Curiosity Killed the Cat - Overcoming Adversity Bloghop

Today, I’m happy to participate in the “OvercomingAdversity” Bloghop, hosted by writer and blogging friend, Nick Wilford.

Nick has asked us to write a piece that revolves around the theme, overcoming adversity.  The entries will be compiled into an anthology with all proceeds going to his stepson’s college fund.

Nick’s stepson, Andrew, has cerebral palsy and hopes to attend a specialist college in Scotland, but reaching this dream has been difficult. 

It is through actions like this that Nick and his family hope to generate awareness and get Andrew the education he needs.

We truly hope that they achieve their goal.

Curiosity Killed the Cat – did it?  I don’t think so – it stimulates, keeps us interested at all levels of life ... a brief tale of hope, during a time of challenge:

You’re in London to celebrate your brothers' birthdays, your mother has travelled up from Penzance ... she is obviously not well – and the next thing we know she is in hospital with a stroke.

It’s not severe, there is hope ... she can talk.  Life takes on train journeys from Sussex – you’re exhausted ... what now?  Relocation to Cornwall to look after your mother ... life is on hold.

After 4 weeks and a dose of noro-virus she is ready for recuperation ... a short trip to the new hospital ... more strokes and our next visit is to the Acute Brain Injury Unit (ABIU): we’re lucky it has exceptional care, diagnosis and treatment.

Yet the uncertainty abounds ... will she live, how incapacitated will she be ... questions that of course we don’t have the answer to; it is serious that’s all we know.

How to adapt?  When she was able to my mother was happy to interact ... so during her time in the ABIU we go with the flow and there were days that were good and days that were bad – and all days were exhausting.

For six months the world went around before we were able to get my mother down to a Nursing Centre in Eastbourne, where I live and could be around more to support and care for her.

At the time of the first stroke she enjoyed shortish articles, or snippets of information, that would stimulate her brain with ideas or things we could laugh about together – when the incapacity strokes happened ... the progress was extremely slow and not hopeful.

By the time we reached Eastbourne she was able to communicate, I’m extremely grateful to say, though essentially was bedridden for the rest of her life (another 4.5 years).  We had to overcome the fact that she could not eat or drink ... challenging at times: but my mother having owned a care home realised and was able to work out what was what.

I wrote to friends and relatives which generated cards back – and more interaction ... the blog had started but now evolved as time went on – my mother could comprehend and always remembered ... Washington’s teeth was one of her favourites.

George Washington (1797) painted by
Gilbert Stuart

We had fun and I learnt to put her needs first - my life could go on hold for a while – because I could see a future ... I was blogging, teaching myself history, learning how others coped through their adversity.

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat – it gave me hope and an education ... while I have the happy memories of those curious snippets.

Washington’sTeeth and other tales

Perhaps appropriately the dashboard tells me this is my 500th post - don't count, curiosity killed the cats ... only 496 show up!!


Nick's Anthology can be bought at Amazon:  Overcoming Adversity - either as a book, or in Kindle version ... please support the family .... thank you!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

British ParaOrchestra ...

The British ParaOrchestra ... yes that is right an orchestra of 17 musicians with disabilities. Conductor, Charles Hazelwood, realised that there was no musical platform for people with disabilities, who were highly accomplished at their art.

Charles Hazelwood with his daughter
c/o The Standard

Channel 4, our broadcaster for the Paralympics, was persuaded to produce a documentary following the formation of this orchestra ... which I watched prior to the Paralympic Closing Ceremony, at which this ParaOrchestra performed.  Talk about uplifting, and yet another strand to the ‘Para’ brand ...

Hazelwood was inspired by his sister and daughter, both with disabilities, but who are musically very talented – so he was aware of possibilities, aware there were ‘none for people who do not fit into the norm’, yet music is “universal”.

Charlotte White c/o Channel 4

The TED Conference in Edinburg in July 2011 was the formation point ... where he explained that the ParaOrchestra was not intended to be a therapeutic or “warm and fuzzy” project, but rather a platform to showcase disabled musicians with virtuosic qualities.

Auditions were held to find people who were “at the top of their game, technically, and with a spirit behind that virtuosity”.  Seventeen such musicians were pinpointed, who without music in their lives would not be able to fulfil themselves ... their creativity and desire moved my couch potato eyes.

