London Visit September 2016 ( Lords Cup Final Day and Cinema x 2)

The main purpose of my visit to London 16^th to 19^th September 2016 was to attend the one-day cricket cup 50 over final at Lords which proved to be something of a disaster as it as cold with a nasty wind and Surrey the team I was supporting lost badly to Warwickshire on of two teams I dislike, although the reasons in both instances are irrational. However, I had an excellent enjoyable journey on the Friday and the return has started well and very enjoyable interesting day on Sunday with pictures in the morning after a Wetherspoons breakfast, a good walk in the afternoon before the second half on Sky go of an excellent Palace in over bottom of Table Stoke then pictures and food in and TV.

For the first time this year heavy to torrential rain was forecast for Friday morning added to which I wanted to take the rubbish to recycle together with three bags of stuff mainly socks, the damaged cover and some old shirts. I was able to get out, bring the car and load up during slight rain arriving at recycle just before it opened getting to Newcastle just before 10am. I parked as close to the covered area to unload the luggage before finding a parking space. Purchased a weekend parking ticket for £23 thus making the cost of travelling first class by train £89. I enquired about a four-day weekend but will be £64 full price and not £39 which I had hoped for the New year trip

Made way to fist class lounge for fruit juice two coffees and two packets of biscuits Times Newspaper plus Wi-Fi which is worth at least £5. Was able to get on board just after 12 sitting in the allotted single sear M coach 47. The main activity this journey was reading of the book by the Brogan’s who met as primary school children when in care Sunderland Council in 1960 and had experience of the Ashbrooke Reception home. The Esplanade, then at Aytcliffe and Stanhope Castle Approved school after which they both had marriages and families before meeting again in Sunderland and getting together. However, my effort to locate has failed to ate despite what appears to be a Facebook page

The food and drink as also good with two tumblers of wine and a whisky. I had the sausage roll as hot with sauce, two crisps, two slices of cake, two coffees, a banana, two packets of biscuits as well as the Hi fi although not used as much as on previous journeys. One can of Pepsi. A good £20 of value plus the internet. It was dry on arrival at Kings and only had to wait a couple of mins before boarding recommended train. Because of flooding there was no Thames link beyond Blackfriars bridge so had to take train to there go too far end for lift and underpass between platform where cross rail train and seat was waiting. Walk to Croydon Travel Lodge was OK. Unpacked before going off for food for evening. The choice

I miscalculated what the weather was going to be like on Saturday morning deciding against the blazer, grey fleece and waterproof for the suit and waterproof which proved inadequate against a nasty biting wind coming face on when sitting at Lords. I had a good start making my way to get to Victoria station by 8 to the Wetherspoons not appreciating there is another in the street across from the bus stops at the side, to be explored on another visit to see if the prices are any less. The charge for coffee is £1.99 and breakfast something like £4.50/53/57. I had a good bench seat inside and did not have to wait long for the food to be cooked which I enjoyed and three cups of the coffee which was also hottish. Bought a travel card at £8 compared 2 X 4.05 for separate singles to London stations avoiding queuing when back at Victoria after the game).

Had to wait a while for the 82 bus looked as if I had just missed on but by the side entrance from which I spotted the second Wetherspoons across the way. Because of the one-way system the bus takes a different route from Oxford Street and I alighted at the entrance to the park the stop before the usual where are some shops on the way, not needed this time but worth noting for the future and then walked along to the entrance which leads directly to the Mound Stand when I was immediately to discovered the cold wind and also that I had not got the seats  from last year having reversed the tow and seat number to I was still at the aisle  but the second row from the walkway and  the other side of the aisle. Had a good chat with someone support Surrey sitting a few rows behind and then solitary individual sitting next seat who appears out posted Surrey supporter but thrilled to be at Lords seemed first time and a casual as still working in management.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat which was unusual and where decision appeared to have been taken because it was an old wicket which had been glued and was not expected to last the 100 overs in the day. Surrey stated very well with Roy and Davies who is going to Somerset to keep wicket as Surrey now have several who can do this role. With the run rate at over 7 I predicted a score   closer to 350 than 300 but the reality proved so different with Surrey all out 126 in 40 overs.  Sangakkara looked as he was playing anchor role when out seven wickets then fell for 30 runs with no one staying with Burns who made a creditable 40 but 4 of the last7 made 0, one 4 one 7 and the other Sam Curran who did the damage at the Riverside 13.  I had a poor coffee at the interval and made the decision that unless 5 wickets were down when Warwickshire reached100 I would leave. 

The problem was the required run rate and with Bell and Trott in the side quick wickets were unlikely. The runs required were gained in 30 overs thus we were short changed 30 overs of cricket in the day but the Warwickshire supporters did not care about that.  Trott made an unbeaten 82 and I left when the score was 110 for 2.  Did  not have to wait long for bus which  stopped  at the bus station opposite station. Train became  very crowded and  delighted to get  back to room.

