Bournville Heritage Day

Last Saturday we visited the Bournville Heritage Day. It brought up all sorts of memories despite this being the first time I had ever walked around.

We started at Selly Manor.

Because we got there as it opened we got to go round the inside without other visitors.

We moved on to the Rest House in the centre of the village Green.  It has the most amazing ceiling.

We went into St Francis Church where there were photographs of the steam trains that ran around the Cadbury factory.  There were also some models of the engines.

My cousin got married at St Francis Church and I was a bridesmaid.

We walked up to the Quaker Meeting House - an Arts and Crafts building.

And then across the road to Ruskin Hall.  The inside was a bit disappointing.

We walked from Bournville Green to Bournville Lane to visit the Concert Hall.  I remember going there in the 1950s to see The Emperors New Clothes.  The string quartet were members of the CBSO.

The path went between the factory and the recreation ground.  As we walked we met a man with his son and got talking to him.  It turned out that he is writing a book about the railway inside the factory and Cadburys have given me great access to the archives.

We walked through the park to the Valley Pool - the home of the Model Boat Club which Roger belongs to.

We walked to the Serbian Orthodox Church.  I liked the outside of the building. I found the inside to be over-decorated.  I tend more to minimalism!

We went back to the Model Boats for coffee and cakes and then back to the car, passing the Carillon on the way.

Three times during the day we came across the Clarinet Choir.

Having collected the car we visited Rowheath Pavillion and park before going home.

And the trip down memory lane?

From the age of 11-18 I lived in Northfield and went to school in Kings Heath.  I mostly travelled to school and back on the number 27 bus which travelled through Bournville, past Valley Pool, the Green, the Carillon and through Cadburys.

My grandparents owned a grocery shop in Heath Road, which my uncle and aunt subsequently ran and was where both my mother and cousin grew up.  My cousin went to Dame ELizabeth Cadbury school which is opposite Valley Pool.  She and her husband eventually moved into Claines Road.

Last year when I was looking at the history of my grandparents I discovered my paternal grandmother had been a chocolate packer at Cadburys.  I knew my maternal grandmother had worked there.

Saturday was the first time I had walked around Bournville despite knowing it so well.

Thanks for being here today.
Bernice

PS:  I'm going to take a short sabbatical from blogging.  Hope to see you on October 15th.

Scavenger Hunt

For the summer the ladies in Snapshot Girls borrowed the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt from This West London Life.

Ever the one to be last minute I worked on this last Friday - the theme was set 2 months ago!

I have taken liberties with it.  Some I have found in my stash of photos and some are a quirky rendition of the prompt!

1. Family pet or cute animal  These wooden ducks represent out family

 

 

2 Look up to the sky

 

 

3 A colourful front door

4 What's on your feet (well, not actually on my feet but they were on one day this summer!)

 

 

5 Favourite simmer food/meal   (This was my birthday dinner 2022 and is my favourite summer meal ever!)

 

6 Something with wings  (The areas either side of the stage are called wings.)

 

 

 

7 Favourite summer reading nook/space  (I don't have a favourite place)

 

8 Something colourful in your garden

 

 

9 Moving water (Roger moves water about in these watering cans!)

 

 

10 Something that casts a shadow

 

 

11 A kitchen utensil you hardly ever use  (I only use it to defrost the freezer!)

12 A place of worship

 

 

13 Mark the passage of time

 

 

14 Your nation's flag  (Chocolate lollipops)

 

 

15 Something you've repurposed  (I originally made a costume and turned it into this!)

 

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Theme Poetry

This week's theme on the zoom workshop was the Guiness World Book of Records.

photo by Erik Jan Leusink

Whilst Sarah-Jane was doing her presentation I had already thought of the subject for a poem and wrote this first one whilst she was still talking.

Stone 

Along the water’s edge
heaped pebbles, in various shades of grey,
Making it difficult to identify
the ideal stone. Flat, smooth edged
Fitting perfectly into the hand
Ready to skim into
the cold, clear water.
Easier into a river than the sea.
Practising since childhood.
The frustration of never getting past
three bounces. 

Practice makes perfect
so they say
And years and years of practice
brought Kurt Steiner, the so-called ‘Mountain Man’,
to the world record of skimmed bounces.

A magnificent eighty-eight.

You can see footage of this record on Youtube.

I also wrote this poem during the zoom session

I really enjoyed the topic even if as often happens I went a bit off-piste.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

More Celebrations

Last month I told you about my birthday celebrations and that they would continue in September.

My lovely friend Vicky hosted a dinner party for me. Vicky, her husband Steve and our mutual friend Ange worked hard all day to provide a meal for 12.

There was an Italian theme to the first two courses.  A tomato salad starter and a main course of salmon poached in white wine.

These were followed by a choice of chocolate bread and butter pudding and/or cheese and biscuits.

This was followed by a chocolate birthday cake made especially by Ange.  Underneath the chocolate cake on the cake stand, there was a vanilla sponge cake.

Most people asked to take their cake home.  Vicky miraculously conjured up party bags - admittedly with Easter rabbits on them!

I had a fabulous evening with those friends I consider to be my family.  I am very blessed to be able to call them family. And thankful to have friends like Vicky, Steve and Ange who went all out to spoil me.  Vicky had also arranged for Andy to send a video from the Hopper Juniors.

The other thing I did in August which I mentioned before was to buy a quilt made by Leah Higgins.  I've decided it's my birthday present to myself.  And at long last it's up on the wall.  I see it every time I sit down to watch the television.

The ducks represent Roger and I, my son and daughter-in-law and the three grandchildren.  Each duckling was bought when each baby was born.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Satin Stitch

Last month I told you I was going to work on the piece I started at Summer School.  I had machined all the pieces together and was then trying to decide what to do with it.

I thought I would put the three words I had used in all the printed fabric onto a photo.

The fabric is much darker in the photo than it actually is!  I was thinking of cutting the letters out of fabric and bonding them on.  However the printed fabric was done in my handwriting, so I used an italic Copic pen to write my three words on tissue.

I used satin stitch with a dark grey thread for 'captivity'.  And an ochre thread for 'freedom'.

Then I needed to decide what colour to stitch 'identity'.

I chose the variegated skein.

So now it's back to thinking about the other pieces I've already started!

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

What I did next!

Last time I shared my new poem Conviction.  Despite having at least three textile pieces on the go, I decided I had to start a new piece with the new poem.

I wrote the poem onto calico with an italic Copic pen.  I used my Thermofax screens to put broken bits of chain using acrylic paint.

I cut it up into 4.5 inch squares leaving the two questions whole.

I laid out the squares fairly randomly in terms of which line they came from, but made sure that each square was facing a different way.  I sewed all the squares together and added the questions at the bottom.

This will be put onto wadding and a backing and a binding put round the edge.

I want to add some more chains.  I thought about maybe painting some of the plastic chain I have left from the Dancing in Fetters piece.  In the photo you have to imagine that the chain has been painted to look rusty.

However I've decided I will stitch large chains.  I scanned the thermofax image into the computer and made it larger.  I've printed it off ready to trace onto tissue so I can hand stitch later this week.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice