Yes, I vaguely remember football

Some of the best football matches I have been to see were not always about the on-pitch play. 

To be honest, some games have been dire. 

I have actually apologised to those I have taken to a game if the entertainment value has been at all lacking. This is because I have felt personally responsible for getting them to spend three or so hours of their busy lives when it could have been so better served in other ways, be it Saturday afternoon gardening, Sunday lunchtime waiting at the queue to use the Civic Amenity Site, a Tuesday night of foregoing another episode in a favourite TV serial or a wet, winter Wednesday when taking refuge under a quilt, in pyjamas, with cocoa and a loved one would be the sensible thing. 

A 0-0 draw can have some entertainment value if the opposing teams put in an effort and this is reflected in a blood and thunder tackling policy and taking pot shots at every opportunity even if there is a lack of skill and direction. 

In the most tedious of early minor Cup Rounds my team really struggled against an outfit from a much lower division for the 90 minutes of normal time plus injury time and then another 30 minutes of excruciatingly boring extra time. It was only in the inevitable penalty shoot out that heart and pulse rates became elevated above comatose and with the home victory the afterglow was one of the happiest experiences I have had with football. 

So what contributes to the enjoyment of football? 

Personally, it starts with the build up to the game. 

This can be from the Press Conference, usually taken by the Manager and one selected squad member, in midweek before a Saturday Kick-Off and carried through by previews in the media on matchday including Pundit predictions in the broadsheets and redtops and on TV Shows.

Such is the contractural protection of, in particular English Premier League footage that a full 30  minutes or hour long show can have no actual game play highlights which I find ludicrous and frustrating in the extreme. 

Traffic jams on the way to the stadium are tolerable if there is a feeling that there is enough time to get to your seat before play commences and there is chatter on the radio of team news or other football facts and trivia. 

I like a floodlit game, which in the UK winter months is any 3pm start, and in particular that first glimpse of the luscious green pitch as you emerge from the turnstiles, staircasing and concessions. 

Programme in hand that first touch of nether regions on a hard and cold folding seat really sets the atmosphere. 

Nowadays the big ticket prices for Premier League Matches are under close scrutiny for value for money as those attending in, say, a 50,000 capacity stadium will be made up of season ticket holders, casual fans, Corporate guests and first timers. The latter categories will, on an aggregated basis, be a reasonable percentage of the crowd and as consumers rather than enthusiasts theirs will be a different measure of entertainment value. 

You can understand the reluctance of Football Clubs to engage in suggestion boxes or customer satisfaction surveys- something I have never ever been asked to participate in before, during or after a match. 

There are some in Football Associations or Governing Bodies across the globe who have thought about tinkering with the rules of the game to enhance the entertainment experience. 

In the United States the franchisees (and I use that term in its most derogatory meaning) of an early manifestation of the beautiful game introduced the penalty shoot out so that there was always an outright winner. 

More recently there has been spitballing about changing the duration of a match as studies have shown that out of the regulation 90 minutes there can be around thirty eight and a half minutes of non-activity from fouls, subsequent free kicks, corners, throw- ins, goal celebrations, restarts after goals, substitutions, handbags at dawn situations between players, arguing with the referee and the occasional supporter protest, streaker, beach ball invasion, wayward flare smoke, crowd trouble,  a rare floodlight failure and many other scenarios which may occur when there is a large animated congregation. 

The referee and his assistants can play a large part in keeping things fluid and active but it is these interruptions to open play that contribute to the grand experience. 

They have an intrinsic value that must not be tampered with. 

The fans can easily entertain themselves in the inevitable lulls in a game and many a dull match has been enlightened by the singing, irreverent chanting, banter and mischief that can break out in most surprising and glorious ways. 

In a particularly and painfully quiet moment in a mind blowingly tedious match involving my home team one voice piped up with a single word that had a good many crying into their scarves- that being “PRAC-TICE!”. 

I have not even mentioned pies, pints, the residue of drinking chocolate powder to be found in the bottom of what I thought was a cup of insipid tea, Footlong Hot Dogs, overpriced Mars Bars and crisps, a sensation of frostbite or malarial fever depending upon the season in a season and having your face very close to a drunk fan who insists on a personal serenade or tirade as he makes his way to the bar 10 minutes before half time or the car park at about the same time before the final whistle. 

Entertainment from football? 

It is hard to define because it is a full-on sensory thing, a mixture of ecstatic feelings and near suicidal, euphoria and desperation, joy and heartache. 

Just leave it be, please.

Night of the Living Bread

There is nothing quite like the process of making bread to get that deep dirt out from your fingernails.

I say that from my own endeavours at home baking rather than discovering something sinister in my sandwich bought from Greggs or similar establishments.

I am really mad about bread. Not the making of it but the eating of it.

This is in spite of all of the speculation in the media about unhealthy diets with, invariably, bread now featured on the "to avoid" list for persons of my age and physical characteristics.

It is a staple of life and has been for millenia and yet the persecution of bread is now well founded, following on from a similar witch-hunt for potatoes, chocolate, coffee and all of the pleasureable foodstuffs in our lives.

I have fond feelings for bread at key stages in my life.

As a small child it was the comfort and bulk of Marmite sandwiches in a nursery tea.

Later it would be the veritable sophistication of toasties in the new fangled Breville before a return to, after a boozy night out as an early twenties something, plain toast and more Marmite.

In my student years I could easily survive a whole day on a French baguette. I did once just sit in the doorway of a vacant shop in the city centre where I was studying and settled in to tackle a full sized baguette. It seemed a perfectly normal thing to do but a few passers-by made a point of making sympathetic faces before leaving small piles of low denomination coins on the raised step at my feet.

In my first paid job I could really appreciate having enough cash to pay for a filling for a baguette transforming it into a metre-long sandwich. I usually ate two of them to keep me going in a busy working day.

As a father of three children the value of bread and bread based products really came to the fore. Bread was to the under fives both filling and entertaining. The breakfast toast could be printed using plastic moulds into all manner of cartoon characters. A thinly cut and lightly toasted finger of bread is the ideal format for a soldier for a dippy egg.

There is something magic about a slice of french toast saturated with the best tomato sauce after all of the Heinz beans have been eaten. Packed lunches for school breaktime are nothing without a hastily prepared sandwich with popular fillings of tuna, meat paste, peanut butter and of course, Marmite.

