tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91163795080869427482024-03-19T11:14:14.375+00:00CHEPSTOW CHATGreg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-32438023200187883862015-05-16T01:33:00.000+01:002015-08-24T10:50:56.617+01:00Roger HOPSON 1947 - 2015 - IN MEMORIAM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Roger HOPSON 1947 - 2015 - IN MEMORIAM</b><br />
<b>.</b></div>
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<b>Roger William HOPSON 1947 - 2015 - IN MEMORIAM</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYuf2uizqbEbVYuHjBTMWnQsFXW5PrwFGVmVWwuSVNJFEk-zFTfMUXuvTNZ5cpu3wVPnPdJ4yUjHEc__vUTekWvFfU0VKNQh-_Lc0ys4SAPK2UodwoxuLLzSSsAylqXX6dloHFZLagQUE/s1600/HOPSON+Roger+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYuf2uizqbEbVYuHjBTMWnQsFXW5PrwFGVmVWwuSVNJFEk-zFTfMUXuvTNZ5cpu3wVPnPdJ4yUjHEc__vUTekWvFfU0VKNQh-_Lc0ys4SAPK2UodwoxuLLzSSsAylqXX6dloHFZLagQUE/s640/HOPSON+Roger+01.jpg" width="440" /></a></div>
<i>The service was conducted by Rev. Michael Gollop.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The Eulogy was delivered by Dawn Gregory:</i><br />
<i><br />The Eulogy to Roger:</i><br />
<br />
Rog taught me many things about making speeches, the best one being - imagine everyone is naked! I am not going to do that today as there are so many of you the vision would be frightening!<br />
<br />
My family and I have had an incredible journey with Roger - we grew to love him, despite sometimes wanting to throttle him!<br />
<br />
Never have we met anyone like him, he taught us all so much - he was the most intelligent, kind, helpful and infuriating person we have ever known - which is why he fitted in so well with us!<br />
<br />
He loved his life with us and loved the people who took him for who he was. He would have been amazed to know just how many people are here today to honour him.<br />
<br />
Our personal journey began with being on the council together - he was the clerk and he encouraged me to become chairperson, having far more faith in me than I did myself! We produced a booklet together - 'The Tintern Survey' - which was very successful, and, from that, started a youth club that ran for several years.<br />
<br />
Roger helped with the 'tuck shop' - not the best position for him as he was his own best customer!<br />
<br />
The kids loved him, and we were always the target of their favourite game - chasing us around the hall with buckets of water to see who would win the 'wet tee-shirt' competition! How he chuckled when it was always him, as I could run faster!<br />
<br />
When I won the 'Welsh Youth Champion' award one year - Roger was more proud of me than I was myself!<br />
<br />
We opened a successful tea room which Rog ran with the help of his angels - Sophie One and Sophie Two - and again Roger was his own best customer - this time with the cakes!<br />
<br />
Consequently we both joined Weight-Watchers and were very competitive and lost 7 and a half stone between us - then put it all back on the following year!<br />
<br />
We moved to Chepstow and opened a new business there where he learned the antiques trade where he became known to many as 'Goldfinger' very aptly as he had a heart of gold, which, if I could have scrapped it, would have made a fortune!<br />
<br />
Roger was everything to us, father, grandfather, mentor, confidant and manager - he was our soul mate.<br />
<br />
Everywhere we went, he went with us - even on two Caribbean cruises, both memorable - one because he missed the plane home and made the HTV news, and one because, unbeknown to us, he was on the Disco dance floor till 2am. when we were sleeping! Who would have thought he was such a party animal?<br />
<br />
We were a duo in the shop - think Arkwright and Granville - he called me Madam and I calling him many things I can't say here!<br />
<br />
Roger helped Ian with his accounts (thank God), Alex to drive (probably causing his own hair loss)m and to Jackie's baby (due in October) he would have been a real life teddy bear!<br />
<br />
We, as a family have an endless supply of memories of Roger which will help us deal with losing him, in the coming years, and there is one thing we know for sure - he will always be with us in spirit, so, to our dearest, loveliest, frustrating Rogie - may you walk with angels until we meet again - Goodnight and God bless.<br />
<i><br /></i>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins</b></span></div>
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Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-13602866105115247192014-12-17T10:45:00.000+00:002015-08-24T11:08:08.351+01:00Stuart ARCHER Died On 17-Dec-2014 - IN MEMORIAM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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First Posted on <span class="postdate">December 17, 2014</span> by Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W) </div>
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at:</div>
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<b><a href="http://greglw.com/2014/12/17/in-memoriam-archer-stuart-malcolm-on-17-dec-2014">http://greglw.com/2014/12/17/in-memoriam-archer-stuart-malcolm-on-17-dec-2014</a> </b></div>
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<b>Stuart ARCHER Died On 17-Dec-2014 - </b><b>IN MEMORIAM</b></div>
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<h2 style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
<strong>IN MEMORIAM -<br />
ARCHER, Stuart Malcolm </strong></h2>
<h2 style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
<strong>was Born 14-Oct-1948 <br />& who Died On 17-Dec-2014 aged 66</strong></h2>
<a href="https://greglwdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/archer-stuart-died-17-dec-2014.jpg"><img alt="ARCHER Stuart Died 17-Dec-2014" class="alignnone wp-image-861" height="445" originalh="445" originalw="275" scale="1.5" src-orig="https://greglwdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/archer-stuart-died-17-dec-2014.jpg?w=275&h=445" src="https://greglwdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/archer-stuart-died-17-dec-2014.jpg?w=425&h=680" width="275" /></a><br />
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
Stuart died On 17 December, after a long and very bravely fought
fight against bowel cancer, at his home in Newport.Stuart was aged 66
years.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
He leaves his wife and partner through his illness Trish and was dearly loved by Suzanne and Tom.<br />
He will be missed not only by his family but by many friends and the
town of Chepstow, where he had worked with Sandra and the staff at
Archer & Co and had gained the respect of many for his courteous
behaviour and dedicated service to his clients and also of those who
knew of his illness and his resolute determination to survive with
humour as long as possible, making the most of every moment he could.<br />
<br />
I
was privileged to have had several very private conversations with
Stuart during his illness & treatment where, even when he knew the
outcome was inevitable, he courageously sought out opportunities to be
used in new trials that would not just prolonge his own life but would
provide information to help others following down the path!My thoughts
are with his family and those he had worked with for so many years who
will miss him greatly, at this challenging time.<br />
<br />
<br />
A Celebration for the life of Stuart Malcolm Archer, in accord with
his wishes, will be held at St. Pierre Golf and Country Club on Thursday
8th January at 13:00hrs.<br />
<br />
The service of commemoration at St. Pierre was held after a private
family ceremony at the Crematorium and was conducted by a Civil
Celebrant Gill Fortescue with an extensive, and very appropriate, Eulogy
given by David Evans.<br />
<br />
No flowers by request, donations for St. David’s Hospice Care may be sent to:<br />
Philip Blatchly & Son,<br />
5 Station Road,<br />
Chepstow,<br />
Monmouthshire,<br />
NP16 5PA.<br />
TEL: 01291 624939</div>
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Regards,<b><br />
</b></div>
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<em><strong>Greg_L-W.</strong></em></div>
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<b>I Have Been Fighting Cancer since 1997 & I’M STILL HERE!</b></div>
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<b>I Have Cancer, Cancer Does NOT Have Me</b></div>
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<b>I just want to say sorry for copping out at times and leaving Lee and friends to cope!</b></div>
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<b>Any help and support YOU can give her will be hugely welcome. </b></div>
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<b>I do make a lousy patient!</b></div>
.<br />
If YOU want to follow my fight against Cancer from when it started and I
first presented with symptoms in 1998 see The TAB at the Header of this
Blog. called ><b>DIARY of Cancer ….</b>< just click and it will
give you a long list of the main events in chronological order, many
linked to specific blog postings.<br />
.<br />
Thoughts, articles and comments will be in chronological order in the main blog and can be tracked in the ><b>ARCHIVE</b>< in the Left Sidebar.<br />
.<br />
You may find the TABS ><b>MEDICAL LINKS</b>< and also ><b>CANCER LINKS</b>< of help, also many of the links in articles and >HOT LINKS< in the Sidebar.<br />
