Author: Stuart Butler

Forced Walks and Holocaust Day

A message from Richard White:
Greetings walkers…I thought you might be interested in this update on the Honouring Esther project I am doing with Lorna Brunstein….repatriating memory, renewing stories, generating resonances.

Our project to complete the Forced Walk: Honouring Esther is now in good shape for the walk in Germany on 4 and 5 February. We will walk the actual route of the death march from the site of the slave labour camp to the Belsen-Bergen Memorial, stopping as we did in Somerset in April at points along the way to listen to Esther’s testimony and other thoughts and sounds. At those points we will share as much as we can of the experience, amplify the resonances via social media, and welcome online interaction with those who want to share it with us. We will gather sounds and images from those moments as we walk the route 71 years to the day that Esther did.

More detail on the web site herehttps://forcedwalks.wordpress.com/the-walk-in-germany-2016/

If you are thinking of joining us on foot it is time to make your arrangements and please contact us directly.

There will be a further briefing for those wanting to follow online soon.

We have spent a lot of time on logistics and fundraising and now it istime to focus on the art, with that in mind for those of you able  to get to Bath we would like to invite you to an open conversation at
44AD Gallery, Bath on Sunday 17 Jan afternoon 16.00-18.00.
An opportunity to explore the issues and help us reflect on our practice as artists in this context. If you are thinking of joining us on foot, but haven’t decided, do come along.  If you are able to make this please RSVP, thanks.

Our networking in Germany is taking off and it looks like we will have some great support and local walkers joining us. It may be that we will meet someone who saw the group of Polish Jewish women leaving the camp called Waldeslust, 71 years ago. In Somerset we had Mayors and it looks like we will be met by the Mayor at Winsen at the end of day 1. This will be a powerful experience, whatever your involvement has been to date, you are making this possible. Join us on foot or online

Best wishes
Richard


— 

Richard White
mob: 07717012790

web: www.walknowtracks.co.uk

Walking the flooded Thames: from Cricklade to Lechlade

The record of the first stage of our Thames walk to London (from its source to Cricklade), involving the life of the local Chartist Allen Davenport of Ewen (Saxon derivation, indicating source of a river), can be found here.
Prologue:
December’s weather was, of course, dreadful in 2015, with floods in the north and in Scotland. We had to keep a constant eye on the weather down here too – if there were floods at Castle Eaton then we could be stymied … so … Jim decided he would make the trip in a canoe; Kel and myself opted for walking, and haiku jokes were swopped via email in December.

Kel:
What if paddles break, Bungs come out, rapids appear? Oh, damp sandwiches.
Stuart:
Three men in a boat? It’s too Jerome K. Jerome. Two of us should walk.

But the New Year saw the continuance of the misery of ‘the rain it raineth everyday’; would we all three, in fact, need the inflatable canoe: a sort of rabbit, fox and lettuce conundrum?
I met Jim on the 4th of January in the Black Book café in Stroud; he was his usual ebullient self and pushed a box of chocolates towards me. I should have known that the box would contain the stone he had found at Ewen (Allen Davenport’s birthplace); the one involved in our pilgrimage to Kensal Green, along the Thames.
A geologist friend had showed Jim how the reverse side of Jim’s beautiful carving indicated the stone’s history: the piece of oolite limestone revealed its Jurassic origins and mutation, with tiny shells and eggs, and whirls of movement caused by eddies in the water, in this slow, peaceful, sedimentary transformation. The stone was beautifully carved with a flowing A and D. The letters resembled herons or swans or leaves – it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
Needless to say, there was a biro haiku inside the box:

Oo aha oolite’s
Eggs still laid in shallow seas
B.C. to A D.

John Basset immediately quipped: ‘This is a haikoolite.’
Jim smiled and then showed us a woodcut of the Saxon mother and child carving from Inglesham Church (our putative walker—boater lunchtime meeting place). Jim showed us the hole on the carving – an indication of a Massdial. The carving would have originally been placed outside, and the cycle of light would have indicated Christmas, Candlemas, Martinmas, Lammas etc.
We went next door to R and R’s – I needed another copy of Tristram Shandy, while John needed a copy of Das Capital; there in the window was Jim’s beautiful carving of the Saxon Mother and Child. Jim had been inspired by a leaflet I had given him about the church; inspired by his copy of The Book of the Thames with its woodcut, and inspired by his visits to the church – I resolved, as the final part of the prologue, to revisit the shop window the next day to take a picture. By the way, my copy of Tristram Shandy only cost £2 – I totally recommend R and R in Nelson Street.
Here was supposed to be a record of the second stage from Cricklade to Lechlade, involving Davenport and Percy Bysshe Shelley – but, as it happened, we were stymied on a couple of occasions and will have to re-walk this stretch, WHEN THE FLOODS RECEDE.
In the meantime, here is a haiku record of the liquid alchemy that we saw and walked. There was a tragic beauty about it all: ‘coming events cast shadows before’.

Ridge and furrow fields,
Once beyond the river’s reach,
Now puddled and drowned.

Peasants till the fields,
Barefoot ghosts and revenants
Follow in our steps.

Silhouetted trees,
Pewter sky and silver clouds,
The water’s canvas.

Swans glide the field-flood,
A limitless lake’s expanse,
Burnished willow boughs.

And at Inglesham,
A medieval village,
Lost to Time’s waters.

While we ooze and splash
Through rising water tables,
To a drowned future.

Post script from Kel Portman

walking through water
in winter’s delicate light
so many more clouds

From field to wetland
Submerged ridge and furrow fields
Only geese rejoice

Newbuilds encroaching
On ox-ploughed ridge and furrow
Built on old floodplains

Connecting pathways
Link old fields and new town
Concrete covers soil

Hungry water floods,
Transforming land into lake.
Soil becomes mirror

Across old-ridged fields
Footpaths lead dogwalkers home
To floodprone newbuilds

New Rugby pitches
All fresh-white-lines and mown grass.
Lost, the ancient fields

Two new waterscapes
Made by this flooded river
Which of them is real?

Trees stand in water,
Surrounded, up to their waists.
Waiting for summer

Threat’ning Iron grey skies
Bring more rain to fill the Thames.
Filling forlorn fields

12th Night: The World Turned Upside Down

The post below might appear to be about mid-summer rather than mid-winter; but it has a message about 12th Night, wassailing, and medieval mummery.

Forget Magna Carta Day, It’s Wat Tyler Day

‘When Adam delved
And Eve span
Who was then the gentleman?’
(John Ball)

June 15th might have been the date on which Magna Carta was sealed in 1215, but June 15th also marks the anniversary of the stabbing of Wat Tyler, the leader of the Peasants’ Revolt, in 1381.

