MUSEUM MATTERS See you at
August 2013 The Newsletter of The Friends of The Canal Museum, Stoke Bruerne
Village at War 14th-15th
50th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Inside… Gala Weekend Report NMHH Heritage Award Researching Sister Mary —a new serialisation Village at War Preview Jack James serialisation Sculptors’ Travels
Members, villagers and guests joined in a special celebration party for the Canal Museum’s 50th birthday on Saturday 17th August. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t kind and only five teams braved the rain and managed to complete the Treasure Hunt, but everyone else kept dry and in good spirits throughout the evening. One of the clues was to be found in Blisworth Tunnel and Mike Partridge gave complimentary trips to the tunnel & back on Charlie for all who wanted to go. Bill and Liz Mann were serving up mouth-watering burgers, BBQ chicken & salad (free to all); The Boat Inn ran the bar for us and musical entertainment Photo: Louise Stockwin was provided by xxxx. As Friends Chairman David Blagrove carried out the formal cake cutting, he commented on how far the Museum had come since 1963 when he helped Jack James & Charles Hadlow get it up and running, whilst iced up with a pair of Willow Wren boats. The cake, complete with Canal Museum logo, was made by Sam Lefroy-Brooks who supplies cakes to the Museum Café. Not much cake was left over, but what was, went with spare rolls to Streetchurch, feeding the needy in Northampton the following day. Winners of the Treasure Hunt: 1st:John & Joan Dinsdale (aka JJ) who scored an impressive 44 out of 50, 2nd:The Alberts & 3rd:The Powell’s
GALA WEEKEND REPORT
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by Gala Committee Chairman, Lynda Payton
ridget & Tim Carter’s Swan towering over trip boat Charlie outside the Canal Museum with Ryan Dimmock fiddling away on it’s back was one of the highlights of the Gala Weekend and had the crowd absolutely
sums promised and advertising revenue from the programme still outstanding, but with the help of Jo and Andrew Davies who managed to persuade Santander Bank to provide match funding, the Gala has raised just over £3,000 so far.
Photo: Philip Halton
Tim & Bridget’s CRT Swan dwarfed other boat traffic
enthralled. The swan arrived from the direction of the tunnel emitting water from it’s nostrils and accompanied by fireworks and smoke. We are exceptionally grateful to Tim & Bridget who, after putting on two pirate displays and now the Swan, are retiring and passing on the gauntlet to others. We are pleased to say that Chris Whitby’s sons have stepped up to the plate and have already come up with an inspired theme for 2014. We can’t tell you what though, because that would spoil the surprise! Tim and Bridget have kindly promised to pass on their wisdom and knowledge on pyrotechnics and have promised to be in the wings (no pun intended!) to help with advice if needed.
We are indebted to BBC Radio Northampton who broadcast live from the Gala all afternoon on Saturday and whose commentary sent visitors in our direction despite the showers and grey dismal weather. Our own commentators, Michael Butler and Norman Mitchell (of Braunston Historic Boat Rally fame) who stepped into the breach in the absence of Chris Whitby, did a stirling job with the help of Tosh Patel who set up and loaned us his PA equipment. Chris hopes to be back in the saddle for the Village at War.
Radio Northampton interviewed a number of our Gala Committee and Council members and our guests about every twenty minutes throughout the day. Notable The accounts are still not final as there are among them was Richard Parry, the then
not quite in post CEO of The Canal & River Trust who followed our Chairman David Blagrove on air. Richard had dropped in to the Gala to get acquainted with Stoke Bruerne and found himself being interviewed live about his new position by the BBC Summer Saturday Show presenters within minutes of his arrival. I am pleased to say Richard seemed impressed with what he saw and took a keen interest in everything that was going on.
the volunteer crew of Kildare and very pleased we could help celebrate their special anniversary alongside our own. Sue and Bilbo gave harnessing demonstrations throughout the weekend and the public also had the opportunity to go aboard Kildare to see how boat families once lived in the cramped conditions of a back cabin.
All our exhibitors added extra interest. Our craft displays and demonstrations were In particular Northampton Model Boat very popular this year and featured signwrit- Club had some amazing remote coners, rag rug and fender makers, lace makers, wood turners, patchwork quilters and roses and castles painters. Thank you, all of you, for adding so ably to the range of canal heritage activities available for the public to watch and join in with. We have to make a special mention of Ken Nelson and his colleagues from The Guild of Knot Tyers who taught children how to make their own skipping ropes with the
Photo: Chronicle & Echo
trolled craft on the water and these competing with full sized vessels and boats on display on the bank created quite a lot of interest with the public. .
