An icy end to the year

Since it’s everyone’s favourite subject, I thought I’d end the year on a weather related item.

I’ve been following the the same route for about ten years now, and have the walk to and from the shops reasonably well tamed. I had to head out there today, and found that after the semi-thaw we’d been treated to since I was last obliged to head out had transformed things from a fairly nice tramp through the snow into one of the worst wanders I’ve ever had to endure.

I can’t recall anything similar in the past ten years, and while the roads seemed to be treated, the pavements had been ignored. These usually have salt/grit thrown over by the shovel-load, but apart from a few brown splodges, there was virtually no evidence of treatment. As the snow had been quite deep, when we did have the slight thaw, all that happened was the surface melted, combined with the lying slow, and then refroze on the still cold ground, creating sheets of ice. With no grit to be walked into it, all that earlier walkers had done was consolidate and polish it.

Most of it could be circumvented by walking in the verge or in the road, traffic permitting, but my hour and a half walk was extended by 45 minutes, simply because I couldn’t keep my footing for much of it. The worst was at a big triangular area of block paving across the main road from the Tollcross sport centre. This could have served as a skating rink, with walkers shouting warnings to those approaching it to walk on the road instead – and that’s a busy junction.

There was only one question I would have liked an answer to (and it wasn’t about where the salt or grit that should have been spread there was). Despite the fact that most folk were slipping about all over the place, there were one or two that seemed to be able to walk on this surface with little or no difficulty, and no matter how closely I tried to see what was different about their footwear, they all seemed to be wearing pretty ordinary daytime shoes – not walking boots or the like, and not with anything strapped on the soles either. Most odd.

Hope we don’t see the same next year, or if we do, the council maybe finds some guys with shovels and a few lorryloads of grit they can spare the time to send out on the road. I would have taken a pic of the icy pavements, but it’s not something that shows up well in a pic, you have to be putting your foot on it to realize what it is, and then again, you can’t really take a pic of no grit on the ground either.

On  similar theme, when I did the same walk to the shops last week, the gritters were out gritting the road on the evening before the frost actually hit, so that load was effectively wasted, but they were out the next night, and as it turned out, they spot on as they were really needed that time.

Suspected arson destroys Denbigh’s Cae Dai 50s Museum

Note that since April 2010, the owner has been able to open a small display in the community hall on the Cae Dai site.

A suspected arson attack on the night of December 1, 2009, has completely destroyed Denbigh’s Cae Dai 50s Museum in North Wales, together with all but one of the exhibits, the lorry used in The Great Train Robbery of 1963 – an Austin Loadstar which had been fitted with a secret compartment to hide the proceeds. The lorry was used by the gang during the robbery, then later recovered during a police raid on the gang’s safe house, Leatherslade Farm in Oxfordshire.

Also lost were the Ford Anglia used in ITV’s Heartbeat, a car owned by Diana Dors, and Ford Fiesta once owned by Christine Keeler. Other vehicles lost included a Chrysler Windsor, Mercedes-Benz saloon (payment to the owner for a bad debt when he ran a garage in London) , Riley 1.5 saloon, A55 hearse, pink Vauxhall PA Cresta, Standard Pennant, Berkeley sports car, “big bumper” Cadillac convertible, and a BSA motorcycle. An FX3 taxi from the 1950s had also been recently acquired, to transport visitors to and from the local railway station. There were at least 12 cars in the museum at the time. Outside the main museum, were an A35 and an A40, plus a collection of Reliant three and four wheelers,  two 195os shops, and a period garage. Also lost were Ronnie Biggs’ birth certificate, a mink coat in a glass case, and a collection of 1950′s boxing paraphernalia.

The museum was divided into a number of areas: Showbiz and Music, which featured a large collection of photographs, and a section on the owner’s own group of the 1950s, Sparrow and the Gossamers; Crime: the owner and his group had played at Esmereldas’s Bar, owned by the notorious Krays, who eventually employed him to run the bar, and featured various correspondence from them; Sports: the owner was an amateur boxer, with 200 contests to his name (and still runs the Denbigh Amateur Boxing Club – some 30 years after retiring from the ring); 1950s rooms: there were recreations of two lounges and two from the time, both fully furnished

The museum’s caretaker stayed in a caravan on the site, and was taken to hospital as a precaution measure in case he had suffered from smoke inhalation, but was released the following morning. The caravan he lived in while on the site was also destroyed by the fire.

