Derbyshire Antiques & Collectibles – Vintage Telephones
Those of us over a certain age will know that, until 1984, when the GPO (Post office telephones) monopoly was broken up, one did not actually own one’s telephone, but rented it from the GPO along with associated installations. Thus there was very little choice over the type of telephone one could have. Collecting these instruments now is a relatively inexpensive hobby, with most types being available for under £50, although as usual condition is crucial and if an example has been adapted for modern plug in use, then the price is enhanced. When I lived in my mews house in London in the late 1960s we had two lines – KNI[ghtsbridge] 1136 and 9226 – both equipped with rather sleek plastic ’phones in two-tone grey and plastic flexibly spiral cord. Yet when I got my first place in Derby, in Littleover, I inherited a hefty Bakelite job with a fabric coloured platted cord – much inferior to my way of thinking. This latter was a GPO type 332 introduced in 1937 (expect to pay between £20 and £80 depending on condition, but add £250-300 if originally supplied in cream). It had a ledge under the rest with a recess so you could carry it around – provided that you paid the GPO for an extra-long lead. In contrast, my London ’phones were (then) up-to-the-minute type 706 ones, which also had the option of a wall-mounted version, one of which we had. For these today expect to pay as low as £10 and up to £60, much depending on the colour. The letters on the dial were to enable one to dial London numbers: three letters (part of a name identifiable with a distinct area) plus four numbers a system converted to all number in 1970. Yet my earliest memories of telephones included various elderly relatives with ‘candle’ upright instruments, from which the earpiece hung from a metal bracket which opened and cut the line when the weight of the earpiece was removed or applied. The earliest of these were Bakelite and brass-mounted, called a type 150L dating from the early 1920s. Today, expect to pay £80-120 or double that if sold by a dealer. The ones I seem to recall were a later modification eliding the brass mounts, although they had the refinement of a silver-coloured metal dialling ring for London subscribers with one’s ’phone number printed on a disc in the middle and covered by a bit of clear plastic. These can fetch £120 to £150 at auction, and the bell set alone can cost £25-30. These evolved after a while into the more compact type 162 which had its own bell incorporated, now selling for similar prices. For the purist, the 1890s Ericson-made GPO phones – very antediluvian in appearance and predominantly brass – were around until after the Great War and can fetch several hundred pounds. Yet by the 1950s most of my friends and relatives had the first type of pre-war ’phone with a horizontally placed handset, set on a slim neck, again, so that it could be carted around, and called by collectors a ‘pyramid’ ’phone. This was a heavy-ish Bakelite instrument called a type 232L; again, it came with a dial-less version called a 232CB; both had a little drawer in the base in which to put one’s friend’s numbers. One was sold with a £80-120 estimate by Bamfords a year or two ago, although the pre-war ones (check base for approximate dating evidence) can make up to £225, and cream examples from £275, even more with bell set and drawer to base. They were introduced in the early 1930s and kept going into the 1950s, although the type 332 was a later improvement, which continued to be supplied for years after the war – likely to cost £50-80 now, but a cream one might go to £300. In darkest Herefordshire, the cousins with whom I lived after my mother died had a wall-mounted exchange with a handle on the side of its timber body which one had to crank to put callers through to the appropriate extension on the estate; this was in service until at least 1970. I saw a similar one on sale at a fair for £130 recently. By the time the writing was on the wall for the GPO monopoly, one could buy a variant of the type 706 (called a type 746: £35-60) which came in a dizzying variety of seven colours, or a type 756 which had a push-button dialling facility (£30-50). Indeed, the current craze in the 1970s was for the type 722 ‘Trimphone’, the first instrument to ring with a different sound to the then-familiar double ring: they produced a horrible chirruping noise, much imitated on TV gameshows. Rt. Hon. Anthony Wedgwood Benn (formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate, briefly MP for Chesterfield and the then Postmaster-General) presented the first one to a subscriber in 1965, but it was not actually available until 1968. Incidentally, ‘Trimphone’ is an acronym: Tone Ringing Illuminated Model. These go for £30-40 nowadays, colour being important. There was also a lightweight version of the type 746 which looked more like the familiar US domestic ’phones of the era, but which never seems to have caught on – at least amongst those of my acquaintance but despite rarity, cheap to buy. Going back to the early days in the 1890s the telephones were subject to infinite slight variations, all of which came with a separate bell unit, usually attached to the wall nearby (a phenomenon which endured to some extent to around 1970), no dial and a crank attached to a magneto wherewith to raise the exchange. It was only when the type 150 came in that standardisation largely prevailed. There were also various later types with buttons on the top by the rest for business use, or for domestic premises with extensions, and larger, more complex office installations, too. All the types had wall-mounted variants, although the candlestick variant was
Restaurant Review – The Poet & Castle
