Hans Remembers- Tuesday July 28, 1970- 50 Years Ago. Mick Jagger made his acting debut in the movie Ned Kelly- a film about the legendary Australian outlaw. The film debuted in Kelly’s hometown of Glenrowan. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev who had disapproved of East Germany’s leader Walter Ulbricht’s effort to strengthen trade relations with West […]
via HANS REMEMBERS- TUESDAY JULY 28, 1970- 50 YEARS AGO — slicethelife
Ever since his remains were discovered in Euston in London recently, during excavations in a burial ground for the HS2 project, there has been speculation about where his final resting place would be.
Although a Lincolnshire man, it’s probably true that Flinders is even more famous on the other side of the world in Australia, where many places bear his name. Adelaide for example, capital of South Australia, even has a university named after him.
Bearing this in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that there has been much debate about where he should be reburied. However, probably the most logical resolution, and one certainly supported by his descendants and the Donington community, was to allow his remains to be interred in his home church of Saint Mary and the Holy Rood, the final resting place of other members of his family.
A recent picture from a flower festival inside Saint Mary and the Holy Rood church in Donington, Lincolnshire.
copyright Francis Barker 2019
For years my only love was Marmite, in the yeast extract stakes, at any rate.
And then one day, not too long ago, I decided to get some – horror of horrors – Vegemite! Naturally I’d heard the name before, even heard it in some 1980s Australian rock song, but being a bit of a traditionalist and a stick-in-the-mud, I’d never taken the plunge into that particular version of yeast extract.
What’s more, to be fittingly topical, it’s The Ashes (England versus Australia at cricket) again this summer, that battle between leather and willow, weather permitting; a tense battle of minds, of whether to sledge, or not to sledge. So what about comparing dear old Blighty’s version with the Antipodean?
Well, to settle an argument with myself, I decided to compare the two makes side by side, in one sitting, if you will. And my findings were surprising.
I’m not an expert on taste, I just know what I like. Sticking to tradition to start with, I plumped for Marmite first. Fine, lovely, just how I like it. Then came the Vegemite and… wait a minute! You know, it wasn’t the same. Did I detect, I mean was there just a little trace of a taste of… chocolate? Dark chocolate at that. OK, it was somehow different, a bit.
Either way, I sat down with a cup of tea to wash it all down and collect my thoughts. And whether I could taste chocolate or not, I came away with the startling, unpatriotic conclusion that I preferred the Australian! Yes, Vegemite won by a nose, the tip of a tongue.
I just hope that England can do better this summer.
Every year much time and money was spent on creating a series of floats decorated with tulips to parade around the small Lincolnshire town, sponsored by local and national businesses. Tourists flocked there every year from many parts of the country and beyond.
Sadly those days have long gone now. However a ‘vestige’ of this former glory still remains in the numerous church flower festivals which still take place in early May.
I was particularly impressed this year by Donington’s flower festival. The explorer and cartographer who essentially mapped Australia, Matthew Flinders, was born in Donington in 1774. Recently his remains were discovered and there is a move to bring them back to Donington – you could almost feel the air of anticipation at this prospect.
Today many strong links remain with Australia; there are numerous visits from ‘down under’ too, both sides very keen to keep up and improve the cultural associations.
Let’s hope his remains return home soon and that a tasteful setting is created for the memory and legacy of the great Matthew Flinders of Donington, Lincolnshire.
Heat
When stepping off the ship, heat
hit him,
something heavy and palpable, his duty drawn
out into an exile
stuffing the bank accounts
of far-off millionaires, stuffing
him and the natives from Melbourne
to Manitoba.
Such a relief to be on the train,
officers hankering in rigid
silence for the cool heights of Shimla,
Home Counties in miniature once bleeding
the big world dry, where spinsters
of Little England began to
watch their gingham fade
He favoured his mother’s
side, whose pale skin and eyes were
more fondly remembered
than appreciated, now more than
a world away,
spattered freckles on his face
where the sweat ran
free in that searing carriage;
sights of displaced women
wrapping up in their shawls, children
standing and sitting, staring
and sleeping, heading on to homes they’d
never seen (or ever see), leaving him
to watch the scorched earth slide
by like some weary sentence,
his mind hanging on
to the boney cattle half
hidden in mud, in the channels
of sometime rivers
gaping for monsoon
poem © copyright df barker 2012
Ciscography 