Teatime and more toppings for bread, a particular favourite being grilled cheese or sardines.

There is a natural progression in a family to make their own bread. In the days prior to the availability of budget range automatic bread machines it was a very involved process to assemble the ingredients and manually work them into a dough. Children find it fascinating to see the dough prove in a bowl under the best tea towel and that warm yeasty odour has become to our youngsters a firm recollection of their junior years at home. The final product was always disappointing either failing to rise or cook all of the way through but nevertheless devoured with pride and a great sense of achievement.

Our first electric bread maker produced faultless loaves and rolls but at the cost of an educational and fun exercise for those involved.

I now have to accept, in my sixth decade, that I will have to review my bread intake on health grounds. I find that sad given the importance that it has been through my own life.

I may have to go all clandestine in my consumption. That should be easy enough. It just trying to explain my sudden accumulation of small denomination coins that may be more difficult.

The Rise of Ugly Vegetables

The idea of growing your own fruit and vegetables is very appealing.

I can see why there has been a big upsurge in interest and demand for public allotments or, on a smaller scale, in a plot in your own back garden.

It is not a matter of achieving self sufficiency because that would entail putting a larger land area into cultivation but more the provenance of what you and your family eat.

Organic food has increased in supply on the supermarket shelves and has certainly improved in appearance. The first marketing drive for organically grown fruit and veg consisted of a few reluctantly promoted pick and mix displays of soil encrusted and, frankly, ugly fare and at a premium price which left consumers confused between doing their best to try to improve their dietary intake and keeping control of their budgets.

There will have been a steering group somewhere in the bowels of the AsTeCoSaMo Supermarket Corporate HQ presenting the results of a representative public consultation to the executives to the effect that organic is what the people want.

The Buyers for the conglomerate stores only like to deal with the large scale producers and can drive a hard bargain and contract for that producer to be on the prestigious preferred Supplier List. It is a hard decision for the hard pressed producers themselves to make. On the one hand they have a guaranteed end market for their labours but at a unit price representing the barest of profit, almost extortionate.

The problem faced by the Buyers in the early initiative to stock their stores with organic produce was that the new suppliers were mostly pretty small scale operations, a single farm or a specialist grower because of the qualifying criteria to attain that Organic labelling.

The standardisation in size, quality and visual appeal as demanded by the Supermarkets did not apply in the organic world because the fruit and veg grew as it felt naturally, could not be rushed and if growing conditions dictated a paler colour, coarser texture, wildly irregular shape and the retention of roots and foliage then so be it.

I was physically repelled by the sight of a rack of organic spuds in Sainsbury's. They were grubby, knobbly, the skin ruptured and fissured and above all the vegetable was indiscernible from the bucket of mud in which it was presented as though it had just been dumped on the doorstep by the farmer that very morning and shovelled into place in Aisle 2.

Sold on a weight basis smacked of a rip off to me but I considered it improper and embarrassing to be seen to chip off the excess soil and debris to shed the dead weight.

Many organic displays in the Corporates must have been seen as a bit of a gamble at first. Surely, the public would not go for downright disfigured goods. A few Executives championing the organic drive will have feared for their jobs and I expect that they kept the contents of their lofty offices in a cardboard box just in case the call came for them to be transferred to Logistics or Toiletries.

Fortunately for them but not for those afflicted were a few high profile and very publicised incidences of food contamination, criminally dodgy suppliers, TV cookery programmes featuring home grown fare and the embracing by the middle classes in particular of the organic ethic in a big way.

The average residential garden is not well suited to horticulture being, on a causal observation basis, either block paved or under timber decking. On the large housing estates of those tall and thin three storey town houses the density and orientation dictates that the sun struggles to penetrate onto flat ground.

The posher developments will actually have restrictions in the Deeds on use of gardens for cultivation or anything deemed inconsistent with the ethos of the developer. Experiments of an unauthorised nature with chickens in a coop at the bottom of an estate garden led to infestations of vermin and poor neighbourly relations on the basis of fears of salmonella and avian flu.

Modern philanthropists, Community Groups and Town Councils pushed for public allotments on waste land, undevelopable and therefore unprofitable sites or just plain nasty contaminated former industrial tracts.

In my local area the land on the outer rim of the By-Pass in two locations sprouted overnight with small green sheds, posts and wire mesh fences and had it not been for the absence of a look out tower and machine gun post many would have been right to assume that some form of detention centre was being constructed.

The activity on both allotment sites was phenomenal and within a few weeks the neat array of sheds and plots resembled a completely new settlement.

I feared for the images of the respective allotment donor towns given that the first impression for visitors and tourists would be a sprawling and  untidy mass of wood and polythene cloches, residents bent double or on hands and knees tending the young shoots and old chaps sat on deckchairs waiting for the beans to flower.

My pessimistic and cynical attitude shocked me to the core but then again I have been brought up in a Supermarket Culture where fruit and veg must be clean, of uniform colour for type, classic shape and without any evidence that it was actually pulled out of the soil, harvested from a field or otherwise exposed to the fresh, natural open environment.

I applaud these New Pioneers of urban organic food. The trek to the edge of town is a challenge in itself not withstanding that the intrepid allotment tenders have to do their business in full and plain sight of those driving along the By Pass. I wonder how the car borne voyeurs feel when they see the hard work and endeavours of the allotment people culminating in their holding aloft, proudly of the world's most expensively cultivated carrot or leek and soaking up the applause of their fellow grafters. They are probably comfortably smug in the knowledge that their car boot is stuffed full of fruit and veg, cheap, clean and plentiful from the Supermarket and they do not really care one fig from whence it came.

Keep your Distance

On and after the 26th April 1986 the nuclear monitoring equipment in Sweden began to show a spike in radiation levels.

It was of enough concern to the Swedish authorities to order the shutting down of one of their own power plants for an investigation. This proved not to be the source.

It was three days later that the State Controlled Media in the Soviet Union gave brief mention of a fire at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Complex ,Reactor number 4.

This was followed by other small announcements in print, on radio and television in a matter of fact way alluding to an accident.

The Soviet propaganda machine was in full swing defending the exceptional safety record of the home grown Nuclear Industry compared with "many accidents abroad".

Nuclear Power was regarded as being clean and low risk. No one seemed alarmed or perturbed even though the incident had been violent and had resulted in 31 deaths in the immediate aftermath.

