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THE REDLAKE NUMBER 34 SPRING 2016
The editorial team comprises: Becky Sherman, Pat Jameson, Jeremy Jameson, How to contact us: by mail The Redlake Editors, Squire Farm, Chapel
Lawn, SY7 0BW by telephone 01547 530530 or by e-mail theredlake@squirefarm.co.uk
From the Editors The blossom on our damson tree is fantastic and we were just saying what a
good year it should be for the damson crop, but no sooner said than the wind
came from the north and along with it some gentle frosts; it is nearly May,
what do we expect? So we are hoping that it hasn’t been too cold for it to be
nipped again, it is the same with our small magnolias. I don’t think there has
been a year yet where the frost hasn’t got to the lovely flowers, but so far so
good, they are hanging on in there and looking good. May Day is just round
the corner, so look out for some snow!
Blossom or snow men, it’s on the toss of a coin!
Jeremy Jameson
The Redlake is published by The Redlake Valley Hall Committee and neither the committee
nor the editors can accept responsibility for any opinions expressed by contributors in these
pages. The editorial team reserves the right to edit contributions as it believes appropriate.
The Redlake is funded by grants and donations and it is our policy not to accept paid
advertising due to restraints on space
More information & photos of some of these articles are available on the
website at www.chapel-lawn.co.uk
Vikings in Chapel Lawn?
POST SCRIPT to Syd Crump's
Viking research from Graham Arnold.
Last summer Sydney Crump gave a
very interesting talk to answer the
question “Did the Vikings come to
Chapel Lawn?” The answer to this
question was left unanswered but I
can now update you.
Just north of Welshpool is the village
of Butterington. In 893 a formidable
force of Vikings (or Danes) set out on
a raid to Mercia. They were pursued
all the way by Alfred and his English
forces, finally surrounding them at
Butterington. The siege lasted for
many weeks, during which the Danes
were forced to eat all their horses and
dogs. Many died of starvation until
only a few hundred were left alive.
Finally, these men, sick and weak,
tried to break out but were all
ruthlessly cut down and killed.
The site of this battle is where the
church now stands. In 1838, while
digging foundations for the present
school, several deep pits were
discovered filled with over 400 skulls
and other bones. Many of the skulls
showed deep cuts and smashed bones;
evidence of a horrible and violent
death.
The distance between Butterington
and Chapel Lawn is just 30 miles.
This is as close as the Vikings came to
Chapel Lawn.
Sky Notes for May 2016
The coming weeks have a number of
important astronomical events. On 9th
May Mercury will transit the Sun.
This event is nowhere near as rare as a
transit of Venus. Mercury is much
smaller than Venus and will require
telescopes to observe it clearly.
Transits of Mercury take place at
regular intervals in two groups which
occur in this order – 9½ years, 3½
years, 13 years, then 7 years, 9½
years, 3½ years and then the sequence
is repeated.
Venus is now close to the Sun and
difficult to see. In early May it rises
only a minute before the Sun. We
will have to wait until middle or late
August before this brilliant planet will
grace our evening skies. It will
become a superb object around
Christmas time.
Mars rose just after midnight at the
start of April and by the end of May
will rise before sunset. Growing
brighter by the day and in apparent
size until May 22; now is the time to
get your telescopes out – sadly it
remains low in the sky but it may well
be possible to make out some detail.
Jupiter is visible all night, well
situated for observing and both Mars
and Jupiter are more or less at the
same brightness that is -2.1. Jupiter is
residing in Leo.
Saturn rose during early April around
1 am by the end of May around 9 pm.
During April and into May it is
possible to locate a comet; it is around
10 magnitude and even, under very
dark skies, with the more powerful
binoculars. This is Comet Ikeya-
Murakami (P/2010 V1), and the best
dates to find it will be April 24th and
25th when it passes close to Regulus in
Leo. On these dates it moves south
west only 0.5° from the 1st magnitude
star Regulus.
Graham Arnold
SPRING 2016 THE REDLAKE PAGE 2
Gwyn Philips
Gwyn Philips was born in 1931 and
lived his childhood at Waxhall,
Chapel Lawn. His father was a
workman for Mr. Wilding at Lynaven
Farm.
Gwyn and his family were Methodists
and they attended Sunday school and
services at New Invention chapel.
He will be remembered by some of
our older residents of the valley as a
fellow pupil at Chapel Lawn School.
