiteta, pa tako i Hrvatske države u 10. stoljeću.
Izgradnji naselja prethodili su opsežni melioracijski radovi raške i osobito krapanske doline, u vremenu od 1928. do 1934. godine, u organizaciji posebnog Konzorcija na čijem se čelu nalazio Labinjanin, barun Giuseppe Lazzarini.
Rudarska djelatnost ovog područja seže u 17. stoljeće, u doba mletačke uprave, jer iz godine 1626. potječe zasad prva poznata koncesija za vađenje ugljena u dolini Krapna. Kontinuirana proizvodnja ugljena odvijala se tijekom 18. stoljeća s četrdesetak rudara koji su proizvodili oko 560 tona ugljena godišnje. Sveopća industrijalizacija, uz široku primjenu parnog stroja, omogućila je značajan razvoj ugljenokopa, pa se tako u doba austrijske uprave, krajem 19. i početkom 20. st. godišnja proizvodnja povećala na oko 90.000 tona uz uporabu od oko 1500 djelatnika. U tom je vremenu Krapan procvao s izgradnjom niza novih objekata, gospodarske i stambene naravi, svi u funkciji rudnika. Godine 1905. podignuta je tamo i manja crkva sv. Barbare, zaštitnice rudara.
Povijest Raše
Talijanska uprava, zbog potreba svoje autarkične privrede, poradila na značajnom povećanju proizvodnje, pa je ista 1936. g. iznosila 735.610 tona s planovima prema milijun tona uz uporabu oko 7000 djelatnika s tendencijom stalnog rasta. Upravo stoga je ugljenokopno društvo „Raša“ („Arsa“ Società Anonima Carbonifera) i njegov pravi slijednik A.Ca.I. (Azienda Carboni Italiani) naručilo izgradnju novog naselja. Projekt naselja i nadzor izgradnje povjeren je tršćanskom arhitektu Gustavu Pulitzeru Finaliju i njegovom arhitektonskom studiju STUARD (Ceppi, Lah, Kosovel). On je imao jedinstvenu priliku da urbanistički riješi kompletno naselje i da arhitektonski oblikuje svaki objekt. Osim toga uredio je mnoge unutrašnjosti, osobito objekte javnog sadržaja, a izradio je i nacrte namještaja, interpretirajući na osobni način principe cjelovitog djela (Gesamtswerka) koje je usvojio na Učilištu u Münchenu. Pulitzer je naselje hijerarhijski podijelio, na radnički i službenički dio te na središnji trg koji je u službi povezivanja, ali i razdvajanja ova dva entiteta. U radničkom dijelu dominira kuća s četiri dvosobna stana, svaki s odvojenim ulazom i komadom vrta. Projektirao je i peć na ugljen koja omogućava grijanje cijelog stana. Stanovi za službenike i rukovoditelje imaju veći komfor i grijanje im je omogućeno posredstvom tople vode iz gradske toplane. Ukupno je izgrađeno 96 kuća. Grad, planiran za 2000 do 3000 stanovnika, imao je sve potrebite sadržaje, od općinske zgrade i žandarmerijske postaje, do škole, vrtića, pošte, kavane, restorana, hotela, trgovina, kino dvorane i bolnice, sportskih igrališta pa čak i otvorenog bazena olimpijskih razmjera. Infrastruktura bila je također zavidno dobro riješena: vodovodna i kanalizacijska mreža, gradska rasvjeta i prometnice s asfaltnim tepihom, topla voda u svim javnim objektima. Naravno uz rub grada nalazila se i uprava rudnika.
Povijest Raše
Srce grada je gradski trg, čijem je projektiranju arhitekt posvetio posebnu pozornost. Na njemu dominira impozantna crkva sv. Barbare s pomno promišljenom krovnom konstrukcijom koja je dobivena nizanjem armirano betonskih lučnih rebara koji podsjećaju na jamsku podgradu, kao što četvrtasti pripojeni zvonik podsjeća na rudarsku lampu, koja se nalazi u općinskom grbu. Unutrašnjost crkve, vrlo skladnog modernog dizajna s jednostavnim, ali profinjenim detaljima mramornog oltara i škropionice, produhovljena je s bočnom stropnom rasvjetom, s dva izdužena staklena prozorska otvora na pročelju i s vrlo zanimljivim svjetlosnim efektima u bočnoj sakristiji s ostakljenom kupolom. Uz crkvu naslanja se pokrivena lođa, graditeljski element čest u mnogim istarskim gradovima, koja je svojim otvorima trebala pripomoći strujanju zraka i ventiliranju trga u doba ljetnih vrućina. Na glavnoj fasadi ističe se i kameni reljefni lik sv. Barbare, djelo tršćanskog kipara Uge Carà. Trg je svojevremeno krasio i kameni kip rudara-borca, čiji je autor bio isto tako poznati tršćanski kipar Marcello Mascherini, no skulptura je odmah u poračju uništena. Pulitzer je sasvim prirodno opskrbio trg skladnom, kamenom, okruglom fontanom.
