The 2012 Cotswold Olimpicks and the World Shin Kicking Competition

By:  Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett

My souvenir programme
for the 400th anniversary

This year, in Gloucestershire, we have been looking forward to the 400th anniversary of  Robert Dover's Cotswold Olimpicks, a much advertised precursor to the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The official opening of the Cotswold Olimpick Games begins at 7.30 in the evening by someone taking the part of Robert Dover, who started the games back in 1612. He rides into the arena on a white horse, supposedly wearing some of King James 1 old clothes, accompanied by Endymion Porter and the Skuttlebrook Wake Queen and her attendants.  The games begins with a speech from Robert Dover followed by the firing of a cannon to awake the spirit of the Games.
 

Robert Dover with white feather in
his black hat.

The Cotswold Olympicks include team competitions such as Obstacle Races and Tugs of War as well as individual races such as Running, Throwing the Hammer, Putting the Shot, Jumping and Spurning the Barre.  But the most famous competition of all is Shin Kicking!  In earlier days it was very brutal. The contestants hardened their shins by hammering them and, it wasn't unknown for boots to have iron tips on them!  Nowadays it's permissible to push straw up your trouser legs to protect your shins a bit.

One of the shin kicking contestants in the
picture is celebrity sportsman Ben Fogle.

 Here, on the left, you see one of the many heats taking place.  The competitors hold one another by the shoulders. The object is to kick each other as hard as possible in the shins until one looses his balance and is brought to the ground.
At 9.30pm, as its getting dark, the final shin kicking competition takes place to find the World Shin Kicker 2012.

Here is a Youtube video, uploaded by SoGlos last year in 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGXDwbzlJKw

The torchlit procession into Chipping Campden

After the presentation of the awards - the finale; which is the lighting of a beacon and a brilliant display of fireworks. The last event of the night, and not to be missed, is leaving the games in a torchlit procession. You join the thousands of spectators carrying a flaming torch and walk from the hill down into Chipping Campden.  A Corp of Drums and a Pipe Band lead the way.  Its a wonderful sight and great to be part of this historic annual Cotswold event.

Cheltenham's connection with Capt. Scott's Expedition to the South Pole

By:  Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett

Dr Edward Wilson

This fine statue on the Promenade in Cheltenham is of local hero Dr Edward Wilson who went on two Polar Expeditions to the Antarctic with Capt. Robert Falcon Scott. 

The first one (1901 - 1904) on the ship the Discovery was supported by the Royal Society and The Royal Geographical Society and was primarily for scientific research as well as exploration. On this expedition Captain Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Dr Edward Wilson penetrated further south than any explorer had in the past and their valuable scientific research was more wide-ranging than any undertaken before, but they didn't cross the Great Ice Barrier to reach the South Pole.
Edward Wilson besides being an explorer was a physician, an artist, a naturalist as well as an ornithologist.  He combined his important scientific work with beautiful paintings and drawings of the landscape and wildlife of this virtually unknown continent.
The second expedition (1910 - 1912), again led by Capt. Scott with Dr Wilson accompanying him, was specifically undertaken to reach the South Pole and to be the first explorers to do so,  also, a large team of scientists travelled and worked alongside them to discover and gain more knowledge about the frozen continent. 
Meanwhile, another very experienced team of explorers lead by a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen was raising money and preparing to travel to the Arctic to reach the North Pole. However, Amundsen's plans changed when he heard that rival explorers had reached the North Pole before him.  Because he was unsure as to how his backers would react he secretly changed his objectives and headed South to be the first explorer to reach the South Pole instead.  He announced his plans when he was well on his way. 
When Scott heard that Amundsen had changed his plans he realised that it would be a race to get to the South Pole first.

The Antarctic Wilderness

Amundsen's team arrived in the Bay of Wales on The Fram and set up their base camp. They started their journey to the Pole on 19th October 1911.  Captain Scott, Dr Edward Wilson, Henry Bowyers, Edgar Evans, Lawrence (Titus) Oates left their base camp at Cape Evans on 1st November 1911 and arrived at the Pole to find that Amundsen and his team had beaten them by 5 weeks.
Capt Scott wrote in his diary "All day dreams must go.  It will be a very wearisome return."
It was a battle through terrible freezing temperatures and blinding blizzards. Hauling their sledges was debilitating. Exhausted, starving and suffering from frostbite they slowly perished  The frozen bodies of Capt Scott, Dr Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers were found in their tent months later. Evans and Oates bodies were never found.  The frozen continent became their final resting place.
Dr Edward Wilson's statue on the Promenade in Cheltenham was sculpted by Captain Scott's widow Kathleen and bears the following inscription:-

