Art Journal Jan-Mar2015

Cumnock Historical Society 19 March15

A history of Old Cumnock Old Church - Rev J Paterson

Mr Paterson, the present minister of the church, started by reading a poem ' the auld church in the Square'

Then he told us how it is known that there was a church on that site in the 1200 s.This was the time of the Crusades. Pope Innocent iv wanted to mount a Crusade against the Saracens ( with the help of Henry lll) and so in 1254 a levy was demanded from all churches. In those pre-Reformation days all churches were of course Roman Catholic.

Cumnock didn't pay! This came to the attention of the authorities in Rome - and Cumnock entered the history books! Rome caught up with Cumnock in 1275 when the levy was finally paid  - £16. And the result? Cumnock got into the history books.
The last priest and first minister of the church in Cumnock was one and the same person - Rev. John Dunbar. He ministered between 1560 and 1572
Ministers in Cumnock
At this time the 'auld church in the Square ' was dedicated to St Conval - and Irish prince who had come to Scotland. He was obviously an important figure as he was asked to preach at the funeral of Aidan, King of the Scots in 608. Conval was a follower of Kentigern who was associated with Glasgow Cathedral. Cumnock was a prebend of Glasgow Cathedral. Wikipedia says
'A prebend is the form of benefice held by a prebendary, and historically the stipend attached to it was usually drawn from specific sources in the income of the cathedral's estates.'
One of the changes that came about with the Reformation was to do with who chose the minister for the church. Before it was the responsiblity of the central church to select a clergyman for a church. Afterward the congregations who were paying the minister's stipend, assumed the right to choose.
Another change can be seen in the different church buildings in Cumnock today. With the Reformation, the Bible and theology became accessible to the ordinary man and opened the way for differences of opinion. The first cessationists left and started meeting in a barn at Wallacetown Farm and eventually at what became the West Church (now the Box House Cafe) in the Tanyard.There is a story that the Earl of Dumfries refused to pay to provide sand to build this church. The problem was solved when the River Lugar flooded and threw up enough sand exactly where it was needed!
At this point Mr Paterson explained the structure of church government in Scotland and talking about the discipline enforced by the church, he told us a story about a trip he made to Stornoway.
More visual evidence of the changes wrought by the Reformation can be seen on the spire of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. There is a crown on top - signifying the authority of the monarch over the church. Nowadays in Scotland the authority of the church is above that of the monarch.

In 1899 the Crichton Memorial came into being a Free Church, and then in 1929  the United Free Church was formed when the other church came back together and some members of the United Free Church wished to remain outside the Church of Scotland.

St Andrew's United Free Church. This is a useful link to the website of the Cumnock History Group.

In 1929 there were more ministers than required but nowadays there are not enough. One of Mr Paterson's responsibilites in the Presbytery of Ayr, is to decide which churches are thriving sufficiently well to allow them to continue as they are, and which need to be linked to another church.

The Marquis of Bute remained a Roman Catholic and built St John's Church on Glaisnock Street. Again use the link to the Cumnock History Group website for more information
St John's Church
Mr Paterson showed us pictures of the stained glass windows in the Old Church and noted how the influence of the Marquis could be seen in their shape - candles!
To celebrate the centenary of the present building in 1966, a ceramic mural was created on the wall behind the pulpit. The Kirk Session thought this was 'not what you'd expect to see in a Protestant church' and so they arranged for a curtain to be hung in front of it. The curtain rail was put up - but the curtain itself never materialised. The picture is of Peter attempting to walk on the water.
Next year the 150th of the present building will be celebrated.
It was very interesting how Mr Paterson used both British and international history, and church history to show where Old Cumnock Old Church fitted into the bigger picture.

London Branch SNP 13january15 NHS

The following are my rough notes. There was a lot I didn't understand and so I just wrote down a name for me to google later.
I have probably got hold of the wrong end of the stick at some points - let me know.
It might be good if we had an online space where those who were there could add corrections, explanations or comments.