At Sainsbury’s local was disappointing so settle for fruit juice a beef sandwich and popcorn for meal deal plus a reduce price taste the difference sandwich and five doughnuts naughty naughty.  The room 110 my regular now at one end of the first floor. Double size with twin beds no attempt to join up and separate coverings.

I watched on successive days the last episodes of the last leg legendary programme on the Rio Paralympics, funny, clever and at times very moving. The format is to have one main presenter and two others with disabilities and an audience of disabled athletes sometimes a few family members and then guests some of previous day’s winners of medals, not always just gold and with main personalities appearing at least once. A major feature is to tell the stories behind the stories and which is something Clare Baldwin(?) also does from the Olympic Park and this includes some from other countries, feature this time a blade runner from New Zealand, a weight lifter, a South African save his brother from a shark only to nearly die himself. Felt tired so had an early to bed which resulted in waking after four hours and difficult getting to sleep.

I miscalculated what the weather was going to be like on Saturday morning deciding against the blazer, grey fleece and waterproof for the suit and waterproof which proved inadequate against a nasty biting wind coming face on when sitting at Lords. I had a good start making my way to get to Victoria station by 8 to the Wetherspoons not appreciating there is another in the street across from the bus stops at the side, to be explored on another visit to see if the prices are any less. The charge for coffee is £1.99 and breakfast something like £4.50/53/57. I had a good bench seat inside and did not have to wait long for the food to be cooked which I enjoyed and three cups of the coffee which was also hottish. Bought a travel card at £8 compared 2 X 4.05 for separate singles to London stations avoiding queuing when back at Victoria after the game).

Had to wait a while for the 82 bus looked as if I had just missed on but by the side entrance from which I spotted the second Wetherspoons across the way. Because of the one-way system the bus takes a different route from Oxford Street and I alighted at the entrance to the park the stop before the usual where are some shops on the way, not needed this time but worth noting for the future and then walked along to the entrance which leads directly to the Mound Stand when I was immediately to discovered the cold wind and also that I had not got the seats  from last year having reversed the tow and seat number to I was still at the aisle  but the second row from the walkway and  the other side of the aisle. Had a good with someone support Surrey sitting a few rows behind and then solitary individual sitting next seat who appears out posted Surrey supporter but thrilled to be at Lords seemed first time and a casual as still working in management.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat which was unusual and where decision appeared to have been taken because it was an old wicket which had been glued and was not expected to last the 100 overs in the day. Surrey stated very well with Ray and Davies who is going to Somerset to keep wicket as Surrey now have several who can do this role. With the run rate at over 7 I predicted a score   closer to 350 than 300 but the reality proved so different with Surrey all out 126 in 40 overs.  Sangakkara looked as he was playing anchor role when out seven wickets then fell for 30 runs with no one staying with Burns who made a creditable 40 but 4 of the last7 made 0, one 4 one 7 and the other Sam Curran who did the damage at the Riverside 13.  I had a poor coffee at the interval and made the decision that unless 5 wickets were down when Warwickshire reached100 I would leave. 

The problem was he required run rate and with Bell and Trott in the side quick wickets were unlikely. The runs required were gained in 30 overs thus we were short changed 30 overs of cricket in the day but the Warwickshire supporters did not care about that.  Trott made an unbeaten 82 and I left when the score was 100 for 2. Glad to make my way back to Victoria and the Travel Lodge and the warm. Although back early there was no inclination to go out for warm food and for anything else. I had some cuppa soup and cereal pot as well as sandwich the spiced Ryvetta a banana and the remaining dough nuts. I watched part of the Mummy film the Last Last Leg and then Beck on Sky Go some of the X factor some of the final day of the Paralympics which did not go well.  Newcastle lost 2.0 home to Wolves who they played in the League cup the coming Tuesday.

The problem was then getting the weather wrong the following day as it proved warmed and I overdressed. I planned well otherwise getting to Wetherspoons just after it opened at 8 and for a time on my own as I enjoyed breakfast and also caught up on emails and Twitter. The cost was back to under £4.50 which included two coffees. I then made my way to the Library bus stop where I had to wait 20 mins for the 455 bus which has an interest route to the supermarket at Purley and through Croydon, Waddon to Purley way, then Beddington and then to Wallington train station. I have taken the route once before from Wallington back to Croydon. The stop is close to the Ikea but the return id across the very busy roadway alongside the tram stop. It is quite a walk to the cinema loaded as I was with the shoulder bag and lap top.  The intended film was Kubo and two strings which the man at ticket counter seemed to think was not on seemed to take a dislike to me but eventually conceded that the showing was 10.05 splitting hairs when I said 10. I paid the etc. £2 for a premium VUP seat.

