Dr Karen Stead-Dexter gave a very interesting talk on falconry and its history and had four birds to show us and all were well behaved except the buzzard who was on his first outing.

Our speaker this month was John Burgess, his talk was “Notes from an Exmoor Diary”, John began by saying that he had had the privilege of working for the Exmoor National Park for about 12 years back in the 1970s and was able to work all across the moor before later being introduced to the BBC and spending the remaining years of his working life with BBC radio. John said that Exmoor can be a different experience for different people and quoted from the book “Exmoor” by S.H. Burton which he described as a definitive book about the moors. “A special place, for some it’s the sea and the distant views of Wales, for others it’s Dunkery and the purple heather”, For John it’s Tarr Steps and the people of the moor that make it special. John had made a number of recordings for the BBC of what he referred to as “voices of Exmoor” for a series of programmes called “Notes From an Exmoor Diary”. For some the voice of Exmoor is the sound of the red deer and John had once commented to a man who had spent many years studying the deer that John had been all over the moor but rarely encountered the deer.

He was then taken to a particular place to look for them but still was unable to see them until he was shown how and where to look by his companion. John then spoke about the deer hunt and the need to keep the deer numbers under control as they can be very destructive. Although hunting with a pack of hounds is now illegal the hunt parties still gather regularly with up to 70 riders and 2 hounds are allowed. The local Farmers have a love-hate relationship with the hunt but appreciate the way in which they help to keep the deer away from their crops.

John had also been taken to a location at night to listen for the sound of the rutting stags and he then played us the recording, beginning with the screech of an owl and then the “roar” which is actually more of a grunt, but it filled the hall with an unforgettable impression of power. John said that at rutting time you may see cars parked in odd places with people just listening to the deer.

John then spoke about Norma Huxstable who as well as writing books and regularly in a magazine she called “The Last Word” kept open house at her farm for many visitors. John was a regular visitor and he played a recording of her while feeding an orphan lamb in the kitchen with the cockerel sounding off in the background and Norma telling stories in a rich Devonshire accent , the whole thing being very atmospheric.

One of the people John met at Norma’s was a retired journalist always known as Dan Russel by Norma because of his Jack Russel dogs although his real name was Jeremy Jones; he had become very knowledgeable about the moor and he showed John where John Night a wealthy Iron master from the midlands had bought 10,000 acres of land for £50,000 in 1889 to establish a farm on a wild area of Crown owned land near Simondsbath. The first thing he did was build a stone wall 29 miles long to enclose the estate. His attempts to grow barley etc. were unsuccessful but his son Cedric followed him and brought sheep from Scotland by ship via Bristol, walking them down to Exmoor with shepherds and sheepdogs. Among them was the Little family and that name still persists as one of the last families to keep in the area. Although the estate was broken up the area around there is still known as Knight’s farms.

Another lady John had known was Hope Bourne who had come to live on Exmoor having been left destitute when her mother died. She had initially lived with a friend and worked on many different farms becoming an expert marksman and able to do any job a man could on the farms, she later came to live a solitary life in an old caravan with a leaking roof covered with a sheet and draughty windows. Being completely self-sufficient she kept a handwritten journal on sheets of paper and was also a talented watercolourist who produced many pictures of the Exmoor ponies and horses. Her caravan was almost 2 miles from a road and she walked around a hundred miles a week visiting farms and to get supplies from a shop 4 miles away in Withypool. She had eventually decided to send her journal notes to a publisher to see if anyone would put them into a book. One day an alarm call from her cockerel “Cocky” alerted her to a well-dressed visitor approaching and this turned out to be Arthur Dent a publisher who wanted to produce her book. That book “Living on Exmoor” is still available and John read us a very evocative excerpt from it. When she died she left her “estate” to the Exmoor Society.

John then spoke of a Blacksmith Fred Kent who had inherited his father’s business in Porlock and built the business up to have a number of shops across the area. The horses and ponies were big business and people came from all across the country to the smithies. John played an interview with Fred who, being too busy to stop work, kept the anvil ringing while being recorded talking about his father ‘s advice and how he had taught Fred his trade. The combination of the rich Devonshire accent and the sound of the forge were very atmospheric.

John concluded his presentation with a recording of his friend Norma Huxtable that was actually played on an edition of Woman’s Hour repeating an amusing tale from another friend who was known as “Seemingly” because almost every sentence from him ended with seemingly.

Peter Walker gave a vote of thanks and David Barge asked if these recordings were being archived as being too valuable to lose; John assured us that they are kept safely in a Somerset Archive.

G.W. Oct. 2022.

John Lowe began his talk by saying that as a young boy having spent 2 years in care he was adopted and had spent a year in Ghana before being sent back to England for schooling where he became fascinated with the Eastbourne Lifeboat and from then on always wanted to be a Lifeboatman. Years later as a College lecturer and then crew member of the Exmouth lifeboat he found himself raising his hand in response to the question from the Cox can anyone ride a bike? whereas he had not actually ridden one for over 20 years he nevertheless now found himself volunteering to take part in the 1999 “Arctic Cycle Challenge” fundraising expedition.

