News and views April 2023 Issue 176 Rotary Club of Gloucester Severn www.gloucestersevern.rotary1100.org
- 2 - John’s Jottings Well Christmas did eventually come and go, and now we are approaching Easter. By the time you read this we will be into Summer and on the home run. Our club continues to expand, thanks to the work of the membership committee. The latest inductee being David Evans, who was introduced by Adrian Smith. David has recently had his first evening on Top Table, which I hope he enjoyed. The Christmas Party, although not being particularly well supported, turned out to be a very successful evening. I believe that everyone who attended had an enjoyable time. I know we all did on our table! We have three big events during the remainder of this Presidential year. The Dragon Boat Festival is the first on the calendar and it is one that is very close to my heart. Since we took over the running of the event from CLIC Sargent it has become our main fundraiser. We hope that May 14th is a beautifully sunny Sunday and I urge you to come along and enjoy the atmosphere of a fun family day out. The second event is our Charter Night celebration. This is our Ruby year as a Rotary Club. I believe that forty years of organising fundraising activities, service to the local community and giving to others less fortunate than ourselves, deserves a special celebration. We have decided to hold the event on Friday 19th May, as this will give our working members the opportunity to enjoy the evening without having to worry about getting into the office the following day. We have also secured the services of a unique guest speaker. Please make every effort to attend and celebrate our forty-year history as well as look forward to a bright future in the worldwide family of Rotary. The third event is the Final Fling. As you will all know from my previous magazine article, this will be on June 10th at Highnam Court for an Abba and Queen tribute concert. Roger Head has kindly offered us access to the gardens, free of charge, and VIP access to his orangery. The Final Fling at the end of my first term as President was detracted from by rain during the last part of the polo match that we were watching out in the open. This year by having the use of the orangery it will reduce the time that we are vulnerable to the elements. I hope that many of you and your partners will be able to attend and send me off into retirement with a smile on my face following a really great Final Fling. Continued on the next page
- 3 - A Message from Millie Welcome to Spring and all it brings with new growth and ideas. This is my last entry as President's wife and, as I have seen less and less engagements in social events that have been offered, there is little to report on. We still keep in touch of course, but in a different way. Newer members have busy lifestyles and choose to do things their way. The ladies’ lunch club has continued and this will remain a feature in the future as it is enjoyed by so many. We have a ladies’ lunch in a country house hotel in May and a visit to the Javelin Centre in June. That is a wonderful enterprise to see up close and with a great tour to show us round, I am sure we will enjoy both the visit and a lunch together afterwards. We are looking to arrange a skittles match with Tangent, look out for updates. The Charter Night will be a big milestone for the club and many members were there from the beginning. It is very unfortunate that I shall have to miss that, due to a previous engagement. The Final Fling is something I am very much looking forward to in June, so I do hope most of you will be present to enjoy Roger’s wonderful gardens with good food and fabulous company. John and I have enjoyed his year in the chair and I wish the club well going forward. Millie I take this opportunity to thank all of those who stepped up to be club officers and chairs of the various committees, some very early in their time as Rotarians, as well as others who are somewhat longer in the tooth. Without a Council we could not run our club. My sincere thanks to all of you who enabled our club to function smoothly throughout this Rotary year. Wishing Adrian and Geraldine good wishes for their second term at the helm. John Cover photo: President John inducts David Evans as our newest member John’s Jottings - continued
- 4 - Craig Tomes Vocational 11 January 2023 Craig joined the Club about a year ago and tonight he told us a bit more about himself, family and business career to date with his talk being accompanied by a very slick audio/visual presentation that reflected his technological background. Richard Dare was his friend for the evening and he has summarised Craig’s life story with an “Odd Ode” worthy of the late, great Cyril Fletcher (members younger than their mid-50s may have to visit Wikipedia to understand the reference). This poetic masterpiece is on the facing page - enjoy! President’s Final Fling Saturday, 10 June 2023 Highnam Court Gardens Join John and Millie at Highnam Court for a party to celebrate his successful year. You can dance to two top tribute bands and enjoy a picnic as well. And you’ll be helping to raise money for the Pied Piper Appeal at the same time. Courtesy of Roger Head we shall enjoy privileged access to the beautiful gardens, which won’t be open to the general public, as well as the use of the Orangery as our base, which will give us somewhere to sit and enjoy our picnic and drinks - as well as shelter if we get any showers! Bring your own picnic and wine or, alternatively, food and drink will be available on site. All this for just £25 each plus a £1 booking fee. The gates open at 3:00 p.m. And the event finishes at 9:00 p.m. Contact Mike Frost to book your tickets. You are welcome to bring guests if you wish. Just let Mike know when you book.
