Author: Seb Palmer

St Clement’s is an interesting church. One of a few locally that have the tower separate from the remainder of the edifice.

We were lucky; the church was locked, but a couple of folk turned up (for choir practice, apparently), and let us in. Good timing!

The lady told us the font was particularly interesting. And proceeded to open it up for us. She wasn’t lying!

It’s hard to follow a font like that. But there remains plenty more to enjoy. Such as the several different parts of the roof, and some lovely stained-glass.

As you near the altar the stained glass reaches a crescendo of loveliness.

And finally, back out, to wander round the graveyard…

St Clement’s is a lovely church. Well worth a visit. We weren’t able to look inside the tower, sadly. Maybe another time?

I was delivering miles and miles away from where I normally work. I spotted this church, near the end of my route.

Shut.

Hey ho!

Took the above whilst stopped on the road from Whittlesey to Thorney, just before crossing the river Nene. And shortly after this field full o’ cows, was a field full o’ sheep! Aw… lovely.

And then, after my final drop, in Thorney (a lovely village that dates back to the 600s), I saw these geese. I love living out in the country! It nourishes the soul in a way the city not only fails to do so, but actively works against.

I used to studiously ignore these public info’ boards. Not entirely sure why, to be honest!? I’ve snapped this one so I can read it at me leisure (the latter to be pronounced US style, as in seizure!), out of the biting winds that are blowing today.

I stopped just outside Thorney to have my Morrison’s salad counter lunch. Delish! We must – or rather I must – start making such stuff at home. It’ll be cheaper, and very healthy. And it’s way more satisfying and delicious than the ‘pornography for the palate’ that is so much of contemporary convenience foods.

I’m going to sit and chill here for a while. And prob’ try and book some more delivery work. Those two things don’t go together – relaxing and getting work – truth be told!

I wish I had a better camera! The above image totally fails to capture the magic moment a Douglas C-47 in D-Day colours flew overhead.

Another visit to ye church of ye ol’ Thorney Abbey.

This time I didn’t a good deal more time looking around outdoors. The weather was gorgeous. And so, too, it turns out, is the graveyard.

I spent a good deal of time wandering around, snapping away. A primary school party passed through whilst I was making merry taking pics. I wonder what they all made of me (if anything)?

Having spent a really good deal of time, and most satisfyingly so, wandering around outside, on this most glorious of days, in a sublime graveyard, the time finally came to go in.

The real treasure here is the main window, pictured below. Truly glorious. And as I’ve said elsewhere, very like some of the stained glass at Ely Cathedral.

And lo, it finally came time to go…

I love the picture above. I think of it as ‘beatnik with a bassoon’! I’m not sure exactly what instrument David Munrow is actually playing, in the photo. But the bassoon was one of the first things he learned, as a child, so it seems apt.

As this post will attest, I’m undergoing a mildly manic phase of digging deeper into David Munrow, the man and the music. And more…

I’ve posted on this topic before (here, for example). But I intend to make this post into a longer-term place to collect as much stuff on the subject as I can. Stuff like this.

This evening, as I battle the Black Eyed Dog myself, I googled ‘why David Munrow suicide?’. This came up; which, it turned out, was more about his life than his death.

It may seem morbid, but I do want to know more about the where, when, how, and why of his hanging himself, aged just 33, in – I think? – the beautiful Bucks village of Chesham Bois, back in ‘76.

Why? Well, partly because I feel that I partake of a similar manic depressive psyche. In researching this rather macabre topic I learned several things:

That he has a sister (an actress, still alive and working); that the date of his demise was 15th May. And that he had attempted suicide before, by drug overdose. What drugs? Prescription, or other? How/why?

But, whilst I’ll undoubtedly return to this sad theme another time, for now, at the time of commencing this post, I only have these two newly arrived double-CDs of his work:

I’ve been listening to these discs over the last few days. And I adore them. I was worried the top one – Instruments of the Middle Ages – might be too programmatic and educational to make good listening. How wrong I was! But I’ll save ‘reviewing’ any of these recordings for another time.

Meanwhile, my passion for further exploration of Munrow and the great variety of predominantly older – or ‘Early’ – music he helped make more widely known is leading me to collect more of his recorded legacy. I have just ordered these:

That still leaves loads more to explore. I think I read somewhere that in the mere decade of his recording car etc he released about 55 recordings! These include stuff such as the following (some of which are on CD, some vinyl, and some on both formats):

One thing one ought to remember is that Munrow’s recorded output was originally released on record.

I’m more in to collecting CDs, these days. I’d probably have preferred to stick with records. But, many moons ago, those cheeky smaller CDs more or less eclipsed the much bulkier vinyl. Only for us to then witness a more recent renaissance of records.

In terms of the bulk of my music collection, I’m stuck with CDs, format wise.

