Category Archives: Buckinghamshire

Hughenden Manor home of Benjamin Disraeli and the World War II Bomber Map Makers

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Valerie and Norman stayed with us over the weekend.  We met up at the National Trust property, Hughenden Manor home of Benjamin Disraeli in High Wycombe for lunch and then a tour of the property.  As well as being the home of  Benjamin Disraeli, the house had been requisitioned during the second world war and was used to produce target maps for the night time bombers of Germany.  We were taken for a a very informative tour and talk about the map making which occurred during WWII on Hughenden Manor.  Like Bletchley Park, those who had worked here, kept quiet about their work, telling no one.  This map making at  Hughenden Manor  only came to light in 2004, when an elderly visitor was heard to say that his desk had been in the corner by the window during the war.  His conversation was overheard by a NT room monitor.  It took another year before the visitor had been released from the official secrets act and could divulge what had happened on the site. The National Trust has now put together quite an impressive exhibition about the people who made the maps for the night time raids of Germany.  The maps were hand drawn from reconnaissance photographs of the the target areas, printed, and then sent over to Bomber Command nearby at Naphill.

We had a lovely day at the Manor, even lazing on the deck chairs on the lawn in the late afternoon sun.

On Sunday we visited Gallows bridge BBOWT nature reserve.  The birds took the hint and did a disappearing trick, except for some 20+ Geese.

 

 

 

Waterside Theatre

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My first visit to Aylesbury’s Waterside Theatre.  Selina had bought Rosemary, Phil & me tickets to see “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime”, a play about an autistic teenager.   The staging of it was fantastic.  A black box, with a grid pattern and lights at the grid intersections which indicated a houses, or furniture, or a tube station. Very, very clever. It took me a while to understand what the plot was, never having read the book (both girls had, of course). All I had heard was a mention of Sherlock Holmes, so I was wondering when Sherlock would arrive, or was this a great detective story?  My problem had been a quick google of the title only without reading even a synopsis.

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime” is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Its title quotes the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1892 short story “Silver Blaze”.

Think I missed the word title in the above quote when I read it.

As a first time visitor to the Waterside Theater I was quite impressed.

Wonder what it will be like when it’s rearranged for the King Crimson concert I am going to on the 31st August (without Rosemary).

Gallows Bridge BBOWT

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Rosemary and I, along with a few others, had a tour of the BBOWT wetlands nature reserve at Gallows Bridge.  This is one wetland reserve of many they own on the Upper River Ray.  Gallows Bridge has the Tetchwick Brook flowing through it which is a tributary of the Ray, joining the Ray at Three Way Meadows.  Tetchwick Brook should be well known to readers of this blog, as the river (stream, ditch) over which we have a tug of war over.

The morning was misty, not ideal for photography.  The warden explained the type of management the reserve received, and why.  Interestingly we heard how some of the land had been ploughed years ago with a technique called ridge and furrow which causes long ridges to form in the fields which remain today and are now protected.  Many of the nesting wetland birds are predated by animals, mink and fox being the main culprits.  An effort is made before the breeding season to trap and kill the mink, and reduce the number of foxes in the area.  The trap at this time of year contained a mud pad which was used to estimate the number of river mammals living in the area. Paw prints of Mink and Otter could be seen.

BBOWT had been creating a number of ponds and scrapes to keep water on the site over the summer season, providing feeding areas for Snipe, Lapwing and Curlew . Grass has to be managed in several ways allowing for short and long grass to suit different species of bird.  The reserve is also a habitat for Short Eared Owls, Barn Owls, Hobby and Kingfishers.   After the tour we stayed in the hides for a while in the hope of seeing the Kingfisher.  Alas we didn’t, just saw a few LBJs.

The Friars Club exhibition at Aylesbury Museum

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Marillion Poster at Friars Club exhibition

Marillion Poster at Friars Club exhibition

I have returned from the Friars Club exhibition in the Aylesbury Museum.  It has been on for several months and I have only just managed to get to it.  The Friars Club was the host for many rock bands during the 70’s and early 80’s.  Famous names like Free, David Bowie, Blondie, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer played Aylesbury in their early days of success.  Friars club was still running when I first moved to the area back in 1982, alas the club stopped in 1984 before I had even heard of it.  It has reformed, but is not running the weekly events it was renowned for.

