What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.
Tank traps
We have some history today. The river is the Churn and it runs in several different channels through the Cotswold town of Cirencester. On the bank you will notice three, large, concrete blocks; there’s also a fourth, partly hidden by the block on the left. The blocks were placed here during the Second World War to slow down German armour in the event that Britain was invaded. German failure to win the Battle of Britain in the air war prevented the invasion, but at the time the blocks were cast and put in place invasion remained a real threat.
The trees in the photo and the wall in the background are more recent than the blocks. The river bank led to an open field with the grounds and gardens of Abbey House beyond at that time, with the centre of the town on the other side of the gardens. The town would have been very vulnerable to attack from this direction.
Similar tank traps have been used along the front lines by both sides in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The main difference is that modern, concrete traps are pyramidal (‘Dragon’s Teeth‘, not cubic. The sloping sides use less concrete and are more effective against tanks, but concrete cubes were also commonly used in the 1940s.
It pays to anticipate problems. But wars are rarely anticipated years in advance; political differences can boil over into actual conflict quite suddenly. And once they have started it can be very difficult to bring them to an end.
NOTE: These blocks can be seen from Grove Lane in Cirencester, quite close to the Norman Arch. From inside the Abbey Grounds, walk through the arch and turn right along the footpath for just a few yards. Look across the river, and there they are! A piece of Cirencester history that you can see for free.
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.
The River Churrn in Stratton
This photo shows the River Churn flowing through Stratton Meadow on the northern edge of Cirencester, with the old Stratton Mill in the background. As you can see, the Churn is only a small river, but like the Thames its name is very ancient, going back at least to Iron Age times. In Roman Britain the Thames was Thamesis and Churn is the Corin in Corinium (the Roman name for Cirencester). It’s also the Ciren in Cirencester and the Cerney in several villages north and south of the town.
Rivers are intriguing things, the water contained in them is flowing so the water you see now is different from the water that you saw five minutes ago. Yet the river usually changes its course very little in a human lifetime, so there’s a sense of constancy about it. The water is here for moments only, but the river is here for generations.
In ancient Jewish thinking, flowing water was considered living water, but stationary water in a cup, basin, pond or lake was not living and was therefore of less value and significance. A mikvah was a special bath with water flowing in and water running out at all times, bathing in this living water would make a person ritually clean. Taking a dip in the pond had no such effect!
Cirencester
For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:
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Notes from bygone years – Julys duly described Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
July 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
Solar panel installation
We decided to take the plunge and install solar panels on our roof. We had a long wait as demand was high, but the installers arrived in July and after a few days work we were delighted to have the system reducing our electricity bills to almost nothing. Of course, we knew it would be different in the winter months, but with a 10 kWh battery included, we found we could get right through the night on our own stored energy in the summer.
I was also experimenting with a reduced eating window, having breakfast around 11:00. I’ve tried restricted eating before, but this time I’m following evidence-based suggestions from Zoe (see also the Zoe website) .
I was doing Monday walks most weeks with my friend Stephen. We met at one of CBC’s Small Groups here in Stratton, and we got on really well together. Among other interests, Stephen played saxophone in the ‘JJ Band’. We shared similar views on many things and both had backgrounds in computing.
Stephen lived in the town so I’d usually walk down to meet him, we’d enjoy a walk in the park, and often buy coffees from the van or sometimes in town. I always looked forward to my Monday walks.
This was a busy month, I walked several sections of the old Thames and Severn Canal (something I’ve been doing again in 2024), we were regularly arranging the chairs at CBC on Fridays, and two people I knew died, Bob Morris and then Michael Sleggs.
Donna’s Dad was getting weaker and his Parkinson’s symptoms were worsening, so her Mum was needing more help than before and we travelled to Poole to help out more often.
We were living in St Neots, this is a view of the River Great Ouse flowing through the town centre, an easy walk from our house in Eaton Ford. Donna was looking for a school placement for her teaching, I was meeting with a group of friends in coffee shops, hanging out, doing Bible study here and there, hopefully helping people grow and thrive. I was also meeting at home with friends from various local churches.
