Month: February 2018

An Important Petition and The 2018 NGS Launch

An account of the 2018 Launch of the National Garden Scheme prefaced by the Autistic Bill of Rights and a petition to save Morley House Respite Unit.

INTRODUCTION

This post in entirely autism focussed, so the text is in #RedInstead. I will build up to the account of the 2018 Launch o the National Garden Scheme, which will occupy most of the post. First, to set the scene for all the follows, stimtheline’s Autistic Bill of Rights:

Autistic Bill of Rights.pub

SAVE MORLEY HOUSE RESPITE UNIT

Morley House Respite Unit plays a vital role in the lives of many autistic people and their families in the West Norfolk area. It is now facing closure. Jessica Kibble, a volunteer with NAS West Norfolk, has created a petition on 38 Degrees against this planned closure. At the moment, less than two full days after launch there are just short of 600 signatures, which is a respectable start, but we need more. Below is a screenshot of the petition homepage, and by clicking it you can sign and share the petition:

MH

THE 2018 LAUNCH OF THE
NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME

NAS West Norfolk have an allotment/ sensory garden in West Lynn for which we received a grant from the NGS. As beneficiaries we were invited to be present at their 2018 Launch Eventm which took place today at Houghton Hall.

Houghton Hall complex

For various reasons the only person able to be present on behalf of NAS West Norfolk was me. Being represented by one person is not ideal, but with that one person being me it did ensure that there was some genuine autistic presence at the event.

The arrangement was that I would catch a bus from King’s Lynn to the point at which the road from Harpley joins the A148, where I would be collected by car and driven up to the hall (many thanks Julia for making the arrangement and Gus for collecting me). I had initially being thinking in terms of the 8:45, arriving at the Harpley turn at approx 9:10 if it runs to time, but last night following a suggestion that this was too early I changed plans to aiming for the 9:45 bus, about which I had certain misgivings (through long experience I have developed Diogenes-esque levels of cynicism as regards British public transport running to time). 

I was at the bus station with everything I needed in good time, and, mirabile dictu, the bus arrived when it was supposed to. That unfortunately ended the good news. At Gaywood, rounding the curve near the clock tower, an impatiently driven lorry got too close to the bus and damaged one of the external mirrors. The driver had to inspect the damage to see how serious it was, and that was over ten minutes gone with no prospect of any it being made up in the rest of the journey. Fortunately, my delayed arrival at the Harpley turn was not sufficient to actually make me late for the start of the event (10:30), but it was a closer thing than it should have been.

There was a table for me to set up the NAS West Norfolk display board, leaflets and some of my own personal cards, and refreshments were laid on for free (I consumed some of the sausage rolls, which were excellent, and some ginger cake, and also, having been invited to do so, took some more cake away with me). 

NASWN display

Marie Curie Cancer Care were present as major beneficiaries of the NGS, and there was a display showcasing a sensory garden in the Dereham area. Julia, gracious host of our 10th birthday Garden Party, introduced the speeches. There were four speeches by people from Marie Curie Cancer Care, and at the end Lord Cholmondeley (pronounced as ‘chumly’), owner of Houghton Hall, said a few words. 

ceiling section
These pictures were all taken in the room where the stall was.

WindowNGS attendees INGS attendees IINGS attendees IIIPicture Ilight fittingJulia introduces the speechesPicture IIMarie Curie SpeakerJo from Marie CurieMarie Curie final speakerLord Cholmondleigh

Lord Cholmondleigh II
Lord Cholmondeley speaking

NGS attendees IVPicture IIIDereham Sensory GardenMarie Curie tablePicture VPicture VI

In her role introducing the speeches Julia had very kindly mentioned the NAS West Norfolk presence, and many people came to the stall to find out more. Of course this was delightful, but it was also challenging (though I am fairly confident that the only person present who knew just how challenging I was finding it was me). Our branch chair Karan had hoped to be present for the last stages of the event, which would enable her to give me a lift back and to collect the display board for Friday, when a visitng speaker will be giving talks on autism and puberty at a venue near the Hardwick Industrial Estate (unless something else intervenes I will be present for the evening talk). She arrived at about quarter to twelve, which gave me an opportunity to look at the gardens. 

TriptychCourtyardCourtyard IICourtyard IIIAvenueFloor plaque, rose gardenPart of the hallWeathervanesGroundsCiolumn 1Column 2BuildingEntrance to courtyardCupola

Water Feature
This water feature put me in mind of some books by Rachel Caine that I have recently been reading, but unlike in her books these are just statues, not automata!

Water Feature IIstone bathtub and guardiansSC plaqueGravel pathMapWalled Gardenrock formationarchwayClamp IClamp IILong viewGardenscorner treeTreeedge pathThrough the trees

tree temple
This building looks very like a small temple (perhaps given the materials used in its construction, a temple to Artemis!)