.<br />
YOU are welcome to call me, minded that I am NOT medically trained, if you believe I can help in ANY way. .<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins</b></span><br />
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Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-92086121522698753962013-06-18T02:04:00.001+01:002013-06-18T02:04:43.676+01:00Chepstow Wind Turbine Factory in Layoffs & Failure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.642,-2.675&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.642,-2.675%20%28Chepstow%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Chepstow">Chepstow</a> Wind Turbine Factory in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layoff" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Layoff">Layoffs</a> & Failure<br />
.<br />
<h2>
<strong>Posted by: <a href="http://greglancewatkins.com/" target="_blank">Greg Lance-Watkins</a> – Greg_L-W</strong>.</h2>
.<br />
Hi,<br />
predictably the dishonest wind turbine factory founded on Government
grants and false hopes is facing the truth it seems – resulting in
layoffs and failure.<br />
Sad though it is for those who were duped into these clearly unsound
jobs it is good to see reality being forced upon the idiotic <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-33.7544444444,25.675&spn=0.01,0.01&q=-33.7544444444,25.675%20%28Wind%20farm%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Wind farm">Wind Farm</a> scams, as the truth becomes known, in that <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Wind turbine">Wind Turbines</a> have no meaningful use on a large scale and are grossly inefficient producers of power and an unsightly blot on any landscape.<br />
That subsidies are required to cover the pretence of their efficacy
is unsurprising and it does seem that Governments have promoted this
gross abuse of tax payers money as a means to levy further taxes for
revenue to hide the fact that they have failed in their duty to ensure
security of power supply by planning and providing nuclear, oil, gas,
coal and viable <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Electricity generation">generation of electricity</a>!<br />
<h3 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.5714em; line-height: 1.4545em; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">Jobs to go at Chepstow wind turbine factory</span></h3>
<div class="articleInfo clearfix" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-style: dotted none; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-width: 1px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.7857em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; zoom: 1;">
<span class="articleDateTime" style="color: blue; float: right; margin-left: 30px; max-width: 250px; text-align: right;">11:10am Wednesday 12th June 2013 in <a href="http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/news/" style="color: #3f86ae; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: blue;">News</span></a></span></div>
<div class="articleSinglePhotoPortrait" style="background-color: whitesmoke; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: right; color: #333333; float: right; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 10px; width: 228px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><img alt="TURBINE PLANT: Wind turbine maker Mabey Bridge in Chepstow is to shed 45 jobs" border="0" height="343" src="http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/resources/images/1602051.jpg?type=articlePortrait" style="border: 0; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0 auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" title="" width="228" /><span style="display: block; font-size: .8571em; overflow: auto; padding: 4px 6px; width: 216px;">TURBINE PLANT: Wind turbine maker Mabey Bridge in Chepstow is to shed 45 jobs</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">ENGINEERING
firm Mabey Bridge is to shed up to 45 jobs in the second round of
redundancies this year at its wind turbine factory in Chepstow.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">The company, which at the turn of the year employed 190 staff at its <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.newhousefarm.tv/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="It's Not Easy Being Green">Newhouse Farm</a> site, cut staff in February, but has been forced into more job losses.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">“We
regret having to make this difficult decision. As a family business we
are actively seeking ways to redeploy, retrain and move work between our
businesses to minimise any job losses during this period,” said a
spokesman.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">The company, part of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabey_Group" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Mabey Group">Mabey Group</a>,
bought the Newhouse site three and a half years ago, developing it as a
manufacturing base for wind turbine towers, through a £38 million
investment.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">“The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5,-0.116666666667&spn=10.0,10.0&q=51.5,-0.116666666667%20%28United%20Kingdom%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="United Kingdom">UK</a>
renewables market has become increasingly competitive, with product now
supplied from mainland Europe and even further afield,” said the
spokesman.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">“Our customers have also been affected by a drop in the level of government support for onshore wind.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">“Earlier
this year we did take steps to improve our shift working patterns and
operational flexibility at Newhouse, with every effort made to minimise
impact on the workforce.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">“After
consulting staff, 13 jobs were unfortunately affected. Although these
changes boosted output, further improvements are still required to keep
us competitive.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">It is anticipated that these further steps could potentially affect 25 to 45 jobs.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">“The business remains committed to the renewables and energy sector and we continue to win new orders for wind turbine towers.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">But like many other UK companies we must take steps to ensure we can compete effectively in the marketplace.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">The company has stressed that its other factories, another in Chepstow, and in Lydney, are not affected by this decision.</span></div>
To view the original article <a href="http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/news/10478366.Jobs_to_go_at_Chepstow_wind_turbine_factory/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a><br />
<a href="http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/news/10478366.Jobs_to_go_at_Chepstow_wind_turbine_factory/" target="_blank"></a>Perhaps
the facts, and the scam behind the wind turbine propaganda and the
false science of global warming as a fact, which it would seem there is
no sound scientific evidence to support, and that it is an anthropogenic
problem merely highlights the dishonesty or to give the benefit of the
doubt, stupidity of the green propaganda and shoddy misrepresentations
by the likes of Al Gore and Pashrami and the cohorts of hangers on
exploiting the scam!<br />
Perhaps this will go some way to helping answer the questions of Paul Hurley, also in the paper:<br />
<h3 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.3334em; line-height: 1.375em; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">Turbine plants sums awry</span></h3>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;"> IT
WAS with much regret, when reading your article on June 12, I learned
of more skilled engineering job losses at Mabey Bridges Wind Turbine
Fabrication yard.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">This,
coupled with the recent demise of local firm Rowecord, will make it
even more difficult for the likes of welders, platers and fabricators to
find employment in the locality.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">And
yet, on the same date in a daily newspaper business section, a chief of
RenewableUK stated that thousands of quality jobs may be at risk unless
Britain builds more factories to make offshore wind turbines.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">Maria
McCaffery, RenewableUK’s chief, said it was a once-in-a-generation
opportunity to build large scale, offshore windfarm supply factories,
and said that by 2030 the UK would need 39 such fabrication yards to
enable the UK to attain its future Green Energy commitments.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">Something here does not add up to me.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="color: blue;">Paul Hurley, Byron Road, Newport</span></div>
<br />
.<br />
Regards,<br />
<strong><em>Greg_L-W.</em></strong><br />
.<br />
<div>
<div>
<strong>Posted by: <a href="http://greglancewatkins.com/" target="_blank">Greg Lance-Watkins</a></strong><br />