World events: Israel attacked the Gaza Strip; and a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over Ukraine by a missile.
I went to a house church conference and was astonished to bump into my friend Jim Russell there. He’d always thought my views on church were not right, yet here he was! We had some great conversation and he took my photo while I took his. I had no idea that this would be the last time I’d see him.
Donna took part in the Bedford Race for Life organised by Cancer Research UK, along with her friends Gayna and Claire, pictured here wearing their medals. There was a big turn out, along with large numbers of pink-themed balloons and so forth.
We were living in Donna’s cottage near Kimbolton and had decided it was much too small for us both. We’d been looking for somewhere larger and the image shows a survey document for the house in St Neots that we eventually bought.
We visited Mum and Dad in Cirencester on my birthday. As usual we enjoyed spending time with my parents. The photo shows my nephew Tom, my Mum, Beth and Judy chatting together in the back garden. Rachael, Dan, Rosie and Tom were here the same day so it was good to see them too.
Debbie flew to Bordeaux on her French exchange trip (her exchange partner, Anne, had come to stay with us in March). We saw her through check-in and then waited with her on the tarmac, waving goodbye as she walked out to board the plane.
It seemed very strange to drive back home again without her.
We had a summer holiday travelling through Wales from south to north, staying at bed and breakfast places (gwely a brecwast). A few days before we set out, there was a fairly large earthquake, and in Bethesda our landlady was anxious as aftershocks were still continuing. The photo shows Debbie and Beth at the top of Snowdon with a train waiting at the summit station.
This was a short note on a combined staining method for plum reproductive tissues, to aid microscopical studies of the fertilisation process. It wasn’t published as a scientific paper as far as I recall, but was part of a poster presentation at a conference. I hoped other people would try it on different kinds of plant material so that together we could get a much broader view of its usefulness. I don’t think anything came of it in the end, but it’s important to try – that’s part of how science works.
World events: The Sony Walkman first went on sale in Japan; and NASA’s Skylab space station re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
Judy must have become pregnant about this time, but we didn’t know that until a little later, of course.
The Severn Bridge was only eight-years-old, and it still seemed amazing that we could drive to Wales instead of queuing for the old Aust Ferry or driving all the way to Gloucester. And there was no thought of a second crossing, of course! I took this photo, but forgot to adjust the focus (no auto-focus in those days).
I was lodging at Archgrove House in Long Ashton along with other students working at the Research Station that summer. Judy sent me the postcard from York (pictured) where she was on holiday with her parents and brother Frank. You won’t believewhat her Dad said about York Minster!
World events:John Fairfax was the first person to row solo across an ocean (the Atlantic); and Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the Moon (we watched this live at Archgrove House).
Dad drove out to the gravel pits near South Cerney. Some of these were still being used to extract gravel, but some had been worked out and were used by anglers, for swimming, and for water-skiing which we’d never seen before. I took two cameras with me, my old Kodak Starmite loaded with 127 colour transparency film, and my new Kodak Retinette loaded with 35 mm black and white. This photo shows Dad using his camera and my sisters Rachael, Ruth and Cindy.
World events:Malawi became independent of the UK; and NASA’s Ranger 7 send back the first close-up images of the Moon.
I thought you might like to see this birthday letter from my Grandpa. He had emphysema, and died on 22nd August, my 11+ results came in before that and he knew that I had passed. Granny had decided that a sleeping bag would be a useful present as I was off to Cub Camp soon after my birthday and would then move up to the Scouts.
This is a postcard from my Mum to her family back in Northern Ireland. She writes about Cindy and me suffering from chicken pox. I had it before Cindy, so it’s likely I gave it to her (sorry, Cindy). Read the card.
My very first birthday came at the end of the month, a special day, no doubt, with doting parents and grandparents. I must have had other birthday cards, but this one from Watermoor Church is the only survivor. That’s interesting in itself; Mum would have kept them all for a while, but this one seemed more important, perhaps because of Mum and Dad’s strong faith.