The damage is estimated to be in the order of £100,000 with the building accounting for about £50,000 and insured, and the collection also at £50,000 but uninsured.

A 46-year old man was later arrested by police on suspicion of arson, and released on bail.

The Cae Dai 50s Museum web site is still online, together with its Guestbook where past visitors have been expressing their sadness at the loss.

The museum’s owner, Sparrow Harrison, has already indicated his intention to both restore and expand the museum, and offers of support and donations have already been reported.

Anyone able or wishing to help can get in touch with the 50s Museum through the web site given above, or by phone on 01745 817004 during office hours, or 01745 812107 at other times. The trust can also be emailed at: caedaitrust@tiscali.co.uk

I learned of this fire some time after the event, from one of my trade journals, but the incident was reported locally, The Leader – News from Wrexham & Flintshire – Suspected arson attack devastates Denbigh’s Cae Dai museum, and by BBC News – Arrest after 50s car museum blaze. The losses are unfortunate, and I have commented on the loss of many small museums throughout the country over the past decade, particularly in Scotland, not only to this sort of attrition, but to closure due to lack of interest or available finances or funding. I didn’t have the opportunity to visit Cae Dai, as it seems to have come into being just as my regular commutes to North Wales were coming to an end, so this is one I have definitely missed.

There may be later stories published on the web if more information comes to light, so it may be worth searching for the museum, to see if their is any conclusion to the story.

Cae Dai is more than just the museum mentioned above, and the following article which was published by The Independent in May, 1994, provides a more detailed description and background to the estate, and more current references can now be found on the web:

Shovelling dirt like ‘normal’ people: Virginia Ironside visits a Welsh estate that offers care and work to those neglected by the mainstream – Life & Style – The Independent

Cae Dai is Welsh for David’d Field. The Cae Dai Trust exists to help disadvantaged adults, and many of those who it assists also work within the Cae Dai programme. The trust was set up after the North Wales Psychiatric Hospital closed some time in the late 1980s.

Story update February 2010

I spotted an update to the above, in a letter published by Mr Sparrow thanking the various people and clubs that have come forward to offer help and support.

It seems that while the building were insured, the policy for the contents only came through the day after the fire. While the insurer is doing what it can, it seems that the fact that arson was definitely involved is complicating things a little. Because of this aspect, the owner is not touching anything, or starting any work until this issue is resolved. The local MP has offered his support too.

It’s just a shame that it’s so easy for some fool to ruin twenty year’s worth of someone’s work, and ruin things so completely for ordinary, decent folk.

I’m hoping there may be more details in the next month or so.

Good new – Update April 2010

I have to admit that I don’t look too closely at the news, as most of it’s depressing, so it’s a welcome change when something akin to good news is received.

In this case it’s the follow up to the Cae Dai story. As noted above, there was a problem with the insurance for the collection, as the documents were (I believe) one day out of date, therefore not in force. Following discussion and representations, the insurer has agreed to pay on both the building and the collection claims. The site is now reported to have been cleared, with only the remaining supporting structures present, although these have been condemned and will also be cleared before the restoration of the museum and collection proper begins.

It may have been the end of more than twenty years’ effort, but it looks as if the outcome will now be positive, and a ‘lost’ museum is on the road to recovery.

Temporary exhibition opens May 2010

Just at the end of April, I noted a news item telling of the opening of a temporary display in the community hall which lies on the Cae Dai site.

Owner Sparrow Harrison has noted that the number of visitors is similar to usual at this time of year, and that there is still plenty to see from the surving collection.

Admission is free, but donations are very welcome after the disaster at the museum.

Yorkshire Motor Museum closes

As if to emphasise my observation above that circumstances are changing, I also noted confirmation that the Yorkshire Motor Museum would close in 2010. Formerly known as the Skopos Motor Museum, located at Batley, West Yorkshire.

