Capital Ring Walk 2: Falconwood to Grove Park

Today, Gill and I completed the 2nd "Capital Ring" walk around London. Officially only 3.5 miles but our Zepp Life walking app claimed 6 miles. This included walks from local railway stations to start and finish but also getting a little lost and exploring the gardens in Eltham Palace. 

It was more built up than last week (no sunshine and much colder) but still very pleasant, mostly walking through parks, green lanes and footpaths. 

The highlight was stopping off at Eltham Palace, childhood home of King Henry V111 and the country home of the English monarchy for over 250 years, run now by English Heritage. We did not have time to tour the inside of the Palace, and had a disappointing experience with a grumpy and rude cafe manager but the other staff and volunteers were most welcoming. Will return in summer to explore further. 

The Courtaulds family bought and restored the site in the 1930s, using I assume their wealth obtained from their textile mills. I was brought up in North Wales and the mills in Flint and Holywell were major employers but when they closed,  it contributed to massive unemployment at the time. There are also serious concerns about the safety of these mills and the impact on its workers. 

We passed the home of famous cricketer WG Grace and the theatre named after another famous local boy, the comedian Bob Hope, who emigrated to America aged 4.  British comedian, Frankie Howard was also brought up near here. We then walked past the home of "Farmer Brown" who at the turn of the 20th century, dressed in smock and tall hat, who lived to the age of 102 "on a diet of whiskey, ale, steak and cigars". 

It took about an hour to get there and back via train from Forest Gate. You can get a route for free form google maps but we used Ordnance Survey app (subscription) and the guide book "The Capital Ring" by Colin Saunders. 

Check out further pictures on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/walksinandaroundlondon/

The return of a Buckley Mug

Last month I went "home" to North Wales to help my sisters move my Mum to a new sheltered flat in Ruthin from Denbigh.

I had a couple of hours to kill so drove over the lovely Clywdian hills to Buckley.

I was brought up in Buckley, Flintshire until I was about 15 years old and the family moved further up the North Wales coast to Holywell.  I still stayed in School until 18.

I have not been back to Buckley for many years and the town has changed a lot.

Buckley use to be "an industrial heartland for pottery and coal mining". The term "Buckley mugs" was used by outsiders to describe its inhabitants since there used to be 14 different potteries in the town. Although in Wales it is only 6 miles from the English boarder. The distinctive old "Potteries" Buckley accent has now died out but as a boy I can remember old men in flat caps coming into the newsagents I used to work at ("Freds" at the Cross) very early in the morning and "thee" and "thou" while buying their tobacco and the Daily Mirror.

My father came from Scotland to work at the local aircraft factory in nearby Broughton (still open today) and met my Mum who was a local auxiliary nurse from Denbigh. 

I drove past the houses we used to live in (Church Road and Maxwell Close) and my old Primary School (Mountain Lane) and Secondary School (Elfed High).

I was somewhat dismayed to see that the old quarries that I used to play in when I was young had been filled in and built over with new housing - but such is life.

The infamous Buckley nightclub "The Tivola" (Tiv) is still there while Buckley Common is still open and undeveloped, a great place for kids.

The picture is of Buckley Town Hall and the adjacent swimming baths and public library. This hasn't changed though the baths are long closed. "The historically-important baths were built by the local Miners’ Welfare Committee with funds generated through a one-penny-per-ton levy from local mine owners, part of a national scheme designed to alleviate poor living standards in mining communities".

It was calculated that 1.2 million tons of coal had to be dug out to pay for those baths.This was during the days when coal had to be mined by pick axe and shovel (1920's).

My father, another John Gray, was an assistant branch secretary of the Electricians Union, a Tenants Association rep and Labour Councillor for Buckley Town Council. I can remember people in the street stopping and chatting to him about local political issues (and calling him "Jock" - which when I was little used to mystify me why they called him this?)

To my shame the only people I am still in contact with (and that largely by Facebook) from Buckley now also live elsewhere.

Each year on the 2nd Tuesday in July there is a "Buckley Jubilee" and tradition procession through the town.

One day this Buckley mug will return and take part.

"What do you think Prime Minister?"

<
Hat tip "anon".  This song and the music takes me back to when as a teenager I lived in Holywell, North Wales, which overlooked Liverpool across the Dee Estuary and the Wirrel. During the Toxteth Riots of 1981 we could see parts of Liverpool burning from Holywell due to the disturbances. It was a sobering experience which I have never forgotten and which I remembered during the riots in London last year. To be clear - there is no excuse for such violence behaviour. Yes, we had Tories doing what Tories always try to do the poor in 1981 and 2011 but burning and looting your own community is just plain stupid. It is always the ordinary working class people who always suffer the most from such riots. Yet, anyone who does not think mass unemployment and extreme poverty will not result in such violence, sadly just doesn't get it. 

BarryJones4Martin

Good to see former Flintshire MP Barry Jones (left) on “bloggers4labour” post tonight. He is supporting top Labour candidate Martin Eaglestone, a Labour Party candidate for the Welsh Assembly. I joined the Labour Party in Holywell, North Wales in (I think) 1978? Barry was our local MP. I can’t remember the first time I met him. It was either in a Holywell Council by-election or the 1979 general election. A lot of Wrexham lager was flowing at this time. However, I remember him driving me around during a local campaign. I would jump out of the car and deliver a leaflet then we would move off to another address. He was very pleasant and “normal”. None of that “I am a MP” great man nonsense. I wonder if Connah's Quay Labour Club is still about?

I remember the Holywell By-election, because on the day, I was with a local trade union steward (Paul? Shotton steel worker or textiles mills?) who’s effective but unorthodox campaigning tool was to stand on a wall looking out for people and grab workers on the way home from work to go and vote Labour. People would actually try to hide and run away. But he would always catch them and send them off to ballot box. This is of course totally unlike modern day Tower Hamlets or Newham (joke).

I am going back home to Wales for a long weekend after Easter and must help out the local party for an hour or 3.