Two members of the Paraorchestra c/o Classic FM

This small beginning for the British ParaOrchestra it is hoped will lead to many more opportunities for all peoples regardless of their situations ... they all stood out as supreme performers, and the light in their eyes, their attitude to their inclusion, their expressions of freedom that music gives them ... which they can now share with many.

All the musicians deserve attention and the Wiki page gives some more detail  – but honestly what a story ... a lesson for us all to be aware of everyone’s possibilities and needs – disabled, and those severely ill people ... i.e. stroked patients ... who cannot communicate fully or properly anymore ... that spark is still within them.

Nicholas McCarthy - Royal College  of Music
graduate

We live in an age where anything around the human spirit is possible ... the Paralympic athletes have shown what can be done ...physical or mental impairment does not stop anyone performing to their creative maximum – as those dancers, singers, zip-wire exponents, service heroes showed us in the two Ceremonies ... and now to showcase a few extremely talented musicians ...

·        Nicholas McCarthy, a one-handed (left) pianist who recently graduated from the Royal College of Music – had been told ‘no you can’t’ ....

·        Clarence Adoo, a former jazz trumpet player who was paralysed below the shoulders after a car accident (and now plays an instrument known as “Headspace”, which is controlled by breath and head motions) ....

Clarence described this experience as though he had his life back, it freed his head ... he could play music again – think of that freedom, that relief from constrainment he must have had since his accident ... he could express himself both verbally and musically (what an upliftment)  ... he had been longing to play music again ...

·        Lyn Levett, who is severely physically restricted – yet music is her life .... here she’s been able to use a Macintosh to play what Charles Hazelwood describes as refreshingly “dizzyingly creative” electronic music ...

Lyn plays using her nose!! And through the ParaOrchestra is working with electronic music experts ....

Lynn Levett with her boyfriend and her Mac

There’s a viola player confined to a wheelchair, blind members include a violinist, a keyboard player, a recorder expert, a lute player, and multi-instrumenatlists ....

The Paralympian Anthem was played by the ParaOrchestra at the Closing Ceremony ... I think the aspect that made the most impact for me ... was the freedom these musicians were given ... via their music ... which as Charles Hazelwood said is universal.

Clarence Adoo
 - c/o Newcastle and North East Journal

We’ve all experienced periods of ‘severe stress’ in our lives, where life constrains us due to circumstances (inconsequential in the scheme of things for us able bodied folk) – yet many of the paralympians – be they athletes, creative artists, musicians ... have felt the same, and have escaped those constraints ...

... which leads me on to my mother, who was severely stroked, but able to talk and thus use her brain – she might have been confined to bed and not able to, nor wanting to watch tv, or listen to the radio, could not read – yet could (more than!) fully engage if and when she was given the opportunity.

Takashi Kikushi playing his violin
c/o Classic FM

I wonder if we shouldn’t take into account everyone’s possibilities at whatever stage of life they are, due to whatever circumstances ... all humans have souls – which translate to desires and needs ...

Carers too get constrained ... the volunteers at these Games have made an incredible impact on everyone, probably particularly on themselves and their families ... then there are the carers with jobs, the carers who care (relatives) and volunteer –

The ParaOrchestra waiting to perform at
Glastonbury - c/o Channel 4

... that little extra that we can bring to others’ lives will make our own worlds easier, and may with your extra talent make others’ lives much happier and/or more settled and accepting of circumstances.  Think of others (at all times) – seems a good maxim – and I know we’d all add with a smile!!

Wikipedia Page: British ParaOrchestra

Channel 4 programme on formation of ParaOrchestra and article

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Gardener, Cook, Carer, Homemaker - my mother ...

Even unto the last she kept us on our toes ... going at a time that suited her and her daughter ... peacefully in the late evening ... with no fuss or bother she slipped away last Wednesday night – Fourth of July day.

Pulmonata: slugs and snails ..
this would have interested my mother

No late nights, no anxiety – frankly none of us expected her to leave us – the nurses, the care staff, or me – my brother said ‘that’s a surprise’, as I’d only been on the phone minutes before letting them know the situation – only to ring back and say she had gone.

Even on Monday – we’ve been here before ... she will recover; even on Tuesday the doctor was only called for good order – we hadn’t had need of her for a year ... she said 2 – 5 days ... but I didn’t think much about it – my mother thought otherwise ... 36 hours later I was called out.

English stone walled garden planting

She had always been practical and got on with things and somehow over the years managed to rationalise in her own mind that faith, courage and strength of mind were her friends now.