John Bishop introduced Andy Lucker an ex police officer with 30 years experience which included time in the “Met” and in the murder squad before when facing another relocation he decided to change tack to the Transport Police and being trained in surveillance work was invited to join the anti-crime squad at Heathrow Airport, primarily tasked with cracking down on the persistent nuisance of luggage theft carried out on a systematic basis by gangs mingling with the crowds.

With a small team making use of the many CCTV cameras around the airport they began to make inroads into the problem and some time later they were approached with the idea of being filmed at work for a documentary about the theft problem. Initially horrified at the idea Andy was eventually persuaded to act as the “face in the camera” for a BBC film crew.

Andy then ran the film entitled “Airport” which dated from around 2005/6 but was of typically high quality for a BBC production and we followed a number of cases from the time a person or gang was identified as possibly a suspect and being tracked on camera or by a team member, sometimes even between terminals, before watching the theft taking place in real time and then to eventual capture with the evidence readily available on film to secure a conviction. Many of the perpetrators were known as repeat offenders, even after in some cases serving lengthy prison terms the possible rewards were enough to give a good living if they could get away with it. With 65 million passengers a year the airport was often crowded making it easy to lose yourself in the throng if you needed.

As well as opportunistic thefts we saw a number of ways in which passengers were distracted, sometimes with several members of a gang involved, before an expensive bag or suitcase was spirited away often without the victim even being aware until later that one of their items was missing. Travellers often have large sums of money on them and this is a prime target with bags often on show and vulnerable to a clever pickpocket gang. Luggage trolleys are often provided with a handy hook for a handbag and often these are forgotten when loading luggage into a vehicle; if you get it back later having been handed in you are extremely lucky. In response to a question from the audience Andy said that they had tried to get these hooks removed but with hundreds of trolleys involved this had not happened. Expensive cameras, binoculars, sports equipment are all likely targets. For Andy’s team the ideal was a conviction for “theft with conspiracy” which is treated more severely than “theft” by the courts.

It’s easy to say but if you are travelling, not necessarily at an airport, it pays to take basic precautions, don’t carry large sums of cash in outside bags or external case pockets and don’t put bags on the floor where you can’t see them. It’s also a good idea to have something inside your case with your basic contact details on in case it is lost in transit. Sadly there can also be robberies carried out behind the scenes on occasion and we saw one example of this carried out by a baggage handling supervisor who was prosecuted and lost his job, but this type of theft has been greatly reduced by improved security measures and CCTV. Unfortunately there are ways of getting into locked suitcases often leaving no sign of disturbance.

After the film Andy took a number of questions before being thanked for an excellent presentation by John Swayne who had for years escorted groups of youngsters abroad and knew how they seemingly thought nothing of putting something down and just walking away expecting it to be there when they eventually remembered.

GKW June 2022

For our February meeting we were pleased to welcome Richard Raynsford as our guest speaker. Richard’s talk was entitled “The Glastonbury Festival- a villager’s view”. Richard lives right in the centre of Pilton, the nearest village to the festival site on Worthy Farm owned by Michael Evis the Festival’s organiser.

Michael Evis and Andrew Kerr started a small music Festival back in the 1980s but it has grown out of all recognition into the world renowned annual (usually) event that it is today and Richard has over many years assembled a collection of fascinating pictures from around the area and within the site.

Beginning with photos of the centre of Pilton, on the A39 Glastonbury road, the atmospheric Glastonbury Tor and then some views from the surrounding hills, showing the vast area covered by the site, Richard explained that as a villager he got free tickets so he was able to visit the site regularly with his camera.

The early years of the event were subject to people without tickets forcing their way over fences but nowadays security is tight and the area is enclosed by a 5 mile perimeter fence with 24 hr surveillance of the village along with traffic control volunteers who try to prevent the massive queues seen in earlier years. There are of course huge car parks on site as well. Visitors are also encouraged to use the train services to Castle Cary Station where a reception centre is established for the Festival.

Apart from the famous “Pyramid Stage” featuring the headline bands Richard explained that there are numerous other buildings, viewing towers, and stands selling all kinds of goods, even a funfair area. Many different musical tastes are catered for via different stages and marquees and he showed us some of the amazing art installations as well as the colourful costumes that are a feature of the festival. There are also quieter “green” areas for a more relaxed experience if things get a bit too heavy. There is a wide variety of food provided and many organisations like carnival clubs and charities benefit from the money this brings in.

The accommodation for the masses is of course mainly small tents, tightly packed together and unfortunately often left behind half buried in the mud afterwards if affected by the infamous Glastonbury Festival rain, although when the site is cleaned before the cattle can be returned these are collected and where possible salvaged and passed to charities for re-use. There is an alternative however for the more affluent as nearby there is a “glamping” site where a more comfortable tent and a proper bed is available, nevertheless you still have to trek across the field to the toilet block in the night if needed. This need is catered for on-site nowadays by hundreds of “portaloos” brought in and serviced regularly unlike the very crude facilities we saw photos of from the early days with rows of feet poking out from under a canvas screen!

Richard touched on the subject of litter, where there are humans and food provided rubbish is inevitable, a proper system is in place for dealing with mountains of this on a continuous basis but persuading people to use the right bins for recycling is not easy.

