....and so we say farewell..

.....to yet another `service` on which so many have relied for so many years.  This time it`s the BBC (of course) who have decided to switch off the news and sport text services on the TV red button at the end of January next year.   This has been an invaluable service for reading headlines, updated cricket and football scores and tables, weather, travel news and loads more ever since it was first introduced as Ceefax, then Teletext and more latterly Red Button.

In a statement, the BBC said, "It`s always a difficult decision to reduce services but we have to balance the resources needed to maintain and develop this service with the need to update our systems to give people even better internet-based services.  Viewers can still access this information on the BBC website, BBC News and Sport apps as well as our 24-hour News Channel."

No they won`t.  Not if, like me, you are an octogenarian pensioner struggling to survive on a fixed income or someone who has no internet access or no idea how to access the BBC apps (which I take to mean applications) on a mobile phone which you may not have anyway.

Quite apart from the BBC`s assumption that everyone, yes everyone, has a smart phone, PC, tablet or whatever else and - even if they do - will have the ability to master modern technology, I suspect the real reason for this apparently vindictive withdrawal of a very useful service is to dish out some payback for the uncertainty surrounding the fact that the free TV licences for the over-75s  are likely to be withdrawn next year too.

So, farewell to my red buttoning for things like traffic updates, cricket and football  scores and tables and the football gossip column which gives me probably fake news about the comings and goings in the parallel universe of football.  It is a service which will be much missed but then we do indeed live in a mad world of strange priorities.

Well, two actually.  In a weekend of mixed sporting events I have to report not one, but two disappointing results for teams supported by the cognoscenti of our Kentish enclave.

The first was that Southampton went to the Emirates to take on a troubled Arsenal side and they were doing very nicely, thank you, leading 2-1 deep in to stoppage time.  But - there`s always a but with the Saints - in the 96th minute Arsenal struck home to secure a point apiece in a 2-2 draw.   Now if before the game you had offered me a point away at the Emirates, I would have taken it, especially as the pundits in the Sky build-up programme all had Arsenal winning by about four clear goals. 

So a bit of a kick in the teeth for us Saints fans but perhaps nothing compared to that inflicted on my good friend and neighbour, Mr. Slightly, the well known Gillingham aficionado.  His team went to Wimbledon, for whom our street`s erstwhile near neighbour Scott ("Waggy") Wagstaff plies his trade not only as a box-to-box pacy flanker but also as captain of the Dons.   And - there`s always an and with the Gills - it was Captain Scott who scored for Wimbledon with a decisive finish to secure a 1-0 win over Mr. Slightly`s downcast outfit.

Elsewhere Truro City - for the third time in three weeks -  made the 400-mile round trip to Blackfield, my wartime childhood retreat close to Southampton Water but this time came away with a 2-0 win to keep them in second place in their league;  Forest Green Rovers also had a good away win, this time 4-2 at Leyton Orient which also keeps them in the promotion hunt, whilst Maidstone United have to play again against Dartford to decide who goes into the next round of the FA Trophy.

So maybe not all bad news after all - just don`t mention the cricket.

Last night - on the coldest, most frosty evening of the season so far, my good friend and neighbour, the admirable Mr. Slightly, ventured to the Priestfield Stadium at Gillingham to watch his footballing heroes take on the might of Sunderland in an FA Cup replay, the Gills having secured a creditable draw away at the curiously named Stadium of Light about ten days ago.

But the real heroes of this ramble are not the Gillingham team or their ample manager, Steve Evans, but those who decided to go and watch the game anyway, including my neighbour, of course.   He and his Gills supporting chums were rewarded with their team winning 1-0 after extra time, thus securing a place in the Second Round Proper of the FA Cup where they will play Doncaster Rovers.  For it was Doncaster who overcame Wimbledon - captained once more by our street`s sporting icon Captain Scott Wgastaff  - in another FA Cup replay last night and The Dons will not be looking forward to their trip to Gillingham, which is always a difficult place to go to.

But on the question of heroes, spare a thought for the 329 Sunderland supporters who made the 600-mile round trip to watch their team go out of the competition after extra time.  And it`s that bit that makes their journey that much more heroic.  I guess the game finally ended well past 10.00pm, they then had to escape the rigours and vagaries of the visitors` uncovered open stand at Priestfield which is not a good place to be on a long, cold, unsuccessful frosty night and make the journey back to their northern outpost.   God only knows what time they got back home.

I suppose it might be the underdog in me - as a Saints fan I readily identify with plucky minnows - but I do admire the true supporters of struggling teams, some of whom, like Sunderland, have fallen on hard times and others who have never known anything other than constantly dreaming that one day things will be different;  hence my penchant for clubs like Fort William and Truro City, whose fans undertake journeys in support of their own causes, lost or otherwise, which strike me as truly heroic.

