Evergreen Summer 2014

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Vol.30 No.2 SUMMER 2014

Getting Better

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You see the sunshine and the flowers, And feel new strength, through healing hours, No longer now inert and still, Your eyes absorb their grateful fill Of every moment, sparkling bright To lead through shadows, into light; And as your health improves each day, So much in gratitude, to say To all who tended you with care, Through word and deed, and constant prayer.

ELIZABETH GOZNEY

QUARTERLY

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A Miscellany of This & That & Things Gone By SUmmer 2014 09/05/2014 16:15

Contents

Summer 2014

Summer Sun . . . .

Robert Louis Stevenson 4 Rural Rides . . . . . . . Gillian Jackson 12 The Literary Pilgrim . . . .

Cyril Bainbridge 18 Music Makers . . . . . Rev. Frank Bovill 22 Percy’s Postbag . . . . . Percy Bickerdyke 26 Almanac . . . . . . . .

Angeline Wilcox 32 Gleanings . . . . . . Derek Threadgall 36 Mods and Rockers Reunite . . .

Paul Howard 41 Then & Now . . . . . . Henry Spencer 42 On the Air . . . . . . Charles Meredith 44 Cornish Charm . . . . . . .

Tom Bowden 48 Bookworm . . . . . . .

Stephen Garnett 54 Rib-Ticklers . . . . . . . . . . .

— 56 TV Memories . . . .

E dmund Whitehouse 58 Where Are You Now? . . . . . . . .

— 62 Living Dangerously... . . . . . Keith Dee 64 Famous Names in Football . . Alan Robinson 67 Feast of Family Favourites . . . . . . .

— 68 Whatever Happened to DIY? . . .

Tony Wilkins 70 On Location with Monty Python

. . . . . . .

Graham Gough 78 The Mile of the Century . . . . Colin Allan 80 The Past in Colour . . . . . . . .

— 85 The Evergreen Prayer . . . . Derek Dobson 86 Our Christian Heritage . . . . Roger Paine 88 Whatever Happened to...? . . .

Charmion Mills 94 From the Deputy Editor’s Desk . Angeline Wilcox 96 Clippings . . . . .

Letters to the Editor 98 Castles & Cottages . T. Richardson/P. Thompson 108 Hit Parade . . . . .

Bill ‘The Beat’ Baxter 110 Juke Box . . . . . .

Bill ‘The Beat’ Baxter 116 Byways . . . . . . . .

Christian Green 120 Raise a Glass . . . . . . Jack Jakeman 126 Scrapbook . . . . . . . . . . .

— 130 Bookshelf . . . . . . Henry Hardcastle 134 Getting Better . . . . . Elizabeth Gozney 148 Front Cover: Paddling their own canoes at Horsey Mill on JULIAN CLAXTON the Norfolk Broads.

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Mods and Rockers Reunite!

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he bikers were out in force on Sunday, 9th March, when hundreds turned up at the old Jacks Hill transport cafe near Towcester on the A5 in Northamptonshire. Fifty years ago this cafe started serving its first bacon roll and mug of tea. Also 50 years ago there were running battles between mods and rockers along the seafronts of quiet seaside towns.

A BBC TV crew were there, recording a documentary called

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Time Shift, asking the bikers what it was like when they were at each other’s throats and what they would have been riding then. Some of the old rockers still had bikes from that era.

On the left is Colin Grey who had a 1950 BSA Bantam 125 and on the right is Jim Robinson who rode a PAUL HOWARD 1961 125 James.

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ave you heard of the saying “Find a penny pick it up all day long you’ll have good luck”? Well, there’s one custom, which takes place in the Devon town of Honiton, that certainly encourages this, but you won’t find just one penny, there will be hundreds, and they’ll be warm!

Known as the Hot Pennies Ceremony, this intriguing local tradition was witnessed last summer

by Evergreen readers David and Maureen Mills, from Uplyme, in Dorset. They wrote to tell us: “We were not aware that the event even existed...but it really was an eyeopener, with lots of people gathered for the proceedings...”.

Summer

Having consulted our “Almanac” archives we realised that we hadn’t come across this custom before, so we have done a spot of investigation to find out more.

