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The English Dancing Master, John Playford 5th Edition
I've always been fascinated by John Playford's English Dancing Master. As a collector of antiquarian books with a particular interest in folk music and dance, this was one of those books I always wanted to find. I've had saved searches on various antiquarian book and auction websites but nothing has every turned up and I've never seen an actual copy either in the flesh or photograph. Turns out that despite it's fame and the numerous facsimiles available, including of the 1651 edition, it's a...
The Village Band
Carte de Visite of a Victorian Village Band, c.1860s with various brass instruments including trombone outside a public house which appears to be The Star Inn, location unknown. Photographer unidentified.
La Dorset or First Part of the Lancers
Listening to the 1978 Topic album "Memories of Sligo" by Tommy Healy and Johnny Duffy, and the track "The First Part of the Lancers" specifically, my attention was drawn to the sleevenotes by Reg Hall: "The first Part of The Lancers, an untitled piece, was readily recalled when Johnny and Tommy were asked to play something old-fashioned and out of the ordinary and it is one of the very few Irish traditional dance tunes that can be pinned down to a non-traditional, composed origin. It derives...
Popular Plymouth Session Tunes
This is a list of commonly played session tunes for a starter repertoire. These are all commonly played at the various sessions in Plymouth, primarily The Dolphin (Second Monday), the Fortescue (fourth Tuesday) and the Artillery Arms (Last Monday).
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 7, Millbay Laundry
Mill Bay laundry was one of the largest in Plymouth. Sited nearby were the Alkali Soap & Soda Works, providing the cleaning materials, and the Railway, giving the company convenient transport of good to towns & cities throughout the West Country. In about 1780, before the laundry was established, a musket redoubt, or fort, was built here on top of a large hill. By the 1850s the hill and redoubt had been quarried away.
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 12, Wyndham Hall
Formally built as a hall for non-conformists in the late 1830s, by the 1870s it was the premises of the famous organ builders Hele & Co. They were to produce stops, pipes and complete organs throughout the city. A notable one was made for St Peter's Church which was later destroyed in WWII. During that period, the hall's basement was the HQ for the local Air Raid Wardens, after which the building also hosted boxing matches and acted as a gym.
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 9, Stink Pipe Chimney
Sewers were known to harbour things that were lethal to humans and the environment. In these early days of sanitisation one of these was the problem of the build-up of noxious and explosive gases such as Methane, Carbon Monoxide, etc. To solve the problem sewer lamps were installed or ventilation chimneys were built like this one (c1885) which is still in service and connected to the 'Dead Lake Sewage System'
Charity Shop Madness
Now that every last classic album has been rinsed from the charity shop racks, there's nothing left to do but to crank the prices up on a few lesser known modern classics. Who is advising the shops of the value of - or even market for - these records is beyond me. Here's some absolutely insane record pricing spotted in the charity shops of Plymouth recently. Fucked 12" copy of B list disco hit: A Fiver Routinely used as an envelope 'stifferner' when sending more expensive albums by post. £3....
Fowey Ringers Painting and Rhyme
Located in the bell tower of the Fowey Parish Church, the following text accompanies the painting: "RINGERS PAINTING and RHYME This painting dates probably from the late 18th C. It is a sort of palimpsest and the underlying work can be seen in places. This earlier work looks to be a similar painting of ringers but turned through 90° and with the bells hanging down and not up on stay as they are on the later painting. It is dated 1732, 9 years after the 2 oldest bells were cast by Rudhalls. It...
Cinderellas Rockerfellas, Cambridge Evening news June 14th 1989
From British Newspaper Archive - Download PDF
General Election Now
Racist Vans Go Home
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 13, The Monster Skating Ring
Here stood what was known as 'Albert Hall' built in 1871; soon after it was known as The Royal Albert Hall. It was said to be an ugly building on the outside but very pretty and tasteful on the inside. Originally intended for concerts it could seat 2800 people and 4000 standing. By 1875 Thomas Martin the owner following a skating craze decided to put together the 'Monster Rink' here in the hall. It was later said to be the largest in the Westcountry
Visiting Broadhempston
Today I took a drive out to Broadhempston, a small village in the South Hams near Totnes. The main purpose of my visit was to see if I could locate the grave of my Great Great Great Grandfather James Elliott (1780 - 1857) who was recorded as being buried in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul. Broadhempston really does appear to be in the middle-of-nowhere, approached (according to my satnav, anyway) by miles and miles of single track roads with no passing places. A very attractive and...