The speaker was Allyson Pollock - Professor of Public Health ??
England is in process of abolishing the NHS. The 2012 Act removed the 'duty' to provide medical care. Now there are insurance based structures. In law, 'eligibility' comes into force - the authorities can pick and choose who gets help - and how much of it.
The 'duty to provide' has changed to a 'duty to promote' - Allyson demonstrated this with a packet of crisps and showed the difference.
Healthcare in England is modelled on US lines.  Simon Stevens who is now the NHS chief executive spent years working in the USA and is committed to that model.
Scotland and Wales still have the NHS but England doesn't
People are not aware that the 'stream' system is being dismantled (stream?)
The NHS as a public system of healthcare has been abolished. Jeremy Hunt is no longer in charge of the NHS.
www.nhsbill2015.org
is campaigning for reinstatement of the NHS as we knew it - to include the duty to provide medical care.
Andy Burnam
There is a duty to commission  which is a duty to contract . . .
A question about the effect on Scotland of the Trade Agreement between the USA and Europe
Pressure from TtiP is not as great as the pressure from England
Steven is committed to the USA model - big healthcare businesses

Good writers: Polly Toynbee and David Owen
The media don't show him though.
The narrative is that the NHS is failing due to too many obese people, too many sick people  and drinkers
Asked for evidence AP mentioned the McKinsey report and plans of hospital trusts
Why did the government return £3 1/2 million to the Treasury?
There has been a misallocation of resources

Specsavers for instance are promoting themselves as the authorised provider of audiology care but when/if anything goes wrong - they wash their hands of patients and send them back to the NHS
Hinchinbrook Hospital?
Geographical boundaries are used in emergency situations only now.
A question about Cronyism - look at http://www.spinwatch.org/
BMJ gave details of MPs' private health care links
Alan Milburn
www.keepournhspublic
http://www.nhsconfed.org/about-us/contact-us
enter your postcode and write to your MP asking for their position on reinstatement
Book :NHS for sale
upcoding ensures more money is received
Scotland has managed the same achievements without recourse to the private purse
Question: why does it all matter? Its about the distribution on money - where is it going and is healthcare going to be free at point of need.
There has been an enormous waste of money - something like £30 billion has been spent on  bankers, lawyers, accountants and administrators
Nye Bevan said the NHS will be there as long as people fight for it - but at the moment not enough people are fighting for it.
Question: who can reverse the trend? Its up to each one of us to join campaign groups
38degrees don't do the necessary campaigning but the keep our nhs public people do. The Green party support it.
Go to your CCG meetings.

New Year's Day

As a child in Scotland, Ne'erday was a nightmare! Especially the mornings
The adults were asleep - presumably they had been up till all hours celebrating, or possibly at a Watchnight Service. Us children had been allowed some watered down ginger wine and a shortbread with our next door neighbours, but we were in bed at the usual time, Hogmanay or not.
So the adults were asleep, our Christmas presents were no longer a novelty, outside nobody was stirring.
Although the New Year's Day concert from Vienna was started in 1941 I don't remember watching it before Willi Bovkovsky took over as conductor in 1955.
I have strong and unpleasant memories of being left totally to our own resources and devices.

This morning I had the same dread of the day - especially as I am just recovering from flu.
Then there was a ring at the doorbell - and everything changed!

Thanks, Menna, for that totally unexpected and very thoughtful present!

And what joy later on to get on the Overground and go to Westfield! even if all I did was to sit in Costa Coffee while Brian did the shopping

The Morningside Flat

I sat in the train. We passed Peterborough Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, York Minster. I stared glumly out of the window. What was I doing - and why?
I felt a bit better when the sun came out and I saw Holy Isle of  Lindisfarne - don't always see that on this journey.
Leaving the train at Waverley, I lost my nerve and took a taxi. The bus was a step too far!
I asked the driver to let me of at Holy Corner so I could approach on foot, and,looking back, decide if it was safe to enter.
Now I began to rehearse the instructions which I'd memorised on the train: up the close between. . .through the gate on the left . . .
And yes there it was, leading into a tidy little courtyard with plant pots. This would be a nice place to sit in summer. But this is not summer - its December. . . it will be very cold.
The key turned quite easily when I found the right door. Up the stone steps with a little twist, along the corridor past the other flats . . . ah, the key for the flat door takes a bit more manouvring and manipulating.
I blew out - and couldn't see my breath so it's not that cold I thought.
Next challenge - turn on the water, outside the flat, in a cupboard full of ladders and cobwebs, turn and turn and turn . . . and hissss, Phew! That's on then,
Into the kitchen, below the sink, ah yes there's the gas lever. An immediate hiss this time and the match lit the gas ring.
After that it was a matter or negotiating the little tables and rugs all over the place, of keeping track of where I'd put the torch and wearing my hat in bed.
And why? well an unoccupied flat gave me the same feeling as an untrained child, or an unweeded garden or field. Something needs to be done to make them productive. Otherwise what do we mean when we pray 'Thy kingdom come.'
I felt very at home in that little flat with no electricity - and was somewhat overwhelmed by the luxurious normality of the next place I stayed.

