Suggested membership clause for the BNP after the finding that their membership terms were discriminatory: ‘Persons of African descent will not be admitted into membership’. That way, since all of us are thought to have descended from ancestors somewhere in the Great Rift Valley, no one will qualify.
I like to think that I am fairly tolerant although I can be somewhat gruff and grumpy. I like to think I know a bit about where picking on the less fortunate or minorities can lead. I also like to think that I know where envy and greed can lead. More importantly I do not think, but I know, that ignorance is the greatest enemy to our race. By ‘race’ I do not mean Anglo- Saxon, white pink or brown or any other variation you care to think of. I simply mean that little mentioned race in the Race Relations legislation, ‘the human race’.
As a result the forthcoming presence of Nick Griffin on a BBC television programme ( the organisation of ‘and nation speak peace unto nation’) has been causing me some anguish this week. This is because I am just old enough to see where the BNP has come from since the fifties. I know very well the history of Sir Oswald Moseley and his successors who have peddled their views down the years. In hard times it is no surprise that the rise of such groupings occurs and the challenge to us all is what we think and what we do. As a true blooded mongrel who would have to be sent in at least four directions should I heed the call to go back where I came from, the option of joining the BNP would not be available to me. Racial/ethnic mix aside I have certain old fashioned views about the equality and fairness brotherhood/sisterhood of man/woman which would be a self denying ordnance in any case, should an application form come my way.
So what do I think about the BBC having Nick the Griffin on my screen? Firstly I believe in freedom of speech and I believe that unless there is a law saying that an organisation or the expression of certain views, is illegal, they should not and cannot be silenced. However, the counter balance to this must lie in the opportunity for those who disagree to put their point of view and so the selection of the panel for Thursdays programme is crucial. Jack Straw will be there as will Sayeeda Warsi, Bonnie Greer and Chris Huhne who I hope have all done their homework. I think Nick Griffin will be called to account as from what I have seen of him so far I think he may well get out of his depth pretty quickly. His populist views which go down well among his usual audience are unlikely to withstand the scorching power of the studio light. And, it is through light that I think I remove all ambivalence regarding the presence of such a person in the public arena. The cleansing light of public exposure is far better than a banning order or ostracism by our broadcasting institutions. The effect of exposure to light will allow the vast majority of the electorate to see that there must never be a return to the black shirts of the thirties, and the provocative marches on the East End of London, or come to that, the deportations of that decade. Most of the world has seen the folly, let alone the wickedness, of such dark paths and so it is the duty of all humans to turn up the light and expose the ignorant and selfish views of this outmoded minority to the excoriating effect of public debate. The risk is that some will like what Nick Griffin has to say, but my expectation of the British public is that they will see the BNP exposed for what it is and reject it.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
In Memoriam of Royal Mail: Why does it feel like 1984?
The answer lies not in Orwellian parallels but in far more immediate factors. In 1984 we were witnessing the beginning of the end for an industry which had been the basis for the national economic strength, namely King Coal. The coal miners had been at the centre of industrial power while they gradually sought to improve pay and conditions. The successes of the NUM had not been forgotten so that the confrontation between Margaret Thatcher’s Government and the Miners was soon seen to be a fight to the death. It was, and the major part of the industry died. This was aided by poor tactics on the part of the NUM. Why for example go on strike when coal stocks had been deliberately built up over a long period and when the warmer months were fast approaching. Add to that the growing pace of the ‘dash to gas’, and the growing imports of coal, a quick resolution of the dispute was going to be more important to the union than the government.
Nevertheless, these were lessons yet to be learnt, but the similarity between then and now lies in the generally ominous feel to the growing postal dispute. A once much-treasured institution has been gradually undermined by the withdrawal of government business from the post office counter, more and more alternatives have been provided, while the convenience of the system has been reduced by fewer deliveries and collections. Somewhere along the line the pension scheme has got into difficulties and all this is going to be changed if only the union would co-operate in the modernisation of the industry. Whilst the miners strike was made difficult by the absence of a national ballot and the breakaway Nottingham miners who went on working, the postal strike will not be without distressing scenes on the picket lines as the hapless temporary recruits are brought in to clear the backlog of mail, which according to the Post Office, will not be doing the work of postal workers. By comparison with miners the postal workers are in a better position but I suspect that this does not worry the employers or the government
It was clear from the start of the Miners Strike that the government had little interest in maintaining a national industry. In this dispute the Post Office wants to modernise the industry although a subplot may well be that if the strike drives major customers away, the field will be clear for the modern, and presumably emaciated Royal Mail, to be sold off. A modernised coal industry was presumably achieved but it is hardly in a position to come up with much needed clean power due to having been sidelined for so long. Another lost opportunity due to the short term thinking of our politicians
Today we are told that the postal workers want to strike at its busiest and most profitable time of the year and I am already picking up the sound of government muttering under its breath, ‘ the trap is set, carry on and spring it’ and then we can get rid of it all. I also get the feeling that the present Post Office management are capable of bringing this decline about since I remain to be convinced that they will be capable of managing anything else. The conclusion that this management are not up to the job of managing the dispute, let alone the Royal Mail, is hard to avoid. And why does Secretary of State for everything, Lord Mandelson of variouds places, decline to call in ACAS. He claims they will have nothing to add. Could it be that a settlement is the last thing that he wants to see?