The thorny question of drugs on site was raised among other questions, Richard said that early events had drugs being openly sold and used but there is a continuous police presence these days to try and clamp down on this. Our Vice President Rev. David Barge had often helped care for drug users on site years ago while part of a Church Pastoral team and had witnessed drug sellers being propelled, tent and all into the back of a police van, without much ceremony! On concluding Richard was thanked for a very interesting presentation.

G. Wood. Feb.2022.

Our speaker for the November 2021 meeting was Alan Heal representing the Burnham on Sea based charity “BARB”. If you’ve not come across this it stands for the “Burnham Area Rescue Boat”. Alan began by explaining that this group of Volunteers in common with the local Air Ambulance Service relies purely on a public donation basis with no government funding and BARB are not part of the national RNLI lifeboat organisation although they work in conjunction with the coastguard service, beach lifeguards and other rescue services when needed.

Alan related some of the history of the rescue services at Burnham.

A lifeboat was introduced and manned by the local community in 1836 before the RNLI involvement from 1866 with the boat “Cheltenham” being introduced in 1869. Originally having to be launched after hauling to the slipway from wherever the boat was kept a new lifeboat station was built nearby in 1894. In 1992 a local rescue boat was operated by a local sailing group, initially this was tractor- towed on a trailer from a local farm to the launch point.

The River Parret estuary has a very strong inflow and outflow past the beach and Jetty, the channel at low tide also has very dangerous sinking mud flats and this was highlighted in 2002 when a young girl Lelaina Hall wandered out too far and became stuck in the mud, was swept away on the incoming tide and tragically drowned. Her body was recovered only after an extensive search and rescue operation which was featured on radio and TV at the time. Following this tragedy a public appeal was launched and raised initially around £115,000 to purchase the first hovercraft which was able to operate over the mud flats, as well as beginning construction of a purpose built station on the promenade close to the slipway. Alan explained that in use this first craft, designed in Banbury but built in Sweden, proved to be rather too powerful and not as manoeuvrable as was needed so later this was succeeded by a lighter model named “Spirit of Lelaina”, followed by a second one. These have2 engines, one for lift and one for propulsion and can cruise at 20 knots with a top speed of 50 knots possible. They now also operate 2 inshore recue inflatable boats and two 4-by-4 vehicles along the shoreline all manned by 15 specially trained volunteers of which Alan is one.

Alan specified 4 distinct areas of their operation, Search, Rescue, Recovery and Swift Water Rescue:

As an example of “Search” a recent operation involved a gentleman who had been reported as seen walking into the sea but after extensive searches along miles of shore only footprints were found. Another was the detailed searching of Worlbury woods for a vulnerable person believed lost. Under the category of Rescue Alan described how they work with the Coastguard etc. across difficult terrain, to help stranded people, assist grounded yachts or dinghies and he told us of a particularly difficult rescue of a racehorse which became stuck deeply in the mud which involved many people and several hours racing to beat the tide but happily was eventually successful. There was also a case of a man swept away and somehow landing on Steart Island then becoming marooned for a period before being spotted and brought to safety. Recovery could involve everything from the drivers of ice cream vans or cars, (there are at least 4 cars now buried in the sands, occasionally popping up to show a roof), holiday makers who ignore warning signs, or animals, including some stranded dolphins on occasion but unfortunately none of these creatures have so far survived. I can recall as a young child watching as a Council works lorry clearing seaweed became stuck in front of the Pavilion and then the tractor called to assist also became stuck and a third towing vehicle was needed before the three eventually were recovered; and still it happens some 75 years on! Swift water rescue; 4 of the team are trained in surf life-saving, but they may also be called upon to work inland in rivers. There was a recent tragedy in South Wales involving the increasingly popular sport of paddle boarding where people have sadly lost their lives in a fast flowing river and this is just across the channel from Burnham beach.

During the wide-spread inland flooding of the Somerset levels in 2014 the crew were involved in many operations to get people and animals to safety and to ferry supplies to those stranded when the water rose very suddenly.

Alan showed photos to illustrate his talk including one of the impressive plume created when an unexploded wartime bomb was detonated in the channel a short while ago. Previously there was a live fire bombing range along the coast near Watchet and at present there is a team searching for and dealing with unexploded ordnance for the Hinkley Point C power station sea bed installations.

This small BARB team responds to a surprising number of calls night and day, 56 being recorded in one year. The charity has been awarded numerous accolades including the Queen’s award for community engagement in 2014 and the Charity of The Year award in 2016. I personally had no real idea of the breadth of operations this dedicated group are involved in on a 24hr. basis and this was echoed by David Barge when giving a vote of thanks to Alan for his informative presentation.

Graham Wood Nov. 2021.

Speaker October 2021.

For our first open meeting since the post –Covid restart we welcomed Jane Sharp to enlighten us on the subject of hedgehogs, those prickly little creatures we love to have in the garden but perhaps don’t see very often and certainly not as often as we used to.

Jane began by giving us a rather startling fact, the hedgehog – to give it its full title the European Hedgehog Erinaceus Europaeus, numbered around 30 million in this country back in the 1950s but sadly due to the ravages of years of intensive farming, the increased use of pesticides and urban development has been reduced to roundabout a mere 1 million, a shocking decline.

