1939

 

1939

After the end of the First World War, the Duke of York, later to become King George VI, following his elder brother’s abdication, wanted to try and break down some of the class barriers rampant in Great Britain. He founded week-long summer camps, which ran annually until 1939, just before the outbreak of World War Two.

His ambition was to bring boys together from dissimilar circumstances to enjoy outdoor pursuits and find common ground and friendship. About five hundred boys from backgrounds as varied as public (fee-paying) boarding schools and mining communities were invited to join.

Southwold Common in Suffolk was a frequent location, and the Duke of York often joined the boys at the camps for a day, even after he became King. He enjoyed taking part in activities, which included games, swimming, talks and entertainments, and sleeping under canvas with the boys. The boys knew him as the Great Chief, and he wore the same uniform of shorts and shirt as they did. The importance of teamwork was emphasised.

In 1939, when it was clear that the country would soon be going to war again, and the young lads would be embroiled in combat, the King decided that he wanted to spend more than one day with ‘his boys’ and so invited them to Abergeldie Castle, three miles from Balmoral.

For this final camp, which he renamed the King’s Camp, the King invited just two hundred boys, and altered the emphasis from games and competition to discovering the wonders of nature. He planned all the activities, including mapping out hikes they would take. The boys were invited to tea at Balmoral Castle, where they met the Queen and the princesses.

The last camp commenced on 5^th August. War was declared on 1^st September, four weeks later.

Pathé News, which produced documentaries and newsreels for sixty years, from 1910 to 1970, presented a review of 1939. Part of it showed George VI and other members of the Royal Family at camp, singing ‘Underneath the spreading chestnut tree.’  It was a favourite song of his and was chosen for the 1948 Royal Command Performance.

It was also a favourite of mine, and one I enjoyed teaching. The lyrics, inspired by the first line of ‘The Village Blacksmith’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1832) were written by J and H Kennedy. Hal Kemp set them to music and the song was recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1939, with Marion Hutton. It’s delivered at a spanking pace, and I can imagine anyone attempting to add the actions would be quite breathless by the end.     

Below are the actions to the words, as clearly as I can set them out.

 

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree (spread arms above head, then touch chest, head and lift arms high)

I loved him and he loved me.                              (hands on heart, then hug)

There I used to sit upon his knee,                     (hands on knees)

‘Neath the spreading chestnut tree.                 (as before)

 

There beneath the boughs we used to meet,   (spread arms, then clasp hands)

All his kisses were so sweet:                            (kiss fingers)

All the little birdies went ‘tweet-tweet’         (fingers make bird beaks)

‘Neath the spreading chestnut tree.             (as before)

 

I said, ‘I love you and there ain’t no ifs or buts, (hands on heart, shake finger)

He said, ‘I love you’ and the blacksmith shouted, ‘Chestnuts!’ (hands on heart)

 

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree          (as before)

There he said he’d marry me,                           (mimic placing ring on finger)

Now you ought to see our family     (hand indicates heights of children on ‘fa-mi-ly)

‘Neath the spreading chestnut tree.                (as before)

 

 As with all songs or dances, there were adaptations. The following clips show two. The first shows the King and his family singing at a camp sing song.

 The second shows how the song emigrated to the USA to become a dance.

A white feather

 

A white feather

We have many birds, large and small, flying over our garden, or settling onto branches to pick off insects or developing fruit. Sometimes we find a broken eggshell on the ground, but we have rarely seen a dead bird, apart from a starling that had been caught by a sparrowhawk and another starling that had flown into the patio doors and killed itself.

Similarly, we do not often see feathers, and those we have found have come from wood pigeons or magpies. I found the feather above on the path this week. It’s small, only 5 cms (just under 2")     

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I was interested in looking at the intricate structure of the feather. I knew of the quill, of course, but didn’t know the names of any of the other parts. I don’t think the quill of this feather could be used for writing by anyone other than a fairy.

During the First World War (1914-1918) men in Britain who had not enlisted were given a white feather to imply cowardice. This was in an attempt to make them sign up through shame rather than patriotism. Shockingly, from the perspective of the 21^st century, the suffragette movement promoted the white feather movement.

Serving soldiers sometimes found themselves being presented with a white feather when they were home on leave. Other men, who had volunteered but been rejected on grounds of ill-health or disability, were similarly discriminated against.

A white feather to denote lack of bravery originated in the late 1700s, though in that case it was more to indicate a lack of proper breeding,

From Wikipedia: 

The OED cites A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), in which lexicographer Francis Grose wrote "White feather, he has a white feather, he is a coward, an allusion to a game cock, where having a white feather, is a proof he is not of the true game breed". This was in the context of cockfighting, a common entertainment in Georgian England.

The white feather was used again in the Second World War (1939-1945) for the same purpose.

However, the white feather has also been used to symbolise excellence, and is used in the United States armed forces to recognise extreme bravery.

It is also worn as a mark of resistance without violence. In the late nineteenth century, it was used by the Maori spiritual leader, Te Whiti o Rongomai III (c1832-1907)

There is an unverified story from 1775 that a tribe of warring Indians confronted a group of Quakers, in a New York Friends’ meeting house. The Quakers did not attempt to run away, but sat quietly. When the Indian chief entered the meeting and discovered that the Quakers had no weapons, he claimed them as friends. As he left, he took a white feather from an arrow in his quiver and put it on the door as a sign that the building and its occupants were not to be harmed.

A to Z challenge 2023 – X is for . . .

 

A to Z challenge 2023 – X is for . . .

