2 December 2011 - a lovely evening

Following the trip around the various "haunts" of my family, John Shirley and I stopped here for lunch. It is a lovely pub, and they were definitely "getting into the holiday spirit", as at once stage, towards the end of our meal they were laying tables with crackers and other festive cheer. Unfortunately, on the Saturday evening when Dee and Dan treated us to the wonderful opportunity to stay at Cutsey, this, like many other eateries, was fully booked, but I will get to that later!

Following lunch, we then drove home, and despite feeling rotten, there were a couple of things I still needed to get from the shops, so walked into Ilminster. As I have commented a number of times, one has to have been in the UK (and I would imagine any of the northern hemisphere countries) to really "get" what Christmas is all about with the lights and that "magical feeling in the air".

That done, I walked home, and following dinner, John, Shirley and I walked back to the previously mentioned "church" hall (aptly called "The Meeting House", and it used to be the Unitarian Church in the 1700s http://www.themeetinghouse.org.uk/) where there was a Christmas Craft Faire that was held during the day.

The streets were beautiful as there were festive lights up all over the place - the streets had them strung across, and then many of the buildings were decked out in lovely festive cheery lights - all acknowledging that Christmas was coming! Below are some of the pics I took of the lights as we walked to the hall - and in the process I nearly made John and Shirley late for the event! They really were most patient with me, but I also think it was worth the effort! :-)

John striding ahead as I tried to capture the essence of the moment - quite a nice "mood" pic, I think, in retrospect!

Along the main street - I think the wet weather just adds to the whole thing in terms of the sparkling lights being reflected in the water!

One of the buildings that had been decorated

Looking down the main street from what was a kind of square in Ilminster

And then we arrived at "The Meeting Place" in time to enjoy a lovely concert by a group calling themselves "Diaspora" (http://www.diasporamusic.org/). It was just one of those evenings where you could just sit back (much to the band's consternation at times, as they felt that we ought to be doing Irish jigs :-)) and enjoy the music. Some people sang along to the various numbers that they knew, and all in all a lovely way to end my week's trip to Somerset with Mum's cousins! The concert was in aid of some or another charity, but for the life of me I can neither recall the name of the charity, or find any reference to it, so I guess it will have to remain "nameless".

That evening following the concert we walked back to John and Shirley's and while I was having my bath I could hear John playing the Diaspora CD that he had bought on a previous occasion that they had been to watch them perform. (Unbeknown to me, this was the self same CD I purchased as part of my "Thank You package" for John and Shirley, but that has now been resolved by John sending it out to us for Mum.)

And so ends yet another day of my journey!

2 December 2011 - Tracing the family history!

Right, as promised, this will now be done with Mum. She has a couple of household chores that the animals and I end up causing her all the additional work in the house, and that, in combination with her cleanliness obsession, is going to keep her occupied for a little while; which will then give me a chance to upload all the relevant photos that I need to caption or write about.

It also means that I will now have to rewrite much of what was written on this page yesterday in order for it to make more sense and to be more accurate.

So, on the Friday morning of my stay in Somerset, after a good breakfast, John, Shirley and I all bundled ourselves into John and Shirley's car, with John navigating and Shirley driving - and between the two of them making something of an awesome tag-team! We were off to Taunton and environs to go and see places from my grandmother's ancestry.

We headed straight for Taunton, and there we stopped at a War Memorial where two of my great-uncles have their names engraved in the memorial. In the pic you get a sense of the actual memorial, and then a closer image of John and Shirley pointing out the names. These two were my grandmother's brother and half-brother - Hugh and Tom Clatworthy, who both died in the First World War.

The war memorial from a distance with Shirley and John pointing out where the two brothers' names are engraved

A little difficult to see the names properly, but they are there! ;-)

As you can see there are still the wreaths from the Poppy Day events - and that was something that was also so much more poignant in the UK than the somewhat half-hearted attempts at it that we have in South Africa -and I think I worked out why.

It wasn't until Dee spoke to me about the guards who were at Windsor Castle during the "Changing of the Guards" ceremony that I started to see things through different lenses, I guess one could say! She mentioned that the guards were serving members of the armed forces - or had been - and some were just young, young men. And then she also spoke of the fact that they were people who could have served in Afghanistan and/or Iraq, and so they were people who were currently fighting wars (no matter one's moral feelings on the matter), and so were actively involved. People who die in these wars are not the people referred to in so much of the "War Poetry" that we cover in the syllabi at school - dating back in time, these are young people who are sometimes putting their lives on the line now! This also caused a sudden whiplash back to the days that my own brother, all of eighteen (and to me such a young, young man) who was now being put in the unenviable position, like so many others, to be able to take the life of another human being during his days of conscripted army duty.

This also gave me an added emotional impetus particularly concerning the two young Clatworthys on the stone memorial remembered for being in "The Great War" (which I recall from my history days at school, where people believed there could never be another world war of such proportions and involving so many - and they say we learn from history?) - makes one wonder all over again about the pointless nature of war!!!

Okay, enough with the philosophising for the time being.