So can we do anything about this? Jane is passionate that we can and should, so how can we help? Well the hedgehog is a definite friend to any gardener being very fond of slugs and many other pests but not if our garden is barricaded off with walls and fences making it inaccessible to anyone but the neighbour’s cat. So we can create access points so that they can travel between gardens, and encourage neighbours to join in with just a small gap at the bottom of the fence or wall to help create a hedgehog highway. Jane pointed out that hedgehogs can climb but not vertical brick walls. They can travel surprising distances in their little shuffling gait, the male up to 2 kilometres in a night and the female about 1.

We can leave a wild area in the garden, don’t be too tidy leave a shallow dish of water and don’t use slug pellets which jane informed us are now illegal anyway! Check carefully before using a strimmer which can cause really nasty injuries, and for bonfires use an incinerator or move the pile before lighting one to check for sleeping inmates. They can also swim but leave a means of escape from any pond or swimming pool and also take care with compost heaps before jabbing in with the garden fork! You may know if you have hogs about if you see small leavings of poo and we were shown a lovely picture to help us identify it.

Jane explained that if you wish to feed a hedgehog, cat food, or kitten biscuits are good, they like eggs but do not give fruit, milk or bread, sunflower hearts or peanuts. Jane also told us that although hedgehogs love mealworms they are very bad for them in quantity as they can upset their calcium balance.

You may want to make a hedgehog house or nest box, these should be sturdy, have a floor and an inner chamber, be easy to clean and be cat-proof. There are lots of designs available on the internet.

Signs that a hog is in distress and needs our help are if they are out in the daytime when they should be sleeping, are curled up on the lawn in the sun or very wobbly, or very tiny and out on their own. If so using gloves pick it up and place it in a deep box with some warm lining, you can offer water but it may not eat and take it to rescue urgently. A small “hoglet” may appreciate a soft toy or a bobble hat turned inside out to cuddle up to.

Hedgehogs hibernate when their food source declines as the temperature drops to around 2 to 5 degrees C.

Jane is very keen to get children involved with looking after hedgehogs, she recommends the British Hedgehog Society and Jane showed us lots of different books they have available to encourage us all to help save these important little friends from extinction. Her talk was illustrated with numerous slides and she finished with a number of amusing video clips taken with a camera trap in her garden before being thanked by our President for her interesting and informative presentation. Coincidentally 2 days after Jane’s talk I found a small hog on our lawn at midday and we took it to Secret world at Huntspill who took it in, spotted that it had a tick on its body and hopefully they will be able to feed it up before returning it to us later for release back where we found it.

Graham Wood Oct. 2021.

Kay Wych provided us with an exceptional entertainment experience for our January Ladies Invitation meeting. Her presentation was called “How I became a 16th Century Kitchen Maid” and from the outset she made it clear that it was indeed about the journey. From her Grandparents cottage near Glastonbury Kay had attended a local Grammar school and then studied at a Secretarial College and worked at Moorlands sheepskin factory nearby. She then began attending drama classes and took part in productions at the Strode Theatre but with no lines. This led to her becoming involved in an outdoor theatre group at Glastonbury Abbey and she realised that her knowledge of history was somewhat lacking and began to study the Tudors, took a course in Somerset archaeology and took part in excavations including the uncovering of a Roman Coffin at one site. She was asked to take on the part of a character in one of the Abbey theatre productions to tell members of the public about the history of the Abbey but could not decide what sort of person to become. While relating her story Kay was all the while interacting with our members and guests via hilarious asides and was also beginning to transform into character using items from a small box of props as she went. Kay told how she had thought about becoming a Victorian Lady but that didn’t seem to be right for the situation, so changed roles to become a weaver,- still not right but the person in front of us was meanwhile evolving into the figure of Alyce, a Kitchen Maid working at the Abbey in the year 1538. Alyce was very poor and she explained to us in the local dialect that her dress was very drab, for instance only important and wealthy people were allowed to wear red, her clothing had to be of wool or linen, her head was covered with a cap and shawl and she wore an apron. All her few possessions were carried in a bag hung from her waist. The year 1538 was a time of turmoil and Alyce was very worried about the changes taking place and the possibility of the Abbott being arrested and taken to the Tower of London, she had been right to be worried as she went on to tell us how the abbey was suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII. The last abbot, Richard Whiting, was indeed arrested and later hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor on Glastonbury Tor in 1539. At this point in the narrative suddenly the costumed figure of Oliver Cromwell’s emissary Richard Parr appeared from the back of the hall to continue the story of how the Abbey had been searched for undeclared valuables and the Abbot taken to Wells for trial and inevitably found guilty of theft from the Abbey and treason. Wells was chosen for the trial as there had been no love lost between the Abbot and the Bishop of Wells. Their joint performance in telling the tale had our audience spellbound for the conclusion of the story of the end of the Abbey and subsequent religious turmoil under different monarchs as England changed from Catholic to Protestant and back to Catholic again until Queen Elisabeth the first came to the throne. Kay explained how this story has been re-enacted in the abbey grounds for the benefit of visitors during the summer season.

On conclusion an enthusiastic round of applause was followed by a number of questions from the audience and a vote of thanks was given by President Philip Jarman.

