A collection of customs, curiosities and coming events

Forgotten First World War Railway Stories

Anew

exhibition, Ambulance Trains, at the National Railway Museum in York highlights the little-known experiences of the patients and staff who travelled aboard these hospitals on wheels during the First World War.

Millions of men were brought to Britain from the Front via these tightly-packed trains, which included fully-equipped wards, pharmacies and kitchens. The trains were manned by resident medical officers, orderlies and nurses and could be up to a third of a mile long.

Jane Sparkes, Interpretation Developer at the National Railway Museum, explains: “Until now historians have overlooked the crucial role that ambulance trains played in the First World War, but careful research by our curators and archivists has gradually uncovered this neglected piece of history. The mass casualties of modern mechanised conflict called for evacuation of the injured on a scale never seen before, and this simply could not have happened without these trains.”

The exhibition brings together photographs, technical drawings, letters and diaries encapsulating the range of human experiences on board the ambulance trains. It explores the stories of the wounded soldiers, the medical staff and the railway workers who built the carefully designed trains at incredible speed to keep up with demand, and the public who saw the grim reality of the overseas war when these trains pulled into British stations.

For more information, visit nrm.org.uk/ambulancetrains . the retail motor trade, now runs a motor and transport website: www.britishmotormuseums. com . It features links and short summaries of more than 100 motor museums in the British Isles. Some are dedicated car museums; others are bus, commercial vehicle or motorcycle museums. Some, like Shuttleworth in Bedfordshire, have classic cars and aircraft on display. The website also has a section for news items relating to classic vehicles and a list of car clubs which owners may join.

Oneof the most important features of life in a medieval monastery was its herb garden. The herbs were used for medicinal purposes and such gardens were forerunners of the physic gardens that later became popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The first garden to be established in Europe solely for the study of medicinal plants was at the University of Padua in Italy in 1545. In 1597, the herbal, or Generall Historie of Plants was published in England. Written by the herbalist John Gerard, it listed an astonishing 1,030 plants to be found in his physic garden at Holborn in London. It was the first catalogue of its kind to be printed in this country and helped to promote the serious study of herbal medicine.

One of the earliest physic gardens in this country was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. This was founded in 1621 by Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby. In 1673, the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London established the famous Chelsea Physic Garden. This became a leading centre for the collection and study of herbs and other plants during the 18th century. It has the distinction of being the oldest botanical garden in London.

At Petersfield in Hampshire there is a more recent physic garden that has been described as an “oasis of peace in the centre of the town”. It was inspired by an appalling act of environmental vandalism.

In 1985, Major John Bowen read a newspaper report about the destruction of a wild flower meadow at West Mersea in Essex. Rare orchids were deliberately sprayed with weed killer on a site that had been earmarked for housing. Major Bowen was angry and saddened by this and in 1988 he decided to give his own garden in Petersfield to the Hampshire Gardens Trust. It would then be protected from any future development and could also be enjoyed by the public.

A new garden was created that was inspired by the work of the renowned botanist John Goodyer and the horticultural writer John Worlidge. Both men lived in Petersfield during the 17th century.

The Friends of Petersfield Physic Garden was established and they planted trees and plants that are typical of those that would have been grown in a physic garden in the 1700s. The Petersfield Physic Garden was formally opened by HRH the Duchess of Gloucester on 17th May, 1990. It is run entirely by local volunteers.

The garden was created on the site of a medieval burgage plot. At just over a quarter of an acre in extent, it contains a topiary walk, a small knot garden and an orchard that is under planted with wild flowers. Other features include borders of herbs, a sundial and terracotta urns that contain various plants.

Situated just off the High Street, the Petersfield Physic Garden is popular with local people and visitors alike. Both appreciate its beauty and tranquillity — thanks to the generosity and vision of Major Bowen.

British Motorcycle Breaks Auction Record

Nottingham-

made Brough Superior motorcycles were rare, powerful machines of the pre-war era. Dubbed the Rolls-royce of motorcycles, they’re famed as the bike of choice for aficionados such as the playwright George Bernard Shaw, and T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), owner of eight models.

In April, one of the legendary machines broke the worldrecord auction price for a British motorcycle. It was one of a collection found in a barn near Bodmin, in Cornwall. The ex-hubert Chantrey, 1932 Brough Superior 800cc BS4, registration number GY 989 sold for £331,900.