Tommy’s Junk Shop, Plymouth (now Cafe Momus)
Tommy's junk shop, Manor Street, Plymouth shortly before it closed in 2022 to be replaced by Cafe Momus.
Death of Queen Elizabeth II
https://youtu.be/owp8rksdWrA We anticipated it was coming so had the laptop on standby whilst having dinner. This is the news report as it was broadcast live on BBC News at 18:30 on 8th September 2022
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 22, Wolsdon Street Board School
The school was opened in 1871 and styled into fine fashionable Victorian gothic style of the time. Primarily built for Infants and Girls only this school soon had to increase its capacity steadily as the local populatiuon grew. Initially designed to accomodate 230 pupils, by the early 1900s nearly 600 were present.
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 19, Convent of Notre Dame
This ruin was is the only remnant left of the Convent of Notre Dame. The building was built on land soon purchased after the completion of the cathedral. By October 1865 the convent and girl's school for boarders had opened. Pupils from all over the world would come and stay at this fine establishment. By 1936/8 the convent premises took over the large old Presbyterian Chapel. During the Blitz of Plymouth this building and its chapel.
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 21, St Peter’s Church
Eldad Chapel was first built here c1830 until it's demise 1846 when the chapel fell into disuse. In 1848 it was renamed Church of St Peter's, at the same a temporary hospital was built nearby to cope with the outbreak of cholera, which was nursed by a group of women who became Sisters of the Holy Trinity who were allowed to receive Holy Communion daily. In 1882 major works were done to the tower, etc. and then during WWII it was gutted, being finally rebuilt late-1950s.
Peli iM2075 Concertina Hard Case
I've been looking for a workhorse case for my Concertina. The original refurbished Victorian jug case feels too nice to drag around pubs and already I can feel it's taking the strain. It's quite hard to find a decent quality and durable concertina hard case- most available from the popular folk music stores are lightweight covered chipboard efforts which don't feel quite up to the job. I tool receipt of a Peli iM2075 Storm Case today which I'd seen recommended elsewhere as a decent concertina...
Bongo Camping Trip 0.2 – Coombe View Farm
First time using the Auto Free Top poptop for the kids and as we were camping up with Jono we didn't bother with the awning. A few things: It turns out the sliding door has a childlock. We found this out at 3am when we needed to take one of the kids to the loo urgently. As all our possessions were piled up in the front seats, leaving the vehicle was a complex problem. Make sure the child lock is off! The hatch in the poptop floor is a accident waiting to happen. A child's finger in the wrong...
Car Alarm Problems in Mutley
How can you not get annoyed by having to continuously get up and stop your faulty annoyed car alarm going of repeatably every night?! I shall correct mysleft ... 3am! May I suggest getting it fixed ... disable it or buy CCTV to watch your car, for example... RING DOORBELL are a very fairly priced product. Feel free to shop around... or buy a decent fucking car alarm.
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 10, No Place House
This house first appears in the mid-17th century map alongside a boundary stone. This was the only house on this ridge alongside the leat with views over the Sound and creek. By the early 18th century the house grew into a quadrant structure, with free lined gardens that ran down to the creek's bank. Later in that century the house and its grounds were demolished to make way for the Royal Naval Hospital Cemetery,
F**k Off Back to Eton
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 16, Stonehouse MIlls & Toll Gate
Sir Piers Edgcumbe of Stonehouse was able to build two mills and a new bridge c1525. This bridge with it's mills was built alongside an ancient causeway that used to link across the creek in the past. The mills would process grain for the making of bread and beer. The mills Were still going when in 1807 a toll gate with lodge was installed, much to the annoyance of the locals! By the early 1900s both The mill and toll gate had gone.