- 5 - Who the hell is Craig Tomes? To understand the man, we’ll have to review a 50 Year history, Born in rural Shropshire when Foreman beat Frazier, way back in ’73, It’s widely believed he was the first known case of gender mis-identity. A childhood spent camping, eating crisps and dressing like an identical twin, It’s fair to say he liked food and was often derided for being far from thin, Perhaps if he’d played Rugby he might have kept himself a little more lean, But he found his happy place sat at a Vic 20, behind the glare of a screen, Whilst his friends were out kicking balls, playing sport and running free, Craig decided he’d rather spend his inheritance on building his own P.C. It was then that things got serious and computing finally took over his life, In fact, it was this chance of fate that limited his ability to find a future wife, (Along with dodgy fashion sense, home haircuts and late shedding puppy fat) But It’s a good job he’s fun, has a strong personality and loves to chat and chat, Which, when combined with these IT Skills, paved the way for his future path, Making money through his love, he decided to stop doing things by half. A gaming nerd who could engage with people proved the perfect selling tool, He soon became the go to guy, computing took off and he almost became cool, From DOS 6.2 to Windows 95, it made no difference, he pretended to know it all, His reputation grew, Commercial group took note, and he heard their call, He was offered an I.T. manager role, before his sales ability came to the fore, He loved it, charming customers, the buzz of the sale drove him to sell more and more. From photocopiers, printers and even I.T. training contracts, he flogged the lot, Driving around the country he’d sell anything he could, it mattered not, And so the firm kept growing and with it he quickly rose up the ranks, (It was around this time he even met a wife and proved he wasn’t firing blanks) Craig now sits high up on the board of directors and looks after 120 staff, But he’s the same as ever; down to earth, hardworking and always up for a laugh. Yet his work is relentless, and technology drives forward at a rapid pace, Bringing cyber threats, A.I and the prospect of being overthrown by a robotic race, Quantum computing is coming and farming information at lightning speed, Criminals are one step ahead and firms have a pressing security need, Craig’s got his hands full but there’s cash to be made, so that’s where he’ll be, Solving IT problems with a smile on his face whilst charging you a large daily fee. When not working he’ll often bike through Painswick and Cranham Wood, Scuffing up greens, knocking down dogs, riding out a different childhood. It’s taken 50 years but there can at last be no doubt, Craig is a boy. He’s grown up, ditched the baggy jumpers and matching corduroy. Now you’ll find him driving his Model Y, smiling, confident, full of glee, Top down, music blaring, wondering how life has turned out so unexpectedly. Richard Dare (with apologies to William McGonagall)
- 6 - Lance Bradley Gloucester Rugby 18 January 2023 L ance last visited us in January 2020, just before the world came to a grinding halt from lockdown and it was a pleasure to welcome him back to tell us a bit about how Gloucester Rugby has coped with the challenges of the past three years and to learn something of the Club’s plans for the future. Lance began by referring back to the situation at the Club when he last spoke to us. He had then only been in post for four months, Johan Ackermann was the Head Coach, David Humphries was Director of Rugby, Saracens had been deducted 35 points for cheating, which we thought was the worst thing that could happen in rugby – and nobody had ever heard of Covid. He had inherited a club that was staffed by a lot of really good people and a playing side that seemed to be in good shape. However, once he started looking at the situation in more detail, he found that there were issues that needed to be addressed. There was a disconnect between the commercial side of the business and the playing side and there was a further separation on the playing side between the first team and the Academy with none of the factions really speaking to each other. Also, the Club’s financial performance had been declining for the previous few years and, just before Lance started, it was looking at a £2.5 million loss. He had started making changes to address these issues and, notwithstanding the impact of Covid, the financial situation has improved, and they are building up the conferencing and events side of the business so that Kingsholm is generating significant revenue every week, not just on match days. However, they continue to be affected by factors beyond their control. For example, the electricity bill has gone up from £200,000 to £500,000. Last year Worcester failed to turn up for their match, which has cost the Club £400,000 and, of course, their failure this year has meant that the revenue from that game has been lost as well. The injury list is having a serious impact, both in terms of the team and the financial implications arising. The Club was fortunate that George McGuigan was available, and that they had signed him as cover when Singleton got injured. Then Socino was injured shortly afterwards and, as Lance said, it is unheard of to lose both your first-choice hookers within a couple of weeks of each other. There are, of course, injury dispensations within the salary cap budget, but the additional player still has to be paid for, which was a further unbudgeted six-figure sum. However, despite all of these issues, Lance expects that the Club should post a small profit for 2022-23 – helped a bit by the fee they have received from Bath to make Kingsholm available for their Challenge Cup match against Toulon last weekend as the Rec was waterlogged!
