It’s always heart warming to rock up at The Old Smithy in Church Lawford to meet up with fellow peripatetic old codgers (9 of us this time).
But this month’s walk was not a normal one in three ways. Firstly a shock to the natural progress of time. Secondly a drop in the MMI. And thirdly a welcome return of a pelagic favourite.
What was the shock you ask? Well for some of us the appearance of Pete C a full six minutes before the scheduled departure time hinted at a break from the natural order of things.
Off we set and already a couple of codgers were thrown by the walk being conducted in a clockwise direction – which they found quite disorienting. On we walked through the beautiful, sun-blessed fields with their attractively coloured crops – including potato plants which so covered our path at times that they threatened to trip us up.
All went well … until it didn’t. We came to a corner of a field which we knew all too well. And recognised as a clear indication that we had missed a key turn into another field wherein lay our path. Much discussion ensued. Maps were consulted. Runes were read. But no immediate solution was forthcoming. It was at this point that some of us realised that we were suffering a severe drop in the MMI – i.e. the Mirth Memory Index. Eventually order was restored and we found ourselves in that field wherein grouped a small herd of young bullocks – who looked rather too interested in us! Fortunately they did not come too close and let us go on our way.
Which took us to lunch in The Old Smithy. Which was where we had the joy of seeing Terry’s face light up as he welcomed his old oceanic friend Moby Dick – and proceeded to eat one of the largest fish & chips in Warwickshire. A very satisfying end to another excellent walk – with thanks as ever to Richard.
At 9.01am on Tuesday, 17th June, our luxury coach pulled away from St Paul’s for the start of a great day out. The coach was filled with 36 guests, many of which had never been to the Staffordshire city of Lichfield before. Conversations broke out with people catching up with friends. The most common theme was on what people hoped to get out of the day. At just after 10 am we disembarked into bright sunshine in the city centre.
A Private guided tour of the Cathedral was booked for 1.30pm so most people set out to boost the local economy in various coffee shops, restaurants, ice cream vans, shops and pubs. The Samual Johnstone and Toy museums were popular morning destinations.
When the various groups started to congregate at the Cathedral ready for the tour an atmosphere of relaxed joy was discernible. John and Neil were excellent guides that brought to life the Cathedrals history and architecture.
Once the tour was complete the Erasmus Darwin museum proved very popular as did the Ice Cream parlour in the park!
On the return journey to St Paul’s the coach was filled with animated and joyful conversation as people recounted the many highlights of the day. The sun shone and we all had a great day in Lichfield.
The Mirth Main Event for May was a trip to the above museum, located near Baginton, just outside Coventry.
After a very convivial lunch at the Baginton Oak nearby, some twenty Mirthers enjoyed a tour of the museum, with its extensive collection of aircraft, engines, artifacts and memorabilia. Our two tour guides were very friendly and knowledgeable, fielding a wide range of questions.
Many of the group were sufficiently intrepid to brave the difficult climb into the cramped cockpit of the mighty Vulcan bomber, to learn about its role in the Cold War and to learn about its systems and equipment, even where you stored your hot drinks!
The Museum highlights the many links with local industry, and several members of Mirth had connections to the aircraft industry during their own working careers.
There was so much to see and learn about, that several of the attendees were still looking around at closing time. We even learnt what a “Jesus Nut” is!”
Ten men gathered on the outskirts of Wappenbury for the start of a beautiful walk. The sky was blue and cloudless and the temperature was soon well over 20 degrees. The walk was along country lanes and public footpaths that weaved through the villages of Wappenbury, Eathorpe and Hunningham. Richard paused the walk on a few occasions to enlighten us with information on historic sites and characters including the founder of Jaguar Cars who lived in Wapenbury.
Many of the fields were planted with beans and potatoes that looked like they really need some significant rain. The group also came across sheep, cattle horse and a sheep dog that had more energy than the entire group.
By noon the walk was over and it was onto the Rugby Tavern for a good lunch and drink. Three additional MIRTHers joined for the meal and conversation. Several people commented on how the walk, conversation and meal had lifted their spirits.
Twenty of us drove the three miles south from a good lunch at The Heathcote to the Guide Dogs for the Blind National Centre, south of Leamington near Oakley Wood. This is the largest dog breeding centre in the world – yes! In the world! (Who knew??). they have room to breed up to 1,500 puppies a year. And they are world leaders in “puppy socialisation and dog training”.
Guide dogs say “we’re here to help people with sight loss live the life they choose”. And unfortunately there are more and more people losing their sight each year – apparently at a rate of one every six minutes, or 20 in the time we took to enjoy our tour.