Kay Townsend was our speaker this month and was expected to speak on “The History of the Dodgem Car”, but when she realised that we were to hold a service of remembrance during the meeting she suggested a more suitable topic would be “Fairgrounds During the War”, this referring to the second world war and a subject that Kay had also written a book about.

Kay explained that as the political situation was becoming increasingly tense early in 1939, fairground workers were already beginning to feel the change. In July an unannounced blackout test on a large fairground was carried out by Ministry Officials; remarkably from normal operation to total darkness was achieved in 20 minutes. When war was declared the Showman’s Guild issued a message to all members to close all fairgrounds immediately but for some reason decisions were taken locally for Salisbury and Bridgwater fairs to go ahead as planned! Kay mentioned Jack Herbert from Dorchester who was on route to a fair with his steam driven showman’s engine and found on arrival an empty field, he “didn’t know about the war”.

Kay pointed out that for fair people; no fair meant no income, unless a family member was in the forces or had a second job. However after 3 weeks into what was later referred to as the “phoney war” things were relaxed somewhat and fairs were once again allowed to open until 10 pm but with severe lighting restrictions. Kay showed us before and after photos of a fair in full lighting and with heavy shrouds fitted around all the stalls and rides. Local councils though now had other priorities so few fairs actually took place. The regulations on lighting for what became “blackout fairs” said that a stall or sideshow could have a maximum of 5 25Watt lamps, bigger rides could have bigger bulbs and these were often covered with improvised shades from milk tins or similar. The whole ride would be covered in canvas and tarpaulins and adjoining stalls would overlap their canvasses.

February 1940 saw the introduction of double summertime when clocks went forward by 2 hours and this allowed rides such as the big wheel, which was impossible to shroud, to stay open later. For breaking lighting regulations A Lilian Studt was twice summonsed and fined the princely sum of £1 at Caerphilly Magistrates Court. It was probably worth paying the fine if you didn’t manage to get away without being caught!

At first music was banned for fear that sirens may not be heard bur later it was allowed, providing it was inaudible at a distance of 30 feet.

Many showmen painted their wagons in a sort of camouflage to reduce visibility from the air, often using paints obtained by mixing all the colours together, but they were not allowed to imitate military colours! One stallholder was arrested by the Military Police for working his stall while in military uniform. Travelling showmen were initially not allowed to have radios but being an essential means of communication it was later decided to allow them provided they were disabled by removing the aerial when on the move.

A favourite sideshow, the shooting gallery, was severely restricted for supply of .22 rifle ammunition and showmen often advertised in newspapers etc for any available supplies until a special allocation was made from an ICI ammunition factory set up to supply them with limited amounts.

In order to keep up public morale the Government began to promote “holiday at home” fairs and sweet-stall operators were granted special dispensation from the Ministry of Food to operate, sugar otherwise being heavily rationed and almost the last thing to come off ration books. Costumes had to be improvised from whatever material could be re-cycled. Unfortunately though much of the land previously used as fairgrounds were now being put to other uses, many storing military vehicles and equipment; the afore-mentioned Jack Herbert had become a pig farmer on one site.

The “phoney war” now having come to an end and serious battle joined, a number of fairs were badly damaged by bombing including that of the Heals family from Bristol whose entire site equipment was destroyed by fire bombs. Kay described one case of an incident on Jimmy Edwards’ site in London where a caravan with 2 boys asleep inside was totally destroyed by a “landmine” but the 2 boys escaped unharmed.

The Showmen’s Guild held a national appeal to raise the immense sum of £5000 to build a spitfire which was named “Fun of the Fair”. After the war the number of fairs able to travel had reduced substantially and very few of the old steam tractors had survived, being replaced by diesel power but the tradition still manages to survive and the annual St. Matthews Fair in Bridgwater is still well attended in spite of all the modern entertainment available.

At the conclusion of her talk Kay showed a number of photographs of the period and took a number of questions before Allan Mounce gave a vote of thanks for a very informative presentation.

Our October Club Speaker couldn’t emphasize this enough:-

“Never ever disclose your security details.

Don’t assume everyone is genuine.

Don’t be rushed.

Listen to your instincts.

Stay in control”.

I bet you’ll know what she was talking about already. Yes, scamming…and how to avoid it.

Trudy Henderson is a Nat West Banker of some 29 years’ experience. These days she’s known as a Community Banker and her role, as her title suggests is to take modern banking into the community, particularly to warn against the trauma of being scammed.

I’ve been scammed.

Some of our Probus members have been scammed.

It turns out that 53% of the over 65’s have been the subject of attempted scams and the youngest person to lose out financially through a scam was aged 12 years. So it affects everybody and the cost runs to billions of pounds over the years.

There are as Trudy says, “four stages in scamming”,

1. The victim responds unaware it’s a scamming approach.

2. Personal details get added by the scammer to a “victims’ list”.

3. Scammers, let’s now call them criminals for that is what they are, target the victim often later than the initial approach. This helps the scammer instil a false sense of security in the victim. After all, nothing happened last time they called.

4. Then the victim loses money.

Scammers often use befriending and grooming techniques, appear legitimate, professional, helpful, friendly and charming. This is their chosen criminal career and they want to make the most of it at your expense. Once they’ve gained their victim’s confidence, their manner may change to be more persuasive, persistent, threatening, aggressive or intimidating.