Povijest Raše
Temeljni princip kojim se rukovodio Pulitzer bio je racionalizam, na tragu onovremenih europskih arhitektonskih strujanja. Jednostavne stroge linije, čiste, svijetle plohe našle su široku primjenu kod njega. Vežući se na mediteransku tradiciju, pravokutnim rješenjima pridodao je i luk, tako da su njegove arhitektonske kompozicije razigrane ne samo linearno već i dubinski zbog igre svjetla i sjene. No, Pulitzer se nije zadovoljio samo ovime. Modernom i suvremenom, dakle europskom, dodao je i tradicionalno, lokalno, istarsko, kako u primjeru obrade elementa baladura tako i u znalačkoj uporabi mjesnog kamena. Zbog svega toga Pulitzerova arhitektura, koja sadržava sva bitna obilježja racionalizma i modernizma u primjeru Raše, postala je svojevrsni uzor i model za urbanističko i arhitektonsko oblikovanje novih naselja, koji je potom našao primjenu u Carboniji, Sabaudiji i drugdje širom Italije.
Nakon drugog svjetskog rata Raša je doživjela paradoksalnu sudbinu. S jedne strane je zbog svoje, nehotične, fašističke prošlosti sistematski zapostavljana i prepuštena propadanju, a s druge je strane kao proizvođač dragocjenog crnog zlata veličana i poštovana, ali sve u cilju njezinog maksimalnog iskorištavanja. U doba jugoslavenske uprave općina Raša integrirana je u općinu Labin, da bi potom u novoj Hrvatskoj državi iznova dobila status samostalne općine. Otada se sustavno vrše napori za valorizaciju ovog nekada izuzetno značajnog rudarskog središta.
tekst izvor:
Word reached my ears at the start of 2016 that the two surviving SRN 4 hovercrafts that plied various short sea routes between Kent and Pas de Calais between 1968 and 2000 were to be broken up. Their story post-withdrawal from active service in 2000 is a long one, including being bought for a large sum of money by somebody who has never done anything with them except re-used some of the engines elsewhere, and a proposed sale to somebody who was going to use them on Lake Ontario in Canada, which never actually happened.
A combination of factors led to them being withdrawn from service. The EU Single Market and doing away with “Duty Free” (one of the biggest cons ever foisted upon the public but that’s another story) took a sizeable chunk out of Hoverspeed’s ancillary income; the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1995 meant that trains could match the hovercraft’s crossing times, and the crafts themselves needed serious refurbishment and the funds weren’t there to pay for it. The Hovercrafts were replaced by “Sea Cats” which provided a service only just a little faster than the ferries and were an absolute pain to load and unload with vehicles.
I used the hovercraft regularly to cross the channel and I used the Sea Cat once – once was enough. Presumably many other former passengers felt the same and Hoverspeed ceased trading in 2005.
For the last few years they have been quietly rusting away in the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent, and now the land is required for housing development. For those who don’t know, the SRN4s were remarkably big buggers so, whilst the smaller hovercraft in the museum (of which there are many ) could probably be easily housed elsewhere, the SRN 4s are a different matter altogether.
Better news came in early August 2016 that the Hovercraft Museum had been given a further three year lease on the site and that one of the SRN 4s, “Princess Anne,” was to be “saved for the nation” which probably means being cosmetically restored (it is highly unlikely that it will ever put to sea again unless huge sums of money are forthcoming from somewhere). “Princess Margaret,” however, is likely to Cease To Be in the not too distant future.
They can currently both be seen at the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent that is currently open most Saturdays. This is a shot of “Princess Anne” at the Hovershow at Lee on Solent on the weekend of 20th August 2016.