So let`s hear it for the unsung heroes, those who give their devotion, time and resources to following their chosen club - I just hope that they are admired and respected by those clubs in return.   And that goes for Gillingham too.

A HAVEN OF REFUGE...

The last leg of our day`s wander through the more distant parts of Kent took us to the village/township of Elham.  (I wonder when a hamlet becomes a village, a village becomes a township, a township becomes a proper town and so on....)

Elham lies, unsurprisingly, in the lovely Elham Valley and within the `Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,` so I`m a little surprised that it is not more `touristy` than it sems to be.   Maybe it was because  we visited on a late Autumn day in the late afternoon but there was an air of quiet contentment about the place.  We hardly saw anyone during our amble around, during which I took a couple of photos - the one at the top kind of sums up the sleepy ambience of Elham and the one below shows an example of the architecture that typifies the village......  

Which might explain why it has become something of a haven of refuge, not only for those seeking a quiet backwater away from the maelstrom of modern day Britain but also for those, in times gone by, who were seeking escape and solace from other forms of intensity.  A couple of examples:-

Former Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden lived at Park Gate just outside of Elham during the Second World War and award winning actress Audrey Hepburn spent some of her childhood in Elham during the same period.  (Elham is not the sort of place to `commercialise` its claims to fame but the entrepreneur in me would suggest that opening a place that does breakfasts and calling it Tiffany`s might work?)  

A quiet corner of Elham

Now Kent is of course a hotbed of cricket and it`s really no surprise to discover that Kent and England wicket-keeper/batsman Les Ames was born and brought up in Elham and another Kent and England cricketer, Mark Ealham used to live in The Square in the village.  (The clue is in the name, I guess.)  Among others finding peace in this tranquil setting is actress Pam Ferris, who has lived in Elham for the past ten years.

So it has a lot going for it and it was a real pleasure to spend a little time there, discovering its charm and some of its secrets and I look forward to our next adventures into the hidden byways of the county of Kent.

Part two of our journey through hitherto unknown parts of deepest Kent saw us say a fond farewell to Wickhambreaux and venture to the nearby village/township of Wingham.  Not too sure what to make of Wingham.  It seems pleasant enough - plenty of architectural interest but it`s spoiled by having a main road (the A257 from Canterbury to Sandwich) running through it.   Wingham also seems to lack any real claim to fame but its church has a sundial above the main door rather than a clock and Wingham is allegedly the former home of `celebrity chef` Paul Hollywood so you can see what I mean about its claim to fame.   

But I did come across a coffee shop with the intriguing name of `The Politician`s Daughter.`  After a few bells rang in my head I realised that that was a snippet from a popular song which was first recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1946.  It contains the line:-

"A politician`s daughter 
Was accused of drinking water
And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill.
They`ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil."

And that was about it for Wingham, so off we went to our next stop which was the hamlet of Barfrestone, which I had heard about but never visited before.  It lies in a pretty remote area of east Kent which used to include the now defunct Kent Coal Fields.  Barfrestone used to have a pub - it`s now a private house;  it used to have a telephone box - it still has the box but no telephone.

But the glory of Barfrestone and the reason for our visit is its 12th century Norman church of St. Nicholas which is a Grade 1 listed building and has been described as the best Norman church in the country.  The quality and profusion of the decoration is breathtaking.  The outstanding feature is the south doorway but there is also a fine and rare Norman wheel window.  There is so much to see and admire both inside and out.

Here are a couple of photos I took on our visit:- (Please click on them for better images).......

New light through old windows

  

The wheel window

For much more about this glorious and very special church, please visit http://www.greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/barfreston.html

ANOTHER RECORD TO CHERISH ?

I think I`ve arrived at that stage where there is no point in being cross about it.  Instead, as Southampton FC lurch to yet another home defeat, this time at the hands of Everton, I seem to have been overcome by a feeling of almost benign amusement.  Yesterday`s game was billed as yet another in a long line of `must win six pointers` but the 2-1 home defeat leaves the Saints next to bottom of the Premier League with the worst goal difference in the league.  

Moreover, following the recent 9-0 stuffing by Leicester City which made history by being the record home defeat by any team ever in the history of the Premier League, yesterday`s defeat set yet more milestones in what is becoming a season to forget.  It marked the worst ever start to a season in over 130 years of competitive football for the Saints and the return of only one point from six home matches played so far has equalled that set by Blackpool way back in the 1930s.   So history continues to be made.

Just a few miles up the road from Southampton is the small village of Blackfield, where I spent much of the war in an aunt`s house with my mother whilst my father was away being a prisoner of war for five years.  I played my first football there at the age of about five which I imagine is when the romance with the game may have started.   