She has been quite incredible during the last five and a half years ... there were times that were challenging, somehow we managed to laugh our way through them – she did want to get back to the way she was ...

... and we had many fictitious travels back to Penzance in a Purple People Carrier, overseas holidays to New Zealand and Australia – hiring a plane, even to Buenos Aires, where she ‘had castles’ and Valparaiso ... do you know where it is? ... amazing she even came up with the name.

Newlyn steps - looking east over
Penzance Bay - her recent home

I had to laugh a lot of the time – because she was so ‘with it’ even if it was logically impossible – we’d roar with laughter at the thought of slings, the numbers of carers we’d need for the journey etc etc ....

The staff laughed lots too ... and over the nearly five years we had been in Eastbourne ... so many stories came out – I’d be accosted as I walked in ... “your mother ..... “ ... shock horror at her comments and ripostes – then we’d have a good giggle! 

Everyone was very fond of her and that made such a difference to me – it’s never an easy time to see one’s mother bedridden for so long without apparently any benefit ... but to look on the bright side of life –

I’ve learnt loads along this journey, I appreciate illness far more, and the needs of many; I’ve met some incredible people ... that’s been a huge bonus; I’ve had lots of support from family and friends ...

Scented Roses - perfect for the sensory
aspects

My mother was never very effusive – she was always grateful for everything that happened, philosophical at ‘disaster’ times, while her one pleasure (as she has been fed intravenously – her decision) is the educational rapport we’ve had.  Two things she said to me ensured I knew she valued me and the support I’d been providing her had been hugely appreciated – what more as a child should I not do.

Right from the beginning I realised I needed to visit with interesting stories to hand, and I realised that by writing out to family and friends I’d elicit letters back – so I did a lot of that ...

Tall ships - another of my mother's loves
in a gloomy Penzance Bay

This blog is not called Positive Letters for nothing- from a few people writing and saying your letters are so positive and interesting – please don’t stop ... well I haven’t stopped blog posting 440+ posts later ... or writing letters for that matter ...

These interactions kept my mother stimulated and interested in educative history ... we’re a very small family – so that wasn’t an option or source of chit-chat ...

... and Mum would send me home from London, when she was in hospital there at the beginning, to google things and come back with interesting articles etc ...

... my take on Talli’s blog when she asked us to write on “If I could be anyone ....” – I’d picked Mary Wollstonecraft – as I walked through the churchyard to get to St Pancras Hospital, where my mother was when she was being assessed before her move to Eastbourne.

St Pancras Hospital - the Sun Memorial behind
which is Mary Wollstonecraft's grave

We had long discussions about St Pancras Workhouse – now the  hospital ...  I often talked about the blog – and she was amazed that people were always sending their love, hugs in her direction and asking about her well-being ... so thank you for that support over the years.

I didn’t read much to her from the blog, because in later years she wasn’t that easily able to concentrate so I’d mix and match what I talked about or read (usually about Cornwall) ... but one blog post always tickled her – and she remembered and laughed ...

Washington's mouth does look awfully
uncomfortable .. doesn't it?

... Washington and his false teeth ... she would have loved to know that Winston Churchill had a gold plate – that featured in the Gold Exhibition I went to and recently wrote about ... forgot his plate!  However there's a story attached to that too .. so another day ...

About 10 days before she died – I told her a story I’d read on someone’s blog about a Scots lad who, on being caught by the police pre-war, had on a whim given them his name as a name taken from the iron-monger’s sign above the policeman’s head ... it stayed with him through his life – he did manage to clarify matters just before he died ...

An Ironmongers - but our toolshed didn't look
much different in the 1950s ... 

I’m sure it was in the States – if anyone remembers whose blog this story belongs to – please let me know.  He was their father and this happened 25 years ago or so ... but my mother belly laughed at it – pronouncing at the end “How wonderful” ... she always amazed us ... two staff were in the room too ... we all had a good giggle ...

Then this story – that I never mentioned in my last blog post, nor told my mother ... but this too would have tickled her:

c/o Local Guardian in Wimbledon
area

The tennis ball sofa featured in my last post, Wimbledon and Olympics, has a story ... that would have amused my mother ... a furniture maker turned a sofa that had been dumped in the street into this ‘art work’ .... Mark Thurgood, used tennis balls donated by the local Telford Park tennis club, in Streatham, to create this rather special piece of memorabilia.