The residents of that part of Ukraine were given no cause for any concern to their everyday activities and certainly not to their health or futures.

Gradually a realisation dawned amongst the authorities that the fire and explosion at Reactor 4 was a major threat to life. The emissions released to the soil and into the atmosphere were many hundreds of times greater than the fallout from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. The compounds of Caesium 137, Plutonium, Iodine 131 and Strontium 90 were a potent cocktail which analysts now believe has contributed to up to 1 million related deaths from cancer on a global scale, and counting.

There were, from the initial radiation cloud as it passed over neighbouring Belarus, a cluster of child deaths from thyroid cancer.

The fire at the reactor continued to rage well into May.

Upon imposing a 10km critical zone the Soviet military began a ruthless programme of evacuations. Over a 36 hour period 40,000 residents of the nearest town, Pripyat were told to leave without pets and non-essential belongings. By the end of that week a further 30,000 were forced to abandon their homes.

To encourage co-operation and avert panic or unrest there were promises made of a return within 3 days. Most of the population never saw their homes again.

President Gorbachev felt compelled to address the nation and by way of reassuring neighbouring countries all through northern and western Europe that effective measures had been implemented although a clean up operation to mitigate the damage was still under way in the July.

Thousands of military personnel and civilian volunteers embarked on a huge operation. Contaminated soil was dug up and re-buried under concrete. Helicopters sprayed water to suppress airborne dust. Soldiers washed down dust covered pavements , roads and buildings.

Dogs and cats were shot on sight.

In the 30km zone more forcible evacuations were made and evacuees saw their homes demolished and the rubble buried. Many peasant farmers had to abandon livestock and crops and were then housed in the austere apartment blocks which typified many Soviet settlements of the era. Former residents were often caught in the exclusion zone in subversive actions to tend to what remained standing of their vegetable plots or to fish as they had always been used to.

The radioactive cloud spread with the wind during 1986 with contamination as far apart as the United States and India recorded.

Spread of contamination from April 1986 ***

The 30km zone remains in place to this day although the radioactive elements will take up to 200,000 years to decay to safe levels.

Abandoned cities, towns and villages have become overgrown and there has been a long running discussion about designating the area as a National Park. Some concessions have been made for tourists to visit the zone even though there is ongoing scientific monitoring of the environment. This is ironic as many animals and plants have suffered from the radiation with low life expectancy and mutations as side effects.

Reactor 4 was encased in a concrete sarcophagus in the years following the accident but even this is now in need of replacement and the world's largest moveable structure, a huge dome is being constructed to be put in position to give up to a century of protection from the all pervading radiation.

The lobbyists for nuclear power still find it difficult to secure support for this form of energy generation because of the Chernobyl disaster.

The implications for ongoing generations may not yet be fully appreciated.

(***source; upload of original graphic by Alex Svensson of Gothenburg)

Love Letter to Kingston Upon Hull 1942

It is often said that the Port and Regional City of Kingston Upon Hull never received due recognition for the loss of life and damage to its buildings and infrastructure from enemy bombing during the second world war. Located on the east coast of England the city was very much on the front line from aerial attack either as a recognised target in its own right or as a dumping ground for unused ordnance as the Luftwaffe made a quick dash back to the occupied territories of Europe after raids deeper into the industrial areas of Yorkshire. 

In the mass of column inches in the London Times of October 8th 1942 I came across what amounts to a remarkable testament to the fortitude and resilience of the people of Hull. 

Home News- Hull after 70 Raids.

Unbroken spirit of the citizens- Lessons of experience from our special correspondent- Kingston Upon Hull, Oct 7th

Amid burnt and wrecked houses, churches and shops the Queen's Gardens in the centre of Hull remains a cheerful patch of colour. It is a pointer to the sprit to be found in this great and ancient port. Hull has suffered more than most places from bombing but, for all the added strain this has meant in a busy city time has been found- or made- to tend this pleasant garden constructed from where formerly there was a Dock.

There are strips of smooth lawn, clusters of bright blooms and, as well, a red patch of beet and other vegetables. And if the shattered homes nearby strengthen hatred of the Nazis, the garden is a pleasant reminder that the barbarian is far from achieving his end of a world devoid of beauty as of freedom and truth. 

Hull has had more than 70 air raids "with incidents" as the Wardens put it and nearly 800 alerts. Scarcely a street has escaped damage. The old Trinity House survives and the house where William Wilberforce was born still stands, somewhat remarkably, for the houses all around are wrecked. Many fine shops have disappeared. 

GERMAN'S FAILURE

But for all the damage to houses, churches, a hospital and shops, the Germans failed. Not once was activity in the port brought to a standstill - not even by the two heaviest raids on successive nights in May 1941. Hull, the third most important port before the war has triumphantly withstood siege in the past; it has magnificently maintained its own traditions.

One has to only walk about to see that the spirit of the people has not be damaged, however much their homes have suffered though no one would pretend that bombing is anything but horrible.

The Prime Minister exclaimed once "What kind of people do they think we are?" He knew then what the enemy are painfully learning. He has seen what Hull has suffered and knows its citizens, people such as the 92 year old sub-postmaster- decorated by the King- whose office was wrecked, reopened next day, wrecked again that night and forthwith opened once again; and people such as the women wardens of whom a report I was shown said "They were grand".

Hull has lessons for other towns and itself has not neglected to benefit from them.On one occasion a number of omnibuses was lost.; now the omnibuses are dispersed at night.The benefit of shelters on the outskirts, where a good nights sleep is possible, has been proved, as also has the high importance of tea and biscuits promptly served to those who have been bombed out. The need of ample emergency cooking arrangements and of mobile canteens has been well learned.

Strangers on a Train

The main railway line from Kingston Upon Hull to Selby was opened in 1840. It was then, and remains to the present, a vital artery for rail traffic for passengers and freight to and from the major regional city of Hull and connecting at Selby to the rest of the network throughout the country.

As the illustration on the opening announcement depicts the rolling stock in what was still the very early days of the railways was quite basic.

To an ordinary citizen the prospect of taking a journey in connection with their work or for recreation will have been exciting and a bit frightening in equal proportion.

Accidents did occur with some frequency and the following is based on a report from the London Times in February 1847 under the headline "Dreadful Accident on the Hull and Selby Railway"


The evening mail train destined for London had left Hull Central Station at 6pm. The 8 passenger carriages and 5 wagons laden with fish (a major trading commodity of the city trawling industry) were behind two coupled engines, "Kingston" and "York".