Kate Saffin from the Alarum Theatre Company and Derek Harris from the Half-Cut Theatre Company gave canal related theatre performances which were very well received indeed and there was Photo: Chronicle & Echo musical busking style entertainment on the canalside from Braunston based duo help of a rope-making machine and taught Ramshackle and Phil Underwood, who them to tie dragonflies. Their bucket collec- moors at Cosgrove. tions added greatly to our total and they delighted a lot of children. Ken has now given us Saturday night entertainment was proour own dragonfly tying kit so we can continue vided ably by the Kevin O'Regan Band, to engage children at the festivals and events regular performers at canal festivals. Kevin arrived early and did a solo minithat Sculptor will be attending. gig in the back of the very cramped BBC The Horseboat Society, who had towed 100 Radio car as the festival was winding year old butty boat Kildare to the festival with down on Saturday. We also ran a raffle— Bilbo Baggins the boathorse, were late addi- thank you to all who provided raffle tions to the programme. Apparently the Gala prizes! had been firmly on their canal festival timetable for some time, but no-one had told us. We There was so much happening all weekwere, as always, delighted to see Sue Day and end. Our education volunteers were hard
at it helping our younger visitors to build bridges and send boats and water around a mini canal system. I’m not sure if there wasn’t more water in the children’s activities tent at one point than in the canal. We
Fancy Dress Competition Winners: Saturday Under 7's ELIZA TURNER (2) Saturday 7-11's ANNA TURNER (11) and LAUREN TURNER (8) Sunday Under 7's GEORGE NOTT Sunday 7-11's GEORGE COOK
also had a fantastic volunteer team doing face painting! Thank you ladies—you know who you are—you did a fantastic job which was evident by the number of butterflies, tigers and spotty dogs wandering around. Pirates seemed to be very much in evidence all weekend and kept the face painting team busy painting eye patches, scars and moustaches! Not surprising then that the winners of the Children’s Fancy Dress Competitions on both days were, you guessed it, pirates! And we shouldn’t forget the large number of canal societies and stallholders selling a wide range of handmade goods, country
crafts, jewellery and scrumptious cakes as well as our own Friends Food Station selling tasty burgers and bacon baps. Special mention must go to Bill & Liz Mann and their volunteer team who worked like Trojans all weekend and who raised more than anyone to add to the total raised. They all worked very hard. Behind the scenes, we had a full rota of volunteers manning the church car park and giving breaks to our helpers. Thank you to all of you who came forward in response to our appeal in Grass. Your efforts over the weekend were much appreciated and we hope you enjoyed doing it. A special mention goes to Alec who manned the Museum car park all weekend on his own, only accepting occasional breaks to go home and feed his dog! Alec you are a star!
Of course all the Gala Committee worked their socks off in one way or another both in advance and on the day pulling everything together so it ran smoothly on the day so to speak and not forgetting putting up numerous marquees, gazebos and market stalls. And last but definitely not least, we’d like to say thank you to Andrew Woodward and the staff of the Boat Inn for running our bar, to Julian & Sarah and their staff at the Navigation for running the Beer Festival and to Alison for the loan of her field for our volunteers, museum staff and stallholders to park in. We couldn’t do it without you Alison! All in all, I think there was plenty to see and do for everyone who came to Stoke Bruerne for the Gala. Hopefully they will remember what a good time they had and will want to come back to experience what they missed and take time to explore the Museum. That’s what it’s all about really. The Gala Team have already decided they are willing to do it all again and have set a date of 14-15th June for next year. If you’d like to be part of the team, we’d love to hear from you. Just send us an e-mail at publicity@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk or telephone 01604-861205 and we’ll let you know the date of our first meeting which is usually held in November, then April, May and June. Just a few of our craft demonstrators. Clockwise: Brian Mayland, Sue Constable, Pete Flockhart and Colin Dundas
David Blagrove, Chairman of the Friends, writes…
“There is more optimism over the future than for a good few years”
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ell, its been a rather busy summer so far, and little sign of a let-up, at least until after Village at War in September. With the greatly improved weather since June has come a welcome improvement in the economic scene in general. Way back in 2008 I was hopeful that the worst of the impending monetary blizzard would pass Stoke Bruerne by and, although there have been some noticeable effects in the amount of spend that we can expect from visitors and the numbers of hire boats on the canal have diminished (though some of this may be due to other factors), there has not been a significant knock-on effect. Businesses have remained open, visitor numbers have held pretty steady, property values have remained stable although not booming and above all the establishment of the CRT, especially the Museums and Attractions Partnership, has stabilised matters politically. There is more optimism over the future than for a good few years inside and outside the canal world.
Resting in its embrace Since our last issue in May we have at last seen the removal of the poor old Weighing Machine. It has not though gone to the great scrap yard in the sky that could so easily have been its fate under the previous custodianship, but instead to the Museum of Wales, where it is to be restored and protected against the elements. Why Wales? Quite simply, because that was where it was both built and originally operated. It was only
brought to Stoke Bruerne, along with other artefacts, in 1963 because a) Stoke Bruerne was then the only place where any sort of curacy of inland waterway artefacts was possible and b) if it hadn’t come here it would now most probably have been recycled into a washing machine or a Ford Escort. Sadly the TLC that the machine should have had was wholly lacking in later years. Right from the start it should have been kept under cover instead of being exposed to the elements and even painting was eventually neglected. In its early days there was a painted panel beside it informing the public of its history, but this too was allowed to blister and decay. In its time it held the boat “Northwich”, now at Gloucester following its rescue from the Weighing Machine cradle in the days when Tony Conder was Curator; then it held an old Oxford Canal icebreaker, then a weed cutter and for the last two decades or so it has had the Station boat “May” resting in its embrace.
