Thaxted Circular Walk (and return to the Church of the "Red Vicar")

 

Gill and I returned today to Thaxted in Essex to follow this 6.5 mile  circular walk from our old version of the local Pathfinder Guide. We did this walk previously in 2014. 

Today was a lovely tramp through largely quiet countryside but had no great challenges.  There was however noise from planes passing over to land at Stanstead airport. 

The weather was lovely, with blue skies and sunshine but a cold wind. We hardly saw anyone during the walk. There were a number of my favourite ancient enclosed green lanes. Some paths were a little muddy but if it had been wet, you would need to wear wellies or gaiters. 

We saw wild deer, red kites birds of prey, squirrels, numerous other birds, lots of snow drops, daffodils and beautiful early tree blossom. Spring is definitely on its way. 

In 2014 I posted here on this walk that a past priest of the amazing Thaxted church, was known as the "Red Vicar", who use to fly the Red Flag banner of the Soviet Union and Shin Fenn, inside the church and then had to be protected by dismissed Police strikers from outraged locals. 

On the way back we stopped off at the 15th century timber framed Guild Hall and noticed a remembrance plaque to local men, who had died in the first and second world wars. Apart from noting that 55 killed during the first world war, compared with "only"10 in the second. You can see that liberty and freedom can some times come at a terrible price. 

Gill noticed that the names of a "John Gray" and a "Walter Gray" were recorded on the plaque as being killed in action during the first world war. It would appear from my internet searches that both of them were local young men who were killed in 1917 and may have been related but were not siblings. 

After a pleasant drink in the local "Swan Pub" we drove back to London, listening to the dreadful news updates on the vile and fascistic invasion of brave Ukraine by Russia and its foul dictator, Putin.  

Check out more photos https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10158647568778434&id=732243433

In Memory of 13 West Ham Heroes killed by Enemy Action 7 September 1940

"Memorial at LBN Abbey Road Depot, to those killed on one of the first attacks on the 7th September, 1940, known as `Black Saturday`. This was the start of the `Blitz`, although not the first bombs to fall on West Ham, Beckton Road was bombed on the 31st August". Hat tip Robert Rogers Newham History Society on Facebook. 

"account of the incident from The London Blitz – A Fireman’s Tale by Cyril Demarne who was a Sub-Officer in the Auxiliary Fire Service at the time and later became Chief Fire Officer for West Ham" hat tip Richard Durack Newham Council Heritage Service.

Remembering local Nazi atrocity - V1 attack on Forest Gate 27 July 1944

Above is a picture collage from this evening's anniversary vigil to remember the victims of a Nazi Flying bomb attack on this day 27 July 1944 which killed horribly at least 38 East Enders (updated figure) at this very spot.

Forest Gate Councillor, Anamul Islam, read out the speech below, While Councillor Rachel Tripp read out a message of support form our West Ham MP, Lyn Brown.

We had leafleted the local area beforehand about the event and I was really pleased that a 80 year local resident, who remembered the atrocity turned up to point us out to the exact location of the attack and give us the copies of the newspaper reports in top left of college. Another resident offered help with the funding of a permanent memorial to the victims (what a good idea).

Many thanks to "E7 now and then" website for providing historical content and Councillor Seyi Akiwowo, for organising leaflets and publicity.

Cllr Islam "I would like to start in the first instance by thanking everyone for making the time to come to mark an important moment in our local history.

During WW2 Newham was one of the most badly damaged parts of London. The bombs came in two waves - the Blitz of 1940/1 and the V1 and V2 raids of 1944/5.

Forest Gate was less badly hit than other parts of Newham such as the dock area, but nonetheless we suffered almost 200 recorded direct hits during the Blitz and about 50 V1 or V2 rockets- but each one was far more lethal- killing at least 70 civilians in total.

This evening we remember the dead of one of the most horrific attacks- when a doodlebug struck the corner of Pevensey and Dames Roads, hitting a passing trolley bus. It was near Holly Tree pub- where we stand today- on 27 July 1944.

The bomb caused mayhem- just how much is unclear. There are no reliable contemporary accounts as the press at that time was heavily censored so as not to give too much information to the enemy.

The Stratford Express was the local paper at the time and was only able to report that a number of buildings close to a public house were damaged. The public house was not named.We know today it was the Holly Tree, where we stand near bye.

The account went on to name four passengers who were killed. It hinted that others were killed or wounded but did not give details. After the war official Air Raid papers named a further four people who were killed that night- almost certainly by the bomb.We know the names, therefore, of eight people killed but following the published memoirs of West Ham’s Chief Fire Officer, Cyril Demarne, we know that probably dozens more died that day as a result of a fascist terror attack. Fire Chief Demarne described the Dames Road bomb as ‘the most horrific thing I have ever witnessed’. His full memoire was published in 1980 by the Newham Bookshop.

It is doubtful that we will ever know the full scale of the death and casualty toll of this dreadful bombing. If there are any lessons to be learned it is that we should never ignore the rantings of seemingly mad fascists and racists, whether they wrap themselves in a black shirt or in the Union Jack. Now, just as then, the price we pay for liberty is eternal vigilance against racism and prejudice.