I was very impressed by the film based on a Japanese tale of a boy who had lost an eye and makes a living for his widowed mother telling stories to his village using paper origami style with a little magic in this animated adventure.  His mother dies and given him a small monkey toy which transpire to her reincarnated when it becomes alive, an origami warrior he had created representing his father also becomes alive as a kind of Beatle warrior and they are on a quest to gather the pieces of armour that will protect him.  

It is through the adventure that the back story unfolds. His mother is daughter of the Moon King (the voice of Ralf Fiennes) and immortal without mentions and three daughters The father and the two other daughters have a blindness which makes them forgot all past and concentrate on the exercise of their present ruthless power. The young man had his eye removed as part of the to make him like his grandfather and with the help of the other daughters they attempt is to remove the other eye before he can obtain the protective armour. Charlie Theron plays the mother and Mathew McConaughey the father.  Although the manages to overcome the various attempts to stop and survives their various twists and turns before a very happy ever after ending. The aspect of the film which impressed most is the script with some observations profound, philosophical.

Afterwards because of constant traffic I had difficulty in making my way to the bus stop and because of the delay, having to appear to have missed one I decided to take the tram at £1.50 with the Oyster card £2 otherwise, used to be £1 regardless of the length of the journey unless one has a qualifying pass. The stop is on the right side of the road close to the hotel.  I needed to change shirts. The room had not been cleaned so I was not surprised when there was a call around 1 so I decided to go out having used free internet time left to check that I could attend a 16.40 performance of the Infiltrator at the local view rather than going all the way back to Purley Way for the showing there at 18.40

On reaching the crossroads with High Street and the road to Surrey Street I noted there were various covered stalls along the High Street and these offering hot cooked food from around the worlds.  I walked through to see what was Italian Spanish, various West Indian, sausages from around the world, some appeared authentic rather than off the shelf for the tourist. I walked through to MS back through shopping centre and then decided to o go Surrey Street where although the market was closed as before there were more covered stalls including Hungarian Polish Afghanistan and from the Indian Sub-continent. It was all very tempting. 

At the Vue there new escalators are very good and the left is working but I had to wait some time while the nervous assistant sorted the people before me forgetting various items that had been purchased. There was then a problem printing out the ticket for the VIP seat so by the time I got back it was close to 3 and I had missed the first half of the game between Crystal palace and Stoke. I called in at the supermarket for chicken wings for later, a can of Pepsi for on return and two chocolate Eclairs, total under £5

The room was done Palace winning 2.0 and went on to win 4.1. I had assumed Sunderland would lose at Spurs which they did but only 1.0 so a bad weekend for local clubs.  Enjoyed an éclair with a cuppa.  I enjoyed the film the Infiltrator. This was an enjoyable account of how a federal agent working under cover over a number of years is said to have brought down with others leading people involved in the Columbian drug after it was decided to   chase the money rather than drugs.  It was a good storey but story it is and the notion that the   film is said to be based on book is based on fact is of course for those who believe in   fairies especially as the lead man concerned married with two children is said to have continued to work for the agency.  The film alleges that the bust takes places at a fake wedding ceremony at which the traders and the bankers decided to attend providing an opportunity for everyone to be caught in one place and at one time.  The film is honest enough to admit the USA government used drug money to fund various off the book enterprises with Iran contras being one.

It was dusk on leaving cinema and I returned to enjoy the chicken, soup, chocolate éclair, porridge coffee. Victoria on the TV not internet also last part of the return of The Mummy although at the time I thought this was the same film shown running!

Up early and packed ready with time to spare plus coffee and porridge and arrived at station just at 9.20 only to find there was a train to St Pancras within mins of arriving on the platform. This was a long bright new train with wide aisles and plenty of luggage space as well as about a quarter full.  Enjoy a long chat with ladies down Wallington who were on a day out to St Albans reminding me of the aunties!

I arrived at the first class lounge just as ten thirty approached and enjoyed fruit juice coffee reading the times newspaper one pan au chocolat one packet crisps a banana and one packet of biscuit as well and internet use   and which is now free for all those who book on line.  The train went from platform 3 instead of usual o or 1 but I was able to get a table for four for myself for the whole journey to Newcastle. The journey passed by quickly. The curry took time to come with the risotto and sausage roll going before   and the naan bread was not properly cooked. Enjoyed one glass of red and a whisky passing on the third.  No ice with the whisky. A muffin once three lots of crisps and two coffees did not think the service was as good as on other visits in part because the end of the journey at Newcastle it was bright and warm on arrival.  Cold not open the garage door so had to enter vain front but this was Ok the following morning phew and there was one post from House of Commons which provoked great interest and proved a great surprise.

(You and other members of the NEC will be interested in the recent response of Virgin Trains to persistence on my behalf by my constituency Member of the House of Commons, South Shields Emma Lewell-Buck following my referral over a year ago and where it is possible to speculate  that Labours plans to take back the railway into national public ownership and recent events involving the Labour Party Leader has led to a compensation  award of four open return first class tickets for use throughout Virgin East coast. The formulation of the original response to Emma is also noteworthy as it does not challenge the basic facts of my complaint but places the blame on everyone other than company management.

