SUNSET IN THE FENS

 

I never tire of our sunsets over the fens.

Unlike in a landscape of hills and mountains,

light lingers as if it does not wish to leave us,

until it finally disappears below the earth’s curvature.

 

A time of day when life must ease its pace,

when darkness fills that bright-lit space;

the fading sun serenely makes retreat

when day’s sounds cease and night calls beat.

 

He seems to pause as if he will not leave

this earth he’s warmed, and life he has conceived.

For one brief instant earth and time do not exist:

that moment when the sun and moon have kissed.

 

Birds fold tired wings and roost in branches high;

butterflies rest, as cattle, sheep and horses lie,

nocturnal creatures stir for night-time chores,

to prowl and hunt and feed by nature’s laws.

 

Proudly the sun reflects its image on the moon,

emblazing stars and galaxies, solitary and strewn.

We trust that this immortal sphere will never wane,

and know for certain it will rise again.

 

The sun has not deserted us, but only slipped away,

to greet us in the morning, bringing forth another day,

a spectacle on earth that even now holds me in awe,

outside man’s jurisdiction, yet under someone’s law.

 

 PUBLISHING MY POETRY

 

 

Throughout my life I have always loved poetry especially poems on the countryside, its fauna and flora and the people who live and work in it. 

A person’s vision living in the fens is two thirds sky in an ever-changing panorama.

Maybe the openness of the fens with its vast skies under which I have lived all my life has made me tend to gaze into another world, a poetic world. 

I was discouraged to take poetry seriously always being told there is so little demand or financial reward for it, and difficult to find a publisher anyway.

Having reached the age of eighty-one, with four books on the fens published I decided to published my poetry collection before it is too late. 

 

I accept it will not be for monetary gain, but a poetic record of my life as a countryman in a land my ancestors have lived and farmed in for over three centuries.

Eccentric maybe, extravagant yes, reckless could be, self-satisfying  yes. 

When published my poems  will be on record should anyone wish to read them ? if not there will at least be a copy in the British Library under an ISBN No. 

There are four sections to the collection 

 

MY HOMELAND THE FENS

Thirty-five poems

 

FEN FAUNA AND FLORA

Twenty-five poems

 

TIME AND TIMELINESS ‘friends family and pets’

Twenty-three poems

 

STEPPING OFF THE FEN AND STEPPING BACK

Thirteen poems

 

The book will be available in October 

direct from,

My printers and distributers York Publishing Services.

Link available in Oct

YPS also supply Amazon and any retailers and wholesalers who wish to sell the book.

Soil in Their Souls

My publishers have sent my third book "Soil in Their Souls" to the "pagers" who prepare it for print on A3 pages for me to check and amend if required. It will be available in early November we will be holding a GRAND book launch and talk on the 12th Nov at "BOOKMARK" of Spalding where I had had my 2 previous book launches.

Chris Hanson the owner of Bookmark makes it a party atmosphere so put it in you diary.

The History of Peterborough Corn Exchange

The Peterborough Corn Exchange was opened 1848 and demolished I the 1960s. I have found very little documentation on the exchange only a list of the 94 stands in the building in the 1920s with the names of firms on each stand. I am trying to find out what business each stand holder was in at that period. I have managed to list the type of occupation many stand holders were in, but not all. As far as I know there are no later lists of stand holders. This was a great part of our Agricultural History and should be recorded. If anyone could add to this list I would be very grateful. You can contact me through my website, http://www.rexslyinthefens.com/.

STAND NO, NAME
The folowing have not been identified ;
2 F Dixon Ltd 4 E O Coulson 8 R T Smith 11 J H V French
30 Browns & Goodman 31 L Bassett 33 W M Geddes R B Kirby
35 Walter 36 Flowers & Addington 38 A Leake & Son 42 F E & V Goddard 43 W M Cooper & Son 43 W S White & Co 44 E Keighley & Co
45 Gastons Ltd Siddons & Son 49 T Morton March
56 Hart & Sons shared F Mackinder 58 J Curedale
60 E Y Newell & Sons 61 W & J Brown 63 Bernard Goode
65 Quibell Bros Ltd 66 G J Sampson & Son 67 Ashworth & Sons
68 Wilson & Son Ltd Wisbech 73 Sowerby & Co Ltd
74 Rose & Sons Ltd Whittlesey shared J King & Sons
78 Peterborough Syndicate Ltd 81 Green & Baxter 82 Herbert Parker Ltd
83 G A Bunting 89 Doughty Richardson & Co 90 Foley Bros

BBC Countryfile in the Fens

The BBC Countryfile team were filming in the Fens this week (4th 5th December)
I spent the morning with them in the company of Ben Fogle at Ely. My involvement came about because of my latest book “ Fenland Families” which is about Fenland Families who have been in business/trade or profession for three generations or more. Three families in the book were at Ely, Burrows, newsagents, Gibbs shoe shop and Bonnetts the bakers. The film crew then went on to Elgoods Brewers of Wisbech where they filmed the brewery along with the Elgood family. Elgoods together with Batemans of Wainfleet are two of the few family owned traditional breweries left in the UK. The programme highlights an area of the UK which has by its very nature retained strong links between traditional family concerns and the people who live there. Against all odds these families have survived to retain a unique part of our fenland society. It gave me great pleasure to record them in my book.
The programme will be on BBC TV at 11am Sunday 9th December.
Rex Sly

Malaria in the Fens

Fen Ague or Marsh fever, was an endemic disease once common in the East Anglican Fens. The English word Ague derives from Old French “ague” meaning “sever fever”.

The word was used in Geoffry Chaucer’s “Nun’s priest tales” in the 14th c and William Shakespeare refers to it in many of his plays.

Samuel Pepys, the diarist, suffered from Ague and Oliver Cromwell died of tertian ague in 1658.
It was thought the fever came from inhaling miasma given off during warm, hot weather.
Bargemen were susceptible to this disease as were those who lived and worked near the fen watercourses.

Major drainage of the Fens during the 17th c coupled with better personal hygiene alongside Britain entering a cooler period “the mini ice age” led to the decreased in Fen Ague. The disease was not unique to the Fens many marshlands in England also were know for this fever especially in Essex and along the Thames valley.

It was not until the 19th c that the word malaria (malus aria, Latin for bad air) began to replaced the word Ague and the disease died out.

It was, at this time realised that malaria was due to a protozoan parasite transmitted by the mosquito and not miasma.

The fen people had no cure for this disease, only sedatives such as opium and various potions made for indigenous plants, herbs and bark from ash trees to relieve the fever. Alcohol and Opium were commonly used to suppress the rigors of the first stages of ague.

The fens became notorious for “ Opium eaters” and laudanum given to children during teething which may have initiated this habit in their later lives. One Fenland physician wrote that “ a patch of white poppies was usually found in most Fen gardens”.

In the 17th c Robert Brady used cinchona powder, whose principle ingredient was quinine to treat Ague, which still used today. This was made from the bark of a several trees growing in Peru and Bolivia both Catholic countries. In Great Britain it became known as “Jesuit’s Powder” and some physicians of the Protestant orthodox religion were prejudice to it’s use in treating Ague.

By the mid 20th c the disease was found to be transmitted by the mosquito.

The strains of mosquitoes in the Fens at that time have become extinct. If malaria carrying mosquitoes did enter the Fens (which is unlikely) the disease could only be passed to humans from the insects carrying infect blood from other humans with the disease. There would have to be many humans infected for this to happen. There are more than 30 species of mosquitoes in Britain at this time and the vast majority do not bite humans.