- 7 - The Club has taken some time to assess their aims and a realistic timescale for their achievement and then recruited the additional members to the management team that it was felt they needed. He has introduced changes to the remuneration structure throughout the Club. In the past each department would earn a bonus based on its performance and this tended to promote interdepartmental cross-charging and frictions. Now the bonus structures are based upon the success of the whole club which results in everyone pulling together in a common cause. Lance feels very strongly about promoting a “one club” ethic, which is one of the reasons that everyone is now based in the same place, eat together and socialise together. Inevitably, the review included looking at the playing budget, but it was recognised that the whole purpose of Gloucester Rugby is to win things. So, it was decided early on that they would continue to spend up to the salary cap. That is not to say that there hasn’t been a restructuring. In the past, there would be a renegotiation of players’ contracts as they fell due for renewal. This is still the case, but there is now a framework which considers whether the player is the first, second or third choice for every position and with salary bands to match. Therefore, if a player wants to earn more money it is up to him to improve his position within the hierarchy. Lance went on to outline other changes that have been made ranging from renegotiating kit sponsorship to improved monitoring of ticket sales and a reassessment of season ticket prices. Also, the club is trying to broaden its appeal by encouraging families, minority ethnic groups and others to give club rugby a try. As far as player recruitment is concerned, Lance and George Skivington and his team feel strongly that the first question to be addressed is: “Is he a good bloke who will fit in?” A lot of work has gone into creating a cohesive squad playing for each other and there is no wish to recruit a prima donna who might divide the dressing room. Also, a lot of work has gone into improving the structure of the Academy and in making sure that its members can see an opportunity to progress into the main squad so, hopefully, avoiding losing talent as has happened in the past. Lance then spoke a bit about the Club’s developing association with the Gloucester Hartpury women’s team which had been bumping along mid-table in the Allianz Premier 15s. About a year ago the Club began a dialogue with them to establish what support they needed to improve their position and, hopefully, win the league. They are now in the process of establishing a formal joint-venture to replace the old ad hoc relationship. A start was made by changing their kit so that they too played in the same cherry and white strip as the men, which then gave the opportunity to speak to the men’s sponsors about extending their support to the women as well. In these inclusive days this was an offer they couldn’t refuse! So, a whole new income stream was established which, in turn, gave Gloucester Hartpury the opportunity to recruit top players, and they are presently top of the league. Kingsholm will be hosting three of their league matches during the season and Lance encouraged us to go along and support them. Lance covered a lot more ground in his talk, but space constraints preclude me from reporting it all. However, I felt that the future of Gloucester Rugby is in good hands and that the future is bright! John Bowman Lance Bradley - continued
- 8 - Stewart Dempster The History of RAF Fairford 25 January 2023 S tewart Dempster has been fascinated by military aircraft since childhood and was an RAF reservist for two years. He had travelled all the way from Newbury to tell us a bit about the airfield’s history. Fairford Airfield was built in 1943 and was initially used to transport troops behind enemy lines using Horsa gliders, as part of the D-day landings. For most of the rest of the war it was used as a resupply base. The US Air Force arrived in numbers in 1950 and lengthened the runway to accommodate the heavy bombers used in European photo-reconnaissance. B52 bombers were there from 1952 onwards. Once aircraft became out of date they were taken to the “boneyard” near Tucson, Arizona where 5,000 of them are stored. Once they arrive there the wings and engines are removed to prove they have been decommissioned. In the past both the Red Arrows and Concorde were based at Fairford and, because of the length of its runway, even the Space Shuttle can land there if it had to in an emergency. The Royal International Air Tattoo has been held there since 1996. Two U2 “Spy” planes are based there, one taking off each day on an unspecified mission. Bizarrely these aircraft only have one main central landing wheel to save weight and temporary side struts are attached as it lands. I have to say that I didn’t really understand the logic of this! Stewart’s talk was well received and he hinted he might try and organize a visit for us at a later date. Let’s hope that is possible. Martin Odell An Airspeed Horsa glider U 2
- 9 - Oliver Keightley The Modern Firefighter 1 February 2023 We were pleased to welcome Oliver Keightley (Olly), a Firefighter Crew Manager at Cheltenham East Station who gave us a presentation on the role of the modern firefighter. Olly began by asking the audience what they thought were the main roles of the firefighter. A number of suggestions came forth, but not the expected “expert pool and darts players”! Olly quickly dispelled this myth with his first slide telling us that any waiting times between “shouts” is nowadays spent training or providing fire safety advice to businesses and households. He gave us some interesting statistics on the Gloucestershire Service - 21 fire stations, 32 fire engines, 15 specialist vehicles, 170 whole-time staff, 20 control staff and 5,090 incidents last year. He then went on to describe the main activities carried out by the Service. The duties or core functions are stipulated in the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and cover: 1. Fire Safety This includes promoting fire safety, advising on steps to be taken to prevent fires and death or injury by fire and how to prevent fires and provide means of escape. It involves visits to people’s homes giving advice, fitting smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, if eligible, and making referrals for help from other agencies. Inspections of local businesses and enforcement of the legislation is also covered. 