Last stand at The Runnymede Eco-Village.

Sometimes it seems as though everything I write about is ending - over the Magna Carta celebrations the developers got their eviction notice against the Runnymede Eco-village people at Guildford County Court.

The prospects of fighting this are very slim but at the moment the eviction has stalled because the camp took their case to the High Court on appeal. There's a delay while the judge waits for a transcript of the lower hearing.

These pictures are from last year when I was invited to visit and then did a piece. I had plans - I was going to stay over and combine giving them my support as well has having one last camping 'trip'.

It wasn't to be - my Mum was getting more ill and then I broke my back.

I'm probably idealising it all, I visited in May after all. It was beautiful.

A muddy, cold December?

The people there have been living there for the last three years. there are families and children with nowhere else to go.

There are quite vulnerable people too, everyone was welcome.

Of course, the land should never have been sold - it was ours.

Technically it belonged to Brunel University but once that meant it belonged to all of us.

Since universities were given some kind of spurious independence they have been hunting for assets to sell off; in this case an old hall of residence.

You might think that tomorrow's students would have welcomed cheap and beautiful accommodation?

That was not to be.

The residence and the sports grounds have been torn up and expensive homes built on a plot of land that overlooks historic Runnymede and Ankerwycke and should have been preserved for future generations.

The Eco-village is on the wooded slopes - unusable for development. It's just that the wealthy new owners don't want the eco-warriors living next door.

I'm very angry about it all and angry that with a broken back there's nothing I can do.

I can't even visit because the site is too steep and uneven.

So, my good wishes and solidarity to all of you.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Magna Carta World Exclusive! They got it all wrong.

You'll have certainly guessed by now that I'm no fan of the Magna Carta and the celebrations around the 800th anniversary of its signing but I've enjoyed some of the local celebrations. That's been more about peoples aspirations than the reality of the deal that was done in 1215.

But as the date got nearer, the Big State became involved and I bowed out. Todays kings and barons celebrating what their ancestors got up to doesn't interest me.

But I couldn't really escape it.

On Sunday Robyn was out for the day so I had the chance to get up to some mischief. Luckily she won't realise; in the afternoon I went for a really, really long walk with just walking sticks!

I walked into the village, through the churchyard and across the historic fields of Ankerwycke. The bellringers were ringing out a massive peal of bells and big crowds were walking home from watching the flotilla of boats that were marking the anniversary on the river.

I was a lot more interested in the Brambles which are coming into flower now.

So were all the insects; here's a bee with her sacks bulging with pollen for the hive;

Even the poor old bumbling bumble bees were trying to get in on the act. 

On Monday I wasn't feeling so well and all the roads were going to be closed for the queen and Cameron at Runnymede anyway.

So I got up late and then late morning I went out to stand in the sun for a few moments - it was nice.

Then suddenly I saw a spitfire and a jet fly over and then seconds later the full Red Arrows display team roared over the house leaving red, white and blue vapour trails on their way to the royal celebrations.

The thing is; The Magna Carta may have been signed on 15th June 1215 but in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII reformed Julius Caesar's calendar and replaced it with 'The Gregorian Calender' we still use today.

It took us a while but the UK introduced the new calendar in 1752 and because it reduced the number of leap years to make it more accurate, our time 'stood still' for 11 days that year to start the new calendar off on time.

Since then, the Gregorian Calender has moved even further away from the Julian Calender it replaced and it's now 13 days adrift.

Which means that the 800th anniversary wasn't actually on the 15th at all - it's in 13 days time on the 28th of June.

So they are going to have to do it all over again, I guess.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Growling Neil.

I've been grumbling and growling again - Robyn had to calm me down.

We went to the Magna Carta Exhibition in Egham and my growling was because the organisers seemed to be claiming that all our liberties and values came from this agreement.

Of course they didn't - these were liberties won for barons and priests (or 'free men' as the Magna Carta described them) and not for the serfs.

The serfs weren't free and they had no rights. Even worse, women (rich or poor) had no legal existence at all.

People (nearly all of them) were just property.