Let us never forget the dead of this awful bomb blast, or the lesson their destruction leave us.

We will now read out the names of those known to have been killed:

Gladys Blackburn, aged 39

Wendy Blackburn, aged 4

Abraham Ince, aged 76

Edith Tilley, aged 41

William Winter

Denis Barfield

Thomas Driscoll

Reginald Hillman

We will now have a minutes silence.

(note newspaper report that 34 bodies were recovered from bus and more victims died of injuries in hospital and this does not include those killed nearby in their homes)

Forgotten Heroes - Remembering the Muslim sacrifice in the battle against tyranny

On Thursday I casually retweeted an interesting looking tweet from Rokeby School about "Remembering the sacrifice of Muslim soldiers, who gave their lives and their limbs in the name of duty"

Today I had a closer look at the tweet and its link to this article and video.

I would recommend that all EDL and UKIP supporters should read about the sacrifice of Muslim soldiers in the first and second world war, who fought and gave their lives to save Britain from tyranny and for their King.

Some highlights:-

"Visit the Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium and you will see these and numerous other obviously Muslim names on the memorial that is dedicated to the commemoration of soldiers killed in the Ypres Salient of the First World War, whose resting places are unknown. It is a large Hall of Memory, honouring 54,896 British and Commonwealth soldiers who could not be buried, their names cut into vast panels.

"The marble in Ypres that bear these names will endure, but they remain cold and silent. As a country – and as Muslims in particular – we have failed to honour the memory of those who fought to protect the freedoms we enjoy today. The memorial in Ypres testifies to the service of Muslim soldiers but we, their descendants and their debtors, have neglected to remember the scope of their sacrifice"

"Military historian Major Gordon Corrigan says the role of the British Indian Army was vital to the war effort; had they not helped fortify the front line during the First World War the Germans might well have broken through and made it to the ports on the English Channel. “The Punjabi Musselman was regarded as the backbone of the old Indian army, and constituted about a third of the British Indian Army. Known for their reliability, they were steady men who could be depended on to carry out any task at hand.”

"From the trenches "In May 1915 Subadar Muhammad Agia of the 57th Rifles wrote, “It is just like the grinding of corn in a mill; there is no counting the number of lives lost. Not a single British or native officer of the old regiment is left, and not one sepoy.”

"British officers who led Indian regiments immersed themselves in the culture of India; learning to speak the same language, even eating the same food as the men they were leading. Major Corrigan explains, “The reason the British were better at running armies not of their race was because of the accommodations they made; unlike the French who would make recruits learn their language, the British Officer was expected to learn the language of his men. Urdu was the official language of the Indian Army at the time but they also had to learn regional dialects and have specialist knowledge of the religious needs of their men.”

"Stationed in France at the time of Eid in July 1917, Abdul Ali Khan wrote, “All of the Muslims of the Division had their prayers together and the assembly was close to our regiment. We, as far as possible, gave them food and tea. About 1,500 men assembled and prayers were offered for the victory of our King.”

"so important was the Muslim contribution in both World Wars that Churchill himself wrote, “We must not on any account break with the Muslims who represent 100 million people and the main army elements which we must rely on for the immediate fighting.”

"Field Marshall Sir Claude Auchinleck, a British army commander during World War II, “Britain couldn’t have come through both wars if they hadn’t the Indian army.”

"there was also the Palestine Regiment; and in World War II Arabs and Jews fought together under the British flag against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy".

"World Wars I and II connect every family in Britain. “If more was known about the contribution of so many Muslim soldiers of the British Indian Army, it might help to restore a sense of pride, and cement the social bonds of different communities in British society,” Jahan suggests. “This would turn the idea of a shared heritage into a meaningful weapon against prejudice.”

"The recognition of a shared past has the potential to give us a sense of a shared future; a future not marred by war, but rather one of contributing to the common good. That is why this Remembrance Day we must honour all those who died, including the Muslims who gave their lives for the freedom of this country".

...and so say I. Last Remembrance Day I went to Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium and you could clearly see the names on the monument of the many Muslim, Sikh and Hindu soldiers who died in Flanders fields.

"Bomber Command and conquering the Nazi war machine"

I would recommend this posting by Geoffrey Goodman who is a former industrial correspondent for the Daily Mirror and also served in the RAF in Bomber Command during the Second World War. Hat tip Tribune magazine.

"I suppose it was a most poignant moment for me. Having served with the RAF during the war, I attended a service at St Clement Danes, the RAF church in central London, some 20 years ago where the Queen unveiled the statue of Sir Arthur Harris – Bomber Harris as he is usually labelled. That event was accompanied by jeering protesters whose unapologetic cry was: “Harris was a war
criminal”.

I was both shocked and surprised at the outburst of venom against Sir Arthur Harris. The raucous tones pierced like shrapnel. As a non-believer, I had come to that church two decades ago simply to salute comrades who had been among the 55,573 bomber crewmen killed as they flew to counter-blitz Nazi Germany. That was 44.4 per cent of Bomber Command’s entire aircrew force of 125,000. Were we war criminals, simply obeying orders regardless? Was the whole thing an astronomical waste of lives, British and German? Could it be that some of our fellow citizens actually regarded our war-time service as an act of murder?