My sadness photo needs an explanation...
this is an empty desk at work...there are a lot of empty desks at work, with the government freezing job hiring our empty desks are not being filled and that is sad for many reasons.
The work still needs to be done, those of us that are left are left to do more with less. BUT what is worse, is that there are millions of young Canadians out there who just want to work...and our government is not giving them any chances.
this to me is sadness
Who needs a printing press? Pam is just pushing the ink to the top and flooding the screen before making a proper downwards pass to print it. Her t-shirt is underneath with a 3/4 inch thick piece of plywood inside it. For the the printing pass I held the screen down against the shirt so she could concentrate on swiping the squeegee.
U.S. Ambassador James Foley (right) and local special needs children release red balloons to celebrate the opening of a special needs playground in Karlovac, Croatia, June 16, 2011. Representatives from the Karlovac community, U.S. Embassy Zagreb, U.S. European Command and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District gathered to unveil the $400,000 project, funded by EUCOM and managed by the Europe District. The playground will serve more than 155 special needs children in the Karlovac community. Read more at www.army.mil/article/63376/ (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by David Colberg)
AIR CDRE (RETD) ISHFAQ ILAHI CHOUDHURY
As we say goodbye to the year 2012, we might take time out to reflect on our achievements and failures in the year gone by, examine our prospects for the future and the challenges that lie ahead. Religious extremism leading to terrorist activities is one such area that needs to be reviewed. While many South Asian countries are deeply embroiled in the fight against terrorism, Bangladesh had generally been free from terrorist attacks since 2005. As we tended to relax, two incidents in 2012 brought our focus back to the terrorism issue. The first was the burning and looting of the houses and temples of the Buddhist communities in Cox’s Bazar area on 29-30 September. The second was the arrest on 17 October of a young Bangladeshi man caught while planning to bomb the Federal Reserve Building in New York, USA. As the year was coming to a close, the violence unleashed across the country by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a right-wing Islamist party, sent us a clear signal of the growing strength of Islamist politics.
s we say goodbye to the year 2012, we might take time out to reflect on our achievements and failures in the year gone by, examine our prospects for the future and the challenges that lie ahead. Religious extremism leading to terrorist activities is one such area that needs to be reviewed. While many South Asian countries are deeply embroiled in the fight against terrorism, Bangladesh had generally been free from terrorist attacks since 2005. As we tended to relax, two incidents in 2012 brought our focus back to the terrorism issue. The first was the burning and looting of the houses and temples of the Buddhist communities in Cox’s Bazar area on 29-30 September. The second was the arrest on 17 October of a young Bangladeshi man caught while planning to bomb the Federal Reserve Building in New York, USA. As the year was coming to a close, the violence unleashed across the country by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a right-wing Islamist party, sent us a clear signal of the growing strength of Islamist politics.
These are happening at a time when an avowed secular party, the Awami League (AL), is in power. AL won the 2008 election with a commitment to amend the constitution to restore its secular character. It also promised stern action against all forms of religious extremism and terrorism. Four years down the line, much of those promises remain unfulfilled. Constitutional reform was half-done; Islam remained a state religion. Religious parties are more organised today than ever before. Their student fronts are active in most educational institutions. While Islamists are active on political fronts, more radical amongst them are organising themselves for terrorist activities as and when opportunities appear.
Rise of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh
On 16 December 1971, we hoped that Bangladesh would emerge as a modern democratic state. The spirit of the nation was epitomised in the Constitution (1972) that adopted secularism as a state principle and prohibited the political use of religion. The Constitution barred the state from declaring any religion as state religion. However, it all changed after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and many top-ranking political leaders in 1975. Those who seized power at the time found the Islamists as their political ally and started islamising the society and the state. Islamist political parties, such as JI, started building their party structures. The power elites established thousands of madrassas that produced religiously indoctrinated youths who would be the front-line activists of the Islamist parties. Poor, jobless students from the madrassas became easy target of the recruiters of militant Islamist organisations. By late 1990s we had militant organisations such as Jamiatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkatul Jihad Al-Islami (HUJI) that took roots in Bangladesh.