Held annually on the first Tuesday after 19th July the ceremony sees warm pennies being thrown from the windows of local inns for the crowds gathered outside to collect. At midday, the town crier, who is joined by the mayor and other local dignitaries, starts the proceedings. Traditionally the event began in the Old Pannier Market, but nowadays the starting point is further down in the town.

The town crier raises a magnificently garlanded 10-foot pole, which is topped with a golden

Hot Pennies in Honiton

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glove, and issues the following proclamation: Oyez, oyez, oyez!

The glove is up, the glove is up, the glove is up, The fair has begun, the fair has begun, the fair has begun, No man shall be arrested, no man shall be arrested, no man shall be arrested, Until the glove is taken down, until the glove is taken down, until the glove is taken down.

God save the Queen.

HONITON TOWN COUNCIL

Children rush to gather the pennies in bygone days. Below: Dave Retter, Honiton’s town crier.

HONITON TOWN COUNCIL

With the pole held aloft he then leads a procession stopping at various inns, repeating the ceremonial cry and the pennies are tossed to the crowds. The golden glove is left on display at the final inn visited for the

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Cornish Charm

hese picture postcards date from 1908 to 1959 and I think they all show some old Cornish charm. I have included some relevant information and hope that readers will find something to remind them of their past life in Cornwall or of holidays in Cornwall long ago.

View No. 1: Perranporth Beach and Gull Rocks, c.1910. It is difficult to find anyone in a bathing costume but there are piles of clothes in amongst the sandy dunes and people walking on the sands. Some people relax in deckchairs and kids make sandcastles. A few men stick to a hat, blazer and light trousers.

They are all enjoying themselves in a demure sort of way. I find the prices shown on the walls of

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the Tea Rooms very interesting: “Bathing Machine 4d, Surf Board 4d, Deck Chairs 2d, Tent per week 8/-, In August 10/- �. They also offered: bathing tents, costumes etc. but the prices are obscured. I can see that the bathing tents were hired like beach huts today: for changing etc. and then sitting outside in the sun. Finally, it shows that they have been surf boarding here for a long time!

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View No. 2: The village of Roche (near Bugle) in 1934. The photographer has composed this picture well and your eye follows the row of cottages into the distance.

Meanwhile, the two men walk through the pretty village and chat to each other. It is a country road with no pavements in the china clay district of Cornwall.

On the right side of the picture is an old garage with “M.Trethey, Motor Cycle Technician” and Shell and BP adverts everywhere. A low granite wall surrounds the place with slates to protect it. The tall skeletal petrol pump, with its door wide open, catches the eye.

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Next door is a typical granitefronted Cornish cottage with a reinforcing rod in the wall. But, if you read the message on the card you find that “Kitty”, who sent this card, states: “The house I have marked with a cross is a Lloyds Bank and I did laugh when I saw it!”

When I visited this spot a few years ago the motor-cycle premises had become a Salvation Army charity shop but the wall around it had survived. All the cottages had disappeared and a pretty bungalow takes their place. The road has been widened in the process and pavements are on each side of this now busy B3274 road through Roche.

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Whatever Happened to DIY?

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f you were around in the Sixties or Seventies you will remember that a thing called DIY was really swinging in Britain. Three DIY magazines, based in London, had a monthly combined readership of ten million; a quarter of a million people visited the DIY exhibition at Olympia, London, every year, and sales of tools and materials were booming.

Now, with the myriad of petty restrictions, rules and regulations and, in particular, Health and Safety, DIY has been strangled out of existence. No DIY magazine would survive today. We really can’t risk letting people hurt themselves doing things best left to the “experts”!

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“So what’s in this DIY thing people are talking about, Son?” That was the question my dad asked me back in the early Fifties when I told him I was planning to leave the press agency. I had been with Verity Press Features in London since finishing my three years as a photographer with the RAF. His reason for asking was that I had got to know a W.P. Matthew who, in the early Fifties, was the very first radio Home Handyman.

He was also into writing helpful books, and my journalistic experience coupled with picturetaking would make me a useful addition to his team. And my dad thought I was daft.