The other day I had to return a pair of shoes to the manufacturer who seemed incapable of sending the right pair. At Locks Garage what looked like an E-Bay seller was sending a sack full of stuff. Never mind I thought, I’m going to town I’ll go to the one in High Town. Having got there I was confronted by a touch screen, a gallery of overhead Argos type progress screens and a counter with numbers over them. Eventually I realised I had to take a ticket like at the meat counter in Tesco’s and then identify the appropriate window. The place seemed packed with customers and loads of staff standing around doing nothing, apart from an ‘ambient helper’ who kept asking me questions whether I would be needing an express delivery, or other services. Since there were only two cashiers dealing with postal matters, I explained that being served would be nice. After ten minutes without any numbers budging I returned my ticket to the ‘ambient helper’ saying I would pop down to the village post office tomorrow.
All this was apparently someone’s idea of modernisation with all the gizmos, screens and lights. The fact that two members of staff would not be enough for a town centre ‘post office’ at 5 pm on a Friday seems to have escaped the modern management. How much easier it is when a courier turns up and takes away your returned goods I thought. No doubt the modernisers will have the same idea about the postal service. How much easier it will be if someone turns up and takes it in.
So its ‘Strike On’ and ‘here we go, here we go, here we go’, again.
Dacier
Nevertheless, these were lessons yet to be learnt, but the similarity between then and now lies in the generally ominous feel to the growing postal dispute. A once much-treasured institution has been gradually undermined by the withdrawal of government business from the post office counter, more and more alternatives have been provided, while the convenience of the system has been reduced by fewer deliveries and collections. Somewhere along the line the pension scheme has got into difficulties and all this is going to be changed if only the union would co-operate in the modernisation of the industry. Whilst the miners strike was made difficult by the absence of a national ballot and the breakaway Nottingham miners who went on working, the postal strike will not be without distressing scenes on the picket lines as the hapless temporary recruits are brought in to clear the backlog of mail, which according to the Post Office, will not be doing the work of postal workers. By comparison with miners the postal workers are in a better position but I suspect that this does not worry the employers or the government
It was clear from the start of the Miners Strike that the government had little interest in maintaining a national industry. In this dispute the Post Office wants to modernise the industry although a subplot may well be that if the strike drives major customers away, the field will be clear for the modern, and presumably emaciated Royal Mail, to be sold off. A modernised coal industry was presumably achieved but it is hardly in a position to come up with much needed clean power due to having been sidelined for so long. Another lost opportunity due to the short term thinking of our politicians
Today we are told that the postal workers want to strike at its busiest and most profitable time of the year and I am already picking up the sound of government muttering under its breath, ‘ the trap is set, carry on and spring it’ and then we can get rid of it all. I also get the feeling that the present Post Office management are capable of bringing this decline about since I remain to be convinced that they will be capable of managing anything else. The conclusion that this management are not up to the job of managing the dispute, let alone the Royal Mail, is hard to avoid. And why does Secretary of State for everything, Lord Mandelson of variouds places, decline to call in ACAS. He claims they will have nothing to add. Could it be that a settlement is the last thing that he wants to see?
The other day I had to return a pair of shoes to the manufacturer who seemed incapable of sending the right pair. At Locks Garage what looked like an E-Bay seller was sending a sack full of stuff. Never mind I thought, I’m going to town I’ll go to the one in High Town. Having got there I was confronted by a touch screen, a gallery of overhead Argos type progress screens and a counter with numbers over them. Eventually I realised I had to take a ticket like at the meat counter in Tesco’s and then identify the appropriate window. The place seemed packed with customers and loads of staff standing around doing nothing, apart from an ‘ambient helper’ who kept asking me questions whether I would be needing an express delivery, or other services. Since there were only two cashiers dealing with postal matters, I explained that being served would be nice. After ten minutes without any numbers budging I returned my ticket to the ‘ambient helper’ saying I would pop down to the village post office tomorrow.
All this was apparently someone’s idea of modernisation with all the gizmos, screens and lights. The fact that two members of staff would not be enough for a town centre ‘post office’ at 5 pm on a Friday seems to have escaped the modern management. How much easier it is when a courier turns up and takes away your returned goods I thought. No doubt the modernisers will have the same idea about the postal service. How much easier it will be if someone turns up and takes it in.
So its ‘Strike On’ and ‘here we go, here we go, here we go’, again.
Dacier
Friday, 16 October 2009
Heat Store Sequel: Mad DIY boffin Meets Reasonable Woman
In my last post I described how a heat store works but nothing about its installation. This was thought unnecessary as that’s the plumber’s job and is no more than pulling out the old stuff and routing a few more pipes etc. Unfortunately with a slightly bigger tank than expected ( due to a tripartite combination of errors between myself, plumber and supplier) the airing cupboard door had to be removed and I will have to fit another one. I had thought this would be necessary from the very outset. Unfortunately the fitting of such a large new tank led to delays and an extra day’s work. By the end of the second day we all a bit tired and so when I raised the question of the anti-corrosion additive the advice was that all I needed to do was add a half a litre of the stuff.
Fine I thought, I will trot off and get some. Unfortunately the smallest quantity was 4 litres at £20. This put me on warning so a call to the supplier soon showed that I had a problem. The requirement for a tank of our size was that 6% of additive was needed. A quick calculation showed that this came out at 15 litres. After a stunned silence the supplier said the installer should have put this in and if I bought it I could deduct £80 from the final bill. I am tempted to deduct a charge for the following labour as well, but on the basis that no experience is a wasted experience, I shall delude myself into thinking that value was had.