Chinese puzzles The first thing to happen, following the formal handing-over from CRT to the Museum of Wales was for the contractors to jack the latter boat up clear of the cradles and the dismantling then commenced. A huge crane was stationed in the driveway to the “Spice of Bruerne” Restaurant and its mighty jib extended right over the top lock to the Weighing Machine. It proved remarkably simple to dismantle, having originally been put together rather like one of those Chinese
puzzles that look impossible to solve but, once the first bit goes in place, the rest is easy. One day sufficed for the preparatory work and the next saw the job completed and the whole jigsaw lorried off to its new home. “May” now remains to be dealt with and Planning Consent has been sought for its removal to another site in Stoke Bruerne, hopefully as a merely temporary arrangement. The lower gates, which came from the Montgomeryshire Canal under similar circumstances as outlined above, will one day, hopefully, be returned to their original home and the empty chamber will then be usable as a means of a hands-on display of how locks work and as additional display space for the Museum. Before this happens though work will have to be done on the brickwork and the lock is in any case a listed structure, so the Saga has really only just begun. As a start our next Volunteer Day will, among other things, involve a tidying-up and weeding of the chamber, with or without the presence of “May”.
Elgin Marbles Some people might say that the repatriation of artefacts is an odd way of celebrating the Museum’s fiftieth birthday, but my personal view is that sending them back to their original homes to be cared for is akin to repatriating the Elgin Marbles. When Lord Elgin originally had the carvings and sculptures from the Acropolis in Athens placed in the British Museum there was no way that they could have then been cared for in their original home and they too might have ended up either in an architectural junkyard as hardcore or in a private collection. Whether or not the time is now right for them to be returned to Greece is not for me to judge, but I feel that the principle is the right one. Anyway, this is not the only
activity to be undertaken in the Museum’s half-centennial year.
A good time was had by all Soon after the last Museum Matters was published we were hosts to the Russell Newberry Register (RNR) Rally. A good number of boats, ancient and modern, fitted with the classic Russell Newberry diesel engines, assembled above Top lock over the first weekend in June. A good time was had by all and, by way of thanks to us for assisting with the organisation, a generous donation was made to our funds. Moreover, several stalwarts stayed over to our Gala the following weekend and helped with the organisation and the running; even helping to provide the musical entertainment of the Friday night in the tent. One of the RNR members was our old friend Ken Nelson who was in many ways the star of the show at the Gala with his mini rope walk, with which he made (and also managed to get adults and children alike making) skipping ropes.
Wondrous fireworks The Gala wasn’t blessed with good weather. Most of Saturday was showery and there was a sudden downpour on the Sunday afternoon which dampened things down a bit. Despite this Lynda Payton and her team, made a useful profit for our funds. Once again Bill’s Burger Bar proved an effective money spinner and a varied programme ensured that there was plenty to entertain visitors. Our usual announcer, Chris Whitby, was unable to take up his position this year owing to health problems, but his place was more than adequately filled by Mick Butler and Norman Mitchell, who had stayed over from the RNR Rally to help. Tim and Bridget Carter once more put on a water spec-
tacular on both days using “George” as a floating platform for both wild musical accompaniments and wondrous fireworks. It was most fitting that this years theme, a giant swan, reflected the completion of CRT’s first year of service. I am happy to say that Chris was well enough to join us on the occasion of the formal Birthday Party in August, of which more later.
Kit of his own devising “Sculptor” has been out and about, going again to Braunston at the end of June and to the Leighton Buzzard Festival in July. Once again our presence at Braunston earned another handsome cheque from Braunston Marina Ltd. Rick Thake, Rob Westlake, Bill Mann and Trevor and Cath Allum all assisted at one or other events, and another bonus was that following the Leighton Festival Ken Nelson, who was also there, presented us with a kit of his own devising that allows adults and children to make fancy designs out of ropework. This should be of much use on the occasions when the boat visits places for exhibitions, since it is a very simple but effective means of introducing people to traditional ropework in a “hands-on” fashion. It is also good news that we are slowly assembling a group that can take the boat to venues away from Stoke Bruerne and hopefully we shall be able to arrange a proper programme of visits as well as a rota of persons who can demonstrate the boat on her home moorings. Finally, our bid for a Waterways Renaissance Award regarding the Restoration of the boat was successful and we achieved third place. Lorna York attended the ceremony in Birmingham on our behalf. Although “Sculptor” did not attend this year’s Blisworth Canal Festival, we did have a presence there in the shape once more of Ken Nelson who again set up his mini ropeworks and, using “Sculptor’s” handbowl as a donations tin, raised well over £100 for
our funds. Somehow this summer seems to have been all Ken’s!