My theme for this challenge is Nature in all much of her wonderful diversity. My posts will reflect the fact that I am resident in the south of England.

All photographs courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Xmas

 Recreated Victorian Christmas at Harewood House

Whether mankind is Nature’s greatest achievement is a moot point, but Christmas is a time of year when the focus in on mankind. You may or may not hold a religious belief, yet the story of the Nativity is one of hope and celebration.

When did Christmas become Xmas? In the Greek alphabet X is the symbol for ‘chi’ and is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ. In the early Christian church believers used the letter X as a secret sign to other believers.

Trafalgar Square

The ‘mas’ of Xmas refers to the religious ceremony that is celebrated at Christmas – literally Christ’s mass. The first abbreviation of Christmas to Xmas appeared in 1021 when a scribe used it to save space on his scroll.

Xmas is associated with the pagan festival of Yule.

Haakon the Good (920-961) was a Christian and he ruled Norway as King Haakon I from 934 until his death in 961.  He was a tolerant ruler and did not impose his beliefs on his people, allowing them to continue their pagan worship.

However, he decreed that Christmas and Yuletide should be celebrated at the same time. To ensure that the festivals were properly celebrated, he required every free man to consume approximately four gallons of ale and to continue celebrating until the ale ran out.

Yule was celebrated at the time of the winter solstice to hail the return of the sun and longer days. Bonfires were lit, and holly, ivy and evergreen boughs were used to decorate the home. There were ritual sacrifices and great feasts, and gifts were exchanged.

Much of this ritual was absorbed into the Christian festival. For Christians, evergreens symbolised eternal life and the promise of renewed life in spring. An account from England in 1444 recorded that every house and church was dressed with oak, ivy, bay and other evergreen branches.

Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, drawn by J.L. Williams, 1848, for The Illustrated London News

It was not until December 1800 that the first Christmas tree was brought indoors to Queen’s Lodge, Windsor, by Queen Charlotte, the German wife of George III. That tree was a yew rather than a fir tree.

However, it was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who embraced the tradition and popularised it. Illustrations of the ‘Royal Christmas’ in the 1840s in popular magazines, whetted the public appetite.

Henceforth, Christmas trees became very popular with the upper classes, particularly for children's parties, decorated with real candles and baubles, with piles of presents underneath.

When I read that I immediately thought of ‘The Nutcracker’, the engaging 1892 ballet based on Hoffmann’s 1816 story of ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’ and set to the incomparable music of Tchaikovsky. (I dislike the nutcracker character and find him quite grotesque.)

After many years, Christmas trees became an established seasonal feature in most homes.

Every year since 1947, the Norwegian government donates a large Christmas tree to Great Britain, to be erected in Trafalgar Square. It is a token of gratitude to London for sheltering the Norwegian king and government during the Second World War when Norway was under Nazi occupation.

The scent of green branches in the house on a drear December day lifts the spirits, giving promise of brighter days and new growth to come. The twinkling lights on the Christmas tree and the candles that lend their flickering warm glow, offset the darkness that falls so early.

A busy weekend

 

A busy weekend

It was Barry’s birthday on February 3^rd, a significant decade marker. He was born on the day Stalingrad fell during the Second World War, though some authorities have it as February 2^nd.

We had a gathering of the clan on Saturday and were only missing a few members. The oldest was, of course, Barry, and the youngest, Luca, four months. There were seven under elevens, eight in their twenties, eight forty to mid-fifties and two over seventy. We also had three visiting dogs to add to our two. If everyone had brought their dogs there would have been twelve in the house, rather too many and too much of a trip hazard!

Since Jellicoe is now an honorary Labrador, we had to shut him and his brother away in our bedroom, otherwise he would have wrought havoc in the dining room, where food was laid out on the table. Ariella, nearly two, and Jack, four, both love cats so had a special trip to the bedroom to see Jellicoe and Herschel. The cats were worried and wide-eyed at being shut out from proceedings.

We had opened the double doors from the sitting room into the dining room so that people could wander in and out at will, helping themselves to whatever took their fancy. Susannah took control of feeding people and Callum was in charge of drinks. Barry and I relaxed and enjoyed catching up with our extended family.

It was lovely to have such a crowd of young people in the house, and so many of them very tall!  The young adults were as amusing and entertaining as ever and the little children were each caught in their own egocentric worlds, and equally entertaining.

It is rare for us all to get together and each time we say we must do it more often, but life is busy. The next organised occasion will be Susannah and James’ wedding later this year, in November. We are all looking forward to that.

Further to ‘Threat levels’ re: TEA

Barry replied to the original email:

As a point of historical fact, the British Government was so alarmed about the risk to morale over a lack of tea available to its Armed Forces at the outbreak of WW2 that it purchased the entire worldwide stock of tea.  It is also worth pointing out is that at its height the British, Empire and Commonwealth forces numbered twelve million  - perhaps it built to that strength to justify the tea purchase.

Barry's respondent replied: Also worthy of note is the service once offered (and maybe continues to be) by the India Tea Council advising on the best way to prepare tea. I contacted them some time ago to answer a dispute I was having with some northerner who reckoned that 'mashing' tea i.e. stirring it was the way to make the best cuppa. Now having been taught by a good naval man (my Dad) I wasn't having that and the ITC were able to confirm that you must never stir tea as it bruises the leaves! 1 - 0 to the good guys!!

Janice's input: tea leaves produce an infinitely superior pot of tea but I like my tea unstrained – the leaves are good to chew on! . . . and Earl Grey is very refreshing . . . especially with lemon! It's the bergamot that enhances and perfumes it so delicately.