#wrekin

[floweringpoverello]

At Wroxeter

At Wroxeter Sleep Roman women Roman men ~ Under the eyes Of God And Wrekin ~ And Caradoc hill Looks down so still On all of humanity so lowly ~ Over the slowly Sleeping souls of Romans, Us, and of the Lawley. ~

[lilithsaintcrow]

"Sometimes referred to as Dary or Davy pit in the sources, it is rarely mentioned without reference to strange events and portentous presences. One witness remarked that ‘It is a weird place enough’…"

[clockworktea]

today was a lovely day to be out

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

you mentioned in one of your posts about titanic (maybe?) something to do with the philosophy of lifeboats and idk why but the idea of it has been stuck in my mind for at least a week now and i only just refound the post today. could you pls explain what you meant by it?

hello anon, you must have seen my post nitpicking how j bruce ismays character was handled in the titanic movie when i very briefly mentioned the philosophy of lifeboats thing because I Was Being Petty lmao

but yeah so this is gonna be a dumb-downed explanation about a topic thats fairly complex. also im just not gonna get into the debacle of liferafts because im gonna try and keep it simple.

[edit: i have very much failed at keeping it short or simple so if you are interested, come join me after the cut]

see, its only really been within the last century or so that weve regarded lifeboats as things you can escape a sinking ship on and remain within until rescue arrives.

which sounds kinda insane when thinking about it from a modern point of view, right? like in regards to modern sinking incidents or disasters at sea like say the ms achille lauro, msc napoli, ms estonia or even the ss henry steinbrenner to go back to 1953, the story of the rescue is the passengers board the lifeboats, get a safe distance away from the sinking ship and wait for rescue. and nowadays, if this occurs to you, your chance of survival is fairly high.

so its understandable for people to initially be confused as to why this is a modern school of thought as it seems very logical and is what the namesake implies. and for that, we have to put this into the context of the developments within lifeboat technology.

and im aware of how pretentious that sounds, but its a very important part of this discussion.

-

to start, im unfortunately going to have use the titanic as an example because its the only point of reference for most people.

when we look back at the titanic today, we can very easily criticise white star line and harland & wolff simply for not including enough lifeboats on board. and while those are not undue criticisms, they are unduly harsh.

yes, it is ridiculous to not have enough lifeboats on board for all passengers, but back in the 1910s, naval architects found it ridiculous to suggest ships should have that many.

because this is what titanics lifeboats looked like:

compared to modern day lifeboats:

now, you might notice just how different these are: modern day lifeboats tend to be enclosed; they are made of sturdier material; theyre much more buoyant; they have radios on board; are at significantly less risk of capsizing; are legally mandated to come with a sea anchor that can be used to steady your boat; and often can operate under their own power.

also, your ship probably had an epirb (emergency position-indicating radio beacon) or something similar that sent out an automatic distress signal if you werent able to do so yourself.

modern lifeboats can withstand the tumultuous nature of the ocean for a, relatively speaking, very long time and that allows for rescue. thats why people are sometimes rescued from a lifeboat several days after a shipwreck and why rescuers can sometimes be conservative in their rescue, such as waiting for the weather to clear up before approaching.

if youre nearer the equator, you could likely survive weeks within a lifeboat if rescuers either couldnt find you or couldnt reach you.

but thats not always been the case.

-

for a long time, lifeboats were these tiny, rickety, wooden boats (as seen in those photos above) that were easily capsized or sank if they came into contact with even the smallest of waves.

if you needed to sail further from the sinking ship or toward land, you would have to do it with wooden paddles and depending on the state of rescue, you might not even have them. your methods of communication were a limited number of flares where you couldnt be sure theyd even work, rocket flares that again night not even work, a torch, a whistle, or just shouting which rarely ever helped.

so even if you could evacuate safely onto a lifeboat, there was no guarantee that youd be able to signal down another ship or potentially an aircraft.

if you werent able to send out a distress signal or were just on a ship that didnt have the technology to do so, no one would know you were in trouble for hours, if you were lucky. for some, it took days or even weeks.

