Shudrick Valley on the eastern fringe of Ilminster, South Somerset. Soon to vanish under concrete and tarmac?

The undisturbed agrarian landscape of the Shudrick Valley on the eastern fringe of Ilminster might soon vanish under concrete and tarmac if developers get their way.  Dillington Estate and CG Fry are seeking planning permission to build 220 homes along the valley: their previous application for 330 homes was turned down. 

Putting aside all the other objections to the new application, most of which also pertained to the previous one, it would be prudent to consider the effect of heavy rain on the western end of the valley in particular.  The photographs below make interesting viewing.


The western end of Shudrick Valley, Ilminster, taken on 7th February 2014.



Photograph taken from Shudrick Lane, Ilminster, on 3rd January 2016. 

Photograph taken on 3rd January 2016 from the same position as that of 7th February 2014.

Building through a valley which contains a stream does not seem very wise considering the storms of recent years.  If the development goes ahead I hope Dillington Estate, CG Fry and South Somerset District Council will have carefully noted the effects of heavy rain and made comprehensive provision for coping with it.  Perhaps the new houses should be built on stilts!
 
Be that as it may, it seems yet another patch of England's green and pleasant land could be lost.  Make use of the public footpaths and enjoy this bucolic corner of South Somerset while you can - this view might not exist for much longer.

The view to the southwest from the floor of Shudrick Valley.  Shudrick Stream is just out of view to the right.

Note. For those readers who may be interested, the planning application referred to in this post is Application No: 14/02474/OUT   Location: Land At Shudrick Lane, Ilminster, Somerset. TA19 0AR.

A public holiday for England's patron saint? St George or St Edmund - or both? Letters in the Western Daily Press.

Should there be a public holiday for England's patron saint St George, a Christian from Palestine who rose to the rank of Tribune in the Roman Army, or St Edmund, King of East Anglia in 9th century Anglo-Saxon England? 

George was tortured and beheaded for refusing to uphold edicts issued against Christians by the Emperor Diocletian.  Edmund was captured by the Great Heathen Army of the Danes after their invasion and devastation of East Anglia.  Legend has it that he was beheaded after refusing to renounce his Christian faith. 

These letters appeared in the Western Daily Press on March 15th and March 19th.

What did St George do for the English? 
D F Courtney says that St George deserves his own holiday ( Western Daily Press March 12).

I ask, what did St George do for England that he deserves his own holiday? He was a Palestinian gentleman who is patron saint of 13 countries.

It is very clear what St Patrick did for Ireland and he did live in Ireland. St George never put a foot on English soil. He had, however, a great PR man in William Shakespeare.

People who know their history advocate the reinstatement of St Edmund, whose saint’s day is on November 20, as the patron saint of the English nation. Here, we should venerate St Alphege, the martyred archbishop from Bath, as our patron saint by flying the gold cross flag with its red background on April 19.

Robert Craig

The New Aelfric Society



Independence before patron saint holidays.

Your correspondent Robert Craig (Western Daily Press, March 12) may call for the English to celebrate a St Edmund’s day rather than the St George’s bank holiday advocated by D F Courtney but I doubt the British political establishment would allow either.

Scotland and Wales, quite rightly, have their own governments to promote occasions of national festivity. Any such recognition of English nationhood would be anathema to the Westminster elite who much prefer to vaingloriously cloak themselves in British nationalism while ruling over their last remaining “colony” – England.

We English will need an independent parliament of our own before a bank holiday for our patron saint is authorised.  Who knows?  Perhaps one day an English Parliament will grant two public holidays; one each for St George and St Edmund.

S.W.
English Democrats, Somerset

A view from the English Democrats Party Spring Conference in Huntingdon.

My recent holiday in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, coincided with the English Democrats Party Spring Conference in Huntingdon so I had planned a quick early morning tootle down the A1 to attend.  Unfortunately I had not accounted for early morning fog, hence my journey was delayed and I did not arrive at Huntingdon until midday.

The afternoon started with Winston McKenzie, the English Democrats’ Prospective London Mayoral Candidate, giving a spirited speech which featured London’s problem with housing and his solution of building pre-fabricated homes.  In my view this is a practical and obvious policy; if prefabs were good enough in the 1940s and 1950s they remain so today.  My own family had experience of them and they made fine homes which were cared for, much loved and appreciated.

Toni Bugle, English Democrats Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Prospective Candidate, made a short but powerful speech emphasising that all should be equally subject to the laws of England whatever their colour, racial background or religion.  She rightly maintained that Sharia Law and Sharia compliant finance should have no place in England.  She also pointed out the security and identification concerns caused by the wearing of the Burka and Niqab.  Toni also reminded the Conference that the grooming of white girls by Muslim gangs was not confined to Rotherham but was widespread throughout England.

Graham Moore gave an informative presentation on the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) deal between the US and EU.  He pointed out that the deal would make governments and their taxpayers practically subservient to global corporations.  Graham is also the English Democrats Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner Prospective Candidate.

Steve Morris spoke about the work of the Campaign for an English Parliament and the Workers of England union.  He highlighted the fact that the Labour Party, in general, was hostile to both organisations and did not seem able to offer a coherent approach to anything where England or the English were concerned.  Steve is also the Party’s North West Area Chairman.