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“Do it yourself? What’s that? Flash shops and builders’ merchants which in the pan. It will never catch on!” were the haunts of the tradesmen, Like most young men, I didn’t take and the average home-owners felt Dad’s advice, and soon after I joined very much out of their depth. But Bill Matthew, Bill helped launch it didn’t take manufacturers long to Britain’s very first DIY magazine, realise that there was a fair-sized new called Handyman. market to be Perhaps it’s exploited and worth digressing the Handicrafts here to explain that Exhibition held the time was ripe in London’s for a magazine.

Olympia soon The decoration had scores of and improvement exciting new of homes had exhibitors. been neglected At the same during the war time, the big years; many were publishing damaged or badly houses shaken. Tradesmen grasped the coming out of opportunity of the services were jumping on the fully occupied bandwaggon, on rebuilding and, in the midprojects or big Fifties, Practical The first DIY magazine, which was greeted Householder renovation jobs, with enthusiasm by home-owners. so you couldn’t magazine was find builders or decorators willing to launched, with an initial print order take on the small home jobs — apart of one million copies! This sank from cowboys who, armed with a Handyman in a matter of months, bucket, tin of paint and a few brushes for the response to advertising in set up shady businesses. These shifty a magazine selling 35,000 could characters soon convinced homenever touch that which came from a owners that they could do better million copies. themselves — if only they had the Then, in March 1957, Do it yourself information. Handyman magazine magazine was launched with a print soon gained in popularity, reaching a order of 700,000. The Founder heady 35,000 circulation.

Editor, David Johnson, incorporated There was an added problem. The the Handyman title into his magazine materials needed were in hardware — and I swapped offices and joined

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On Location with

Monty Python Left to right: Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle on Paignton Pier.

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his July, sees the Monty Python team reuniting on stage at London’s O2 Arena. But back in the summer of 1970, holidaymakers at Paignton, in South Devon, were bewildered by “something completely different”.

Beach lovers were relaxing in their deckchairs, others were taking a dip in the sea. And then, out of the blue, Scott of the Antarctic turned up, covered from head-to-toe in fur, and accompanied by a sledge pulled by a motley crew of mongrels! Monty Python’s Flying Circus had landed.

Only a few people on the beach knew who they were as the first series of Monty Python had been shown late at night, and they still weren’t that well known at that time.

They mingled with crowds to create an atmosphere of chaos, and the holidaymakers wondered what was going on. Had they repeated the stunt today they would be recognised very quickly indeed.

The sketch on the beach, called “Scott of the Sahara”, formed part of episode ten in the second series, and was screened in December 1970. They then went on to Paignton Rugby Club filming a bizarre rugby match, supposedly between the All Blacks and the bigwigs of Derby

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Michael Palin as Scott of the Sahara.

Council, and further scenes on Paignton Pier.

At the time they were all staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, and John Cleese had been fascinated by the eccentric behaviour of the hotel’s owner Donald Sinclair, and decided

that it had potential for a sitcom. This led to Cleese leaving the Monty Python cast at the end of the third series, to concentrate on his new hotel-based comedy Fawlty Towers, and the rest is TV history.

GRAHAM GOUGH

Filming under the curious gaze of holidaymakers (above) and on the rugby pitch.

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Landy leads, with Bannister in fifth place.

The Mile of the Century

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t was on the second lap that Roger Bannister became increasingly anxious. John Landy was a full 12 yards ahead of him. Bannister was in danger of losing touch with the frontrunning Australian. What would the Englishman’s first sub-four-minute mile matter if he lost this epic counter to his great rival? The press had dubbed the race “The Mile of the Century” and it was certainly living up to its billing.

It was 7th August 1954 — the

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final day of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games athletics schedule. A crowd of 35,000 enthusiastic supporters — including the Duke of Edinburgh in the royal box — filled Vancouver’s new arena.

Competitors and watchers alike sweltered on a perfect Canadian summer’s day. The distant peaks of Vancouver Island provided a suitably dramatic backdrop to the gladiatorial duel which was unfolding between the world’s two top milers.

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Bannister v Landy: a mouthwatering contest between opposites.