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<h6 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h6>
<a href="http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/news/10478366.Jobs_to_go_at_Chepstow_wind_turbine_factory/" target="_blank">
</a>
<br />
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://ontario-wind-resistance.org/2013/06/15/transport-canada-the-illegal-turbines-must-be-removed/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0 0 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://i.zemanta.com/177671942_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://ontario-wind-resistance.org/2013/06/15/transport-canada-the-illegal-turbines-must-be-removed/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Transport Canada: “The illegal turbines must be removed”</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://gl-w.com/2013/05/22/phillip-day-exposes-the-truth-re-the-eu/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0 0 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_88_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://gl-w.com/2013/05/22/phillip-day-exposes-the-truth-re-the-eu/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Phillip DAY Exposes The Truth re. The EU</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://gl-w.com/2013/06/16/wind-power-shown-to-be-a-subsidy-scam-with-our-money/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0 0 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://i.zemanta.com/177758387_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://gl-w.com/2013/06/16/wind-power-shown-to-be-a-subsidy-scam-with-our-money/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Wind Power shown to be a subsidy scam with OUR money</a></li>
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Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-30384310209299755472013-04-18T11:28:00.000+01:002015-08-24T11:33:36.986+01:00Roger COLTHART Died 17-Apr-2013 – IN MEMORIAM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px;">
<a href="http://greglw.com/2013/04/18/template-01-2/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(117, 171, 234); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #105cb6; text-decoration: none;" title="Roger COLTHART – IN MEMORIAM">Roger COLTHART – IN MEMORIAM</a></h2>
<div class="postinfo" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px;">
First Posted on <span class="postdate" style="color: #a12a2a;">April 18, 2013</span><br />by Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)<br />at: <a href="http://greglw.com/2013/04/18/template-01-2">http://greglw.com/2013/04/18/template-01-2</a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b>Roger COLTHART – IN MEMORIAM</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>.</b></div>
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Hi,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
sad to announce that late last night my friend of some 30 years standing Roger Colthart died after a resolute and resourceful fight, against metastatic cancer, over several years.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
His final period was thankfully without pain and he was fortunate enough to fulfill his wish, to die at home, where his wife Anne had been looking after him supported by their children and the medical and care team managed by St. David’s Nurse (MacMillan Nursing equivalent in Monmouthshire).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Roger’s wife, children, elderly mother, and one of his brothers plus other family members were present at the time of his death, also his local vicar, doctor and St. David’s Nurse as he past peacefully out of life and beyond further danger of pain and indignity.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Roger’s funeral is being carried out by his family friend Phillip Blatchley and Roger drew up the full details of his order of service some time before his death when he first considered his condition to be terminal.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Roger’s funeral will take place at St. Arvans church at 12:00hrs. on Thursday 25-Apr-2013 and those attending are invited to join with his familyt and friends at The Piercefield, where light refreshments will be served and the management have kindly invited those attending the church service to park and leave their cars.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Lee & I will be attending.</div>
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<b>.</b></div>
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Regards,<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<em><strong>Greg_L-W.</strong></em></div>
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<b>I Have Cancer, Cancer Does NOT Have Me</b></div>
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<b>I just want to say sorry for copping out at times and leaving Lee and friends to cope!</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Any help and support YOU can give her will be hugely welcome.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>I do make a lousy patient!</b></div>
<div style="padding: 10px 0px 0px;">
.<br />If YOU want to follow my fight against Cancer from when it started and I first presented with symptoms in 1998 see The TAB at the Header of this Blog. called ><b>DIARY of Cancer ….</b>< just click and it will give you a long list of the main events in chronological order, many linked to specific blog postings.<br />.<br />Thoughts, articles and comments will be in chronological order in the main blog and can be tracked in the ><b>ARCHIVE</b>< in the Left Sidebar.<br />.<br />You may find the TABS ><b>MEDICAL LINKS</b>< and also ><b>CANCER LINKS</b>< of help, also many of the links in articles and >HOT LINKS< in the Sidebar.<br />.<br />YOU are welcome to call me, minded that I am NOT medically trained, if you believe I can help in ANY way. .</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins</b></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>tel: 01594 – 528 337</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b><b>of: <a href="mailto:Greg_L-W@BTconnect.com" style="color: #105cb6;">Greg_L-W@BTconnect.com</a></b></b></span></div>
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Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-40005504068992446642011-10-01T23:13:00.000+01:002011-10-01T23:13:05.623+01:00Woman fights for life after Chepstow bridge fall<h3>Woman fights for life after <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.6436388889,-2.66694444444&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.6436388889,-2.66694444444%20%28Chepstow%20Railway%20Bridge%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Chepstow Railway Bridge">Chepstow bridge</a> fall</h3><div class="articlePublished" style="color: blue;">11:40am Thursday 29th September 2011</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span> <div class="social" style="color: blue;"><span class="socialTwitter"> </span><span class="socialFacebook"><span></span><span></span></span></div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><br clear="all" style="color: blue;" /><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="color: blue;">A 30-YEAR-OLD <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Woman">woman</a> was left with life-threatening <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_%28medicine%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Trauma (medicine)">injuries</a> after falling around 40 feet from a bridge in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.642,-2.6751&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.642,-2.6751%20%28Chepstow%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Chepstow">Chepstow</a> in the early hours of Tuesday. </div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="color: blue;">Emergency services were called at 2.27am to the Wye river bridge, on the A48 towards the English border. </div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="color: blue;">Firemen from the town’s fire station were sent equipped for a water rescue, a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5533333333,-3.39784722222&spn=0.005,0.005&q=51.5533333333,-3.39784722222%20%28South%20Wales%20Fire%20and%20Rescue%20Service%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="South Wales Fire and Rescue Service">South Wales Fire and Rescue Service</a> spokeswoman said, but when they arrived the woman was on wasteland, so paramedics from a rapid reponse vehicle and an ambulance took over. </div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="color: blue;">Officers from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.gwent.police.uk/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Gwent Police">Gwent Police</a> also attended the bridge, following reports the woman had jumped off it, according to a spokeswoman. </div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="color: blue;">Resident Roisin Collins said she was awoken in the early hours by a “loud scream” and sirens from the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_service" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Emergency service">emergency services</a>, but did not know at the time what was going on. </div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="color: blue;">The woman was taken to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.3446,-2.5953&spn=1.0,1.0&q=51.3446,-2.5953%20%28Royal%20Gwent%20Hospital%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Royal Gwent Hospital">Royal Gwent Hospital</a>, Newport, with serious injuries where she remains in a stable condition. </div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><div style="color: blue;">The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Ambulance_Service" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Welsh Ambulance Service">Welsh Ambulance Service</a> were unable to detail the extent of the woman’s injuries. </div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">The police confirmed there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident.</span><br />