Whew! This is a mission. It started off with me trying to get things in place according to my pics, and after Mum and I spending a good hour or more grappling with all the facts and figures, I think I am going to have to do this a little differently, incorporating extractions from family trees and history where possible. Those who are not at all interested in all the complications - and it does get very complicated and convoluted, please do not feel obliged to read on! :-)

The 1861 Census lists family at Cutsey - so the farm was in existence then and was a working farm. (John has since confirmed that the Blakes have been at Cutsey since at least 1700, as there is reference in Robert Blake of Pitminster's will of 1710 to items at Cutsey.)

While Cutsey was a working farm, there were times that the ironmongery business (as mentioned below) probably subsidised the farm to an extent. (I had gathered and portrayed a rather more dire situation, and as John mentioned in his email to me, "if the largest farm in the Parish of Trull was non-self-supporting, then agriculture as a whole in the UK in the first half of the twentieth century must have been in a bad way (perhaps it was!) But I (John) think think that Cutsey suffered from debts incurred by our multi-great uncle Thomas Blake (died 1880). In his will he left legacies totalling £18 000 but liquid assets of only £9 000.  Land had to be sold or mortgaged to meet the difference and some of that mortgage still existed when my grandmother died in 1940.")

Into Taunton proper we stopped off at what seems to be 10 High Street, Taunton - the ironmongery apparently called, "Clatworthy and Cooke". The rooms above formed the family home for a good while, as the family then lived above the shop. (Again, updates from John: "The ironmongery went through various names, "Clatworthy & Co", "Clatworthy & Son" and finally "Clatworthy, Cooke & Co".)

This is probably what would have formed the ironmongery - the red door and the one window below - with the family living in the rooms above. The 1881 census lists ELAND CLATWORTHY and MARY CLATWORTHY (both aged 30 and listed as husband and wife), living there with MARY P. COOMBS, a 22 year old servant. Eland Clatworthy would have been my great grandfather (Courtesy John once more - this MARY, is Eland's first wife, and this my step great grandmother) - and were children to Thomas and Frances Clatworthy mentioned below.

John contemplating in front of what he thinks was ironmongery and home at one time. As you will see, over time this has been completely changed and now houses a department store which would cover a large number of shop/homes

In the same 1881 Census, the records reflect other members of the family living at Mount Villa, 13 Mount Street.

13 Mount Street - and thus I gather what used to be Mount Villa. The Census has living here: THOMAS CLATWORTHY (Head of the House and aged 74); FRANCES CLATWORTHY (Wife and aged 70); ANNIE CLATWORTHY (Daughter and aged 39); PHOEBE CLATWORTHY (Daughter and aged 33); ROSE CLATWORTHY (Daughter and aged 26); MARY NUTT (Cook and aged 64) and HELEN COMBS (Housemaid and aged 20).

Now, I have no factual proof in all of the records that Mum has, and am trying to recall what John told me during this trip and my muggy head. This home is almost opposite Mount Villa, and if I recall correctly was the home to the three daughters mentioned above at a later stage. These were known as the "three aunts" - and never married, so it would make sense that they would have lived in one abode together, while the other members of the family were in their own homes. I stand to correction on this however - and am sure that John or someone else will let me know :-)

And, as I hoped, John has been able to fill in the banks for me. From him: "It is Hawthorne Cottage (20 Mount Street). In the 1891 Census Eland, Mary I and Thomas were living there.  After Eland married Mary Corner he moved to Hovelands on the south side of Taunton, presumably to be nearer Cutsey, and then, after the death of Mary Corner, to Fairlawn, where the family was in 1901.  In that Census Frances and two of "the three aunts" are living in Mount Street (I have "number not given" but I must recheck) and the aunts did go on living there until their respective deaths.  In File DD/CT/65 (which I must send to your mother shortly) there is an interesting letter about how Hawthorne Cottage came to be in family ownership."

Then it was to the Taunton graveyard where members of this part of the family could be found buried.

The first pic is a distance shot of the graveyard as a whole.

A view from across the road to what I think is a beautiful and tranquil setting for the departed family members!

John has done a good deal of work with both Rosie and Pat to try and track down the various sites of our ancestry. At one stage they were trying to track down the various grave sites, as they had no clear indication sense of where was what.

Eventually, I think it was John who contacted the local authorities, and he was able to get a map as to where the graves ought to be. He was also told that the authorities thought that he would not find the actual graves as such, as many of the graves in this grave yard had fallen into disrepair and so the authorities had cleaned up the place, and in the process they might have removed most, or all, of the grave/s in question and so the chances are that they might have a site that was just grass and a number.

However, much to their happiness, they discovered that there were indeed graves that were fairly "intact". Since then, between the four of them (John, Shirley, Rosie and Pat), they have tried to keep things a little tidier, and more in keeping with a reflection of how they feel the family ought to be remembered.

