CHAIRMAN’S NOTES FOR SUMMER 2009 NEWSLETTER

I am writing these notes just after the Centre’s AGM so, as usual, this Summer Newsletter provides a convenient opportunity to bring members up to date. It also

gives me a chance to thank officially all those who are involved in the running of the

Centre. That includes the Committee members who work tirelessly to provide you with a programme which you will hopefully find interesting, all those who help in preparing our talks venues as well as those who provide refreshments. And you, the members, who support our efforts.

Talks were, in general, well attended and, except for one visit which had to be cancelled, also our walks and Summer outings. About sixty came to the Annual Lunch and we wonder if a new venue, if we can find one, might be more attractive. Membership hovers around the 300 mark - we could do with more, especially younger ones! As always I remind you that your personal recommendation is best. The Centre’s wardening at the Shugborough monuments is still well supported but a few more volunteers would be welcomed.

We were able to give £2,500 of your money to NT properties again this year and Tracy Clement, the Administrator at Wightwick Manor, came in person to the AGM to receive a cheque for £500 and to tell us how it was to be used. Our other visitor was Becky White, the Regional Volunteering Officer, who gave us an update on what was happening in the Region.

All but one of your committee members agreed to serve for another year and were

re-elected. Alan Jutton, who has been a valuable member for the last six years, retired and will certainly be missed. That leaves a vacancy and as new members can be co-opted at any time, if anyone is interested please let us know. Finally, on a personal note, I reported that as by the next AGM I will, God willing, have passed my eightieth birthday, I will then be retiring from the Committee and the Chairmanship.

Enclosed with this Newsletter you will find an invitation to another visit by the Mikron

Theatre, which I well recommend. As the Saloon at Shugborough will only hold sixty

people early booking is essential. I hope you enjoy a good Summer and are able to

use your NT and Centre memberships to the full

Eric Tanner

NEW MEMBERS

We welcome the following new members who have joined the Centre since January

2009.

Mr K Newman / Gnosall / Mrs V Crook / Stafford
Mr & Mrs P Stonehouse / Burntwood / Mrs J Lawton / Stafford
Mrs A Butler / Gnosall / Mrs E Coates / Stafford
Mr & Mrs T Davis / Stafford / Mr & Mrs K Legge / Eccleshall
Mr & Mrs J Heard / Stafford / Mr & Mrs J Haddon / Stafford
Mrs P Tweed / Gnosall / Mr P Parker / Newcastle

It would be appreciated if you know of a member dying if you let me know so that my

records can be adjusted accordingly.

Joan Jobling, Membership Secretary

Dear Member,

I have been asked by the Committee to ask all members to note that we still have

places on all the outings and Somerset holiday.

We must have at least 40 participants in order that the outings are viable, indeed we

will have to cancel them if that number is not made.

We realise that some of the outings are many months away, but certain booking

requirements mean that we have to have the numbers quite a long way in advance.

One particular example is the trip to Llangollen where our party would take up the

spaces available on the boat trip.

If you or any of your friends (inclusion is now open to non-Centre friends), would like to go on any of the trips, please send in the booking form to me as soon as possible.

Joan Jobling

APPEAL FROM THE EDITOR

I am sure you will have noticed that this issue of our Newsletter is a little thinner than

usual. Unlike most other National Trust Centre newsletters which contain descriptions and photographs of forthcoming events but only a few, if any, reports about events which have taken place, ours has always consisted mostly of descriptions by members of events in which they have participated. Happily up to now these have been supplied by many kind members, and enjoyed by our readers, but on this occasion a number of our events have not been written up.

It is, of course, a chore writing up an event, but I believe our Centre would suffer if our members could not enjoy our events at second hand, so to speak, so do please go on sending me your write-ups, together with photographs wherever possible. And by the way, I am always delighted to receive contributions of any kind which might be of interest to members. I welcome anything to keep our little newsletter alive.

My address, of course, is on the back of each newsletter, but you can always send

me your contributions by e-mail to .

Guy de Visme, Editor

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dear Mr Taylor,

Re: Donations from the National Trust Staffordshire Centre

On behalf of the National Trust I would like to thank you and your committee for your

most generous donation of £1,500 which has been allocated as per your request to

the following properties and projects.

PROPERTY
Brockhampton Estate
Moseley Old Hall
Shugborough Estate

TOTAL

/ £
500
500
500
1500 / PROJECT
BKNG/03/07 Refurbishment of Woodland
Sculptures
MOSG/05/08 Wall Painting Conservation
SHUG/03/08 Costumes for ‘Lord & Lady
Anson’

Please accept my apologises for the delay in acknowledging your donation and once again thank you for your generosity which is greatly appreciated by everyone in the National Trust.