Edward Adrian Wilson B.A. M.B. CANTAB. F.Z.S.
Born in Cheltenham 1872.  Chief of the Scientific Staff.
Artist and Zoologist of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910 - 1913.
He reached the South Pole January 17 1912. And died with Capt. Scott
on the Great Ice Barrier March 1912.
"He died as he lived.  A brave true man.
The best of Comrades and staunchest of friends"
(Letter from Capt. Scott)

Gloucestershire's connections with Charles Dickens

By:  Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett



Charles Dickens
(7th Feb 1812 - 9th June 1870)

 On the 7th February 2012 we will be celebrating the bicentenary of  the birth of one of the most influential, widely read, Victorian novelists - Charles Dickens.

London played a very big part in Dickens' life and was the setting for many of his novels, but he also travelled extensively.  

We will be remembering Dickens in Gloucestershire as he visited our impressive city on his travels and later came to Gloucester on one of his reading tours.  He enjoyed his visits and described Gloucester as - 'a wonderful and misleading city.' After his visit to the docks he wrote "You will see, suddenly appearing, as if in a dream, long ranges of warehouses with cranes attached, endless intricacies of dock, miles of tramroad, wildernesses of timber in stacks, and huge, three-masted ships, wedged into little canals, floating with no apparent means of propulsion, and without a sail to bless themselves with."

North of Gloucester is the Medieval town of Tewkesbury which was mentioned in the Pickwick Papers, when Mr Pickwick and his friends stopped at a coaching inn  - The Hop Pole, on route from Bristol to Birmingham.


The Hop Pole, Tewkesbury where Mr Pickwick,
Ben Allen, Bob Sawyer & Sam Weller stayed

 On the left is a picture of the coaching inn. There is a large plaque on the wall which quotes:  'At the Hop Pole, Tewkesbury they stopped to dine, upon which occasion there was more bottled ale, with some Madeira and some port besides.... and here the case bottle was replenished for the fourth time. Under the influence of these combined stimulants, Mr Pickwick and Mr Ben Allen fell asleep for thirty miles, while Bob and Mr Weller sang duets in the Dickie.'



The Dickens House Museum, London

 Once Pickwick Papers became a best seller and Dickens was receiving a steady salary as editor of Bentley's Miscellany and was writing Oliver Twist, he and his wife Catherine had enough money to rent this spacious terraced house in Doughty Street, London - this is now the Dickens museum. It is well worth a visit but (NB it will be closed from April 9th this year for refurbishment.)

Another interesting place in Gloucestershire is The Bibury Court Hotel, in the Cotswolds. This is supposed to have been the inspiration for Dickens' novel - Bleak House written between 1852 - 8153.

Originally Bibury Court was a grand Jacobean Manor House dating from the late 16th century and owned by the Sackville family.  The house and estate passed down through the family for a number of generations then through the female line to the Cresswell family.  The Cresswells were among many to suffer the injustices of the English legal system, of which Dickens was so critical, trying to sort out a disputed family will.  It was supposedly this long running litigation that inspired him to write Bleak House and the case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce in the Court of Chancery.

Bibury Court was bought and sold a number of times after the court case.  By the 1920's it had fallen into a delapidated estate.  It was bought by the Clarke family who restored it then, when Lady Clark died in the 1980's, it was sold again and was converted to a large luxury hotel which opened in 1968.

Gloucester makes its mark on the 2012 Cultural Olympiad

By:  Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett


West end of Gloucester Cathedral


Last week's Gloucester city walking tour had an added highlight:  Gloucester Cathedral had became the location for the filming of some of Shakespeare's historical plays - Henry IV parts 1&2 and Henry V.  These plays will be shown on BBC 2 as part of the multi million pound Cultural Olympiad.

The Director chosen for these films is said to be Sir Richard Eyre in conjunction with Sam Mendes and among the actors, many big names, including; Jeremy Irons who will play Henry IV, Tom Hiddleston, Prince Hal, Rory Kinnear as John of Gaunt, Simon Russell Beale, Falstaff, Julie Walters as Mistress Quickly plus many more.