Then a co-tennis player decided that it was so good that they should offer it to the BBC, sent them some pictures and the rest is history.  Apparently it’s really comfy to sit on – though with all the rain delays we had the night-time presenter, John Inverdale, hardly ever used it.

I wonder where it’ll end up ... I’m sure my mother would have said Wimbledon will keep it ... and she’d have had a good laugh ... this was her type of story.

And guess what is in Scotland - another castle:
Dirleton ... I might take a look around

Well that’s me for now – I am fine and happy with the way I’ve been around for my mother, so I have no regrets, nor need to grieve as such – I’ve been doing that ... but all the while keeping my brain active ... now the little bird is free to roam occasionally –

As my mother counselled me a few years ago – travel before you reach 80 ... but you’ll be a double old age pensioner before you get around to that ... I just had to laugh and think to myself ... Mum at the rate you’re going I probably will be 120 before you take yourself off ...

Still we survived as best we could in the circumstances and now you are at peace ... Gardening, Cooking, Homemaker will be posted on anon – but she was excellent at all of those ...

I'll be there in a few hours - if the net and Blogger
ever get to connect and work today - ?!

Thanks everyone for your support – I’ll be around spasmodically for a while – and I’m going to Scotland (pre-planned) at the beginning of August – so that will be a nice short break to tie up with some old friends ... then I shall settle back in to blogging – with the world ahead of me!

Much love Mum ... be blessed where you are ... you deserve some good times ... 

Today I'm off to London to (as so many of you instructed me!) to see "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" under the big top in Kensington Palace ..  report back shortly .... 

My blog post: "If I could be anyone I'd be: Mary Wollstonecraft"

Blog post on Washington's Teeth

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Could this be a sitcom – or a break out sitcom? Ever had a one word - at a time - conversation ? Fish and Chips – how do you spell it?

We had one of our old days on Friday, even though my mother cannot hear, she felt like talking and having a conversation .... but how do you do this with someone who cannot read nor hear?

How will the interpretation work ... with waving of hands, pointing of fingers, a small whiteboard with one word on it and a duster to wipe it off .. and no ability to actually put a sentence together that is ‘translateable’ for my mother?

Hardwick .. my mother's favourite travelling companion and comforter

It was excellent and we were both laughing away – but it was completely incongruous and I was laughing at the absurdity of it ... while my mother was happily laughing along - wonderful to see and share these now too brief moments.

In the days when she could hear ... these were the types of conversation we used to have .. and perhaps you can now see why my posts are so eclectic, but also include short and sharp cross links – that will lead out .... where?? We find out as we go .....

Arnold Lakhovsky painted The Conversation

My mother’s words in italics .. for some ease of differentiation .. My resources for this ‘conversation’: one whiteboard, cloth to wipe off each word and two personae: me and ‘her’!

Waving arms, pointing fingers, shaking and nodding heads, and ‘herself’ wanting to converse, which she did .. but how to reply, how to explain, how to inform ... well that’s another matter.

My mother wanted to know why she couldn’t hear – reasonable .. but with the next question ... "I’m paying enough they should be able to fix it!" (Actually the National Health Service is paying .. but that’s an explanation too far) – not so easy to answer.

So what now? I’m tired (I know, before I start!) .. so I yawn – without putting my hand in front of my mouth – immediately my mother says “I don’t want to see your tonsils” .... then “do you know what tonsils do?” I thought I’d say ‘no’ .. shaking my head to indicate that!

“Well go over there to that table and look in that big book – Chambers- and it will tell you – they are your first line of defence" ... this is my mother! What I thought was interesting – was that she could not and did not recognise the word ‘Google’ ... now last year she would have done. Nor did the word ‘internet’ ring any bells for her. So she has regressed a little.

Then – "did you put the posters up? – they’re wonderful .. thank you darling .. and look at those above the curtains .. with the little dogs on! Thank you." I had put these up about three months ago – but I was not going that route!

So now we’re into "Why can’t I hear?" Remember I cannot converse, nor can I write a sentence ... so I put the words “cold, sore throat, bad chest” .. on three separate lines ... the word my mother picks up is cold – "I’m not cold". But obviously cannot relate that word to the question she asked – it would be fine if I could explain ... she’s always been grateful for my explanations .. but I can’t.

There’s more .... but enough is enough .. I’d bought soft toilet paper instead of tissues, as the staff are quite profligate with them, and I thought loo paper (as we call it here in the UK) would be fine for mopping up her mouth and nose etc. .. but my mother "I don’t want loo paper – that’s not for blowing my nose" ... you know there are no flies on her: even now.