I am sending a copy of recent correspondence between Emma and Virgin to the General Secretary of party.  I suggest the parallel between what happened to me on 21^st September 2015 and the need for the party leader to sit on the floor will be of direct interest to him and his team.

On 21^st September 2015 I had booked a second class homeward ticket from Kings Cross to Newcastle before I developed a mobility disability the result of radiating back pain where the medical diagnosis was that because of my age (I was 76) I would have good and bad days. At one point I was unable to get out of bed without help, tie shoe laces and walking was painful. The condition had improved sufficiently by the time of the planned September 2015 visit to London but on arrival at the Kings Cross station early I had secured a mobility seat close to the disability toilet in the first second class carriage after the service bar carriage which in turn was after the first class carriages. The location proved significant in terms of subsequent events.

On arrival at the station there was an announcement of disruption to the East Coast line and there were also announcements on the train explaining that passengers from other trains were being asked to join the train and this included a train to Leeds and another train on the East coast line before we were able to depart. The impact of this was that despite new passengers being asked to move down the train and take any available seat the space in between where I and another disabled passenger   with a leg in plaster were sitting and the toilet and the way to the service bar became blocked by standing and sitting on the floor passengers and their luggage.  A staff member managed to get through to us at one point an apologised but the human and luggage obstructions remained for most of journey and then eased from York. The explanations for the delay at Kings Cross and on the train varied and appeared to be different from what was subsequently observed.

Because I am able to book in advance when East Coast trains under temporary government control introduced a 24-week advance booking   service I commenced to travel first class  making an increased  number of  return journeys a year and have found that provision of food, drink,  and Wi-Fi in addition to better seating and space can match the total cost of the ticket let alone the difference between first and second class although the standard of service provided varies between the individual journey catering teams. My concern in September 2015 over the health and safety failure for all passengers and in particular those with disability.

In their letter to Emma dated 7^th September 2016, after she had pursued the failure to respond, Virgin claim they issued a response on 30^th October, enclosing a copy of a two and a quarter page letter which they allege was sent but not received by Emma. It will be of interest that in a subsequent situation where I was eligible for a cheque for 50% reimbursement I made direct contact by phone some six week after making the online submission which states a cheque will takes a month to be advised that there although the payment had been authorised the reason for the delay was a back log in cheque issuing because of the number of situations of service delays that were arising.

A journey to London in August was delayed 1 hour and 6 minutes (attending Durham V Middlesex Cricket game at Lords where I met members who had travelled earlier the same day and where the delay was over three hours (a suicide on the line at Newark and where staff have said there has been a significant rise in the number of suicides on railway lines and which merits separate concern as to why). I have still not received the 100% reimbursement due and have planned to wait until the end of the month to make inquiry if the cheque does not arise beforehand.

The original October 2015 letter from Virgin is of general interest because it refers to their plans for changes and improvements since being awarded the contract, but it is the WOW extraordinary compensation award because of the delay in one year that causes me to write to you. Virgin have provided four open for a year first class return tickets to be used between any stations on the East Coast line and which have a potential value of over £1500.  This may be due to the persistence of the individual Member of Parliament, but recent negative publicity aimed at discrediting the Labour Leader may also be a factor. You and other members of the NEC will be interested in the recent response of Virgin Trains to persistence on my behalf by my constituency Member of the House of Commons, South Shields Emma Lewell-Buck following my referral over a year ago and where it is possible to speculate  that Labours plans to take back the railway into national public ownership and recent events involving the Labour Party Leader has led to a compensation  award of four open return first class tickets for use throughout Virgin East coast. The formulation of the original response to Emma is also noteworthy as it does not challenge the basic facts of my complaint but places the blame on everyone other than company management.

I am sending a copy of recent correspondence between Emma and Virgin to the General Secretary of party.  I suggest the parallel between what happened to me on 21^st September 2015 and the need for the party leader to sit on the floor will be of direct interest to him and his team.

On 21^st September 2015 I had booked a second class homeward ticket from Kings Cross to Newcastle before I developed a mobility disability the result of radiating back pain where the medical diagnosis was that because of my age (I was 76) I would have good and bad days. At one point I was unable to get out of bed without help, tie shoe laces and walking was painful. The condition had improved sufficiently by the time of the planned September 2015 visit to London but on arrival at the Kings Cross station early I had secured a mobility seat close to the disability toilet in the first second class carriage after the service bar carriage which in turn was after the first class carriages. The location proved significant in terms of subsequent events.