at approximately 2:15am on the 30 november 1966, the ss daniel j morrell broke in half on lake huron. she was not reported missing for ten hours, after which the coast guard dispatched search and rescue vessels. among the 29 crew aboard, only 1 man survived: dennis hale. he was rescued after nearly 14 hours in a liferaft wherein a further 3 men had passed while waiting for rescue. during those 14 hours, the liferaft had been capsized multiple times sending the few survivors into the freezing waters over and over again. [x]

or for an even more extreme example, take the ss naronic. she set sail on 11th february 1893 from liverpool; she was expected to arrive in new york around the 21st february. she never did arrive, and as this was 5 years before the marconi wireless set would be available on ships, the crew could not put out a distress signal. as the ocean was experiencing bad storms, there was no worry about the ship to begin with as it was presumed she was delayed. it took until the 13 march before any alarms were raised. by then, 74 lives had been lost, and to this day, we dont know anything about why she disappeared. its presumed she sank, but no wreck has been found. while her lifeboats were found, that wasnt the case for survivors. [x]

and even if you were lucky enough to have sent out a distress signal, be relatively safe aboard a lifeboat and have ample methods for communicating, you were still at the mercy of the sea. rescue was coming, but there was no guarantee your lifeboat would stay afloat until it arrived.

it was miraculous that titanics lifeboats were able to stay afloat until the carpathia arrived, and that was only around an hour and a half after the titanic had gone down. because this happened in the north atlantic; any other night, the number of casualties would have been significantly higher because those lifeboats would not have survived in rough seas or a storm.

titanic was the exception to the rule; it was the odd duck. and to exemplify this, lets talk about the clallam, the ss valencia and the ss princess sophia.

-

quick warning about these ships: these were very tragic incidents with monumental loss of life. out of the approximately 608 people who were aboard one of the three ships, only 83 people survived.

(the ss princess sophia is a particularly tragic incident and its one that has made me cry multiple times so just a warning with that.)

we'll begin with the clallam which was a steamboat that ran a regular route from tacoma to seattle to port townsend to victoria. she ran into trouble during a storm while on this run on the 8 january 1904, with 92 people aboard.

she began taking on water when the deadlight was smashed by the waves, and the emergency pumps aboard were not working. this meant they had very little chance of saving her from sinking, especially when the water entered the boiler and cut out the power.

at this point, you may think that the best case scenario for survival would be to abandon ship, but that assumption was quickly proven false.

around 3pm, captain george roberts ordered the ships 3 lifeboats lowered. these were mostly filled by women and children, which makes what came next even more tragic. within minutes of the boats being lowered, they capsized in the rough waters.

everyone on board the lifeboats drowned; all 56 people on board.

but the clallam stayed afloat for several more hours. this gave enough time for the steam tug richard holyoke to arrive on scene, and eventually the 36 people remaining on the clallam were rescued.

all children aboard drowned when the lifeboats were lowered because in 1906, lifeboats were just as much death traps as they were lifeboats. [x] [x]

the sinking of the ss valencia is a similar tale. she was a passenger steamer that was briefly filling in the route of the ss city of puebla, which ran the san fran to seattle route, in january of 1906.

on the 20th, she set sail with around 173 people aboard. the captain aboard was unfamiliar with the route and visibility was so low that the crew could not make celestial observations (by using a sextant, for example) to determine where they were. instead, they had to rely on dead reckoning.

while dead reckoning is fairly reliable, is subject to errors like directional drift and cumulative errors are particularly disastrous and can cause tragedies like the honda point disaster. further, its been alleged the captain did not know how dead reckoning works.

this led to the valencia striking a reef on the night of the 22 january. she was less than 100 yards from shore, but the water around her was rough.