There was also the suggestion that the American Constitution owed it's existence to the Magna Carta when in fact it was a revolutionary constitution and if it had any parents it was English republicanism and the French revolution.

Sacré Bleu!

After I had calmed down we took a look at the new Magna Carta Mosaic;

The artist Kim Porrelli spoke to local school children about what the Magna Carta meant to them and then put their ideas into images;

It's a nice mosaic and a fine new addition to the visual arts in Egham but it's not historically accurate.

 

 

In 1381, only 166 years after the Magna Carta, Wat Tyler led The Peasant's Revolt to London. They wanted (amongst other things) an end to serfdom or slavery.

 

Treacherously, Tyler and the other leaders were brutally murdered during the peace negotiations.

 

So much for 'Peace and Justice'.

 

The slogan of the uprising, a piece of poetry really, was:

 

"When Adam delv'd and Eve span - who was then the Gentleman?"

 

I must stop growling.

 

On the other hand, as well as being a fine mosaic, it represents what the children dream of and there's nothing wrong with their aspirations.

 

Just a bit more fighting to do to get them.

 

Grrrrh!

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

 



The Wraysbury Magna Carta Flower festival.

 

 

 

 Here's St. Andrew's church in Wraysbury and, no, I haven't suddenly got religion. We're here partly because there you don't get too many chances to see inside these days - it's 11th century.

 

The bells were ringing out for us in a great peal on a gloriously sunny day.

 

It was perfect.

 

But most of all the church is the villiage centre piece for Wraysbury's Magna Carta celebrations. In 1215, the Magna Carta was signed in Wraysbury between 25 barons and the king.

 

Effectively it was a peace treaty between two opposing armies camped across the river in Runnymede.

 

 We went in to see 'The Wraysbury Magna Carta Flower Festival' and it was very impressive, not least because all the skills on display wouldn't have been too out of place back in 1215.

 

So, the path through the churchyard was lined with flower pots made by local schoolchildren and playgroups.

 

Inside, the church was transformed with flower arrangements;

 

 

 

The shield made of yellow and red flowers in chevrons is the coat of arms of Robert de Montfitchet, one of the 25 barons and also (before the king took away his lands) the owner of Runnymede, Ankerwycke and Wraysbury.

 

The shields of all the barons were up on the walls;

And a crown for the king (boo!);

And there was even a display sent by a school in Florida;

It's a really nice thing to do although they have got a bit carried away. Robert de Montfitchet not only owned all the lands around here but also the serfs as well; every man women and child.

That meant that he had the right to buy and sell them, to conscript them as soldiers. In short he held their lives in his hands.

None of them could own property or take advantage of the 'rights' set out in the Magna Carta - those were rights for Barons. It took a thousand years of battles before the likes of us won the few rights and freedoms we now have.

Anyway, a couple of years ago about twenty ladies in the village got together and started work on 'The Wraysbury Wall Hanging' to commemorate The Magna Carta; 

It's something really impressive and while the beautiful flowers will wilt, I rather like to think this will be around in another hundred years or even more.

And if you don't believe me how about this banner from 1969;

 

 

Made by the evening Women's Institute (my mum used to go to the afternoon W.I. back then) it's lasted 47 years, so a hundred?

 

Easy.

 

 

 

Embroidery, scenes, flower arrangements - everything in that church would have had it's place there 800 years ago when the original celebrations wouldn't have been that different.

 

It was very impressive.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Getting ready for the Magna Carta Celebrations.

This is the busy scene on Egham High street this week - the local council is putting up flags and banners for the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.

As you can see, the high street was also full of volunteers;

Painting shields on all the street bollards, ready for the Magna Carta Fair on the 13th of June.

We're hoping to go although it's Wraysbury fair that afternoon and I'm planning to enter the craft fair again this year. We'll try to go to both.

The slogan on this banner is all very well except that none of these fine virtues have anything to do with the Magna Carta.

That was a peace treaty signed as a result of the Kings soldiers and the Barons armies having a face off on the meadows of Runnymede.

The Magna Carta wasn't signed there but across the river at Wraysbury.

