“Show and Tell” session after February 2022 AGM
The AGM was followed by a “Show and Tell” session, with contributions from Group members.
The first presenter was Jean Carter, who has been a member of the group for less than a year. Jean had chosen to show a heavy fragment of leaded, stained glass window. This had been designed by Augustus Pugin for the new Palace of Westminster, which was being re-built after the disastrous fire of 1834. Pugin was responsible for the interior of the new building, including ceilings, floor tiles, windows, panelling and furniture.
It was in May 1941, towards the end of the Blitz, that a German bomb severely damaged the House of Commons Chamber. Several postcards showing the destruction that had been wrought were circulated by Jean, along with the glass fragment.
The Chamber was re-built again, to a design of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, but, because of post-war budget restraints, in a simpler and plainer style (e.g. no stained glass), although modern heating and ventilation were introduced. Installation of an automatic push-button voting system was deemed a step too far!
To raise money for the construction work, fragments of the destroyed Chamber were offered for sale. Jean’s uncle, the Member of Parliament for Pontypridd, bought the piece of glass, possibly for £5, which is how it had eventually come into Jean’s possession.
The second participant was John Andrew, who had brought a red book, entitled “The Singing Pilgrim and other poems”, written by John Huie and published in 1906. John Huie was born in 1837 on Dhurrie Farm, near Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre. Like Robbie Burns, he was “a son of the soil” and his main occupation throughout his working life was as a farmer. This was an age when life for many was unrelentingly hard and religion had far more significance than it does in today’s secular society.
Two poems from the anthology were read out.
John disclosed that his grandfather, Matthew, had run the nearby High Ranachan farm (shown in a photograph) and the poet/farmer John Huie was actually John’s great uncle on his grandmother’s side. The final reveal was that Sir Paul McCartney had bought High Ranachan farm some years ago to add to his landowning on the Mull of Kintyre.
The final item was shown by Norma Roberts and was her copy of the “Mappa Mundi”, about 18 inches square (the original, displayed in Hereford Cathedral is slightly over 5ft x 4ft). Made of calfskin, the real “Mappa Mundi” is a round, medieval map of the world, the largest still in existence. Scholars believe it was made around the year 1300, not for navigational purposes, but for religious ones, as Jerusalem, the heart of Christendom, is in the centre. The inhabited part of the world as it was known then, roughly equivalent to Europe, Asia and North Africa is depicted, with east at the top (the modern convention is to show north uppermost). East, where the sun rises, was where medieval Christians looked for the second coming of Christ. The British Isles are at the bottom on the left, showing the Tower of London and Durham Cathedral. The Hereford map hung, with little regard, for many years on a wall of a choir aisle. In 1988, a financial crisis caused the cathedral authorities to propose selling the map. After much controversy, large donations kept the map in Hereford and allowed the construction of a new library to display it.
Steve Monaghan