The Pioneer Centre

As most of you will know, the City of Coventry Boarding School is now the Pioneer Centre.

Here's a video and some photos -

William Langland - Piers Plowman

" William Langland 1330 - 1400 Piers Plowman - father 'Stacy de Rokayle,'  born in Mortymers Clibery" 

The east window in St Mary's Church, Cleobury Mortimer, dates from the 19th century and celebrates William Langland, the author of Piers Plowman.

He was born at Kinlet (Near Cleobury Mortimer)  in 1332. A contemporary of Chaucer, he was a poet who used the alliterative blank verse that was derived from Anglo-Saxon poetry. His father owned some land and William, the second son, was destined to be a clerk. He was sent to the Austin Friars at the Woodhouses to be educated. two miles from Cleobury Mortimer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Langland

When William learned to read and write he left the Friars and journeyed to London. This journey inspired him to write his poem, "The Vision of Piers Plowman", in which he describes how he rested on the Malvern Hills and visualised the kingdom as 'a field full of folk'. His writing depicted the life and thoughts of a peasant in the years before Watt Tyler's rebellion. Langland died in 1400, and during the 15th century his poem was copied by hand three times. It was not printed until more than a century after his death.
The spirit of Piers Plowman lived on in the religious earnestness of his successors. Langland bewailed the corruption of Mediaeval society, and reverted to the ideals of the past rather than those of the present.

Review 

"William Langland's Piers Plowman is one of the major poetic monuments of medieval England and of world literature. Probably composed between 1372 and 1389, the poem survives in three distinct versions. It is known to modern readers largely through the middle of the three, the so-called B-text. Now, George Economou's verse translation of the poet's third version makes available for the first time in modern English the final revision of a work that many have regarded as the greatest Christian poem in our language.

Langland's remarkable powers of invention and his passionate involvement with the spiritual, social, and political crises of his time lay claim to our attention, and demand serious comparison with Dante's Divine Comedy. Economou's translation preserves the intensity of the poet's verse and the narrative energy of his alliterative long line, the immediacy of the original's story of the quest for salvation, and the individuality of its language and wordplay."



In a summer season, when soft was the sun,
In rough cloth I robed me, as I a shepherd were,
In a habit like a hermit in his works unholy,
And through the wide world I went, wonders to hear ...

Rosemary Webb Rehill  I believe that there's a plaque dedicated to him in St.Mary's church.


Trev Teasdel  His work is associated with the Peasant's revolt and he gave the first mention of Robin Hood!  He was a contemporary of Chaucer. His 'Vision' was written in alliterative blank verse derived from Anglo Saxon poetry. The poem was orally transmitted and had three major revisions before it was finally printed until 1500 (a century after his death). Educated at Austin Friars, Woodhouse Friary Nr Cleobury, he moved to London. His poem starts on the Malvern Hills depicting the life and thoughts of a peasant before Watt Tyler's Peasants Revolt on which it had an influence. He gave the first literary mention of Robin Hood.

Photo by Dean Revell - from a plaque in St. Mary's Church in Cleobury Mortimer. 

The Cleobury - School Triangle

We take a little tour from Cherry Orchard, past the school, down to Cleobury and back up to Cherry Orchard!

Cherry Orchard to Cleobury Mortimer

Cherry Orchard

Cleobury Golf Club Nr School

View from Cleobury to 6 Ashes Road

Short cut to Village

Short cut across the river Rea

Bridge over the river Rea

Bottom of the Glen

Slasher Jack's Cottage

Dean Revell - Recent Photos

Dean Revell, who was at the school 1962 - 67, has kindly sent some photos taken on a recent visit to the school. Dean now lives in Texas and has been involved with High Energy Physics and the Texas Collider.

Ludlow Bridge by Dean Revell

Ludlow by Dean Revell

Neen Savage Church by Dean Revell

By Dean Revell

by Dean Revell

Clee Hill by Dean Revell

Dean Revell - the one in the middle behind Thorn & Roberts

Neen Savage Ford - Photo by Dean Revell

The Cooked Spire - Cleobury Mortimer

Photo by Keith Ison

St. Mary's church in Cleobury Mortimer is renowned for its crooked spire. It dates back to the 13th Century. The twist and lean was caused by the spire being placed on the tower without any tying or flashing. As a result the soft stone crumbled in the wet and the timbers rotted. The twist was partly due to the timbers drying out.

In 1793 Thomas Telford, the County surveyor, was building the ‘new bridge’ at the east of the town, and he was called in to suggest a remedy for the walls of the church leaning outwards. He had brick buttresses built. These were changed to stone during the Gilbert Scott restoration in the 1870s. More here - http://pages.cleoburycountry.com/fosmc

Lauri Lindsay The local legend was that the spire would straighten if a virgin was married in the church.

Paul Starling Not a chance now-a-days!


Paul Nicholas Williamson I also rang the bells here, the vicar was a bit of a lad as he would dash across the road after morning service with a lighted fag and straight into the Kings Arms for a half pint or two.


Keith Ison Nothing wrong with a couple of glasses of holy water!


Trev Teasdel  No wonder the steeple is wonky!!

Thomas Telford

Photo by Keith Ison

Photo by Keith Ison

Kidderminster - Sugar Town

It may have been the mini-skirt but one Saturday I cycled all the way to Kidderminster to buy Sugar Town by Nancy Sinatra. What i didn't realise at the time was that Kidderminster itself was a 'Sugar Town'!

Ok, songwriter Lee Hazelwood claims he was writing about a more psychedelic form of sugar but that was lost on me back then. Nancy Sinatra and the laid back tones was enough for me.

Kidderminster was primarily a weaving town that developed as an important carpet making town, as blogged elsewhere on this site. However it also had a sugar refinery.

http://www.miac.org.uk/sugar.htm

"This large sugar refinery on the outskirts of Kidderminster was formerly rail connected from the Severn Valley Railway at Foley Park. Rail traffic from the internal railway ceased in the late 1970's although the sugar plant remained in operation until the end of the 2001/2 campaign. There were originally steam locomotives here but steam working ended 1/1969. Diesel traffic continued through the 1970's but rail traffic had ceased by 25th October 1982 and the last remaining locomotives were sold soon after."

"The sidings into sugar factory led off to the right towards the towers of the sugar refinery."

"The British Sugar factory of Kidderminster can be found in the county of Worcestershire which was once owned by the ‘British sugar corporation’ a company which was created in 1936 as part of a British effort to nationalise their sugar beet processing." 

The School Tannoy Feels Fine!

I bought the single I Feel Fine by the Beatles in Cleobury one Saturday Dec 1964.

Back at the dorm only a mate and I were in after lunch. We played the single on my record player and thinking the feedback sounded like the feedback on the school tannoy, we took a line out to the dorm speaker and played the song through the speaker system so it would sound like an announcement, after which we escaped to the village!

Returning for tea at 6pm the staff were still pondering how it happened but apparently (according to our sources) concluded that the staff room mic had probably picked up a radio signal! No cane & we felt fine!