6 of the 7 lifeboats were lowered quickly, as had occured on the clallam. 3 of the boats flipped while being lowered, emptying the survivors into the ocean. the 3 that were lowered successfully did not fair better as 2 of them capsized very quickly and the 3rd simply disappeared.

the last lifeboat was the only one that made it to shore. but still, they had to hike for 2½ hours before they could find help.

while various ships responded to valencias distress call, they were not able to get close enough to offer much assistance. the crew of the valencia launched the 2 life rafts aboard in hopes of drifting close enough to another ship to be rescued. this happened for 18 men on one of the rafts as they were rescued by the city of topeka. the second raft drifted ashore and the 4 survivors aboard were rescued by a group of first nations from the island.

soon, the valencia was washed off of the rocks and she sank. those still on board went down with the ship.

of the approximate 173 people on board, 136 of them died during the disaster. similar to the clallam again, every child on board died. [x]

and this brings us into the ss princess sophia which was a canadian passenger liner. she set sail on the 23rd october in 1918 with 343 people on board. in the early hours of the 24th, she ran aground on vanderbilt reef.

though she was able to send out a distress call and a rescue flotilla of boats were able to arrive on scene, the ss princess sophia took all 343 souls aboard with her when she was eventually washed off of the reef and into the ocean.

now, this is when we get into what lifeboats were intended for back then. the evacuation plan would be for the 8 steel lifeboats aboard sophia to be lowered with passengers and crew members aboard, and paddled toward one of the various rescue ships. the passengers would be taken aboard while the crew would paddle back to the sophia where more passengers would come aboard and be ferried to safety.

this is what happened when the rms republic sank in 1909 and what occured with the ss andrea doria in 1956 though in that case, they only had enough lifeboats to rescue everyone once the ss île de france arrived on scene as dorias list meant half her lifeboats could not be lowered.

unfortunately, captain locke never saw a time where he believed this process could occur. there was only a very short break in the storm, but even during those 5 hours, the ocean was rough with high waves.

captain ledbetter captained the uslht cedar, one of the rescue ships, and went on record saying he never saw conditions that would have permitted an evacuation. [x] [x]

these three cases both exemplify the philosophy of lifeboats only a century ago and why we cant simply apply a modern lens to it without missing crucial details.

-

now lets quickly detour back to the titanic.

as most people know, there were not enough lifeboats aboard for everyone aboard.

this is one of the nitpicks i have about titanic because the portrayal of it paints a warped picture.

so with everything ive rambled on about in this post, we can see why this decision was made. they only needed enough lifeboats to safely ferry passengers from a sinking ship to rescue.

and it was believed that this was a viable evacuation plan in the case that titanic sank. the route she was sailing was a very busy route that often had at least 5-6 ships nearby that could answer a distress call. this is exactly what happened with the rms republic which i mentioned above.

this belief wasnt unique to the titanic or even the white star line. it was held about every ocean liner sailing as these ships were often able to stay afloat for hours acting as its own giant lifeboat due to safety measures and developments like watertight compartments.

and titanic did stay afloat for over 2 hours as it sank. rms republic took over 24 hours irrc while the ocean liner it collided with, the ss florida, was able to sail to port for rescues. ss andrea doria took 10 hours to sink.

during her sea trials in 1927, the ss malolo collided with a freighter (impact equal to the icebrrg to titanic) and was still able to stay afloat and sail despite being flooded with over 7000 tons of sea water.

this belief was clearly not unfounded.

however, the sinking of the titanic practically shattered it. and from then on, almost all ships had enough lifeboat capacity for every passenger on board as it introduced a new function to lifeboats.

-

and this kinda leads us into the somewhat conclusion to this rambling mess that very much could have been shorter and much simpler.

but anyway,

put simply, by philosophy of lifeboats, i mean how the function of a lifeboat evolved alongside developments in technology and maritime disasters.

it seemingly had never occured to naval architects pre-titanic that what occured that night in 1912 was a hypothetical they needed to consider.

lifeboats are still used today to ferry survivors to safety if that is what the situation necessitates, but they are now also designed to function as their namesake implies.

[everlastingleuthymia]

Imagining them going duo >>>

This two would be wrekin your house before u know but kinda hard to imagine how they'll be as a duo ... It's like the brain and the beast together

[bonithica]

“In art I came top of the form and I was glad because although I had accepted defeat in a very wide range of subjects, I had always wanted to be best at something.

And on the basis of proficiency with paint and paper, at the age of sixteen, and before sitting for what was then the School Certificate examination, I wrote home and asked to be taken away from school so that I could become a dress designer.

This caused a great deal of distress. The masters at Wrekin naturally thought it was ruinous to leave school without a single qualification and there was, to their minds, nothing less manly than dress designing.