Finishes it off Many of you will now be aware of the operations of Bob Nightingale, the Blacksmith, who has been installed at the Tunnel End Forge for a good while now, largely thanks to the efforts of our member Roy Sears. As part of our 50th Celebrations Bob was commissioned to make a gate to separate the Museum curtilage proper from the public area at the rear of the building. David Phelps erected a fence there last year and the gate now finishes it off. It now means that the rear of the Museum can be kept separate from the loos at times when the Museum is closed, such as at Galas or Village-atWar events.
“Good do” Our latest contribution to the 50th Anniversary was the holding of a party on the Museum Green on Saturday 17th August, attended by some 120-150 persons, both members and villagers. Trevor Allum, Bill Mann and Mick Butler took the overall organisation of this upon themselves and a fine job they made of it. It was bad luck that it took place on the only really wet evening so far that month, but even so it was a “good do” and many thanks to the team and their spouses who set the stall out most professionally indeed. The Canal Adoption Group has been quiet for a few weeks during the holiday period, but will soon be in action again. The first meeting is scheduled for the day following August Bank Holiday Monday and we hope to get another one in before the Village at War. We shall be meeting regularly during the autumn and winter seasons, so any additions to the number will be
welcomed. There is much to do, even in the RAF on the Luftwaffe that day that the area round Top Lock, let alone fur- Hitler decided to postpone his plans ther afield. for an invasion of this country. As we all now know, he decided that invading Well advanced us was going to be not worth the effort Lastly I can report that preparations for and subsequently shifted his attention the Village at War event are well ad- towards destroying the Soviet Union, a vanced, and the Programme is already decision that was to lose him the War printed and available at various outlets ultimately. including Tesco Mereway & the Mu- So, enjoy our Event and I hope to see seum. Copies are also available for many of you then. A series of monthly downloading from our website. The meetings for the autumn and winter is event this year coincides with Battle of being planned so please support them Britain Day, September 15th, which many if you possibly can. see as the turning point of the struggle. It was following the losses inflicted by David Blagrove. August 2013
NMHH Heritage Award for Sculptor Project The restoration of Sculptor won Best Volunteer Project in the Northamptonshire Museums and Historic Houses Heritage Awards at Boughton House on Thursday 18th July. Sue Constable, our Honorary Curator collected the award. The awards are a celebration of some of the best work being undertaken towards maintaining and improving the county's heritage. The ceremony was attended by the Forum’s Patron, HRH The Duke of Gloucester. Our Gala Weekend was one of five projects shortlisted for a Best Event Award.
Left to right: Olive Minney, David Henderson, Louise Stockwin, NMHH representative and Sue Constable at Boughton House
RESEARCHING SISTER MARY Dr Della Sadler-Moore tells us how it all began PART 1
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uring the 2010 boating season I co-ordinated the Dudley Canal Trust (DCT) historic narrowboat Sagitta, completing 640 miles and 655 locks so that we could open Sagitta to visitors at canal festivals across England. On August 11th Eddie Hunt and myself arrived at Stoke Bruerne, tying up on the disabled moorings because it was getting dark. I was excited at my arrival, because it was my first visit and the next day I planned to visit the museum. After tying up and waving goodbye to our day crew, I walked up to the museum to have a quick look, followed, at my insistence to Eddie, that we visit The Boat Inn for a pint. Eddie agreed, and we had a lovely evening looking at the ‘This is Your Life’ picture on the wall and discussing Sister Mary in the snug. Both Eddie and myself have medical backgrounds, Eddie being one of the first registered paramedics in the UK and I a Registered Nurse. Both of us had heard of Sister Mary, but I would suggest, like many others traversing the canal system, Sister Mary was no more than a passing interest.
Eagerly awaiting the Museum to open Next morning I was up early, walking around Stoke Bruerne, eagerly waiting for the Museum to open. What a great first visit. I met Louise in the coffee shop where there were also some ladies who informed me they were from a craft group. I’m not quite sure what happened next, but I returned to the boat to
collect the boatman’s belt I was currently working on for the ladies to see, as they were really interested in this. I informed them I was on a mission to research surviving traditional boater clothing and make notes and diagrams on these because I was preparing for my accreditation in ‘costume’ with the Waterway’s Craft Guild.
Intricate details The museum was fabulous and I gained additional bits of information about Sister Mary from a small display on the first floor. Mid-afternoon I was back on Sagitta preparing for our departure, when three successive sets of knocks came to the side doors. First was Brian Collings, whom Eddie recognised immediately, and I could see he was thrilled at our visitor. The pair of them disappeared into the hold where the display of Dudley Canal Trust is housed and I knew Eddie was sorted for a while. The second knock was from a small number of the ladies from the coffee shop who wanted to see more of my craft work. Finally Olive (volunteer curator) knocked. She had with her a carrier bag containing items not currently on display (woollen boatmen’s braces and a boatman’s belt), I eagerly examined these and drew the intricate details of the stitching, and fortunately Olive allowed me to photograph them.