On arrival at the station there was an announcement of disruption to the East Coast line and there were also announcements on the train explaining that passengers from other trains were being asked to join the train and this included a train to Leeds and another train on the East coast line before we were able to depart. The impact of this was that despite new passengers being asked to move down the train and take any available seat the space in between where I and another disabled passenger   with a leg in plaster were sitting and the toilet and the way to the service bar became blocked by standing and sitting on the floor passengers and their luggage.  A staff member managed to get through to us at one point an apologised but the human and luggage obstructions remained for most of journey and then eased from York. The explanations for the delay at Kings Cross and on the train varied and appeared to be different from what was subsequently observed.

Because I am able to book in advance when East Coast trains under temporary government control introduced a 24-week advance booking   service I commenced to travel first class  making an increased  number of  return journeys a year and have found that provision of food, drink,  and Wi-Fi in addition to better seating and space can match the total cost of the ticket let alone the difference between first and second class although the standard of service provided varies between the individual journey catering teams. My concern in September 2015 over the health and safety failure for all passengers and in particular those with disability.

In their letter to Emma dated 7^th September 2016, after she had pursued the failure to respond, Virgin claim they issued a response on 30^th October, enclosing a copy of a two and a quarter page letter which they allege was sent but not received by Emma. It will be of interest that in a subsequent situation where I was eligible for a cheque for 50% reimbursement I made direct contact by phone some six week after making the online submission which states a cheque will takes a month to be advised that there although the payment had been authorised the reason for the delay was a back log in cheque issuing because of the number of situations of service delays that were arising.

A journey to London in August was delayed 1 hour and 6 minutes (attending Durham V Middlesex Cricket game at Lords where I met members who had travelled earlier the same day and where the delay was over three hours (a suicide on the line at Newark and where staff have said there has been a significant rise in the number of suicides on railway lines and which merits separate concern as to why). I have still not received the 100% reimbursement due and have planned to wait until the end of the month to make inquiry if the cheque does not arise beforehand.

The original October 2015 letter from Virgin is of general interest because it refers to their plans for changes and improvements since being awarded the contract, but it is the WOW extraordinary compensation award because of the delay in one year that causes me to write to you. Virgin have provided four open for a year first class return tickets to be used between any stations on the East Coast line and which have a potential value of over £1500.  This may be due to the persistence of the individual Member of Parliament, but recent negative publicity aimed at discrediting the Labour Leader may also be a factor.

You and other members of the NEC will be interested in the recent response of Virgin Trains to persistence on my behalf by my constituency Member of the House of Commons, South Shields Emma Lewell-Buck following my referral over a year ago and where it is possible to speculate  that Labours plans to take back the railway into national public ownership and recent events involving the Labour Party Leader has led to a compensation  award of four open return first class tickets for use throughout Virgin East coast. The formulation of the original response to Emma is also noteworthy as it does not challenge the basic facts of my complaint but places the blame on everyone other than company management.

I am sending a copy of recent correspondence between Emma and Virgin to the General Secretary of party.  I suggest the parallel between what happened to me on 21^st September 2015 and the need for the party leader to sit on the floor will be of direct interest to him and his team.

On 21^st September 2015 I had booked a second class homeward ticket from Kings Cross to Newcastle before I developed a mobility disability the result of radiating back pain where the medical diagnosis was that because of my age (I was 76) I would have good and bad days. At one point I was unable to get out of bed without help, tie shoe laces and walking was painful. The condition had improved sufficiently by the time of the planned September 2015 visit to London but on arrival at the Kings Cross station early I had secured a mobility seat close to the disability toilet in the first second class carriage after the service bar carriage which in turn was after the first class carriages. The location proved significant in terms of subsequent events.

On arrival at the station there was an announcement of disruption to the East Coast line and there were also announcements on the train explaining that passengers from other trains were being asked to join the train and this included a train to Leeds and another train on the East coast line before we were able to depart. The impact of this was that despite new passengers being asked to move down the train and take any available seat the space in between where I and another disabled passenger   with a leg in plaster were sitting and the toilet and the way to the service bar became blocked by standing and sitting on the floor passengers and their luggage.  A staff member managed to get through to us at one point an apologised but the human and luggage obstructions remained for most of journey and then eased from York. The explanations for the delay at Kings Cross and on the train varied and appeared to be different from what was subsequently observed.

Because I am able to book in advance when East Coast trains under temporary government control introduced a 24-week advance booking   service I commenced to travel first class  making an increased  number of  return journeys a year and have found that provision of food, drink,  and Wi-Fi in addition to better seating and space can match the total cost of the ticket let alone the difference between first and second class although the standard of service provided varies between the individual journey catering teams. My concern in September 2015 over the health and safety failure for all passengers and in particular those with disability.

In their letter to Emma dated 7^th September 2016, after she had pursued the failure to respond, Virgin claim they issued a response on 30^th October, enclosing a copy of a two and a quarter page letter which they allege was sent but not received by Emma. It will be of interest that in a subsequent situation where I was eligible for a cheque for 50% reimbursement I made direct contact by phone some six week after making the online submission which states a cheque will takes a month to be advised that there although the payment had been authorised the reason for the delay was a back log in cheque issuing because of the number of situations of service delays that were arising.