My father agreed, and he had an additional anxiety, for he believed such a job would not only not pay enough, but, worse, could lead me into unemployment. Thus, I did not become one.

Although I knew good design from bad, though I could create dresses and draw them, though to be a dress designer was all I wanted to be, I went - in that curiously illogical way of the son and heir - into the family business for which I neither cared nor in which I expected to succeed.”

-Brian Epstein, A Cellarful Of Noise

[merinsedai]

Square/Prompt: D1 knight Hob, replacing sexline

Title: A Giant Problem

Rating: G

Ship(s): Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling

Warnings: n/a

Additional Tags: Legends, the legend of the giant of Shrewsbury, Missing Scene, more anachronistic language

Summary: Part way through his quest to find the chapel of the Black Knight, Sir Robert and his bard encounter a very angry giant who is hell bent on destroying the nearby town of Shrewsbury

A 'missing scene' from my fic, Sir Robert and the Black Knight, but can probably be read just fine without reading that first. This is a short retelling of the Legend of the Giant and the Cobbler, but Dreamling.

Link to ao3

for @dreamlingbingo

Chapter 1

Sir Robert Gadling, knight of Camelot, has a date with destiny. 11 months ago, he rather foolishly chopped the head of a mysterious stranger at King Arthur’s Christmas Feast and is currently on a quest to meet said decapitated stranger at the Black Chapel on New Year’s Day and face his retribution.

New Year’s Day is still a month off, though, and for the preceding four weeks, Sir Robert- or Hob, as he prefers- has been led a merry dance around the countryside by another mysterious stranger, a nameless bard, who had latched himself onto Hob as soon as the knight departed Camelot and whose sole purpose in life seems to now be to get Hob to the Black Chapel by the most dangerous and indirect means possible. 

When they arrived in the town of Shrewsbury, Hob was entirely sure there’d be something he’d need to face or fix in the town. Since his peculiar bard had placed himself in charge of their destinations over the last month, he had done his level best to put Hob in some sort of predicament wherever they went. 

Not here though. They’d ridden in early the previous afternoon, found a room at an inn, ate the best meal of Hob’s life (four weeks of unseasoned winter-thin rabbits and whatever other meagre sustenance the land could offer turned any other meal into a feast) and slept undisturbed all night on mattresses that were ostensibly stuffed with straw but could well have been clouds considering how favourably they’d compared to the frost hard ground Hob was used to. All in all, after a morning spent exploring this pleasant, bustling market town and not once having to leap dramatically to anyone’s rescue, Hob was feeling well rested, well fed and well content. 

As they ride out of the town walls after a magnificent lunch of mutton stew and fresh bread slathered in honest to goodness butter , Hob remarks upon this good fortune to his companion, who favours him with one of his mysterious smiles and heels his mule on faster. Hob follows, still chattering away. His bard lets him talk offering very little in the way of response, and they ride for some time like this, putting some little distance between themselves and the town as the afternoon wears on

“I mean, no foul fiends?!” Hob says, flinging out an arm in a dramatic gesture. “Come on, Ben Beirdd, not even any pesky piskies? I expected something , at least.”

“There are no piskies this far North,” his bard replies serenely “And as for foul fiends-”

“I don’t think I’ve seen a more thriving place outside of Camelot,” Hob interrupts, and lets Gringolet follow the bard’s mule as he finally  swings off the main path and down into the forest surrounding the road. “I know they get the trade off of the river, so it makes sense for a settlement to be here, but this area is well known for being giant country… how has the town survived? I didn’t even see any fortifications?”

“An excellent question,” his bard murmurs, turning to fix Hob with his intense stare. His eyes, always slightly otherworldly, Hob thinks, are the only bright thing in this dead winter woodland. They seem to gather all the light and gleam, despite the overcast weather. “The answer being that the citizens of the town made a deal.”

“A deal?” Hob repeats

“Indeed.”

“A deal. With… the giants?”

“With one giant. His name is Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Myndmawr. A most unpleasant sort, by all accounts. Even by giant standards.”

“What sort of deal?” Hob asks uneasily.

“Maidens.”

“Maidens?”

“Yes, Sir Robert. Maidens. Must you repeat everything I say?”

“What do you mean, they made a deal with maidens?” Hob says slowly, though he rather suspects the answer. His bard looks at him and purses his lips. 