In the early 50’s the Philips family
moved to Pentre Farm and they
started farming as tenants for Mr.
Owen’s family.
Gwyn became a special constable and
can be remembered visiting Chapel
Lawn School for chats and as a
previous vicar had said, we were the
“valley of lost hope” and he was in
the business of hope, Gwyn was
probably trying to do his bit to help
correct this!
Gwyn married Valerie and they had
two sons Kevin and Colin and in 1985
they moved to Bexhill-on-Sea, in East
Sussex.
Sadly they parted and he stayed in the
Bexhill area, but he always kept in
contact with his friends in Chapel
Lawn.
Colin still lives in Bexhill and Kevin
lives in America.
Gwyn died this year on the 5th
February; he was cremated in
Eastbourne on the 26th Feb 2016.
He always had a soft spot for Chapel
Lawn and his friends here and the
memories it held for him. I think he
would like to be remembered to those
who are lucky enough to live here
now.
Christine Oakley & Friends
Other News Newcomers
We are delighted to welcome some
more newcomers to Chapel Lawn.
Firstly to Dom & Syan Lavery and
their two children Joe and Ellie and
their dog Star, who have moved into
Honeyhole.
And to Vivian who has moved into
Michael Macturk’s house.
A Warm Welcome.
POETS CORNER
“Brineddin Wood”
Beaming light, trees transforming
Branches swaying side to side,
Bobbley trees with shades of green.
Standing bird, guarding its chicks,
standing tree not moving at all.
Let the moist trunks twist slowly in the wind,
like a human swaying side to side
Towering, groaning trees as tall as a
skyscraper.
In the forest the trees are swaying and
creaking! Like red hot fire in a bonfire.
Nuts are tumbling, the trees are towering.
The squirrel climbed up the tallest tree in the
wood, while the snow was falling down.
The bumpy bark crumbles off as the grey
squirrels spring down the tree.
The twigs were falling onto the ground from
the tree which was waving in the wind.
There is a bare leaf in the creepy wood.
Year 3 and year 6 children from St
George’s School, Clun,
21st October 2015.
BIG BREAKFASTS
SATURDAY 21st MAY
St Mary’s Church Chapel Lawn
Yet again Christine Oakley and
Patrick Cosgrove will be cooking and
serving Big Breakfasts in the
Redlake Valley Village Hall from
9am to 11am. £5 with as much tea
and coffee as you can drink.
This will be followed by a Spring
Sale from 11am to 1.30 pm. There
will be coffee, tea cakes and lots of
stalls including plants, cakes and
much more.
We hope you can join us for one or
both of these events.
Seasonal Gardening Notes
Nettles aren’t just stingers. Nor are
they just weedy wildflowers: the
native white dead nettle, Lamium
album, is a useful garden plant,
particularly under trees and large
shrubs where its soft, greyish foliage
and bright white flowers will lighten
the gloom, and its self-rooting, floppy
stems will cover the ground.
Of similar habit is Lamium
maculatum, with badger-faced, striped
leaves and flowers in a variety of
pinks, from blush-rosy to almost
purple. This spreads fast, even in very
dry soil, but is shallow rooted, so is
easy to twitch out if it exceeds its
brief. The forms with gold or silver
foliage are much more demanding of
good soil and much slower at their
ground-covering job. They can also be
martyrs to aphids so, although they
look temptingly pretty in the
photographs, they can be hard work to
keep.
The best natured of the family is also
the best looking – Lamium orvala
grows in a tidy clump, two feet tall,
with large, crimson-flushed leaves
and whorls of big, hooded flowers
which are the rusty-pink of Tudor
bricks.
Hannah Willetts
SPRING 2016 THE REDLAKE PAGE 3
Graham Arnold invites you to
Ann’s memorial Afternoon.
All are welcome to the Redlake valley
village hall on Saturday 28th May
from 3.00 pm.
There will be pictures and photos on
display in memory of Ann Arnold.
Food, wine, tea and cakes will be
available.
Redlake Valley Artists
exhibition in 2016
The Redlake Valley Artists will be
exhibiting again this year in Chapel
Lawn on Friday 16th to Sunday 18
th
September in the village hall. There
will be a preview on the Thursday
evening to which all local people are
warmly invited (more information to
come).