‘Took a look’ Time was passing and all visitors had by now departed Sagitta, so it was with much sadness we departed from Stoke
Bruerne, much later than expected. As you can probably appreciate, volunteers man Sagitta, so we were on quite a tight schedule to arrival at our next destination because lifts were arranged and crew due to meet us at various points during our journey to the IWA National. We motored on and came to Cowroast, by now it was getting dark, Eddie was steering and I jumped off onto the towpath, unfortunately onto the wrong side of the cut. I’m not quite sure what happened next but this was the first time I ‘took a look’ (Lock 46) and as DCT committee reported “Della, this is far beyond the requirements of the Sagitta co-ordinator”. What an experience, my lovely brown loafers are still at the bottom of the canal, fortunately I lived to tell the tale, and I insisted after my struggle to get out of the canal Eddie take a photograph.
Fast forward to May 2012. I was in the process of preparing an application for a one year funded Research Fellowship, entitled ‘Care on the Cut’, an exploratory study of contemporary live -aboard canal boater’s health and wellbeing. The application required the subject matter to be set in context of what is already known. My literature reviewing was where Sister Mary popped up again. Several sources referred to Sister Mary and her Nursing work at Stoke Bruerne, but the findings were quite repetitive and few actual facts were revealed, firing up my curiosity. The fellowship was awarded in July 2012 and my one year programme of data collection was due to commence in September. In between collecting my new data from itinerant boaters I was engrossed in the on-going literature review. Sister Mary publications and facts were more formally analysed and by October 2012 I had a couple of Nursing articles, an article from Narrowboat, information from Wikipedia and more facts (?) from the Stoke Bruerne web site. By now I knew Sister Mary’s full name, or I thought I did her dates of birth and death, the fact she was married to Charlie Ward, came from the longstanding Stoke Bruerne Amos family who were ropemakers’ and she had a surgery at the side of the canal where she treated boaters or did boat (home) visits.
Research fellowship
Della at Cowroast after ‘taking her first look’ (Courtesy of Eddie Hunt)
On November 12th at the Waterway’s Craft Guild AGM (held at the Bonded Warehouse, Stourbridge Navigation Trust), over lunch I got talking to different members I hadn’t seen for a while about my research fellowship. Enquiring about Sister Mary and tell-
ing them the fact I currently had didn’t really tell me much about her work. I then asked if anyone knew where I might get more information. This is where David Blagrove was mentioned. I’d met David on a couple of previous occasions and luckily had his email, so the following weekend (November 17 th) I sent him an email. Find out what happened next in the next issue
CURATORIAL UPDATE
by Mike Constable
This being the quiet season for the Curatorial Team there isn't a great deal to report on but there have been some developments. Firstly, the Weighing Machine has gone back to Wales (see report elsewhere, as I was working in Manchester when that happened).
Sculptor has been doing some travelling, first to Braunston for the Historic Boat Rally and then to the Linslade Canal Festival. John Alderson represented the Friends at the CRT Annual Meeting. Sue and myself were also there, but working in the basement so we didn't hear much of what was going on!
Tom Grasso, the President of the New York Canal Society and Past President of Inland Waterways International paid a visit to The Canal Museum in June. Escorted by ourselves, Tom toured the site, supported the cafe and then went into the Tunnel on Charlie, courtesy of Mike Partridge. After lunch at the Boat Inn, the tour of local waterways continued before ending up at Braunston ready for the Boat Show. Later in his stay in England Tom and Mike joined Tim West and Prunella Scales as guests for the Opening Ceremony and Cruise at the Braunston Show and just President of the New York Canal Society before flying back to America Tom and Past President of Inland Waterways worked a few locks on the re-opened International , Tom Grasso (left) with Mike Droitwich Canal with another group of Constable on a recent visit to Stoke Bruerne friends.
New CRT Chief Executive, Richard Parry, paid a visit to the Museum during the Gala Weekend and he also spent some time touring the Museum and the wider site area. Both Richard and David Blagrove were interviewed on Radio Northampton during the event. As this was before his official 'first day' in post, Richard's keenness to understand what he was about to take on created a very favourable impression. CRT Chairman, Tony Hales, also paid a short visit to the Gala later in the weekend. Richard has promised to return for Village at War.