You get the idea ... when we could chatter together it was quite enlightening and we’d have lots of laughs ... belly laughs .. as we did on Friday – and I’d be sent home to Google or Wiki for more information and bring it in for my next visit.

I hold Hardwick up for her to see .. and she immediately says "Hallo Boy ... you’ve been a good companion for me ... and you do have such an intelligent face and look": thank goodness for Hardwick is all I can say – he’s been inseparable from her .. we even had him in hospital – but I was terrified he’d be swept up into the laundry .. so I took him down for visits!

When we were London in the Acute Brain Injury Unit right at the beginning, three years ago now .. a Cameroonian lady had been brought in .. and had a radio with her tuned in to Gospel Music .. and I thought oh oh .. this is not going to please my Ma and asked them if they could keep the sound low .. misery me!

Well, I was truly put in my place on my next visit .. Jasmine said to me (yes Jannie a Jasmine here too!) – do you know what your mother said after you’d gone to get the train ... please turn the music back on!! My reaction to this ... was .. would the patients lift their sheets and bop around the ward in various states of hobble .. and have huge guffaws of laughter as they went ... I just thought what a wonderful scene could be built from this concept. What do you think?

Language and our understanding of it .. my mother thinking I was asking if she was cold .. because the fans were on (usually we have them on – my mother had said earlier she’d rather be cold than hot) .. but my one word on the whiteboard .. ‘cold’ was to imply she had a cold and it had affected her ears ... ears, nose and throat. Well that was a thought too far too.

Harry Bingham's Website – The Writer’s Workshop .. the Word Cloud where writers meet ..

I’ve started reading Harry Bingham’s “This Little Britain – How One Small Country built the Modern World” .. and he starts his little book off with “Shaw’s Potato” .. George Bernard Shaw, the playwright, and ‘would-be spelling reformer’ pointed out that by using only common English spellings, we could write the word fish as ghoti:

F gh as in rough
I o as in women
SH ti as in nation

However Bingham goes on to say .. that if we eat fish, we eat chips too and potato could be ...
ready for it? ghoughbteighpteau ...... as in:

P gh as in hiccough
O ough as in though
T bt as in debt
A eigh as in neighbour
T pt as in pterodactyl
O eau as in bureau

Now .. firstly do you pronounce the words as we do .. because if not obviously this would floor you ... or flaw you? ... but secondly wouldn’t you want to continue reading? Binhgam goes on to say ... “Other languages have their eccentric spellings, of course, but English is in a league of its own. French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian all spell more or less as they sound .... do they? – I’d be lost I think: however English of course is supernumerary?!

So going back to my mother and ‘cold’ ... in this case it’s her understanding of the word ... rather than the written ... is it ewe or you? course or coarse? .. which do we mean: gosh am I glad I’m English! It makes for fascinating reading this little book and these occur on only pages 1 and 2?!

Potato: Antoine Parmentier holding New World plants, artist: Francois Dumont 1812

And I haven’t really finished with Jasmine ... we have Jannie’s Blue Bunny, who has a Jasmine squirrel, we had our Cameroonian Jasmine, we have the flowers Jasmine – yellow or white, we have the granddaughter, Jasmine, of a friend of my mother’s and for some extraordinary reason .. we have Jasmine, a squirrel, here ...

.... Jasmine, our squirrel, made an uninvited guest appearance the other weekend .. wandering into the Home and visiting every room, hopping onto their beds, saying ‘hello’ to every patient .. and then wondering where next .. with a little help outside please! She kept us amused and occupied for the afternoon ...

When these funnies happen .. and with the extraordinary escapades and stories that have occurred in these last three + years .. I keep thinking there must be sitcom here .. with all these fantastic interweaving story lines .. well I think so – but my imagination does wander somewhat.

Diana Trent and Tom Ballard, two elderly residents of the Bayview Retirement Home are determined not to grow old gracefully. The pair of geriatric delinquents spend their time finding new ways to make life difficult for Bayview manager Harvey Baines.

Waiting for God .. number 37 http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/top/ Graham Crowden and Stephanie Cole play Tom and Diana

Time for tea ... Ghoti and ghoughbteighpteau .....anyone? Then we could sit and watch that tv sitcom ....