Yours sincerely,

Julie Lynch, Administrator

Dear Mr Taylor,

Receipt for Donations to Wightwick Manor

Received with thanks from the National Trust Staffordshire Centre a cheque for £500.00 for the National Trust Wightwick Manor. Monies to be allocated to a new bench for the Great Parlour.

Yours truly,

Miss Tracy Ann Clement, Property Manager

BED AND BRUNCH

A couple of years ago, rather rashly, I went to the Lake District without having booked anywhere to stay. After a fairly frantic search I managed to find a pub in an outlying village able to put me up for a couple of nights. The landlord and his wife were most pleasant even though the quality of the accommodation was distinctly substandard. Not so the breakfast the next morning, however. At the agreed hour the landlady cheerfully greeted me and bought me a truly huge “English Breakfast’ with all the trimmings. As the only guest I was alone in the parlour, and realising that I couldn’t possibly eat all that she had brought me. I furtively wrapped a couple of sausages and two rashers of bacon and a few of the fried potatoes in a paper napkin to have for my lunch, and ate the rest. The next morning the landlady came with my breakfast saying “You are the first person who has ever managed to eat the whole of the breakfast produced by my husband, so I’ve brought you a bit more today!!”

Guy de Visme

WHY RUSSIA IS DIFFERENT

a talk by Peter Shilston

Since offering to do the write up on Peter’s fascinating talk last Tuesday I’ve begun to regret opening my mouth so speedily. I’d not realised how complicated the history of Russia is and how little I knew about it, nor had I realised that quite a number of NT members are in fact very expert and experienced. So I apologise in advance for my inadequacies in this write up - but here it goes!!

Peter’s theme was to show why Russia is so different from the rest of the world

especially from western Europe. Well the Old Russian Empire was pretty big to begin with and spread from west to east about a third of the way round the globe. In the north the tundra is frozen and in the south there is a desert with forest in between. Rivers run northwards with large stretches frozen for much of the year. Minerals and gas are there for those who can find it and know how to use it. The ethnicity of the population is varied and depends on where you are in this enormous empire; it also depends on the migration patterns that have occurred over hundreds of years. People have moved in large numbers taking their skills, culture, religion and languages with them. Borders seem fairly fluid and amorphous.

Peter told us how in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Vikings headed for Russia. Princedoms emerged and settled communities developed. In the thirteenth century the Mongol leader Ghengis Khan attacked and conquered large swathes of both China and Russia. By the time he died in 1227 his empire stretched from the Pacific to the Black Sea posing the question that if the Mongols had not returned home in 1242 what would have happened to Europe. Some question indeed - if they had, we certainly wouldn’t be as we are now!! Russia was left to the Tartars for a couple of centuries. And then in the sixteenth century another cruel and fearsome ruler emerged: Ivan the Terrible - expanding the empire to the east this time. Peter explained that this meant that Eastern civilisation predominated in Russia with its kaftans, beards, social separation of men and women and its churches, described as ignorant and superstitious. This was a time of troubles for Russia - culturally and politically far behind the west. By the beginning of the eighteenth century Peter the Great was absolute ruler of Russia. Peter’s upbringing was a mixture of neglect and brutality and interestingly, exposure to westerners living in Moscow. For whatever reason he became a great moderniser. He famously developed the army, built a navy, encouraged the use of the French language and modern clothes, and prohibited the wearing of beards. To the north west swampland was drained by peasants and St Petersburg was founded, Italian architects were employed and wonderful buildings, including the winter and summer palaces, were built.

The course of Russian history was directed not only by the strength and character and experience of their leaders but by the weakness, poverty, the illiteracy and servitude of the vast majority of the people - resulting in an empire which was largely feudal until relatively recent times.

The geography and climate of Russia also played a vital part in protecting her from conquest. Both Napoleon and Hitler were overwhelmed by the winter - a simplification, maybe, but certainly significant. Belief systems as for most countries have played a significant part in the history of Russia - Russian Orthodox, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Communism being the most significant perhaps. Jewish people became revolutionaries in the early twentieth century - leading both to civil war and also mass emigration, especially to America.

Recent history in Russia is a bit more familiar to me with Stalin and Khruschev,

Gorbachov. But the contrasts in culture are still pretty incredible, very modern and

world beating as shown in the space race, but still primitive in some ways.

Peter’s talk showed us just how complex a history the Russian Empire has had and why. He spoke interestingly and used slides to illustrate the points being made.

Especially beautiful were the slides of numerous onion domed churches which I have to admit have whetted my appetite to travel and see these charismatic buildings first hand. And finally we had an Uzbek bridal fashion show with waistcoat and embroidered cap wonderfully modelled by Beryl!!