‘John Schep, sometime Saint Mary’s priest of York, and now of Colchester, greeteth well John Nameless, and John the Miller, and John Carter, and biddeth them that they beware of guile in borough, and stand together in God’s name. and biddeth Piers Plowman go to his work, and chastise well Hob the Robber, and take with you John Trueman, and all his fellows, and no more.’ (John Ball)

 

‘John the Miller hath ground small, small, small;
The King’s son in heaven shall pay for all.
Beware or ye be woe,
Know your friend from your foe,
Have enough, and say ho!
And do well, and better, and flee sin,
And seek peace and hold you therein,
And pray for John Trueman and all his fellows.’
(John Ball)

‘The king, for the sake of peace and because of the circumstances at that time, granted the commons at their petition, a charter under his great seal – declaring that all men in the realm of England should be free and of free condition; they and their heirs should be forever released from the yoke of servitude and villeinage.’ (Henry Knighton)

‘Richard, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and lord of Ireland, to all his bailiffs and faithful men to whom these present letters come, greetings. Know that by our special grace we have manumitted all our liegemen, subjects, and others … and we have freed and quitted each of them from bondage by the present letters.’ (Charter)

June 15th 1381, the meeting at Smithfield, when Wat Tyler ‘half bent his knee and took the king by the hand, shaking his hand fully and roughly, saying to him “Brother, be of good comfort and joyful, for you shall have, in the fortnight that is to come, forty thousand more commons than you have at present, and we shall be good companions.” And the king said, “Why will you not go back to your own country?” But the other answered with great oath that neither he nor his fellows would leave until they had got their charter as they wished to have it with the inclusion of certain points.’ (Thomas Walsingham)

‘The rebels petitioned the king that all preserves of water, parks, and woods should be made common to all: so that throughout the kingdom the poor as well as the rich should be free to take game in water, fish ponds, woods and forests as well as to hunt hares in the fields – and to do these and many other things without impediment.’ (Henry Knighton)

The Lord Mayor of London was William Walworth and it was he who killed Wat Tyler:
‘Walworth knocked him in the gutter with his baselard, stabbing him unawares. Ever since the dagger has been part of the City of London coat-of-arms or crest, the urban bourgeoisie coming to power on the backs of the Peasants’ Revolt … Wat Tyler was assassinated by William Walworth, Lord Mayor, who made his money from the Flemish sex workers in the Southwark brothels. London, the famed haunt of the international bourgeoisie, has its crested origin in a pander, an assassin, and sex-trafficker.’
(Ann Arbor, Wat Tyler Day: The Anglo Juneteenth, Chapter Ten in Stop, Thief, Peter Linebaugh Spectre 2014)

1. That no one was to be put to death, save for some reason – (except the Common People).

2. That everyone should be free – (except the Common People).

3. That everything should be of the same weight and measure throughout the Realm – (except the Common People).

4. That the Barons should not be tried except by a special group of other Barons who would understand.
Magna Charter was therefore the chief cause of Democracy in England, and thus a Good Thing for everyone (except the Common People).

1066 And All That ,Sellar and Yeatman, from their 1930 classic, on Magna Charter (‘on account of the Latin Magna (great) and Charter (a Charter)’).

So how should we commemorate and celebrate Wat Tyler Day? What acts of guerrilla memorialization can we carry out, to symbolize a land where rights are held in common?

Pasture and turbary,
Estovers and piscary;
Pannage and housebote,
Shack and ploughbote.

Perhaps you could beat the bounds of your parish, chanting this rhyme of common rights and pass leaflets to spectators with an explanation.

“The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose.”

Bath Disenchantment Walk

A message from Richard White:
Hi folks,

Here’s an instant write up of the walk on Sunday. Thankyou to the intrepid Kathryn for joining me if only for part of the way…it got worse but then it got better!

https://rswpost.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/a-journey-to-the-edge-of-the-enchanted-city/

This is an open project, I am really keen to develop it further looking for some points to stop and think about walking out of necessity, poverty, dreams, memorialising and enchantment/disenchantment.  I hope we can develop this together, share thoughts, ideas and information….it would be good to weave into this stories of individuals, families etc. In this walk I want to draw attention to the Bath Union Workhouse burial ground…seems wrong to me that all those people, all those lives, are not memorialised in some way in a city where the great and the ‘good’ are so well memorialised however short their stay! I am indebted to John Payne for helping get this started….check out his contribution on the burial ground to the Honouring Esther walk in Somerset here

The plan is to come back to this later in the year and I hope you will join me then.

Meantime its full on for our  Forced Walks:Honouring Esther project in February, if you are thinking of taking part on foot it is time to get organised!

If you would like to join in online you will be able to do so via facebook and twitter I will email an update on that. If you would like to find out more and join the conversation come along to the session at 44AD on Sunday 17 Jan at 16.00. More details here

best wishes
Richard

 

—

Richard White
mob: 07717012790

web: www.walknowtracks.co.uk

James Pentney and the Alien Factory

A message from James Pentney:

I’ve tried to explain a bit more about The Alien Factory although it remains something of a mystery until we’ve done it on the 16th. I am finding the process interesting and creative if also on the edge.
What follows is written in the form of the opening scene of a play introducing characters J, C and K. It is also reportage on the conception of a performance / drama workshop that will take place this month with the Allsorts youth club in Stroud.

THE ALIEN FACTORY (Episode One … true so far)
Youth club hub-ub, kids mulling, eating crisps
J (late middle aged, balding, bearded, beside a pool table)
“Hello everyone, can we turn the music off for a minute please
I’ve just popped in to ask if anyone would like to try to do a show after Christmas.
You know there’s pantomimes and things so I thought we might do something in the hall here;
maybe make up a story
How about Aladdin or Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin and the Beanstalk, Jack’s Cat …”
C (teenage girl) “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory”
K (boy) “How about aliens?”
C “Charlie and the Alien Factory”
K “Just The Alien Factory”
J “We’ll need a bit of a script to follow”
C “I’ll do that”
J “Fine I’ll come back next time then”
As good as her word, two weeks later C produced her pencilled pages
C “… so the founder of the factory is Jimmy Zonka, that’s you (J)
J “ Does the factory make aliens or do aliens work in the factory?
C Yes and Jimmy Zonka has an idea for a competition for kids to make something new so there are tickets and there’s a nerd kid who has a ticket, that’s you (K) and I have a ticket and I come up with the new thing
K So you’re like the hero
C And the aliens are free to go home to their own planet
J Sounds like you’re a new Doctor Who. Let’s do it.

(to be continued following the performance workshop on 16 January that will involve set construction, music, dance, storytelling and shadow puppetry for alien production)

You don’t have to be rich or famous to make your own museum

It was one of those never-never nights,
Becalmed between Christmas and New Year,
When you’re not quite sure of the day or the date –
We’d walked the Laurie Lee Trail,
And after falling into two different pubs,
Playing cards and spoof, drinking wine as well as beer,
Then toasting the table with Josh’s sloe gin
(Courtesy of the canal towpath at Ponder’s End),
Conversation wandered to our own pondering end.