Bongo Camping Trip 0.1 – Tencreek Holiday Park
We took the Bongo for it's first overnight test run yesterday. We chose Tencreek Holiday park near Looe as it is local with good facilities and we weren't too sure what we would find when we unpacked the awning. We now have a better idea how to setup the awning and we now know we were missing some awning/vehicle attachment parts. We were also without electric hookup as we stripped it out the previous week when it transpired the entire system had been jerrybuilt and the fusebox was full of...
M7XIA
My call sign has now been assigned by the RSGB: M7XIA (Mike Seven X-Ray India Alpha)
RSGB Amateur Radio Foundation Exam
I passed the RSGB Amateur Radio Foundation exam (25/26) today. I used the excellent (and free) Essex Ham Foundation Online training course to study for this.
Stoke Cherry Knockers
Covered up Some Shit
Smash Fascism
Refugees Welcome
Scan Me
The Government is More Dangerous Than The Virus
If Voting Changed Anything
This is an EU Product
System Change not Climate Change
Term Terf
Adult Human Female
Found Negative
Boris Twat
Carolyn Louise Ladies Hairstylist Ghost Sign
I’ve got my Facebook Account Back
So, I've got my Facebook account back and it was literally by chance. Three days after my account was hacked I received an email from Facebook inviting me to take part in a paid study. As this invite came from a real person with an @fb.com email address I agreed to take part in the study and sent the real person an email asking if they could assist in getting my account back. I received no reply to this message. A few days later I received another email confirming my place on the study and...
Let’s Go Brandon
Secret Bastille Gig
Last night local Plymouth band Hungry Bears and friends played at the Union Inn at Saltash, Cornwall accompanied by Woody from Bastille on Drums. Woody was joined by Bastille singer Dan Smith, Kyle Simmons, Will Farquarson and Charlie who each performed at various times throughout the night, as well as my wife Claire and Bastille tour support The Native. I managed to get a handful of photos.
My Homebrewed Facebook Alternative
So, Last week my account was hacked and I was kicked off Facebook. It wasn't my fault, but Facebook don't want to give me the account back and I'm passed caring. I've written about this in detail here. But this whole process set me thinking about my relationship with big tech. For the last 16 years I have been handing my data, personal photos, work information, location, interests and thoughts to an enormous faceless tech giant who has whored out this information willy-nilly, bombarded me with...
Facebook Subject Access Request
I have today submitted a Subject Access request to Facebook Ireland Ltd using the sample Data Request form found here following advice the Ruben Verborgh's excellent blog on the subject here. I've sent it recorded delivery. Will it get through to a human being? Who knows?
The Disabled Facebook Ads Account Dance
I have contacted support about our Facebook Ads account which has been used fradulently, racking up 20x our daily budget per day. The process went as follows: Search Facebook for several hours to find somewhere to submit an Ads related support ticket Submit a support ticket to any of the departments as none of them are relevant to your enquiry but it's all that can be done Facebook reply instantly telling you the ticket has been closed and tellingyou to type "Re-Open case" to reopen the...
Facebook Phone Number
Facebook provide a phone number on their Paypal invoices: +353 06505434800. This number is invalid. Facebook really don't want you getting through to a human.
Can’t Post Comments
So - I have a separate Facebook account that I set up as an emergency failsafe. I know this is against the Facebook Ts&Cs, but really, when the stakes are so high, the penalties so arbitrary and the review process so opaque it would be unwise not to at least attempt some back door method of decoupling your business from Facebook if you need to. The problem is, if Facebook detects this (which they will) they will block that account too. So far it remains active though I suspect it's a...
Paypal appeal won
I work all day everyday on the internet and have done on one way or another since the late 90s. I deal with Social Media, Payment Gateways, Account integrations, website builds etc. etc. I know my way around this space pretty well. But even I'm finding the fallout of my Facebook hack difficult to navigate. Having just lost my paypal appeal (which I hadn't disputed), I've now received two emails telling me the case has been closed in my favour This is good news of course, but makes for...