2. Firefighting Extinguishing fires and protecting life and property. In the three years from April 2017 to March 2020, GFRS attended an average of 304 dwelling fires per year. During the period over half of all dwelling fires in Gloucestershire occurred between 12:00 and 20:00, with the busiest period being between 17:00 and 19:00. There are an average of 1.5 fire deaths a year in Gloucestershire. Olly illustrated some of the dangers of firefighting with dramatic videos showing examples of flashover and backdraft. He also explained the various sources of the vast quantities of water necessary when extinguishing fires. These include the water on board the engine, fire hydrants, rivers, lakes and even swimming pools. 3. Road traffic accidents Rescuing people involved in road traffic accidents and protecting them from serious harm in an accident. Car occupants are the most likely to be killed in an RTC (Road Traffic Collision) followed by pedestrians, motorcyclists and then cyclists. Children under the age of fifteen are most likely to be involved in RTCs as pedestrians. In the three years to 31 March 2020, GFRS attended 663 small vehicle RTC incidents. Of these, 181 required extrication, 539 people were injured and 31 fatalities occurred. Continued on page 11
- 10 - Talitha Nelson Gloucestershire Community Foundation 8 February 2023 The Club was pleased to welcome Talitha, who is the CEO of the Gloucestershire Community Foundation (GCF) based in Boddington. This was Talitha’s first presentation to a Rotary Club and reflected her goal to raise the Foundation’s profile. Indeed, a quick show of hands confirmed that very few members present were aware of its existence. Talitha explained that the idea for Community Foundations had originated in the USA as a resource for charitable organisations that had difficulty finding beneficiaries for their grants and needed to improve their efficiency. The Community Foundation solution was to design a model that would look at the root causes of problems in communities instead of being cause-specific, to engage local people in decision making and to be more efficient. Individual Community Foundations are geographic specific, by local area or region. In the UK there are now forty-seven such organisations operating independently and serving every community in the UK. Together they are the fourth largest founders of charities nationally. At the heart of the work of Community Foundations is grant making. In an average year the Gloucester Foundation makes grants totalling around £300,000, provided to around 100 local charities as selected by a GCF panel of ten. The panel comprises volunteer members from local communities as well as representatives from the Fund and the Trustees. Perhaps surprisingly, there are over 2,500 Gloucestershire registered charities competing for funding. Talitha explained that operationally the last two years had been far from average. An exceptional rise in grants to an increased number of charities was successfully managed as the Fund reacted to the negative community impact of the Pandemic, closely followed by the cost of living crisis. Based on local research in 2021, the Fund launched a support programme for the leaders of Gloucestershire charities. This has proved to be very successful. Mentors are provided by the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire, assisted by the Cranfield Trust. The mentors offer someone that leaders can talk to outside of their organisation and a helping hand to deal with the increased operating challenges in the charitable sector. A recent development has been the appointment of a philanthropy manager who will help build the endowment capital of GCF by matching potential donors from the local community with Gloucestershire causes, where unmet need continues to rise.
- 11 - Olly then went on to describe some of the other services provided which included flood and water rescue, rescues from height, dealing with hazardous materials and rescuing animals. He concluded his talk by running through the rigorous process needed to become a firefighter and inviting us to view the protective kit they used when tackling a fire. His talk made us really aware of this essential and valuable service that is being provided by a dedicated team of men and women. Roger Boucher The Modern Firefighter - continued from page 9 Our speaker for our meeting on 1 March should have been Collette Finnegan who was to tell us something about child protection in Gloucestershire. Unfortunately, Collette was taken ill during the afternoon and had to cancel her visit at the last minute. Obtaining a replacement speaker at such a late stage proved to be beyond even the superpowers of Roger Boucher, so we relaxed after the meal and settled down to a good natter, putting the world to rights. At my table we sorted out what was wrong with Rotary, Gloucester Rugby, the UK political scene, the economy and the cost of living crisis in fairly short order, but decided to leave world peace for another day! Seriously though, it was very pleasant to have time to enjoy some good fellowship without being under any particular time pressure. We hope that Collette makes a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming her to a meeting sometime in the future. The total endowment held by GCF is around £8 million, the income from which goes into grant making. GCF is justifiably proud of its low operating costs (around 9%) compared with a much higher charity sector average. Albeit strongly supported by a considerable number of appropriately experienced volunteers, GCF operates with an average staff of just 3.5 people. After a very informative and enthusiastic presentation from Talitha, a member voiced a thought that there may be an opportunity for the Club to work with GCF. Perhaps one for Council? Mike Frost Talitha Nelson - continued