A victim in Yorkshire lost money when scammers convinced her she had won £46,000 in a postcode lottery and needed her details so the prize could be paid. She lost her money and the silly thing is she knew she didn’t subscribe to such a lottery. But the scammers were that convincing. Would you have been suckered in to part with your money?

Another example is the inheritance scam… an e-mail ‘usually from a “solicitor” saying you’ve a share in an estate coming your way but need to pay “fees” up front to secure it. Don’t respond no matter how much you may be tempted.

Scammers can turn up at your door offering goods or services and always demanding cash but leaving shoddy goods or a job poorly done and incomplete.

Beware “distraction scams” where a couple of people turn up at your door , maybe asking for a glass of water or to invite you outside to view your “blocked “ guttering or “damp” wall whilst the other person is busy helping themselves to whatever they can lay their hands on.

Don’t let it happen to you. Take Trudy’s advice, “Do not buy, sell or trade from a caller to your door”.

Never ring people back if you’re in doubt about their call. They may have been able to leave their line open so that when you ring they will have a different person confirm their call was “genuine”.

Don’t be hoodwinked. These criminals could charm the birds from the trees.

And here’s something else following my theme…do you know what the most common password is? I’m definitely not a scammer, but I’ll share it with you. It’s 12341234. Easy to remember, difficult to forget…and scammers know this and use it.

So how secure is your password and how long would it take a scammer’s computer to crack it? Here are some examples provided courtesy of Nat West:

“Password”…simply one capital and seven lower case letters…..0.23 milliseconds

“Em1ily”….1 minute 5 seconds’

Surprising isn’t it? But look at these more complex password examples:

“Em1lyM78MEL” …a combination of lower and upper case plus random numbers…

This is how long a scammer would take to crack it….117 millenia, 5 decades, 9 years, 8 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes and 47 seconds.

And this example of a longer password, “Em1lyM78MELI@sagne”…. Yes, you’ve guessed it, infinite.

Be careful, be safe and secure…and maybe keep this little article.

In September our lady guests and members were given a different speaker experience in that it was provided by Barry and Jill Goodman with their musical presentation “Good Morning Lords and Ladies”; the title being the opening line of the folk song with which Barry was shortly to open the proceedings. Jill first gave us a little picture of their background. Barry and Jill have been enthusiastic members of the folk music scene since 1971, Barry being a folk singer and Jill although also joining in with the musical presentation insisting that she was not a singer and her job was to provide a commentary. They had married in 1974 and had been involved in Morris Dancing and similar festival activities, in fact their presentation turned out to be a journey through a year of festivals beginning and ending with the May Day celebrations. Barry’s rendition of the opening song “It is the first of May” with the audience joining in was the beginning of the journey with Jill explaining that May Day had been celebrated since the 15th Century. Ickwell in Bedfordrshire had had a festival going back to 1661. The church had been opposed to this kind of festivals as being Pagan in origin, but King Henry had allowed it. Barry taking up his accordion gave us “Jack of the Green” with a warning to all young ladies to beware of the mythical woodland figure Jack’s fondness for the young maidens!

Another celebration related to the spring holiday was that of the chimney sweeps who as summer approached finding demand for their services reduced celebrated by parading through villages cloaked in garlands; this tradition was revived in Rochester in 1981 and also features in Hastings where hundreds attend music festivals. Both of these also have May Queens that feature in processions and which are now springing up nationwide.

Moving on to Whitsun Barry gave us 3 more tunes, and Jill spoke about a tradition at Kirtlington in Oxfordshire where a lamb is chased by girls with their thumbs tied together attempting to catch the lamb with their mouths and the successful girl becomes the “Lady of The Lamb” the lamb is later cooked in a “pye”.

August brings the focus to rushes, prized for roofing and are the basis of a festival near Saddleworth in Lancashire where carts decorated with elaborate rush designs are processed with a “Jockey” atop complete with a jug of ale to a “pots and pans” monument on the hill.

Then as a twist on bonfire night Ottery St. Mary has the tar barrel rolling where men carry and roll 9 flaming barrels of tar through the streets on the 5th of November to a bonfire with an enormous barrel known as the Hogshead carried just before midnight. Not content with this, during the day “rock cannons” made from steel bars with a hole drilled and filled with gunpowder are detonated from time to time. Of course Barry had a song for this.

In December In Derbyshire Mummers hold 3 traditional plays collectively known as the Guising:- the plays are known as “The Wooing”, the “Sword play” and the “Cure” where the hero, St George, fights the enemy and one of them is killed, to be revived by a ‘doctor’ with a form of elixir of life. The play originally would be performed by working men dressed in ribbons and tatters, probably to supplement their income in the winter month.

Moving on to January, at Whittlesey near Peterborough the 19thCentury “Straw Bear” festival where on the Tuesday following Plough Monday (the 1st Monday after Twelfth Night) a figure dressed in straw is led through the streets was revived in 1980 having been last performed in 1909. The origin of this is unknown but a similar character was a feature in parts of Germany mainly at Shrovetide but sometimes at Candlemas or Christmas Eve. Here we were treated to a song about the straw bear which was written by Barry.