Artists exhibiting in 2016 include
Graham Arnold, Sharon Barthram,
Ursula Freeman, Gretchen Ind, Sarah
Jameson, Jemima Jameson, Simon
Jameson, Tara Paul, Ella Wilding and
Hannah Willetts. Work will include
paintings, drawings, stone carving,
printmaking, photography, cards,
limited edition hand-made books and
much more!
We have lost one or two participants
this time so have invited some friends
to join us and these are Ciara Lewis,
Kate Morgan-Clare, Sue Greenan and
Rosamund Black. All live and work
very locally and will bring something
a little different to the show, including
paintings, works on paper, mixed
media, embroidery and woven texiles.
With lovely home-made cakes and
refreshments on offer too, we hope
the show will be the success it has
been in the past and look forward to
welcoming everyone over the
weekend.
Sarah Jameson
REDLAKE RECIPES
SHROPSHIRE SPRING LAMB
CHOPS WITH DAMSON SAUCE.
This makes a delicious change from
mint sauce and the slightly tart flavour
of the damson compliments the sweet
taste of fresh young lamb. It is a good
way to use up surplus damsons you
might have frozen the year before.
Serves 6.
12 best end of neck chops
1 lb (450g) damsons
½ pint (300ml) dry white wine
Good bunch chopped fresh herbs
Sugar
Butter
First make a puree by boiling the
damsons with a tiny bit of water and
enough sugar to just remove the
acidity from the taste. Cook until soft
and rub through a sieve. Set aside.
Season the chops with salt and
pepper, dot with butter and sprinkle
with chopped herbs. Grill to taste.
Set aside and keep warm. Drain the
meat juices into a saucepan and add
white wine. Boil rapidly to reduce by
half and stir in the damson puree.
Serve chops on hot plates with a good
dollop of damson puree on each.
Bon appetite.
REDLAKE CARTOON
NEWS FLASH!
IT’S OFFICIAL, sniffer dogs are better at detecting sausages &
cheese than drugs!
St Mary’s C of E Primary
School Bucknell Do you enjoy being with young
children? Then why not volunteer to
help at St Mary’s for a few hours each
week. Contact the Head teacher on
01547 530264
Recent Events. Christmas
2015-Spring 2016
This correspondent is very
embarrassed that she has only
managed to get to two of the events
she will be writing about! I had better
start with those!
Eduardo Neibler the Internationally
renowned classical guitarist came to
our humble, little village hall at the
beginning of March and gave us his
expert playing and music. He is truly
talented; his fingers often running
over the guitar strings in a blur, his
compositions diverse and beautiful.
He was accompanied by Matthew
Robinson who had had to learn some
of the pieces in a very short time. The
hall was at its seating capacity and a
few people even, were unable to get
tickets.
The other event I went to was the film
The Martian, an excellent Sci-fi of a
scientist’s (Matt Damon) experience
of being left behind on Mars by
himself and his efforts of not only
surviving, but devising ways to
communicate his plight to Earth and
hope for rescue. In good tradition, he
is rescued and it all ends happily! We
didn’t have a large audience, but
enough to make it worthwhile. The
next film shown was ‘The Lady in the
Van’ which, thanks to Maggie Smith
as the ‘Lady’, attracted over 60
people; our best audience this season.
‘Ex Machina’, shown back in
February did not attract such a good
audience, but in spite of being another
Sci-fi (not everyone’s taste) it was
thought provoking, if weird.
Tony Oakley had his 60th Birthday
Party in the Village Hall, and family
& friends had a great time dancing the
night away to a live band.
The Village Hall has been named a
beneficiary of Michael Macturk’s
estate and has received a small
donation. The committee had a
meeting to decide how to use this
donation and it was decided to use it
to start a ‘Macturk Fund’ dedicated to
the improvement of the external drive
and entrance way to the Hall, which is
a little shabby to say the least! The
improvements include tarmacking a
SPRING 2016 THE REDLAKE PAGE 4
section of the path, landscaping and
planting and the inclusion of a
picnic table or bench (or both) with
a plaque commemorating Michael
Macturk and his contribution to the
community. The Macturk fund will
be added-to by fund raising and
grant applications. We already have
an amount from The Clun
Recreation Fund promised.
Next month sees the AGM for the
Village Hall and even though the
meeting can be a bit tedious, anyone
is welcome to come, find out what is
going on, ask questions (not too
difficult please), have their say,
complain (if you must) or
congratulate (which would be nice).