At about one and a half miles east of the first station of Hessle (roughly as the land lies now where the Arco Warehouse stands) ,the second engine "York" inexplicably left the rails and smashed into the carriages with seven of these being forced off the line in evidently a most violent action as the wooden coach units were "reduced to atoms". 

Passengers were thrown out forcibly and unfortunately there were two fatalities amongst them.

A James Brown of Hessle, a tin plate worker was killed instantly and a Dewsbury man later died of his injuries at the Coburg Hotel in Hessle as it was nearest occupied premises to the scene and being closer to the station.

Eight other passengers were described as having fearful injuries later transpiring as internal damage as well as the somewhat inevitable broken bones and sprained limbs.

The occupants of the only carriage not to have been damaged will have been exposed to the shock of witnessing the whole event. A train was deployed to bring the lesser injured and lucky escapees back to Hull Station. Of course the mail on the original train still had to reach London and this was duly carried out by special arrangements.

Sometime later at the Coroners Inquest held at the Granby Public House in Hessle the Railway Company Chief Engineer was cross examined along with other witnesses. Although the cause of the accident remained unclear there was no suggestion of blame on any party. The Jury delivered a verdict of accidental death.

Such was the feeling of grief in the local area that funeral costs for the two victims of the accident were waived by the Undertakers.

The London Times goes into a speculative mode with the Reporter taking on the role of a sleuth in trying to discern what happened on that February evening. He states that after making a visit to the crash site it was clear to him that the timber sleepers under the tracks had given way.

The prospect of a major scoop may have influenced his interpretation of seeing a pile of broken wood and other debris left track side following prompt repairs to keep the line up and running. 

Harry England and the other guy

There seems to be a lot of discussion in almost every walk of life about what it is to be English.

Some may simply say that they have always been so as a matter of pride and patriotism. There are always St George's Cross flags flying even if not coinciding with a fixture involving the national football team. Others may feel a bit beleagured by the constant media coverage of a perceived imminent invasion by foreigners. A few may think that they are already in a minority in their own local area.

Personally, I am a bit concerned by this upsurge in celebrating and commemorating Englishness particularly where it involves dragging up some long distant battle, invasion, siege or  resistance which should remain confined, for all its merits,  to a history book.

As a nation we are part of a larger, much larger global community. We fought against  most of our European neighbours at one time or another and although usually declaring ourselves the victor in the slaughter and human misery. Lets face it, the fact that not much changed as a consequence made it a victory on purely technical rather than righteous grounds.

Historic foes, now our friends do not seem to dwell on their past as much as we do. It may all be just diversionary tactics.

I think that all of the postering is because we are a bit confused about our own standing in the hierarchy of social classes that is the defining feature of English life.

There has been, since the era depicted by the TV series Downton Abbey, a huge change in  social mobility. In that programme the class differences were accentuated by the attitudes, behaviour and prejudices of those whether upstairs or downstairs although amongst their own class each were strikingly similar. The Lord of the Manor was head of the hereditary family and the Head Butler was Lord of the domestic staff.

What movement has there been in the class structure over my own lifetime, ie the past half decade?

It is obvious that the segment of the population that would with pride regard themselves as working class has declined because industry and the old working practices have declined. The parameters of the middle class have blurred and as a consequence the numbers have increased. The upper or ruling class remain stagnant in spite of some injection of new bloodlines and new money.

Try explaining the composition of English society to an overseas visitor  and you will appreciate how bewildering it is. So what, today, can be reasonably relied upon as a tell tale sign of someone's social standing.

The social anthropologist, Kate Fox, published a work entitled "Watching the English" in the early years of the new century. Last year she reviewed the research and findings to see if  we are still a nation obsessed with and yet dismissive of the class structure.

She highlighted two important factors in giving away the class to which someone belongs and they are the words we use and  how we say them.

Seven words in particular put down a marker to our social position.

If responding to an unclear enquiry the use of "Pardon?" is a lower middle or middle-middle indicator. The upper middle class will say "sorry-what?" or "What-sorry?". Surprisingly both the upper class and working class will use "What?" although the latter may drop the "t".

What we call the toilet is a defining thing. Upper classes refer to "loo" or the phonetic  "lavuhtry" and even "bog" if used with humour is acceptable. The working class use "toilet" but those with aspirations above their station can be caught out by using "powder room", "conveniences", "Gents" and "Ladies".

Table habits are also cited as class defining. A "napkin" is now upper middle and upper territory with "serviette" being relegated to the lower class.

If you refer to the family evening meal as "tea" you are working class whereas the higher social order use "dinner" or "supper". Another giveaway is that tea is served around 6pm but dinner nearer 8pm being a throwback to working hours in manual and executive employment respectively.

Those with a "settee" or "couch" are no higher than middle-middle but if you have a "sofa" then you are upper-middle or higher.

As for the room in which the aforementioned item of furniture is usually found? A settee is invariably found in lounges or living rooms but a sofa forms part of the ambience of a sitting or drawing room.

Even foodstuffs can be used as a guage of our class. The upper classes refer to the sweet course at the end of a meal as "pudding" but if you as a guest ask after a "dessert" or "afters" then notwithstanding it to be rude you should also think about fetching your own coat before leaving.

Confusion and ambiguity abound in our own minds about the class structure in this country so is it any surprise that we try so hard to define the essence of Englishness as an excuse to avoid having to deal with it.

Earth Day

Earthrise is a photograph of the Earth and parts of the Moon's surface taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission as the first manned orbit of the moon. It has been considered to be the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.

The whole opportunity was almost overlooked as is illustrated by the recorded conversation between Apollo crew members, Frank Borman and William Anders, during the taking of the Earthrise photograph;

Anders: Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! There's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty.
Borman: Hey, don't take that, it's not scheduled. (joking)
Anders: (laughs) You got a color film, Jim?
            Hand me that roll of color quick, would you...
Lovell: Oh man, that's great!

The colour photograph with the earth just touching the horizon was taken from lunar orbit on December 24, 1968, with a highly modified Hasselblad 500 EL with an electric drive. The camera had a simple sighting ring rather than the standard reflex viewfinder and was loaded with  custom Ektachrome film developed by Kodak.