This was a more substantial affair than Cae Dai, and had around 70 vehicles on display, many belonging to the businessman Stephen Batte, who had created the museum. The remainder were on loan, meaning that the collection varied over time, making it more interesting. The museum had its own workshop, where restoration work could be carried out, and was a facility shared with the Northern Aeroplane workshop, which did work for the Shuttleworth Trust.

The museum was opened in 1996, by Lord Montague of Beaulieu, and covered everything from the earliest days of motoring through to the latest supercars. It seems that a change of landlord means the museum has to close by the end of January 2010, so it’s not only the tiny museums that can have survival problems.

Quoted from the museum’s own web site, which is still in existence as I type:

Yorkshire Motor Museum was founded by Stephen Battye in October 1993 as part of a regeneration scheme for Batley. it is the home of approx 40 classic and vintage cars. Some of which are owned by the museum and others are privately owned .

The museum workshop repairs and maintains the museum cars. Also, the museum takes in outside work for restoration repairs, and service.

It is also the home of the Northern Aeroplane Workshops (NAW) . The group is undertaking a “new-build” of a 1917 Sopwith Camel aircraft built to air worthy standards.

Website archive delays mean digital heritage is being lost

I spotted a news items a few months ago, one which initially surprised me, but then began to make more sense as I realised it was a reflection of the way the web has changed in the years when it was the preserve of the computer literate and the folk who first created it, and had become just another piece of the commercial  global network. What was once owned by all had silently become the property of the media and governments, rather than what some might describe as a few geeks or nerds with a good idea.

Instead of being free (not in the financial sense, but in the sense of being free and open), it was becoming something where politics and legislation would determine its future, and as we are now seeing, the media magnates (or rather Rupert Murdoch) seek to claim rights over content that was once made freely (yes, in the financial sense this time, but really funded by advertising revenue) available, would be locked behind paywalls, with tasters of a few words being hung out to attract buyers.

The first warning that things were both being lost, and going to be lost, appeared back in October 2009, when we learned that digital literature, online scientific research and internet journalism that should have been saved in the nation’s main libraries over the past five years may already have been lost because ministers have failed to give them the legal power to copy and archive websites.

Senior executives at the British Library and the National Library of Scotland (NLS) said they were dismayed that legislation giving them the right to collect online and digital material is still not in force, more than six years after it it had been passed by parliament. The omission means that the libraries – which are legally required to archive books, newspapers and journals – have already failed to record online coverage of major events such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the release of the Lockerbie bomber and the MP’s expenses scandal. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has admitted that the powers, set out by the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, will not become law before the next election, after a series of delays in getting proposals from an advisory panel and hold-ups in Whitehall.

Fast track announcement

Things may be set to improve , as culture minister Margaret Hodge is now pressing for the faster introduction of powers to allow six major libraries to copy every free website based in the UK as part of their efforts to record Britain’s cultural, scientific and political history.

The British Library, the NLS, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian in Oxford, Cambridge University Library and Trinity College Dublin should have the same legal authority to collect digital material that they have for printed works. Copies of every book, journal and newspaper printed in Britain must by law be deposited in one of these libraries. Once the new powers come into force, the same rules would apply to digital publications, under a system known as electronic legal, or e-legal, deposit.

Hodge has launched a consultation, possibly hoping to stem the current criticism directed at the archiving failure, which is due to end in March and would allow the nominated libraries to copy and archive free sites using the .uk domain name and all other UK-based sites, such as the more than 4 million free websites currently active in the UK, and proposed new domain names such as .sco for Scotland and .cym for Wales will would also be included.

The culture minister has however conceded she is unlikely to get these powers in force before the next election, but officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “We will make as much progress as we can in the time available.”

However, as already noted, paid-for websites ‑ which may soon include the Times, the Sun and all other News International titles under plans for paywalls outlined by Rupert Murdoch ‑ will still be closed off to the copyright libraries, so the free sites will take on an ever more important role, thanks to Murdoch and his like.

Lodge Rothesay St John No 292 opens its door to public visit

Every time I trip over this story from The Buteman I can’t help thinking it deserves a mention.