- 12 - Paul Barnett The Severn Railway Bridge Disaster 15 February 2023 T his evening we welcomed maritime historian Paul Barnett who talked to us about The Severn Railway Bridge Disaster. Paul is an enthusiastic marine historian and a former member of both the Royal and Merchant Navies and he recounted to us the tale of the Disaster, dispelling a few myths along the way. He started with the history of the bridge, which was designed to cross the Severn during the Forest of Dean’s peak of industry in the 19th Century to transport goods out of the Forest. Paul talked about the design of the bridge which was built in twenty-one bowstring girder spans supported on cast iron piers with the approach sitting on a total of fourteen masonry arches on either side. The bridge took four years to complete and spanned over 1,200 metres. Paul reminded us that health and safety didn’t exist in the same way as it does today, and sadly there were a number of fatalities during the construction period. Once completed, the trains that crossed the bridge carried both goods and passengers. This was important because the bridge connected the Forest of Dean with Sharpness both in terms of trade, but it also linked the communities, many of whom used the bridge to travel from one side of the Severn to the other for school and work. On 25 October 1960 two tanker barges collided in heavy fog near to Sharpness on the River Severn. They got caught by the tide, lost control, and smashed into one of the bridge's pillars. The bridge partially collapsed and one of the boats, which was carrying petrol, caught fire and exploded. The other vessel was carrying a cargo of black oil which ignited and burnt for several hours. Five men lost their lives in the disaster. The Severn Railway Bridge never reopened and was finally demolished in 1967. All that remains today is the circular stone structure of the swing bridge on the side of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. The remains of the two barges still lie side by side and are revealed at low tide. The two communities remain permanently separated by the disaster. Joe Roberts
- 13 - Nik Hill Comedy Night 22 February 2023 We were treated to a slightly different evening when Nik Hill presented a stand-up comedy routine at our club. He started by telling us a little about his background. He was born in Gloucester and lived in Upton St Leonards in the sixties when Bowden Hall was an approved school for girls. He started his comedy career in 1994 when his father, who was involved with the Severn Dean Lions Club, asked him to contribute to a variety show he was arranging at the Forest of Dean Theatre Coleford. He did two five-minute slots, the first between Julia Gibbons on the flute and The Wye Valley Chorus and the second between Mabel Beach’s monologue and The Elizabeth Corney School of Dancing! This traumatic experience caused him to leave comedy alone for ten years until he saw an advert in the Citizen saying “Comedians Wanted”. This led to a five minute slot at the Miner’s Arms in Sling and, from this, he got further requests to perform and comedy became an obsession. Nik explained that when you first start doing comedy, it was necessary to join the open mike circuit. Normally this would commence with five minutes of material followed, if you were liked, by a seven minute slot and then, after other gigs, possibly ten minutes. His love of comedy meant that he was travelling all over the country doing gigs in Manchester, Liverpool etc, all for nothing, but if you want to make it in the comedy world you have to do it. At the moment the comedy business is absolutely saturated with a lot of young stand ups doing exactly that, crisscrossing the country every night, often doing gigs in tiny little pubs to audiences of only three or four for no money - but this is the way that major comedy stars of today all started. Nik now runs and performs at two stand-up venues in Gloucester, the Rugby Club and the Gloucester Brewery. He has performed alongside Sarah Millican, Rhod Gilbert, Jon Richardson and Alan Carr. He also won the Silver Stand Up Competition in 2022, a comedy competition for acts over the age of 55. Nik is meticulous in his preparation for gigs and showed us his “bible” where he wrote down all his ideas and kept detailed records of all the gigs at which he had performed. Nik then went on to regale us with various anecdotes, many based on personal experiences. He was not afraid of covering some fairly sensitive subjects such as his own height (short), his relationship with his wife and his mother’s dementia. He concluded by answering various questions which enabled him to produce further amusing stories about dealing with hecklers, using other comedians’ material and his views on comedians whose material may be regarded as off limits. The evening was a success and encourages us to attempt similar evenings in the future. Roger Boucher