Starting from 1999 to 2005, the militants bombed temples, churches, political rallies, cultural functions, cinema halls etc. The government and the opposition kept on blaming each other for those attacks. Even when grenades attack was made on the AL rally in Dhaka on 22 August 2004 killing 22 people and injuring the AL Chief Sheikh Hasina, the government blamed it on the opposition. The series bombing on 17 August 2005 finally compelled the government to come out of the denial mode and stand up to the terrorist threat. In 2006-07, we saw a series of arrests, prosecution and handing down of sentences, including death sentences, on some of the terror leaders. Since then there has been no major terror attack in Bangladesh, but that the terrorists are active is evident from the frequent arrests of activists and seizure of large cache of arms and explosives from their hideouts.
Bulk of the Islamic militants arrested so far had come from poor rural communities. Many were from the Quomi Madrassa background. However, recent years saw a new breed of extremists called the Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT). HuT members are drawn from children of urban, upper income parentage, educated in the mainstream or English medium schools and colleges. HuT is targeting the cream of our youth, the nation’s future, and therefore, poses a clear danger. It is feared that HuT has penetrated among schools and universities, professionals – engineers, doctors, government officials and even among the security apparatus. Although the party was banned in 2009, its clandestine activities continue in the country. On the political front, JI continued to grow in strength in Bangladesh. The party is small in size, but highly disciplined, well-organised and has a well-defined hierarchy. Jamaat’s aim is to establish a pure Islamic state based on Sharia. The party had opposed the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 and actively collaborated in the genocide. Some of the top leaderships are now facing war-crime trial. The party, therefore, is on a back foot now, but given the fact that a new election is around the corner, its rank and file might align with the major opposition party to make a bid for power. JI’s student wing, Islami Chattra Shibir (Islamic Students Front), is now a potent student organisation, from schools to universities. The other Islamist party of importance is Islami Oikyo Jote (Islamic Unity Front), a collection of small Islamic parties. Like JI, IOJ also wants to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh, but there are differences in outlook. IOJ members are exclusively from Quomi madrassa background and more traditional. IOJ has been in the forefront, along with JI, in the movement to declare Ahmedia community as non-Muslims. Present government’s attempt to register Quomi Madrassas and reform their curriculum was thwarted by IOJ’s agitation. None of the Islamist political parties gave open support to the militant activities, however, many of the JMB and HUJI activists had previously been members of Islamist political parties. The Islamist parties have multifarious social, economic and financial investments. Some of the largest banks, insurance, hospitals, diagnostic centres, schools, universities, coaching centres, and travel agencies are operated undercover by the Islamist parties. The Islamist parties have been gaining in strength in Bangladesh at the expense of the two major political parties – BNP and AL. Both parties at one time or other have been courting these parties in order to gain short term advantage over the other.
Countering the extremists
Bangladesh government has taken a number steps to check extremism and militancy. Notable among those are: Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 and Money Laundering Prevention Act 2009 as amended in 2011. The two acts provide for deterrent punishment to offenders in case they engage in acts of terror or launder money to support terrorism. Based on a series of dialogues, workshops and seminars, participated by academics, researchers, politicians, parliamentarians, civil and military officials, a national strategy to combat terrorism in the country has been proposed.Bangladesh has banned a total of six terrorist organizations, including JMB, HUJI and HuT. A number of Islamic NGOs have been banned who had terror links, including Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (Kuwait), Rabita Al Alam Al Islami (Saudi Arabia), and International Islamic relief Organization (Saudi Arabia), Muslim Aid (UK). More than 1,300 militants were arrested; most of them belonging to JMB, HUJI-B or HuT. 29 terrorist kingpins have been sentenced to death and many more sentenced to long imprisonment or are awaiting trial.While our police action has been commendable, we did not do enough on the social front. We need to address urgently the problem of poverty, ignorance, and backwardness. Democratisation of the society is an insurance against extremist ideology. We need to improve governance and provide access to justice for the poor and downtrodden. We need to impart modern education to our youth that prepare them to face the challenges of a fast changing world. A thorough overhaul of madrassa education in our country is long overdue. We need an education system that produce people with high ethical and technical standards, a system that encourages freethinking rather than rote learning. Emergence of HuT points out a lack of pride and a sense of disillusionment among the children of affluent class. This is because English medium schools, where most of the rich parents send their children, follow a curriculum that has no relevance to our culture, history or traditions. Therefore, English medium school syllabus too needs a thorough review.Government must legislate not to allow use of religion to gain political mileage. We need to check creeping ‘Sudiaization’ of Islam. Along with the money from the ME donors, comes the ideological package of Wahhabi Islam which is alien to South Asia. One of the prices we pay for the remittance from our labour force in the ME is the influx of Saudi brand of Islam. How do we de-radicalise these migrant workers is a big challenge for us. Meanwhile, hundreds of extremists who are arrested or under trial must be segregated from other prisoners. At present, these extremists are finding a captive audience 24 hours at their disposal, busy recruiting new ones from among the prisoners. We need to isolate the extremists and start a de-radicalisation program so that when they return to the society they become useful citizen.Our effort to counter religious extremism must be supplemented by regional and global effort. We need to have close cooperation and coordination between the governments of the region. Border monitoring, passport control, anti-money laundering measures, exchange of information on the movement of suspects, arrest and deportation of fugitives are some of the areas where regional countries could cooperate. Checking of arms smuggling across the porous border is another area where regional cooperation is the answer. In short, a total, comprehensive strategy has to be adopted for fighting religious extremism. If Bangladesh is to emerge as a modern, democratic state, the menace of extremism must be eliminated.