The demise of the local public house has been the subject of many newspaper articles; part of the ethos of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) believes well-run pubs, whether in rural or urban areas, play a critical social role in UK culture as the centres of community life. CAMRA believes that the British pub is a uniquely wonderful institution. The 50,000 or so which remain offer a rich variety of drinking and social environments and contribute significantly to the sum of the nation’s happiness. One of these unique institutions was our destination for a midweek contribution to our happiness; a Wednesday evening in the Poet and Castle on the Market Place in Codnor, Derbyshire. Our taxi dropped us off in the car park at the rear of the pub. One of the first things we spotted was the large outdoor seating area with its extensive views over the fields. Perfect for a family on a warm Summer afternoon. The Poet and Castle is the 5th and latest pub to be owned by the Lincoln Green Brewing Company. The Company, started in 2012 by Anthony Hughes, takes its name from the colour of the woolen cloth associated with the legendary Robin Hood. What began in the garage of his home in Nottingham has grown to include a brewery in Hucknall and the 5 pubs; 4 in his home county of Nottinghamshire and The Poet and Castle in Derbyshire. The Company has a simple philosophy; they believe in ‘proper pubs’ and this is evident in the Poet and Castle. It’s a place with quiet corners. It has big comfy chairs in front of the log burner. It’s a meeting place for dog walkers. It’s somewhere to put the world to rights and for us, somewhere for a Wednesday evening meal. As the owners state ‘You know when you’ve entered a proper pub. It’s a sense, not a blueprint’. We were given a warm welcome by Clive, the manager who explained the Lincoln Green real ales on offer. Their 4 main brews are called Marion, Hood, Archer and Tuck, names associated with the famous outlaw of Sherwood Forest. While Sue chatted to a group of friendly dog walkers I decide to sample the Hood; the bitter. This is a proper bitter; it’s complex flavours and smooth finish are a reminder of how good ale used to taste and is a treat worth making a detour for. The food is pub grub and for that reason the menu does not run on for 4 or 5 pages. There are 4 starters to choose from: goats cheese and red onion flatbread, 2 homemade soups; tomato or leek and potato and mushrooms in a wine and garlic sauce served on toast. There are 7 main course meals which include 2 burgers (one venison and the other a veggie), fish and chips, a beef pie, ham and eggs and a red pepper tagliatelle; 4 of them are available in child portion sizes. We chose the mushrooms and a soup followed by the pie and fish and chips. Everything is freshly cooked. I placed our order with Clive at the bar. He made a note of it and dispatched it to the kitchen along with a glass of Marion light ale he had just pulled and added “That’s to make the beer batter for your haddock.” It doesn’t get more fresh than that. The mushrooms take centre stage in the generous starter. Sautéed mushrooms are served on toasted slices of baguette There’s just a hint of garlic in the creamy wine sauce but it doesn’t mask the delicate mushroom flavour. Toasted baguette also accompanied the fresh leek and potato soup; a soup that can be served in all sorts of shapes and sizes: rustic, chilled and in this instance creamed. The Poet and Castle version is carefully seasoned and uses the whole leek giving it a deep flavour. It’s finished with a swirl of cream to enhance the smooth presentation. I decided to try the lighter, more delicately flavoured Archer American pale ale with my homemade beef pie and its robust gravy made with their own porter; Tuck. The pie pastry was crisp, the triple cooked chips lived up to expectations and I could taste the ale in the tender beef pie filling. Susan’s fish was a fillet of haddock in a Marion beer batter. The white, flaky fish had cooked beautifully inside the crisp beer batter and again the triple cooked chips were delightful. It was served with mushy peas and a dish of tartar sauce. To round off the evening I sampled the Marion. This is a full bodied pale ale with a fresh, zingy aroma and comforting warm malt taste. Along with their real ale they also offer real cider, wines and spirits. There is lager, but not the mainstream brands. We came away with the impression that the Poet and Castle was in the great British tradition of proper pubs; a warm welcome, excellent beers and wines, good conversation and good old fashioned pub grub. 00
Lea Rhododendron Gardens
For a few short glorious weeks in early summer, the wooded hillside above the Derwent Valley at Lea is a blaze of colour. This is when Lea Rhododendron Gardens come into their own every year. Brian Spencer tells the story of one man’s vision that has been backed up by three generations of a devoted family. It was John Marsden-Smedley (1867-1959), owner of the John Smedley manufacturers of quality woollen knitwear who made his residence at Lea, rebuilding the farm house of Lea Green into a house echoing his position as the local squire. Today the house and its immediate grounds are used as a residential and day centre by Derbyshire County Council Education Department as an outdoor activity centre. Marsden-Smedley was a keen horticulturist, growing flowers, vegetables and fruit trees behind high sheltering walls. As the site was comparatively exposed at an altitude of around 1,000 feet (305m), to aid existing woodland, he planted masses of trees to act as wind-breaks. These trees were to become a useful addition in his soon to follow, love of rhododendrons and azaleas. In order to find the most suitable site for these plants more suited to the high sunny slopes of the Himalayas, Marsden-Smedley tried planting them in various sites around his estate; the remnants of these