“I believe the terms of the deal were that the mayor of Shrewsbury would provide a steady supply of maidens for Gwendol and in return he would refrain from ‘smashing up the town.’” These last words were clearly some sort of direct quotation, and Hob inhales sharply, opening his mouth to say something, but his bard puts up a hand to stop him, and continues.

“To forestall your next inane questions, Sir knight, yes the maidens were eaten by the giant and no, the mayor did not know that was happening to them.” He snorted derisively, “Well, that is what he claims. What else he thought was happening to the stream of young women leaving the town to seek the giant and never returning, I do not know.”

Beneath him, Gringolet snorts and dances a few steps, no doubt sensing the tension of his rider. Hob deliberately unclenches his hands on the reins and gives the horse his head. Sending their womenfolk as tribute… how many women have died for this? How have the citizens not revolted? Surely they know? It cannot be a secret. “Wait,” he says suddenly, whipping round to meet his bard’s eyes again. “You kept saying ‘were’. What has happened? Has the deal been broken?”

Ben Beirdd  smiles thinly. “Quite. A young woman recently returned to the town. The very first to do so. A clever woman, and a cunning one. She at least recognised that no woman ever returned and, knowing much of herblore, concealed about her person some plants with which she brewed the giant a potent sleeping draught. How she persuaded him to drink it is unclear; she is clearly a remarkable woman, but drink it he did, and while he was asleep she stole away and returned to Shrewsbury with her tale… now the truth of the deal is out in the open, and the mayor will not risk the ire of his people by sending any more maidens.”

“Christ on the cross,” Hob says fervently, “What will happen to them now? I can’t see the giant taking kindly to a sudden cessation in his food supply.”

They emerge from the trees quite suddenly and the view opens up before them. Hob draws rein with a muttered curse, hand leaping to his sword. Because there, not a quarter mile distant, sits the slumped shape of a truly enormous giant. He is clearly sleeping, head tilted forward against his chest, rumbling snores clearly audible even at this distance; and beside him on the ground rests a humongous spade piled high with a great mound of earth. 

“No,” Ben Beirdd says mildly as he stops his mule beside Hob’s stallion, “I do not believe he is taking kindly to it at all.”

[pianotunerwolverhampton]

Tuning in Newport Telford and Wrekin, Tuning a 'Opus' upright Piano. This brand name is used by Forysth music, Manchester. Made in Korea by Yung Chang.

#opus #pianotuner #pianotuning #musicians #music #pianist #piano #bentley #repair #newport #telford #shropshire #Forysth

[verminous-page]

A new Boy added to Mugrobz Wrekin Krew!

[floweringpoverello]

Greenness is All About Us

Greenness is all about us in nature, and especially so in Shropshire now that summer is here! This poem I think is self-explanatory, and the photo of The Wrekin, seen from The Lawley, tries to capture a landscape full of so many different shades of green! ~ The greenness is all about me               growth exploding from the silent being               of the…

[105nt]

Shropshire today, the sun shining on a field adjacent to St Mary's, Eaton Constantine, The Wrekin on the horizon.

[littlemuoi]

Duke of Edinburgh praises mental health charity for work with veterans on visit to Telford by Dominic Robertson (November 9th 2023)

ARCHIVE LINK

Prince Edward attended two engagements in Telford on Wednesday afternoon �� first a visit to the Army Reserve Centre, before joining a tea party at Dawley Town Hall.

Both events were military-themed, with the Duke meeting cadets at the reserve centre, before meeting agencies and groups which support veterans, gathered together by Telford & Wrekin Council at the town hall, where they also marked the building's 150th birthday.

Joined by the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, Anna Turner, the Duke talked at length with young people, veterans, and representatives of charities which support them.

The relaxed and light-hearted Duke shared his sense of humour during his visit, joking on arrival into a packed but silent town hall that he had "killed the party".

Unveiling a plaque to mark the hall's anniversary The Duke was introduced by the leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, Councillor Shaun Davies, who shared the history of the hall – and how when it was not allowed to serve alcohol, locals set up a pub nearby.

