A Caistor Heritage

Watching the BBC last night (Village SOS) I was reminded of my family's heritage in that small, north Lincolnshire Town. My antecedents had been shop owners and publicans in the town for Generations.

I nearly leapt out of my seat when I saw this photograph on the screen:

The shop was on the corner of Fountain Street and Horsemarket.

In late 1930s, Harry's Granddaughter, Marjorie, married my Grandfather George Walton and the shop was modernised:

George and Marjorie also had another shop in the town which they continued to run separately after they separated in the late 1950s. The shop is now a Spar.

Other members of my family were involved in running the Fleece Public House, which is now a nursery school. Tom Dawson, my great great grandfather was the licensee of the Fountain pub as well......

My father has his own place in Caistor history by being involved in the snow-bound march to save Caistor Grammar School in February 1960. He can be seen in the photo below helping to hold the banner:

My father, who is now a Methodist Minister, tells me that while he was still a Local Preacher, he also preached in the Chapel that is now the Arts and Heritage Centre as featured on the programme last night. My mother apparently has also preached there, but then we knew that as all the chapels and churches she has ever preached in are either closed or demolished (well, most of them anyway).

I may not have lived in Caistor myself, nor have been born in Lincolnshire, but I am still proud of that heritage.

VV

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - Part II

After criticism that the last list was too much on the Testosterone side of life, I've been giving some thought to the ten women I would invite to dinner. Quite a challenge in itself.

1. Edith Cavell. Heroine of the First World War. "I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."
2. Marilyn Monroe. What did go on with the Kennedy Brothers?
3. Constance Markiewicz. First Woman elected to the UK Parliament. What was it like during the Easter Rising?
4. Joan of Arc. St Joan
   
5. Stevie Smith. One of Hull's lesser known daughters. Great Poet.
6. Soong May-ling. Otherwise known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek.
7. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. 'nuff said
8. Dolores Ibárruri Gómez. Otherwise known as La Pasionaria. "No Pasaran!"
9. Helen Suzman. Anti-Apartheid Campaigner.
10. Joni Mitchell. For the music - especially Big Yellow Taxi

So there you go. 10 women for dinner. I think I may need a translator ;)

VV

Top Tunes

As many of you know I've been doing "Today's Top Tune" on Facebook and Twitter for some time now (about 18 months on and off) and I just thought I would share the Top Ten Tunes currently on my iPod. As many of you know I have an eclectic taste in music so here goes:

1. Reasons not to be an Idiot - Frank Turner (45 Plays)

2.Good Monsters - Jars of Clay (43 Plays)

=3. Mirrors & Smoke - Jars of Clay (37)

=3. April Skies - Jesus & Mary Chain (37)

=5. Work - Jars of Clay (36)

=5. Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco (36)

7. American English - Idlewild (35)

8. Dead Man (Carry Me) - Jars of Clay (32)

=9. Evening of Swing (has been Cancelled) - Half Man Half Biscuit (31)

=9. Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down - Alicia Keys (31)

Bubbling under are tracks from Stiff Little Fingers, Feeder, The Killers, Placebo, Ska-P, The Gaslight Anthem and Snow Patrol.

Watch this space Pop Pickers :)

VV

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

I just looked at this blog and realised I haven't really had much to say for myself in the last 12 months which has been longer than the 140 characters which Twitter will give you (@vauxhallvelox in case there was ever any doubt).

So what's brought me back to the blogosphere? Nothing in particular, just a sudden urge to blog on something. And here it is. The ten people I would invite to a dinner party.

1. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt - Medal of Honor winner, liberal Republican President of the USA and a particular hero of mine.
2. John Adams - 1st Vice President of the USA and 2nd President. Constitutionalist (well I am a bit of a constitutional geek). Was a toss up between Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
3. David Penhaligon - Leader of the Liberal Party that never was. "Put it on a piece of paper and put it through a letter box."
4. John Wesley - Founder of Methodism
5. Noel Chavasse - one of only three men to be awarded two Victoria Crosses.
6. General Sir Ian Hamilton - twice nominated for a VC but never awarded. I want to ask him about all the cock-ups surrounding the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.
7. Billy Bragg - well we need some music and I agree with a lot of his politics, especially on electoral reform.
8. Dietrich Bonhoeffer - German Pastor, member of the July Plot against Hitler - executed at Flossenberg in 1945. "We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself."
9. William Ewart Gladstone - only person to be British Prime Minister four times.
10. Victor d'Hondt - if only to find out how his eponymous system actually works.