We were taken on the tour in groups of five and we learned lots. For example it takes a couple of years to rear and train a guide dog. And costs £30,000. But then they can work for 8-10 years and totally transform the lives of the humans matched with them.
The Centre is a very impressive complex of buildings which include a dad’s home, a mum’s home and a ‘honeymoon suite’, a pre-whelping area, a place for pups to be born, another for post-whelping, plus a hospital and even an isolation centre. There are playgrounds for puppies too. And they have underfloor heating!
Dogs come from all over the world to this famous centre. They have a cryogenics centres and an important DNA bank. They have incredible knowledge about how to breed dogs with just the right traits to match up with humans.
One of the intriguing and challenging parts of the tour was going through the sensory tunnel. And when the braver amongst us volunteered to take hold of a white cane, put on a blindfold and walk up an incline then back down some steps. Sounds simple doesn’t it? But not when you try it for the first time!
The volunteers are a wonderful group of people. Totally committed to what they do. And obviously loving every minute of it.
And yes – we got to see some adorable puppies too.
Another excellent MIRTH outing, for which we thank Peter Davis and others involved
A couple of innovations were tried in this week’s MIRTH walk. The first was the staggered start. Not entirely successful, but at least we were all together by the time we reached the steeper part of the hill up from Stratford-upon-Avon to the Welcome Hills. Our objective? The famous Welcome Hills Obelisk. Yes – the one with the amazing views west -> south -> east, over Stratford and to the Malvern Hills. All clearly visible on this gloriously sunny day.
Among the 10 of us were a few who had not been up to the obelisk before and were intrigued to learn that the monument was erected in 1876 by Robert Needham Philips to commemorate his brother, Mark Philips, and their father, Robert Philips. Mark Philips was a prominent figure in the early 19th century. He was born in Manchester in 1800 and made his fortune in the cotton industry. He was also a successful politician and served as the first Member of Parliament for Manchester from 1832 to 1847. Robert Phillips was a successful businessman and landowner. He was also a philanthropist and donated money to a number of charities, including the University of Warwick and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The obelisk is a beautiful and impressive monument. It is made of limestone and stands 100 feet tall. The four sides of the obelisk are inscribed with tributes to Mark, Robert, and Robert Needham Philips
On then to lunch at the Boar’s Head in Hampton Lucy where we were joined to two more MIRTH stalwarts to enjoy the fine fare this pub always has to offer us.
And the other innovation? The return trip to our starting point in Maidenhead Road, Stratford. Why? Well … to look for the pair of boots which one bright MIRTH spark had forgotten to put in his car after the walk 😳. He was mightily relieved to find the boots in a box kindly labelled ‘Lost & found’ – and to realise that while he might have lost his boots (temporarily) at least he hadn’t lost his marbles 😉
Chris McKeogh visited MIRTH for a third time in 8 years to share insights into his life, faith and career.
Today Chris provides consultancy advice to a range of governments including the UK and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on how to develop policing and manage high level risks including terrorism. During a fascinating talk Chris explained why it was so unlikely that he would have ever reached such senior positions of trust and how a “Road to Damascus” moment was so critical on this journey.
Chris explained that his father had escaped an abusive family upbringing in Eire and come to England as a teenager. Working in London before joining the British Army and whilst based in Germany married a young German girl. Chris was born in 1966 and three years later the family was completed by the arrival of a sister. After moving back to England the marriage went from bad to worse with parents splitting when the children were young. Once separated the children lived with the mother suffering both poverty and abuse until being thrown out to fend for themselves at the ages of 14 and 11.
At the age of 16 Chris gained a fistful of O Levels and careers advice was to become either a Tarmac spreading supervisor or a police cadet. Luckily Chris chose the later and then at 18 became a police officer. The following year he met Helen a life long Christian and six years later they were married. Assigned to cover some of the toughest and most deprived areas of Birmingham Chris was soon exposed to major crime including murder scenes. After 5 years on the front line in uniform a transfer to undercover work for a similar period of time was a tough grounding.
A pivotal point came in 2001. Then a Detective Seargent with a wife, two young boys and studying part time for a law degree Chris started experiencing a dark dream that would repeat on many nights. The dream included Chris being chased across rough fields by a wolf before entering and climbing a tower; never reaching the top before he would wake from the nightmare. That summer the family visited family in Brighton and attended a Church run by Chris’s brother in law. During the service in a time of prayer the dream returned but this time Chris felt a hand on his shoulder and a voice telling him to let it go. Suddenly he reached the top of the tower and emerged into bright daylight. It was like scales falling from his eyes and he was at peace. Chris was Baptised in the sea at Brighton a month later.