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh visits the Army Reserve Centre, Telford. Cadet Lance Corporal Dylan Fugatt is presented with his certificate. LAST COPYRIGHT NATIONAL WORLD PLC TIM THURSFIELD 08/11/23.

Addressing the guests the Duke said: "First of all it was really good to meet you all and thank you for your collective service you have done for this country, it is very, very much appreciated. And thank you to Mind and everyone else who organises these get-togethers for you.

"I am told this is not your typical day for getting together so I apologise if I have completely and totally confused your entire week.

"Anyway I have been asked to unveil this particular plaque, I am guessing a few of you can probably remember when the building opened - forgive me, you remember when the pub opened!"

The Duke of Edinburgh on his visit to Telford's Army Resource Centre.

To a background of laughter the Duke promised to try and make the unveiling "as slick as possible," adding: "I want you to know this has taken years of practice."

During his visit he met representatives from Telford Mind, a mental health charity that supports veterans, and the people who use its services.

The Duke of Edinburgh watches Staff Corporal Declan Poole trying a flight simulator.

He also took time to sit and chat with other groups such as Models for Heroes, and the All Sports Coaches Coaching Academy.

The academy trains veterans to coach youngsters at sports, and provide mental health support, as well as a range of other skills.

The Duke meets representatives from the All sports Coaches Coaching Academy.

The organisation's operation's director, Stuart Cook, who served for five years with the Welsh Guards, was joined by coach Johnny Bradley, who is currently serving with the Royal Irish Regiment, the group's founder Jim Prescott, and chairman Clive Barnard.

Mr Cook, 35, from Telford, said the Duke had been interested in what sports they provided.

He said: "He was having a chat, asking about what sports we like, what we do. Me and Johnny do boxing and he said Johnny has longer arms, 'does that mean he should beat me?'"

The Duke of Edinburgh presents a Long Service Good Conduct award to Sergeant Joel Edwards.

Mr Bradley, 33, explained how the group could make a difference, saying: "I know first-hand how sports can help towards better mental health. I have been through what I have been through myself so to be part of what Jim has put together has really helped me, so now hopefully I can help others."

Telford Mind provides a Monday Club where veterans can chat and support each other, and the Duke talked to a number of people who attend the sessions.

Mind trustee, Trevor Hirst, who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), said the Duke had been "funny", "very friendly", and "easy to chat to".

He said: "He asked who I served with and he said he should have recognised from my tie because his wife is a patron of the REME charity."

Cadets giving a gun-run demonstration.

Tom Kane, 65, from Telford, attends the Telford sessions. He came along to the tea party with his dog Harley.

Mr Kane, who spent 30 years in the RAF, said the Duke had asked about Harley.

He said: "He asked what he does for me and I said he tells me when someone is at the door, tells me when the phone rings, and tells me when the missus wants me."

The Duke chatted with the group Models for Heroes – an organisation which allows veterans and people in the services to meet up and build models together.

Gary Morris, who runs the Telford group, was joined by two RAF servicemen who run the RAF Cosford group, Chris King and George Hickish, and other members.

They explained that the Duke had talked about the original Lightning aircraft, saying that when he was at school they would take off and everyone would have to stop talking because the planes were so loud.

Louise Heap, CEO of Telford Mind, said the Duke had asked about what services they provide and how they work, with service manager Jen Caldicott adding: "He just thanked us for the great work we do."

The Duke unveils a plaque marking 150 years of Dawley Town Hall.

Speaking at the conclusion of the visit Councillor Davies said: "It was a real privilege to host the Duke of Edinburgh and to show him first-hand the vital work we do to support the armed services and veterans, it is something we take very seriously.

"He was very personable and able to share not only a story but a joke or two as well.

"And I think everyone who met him at both sites really appreciated his time and effort to come and see us."

The Duke talks with members of the Models for Heroes groups.

The Duke had earlier attended the Army Reserve Centre – the base of D-Squadron, The Royal Yeomanry.

Local cadets also train at the base twice a week.

During his tour the Duke was given a gun-run demonstration from the Army cadets before they provided a live first aid demonstration.

The Duke then presented an award to 15-year-old Lance Corporal Dylan Fugatt from Ellesmere.