Josh, who is a carpenter,
Was chatting about planes,
And how in former times,
Fathers passed their tools onto sons,
Names stamped into the wood –
This was too much of a coincidence
And opportunity to miss:
I ran upstairs to bring down
My great grandfather’s plane,
And Josh used pencil and grease-proofed paper,
To take rubbings and reveal: ‘C.W.Butler’
(Passed to his son, my gramp): ‘C.H.Butler’;

Josh examined the plane carefully,
Took it apart,
And was completely certain that the plane was hand made,
Presumably by my great grandfather;
The sloe gin was kicking in, and the memory kicked off:
I knew that Charles William had moved down to Swindon,
After the carriage and wagon works opened in the 1880s
(He was a carriage builder in London),
And my mum had told me donkey’s years ago,
That his wife, Caroline (nee Ridler), loathed Swindon
And eventually left him to return to London,
The marriage broken;
My grand-dad, Charles Horace, was born in 1891,
And served his apprenticeship as a carpenter in the GWR,
Before leaving Swindon for London before the First World War –
The plane ending up in my dad’s shed
And then passed on to me,
As an artefact and historical exhibit only –
For I am utterly useless with my hands,
Not what you’d call practical at all.

We then brought down a framed collage
I had made for my mum twenty odd years ago,
Now in daughter Alice’s possession:
‘My Little Museum” –
This contains pictures of my and Trish’s family,
A funeral card for a great-great uncle, a young boy killed
In a Wiltshire threshing machine accident,
Newspaper cuttings, old railway stamps,
Artefacts such as old coins,
And gramp’s brass GWR clocking-in token
(SWINDON 1001 LOCO);
But we were interested in the centre stage 1887 marriage certificate,
For Charles’ address, 19 St. John’s Place, Clerkenwell,
Is just around the corner from where Josh works today,
And where I was the other month,
Researching the local Chartist Allen Davenport and the Spa Fields Riots –
I must have walked past it, oblivious.

And what’s the moral of this tale?
That the truth is not as plain as the nose on your face –
Just as you sometimes rub your nose:
‘Ask no questions, tell no lies’,
Sometimes you have to take rubbings of what you think you know,
Examine the mundane, the half remembered and the ignored,
Enjoy the Inspector Bucket quest,
As you make your own museum,
For the truth might just be below the surface,
As plain as the name on a plane,
Or as plain as the knows inside your face.

(Stop Press! Josh also found the name Bartrop and Co. on the plane. Questions to be resolved – did this firm in fact make the plane, or did Charles William, unknown to memory, work for this firm of agricultural engineers in Highworth, near Swindon, for a while? Bartrop and Co. sounds so Dickensian, or like something out of Thomas Hardy.)

Bath Disenchantment Walks 2016 Programme

Hi folks,
I walked out to Saltford yesterday and the tow path is really muddy with one section impassable so I propose to have a go at finding a way up to the Workhouse burial ground on Sunday. Its a recce for something I would like to explore later in the year the route from the National Trust picturesque view across the city from Widcombe fields to Odd Down.
Its a loop walk but there is a bus service back down into town from the Red Lion roundabout.
As ever meet outside 44AD Gallery 10.00 Sunday.
The walk offers some great views, spaces to imagine the enchanted city; thinking about who built it and worked it and the economic migrants it attracted we may see another enchantment, thinking about the productive and the unproductive poor we will reach the former workhouse and go looking for their unmarked graves.
I hope you can join me, come prepared for mud and a few hills! Back in town by 16.00 at the latest.
best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year on foot and on line!

Richard

A message from Richard White:
‘Festive greetings, walkers!
Walkout Sundays continue into next year….walking and talking a bit further as the days lengthen.
Here is an outline plan:

In the first few walks I want to explore more on the slave trade and the legacies of slavery and empire…the focus is on the Brass MIlls on the Avon, one of which survives at Saltford. Brass goods were made here for trading in West Africa for slaves… I am interested to explore an idea about goods traded in the first leg of the triangular trade were made using the energy of the river Avon….what went down the river, what came back…attitudes to fellow humans, trade, sweat etc. I have a thought that the currency of the slave trade was manufactured along the river just outside Bath..but that maybe over egging it.
We will walk through the remains of early industrialisation, a coal field and ghosts of Bath’s engineering past all now smoothed, concealed perhaps, in a romantically landscaped valley…how does it feel and what stories will start to surface….how can we tell them…

Sunday 3 Jan: Saltford loop….out on the tow path and back on the old railway line ( or back on the bus if you prefer…)
Sunday 7 Feb: No walk. I will be travelling back from Germany from the Forced Walk: Honouring Esther we walk on the Thursday and Friday 4 and 5 Feb…why not join us…on foot or online.
Sunday 6 March: Saltford loop reversed
Sunday 3 April: Bath to Avonmouth on the River Avon Trail
As the days get longer I want to explore an idea around the memorialising and the treatment of poor people and those unable to work in Bath, in particular I want to start to develop a walking route from Chewton Mendip into Bath finishing at the Bath workhouse burial ground by the Red Lion at Odd Down. Walking, talking and the undeserving poor?

Sunday 1 May: A walk via the ornate Victorian graveyard at Smallcombe to the unmarked graves at the Workhouse burial ground
Sunday 5 May: Bath to Chewton Mendip
Sunday 3 July: Chewton Mendip to Bath
Sunday 7 August: tbc
Sunday 4 September: tbc

The common theme in all this is enchantment/disenchantment and I really hope you would like to contribute to capturing throughts and ideas in some form or another. The walks are participatory and any information, stories, myths or rumours that you can bring to this the better. Please share! From October onwards I hope to be able to offer some of these walks more formally on the basis of what we have developed over this year of walking out!
Have a good festive week/weekend and I look forward to seeing you outside 44AD at 10.00 on Sunday 3 Jan.’

Songs of Christmas Past

One damp, December afternoon,
I biked out through Stroud’s featureless streets,
Out along the Slad Valley to Bull’s Cross:
Past pollarded willow trees all along the road,
Past well wrapped farmers stacking logs in a dripping coppice,
Past chapels turned to guesthouses,
Their graveyards full of cars,
Past families cutting mistletoe from high, tall branches,
Long handled secateurs silhouetted
Against a setting sun’s cloudscape,
Past rooks, copse-calling in the gathering dusk,
Until, all was silent and still,
As twilight turned to darkness,
That moment,
When all life seems suspended,
A brief moment of seeming equipoise;
I listened to the silence
And then turned for home –
And when I got back to Stroud,
Nocturnal winter-spring had sprung,
Every window was now ablaze
With lights and trees and candles,
Doors were hung with stars and wreaths
Of holly and mistletoe:
Christmas has come!
Mum and dad are singing again!
Cold season’s magic!