Since then Chris has held a strong Christian faith first attending an Alpha course before leading them. In addition Chris and Helen have run home groups for many years, attended and been active in many church events.
So how did this impact on Chris’s police career? Well in the six and half years after becoming a Christian Chris was promoted from Detective Seargent to Inspector, Detective Inspector, Super Intendent to Chief Super Intendent and Commander. By far the fastest promotion record in West Midlands Police. Chris was then in charge of over 1800 people covering Birmingham. Chris went on to explain that he developed key relationships across the various ethnic and religious communities in the city. These relationships helped him manage and defuse the riots in Birmingham.
Chris went on to work at the National Crime Agency in London where they were combating the most dangerous criminals that posed risk to the UK through Drugs, human trafficking, modern day slavery and money laundering. A new position at the Charity Commision followed. With over 750,000 people working for 80,000 charitable organisations there is scope for abuse. This ranges from those trying to gain access to children or oversees workers taking advantage of women to moving money to terrorists. Chris worked on connecting this sector to Police, MI5, GCHQ and other government departments to reduce these instances so that the good work of the vast majority can go on.
Retiring from full time roles in 2020 Chris continues to be guided by faith and Christian values in helping governments manage risk.
There were 8 of us on the MIRTH walk this month. We walked through the Parks of Leamington. The spring flowers are emerging and made a cheerful display along the way.
You can walk from Newbold Comyn to Jephson Gardens then cross the road to Pump Room Gardens before arriving in Victoria Park. The round trip is about 3 miles all through parks or green spaces.
Richard pointed out various points of interest, some members had there own stories to tell of the 1998 Easter floods when the town was divided into two when the River Leam burst its banks and flooded the bridges.
Something new always seems to be happening in Leamington. In the Jephson Gardens a team were hard at work installing a statue by the sculptor John Bridgeman recently donated to the town by his family.
After our walk, it was good to have lunch at the Newbold Comyn Arms.
Long standing MIRTH member Paul Davison delivered a fascinating talk on “The Shetland Bus”. In April of 1940 Germany invaded Norway to help secure the supply route of iron ore that was vital to the war. The King of Norway refused to surrender. After leaving Oslo and heading North he was together with key members of the Government evacuated to the UK where they governed in exile throughout the remainder of the war. At the same time Winston Churchill was establishing the SOE (Special Operations Executive) to take the fight behind enemy lines. Therefore the scene was set for the secret operation known as The Shetland Bus to be created.
Paul went on to explain that Norway was a tough place to be a farmer but a great place to be a fisherman. The Norwegian fisherman had great navigational skills, a big network of contact and lots of courage. Many of these fishermen would volunteer for this dangerous work. They came and lived in the Shetland islands as the nearest free land to their now occupied homeland. They then used their skills to smuggle agents and war supplies into the Norwegian resistance and smuggle out refugees that were being hunted by the Gestapo. Most of the operations took place in the Winter months when the longer dark nights provided better cover from the German air patrols. In the first two Winter seasons mainly Norwegian fishing boats were used but these suffered much damage from storms and air attack with casualties reaching nearly 50%.
The USA provided a solution by supplying three submarine-hunting ships. These very fast and agile ships could get in and out of Norwegian waters avoiding navel units and if attacked by aircraft they had excellent AA guns. Each ship was manned by 22 Norwegian volunteers and operated successfully through until the end of the war. The brave resistance of the Norwegian population was supported by this vital secret operation and Germany kept an army of over 280,000 in Norway trying to supress the resistance. Paul highlighted key individuals and memorials that commemorate these brave men in both the Shetland Islands and in Norway.
This month’s walk was around Whitnash and Leamington. Starting at the Plough & Harrow pub. We passed the centuries-old St Margaret’s Church. We continued through a large recreation ground before finding ourselves back in Leamington Spa. As often in the winter months, we explored using paved paths rather than muddy tracks.
We were passed by another walking group from the U3A as we walked along the Grand Union Canal.
We headed back into Whitnash past the impressive Civic Centre they have recently built. We passed by the St Margaret’s Shops and a large number of emergency vehicles were present and police tape surrounded the area. I found out later that sadly a man had been found dead in a car parked there.
We headed back to the cars and off to the Royal Horse for lunch.
It is always interesting to walk around the towns and villages close to Leamington, these places are much older and were much more important than Leamington Spa in years gone by. Only when the spa waters were discovered in the late 18th century did Leamington Spa develop from a tiny village into the town we have today.
MIRTH 