Tree temple pedimentTree temple RHTree temple LHFrosted grassGardens IIICourtyard FLCourtyard FRGardens IISnowdropsFrontageTree and stoneworkHoughton Hall IICourtyard blockHoughton Hall

The journey home had a delayed start, because the field in which visitors cars were parked proved to be too muddy for most of said vehicles to handle. Karan’s car was one of those that needed a tractor-assisted start (I will endeavour to remember this next time I find myself travelling behind a slow-moving farm vehicle!). One underway however, our return journey passed without incident. 

Assisted starting

 

Musical Keys and Birds

A brief account of Musical Keys and some bird pictures.

INTRODUCTION

Saturday was a music day, and I have plenty of pictures to share from recent days.

MUSICAL KEYS – THE KORG

These sessions are organised for the benefit of autistic people, so before I get into the meat of this section here is stimtheline’s magnificent Autistic Bill of Rights:

Autistic Bill of Rights.pub

The Korg is a very sophisticated machine (for classical music enthusiasts it looks a 21st century version of a clavichord, but it does so much more). I will let the photographs tell the story (I got most of these by playing with my left hand while using the camera with my right FYI):

Korg IKorg IIKorg IIIKorg IVKorg VKorg VIKorg VIIKorg VIIIKorg IXKorg X

BIRDS OF ALL SIZES

We start with the largest bird to be a regular feature of life in Britain – the mute swan:

MSXMSXIMSXIIMSXIIIMSXIVMSXVMSXVIMSXVIIMSXIXMSXXMSXXI

Next we come to a much smaller species, which I have not previously captured on camera, a little wader called a turnstone (I seem to recall that a few years back The Lynn News had a columnist who used Turnstone as a nom de plume):

Turnstone ITurnstone II

Further along the Great Ouse and on the side of the river were a few specimens of a larger bird that is not a regular sight in these parts – the greylag goose:

Greylag geese

We end with a couple of cormorant shots:

Cormorant CSwimming cormorant

 

 

January Auction A Huge Success

An account of Wednesday’s auction.

INTRODUCTION

James and Sons had their first auction of 2018 on Wednesday, and this post tells the story of that auction. 

TUESDAY – SET UP

Most of the setup work for the auction was accomplished on Tuesday. First, some stock had to be cleared away from the tables that were to be used for the auction, and then the stock we brought down (lots 1-488, after which would be taking a break, and might bring down the second half lots if it seemed necessary) was laid out on one table, and the IT setup completed on the other. I did a preliminary test to make sure that all was working.

THE AUCTION

Everything went smoothly on the morning of the auction, and we started as intended at 10 o;clock. Lot 7, a small collection of Masonic medals, with a modest estimate of 30-50 ended up selling for £200.

7
Lot 7 (four images total)

7-a7-b

THE STORY OF LOT 17

This lot had had a lot of advance publicity, and what happend to it was crucial to the overall success or otherwise of the auction. Before Christmas I had put out various emails and press releases about this item, one result of which was an advertisement on the armourer website. It had also been the front cover item on the printed catalogue. In the run up to the auction I had received a query asking for close-ups of maker’s marks on the Russian Order of St Anne gold medal, which was the key part of the group in terms of its value. One of the two people I sent such pictures two did not respond and the other sent an exceedingly insulting response. I had been checking on the-saleroom.com andf noted that this item had 15 watchers. So, it came to time for it go under the hammer, and following the-saleroom.com standard rule of 60% of lower estimate, the opening price was £3,600. The bidding proceeded at such a pace on the internet that by the time the auctioneer had finished announcing the item £5,000 had come and gone. Eventually the hammer went down at £8,200. You can find visit the two articles I wrote about this yesterday:

  1. A specialised article focussing only on this item for military publications.
  2. A more general article for less specialist readers.

Here are some images of this lot:

Jutland 7
Lot 17

Jutland back reducednaming

russian medal - close up
The key element of the group
17-q
The maker’s mark shot

THE REMAINDER OF THE AUCTION

After that it was not going to matter much what happened for the rest of auction. As it happened there were a few more bright spots. Lot 718, a large collection of penny reds and the odd twopenny  blue, all with GWR perfins, went for £120:

718

Lot 852, one of three lots subsituted after the catalogue was printed (three Victorian era hunter watches that replaced three other less significant items) which went in to the online version of the catalogue with an estimate of £50-60 sold for £140. Here are images of all three items:

852
Lot 852, the lot that sold so well (this is a composite image showing both the face and the workings – one of four images for this lot)

852-a852-b852-c

851
Lot 851

851-a851-b

853-a
Lot 853

853-b853

Even then there was still one spectacular sale to come. Lot 864, four vintage gold-nibbed pens with some restoration required, had been expected to make £30-50, but had attracted plenty of interest before the auction, and ended up selling for £180. 

864
Lot 864
864-nibs
The nibs, imaged in response to an internet enquiry.
864-damaged lid1
Two of tghe pen ,lids were damaged (this pic and the next), again picked up on while responding to an internet enquiry.

864-damaged lid 2