The full story includes interviews with some of the members, and a few photographs taken inside.

Notably, a fair degree of adverse publicity levelled at the Lodge of Scotland in recent years has led to the doors being opened, so that the public and non-members can learn more about the organisation’s history, beliefs and charitable activities. The lodge on Bute has a 185 year history, and this was shown with the help of an exhibition in the hall.

Locally, members provide presents to churches for distribution to under-privileged children, and  every couple of years they carry out a sponsored tour of the West Island Way, a recognised walk which allows visitors to visit much of the island on foot, over the course of one or two days – depending on how energetic they may be feeling.

The Freemasons carry out a wide range of charity work, which is rarely publicised, and the Grand Lodge of Scotland was reported to have recently donated £250,000 to the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland.

Below is a depiction of a ritual taking place in a masonic lodge in New York, circa 1900. Perhaps one of the sources which leads to some of the odd ideas put forward by some when the Freemasons are mentioned.

£1.2 million blown on Commonwealth Games consultancy and PR

A Freedom of Information enquiry has revealed that Glasgow City Council and the Scottish government have each spent about £600,000 on consultancy and PR for the Commonwealth Games over the past two years.

While the rest of us have to economise in time of recession, these organisations seem to think the Commonwealth Shames are little more than an opportunity to throw money away at time-wasters, which is in all honesty what most consultants and PR people are.

While  a little consultancy and PR can go a long way, there can be little doubt that this is a ridiculous amount of money to have thrown away on this event, which is clearly becoming something that those involved with think is great and wonderful, but is really just a few days celebrating a few elites people running and jumping, which the rest of us have to finance, regardless of choice or interest.

Dalmarnock street battle death

Dalmarnock, which happens to lie beside the sign shown above, for the site of the Athletes’ Village, has unfortunately featured in the news over Christmas, with the police confirming that a 23-year-old man died and two people were injured in a large disturbance in this part of the east end of Glasgow.

Police later announced that the victim came from Springfield Road (where the above pic was actually taken) and have appealed for any information. A 21-year-old man was released after treatment while a 35-year-old man is in a stable condition in hospital.

The BBC continued to report the story as Christmas street fight murder probe continues

New Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard online web site

New site banner

The Christmas theme on the title (shown to the right) was a bit of a surprise when my fingers slipped and I made a typo when I went to read the Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard online last week, and I accidentally discovered their new web site and presentation.

There must be many people familiar with the existing web site which the paper operates online at http://www.dunoon-observer.co.uk/ but I hadn’t noticed any warnings or mentions for the new and improved online site for the paper at http://www.dunoon-observer.com/

A small difference in address, but I have to say I heartily enjoyed seeing the new site, which has more facilities – which will take a little time to get going, but should make it better – and more importantly, gets rid of the old “evil frames” version of the online edition. I won’t go into details, but just punch “evil frames” into your favourite search engine, and you should get an idea of why I (for one at least) am pleased to see these relegated to history.

Pay them a visit, and maybe look in on their new forum too, where the current content is a plea for some input!

BBC Scotland plans new children’s science-fiction game show

A number of reports have appeared during the past week or so, telling of a new children’s game show based on a future robotic war, and entitled Mission 2110.

Note: (This series first aired on CBBC, beginning Monday, May 3, 2010.)

Location manager Stephen Burt has been reported as saying, “This is potentially an award-winning show. It is set in 2110 in a world where robots have taken over. The children who take part will be time travellers from 2010 and will battle the robots.” The game has been described as a cross between Crystal Maze and Doctor Who. There are to be 20 mission for the participants during the contest, with only one winner to be left at the conclusion.

The setting for the show will be two of the six Maersk container ships currently stored in cold lay-up in Loch Striven, and presently rendered surplus to requirements thanks to the worldwide downturn in trade caused by the recession. The loch has seen similar service over the past decades, as worldwide influences have rendered various cargo ships and tankers redundant, sometimes even before they have been completed, such is the time taken to build them in relation to market swings.