trials can still be seen dotted around woodland clearings. In 1935, at the age of sixty-eight and inspired by a visit to Bodnant Gardens in North Wales, together with one to the Rothschild family’s Exbury gardens in Hampshire, he decided to develop his own rhododendron garden. One site in particular provided the ideal locality and became the present site of Lea Gardens. Surrounded by tall Scots pines, sycamore, yew, chestnut, oak and silver birch, some already there and others planted by Marsden-Smedley in order to create wind-breaks and provide shelter. Using a shallow hollow of an ancient quarry on the opposite side of the road surrounding the estate, skilled estate craftsmen used the abundant stone to build retaining walls, paths and beds for the plants which were soon to follow. Soil was brought in from other parts of the estate in order to top up the naturally occurring sandy soil. Coal ash from the furnace at his woollen mill was also used to add to this topping-up process. It was during this work that several Roman quern-stones were discovered (used for hand grinding flour). Apparently the garden is built on the site of a small quarry where a particularly fine-grained layer of grit-stone suitable for these stones can be found. Records from that time speak of purchases from all the major specialist growers throughout the British Isles. John Marsden-Smedley also decided to try to establish less-hardy varieties normally only successful in sheltered gardens on the west coast. To his delight he found that by careful planting in sheltered parts of the quarry-garden, they could survive the rigours of most Peak District winters. Many of his original specimens still flourish, almost a century after their planting. Together, over 350 varieties of species and hybrid rhododendrons and azaleas were planted by him and had begun to establish themselves in the 2-acre (0.8 ha) site before his death in 1959 at the age of ninety-two. When the estate was divided and sold, the gardens were bought by Peter and Nancy Tye. They were joined by Joyce Colyer a year later, who came with her expertise as an estate manager for John Marsden-Colyer, also bringing her intimate knowledge of the gardens and their collection of colourful plants. Nancy Tye had an artistic flair for rockery and garden design and it was she who created the alpine scree garden that complements the entrance to the rhododendron collection. The main garden was expanded under Peter and Nancy’s care by the introduction of new plants, ornamental shrubs and a small water garden. In 1960 the gardens were opened to the public and seven years later they built their attractive house overlooking the garden. The next generation to care for Lea Rhododendron Garden was Jonathan and Jenny Tye who retired from the Royal Air Force in 1980. Instead of flying Vulcan bombers, Jonathan and Jenny expanded their inbred flair for horticulture and increased the garden with new plantings. They were later joined by their son Peter, who specialises in the growing and marketing of rhododendrons. As plants begin to exceed their natural lifespan, they are gradually being replaced with new plantings, using the opportunity to bring in unusual varieties. Exciting new hybrids such as the American kalmias below the house, and flamboyantly coloured Japanese yakusimanums collection blooming near the alpine scree garden; almost every colour in a kaleidoscopic spectrum is there, ranging from white, through yellow, orange, pink and bright red; blue is even featured when the exotic Himalayan meconopsis poppy comes into flower in the alpine garden. Backing them is the breath-taking azalea bed which must feature on countless amateur photographs. Paths meander up and down the sloping site, past massive orchid-like flowers of huge rhododendron bushes, where there is colour all around. While the best time to visit Lea Rhododendron Gardens is in mid-May to the end of June and often well into July – there is one variety aptly named Christmas Cheer whose tiny single-petalled flowers come into bloom in late December. With the opening of a tea room, Lea Gardens has become a popular attraction. Visited by plant lovers or those who simply want to enjoy the eye-catching display, it now covers about 4 acres (1.6 ha), planted with over 550 different varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas. Plant sales on site offer a wide range of the varieties which might have caught your eye as you wander round this idyllic place. 00
Restaurant Review – Viva Matlock
Viva restaurant is well situated in the middle of Matlock on Dale Road; being close to a car park just around the corner. We visited this restaurant and discovered an idyllic place to eat in and experience that special Italian dining cuisine at a very cost effective price… On entering the restaurant we immediately felt delighted that we had chosen this venue. Viva is a stylish, modern and glamorous restaurant which offers a traditional Italian and contemporary cuisine. We were greeted by a waitress and taken to our table. Looking around, the open kitchen is impressive and pristine; together with the carefully chosen wallpapers and sculptures it all creates a totally enjoyable different dining experience. We were struck by the hustle and bustle of the restaurant, even on a raining mid week evening the restaurant was busy. And soon we were to find out why… Having examined the extensive menu of traditional dishes my partner eventually (with the expert recommendation from our waitress) chose the Cozze al Vapore at £6.95. This delicious dish consisted of steamed mussels in a cream, lemon and garlic sauce. I went for the Funghi Dolcelatte priced at just £4.95. Also delicious – the button mushrooms were stuffed with the famous Italian Dolcelatte cheese, coated in breadcrumbs and then baked in the oven and served with