THE GREY LADY IN HARDWICK PARK REVISITED

In June this year after celebrating my 60th birthday with having lunch with the family at the Hardwick Inn. The story of me seeing the Grey Lady in Hardwick Park, when I was eight years old was retold & we all decided to go to the bottom of the steps to re-enact my sighting all those years ago. 
To the able-bodied it's steady walk up the hill over the grassy path, but with our Thomas being in a wheelchair, it was a bit of a challenge. So his Dad, with the help of his brother Mark & encouragement from the rest of us, we all managed to get to the steps, so the events of that day all those years ago could be re-enacted.

Positioning my niece Joanne to where the Grey Lady had stood, young Callum (Jo's son & my Great Nephew) decided he was going to be an extra ghost at the top of the stairs. This was an great adventure to him because like me, he was also eight & he wanted to see the Grey Lady, but this was not be. They say that children around the age of eight are susceptible too to this phenomena, I certainly believe it or I would not be telling this story today. Thomas (also my Great Nephew) said if I had taken a photograph of the Grey Lady, then he would have believed me, but an eight year old in 1962 did not possess a camera. Not like an eight year old today who owns a camera or should I say owns a camera phone. How times have changed & progressed !

So after this group shot or nearly, Callum decided he was going to slide down the steps instead. It was an easier journey back to the car park. From left to right - Mark, Alan, Jo, Paul,Thomas & Callum.

View from where the Grey Lady had first stood, looking towards me & my bicycle, just in front of the nearest small trees.
Whether or not any of the family or even anyone else believes me, I know what I saw in broad daylight that day.

It was now back to the ranch for all of us to enjoy a slice of my birthday cake, which the family had presented me with after lunch & reflect on the day's events with a nice cup of tea. 
Thanks to all the Family for giving me such a Great Day Out !

If you haven't read the original story please click on this link.
http://gingerbennsdaysout.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-day-i-saw-grey-lady-in-hardwick-park.html

THE DAY MARTYN FRETWELL MET MARTYN FRETWELL

Updated 24.5.2020.

You may have read in the Craven Herald that sadly Martyn, the Artist passed away on the 3rd of May & I wish to send my condolences to his partner Sandra & to now dedicate this post to the memory of Martyn Geoffrey Fretwell & that eventful day of us both meeting in 2014. We never did manage to establish if we were directly related. 

https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/18446739.tribute-dales-landscape-artist-martyn-fretwell-died-earlier-month/

An afternoon visit to Grassington during my mini break to North Yorkshire took an unexpected turn of events, which resulted in meeting my name sake, Martyn Fretwell the Artist.

The story all starts some 25 years earlier, when a friend at work, who was an artist gave me this advert from a North Yorkshire magazine, which he got while visiting that area. Telling me, you will have to go & visit him & with me saying possibly one day !

So 25 years on, the opportunity to visit North Yorkshire to visit new friends resulted in me finally putting plans together to also visit Skipton Castle, Haworth & the chance to look in on Martyn at Grassington while I was there. 

But when I got to Grassington I found that the Shenstone Gallery was now the Anvil Gallery & after talking to a couple of locals, I was told that Martyn had retired from the shop some two years ago. Feeling a little disappointed that I had left it too late, I though I would go into the Anvil Gallery just to have a look around. It was no longer an artist's studio, but sold hand made jewellery & decorative glass. 

I got talking to the shop owner, explaining that I was Martyn Fretwell also & would have liked to have met him.

This is were my luck changed, a lady customer who was looking around the shop suddenly said to me that she knew where Martyn lived in a nearby village & then proceeded to give me directions. 

So off I went, not knowing if I would find him at home.

Martyn's Shenstone Gallery. 

Photo reproduced with the kind permission of GrassingtonWeb. 

http://www.grassingtonweb.co.uk/index.asp

Feeling a little anxious, I found the cottage & knocked on the door. I knew what Martyn looked like, as I had seen his photo on the web. But he would not know who this stranger was knocking on his door. 