Shirley and John looking at the grave site that has a total of 5 grave and memorial stones. You can see the broken cross in the centre of the "patch"

Below is the memorial stone of my great grandfather's first wife, Mary Jane, and then an inscription making reference to him dying at the good age of 90! He died just before Granny got married and they did not want to upset her, and so kept this to themselves until after her marriage. Her mother then wrote to her after the marriage and informed her of his death. I have just discovered that Gran then lost her mother at the end of May - her father dying the day before she married in April and her mother at the end of May.

The stone that is to the left hand side at the front of the burial plot and reads:
"In loving memory of MARY JANE wife of ELAND CLATWORTHY who fell asleep December 23rd 1892. Aged 42 years.
And of ELAND CLATWORTHY who passed away April 26 1940. Aged 90 years" 

Mary Jane Clatworthy's manner of being recorded as dying has apparently incensed (mildly, I gather), Teazle. She actually died in childbirth. None the less. She was the first wife of my great grandfather, and they sired Thomas who died during the First World War in 1916. His memorial stone can be found at this grave site as well, as can be seen below. Where he is buried - if at all, I cannot say. (Again from the meticulous John: "Thomas Eland was buried where he died in 1916.  The actual site is lost although Eland did write to the War Office asking if they knew where it was.")

"In loving memory of their son THOMAS ELAND CLATWORTHY who joined the Territorial Forces in September 1914 and served in the ranks with the 1st 5th Somersets at Ambala till he received his majesty's commission in the Indian Army in July 1915 and was killed in action at the Battle of Sheikh Saad, Mesopotamia January 6th 1916. Aged 30 years"

Then to the left of the cross in the picture above is the following shield memorial stone to Hugh Clatworthy, brother to my grandmother and his death in the First World War.

"In loving memory of HUGH ELAND CLATWORTHY 4th Batt South Staffs Regiment. Second son of ELAND MARY CLATWORTHY who was taken prisoner in France May 27th 1918, and died in Darmstadt Prisoner of War Hospital Oct 3rd 1918. Aged 19 years."

On the right hand side, the following shield is found that then indicates the death of my great grandmother - mother. Once again, living to no mean age when one considers the fact that people always speak of how we are living longer lives now in comparison to what the situation was in times gone by!

"In loving memory of MARY wife of ELAND CLATWORTHY, who passed away May 31st 1940. Aged 70 years"

The four (John, Shirley, Rosie and Pat) have also said that they plan to return soonish to try and clean the place a little more and even possibly try and mend the cross that is obviously meant to be a part of the plot. It is good of them - and with Dee's interest piqued in the family history, I would imagine that this will mean that we can ensure that our family does have some sort of "positive" "evidence trail" as it were.

Then it was back into the car and off to All Saints Church in Trull. This is apparently the main church associated with my maternal side of the family in days of yore, and besides the war memorial (standing tall in the centre of the pic), it contains quite a bit of the family history in the graveyard, on plaques on the walls, and even in the three stained glass windows that you can see to the right of the pic (right of the lamp).

I have given captions, and at the end of all the pics I will endeavour to try and make sense of the confusion of names and such like to try and assist people who are trying to follow this muddle of our family history.

All Saints Church, Trull

A rather unclear pic of the war memorial, but it gives a sense of what it looks like a little closer.

The inscription on the side of the war memorial - remembering Thomas and Hugh once again.

Here you can see a collection of the three graves that are found in the graveyard. These are also in dire need of some cleaning, and "the cousins" have said that they intend doing this, which will be great. However, since there is no way you can read this, John kindly transcribed the information and sent it to Mum a while back. So, herewith the inscriptions on the graves.

Grave 1:

"In memory of THOMAS BLAKE late of Cutsey in this Parish who died November 2nd 1880. Aged 49 years"

"In memory of ELEANOR widow of THOMAS BLAKE of Cutsey in this Parish who died April 20th 1918. Aged 83 years"

On the end pitch

"ELIZABETH BLAKE died November 30 1901. Aged 67 years"

Grave 2:

"In memory of JAMES BURSTON CORNER who died at Fairlawn in this Parish December 10th 1876. Aged 55 years"

"I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me though he be dead yet shall he live"

"Also of MARY CORNER his wife who died at Fairlawn November 7th 1899. Aged 63 years"

"Neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away"

Grave 3:

"In memory of WILLIAM BLAKE of Cutsey in this Parish who died 9 January 1864. Aged 66 years"

"Also of MARY his wife who died September 13 1876. Aged 70 years"

Inside the Church, to the left of the stained glass windows I referred to above, and which you can see a little more clearly below, are additional plaques.

In situ in All Saints Church

"Sacred to the memory of WILLIAM BLAKE, Late of Cutsey in this Parish, who departed this Life September 2nd 1826. Aged 60 years.

Also BETTY, daughter of the aforesaid WILLIAM BLAKE and BETTY his wife, who departed this Life January 3rd 1798. Aged 3 years.

Also THOMAS, their son, who departed this Life, February 7th 1813. Aged 11 years.

