Is it the end of civilisation as we know it? No
FIRST there was Brexit, then the Election, but now folks, is the news story to end all news stories!
Yes, it’s the big one, a news story so chilling to make the blood run cold!
Coronavirus, aka Covid-19, – the end of civilisation as we know it!
News? What news? Thousands of people die each day from cancers, road accidents and many health-related illnesses caused by smoking/ addictions etc.
But hey, they pale into insignificance because of a bug, the Covid-19 bug.
Panic from politicians etc means the stoppage of many sporting events, but not it seems, everyone packing into tube trains, buses and planes and workplaces such as hospitals.
Bah Humbug!!! 750,000 items are under review (according to the Examiner) the Art Galleries’ Collections also need a sort out.
Of 700 oil paintings, only seven are of the Huddersfield area.
There are more of the Dewsbury area, albeit only another handful (eg Birstall Snowscape by Robert H Lee).
Yet there are 40 portraits of unknown people, and more than 100 paintings by unknown artists.
All can be viewed on the Art UK website at artuk.org – along with all 200,000 oil paintings in England’s public art galleries.
Kirklees Council’s fine art collection also includes more than 2,000 water colours and prints (according to Kirklees’ Accounts online) – but not all are on display. What is the Kirklees art collection for ? had a talk from David Cockman on the Holmfirth Blue Plaque Trail set up by the Holme Valley Civic Society.
It mainly commemorates buildings with one exception being Harold Wagstaff, England rugby player. Some of the buildings are the Drill Hall, Bamforths and Th’owd Towser prison.
We finished off with a rendition of Pratty Flowers – the Holmfirth anthem.
This month saw Jake Marchinton, Samuel Taylor, Jenney Mitchell, Colin Stead and Nigel Kitchen pass their Advanced Driving Test. Thanks to Craig Shaw, Libby Nicholson, Deirdre Whiteley, Gavin Scott and Alan Pavier for their guidance.
The next meeting is April 6 at the British Legion, Scar Lane, Golcar; 7.30pm for 8pm. Patricia Atkinson will be guest speaker, on “How we used to Eat”.
Anyone interested in Advanced Driving please call Lionel Holmes on 01484 655068.
Never forget the Senior Service
SOME readers will have heard Saturday’s Archive on 4 on BBC Radio. Call Up: The Story of National Service had stories from conscripts who served between the end of the World War II and 1963; conscription ended in 1960.
Broadcaster Charles Wheeler’s radio series, The Peacetime Conscripts, was referenced on Saturday. Wheeler said 2% of National Servicemen served in the Navy. Call Up, though, made no mention of conscripts serving in the Senior Service.
Historian Richard Vinen claimed that National Servicemen were among the last to be buried where they fell overseas. Not so, as the graves of the fallen in the Falkland Islands sadly make clear.
The Parade Training Officer at Whale Island should consider offering an afternoon’s square bashing to the narrator and producer of this otherwise very good documentary.