Many of my fellow RAF mates, like me, were committed socialists. So was everything we did in dropping bombs on German towns, cities as well as specific military targets an unpardonable debasing of our socialism? Had we simply conformed by obeying orders? More to the point, I wondered those 20 years back, did these protesters believe there was an alternative, apart from surrender? Were we being accused, by definition, of being accomplices simply by obeying orders from this man Harris – whom some of our crews used to label “Butcher Harris”?

In fact, was the entire Bomber Command an army of “war criminals” submissive to leaders such as Harris? Such were the reflections which, inevitably, sifted through my mind during that St Clement Danes Church service two decades ago.

All of which tended to emerge again, recently, when the same Queen, 20 years older, unveiled the magnificent, long overdue, monument to Bomber Command on the edge of London’s Hyde Park.
Except, this time there were no protesters crying out “murderers”. Check out rest of article here.

London Marathon 2012 WK 21: Olympic Park Machine Gun and Anti-tank traps

)Run of the week was thru West Ham Park, then along the Greenway to Stratford High Street then thru Olympic Park back on Greenway to Old Ford Locks then to Temple Mills and back home again via West Ham Greenway. This took two hours (and resulted in an 'oribble blister in my left foot)

Inside the Olympic Park you actually pass Second World War London machine gun pill box and anti-tank defences, which are almost next to the
Olympic stadium (see picture).

There was a number of defensive rings built around London against an expected German invasion.

I once went on a West Ham Labour Party historical tour of the area led by a local historian who explained about the defences and that the final defensive ring in London was around Whitehall. The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was reputed to have vowed never to leave in the event of an successful invasion and to have pledged to remain and defend London to the death. You could imagine his final counter attack against the advancing enemy while smoking his trademark cigar, with a glass of single malt whiskey in one hand and a Tommy gun in the other. 

I am running the London Marathon for a charity set up to prevent young people becoming homeless and helping them if they do. Check out "Alone in London". Click here to sponsor me on the Justgiving website.

"From the British People. To Victory! We are With You!"

"From the British People. To Victory! We are With You!" Sleeveprint: Second Front
against Nazism 1941-2011 1941 To Victory!

£5 OFF FOR FIRST 48 HOURS! Just £16.99, usual price £21.99 Based on an original wartime design by the English artist Reginald Mount. This poster was attached to aircraft sent from Britain to aid the Soviet war effort. In 1941 this included RAF No 151 Wing Hurricanes and their aircrew joining the Red Army in their fight against the Nazi invaders. Available in sizes small (36inch chest/90cms), medium (40inch/100cms), large (44inch/110cms), x-large (48inch/120cms) and xx-large (52inch/130cms).

This is another greatpolitical and historical teeshirt offer from philosphyfootball. Related products1941 Arctic Convoy T-shirt 1941 Life and Fate T-shirt 1941 Leningrad T-shirt

"We band of brothers"

Major Richard "Dick" Winters - the original American Paratrooper who with his Easy Company comrades was featured in the superb book and film "Band of Brothers" died recently.

He lived to a ripe old age of 92 despite the awful combat experiences he had gone through in his youth.  He had however been ill for several years with Parkinston Disease.

Not only did they survive being parachuted into France on D Day and the Battle of the Bulge but he and his comrades also took part in the liberation of a German concentration Camp.  After which he said to himself "Now I know why I am here".

Richard had originally enlisted in the Army as a private and after the War turned down the offer to be a regular soldier to return to civilian life.

I posted this in 2009.  Hat-tip Harry's Place

"And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother" Henry V

BNP "honours" Japan criminals who murdered Brit POW'S

Driving back home to the Smoke (London) from Auld Reekie (Edinburgh) today I was incensed to listen to a news report on Radio 4 "PM" about a senior full time official of the BNP (British Nazi Party) Adam Walker, who is attending a meeting of fascists in Tokyo organised by an extreme right wing nationalist party who deny that Japan committed atrocities during the Second World War.

They are all also even going to visit  "Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine in the capital that honours Japan's war dead, including 14 class-A war criminals".

I listened to this mumbling apologist for the mass murder, torture and starvation of British and Commonwealth 2nd World War prisoners (and the murder and rape of countless millions of other victims of Japanese racist aggression) as he tried to defend the indefensible. 

By coincidence on Thursday I visited the three military museums in Edinburgh Castle and can vividly remember the many harrowing accounts and pictures of Japanese executions and deliberate cruelty to Scottish Prisoners of War. 

Putting aside mere common decency and humanity for the moment - how on earth can anyone who claim to support our armed forces and be a patriotic Brit possibly support the BNP after this latest crass exposure of its deep rooted Nazi cultism?

Hat-tip to Paul for YouTube video.

(Check out my next post for details of a later Radio 4 programme I heard this afternoon that I did not shout abuse at).