ciabatta bread. For our main dishes, my partner chose the Filletto Pepe Verde at £19.95. His fillet steak was cooked to perfection and the flambéd sauce of black peppercorns, brandy, French mustard and cream beautifully complimented it. He really was enthusiastic and remarked that it was one of the best steaks he has ever had! The dish was served with a garnish and French fries. Equally looking too good to eat was my choice of pasta. I chose the traditional Salsa di Pollo at £11.25. This popular pasta dish consisted of diced chicken breast, mushrooms, onions, fresh herbs and a hint of pomodoro and garlic in a creamy sauce. All this was washed down with a glass of house red and a Peroni beer. The appetising substantial portions had completely filled us up and so to finish the evening off we just had a couple of coffees. In conclusion, all the dishes were dazzlingly presented and bursting with flavour and nothing was too much trouble. It’s so good to have an Italian restaurant on ones doorstep that is excellent value for money and very affordable. Children are welcomed at Viva and I noticed the kids menu; for £6.95 they can choose any pizza or pasta from the menu, just in a smaller size. A massive thank you to Saj and their team. We’ll be back very soon so watch this space. 00
Lost Houses of Derbyshire – Mackworth Castle
The stone shell of the gatehouse to site of the ancient seat of the Mackworth family is one of the most memorable sites in the County. Lying only a few hundred yards from the City boundary of Derby, it invariably excites interest from those who see it for the first time, and it has been drawn and painted numerous times by local artists as diverse as Frank Gresley and Ernest Townsend; it was also photographed at a very early date by the ubiquitous Richard Keene. Its picturesque qualities are enhanced by a row of early 18th century brick farm labourers’ cottages, originally thatched, attached to the right. The reason it is called Mackworth Castle is because the name is entirely colloquial, applied to the existing gatehouse simply because it commands a castle-like air in the lane leading through the still largely unspoilt village. Many people actually do not realise that it is merely a rather grand gatehouse behind which once stood the seat of the Mackworth family, although what it was actually called when standing is far from clear – probably ‘the hall’ or similar. In surviving documents it is merely referred to as a ‘capital mansion’ which is fairly typical Medieval legalese for a manor house. What we see today is a two storey three bay Keuper Sandstone crenelated gatehouse with a central depressed arch with ogiform crocketting executed in relief and a hood-mould above it. There are stepped buttresses either side of the central opening and at the angles, an impost band and a cornice below the crenelated parapet which winds round the slender bartizans at the angles and is punctuated by a row of three gargoyle spout heads. The windows were originally traceried, vestiges of which survived by the bricking up of the outer pair. Yet there is neither roof, nor on the north side any wall at all, only two later brick lean-tos put up in the last couple of centuries in order to provide storage for the Regency farm house built behind. Originally there were side rooms with a two-chamber lodging for the gate keeper above, the large room being furnished with a fireplace with a projecting hood, finials and a castellated chimney above. Beside the fireplace is a corbel upon which to place a lamp. Dr. Emery, Britain’s foremost expert on Medieval Country houses is of the opinion that originally there was a rear wall, and visible vestiges of a low pitched roof, their dismantling in the 17th century possibly explaining the appearance of tooled ashlar blocks similar to those still in the building in a lean-to added to the adjoining cottages and to be found elsewhere round about. A closely related gatehouse is that to Worksop Priory, also late 15th century which, although lacking the crenellations (it is today surmounted by what may be a 17th century gable and roof) is of the same general scale, with similarly placed buttresses and windows, although an elaborate traceried shrine to the right of the door relates solely to its religious use. That fronting the North Yorkshire Meynell’s ancient castle at Whorlton is also comparable, although slightly earlier and simpler, with less ornamentation. Yet if this was a gatehouse, built in the third or fourth quarter of the fifteenth century (as its architecture clearly indicates) what happened to the house? A survey undertaken in 1900 identified two house platforms behind the gatehouse, but the reported position of these seems out of kilter with the extant building. More likely the distinct platform on which the present Castle Farm house rests is a more likely site. Here in 1888 some low rubble walling was found suggestive of a timber framed building on a rubble plinth. The inference is that there was a timber framed manor house and a group of the usual outbuildings on adjoining house platforms, raised up to cope with the occasional flooding of the Markeaton Brook, nearby, just as the Medieval stable block of Tudor Markeaton Hall, demolished in 1754, had been. Mackworth family are recorded here at Mackworth from the first quarter of the 13th century. The first of the family to be called ‘de Mackworth’, Philip, was almost certainly a member of the family of Touchet of Markeaton, which included Mackworth, and he and several of his descendants were stewards to the Touchets, especially after they inherited the Barony of Audley of Heleigh, in Cheshire. Several younger sons were also parsons, one being vicar on Longford and another rector of Kirk Langley; a third became a Prebendary of Peterborough Cathedral and Dean of Lincoln. Thomas Mackworth