Thanks for being here Mr Postman .. and you’re right we did have another quick visit to the hospital on Saturday (when my mother remembered the loo paper – so her short term memory is there! .. amazing isn’t it?) .. and all is well now – we’re safe and back at the Care Centre.

Fish riders in a 1920s poster of the Republic of China

Four years ago .. a cancer sufferer, Maxine, wrote a song in conjunction with Billy Bragg, when he was conducting workshops at the Hospice, for her daughter Jessica .. called ..and "We laughed" .. and it always brings tears to my eyes, but is so appropriate for Mum and I .. - we've always laughed and it's so good to remember all those times: if you would like to hear more and see more .. please visit here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VyTuNcu1bY&feature=related This is the first performance ever after Maxine had died .. with a little bit of commentary by Billy on how the song came about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVJBxlklpyM This is with Maxine and Jess talking about the future and how the song came about ....

Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

The Middle Ages of the web – ancient pathways, monastic steps, St David yesterday, St Chad today and lines of communication ...

Why did the north of England produce so many wise and learned men in the very early centuries AD? Before the Roman invasion of Britain the ancient peoples initially followed animal tracks, which turned into regular routes for their communication, including very ancient ones running along elevated ridges of hills, such as the one here from Eastbourne to Winchester (the South Downs Way).

The Romans changed the track system of Europe and England for ever, building roads that were there to last, thus permitting heavy freight-wagons to be used in all seasons and all weathers.

Their road system allowed them to move armies and trade around, as well as communicate news quickly. This incredible system spanned more than 250,000 miles (400,000 km) of roads, including more than 50,000 miles (80,500 km) of paved roads; Britain only had 2,000 miles of roads, of which a great many now form the basis of our road system.

Remains of the Appian Way in Rome, near Quarto Miglio

Communication with horses, either being ridden or drawing carts, oxen and carts were slower, while the armies marching even slower – but speeded up with the improved road communications, initially mainly built for the armies’ use – so they also criss-crossed the country.

Once the Romans had been beaten back – along these same roads, leaving the door open for the Anglo Saxons to invade, then the Vikings, sea routes particularly to Scandinavia, Denmark and Germany were established. The English were beaten back to Wessex, in the west of England.

Christians were originally persecuted by the early Roman Emperors, including Nero who blamed the Great Fire of Rome on the Christian faithful, but by the early 4th Century state persecution had ceased, and in 380 AD a law was enacted establishing Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Christianity had spread north into Europe and had reached and briefly flourished in England, while establishing itself in parts of Europe under the Romans; however paganism in the other cultures – Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Celts, Picts – continued to hold sway.

Celtic Cross on Lindisfarne island.

During this time St Patrick (387 – 493), aged 16, had been captured and taken to Ireland as a slave, before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the Church he became a bishop and returned to Ireland, where he continued his ministering to convert the king and his Druids (a priestly and learned class).

Actual confirmation of his life and missionary work are sketchy and have been debated by scholars over the years, however he left two letters that are considered authentic and contain details of his early life. However his teachings must have made a huge impact because by the 8th century he had come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland, despite the Irish monastery system evolving after his time.

St David, who is celebrated on 1 March, lived from 500 – 589; he was born in Wales and spent his years founding monastic settlements (note not solely monasteries) and churches in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, which was still mostly pagan.

The Gaelic Irish St Columba (521 – 597), who on being exiled rowed and sailed across the Irish Sea to Scotland, a journey of about 100 miles, taking 3 – 4 days in good weather, in a boat made of animal skins stretched and secured over a wooden frame.

St Columba based himself on the island of Iona (central picture above), but travelled the north of Scotland, introducing Christianity to the Picts, the Scots of the day. His missionaries would have travelled far and wide in Scotland and further south into northern England. The stone crosses were built in wild and uninhabited places, standing as symbols to the new religion, and establishing new pathways and new lines of communication.

Columba was renowned as a man of letters, having written several hymns and being credited with having transcribed 300 books.

An imaginary portrait of Pope Gregory circa 1610(Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome)

Pope Gregory (540 – 604), also known as Gregory the Diarist, was the first Pope to come from a monastic background, sent Augustine, a Benedictine prior of a monastery in Rome, to England to convert the pagan King Ethelberht, King of Kent. Ethelberht had married the Christian King of Paris’ daughter, who would wield some Christian influence over the Kentish King.