The action will take place within the massive holds of the ships, which are currently empty, and through the engine rooms, which are presently silent, as most of the engines have been laid-up to preserve them, awaiting re-activation when the vessels return to service.

Participants will live on board the ships for the three-week duration, and Maersk Beaumont and Bentonville (see below) appear to be the chosen venues for the activities, which will see three robots, created by a London-based special effects team which has worked on Doctor Who, and the sets arriving during December.

They will not be on holiday for the duration, and will be expected to take part in the competition, and take their schoolwork with them, and complete 15 hours of tuition per week.

Filming is scheduled to take place between January and March of 2010, and the show will appear on CBBC beginning on April 21, 2010.

The raft containing the six Maersk ships is shown below, with the two chosen ships being the second from the left (Bentonville), and second from the right (Beaumont).

The six Maersk ship raft on Loch Striven, left to right, Maersk Brooklyn, Bentonville, Baltimore, Sealand Performance, Beaumont, and Boston

You can find further pictures of the vessels here: Maersk at Loch Striven Photo Gallery by Zak at pbase.com

Update

The BBC Press Office issued a Press Release regarding the new series and its production, on January 27, 2010:

Production starts on ambitious new CBBC game show Mission:2110

Date: 27.01.2010>
Category: Scotland; Children’s

BBC Scotland is currently in Argyll filming Mission:2110, an ambitious and bold new 13-episode sci-fi game show for CBBC from the team behind Raven.

Set in a post-apocalyptic landscape, in each episode a team of four contestants span time and space to travel to the futuristic setting of our planet, long after mankind has disappeared, to try to restore peace and stability.

The young recruits, guided by their mentor Caleb, have to battle, in a series of missions, against the Roboidz – intelligent towering cybernetic entities who now rule Earth – snatching Bio-Rods, the enemy’s vital fuel source, in order to shut down their empire.

The sheer size and scale of the mighty Roboidz was such that the production team needed to find an alternative location to the traditional studio format to create Future Gate, the Roboidz base.

After scouting numerous locations the production crew discovered that the empty container ships based on Loch Striven on the Clyde would provide them with the the industrial background needed to create a suitable backdrop.

Production has already started on the ship and filming is set to continue until early March, after which state-of-the-art compositing and computer-generated work will bring the futuristic world alive.

The series is set for transmission in the spring.

Prosthetic and costume specialists Millenium FX (Doctor Who, The Day Of The Triffids) are creating the Roboidz and Shades (humanoid slaves to the robots) and writer Phil Ford (Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Adventures) has created the back-story.

Lindsay Duncan (Doctor Who, Rome) will voice Neuros and Cybele, the good and evil alter egos of the Roboidz creator Laura Gant. The series also stars CBBC’s newest recruit Stuart Goldsmith, who plays the show’s hero Caleb.

Executive producer Sue Morgan says: “Mission:2110 is an exciting ambitious and challenging new fast-paced game show where the contestants will need to use all their cunning and guile to avoid elimination.”

Mission: 2110 is a BBC Scotland production for CBBC, series produced by Nick Hopkin (OOglies, Hedz), directed by James Morgan (Trapped, Den Of Doom) and executive produced by Sue Morgan (Raven, Ed & Oucho’s Excellent Adventures).

VT

Locals will be able to see the ALI CAT travelling to and from the raft, as the passenger ferry has been chartered to run twice a week – on Monday and Friday – to Loch Striven with production crews and children taking part in the programme.

Section 44 abuse of photographers continues despite warnings to police

While there’s no relation to my apparent withdrawal from photography – having added a photography category to the Blog as I seemed to be coming across worthy subjects, but with nowhere to post them, I promptly seemed to lose those opportunities at the same time, and haven’t captured anything worthwhile since – it seems that the ongoing abuse of section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which allows police to stop and search anyone without need for suspicion in a designated area, continues, despite a recent warning to them not to use the measure unnecessarily against photographers.

