Sandstone Heritage Trust - News
HTN 112 - The Grrrr! Flugel - by Kerry Young
24th July 2006
|
So why the above introduction? I send it with good reason. A South African friend wrote once using the word Grrrr! and at once I thought it most descriptive, without being offensive, so I tucked away for a 'rainy day' and this most certainly is it.
Quite apart from the fact that it is indeed both raining ad quite cold, yours truly has been afflicted with the 'Dreaded Lurgy'. For those of you not familiar with the highly esteemed 'Goon Show', that term today refers to afflictions such as a head cold or even the 'flu, of which I have taken on board the former. For me, not to be at Ferrymead on a Thursday is sacrilege indeed. I am confined to the warm lounge on the orders of she who shall be obeyed and if I know what's good for me, I shall comply therewith. So what to offer in the way of interest to all those Flugel junkies out there? Well, it just so happens that a good friend of mine, Jim Harwood has just returned from the U.K. where among other things, he visited the Severn Valley Railway. In itself of great interest to many, but in this instance it was of particular interest, as they were having a 1940s weekend and the whole setup looked like a set from the T.V. series 'Dads Army'. Jim loaned me a CD with a set of the pictures taken during the visit and I was so taken with them, that I determined that with permission, I would show them to the Fugellists at an opportune time. That it should be so immediate, was quite by chance. So after all that preamble allow me to share the pictures, hoping you will enjoy them as much as I have. Just before heading into them, might I also suggest that you check out the surprising amount of detail everywhere........................... |
 |
|
You didn't have to be in Britian at the time to recognise the Warden.
|
 |
|
The following household scenes I thought were so like what we understood of conditions and the trappings of daily life that it is almost too real.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Where's Captain Mainwaring then?
|
 |
|
For followers of Dads Army and for the few of you who were actually there at the time portrayed, all this will have a truly uncanny resemblance.
|
 |
This I saved for last. To me, it is a real classic. You see, I was born, then war was declared. (I'm not so sure the two events were connected). Anyway, that makes me old enough to remember how the feelings were at that time. It would have been inconceivable, both then and for generations after, to imagine such a scene as this, even in jest. In addition, as I said at the beginning, pay attention to detail. Check out that carriage as well as the people. That concludes the pictures of the 1940s event, but I have as many again of the railway itself. Although many of you will have seen pictures and a few of you, the scene itself, I'm sure you will enjoy seeing other pictures of the railway taken at the same time as those above. So I will make up a part two of this set and send them before too long also. Makes a change from the salt mines anyway. My thanks indeed to Jim Harwood, for making this material available. Cheers, 'K'. |