The youngster, who was joined by his mum Sharon for the presentation, was being recognised for using first aid skills learned with the cadets to come to the aid of an elderly man who had fallen over in Ellesmere.

Speaking after the presentation Lance Corporal Fugatt said: "It was a bit of a shock at first. I don't think it has sunk in properly yet."

The Duke of Edinburgh was given a first aid demonstration.

He added that the Duke had been "great" and "just like any normal person".

His mother added: "I am so proud. I am very, very proud of how Dylan handled the situation back when it happened but to be recognised in this way, I am more proud for him after his efforts in training, I could not be more proud."

The group were joined by the Duke for a photo at the end of his Dawley Town Hall visit.

The Duke was also shown laser shooting, had a go at tying knots with Navy Cadets, and then saw young Air Cadets trying their hand at flight simulators and virtual reality kit, before presenting a Long Service Good Conduct award to Sergeant Joel Edwards.

[justforbooks]

The writer Isabel Colegate, who has died aged 91, had her greatest success with The Shooting Party, published as a novel in 1980 and adapted into a film four years later. Like most of her 13 novels, it was set among the country-living English upper classes in the first half of the 20th century.

This was familiar home territory to Colegate, and although her writing never suggested she was inclined to tear down that privilege, she nevertheless sought to unravel the uneasy secrets of the grand English country house, often to a backdrop of war, politics and financial disarray.

In The Shooting Party, Colegate skilfully assembled a broad swathe of characters representing both the aristocrats of England in 1914 and those who served them. All seems set fair for a house party and a shoot, but there are undercurrents of conflicting ideas, and the violent death of a poacher signifies the end of that pre-first world war era. “Yes, he was only a peasant. But we all knew him, you see,” explains the teenage granddaughter of the house – one of Colegate’s strengths lay in portraying the nuances of class.

As the novel’s first line proclaims: “It caused a mild scandal at the time …” But not enough to frighten the horses. It was the coming conflict that would do that, as Colegate, too, acknowledged.

When the book came to be filmed, Colegate co-wrote the screenplay, and its starry cast included Dorothy Tutin, John Gielgud and James Mason. The book was also adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 2010, with Olivia Colman. In his foreword to the Penguin Modern Classics edition, Julian Fellowes, who wrote the Oscar-winning script for Gosford Park, wrote of his debt to Colegate; in 1981 the work won a WH Smith literary award.

Born in Lincolnshire, Isabel was the youngest of four daughters of Winifred (nee Worsley), the daughter of a Yorkshire squire, and Sir Arthur Colegate, a businessman and Conservative MP. Isabel spent a happy childhood in affluent and rural surroundings, both in Lincolnshire and, during the second world war, in Shropshire, in her father’s constituency, The Wrekin, and at Hovingham Hall, the vast Palladian stately home in north Yorkshire that was the family seat of the Worsley family (Katharine Worsley, later the Duchess of Kent, was brought up at Hovingham, and was Isabel’s first cousin).

After Runton school in Norfolk, in 1952 she went to work with the then literary agent Anthony Blond, a flamboyant figure who had just set up shop in London’s New Bond Street. Colegate, for whom the literary world would have been a suitable destination for a well-brought up and moneyed young woman with an interest in writing, was introduced to Blond when she was 19 by her future husband, Michael Briggs (they married in 1953), who had been at Oxford with him. Investing £50 in his business, she was, in theory, his partner.

However, as she recalled much later “I was too shy for what I think was not yet called networking, so I did the typing, kept the accounts and wrote what must have been deeply disheartening reader’s reports, so impossibly high were my standards.” Despite being confined to running the office, Colegate was clearly not a shrinking violet: when Blond, as he did, referred to her as “the girl” to visiting clients, Colegate would glare at him from behind her typewriter. This would compel Blond to backpedal and explain: “I see the girl’s not in today. My partner, Miss Colegate, might be kind enough …”

At the same time, she was writing her first novel, The Blackmailer. When Blond turned publisher in 1958, it was one of the first books of his new imprint, and was admired for its humour and incisive prose. Her next two novels, A Man of Power (1960) and The Great Occasion (1962), were also published by Blond, and in different ways examined Colegate’s interest in the clash between the world of aristocrats and new money.