A journey to London in August was delayed 1 hour and 6 minutes (attending Durham V Middlesex Cricket game at Lords where I met members who had travelled earlier the same day and where the delay was over three hours (a suicide on the line at Newark and where staff have said there has been a significant rise in the number of suicides on railway lines and which merits separate concern as to why). I have still not received the 100% reimbursement due and have planned to wait until the end of the month to make inquiry if the cheque does not arise beforehand.

The original October 2015 letter from Virgin is of general interest because it refers to their plans for changes and improvements since being awarded the contract, but it is the WOW extraordinary compensation award because of the delay in one year that causes me to write to you. Virgin have provided four open for a year first class return tickets to be used between any stations on the East Coast line and which have a potential value of over £1500.  This may be due to the persistence of the individual Member of Parliament, but recent negative publicity aimed at discrediting the Labour Leader may also be a factor.

Receipts

Grange 4.35 cash      Waitrose   4.79  card

Victoria 6.78 cash       Sainsbury £4.95   card

Car Parking  £23   card Newcastle

Southern trains to St Pancras 4.05

Cinema VIP extras  2 x £2  Trains 2X 33 plus £1   £77

Accommodation  £108  total approximately  £250 for weekend

BBC 2 Programme September 4 2016 A very British Deterrent my 2006 note on the Holy Loch March and direct action

On Sunday evening September 4^th 2016 BBC 2 broadcasting an important documentary which disclosed confidential papers from the USA and British Government on the decision to persuade the UK to base Polaris Nuclear Rocket carrying submarines at Holy Loch 25 miles from Glasgow. There was brief reference to the protest organised by the Direct Action Committee Again which had been the idea of Peter Currell Brown, the author of Small Creeps Day and which I had persuaded the Direct Action Committee to sponsor, appointed  chief Marshall for the first days of the six week March from Trafalgar Square conducted on the principles of Satyagraha, after which I went to Scotland to organise  accommodation, food, transport  from Glasgow, liaising with the Scottish CND and local authorities together with the police.

In 2006 as part of a printed work concerned with how I became a contemporary creative artist I wrote about my involvement and have planned to expand on my involvement after going through available official records as well as my own when 50 years had passed but other priorities have prevented this to date. The following is what was written in 2006 without editing or correction.

“Within a matter of weeks I had grown in self-confidence and felt comfortable when George Clark, who had become the Chief Marshal for the Aldermaston march, and I, attended a meeting at Scotland Yard, where Home Office officials were also present, to discuss policing, and our marshalling arrangements for the March and for the first stage of the Holy Loch Protest. This meeting was significant because no one represented the Committee 100, although George and I were members. There had been discussion with the working group of the committee about organising an event at the end of Aldermaston, but this was understandably opposed by the CND with good cause. George and I gave assurances to the police on behalf of our respective organisations that there would be no civil disobedience action.

I travelled to Aldermaston on an arranged bus, for the four-day march, commencing on Good Friday, with two of the Foulness prisoners who were in high spirits and entertained with tales of prison life. I was sitting with an older man who after listening to the banter, enquired if I had also been to prison, and I soon found myself telling him about my experience, the Christian basis for my action, and how I had become a member of the executive committee of the Wallington and Beddington Labour party which then part of the Mitcham constituency. We shared a tube of wine gums and when we arrived he said, “I am Frank Allaun, Member of Parliament, I would like to keep in touch.”

Frank was a sponsor of the CND and went on to become Chairman of the Labour Party. When I switched from economics and politics, at Ruskin, to Public and Social Administration, at Barnett House, in the University, I was required to undertake practical work and was sent for two months to the Manchester and Salford Family Service Unit, which had grown out of the Peace Movement, and I was allocated to undertake work in Salford, where Frank was the Member of Parliament.  I kept some contact, and he showed a party of students from Ruskin around the Houses of Parliament. I kept him informed about my experiences and general response to what I had found in Salford.  When I continued the correspondence, advising of my first-hand experience of the Rackman type housing situation in Birmingham, and he quoted information in a Twilight Zone Commons housing debate, my career as a child care officer was nearly ended before it had started.

The Aldermaston March was a huge success in terms of the numbers participating, although it was difficult to keep in contact with friends because so many had travelled from all over the United Kingdom, and so many interest groups organised participation on a mass scale over the last day from Turnham Green to Trafalgar Square. I made my way early into central London, to take my luggage to the transport support vehicle which was to be used for the march, and to meet up with those who were going to start the march with two canoes from Trafalgar Square, and at the official assembly point at the Covent Garden tube station.

Despite the Square, and the surrounding areas, becoming so full that many marchers were directed straight to Hyde Park and their homeward coaches, everything went well until our departure, when instead of making a full circuit. We were rushed away by the police towards the first stop at Finchley.

