The November snowfields of Caerwys.

This November it seems that I have become obsessed with the weather. In my defence though the weather in the past three weeks has been remarkable, as can be seen in my blogs since November 7th. Just three weeks ago we had a balmy weekend with the leaves still golden on the trees. Last weekend, as I wrote, it was the typical November mists. However this weekend artic snow has fallen on Caerwys. The ITV national news even carried their weather forecasts live from outside the church on Friday. It is the snowiest November for 17 years. My weather station measured minus 7.1 first thing today. Everyone seems to predict that this will be the coldest winter since records began (you can get 10/1 on that from the bookies). I am not predicting anything, but here are some snow photographs that I took earlier today.

Stile leading to Station Woods.

Looking east.

Icy and dangerous pavements - this is where ITV did their outside broadcast on the weather.

Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness....

I think that is how the the famous John Keats poem on Autumn begins... I blogged a week ago that I thought that was the last weekend of autumn as the gales that we forecast would strip the trees of their beautiful colours. Well that was about right, but today we had the autumnal mists. It was perfectly still around Caerwys this morning as Mary and I did the circular walk from Caerwys to Ysceifiog. It was the kind of late autumn day when I don't think any evaporation takes place. Anyway on the Station Woods path I took this photograph. If you look very carefully you can just about spot the mast on Moel y Parc.

12,000 soldiers.

In previous blogs I have referred to the time in 1909 when 12,000 soldiers arrived in Caerwys to play war games. Some of the hills around the town are still Ministry of Defence property and I have seen soldiers (including the Ghurkas) carrying out training exercises on the slopes of Moel y Parc. I doubt though that any have been on the scale of those held in 1909. In charge of the whole exercise was General Bethune; he gave an interview to the local press in which he stated his wish that the training should be a realistic as possible. The General even admitted that the normal times for dinner would not be observed as 'the soldier on active duty eats when he jolly well can'. As my previous blog showed, the soldiers did take a break for religious services as is shown by the remarkble photograph of the priests carrying out the service on the mountain side in front of thousands of soldiers. I have come across another photograph from a slightly different angle; here it is:

If anything this photograph gives an even greater appreciation of the scale of this event; it is hard to imagine how those on the periphery of the crowd could have heard the words of the church service. It is interesting to observe the woman in the foreground of the image in her typical Edwardian dress.
As mentioned above, the entire exercise was commanded by Lieut. Colonel Edward Bethune. He was a well known army leader having seen action in Afghanistan (what changes?) and South Africa. The following is a painting commissioned of the man himself:

 As can be seen, Bethune was a cavalryman. He would later play a role in the Great War, but in the age of the machine gun his speciality of fighting on horse back would soon be completely redundant.

Last weekend of autumnal colour.

Who needs to go to New England in the fall? Is it just me or has this been one of the best autumns ever. The weather has been relatively kind - certainly not very cold. Perhaps as a result the colours in this part of Wales have been magnificent. However the forecast for the next few days is for some stormy weather, so I think this might be the last weekend when the leaves are on the trees (at least until next spring anyway!). So yesterday Mary and I went out with my camera and took some photographs of the trees around Caerwys. Here are two of them:

Looking south west towards the Vale of Clwyd.

View towards Afonwen and the slopes of Moel y Parc.

Alistair Campbell

Last Friday I went to a function room at Chester Race Course to hear a talk given by Alistair Campbell, the former director of communications to Tony Blair, and one of the key architects of new Labour. It was a brilliant evening; Campbell is the master of presentations and his anecdotes from his years in power were illuminating and candid. He took questions from the audience and answered with honesty and humour.

Alistair Campbell at the Chester Literary Festival

 Campbell is in the process of publishing his extensive diaries that cover the Blair period. They are bound to be important when historians come to assess the achievements of New Labour in power. I am sure to read them. However, it is not always the diaries of the main players that capture an era in politics. Take, for example, the Thatcher years. How many have read Maggie's autobiography? Were there any significant diaries produced by those close to Thatcher? Probably not. It is the diaries of the much lesser known figure Alan Clark that has provided the best insight into politics during the 1980s and 90s. The same maybe true of the Blair years. Long after the autobiographies of Blair, Mandelson, and indeed Campbell, have faded on the shelves, it may well be that the diaries of Chris Mullin entitled 'The View from the Foothills' is the literary work that captures the essence of New Labour. They are beautifully written and always self deprecating. If you have not read this book, then do so.

The Past is another country.

High Street in the first decade of the 20th century.

I have been wandering Caerwys looking at the modern day places where the old photographs (from the collection that have been gathered to go in the book) were taken. However, try as I might it just does not seem the same place. Black and white (or sepia) images do create a sense of antiquity; it hard to grasp sometimes that the 19th century was in colour. Anyway, I am going to try and recreate some of the earliest images to show what I mean. The above image is the view I have from my front garden, if my front garden had been there in the first part of the 20th century, that is. Last week I went out and tried to stand in pretty much the same place, but even with the sepia tones added the same view is almost unrecognisable.

The same street in 2010.

Gone to the birds.

Today I have been to the Red Kite feeding station in Rhayader, Powys. The farmer at Gigrin Farm has been feeding the Red Kites for many years; it has boosted the population of the birds and made them the symbol of the entire county. The birds know the time when the farmer puts the meat out on the field; they circle high above watching for the tractor with the food. The public can watch from a number of hides. The scene when the birds descend from the sky is breathtaking. I took some photographs, but they don't justice to the spectacle.