Then came Statues in a Garden (1964), which to some extent foreshadowed The Shooting Party. Set during the summer of 1914 among the English aristocracy, Colegate exposed how sexual and financial shenanigans among the privileged and powerful led to disaster. The Observer’s reviewer described it as having “the right mixture of doomed fun, melancholy and faintly lascivious despair”.

Orlando King (1969), Orlando at the Brazen Threshold (1971) and Agatha (1973) came in rapid succession. Ranging over that familiar Colegate territory of powerful men and politics, and their downfall before, during and after the second world war, the three were republished in one volume as The Orlando Trilogy (1984) and later under the title Orlando King (2020). Her eighth novel was News from the City of the Sun (1979).

After The Shooting Party came a collection of short stories, A Glimpse of Sion’s Glory (1985), and three more novels, Deceits of Time (1988), The Summer of the Royal Visit (1991) and her last, Winter Journey (1995), followed. None, however, repeated her earlier success, although Winter Journey was relatively well reviewed with its ruminations on the lives of a brother (a photographer) and sister (an unlikely former MP) in late middle age reflecting on their pasts. For a time, Colegate’s focus and style seemed perhaps just a little out of fashion.

For nearly half a century, until 2007, Colegate and her husband, who was for many years chair of the Bath Preservation Trust, lived at Midford Castle, outside Bath. Together, they took much pleasure in restoring its 18th-century Gothic buildings complete with battlements, towers and a gatehouse.

They added a croquet lawn and swimming pool, and incorporated surrounding woodland and parkland, which they lovingly managed. In addition they renovated a house in Tuscany and spent summers there for many years.

Colegate’s one piece of non-fiction, A Pelican in the Wilderness (2002), and what was to be her last book, was inspired by the ruins of an 18th-century hermit’s cell that she discovered in woodlands around Midford Castle. Once it was rebuilt using the original stone, it became a place for her own contemplation and observation of nature. As she wrote: “The biggest roebuck will pass as close as 15ft, giving me time to smile at the lackadaisical way he dangles a sprig of hazel from his mouth.”

As in her novels, Colegate delves into a wide-ranging cast of characters in A Pelican in the Wilderness: in this case hermits and recluses of many vintages, from Saint Simeon Stylites to JD Salinger. She travelled widely for her research and used her observant eye to explore how history, religion and the natural world feature in the lives of her chosen figures.

From Midford Castle the couple moved to Mells, Somerset, and again spent some time in restoration work: this time, a house in the village. She was made FRSL in 1981, received an honorary MA from the University of Bath in 1988 and for some time was a book reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and the Daily Telegraph.

Michael died in 2017. She is survived by two sons, Barnaby and Joshua, a daughter, Emily, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

🔔 Isabel Diana Colegate, writer, born 10 September 1931; died 12 March 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[poem-today]

A poem by A. E. Housman

A Shropshire Lad 31: On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble

On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble;      His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves; The gale, it plies the saplings double,      And thick on Severn snow the leaves. 'Twould blow like this through holt and hanger      When Uricon the city stood: 'Tis the old wind in the old anger,      But then it threshed another wood. Then, 'twas before my time, the Roman      At yonder heaving hill would stare: The blood that warms an English yeoman,      The thoughts that hurt him, they were there. There, like the wind through woods in riot,      Through him the gale of life blew high; The tree of man was never quiet:      Then 'twas the Roman, now 'tis I. The gale, it plies the saplings double,      It blows so hard, 'twill soon be gone: To-day the Roman and his trouble      Are ashes under Uricon.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

[leanstooneside]

Achilles

the aid

the Strand

the sarpint

the ruins

the house

the works

the stairs

the people

the plague

the point

the bush

the crows

the Nile

the city

the Cat

the birds

the harp

the sea

the Coast

the South

the street

THE AUTHOR

the sound

the Thames

the evening

the Wrekin

the closing

the heart

[pianotunerwolverhampton]

🎹 Tuning and replacing a bass string on a 1930s Challen Upright Piano in Horsehay Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire 🎹

https://www.matthewjamesrichards.co.uk

#horsehay #challen #telfordandwrekin #shropshire #pianotuner #pianotuning #piano #pianist #music #musicians #piamoteacher #classical