<br />
It is believed that the young lady, who lived in Bridge Street has 3 small children, is of Polish origin and that her life is in the balance with broken legs, a broken arm and suspected fractures of pelvis and spine.<br />
<br />
If suicide was her intention with the injuries she has suffered we hope her progress is pain free and with minimum suffering for her and those she has inflictedf this action on.<br />
<div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0pt 0pt;">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-14385472" target="_blank">Armed police at Chepstow address</a> (bbc.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-wales-14813683" target="_blank">Police launch town murder inquiry</a> (bbc.co.uk)</li>
</ul></div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_a.png?x-id=079e9cd9-f4e5-4242-8547-8d2f5fee63ba" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-31796745269677252342011-05-03T17:48:00.000+01:002011-05-03T18:08:52.738+01:00#GLW003* - The SEVERN PRINCESS - How Sad#GLW003* - The SEVERN PRINCESS - How Sad<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; float: none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aust_ferry_arp.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The England end of Aust Ferry in 1964, looking..." height="270" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Aust_ferry_arp.jpg/300px-Aust_ferry_arp.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="400" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aust_ferry_arp.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" class="tborder" id="post62893"><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td class="alt1" id="td_post_62893" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216);"><div class="smallfont" style="text-align: center;">The Severn Princess still plying her trade at The Aust slipway <br />
on The Bristol side <br />
whilst The Chepstow Severn Bridge was being built in 1965<br />
- before the carriageway was hung.<b><br />
</b></div><div class="smallfont"></div><div class="smallfont"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A very sad old severn princess</b></span> </div><hr size="1" style="background-color: #d8d8d8; color: #d8d8d8;" /><div id="post_message_62893"><img alt="" border="0" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/images/smilies/cry.gif" title="Cry" /><img alt="" border="0" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/images/smilies/cry.gif" title="Cry" /> </div><div id="post_message_62893"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Severn Princess.</b></span></div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
Lying forlornly on the mud banks at <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/wales/south-wales/chepstow-cas-gwent" rel="lonelyplanet" title="Chepstow (Cas Gwent)">Chepstow</a> is a little piece of British history. </div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">The Severn Princess was a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferry" rel="wikipedia" title="Ferry">car ferry</a> built especially for use on the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.493465,-3.734578&spn=0.1,0.1&q=52.493465,-3.734578%20%28River%20Severn%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="River Severn">River Severn</a> and plied her trade from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.61603,-2.64844&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.61603,-2.64844%20%28Beachley%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Beachley">Beachley</a> on the Welsh side to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.6132777778,-2.64767222222&spn=0.005,0.005&q=51.6132777778,-2.64767222222%20%28Aust%20Ferry%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Aust Ferry">Aust</a> on the English side of the river.……</div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
She was one of a fleet of three owned and operated by Enoch Williams and family from Chepstow who for many years had the royal charter to operate the ferry from The Beachley slip way at near The Ferry Inn, which is still in quite good order as a slipway…….</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QExltZca5I4TL3udMsDG9juuPCjrpwljm2fJoBYGCV3tLVrwHuRgZBQxWkIkhhlFPFyLQB8WUtDH9V1hDIhyphenhyphen0PIms5zSLkjXkkW23kftAmQkZGey_X9RPBgyGZdCKGCIMn8SmUa19fyx/s1600/Chepstow+Beachley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QExltZca5I4TL3udMsDG9juuPCjrpwljm2fJoBYGCV3tLVrwHuRgZBQxWkIkhhlFPFyLQB8WUtDH9V1hDIhyphenhyphen0PIms5zSLkjXkkW23kftAmQkZGey_X9RPBgyGZdCKGCIMn8SmUa19fyx/s400/Chepstow+Beachley.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div id="post_message_62893" style="text-align: center;"><b> <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.61603,-2.64844&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.61603,-2.64844%20%28Beachley%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Beachley">BEACHLEY</a> SLIPWAY & THE FERRY INN</b></div><div id="post_message_62893" style="text-align: center;"><b>which of the ferries is beached alongside is indistinguishable</b></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">Many of those who worked for Enoch and his family are still remembered in the area let us remember for a moment a few of them: </div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">Ron Blight who married Sheila James sister of Bill & Hugh of Lydney and Chepstow Builders Merchants - Their two sons are still very much local!</div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
</div><div id="post_message_62893">Percy Palmer whose house was in St. Anne's Street and his wife Annie was on The Council for many years and becam the first Mayor of Monmouthshire when the position was created.</div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
</div><div id="post_message_62893">Ben Brown who retired when the ferries closed in 1966 with the opening of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.609,-2.6384&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.609,-2.6384%20%28Severn%20Bridge%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Severn Bridge">Severn Bridge</a> and he and Pat ran The Five Alls for many years.</div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
</div><div id="post_message_62893">The Ferry as many of us remember it first plied its trade on The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5666666667,-2.65&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.5666666667,-2.65%20%28New%20Passage%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="New Passage">New Passage</a> with The Silver Queen, in July 1926 with the Olney brothers for crew and Bob Treherne and in the same month they carried their first car a Williams' Gwynne 8 built in Chismick between 1922-25. The cars at that time were hoist aboard.</div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
</div><div id="post_message_62893">Subsequent vessels included The Princess Ida named for Ida Williams, Enoch Williams' wife rather than Guilbert & Sullivan's comic opera based on Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem The Princess! - she went into service on 31st. July 1931 and the first car loaded was Enoch William's Singer together with the vessel's builders Hurd and Henderson of Chepstow.</div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
</div><div id="post_message_62893">The Severn King was launched in June 1935 whilst The Severn Princess was launched at Yorkshire Dry Dock Co. Ltd. 23-May-1956.</div><div id="post_message_62893"><br />
</div><div id="post_message_62893">Others who worked the ferry included Bill (Skipper) Groves and before him Geof. Groves who lived in the house right by the bridge in Chepstow opposite the Bridge Inn.</div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">Also in the fleet , when the service ended in 1966, were the Severn King and the Severn Queen and the Princess was the last addition to the once proud family and was delivered in 1960. There were some subtle differences between the three vessels but their basic construction and design was the same……..</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqK72mcYAobZQA3wYUrprNaGsYYfS0FpadejHC1ti_E-a9-o9gwx-c7liFxPVyn_NJLndsqJoNqyC2XujimRAyQI3cNjgd3F7Z5fEksnLEsADNKBeY2v8Ty5oXhXbQeqw0Xs9mPTGwcsGO/s1600/Beachly+severn+King.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqK72mcYAobZQA3wYUrprNaGsYYfS0FpadejHC1ti_E-a9-o9gwx-c7liFxPVyn_NJLndsqJoNqyC2XujimRAyQI3cNjgd3F7Z5fEksnLEsADNKBeY2v8Ty5oXhXbQeqw0Xs9mPTGwcsGO/s400/Beachly+severn+King.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div id="post_message_62893" style="text-align: center;"> <b>THE SEVERN KING at BEACHLEY SLIPWAY</b></div><div id="post_message_62893">A shallow draft was necessary to enable the ferries to work in the ebb and flow of the Severn where to maintain a reasonable service the boats needed to be able to work in the sparse water available at either ends of the famous Severn tides (it’s the 2nd highest rise / fall of any river in the world so I am told)…………<br />