Sculptor on the move... Following the Gala Weekend, teams of volunteers took Sculptor first to the Braunston Historic Boat Show for June 29th and 30th where she earned her annual donation of £1,000 from Braunston Marina and took part in the daily boat parades (Our grateful thanks go to Tim Coghlan, our No. 1 Corporate Member, for his continued
Trevor Allum & Rick Thake arriving on Sculptor at the Linslade Festival Photo: Rob Westlake
support!). Then in July, Sculptor headed south for the Linslade Canal Festival which took place on 27th July, before returning back to Stoke Bruerne. Whilst at the Festival volunteers set up a stall and informaAbove: David Blagrove & Rob Westlake tion point alongside Sculptors’ mooring, dispensing museum and Friends leaflets take Sculptor on a circuit of and selling turned wood artefacts made by Braunston Marina. photos: Mike Constable Assistant Museum Manager Louise Stockwin’s father, which due to some persuasive sales techniques by Kath Allum, raised £22.00. Meanwhile, Ken Nelson and his colleagues from the Guild of Knot Tyers, also attending the Festival, donated their takings of £25.01 to the Friends, raised from making skipping ropes for children. Because, they said, they’d got too much money already! Thank you, Guild of Knot Tyers!!! Sculptor was unable to go to the Blisworth Canal Festival in August, so Ken Nelson went instead and raised over £105 for the Friends in his collecting bucket. Way to go Ken. With what you collected at the Gala Weekend as well, you’ve now collected over Trevor Allum manning our stall £200 for us in just a few weeks! What can we say exPhoto: Rick Thake cept thanks very much—again!!!
JACK JAMES ...a serialised biography by David Blagrove
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PART 5
y late October, with winter coming on, the Germans made one last stupendous attempt to capture the remaining Channel Ports· and bring the campaign in the west to a conclusion. The main thrust took place centred on the town of Ypres and the Oxfordshire Yeomanry were sent to the front to fight, receiving their orders on 30th October.
“The bravest man I did ever see” Following an all-night march of 35 miles they arrived in the vicinity of the Belgian town of Messines (now called by its Flemish name, Mesen). Here they dismounted and occupied trenches as infantry, although they also charged a German gun battery in the course of the action. Jack described in vivid detail the experience of charging the gunners. One German sergeant “the bravest man I did ever see” said Jack, stood with his back to a gun wheel firing a machine pistol as the riders swept round him. Jack cut him down with a sabre, severing the hand that was holding the pistol. This action took place in rolling country, rather different from the normal concept of Ypres which is sited on a flood plain.
Fighting dismounted It was probably the following day that the Yeomanry found themselves fighting dismounted against an infantry attack near Messines. As Jack described it, his troop were positioned at the top of a gentle slope that looked across a shallow
valley with a wood on the far slope that was occupied by the Germans.
Jam in the carbines In between the Yeomanry and the enemy was a small chapel, probably housing a roadside shrine as is the custom in Catholic countries. This chapel was set ablaze in the course of the action and, as Jack and his troop watched, lying in shallow trenches, they saw a German soldier emerge from the wood, run across to the chapel and soon after return with another man slung over his shoulder. Now the Yeomanry had been issued with .300 calibre single shot Canadian carbines with a drop action, similar to the Martini-Henry action used by the British Army, save that the British used ammunition of .303 calibre. The result of this was that rounds sometimes tended to jam in the carbines causing the user some difficulty in extracting them before he could fire again. At this point Jack and his comrades had the two Germans in their sights and went to shoot them only to find that the carbines had jammed. By the time they had freed them the two Germans had disappeared.
Adolf Hitler Jack told me this tale in 1963 and it was not until long after he had died that I read Lyn MacDonald’s work on the events of 1914 in which she interviewed survivors from the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, all of which tallied exactly with Jack’s story, including the matter of the jamming ammunition. She also revealed that the opposing Germans at Messines were Bavarian Regiments under the command of Prince Rupert of Bavaria. Later still I discovered that a German soldier in a Bavarian Regiment had indeed rescued his wounded
Company Commander from a blazing roadside chapel near Messines and had been awarded the Iron Cross for his gallantry. He was a young Austrian recruit called Adolf Hitler.
Front line action Following their adventures on the front line the Yeomanry seem to have been brought back behind the lines and used as line of communication troops. There was a brief scare during the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, when the Germans first used gas in an attack to the north west of the town and the Yeomanry were rushed forward to forestall a possible break through near Vlamertinghe but it proved to be unneccessary. Then on 28th February 1916
Jack’s troop became the Machine Gun Squadron of 4th Cavalry Brigade and the following July they were once more involved in front line action during the Somme battles. All Jack told me of this was that they fought at what he called “Devil’s Wood”, which I have always understood to be Delville Wood. He was wounded slightly here. The action at Delville Wood was a most horrendous one that involved terrible slaughter on both sides so it does not surprise me that he said little about it.
French inland waterways Not long after, in August 1916 he wrote to his father to get him to obtain a character reference from the Oxford
Jack James (middle of the group) with a Vickers Machine Gun in 1916, when his troop became a Machine Gun Squadron. I would place this photo as being before the opening of the Somme Offensive on 1st July, because none of the soldiers is wearing a steel helmet. These were gradually issued to all front line troops from May 1915 onwards.