The Blue Marble, so called because of its striking appearance and perceived size to the observing Astronauts  is a famous photograph of the Earth, taken on December 7, 1972,  at 5.39am Eastern Standard Time by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles).

It is one of the most iconic, and among the most widely distributed images in human history.

The image with the official NASA designation AS17-148-22727 reproduces the view of the Earth as seen by the Apollo crew travelling toward the Moon. The translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Antarctica.

This was the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap with the Southern Hemisphere heavily covered in clouds. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible and the Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is Madagascar. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast. An Indian Ocean cyclone can be seen in the top right of the image. This storm had brought flooding and high winds to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on December 5, two days before the photograph was taken.

The photographer used a 70-millimeter Hasselblad camera with an 80-millimeter Zeiss lens. Such is the iconic status of the photograph that NASA credited it to the entire Apollo 17 crew—Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmitt—all of whom took photographs during the mission with the on-board Hasselblad, although evidence examined after the mission suggests that Jack Schmitt was the photographer.

Apollo 17 was the last manned lunar mission. No human since has been far enough from Earth to photograph a whole-Earth image such as The Blue Marble, but whole-Earth images have been taken by many unmanned spacecraft missions.

This was the case with the Pale Blue Dot ,a photograph of planet Earth taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles).
In September 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1, a 722-kilogram (1,592 lb) robotic spacecraft on a mission to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space.

The spacecraft, travelling at 40,000 miles per hour (64,000 km/h), is the farthest man-made object from Earth and the first one to leave the Solar System. Its mission has been extended and continues to this day, with the aim of investigating the boundaries of the Solar system, including the Kuiper belt, the heliosphere and interstellar space. Operating for 38 years, 10 months and 6 days as of today (July 13, 2016), it receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network.

After encountering the Jovian system in 1979 and the Saturnian system in 1980, the primary mission was declared complete in November of the same year. Voyager 1 was the first space probe to provide detailed images of the two largest planets and their major moons.

Voyager 1, which had completed its primary mission and was leaving the Solar System, was commanded by NASA to turn its camera around and take one last photograph of Earth across a great expanse of space, at the request of astronomer and author Carl Sagan.

In the photograph, Earth's apparent size is less than a pixel; the planet appears as a tiny dot against the vastness of space, among bands of sunlight scattered by the camera's optics.

Sagan's words are an epic statement, inspirational and thought provoking;

"We succeeded in taking that picture, and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there – on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam"

(sources; wikipedia, BBC Radio Five Drive, Carl Sagan, NASA)

Mercurial

Under the current Covid-19 Lockdown I am aware that many have taken the opportunity to think about taking another direction in their employment and career. 

It is understandable where someone's livelihood suddenly seems more precarious than it should be or where an enforced lay-off arouses those past dreams and aspirations that had to be put on the back-burner for the sake of earning a steady wage. 

Long gone are the days of a job for life as the generations could look forward to well into the mid to late last century. 

On this theme of another career I found the following qualifying criteria for a position. 

1. Less than 40 years old;
2. Less than 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall;
3. In excellent physical condition;
4. With a bachelor's degree or equivalent;
5. A graduate of test pilot school;
6. With a minimum of 1,500 hours total flying time; and
7. A qualified jet pilot.

Unfortunately I have to stick to the day job as I meet only two of the conditional aspects. I will not go into too much detail as to what they are but those that know me will know what they are (oh, alright- 2 and 4)

Fortunately the closing date for selection was back in 1958 which, ironically, would help me to satisfy the first of the seven points especially as I was not born until 1963. 

The list comes from the recruitment process, or rather a very select shopping list of a very small number of suitable candidates who became known as The Mercury Seven as in the first Astronauts in the fledgling United States Space Programme. 

All of the special ones flew in space but it was Alan Shepard who became the first American to do this. 

You may recall previous bits of writing about the very small contribution that I made through a Kickstarter Project to restore the space suit worn by Neil Armstrong on the Moon Landing. 

Well, seems that some spare cash was found after a tremendously successful "Reboot The Suit" campaign and this is to be put towards a similar saving for posterity of the metallic silver suit of Alan Shepard worn for his Mercury Redstone 3 flight into space on 5th May 1961. 

Here are some pictures from The Smithsonian of the ambitious project.

The suit was adapted for space and confinement in a capsule from an existing Jet Pilots but with specific modifications to pressurise and sustain main functions in a hostile environment.   

In close up the detail and features are even more fascinating.

The straps and buckles kept Shepard in place during the 15 minute sub-orbital flight as he was exposed to one minute of that time in micro-gravity.

Shoulder restraints were also part of the safety measures.

Although not shown here the suit gloves had pinpoint lights in the fingertips.

The silver finish, although dropped in the later Apollo Missions, was to reflect light and be more visible from a distance as well as intended to give higher resistance to radiation beyond Earth's atmosphere.

It is actually a classic conception of a space suit commonly found in Sci-Fi literature and Movies.

The Armstrong Suit is now on permanent display and both restorations will go well together as iconic markers in human endeavour in the Space Race.

Daz and Shaz

First, sincere apologies to Persian Culture, the wider Iranian People, Heroditus and any followers of history for the following. 

I have written this piece out of sincere admiration for the subject matter although I have to a large extent adopted the attitude and reporting position of the UK Media where members of the Royal Family are concerned.

A couple of years ago the Iranian parents of a friend now living in our local area sent to us a beautiful hand made rug in appreciation of our efforts to help him understand the intricacies of permanent settlement in this country.

It is intended to be a wall hanging in the style of a tapestry by virtue of its size, about that of two tea towels edge to edge. The image is very well known and has been used on many fabrics, prints, pottery items and modern packaging.

The colour of the thread is subtle to give it a time aged appearance.

It depicts a loving couple.

He is very regal and stately with a stylised crown, well groomed and braided beard.

She is of large almond shaped eyes, round face and shaped lips so representative of Iranian women.

They are, in modern day parlance, definitely the archetypal Power Couple and their back story confirms this without any doubt.

In the far distance is an image of Persepolis, the seat of dominant authority of Persian Monarchs.

The King is Darius and in his Queen, Atusa Shahbanu he has more than his match in terms of influence, wealth and getting things done in the broad and diverse Archaemenid Empire over which they ruled.

Her own genealogy is impressive.