The next problem was to make room for this extra liquid while not reducing the 6%. Firstly I siphoned out the contents of the small header tank. Since there was only about 2 inches of clearance bailing it out or pushing down a bucket so that the ovewrflow di its job, was not on. The siphon worked well but the amount removed was about four litres out. The next move was to fit a hose pipe to the drain tap and measure a drain off of about 4 litres. All these moves were intended to keep the waste of hot water ( at 56c by the end of the day) to a minimum. This worked well.
The next stage was to deliver the 15 litres to the header tank Enter the mad DIY boffin. The sensible method would be to decant about a litre at a time by means of a squeezee lemonade bottle but the scientific solutions was the fix a small pump to the Black and Decker Drill and hey presto 15 litres are delivered without difficulty. For this purpose I needed the hep of the reasonable woman. The first attempt failed as I had connected the inlet and outlet spigots the wrong way round. Result, loads of bubbles in the fluid which should have been speeding its way aloft. A quick, but splashy interlude, resulted in nothing. Tried to prime the pump; same result.
The next suggestion was to take a hose pipe upstairs and get gravity on our side. Assurances to the reasonable woman that the stair carpet would be safe and that there would be no more splashy intervals failed. The reasonable woman suggested the squeezee bottle solution and produced 2 such bottles but only 750 cls. However, 18 or so deliveries later the header tank was filled with the protective fluid and the spare litre was delivered to the back boiler header tank upstairs.
Mad DIY boffin was then put on mopping duties while reasonable woman retired to the lounge to watch one of her detective dramas. Shimples.
Fine I thought, I will trot off and get some. Unfortunately the smallest quantity was 4 litres at £20. This put me on warning so a call to the supplier soon showed that I had a problem. The requirement for a tank of our size was that 6% of additive was needed. A quick calculation showed that this came out at 15 litres. After a stunned silence the supplier said the installer should have put this in and if I bought it I could deduct £80 from the final bill. I am tempted to deduct a charge for the following labour as well, but on the basis that no experience is a wasted experience, I shall delude myself into thinking that value was had.
The next problem was to make room for this extra liquid while not reducing the 6%. Firstly I siphoned out the contents of the small header tank. Since there was only about 2 inches of clearance bailing it out or pushing down a bucket so that the ovewrflow di its job, was not on. The siphon worked well but the amount removed was about four litres out. The next move was to fit a hose pipe to the drain tap and measure a drain off of about 4 litres. All these moves were intended to keep the waste of hot water ( at 56c by the end of the day) to a minimum. This worked well.
The next stage was to deliver the 15 litres to the header tank Enter the mad DIY boffin. The sensible method would be to decant about a litre at a time by means of a squeezee lemonade bottle but the scientific solutions was the fix a small pump to the Black and Decker Drill and hey presto 15 litres are delivered without difficulty. For this purpose I needed the hep of the reasonable woman. The first attempt failed as I had connected the inlet and outlet spigots the wrong way round. Result, loads of bubbles in the fluid which should have been speeding its way aloft. A quick, but splashy interlude, resulted in nothing. Tried to prime the pump; same result.
The next suggestion was to take a hose pipe upstairs and get gravity on our side. Assurances to the reasonable woman that the stair carpet would be safe and that there would be no more splashy intervals failed. The reasonable woman suggested the squeezee bottle solution and produced 2 such bottles but only 750 cls. However, 18 or so deliveries later the header tank was filled with the protective fluid and the spare litre was delivered to the back boiler header tank upstairs.
Mad DIY boffin was then put on mopping duties while reasonable woman retired to the lounge to watch one of her detective dramas. Shimples.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Heat Store Story: the tale of the vented heat store tank with a solar panel, back boiler and Economy 7 immersion heaters
For a number of reasons our solar panel of some five years decided to stop working. I will not bore you with the details but, among a number of things, this was due to the micro bore pipes which take hot water to our immersion tank getting blocked. Along side this, our plumbing system was originally designed to handle a trickle supply of water from a spring two fields away. Because the spring was only a few feet higher than the location of the header tank the head of water in the house was probably not more than 12 inches above the highest tap in the bathroom. Running the hot water for a bath was therefore a slow job and even slower should someone want hot water downstairs.
To get the solar panel running again and avoid another blockage we would either have to install a water softener or convert to an indirect system whereby the hot water from the panel was confined to a coil and thus kept separate from the water in the immersion tank which was being drawn off for domestic hot water. The other solution was to have a heat store tank. This would have the same effect but by a different method, with the added bonus that all the hot water throughout the house would be at mains pressure and the space taken up by the header tank above the stairwell would be available for storage..
Although I had seen heat store tanks at various NEC exhibitions I had never picked up an explanatory leaflet nor found a sales rep capable of explaining how they worked. This is fairly simple once the basics are grasped. A conventional immersion tank has an electric element like a giant kettle that heats the water.. The hot water in the tank is drawn on when a tap is turned on and is replaced from below by cold water from a header tank. It is the height of that header tanks water which pushes the hot water round the hot water circuit. Unfortunately each batch of hot water as it is heated up will deposit lime scale and other minerals into the tank. Some of the chemicals will corrode the tank and other bits of the pipes. The local water might be treated by adding lime to bring the acidity down but whatever the chemistry there is always a danger that this constant process can corrode the electric element first. Once removed, we discovered that our old tank, fitted 20 years ago, was already leaking.