Well, Lewis still needs a little nap every morning - usually around 11:30 for an hour or so! This was him this morning all wrapped up outside in his little buggy / stroller - good fresh air makes him even sleep a little longer , which is great!!
Goodnight you moon light ladies, rock-a-bye sweet baby James.
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose, won't you let me go down in my dreams?
And rock-a-bye sweet baby James.
I'm a BIG James Taylor fan and used to play this over and over again when my son James was of a similar age to Lewis - but it still works for our little grandson!
Our Daily Challenge - DREAM .....
AIR CDRE (RETD) ISHFAQ ILAHI CHOUDHURY
As we say goodbye to the year 2012, we might take time out to reflect on our achievements and failures in the year gone by, examine our prospects for the future and the challenges that lie ahead. Religious extremism leading to terrorist activities is one such area that needs to be reviewed. While many South Asian countries are deeply embroiled in the fight against terrorism, Bangladesh had generally been free from terrorist attacks since 2005. As we tended to relax, two incidents in 2012 brought our focus back to the terrorism issue. The first was the burning and looting of the houses and temples of the Buddhist communities in Cox’s Bazar area on 29-30 September. The second was the arrest on 17 October of a young Bangladeshi man caught while planning to bomb the Federal Reserve Building in New York, USA. As the year was coming to a close, the violence unleashed across the country by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a right-wing Islamist party, sent us a clear signal of the growing strength of Islamist politics.
s we say goodbye to the year 2012, we might take time out to reflect on our achievements and failures in the year gone by, examine our prospects for the future and the challenges that lie ahead. Religious extremism leading to terrorist activities is one such area that needs to be reviewed. While many South Asian countries are deeply embroiled in the fight against terrorism, Bangladesh had generally been free from terrorist attacks since 2005. As we tended to relax, two incidents in 2012 brought our focus back to the terrorism issue. The first was the burning and looting of the houses and temples of the Buddhist communities in Cox’s Bazar area on 29-30 September. The second was the arrest on 17 October of a young Bangladeshi man caught while planning to bomb the Federal Reserve Building in New York, USA. As the year was coming to a close, the violence unleashed across the country by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a right-wing Islamist party, sent us a clear signal of the growing strength of Islamist politics.
These are happening at a time when an avowed secular party, the Awami League (AL), is in power. AL won the 2008 election with a commitment to amend the constitution to restore its secular character. It also promised stern action against all forms of religious extremism and terrorism. Four years down the line, much of those promises remain unfulfilled. Constitutional reform was half-done; Islam remained a state religion. Religious parties are more organised today than ever before. Their student fronts are active in most educational institutions. While Islamists are active on political fronts, more radical amongst them are organising themselves for terrorist activities as and when opportunities appear.
Rise of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh
On 16 December 1971, we hoped that Bangladesh would emerge as a modern democratic state. The spirit of the nation was epitomised in the Constitution (1972) that adopted secularism as a state principle and prohibited the political use of religion. The Constitution barred the state from declaring any religion as state religion. However, it all changed after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and many top-ranking political leaders in 1975. Those who seized power at the time found the Islamists as their political ally and started islamising the society and the state. Islamist political parties, such as JI, started building their party structures. The power elites established thousands of madrassas that produced religiously indoctrinated youths who would be the front-line activists of the Islamist parties. Poor, jobless students from the madrassas became easy target of the recruiters of militant Islamist organisations. By late 1990s we had militant organisations such as Jamiatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkatul Jihad Al-Islami (HUJI) that took roots in Bangladesh.