Her father was Cyrus the Great and amongst her own offspring was Xerxes the Great. Atusa lived from 550BC to 475BC which was quite a long life for the era. The origins of her name means skilled, learned, well trickling and well granting although some sources include the more base "beautiful body".

All of the above may have been the case but Atusa was known for her intuition and reputed sixth sense which helped her to develop and sustain her control of the Palace administration and a sizeable personal army.

It was not all self centred glory as Atusa continued the far sighted work of her father in supporting and perpetuating the culture, language and religions of the nations subdued by successive Archaemenid rulers.

Special Branch

It is a line from a modern American poem that "only God can make a tree".

Yes, alright, I had not heard of it before coming across it on my most recent viewing of the movie "Groundhog Day" where it features in a brief moment of tranquility in the otherwise, to that point, tormented 24 hour existence of the lead character.

I can well relate to the calming influence of trees as they have for me and for many of us in temperate climates, played a role in our lives be it in an urban park, a rural scene, alongside a regular travelling route or on a mountainside.

For many years our family enjoyed a sizeable Elm tree which dominated the back garden of our house. It was a constant reminder of nature from the sometimes frightening movement of the boughs in the thick of a springtime storm to the quiet and cool shadows cast in the height of summer.

For such a strong natural structure, seemingly to us children like an impregnable tower, its slow decline and eventual demise from the disease that struck at the stock of Elms across the country and northern Europe felt like the bereavement of a faithful and reliable companion.

Now in my adult years I am back amongst mighty trees.

We live in a city park. From the second floor bedroom level my view, on drifting off to sleep and awakening in the morning, is one of the huge canopy of a horse chestnut tree, one of many that ring the central green space and were originally planted out as vulnerable saplings in the 1860's.

The view into the tree is my reference point in the early hours in those restless moments.

I have a renewed wonder at the arrival of the first summertime hour sunlight which is as early as 4am.

The solid mass of the trunk and main boughs begin slowly to take on their true three dimensional form. Just before this I can just follow with my finger the black outline of the tree . In doing so  I can imagine trying to capture the majesty and sheer strength of the dense wood in pencil lines or pastel paint but I fall well short every time.

Gradually the light makes it way through and then over the park buildings on the eastern side bringing a multitude of shades of gold, silver, mercury, bronze and all on the yellow/green spectrum. It strikes the new leaf canopy growth and reflects in shade and tone onto the smooth grey bark.

Occasionally a movement in the boughs takes my attention from the developing scene.

At first I am not sure what it is and then I realise that it is the shadow of an ill defined, distorted yet fast moving shape. Within a second a squirrel makes its way deftly along the boughs, leaping with grace and no tangible impact fully across my line of sight before disappearing beyond the scope of the window opening.

In recent weeks we have been privileged to have a woodpecker in residence with all of the noise that goes with that. Regular visitors in the boughs include chubby pigeons, magpies and robins.

The location of the park in urban surroundings makes for a comparatively sheltered environment and even in the strongest storm conditions elsewhere in the city the Victorian planting ensures little exposure to potentially violent conditions which in more exposed areas could easily lead to falling boughs and instability.

I feel that my private view into the canopy of the tree is contributing in a very positive way for coping with the current lockdown.

It is true in my belief and experience that only God can make a tree.

Match in the Day

I had calculated that, on my weekly pocket money at age 12 of ten new pence, it would be almost a year before I would have enough to go on the school trip.

I was reluctant to ask my parents for the money because it was for the bus fare and ticket for a football match.

Trouble was, the newsletter about the event had been circulated in March of 1975 and with the date of the game, England v Cyprus only a few weeks ahead on 16th April.

The fact that this was almost, to the day, 45 years ago is hard to believe.

I became quite anxious that this opportunity would pass me by as the interest amongst my fellow 400 students at Grammar School was high and the places, restricted to the capacity of a single coach were going fast. All of my friends had paid their money and I was wracked with mixed emotions of really, really wanting to go but at the same time not to burden my parents with additional and, to be honest non essential, expenditure out of the family budget. This was already allocated to the housekeeping for us four siblings and one on the way plus general living costs.

You may laugh now but in 1975 the cost of the trip at £4.75 (four pounds and seventy five pence) for everything except a pack-up tea was a lot.

I am ashamed to say that I was quite persistent in pestering my parents to find the money through a combination of pleading, begging, blackmail and every form of emotional pressure. We, as children, never lacked anything but at the time just expected all of our whims and fancies to be satisfied. It is only now in my own later life in parenthood that I can appreciate the sacrifices of my own parents where extra-curriculum activities were involved.

From somewhere the money was found and I came to be aboard the bus and travelling the 160 plus miles from my home town to Wembley Stadium, the famous Twin Towers, in London.

I don't remember much about the journey which is a good sign as I was otherwise prone to travel sickness. The excitement probably acted as a boost to my system and waylaid my usual bodily tendencies to throw up.

Kick off was at 7.45pm under the floodlights which is always magical on first sight of the bright green of the turf and all of the pomp and ceremony even for a Qualifying Match in the European Football Championships.

My only financial contribution to the trip was the 15 pence for the Programme and I am happy to say that it is still, 45 years later, in pristine condition. Of course I had pledged, in return for the cost of the trip, to work extra hard in my school lessons, homework, music practice and in all of my chores around the house.

The match against Cyprus was England's third consecutive home tie in Group 1 having had a good win over Czechoslovakia (3-0) and a 0-0 draw with Portugal. As always there was much speculation about how far England could go in the tournament. After all they had a good starting line-up of Shilton (GK), Beattie, Madeley, Todd, Watson, Ball, Bell, Hudson, Channon, Keegan and MacDonald.

The match got off to a good start with goal for the home side after just 2 minutes and the promise of a rapid goal fest but it was not until the 35th minute that the lead was doubled.

A good many schools had also sent contingents of pupils as the chanting, singing and cheering was quite high pitched .

It was not for want of goal scoring attempts and it could have been, in my reckoning on the night, 8-0 by half time. In the second half three more England goals and many chances missed put the game out of reach of a struggling Cyprus.

I had in fact witnessed history as all 5 goals were scored by the Newcastle Striker, Malcolm Macdonald.

It was not to be a great year for the National Team as they failed to top the group and with the eventual tournament winners being Czechoslovakia in the Belgrade final in 1976 after the first penalty shootout in a European Championship Final over West Germany.

It was however a most memorable day and one that I still recall with fondness some 45 years later.

