Magna Carta Day 2016 at Egham.

We went to Egham Magna Carta day which I haven't been able to get to for a few years.

Egham band were in fine form on the opening parade;

And then gave us a rousing performance to open up the music;

This is actually the new Junior band with a few performers from the highly professional seniors helping out;

The Junior band was formed out of the training band and they are now in the process of forming a new training band for beginners.

The highlight of Egham fair for me has always been the music, which in the past was very varied and exciting. It meant that the event was something special.

Even though this year there were three sound stages, the choice of music was fairy dull.

Don't get me wrong - I like a brass band and it's definitely part of the English summer;

And under their conductor they are a very professional outfit;

I also enjoyed The Juma Steel Band who did their best to bring some sunshine to a dull day;

We looked at the stalls and ate cake and eventually got heavily rained on too!

But the local area has a wealth of talent, most of whom are desperate for a chance to perform. Instead we seemed to get a lot of mock country and western music - safe and boring.

Dripping wet, we ended up drifting home.

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

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

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

Message from Robben Island.

I thought I’d put up this photo from yesterday – someone making a subtle statement on Magna Carta day.

 

 

1994 seems a long time ago now. If you went back 25 years to 1988, Mandela was in prison. He and the ANC were defined as terrorists by Margaret Thatcher, who was allied to and co-operating with the Apartheid government in South Africa.

People, like me, who fought for change were being spied on by the authorities from here and from South Africa.

It looked like nothing would ever, could ever change. Pickets, petitions, boycotts, struggles and fights.

If you want to change things you can.

The harder they come, the harder they fall.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

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

Dancing in the Street.

It’s approaching 800 years since the Magna Carta was signed and Saturday I went to Magna Carta day at Egham. Actually, it happens every year and I was there for a cup of coffee and a noodle on the net, but I enjoyed it. That’s despite the pouring rain. June can be wonderful, best month of the year (it was on Friday) or sometimes it isn’t. I got soaked. Twice.

Also, the Magna Carta wasn’t signed at Runnymede but across the river at Wraysbury.

But there was music, this was the second stage and it hosted a series of livelier groups through the afternoon. I missed the name of this band but it had ‘stompin’ in it and they were playing a mixture of blues and bluegrass;

 

At the other end was the respectable stage – luckily I missed the Morris Dancers (ughhhhh). This was Staines Big Band, with a vocalist and dancing in the street.

 

Another good day.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)