Starting from 1999 to 2005, the militants bombed temples, churches, political rallies, cultural functions, cinema halls etc. The government and the opposition kept on blaming each other for those attacks. Even when grenades attack was made on the AL rally in Dhaka on 22 August 2004 killing 22 people and injuring the AL Chief Sheikh Hasina, the government blamed it on the opposition. The series bombing on 17 August 2005 finally compelled the government to come out of the denial mode and stand up to the terrorist threat. In 2006-07, we saw a series of arrests, prosecution and handing down of sentences, including death sentences, on some of the terror leaders. Since then there has been no major terror attack in Bangladesh, but that the terrorists are active is evident from the frequent arrests of activists and seizure of large cache of arms and explosives from their hideouts.
Bulk of the Islamic militants arrested so far had come from poor rural communities. Many were from the Quomi Madrassa background. However, recent years saw a new breed of extremists called the Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT). HuT members are drawn from children of urban, upper income parentage, educated in the mainstream or English medium schools and colleges. HuT is targeting the cream of our youth, the nation’s future, and therefore, poses a clear danger. It is feared that HuT has penetrated among schools and universities, professionals – engineers, doctors, government officials and even among the security apparatus. Although the party was banned in 2009, its clandestine activities continue in the country. On the political front, JI continued to grow in strength in Bangladesh. The party is small in size, but highly disciplined, well-organised and has a well-defined hierarchy. Jamaat’s aim is to establish a pure Islamic state based on Sharia. The party had opposed the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 and actively collaborated in the genocide. Some of the top leaderships are now facing war-crime trial. The party, therefore, is on a back foot now, but given the fact that a new election is around the corner, its rank and file might align with the major opposition party to make a bid for power. JI’s student wing, Islami Chattra Shibir (Islamic Students Front), is now a potent student organisation, from schools to universities. The other Islamist party of importance is Islami Oikyo Jote (Islamic Unity Front), a collection of small Islamic parties. Like JI, IOJ also wants to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh, but there are differences in outlook. IOJ members are exclusively from Quomi madrassa background and more traditional. IOJ has been in the forefront, along with JI, in the movement to declare Ahmedia community as non-Muslims. Present government’s attempt to register Quomi Madrassas and reform their curriculum was thwarted by IOJ’s agitation. None of the Islamist political parties gave open support to the militant activities, however, many of the JMB and HUJI activists had previously been members of Islamist political parties. The Islamist parties have multifarious social, economic and financial investments. Some of the largest banks, insurance, hospitals, diagnostic centres, schools, universities, coaching centres, and travel agencies are operated undercover by the Islamist parties. The Islamist parties have been gaining in strength in Bangladesh at the expense of the two major political parties – BNP and AL. Both parties at one time or other have been courting these parties in order to gain short term advantage over the other.