Four generations of hair!

There have been issues with hair in my family for many years. It started, as far as I know with my mother, in about 1914. She cut hers at the front - and it never grew again.

After cutting her own hair, my sister went to the hairdresser to get it straightened up. She thought he hadn't noticed until just as she paid and left he said.'Now next time, no knifeadaforkada, please'! I have a photo of her showing the knife and fork effect but rather than showing that one  . . . this is the view she was looking at at the time.

Our oldest son was very fair when he was a very small child and we told him he looked like Kojak. Soon after that he got hold of the scissors and helped himself to look even more like the bald TV detective. He was a bit older than this, but his hair was still invisible from any distance!

Then during the year living in Guadeloupe, Charis, our granddaughter, cut off the very piece of hair that she twiddled while she sucked her thumb! She compensated by taking the similar piece from the opposite side.

I myself have never cut my own hair - well, not so as you'd notice, but once in a time of depression I decided to have it permed - with disastrous results. I looked like the Queen Mother! I should say I was a fraction of her age at the time. That taught me not to yearn for curly hair.
In more recent years I asked one hairdresser to cut it like Camilla Parker Bowles. That wasn't a success either. Nice at the time, but it soon degenerated into this wild look

Last week I asked the hairdresser (another one) to cut it like Annie Lennox . She was a bit doubtful but when she saw the result she was delighted and clapped her hands and complimented me on my decision!

Of course the best times were when our neighbour, Tony, cut it. He would tell me when it needed cutting and then do it with such care, not exactly one hair at a time but not far off. It was a very relaxing experience. I always thought he was a trained hairdresser, until the morning of Heather's wedding . . .


PS. When Alyssa heard about this blog, she asked if she could be in it as well. 'But you never cut your own hair,' I said. 'No, she replied, 'But there was that time when I asked Lisa (their hairdresser friend) to cut it like George in The Secret Seven' ! I was there that day and had a photo, but had no idea about George!
So here you are, Alyssa - just for you!

The best kitchen window!

Its been fun this week, watching and wondering why they were digging such a large hole, watching which men were working hardest, and watching the traffic going the wrong way round the roundabout!
Eventually I spoke to the engineer in charge . . . who immediately told me that I wasn't local and that his firm did lots of work in Scotland! They are working in Edinburgh at present.
He did tell me though, that the problem was a leak in a 36 inch mains pipe, the top of which is 2 metres down.
We remembered that in 1613 Sir Hugh Myddelton had organised the bringing of water into Islington from near Ware in Hertfordshire, and that it comes along past our house. Its underground at this point so - in a large pipe.
To the south of us the water is open again and we have the very pleasant New River Walk - a long narrow park which leads to the Angel where there is a statue of Sir Hugh Mydellton. The water comes to an end near Sadlers Wells theatre where the water supply was used for Aqua Drama.
To the north the water is under the grass in the centre of Petherton Road dual carriageway. This   photo is actually only a fraction of the view from one of our two kitchen windows - this one a very wide bay window.
It is possible to walk the entire length of the New River - almost 40 miles. We have done this - but not all at once!
One friend suggested that during the war, Petherton Road may have been targeted for bombing because of this water supply. There is a website which shows you the location of every bomb in London. However there were so many that I don't think it is possible to say Petherton Road was specifically targeted. It is easy to see where the bombs landed - the places where the old houses give way to much newer flats.

Three views of  the New River Walk

Another view from the kitchen window - looking up Petherton Road.

When we moved into this house 35 years ago there was no roundabout and no grass in the middle of Petherton Road.
History is all around!