 The Cathedral's policy was not to close to the public during filming, just restrict access, so it was very exciting for our visitors to see the production in progress.  As my group and I walked across to the north side of the Cathedral we noticed a number of generators producing a smoke which was filling the nave.  This created a haze, a special effect to make beams of light show up across the film set. Scenery, looking like great solid stone walls was being moved into place and the costumed actors were preparing for the next take.

We were told that the nave was being adapted to become 

The great Norman columns of the nave

Westminster Hall in London and the choir and high altar was being transformed to become Westminster Abbey.



The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral

 Our visitors enjoyed watching the preparations.  After a while, we slipped quietly into the cloisters to enjoy some of the Cathedral's finest architecture, the earliest fan vaulted ceilings dating back to 1350's. It was a briefer look at the Cathedral than normal but we look forward to the Shakespeare season later this year on BBC 2 and will try to identify the shots taken in Gloucester.

Getting Deeper into the Forest of Dean

Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett

The countryside between the lower reaches of the River Severn and the River Wye is known as the Forest of Dean.  It's a very special place that I enjoy exploring, and is an area with a unique history and heritage. My good friend - free miner Dave Harvey wouldn't live anywhere else. But there is more than natural beauty in this land between two rivers, it was very much a working forest as conversations with Dave reveals..

Dave was the model for the sculpture in Cinderford, pictured on the right.  Life was tough and dangerous working underground extracting coal from the seams under the plateau on which the centre of the Forest stands and many accidents occurred. 

Dave himself narrowly escaped death when the rocky roof of a coal seam that was being worked in the Northern United Colliery collapsed.  As everyone tried to escape, he was half buried by falling rubble and timber pit props.  A fellow miner turned to see Dave trapped. With rock from the roof still crashing down into the mine shaft, a giant of a man known as 'big Phil' - with super-human effort grabbed his colleague under the arms and pulled. He got Dave out just as the rest of the roof came down. Dave's narrow escape left him with deep cuts and bruises but no bones broken.  The scars from that dreadful day will never ever disappear

On the left is a picture of Dave standing beside a chainsaw carving of that fateful day in 1963 with  'big Phil' pulling him out of the rubble. It has been carved by Clayton Ryder and is on display in the grounds of the Dean Heritage Centre, Soudley in the Forest of Dean.   Dave has written a poem which is displayed alongside.

Despite the horrific accident  (coal face twenty three was totally destroyed and no longer workable) Dave returned to his job within weeks joining the other miners who all began working on another coal face.   He said that he was very nervous but continue working underground for a further two years. Then, the unthinkable happened! The Northern United Colliery was closed down - on Christmas Day 1965!  It was sudden and unexpected.  Over night everyone was out of work. 

The mine buildings are still there today but the pit has been filled in and capped.  Below is the sign outside the colliery gates which is still there today.

The sign says it all - the end of an era in the Forest of Dean.

Today Dave is a great Ambassador for the Forest, a place he loves. He describes his life and life in the Forest in his amazing poems.  His collection of poetry and songs are published on three CD's and are for sale at the Dean Heritage Centre.

Dave has been booked for an evening show with the Forest Male Voice Choir on Friday 21st October 2011 which will be filmed for ITV.  We look forward to seeing him on National TV later in the year.


Above - a picture of the glorious and mysterious Dean we know today, but its a fascinating place of great contrasts.

Take a train journey from Stroud along the Chalford Valley to Kemble and enjoy the views (part 2)

By:  Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett

Stroud railway station

 The second part of the journey will take you in an easterly direction towards Stroud across a brick built viaduct high over the A46. As the train pulls into the Victorian station at Stroud, you’ll notice on the right hand side a beautifully restored, red brick building, which was originally a factory for making garments, one of a number of successful clothing factories that were around the town in the 19th and 20th century. The coming of the railway added to Stroud’s prosperity providing transport for the workforce, the faster movement of goods, cheaper coal and better access for the shops, but at the same time it was economic disaster for the canals.


The restored Hill Paul Building Stroud

As the train leaves the station, look at the map and you will see that the railway line runs alongside the Thames and Severn Canal and they both run through the Chalford Valley, supposedly called the “Golden Valley” by Queen Victoria. In autumn the valley looks beautiful as the trees are changing colour but in Victorian times it would have been full of sulphurous smelling smoke as noxious fumes poured out of the factory chimneys. The golden valley referred to, not so much to the beauty here but to the wealth created through the production of cloth. This area was famous for the red cloth known as Stroud Scarlet which clothed the soldiers across the British Empire.