I’ve been in correspondence with other photographers who have fallen foul of various pieces of legislation, and public paranoia, generally south of the border, and generally at the hands of the Met police around London. I suspect these “chats” have led to my own demotivation in respect of carrying a camera and taking photographs in public. In particular, on of my contacts was employed (down south) as a police photographer, and while he had no problems with the police, he used to volunteer his services to the local school, as his work meant he was a “trusted person”. For some years, he attended at things such as sports days, and provided pictures of the event. He’s given this up. Thanks to the various high profile campaigns run by the media, despite his status, and the fact that he was at these events at the school’s invitation, he ended up being attacked by mothers at one event, simply because he was taking photographs of their children. As he was doing this officially, on behalf of the school, he could hardly have been seen as carrying out this activity covertly, and he was also carrying a fair amount of kit which would have been hard to hide anyway, yet the media frenzy of the time meant they still felt they were justified in attacking him.

Needless to say, as of that day, he withdrew his services, and his never offered to return.

He was in touch with me a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned that at least the problems with the Met appeared to have been dealt with, and it would be nice to see this become a thing of the past.

Since then, I saw that a warning was indeed issued last week to all police forces not to use section 44 measures unnecessarily against photographers. In a circular to fellow chief constables, Andy Trotter, of British Transport police, said: “Officers and community support officers are reminded that we should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos. Unnecessarily restricting photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional, is unacceptable.”

Looks as if it was a waste of time and effort, as one of the country’s leading architectural photographers was apprehended by City of London police under terrorism laws while photographing the 300-year old spire of Sir Christopher Wren’s Christ Church for a personal project.

In the past 18 months there have been 94 complaints to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about the misuse of section 44 powers. There is a growing outcry among working photographers who are finding their daily routines interrupted by police searches when working in high-profile areas that may be considered terrorist targets.

City of London police said its response to Smith had been proportionate. “When questioned by officers, the man declined to give an explanation and he was therefore informed that in light of the concerns of security staff and in the absence of an explanation, he would be searched under the Terrorism Act,” said a spokesman. “After the man’s bag was searched, he explained he was a freelance photographer taking photos of buildings. Once this explanation was received there was no further action.”

Police stop church photographer under terrorism powers | UK news | The Guardian

Although it seems you are not obliged to give these enthusiastic police officers any of your details, if you don’t, then they will threaten to cart you off to the nearest police station, and search you – presumably implying that this will be a strip and intimate search to motive cooperation.

I think I’ll just leave my cameras gathering dust – looks as if it’s safer if I just want a quiet life.

Two offshore renewable projects win over £100 million EU funding

Nice to see the announcement of two offshore renewable projects winning over £100 million of European Union (EU) funding.

The EU energy commissioner has confirmed a grant of £36 million (40 million euros) for a proposed offshore wind farm near Aberdeen.  The Aberdeen Bay project would see some 23 wind turbines sited between one and three miles offshore, in an area extending about three miles from the Bridge of Don to Blackdog. The scheme is a joint venture between Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) and Swedish utility company Vattenfall.

A further £67 milion (74 million euros) has also been approved for an offshore platform to be located between Shetland and the Scottish mainland, which will be part of the North Sea Grid, and will permit the connection of wind farms in eight European countries.

Wave power and tidal power boosted at Stromness centre

Slowly, but ever so slowly, power from the waves and tides is being looked at seriously, presumably as developers begin to realise that the the old wind power subsidy was actually a renewable energy subsidy,  coupled with the realisation that serious amounts of wind power would not only see every attractive piece of wilderness sprout wind turbines, but also every just about every piece of open land as well.

The European Marine Energy Centre at Stromness is currently has almost a dozen experimental devices designed to capture the energy of the tides and the waves, under evaluation, although it’s still too early to tell if any of them will work on a large scale or ever succeed commercially. What matter though is that they are being tested, and tested in a seriously stressful environment.

Scotland is potentially at the forefront of these technologies, and should be taking a lead from the other countries around the world that took a lead with wind power.

If these developments are not managed and handled properly, then the advances made at places such as Stromness will go the same way as most other Scottish innovations.

Recall that the world is full of inventions that e created by Scots, many of them famous, but not for making their fortune from, or exploiting their creations at home. Rather, a read through the history books will usually show that they had to leave these shores and go abroad before they found backers and investors, so the real winners were usually America or Canada, not Scotland.