Canal Company so that he might apply to be transferred to the Service Corps as a boatman on the French inland waterways working hospital barges. He had apparently been offered such a transfer conditional upon a character reference. This last came about as a direct result of the Somme battles, which had eventually bogged down into a sort of stalemate. One reason for this being the difficulty of supplying the front line across a battletorn landscape and the Prime Minister, Lloyd George sent an expert, Eric Geddes to see what could be done in future. Geddes had been the Goods Manager of
the North Eastern Railway before the war and Lloyd George had him given the rank of Major General before sending him to France. One of the reforms that Geddes insisted upon was the “combing out” of transport workers from the ranks of infantry and artillery and setting them military transport tasks rather than using them as cannon fodder. A number of boatmen who had joined up since 1914 were thus taken from their front line units and set to work and Jack was one of these. More in the next issue...
OUR VILLAGE AT WAR WEEKEND IS READY TO BREAK RECORDS Our annual Village at War event, the only wartime vintage themed canal festival, is taking place this year over the earlier weekend of 14-15th September. The weekend kicks off at 7pm on Friday evening with the fabulous Lola Lamour singing some nostalgic songs of the 40s in The Navigation pub (table booking advised on 01604 864988). The wartime theme continues with tea dances and vintage fashion shows in the Church, a Black Market (get your nylons here), tanks and other military vehicles, a battle and firepower demonstration and other reenactments from living history groups such as the Pitsford Home Guard, Allied Assortment, UK Tank Club, Le Companie de Francois, Falling Leaves, Trucks, Troops and Stores, The Tommy Atkins Society, Foxhole Fugitives, BARS and the 7th British Infantry. There will be plenty to do for everyone with a Summer Produce Show and Health and Beauty Display (1940's style keep fit classes) on the Village Green (aka Museum Green) and as usual there will be plenty of historic boats in attendance, including Museum boat Sculptor which saw action in London as a fire boat in the Blitz. On Saturday a Spitfire from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be buzzing the skies over the village and in the evening festival goers can attend a Swing Dance with Sticky Wicket’s big band sound at nearby Roade Village Hall. Day Tickets are £5 per person (accompanied children under 16 free). Weekend Passes are £10 and parking in all village car parks is £2 (payable to the car park operator). If you want to Lindy Hop and Foxtrot the night away to the big band sound of Sticky Wicket with vocalist Linda Morris at Roade Village Hall on Saturday night Tickets are £18 including light supper. Bar available. Transport to and from Stoke Bruerne £2 Tickets bookable in advance (Booking Forms on website).
Message from the Museum Manager David Henderson brings us up to date
It is that time of the year when I write my column wearing a pirate outfit, it being our Pirate Weekend, and also what is normally considered to be our busiest, the Bank Holiday Weekend in August. Sadly the weather isn’t good and so we are not as busy as we hoped. However, overall the weather has been much kinder since April and so it is no surprise that the Canal Museum is performing much better in our first full year under the auspices of The Canal & River Trust than the wet previous year.
ure is a much lower percentage (45%) than other sites. Payroll is normally the most expensive part of the expenditure, with the exception of Gloucester (27%). Doreen at Gloucester has just appointed an Assistant Manager to help her, so their costs will rise.
similar trends across tourist sites where visitors are spending less.
FRIENDS OF CRT
CURATORIAL
We were very pleased to receive ‘Best Volunteer Project’ for the restoration of NB SculpINCOME GENERATION tor at the Northamptonshire Museums and The Museum achieved an income of Historic Houses Heritage Awards at Bough£87,507 up to the end of July, an increase of ton House on Thursday 18th July. £3,620 on budget. Sue Constable received the award on behalf The catering operation improved considera- of the Museum & Friends. bly taking £25,419 but is still down on Remember, you have free entrance to the budget (-£3,075), possibly due to Topiary Museum and we can arrange free visits to all offering an improved outdoor service this CRT Museum & attraction sites if you let us year in better weather conditions. know in advance. We will book your visit in The shop has taken £25,783, less than at the other sites. Boat Trips still need to be budget (-£3,754 down), but this reflects paid for though.
Income from Admissions was £21,986, against a budget of £6,992 which is excellent news as more visitors pay entry to visit the Museum. The car park has been another useful income stream at £14,318 (£3,459 above budget) and we will be investigating how we can improve income in this area.
EXPENDITURE The Canal Museum is one of the best sites at working within a budget and call outs to contractors Vinci are few as we still use our volunteers for help & local handyman Dave Phelps for non- electrical and plumbing tasks. Overall we have spent £74,478, which is 20% less than budgeted. Our payroll fig-
The Museums & Attractions Unit have been asked to attract 500 new “Friends” to CRT (100 per site). To try to help achieve this number we have sited a red letter box to accept applications. We log the names and send them direct to Milton Keynes to be processed. The membership is only £3 per month and there are some exciting benefits to membership. One of those is 10% off shop and cafe sales in the Museum, but not books as the profit margin is too small on these.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE The new CRT Chief Executive, Richard Parry has visited Stoke Bruerne twice, once attending the Gala Weekend and another on a visit with Jeff Whyatt & his team to dis-
cuss the new moorings and other local strategic policies. Louise has had a conversation with Richard at both Crick and the meeting at Ellesmere Port. He comes across as a very pleasant person and really interested in what you do.