Blackfield and Langley (the adjoining hamlet) now have a team playing in the Southern League South Division and yesterday they had a replay against Truro City in the FA Trophy qualifying round, having drawn at Truro in the week. In front of a recorded `crowd` of 57,  Blackfield won 3-1 and so not only did Truro have to wearily trudge the 200 and more miles back home but it also marked another disappointment in my affection for the Cornish White Tigers despite my divided loyalties on this occasion.

The good news is that Gillingham went all the way to Sunderland on Friday night and came away with a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup, so my neighbour will be `up for it` when the replay takes place at Priestfield nextTuesday evening. Wimbledon too had a 1-1 draw in the Cup at at home against Doncaster Rovers, so our street`s local hero Scott ("Buzzin` Six-pack") Wagstaff and his chums have to make the journey to the Don Valley Stadium for their replay also next Tuesday evening.   Forest Green Rovers had a 4-0 win in the Cup against Billericay and Maidstone pulled off a surprise 1-0 win against Torquay United.

So it`s not all bad then.  Just most of it.

ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY..

To Wickhambreaux with my eldest son to begin our expedition of Kent villages I have never been to before. We picked a glorious early winter day with the sun nestling above a startling blue sky.

Wickhambreaux lies some miles to the east of Canterbury among the hidden lanes of east Kent and has a long recorded history going back to Roman times.  It is first mentioned in 948, so over 1,100 years ago, when King Eadred granted land to a woman of religion.   The village, for it is no more than that, still retains its medieval pattern with the Church, manor house, rectory, inn and mill encircling the village green.

The 13th Century Church of St. Andrew (see my photo above) was restored in 1868 and is known for its art nouveau stained glass window of the Annunciation which dates from 1896.  This was the first commission given in Europe to American glassworkers, designed by Arild Rosenkrantz and manufactured in the New York studio of John La Farge.  Here`s a photo I took of the window.......

The churchyard of St. Andrew`s includes a memorial resting place of one of the Dambusters heroes - Squadron Leader David Maltby, DSO, DFC, who completed over 30 bomber operations during World War 2 before being killed when his aeroplane crashed in the North Sea in 1943 returning from an operation that was cancelled due to bad weather.   He was just 23 years old.

We strolled around the village and were struck by the quietness, the peace and almost timelessness of it all.  One of the reasons for our visit was to  see `Quaives`, an imposing residence mostly hidden behind imposing walls and hedges, for this was the former residence of chanteuse par excellence Christine McVie of the Fleetwood Mac rock combo.  She settled here to find some peace and refuge from the mad world of rock `n` roll but perhaps it was a little too quiet and so she moved on and the property is now a holiday and retreat centre; despite which we duly paid our homage to the much admired Christine.

So we enjoyed Wickhambreaux and here are a couple more photos I took that might capture something of the uniqueness of the place......

The Stour river flowing through the village

Wisteria Cottage

(As ever with my photos, please click on them for much better images.)

It comes to something when yet another defeat for my beloved Saints contributes to a feeling of light relief.  But yesterday`s battling performance away at Manchester City (again) proved that there might be some hope after all that the team can yet redeem themselves from the 9-0 hammering at the hands of Leicester City just over a week ago.   Yesterday the Saints held a 1-0 lead deep into the second half until two late goals from the current champions meant that once again the Saints came away empty handed and remain stuck in the relegation zone.   But, whilst it`s true that it is the hope that kills you, it still springs eternal and the signs are encouraging.

But I found myself once again looking for genuine relief in sport from the awful prospect of six weeks of electioneering by a bunch of politicians on all sides who do not deserve to be taken seriously.  I`m already tired of being shouted at, lied to and being told what to think not only by the politicians of this world but also the alleged impartial media.

So anything to get away from all that is welcome in the next few weeks and to be fair although England losing the World Cup Rugby Final to South Africa was disappointing at least it was a fair result in a sport where respect for officials and their decisions is paramount.

In other news, despite our street`s local hero getting booked again, Wimbledon salvaged a point in a 1-1 home draw against Lincoln City - a result which takes them out of their own relegation zone.  Forest Green Rovers went top of their league with yet another away win and it would indeed be a remarkable thing for a village team from nowhere if, at the end of the season, they gain promotion again, this time to League One.

Not so good elsewhere.  Gillingham went down 3-0 at home to Rotherham, much to my neighbours disquiet;  Maidstone lost 2-1 away and both Fort William and Truro City fell victims to the weather with both of their games called off due to waterlogged pitches.

I`ve said it before, I know, but if sport used to be the last refuge for those who find it impossible to idle, perhaps it is now the first point of refuge for those who cannot stand the lunacy of the hustings?