When the mains water eventually gets pushed through a solar panel from such a system further deposits can be left behind after the high temperatures reached in this ‘roof top boiler’ and so the risk of blockages. With direct systems such as the SolarTwin the softer the water the lower the risk of blockages. This system pumps water directly into the top of a conventional immersion tank and avoids the need for a replacement tank, anti-freeze solutions or a separately powered electric pump as a PV panel is built in for this purpose.
It would seem our local water is rather acid but has lime added to it but it probably varies. The theory goes that for a solar panel that is heating constantly replenished mains water of this type deposits will soon occur if high running temperatures are achieved. The same happens with the constantly heated new water in the tank as well.
As we found that we had no room for a water softener and we were fed up with a slow supply of hot water we opted for a heat store tank. This retains the same water all the time and will only change if it gets so hot the water expands to the point that it returns to its own nearby header tank and the water is thus replenished. Even here the amount of new water entering the tank is small. It is this water, stored in a highly insulated and extra large tank, some five feet tall or more, which heats up and cools as heat is put in and heat taken away. That transfer of heat is brought about by a coiled pipe passing through the heat store tank containing water at mains pressure. The miracle of the system is that the heat store is sufficiently hot and the coil sufficiently long to achieve an instant heating of the mains water passing through the coil which never comes into contact with the column of permanent water in the heat store. Result, hot water at mains pressure at a temperature you can select by a special valve that will mix some mains cold water into the mains pressure hot water when it exceeds the required temperature, usually about 60c but lower temperatures will be ok for hand washing and a or showers. As no cold water enters the heat store it is cooled down much slower than a conventional tank and hence is more efficient. The system makes a shower easier to install because with hot and cold water both at the same pressure all that is needed is a mixer shower valve and you have a power shower depending on what pressure of supply you choose.. Even in the bathroom you can make sure your mixer is thermostatically controlled so you won’t be trapped in a scalding shower ever again. As the meerkat sayeth, ‘shimples!’
To get the solar panel running again and avoid another blockage we would either have to install a water softener or convert to an indirect system whereby the hot water from the panel was confined to a coil and thus kept separate from the water in the immersion tank which was being drawn off for domestic hot water. The other solution was to have a heat store tank. This would have the same effect but by a different method, with the added bonus that all the hot water throughout the house would be at mains pressure and the space taken up by the header tank above the stairwell would be available for storage..
Although I had seen heat store tanks at various NEC exhibitions I had never picked up an explanatory leaflet nor found a sales rep capable of explaining how they worked. This is fairly simple once the basics are grasped. A conventional immersion tank has an electric element like a giant kettle that heats the water.. The hot water in the tank is drawn on when a tap is turned on and is replaced from below by cold water from a header tank. It is the height of that header tanks water which pushes the hot water round the hot water circuit. Unfortunately each batch of hot water as it is heated up will deposit lime scale and other minerals into the tank. Some of the chemicals will corrode the tank and other bits of the pipes. The local water might be treated by adding lime to bring the acidity down but whatever the chemistry there is always a danger that this constant process can corrode the electric element first. Once removed, we discovered that our old tank, fitted 20 years ago, was already leaking.
When the mains water eventually gets pushed through a solar panel from such a system further deposits can be left behind after the high temperatures reached in this ‘roof top boiler’ and so the risk of blockages. With direct systems such as the SolarTwin the softer the water the lower the risk of blockages. This system pumps water directly into the top of a conventional immersion tank and avoids the need for a replacement tank, anti-freeze solutions or a separately powered electric pump as a PV panel is built in for this purpose.
It would seem our local water is rather acid but has lime added to it but it probably varies. The theory goes that for a solar panel that is heating constantly replenished mains water of this type deposits will soon occur if high running temperatures are achieved. The same happens with the constantly heated new water in the tank as well.
As we found that we had no room for a water softener and we were fed up with a slow supply of hot water we opted for a heat store tank. This retains the same water all the time and will only change if it gets so hot the water expands to the point that it returns to its own nearby header tank and the water is thus replenished. Even here the amount of new water entering the tank is small. It is this water, stored in a highly insulated and extra large tank, some five feet tall or more, which heats up and cools as heat is put in and heat taken away. That transfer of heat is brought about by a coiled pipe passing through the heat store tank containing water at mains pressure. The miracle of the system is that the heat store is sufficiently hot and the coil sufficiently long to achieve an instant heating of the mains water passing through the coil which never comes into contact with the column of permanent water in the heat store. Result, hot water at mains pressure at a temperature you can select by a special valve that will mix some mains cold water into the mains pressure hot water when it exceeds the required temperature, usually about 60c but lower temperatures will be ok for hand washing and a or showers. As no cold water enters the heat store it is cooled down much slower than a conventional tank and hence is more efficient. The system makes a shower easier to install because with hot and cold water both at the same pressure all that is needed is a mixer shower valve and you have a power shower depending on what pressure of supply you choose.. Even in the bathroom you can make sure your mixer is thermostatically controlled so you won’t be trapped in a scalding shower ever again. As the meerkat sayeth, ‘shimples!’
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
The Big Apple in the villages around Marcle Ridge: October 11th and 12th
The Big Apple is a great little festival in the middle of an important fruit growing area. Every year the seven parishes of the Marcle Ridge country south of Ledbury in Herefordshire celebrate their heritage of apples and cider, and pears and perry.