This note below is from my brother, ten years ago, when mum still used to perform this song (she would have been a hundred this year):

‘My mother told me that she bought this play as a sixpenny publication in Woolworths. The family may well have put a strong West Country influence on the rendition which shows in my recollection.’

CHRISTMAS WAITS

In our village, Christmas Eve,
I sez to zeveral mates:
“Now look ‘ere, mates”, I sez,
Sez I,
“Now ‘ow about some Waits?”
We gets zum carols, lairns ‘em up, and on an evenin’ wintry,
We muffles up and zallies forth to try it on the Gintry.
“Good King Wenceslas looked out,”
We zings we with splendid power,
Zeveral neighbours looked out too,
To see what all the row were,
We zings forte (sounded like an ‘underd),
Even in the soft bits ‘ow we thundered,
Bill, our bass, ‘e ‘urt ‘is face, we thought that it was torn,
Yet all agree there were none like we, to ‘ail thee, ‘appy morn.
Perkins took the treble line (a lovely voice ‘e’s got),
I were tenor, Bill were bass, and Fred sang all the lot,
‘E wandered up and down the scale,
And though ‘e rather marred it
Cuz ‘e never knewed the words, and so ‘e “lah-lah-lahed” it,
“Lah-lah-lah-lah looked out”, ‘e sings with splendid power,
Zeveral neighbours looked out, too,
To see what all the row were,
We zings forte (sounded like an ‘undered),
Even in the soft bits ‘ow we thundered,
Every verse got worse and worse,
And though we all felt worn,
Yet all agree there were none like we, to ‘ail thee, ‘appy morn.
Still we never got no cash, which didn’t seem quite just,

Zeein’ we’d stood there for hours, a-singin’ fit to bust,

Then our policeman, old Bob Bates, comes down, a-scowlin’ proper,

“Good old Bob”, young Perkins cries, “At last we’ve got a copper!”

Good King Wenceslas last looked out, we zings with splendid power,
Zeveral neighbours looked out too, to zee what all the row were,

Then a change came on the situation,
Bob got nasty and took us to the station.
“Look ‘ere, Bates, we’re Christmas Waits,”
I says to him with scorn.
He said, with a sneer,
“Now wait in here
And ‘ail thee ‘appy morn.”

The piece below was mum and dad’s Christmas special – they used to perform this in fancy dress as a duo and remembered the lines perfectly, almost to the end of their lives.

Little Nell

It was a dark and stormy night
When my Nelly went away
And I’ll never forget her
Till my dying day
She was just 16
And the village queen
and the prettiest trick
That the valley ever seen
The farm ain’t the same since me Nelly went away
The rooster died and the hen won’t lay
But in this window I’ll put a light
40 below zero, gosh what a night
Who’s that a knocking at the door?

It’s your own Little Nell
Don’t you know me anymore?

What happened to the actor guy,
Who used to call you Honey
Did he leave you all alone when you hadn’t any money?

Oh, he’s a slick town guy and he lies with ease
And he’s got more money that a dog has fleas
But he left me alone when I was most forlorn
The very night that my little Dumbell was born.

Is that there Dummy?


Well it ain’t no other
The gosh-darned image 
Of his gosh-darned mother.

Hoity Toity my fair beauty
Or you’ll come to harm
Cos I hold the mortgage
On your gash-darned farm.

Give me back my Dummy.

Your Dummy?

My Dummy.


Your Dummy?


My Dummy.

Who’s this a comin’?
It sounds like a mule.

I ain’t no mule you gash-darned fool
,
Can’t you tell by me badge
I’m the constibule
Now what’s the harm?
Do please tell.

Well he ain’t done right by my Little Nell.

Yes I have.


You have not.

Yes I have.


You have not.
Well he’s spoilt me farm and ruined me daughter.

Well I guess I’ll have to fine him a dollar and a quarter.

Which all goes to prove the price of sin –
And tomorrow night we play East Lynn.

Avebury Solstice: A Day Too Early

I’m not a pagan; I’m a nothing,
Formally and spiritually speaking.
I might possibly be a bit of a pantheist:
Losing my head and myself
In wind, sky, silence, and landscape,
But I’m a bit of a dialectical materialist too,
With a dash of Gramscian cultural hegemony,
And a bit of rural-anarcho-syndicalism to add to the mix;
So, my trip to Avebury to witness the winter solstice
Was carried out in the manner of an observer
Rather than believer, but an open-minded observer:
A Coleridgian Wordsworthian Clareian Gramscian Marxist observer,
For that’s the set of ideas that ring a bell for me.

The day before my visit was initially bright and cheerful,
With cumulus clouds along the silver Severn,
A welcome break from this unremittingly mild mediocrity;
I know Ruskin said there was no such thing as bad weather,
Only varying types of good,
But this warm constantly cloud covered December
Has been a tad boring, hasn’t it?
No gleams of light, no rents in the cloud, no stars, no moon,
No Dorothy Wordsworth (1801): ‘Monday 21st, being the shortest day …
The snow lay deep upon the roads … I stayed at home and clapped the linen.’
No George Sturt (1890): ‘On the sycamores … the bark was very beautiful;
Green predominating, but a wonderful mauve too, with blues, yellows etc.,
All heightened and brilliant with a light reflected from the snow.’

Be that as it may, I caught the 5.35 to Swindon
(Which rather improbably carries on to Southampton),
Then walked up to Old Town
(People sleeping rough in the subway by the bus station),
To catch the 7.05 bus to Avebury,
Thence past my mum’s family’s graves in the church at Wroughton,
Through Captain Swing country below Marlborough Downs,
With stars in the west, an unraveling of blue in the east,
Splashes of orange in the dewponds and puddled ploughed fields,
And so to the Red Lion at 7.28
(‘Make sure you ring the bell next time’).

I expected the stone circle to be thronged,
But when I tentatively entered the field,
There were only two others,
And one of them immediately asked me this question:
‘What do you make of it all then?’
I fumbled out an answer about respecting others’ beliefs,
But I was a rationalist rather than a pagan and was a Marxist really.
He launched into a monologue about his life history,
And about how he had now got into Ufology,
Bought some lasers to explore extraterrestrial worlds,
And had in fact been taken on to a UFO, but had managed to escape.

I said: ‘Mate. All this is fascinating, but I really need to have some time to myself,
If you don’t mind, I need a bit of silence just to think.’

‘’Course, mate. But one last thing. In three months time
The government is going to tell the nation that we are about to be invaded from space and that we all should go into underground shelters.
But don’t, whatever you do. It’s a trick. Pleased to meet you. My name’s Tony.
What’s yours?’

‘Stuart.’
(I shake his proffered hand.)

‘Well remember what I told you mate.
And, by the way, the Solstice is actually tomorrow.’