Many thanks to Peter for such an interesting and unusual talk and thanks to Alan for arranging it all. And apologises from me for any inaccuracies.

Jane Adcock

STAFFORD CASTLE WALK

The shops at Rising Brook were the unlikely meeting point for 16 folk kitted out in

boots and gaiters for a walk with promised muddy areas.

This walk was one of Stafford Borough’s “Doorstep Walks” designed to keep fit without travelling too far from the town; all are available as handouts or downloadable from

In 2.5 hours we were astonished at how much open space there was within easy reach of the town centre. In spite of living in the area for some years, I had never visited Rowley Stadium, with its excellent all weather track and other sports facilities. Rowley Park with its leafy streets, the golf course (with the chance to pick up errant balls), and the castle, finally finishing in the rural strip between the M6 and Weston Downs Estate.

The highlight of the walk had to be the castle, with many strands of interest. The short stiff climb brought the reward of long distance views on this surprisingly clear day. We could have spent longer reading the excellent information boards spread around the site, but moved onto the medieval herb garden arranged in groups for specific uses; regretfully individual plants were not labelled.

A return after April will reward us with access to the castle itself and the visitor centre - a must for any grandparent wishing to let little people wear themselves out in safe and interesting surroundings. There is even an inside option for wet days - trying on medieval clothes and armour in the visitor centre.

This interesting walk was finished with good food at the cafe within the Baptist Church. We will go again with those, hopefully, worn out little people.

Thanks to Margaret and Joyce for arranging the walk for us.

Harold Potter


Our trip to Stafford Castle

MILFORD RAMBLE

20 members met at the Barley Mow, Milford at 10.10am precisely as requested, well wrapped up in wet weather gear to enjoy 6 miles walking around - and up and down Cannock Chase at Milford and Brocton.

We feared a wet walk but got a dry one - from the clouds anyway, though some paths were lovely and ‘squigy’ underfoot, as it had been pouring at breakfast time.

Our route had been carefully planned by Jean Norman, using well-known and hidden paths, and was not disrupted by the Phytophthora Ramorum - see below. We started across fields, then crossed the Milford - Brocton Road several times to access Broc Hill, - without losing anyone, despite the high volume of traffic using this route.

We saw squirrels (grey), deer (fallow - too many to count), gorse in flower and snowdrops in flower. It became so sunny that several hats, gloves, even kagoules came off (or was that due to a few steeper gradients?). We found several unexpected features, which have led me to interesting research before I could complete this summary.

On Milford Common are a few houses, one of which, The Garth, was previously the clubhouse for Cannock Chase Golf Club, when the course was on the common, before moving to Brocton Golf Club. Behind these (at Milford Hole: grid ref. SJ 974202), we were surprised to find sandstone caves in a 30ft cliff, with intriguing chimney shapes and rooms cut out. I’ve since found out that there were cottages partially cut into this rock, built in the 19th century and last occupied by Polly Evans, until 1945. See the fascinating book ‘The Story of Berkswich Retold’ complied by Berkswich History Society in 2008, to learn more about Polly and her neighbours.

We climbed up Broc Hill to find an Analemmatic sundial, at 20 02’ 20”W, 520 46’ 40”N, as specified by the designer Ian Naylor. Here, large boulders in a semi-circle have a slab in the centre to stand on, to create a shadow to tell the time. Alan’s shadow fell across it at 12.05pm to confirm that it works. The stones made good seats for wearier walkers. Similar sundials can be found at Berkswich Primary School and at Hixon, as Millennium projects. We were so high up here and again at Coppice Hill, that we had great views across Mid Staffordshire to Shropshire and Derbyshire.

At Brocton Coppice we were very careful to obey the County Council’s new instructions to stay on main paths and keep dogs on leads to avoid spreading the potentially dangerous disease Phytophtora Ramorum, sometimes called Sudden Oak Death. This is a fungal infection related to potato blight, which attacks oak, ash, beech, sycamore, yew, bilberry and heather. The County Council is trying to identify and destroy infected plants and to control spread on clothes, soil on boots or animal fur by access restrictions, to save the ancient Brocton Coppice oaks.

After a fascinating and dry walk we all had a good lunch back at the Barley Mow, giving thanks to Jean and to the weather.

Nicola Woodhouse

An Early Spring Walk In and Around

Marchington Woodlands

The Group


Spring Lamb

Road-side Primroses

Woodedge Village Pump

Koi Carp in a Water Trough

Flying the Flag

MILFORD, TIXALL & SHUGBOROUGH RAMBLE