A Book Festival, A Coastal Visit, and a Busy Blogging Spell

LIFE: JUNE 11th-17th 2018

MELROSE BOOK FESTIVAL 
I like a regular dose of history, culture and politics, so this was a good week for me at Melrose Book Festival. 

I listened to Rory Bremner interviewing  William Hague - former Tory party leader,  who proved to be a witty speaker, with lots of anecdotes  on his career in politics and his later career on writing  historical biographies of William Pitt, Britan's youngest prime minister, and William Wilberforce who led the campaign to abolish slavery.  

The second speaker I saw was former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, who gave an impressive impassioned talk (without any notes).  He looked back to growing up as a son of the Manse and his early introduction into politics, but said very little on his time as Chancellor and PM.   His focus was on the current worldwide political scene with the polarization  of extreme views and lack of coming together to find a common ground. We needed messages of hope!   His talk was not without humour and he came across as  relaxed and likeable.   He admitted, though that he was not comfortable with TV and social media  and the intrusion any politician now faces in their personal and family life.  

I enjoyed both talks immensely - as did the rest of the 550-strong audience in the main festival marquee, with both speakers receiving prolonged applause. My only gripe  - I would have liked more time given for audience questions. 

The Festival has grown in stature since its launch in 2004  ago and is a great advert for Melrose.  We had to contend with frequent heavy rain showers throughout the day, but these had not deterred the large crowds in the setting of Harmony  Gardens, with lots of families enjoying the children's events.  People were very good-natured  and friendly and I chatted with  visitors from across Scotland and the north of England.

 Harmony Gardens, in Melrose - site of the Book Festival 

with the Abbey in the background - a very dull day!

THE WEATHER FORECAST WAS RIGHT!

We came to the end of our sunshine spell  and were back to grey days and temperatures plummeting to the 50sF/12C. - which meant I was more inclined to be on the computer.  Then Thursday we faced Storm Hector and the highest winds I can remember experiencing for a long time.  For our weekly walking group, we decided it was too risky  to go in the woods and contented ourselves with a safer route.  Friday brought a thunderstorm and more rain - at least good for the garden and saved me watering. 

A BLOGGING BOOM 

Among  recent posts on my Family History Fun page

• A Shetland Island family - the story  of my cousin's ancestors.
• Memories of my Dad  - in the series "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks".  
• A Policeman's Lot - three policeman tales from my family history. 
• Churches, Choirs and A Conductor Ancestor -  in the "52 Ancestors" 
• Alone on  a Beach  - memories of visits to  Isle of Iona.

After feeling in the doldrums at the lack of response to blog posts for  my local heritage group, Auld Earlsto,  page views have suddenly shot up - thank you to my readers - a good morale booster. 

TELEVISION 

• Britain's Best Home Cook Final -  I have stuck with this Mary Berry programme, though it has taken time to get into the new format. It was good to put the emphasis on home cooking, though, and not fancy "Fine Dining" and there was no question of the sense of camaraderie among the contestants.
• The Hotel Inspector - with my ex-tourism hat on, this was not one of the best. The hotel was in a beautiful location in Devon on the route of a long distance path and had been taken over by a couple with NO hotel experience at all - what a leap om the dark!  Not surprisingly their occupancy rates were low to the point of them running out of money.  But Alex Polizzi (the hotel inspector) focused on the "drab, monochrome" bedroom decor (all be it good quality and modern}  and gave next to no attention to their marketing activities or even their website.  It took the mystery shopper guests to mention drying room faciltiies for walkers and cyclists, and secure storage for cycles overnight etc.
  
  I am looking forward to next week's when she is in the Borders in a country pub/small hotel where we used to go for bar meals. 

A TRIP TO THE COAST 
The Wednesday Club outing was to the coast - North Berwick, 25 miles south of Edinburgh on the shores of the Firth of Forth.  We were lucky with the weather and even managed to sit outside for coffee enjoying the views. 

To end on a historical  trivia fact:  

The Bass Rock in the distance on this photograph is now a seabird sanctuary, but in the late 17th century it was also the inhospitable site of a prison, where Alexander Shields from Earlston was sent, convicted of Covenanting activities.

 Covenanters were people in Scotland who signed the National Covenant in 1638 to confirm their opposition to the interference by the Stuart kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

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Journal Jottings   
Recording my everyday life for future family historians  

Developed from the "Genea-Pourri" prompt  on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-MusingsI I decided to change his title for my own version of this weekly online diary.

Land Girl Memories, Gardening, & TV Reviews

LIFE: 27th  May - 9th June 2018

  
MEMORIES OF A LAND GIRL 
The highlight of my week was talking to a local resident who during the Second World War  worked as a land girl on a poultry farm at Georgefield, near Earlston - all part of Auld Earlston's gathering memories project.  