I wandered off to watch rooks circle and parliament gather
In the filigreed branches of the stone circle’s beech trees,
As some forty people, mostly in anoraks,
Rather than shawls, doublets, gowns or breeches,
Spent a silently spiritual thirty minutes staring into the eastern sky,
As the rising sun burnished and gilded the horizon’s cumulus clouds;
People took pictures – not one selfie,
Then gradually and quietly dispersed.

After a walk and a marmite sandwich,
I returned to the Red Lion to await the return of the 49 from Trowbridge,
Where a heavily tattooed man in combat gear with a backpack questioned me:
‘ Did you sleep out last night, mate?’

I mumbled a reply about coming from Stroud;

‘I slept out in a hazel thicket last night. It got a bit cold but it were well worth it.
When I woke up I saw a dragon with rainbows in its eyes. I’m from Lincolnshire meself. You look cold, mate. You want to get one of these crystals. I’ve never had cold hands since I got this one from Glastonbury. Much better than gloves.’

I tried to change the subject politely by asking him if he would like to look at the pictures I had taken on my I-pad. A touch of moisture on the lens, or some sort of refraction of light caused by my photographing the sun, had resulted in a strangely ethereal apparition appearing in a succession of pictures within the stone circle.

‘You must have the right psyche, mate. Looks to me that you’ve brought a planet or a star down to earth. Well done mate. It’s not everyone who can do that. Are you a follower of the five pointed star?’

‘Here comes the bus.’

’49 mate. 7 times 7. A magical number. That’s no coincidence.’

He stood back for me to alight first.
I promised the driver that I would ring the bell.

I went up stairs to check my I-phone.
Yes. I had indeed come to the solstice a day early.
It was a Tim Dowling sort of moment.
And this is a Tim Dowling sort of ending.

I made sure I rang the bell when the bus got back to Old Town.

‘One Little town One big heart’: The Nation State, Stroud, Refugees and Migration

Introduction:

Hello Jeannie,
What do you think of this idea as a historical record? There is a long contextualising introduction – a personal and historian’s dispassionate voice – and then I’ve copied in fb entries (taking out names) to show the speed at which you are all operating and the mind-blowing organisation and response and consensual leadership – I thought I might try and keep track with NOW and also track the past entries and then put up for Christmastide, if you like.

I love it! Thats so good! Where will it go? There are a couple of bits repeated like the liability insurance. .is that intentional?
I think it’s great..

So, Jeannie, if I have your blessing, then I’ll post the attached when you reply, and leave it as top posting for about a week.
Stuart
You have my full blessing 🙂 send me the link please!

It’s all a bit confusing isn’t it?
National identity, I mean.
The Land of Hope and Glory
Rule Britannia God Save the Queen
England’s mountains green
Dark Satanic mills United Kingdom,
Subject Citizen befuddlement:
‘This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature, for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in a silver sea …’

But do you remember when you were young,
Writing your name and address in a new book,
Street, town, county, country, continent, world, universe:
That innocence was also an intuitive understanding
Of our dual identity as both national and world citizens,
A duality borne out by recent headlines in the local press:
‘Stroud Cares’, with pictures of banners declaring that
‘Stroud Supports Calais Refugees’,
‘GARAS.org.uk’, ‘Refugees Welcome’.

I am no longer young,
A white English (now middle class) male, born 1951
(Father and grandfather both serving their king in world wars),
Who can trace his ancestry back to London mariners and laundry women,
And Gloucestershire handloom weavers and spinners,
And Wiltshire and Berkshire agricultural labourers;
I was a child of Arthur Mee’s patriotic encyclopedias,
War games in the streets, fields and comics,
With the Daily Express to keep me informed …

But, educated in the 1960s and 70s,
I was also a Marxist and internationalist,
Who never forgot the long line of details of his boyhood address,
In an age when ‘Britain lost an Empire and was in search of a role’:
The ‘Special Relationship’ with the USA, perhaps,
Or should there be a close relationship with the Commonwealth,
Or should it be with Europe?
Plus ca change …

But what has changed, I think, is the idea of the nation state,
With subjects and citizens who defer to national boundaries –
European nation states are, to a great degree,
Inventions of only the last 200 years or so,
Passports are a historically recent innovation,
And most other parts of the world have borders
Defined even more recently,
By empires, decolonization, wars and peace treaties:

So many artificial and unstable frontiers –
But the age of the nation state is seemingly coming to an end,
And people are on the move,
There’s no turning back.

And people in Stroud are not turning their backs:

‘Just want to say a big thank you to Motalas mini market in Gloucester. They sold us loads of food and spices at cost price to take to Calais last week. Mr. Motala is happy to extend that offer to anyone in our group taking food to Calais.

OK so here is our next mission! CHRISTMAS AT CALAIS!!! A group of us are going to Calais on 19th December. Our aim is to take essentials for midwinter – food, firewood, hats, gloves, scarves and socks, especially for the more vulnerable at Calais such as the families, the adolescents and unacompanied minors, and the ill and injured.
So I need to get the word out for people to make up complete food bags for us to take – this list can be downloaded and printed off.
There are also other ways that people can help:
– donate winter hats, gloves, scarves and socks – all are better new – pennies in shops such as home bargains.
– donate firewood – either a net from a garage, or if you have a load of your own then please put some in a compost bag etc and donate that.
– donate money – to the https://www.youcaring.com/refugees-in-crisis-on-the-greek-i… or pay direct into my paypal jeannie.caton@gmail.com – but for either method, please leave a comment stating whether your money is for XMAS FOOD or XMAS FIREWOOD.
– money given for food will be spent on catering food for the free food kitchens
– money given for firewood will be handed over to those on the ground who are responsible for the supply of large deliveries of logs to the site.
PLEASE SHARE THIS AND SPREAD THIS AROUND…. DIG DEEP FOLK, LETS HELP SPREAD SOME SEASONAL WARMTH ….
THANK YOU!!!

CALAIS FOOD BAGS
USING A BIN BAG, PLEASE MAKE A COMPLETE BAG WITH THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:
3 tins fish – plain in oil…
2xTin/tetra pack kidney beans/chick peas/brown lentils
1xTin/tetra pack tomatoes
1x tube tomato puree
2xTin green beans/sweetcorn/peas/carrots (either/or, not one of each)
1xTin/2xpots rice pudding
2x tins peaches/pineapple
1×500 ml olive oil
1x1ltr Long life (full cream) milk
1xQuick cook rice – 1 kg
40 tea bags
500g sugar
1xPacket dried dates/apricots
1xPlastic jar jam/peanut butter
1x packet cereal bars
1x family packet peanuts
500g plain flour
1x packet veg stock cubes
Apple/orange juice 1 ltr
4 fresh onions
2 bulbs garlic
Plastic tubs salt and pepper
Vacuum pack olives
Plastic tubs spices – sumac, turmeric, garam masala, ginger, curry powder
Sturdy quality plastic cutlery – spoon fork knife – 4 of each

Fleece or wool blankets in new clean condition are urgently required. Drop off at Made in Stroud or The Prince Albert … small backpacks of essentials for babies and children of refugees, including waterproofs for children, sterilising tablets, thermal underlayers for age 4 plus, heat pads, new face flannels and underwear. Drop off at Made in Stroud by Friday 13 November midday.