50TH ANNIVERSARY Thanks so much to Trevor and his team in organising an excellent party on Sat 17th August. Again the weather was pretty poor for the evening gathering, but those that did turn up enjoyed their free food (expertly prepared by Bill & Liz Mann and served by volunteer members). Sam Lefroy-Brooks, from Shutlanger, who produces all our homemade cakes, delivered a really tasty cake at very short notice.
Attractions will both be attending. It is a big event and on the radar of CRT staff. The Gala and Village at War are big tourist events in Northamptonshire and put Stoke Bruerne on the tourist map. They can’t be organised without the Friends….so thank you all!
WEIGHING MACHINE GOES BACK TO WALES
The Friends very generously paid for the design, construction and installation of a new gate at the rear of the Museum with the dates 1963-2013 included in the design. Thanks must go to Bob the Blacksmith & Alec Fraser for the installation & painting of the gate within 48 hours of the Anniversary event. It would be nice to have a Jack James Sculpture commissioned at some point to celebrate his contribution to the Museum and Stoke Bruerne.
VILLAGE AT WAR It is great to drive around the area and see our publicity signs for this event. I drove to Silverstone Golf Club recently and they were on the main road close to McDonalds. I also drove to Salcey Forest and saw one there and another at Sixfields Cinema. Our man Dave Phelps knows how to promote an event and I’m sure it helps promote Stoke Bruerne as a tourist destination. It is quite frightening that Village at War is only three weeks away. October is a better date really as it gives us more time after the summer school holidays. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for good weather. October can be very good for weather. The new CEO and Head of Museums &
After 50 years the iconic weighing machine in the top dry lock is going home. Built for and used on the Glamorganshire Canal, it’s now going to be put on display at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. The weighing machine, the last remaining one of it’s kind, came to Stoke Bruerne in 1963 for safe-keeping. Stationboat May which until now sat inside the machine will be relocated further along the canal at Stoke Bruerne. The Canal Partnership is planning to reinterpret the lock.
COUNCIL 2013/14 Chairman David Blagrove 01604-862174 also member of the Curatorial Group & Trustee
Vice-Chairman Lorna York Also Trustee
Treasurer Rick Thake treasurer@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk
Minutes Secretary Denis Atkinson
Membership Secretary Sandie Morton membership@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk
www.friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk
DIARY DATES Talks are given through the winter in the Schoolroom at the Canal Museum on the third Thursday of the month from September through to April. Details of speakers will be available on our website and in future newsletters. A donation is appreciated to help cover expenses. Please put the following dates in your diaries:
Saturday 14th to Sunday 15th Sept Village at War Weekend Thursday 19th September Talk—Speaker TBC Saturday 21st to Sunday 22nd Sept Introduction to Traditional Canal Painting Contact Canal Museum on 01604 862229 for more information
Publicity, Newsletter & Website, Grant Funding & Awards
Thursday 17th October Talk—Speaker TBC
Lynda Payton 01604-861205 publicity@friendsofcanalmuseum.org.uk
Thursday 21st November Talk—Speaker TBC
Museums & Attractions Partnership John Alderson
Friday 6th to Sunday 8th December Christmas Market at The Navigation Inn
Volunteer Co-ordinator Trevor Allum
Saturday 7th December Illuminated Boats & Carols on the Museum Green from 5pm
Other David Henderson (ex-officio seat), Jenny Copeland (Trustee), Bill Mann and Michael Butler
Events Sub-Committees Dennis Atkinson, Bill Mann, David Henderson, Lynda Payton (Gala Sub-Committee Chairman), Rick Thake, Tim Carter (occasional), Laura Sturrock, Jenny Copeland and Michael Butler (Village at War Sub-Committee Chairman), Trevor Allum, Helen Westlake, Mike Partridge, David Daines (corresponding), Terry Richardson, Roger Hasdell (corresponding), Graeme Scothern (corresponding) and Victoria Powell.
Non-Committee Posts Roger Hasdell - Joint Newsletter Editor Terry Richardson - Assistant Publicity Officer Brian Collings - Curatorial Group Rose Granaghan - Winter Talks Organiser Laura Sturrock - Trustee
Treasurer’s Report Financial Report mid August 2013 Trading account Charity Account Cash
£22,739.21 £9,985.36 £238.74
The Gala Weekend raised in excess of £3,000. The final amount could be higher as there are still 2 outstanding invoices. We would like to thank Braunston Mariner for their very generous donation of £1,000. Also a big thanks to Ken Nelson and the Guild of Knot Tyers for collecting over £130 at the Blisworth and Linslade Festivals where they were helping children to make skipping ropes. Rick, Treasurer