On the back of the card is written, ‘Christopher James Jefferies, 37 Victoria Road, baptised October 24th 1948′.
Dad, along with his friend Joe, travelled by lorry, train and bus to Yatesbury where radar training began for them and many others. Dad liked this posting, writing, ‘Radar people seem a good lot’. He was able to hitch home in two or three hours to see the family in Cirencester, sometimes Joe came along too. By the end of the month Dad and others were using radar equipment to plot movements of real aircraft (‘pukka kites’). The photo shows an old aircraft hanger at Yatesbury in 2014.
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The field was a lovely thing to have, we and all our neighbours shared it and it became a place to relax, a sort of unofficial reserve at the end of the garden.
Notes from bygone years – Sing along to some crazy Junes Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
June 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
Dunrobin Castle and gardens
Donna and I had a Scottish holiday; we flew to Inverness Airport and took a hire car anticlockwise around the North Coast 500. It was an amazing journey! The photo is of Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland early on the road trip. We saw many interesting features in the towns and villages, the countryside, geology, and coastline. Definitely a holiday to remember.
We walked a section of the Cotswold Way with Donna’s brother Paul and his wife Vanessa.
This view is from a point near the old ‘Air Balloon‘ pub, now demolished to make way for road improvements. The view is north-west towards Gloucester; Crickley Hill is on the right and peeping up beyond it is Churchdown Hill. Coopers Hill rises from the horizon on the left of the image. Hazy in the far distance are the Malverns and Wales beyond.
World events: There was a G7 summit in Germany to discuss events in Ukraine; and a NATO summit was held in Madrid.
Vanessa was running in an event from Sharpness to Gloucester along the old ship canal. Paul, Donna and I made the same trip by car, stopping to watch her pass at several points along the way. After completing her run she joined us in the old docks area, now being redeveloped and including the Gloucester Quays shopping centre.
It was Aidan’s eighth birthday in June and he had an animal themed birthday with everyone able to hold and interact with many different creatures. The photo shows Meredith getting all wound up about a snake! Ten years ago all our grandchildren enjoyed themed birthday parties; and my word, didn’t we have some amazing themes!
We met our newest grandchild for the first time (that’s the one on the right in the photo). Verity was only a few days old, and it was lovely to see her already holding a philosophical conversation with her Dad. But seriously – new life is such a precious and wonderful gift.
I bought my first electronic camera with 640 x 480 resolution, ie 0.3 megapixels! We had a week’s holiday in Scotland with our friends Rob and Jean, staying in a log cabin between Fort William and Loch Ness. The photo (taken on my new camera) shows Rob, Jean and Donna in Leakey’s, an Inverness second-hand bookshop.
Beth had bought a small kite when we went to the Bristol Kite Festival in Ashton Park, and here she’s flying it on a windy day in the field at the bottom of our garden in Stowey Road, Yatton. The field was a lovely thing to have, we and all our neighbours shared it and it became a place to relax, a sort of unofficial reserve at the end of the garden.
World events: The film, ‘The Lion King‘ was released by Disney; the last Russian troops left Germany; and MS-DOS was no longer supported by Microsoft.
Dad sold us his old car, a Volkswagon, and we drove to Cirencester in Jumbo to collect it. Here, Judy is about to travel home in Jumbo, and I followed shortly afterwards in the VW with Debbie and Beth. A little later we sold our old Marina for not very much; it had served us well, but was now near the end of its life.
It was about this time that we waved goodbye to Computer Tutor and the Clever Clogs range of software. I wrote some simple educational games for the Sinclair Spectrum, just for my daughters to use; and brother-in-law, Peter, developed the concept as a viable business and extended the range considerably. By this time Peter had sold the business to Argus Press Software, and none of us remained involved.
I was working on fruit pollination full time by now, having transferred to the Pomology and Plant Breeding Section at Long Ashton Research Station. I had a particular interest in temperature effects on pollen tube growth. By June I would be starting to study the samples I’d collected earlier in the season. The squiggly, yellow lines in the picture are pollen tubes.
