|
|
 |
| |
Reverend Jonathan Kester from Emmanuel Church, Reverend Andrew Cain, vicar of St Mary’s Kilburn and St James’ West Hampstead, Camden Mayor Cllr Omar Faruque Ansari, and Reverend Alistair Tresidder, vicar of St. Luke’s in West Hampstead |
The casualties of war left at home
THE spectre of a war hung over a gathering in Hampstead Cemetery for Remembrance Day yesterday (Wednesday) – the war in Afghanistan.
The war wasn’t mentioned at the ceremony but I felt that the mounting casualties – rightly given so much publicity in newspapers and TV – proved a catalyst that drew the biggest gathering I have ever known for this ceremony.
When I first began to cover this ceremony in West Hampstead more than 10 years ago only a handful of men and women – some were members of the British Legion – would attend.
On one Remembrance Day no one turned up at all, except this reporter.
But nearly 50 people turned up yesterday, a gathering that honoured the memory of the men who had been killed in the Second World War as well as civilians who had died locally in the Blitz.
Prayers were led by Alistair Tresidder, vicar of St Luke’s, West Hampstead and the Revd. Andrew Cain, vicar of St Mary’s Kilburn and St James’ West Hampstead.
But what stirred me, most of all, was a magnificent reading by Councillor Flick Rea of a passage from the Bible.
A former actor, Cllr Rea’s voice rang out as she quoted that well-known passage that calls for peace, and for swords to be beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks.
Had she chosen this passage with the Afghanistan war in mind?
The laying of wreaths of course dominates the ceremony but, as in previous years, I wandered over to an area behind the war memorial where lay two neat rows of headstones, the graves of young men who had been killed in the war.
As in previous years flowers had been laid at two headstones, presumably from relatives. Tied across one was a large poppy in memory of P.O. Hudson who was killed in 1945, a few months before the end of the war, at the age of 20.
At the foot of the headstone for F J Jolly, who had died in 1942 at the age of 27, were two yellow roses, and a card with this message: “Dear Frank, never forgotten…..signed Chris, Gordon and Steve.” All a reminder, that despite the passing of decades, friends or relatives still made their way to the grave of a loved one.
I saw no veterans from the war but a 67-year-old man, Grenfell Prince, was drawn in memory of the father he never saw. He was born six weeks after his father, a sailor, died in a fire in 1942.
Mr Prince told me that his mother had never married again, and died at the age of 92.
“She told me she didn’t want anyone else,” said Mr Prince.
The casualties of war are not only found on the battlefields but also at home among the friends and relatives.
We see this regularly today as coffins are flown back from Afghanistan.
Barkworth’s Lowry back in frame
HE struggled to buy his house in Flask Walk, Hampstead, for £8,500 in 1962.
And it turned out to be worth more than a million when that consummate actor Peter Barkworth died three years ago, aged 77, and leaving an estate worth £2,256,000.
The same problem confronted him with his precious collection of paintings, among them works by Walter Sickert, David Cox, Charles Ginner and Duncan Grant, most of which can now be seen on the walls of Fenton House, the National Trust property in Windmill Hill, to whom he left them.
But at Christie’s today (Thursday) one of Barkworth’s bargain buys for which he paid £60 minus a £3 discount is up for auction – with a remarkable estimate of £150,000 to £250,000 on it.
The small picture, just 14ins by 18ins, is in fact an oil by the celebrated artist LS Lowry, painted in 1951, which Barkworth spotted in Glasgow when he was appearing at the King’s Theatre in a play with the ironic title South Sea Bubble.
He recalled later how he couldn’t make up his mind whether he should buy The Gateway, which then represented nearly five weeks’ wages.
“I’d hummed and hawed all week,” he wrote. “Could I afford £60?”
Eventually, the city art dealers TR Annan & Sons offered a five per cent discount. And that £3 made the vital difference, Barkworth walking triumphantly back to his dressing room with it tucked under his arm.
Who will be the buyer this time? After all, we have just had a somewhat bigger South Sea Bubble and Barkworth is perhaps best known for his 70s TV role as the bank manager in Telford’s Change.
Sachs scandal helps to fund good causes
I AM happy to report that stories sold to a tabloid newspaper can go to
a good cause, after all.
I was intrigued to hear Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs describe on Tuesday how he had been able to turn the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand affair into a good thing.
Bargaining with the Daily Mail for an interview, Andrew told me that after £10,000 had been offered, he held out until they came across with £15,000.
But the money didn’t go into Andrew’s pockets, it went to the Marie Curie hospice in Hampstead (See page 11) and St Stephen’s Church in Pond Street, Hampstead.
Andrew, who lived in Hampstead for years before moving to Kilburn, said the massive press interest in the scandal gave him and his wife Melody the chance to raise money for charity. They chose the hospice after a close friend, a Royal Free psychologist, died there three years ago.
Despite the scandal, Andrew is cheerful for another reason – it gave him more work, and allowed him to start on his memoirs.
FEARS that the magnificent In Touch service is under threat are unfounded.
I reported last week that the team of volunteers who keep in touch with housebound people in the borough had been, in effect, dismissed by the Town Hall. In fact, I was wrong, and the volunteers can be assured they will be able to carry on with good work.
The In Touch service receives about £55,000 a year from the council, and this will be continued, an email from the council assures me.
In Touch operate from a small room in a council building in Gospel Oak, provided free of charge by the Town Hall. However, In Touch will have to move from this room and where they will end up is still not known.
 |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