Also BETTY, Relict, of the aforesaid WILLIAM BLAKE who departed this life November 18th 1840. Aged 70 years"

(By the way: "Relict" means "widow")

"To the ever dear memory of

THOMAS ELAND CLATWORTHY
Eldest son of ELAND CLATWORTHY who joined the Territorial Forces in September 1914 and served in the ranks with the 1st 5th Somersets at Ambala, till he received his Majesty's Commission in the Indian Army in July 1915 and was killed in action at the Battle of Sheikh Saad, Mesopotamia January 6th 1916. Aged 30 years.

HUGH ELAND CLATWORTHY
Second son of ELAND & MARY CLATWORTHY great great grandson of the above WILLIAM BLAKE who joined the Colours in May 1917, crossed to France on Easter Day 1918, was taken prisoner on May 27th and died in Darmstadt Prisoner of War Hospital October 3rd 1918. Aged 19 years."

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"     

The quote at the end of the inscription, for those of you interested comes from a poem by Wilfred Owen and translates "It is a sweet and fitting thing to die for your country" - and if you read the poem you will discover that Owen is protesting against the veracity of this statement - so maybe the quote, when placed on the gravestone actually comes from the Roman writer Horace in one of his Odes where he was encouraging people to fight in wars to defend one's country - in a time when warfare was very different in many ways!

In the central window, near the bottom you can see a section, which you can no doubt not read, so a transcription: "This window is given in memory of the Hawkins family of Sweethay, Trull"
The Hawkins family, from what I can gather farmed on part of Cutsey, and then when the farm was split up actually bought parts of the land - and again, from what I can gather, the family are still farming there.

The references to Fairlawn - this is the home - a beautifully kept and lovely looking home that is owned by someone else now, but she was more than willing to give John and his family a tour of the property a while back when they happened to be researching the family history and trying to find the actual pieces of concrete evidence. Mum has a particular interest in this, as it is where my grandmother was actually born!

One of the many signposts - and one I HAD to include as it has on it "Cutsey" - the home of my maternal grandmother and her siblings for many years, and then passed down to Pat, Rosie and Marianne's father (the eldest son - William Clatworthy), and finally was sold when the M5 highway came barrelling through the property and it seemed intelligent for the family to sell then since the three girls were not planning to do the whole farming "thing" and didn't fancy living on the side of the highway.

The entrance to the Estate now. 

One of those almost clichéd pics of rural England, except what you have here is Cutsey in the background with the sheep grazing happily in the foreground.  

Okay, so for all my family - and to some extent for me, let's try and get some of the family history above into some sort of perspective.

So, I think we need to start with William Blake - my great-great-great-great grandfather. In the family tree he is listed as "of Cutsey, Trull and Plymtree, Devon. Baptised Trull 11 June 1766. Died 2 September 1826". He was married to Betty Farrant who died at the age of 70 on 18 November 1840. They are the ones mentioned in the marble plaque in All Saints Church, with their daughter (aged 3) and son (aged 11) who both died at those ages.

They had only one surviving son, who I can work out from the family tree - and that was the next William Blake, who was baptised in Trull on 30 January 1797 and died on 9 January 1864. He was married to Mary Thomas, who died on 18 September 1876, aged 70. It is their grave (I would imagine they are buried there) that forms one of the three graves in the group in the churchyard at All Saints Church.

So this next William Blake would then be my great-great-great grandfather, and Mary my great-great-great grandmother. They had four children (quite a small family for those times!): Thomas, (another) William Blake (who died at 2), Elizabeth, who lived at Dipford (built by her father years before when he retired there and left Cutsey in the hands of Thomas) and their final child, Mary Blake.

Thomas Blake of Cutsey, Trull (Grave 1 in All Saints Church Grave Yard) with his wife, Eleanor. Thomas Blake then inherited Cutsey from his father. Thomas died when he was 49, but his wife was to live to the ripe old age of 83. (Gravestone 1 at All Saints Church above.) As a result of them apparently having no children, Eleanor moved out of Cutsey to "Broadlands", where she lived until her death.

(more information from John: "After Thomas Blake's death in 1880, Cutsey seems to have belonged to his two sisters, Elizabeth Blake and Mary Corner (who had married James Burston Corner in October 1864).  Elizabeth died unmarried and childless in 1901 and Mary Corner, who had only the one daughter, in 1899.  Mary Corner never actually lived at Cutsey, (except as a young girl) hence the reference to Fairlawn on her grave.  So Mary Clatworthy inherited Cutsey and disposed of it in her Will.  Who actually lived at Cutsey between 1880 and 1912 is uncertain (must check further).  In Kelly's Directory for 1894 there is reference to "Dredge, James, farmer, Cutsey", so presumably he was renting it.  In 1901 Marcus Kidner (Eland's nephew) was [disastrously] Bailiff at Cutsey.  I haven't checked the 1911 Census."

Cutsey then went to Mary Blake who was the second wife of James Burston Corner (Gravestone 2). However, in the citation it records both Mary and James, my great-great grandparents, as being of "Fairlawn". I know that John has been trying to puzzle together exactly who had been living at Cutsey during this time. There are census and other records that suggest that the two sister, Elizabeth and Mary were living at Cutsey at one stage, but it's all a bit of a conundrum.