Judy’s parents and her brother, Frank, had a chance to visit the Falconry Centre at Newent in Gloucestershire. She took my camera with her and grabbed this lovely portrait during the trip. I needed to be at work that day so couldn’t join them. Work? Day out? No brainer, really, but it just wasn’t going to happen, sadly.
World events: A bomb exploded in Westminster Hall; and Isabel Perón was sworn in as the first female President of Argentina.
I was working on the final sandwich section of my Bath University Horticulture course. I’d been assigned to Long Ashton Research Station (LARS) near Bristol and worked for Eddie Catlow and Martin on the experimental farm team. This placement had the advantage that Judy and I were be able to meet up at weekends.
World events: There was a serious collision between an Australian aircraft carrier and a US destroyer; and Judy Garland died in her London home.
I was taking my O-level exams at Cirencester Grammar School. The photo shows a page from one of my exercise books (not related to an exam). ‘The happiest days of your life’, people told me. But I found exams a real trial, suffering with intense hay fever made far worse by everyone wanting the windows wide open because of hot weather.
World events: Greece rejected direct talks with Turkey over Cyprus; and Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa.
This month brought Rachael’s 2nd birthday, Ruth’s 3rd, Dad’s 33rd and Grandpa’s 80th, I was still 10 in June, nearly 11. We were living at Queen Anne’s Road in Cirencester, the photo shows me, Rachael, Cindy and Ruth playing in and around the blow up paddling pool in the back garden. Summers seemed to go on forever in those days!
In June I was enjoying the start of the long summer school holiday. I was still five-years-old (nearly six) so this was my first school summer holiday. I probably felt very grown up to think that when I went back in September I would be in the second year. Meanwhile I had time to play inside or out in the garden.
Dad had his 23rd birthday in June, but of course I was not yet storing long term memories so I don’t remember it. But at nearly eleven months I’m sure I joined in the fun and certainly would have appreciated cake if there was one! It’s likely I was able to stand if I had something to hold on to, and I might have been able to say a few words, but any notes Mum and Dad might have made have been lost.
World events: A rhesus monkey, Albert II, was the first primate in space but died on return due to parachute failure; and the first TV Western, Hopalong Cassidy, aired in the USA.
Dad noted in his diary on his birthday (4th June) that the city of Rome had been taken. And on the 6th he wrote:
‘D. Day!! At last the second front has started. Was transferred to C. shed. Was on guard at 2 Site all night and spent pleasant evening in guard room. Listened to Montgomery and King on radio. Wrote to Phillip and Ronald. Letter from Nor.’
(Nor was his mother, and later my Granny).
At the end of the month he heard unofficially that he was to be posted to Yatesbury (a centre dedicated to radar training).
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
Notes from bygone years – May all your Mays be amazing Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
May 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
Warners hotel near Hereford
We took Donna’s Mum, Isobel, for a weekend break at a Warners hotel; the one we visited is Holme Lacy, not far from Hereford. Donna thought Isobel would enjoy this place, and she was right. In the evening there were tribute bands singing songs that were popular in the 50s and 60s, so music that is still popular amongst the older generation these days. The outside areas are attractive too as you can see from the photo.
I had a suspected cold but needed to be sure it wasn’t COVID as I was planning to be with a group of friends, but as you can see the result was negative.
I don’t think any of us wants to go through another pandemic! It was very disruptive in so many ways.
Choosing a day with beautiful sunshine, we visited Hidcote Gardens and then Charlcote Park (pictured). The ingenuity, design and construction that went into gardens and houses like these is astounding. But they depended on the work of large numbers of people much less fortunate than the people who lived in them.
New Frontiers were holding their annual gathering at the National Agricultural Centre at Stoneleigh and I felt I should take my friends Kev and John to one of the sessions. They’d shown real interest in Jesus and we’d been reading through parts of the Bible in a local coffee shop in St Neots. The photo shows them listening to news about church planting in Pakistan.
River Church in St Neots had a day out at Grafham Water on 25th May. Here’s Jim’s giant Jenga being put to good use. Everyone had a great time, but Jim’s Jenga tower is nowhere near the largest. Try this one for size!