The two men differed in virtually every aspect — appearance, personality, outlook, running styles and tactics. Roger Bannister was the very epitome of Oxbridge amateurism. He was tall, pale and gangly with a long loping stride. He fitted in his athletics with medical studies. Not renowned for punishing training schedules or over-racing, he had still managed to gain a kind of immortality. On a windy May afternoon at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, he had become the first subfour-minute miler with a time of 3

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minutes 59.4 seconds. A runner with a devastating finishing sprint, Bannister was thoughtful, anxious and introverted, wherever possible shunning publicity.

In contrast, John Landy was short, stocky and, invariably, suntanned. He had a friendly, open personality and didn’t mind media attention. Landy had developed a more modern approach to training with a successful running schedule which would frighten any opponent.

Unlike Bannister, Landy was a front runner who tried to burn off

Two programmes from the great sporting event of 60 years ago.

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Hit Parade Singers & Songs from the Sixties & Seventies

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hese days, no longer being the wild rockers that we once were, an enjoyable evening for Jo and me is one spent on the houseboat listening to some of our cherished vinyl collection — with a glass or three of Maker’s Mark, of course. When we do venture out to the occasional concert, it’s usually to see some of our fellow survivors: Paul Jones, Joe Brown, Rick Wakeman, The Zombies etc., so the arrival in town of the Sixties Gold show at the end of 2013 was right up our memory lane and had us reaching for our glad-rags (Jo’s were a bit more glad than mine) and looking forward to a night of nostalgia — and great music.

At the last minute, as we loaded into the van, I remembered to grab

my favourite long scarf. It wasn’t that it was an especially cold night, but for this concert it was going to be essential. I’ll explain why before too long, so you won’t have to stick it out right to the bitter end. In any case, some of you have probably already guessed.

Not surprisingly the show was a sell-out. The compère was a funny bloke, teasing us about our “maturity” and saying that he couldn’t imagine any of today’s pop stars lasting long enough to be still performing in 50 years’ time. Exactly what our parents said to us in the Sixties about the bands and singers we liked, I suppose. Yet here we were and there they were.

Before introducing each of the acts, he also kept us entertained by reminding us of a few everyday

SOLID GOLD from the Sixties

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items and prices from that decade.

You know the sort of thing: you could go to the pictures, have an ice cream, enjoy a drink and a bag of chips afterwards, catch the bus home and still have change out of a tenbob note.

First on stage were Brian Poole and Chip Hawkes of The Tremeloes who soon had the whole place rocking and singing along to, among other fantastic numbers, “Hello World”, “Even The Bad Times Are Good”, “Suddenly You Love Me” and “Here Comes My Baby”. I’ve since discovered that the last of these was written by the great Cat Stevens.

The most memorable moment of their set was when they performed “Silence is Golden”. People talk about the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. For me, it’s more like a pleasant shiver, which seeps upwards to your eyes and strokes,

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Brian Poole and Len “Chip” Hawkes. The Sixties Gold show is touring throughout the year.

BARRY AND DISTRICT NEWS

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EVERGREEN Summer

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e seems to coalesce out of buffs worldwide celebrate the 75th the night, a tall figure clad in anniversary of the first-published ominous black and grey, a appearance of this great fictional swirling cape billowing around him creation, let’s look back over his like ebon wings, his eyes burning history to see if we can find the true slits of hellfire.

Gotham Guardian.

Batman is prowling In 1938 National the darkened streets Periodical Batman at 75 of Gotham.

Publications, Of course, anyone which later became who remembers the DC Comics, found late 1960s TV series will themselves with a best have a very different seller on their hands image in mind. That in the form of Jerry of Adam West’s Caped Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Crusader punching a Superman (see Evergreen, rogue’s gallery of villains “Byways”, Summer to the accompaniment 2013). From its debut of visual sound effects in Action Comics number like POW and WHAM, 1 this tale gripped his garishly clad sidekick the imagination of a Robin in tow, cracking readership hungry for outrageous puns. heroes.