Countering the extremists
Bangladesh government has taken a number steps to check extremism and militancy. Notable among those are: Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 and Money Laundering Prevention Act 2009 as amended in 2011. The two acts provide for deterrent punishment to offenders in case they engage in acts of terror or launder money to support terrorism. Based on a series of dialogues, workshops and seminars, participated by academics, researchers, politicians, parliamentarians, civil and military officials, a national strategy to combat terrorism in the country has been proposed.Bangladesh has banned a total of six terrorist organizations, including JMB, HUJI and HuT. A number of Islamic NGOs have been banned who had terror links, including Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (Kuwait), Rabita Al Alam Al Islami (Saudi Arabia), and International Islamic relief Organization (Saudi Arabia), Muslim Aid (UK). More than 1,300 militants were arrested; most of them belonging to JMB, HUJI-B or HuT. 29 terrorist kingpins have been sentenced to death and many more sentenced to long imprisonment or are awaiting trial.While our police action has been commendable, we did not do enough on the social front. We need to address urgently the problem of poverty, ignorance, and backwardness. Democratisation of the society is an insurance against extremist ideology. We need to improve governance and provide access to justice for the poor and downtrodden. We need to impart modern education to our youth that prepare them to face the challenges of a fast changing world. A thorough overhaul of madrassa education in our country is long overdue. We need an education system that produce people with high ethical and technical standards, a system that encourages freethinking rather than rote learning. Emergence of HuT points out a lack of pride and a sense of disillusionment among the children of affluent class. This is because English medium schools, where most of the rich parents send their children, follow a curriculum that has no relevance to our culture, history or traditions. Therefore, English medium school syllabus too needs a thorough review.Government must legislate not to allow use of religion to gain political mileage. We need to check creeping ‘Sudiaization’ of Islam. Along with the money from the ME donors, comes the ideological package of Wahhabi Islam which is alien to South Asia. One of the prices we pay for the remittance from our labour force in the ME is the influx of Saudi brand of Islam. How do we de-radicalise these migrant workers is a big challenge for us. Meanwhile, hundreds of extremists who are arrested or under trial must be segregated from other prisoners. At present, these extremists are finding a captive audience 24 hours at their disposal, busy recruiting new ones from among the prisoners. We need to isolate the extremists and start a de-radicalisation program so that when they return to the society they become useful citizen.Our effort to counter religious extremism must be supplemented by regional and global effort. We need to have close cooperation and coordination between the governments of the region. Border monitoring, passport control, anti-money laundering measures, exchange of information on the movement of suspects, arrest and deportation of fugitives are some of the areas where regional countries could cooperate. Checking of arms smuggling across the porous border is another area where regional cooperation is the answer. In short, a total, comprehensive strategy has to be adopted for fighting religious extremism. If Bangladesh is to emerge as a modern, democratic state, the menace of extremism must be eliminated.
Now that the rear of the Harrison Drape factory has been demolished, you can see St Annes Catholic Church from the back on Lombard Street.
Behind that derelict / overgrown demolition site (needs a use - or new hoardings).
The view is also visible from Cheapside.
Details below from Pevsner Architectural Guides: Birmingham -
St Anne's (R.C.) church of 1883-4 by Albert Vicars. Nave and aisles, and tower. Early English style in red brick with blue brick and stone dressings: old fashioned but confident. Big Geometrical window with many circles enclosing quatrefoils. The tower starts square and turns octagonal with diagonal buttresses to the belfry. Short spire with lucarnes on the diagonal faces, and sandstone banding.
Grade II listed building since 2021.
Roman Catholic Church of St Anne
Summary
A Roman Catholic church of 1883 - 1884 by Albert Vicars.
Description
A Roman Catholic church of 1883 - 1884 by Albert Vicars.
MATERIALS: constructed of red brick with blue brick detailing, limestone dressings and slate roof.
PLAN: oriented north-west to south-east with spire at the south-east corner, the church has a single aisle to the north and south of the nave.
EXTERIOR: the church is constructed in the Early English Gothic Revival style with lancet windows at ground and clerestory level, shallow buttresses and some polychrome brick detailing. Fronting Alcester Street, the church has a large gable with pinnacle to the north and a central gothic geometric window with stained glass and quatrefoil tracery, with brick spire to the left (south). Beneath the tracery window is a pair of entrance doors under a shallow entrance porch with limestone moulded double gable and piers with foliate capitals. Above the two doors are lancet arches with circular relief carvings each with a cross and trefoil detailing. The tower is substantial and is square on plan with lancet windows at ground and clerestory level. At its top the spire is octagonal and has buttresses and lucarnes with cusped trefoil heads and brick detailing.
The southern elevation, to the left of the tower has a series of paired lancet windows with limestone hood moulds with cusped trefoil heads, both at ground floor on the southern aisle of the church and at clerestory level above. Both the single-storey aisle and the nave above has a dentilled cornices and blue brick detailing around the lancets. Two tall, double-height lancet windows light the sanctuary to the left of the projecting aisle. The northern elevation is similar, but at the eastern end has a small late-C20 entrance porch. At the western end is the attached sacristy which is a projecting range from the north-west corner with flat-arched mullioned sash windows and central brick stack. The western elevation features a large rose window with cusped tracery, with further circular window to the right (south) at the location of the southern side chapel. To the north are two chamfered limestone mullioned windows at ground floor and door with one additional window at first floor under an arch. The first storey of the left hand bay of this façade has a late-C20 window under a flat arch of rubbed brick and appears to have been partially rebuilt, possibly when the adjoining presbytery was constructed in the 1950s.