Then we came to February 14th when “Jack Valentine” roams to this day in Norfolk. This was seen as an important celebration in Victorian time with Father or Mother Valentine mysteriously leaving gifts on doorsteps.

We then were back to May 1st and at Ampthill Park in Bedfordshire with a celebration at Katherines Cross and a pub breakfast on offer at 5:25 am!

Throughout this musical tour Jill and Barry had numerous pictures of many of the strange events that seem to take place whenever country folk can find an excuse for a dance or a song, and many anecdotes to illustrate them. A thoroughly entertaining hour and much appreciated by all present many of whom had joined in the singing on the way.

Our August speaker was John Lowe; his talk entitled simply “The Boys” dealt with what had turned out to be an emotional journey for him over a period of some 9 years. This started with a reading a publicity leaflet about exploring Dartmoor on foot which mentioned a memorial stone not shown on any ordnance survey maps and challenged him to find it. John did eventually find it at Hameldown 1500 feet above sea level near to Widecombe; a simple granite monolith engraved with a cross and 4 sets of initials which aroused his curiosity and he began to research the background.

The stone marked the location of a fatal air crash which had occurred in 1941 involving an RAF Hampden twin engine bomber but little information was then available about this.

John spent some time describing in detail to us the kind of machine the Hampden was, a comparatively small craft in relation to the more familiar heavy bombers such as the Lincoln or Lancaster with an extremely cramped interior into which 4 crew were literally squeezed, the pilot, navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator/gunner and not forgetting 2 carrier pigeons!

John remarked that it was so cramped that the wireless set had to be installed on its side. There was an Elsan toilet on board which was not secured and liable to distribute its contents around the aircraft when manoeuvring. There are currently none of these craft in flying condition but 2 are currently being restored, one at Cosford and another at an air base in Lincolnshire.

This particular aircraft-designated S Sugar- had formed part of a small group of aircraft leaving RAF Scampton on the evening of March 21st 1941 to target U-boat docks at Lorient and Bordeaux on the French coast and following a successful raid as they were returning across the channel S Sugar became separated from the rest and deviated from its route toward the west in thick cloud and without any of the modern navigation aids became lost, eventually crashing into the high ground at Hambledown at 10:55 pm shortly after crossing the coast and bursting into flames. The crew were Pilot Officer Robert David Wilson the son of an aristocratic family who had flown 13 operations, the Navigator/Bomb aimer Sgt. R.L.A. Ellis a South African on his first operation, Wireless operator/gunner Sgt. R. Brames and Sgt. C.J.Lyon also a wireless operator/gunner, their ages ranging from 18 to 23.

John related the story of how while on a walk by good fortune he met a lady he called Fiona at the Warren house Inn who eventually put him in contact with a member of the Widecombe History Group who it turned out had been an 8 year old lad at living nearby at the time of the crash and who confessed that in company with some others he had explored the wreck site and removed certain articles (including a Lewis machine gun whereabouts now unknown) He was able to point John towards an area where the plane had initially left gouge marks in the hillside before its final impact. From here there began a long search for information about the mission and the crew members.

As it would not be fair to John who often presents his talk to various groups I make no attempt here to relate the convoluted story of how the detailed information on the background of this mission was gradually and patiently put together by John with the help of numerous people over a period of years and including pages from some very sensitive family diaries and archived military documents, or the unexpected way in which he concludes his presentation. However as a climax to the saga, John informed us that somehow money was found recently to conduct a full archaeological survey of the site and a number of artefacts were recovered.

The story which John has put together is very detailed and very professionally told; if you have not heard it and get the chance it is well worth it.

An emotional moment of silence followed by a spontaneous round of applause followed the musical conclusion of the story and a vote of thanks was given by John Swayne.

For our July meeting Barbara from the Red Cross came to enlighten us on “First aid for our age group” and began by getting us to form into small groups for discussion. She then presented each of us with an illustrated guide and a form on which she asked us to each tick a box from one to ten on how able and how willing we felt we would be to assist a patient in an emergency. Barbara then proceeded to take us through a situation with a person lying on the floor as shown in the guide and to discuss the likely background to the scene before taking suggestions as to what might be done to assist and what might stop you. One of the things that came up in discussion was the actual appearance of the person and unfortunately the way in which an individual is dressed has sadly been shown by experiment to affect whether people are prepared to get involved at all or how long it might take for someone to volunteer to help. If you happen to have a suit and briefcase your chances of prompt assistance are greatly enhanced over jeans and a string vest it seems! Emphasising that the first priority is your own safety- don’t put yourself in danger; (for instance as one member pointed out, that person on the floor may be suffering from electric shock in which case he or she could present a danger if still connected to the electrical supply,) she took us through some basic first responses e.g. speak to the patient, check if they are breathing and if needed open their airway, turn them on their side to avoid choking and get someone to phone 999. Barbara stressed that the safest place to treat a patient is on the floor and not for instance propped up on a chair. Referring to the fears that many people have of being sued if harm is accidentally caused Barbara said that in this country there has never been a case proven where someone has been convicted of harm while trying to assist a patient and in America it is a legal duty for every citizen to assist. The chances of catching something from a patient are also extremely small.