- 14 - Paul Baker, Carolyne Ferguson and Nick Williams Missing Link Update 8 March 2023 Carolyne and Nick from Kier Highways visited us towards the end of last year to tell us about the plans for constructing the long-awaited A417 missing link. At that time, the final governmental approval was awaited, so everything was still in limbo. Happily, consent was forthcoming and the scheme went unconditional last week. The whole project is scheduled to take four years and, all other things being equal, the road will be open at the end of February 2027. They had returned to give us an update and, this time, they were accompanied by their boss, Paul Baker, who is the Programme Director for the South of England. After an introduction by Carolyne, Nick told us that the first year will be devoted mainly to mitigating the ecological effect of the planned works and carrying out the archaeological investigations that are required. On the ecological front there will be a lot of work protecting indigenous mammals, reptiles and snails, including relocating them, where necessary. In addition, trees on the site that are to be retained will be protected to ensure that they are not accidentally damaged by the construction work. There will be an enormous amount of protective fencing to be put up. Paul mentioned the need for fencing to ensure that badgers don’t encroach and more fencing to control a large colony of Roman Snails, whose ancestors were brought over by the Romans as food when they invaded! Adders and newts will have to relocated as well. There are many species of bats in the area and so a lot of bat boxes will have to be put up and there is even going to be a “bat barn” built to accommodate some of the colonies. As far as the archaeology is concerned, there is an expectation that a lot of artefacts will be found, some dating back to the Bronze Age. The area to be explored is some 27 hectares and the survey, which is expected to last for nine months, will be carried out under the supervision of Gloucestershire County Council’s Archaeology Department. A number of compounds will need to be built to store materials and equipment and provide welfare facilities for the workforce. In addition to all of these works, the main site clearance will begin in Autumn 2023. The main earthworks will begin in 2024 and run through to November 2025. The hope is that the traffic will be switched to the new road at the end of 2025, which will enable the other necessary works to be completed the following year. Paul then told us a bit about the new structures that were to be built – e.g. the Cotswold Way and Gloucester Way crossings and the Cowley overbridge. A lot of the fabrication work will be carried out off-site and then brought in for installation. This excellent presentation provoked a lot of questions which were fielded well by our guests. Carolyne concluded by promising to come back next year with another update.
- 15 - Chas Townley The Rise and Fall of the Bisley Path 15 March 2023 C has was excellent company. He lives in Stroud, is now retired, a keen walker and a local historian who has spent much of his time researching the Bisley Path. The Path runs from Corinium (Cirencester) to Glevum (Gloucester), and was certainly in existence in Roman times, and was likely a route used by the Dobunni local tribe before that, so could be very old indeed. No one really knows! Starting at the Glevum end the Path runs on an, at times, devious route from The Cross down Barton Street out along the Wheatridge, then between Upton St Leonard's and Matson, being the route used in Roman times. It continues past The King’s Head and on up the escarpment on the Painswick Road track past Painswick Beacon and into Painswick at the Court House. Then, apparently, it went past Peter Harris’s house before heading out the back, across the valley and up to Bull’s Cross. From there it went downhill to the Steanbridge crossing - importantly recorded in 1248 as a bridge in the Slad Valley. Thence to Bisley passing Catsford Farm and on to cross the Holy Brook at Tunley. Moving on to crossing the Frome (known as the Gulph in olden days) west of Cirencester Park Corner; the path continued alongside the north border of Cirencester Park, as it then was, to Cicely Hill in Corinium. This seems to be a plausible route, although the Bisley Path is NOT signposted. However, prior to wheeled wagons, the steepness of hillsides was not a great issue, especially if a much shorter distance was covered walking. The Romans had chariots and wagons and so built the military road, Ermin Street, for their use. Nevertheless, the Bisley Path in the 1750’s was turnpiked, with tollhouses, until it was de-piked in 1814 when the Chalford to Cirencester road was built and turnpiked instead. The Path is unrecognisable in places nowadays as it was never a metalled road only a series of interconnected tracks - or sometimes sunken lanes - used over thousands of years. It is clearer In Cirencester Park (now larger) if one wished to see it; but be aware that the closing time for access is 5 pm, as this section of the Path is now a part of the private estate. The Gloucester to Tunley section still has the ancient milestones, one by the Kings Head, two on the way up the hill , one near the Beacon, one in Painswick, at Bulls Cross, Bisley, and Tunley. None further east, but the route was turnpiked. Famously, the Path was used by King Charles I on his way to the Siege of Gloucester. He stayed at the Court House one night and then moved on to Matson House. The Roundheads were garrisoned in Painswick Church but were routed in 1644 by Sir William Vavasour’s Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Painswick. This was a fascinating, if somewhat rambling evening, delivered with great enthusiasm. Peter Burton
- 16 - Chris Nelson Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner 22 March 2023 We were very pleased to have Chris Nelson join us tonight to give us an overview of his work as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire since he was appointed in 2021. Chris is responsible for setting the strategic priorities for policing in the area, and for ensuring that the police force is working towards achieving those priorities. These include, holding the Chief Constable to account, setting the policing budget (some £150 million per annum), engaging with the community to understand its needs, and commissioning services that support the work of the police force. Born a Geordie and growing up in Leeds, Chris joined the Army at eighteen, going on to retire as a full Colonel - having served in the first Gulf war, as well as helping to protect the streets of Northern Ireland. After retirement he went on to enjoy a successful career in business. Chris has also been a Borough Councillor and Parish Council chairman. With recent headlines questioning trust in the police force nationally, it