Both interpretations Superheroes, or “long of the masked vigilante underwear characters” have their fans, but as they were referred one was a passing to, were clearly going phase while the other to be the next big thing is the essence of the character. As Batman Batman in the 1950s.

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and National were eager to capitalise on this unexpected success. National editor Vin Sullivan was given the task of coming up with a new character similar enough to Superman to harness the lightning a second time, yet different enough to stand on its own colourfully boot-clad feet.

Sullivan turned to artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, who were already building solid reputations in the fledgling comicbook industry. Taking inspiration from the masked defender of the oppressed known as Zorro, a 1930 silent film called The Bat Whispers, Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings for a bat-winged flying machine, and the dark and dangerous heroes of the best-selling pulp magazines of the time, the collaborators created a character who, although superficially the costumed hero requested by National, was actually the antithesis of Superman. The heroic refugee from Krypton was all primary colours, amiability and reassurance, a hero for the daylight hours, whereas the hero Kane and Finger named The Batman was dark, menacing, brooding and dangerous, a creature of the night.

The origin story Kane and Finger devised was simple, yet resonant on

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Batman first appeared in May 1939.

so many levels. As a child, young Bruce Wayne saw his parents shot down, brutally murdered by a petty thief. The boy dealt with his grief by vowing revenge on the criminal underworld. Fortunately, the inheritance of his late father’s fortune made turning his vows into reality as he grew up a lot easier than it would be for most people. Under the cover of a shallow playboy lifestyle, Bruce honed his body and mind, training himself in various scientific disciplines, several methods of unarmed combat, and the

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Satnav Stanza The wonders of modern technology (some say!) have meant that the timehonoured ways of navigating have changed. No longer are we all reliant on maps and road atlases, now we have satellites to point us in the right direction — and the voice of the satnav echoing from the dashboard! But there are many of us who prefer the old-fashioned ways and there is one particular type of “satnav” that surpasses all others — as illustrated in the following verse.

I have a little satnav It sits there in my car, A satnav is a driver’s friend It tells you where you are.

I have a little satnav I’ve had it all my life It’s better than the normal ones My satnav is my wife!

It gives me full instructions Especially how to drive,

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“It’s 30 miles an hour,” it says, “You’re doing 35!”

It tells me when to stop and start And when to use the brake And tells me that it’s never ever Safe to overtake.

It tells me when a light is red And when it goes to green, It seems to know instinctively Just when to intervene.

It lists the vehicles just in front And all those to the rear And taking this into account It specifies my gear.

I’m sure no other driver Has so helpful a device For when we leave and lock the car It still gives its advice.

It fills me up with counselling Each journey’s pretty fraught.

So why don’t I exchange it And get a quieter sort?

Ah well, you see, it cleans the house, Makes sure I’m properly fed, It washes all my shirts and things And — keeps me warm in bed!

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Motoring along at Prescott in Gloucestershire. The joys of driving with a satnav are documented in the verse opposite.

PAUL WOLOSCHUK

Despite all these advantages And my tendency to scoff, I do wish that once in a while I could turn this satnav off!

Eggs-planation Required Time to put your thinking caps on with this problem. The solution is overleaf.

There are six eggs in the basket.

Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?

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Reading Material Sue Gerrard from St. Helens, Lancashire, has composed an acrostic poem in praise of Evergreen, which we think is delightful and sums up the magazine perfectly.

Eternal memories Vie for position in Everyone’s minds.

Reminders of wonderful days Gone by. Those times Remain with us bringing Everyday Everlasting happiness Now and for ever.

Following her contribution to the Winter 2013 “Scrapbook”, Sue has perused her bookshelves yet again and

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Vol.30 No.2 SUMMER 2014

Getting Better

AI IT

OV 'S L

You see the sunshine and the flowers, And feel new strength, through healing hours, No longer now inert and still, Your eyes absorb their grateful fill Of every moment, sparkling bright To lead through shadows, into light; And as your health improves each day, So much in gratitude, to say To all who tended you with care, Through word and deed, and constant prayer.

ELIZABETH GOZNEY

QUARTERLY

1 Front Cover summer 142.indd 1

A Miscellany of This & That & Things Gone By SUmmer 2014 09/05/2014 16:15