<br />
There was a ramp either side of the boat that would be lowered to enable the cars and vans to get on and off and also to facilitate easier manoeuvring of the vehicles each vessel had a turn table in the middle of the deck……..<br />
<br />
Power was supplied by diesel engines fitted below the cabin / bridge that was situated to the rear of each vessel….There was no passenger accommodation for the drivers of the cars, they either stayed sat in the cars or just stood on the deck whatever the weather happened to be doing!......<br />
<br />
The ferry service was for many years the only ‘quick’ link if you were travelling from Wales to London or vice versa of course! In those days it must have knocked hours off the journey……..<br />
<br />
Many famous folk used the ferry over the years including The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in 1957 and subsequently Bob Dylan. Whilst on his 1965 (I think?...) tour of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5,-0.116666666667&spn=10.0,10.0&q=51.5,-0.116666666667%20%28United%20Kingdom%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="United Kingdom">UK</a> a very famous photo of Bob looking very pissed off and huddled up in his coat was taken whilst he stood on the slipway at Beachley waiting for the ferry to pick him up……….<br />
<br />
The end for the ferry company came when the first Severn Road Bridge was opened in 1966 and the company was apparently paid compensation by the government for the loss of their livelihood…</div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">The three remaining boats passed through Bristol Docks, where there is a rather forlorne photo of them tied up alongside The Bristol dredger and HMS Ventura.<br />
<br />
The Severn King ended her days as a demolition boat and due to an accident, where she was badly holed, whilst taking down the old <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.73267,-2.474&spn=1.0,1.0&q=51.73267,-2.474%20%28Severn%20Railway%20Bridge%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Severn Railway Bridge">Severn Railway Bridge</a> was subsequently scrapped….<br />
<br />
The Queen languished for many years in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.45,-2.6&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.45,-2.6%20%28Bristol%20Harbour%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Bristol Harbour">Bristol Harbour</a> before she too was cut up and The Princess was sold to work in Ireland…..<br />
<br />
After many years hard graft over there she was due to be scrapped but was bought for the sum of £1.05 (!!) and returned to the UK for restoration …</div><div id="post_message_62893">Unfortunately due to many unforeseen problems since her ‘rescue’ in 1999 the task now seems unachievable and she has deteriorated into a really terrible state ……it looks as if the cutters lamp is now inevitable which will be a very sad end to a lovely little ship with an intriguing history………</div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">Unfortunately the entire enterprise to recover the Severn Princess from Ireland did all look rather unprofessional and all too like profligacy on the part of the local councils - very little control over quite a substantial amount of money was seemingly spent on many planning meetings and celebrations of ........ at The Boat Inn.</div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">There is a wealth of additional information in Colin Jordan's book 'Severn Enterprise' published in 1977, of which good copies can still sometimes be obtained in the region of £50!<br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00004.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00012.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00005.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00021.jpg" width="300" /><br />
down into the engine room<br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00017.jpg" width="400" /><br />
no engines though….<br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00019.jpg" width="400" /><br />
deck winch..<br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00011.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/DSC00009.jpg" width="400" /><br />
and before she was finally lifted out of the water...... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-pBTcwbPuBbx7EhVrigNNxhdhc__ELq18PClgnnf7BfRgRwdsuRXm_B7I74AOxR4EcFILBBZlThIUeyUidafm7Amcx2UPxeyio1l3zPqHxmWDq7KyYPtGbCwA-hSRE5vlZ53eSIouzfy/s1600/CH+-+SEVERN+PRINCESS+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-pBTcwbPuBbx7EhVrigNNxhdhc__ELq18PClgnnf7BfRgRwdsuRXm_B7I74AOxR4EcFILBBZlThIUeyUidafm7Amcx2UPxeyio1l3zPqHxmWDq7KyYPtGbCwA-hSRE5vlZ53eSIouzfy/s400/CH+-+SEVERN+PRINCESS+01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893">and finally…..Glory days……</div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div id="post_message_62893"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/smiffy_2006/_1732609_sevrernprincess150.jpg" width="331" /></div><br />
<div id="post_message_62893"></div><div class="smallfont"><hr size="1" style="background-color: #d8d8d8; color: #d8d8d8;" /><i><i>Chepstow Shipyard was active until well into the 1960s but was at its peak as The National Shipyard during and just after World War One with the building & launch of a series of 10,000 tonners such as The War Glory, which was presumed lost at sea carrying a cargo of grain in The Pacific in 1956.</i></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNuRb3s7878OT5kxCLMH2rRx2me5MdWApw2ULQ2ITAHSXsY82CSxoxDJm1RgBbN6v4b7uRQ-bEqwDGZvGMazesx6VWhVsBVPrH2A-BSl0gsq4m7yQ9y1s0Zdyg8jXvgDSkFpYN1Mr1gny/s1600/CH+-+SHIP+YARD+%2526+QUARRY+WORKING+Old+Trow+or+Barge+VICTORY+of+Bristol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNuRb3s7878OT5kxCLMH2rRx2me5MdWApw2ULQ2ITAHSXsY82CSxoxDJm1RgBbN6v4b7uRQ-bEqwDGZvGMazesx6VWhVsBVPrH2A-BSl0gsq4m7yQ9y1s0Zdyg8jXvgDSkFpYN1Mr1gny/s400/CH+-+SHIP+YARD+%2526+QUARRY+WORKING+Old+Trow+or+Barge+VICTORY+of+Bristol.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="smallfont"><i>The site now lies in some dereliction awaiting developement as the last owners Fairfiel Mabey rebadge themselves in Grant Funded premises exploiting the unsound and largely dishonest concept of Wind Turbines and the specious con of Carbon Trading. None of which seem endorsed by sound science or peer reviewed independent material - Thus largely it would seem a FASHIONABLE TAX to extort money from beleaguered tax payers.</i><br />
<br />
<i>They now have the most resplendent of premises on a vaste scale at New House Roundabout:</i><i> </i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kh9PmVcy-UZss67iZkQZYbcqZJolE_Dn1ju2fLtJBoANbW8fAmnlkyZAKn0gdu-UcXb7P60MZNHi_uoenHCbyp1sDZLNgF4ZM7TWgLm14vFHx6M-OT8kK-zHhM4VT2bNFMoE00MKlTh_/s1600/IMG_0248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kh9PmVcy-UZss67iZkQZYbcqZJolE_Dn1ju2fLtJBoANbW8fAmnlkyZAKn0gdu-UcXb7P60MZNHi_uoenHCbyp1sDZLNgF4ZM7TWgLm14vFHx6M-OT8kK-zHhM4VT2bNFMoE00MKlTh_/s400/IMG_0248.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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</i><br />
<i></i> </div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td class="alt2" style="-moz-border-bottom-colors: none; -moz-border-image: none; -moz-border-left-colors: none; -moz-border-right-colors: none; -moz-border-top-colors: none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color rgb(216, 216, 216) rgb(216, 216, 216); border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1px 1px;">The original of the article which inspired this article was posted at <a href="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=6281">CLICK HERE</a></td> </tr>
</tbody></table>For further info. try:<br />
<br />
see <a href="http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/new...rside_project/">http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/new...rside_project/</a><br />
also <a href="http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/brist...s/article.html">http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/brist...s/article.html</a><br />
also <a href="http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/new...er_sail_again/">http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/new...er_sail_again/</a><br />
also <a href="http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/new...er_sail_again/">http://www.freepressseries.co.uk/new...er_sail_again/</a>Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-34679830948630632612009-12-28T03:29:00.000+00:002009-12-28T03:29:42.831+00:00#GLW002* - DONKEY WOLLOPPING IN THE WELSH NATIONAL @ CHEPSTOW#GLW002* - DONKEY WOLLOPPING IN THE WELSH NATIONAL @ CHEPSTOW<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Dick Francis’ sons mark 60th anniversary of Welsh race win</b></span><br />
<br />
Dec 27 2009 by Clare Hutchinson, Wales On Sunday<br />
<br />