INTERIOR: the lofty nave has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and is flanked to either side by aisles with an arcade of circular piers with gothic arches linked by gilded bosses. Above, the paired clerestory windows are leaded with stained glass within the trefoils, between which, pilasters on angel corbels support the arched roof trusses. The nave and aisles retain their C19 pews. At the eastern end of the building, the former baptistery is located to the north of the gallery, with C19 railings. The gallery houses the organ above, beneath the eastern window, with the eastern entrance doors below enclosed by half-glazed timber doors. To the right (south) of the gallery is a chapel with cast iron half-height rail.
The northern aisle houses the two timber confessionals, each containing four separate booths behind timber doors with cusped detailing and trefoil heads.
The sanctuary is accessed by a set of five steps at the western end of the church and has predominately late-C20 fittings though a section of the C19 stone pulpit to the left of the altar survives and now forms the ambo. The reredos beneath the rose window has blind gothic arcading and is a fragment of the C19 scheme. Above, the panels of the vaulted ceiling are painted with a stencilled scheme. To the left (south) of the sanctuary, separated by a section of the former communion rail, is a side chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart, with C19 gothic altar and altar table though the statuary within the niches have been changed. The original hexagonal stone font is located within this chapel and reads on its northern face: IN/ MEMORY/ OF/ UMIGLIANO/ AND/ MADELEINE/ PANICALI.
To the north of the sanctuary is the Lady Chapel which again features the original C19 gothic altar and altar table, again with replacement statuary. Both the north and south side chapels have circular windows with stained glass. At the western end of the northern aisle an arched door leads to the sacristy which has a mullioned window on its northern wall. To the north of the sacristy is a room currently in use as a kitchen, with timber four-pane sash window. To the south of the sacristy is a porch with timber plank door with chamfered cusped detail.
History
Cardinal John Henry Newman founded a chapel within an old distillery on Alcester Street in Deritend in 1849, with the congregation mainly comprising Irish immigrants who had fled the Great Famine. The congregation under Cardinal Newman relocated to Edgbaston in 1852. An adjacent plot of land, on the corner of Alcester Street and Bradford Street, was subsequently acquired by the Rev John Dowling, who became mission rector in 1859. A new church was designed for the plot by Albert Vicars of Vicars and O’Neill, London, constructed by Barker and Son of Handsworth between 1883-4, with the former distillery becoming a school (now demolished).
In the mid-C20, as part of the liturgical reforms under the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), alterations were made to the church. This initially saw the removal of the gothic high altar within the sanctuary, and the screens between the sanctuary and the side chapels. In the late C20 further alterations took place with the removal of the stone pulpit, though a fragment now remains in a slightly set back position. The communion rails were also removed at this time with an exception surviving between the sanctuary and the southern side chapel. During this period, a first-floor gallery at the eastern end of the church was enclosed at ground-floor level to create a new narthex area, screened from the church by timber half-glazed doors; the organ was also relocated from the northern side chapel to sit above the eastern gallery. Some timber detailing at the top of the confessionals on the northern aisle of the church was also removed during this period of reordering.
The church had been associated with a presbytery located to the north at corner of Alcester Street and Bradford Street. A replacement presbytery (not part of the List entry) was constructed in the 1950s adjoining the church at its north-western corner. The original presbytery was demolished in the late C20 with the land instead used for car parking.
A series of further renovations were undertaken around the year 2000, with a new decorative stencilled paint scheme applied to the sanctuary and side chapels. The nave piers were also painted at this time and a new entrance porch erected on the north elevation of the church.
Reasons for Listing
The Roman Catholic Church of St Anne, Deritend, of 1884 - 1884 by Albert Vicars, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* The church is a striking example of a late-C19 early English revival Catholic Church designed by renowned architect Albert Vicars of Vicars and O’Neill;
* The church is confident in its design and has good attention to detail including attractive limestone dressings and brick polychromy to provide interest to the exterior;
* Despite some alteration to the interior, particularly in response to the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), the church retains many of its late-C19 fittings including confessional booths, reredos and side chapels.
Historic interest:
* As a late-C19 Roman Catholic church constructed predominately for a poor Irish immigrant congregation who had fled the Great Famine, replacing an earlier mission church founded by Cardinal John Henry Newman.