was, on 1st August 1404 the recipient of the earliest datable grant of arms in Derbyshire being allowed, on the authority of his feudal lord, John Touchet, Lord Audley, a shield bearing the arms of Touchet and Audley divided vertically by a jagged line (called dancettée in heraldic jargon) and with a red chevron superimposed bearing gold fretwork. This Tomas, a lawyer and twice MP for Derby, without doubt lived in the timber framed manor house, the vestiges of which were recorded over a century ago in the farmyard of Castle Farm. He also managed to marry an heiress, in Alice, daughter of Sir John Basings of Empingham and Normanton in Rutland and heiress of her childless brother, another Sir John. On Thomas’s death in 1447, he was succeeded by his son Henry, who also held land at Ash (Etwall) and Trusley. Probably in the 1450s, he is thought to have begun improving his estate at Mackworth, starting by erecting the grandiose gatehouse we can still enjoy today, no doubt leaving rebuilding the house itself in matching style (and no doubt of much increased size) until phase two. However, at this stage Sir John Basings the younger died, and Mackworth suddenly found himself unexpectedly possessed of a much larger landed estate in Rutland, and it became clear from surviving documents that he moved there quite soon afterwards. From that moment on, then, all thought of
Reflections on Pollyanna Pickering
Pollyanna Pickering was a warm, caring, highly talented yet unassuming lady who reached the pinnacle of her career as a wildlife artist while achieving international respect for her passionate commitment to conservation. Pollyanna, who passed away recently following a short illness, was born in Leeds in 1942. From her earliest childhood, Pollyanna had paint, pencils and paper to hand. When she decided that she would like to go to art school to further her studies, she was summoned to the headmistress’s office with a portfolio of work. Her headmistress looked through the folder in silence, and slammed it shut with the immortal words “You’ll never make a living at that!” Fortunately Pollyanna’s parents had a little more faith in her abilities, and allowed her to attend Rotherham Art school – and at the end of her first year she won the coveted award for the most promising student. It was here Pollyanna met her husband – to – be, Ken Pickering, an industrial designer. She and Ken married in 1963, after Pollyanna had spent a further three years studying at the London Central School of Art. During her time at Rotherham art school, Pollyanna and Ken would travel out into the Peak District most weekends to sketch and In 1968, they moved to a cottage in Bakewell, a year before Pollyanna gave birth to their daughter Anna-Louise. Shortly afterwards Pollyanna took the brave step of going freelance as a professional artist. Money was very tight, and couldn’t afford to have her pictures framed, and scoured jumble sales to buy frames, painting work to fit them. In 1971 Pollyanna signed with her first publisher, who produced a series of prints of pedigree dogs – and this proved to be the huge turning point in her career. At the time there were no other open edition prints of domestic animals on the market and Pollyanna’s work was an instant hit. A series of over sixty studies of pedigree dogs and cats followed during the 1970’s, and for the first time Pollyanna’s work reached a wider audience, selling throughout the UK and Europe. In 1974 she accepted a commission to design her first ever Christmas cards for a charity – Oxfam. Sadly in 1979 just two years after moving into the home in the Derbyshire Dales, which Pollyanna and her daughter continued to share, Ken died, at the age of 41. He had been diagnosed with cancer before their marriage, but had been in remission for nearly fifteen years. Pollyanna nursed him throughout the final months of his illness. Ultimately his untimely death proved another turning point in Pollyanna’s career. She threw herself body and soul into her work, partly out of the economic necessity of bringing up a young daughter alone – and partly to help cope with the grief of losing her husband. Pollyanna subsequently signed with her current publishers Otter House, and working in close association with them has become the most published fine artist in the UK, with work selling in over 80 countries around the world. Practically every home in Britain will have enjoyed her art at some time in the form of a Christmas or greeting card, print or calendar. Pollyanna also found her original work gaining more and more acclaim, and in 1982 became accredited to her first London Gallery, the Tryon and Moorland. In 1983 her work was first accepted for display in the Royal Academy. In the same year she won her first major award – the prestigious Silver Palette Trophy. By the end of the decade Pollyanna was already firmly established as one of Europe’s leading wildlife artists, a remarkable achievement in a field which remains almost entirely male-dominated. Celebrity clients including David Bowie and John Hurt purchased work, and she was even commissioned to paint Her Majesty The Queen’s favourite racing pigeon! She could never have predicted the diverse opportunities her career would bring – she even became a familiar face on radio and television, filming documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC1 – and over the past five years she became a regular and much loved guest on the Create and Craft channel! Even during the earliest days of her career, her desire to paint animals from life lead her to visit wildlife hospitals to sketch the birds and animals they were looking after. She became more and more interested in the rescue and rehabilitation work they were doing, and this eventually lead to her establishing a wildlife sanctuary from her own home. Caring mainly for