On Saturday 14 November there is a “Drop & Sort” (items for refugees) event from 10am to 3pm, and a Jumble Sale from 2pm to 4pm at Rodborough Pavilion, with face painting, teas and cakes. Pick up a list of items required from Made in Stroud, Stroud Tourist Information, Stroud Library or The Prince Albert. There is a particular shortage of walking boots … travelling to the Greek Islands on November 23 and is collecting ‘food bags’. Pick up a list of items she is collecting from the outlets listed above … NEXT DONATION DROP AND SORT EVENT… SUNDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 9.30 – 12.30 AT THE WAREHOUSE IN STONEHOUSE
… Hi everyone, well it looks like the pop-up shop is full steam ahead! Now comes the hard work! Can anyone help out on Monday afternoon for a big clean? We would then like to clean and paint on Tuesday, if anyone can help then too? We may also be dismantling /building up parts of walls so it won’t necessarily be a calm and normal painting environment! I would guess it will be mayhem!! All help , cleaning materials, paint etc much appreciated …
WAREHOUSE OPEN FOR DONATIONS THIS MORNING 9.30 TO 12.30 – MEN’S JOGGING BOTTOMS, WARM JUMPERS, BOOTS – KIDS GLOVES… SLEEPING BAGS… YOU KNOW THE SCORE!!
Big shout out for paint please… Pale colours of emulsion please if anyone has any tins spare for painting up the shop next week…and big sheets of mdf, hardboard or similar ….and someone to fit it to a wall (easy quick job for someone who knows what they’re doing and has the tools) thanks again! Help needed! We have some exciting news, we have potentially scored a shop in middle street to use as a pop up shop for a month leading up to Christmas and we have ambitiously/foolishly decided we’d like to open for goodwill eve…but we need help! The shop needs a lot of cosmetic work so we need paint, possibly wooden boards, drapes, rugs, shop fittings (ideally), shelves, rails etc and major people power help to get it ready… Is this a crazy idea or are people willing to help us out ? The shop would sell all the donated, good quality, clothes and bric a brac that we already have, and take donations there too which could also be sold or given to the warehouse for sending to refugees, plus some crafty things and gifty things. We will be meeting to discuss this more with the shop owners on Saturday, so please let us know if you have anything, or are willing to help us get this together, thanks …
Hi all – I’m collating all the generously offered raffle prizes and making a display list for Goodwill on Friday – could all of you who have offered prizes please confirm by email to: refugeeaidstroud@gmail.com. If you could include a photo or illustration of your prize (anything will do) that would be great …
PRINCE ALBERT MEETING – THURSDAY 3RD – 7.30 – 8.30pm .. general consensus was that Thursday suits people a bit better, and means that the piece going in the paper each week can be talked about. Please spread the word that this has changed from Tuesdays…
Hi everyone, well it looks like the pop-up shop is full steam ahead! Now comes the hard work! Can anyone help out on Monday afternoon for a big clean? We would then like to clean and paint on Tuesday, if anyone can help then too? We may also be dismantling /building up parts of walls so it won’t necessarily be a calm and normal painting environment! I would guess it will be mayhem!! All help , cleaning materials, paint etc much appreciated …
Does anyone know anything much about public liability insurance? I think we really ought to get some for the pop up shop just so we’re covered, but we don’t have any money to buy it and don’t want to take it from the pot or from any money we raise… Can anyone help? Do you know if anyone already has some, could we be added to it? It’s only for one month? Thanks again …
CALAIS FLASH DONATION DROP (FOOD) A bunch of us are heading out to Calais this coming weekend and we have space on board to take some food over. We will be delivering it to one of the big catering kitchens who do an incredible job every single day. We are collecting the following very specific things only, by request of the kitchen:
- Chopped tomatoes (tins)
- Lentils (tinned or dried)
- Chickpeas (tins)
- Any other veg (tins)
- Spices Larger tins preferred if you are buying specifically, otherwise all sizes are good. All donations very gratefully received. Please deliver Mon-Fri 9am- 5pm to:
Trainspotters, New Mills, Libby’s Drive,
Stroud, GL5 1RN
(Head out of town on the Slad Road, take a diagonal right 100m beyond the Fountain Inn). Alternatively please drop in at the Stonehouse address if you know it and it is posted as being open. Thanks.
NEXT DONATION DROP AND SORT EVENT… SUNDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 9.30 – 12.30AT THE WAREHOUSE IN STONEHOUSE …
Hi Everyone, just a gentle reminder that this FB group is non political. This page is here for us to get together and do practical things to help those in crisis … I
It’s taken me a while to write this up, but if you were at The Albert last week to hear this refugee speak, you’ll know how incredible his story is. I’ve barely done it justice (and have had to change a few personal details) – but here it is …
Mmmmm. ..white Y fronts complete with skid marks!!!! NEW pants for men and women only please smile emoticon …
Really need some men down at the warehouse. …lots of heaving boxes around and pallet packing going on …
“News from Lesvos – IKEA refugee shelters here in Moria camp but no lights! Urgent need to buy lanterns, torches, etc. Please see link below to contribute to fund. Some of the cash to be spent immediately on lights, otherwise shelters too dark & unsafe to use – thank you all x” (from our Stroudie on the ground) …
Where do I direct Arabic speakers who would like to welcome people when they arrive in the area?
I want to take my 7.5 t lorry to Calais.. I cam go anytime.. I want to collect tools and wood fir building shelters.. Medicines.. Paracetamol etc.. Tents and sleeping bags.. I want to know wat water and electric facilities are there.. I have 2 washing machines here that if there is water n elec we can set up a laundry to at least wash peoples wet clothes.. I am after tumble driers. If there is electric.. I would like everyone to take the old tools and pots of nails that they never use..and let me know where they live.. I will collect.. I have about 6 tents but they wont last 1day!! I will be collecting pallets.. And any rolls of roofing/insulation.. Please please people.. See wat u can find!!; one lorry is like 7 cars!!!!!!!;;
A group of us in the forest are making fabric drawstring bags with sanitary / survival items and gloves and socks. We should hopefully be don’t by the end of next week. We would really like to get them sent over to any refugee camps in need of them. Is there any plans to send anything off around then that we can also get sent off to maybe Greece or Syria??
This is Jumble Mountain… this is all of the inappropriate items that we have been given in donations. Please only give us items that are on the list as we do not want this mountain to get any bigger!! Thank you for your generosity.
Lots of positive things have happened today but I write tonight with a heavy heart. Our funding target of £2000 has been exceeded by almost £1000 thanks to your generosity. Hundreds of people have been fed at the port and we have 400 breakfasts, 160 kids packed lunches sorted, and we have waved goodbye to a happy Imad on his way to mainland Greece. He had spent most of his day trying to help us reunite a very young married couple who had been separated during registration. We spoke with this girl, about 22 years old, whose husband had been arrested for not providing the right information. It took a while to get the gist of the story and once we’d established the facts in our three different languages … We wanted Imad to come and translate but he wouldn’t leave her side until we had confirmation of her husbands safety, till he knew whether he had been deported or imprisoned or worse…..So much generosity, so much willingly given time and energy for someone he was unlikely to ever see again..someone he had no real connection with other than common humanity. So much for dog eat dog when you are down and out… That’s something I haven’t seen a scrap of here.
We went to spend your donations on fruit and eggs and stuff for tomorrow’s breakfast and arranged to meet them later to hand over the van.
Back to the port. A balmy Aegean evening, pinky blue skies, mauve water, bobbing boats a far cry from the freezing black waters, the overstuffed dinghys, the dangerously inadequate ‘life’ jackets and the choking of the overloaded outboards, the fear, the vomit, the suffocation of just a few nights before. You could almost be fooled into thinking they were on holiday.
Families with little more than the clothes on their backs took snaps in the fading light with the twinkling lanterns of the boats in the background. Beaming smiling faces. Imagining better futures away from the bombs and the terror most of them have left behind. These families, like ours, sleeping on the streets… Hungry, but smiling because they had moved beyond the razor wire of Moria and the dehumanising, cattle truck queues of registration… Moria, a hellish place where no human should have to live. A filthy stinking detention centre, fit only for criminals and and dangerous beasts. Burning plastic, shredded tents flapping in the wind. Toddlers playing in stagnant puddles. Desperation and uncertainty written on the faces of their parents . Homeless, stateless, forgotten.
The buses take those ‘lucky’ enough to have been registered away from here while a few surly taxi drivers circle like hawks. Lucky? God help them, if only they knew how brief this ‘luck’ would be. With the tickets for their onward journeys in their pockets and a few meagre bags of donated clothing these lucky ones could feel, for a fleeting moment, a sense of relief and freedom. Freedom to buy a ferry ticket, freedom to chatter in the fading sunlight by Mytilini’s picturesque harbour, freedom to take photos of the sunset, freedom to dream of a better life..for just a moment.
I write this with a heavy heart because the news from Europe is not good. Because we are sending them onwards to certain suffering, because the borders are closing and thousands are freezing. No toilets, no food, no clothes, no water, just fences…. And cold…. Bitter, bitter cold. How much can these people endure? How much could you endure?
Yes….. Some positive things have happened today but its actually worse than yesterday and tomorrow will be worse than today and those kids with their smiles and their teddy bears may freeze to death if the world doesn’t tear down these fences, if the warlords (OUR governments) don’t stop the bombs.
Ponder this when you are tucked up in bed tonight. Ponder these innocent blue lipped children with chattering teeth, the trauma of their parents unable to care for them. The desperate men sewing their mouths shut in protest, the hollow eyed mothers who have no tears left.
Some positive things happened today but it is not enough because for every breakfast we are making at 2am in the morning there are thousands of others who won’t eat for days.
Thanks to all who are supporting us and helping us support these people. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. But bear in mind how little it is in the face of all this horror. Don’t stop giving, don’t stop caring and please I beg you, do every tiny little thing you can towards pressuring those who have the power to end this suffering.
There is a great need for socks. Please consider sponsoring a pair or even two. It will make a difference. People are presenting with cold, wet and injured feet. Socks are always in demand. So please if you can support, please do x
Hiya, would really like to donate some warm clothing etc if you need it, but I’m in Cirencester and don’t drive – is there anyone my way who would be able to pick it up? Many thanks
STROUD REFUGEE AID FUND – donate here.. if it’s for something specific then write in the comments what you want the money to be for… “Calais food/firewood” for example.. alternatively pay direct to my PayPal which is where this fund money ends up..except every donation loses a percentage in PayPal fees.. if you pay direct to jeannie.caton@gmail.com and say you are sending money to a friend then nothing is lost in fees. Thanks
To all the lovely people who care about these poor refugees – if you’re like me and constantly thinking about all the little innocent children and babies affected by this horrific situation, I’m hoping you will help. I am calling for all baby carriers – baby bjorns, ergo’s, slings, anything you or your friends have that can carry a baby and rolled/wrapped up and packed to be shipped. Let’s get as many as we can to help these poor people carry their precious cargo on their treacherous journey and hold the hand of their other. You can drop off at my address in Cheltenham or my mum’s in Stroud. Please pm me for details xxxx. Can possibly collect if difficult to deliver
Hello! Some friends and i are organising a refugee aid fundraising evening. We have twisted fix club on the 28th. It will be a circus, cabaret, poetry, general entertainment and fun evening with food for sale.
I have quite a few people already who will preform, but there is room for more! So if you have anything to say or are a circus/cabaret performer or just a funny chap, come showcase your skills for a worthy and hearty cause.
Facebook page for the event will be up today. Many thanks and please spread thee word