Mary Blake and James Burston had just one daughter, Mary Corner - mentioned above in terms of No 10 High Street, as she married Eland Clatworthy, the ironmonger and later moving to Cutsey (from what I can work out).

I can recall Gran telling me stories of my great grandfather (also repeated by Mum, so I guess the memory of a "young lady's childhood" could be called into account here). He apparently always had a nap after Church, but this was the time when he obviously wished for absolute silence, and so he seated all his children (5 in all) at his feet and they were to remain sitting there silently until he awoke! My how times have changed!

My great grandfather, Eland, was first married to Mary Jane Bailey - reference the Trull grave yard entry - and they had Thomas - my grandmother's, half-brother. (He is also the one who was killed during the First World War.) Then my great grandfather married my great grandmother, Mary Corner (I guess marrying two women with the same name helped clear muddles in his own head).

So, my great grandfather and great grandmother - had 6 children (although my great grandfather apparently was the 12th of 14 children - so I guess when one looks at things they were cutting down the numbers!). Those children were, in order of their births: William Blake (Pat, Rosie and Marianne's father); Mary Frances (my aunt Sue, and the mother of Aunt Allie and Aunt Marney); Hugh Clatworthy (the one who was who died during the First World War in a Prisoner of War Hospital); James Edward (who was known as Uncle Ted and was the father to John, Richard and Teazle (Teresa)), Lilian Jessie (my grandmother - who was the mother of Mum, Uncle Dave, Uncle Jim and Aunt Wizz) and then maiden aunt - Aunt "B", who was more formally named Ella Phyllis.

And so there you have the complicated and convoluted family history as best as I have been able to put things together. There are a couple of other things that I would like to do some research and ferreting about with, but I am also conscious that this has taken the better part of the day to complete, with numerous interruptions to a very patient mother, and I think that I would like to call it quits here.

So for now people, all for the time being. Those who have managed to read it and possibly were interested, thanks - to the rest of you, I really cannot blame you - especially if there is no real vested interest in this. I will continue my trail a little later - either tomorrow or the next, I would imagine. In the mean time my second niece is flying to Brazil, where she and her friend are going to enjoy ten days or so with her friend's father, who lives there. Wonderful opportunity, and I do hope that she has a fabulous time!

I am now going to face the challenge on my cross stitch once more! Adieu!

(Thanks must go to John and Mum for their meticulous checking and comments in terms of putting this together!)

1 December 2011

The next morning we surfaced and enjoyed a relaxed breakfast before we headed off to meet with cousin John and Shirley Clatworthy.

It was this part of the trip that I knew I needed to have my wits about me, but as the week had progressed so the bug had been undeterred in terms of making sure it stayed with me, and so there are things that as I mentioned in the previous entry, I am hoping will be clarified for me via the photos, and if that fails, Mum will have to help me "connect the dots" so that I do represent things accurately. (and she is having an afternoon snooze having managed to get a cough as well - so we are a right pair - although I am getting there, which is a huge relief!)

So, we set off and Pat drove past a farm where there was a field of Shetlands. I was fascinated by these tiny ponies with their rotund bellies grazing under overcast skies and "all at peace with the world".

Then we made our way to a place called "Burrow Mump", which is one of the places on the way towards Ilminster.

Burrow Mump has rich historical background - as with so many of the other aspects of the UK! From what I have been able to glean, there is evidence that this has traces of Roman activity - but then I guess much of the UK would have that!

I think the thing that made it something different is that it is higher than much of the rest of the countryside as it is atop a hill in the midst of the "Somerset Levels" - which are also interesting, as there are tales and stories about these as well - but the general crux is that the "Levels and Moors" (as I see Wikipedia states they ought to be correctly referred to! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Levels ) date back to a time when the sea probably came in as far as this part of the country, I gather at certain times of the year, as there is a reference to the fact that "Somerset" probably gained its name from the fact that it was a place of the Summer people - but then, I guess no one wants to be stuck in a peat bog in winter! The levels are also the perfect place for the willow trees to grow. The willow that is used in the willow weaving I have spoken of - and just to clear something up, these are trees that are not "Weeping Willows". They are far more upright bushels of reeds almost.

None the less, we continued our journey along the winding country roads of Somerset to Ilminster, where I would be spending the next couple of days. John and Mum seem to have latched onto the "investigation" aspect of the family tree and family history for my maternal grandmother's lineage, and with John being so close to Taunton, and so where his father and my grandmother grew up, he has had a chance to do a good deal of ferreting about in order to try and fill in some of the missing pieces of the jigsaw, as well as finding out some information behind the names and dates - hence the need to have my wits about me - and even looking at the pics now, I can see that I will make mistakes! Oh well!

We met up at John and Shirley's home where I was shown to my bedroom and we then walked into Ilminster itself in order to go and have lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that John and Shirley had come to quite enjoy, but commented at the end of the meal that they were a little saddened that it appeared that the restaurant was becoming a little too commercialised and thus losing some of its charm. I guess that is the problem with so many things. The knowledge of knowing when to stop is always an important thing in all aspects of life - and I have been reading about it quite a bit in a number of my painting newsletters and information that I have received over the last couple of weeks. But, it does apply to all things in life I guess!