Continuing to use the illustrated guide Barbara took us through a variety of different situations, using a volunteer she showed how it was possible to put someone on their side without major exertion on your part, even using one member’s walking stick to manoeuvre our brave volunteer Allan into a recovery position. For each situation she got us to put forward our ideas for treatment etc. and at the end of the session we were each asked to re-assess our willingness and ability to assist in an emergency. Even just the call to 999 on its own can make a difference.

Having given all of us some food for thought Barbara was thanked by Jeff Collingwood.

This month having been disappointed by the cancellation of our booked speaker the Avon and Somerset Police Commissioner, Mrs Jane Sharp kindly stepped in at short notice with a presentation entitled “ WW1,The area of The Somme” this was not to be a description of the infamous and horrific Battle of the Somme but instead a compilation of photographs and description of a visit she and her husband had made to the area and the numerous cemeteries full of thousands of graves of the fallen of both world wars. Jane said that one reason for producing this presentation was to emphasise how easy it was to do this for themselves without being part of a huge organised party. Another was to visit the grave of her Great Uncle for the first time.

They were able to attend a memorial service at the huge arch of Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, designed by Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1932 by Edward Prince of Wales, where anyone can lay a wreath, and then decided to move on to the nearby Ulster Tower, a memorial to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division and then to the town of Albert; this was the main town behind the lines for the Allies on the 1916 Somme battlefields. It lies on the main D929 road that runs from Amiens eastwards to Bapaume, and this road between Albert and Bapaume runs straight across the Somme battlefields. Albert was devastated during the war, and rebuilt afterwards. Jane related the story of one of the most famous icons for the British in the Great War – the Golden Virgin on top of the Basilica. The golden statue of the Madonna holding aloft her child was visible from far away, and of course was an excellent target for enemy artillery. It was damaged in January 1915, and the statue was knocked from its pedestal but stayed leaning at an almost impossible angle. It was later secured by the French in that position. A superstition grew up among the soldiers that the war would end only when the statue fell. However, it remained in its leaning position all the time that Albert was in French and British hands. The tower has been rebuilt since and although the original statue had been knocked down at some point and never found there is a replica in place. There is now a museum there “Musee Somme 1916”and Jane showed some of the variety of munitions on display, many live examples are still after over 100 years being dug up by farmers.

Continuing her pictorial tour of the area Jane spoke about the Newfoundland Memorial Park, near Beaumont Hamel, and Vimy Ridge near Arras, two of the largest areas on the Western Front where shell-holes and the trenches of both sides can still be clearly seen and even entered and walked along. We were shown pictures of the now grass covered ground absolutely contorted by the countless shell holes and craters including one massive crater caused by huge underground mine explosion detonated under German lines and which has been preserved as a war grave and memorial in its own right.

Photos of the devastated forest areas after the battle with just blackened stumps remaining, contrasted with those of the now regrown and lush trees covering vast areas. There is a small memorial to “the last tree standing” after the war had moved on.

Having related her visit to her Great Uncle’s grave there were many more pictures to follow of the area and of some of the beautifully tended cemeteries looked after by the volunteers of the Commonwealth Graves Commission including the Canadian cemetery with their “grieving mother” statue and the Welsh one with red dragon on a plinth. Jane concluded her talk by encouraging anyone who has not visited the area to do so. There was a distinct contrast between the beautifully tended floral displays here and the stark and bare gravestones of some of the Germans also buried there.

Jane answered questions from the audience and Jeffrey Collingwood then gave a vote of thanks in which he said that he had learned such a lot from the presentation.

AGM – No talk.

In April having been badly let down at 72 hrs notice by our expected speakers from the Army Display Team we were very fortunate to be able to enjoy an extremely entertaining talk and slide show from Lottie Dale who stepped in at short notice to present “Falling with Style,” which followed her progress throughout her beloved hobby of parachuting from her first jump with a round chute and a static line, progressing to a second hand “square”, (actually oblong) parachute “wing” we are used to seeing at air displays and from her first solo and at times a little inelegant jumps as a novice to becoming a world class free-fall sky diver who over a number of years took part in and at times held awards for record attempts for mass jumps at times involving large numbers of jumpers exiting simultaneously from a number of aircraft and joining together in intricate patterns and manoeuvres while descending at terrifyingly high speed towards terra firma.

Lottie became part of an “all-girl” team that performed regularly on the international scene and over the span of her jumping career was also involved in numerous teams sponsored by various organisations for publicity purposes. We were informed that one such all-female team associated with a national newspaper had been given the rather inglorious title of “The Tumbling Tarts”.

Lottie’s presentation was accompanied by some beautiful photographs including one of her being “custard-pied” by her youngest child following her 100th jump. (Apparently a tradition observed within the jumping fraternity when significant jump numbers are reached.) Lottie had completed some 1700 jumps before deciding it was time to hand the baton over to her eldest son to continue in the same vein.

Lottie responded to a number of questions from the floor of the meeting including one about fatalities occurring, to which she replied that she recalled around 6 including some friends over the many years she had taken part in the sport. She commented that she had been far more likely to be killed on the way to the meeting than while sky diving. (No reflection surely on John Bishop’s driving while bringing her from home that morning!) David Barge thanked Lottie both for filling in at short notice and for a fascinating talk which she said she had only given 12 times but which had been much appreciated by all present.