After leaving Finchley on the Tuesday morning there was an open air meeting at St Albans 5.30 and a Town Hall meeting at 8pm. There were factory gate meetings at the Vauxhall Factory Luton 12.30 and Electrolux Factory Luton at 1.45, followed by a Rally at the Trade Unionists Club at 7.30, while lunch on April 6^th was arranged at the Four Winds café, Clophill, at 2.40pm before moving on to Bedford arriving at 7pm. I then left to do my work in Scotland, thus missing out visits to Wakefield where I was to become Assistant County Children’s officer, with responsibility for the Barnsley and Rotherham area offices, which were also march stops, and the visit to Sunderland on May Day where I was to live for thirty years.

It was only later, when I received letters from the Committee 100, that I learnt that a badly organised and small civil disobedience demonstration had taken place outside the American Embassy and that it had become disorderly.

It was admitted that a demonstration had been known to members of the 100 working group, and there were justified calls for resignations, but Lady Russell wrote on behalf of her husband that they had full confidence in Ralph Sheonman and that the demonstration would have been a success had it not been for the weather, and that the Aldermaston March Rally had ended early. Both George Clark and I were able to disassociate ourselves from the action, and I protested strongly to Lord Russell.

Previously I had sat at one end of the left wing coffee bar where I had served at tables a year before, when Ralph Schoenman, who I recognised by sight, entered with two or three others and engaged people on the next mass sit down, explaining that a number of participation pledges were required, although doing so did not mean that the individuals were committed to attend. I gained the impression that Ralph and others were set on having a confrontation with the government and were prepared to take short cuts to achieve their objectives.  An unnamed secretary responded to my letter saying that Lord Russell was ill and not receiving correspondence. Later his wife replied reiterating their confidence in Mr Schoenman who at some point became their secretary.

In addition to my concerns that participants were not being adequately prepared for nonviolent action, or for the consequences of participation, I had major concerns about the role of the Stalinists and Trotskyites and their front organisations. After release from prison I had been asked by Houseman’s to manage the Peace News bookstall at a conference of the Socialist Labour League at which Pat Arrowsmith was to speak.

I stayed in conference after she made a courageous speech challenging the concept of the retention of the worker’s bomb and heard the leader of the organisation rubbish the nonviolent and global unilateralist message. Their objective was to disarm capitalism as a means to progress a world socialist revolution. There was no call for communist countries to give up their weapons of mass destruction. The conference was also revealing because the tactics of enterism were clearly outlined together with the process of educating the working class and promoting the class struggle. The machine tool industry was the next proposed target. The aim was to enter an industry, promote strikes and then move on. Those involved in the strike action would learn how capitalism worked, and the more they and their families suffered the more likely they were to become revolutionary. This approach was the opposite of everything I believed in.

Shortly afterwards I received unexpected visit to our Wallington flat. The person made reference to the fact that I had attended the Socialist Labour League conference for although I was there to sell books and pamphlets I had been required to complete a registration form which involved giving the home address. I explained that I regarded myself as a Christian based socialist and direct actionist. I was not a materialist and my social and collective action approach was based on the voluntary participation of individuals who knew what they were doing and understood the likely implications of their actions. There was some debating of issues, then the person, left and I was never approached in that way again.

I later shared a joint platform and took the opportunity to condemn those who were making use of the peace movement who were dishonest in their motivations and intentions. My knowledge of their unscrupulous tactics was to prove valuable when later; I encountered the Militant Tendency movement in Local Government and experienced at first-hand how genuine causes and well-motivated individuals can be manipulated for undisclosed political purposes.

In 1961 I went to Glasgow uncertain if I was up to the task. I stayed with a family, before moving to the IONA community house in Sauchihall Street. I quickly learnt the realities of political, trade union and local government life across the border.

The Scottish CND who had opposed our proposed intervention remained apprehensive, dubious and limited in their willingness to cooperate, although one memorable afternoon was spent after a meeting with them, at an Edinburgh private club, during which time I experienced my first pure malt. The response of the police, the local authorities and other interests varied, sometimes according to local party political predominance, or sympathy with our aims.

The march and associated activities through Scotland did not commence until Berwick on May 7th, and where there was to be a long leg of 21 miles to Cockburnspath, with more leisurely days, until arriving in Edinburgh on May 12^th and joining me in Glasgow on May 18^th. My task was to arrange accommodation, food and support in Paisley, and Greenock-Gourock, and at Holy Lock on the South Bank route, and at Dunbarton on the North Bank onto Helensburgh.

I received a polite, but cold reception, on the North Bank of the Clyde, especially at Dunbarton, which led me to complain about the attitude of the local CND to Peggy Duff. Although she came to Scotland, she did not anticipate a change of heart, in which she was proved correct, as was usual, and the North Bank March to Helensburgh was cancelled.