was a timely opportunity for Chris to give his plans to improve this in our local area. Indeed, Chris spends much of his time listening and seeking opinion from the local communities as to improvements and priorities that they would like to see in ‘Our’ police force. Chris explained that his priorities included anti-social behaviour, rural crime, scam calls and improvement to the 101 service. Additionally, his promise to take a zero-tolerance approach has been reinforced by introducing an additional 300 police officers onto Gloucestershire’s streets. One of the areas that Chris is keen to promote is volunteering, whether it be as a special police force officer, or a PCSO. Opportunities for volunteering even include driving police cars between stations or being a horse groom or rider! The questions came thick and fast, some being concerned about the 5% increase in policing as part of our council tax payments. Equating to approximately £15, Chris still believes it is not enough to provide the level of policing that we would all ultimately desire. Concerns were also raised about how more serious physical crime had been ‘too close to home’ for some members of Rotary. Chris sought to give some reassurance by touching on his focus on house burglaries, increased local policing, CCTV and ANPR improvements and their wider deployment. Further, he has introduced a policy which guarantees that ALL home burglaries will be visited by a police officer. We thank Chris for what was a very interesting and informative presentation. Craig Tomes
- 17 - Ian Boskett The Great Train Robbery 29 March 2023 I an gave us a most interesting and amusing talk on an event we thought we knew quite a lot about. As a railway enthusiast he was asked some time ago to do a talk about trains but thought that might be a bit boring (some of us may agree!) and a friend suggested the Great Train Robbery instead; and so began a career of eighty-seven talks so far. Back in 1963 the Bank of Scotland had to transfer their used bank notes to the Bank of England on a weekly basis for crediting to their account and their subsequent destruction – no internet transfers in those days! The practice was to ship them on the nightly mail train that ran from Glasgow to London. Astonishingly, because these were old notes, no detailed records were kept of the actual amount being shipped, it being left to be counted on arrival. The train departed Glasgow for London at 5:30 every evening and comprised twelve coaches behind a fast locomotive. The first coach was the brake coach, and the money was always carried in the second - a secure coach - with five men. The other ten coaches carried eighty-five men who were sorting the mail during the journey. Despite the high values being transported there was no travelling police presence. The robbers’ plan was to stop the train by changing the signals, disconnect the last ten coaches and move the remainder down the line to an isolated but accessible bridge, where they would break into the carriage. They would then leg it to an isolated farmhouse where they would lie low until the search had died down. There were sixteen robbers, fourteen of whom were well known to the police as violent criminals from London or Brighton. In fact, Inspector Jack Slipper named all fourteen when he was asked about likely suspects. The other two were Ronnie Biggs, a petty criminal who was only involved because he lived next door to the railway driver who the robbers needed to drive the train down the track. Royal Mail had four secure coaches one of which was attached to the ‘money train’, as it was known, and strangely it was the one that had the lowest level of protection in use that night. Ian had brought a very heavy example of the signal light box in use that night to show us how they did it. Continued overleaf
- 18 - Any damage to the three lights in the signal would have sent a message to the signal box and a man would have been sent straight out to sort the problem. The robbers came up with a low-tech solution – they simply opened the back of the box, put a glove in front of the green light bulb to mask it and then connected an external battery to light the red bulb! In fact, the robber who was responsible for fixing the advance signal was impatient and careless and just took his bulb out. A message was duly sent but the man responsible for going to repair it decided to finish his burger before going out, so got there too late. The train, as always on time, was stopped and the coaches disconnected as planned and practiced on smaller local lines - the eighty-five mail workers inside the detached coaches assumed that the train was stopped at a signal and were not aware of what was happening until too late. The robbers coshed the driver Jack Mills but when the robbers’ driver got on board, he discovered he couldn’t drive the train as he was only used to small shunters! Therefore, they forced Jack Mills to drive the train to the bridge where a lorry and two Land Rovers waited to take away the 120 sacks of money containing £2.6 million (worth £50 million today). The train was initially stopped at 3.05 am and they were gone just twenty-five minutes later. The thieves then hid at Leatherslade Farm, a farm that had been for sale for some time and had been bought for the robbery by a crooked lawyer. They had intended to hide there for some weeks until the search died down, but the police thought that the robbers wouldn’t go far initially and put out a public appeal. A villager who lived nearby had noticed some activity at the farm and went to the police, but nothing was done after his first two visits, but they did finally act the third time he went. The robbers were listening to police radio messages so were not caught then. They were identified by the painstaking work of a fingerprint expert, mainly from the Monopoly set with which they played with real money! Some of the money was found, £100,000 had been buried in a panic in a wood, some in the walls of a caravan of a neighbour of one of the robbers; but only £650,000 