Catching up

I had a wonderful surprise just before Christmas, my eldest daughter's mother suddenly contacted me out of the blue, and put me in touch with my daughter, Jeani....I've been trying to find her since 1989....and I thought "God, she must have changed!"  well...very wrong there, but at least her spite put me on talking terms with my beautiful daughter, and her two sons, we see each other quite a bit, here to where they live in Wales is only about an hour and a bit drive, she's lovely, sensible, and a very good mother too.

Oak Apple was on down at Wishford this weekend, so Meg and I decided to go down and see the fun, and when I told Jeani we were off to it, she and hubby Martin decided to come down and take a look as well, the weather wasn't very good, which was a shame after all the lovely sunshine we had the day before, but that's what usually happens in this country :). So after getting rained on for a while, they decided to head for home, we stalwarts of tradition stayed on...to see the Morris Men, and the Maypole dancing etc. and of course, enjoy the cold beer on offer! it was while going for a beer, me and Meg ran into my ex wife, Dianne, and her friend Mandy, it was the first time we'd spoken face to face for a long time, very nice to see her and have a hug and a chat, and to see her happy and well, and she did win the best scarecrow presentation in the village...take a look...

This was made by Di with the able assistance of grandchildre Jessica, Max and Billy.  The children seemed to be having great fun at the fete, Jessica folk dancing with the school, and Max and Billy having a competition to see who could spread icecream the furthest :)

Oak Apple is a long standing tradition in Great Wishford, celebrated every year at the end of May, I went to it first back in 1968, then '69, '70, '71 and 1972 when the village was absolutely thronged with people, last year was my first time back, and again this year...if you want to know what's it all about, you can get a small idea from this entry inWikipedia though it doesn't come anywhere near describing the fun.

It's well worth going along to Salisbury cathedral on Oak Apple day to see it, and the fete is still enjoyable even if  it does rain...I'll certainly be there again next year!

Encounters

A hobby that goes on and on...

I'm fascinated by genealogy...family research. It's immensely satisfying to spend all the time required to dig out and find the information you need to go back further, especially when you manage to over-come obstacles like people being given (and using) different names to that they were given at birth. It's very easy to trace the name changes associated with a woman marrying and taking her husbands, or even hyphenating their maiden name with that of her husband.

So, I had a great deal of trouble with my maternal grandfather, everyone knew him as Henry...in fact "Henry" was his older brother who died in infancy and had been named for his father, when he died, the name was just "passed" to the second eldest, my grandfather, who had been named and christened "Earnest". Now that's fine, but no one ever made that change official, or recorded it. The fact was only discovered on his death by reference to national insurance numbers and medical records, or my search backwards would have died right there, so thank heavens for my step-gran giving me some help. I should also say here that he lied about his age when he remarried, he knocked 10 years off his real age of 45 because he was getting wed to my mother's then best friend, aged 18 at the time!

To date, going backwards with the research into my family, I haven't found any evidence at all of any kind of "normal family" background....no wonder I had so many problems when I was growing up! The strange thing is, so many people feel that way.....which begs the question...What exactly does constitute a "normal" family?

When you look at today's society, the early breakdown of marriages, single mums, single dads...families where "dad" can be a different person to each child..are they any further, or closer, to the "normal" families of my childhood? In those days, they stuck at it, through abuse and violence, bullying and financial difficulties caused by booze, gambling and selfishness, and there was a great tendency for people to grow up damaged and enter into relationships similar to those of their parents, and I have to be honest.....I ain't seen the kind of changes I thought would happen as people became better educated and communication improved.

I don't agree with any woman putting up with violent abusive partners, I don't think that any man has the right they confer upon themselves to "own" a woman in their own minds, I don't think people give enough time and thought to getting married in the first place...I didn't the first time round, my only regret from that is that I didn't wait for her to grow up, and me to mature. There was never any abuse or violence though, I can still honestly say that, apart from trying to defend myself, I've never raised my hand to a woman.

And this is where things get very difficult for people trying to do the family tree, it's relatively easy for me, but how will the child two or three generations down the line cope with studying the family when there have been surname changes imposed on their relatives of the past, it'll be okay as long as they're starting off with a good collection of family birth and marriage certificates, otherwise they are really going to struggle to find out anything about their heritage.....good luck to them, I hope they have plenty of money available to keep following trails until they find the right one.

Summer Fun

So, here we are, heading into the grand old English summer. Just been made redundant...for the umpteenth time...so who gives a shit? I shall get another job, and maybe get made redundant again! Isn't life wonderfully cyclical?

I've ben talking a lot to a wonderful friend in Riyadh for a while now, and we got talking about religion again tonight (she's Islamic, I'm an atheist) and we talked a bit about comparative theology, I said that much of my belief stemmed from where I live....the heart of Wiltshire....with Stonehenge, Woodhenge, Avebury and iron age cairns dotted around, it's very difficult (when you know how and why many Christian celebrations began their days) not to be a Pagan or a Druid. But the subject got me on to the many other histories and customs of my little world.

This Saturday sees the celebration of Oak Apple,

Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day was a holiday celebrated in England on 29 May to commemorate the restoration of the English Monarchy, in May 1660. In some parts of the country, the day was also known as Shick-Shack Day or Arbour Day.

In 1660, Parliament declared 29 May a public holiday:

"Parliament had ordered the 29 of May, the King's birthday, to be for ever kept as a day of thanksgiving for our redemption from tyranny and the King's return to his Government, he entering London that day."

The tradition and celebration has died out now as a national event. However, the village of Great Wishford, in the Wylye Valley north of Salisbury, still celebrates Oak Apple. Wikipedia has this to say...

It is one of the few villages that still celebrates Oak Apple Day on 29 May each year. On this day, Great Wishford villagers claim their ancient rights to collect wood from Grovely Wood. This tradition is said to date back to 1603, when the charter of rights to collect wood in the Royal Forest of Groveley was confirmed by the Forest Court. The rights themselves date back several centuries before 1603. It is a matter of debate whether this tradition has been kept up continuously since the 17th century, or whether it was revived / re-invented in the late 19th century.

The events of a modern oak apple day include a "band" waking the villagers in the early hours of the morning, gathering oak branches from the woods at dawn, a village breakfast in the local pub (Royal Oak), then onto Salisbury, where there is dancing outside the Cathedral followed by claiming rights inside the cathedral by shouting "Grovely, Grovely, and all Grovely". In the afternoon there is a formal meal, and other events for villagers in Oak Apple Field.

These days, most villagers put more effort into claiming their rights than in exercising them: the handcarts used to transport wood from Grovely seem to have entirely disappeared.

And this is another example of looking back while living, a wonderful keeping of past traditions, which the villagers look forward to. I hope this Oak Apple Day is a great event and they all enjoy it, and best wishes with this wonderfully unpreictable weather too.

And I can assure you from experience, the walks through Grovely Woods are fantastic, every season brings it's own delights for visual splendour, and the Royal Oak is about the finest place to go for a lunch afterwards, the village of Great Wishford is so beautiful it's well worth a visit, if for no other reason than to enjoy the sight of St. Giles Church, with it's back-drop of Grovely from one side, or Salisbury Plain from the other.