Zoo on the Doorstep

I have often thought about how nice it would be to live close to a Zoo.

I can well imagine, in such circumstances, a mundane domestic task having an accompanying soundtrack of a roaring lion, a trumpeting elephant or the cacophony of an aviary full of exotic birds.

In fact, this is highly likely to have been the case in my very neighbourhood in the middle to latter part of the 19th Century as just on my doorstep will have been the location of the Hull Zoological Gardens.

The idea of the place was quite a natural one amongst the well-to-do of Kingston Upon Hull as an key indicator of civic status, a bit of one-up-manship on regional neighbours of Leeds, Sheffield and York and on a philanthropical angle to give the working population of the city somewhere to have a bit of recreation, exercise and education.

Although now very much a densely populated inner city area my neighbourhood was, in 1839 still semi rural on the fringe of the then built environment of Hull.

Some 6 acres was readily available for such a worthy cause in a broadly square configuration bounded on its southern side by Springbank and with north western and north eastern corners on what are now the residential Peel Street and Morpeth Street respectively.

Things moved quickly once the idea was broached and after an issue of shares in 1839 and some subsequent purchases of animals the Zoological Gardens opened to the public in October 1840.

Archived maps show a highly landscaped and planted site, albeit a flat one on the Hull flood plain, with a range of stylistic architectural structures to house the live exhibits as well as a camera obscura, meeting and concert hall, shooting gallery, Keepers' residence and a death defying loop the loop of a centrifugal railway attraction.

There was a reasonable entrance fee levied at 1 shilling for adults and a sixpence for a child and by all accounts in the local newspapers it was well patronised by the general public. The Boulevards through the site extended to some 2 miles meandering around lakes and a good stock of trees and shrubs.

As for the animals these included some quite exotic and rarely seen species with, in addition to acquisitions and swops with other establishments, a good number donated by the owners and captains of ships capitalising on the status of Hull as a major and thriving maritime city trading on a global stage.

At one time the Zoological Gardens was reputed to have the largest concentration of Polar Bears in the country. Big cats included leopards and tigers. There was a good selection of monkeys, reptiles, kangaroos and an elephant.

Travelling exhibits were also catered for with a celebrity hippopotamus on a world tour and a temporary aquarium display. In all there were some 60 or so species for the public to gawp at. A particularly popular feature was of bears climbing poles in their pit enclosure to eat treats offered by the crowd.

Of some possible disturbance to the interned animals were regular choreographed fireworks displays on the designated firework lake and also gala occasions where city-scapes from around Europe were recreated as a focal point for music and dramatic events.

In 1855 and some 6 years later the lakes froze over and became outside skating areas for the public.

An amenity of this scale and prestige would be expected to continue for subsequent generations but unfortunately a decline in paying visitors and the draw of other emerging city attractions brought about financial difficulties.

No one appears to have been prepared to offer a bail out package and by 1860 the grounds began to look shabby and unkempt.

In a Catalogued Sale in 1862 the main buildings were put on the market and within a couple of decades the site was being developed as a new city suburb with large terraced town houses.

There are little reminders now of the Zoo apart from small statuettes of animals at street-ends and a public house called The Polar Bear on Springbank.

While it lasted it was evidently a prime civic attraction and a reflection of the aspirations of its citizens towards big city status.

One blog out of 300 per second today (so far)

In my obsession with numbers and statistics I am not alone.

It is not even an exclusively male trait as I am aware of many women who also revel in spreadsheets, facts, figures , trends and patterns.

It is, in my opinion, the duty of all of us to be informed, well informed and as from as many independent and impartial sources as possible.

Of course I have found myself in anxious expectation of the daily update on the terrible Coronavirus.

It is sometimes easy to forget that the world and its critical issues and problems are still rolling on in the background.

They may be taking very much of a secondary importance to those nations and populations caught up in the pandemic but truth is that key statistics and numbers are continuing.

Here is just a brief snapshot of them;  These are from Worldometer, an international team of developers, researchers and volunteers with no political, governmental or corporate agenda.

Their figures are provided through their website in real-time and must be seen at source to appreciate the true picture (see link at foot of page)

The figures below were taken, very much in snapshot, starting at 6pm British Standard Time on Wednesday 15th March 2020. Some of the figures are moving so rapidly that I have estimated their rates.

Health

Communicable disease deaths today so far- 3,760,095- 1 every 2 seconds

Seasonal flu deaths- 140,880

Deaths of children under 5 years old- 2,201,620- tragically 1 every 3 seconds

Cancer deaths- 2,378,856- rate of 1 every 3 seconds

Cigarettes smoked so far today- 11,771,566,897- going up in smoke at 1 million every 5 seconds

Deaths caused by smoking- today- 1,447,985. Rate of 1 per 3 seconds

Deaths caused by alcohol- 724,453- every 10 seconds

Money spent on illegal drugs- $115,876,538,678- about $100,000 a second

Road Traffic fatalities this year - 391,008- increasing at 1 every 20 seconds


Demographics

Current World Population- 7,777,977,425. This global figure is increasing at around 5 persons per second.

Births this year- 40,570,753. Rate of increase is around 2 births per second

Births so far today - 288,165. Increasing at 2 births per second

Deaths this year so far- 17,032,743- roughly 1 death per second

Deaths so far today- 121,138- rate of 1 per second

Net population growth this year to date- 23,538,585- as per rates above for births/deaths

Net population growth today- 167,613 as above rate


Economics

Public Health Expenditure so far today $11,308,255,345- ramping up by $100,000's per second

Public Education Expenditure today- $7,752,430,230- increase of around $1,000,000 per second

Military Expenditure- today $3,541,600,358- increasing at $100,000 a second


Trade

Cars produced to date this year- 22,709,070- rolling off the production line at 1 per second

Bicycles produced so far this year- 43,568,245- pedalling off at 2 per second

Computers produced this year so far- 72,711,415- around 2 per second


Society and Media

New book titles published this year to date- 774,492. Page turning at 1 every 5 seconds

Newspapers circulated- 361,700, 459- figures in black and white- 1000 per second

TV sets sold worldwide so far today- 506,700- channel surfing at 10 per second

Cellular phone sales to date today- 4,906,620- going out at 200 per second

Money spent on video games today- $220, 365,550- playing at $2000 a second

Internet users in the world today- 4,532,187,998- logging on 10 per second

E mails sent today so far- 198,383,554, 249- flying out at more than 2 million a second

