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wateroverstone It's been a mixed bag of experiences over the last couple of weeks. The movers and groovers of the village have put a couple of interesting events on.
My favourite of these was the magic lantern show. The slides for this were found in the vicarage attic in the early 1970s and cleaned up by a man with an interest in local history. They were taken by the part time organ master, a man of ample private means between 1895 and the first world war. Because there are still generations of some families in the village, most of the people in the photographs have been identified and hoarded copies of Parish magazines and minutes of meetings have provided stories about them. My favourite slide showed the village was surrounded by forest rather than the current scrappy woodland and there was also a rather poignant one of the school cadet force drilling. There were 3 Victoria Cross winners from St Bees School in the First World War: I'll leave their stories to be told by Black Bentley so the cadets must have been well trained( didn't look like they were in the picture: rifles were pointing at all angles.
There was also a light show in the Priory. St Bees Priory is 900 years old and the size of a cathedral but because it was always used as a parish church (not just by monks) it survived the Reformation intact. The light show, basically images projected onto the back wall from the altar, was quite fun, reminiscent of the sort of pictures and light you'd see with a prog rock band or Pink Floyd cover band, but I seemed to be the only person present who'd seen anything similar. I believe the show was been made by a company who are offering it round cathedrals as a fund raiser. We're very lucky in that the Priory is used for respectful secular activities. One of the spookiest was when they put up a screen and played the programme a tv company had made about St Bees Man, a perfectly preserved knight, unexpectedly found during a trainee archeological dig in the early 1980s. The programme's producer was there, the re enactors from the programme, the villagers and archeologist involved in the initial discovery and of course the body had been reburied a few yards from where we were.
That's the recent fun stuff. The less fun stuff is that the apartment I was going to buy is no longer an option for when I complete on my house sale in July(hopefully) as the company doing the conversion has gone into administration. Back to house hunting grrr.
And now I have a big apology to make. When I came to write this post , I discovered that the last post I'd written, asking if anyone was interested in taking part in the Round Robin, hadn't posted but had saved itself as a draft. I wondered why no one had replied, even to say they were too busy with the h/c exchange so now I know and I apologise for not letting people have the chance of joining in. If I had a brain I'd be dangerous.
My favourite of these was the magic lantern show. The slides for this were found in the vicarage attic in the early 1970s and cleaned up by a man with an interest in local history. They were taken by the part time organ master, a man of ample private means between 1895 and the first world war. Because there are still generations of some families in the village, most of the people in the photographs have been identified and hoarded copies of Parish magazines and minutes of meetings have provided stories about them. My favourite slide showed the village was surrounded by forest rather than the current scrappy woodland and there was also a rather poignant one of the school cadet force drilling. There were 3 Victoria Cross winners from St Bees School in the First World War: I'll leave their stories to be told by Black Bentley so the cadets must have been well trained( didn't look like they were in the picture: rifles were pointing at all angles.
There was also a light show in the Priory. St Bees Priory is 900 years old and the size of a cathedral but because it was always used as a parish church (not just by monks) it survived the Reformation intact. The light show, basically images projected onto the back wall from the altar, was quite fun, reminiscent of the sort of pictures and light you'd see with a prog rock band or Pink Floyd cover band, but I seemed to be the only person present who'd seen anything similar. I believe the show was been made by a company who are offering it round cathedrals as a fund raiser. We're very lucky in that the Priory is used for respectful secular activities. One of the spookiest was when they put up a screen and played the programme a tv company had made about St Bees Man, a perfectly preserved knight, unexpectedly found during a trainee archeological dig in the early 1980s. The programme's producer was there, the re enactors from the programme, the villagers and archeologist involved in the initial discovery and of course the body had been reburied a few yards from where we were.
That's the recent fun stuff. The less fun stuff is that the apartment I was going to buy is no longer an option for when I complete on my house sale in July(hopefully) as the company doing the conversion has gone into administration. Back to house hunting grrr.
And now I have a big apology to make. When I came to write this post , I discovered that the last post I'd written, asking if anyone was interested in taking part in the Round Robin, hadn't posted but had saved itself as a draft. I wondered why no one had replied, even to say they were too busy with the h/c exchange so now I know and I apologise for not letting people have the chance of joining in. If I had a brain I'd be dangerous.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-29 07:30 pm (UTC)I had to immediately look up St Bees Priory, and it looks really gorgeous. What an amazing history too.
Good luck with the house hunt, uggghhhh!
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Date: 2024-03-30 03:49 pm (UTC)St Bees Priory is gorgeous: it hosts the Infant school nativity play every year and the Public school Speech Day which is fun. I like it when they balance candle on the pillars for carol services.
I have no enthusiasm for the househunt at all.
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Date: 2024-03-29 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-29 08:45 pm (UTC)Sorry to hear re the lost option re housing but wishing you well regarding other opportunities popping up.
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Date: 2024-04-01 02:08 pm (UTC)The lost apartment is very irritating as its the only one with decent sized rooms and a parking space in the old part of the village (ie near the places I want to go)