For the avoidance of doubt both cider and perry are made by crushing and then pressing the fruit and the reason that most people don’t really know of perry is because the output of perry pears is usually consumed by the local demand. Perry was big in the fifties in the form of Babycham but real perry, whether still or fizzy, is a fuller bodied drink. Purists like us are annoyed by the appearance of products under the name of Pear Cider which is a contradiction in terms but it is presumably intended to create a new drink for people taken to be incapable of understanding the difference. Drinking either can of course make you incapable of anything especially with some hand crafted farm versions going to 8% ABV or above. If the drink is made from 100% pears then it is perry but if pear juice has been added to cider we would claim is a pear flavoured cider. Many mass produced products will fall back on imported concentrate when supplies are tight but not the genuine products you can find at this event.
A few years ago there was a lot of concern with all the orchards being grubbed up around Herefordshire but we can report that the cider business is growing and on the way to Much Marcle the sight of lots of orchards being re-established added to the glorious views of the Malvern Hills, Marcle Ridge itself and beyond to the Black Mountains. Such is the growth of cider that despite a hugely reduced acreage we are drinking record volumes of the stuff. This productivity has been achieved by growing traditional varieties as dwarf trees with high yields easier harvesting.
The big name producer in Much Marcle, the centre of the festival, is the family run firm of Weston’s Cider. Their works are well worth a visit especially if you take the tour of their modern cider mill/factory. We would claim that their Stowford Press Ciders and their traditional perry are right at the top of the mass produced roll of honour. Their traditional fizzy perry makes a sound substitute for many white wines at a fraction of the cost so a trip to their shop is both a bargain and an education all in one.
Some photos from the festival are here.
At the other end of the scale is Greggs Pit which is found at the end of a farm track and situated in a cottagers plot with its small orchard of traditional fruit trees. The production process is what we would call ‘artisan’ with the result that award winning perry and cider is produced here. A custom built barn for the vats with an open front for the crusher and apple press never fails to prompt dreams of creating such a unit on our own hillside plot. The old cottage orchard has cider trees as well as cooking apples, damsons and other fruits. Not all is used for cider and perry but we are happy to report that redwings and other birds don’t let anything go to waste. Apples and pears are also bought in from nearby farms so that single variety brews can be created. If you have never tried top quality ‘champagne method’ ciders and perrys this is the sort of place you need to track down. At Lyne Down Cider you can try your palette at more traditional brews as well as fresh apple juice straight from the press.
On the Sunday at Hellens, the local ’big house’, they get their old crushing mill going with visitors helping to push the crushing wheel round in its trough; a task usually carried out by a horse! Hellen’s Perry is made from pears collected on the Saturday and as with all of the events you can usually by a bottle or two. The house itself is well worth a visit and is one of those places that always seems to have been connected with many of the great events down the centuries but it, and its residents, seem to have survived by good judgement and luck. A return visit to this house on a quiet summer afternoon makes a great outing. During the festival the adjoining barns are devoted to the sale of fruit (Flight Organics) and the study of apples and pears (Marcher Network) and there are helpful experts who will try and identify the mystery apple tree in your garden. The variety of local food is usually well displayed at this event. Added to all this bustle was the appearance of the Leominster Morris dancers who drew a large crowd.
An essential visit during the afternoon is to the Memorial Hall where you will usually find an art exhibition as well as ‘a cup of tea and a slice of cake’ as Wurzel Gummage would describe his favourite refreshment. One year we were in front of a novice ‘Big Appler’ who asked whether they had any apple cake? Yes, came the reply, about fifteen different choices! We bought about five different types and sampled pieces from each. We have our own popular recipe which was found in a book on Yorkshire cooking where it is described as ‘Somerset Apple Cake’. Althought not a local recipe, we do not find this hard to live with as we all have a fondness for counties where apples are a specialist crop and so whether it comes from the land of the Wurzels’, Gloucestershire, Devon, Kent or Cornwall, or our own dear Herefordshire, if it’s good, we’ll have it. Especially with cream, in moderation of course, as with cider and perry.
A short distance from the Memorial Hall is St Bartholomew’s Church where local produce and crafts were on sale in aid of church funds. A brief rest beneath the 1,500 year old yew tree might just restore the energies sufficiently for a visit to Awnell’s Farm.
Awnell's Farm is run by the Countryside Restoration Trust, this conservation charity aims to protect and restore Britain’s countryside with wildlife-friendly and commercially viable agriculture. The trust is committed to promoting the importance of a living and working countryside through education, demonstration and community involvement.
It has another farm just down from us at Turnastone Court where the National Hedge Laying Championships will be held this coming 24th October, hopefully ‘with a caterer in attendance’. This usually means a beer tent at the very least. Taking farming back to sustainable practices by working with nature is a welcome contrast to some of the industrial farming that can be found in Herefordshire such as the ever present expansion of growing fruit under plastic and the efforts the Potato Barons which sometimes results in our precious pink soils being washed away in heavy downpours.
Most years the event has attracted large parties of cyclists. This is an encouraging feature although we sometimes thought that their awareness of pedestrians could have been better. Was it perry they had stowed in their drinking flasks we asked? Now in its twentieth year the number of visitors cars can be a problem but it is not yet on a scale which needs major management, and a parking space is usually available somewhere. Bringing a bike to tour the various events is a good idea and means that the car can be left at some distance. I think we will try it next year, although a good set of panniers will be needed for our liquid purchases.
For a community run event the Big Apple just shows what can be done. This lengthy article is not just the perry talking but it comes from people who know how important it is for everyone to reconnect with nature, our traditional sustainable local produce and the communities who still have the skills and vision to bring it all from farm and orchard to your table.