Blog posts written today so far- 587,727,334- scribbled at 300 a second

Tweets sent today so far- 588,078,245- too many you might say at 40,000 a second

Google Searches so far today- 5,408,067,348- get a life at 150,000 a second



Environment

Forest lost so far this year in hectares- 1,506,291- disappearing at 1 hectare every 5 seconds

Land lost to soil erosion to date- 2,027,886 hectares, Rate of 1 ha per 4 seconds

CO2 emissions this year so far- 10,466,736,555 tons and with 1000 tons released per second

Desertification this year to date- 3,475,766 hectares at 1 per second

Toxic chemicals released (tons) 2,836,345 this year to date at 1 ton per second


Food and Water

Undernourished people globally- 842,302,817- adding 1 per second

Overweight people globally- 1,691,862,756- piling on the pounds at 1 per second

Obese people in the world- 754,546,028- swelling at 1 per second

Deaths from hunger today, so far- 23,506. Too upsetting to comment

Money spent on obesity related programmes in USA today $443,811,884- $10000 a second

People with no access to safe drinking water- 801,906,562 - decreasing at 1 per second

Deaths caused by water related diseases- 243,908 so far to date


Energy

Days left to end of oil- 15,764

Days left to end of natural gas- 57,710

Days to end of coal- 148,879


If you don't believe the statistics just compare my snapshot to those on the real time website.

Link;

Before your very eyes- do not blink!!

Endangered Specialisms

We may be fascinated by the current round of TV programming which seems to have steered away from all things culinary and towards crafting, renovating, restoration and re-purposing. 

There is a disturbing precedent where cookery is concerned in that we may love to watch others doing it but yet we remain unenthusiastic about actually doing it in our own homes. 

Unfortunately the list, below, of already extinct, endangered and at risk traditional heritage crafts suggests that it may already be too late. 

The decline in some sectors has been steady over decades and even centuries as demand, tastes and manufacturing processes have changed. 

However, the blame for allowing these skills to diminish is a collective one amongst us from a long term failure to perpetuate a system of apprenticeships and in our consumerist and throw-away society where there is no place or indeed appetite for beautiful, individual things. 

Other factors, specific to certain activities include a shrinking core number of craftsmen and women and low financial viability. The role played by part timers and devotees of a particular craft should not be overlooked.

That is not to say that specialists are no longer required as there will always be a need from museums, galleries and collections to maintain their existing exhibits and works of art. 

The following crafts are considered to be extinct, in that they are no longer practiced in the UK.

Cricket ball making     Gold beating    Lacrosse stick making      Mould and deckle making

The next category is for crafts and skills that are critically endangered. 

• Basketwork furniture making NEW FOR 2019
• Bell founding
• Clay pipe making
• Clog making (hand-carved soles)
• Damask weaving NEW FOR 2019
• Devon stave basket making
• Fair Isle straw backed chair making NEW FOR 2019
• Fan making
• Flute making
• Fore edge painting- (putting images on the end of book pages)
• Hat plaiting NEW FOR 2019
• Horse collar making
• Kishie basket making NEW FOR 2019 (oat straw basket to fetch peat)
• Maille making NEW FOR 2019
• Metal thread making
• Millwrighting NEW FOR 2019
• Oak bark tanning
• Orrery making NEW FOR 2019 (mechanical solar system for training purposes)
• Paper making (commercial) NEW FOR 2019
• Parchment and vellum making
• Piano making
• Plane making
• Pottery (industrial) NEW FOR 2019
• Reverse glass sign painting NEW FOR 2019
• Saw making
• Scissor making
• Shinty caman making NEW FOR 2019
• Sieve and riddle making
• Spade making (forged heads)
• Spinning wheel making NEW FOR 2019
• Swill basket making (used on coal steamships and industrial processes)
• Tanning (oak bark)
• Tinsmithing
• Wainwrighting NEW FOR 2019
• Watch dial enamelling NEW FOR 2019
• Watchmaking
• Withy pot making NEW FOR 2019 (willow pots for crabs and lobsters)

Crafts classified as ‘endangered’ are those which currently have sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation, but for which there are serious concerns about their ongoing viability. This may include crafts with a shrinking market share, an ageing demographic or crafts with a declining number of practitioners.

• Arrowsmithing
• Bee skep making NEW FOR 2019
• Bicycle making
• Brass instrument making
• Brick making
• Broom making
• Brush making
• Carpet and rug tufting NEW FOR 2019
• Chair caning
• Chair seating
• Clock making
• Clog making
• Coach building
• Coopering (non-spirits)
• Coppersmithing (objects)
• Coracle making
• Corn dolly making NEW FOR 2019
• Cricket bat making
• Cutlery making and tableware NEW FOR 2019
• Engine turning
• Falconry furniture making NEW FOR 2019
• Flintknapping (masonry)
• Folding knife making
• Free reed instrument making NEW FOR 2019
• Gansey knitting NEW FOR 2019
• Gilding
• Globe making
• Glove making
• Hand grinding
• Harp making
• Hat block making
• Horn, antler and bone working
• Hurdle making
• Illumination
• Iron founding
• Japanning (European imitation of Asian lacquer work)
• Keyboard instrument making
• Ladder making
• Lead working
• Letter cutting
• Letterpress NEW FOR 2019
• Marbling
• Nalbinding NEW FOR 2019 (Textiles made with a single needle)
• Neon bending NEW FOR 2019
• Northumbrian pipe making NEW FOR 2019
• Oar, mast, spar and flagpole making
• Pargeting
• Passementerie (making of tassels and fringes for decoration)
• Percussion instrument making
• Pole lathe bowl turning
• Rake making
• Rush matting NEW FOR 2019
• Sail making
• Scientific glassworking
• Shoe and boot last and tree making NEW FOR 2019
• Side saddle making NEW FOR 2019
• Slating
• Smocking NEW FOR 2019
• Split cane rod making
• Straw working NEW FOR 2019
• Surgical instrument making NEW FOR 2019
• Sussex trug making
• Tile making (wall and floor tiles)
• Umbrella making NEW FOR 2019
• Vegetable tanning
• Wallpaper making
• Wheelwrighting
• Whip making NEW FOR 2019
• Wooden pipe making NEW FOR 2019
• Woodwind instrument making

 Source; The Heritage Crafts Association