Ken and Gayna are good friends of ours. Ken and Donna were both working and I was working a four day week at that time, so Gayna and I visited Ely Cathedral which she’d never seen before. The photo shows the lantern, an astonishing design and structure for medieval times.
On 1st May we visited Donna’s parents. Her Dad had a hot air balloon flight for two as a birthday present and this was the day he chose for the ascent, inviting me to join him. In the photo, I’m on the left and Tony’s on the right. It was an amazing experience!
I replied to a mailing list message about SUPER.EXE, an MS-DOS utility for getting temporary admin rights on a Novell Netware server. It saved logging out and in again (twice) or, even worse, going to the locked server room to perform the same task from there.
World events: F1 world champion, Ayrton Senna died in a crash; the Channel Tunnel opened between England and France; and Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
We visited Cirencester and my Mum and Dad took us to North Meadow at Cricklade to look at the snake’s head fritillaries growing wild there. After that we drove up the Stow Road to see orchids and pasqueflowers. It was quite the botanical field trip!
My daughter Beth loved hamsters, so when she was six I wrote a Sinclair Spectrum text adventure for her, starring a hamster. If you use a Spectrum emulator you can still load and run this game. I suggest the Fuse emulator (free). Once installed, here’s the Hamster! download.
World events: The Severomorsk Disaster was an enormous explosion at the Soviet Severomorsk Naval Base; and a gas explosion in Lancashire killed 16 people.
We travelled to a Post Green meeting at Lytchett Minster near Poole with our friends Paul and Jenny as we had no car at this time. Tony and Faith also drove down. This was an eye-opening experience for all six of us, we learned so much about community, making music, and the gifts of the Spirit. We camped in a borrowed tent and our one-year-old, Beth, slept in a cardboard box. Beth’s first birthday came in May as well, Debbie was already four, our family was growing up!
World events:Margaret Thatcher became the UK’s first woman prime minister; and Greenland was granted limited autonomy from Denmark.
I was still doing a little work on willow growth rates for Ken Stott, the Willows officer at LARS, but Ken had been providing help to the Pomology Group and I was working more and more on that. I’d had a promotion to Higher Scientific Officer (HSO) and was eager to spend more time on microscopy and pollination.
As Bath University Horticulture students, we visited commercial sites from time to time see horticulture in action and ask questions of the managers and staff. The photo shows one of these visits in May 1969. Peter Thoday, one of our lecturers at the time and later a TV personality, is at the back on the right.
World events: An American teenager died of a baffling medical condition, later identified as HIV/AIDS; Apollo 10‘s lunar module flew two astronauts to within 16 km of the Moon‘s surface.
Here’s my sister, Ruth, busy with coloured chalks and a little slate. The floor covering is linoleum, bought by my grandparents for the house, now relegated to the garden. In the background is my old scooter from the mid 1950s. Ruth is on the loggia, a covered area in the garden with three open sides.
May probably brought school half-term, Spring Bank Holiday was 18th, the Eleven Plus exams loomed, and probably came in June; it was strange to realise that at the end of term, my days at Junior School would be over! Uncertainty lay ahead but I don’t remember feeling anxious, nor indeed excited.
I had a letter from my older cousin, Jill. At this time she was staying in a hostel in Deptford, London. She had watched the Royal Yacht Britannia returning home with the Queen and Prince Philip on board. The ship was brand new at the time and she wanted to describe the event for me. Click the image to read an extract.
Approaching ten months old, I might have started imitating sounds. I’d have been fairly mobile and no doubt making a nuisance of myself by crawling. Perhaps I had a favourite toy by this time too. We were still living with my grandparents, though Mum and Dad were hoping to move to a home of their own soon.
In May, Dad had several firsts during basic training for the RAF. He threw a live hand grenade, went through a gas chamber and removed his mask inside, fired a Sten gun, and suffered a carbuncle on his neck that required a stay in Sick Quarters. On 25th May Dad was moved, with 12 others, to an RAF station at Wilmslow in Cheshire.
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
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