<b>DICK Francis still remembers how he surged ahead at the 13th fence on his horse, Fighting Line</b>, to win the first Welsh Grand National to be held at Chepstow.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dickfrancis.com/site/DIFR/UploadedResources/df_history_racing_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://www.dickfrancis.com/site/DIFR/UploadedResources/df_history_racing_04.jpg" width="320" /></a><b> </b><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Dick Francis on his mount Fighting Line</b><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>on which he won the first Welsh Grand National</b><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Held at Chepstow, as Wales has no </b><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Race Course of stature.</b><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Thus it makes use of the Monmouthshire Course!</b><br />
</div><br />
Sixty years to the day, his sons will be turf-side tomorrow to mark the anniversary of the horseman-turned-author’s famous victory.<br />
<br />
After winning the Welsh National, Lawrenny-born Francis went on to become champion jockey in 1953-54 before he turned his hand to thriller writing, producing 41 novels and topping the bestseller lists.<br />
<br />
The 89 year old, who has suffered from three years of ill-health with major heart surgery and a leg amputation, now lives in the Cayman Islands.<br />
<br />
His son Felix now co-authors his father’s best-selling equestrian thrillers, the latest of which he is still working on.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9Za03NY4pPbWaHJ5t-iqWQacRyHCrl8x1vdcNzvgi7B-3G6VhGzcm0FmTowxd1DAtR6dP1fbeFBRrINgiLAcMbw_sODpqvW1XvCEVFrEDY-fuU0IEtfcRzfL1DV9YaGkRucWmWKkvaw/s1600-h/CHEPSTOW+Racecourse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9Za03NY4pPbWaHJ5t-iqWQacRyHCrl8x1vdcNzvgi7B-3G6VhGzcm0FmTowxd1DAtR6dP1fbeFBRrINgiLAcMbw_sODpqvW1XvCEVFrEDY-fuU0IEtfcRzfL1DV9YaGkRucWmWKkvaw/s640/CHEPSTOW+Racecourse.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
And tomorrow he will be at the biggest race of the Welsh calendar with his brother, Merrick, who runs the UK’s largest racehorse transfer business.<br />
<br />
“I wasn’t born until four years after my father won that race, but I think it was quite a big deal for him,” said Felix.<br />
<br />
“He won it again in 1956 on Crudwell and I remember that very well because all my life on his mantelpiece was a clock given to him by the horse’s owner, a Mrs Cooper, with one of the horse shoes that he wore in the race on the front of it.”<br />
<br />
For Dick Francis, horse racing was the family business. His father Vincent, who was an amateur jockey, took part in the Welsh National when it was held in Cardiff and his grandfather was also an amateur jockey.<br />
<br />
“Obviously it is his life,” said Felix, speaking from Surrey where he was spending Christmas with his family.<br />
<br />
“When he was young he was a bit of a child prodigy of a horseman. His dad was a horse dealer – a bit like a car dealer now – and my father would travel around the country taking part in horse shows and posting his trophies home as he went.<br />
<br />
“He was 18 and looking into becoming a jockey when war broke out, and when he was 19 he joined the RAF and was posted to north Africa.”<br />
<br />
After racking up an impressive collection of war medals flying Spitfires and Lancaster Bombers, Francis left the RAF when the war ended to go back to his original dream of riding race winners.<br />
<br />
Three years later, he won the Welsh National on Fighting Life.<br />
<br />
The “big race” said Felix, was in 1956, when Francis rode the Queen Mother’s horse, Devon Loch, in the Grand National. His fame spread worldwide when the horse tripped just yards from the finish line, sending Francis sprawling and losing him that year’s title.<br />
<br />
“That race dominated his whole life after that,” said Felix. “It took my father’s name from the back pages to the front pages and when he retired from racing the following year everyone was asking him what he was going to do.”<br />
<br />
Francis took up an offer to write a racing column for a London newspaper before branching out into his distinctive equestrian thrillers, producing a novel a year for the next 38 years.<br />
<br />
When his wife Mary died aged 76 in 2000, Francis stopped writing, but returned to it in 2006 with the first of the books he has co-written with his son.<br />
<br />
“My brother and I grew up riding ponies and he would shout out of the window at us to get our heels down and our elbows in, but to be honest I’m of the mind that both ends are dangerous and the middle’s uncomfortable,” said Felix.<br />
<br />
“Despite that I do love viewing horses from a distance and hopefully I can join my brother in Chepstow.<br />
<br />
“My father often talks about his racing days and of course that life features strongly in his books.”<br />
<br />
To view the original article <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/12/27/dick-francis-sons-mark-60th-anniversary-of-welsh-race-win-91466-25473963/">CLICK HERE</a><br />
<br />
As an interesting aside I understand that in their early days as visitors to Chepstow both Dick Francis & Sir Gordon Richards were both in the habit of taking rooms in what is now my home but just before and shortly after WWII what was Glance Back Books and my home was in part a bed and breakfast venue for the races.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8HIZF21h4pnkTI36cDWv_OZ7UPoKG0sk2EakY8u-D7Mqvi4YFGkuYYNEoLhNkPug8zXZ-sCdi0EKy7kYvpWxrMJr2hhsQDtHZOxk7gUE6iXL987_E8p1ghONVAuy-tQ8x9ILmDiEaG4/s1600-h/BUILDING.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8HIZF21h4pnkTI36cDWv_OZ7UPoKG0sk2EakY8u-D7Mqvi4YFGkuYYNEoLhNkPug8zXZ-sCdi0EKy7kYvpWxrMJr2hhsQDtHZOxk7gUE6iXL987_E8p1ghONVAuy-tQ8x9ILmDiEaG4/s320/BUILDING.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>GLANCE BACK BOOKS</b> <br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">cnr. Middle & Upper Church Streets,<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Chepstow,<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Monmouthshire.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">NP16 5ET<br />
</div><br />
Initially stable lads and junior jockeys would stay here rather than the more resplendent Beaufort Hotel or The George Hotel or even The St. Mary's Hotel subsequently an ice cream parlour owned by The Giles Family in the days when the back yard was the Chepstow Boxing Club a facility which Marion Izzard ended when she and her husband owned it as a green grocer and when he repaired to Ireland she continued to run the business as a Green Grocers until Michael had finished his education when she sub let it initially to continue the trade but more recently as 'rooming' above and a trendy hairdressers in the shop area.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWueE6Rg5rR5uPrP9GwLQkoUx_KQf0XV3KJUSwpV-9gVmZJgTQgGTF2KzG5Z2kCF5lsANnSFc1qsUyvzAPoZrcC45k5s8552cDA4I7Qfm0mRMdA-R0rcAuJTT6khXzNnnvsxQKoLKGW0/s1600-h/water+colour+pencil+illustation++No+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWueE6Rg5rR5uPrP9GwLQkoUx_KQf0XV3KJUSwpV-9gVmZJgTQgGTF2KzG5Z2kCF5lsANnSFc1qsUyvzAPoZrcC45k5s8552cDA4I7Qfm0mRMdA-R0rcAuJTT6khXzNnnvsxQKoLKGW0/s400/water+colour+pencil+illustation++No+17.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
I gather many of the young apprentices continued to stay in our rooms long after they had made names for themselves commensurate with upgrading ;-)<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">"In politics, stupidity is not a handicap."<br />
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821),<br />
</span></b><br />
Regards,<br />
Greg L-W.<br />
<br />
for all my contact details & Blogs:<br />
<a href="http://greglancewatkins.blogspot.com/">CLICK HERE</a><br />
<br />
For More Information & Facts visit:<br />
WEB SITES:<br />
<a href="http://www.silentmajority.co.uk/">SilentMajority/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.welshassembly.org.uk/">WelshAssembly</a><br />
<a href="http://catterpillarsandbutterflies.blogspot.com/">CatterpillarsAndButterflies</a><br />
<a href="http://greglw.wordpress.com//">Greg's WordPress Blog</a><br />
<br />
‘The arrogance and hubris of corrupt politicians<br />
will be responsible for every drop of blood spilt<br />
in the Wars of Disassociation, if Britain does not<br />
leave the EU.<br />
<br />
The ugly, centralised, undemocratic supra national policies being imposed by the centralised and largely unelected decisionmakers of The EU for alien aims, ailien values and to suit alien needs stand every possibility of creating 200,000,000 deaths across EUrope as a result of the blind arrogance and hubris of the idiologues in the central dictatorship, and their economic illiteracy marching hand in glove with the idiocy of The CAP & The CFP - both policies which deliver bills, destroy lives and denude food stocks.<br />
<br />
The EU, due to the political idiocy and corruption of its undemocratic leaders, is now a net importer of food, no longer able to feed itself and with a decreasing range of over priced goods of little use to the rest of the world to sell with which to counter the net financial drain of endless imports.<br />
<br />
<b>British Politicians with pens and treachery, in pursuit<br />
of their own agenda and greed, have done more<br />
damage to the liberty, freedoms, rights and democracy<br />