There we have it. I'm sure there are others I could have chosen and I'm sure you won't all agree with my choices but I think it would make for an interesting dinner party.

VV

Vinyl Pleasures

One of the things I've been doing lately has been converting my old vinyl records (that's the precursor to CDs for the youngsters amongst us) into MP3 format (that's the successor to CDs for the oldies amongst us). And I've been discovering some really old gems.

One of these gems is an album called Songs for Humberside by Christopher Rowe & Ian Clark which was a follow up to a 5 track EP in the 1960s (pictured) also called Songs for Humberside. I can't find an image of the cover for my album so the EP will have to do.

In short, it is a very humorous and folksy album of songs about Hull and the surrounding area and really reminds me of home.

The track listing is as follows:

* Humber Bridge - Lamenting the lack of a Humber Bridge
* Poor Mrs Jones - about the rivalries between the two Rugby League sides
* The Abercrombie Plan - The rejected plans for the redevelopment of the City after WWII
* King Billy's Lament - The Statue of William of Orange (see below)
* The Man who put the Halt in Haltemprice - The perils of Commuting into Hull from the suburbs
* O.H.U.2 - The original telephone dialling code for Hull
* Gloria Victoria - About the Statue of Queen Victoria in Hull City Centre
* Keep your Hands of Haltemprice - The 'friendly' rivalry between the City Council and the adjacent (then) borough of Haltemprice (now part of the East Riding Unitary Council)

* Land of Green Ginger - One of the more famous Streets in Hull

* Hull's Best Friends - Hedon to the East of the City and Hessle to the West and their economic rivalry with Hull

* The Moving of the Wilberforce Monument - the Memorial to William Wilberforce, Hull's abolitionist MP, was moved when the Queen's Dock was filled in and the move was in some ways quite a farce in itself

* King's Town - the history of the City itself from it's founding in 1293 by Edward I right through to the present day (er, present in 1973 at least) including it's strategic importance in the English Civil War.

As I suspect the album is now out of copyright I'm going to occaisionally share the lyrics of these songs, and as today is the 'Glorious' Twelfth, I thought I would start with King Billy's Lament.

King Billy’s Lament
Christopher Rowe & Ian Clark

"Of William of Orange, men once walked in fear
But I’ve had no respect since they put me up here.
The fruits of my labour I’ve lost willy-nilly
And now they’ve the cheek to call me King Billy

"I’ve been thinking it out, and it’s not really fair
Victoria’s got a whacking great square.
And for giving the white man’s burden a pardon
Wilberforce got a lovely big garden.

"And me, you know how I hated that Westminster lot
I used to avoid them, but now all I’ve got
Is my back to New Holland, a lav at my feet
And a permanent view of Parliament Street.

"And thousands of folks bring a car to the market
And drive round and round me trying to park it
While I sit up here with a rod in my hand
Like a gold-plated excerpt from Custer’s Last Stand.

"For my fame as a leader they put me up here.
So I’m sorry to have to bring up the rear
But if you think ingratitude cuts to the bone
Try a hundred year trot on a horse made of stone.

"There’s only one thing that really does spoil it
Every damn night they lock up my toilet!
I don’t want to pull rank but it’s not very good
When a king and his horse have to pray for a flood.

"Now down the road is Trinity Church
But I’m the one who’s been left in the lurch.
So robbed of my title, I sit looking silly
King of the fruit market, Jaffa Juice Billy."

VV

Something David Cameron will never be

He may be quoting Obama and Gladstone but I'm sorry Dave, unlike Gladstone you will never be Prime Minister on four separate occasions!

VV

Vauxhall Velox is now Twittering!

Haven't necessarily got the hang of it yet but you can now follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/vauxhallvelox. Maybe it will mean that I will just have to blog more....

VV