“This is one of the greatest motorcycle discoveries of recent times,” said Ben Walker, international director for Bonham’s Collectors’ Motorcycle Department. “A lot of mystery surrounds these motorcycles, as very few people knew that they still existed, many believing them to be an urban myth. There was a theory that they still existed somewhere in the West Country, but few knew where, until now.”

Stored for more than 50 years, the motorcycles were discovered whole, in parts, and some were partially submerged under decades of dust, old machinery parts and household clutter.

They belonged to the late Frank Vague, who was an avid member of the Brough Superior Club. He acquired the majority of the collection in the early 1960s.

The Industrial Museum in Nottingham displays several items connected with this local firm. To find out more details about Brough Superiors, visit the club website at: www. broughsuperiorclub.com .

Full Steam Ahead for Restored Locomotive

InJuly 1941 a new railway engine, Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co., rolled out of the sheds at Eastleigh Works, Hampshire, to begin high-speed express duty on what was to become the Southern Region of British Railways. This Merchant Navy class of locomotive, had demonstrated that they could generate enormous power using mediocre quality fuel, due largely to Oliver Bulleid’s excellent boiler. They also ran very smoothly at high speed.

As it was wartime, there were no heavily laden Continental Boat Trains, but when the prestigious Bournemouth Belle Pullman train was reinstated in October 1946, it was entrusted to this class of engine for the next two decades.

When diesel engines were introduced in the early 1960s, steam engines began to be withdrawn and 35006 P&O, was consigned to the scrapyard at Barry, South Wales, in December 1964, after only 23 years’ service.

In 1978, six men with vision and commitment began to think about restoring the engine to its former glory. After forming a society it took until March 1983 to raise the necessary £7,200 to purchase the sorry-looking wreck.

The workplace of choice was the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway based at Toddington, Gloucestershire.

There followed over 30 years of painstaking stripping, refurbishing and rebuilding work by volunteers and contractors. Sales of shares in the newly formed company, and fundraising by the sponsors and shareholders, was necessary to raise the enormous cost.

Over the past few years the company directors were asked: “When will it be in steam?” The day finally arrived on 16th May this year when Pete Waterman OBE was invited to rename and relaunch the rebuilt locomotive at Toddington Station. The gathered celebrities and shareholders enjoyed the first return journey to Cheltenham Race Course with a complimentary lunch.

English Heritage Conservation News

English

Heritage is embarking upon a major conservation programme, the largest in the history of the collection of sites and monuments in its care. The programme will promote traditional heritage and conservation skills and the charity aims to establish a new in-house team of expert craftspeople.

One of the largest projects will be the £1.25m repair of the world’s first iron bridge. Erected in 1779 over the River Severn in Shropshire, the Iron Bridge was the first single-span arch bridge in the world to be made of cast iron and was a turning point in British engineering. It was designated a World Heritage Site 30 years ago.

The conservation programme will see the different elements of the bridge — the iron radials and braces holding the bridge together, the deck plates and wedges, the main iron arch, and the stone abutments on either side of the Severn — examined and repaired. The cast-iron pieces will be carefully cleaned and conserved, reinstalled or replaced where necessary. As part of the project, the bridge will also be repainted.

Celebrating Roald Dahl on his Centenary

This

year the author Roald Dahl would have been 100 years old, so what better time to visit an exhibition of his life and stories?

The Roald Dahl Museum is tucked away in the high street of the Buckinghamshire village of Great Missenden, the author’s home for more than 30 years.

Although it is aimed at six to 12 year olds, Roald’s life story is fascinating for the adults who bring their children and grandchildren to the museum.

His writing hut, built by a friend of his in the Fifties, where he would allow his imagination to run riot daily, has been painstakingly removed and rebuilt inside, along with a replica of the writing chair he used, so you can sit inside to soak up the atmosphere.

Children can join in with regular chocolate decorating and dress-up as characters, even write their own stories. Adults can join in the fun too ....can you name and design a new chocolate bar?

From film memorabilia to footage of interviews with Roald, the amount of information featured in the Museum is very interesting. A basic visit will take about 11⁄

2 hours. Times, prices and dates for extra activities are available at: roalddahl.com .