St Augustine of Canterbury (+/- 533 – 604) was fairly successful in his mission, and ensured his successor would carry on his work as Bishop of London. The tentacles of Christianity were spreading north. Augustine had sent letters to Rome asking for the Pope’s advice on various matters, these are recorded by the Venerable Bede, including the Pope’s reply to go north and establish a second metropolitan bishopric at York, the first one meant to have moved from Canterbury to London, but which never happened for reasons unknown.

St Chad, who died in 672, was an Anglo-Saxon churchman, became Bishop of Northumbria, later becoming Bishop of Mercia (middle England – see the recent treasures). His saint’s day is today, 2nd March. Most of our knowledge about St Chad also comes from Bede.

Saint Chad, Bishop of York: Monastic Chapel 1920, Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, New York. This is the Christian saint Chad in stained glass form. He was born in Yorkshire, Kingdom of Northumbria.

Bede, this most renowned of early English scholars, became a monk at Jarrow and devoted his life to religion and learning. His industry, output and range were remarkable, but he is probably best known for his "Ecclesiastical History of the English People", a work of unusual merit and value, which has led him to be called the 'Father of English History'. His book is a major source of information to the year 731.

In fact Bede (672 - 735) wrote many books, over 60, most of which have survived. It is thought that he travelled widely meeting priors, monks and bishops, recording his meetings in letters, including a letter to a former student, Ecbert, who would become the Archbishop of York, at the instigation of the Archbishopric in 735.

Alcuin of York (+/-735 – 804) was a scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, who became a student of Archbishop Ecgbert. At the invitation of Charlemagne he became a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court where he remained until the 780s. He wrote many treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and some poems. He is considered a prominent architect of the Carolingian Renaissance, and among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of that era.

Portrait labelled "AUGUSTINUS" from the mid-8th century Saint Petersburg Bede; it is the oldest historiated initial known.

Charlemagne (742 – 814), King of the Franks, expanded the kingdom into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of western and central Europe. During his reign he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III, which temporarily made him a rival of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople.

His rule is associated with the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the medium of the Catholic Church. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms Charlemagne helped define both Western Europe and the Middle Ages, becoming known as the “father of Europe”: his empire united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Romans.

Charlemagne comes to the aid of Pope Adrian I (Hadrian 1)

We became introduced to Alcuin of York through a Chaplaincy card left for my mother, when she was in the Acute Brain Injury Unit. Once she was able to interact we wondered who Alcuin was .. and I was sent home to google or Wikipedie as it happened. She was really interested in him; my uncle knew exactly who he was! My ignorance shone through. These partings to find out more kept us amused as we explored subjects I’d found to discuss, or were brought to our attention in other ways.

As yesterday was St David’s Day, and today is St Chad’s day, and I’ve been posting about the Romans - I got to thinking about the lines of communication in our early history – before reproduction of books, letters, treatises, or tracts were commonplace – in another few hundred years.

How the Romans opened up Western Europe with their roads, how the Christian missionaries trod the lands, opened up new pathways across the country, how connections were made between the monasteries, new ones established. This explains my conundrum as to why the north of England produced so many great and learned men.

These connective links were never lost and allowed communication to really unfold, showing the great wealth of knowledge, political influence, the transference of that knowledge between the centres of excellence – the monastic settlements that owned a lot of land, had libraries (encouraging learning and study), helped the poor and looked after the local communities.

A page from a copy of Bede’s “Lives of St Cuthbert”, showing King Athelstan presenting the work to the saint. This manuscript was given to St Cuthbert’s shrine on Lindisfarne in 934. Lindisfarne monastery (circa 635), which Bede visited and spent time there, had important connections with Iona, and subsequently the evangelising of the north of England, including Mercia ... the links go on.

We already have illuminated manuscripts, illuminated books, such as the Book of Kells, or the Vulgate Bible sent to Rome, but only reaching Florence (due to the untimely death of the entrusted messenger) where it remains in the Laurentian Library, that it is thought Bede himself might have worked on.

This Bible is now acknowledged as a British classic of extreme high quality – reflecting the inter communication that went on between nations .. including Britain, which was not such a heathen backwater after all – it was fully integrated as a part of Europe 1,300 years ago, and was a cultural force ... until once again men from afar came to conquer – the Vikings – before the super power of William the Conqueror once again allowed Britain to regain its identity.

Dear Mr Postman – a short note for this long post, which I hope everyone will learn from, if not enjoy as such! My mother progresses .. neither encouraging, nor discouraging – I feel impotent to help her at the moment and that is difficult.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
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