Anyway, the barons were upset that a crazy king was having them locked up or imprisoned. The reality of Magna Carta is all in this clause on one of Runnymede's posters;

"No free man shall be seized or imprisoned except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land"

The problem is that back then there were hardly any free men - except for barons, of course. There weren't any free women either.

Most people were serfs and they had no rights at all - they were the property of other men.

So all the other clauses giving, for example, property rights only applied to a tiny, all powerful minority.

Lots of bloody battles followed. It took a thousand years of struggles for us to win the few rights we have today.

It would be a shame to lose them.....we'd better keep fighting then.

Remember the old saying; "Put not your faith in Princes"

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

America day part two.

So, after going to the Kennedy memorial, we walked along the historic meadows of Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was supposedly signed 800 years ago this year.

Here's Robyn in front of The American Bar Association's memorial to the Magna Carta;

I guess some wealthy American lawyers had a trip here and couldn't believe there wasn't a memorial to the signing and so they built one in 1957.

There are a couple of problems with all this.

First of all; the opposing armies may have camped at Runnymede but the signing wouldn't have taken place there.

This beautiful house is on 'Magna Carta Island' on the opposite bank at Wraysbury.

It would make some sense for the signatories to meet away from the armies on the Island. The house was built later and although a lot of people believe that's where it was signed....you can't be sure.

 

 

 

This is a different view - across the road and behind both it and The River Thames, you are in the historic estate of Ankerwycke. You can just about make out the ruins of the old priory - a religious settlement of nuns from over 1000 years ago.

 

We all think this would be the kind of neutral territory away from both armies and on consecrated ground where no one would dare to kill any one. Also, there would be people who could read and write and could be trusted by parties who may not have been able to check the documents themselves.

 

 

The biggest problem? The Magna Carta was a deal to protect the lives and property of the wealthy barons; no one else had any property and their lives weren't worth living.

 

It took many centuries of protests to win the liberties we take for granted today.

 

At the end of our walk was the entrance of The Runnymede Ecovillage, which is todays protest against poverty and homelessness. I've written about them before and we'll probably make a separate trip there when it's a bit warmer.

 

 

Then we went home and had Hot Dogs with French's Mustard to finish off America day.

 

Hmmmmmmh!

 

Neil Harris

 

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstp[eters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Thanks, Swift-Tuttle.

So today, Tuesday, I went back to Oncology.

I'm out of Data (no broadband) and I'm out of order by about three days on the Blog but hey! Who cares?

It was OK.

Forget median survival rates (my cancer always shrugged them off).

I'm nearly at the max on this drug, so expensive I
only get it thanks to the Cancer Drug fund.

I have another month, well 28 days to be precise.

What do you do when you got another 28 days?

Me and Robyn, kitted up (folding chairs, a blanket, lager, a cigar, a clockwork torch and a smart phone) headed out to watch The Perseids, the dust left behind when comet Swift-Tuttle passed this way some time in the ice-cold past of the galaxy.

No big deal? No way, it means that at this time of year every August we get a fireworks display of shooting stars if we are lucky.

This was never going to be a lucky year - there's a big fat harvest moon - not only a full moon but a 'supermoon' when the moon is at it's closest to Earth.

At 8 pm we were sat in McDonalds eating an icecream and watching it rain.

Then we drove around looking for a spot - if it had been a good year I'd have driven to the South Downs for my last display but it was cloudy.

In the end we parked up at historic Ankerwycke where The Magna Carta was signed.

When it got 'dark' (it didn't thanks to the moon) we sat out in the cold and waited. Actually, as I got out of the car I caught site of a really low, fizzing grazer.

We missed all the little ones, couldn't see them but we saw a handful of the biggest so there were a few Oohs and Aahs.

A perfect end to a day that could have gone really badly. This time next year I won't care about this but I've watched those meteorites all my life.

Nice to say goodbye.

Now 28 days, lets give you something to remember us by.

Neil Harris
( a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The main stream is over but if you look up tonight, if it's clear, you might see some stragglers. I may chance it too.