Hi, I wondered if it would be possible to get some kind of Work Experience? I am really passionate about this project and l am looking to get a place from the 11th to the 18th of December with any available hours. I can help with anything and I am very hard working and enthusiastic. I’m 18 and currently at Stroud College doing a BETC. I’m also going to university next year to study international relations and politics.

I’m going to Calais for the big clean up this weekend coming….I want to take firewood with me.. if anyone can donate a net or 2 of cut wood can you bring it to the warehouse please before Friday pm…or if anyone can do me a deal on cut and bagged wood I still have fundraised money to buy a load with…thanks
Thanks to everyone who helped get the RefugeeAid-Stroud stall together at Goodwill Eve last night….for the loan of the tables, for the amazing banner, for the gas ring and gas, for everyone’s time and energy..and for the great raffle prizes generously donated… with mulled wine and raffle tickets we raised over £200 in the best part of 2 hrs so that’s not bad going!! THANK YOU!

DONATIONS OF FOOD AND FIREWOOD WANTED TODAY AT THE WAREHOUSE – to be taken to Calais tomorrow. .. FOOD – catering food for the free kitchens..bigger size the better but doesn’t really matter.. rice, tins of pulses beans (not baked) tomatoes, veg soups, fish, flour, dates fruit juice spuds onions carrots ..spices salt pepper sugar etc.. FIREWOOD – Sawn chopped and bagged please! Can accept donations til 4 pm. …please spread this around..thanks!

Warehouse open. . Sun is shining. . . boxes filling. . . Come on down

Our website is up and running, although still a work in progress…have a look Stroudies!