The committee put in a lot of time
and effort to make sure the hall runs
smoothly and to provide a certain
amount of entertainment. This is all
voluntary and Beryl’s role of
‘housekeeper’ can be a thankless
task and one which she does
stoically! Christine and Jim keep
the bar stocks up, Christine and Di
and others are forever cooking and
decorating for events and we have a
few volunteers to host the flicks,
which Peter organises. That doesn’t
include the official roles of
Secretary (Patrick), Treasurer and
Chairman. You see, there is a lot of
work, time and dedication going on
behind the scenes and we need new
blood and we would welcome your
support.
Becky Sherman
Farming Column
Spring may be here officially, but
there is very little sign of any
quantity of grass, which is not
good as the back of the silage pit is
almost reached and on fine days
the cows are getting restless
wanting to be outside eating the
grass.
Calving is almost over with only
two larger calves having needed
help. With the cows vaccinated
this year, they have passed on
immunity in the colostrum to their
calves against scour and no calves
have needed treatment to date.
I wish we could do something
about the TB problem in the area.
We have just done our fourth test
since autumn and been unable to
pass the last one due to one cow
being classified inconclusive, so
we are still officially shut down as
we need two consecutive clear
tests to regain our TB free status.
I thought only vicars were called
out of retirement to work again,
but the vet doing our testing is well
past retiring but was working four
days a week TB testing.
Lambing has come and gone with
some quite reasonable weather in
March helping after the winter’s
rain and mud. They say that 10%
of the sheep make 90% of the
work in lambing, none more so
than a lamb we ended up naming
‘Gormless’. After an assisted
lambing it was given some
artificial colostrum from the bottle.
It took 3 days to persuade it to go
to its mother for milk and not look
for me. It almost starved to death
on day 2 and had to be revived
with milk and glucose through a
stomach tube. On day 5 it was
decided to put mother and lamb in
a larger pen with some others. It
took Gormless under an hour to
become totally stuck in a sheep
trough, four legs in the air, no
doubt practicing for later life! Its
mother’s tag ends in ‘007’ and I
think it was a secret agent sent to
annoy the shepherd.
The sheep purchased from my
neighbour lambed well with a little
help and with no new tricks, just
the standard procedure that if a
ewe has two lambs, she will end
up lying on top of the best one; it
is guaranteed to wind the shepherd
up.
All commodity prices are low at
present and even my friends with
egg laying flocks of hens have had
price cuts from the egg packers in
March. Without some financial
support from the EU, upland
farming would become very bleak.
I do not believe that we would be
supported by British government if
we left the EU and the wider rural
economy would suffer as well.
James Middleton
Diary Election Day for the Police Commissioner is on Thursday 5th May.
ODAS viewing Mercury, Monday 9th
May at 11.45 village Hall car park.
Flicks in the sticks: Spectre. Action/ thriller. Saturday May 14
th Adults
£4.50, children £3.50 bar & ice creams. 7.30pm
Synod Meeting Thursday 19th May
7.30pm
Church Fund Raiser- Saturday 21st
may. Farmer’s Breakfasts 9-11am, & Stalls & plant sales with teas & Cakes from 12-2.30pm.
VH AGM Tuesday 24th May.
RVCBS AGM with speaker, Thursday 26
th May 6pm
Ann Arnold memorial, Saturday 28th
May. Village Hall from 3pm.
PCC meeting Tuesday 31st May
7.30pm.
ODAS AGM Thursday 2nd
June followed by Talk “Space 2016” by Michael Bryce 7.30pm. £3 including tea, coffee & biscuits.
EU Election Day Thursday 23rd
June
Food & Flicks: “Dad’s Army”. Saturday 25th June. Film £4.50 adults & £3.50 Children. Food £6.50 adults & £3.50 Children. 6pm
ODAS special event Saturday 2nd
July 2-5pm with Syd Crump.
ODAS Summer Community Event, Saturday 2
nd July 2.30pm Talk “The
Search for Planet X” by Syd Crump, followed by afternoon tea, £5.
W.I.- Meeting 2nd
Tuesday of the month 7pm.Village Hall
ODAS on the last Thursday in every month. 7pm Village Hall
For all ODAS info please contact Carolyn Wilde 01547 530085
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