of the British peoples than any army in over 1,000 years.</b><br />
<br />
The disastrous effects of British politicians selling Britain<br />
into the thrall of foreign rule by the EU for their own<br />
personal rewards has damaged the well-being of Britain<br />
more than the armies of Hitler<br />
and the Franco - German - Italian axis of 1939 - 1945.<br />
<br />
~ for more Quotes & Facts:<br />
<a href="http://www.silentmajority.co.uk/">http://www.silentmajority.co.uk/</a><br />
<br />
############-\\\///-########### #<br />
############= ~ = ############<br />
###########(`~0~0~') ###########<br />
--------oooO--------(_)-------Oooo---------<br />
############Regards############<br />
##########M r C H A D###########<br />
<br />
Until we gain our liberty, restore our sovereignty, repatriate our democracy and reinstate our Justice system and our borders - defended by our Police and Military armed with sustainable and obtainable weaponry:<br />
Treat every election as a referendum.<br />
<br />
Don't waste your vote on a self serving Politician in ANY election until we are liberated from the EU and are a Free Sovereign peoples, with independent control of our own borders, making and managing Law & Justice for our own benefit, in our own elected Westminster Parliament where we can fire our politicians at the ballot box, if they fail to represent OUR best interests.<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Make your vote count</b><br />
<b>Write on YOUR ballot Paper</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 200%;">LEAVE THE EU</span></b>Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116379508086942748.post-68973129209670310432009-05-11T01:16:00.000+01:002011-01-30T14:45:24.967+00:00#GLW001* - SOME THINGS CHANGE<div align="center">#GLW001* - SOME THINGS CHANGE<br />
WHILST OTHERS RESOLUTELY REFUSE TO!</div><br />
Hi,<br />
<br />
I was recently reminded of an incident that occurred on a summer bank holiday some 9 years ago before my ops. and it all seems so very long ago.<br />
<br />
It did however add a smile or some ire to the breakfast tables of Telegraph readers of the time ;-)<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334330887807969138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0NPQxHuDKB6Ws8Ww1QmQF-J6brqaaKTwcP1rWMrj9l0aRa5_rI3jRIVtbT-gtxozFleSV3X6ACdwJzQzPGzGv_S3RUrTILBOi6hfdemx0C0EbMnsBIoJ9s3MUkAAwZSU4Ks2vvdYv3Tc/s320/Funeral+march,+bridge+street.JPG" style="display: block; height: 273px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 397px;" />Not quite far enough back to have made it into this photograph which is thought to be a Guild parade through <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.642,-2.6751&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.642,-2.6751%20%28Chepstow%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Chepstow">Chepstow</a> to commemorate Queen Victorias funeral, though I incline to believe it more likely to be that of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VII_of_the_United_Kingdom" rel="wikipedia" title="Edward VII of the United Kingdom">Edward VII</a> - it shows my home of the last26 years in the background.<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334331759686145266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WOH00XnRovRf-PjogIYalPOsabkrVd45ADiiVkAkt8zYbxotrHsrR3QGP_20Ma3HCgGYxjJauyxJFT0jC0j8OPPgh557G4ubdggXqfoa1bPWIRqlUUUmaJtdgM4Kfal4R69cLRYKBqo/s320/Shop+4.jpg" style="display: block; height: 262px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 393px;" />There was much to do when first we took it on - floors were missing, the roof was all but useless and there were squatters in a part of the building that had been walled off across a passage!<br />
<br />
The first thing to do was chip off all the lead based Russian Green paint that had been 'acquired' by a previous tennant from The Army apprentices at Beachley!<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334329883387790562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2BNlFHdSi7CnMuAQ3MCRLYFaYoM5A1FdnSjlL0uUDHAXdAOo9p1ACbTUmNyV9Lr81L9sb63-YMJ0TWEQS033R4A4eyE-qBUchgU_WT1XaTAlvTygWnC9d8wTtgM2yhr_4wgl4KNG3-Bk/s320/Beachly+severn+King.JPG" style="display: block; height: 256px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 373px;" />Probably at about the same time that Percy Palmer retiredas Skipper and Skipper Groves had retired to watch the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.467867,-3.763019&spn=0.1,0.1&q=52.467867,-3.763019%20%28River%20Wye%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="River Wye">River Wye</a> flow by whilst Ben Brown the last of the skippers on the Severn Ferries left to run The Five Alls on the opposite side of the road to me!<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334332744725109778" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9s4jDSZdOTdRBAeYvMRwR9F-gG7geaI0-TBLAI7MCYbohjYUS7W8kwZwq3zHEEKSX0lubpNgC6k8zTRuiedHZz4xu3gIlZ7PRDuk00Kvc7rS-M1PCqKkL33YHtpsLUtr2N_7rfCZyQj8/s320/Shop+5.jpg" style="display: block; height: 211px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
I found the roof one of the hardest parts of the task never having built a roof with slates nor on the curved timbers salvaged in the late 1400s from ships being broken in the Docks at the foot of the hill - as do remember Chepstow has built and launched over 600 ships in its day and between 1790 & 1795 handled a greater recorded tunnage of cargo than Newport and Cardiff put together and was to its last days the centre of the entrepot trade for Bristol, Gloucester & Hereford.<br />
<br />
The roof now has some 8 inches of insulation, but is double glazed at the back for Lee's studio.<br />
<br />
The work was conducted, as you can see, under an <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroscepticism" rel="wikipedia" title="Euroscepticism">anti EU</a> banner which The Council & The National Ass for Wales spent some 5 years trying to make me remove! That I had registered The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.assemblywales.org/" rel="homepage" title="National Assembly for Wales">Welsh Assembly</a> as a Company rather wrong footed them and eventually they had to enact an act of Parliament to change the name to its present ones!<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334333003780517602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlqpbD6aGsI-yshyphenhyphenZhBxc_Lly0gQf5dQcup7C1XO6P3powALHbLKkEc7eqdBjaYjDCX_Tbcua7edye0YSpErT_diVhWpdZONd1UddShhQYCt0PdgXOpqcRTt53f3D5TA09hvGQ0nDFdIM/s320/water+colour+pencil+illustation++No+17.jpg" style="display: block; height: 403px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;" />We must have done quite a good job as it frequently apeared in art magazines - though I must remind myself artists also seem to favour painting ruins! Sadly as health precludes and not working is not condusive to paying for maintainance it is likely to be a new tennant who will finally restore it! <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_f6WMmnh8YnnHgtsoKfKii_Mx7nihUm0TDjxgVJ9c0nKJLFpheTZ5vG0BpxFAvLhhPy3DwAesy9P81kJjUHTstKtkSqQc-_aKHWJs7hEWOZUQgmHkGjsfkESsyx92mGkUDhF8cKztiFs/s1600-h/Greg+posturing.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334331400105686114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_f6WMmnh8YnnHgtsoKfKii_Mx7nihUm0TDjxgVJ9c0nKJLFpheTZ5vG0BpxFAvLhhPy3DwAesy9P81kJjUHTstKtkSqQc-_aKHWJs7hEWOZUQgmHkGjsfkESsyx92mGkUDhF8cKztiFs/s320/Greg+posturing.jpg" style="display: block; height: 286px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 404px;" /></a><br />
One has to admit The River Wye at the bottom of the hill is quite spectacular as it passes below the 300 foot cliffs of Windcliff and the double horseshoe bend.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRfDDWTjgZx-GYbOTo8SIUcvNe7WEBLpHH-ShFw-vHgVh1ffaPXkY8JoDXeOs5jpNB_LzuBicBFyxe8uQlRszTAdwUCJGVgfOapEUkpGxxHZsVA-w4w_dZtQVjFbU7Wl50_MpS4hlSe8/s1600-h/CNV00021.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334330158430304370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRfDDWTjgZx-GYbOTo8SIUcvNe7WEBLpHH-ShFw-vHgVh1ffaPXkY8JoDXeOs5jpNB_LzuBicBFyxe8uQlRszTAdwUCJGVgfOapEUkpGxxHZsVA-w4w_dZtQVjFbU7Wl50_MpS4hlSe8/s320/CNV00021.JPG" style="display: block; height: 241px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 387px;" /></a> We had eight rooms of books open to the public - it is astonishing how often the illiteratte and the jealous will refer to a book shop as a junk shop in their ignorance! We carried around 60,000 different titles and at one time we had around 20 items in excess of £1,000 in value.<br />
My personal fascinations in terms of print and language were Cuniform Tablets, Parchments pre1300 and incunabulla<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifynkmJXB6qzcaLGIss34HOv81xtziwWI1-bG7iIcNyiHmV7vfklOcGnsV_OcEgaJhXbB6Lh3MzK0BDs2ZPkjJ8P6atML7fuvCAeydkEbwWBFMT9wV81ZXl97xaWQ-f7oBwmLVg-ZrH1g/s1600-h/GB+Greg+%26+Lee+%26+The+Boss%21.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334329502320439362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifynkmJXB6qzcaLGIss34HOv81xtziwWI1-bG7iIcNyiHmV7vfklOcGnsV_OcEgaJhXbB6Lh3MzK0BDs2ZPkjJ8P6atML7fuvCAeydkEbwWBFMT9wV81ZXl97xaWQ-f7oBwmLVg-ZrH1g/s320/GB+Greg+%26+Lee+%26+The+Boss%21.jpg" style="display: block; height: 299px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 392px;" /></a> Clearly the cat was boss and Lee gave most of her time to restoration of pictures and illustrations on paper pre 1800, besides painting both for pleasure and commission in almost all mediums.<br />