was recovered in total. As this was a crime against the state, i.e. the Royal Mail, all those caught were sentenced to twenty-eight years in prison; but all were out by 1979 and even collaborated on a book. Full of lies apparently! The petty criminal Ronnie Biggs escaped from prison using a rope made from sheets; famously getting to South America but was eventually spotted by a detective who knows someone who knows our very own Duncan Lord. Some time later a post office worker who had retired two weeks after the robbery died and it was revealed that he had given the inside information to the gang but had got away with it. This was a very good story very well told. Roger, have you got any more old mates to bring along? Interestingly Ian spoke admiringly of Roger Boucher’s football prowess - apparently a former Tewkesbury ‘Bites your legs defender’. Hence you see many men of Roger’s age walking round Tewkesbury with a limp! Bob Paterson The Great Train Robbery - continued
- 19 - David Evans President John was delighted to welcome David as our newest member at our meeting on 15 February. David was born in Swansea and educated at Lydney Grammar School and Swansea University, where he gained an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduating David has enjoyed a career in the chemical industry, working in various parts of the UK before settling in Cheltenham and joining Invista (formerly ICI) in Brockworth in 1997. He retired from there in 2019. He is married to Angela and they have three children and five grandchildren. David is a keen sailor and walker and involved with a Sailability Club based in South Cerney which offers opportunities for the disabled to enjoy the sport. We all look forward to getting to know David and Angela better in the coming months and hope that he enjoys participating in our fundraising and social activities. FUNCTION OF THE EXECUTIVE As nearly everyone knows an Executive has practically nothing to do except to decide what is to be done, to tell somebody to do it, to listen to reasons why it should not be done in a different way, to follow up to see if the thing has been done, only to discover that it has not. Then to enquire why, to listen to excuses from the person who should have done it, to follow up again to see if the thing has now been done only to discover that it has been done incorrectly. To point out how it should have been done, to conclude that as long as it has been done, it may as well be kept as it is. To wonder if it is not time to get rid of a person who cannot do a thing right; to reflect that he probably has a wife and large family and that certainly any successor would be just as bad and maybe worse: to consider how much simpler and better the thing would have been done if one had done it oneself in the first place: to reflect sadly that one could have done it right in twenty minutes, and as things turned out one has had to spend two days to find out why it has taken three weeks for somebody else to do it wrong.
We normally meet on Wednesday evenings at the Bowden Hall Hotel, Upton St Leonards; at 7:30 pm for an 8:00 pm start, unless otherwise advised. Details of the programme can be found on our website: www.gloucestersevern.rotary1100.org. Apologies for absence should be given to John Bowman no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding the meeting, otherwise you will be charged for your meal and a share of any other non-recoverable costs. Apologies may be given by email to [email protected], via the apologies section of the website or by phone to 01452-524580 (land) or 07796-268243 (mobile). Birthday Greetings Many happy returns to all of those members who will be celebrating their birthdays up to the end of June Peter Burton 1 April Duncan Lord 2 April John Barnes 9 April Clive Townsend 11 April Neil Normington 14 April Dwaine Bushell 29 April Richard Colley 8 May Eamonn McGurk 13 May Tony Priestley 5 June Chris Price 11 Jun Adrian Smith 13 June Bob Paterson 14 June THE LAST WORD First of all, I am sorry that this issue of News and Views is a bit later than usual. It was a quite a quiet quarter which meant that I was a bit short of copy to start with, but a couple of longer articles have bailed me out. However, I apologise for filling the final space on the previous page with a bit of nonsense. It was written over fifty years ago, but I think it proves that nothing really changes!. Still, it’s all done now and I hope that you have found something to interest you in its pages. This is Issue 176 of our magazine. It has been published regularly ever since our formation forty years ago and the past issues provide an interesting insight into the evolution of the Rotary Club of Gloucester Severn. They are all available in an online archive. Contact me if you’d like access. As most of you know, I will be relinquishing my editorship at the end of this Rotary year, so the next magazine will be the last issue that I shall produce. Which brings me on to the main point - we need a replacement editor to take over the reins. It needn’t be a particularly onerous job. I choose to produce it quarterly, but it is up to the editor to decide how often they publish. I knew nothing about desktop publishing when I first took it on, but modern software is very straightforward to use. The key requirements are a methodical approach and the ability to devote an hour or so a week to it. Little and often makes it all very easy. I will, of course, be happy to help in the early days, if needed. Most of the content is written by others and it is largely a matter of reviewing and, if necessary, correcting the articles that you are sent. A decent spell-checker can be quite useful! I would hate to see the magazine die after all these years. So, if you think that this is something that you could take on, please let Adrian know as soon as you can. As always, my thanks to those who have written articles and sent photographs to me. I know that I say this every time, but it’s true - without your efforts there would be no magazine. John Bowman