Following lunch we walked to a little way down the road to a hall where they had a Christmas market of sorts housed there, as well as the place that we would be visiting the following evening as John and Shirley had bought tickets to watch an Irish themed band (Diaspora) the following night who were doing their bit to try and ensure that a charity doing quite a bit of work using film (and whose name I cannot for the life of me recall just now) could raise some funds.

Following that, we walked back to John and Shirley's and said our farewells to Pat as she tootled off back home. Not feeling my brightest, Shirley offered, and I graciously accepted this offer, to have a snooze in the afternoon. I awoke feeling far more refreshed, and enjoyed a lovely evening chatting to John as Shirley was attending a function that the church had organised as a result of their pastor being about to leave, and this was a farewell from him to many of the people in the parish who worked closely with the children.

Shirley was not home all that late, and if I recall correctly, about the time she got in, I had headed up to bed and was turning in for the day.

I started working on 2 December, but there are too many "gaps" in my memory and knowledge, and so, Mum and I are going to have to achieve something of a minor miracle - but also part of my practising for what is to be my intention for 2012 - and make the time to sit and go through all the pics that I have and annotate properly.

So, for the time being, you will have to await the "history lesson" kind folks. And so, as I close for this evening and continue on my marathon of finishing off my cross stitch, that is slowly gaining even more definition and texture as a result of the backstitching and such like, I wish you all well.

All my love!

30 November 2011 - Somerset with Pat

The next morning I had a chance to say my farewells for the time being to Rosie before she headed off with a group from the "University of the Third Age" - abbreviated to "U3A" - who would then be travelling to Bath that day to spend time there - both social and a little discovering of some aspects I think.

It was time for Pat to then pick me up and we went to a willow weaving place where I saw some of the productions of the weavers, as well as getting a little of an understanding of what it was all about. Really all an interesting and different experience for me!

Then we headed for Cerne Abbas. This is made famous for the massive chalk (rock?) outline of a naked man. Herewith a pic of said giant man.

I think you get something of an indication of the size of this if you look towards the top right near his arm you can see a person looking very diminutive.

There are a variety of theories as to the reason for his being or how he came about in terms of the actual "construction" (as with the crop circles and other such things that are all inexplicable), and I have brought back a book with at least one of the theories that is explored, which Mum will certainly read, and I will make an effort on that count, and if I get there I will try and share this with you all. In the mean time the pic from a site, and if you would like to find out a little more in terms of this, try this link: http://www.listzblog.com/top_ten_bizarre_landmarks_list.html

It was actually interesting. We had travelled to the giant. Pat pointed him out and we were running a little late in terms of lunch, and so she initially suggested that maybe it would be an idea for me to take my pic when we came back - just as well we did not await this, as we returned in comparative darkness as a result of the very short days and the overcast nature of the whole day in any event.

We then proceeded to the actual village, where we found a lovely pub and had a chance to have a lunch before the kitchen closed for the afternoon and we were left a little stranded. Once again, I think as a result of it being "that" time of the year, much of what was in Cerne Abbas was closed and much being renovated for the usual tourist season, I would imagine.

We found a lovely pub - "The Royal Oak" (http://www.royaloakcerneabbas.co.uk/) which was founded in 1540! With the weather being a little miz, we sat inside and enjoyed a pleasant meal in warm surroundings. The rooms (as with so many of the UK pubs) were decked out with various thematic aspects to them. The one in which we had lunch was all cups which were hanging from the wooden beams that ran along the ceiling. (If I recall correctly!)

Here is a somewhat more atmospheric pic taken when we returned to the car after visiting the one church and then taking a bit of a walk around Cerne Abbas.

I found the Cerne Abbas Church we visited lovely in the sense that it was a plain and simple church. Don't get me wrong - as you will know the other churches that I visited, as well as those of you who know me, will know that I LOVE the majesty of stained glass windows and the beauty of those magnificent vaulted ceilings and such like. But, for once, while it does look a somewhat imposing church from the outside, as you can see in the pic below; the inside was far simpler. The ceilings are high and travel to the tops of what you can see in the stonework. The beams that stabilise (I gather) the structure are all simply of stone, and the inside lacks all the pomp and ceremony that is so common in so many of the churches. (I think I have the correct link now: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/cerne-abbas-church.htm).

This intrigued me, outside the Church, as you can see below and mid-bottom-centre of the pic above, a set of stocks. I think the concept of something so holy, associated with something so cruel as stocks, was something that I had not really considered - not that I for one moment do think that the Church (no matter which one turns to in terms of faith systems) cannot and has not been cruel either at some stage of its existence - it was just that juxtaposition there so literally for me to see I think.

I have just "Wikipediaed" "Cerne Abbas" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerne_Abbas) and discover that this village was built around the Cerne Abbas Abbey - founded in 984 or thereabouts, and then destroyed to a large extent following Henry the Eighth's torrid relationship with the Catholic Church. Pat and I walked up the road that the church fronted onto, and having now looked at the notes in Wikipedia I discover that the road that we walked up and the house that I took the second pic below of is in actual fact what was rebuilt of the Abbey in later years in an effort to retain something of what the Abbey was all about.