The Conference ended with an enthusiastic rendition of "Jerusalem" conducted by Winston McKenzie!

It was an interesting and informative afternoon; regrettably I missed the morning session which included speeches by Steve Uncles, the Party’s Campaign Director, and the Party Chairman Robin Tilbrook.

Robin Tilbrook’s speech can be read on his blog - here is a link.

http://robintilbrook.blogspot.co.uk/

It includes quotes from the greatest English Parliamentarian of all, Oliver Cromwell, and points out that if the UK leaves the EU it will be the English who will have made the decisive vote.  Whichever way the EU Referendum goes he details the probable political consequences and the resulting opportunities which may arise for the English Democrats.     

A view of "Air Power", past and present, while on holiday in Lincolnshire.

My wife and I have just returned from one of our periodic holidays in Lincolnshire during which we aim to visit as many of the historic World War Two era RAF Bomber Command airfields as practicable. 

As always we made sure to visit Fiskerton, just a few miles east of Lincoln, where my late father-in-law, a Flight Engineer, flew 21 “ops” in Lancasters with 49 Squadron from November 1943 to May 1944.  This was the time of the “Battle of Berlin” which saw Bomber Command’s heaviest losses: my father-in-law survived, but 49 Squadron lost 25 Lancasters on operations during his period of service. 

Few of RAF Fiskerton’s wartime buildings remain but sections of the runway still survive and there is a poignant roadside memorial to those who served on the airfield with 49 and 576 Squadrons.

Remains of the runways at RAF Fiskerton.

At RAF Coningsby is the RAF’s Southern Typhoon Main Operating Base and also home of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.  There seemed to be far fewer aircraft around than when we visited in 2013.  Only 6 Typhoons, 1 Spitfire and a Chipmunk in sight, a consequence of Conservative defence cuts perhaps! 

 

RAF Coningsby, with far fewer aircraft on view than in 2013.

 

We also visited a different form of “air power” in the shape of the only surviving 8 sailed working windmill in the country at Heckington near Sleaford.  I am in favour of wind power but for character and beauty a traditional windmill beats a wind turbine every time. 

The eight sailed windmill at Heckington near Sleaford.

 

While on holiday I managed to fit in a trip down the A1 to Huntingdon and take in the English Democrats Party’s Spring Conference – but more of that in a later blogpost.

English devolution can't come too soon.

A letter from R.A. Hopkins in the Western Daily Press on March 9th pointing out that it is for the English and their political representatives to decide on how devolution evolves within England, not the British establishment at Westminster.

English devolution can't come soon enough.
We have to thank the Cheltenham Activists Network for unearthing Westminster’s devious plans to secretly devolve English political functions to Gloucestershire’s local authorities – it is probably happening all over England.

Clearly Westminster is intent on foisting piecemeal devolution on England’s cities and regions to break up our country into meaningless political units – England’s 530 MPs must totally resist it.

English devolution is a political decision for England’s electorate alone it is no business of David Cameron nor of Westminster’s political parties – England is not a “UK colony”.

When devolution was proposed for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1997 each national electorate was consulted and only after its approval was devolution granted to each country.

So it’s all up to the down-trodden English electorate, and our 530 MPs, to stand up for their county and our national interest and demand national self governance – it can’t come soon enough.

R A Hopkins

Leckhampton, Gloucestershire

Hampshire schoolboy questioned by police after school staff report him for looking at UKIP website. What next, exile for Farage and Carswell?

A schoolboy was reported to police by his school’s staff for showing an interest in a political party opposed to the government.  Did this happen in 1930s Germany or Stalin’s Soviet Union, perhaps Kim Jong-un’s North Korea?  The answer is no, apparently it happened in Hampshire last month.  The political party was UKIP and the school was acting in accordance with the Government’s, evidently draconian, new counter terror act.

As the Europhile British Government becomes increasingly hysterical in its campaign to remain in the European Union I wonder what other extreme measures a desperate and determined British Government might feel justified in taking. 

Will anyone found in possession of a UKIP or “Vote Leave” leaflet be interned on the Isle of Man, World War Two style, for the duration of the Referendum Campaign?  Will Nigel Farage and Douglas Carswell along with leading tory Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove be exiled, like Napoleon, to St. Helena until June 24^th? 

Far-fetched perhaps but if a schoolboy can be questioned by police for looking at a UKIP website, what next?

 

John Denham, former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister, points out: "National identities are fine . . . but we English are British, and thats all you need to know."

John Denham, former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister, is now the director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics at Winchester University.  He writes in The Telegraph that the EU referendum is leaving English voters behind.

The English, as a nation, are excluded or ignored by the British political establishment whenever there is a decision of any import to be made.  The EU Referendum is but one example of the need for a collective voice to represent and speak on behalf of the English.  That voice should be coming from an independent English Parliament but the British establishment will do all in its power to prevent one.  At present the English have to be British all on their own.

Reading Mr Denham's article it seems he is in favour of an "England Stronger in Europe" campaign.  He also writes: "In the main, English voters want recognition, not separation."  I would settle for recognition but I suspect that a majority of the English would vote "Leave".

Here is a link to John Denham's article.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12177809/The-EU-referendum-is-leaving-English-voters-behind.html