He was in & my chance to finally meet my namesake was just about to take place.

I said are you Martyn Fretwell the Artist, with him saying yes, I then said I am Martyn Fretwell also, the brick collector on the web. Smiling & looking slightly bemused while rubbing his ear, he said come on in.

The first thing he inquired after we had gone inside, was are you a Martyn with a y, with me saying yes. Then he said he had always wondered who this Martyn the brick collector was, as there had been a few people go into his Gallery & asked to see his bricks, with him explaining to them that this was another Martyn Fretwell. This brick question had always made him smile & now he had met this mysterious brick collector. Both of us kept saying how unreal this event was.

I then asked Martyn if I could take a photograph of him & if there was anyone who could take a photo of the two of us together, celebrating the meeting of the Martyn's.

Martyn the Artist.

So after taking his picture, we then nipped next door to ask his neighbour to oblige us in taking our picture. 
While we going round next door, there was one of Martyn's elderly neighbours walking her dog, Martyn introduced me, which she then exclaimed, two Martyn Fretwell's Oh-my !

The big moment, 

I'm on the right, just incase you had not worked it out !

After thanking his neighbour for taking our photograph, we went back inside & Martyn said "Would you like to see my family tree." 

He came downstairs with large roll of paper, unrolling it on the table. It covered many generations back in Yorkshire. He pointed out that one of his Uncles had lived in Chesterfield, but we could find any connections to my Fretwell's in Nottinghamshire. My family had originated from the Scunthorpe area in the 1770's & had been coal miners, moving from one pit to another, finally ending up in Nottinghamshire. My Grandfather broke the family tradition in becoming a herbalist & owning a tobacco & sweet shop. What a mix to today's standards. His eldest son did work down the pit, but my Grandfather did not let my father do that, instead he worked in hosiery & knitwear factories & then at Metal Box.

We ended my visit by looking & talking about a couple of his paintings, with me taking this picture. Also with me saying I would contact my cousin, who had traced the Fretwell's in Nottinghamshire to see if she could find the connection to Yorkshire. We have since looked, but were unable to find any connection. I know there are many Fretwell's in nearby Shirebrook in Derbyshire, but there is no direct link to them either. 

So the day ended on a high & we said we would keep in touch. All I have got to do now, is find the other three Martyn Fretwell's which are listed on 192.com !

AVONCROFT MUSEUM OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS, NEAR BROMSGROVE

 I first came across the Avoncroft Museum from the many bricks photographed at the museum which are posted on David Sallery's Penmorfa brick site. So after checking the web for opening times & what else there was to see at the museum, a visit was planed to see their collection of locally made bricks & the many restored buildings.

The museum near Bromsgrove is a mini village containing buildings which have been rescued & faithfully rebuilt in a setting to match their original location. Most of the buildings contain items & tools for which they were originally used for, like the blacksmith's shop & chain shop. All of these buildings were either rescued from the bulldozer or ones which had fell into neglect. 

This is the Counting House which came from Bromsgrove Cattle Market. The Market was opened in 1853 & farmers would come to this building to settle their bills for the purchase or sale of the livestock. The last market took place in 1972.

Threshing Barn from Cholstrey near Leominster. This is where wheat, oats & barley was beaten with a flail to separate the grain from the stalk. The doors were then opened to let the wind blow away the chaff, leaving the grain to be collected off the floor. The straw would be then collected up & stored.

The Museum contains the National collection of public phone boxes, of which there must be at least twenty different kinds. Most of which are working & are connected, so you can call someone in one of the other phone boxes.

No Dr Who in this one !

The children were having a great time running from one box to another to see which were ringing.

Windmill

Toll House

Medieval Town House

After an enjoyable walk around most of the site, seeing most of the buildings, a visit to the tea rooms in the Shrewsbury Co-op was my next port of call. There I enjoyed a nice cup of refreshing tea & a cake before my two hour steady trip back home.