Dacier Outten and Mary Horesh
For the avoidance of doubt both cider and perry are made by crushing and then pressing the fruit and the reason that most people don’t really know of perry is because the output of perry pears is usually consumed by the local demand. Perry was big in the fifties in the form of Babycham but real perry, whether still or fizzy, is a fuller bodied drink. Purists like us are annoyed by the appearance of products under the name of Pear Cider which is a contradiction in terms but it is presumably intended to create a new drink for people taken to be incapable of understanding the difference. Drinking either can of course make you incapable of anything especially with some hand crafted farm versions going to 8% ABV or above. If the drink is made from 100% pears then it is perry but if pear juice has been added to cider we would claim is a pear flavoured cider. Many mass produced products will fall back on imported concentrate when supplies are tight but not the genuine products you can find at this event.
A few years ago there was a lot of concern with all the orchards being grubbed up around Herefordshire but we can report that the cider business is growing and on the way to Much Marcle the sight of lots of orchards being re-established added to the glorious views of the Malvern Hills, Marcle Ridge itself and beyond to the Black Mountains. Such is the growth of cider that despite a hugely reduced acreage we are drinking record volumes of the stuff. This productivity has been achieved by growing traditional varieties as dwarf trees with high yields easier harvesting.
The big name producer in Much Marcle, the centre of the festival, is the family run firm of Weston’s Cider. Their works are well worth a visit especially if you take the tour of their modern cider mill/factory. We would claim that their Stowford Press Ciders and their traditional perry are right at the top of the mass produced roll of honour. Their traditional fizzy perry makes a sound substitute for many white wines at a fraction of the cost so a trip to their shop is both a bargain and an education all in one.
Some photos from the festival are here.
At the other end of the scale is Greggs Pit which is found at the end of a farm track and situated in a cottagers plot with its small orchard of traditional fruit trees. The production process is what we would call ‘artisan’ with the result that award winning perry and cider is produced here. A custom built barn for the vats with an open front for the crusher and apple press never fails to prompt dreams of creating such a unit on our own hillside plot. The old cottage orchard has cider trees as well as cooking apples, damsons and other fruits. Not all is used for cider and perry but we are happy to report that redwings and other birds don’t let anything go to waste. Apples and pears are also bought in from nearby farms so that single variety brews can be created. If you have never tried top quality ‘champagne method’ ciders and perrys this is the sort of place you need to track down. At Lyne Down Cider you can try your palette at more traditional brews as well as fresh apple juice straight from the press.
On the Sunday at Hellens, the local ’big house’, they get their old crushing mill going with visitors helping to push the crushing wheel round in its trough; a task usually carried out by a horse! Hellen’s Perry is made from pears collected on the Saturday and as with all of the events you can usually by a bottle or two. The house itself is well worth a visit and is one of those places that always seems to have been connected with many of the great events down the centuries but it, and its residents, seem to have survived by good judgement and luck. A return visit to this house on a quiet summer afternoon makes a great outing. During the festival the adjoining barns are devoted to the sale of fruit (Flight Organics) and the study of apples and pears (Marcher Network) and there are helpful experts who will try and identify the mystery apple tree in your garden. The variety of local food is usually well displayed at this event. Added to all this bustle was the appearance of the Leominster Morris dancers who drew a large crowd.
An essential visit during the afternoon is to the Memorial Hall where you will usually find an art exhibition as well as ‘a cup of tea and a slice of cake’ as Wurzel Gummage would describe his favourite refreshment. One year we were in front of a novice ‘Big Appler’ who asked whether they had any apple cake? Yes, came the reply, about fifteen different choices! We bought about five different types and sampled pieces from each. We have our own popular recipe which was found in a book on Yorkshire cooking where it is described as ‘Somerset Apple Cake’. Althought not a local recipe, we do not find this hard to live with as we all have a fondness for counties where apples are a specialist crop and so whether it comes from the land of the Wurzels’, Gloucestershire, Devon, Kent or Cornwall, or our own dear Herefordshire, if it’s good, we’ll have it. Especially with cream, in moderation of course, as with cider and perry.
A short distance from the Memorial Hall is St Bartholomew’s Church where local produce and crafts were on sale in aid of church funds. A brief rest beneath the 1,500 year old yew tree might just restore the energies sufficiently for a visit to Awnell’s Farm.
Awnell's Farm is run by the Countryside Restoration Trust, this conservation charity aims to protect and restore Britain’s countryside with wildlife-friendly and commercially viable agriculture. The trust is committed to promoting the importance of a living and working countryside through education, demonstration and community involvement.
It has another farm just down from us at Turnastone Court where the National Hedge Laying Championships will be held this coming 24th October, hopefully ‘with a caterer in attendance’. This usually means a beer tent at the very least. Taking farming back to sustainable practices by working with nature is a welcome contrast to some of the industrial farming that can be found in Herefordshire such as the ever present expansion of growing fruit under plastic and the efforts the Potato Barons which sometimes results in our precious pink soils being washed away in heavy downpours.
Most years the event has attracted large parties of cyclists. This is an encouraging feature although we sometimes thought that their awareness of pedestrians could have been better. Was it perry they had stowed in their drinking flasks we asked? Now in its twentieth year the number of visitors cars can be a problem but it is not yet on a scale which needs major management, and a parking space is usually available somewhere. Bringing a bike to tour the various events is a good idea and means that the car can be left at some distance. I think we will try it next year, although a good set of panniers will be needed for our liquid purchases.