injured and orphaned birds of prey, she also rehabilitated foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels and other mammals. This close contact with the creatures in her care continues to be reflected in the realism and vitality of her work. In 1989 Pollyanna’s daughter Anna-Louise joined her mother to work in the business full-time. Originally standing in on a temporary basis to replace Pollyanna’s previous personal assistant who had left to set up her own business, Anna-Louise soon became thoroughly fascinated by and involved in the work, and this unique mother and daughter partnership continued to work and travel together. Pollyanna realised that if she wanted to capture the true character and beauty of the animals she was depicting, she would need to travel to paint them in their natural habitats. Following her first journey into Kenya in 1986 she painted on every single continent. This in itself is surely a unique achievement – there cannot be many artists – especially women – who have packed their art materials and then sketched their chosen subject on each and every one of the seven continents. Accompanied by Anna-Louise, who acted as official photographer on their travels, Pollyanna camped in tents and igloos in the High Arctic in search of polar bears, journeyed by river boat through the forests of Borneo, and just last summer braved crocodile infested rivers in Brazil to sketch wild jaguars. The expeditions were not without their dangers. The intrepid duo found scorpions in their
Celebrity Interview – Jason Manford
He’s one of the biggest names on the comedy circuit, a regular on television, his first album raced into the top ten and he’s also been making a name for himself in musical theatre. You could hardly say Jason Manford is muddling through – but that’s the theme of his new show which is selling out across the UK. He calls it Muddle Class. “We talk about the fact that life changes, we’re trying to make the best of it and we’re trying to muddle through life. We make mistakes, we improve on them and we do what we can. That’s what the show’s all about. “It’s called Muddle Class because it’s a little bit about me but it’s also a little bit about a lot of the audience who turn up. “I’m in a situation where I’m from a working-class background but my kids are a bit middle class. And I don’t really feel that I’m in either of those camps any more. So I created the muddle class which is for people who are a bit of a muddle about where they are.” The cheeky, likeable Mancunian is hardly in a muddle about where he is. His current tour started off at 150 dates but has been extended until next April, allowing an extra 60,000 people to see him doing the job he loves. “It’s a big old tour but once you’ve written it you’d like everybody to see it,” he says. His ITV children’s show What Would Your Kid Do? in which parents are challenged to guess what their children will do in a variety of situations has been commissioned for a second series. And he is contracted to record another two albums for Decca. So how does he fit it all in? “I always have the kids’ holidays off. The tour looks longer than it is because I only do four nights a week. Then I have every fifth week off. It looks worse than it is. I’ve got very supportive people around me and a good family network. It just sort of works really.” Jason has five children, four with his first wife Catherine – they split in 2013 – and a daughter with his second wife, television producer Lucy Dyke who he married last year. Jason John Manford was born on 26 May 1981 in Salford, Greater Manchester. He comes from a family of singers but became interested in comedy after watching people like Peter Kay, Eddie Izzard and Johnny Vegas performing in comedy clubs. He got a job collecting glasses in a club when he was 17. One evening a performer didn’t arrive, so Jason stepped in to fill the gap and his comedy career began to take off. Soon afterwards he was crowned City Life North West Comedian of the Year. A nomination for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005 was followed by a guest appearance on the Channel 4 panel show, 8 Out Of 10 Cats. He replaced Dave Spikey as one of the team captains in 2007 and stayed on the show for the next four years. He took his live act to Dubai, Singapore and China as huge numbers of people hooked into his humour. How does he describe his brand of comedy? “I just think it’s funny. I try not to pigeonhole myself too much – other people do that. It’s warm, it’s inclusive, it’s never mean. It’s for grown-ups but I look out (at an audience) and there are people who’ve got their kids and parents with them.” Between tours Jason is always jotting things down as he recognises material which he will write into his next show. “It’s not difficult to write once you get started – getting started is the hardest part. You’re staring at a blank screen or a blank page. That’s the hardest point. But you get an idea of what you want to talk about and what you think is interesting. I start there really and then I start writing jokes.” On the tour Jason will return to the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham after playing there in February and will also head over to Derby Arena. He’s looking forward to the Derby gig: “I’ve not done it before so I’m looking forward to seeing what that one’s like.” He says he enjoys East Midlands’ audiences: “They’re great fun. I’ve always included them on my tour. It’s nice to hang out there for a few days. Even when I was on the circuit I used to play Jongleurs or the comedy clubs, so I’ve always had a good time there.” Jason’s last tour, First World Problems, sold really well, as did the accompanying DVD. But he’s not sure whether a recording of Muddle Class will get into the shops. “We’re going to film it and see how the land lies. I