It was then back to the car to begin the journey home, but I could not resist this pic of a part of Cerne Abbas - which is a real "mood" pic of the village. The houses of the village in the centre of it all front onto the roads, so this was nothing unusual in terms of the way in which things "work" in so many of the villages that I visited. I just love the way in which nightfall is encroaching and lights are being switched on bringing some small warmth to the otherwise cold, wet and grey landscape.

That evening I was kindly hosted by Pat, and so we travelled all the way to her home, where she is trying desperately to sort out the various pieces that she has inherited from her mother, Aunt Nanceye, who passed away during the course of the year having made it past her 100th birthday! Pat is also trying to sort out quite a bit of the paperwork that was associated with things, as she had inherited that side of things mainly by default, over the years, and it just continued that way.

We took a walk down the road from Pat's home to her local pub where we enjoyed a wonderful evening near a roaring fire nattering about all sorts of things. I was amused when Pat suddenly broke into rather Anglicised Afrikaans when the proprietor appeared to stoke the fire and add more wood, asking after his health. I then discovered that he hailed from the Cape and had been living in the UK a good number of years - and it was now both his home and place where he made his livelihood.

That evening, it was off to bed, when I spotted the "Visitor's Book" that was originally from Cutsey House - where my maternal grandmother grew up. The book dated back to when Aunt Nanceye and Uncle Bill must have married - as it went back to 1939! I knew that Dad had gone there on a visit when he was training on the first ever computers for NCR over the period that I was born (and so, during that time Mum stayed in Zimbabwe with her parents and gave birth to me in Bulawayo then - quite convinced that there were quite a number of nursing, etc staff who believed that she had had this child out of wedlock!).

Needless to say, it was something I could not resist - looking for Dad's entry - and there it was! It raised all sorts of emotions in me - part because here was physical evidence of my Dad again, but also because in a day or so, I too would be going to visit Cutsey and walk the corridors and spaces walked by both Dad and my Gran!

All rather surreal - as so many things on this trip were!

It was then the end of yet another interesting, educational and all round weird day. The next would see Pat and I travelling to meet with Cousin John Clatworthy and his lovely wife, Shirley, where I would spend time until Saturday of that week when we would all meet at a local pub that Rosie loved and the Johnsons would collect me and all my baggage before we all then headed off for what was to be a surprise visit for Uncle Dave to Cutsey House. Not feeling my brightest, this part of the journey may get a little muddled, but I just hope that with the assistance of the photos taken at the time I might be able to piece together some of the family bits that made this part of this trip so relevant and special!

All for the time being. Mum has decided to have a snooze, and while I am feeling like I could well do so as well, I also am agitating to try and finish my one cross stitch where I have all the final finishing touches that always seem to take an age - I think because I have spent so long getting to this point, I kind of feel as though the piece should be finished "NOW", and it is not. Patience - something time is sure teaching me that I need to develop!!!

Well peeps, all for the time being. All my love - and hope that you are enjoying the ramblings.

21 December 2011

And there you have it - a whole year of thinking about being on my long leave, nine weeks in situ in the UK, and now here I am at home, settling back into the routines that make everything run as they are supposed to.

And, although I have come back from the trip VERY much poorer financially, partly as a result of an incident at the airport when I flew back home, and the rest as a result of my misguided calculations in terms of conversion rates, I have returned so much richer for the experience, which narration I will try and complete with "due diligence" (I would have put in one of my emoticons that I loved using and Brenda hated here, but they won't work on my Google Chrome!). It is weird when we have got used to the fact that 1 and 2 cent coins are now scrapped, and over in the UK they still use a 1p coin! And the 1p counts for something. I also had something of a tough time getting used to the fact that if something was marked at a couple of pounds - that did not necessarily mean "cheap" - mainly because over here in SA, when one sees something under R10-00, that tends to suggest that it is cheap (and often nasty - not always, but you get the idea!)

So, general catch up before I try and go back in time and recall and record my continued experiences of my trip. I arrived safe and sound last Tuesday - and so have been home for a week and a day now - weird sudden feeling of whiplash for me! :-)

I came back with the lurgy that I had managed to clear from my ear while still under Aunty Pam's care, thank heavens, or I think flying would have been a MAJOR problem, and then saw my wonderful doc on Tuesday afternoon, who took one look at my throat and was horrified. Throat was all a mess, sinuses all a mess, but at that stage no indication of the ear infection. So, then it was onto the meds, which finished on Sunday. However, starting Saturday afternoon, the ear started with an ache which meant that I then was back at the doc - not with my fabulous Greek doc who is taking a well earned holiday - but instead with one of her colleagues - and now am on penicillin and something to clear the sinus infection. What a way to come home - and not aided by the fact that I am feeling washed out all the time!!! Oh well, am sure all will get there eventually, just a pain when I would like to have a sharper brain and a little more energy - although I have to confess that the heat of this summer to which I have returned after such wonderful mild weather in the UK, is probably contributing to that as well.

