Some Thoughts and Memories

          originally  from the  David Munrow Forum Image/Wikipedia          I used to know someone called Alan Whear in Windsor. He used to have an instrument workshop behind the  barracks.  People, as they passed his place of business could see him working away on either creating a new instrument, or repairing old ones. He was brilliant craftsman But it was clear to me he was not really business minded, or else he could have gone far. I remember once visiting him, and like myself had a weakness for early music. He even suggested to me that perhaps in the future I would have a consort just like David Munrow. However, my interests were more towards philosophy, metaphysics, psychical research, mysticism, et cetera....These have since absorbed me since those early days but I still love early music and it still has impact on my life. Anyway, I noticed in the loca...

Often or not  when I was in Slough High Street I would "bump" into Keith Bosley. I had known him for a long while. I used to have long talks with him on literature, and classical music at his home. He was an interesting man, and his Finnish wife Satu was a professional harpist of note (so to speak!). Keith was a notable local. One of his sons wrote a brief entry on him for Wikipedia.(See below) He also appears briefly right at the start of a documentary on the BBC World Service (1982) as he was one of their announcers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhaWXvOASRY   At one point he says "Hang on, I'll just speak to the world." A small still black and white image can be found of him with his white beard near the lower part of this blog entry.                                                      From Wikipedia, the fre...

Towards the very end of  the 1980s  I lived with my mater, and pater at a large house, called The Orchard in Stoke Poges. They were trying to sell the property.  The idea was suggested that to help facilitate selling The Orchard it could be sold to someone who could convert it into a care home. One potential buyer was a certain Gordon Rowe. He was already running a care home, and was invited to view our property. He even had dinner with us. along with his lady friend called Angela. She was much younger than him. Personally, I was not impressed with Rowe. He came across as a cold, and distant individual.....  Moreover, he later became involved in a serious scandal. What followed is revealed below....... Longcare Survivors: Biography of a Care Scandal 16 August 2011 by Debbe Caulfield/Disability In the recently published 'Longcare Survivors', his hard-hitting follow-up to 'Silent Victims' (2004), John Pring r...

In late 1992 Windsor Castle suffered a fire. I remember working in a garden in Wraysbury when I was told by the employer about it. She had heard it on the news, and a trail of smoke could just be seen afar. After I completed my chores, I went through Datchet, and "posted" myself with some tourists on Datchet Bridge where we had a good view of the Windsor Fire. It was quite impressive in the darkness, and seemed a lot worse than it really was. The reason being was that the Fire reflected itself onto the surrounding walls of the Castle, and gave a false impression of being far bigger than it really was. I gave a "potted" history of Windsor Castle to the tourists for some reason, or other. When I returned home to Slough  the Fire was the first item on the news. On the following day I  was opposite where it happened, and I went into a newsagents, and there saw the mainly aerial pics of Windsor Castle splashed across the newspapers. It was quite surreal..... . ...