don’t know if anyone buys DVDs any more, to be honest. First World Problems was four years ago. Since then with the rise of Netflix and Amazon the world has changed, so we’ll just have to see.” Jason’s career has also changed in that time. He played impresario Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks’ wacky musical The Producers when it toured in 2015, took the role of Caractacus Potts in a tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and has acted in a couple of television dramas. Last year he released his first album A Different Stage, featuring some of his favourite show tunes, which was recorded with the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Does he have any preference for a particular brand of show business? “Stand-up’s always my proper job but I like entertaining people. Whether it’s telling jokes, singing a song or doing a tap dance, I’m fine with all of that. I love being on stage – it’s all I’ve ever known. It’s a lovely feeling making people laugh.” It’s far removed from some of the darker sides of his life. In 2010 he resigned as co-host of
It’s Not Just Any Old Hooch
Ten years ago, you would expect to find one or two brands of gin on offer at the golf club and, if you were lucky, a slice of lemon from a jar. Only a teetotal hermit could fail to notice gin is everywhere. There are gin parties, ginemas (gin and a film night), ginvent calendars and gin-flavoured spa treatments. Even Burton-on-Trent, the spiritual home of beer, hosted a Gin and Rum Festival in the market hall in May this year. It’s not just any old hooch. Ten years ago, you would expect to find one or two brands of gin on offer at the golf club and, if you were lucky, a slice of lemon from a jar. These days, the clubhouse is likely to have a gin menu featuring artisan and craft gins laced with exotic ingredients like buckthorn, loganberry and peppercorns. It all adds up to an industry which is worth £1.2 billion a year according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association. Since gin shook off its Mother’s Ruin image, quaint cafes and farm shops are getting in on the act. Whereas the strongest thing on offer may once have been a cup of English Breakfast, The Apple Tree tea house, Ockbrook is offering gin tasting evenings hosted by a be-suited booze raconteur. Considering we are in the grip of a revolution, it is still a big surprise to find there is a new craft gin being produced in the Derbyshire woods. Shining Cliff Woods at Ambergate may be on the map with local ramblers and people who have a thing about bluebells, but it is completely unexpected to stumble across a ‘proper’ distillery business (as opposed to one man in his shed) occupying 11,000 square feet in the former Johnson & Nephew wire works in the woods. White Peak Distillery has risen from the ashes of the old wire industry thanks to one man – Max Vaughan of Quarndon – driven by his long-term dream to make whisky. But it was the hiring of a talented head distiller, Shaun Smith, which led Max to consider producing an artisan gin packed with flavours found in the local woodland. “If we put our name on the bottle, we have to be proud of it. We love being in the Peak District and the area around us and we wanted our gin to be an expression of this,” explains Max as he stands by the distillery gates through which you can glimpse acres of verdant woodland. “Shaun had previously made a successful gin and he was determined to create something authentic and different. Shining Cliff gin was inspired by the flowers and herbs we found in the wood like rosehip, elderberry and Mayflower.” The pair spent many months in the wonderfully aromatic ‘research and development bunker’ where – with only a 30 litre still at his disposal – Shaun began to perfect the inaugural gin. “It meant lots of trips out and about the woods on my bike looking at the plants and the hedgerows to find things suitable for Shining Cliff gin,” Shaun recalls. “We had around ten styles of gin initially which we narrowed down to six, then to three that we were really happy with. We also discarded a few flavour combinations along the way. Like wild garlic, even though we have lots in the wood, we’ll never see a wild garlic or spruce needle gin coming to market.” The months of tinkering can be seen by counting the glass bottles on a large unit of pigeon holes; each contains single flavour distillations used while devising the prefect blend. The final Shining Cliff gin really is stunning testimony to all Shaun’s chemistry, if not alchemy skills and features 13 different flavourings or botanicals; many evocative of the woodland setting around the distillery. “We had a lot of positive feed-back on the gin – people even saying it’s the best they’ve tried which is a huge compliment,” Max adds. “Our goal was to make a gin which, like whisky, is good enough to be served neat. I call it a sipping gin. It’s got flavours of citrus so it doesn’t really need anything added except, perhaps, a slice of orange peel.” Shining Cliff gin may have gathered a loyal fan-base but it’s actually a delicious warm-up act to the star of the show. At the end of April Max and Shaun took delivery of 18 tonnes of barley; the first stage in the development of a single malt whisky. It will be the first ever commercially produced in Derbyshire. White Peak will be one of only 15 other distilleries making, or developing, whisky in England. “It will be twelve months before the first tasting and three years before it can be officially called whisky,” Max explains. “We’re currently inviting people to join our Temperance Club, so-called because they will have to wait. But their patience will be rewarded with a limited-edition bottle once a year for the next decade. In addition, the members’ names – 1876 of them in honour of the date of the factory opening – will be etched onto bricks and built into the distillery wall.” As Max describes it – surrounded by the bespoke gleaming copper still built in Scotland and stainless steel-work made by Musk Engineering at Swadlincote – you can almost taste the light peaty, slightly floral malt which will be housed in bourbon casks shipped over from America and wine casks from Portugal. “I am a whisky fan,” says Max when asked why he is so passionate to develop a whisky when he has a ‘hit’ gin product on his hands. “My dad Barrie introduced me to whisky and to the Scotch Whisky Society. It’s there I heard about a guy who worked behind the member’s bar who had started a small whisky distillery in Battersea. Something about this story really resonated with me. I did a lot of research over three years, visiting distilleries and talking