Emerson Lake and Palmer poster at Friars Club

Emerson Lake and Palmer poster at Friars Club

The exhibition consisted of the advertising posters, band booking contracts, ticket stubs, band pictures, news letters etc.  There was a drum set from Pink Floyd on show, along with the bass guitar from Marillion.  To me the Friars club did not exist, the exhibition though was still a throw back in memory lane, remembering all those bands who had played in my formative youth.  When I saw a poster for Rare Bird, I immediately thought of the vinyl album back at home which I have not played for years.  That will be going on the record deck shortly.

Pink Floyd drum set at Friars Club

Pink Floyd drum set at Friars Club

I went around the the exhibition with a friend who was in her teens in the early 80’s, she had visited Friars club in its later days between 1982 and 1984.  She said it had been the only good thing to have come out of Aylesbury.  She recounted how her £6 pocket money for the week went on £4 for a ticket to Friars and the £2 on drink and chips.

Another pricing point, in the early 70’s a ticket cost 70p.  Glastonbury first ticket in the 70’s was a pound, with free milk on tap.  Now the price is £210.  OK can’t compare the first Glastonbury festival with a Friars Club gig, and todays Glastonbury.

Let the Train take the Strain

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Off to Carlisle in the morning, at least this will be on the train most of the way.  This last week has been a bit of a strain.  One day in Doncaster, the next day in Bournemouth, and then back to Doncaster the day after.  Putting a few miles on the old Citroen, hopefully it will see my working days out.

Also had sleepless nights this week.  The A41 was closed for road resurfacing in Waddesdon overnight for the last week.  The sound of silence was a tad disturbing, lay awake at night wondering when the next vehicle would come by, they never came, so couldn’t get to sleep.

I did a little bit of work on the Blasdale website this weekend.  Upgraded to a  version 3.6 of WordPress, and a new version of Nextgen Gallery, 2.0.  Nextgen 2.0 has a new way to implement galleries, and a really quite nifty gallery display which works on mobile phones with the swipe action.  Love it.

No new pictures, but hope to get the Cambridge Society visit to the Malverns online this week.

Pictures have been added for the Kingswood 2013 BBQ in the village circle

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The second Bank Holiday in May treated us to so some nice weather. The tug of war has been delayed to August, so instead a BBQ was organised in the circle. Well attended and fun with the usual suspects, drinking and feasting.

 

Has Spring arrived, a walk around Wotton Underwood.

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I seem to have failed in blogging. Maybe it’s the wet weather, or recently the unseasonable cold weather. Today the sun has shone, the wind has abated, and it was almost reasonable for a walk, though still on the cold side (made double figures at 11 Celsius).

So we did go for a walk, using our newly acquired passes that allow as to walk around the private grounds and lakes at Wotton Underwood. We had a good couple of hours ramble around The Lake, spotting birds as we went. Yes it has the very original name. No, we did not bump into Tone and Cheri, or their armed police guards. Identifications of birds will be placed in the gallery in due course. Yes I did identify the Swan!

Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day

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Christmas is over, with the real Boxing Day nearing the end. Family has left and Rosemary and I are left alone to eat our turkey and bread sauce sandwiches. This Christmas has been a white one with snow on the fields, and -10C frosts and hot wood burners toasting our toes. Friends in the pub to share a pint or two, Selina and Phil to share a turkey with. Alas did not manage to persuade Selina to run to the village shop. Yes, an evil plan hatched by her parents, the shop does not open on Boxing Day.

Here are a few pictures for you, I have even take a departure from the norm and condescended to include some people in one or two shots.

There’s a chill in the air, nobody could care.

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It was a tad nippy last night. The mercury fell to -11C or in old money 12.2F. That temperature is also 471.87 Rankine, -8.8 Reaumur and 262.15 Kelvin.

The Plough and Anchor pub almost caught fire last night.  They had installed a wood burner, but placed the flue against the wood lintel. This was smouldering quite fiercely when I entered the pub. The chef was spraying water inbetween the stonework and the wood. Pub talk was all about the Crooked Billet and the planned New Year rave. Let’s hope it goes ahead without any trouble.

Today it has started to snow and has been doing so for the past 3 hours. The traffic on the main road is now quite limited.