Warehouse will be open this afternoon from around 12.30 for sorting if any of you lovely people would like to come….x

DESPERATELY NEEDED FOR FREE FOOD KITCHENS IN CALAIS…..CATERING EQUIPMENT – PANS ETC….One kitchen had loads of stuff stolen and another kitchen in the family field is trying to start up…both need stuff urgently…I am going out on this Sunday (22nd ) and can pick stuff up tomorrow. . Or donations can be brought to the warehouse in the afternoon. Thanks!

We have a load of mugs, charity shop won’t take them because the transfers and patterns have worn off but they’re perfectly usable, any good?

Is it any kitchen pans? Got some I could donate, but they’re not catering sized

actually i’ve just heard from them directly and what they need is gas burners more than anything… and food!!
Thanks to the people of Stroud for the latest donation to the Refugee Aid – Stroud’s fundraiser… the money from the Jumble Sale last Saturday! Fantastic!! This fund is to pay for future shipping, helping volunteers get to Calais, Greece, or anywhere in between, and to buy bulk loads of items that are desperately needed… please please please donate to this fund, and then share it amongst your generous friends.. thanks…

People who are coming to the donation drop / jumble sale tomorrow at Rodborough pavilion. …could you please splash out on some NEW underwear to donate for the refugees (obviously! )… for men we need underpants /boxers in small and medium… for women we need pants in sizes 8 to 16… and bras (apparently pound stores do stretchy bras that cover a few sizes and are also good for breastfeeding )… children we need boys/girls in all ages 2 to 14… if everyone spent a couple of quid we would have a good load to send off…THANKS!

LIFE AT THE WAREHOUSE….so today we are expecting a delivery of 2225 pairs of children’s wellies!! Donated by Jojo Maman Bèbe (thank you!!)….we could’ve had more but I didn’t want to be greedy…..! Warehouse is open for a day of sorting and socialising for those who fancy it… ‘

URGENT – STROUD DISTRICT COUNCIL HAVE DONE A BIT OF A U-TURN AND HAVE SAID THAT WE EITHER HAVE TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAREHOUSE BY 25TH DECEMBER (!!!) OR START PAYING BUSINESS RATES PAYABLE FROM 26TH… £518 A MONTH…
The way I see it we have several options:
– crowdfund to pay the rates
– individuals/companies step forward to pay the rates
– we find another warehouse
– we stop collecting and sending aid, and focus on fundraising and getting volunteers to where they are needed, and buying aid and sending direct.
How it is right now is that we are going to have to pay one month of £518 to take us up to 26th January. This will give us a bit of breathing space to get through the seasonal holiday, and then to get as much of the aid sent out to Calais and the Greek Islands as possible.
We will be organising a more formal meeting in the new year for anyone to attend, and we will talk about where RefugeeAid-Stroud is going, and how to do that. If anyone has any ideas or interest in this group then please keep an eye out for the meeting event.
please bump this up so that everyone gets to see it!

MPORTANT PLEASE READ: The situation with the warehouse is as follows: from 25th December we have to pay business rates in order to stay there. There is alternative storage space elsewhere but we are unable to move out of the warehouse by 25th as after today both myself and Gail Campbell (the 2 signed key holders) are away until the new year. So we will have to pay to stay until then anyway. We have decided to pay a month’s rates which takes us up until 23rd January (contract was until 24th December) in order that we can get another shipment out to the Greek Islands, do another jumble sale to get rid of jumble mountain (that has grown again massively!), and generally clear the place without being in a panic. This will mean a payment of £518 that will be coming out of the funds, but really is a cost that we are lucky to have not had to pay so far. But if enough people put in some pennies (20 people x £25, 50 people x £10 etc) then that would reimburse the fund which is better spent elsewhere.
Having to suddenly think about things has led to the people who put most effort in at the warehouse re-evaluating the situation. Over the last couple of months, and in the near future up to end of January we will have achieved a great amount. But we feel that now is the time to stop the general collecting and sorting for several reasons:
– it is incredibly time consuming and to continue it would need a committed team of a number of people so that there is no need for anyone to be there full time.
– Stroud has given so much and now it seems to be outlying areas such as Tewkesbury, Cirencester, Winchcombe and even below Bath that are bringing stuff to us, which is great, but we don’t have the manpower or time to become a Gloucestershire Hub.
– If we have to now pay then it is not a viable option. – as I’ve stated earlier there is alternative storage space that is spacious and dry and safe, but it does not have lorry access for loading. However we may well use this for storage of particular items if someone puts a shout out before they go to Calais etc. but it is not a space that can be used in the same way as the warehouse has been used.
– The last reason is because myself and Gail cannot offer our time so much anymore – we both really need to look for paid work! We both want to stay committed to RefugeeAid-Stroud but on a part-time basis.
So how it all stands at the moment is that we will stop accepting donations of clothing in the first week of January – no more clothing after Wednesday January 6th. We will still accept sleeping bags, blankets, tents, boots up until Friday January 15th as there is a trip to Calais that weekend. After that we will accept no more donations. We are booking a pallet collection for January 11th which may go to just one Greek Island or maybe 2 – we will be taking the begging bowl around for that to pay for the shipping smile emoticon
We want to thank you all for your generosity and thank you to everyone who has come and helped at the warehouse or given us time in other ways (or cake, chocolates, coffee etc!)… and a huge thank you to everyone who has donated any item of anything, or who has donated money for this cause.
So where does RefugeeAid-Stroud go now?? We have decided to move forward as a group which focuses on fundraising, to form as an Association, with a bank account, and focus on 3 areas of funding:
– helping volunteers financially to get out to where they are needed
– feeding financially into grassroots organisations on the ground both in Calais (Care4Calais) and the Greek Islands and even in between.
– being able to buy specific items that are desperately needed by the grassroots organisations, and get them immediately shipped out to them.
This is what we will be focusing on as a group. But we are also many individuals with our own ideas and plans, and that is what is so wonderful about us! There will continue to be people with their own individual trips out to places, who may or may not put a shout out for items that they would like to take with them…to start with, the only thing we will focus on as a formed group is fundraising.
But we collectively feel that it is time to move on from general collecting and shipping. It has been incredible, joyous, and humbling.
Of course this does not mean that no one else can do what we’ve been doing, and if others wanted to pick up where we leave off then we’d be happy to offer any hints and tips that we’ve learned along the way. As previously mentioned, there is some storage available to be used, which would be great on a smaller scale from what has been going on at the warehouse. But we will be moving out of the warehouse at Stonehouse by January 22nd, and will be turning our attentions to other things.
As from today, Friday 18th November, 4pm, the warehouse will be shut until Monday 4th January. We will need volunteers a plenty in that first week especially so please if you can spare a few hours on any day then you will be more than welcome!
Midwinter blessings to you all!