On the plus side, it is wonderful to be home with Mum again! I was a delight to see the pups (well, that's what I call them in any event) happy to see me back and then to be snubbed by Ming (my older white kitty who is a real "mummy's girl") for the first two days, after which she decided that I could be forgiven (in a typical cat manner!), but have my one other kitty (Teddy) very happy to have his mummy home as I got the royal treatment of purrs and much affection - although he will not come into the lounge because "those dogs" are there!

So, all in all, things, as I say, are basically clocking themselves back into shape and the routines are slowly being established once more.

I think that the best way to do this in terms of my trip is that I will head all the entries as one would a diary - so when you see a November date - please do not be too confused! :-)

7 December 2011 - Somerset on a Tuesday

The morning dawned and I was not really there to see it happen (curtains drawn and me asleep, despite the fact that the sun rises later with winter approaching). In the mean time, while I was lazily approaching the waking part of the day, Rosie had already been out for a good long walk with Jasper and Kizzie - she walks the dogs twice a day, and tries to ensure that each walk is about an hour long.

I have to say that while I have resolved to get Cleo and Jess back into the habit of walks, I can say one thing for sure - they will in all likelihood NEVER get two walks in a day and pushing it to the two hour daily is probably about as close as the pups will ever get as they do in their dreams when they are "chasing rabbits"!

I'll explain the context of this photo in a little while - but at least you get a chance to see what all three look like. In the mean time, a little diversion as I tell a story about Jasper and Kizzie.

Jasper, the gorgeous golden labbie is a handsome 11-year old. Kizzie's mother (a collie, as I recall), was a rather "scarlet lady" during the latter period of the British summer of 2010, and came knocking on Jasper's door, awakened his carnal instincts and a little while later, Rosie was visited by Jasper's love's owners to be told that Jasper was about to become father to pups to be produced by their collie. Rosie naturally stated that there really was not all that much that she could do about the matter, and when the owners finally realised that this was indeed the truth of the matter, they all then set about finding homes for all off-spring that were to be born. Kizzie was one of the children, and so when she was old enough to be taken from her mother, she joined Rosie and Jasper, and has a wonderful time meeting all sorts of people as she travels all over the place with Rosie and Jasper - or when she is being looked after by anyone who comes to house sit for Rosie when she goes away.

So, back to Tuesday. The timetable held in it a lunch with some friends of Rosie's at a local pub - on the way to which we would travel through what is called Cheddar Gorge. A rather grand gorge that is apparently well known - but not by me!!!

The road cuts all the way through the gorge and it gives one a chance to appreciate the majesty of the area. Here are two pics - the first to try and give an indication of the general sense of the area, and then the second, zooms in and ought to give a chance for you to see two men in blue outfits who are climbing the area - and if you go back to the other pic, you will get some sense of the size of things, as the men are kind of top right of the first pic.

We travelled through this, stopping in various places for photos to be taken - the one above of Rosie, Kizzie and Jasper being taken there as well - before we headed for a pub where we had a lovely lunch with a whole lot of friends who had been at nursing college with Rosie and Pat's sister, Marianne, and with whom Rosie has now become very friendly.

I think, if I recall correctly, that I have mentioned the "hobbit houses" that Andrea's Vaughn referred to in Farnham? Well, there have been a couple of incidents where I have seen these kinds of small doors leading from homes onto the roads - and in the pub, there was also a suit of armour, which I have shown here, but you don't really get a sense of the size of the armour - it is tiny. I think it is something that would have fitted my grandmother and her family quite well, and she was always quite insistent about adding the "half inch" to her (I think) 5 foot 1 inch height. Her one sister was under five foot, and I know that the rest of her siblings were also in the same kind of region in terms of height. But, for what it is worth - a pic of the armour for interest sake:

And after the lovely lunch, full of fun and laughter, we had the only "spell of miserable weather" as such when we left the pub and it was raining.

At that stage I think Rosie thought that she would only be able to drive me through me the city of Wells (well, I assume that it is a city as it has more than one cathedral in it!), but the rain basically ceased, and we were able to travel into Wells and I had a chance to visit the Wells Cathedral at the same time that there was a group choir of what looked like a number of groups of children from various schools (they wore different uniforms - hence my assumption) while they were practising for what was obviously some Christmas related musical event. It was rather lovely.

I watched the choir rehearsing for a little while, wondered about a little in the environs, and then came out (during which time Rosie had taken Jasper and Kizzie back to her car, before coming back to meet me)  and had a chance to explore a little and take one or two pics of various aspects of Wells, before we headed home and a lovely evening spent chatting.

The alley between the Cathedral and "the high street"

This sign is under the arch in the pic above, and says something both about the history and the social period of the time.

The entrance to another part of the Cathedral - something to do with the Bishops - and which, I am afraid, I cannot really recall correctly just now! :-(

The ruins of part of the Bishop's part of the Cathedral

A rather atmospheric pic of part of the "high street" with Rosie in it (and the pups, before she took them back to the car)

And with that, I think it is time I call it a night.