B.was living in Morningside, Edinburgh, had left school at 14 to work in a solicitor's office in the New Town (actually built in the 18th century).  Then in 1944,  she was conscripted  to join the Land Army, with her sister sent to Munitions. Can you imagine teenagers today coping with such a massive change in lifestyle on the order of the government?  

For B. it was working 7am until late, mucking out the hen houses, feeding them,  carrying 100cwt of meal sacks,   and rounding up  the free range hens  at night to shut them in away from prowling foxes. Living quarters in a bothy were primitive and she learned to cook on a coal fueled stove.  Yet she felt they ate well - macaroni cheese or mince and tatties.  A huge bonus was getting a dozen fresh eggs a week which she often took home on her weekends off.  Making do with dried eggs was one of the mosthated aspects of wartime food.  Leisure time meant going to the dances , often twice a week, in the Corn Exchange, Earlston,  where the band  of the Polish soldiers based in the village was a great draw. 

B. met her hsuband in Earlston when he was home on leave, they married in 1948 and so Earlston has been her home for 70 years. 

              Looking north from Georgefield Farm, Earlston - taken February 2018.


Move It or Lose It
I thought we had decided our new exercise class was “Pilates for Seniors”, but then there was a view. that was neither exciting, nor inspirational nor true,  as we did’nt get down on the floor  - we would never get up again without help! So we voted on possible names and Move It or Lose It came tops - on the principle - keep our muscles and joints moving!


TELEVISION- a better week for me

• Antiques Roadshow Special - marking 100 years  since (some) women got the vote in the UK.  A fascinating programme profiling women pioneers from the first female press photographer in the early 20th century, the women who made their mark in wartime, in sports, in exploration through to more recent times  with the  Dagenham women fighting for equal pay, the first female bishop,  and women achieving  key roles in politics.    It was only afterwards it occurred to me there was no mention of the pioneering women in the male dominated field of medicine. 

• "Nothing like a Dame" was an informal discussion between four actress dames - Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins, all in their 80’s, and reminiscing about their lives.  At times the conversation got very rambling, until a disembodied voice  cut in (the producer?) to get them back on track e,g, “What was it like working with your husband?”  The production was a bit odd.  We saw them sitting in the garden,  the quartet being fitted with their mikes, make up touched up, and photographers circling round them, taking still shots - then it was all change as rain came on, so they had to retreat indoors and go through this palaver again.  Did we really need to see all that on screen?
  
  
  But the four clearly had a great sense of camaraderie  and it was all very witty, and entertaining, interspersed with old film clips of their early performances. A classic moment was Judy Dench being very vocal about a a medic,  recently treating her for a minor injur,  who enquired  “Do you have a carer?”  Her response was choice,  as she had just finished acting in a six week London run of a Shakespeare play.  Another revelation - Maggie Smith had been presented with a boxed set of “Downton Abbey”, but had never viewed herself in it.  A programme worth catching up with, if you missed it
  
  And here is a tongue twister to get your lips moving and articulating your words - try repeating  “Dame Judy Dench” quickly and repeatedly.

• WDYTYA (Who Do You think You Are)   - I was delighted to see the return of this family history programme - but I didn’t think it was one of the best.  It featured Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan (unknown to me) whose maternal ancestors came from Gibraltar and before that Genoa in Italy. On her father’s side there were links with Emmiline Pankhurst and the suffragette movement. The background story was interesting and I learnt a lot  - I never knew that during the Second World War women and children were evacuated from Gibraltar and taken to London.  But I found MK response very cliched - “Wow”,  - with her accent difficult to follow  - and I grew up in Lancashire!
  
  Country File is a programme that can be interesting, but it's not one I am bothered about missing.   This time it was from the Queen's estate at Balmoral, so the camera work and photography were stunning and I enjoyed the interviews with people working on the land.   But the commentary was "oh, so sycophantic".  Also I cannot stand the practice of introducing a topic for a few minutes and then saying "we will return to this later in the programme" as if we the audience's concentration span  is so limited, it cannot cope with a longer report - and of course when we go back to the topic,  time is wasted with a recap. 
  
• Trooping the Colour   I indulged my love of pageantry and military bands by watching the ceremony in London. with central London  looking at its best in the sunshine,
   

GREAT GARDENING WEATHER  

The good weather broke last weekend which was a pity as various events were happening  in the Borders.   But then endless sun morning to evening returned   - very unusual for us to have such a prolonged dry spell  and so my afternoons were spent in the garden - cutting the grass, weeding, doing the edges, transplanting the nasturium seedlings and potting on geraniums and begonias.   Here's hoping for a riot of colour!  

Result by Saturday I was worn out, so had a lazy time, doing  minimal activity. Then we had  a noisy prolonged thunderstorm which at least meant we did not have to water the garden in the evening.
 

To end with a lovely photograph  of the rhododendrons in a friend's large garden. 

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Journal Jottings   
Recording my everyday life for future family historians  

Developed from the "Genea-Pourri" prompt  on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-MusingsI I decided to change his title for my own version of this weekly online diary.