Like thousands of others we went to watch the spectacular flying of The Red Arrows today. My photos do not do the event justice – you need to feel the thrill as they pass each other so terrifyingly closely, to hear the roar of the engines and to marvel at the skill of the pilots. Here’s a small taster in a gallery. Click any photo for more detail.
1 The horses are back in the field! They’ve been away for the last month so it was a delight to have them back again.
Horses in the back field
2 I had a feast today – of beautiful ripe blackberries as I walked up the lane from town this morning.
Ripe blackberries
3 The hoolie that blew past over the weekend, the tail-end of Bertha, brought down one of our yellow Gladioli so we have it indoors.
Saved from the hoolie
1 Last night’s moon was glorious, lighting up the sky almost like day.
The moon through the arches of the Larch
2 Our beans are almost out of reach. They taste delicious.
Our beans
3 We are delighted with our onion crop this year, some of them here in the trug drying out ready to plait up.
Some of our homegrown onions
What a day that was to be a part of – exciting, satisfying and oh, so moving! We were there to stretch our pink scarf between AWE Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield, which provide the warheads for the submarine-launched missile system and to protest at the renewal of Trident at a cost of 120 billion pounds when the country desperately needs that money for health, welfare and education.
Three trains, a short bus ride and nearly 6 hours later and I was there, surrounded by lovely people and pinkness. The 32 photos will give you a feel of the day but what cannot be captured are the sounds and the feelings. Do click to read the captions that tell you the whole story of the day.
I walked from Aldermaston to the first milepost and back, hoping to spot our 23 piece length but I didn’t see it. All along the way, people were in small groups or singly preparing to hold up the scarf at 1pm and everyone had cheery words to exchange. At 1pm I stopped walking and took my place in the holding up of the scarf. This was accompanied by a wave of sound – of bells and whistles, of whoops and singing, of drums, saxophone and an accordion that swept along the line and which we could hear continuing in the distance as it passed. Then up the line came the message that it was time for the two minutes of silence to remember the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the silence travelled powerfully along the seven miles. It was an incredibly moving experience.
Next came the bells and the signal to start rolling up the scarf ready for re-purposing as blankets and each of the seven miles collected at their own milestone with their enormous pinwheels of knitting for speeches, singing and cake!
Text messages allowed me to meet up with my choir friend and Quaker, Kate, who inspired me in the first place to get our group together to knit so it was most appropriate that we were together for the singing and the speeches. Jaine, the force behind this event is an inspiration!
My camera makes a compilation video as I take photos. It is not a quality video but it does give an impression of the day with some sound. If you’d like to see it, please comment and I’ll answer with the link. Here is a link to the BBC’s coverage. Peace to you all.
As this is published today, I shall be at Aldermaston with Wool Against Weapons. I leave on the 05.53 train and return at 22.16 and will have been part of the Human Peace Scarf stretching the seven miles between Aldermaston and Burghfield, the two atomic weapons sites in the UK. This is what it is all about:
“Yarn Bomb, not real Bombs!
Wool Against Weapons – anti war grassroots campaign – will unroll a 7 mile long knitted Peace Scarf in pink – to draw attention to the Governments proposed £120bn spend to renew Trident, in what will be the biggest anti war demo in recent years.
Thousands of knitters have been joining in from all over the world, in what has been a truly International effort to produce over 11,000 meters of scarf. This will be unrolled between AWE Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield on August 9th 2014.
The scarf will then be repurposed into blankets which will be used for humanitarian aid, including projects in Tanzania, Uganda, Syria, and the U.K.
Wool Against Weapons is supported by CND, Action AWE and Lush Campaigns.”
Some of our 22 pieces for Peace
I will post photos tomorrow. Let’s hope that the whole event is covered by the news media.
As the afternoon progressed so did the action and the audience as they followed the story through the fields and became witnesses to the events of the war.A Wildworks production is not one where you sit still and watch as you may have realised already from the previous two posts! The lovely Mr S took most of these photos as I was with the choir and we were unable to follow the action through the battle in the turnip fields, the nursing stations, the burial grounds and the Field of Remembrance. Click on any photo for detail and the caption.
1 Our lovely neighbour has brought round some of her beautiful produce from their allotment. We swapped it all for some Strawberry Freezer Jam! There’s Rhubarb for Different-every-time Pudding, Beetroot for Chocolate Beetroot Cake, an enormous courgette for delicious Courgette Soup and two small courgettes for Lemony Courgettes tonight along with the Curly Kale for supper. Thank you!
Beautiful produce
2 Sunset at Godrevy tonight was a gentle pink, not dramatic but very lovely.
Sunset and ships at Godrevy
3 The seagulls were skimming about in the evening light.
Seagulls against the evening sky
The afternoon at The Lost Gardens evoked the Heligan of the past beautifully with the laundry girls washing the sheets and putting them to dry on the lawn, the gardeners working hard in the kitchen garden and suddenly being told of the outbreak of war and that they would be needed. All the time strains of music could be heard from the local bands and our very own singers from Claire’s three choirs, brought together as the Ingleheart 100 for the day. Click on any photo for detail. Thank you to the lovely Mr S for some of the photos.
The next post will show the rest of the afternoon and evening as the tragic events of the war unfold.
1 After 24 hours the jam was ready to freeze – 9 small tubs now frozen away.
Strawberry freezer jam
2 This working boat was leaving Custom House Quay as we arrived this afternoon.
Falmouth fishing boat
3 I became aware of a campaign today to remember the children killed in Palestine. We are invited to choose a name of a child whose life has been taken, to make a small bunch of flowers and put them somewhere where others will see with the words, ‘ I remember name aged ? who died in Palestine‘ Here is the link if you would like to join in this beautiful gesture.
http://bit.ly/1q132YQ
Here are my flowers picked from the garden and my words:
I remember Dina Adel Isleem aged 3 who was killed in Gaza 20th July 2014
Remember the children of Palestine
100: The Day Our World Changed remembered the local men who went to war a hundred years ago and told the stories of the people they left behind. It was a beautiful, respectful and very moving event that I was lucky enough to be a part of, singing with the Inglehearts 100, made up of Claire’s three choirs.
The following gallery takes you through the morning in Mevagissey; my next post will take you up to The Lost Gardens of Heligan as the tragic events unfold in the afternoon.
Thank you to the lovely Mr S for some of these photos, taken while I was singing.
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