As you travel along, look out of the left hand window to see the channel of what was once the Severn and Thames Canal, now disused and without water. And imagine the enormous hard work and manual effort involved in building this canal in the 1780’s it was a huge undertaking. Not only did thousands of navigators or navvies as they were called have to dig deep into the ground along the whole course of the proposed waterway to create a channel, wide and deep enough to take the boats. They were doing all the hard work by hand using picks and shovels; and wheelbarrows were needed to cart the spoil away from the site. They built many locks as the boats had to be gradually lifted up the hill towards the top of the Cotswolds, they built the longest tunnel ever built at the time between Sapperton and Daneway to take the boats through the top of the hill. A large port was built at Brimscombe with wharves, warehouses and stables (it was horses that pulled the boats and carts before steam engines were used).

Once built, the canals required a considerable army of workers to keep the water borne traffic moving efficiently. Each stretch of canal would have a lengthsman who was responsible for the maintenance of his section of canal. Lock keepers were needed to open locks and collect tolls. At Brimscombe they needed dockers, warehousemen, carters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights - all sorts of different trades.

When the railways started to be built, the navvies who had dug the canals transferred their skills to building the railways. The canals were often taken over by the rail companies to transport building materials to the sites, then, once the railway was built the canals were no longer needed and they were eventually allowed to fall into decline.

The train will continue to climb the valley and you will see scattered houses on the hillside then suddenly the view is lost as the train disappears into the Sapperton rail tunnels, before reaching the Victorian station at Kemble. Here we will have reached the Gloucestershire border.  The train will continue on to London Paddington, via Swindon and Reading.

It's a fascinating journey, full of interest and worth taking time to watch the passing countryside.

Take a train journey from Gloucester to Stroud and enjoy the Cotswold countryside (part 1)

By:  Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett

A rare sight in Gloucester these days

 Today I'm going to suggest a fascinating train journey across to the eastern borders of Gloucestershire, where you can get great views across the countryside of our glorious county and see historic developments in the Stroud valleys over the last three centuries. And I suggest that you take an ordnance survey map with you, such as Explorer 179 to follow the route as you travel along.

As the train pulls out of Gloucester from probably the longest platform in the country and heads south, you’ll pass the districts of Tredworth and Tuffley and you’ll get a very different view of Robinswood Hill and Country Park, which is quite a landmark in the area, it will be the western side of the hill that you see from the train, whereas it’s the eastern side that you see as you travel along the M5 motorway. Once south of the city, the train crosses over the M5 and you get clear views across the flattish countryside of the Severn Vale. The views to the left are towards the Cotswold escarpment which you see in the distance, and to the far right the views are of the Forest of Dean.

Shortly on the right hand side you’ll see the industrial site of Dairycrest, part of the Dairycrest group which supplies milk to grocery stores and supermarkets around the country, produces butters and spreads, powdered milk and numerous brands of cheeses, particularly the appropriately named Cathedral city cheese. 

Selsley Church

 As the train travels on, across to the right on the hillside in the distance, you’ll see All Saints Church, Selsey, built in 1862 which has a tall tower with a distinctive French style saddle back roof. This church is renowned for its craftsmanship as well as its stained glass windows by founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris and fellow artists Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.




Samuel Marling's memorial in Selsey Church

  The church was commission by wealthy Sir Samuel Marling a cloth manufacturer who lived at Stanley Park and was a great benefactor. So much so, that a little further on you’ll pass Marling School which is the oldest Secondary school in Stroud, which started way back in back in 1887. Sir Samuel gave a substantial amount of money towards the building of the school.

If you look at your map of Gloucester and Stroud, it’s from the Cotswold town of Stonehouse that the journey becomes really interesting as the train will travel parallel to the Stroudwater Canal which was built between 1775 and 1779 to link the River Severn to Stroud so that the Severn trows could bring their cargo inland. It was the wool industry that financed the building of the canal and you will see stone chimney stacks from some of the cloth mills rising through the trees.

Enormous amounts of work have gone into restoring this section of inland waterways by the Cotswold Canals Trust. If you look at http://www.cotswoldcanalsproject.org/ you will see lots of photographs of the restoration work that is taking place between the towns of Stonehouse and Stroud.