For a community run event the Big Apple just shows what can be done. This lengthy article is not just the perry talking but it comes from people who know how important it is for everyone to reconnect with nature, our traditional sustainable local produce and the communities who still have the skills and vision to bring it all from farm and orchard to your table.
Dacier Outten and Mary Horesh
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Would Wild Horses make you stop eating meat or is climatic disaster sufficient?
Comments by an omnivore prompted by the speech of Shadow Secretary of State (DEFRA), Mr Nick Herbert, at the Conservative Party’s Annual Conference: Cutting out meat is not green solution: 5/10/2009
I have been unable to find a complete version of the above speech and so there may be some details that would strengthen the argument Mr Herbert has presented but from what I can judge the argument is as follows. Eating less meat is not a green solution to reducing emissions and will not have an effect on climate change. Furthermore, the West should not try to dictate to India and China that they should not increase the amount of meat they eat and that technologies should be developed to reduce emissions from the meat production process. It would seem that Mr Herbert is getting at the campaign for Meat Free Mondays whilst placing some of the blame for the campaign at the feet of vegans and vegetarians.
Although the Meat Free Monday campaign only asks that we cut out meat once a week he is such a committed carnivore that he is quoted as saying that wild horses would not stop him eating meat. He is either missing the point or sees this moderate suggestion to forgo meat on a Monday as the thin edge of the wedge, since the campaign is not about giving up meat completely, however much the vegan and vegetarian community might like to see that happen. His speech challenges a lot of current thinking on food production and climate change and I would advise him to make sure he has all the facts and figures at his finger tips as, never mind the wild horses, there will be many of us wild omnivores, let alone wild vegans and vegetarians, who will be vigorously challenging his viewpoint during the election campaign.
All this got me thinking about dietary diversity and the amount of energy the production of food involves. Having an egg nog made from a fresh egg laid by a free range hen wandering at will in the woods would take little energy apart from that used by your body which had been derived from the previous day’s diet. Eating an egg as part of a mass produced cake delivered to your local baker from a plant somewhere in Europe strikes me as energy greedy. Taking up Mr Herbert’s reference to wild horses also suggested the following analogy. Let us suppose that somewhere beyond the wood there are plains where wild horses roam. This could be a tempting and substantial addition to the food supply, if only one could be caught. Whatever might be involved would certainly take a lot of energy to achieve compared with picking up an egg in the wood. The egg could be stored quite simply for quite a period whereas wild horse meat would have to be preserved unless a lot of meat was thrown away.
In the event of wild horse catching on, especially where population growth meant that more and more people would like some, ‘wild horse’ production might well increase, the grass of the plains could not keep up, and so a new industry would have to be created to produce the feed, preserve and package the meat and then move it to places where no such meat would otherwise be available, thus incurring more energy costs and so on. Welfare considerations for live transport, additives for fast growth and the prevention of disease would all eventually become part of the food chain, as would land clearance to make way for the mass production of the meat.
The analogy comes close to how beef production has grown over the years and where it is going. Instead of developing a new market for horse meat the growth in beef consumption could easily succeed in exacerbating environmental deterioration with increasing climate change impact. Whatever meat production is expanded, the laws of thermo dynamics remain the same as will be the changing patterns of land use which will be required. Can we really afford to expand either an existing industry such as beef anymore than find a new one to develop? It all adds up to the same recipe for disaster. Whatever the meat being mass produced might be it is hard to see how it can be done without affecting the climate and the amount of land available to sustain the world’s increasing population. This is where we are already going with beef production as new markets and products are found for expanding the demand. To claim that technologies should be developed to reduce emissions from the industry is not a solution and is reminiscent of the George Bush fiction that pollution need not be reduced at source, but will be dealt with by technology once it is being created. This simply puts off the evil hour in the short term thinking of politicians. There is not enough time, Mr Shadow Secretary, and it is better to get started on what we can do rather than pin hopes on things we haven’t yet learnt to do.
We must all strive to be fully aware of where our food comes from. Whether the meat is beef or horse, as responsible trustees of this planet for future generations, we should know whether the source is truly sustainable; we should know whether it was harvested to a high welfare standard and whether it was worth all the effort in culinary and climate terms. There would have to be no risk of either wild horse or mad cow disease. We should not eat any meat where vast tracks of forest have been cleared to grow the feedstuffs to sustain an unnatural population and where all kinds of pharmaceutical products have to be manufactures to create fast growth and prevent disease. In any type of diet we should certainly not want to see the product become so popular that the continuously expanding world population wanted more and more of the stuff while it moved onto green field sites for more and more living and manufacturing space: especially at a time when such space was shrinking due to climate change induced desertification and rising sea levels, causing the northern and southern hemispheres to become more and more overcrowded. In the short term the obese proportion of the world population, whether in the West or in India and China can presumably go on munching their way to an early and expensive grave without a word of discouragement from Mr Herbert.
By designating one day a week when other agricultural and horticultural foods can take precedence seems a small step towards making more and more people ask where their food comes from and what the consequences might be. As in most things, a bit of knowledge will encourage a wider world view. Unless we do some clear thinking, ignorance, in the end, will prove to be the ultimate mass killer. I realise that a report of a speech is not the same as being there but in what I have read so far I fear Mr Herbert has much to learn on the long journey ahead of him. When in Brussels, in the interests of dietary diversity, perhaps he should consider both the horse and, if there is one, the vegetarian sections of the menu. I was always told that travel broadens the mind, to which I would add, ‘...and so does thinking about what’s on your plate, how it got there, and what the consequences might be’.