Walk Derbyshire – Foolow & Silly Dale
There are no records of any simpleton, either in Foolow or Silly Dale; both names come from Anglo Saxon English and have entirely different meanings than in today’s language. Foolow means multi-coloured hill, possibly a reference to nearby Eyam Edge. Silly is Old English for pretty, an apt description of this little-known dale, especially in late spring when the limestone-loving flowers are in full bloom. The walk starts and finishes in Foolow, a village of light grey limestone cottages, arguably the most picturesque in the Peak District National Park. There is a bay-windowed manor house and the Bull’s Head offers an excellent menu to satisfy the hunger of the hardiest walker. Until 1888 when the tiny limestone church dedicated to St Hugh was opened, church-goers congregated around the ancient stone cross and its pagan bull-ring standing next to the duck pond. Until 1932 when pipes were laid, water was a problem in this upland village. Before then villagers had to collect water from a well a little way along the Hucklow Edge road above the village. Cattle enjoyed the convenience of the attractive duck pond on the village green and in celebration of the gift of water, village wells have been dressed since 1983 on the Saturday prior to the last Sunday in August. Starting from Foolow the walk climbs up to Hucklow Edge before turning west and descending to the neighbouring village of Great Hucklow. This village, clustered around its pub, the Queen Anne, is really a group of five inter-linked hamlets where lead miners delving 600 feet beneath the ground, worked the riches of High Rake, following a series of inter-connected veins running north-westwards. Pack Horse teams once carried the ore together with Cheshire salt across the high limestone moorland, by trackways that can still be traced for miles. From 1938 until 1970, the playwright L du Garde Peach produced plays in the popular Playhouse theatre, based on an old barn in the village. Beyond Hucklow, the walk descends into Silly Dale and, on climbing out of it, crosses a series of green fields back to Foolow. Useful Information 3miles (5km) of easy walking along rural lanes, field paths and a flowery dale. Recommended map: Ordnance Survey 1:25000 scale Outdoor Leisure map The Peak District – White Peak Area Sheet 24. Refreshments: Bull’s Head (Foolow), Queen Anne (great Hucklow), pubs and cafes in Eyam. Public Transport: TM Travel 65 service from Sheffield and Calver Sough runs hourly Monday/Saturday and two hourly on Sunday. G&J Holmes/Hulleys 66 service between Buxton and Chesterfield runs two hourly from Chesterfield Monday/Saturday and three hourly on Sunday. Parking: roadside around Foolow village, but please do not block local access. The Walk : With your back to the duck pond in Foolow, take the road past the church and head towards Hucklow Edge. Follow this road for just under a mile. The old village well at the side of the road to your left is protected by a wall with a narrow stile to keep animals away from the one-time sole drinking water supply for Foolow, once a scarcity on these dry limestone uplands. Regrettably the water is now unfit for human consumption. Just before the road begins to climb steeply and bears right towards Hucklow Edge, turn left and cross a stone stile in order to follow a wall-side path. Gliders from the Gliding Club behind the edge can usually be seen soaring gracefully on the up-sweeping currents of air. Tree-lined hollows and rough ground uphill towards the edge indicate the position of abandoned lead-mining activity. Joining a narrow lane turn left and follow it until it reaches a side road. Turn left along the road, following it below a belt of trees. At the far end of the woods, turn left over a stile and follow waymarking arrows and splashes of paint down into the Grindlow section of Great Hucklow. Bear left along the village road and then fork right towards the main road. Cross the road diagonally left and right, then go to the left of a single bungalow. Follow the narrow, walled track, down into Silly Dale. Surface water has not flowed down Silly Dale for at least 10,000 years, when catastrophic floods marked the end of the last Ice Age. Flowers growing along the dale include white meadow saxifrage, purple cranesbill and spotted orchids. Turn left at the T-junction marking the dale end and cross over to the opposite side of the dale. Go to the left over a stile, and bear right and then half left, uphill. Following stiles cross nine increasingly narrow fields as you near the village, all the way back into Foolow, entering the village by going past the Manor House in order to reach the duck pond. Foolow is built around a wide village green with the highly photogenic duck pond as its centre point. A fourteenth-century cross and a bull-ring-stone are on the far side of the pond. Better still is the Bull’s Head pub a few yards further along the Eyam road to your right [wpgmza id=”37″] 00
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