For more information about the Museum, please click on the link.  http://www.avoncroft.org.uk

To see the bricks I photographed at the museum, please click on the link below.
http://uknamedbricks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/avoncroft-museum-near-bromsgrove.html

LYME PARK, CHESHIRE

The day had been cloudy for most of the day resulting in me at first not getting very good pictures of Lyme Park, but after I had been round the well kept gardens & house, the sun started to appear, requiring me to have to race around the grounds to get these decent photos of the house before closing time at 5 o'clock.

I spoke to the young gardener tending the lawns & borders near the orangery, if he was fined for leaving any weeds in the borders, which he replied "no, you will always find some weeds." He then realised I was joking with him & I commended him on doing such a great job in tending the beds & for his perfectly striped lawns. As a keen garden myself you appreciate how much time & effort has been put in to keep these gardens looking as good as they do. They were a pleasure to see & photograph.

Lyme Park was used for the setting of Pemberley in the 1995 television series of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice starring Jennifer Ehle & Colin Firth.

If it was not for one of the kind garden attendants I would have not got this great shot of the house from the Italian Gardens. The bell had been rung to exit the gardens at 5 o'clock & everyone including myself proceeded towards the exit. It was at this point with me seeing people coming up from the Italian Gardens, that I had not been down there. So I asked the attendant, which he granted, if there was time for me to nip down to these gardens, resulting in me getting this great shot of the house, with the light just spot on.

If you do go to Lyme Park make sure you allow it to be an all day visit as there is plenty to see. Not like me, I only managed to have three hours there & that was not long enough to get my money's worth, as it wasn't cheap to go in & there was no reduction for seniors. You also have to pay £7 car parking on top, which I though was the National Trust going too far. So I expect I have learnt from this day not to pull in too many places in the same day or you pay the price !

All in all it was grand day out, Anson Engine Museum in the morning & a historical house & gardens in the afternoon, not forgetting that nice cake at lunch time.

ANSON ENGINE MUSEUM, POYNTON, CHESHIRE

I first got to know about this museum through fellow brick collector & local historian David Kitching. So during my stay in Congleton this year, I went along to see Poynton's locally made bricks & what turned out to be a very interesting museum & a great day out. Outside there are displays of long forgotten trades, wheelwright, wood bodger & blacksmith, with the old crafts being recreated by the volunteers. Inside & out there are working engines of all kinds, starting with steam through to gas & diesel. 

Everything is put to good use, so I hope the blacksmith has a new pair of boots now !

 Crossley Brothers, first style Atmospheric - Free piston engine.

I was told at reception that various engines would be shown in action. So while I was photographing the outside displays the gentleman in the picture above, rounded us all up & the engines were fired up one by one.  He was very
knowledgeable & made us all laugh with his little quips. Especially after the next engine (photo below) had finished & he said " Did you like that - it was a cracker that one" just like Fred Dibnah. I was hoping to put a video of this engine in action, but found it was to larger file to be included. 

This Crossley Atmospheric engine had been used to unload tar from barges to the distillery at Bristol Docks.

A 1865 Hugon gas engine.

A 1897 engine designed by Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, a German inventor & mechanical engineer who first invented this type of engine.

A Paxman diesel engine.

A 1947 Napier Deltic, used by British Railways in their Class 55 locomotives.

An old type of printing press, which looked like it still worked from the papers on the machine.

One of the smaller engines in action.

Some of the many miniature steam engines.

This a scale model of Poynton & is situated in the local history section along with locally made bricks collected by Les Cawley & other volunteers at the museum. If you wish to read about the brickworks at Poynton, I have pasted David Kitching's link below.
http://www.brocross.com/poynton/book/subsid.htm

The photos I have only shown are only a small selection of many engines that are on display. So if you are interested in visiting the museum, I have pasted their link below. You will be made most welcome by the very enthusiastic volunteers & you may like me, spend 3 hours in looking round this very interesting museum. If you are a serious engine devotee, you my need longer or more than one visit. So after enjoying a cake & cup of tea in the tearoom, I then went off to nearby Lyme Park for the rest of the afternoon.
http://www.enginemuseum.org