<br />
You may enjoy this article from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/" rel="homepage" title="The Daily Telegraph">The Telegraph</a>:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #000099;">Wales: The old terror lingers here<br />
Byron Rogers gets lost in the back lanes and historic byways of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.4361111111,-2.71888888889&spn=1.0,1.0&q=55.4361111111,-2.71888888889%20%28Border%20country%29&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Border country">Border country</a><br />
<br />
Last Updated: 11:30AM GMT 05 Feb 2001<br />
<br />
'HENRY MARTEN was in the chancel once but they moved him, for they still thought him dangerous in death'<br />
<br />
I do not know his name. All I know is that he was a priest and one May morning, six centuries ago, he stood in front of a small army, assuring the soldiers that all those who fell would that evening sup in Paradise. This was just outside the town Usk in the last war between the English and the Welsh.<br />
<br />
<br />
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Britain at War: I became aware that all hell was let loose on the beach<br />
Italy earthquake: survivors found but death toll risesBut the day, as usual, turned against the Welsh, and the priest was seen slipping quietly away. He was taunted by the soldiers who asked why he was not waiting with them to share the celestial banquet. And this remarkable man responded by saying that it was one of his fast days.<br />
<br />
It is a moment of such black humour, you know it happened: men shouting, horses squealing, the arrows coming out of the sky. Which is why, on a hot September afternoon, I am climbing a steep hill on a lane out of Usk that leads up past the castle. I am looking for someone who had his finest moment on the battlefield of the Yellow Pool (Y Pwll Melyn).<br />
<br />
It was a turning point in the rising of Owen Glyndwr, when in May 1405, the defenders rushed out of the castle to overwhelm his besieging army, killing his brother and taking his son prisoner. It was, according to local folklore, some kind of running battle. But where?<br />
<br />
Some place names survive, such as Monkswood, on the outskirts of Usk, where Glyndwr's son, trying to escape, was taken. But where was the Yellow Pool? The castle was the clue. A surprise counter-attack, the besiegers falling back to the nearest strongpoint to make a stand. Of course, the hill behind the castle itself . . .<br />
<br />
It is a beautiful afternoon, Usk falling away beneath us, the castle in the trees, the town square a mass of flowers, and, beyond these, the grim Victorian outline of the jail which is still a jail. We come to the old farm on top of the hill, but the lady renting the farmhouse says she has never heard of a Yellow Pool.<br />
<br />
We walk on for about 30 yards and stand, looking at the hills behind the hill. On our left is a thicket of trees, so dense I do not at first notice the dark hollow in their midst. But when I walk round I see this patch of mud in shadow, at the centre of which is a small pond. My daughter picks up a stone and throws it, and there is more of a slapping sound than a splash.<br />
<br />
"Grab her," I shout, but it is too late, for we have forgotten that one among us would follow a stone into the mouth of hell. The Jack Russell is already in the mud.<br />
<br />
"We've got nothing to clean her with," I say. The dog is covered in mud, an odd mud, a very light colour. My wife says nothing, she is pointing. "Don't you realise where we are?"<br />
<br />
We were in that strange Border area which people forget about, where the lower Wye forms the frontier between England and Wales, and which motorists skirt at speed, on the A40 in the north and the M4 in the south. For 40 years I've done this myself, wondering where the turn-offs went. Only this time I had followed them.<br />
<br />
And we were walking through the streets of Chepstow, an old town torn apart by a modern bypass which has left its lower streets a wasteland of traffic and car parks. But the most remarkable bookshop in Britain survives, as does its owner, Greg Lance-Watkins, pigtailed and embattled. Mr Lance-Watkins of Glance Back Books is a man who hates church bells, the European Union and the Welsh Assembly.<br />
<br />
But in change-ringing circles men talk of him with awe, for this was the man who stopped a peal of bells. He climbed above the ringing chamber and held on to the ropes like Quasimodo, something which might have brought the bells down on his head. The fighting starting on the belfry stairs, spilled out and into his bookshop, and then into the streets of Chepstow as the "anoraks", as he calls them, tried to effect a citizen's arrest.<br />
<br />
But this is also a man who stocks Rupert annuals, and on his shelves has ones you normally see only in catalogues, books no children coloured in, which cost upwards of £100 to the rarest of all in four figures. Mr Lance-Watkins has passed into the private mythology of my family.</span><br />
<br />
Little has changed - I still hate the destruction of our Country, our membership of the odious and undemocratic EU, the idiocy of pretence that is devolution and the ghastly intrusive clatter of church bells which have absolutely no musical merit and might as well be replaced by a siren or a messuins tower to call the superstitious to their pennance!<br />
<br />
The greatest change has been the closing of our shop, the destruction of the town as it was made more erzats by Councillors seeking to display their bad taste and impramature with other peoples money in the pretence of EU Grants and 'regeneration' - one only needs to see the outcome both visually and in terms of commerce, both for tourists and for residents to understand just how destructive and vile was their DEGENERATION of our town.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 130%;">"In politics, stupidity is not a handicap."<br />
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821),<br />
</span></b><br />
Regards,<br />
Greg<br />
Greg L-W.<br />
Greg Lance - Watkins,<br />
c/o Glance Back Books,<br />
Cynulliad i Gymru - The Welsh Assembly [trans.],<br />
17 Upper Church Street,<br />
CHEPSTOW,<br />
NP16 5EX<br />
Monmouthshire,<br />
Britain.<br />
<br />
Tel: 01291 - 62 65 62<br />
<br />
For More Information & Facts visit:<br />
WEB SITES:<br />
<a href="http://www.silentmajority.co.uk/">SilentMajority/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.mrchad.co.uk/">MrChad</a><br />
<a href="http://www.welshassembly.org.uk/">WelshAssembly</a><br />
<a href="http://catterpillarsandbutterflies.blogspot.com/">CatterpillarsAndButterflies</a><br />
<a href="http://ukfirstparty.blogspot.com/">UKFirstParty</a><br />
<a href="http://greglw.wordpress.com//">Greg's WordPress Blog</a><br />
<br />
‘The arrogance and hubris of corrupt politicians<br />
will be responsible for every drop of blood spilt<br />
in the Wars of Disassociation, if Britain does not<br />
leave the EU.<br />
<br />
The ugly, centralised, undemocratic supra national policies being imposed by the centralised and largely unelected decisionmakers of The EU for alien aims, ailien values and to suit alien needs stand every possibility of creating 200,000,000 deaths across EUrope as a result of the blind arogance and hubris of the idiologues in the central dictatorship and their economic illiteracy marching hand in glove with the idiocy of The CAP & The CFP - both policies which deliver bills, destroy lives and denude food stocks.<br />
<br />
British Politicians with pens and treachery, in pursuit<br />
of their own agenda and greed, have done more<br />
damage to the liberty, freedoms, rights and democracy<br />
of the British peoples than any army in over 1,000 years.<br />
<br />
The disastrous effects of British politicians selling Britain<br />
into the thrall of foreign rule by the EU for their own<br />
personal rewards has damaged the well-being of Britain<br />
more than the armies of Hitler<br />
and the Franco - German - Italian axis of 1939 - 1945.<br />
<br />
~ for more Quotes & Facts:<br />
<a href="http://www.silentmajority.co.uk/">http://www.silentmajority.co.uk/</a><br />
<br />
#############-\\\///-########### #<br />
#############= ~ = ############<br />
############(`~0~0~') ###########<br />
--------oooO--------(_)-------Oooo---------<br />
############Regards############<br />
##########M r C H A D###########<br />
<br />
Until we gain our liberty, restore our sovereignty, repatriate our democracy and reinstate our Justice system and our borders - defended by our Police and Military armed with sustainable and obtainable weaponry:<br />
Treat every election as a referendum.<br />
<br />
Don't waste your vote on a self serving Politician<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>Make your vote count</b><br />
<b>Write on YOUR ballot Paper</b></span><br />
<b>LEAVE THE EU</b> <br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=3c8e8ebc-0163-4f7f-9316-ddbcf062b099" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Greg_L-W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03702733467535493491noreply@blogger.com0