Dacier
See:
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/07/food.foodanddrink
and
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/06/global-land-use/
It goes without saying that comments from Mr Herbert or like minded meat eaters are welcome.
I have been unable to find a complete version of the above speech and so there may be some details that would strengthen the argument Mr Herbert has presented but from what I can judge the argument is as follows. Eating less meat is not a green solution to reducing emissions and will not have an effect on climate change. Furthermore, the West should not try to dictate to India and China that they should not increase the amount of meat they eat and that technologies should be developed to reduce emissions from the meat production process. It would seem that Mr Herbert is getting at the campaign for Meat Free Mondays whilst placing some of the blame for the campaign at the feet of vegans and vegetarians.
Although the Meat Free Monday campaign only asks that we cut out meat once a week he is such a committed carnivore that he is quoted as saying that wild horses would not stop him eating meat. He is either missing the point or sees this moderate suggestion to forgo meat on a Monday as the thin edge of the wedge, since the campaign is not about giving up meat completely, however much the vegan and vegetarian community might like to see that happen. His speech challenges a lot of current thinking on food production and climate change and I would advise him to make sure he has all the facts and figures at his finger tips as, never mind the wild horses, there will be many of us wild omnivores, let alone wild vegans and vegetarians, who will be vigorously challenging his viewpoint during the election campaign.
All this got me thinking about dietary diversity and the amount of energy the production of food involves. Having an egg nog made from a fresh egg laid by a free range hen wandering at will in the woods would take little energy apart from that used by your body which had been derived from the previous day’s diet. Eating an egg as part of a mass produced cake delivered to your local baker from a plant somewhere in Europe strikes me as energy greedy. Taking up Mr Herbert’s reference to wild horses also suggested the following analogy. Let us suppose that somewhere beyond the wood there are plains where wild horses roam. This could be a tempting and substantial addition to the food supply, if only one could be caught. Whatever might be involved would certainly take a lot of energy to achieve compared with picking up an egg in the wood. The egg could be stored quite simply for quite a period whereas wild horse meat would have to be preserved unless a lot of meat was thrown away.
In the event of wild horse catching on, especially where population growth meant that more and more people would like some, ‘wild horse’ production might well increase, the grass of the plains could not keep up, and so a new industry would have to be created to produce the feed, preserve and package the meat and then move it to places where no such meat would otherwise be available, thus incurring more energy costs and so on. Welfare considerations for live transport, additives for fast growth and the prevention of disease would all eventually become part of the food chain, as would land clearance to make way for the mass production of the meat.
The analogy comes close to how beef production has grown over the years and where it is going. Instead of developing a new market for horse meat the growth in beef consumption could easily succeed in exacerbating environmental deterioration with increasing climate change impact. Whatever meat production is expanded, the laws of thermo dynamics remain the same as will be the changing patterns of land use which will be required. Can we really afford to expand either an existing industry such as beef anymore than find a new one to develop? It all adds up to the same recipe for disaster. Whatever the meat being mass produced might be it is hard to see how it can be done without affecting the climate and the amount of land available to sustain the world’s increasing population. This is where we are already going with beef production as new markets and products are found for expanding the demand. To claim that technologies should be developed to reduce emissions from the industry is not a solution and is reminiscent of the George Bush fiction that pollution need not be reduced at source, but will be dealt with by technology once it is being created. This simply puts off the evil hour in the short term thinking of politicians. There is not enough time, Mr Shadow Secretary, and it is better to get started on what we can do rather than pin hopes on things we haven’t yet learnt to do.
We must all strive to be fully aware of where our food comes from. Whether the meat is beef or horse, as responsible trustees of this planet for future generations, we should know whether the source is truly sustainable; we should know whether it was harvested to a high welfare standard and whether it was worth all the effort in culinary and climate terms. There would have to be no risk of either wild horse or mad cow disease. We should not eat any meat where vast tracks of forest have been cleared to grow the feedstuffs to sustain an unnatural population and where all kinds of pharmaceutical products have to be manufactures to create fast growth and prevent disease. In any type of diet we should certainly not want to see the product become so popular that the continuously expanding world population wanted more and more of the stuff while it moved onto green field sites for more and more living and manufacturing space: especially at a time when such space was shrinking due to climate change induced desertification and rising sea levels, causing the northern and southern hemispheres to become more and more overcrowded. In the short term the obese proportion of the world population, whether in the West or in India and China can presumably go on munching their way to an early and expensive grave without a word of discouragement from Mr Herbert.
By designating one day a week when other agricultural and horticultural foods can take precedence seems a small step towards making more and more people ask where their food comes from and what the consequences might be. As in most things, a bit of knowledge will encourage a wider world view. Unless we do some clear thinking, ignorance, in the end, will prove to be the ultimate mass killer. I realise that a report of a speech is not the same as being there but in what I have read so far I fear Mr Herbert has much to learn on the long journey ahead of him. When in Brussels, in the interests of dietary diversity, perhaps he should consider both the horse and, if there is one, the vegetarian sections of the menu. I was always told that travel broadens the mind, to which I would add, ‘...and so does thinking about what’s on your plate, how it got there, and what the consequences might be’.
Dacier
See:
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/07/food.foodanddrink
and
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/06/global-land-use/
It goes without saying that comments from Mr Herbert or like minded meat eaters are welcome.
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