[pic]

I’m going to try and compile a list of Munrow’s recorded works, and see what formats they’re available in (this website should help me do that).

To give a few examples, here’s a series of mini galleries, contrasting some old vinyl versions with CDs that contain the same, or overlapping, content. The vinyl version is on the left, CD on the right:

Sometimes, as can be seen in the above comparison, a CD reissue will group different recordings together. I could equally well have made this comparison:

In both instances ye olde vinyl is far more attractively packaged. But I’ll have to put up with the visual aesthetic let-down. And console myself with a slight duplication of content; I already have this:

Or, in another and different combination, the first two, below, wind up together on CD, in the third (and visually much duller) incarnation:

It also turns out that some of the music on one of the CDs I’ve just ordered is also available separately on CD, for example in this edition:

The EMI version is vinyl, the Virgin Veritas is CD.

But let’s go back a bit… shown directly below is an album that touches on where all things Munrow started, kind of, for me. I say kind of, ‘cause I encountered The Hobbit music not on this funky old vinyl LP, but embedded in the CD version of the BBC radio adaptation

For now, in this first segment of what I hope will be a gradually growing post, I’ll sign off on this evening’s researches with some more ‘then and now’ comparisons:

For Courtly Love we can contrast two vinyl versions with a more recent CD re-issue.

That’s it for the first instalment of this post. I’ll return to augment it with more (such as stuff about Munrow’s radio and TV work), as and when I can.

THE NEXT DAY…

I have the above pictured version of The Hobbit. It’s an endearing interpretation of Tolkien’s mini-epic and more kid-oriented precursor to The Lord o’ The Rings.

Rather annoyingly, despite the extra CD of music, and echoing the same scenario with The BBC’s (?) adaption of TLOTR, the musical moments I like the most are not included on the CD!

One of my delivery stops today was Belton Hall, a property in Lincolnshire, owned by the NT. Teresa and I must visit. I wonder, have we been before?

St. Bartholomew’s, Welby

I finished in the village of Welby today. And I was right next to St Bartholomew’s. So I had a look around. It was shut. But a phone call got someone out to open up for me.

St. Bart’s has some great gargoyles. And some nice ornamentation.

A rather snazzy rood screen, more interesting carvings inside, and one nice stained glass windows.

A great little church, a bit off my usual map. Literally. Further north than I usually go. Well worth a look.

St Andrew’s, Kelby

Bagpuss spots another spire, off in the distance. Actually I was recommended this church by the keyholder of St. Bart’s.

St Andrew’s was also locked. But in this case I couldn’t get hold of a keyholder. It was also a rare instance – as in singular – of the vicar (or whatever rank she holds) not being very helpful. But I won’t dwell on that.

I finished a delivery shift in Wisbech. Perfect for a stop over at Peckover House & Gardens. And on such a glorious sunny day? A wander round the gardens was definitely indicated.

It’s lovely to have such a place not too far away. The gardens are simply wonderful. I wondered into an open potting shed. Exclaiming ‘Oh, my God!’, on entering, because I was hit by a wall of incredibly powerful and lovely floral scent. Which turned out to be sweet peas.

I had planned to read and maybe have a coffee in the café. But it wasn’t open. I’d arrived about 11.15 am. And the café opens at midday. I hung around looking at my Joni special issue mag’, for about 30 minutes, and then skedaddled.

A few sundry oddments of other architectural interest from Wisbech, nearby.

I was out delivering early today. And I went through some lovely places. Above is a lane in Tydd St Mary. I need to re-visit the church there some time. So far it’s always been shut when I’ve passed.

Tydd, St Mary Church

Some interesting little details, externally…

And what a lovely setting. No bulls were visible when I peeped into the field.

St James, Newton

Also in a lovely setting, is St James, of Newton in the Isle. Also locked. And in a semi-dangerous state of disrepair.

Oh… and Joni!

Ordered yesterday, arrived today. Two double-discs of David Munrow early music. Can’t wait to get stuck in!

UPDATE:

It’s a few days later, and I’ve listened to both CDs. And they are brilliant. I’ll have to post again on the subject of Munrow (I’ve done so before!), and his multifarious and prodigious musical doings.

This lunchtime we were at mum’s. On the way home we went to Dobbies, a garden centre near mum’s. Looked at a few things, inc these koi carp:

But mainly we wanted to find out about water lilies, for the pond. Should’ve snapped a few of them! They were about £20 a pop. Might source some elsewhere?

In the gallery below, I start by the workshop shed, and wind up in the ‘green room’, by the pond

The weather has been very changeable. Alternating between rain and sunshine. Some very heavy recent rains actually left the pond water levels visibly higher. The water is now no longer below the bottom of the wee bridge!

All told, we’re really happy with how the garden is coming along, and love spending time in it.

We had dinner – sausages, potatoes and veg – in the garden. Lovely! And then back indoors, for bath n’ bed. A perfect Sunday!