Paypal appeal denied
As suspected and written about here, the Paypal case against Facebook for taking payment in a hacked facebook account has been denied. Although expected, this would seem inconsistent behaviour by Paypal. The grounds would appear to be that a legitimate agreement between myself and Facebook was used to take the payment. However my agreement with Facebook is for a maximum daily amount that has been exceeded by 20x (not 16x as previously thought) and the account was clearly being used...
Facebook Account Hacked
I'm quite cyber-security aware. I have a Computer Science degree and run a web development agency. I manage hundreds of websites for clients. All of my logins are unique 20 character logins generated using the Keeper password manager. I have 2FA activated on all significant accounts. I don't share passwords. I know what a phishing email looks like and receive emails almost daily from clients asking "is this email a scam?". I'm generally quite careful in this area. Even so, despite these...
Monty’s Ghost Sign on the Barbican
Google Murray Bookchin
Food Not Bombs
Just Stop Oil
Richard Redleif Ghost Sign
Don’t Be Coerced
Albert Road Ghost Sign
Jabs Army 2
Pride Skittles
Do You Want to Travel?
Dartmoor 365, S6, Brisworthy Circle
The Vaccine Doesn’t Prevent Transmission
You Mess With Our…
Bottle & Jug Ghost Sign
Hey Women
The Jeremy Kyle Cheating Paradox
Let’s All Stay Inside
Solidarity with the Bristol Riots
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 17, JWM Turner’s Stonehouse Pools Sketches
The world famous artist Turner was known to walk all over the West Country with his sketchbook. in 1813 he came along this creek, which he called Stonehouse Pools. He drew images of the creek with it's rural setting before it was populated by many Victorian houses. One of these is a small water colour showing the creek, mill and church steeples of Stoke Damerel and St Aubyn's in Devonport.
Stonehouse Heritage Trail 3, The Rope Walk
Before Neswick Street was built there was a rope walk constructed on this site in about 1800. The length of a rope walk was usually 600 feet (180 metres). At one end of the walk one person would turn the 'spinner' to which the 3 or 4 'braids' were fixed. He also controlled the tension while another person walked backwards from the other end of the walk, holding the 'top' that would weave the 'braids' together to form the rope
Jeffries Concertina Case
Man Scaling Sea Wall
We saw a man free climbing the sea wall near the Hoe.
Dartmoor 365, S17, Buckfastleigh
Dartmoor 365, I3, Wheal Betsy
Mask Wankers
Drake’s Island Trip
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 5th April 1986
https://youtu.be/J6BTSqwXXZI
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 29th March 1986
https://youtu.be/K_Wn-eWxsXU
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 22nd March 1986
https://youtu.be/TaqmHhH8QQ8 https://youtu.be/WylCcdTrzS4
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 15th March 1986
https://youtu.be/r5aHD5ruSZ0
No Going Back Until It’s Safe
Not On Our Streets
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 8th March 1986
https://youtu.be/urhJ81E-Bog
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 1st March 1986
https://youtu.be/QTS5jXKLGkQ https://youtu.be/K6ntuDxlZ7c
The Barbican Fish & Chip Shop Ghost Sign
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 22nd February 1986
https://youtu.be/XLwWIIqObkg Posted by request of Craig Leckie, https://randomrapradio.com/
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 15th February 1986
https://youtu.be/5oe3mEx_-JQ
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 8th February 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwvpeYiQwss
Dartmoor 365, M6, Merrivale Antiquites
Wicked Pulse, The Street Scene, 1st February 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrnIkjkooBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGncWGLHdQw
Devonport Heritage Trail, 28c, Bank
Devonport Heritage Trail, 18, White
Devonport Heritage Trail, 17, Gate
Devonport Heritage Trail, 16, Ropery
Devonport Heritage Trail, 15, Barracks