The response from Glasgow through Clydebank and Paisley to Greenock and Gourock was significantly different. I received a letter from the Director of Education for the County of Renfrew advising that I should first raise the question of accommodation and other support services with the Town Magistrates of Greenock, and in due course a meeting was arranged with the local Chief Finance and Education Officers who had been asked to meet me on behalf of the Town Clerk. They were anxious to know numbers which I was unable to provide, but they offered assistance once we were in a position to advise if the number of core marchers increased with the progress through the Scottish industrial southlands.

A different perspective was gained from meeting a local power man on the South bank. I believe he was a shoe maker, which given subsequent findings that my great great grandfather had been a shoe maker, I wish I had known this at the time. He was a simple, humble working man who went onto reveal a lifetime history of struggle and fighting for the betterment of the life of his fellows. He was a heart and soul socialist, and our backgrounds and experiences were vastly different, and he was old enough to be my grandfather, but we got on.

I believe that the reason I was given the green light was because I showed respect to local interests in another country, but was equally clear that we had come to make a point and that no one, other than the law, was going to stop us.

Paisley was memorable for a different kind of experience. The visit involved a bus trip filled with young factory lasses coming off shift. Anyone who thinks earthy, outspoken, forward behaviour, by young women is a contemporary phenomenon has clearly lead a very sheltered existence, and it was another five years before I was to be as embarrassed, when as the weekend duty officer, I had to bring back two absconders from an Oxfordshire Remand home who had hitched to deepest Devon and we spent several hours on a stopping train, during which time they detailed their most intimate adventures to the gob smacked other passengers. Fortunately, I was accompanied by an experienced female officer who reassured me that the language and behaviour was typical for delinquent girls.

Another indication of different attitudes was the response of the police at Clydebank. Our approach was to advise the police of the march and request permission for the proposed route, undertaking to limit the width of the march along the roadway. However, at Clydebank I was advised that the traffic would be stopped for us and officers would be provided to ensure our safe passage. The Police at Dunoon covering the actual civil disobedience demonstration dealt with my request more formally. I was introduced by the chairman of the Local CND and I received a courteous welcome and asked if I would mind a secretary taking notes, which I welcomed.  I detailed precisely what we intended to do, and what we did not. I emphasised the nonviolent and open based nature of our beliefs and methods, and the officer was pleasantly surprised, especially when I said that I would keep him informed of developments and any changes to the plans.

I was unable to provide detailed information on numbers although I was aware that the Committee of 100 had changed its position from being neutral to giving support because of pressure from sympathisers within the committee, but it was not clear if support was to be translated into encouraging supporters to participate.

In 2001 the National Maritime Museum, Research Journal published an article about the background to the political decision to agree to the US request to locate Polaris base in Holy Loch and refers to the two civil disobedience protests at the Loch that year with the implication that the authorities gained information about the detailed plans by luck or stealth, whereas I had given the information in a formal way. Although an insignificant inaccuracy, it reinforces the value of eyewitness accounts and original records when academic history is written.

I combined my visit to the Police with staying with other former Foulness prisoners camped off Strone point by the Lochside in the grounds of the Youth Hostel, and who had undertaken the action on the first arrival of the depot vessel. They had camped more directly within the Loch but had retreated to the comparative safety of the Youth Hostel grounds because of unfriendly raids

I have known many places with beautiful sun rises and sunsets across water with hills and mountains as a backcloth. Those in the Mediterranean are intense and magical, but only those in Scotland, have that pure stillness which pacifies the troubled spirit. There was no submarine in the Loch, but the large supply admin control vessel. I came to understand why democratic and peace loving governments have need to develop sophisticated seagoing weaponry, but the contrast between the beauty of the natural environment dominated by a large metal structure of death remains a haunting memory which I wish I could paint or poem.

Demonstrations continued at Holy Loch and at other sea water bases in the area for the greater part of the rest of the century, and I like to believe that I established a good standard for setting out how to confront government in a responsible manner and which respected the position of the authorities, and the role of individuals. It was evident that the local community was torn between the positive and negative aspects of the base with its economic, social and security implications. I found more sympathy and understanding than expected, which I suspect came from a people exploited, at times oppressed, and who knew the realities of mass unemployment and economic poverty. I subsequently visited and toured all over Scotland over a twenty-five-year period commencing in the mid 1970’s and was impressed by the sense of identity, local community and wish for self-determination, but also a genuine welcome for the visitor who respected local interests.

My open disclosure of what was planned for Whit Sunday met with an official response from the Commander of the Flagship Scotland, addressed to me for the Committee.

While headquarters hired the trains to bring up participants and supporters from London, I had the responsibility of hiring the ferries. The Scottish Ferries are one of the United Kingdom’s treasures and I quickly became familiar with the journey from Gourock to Dunoon, from Greenock to Helensburgh and from Helensburgh with a stop at Kilcreggen back to Dunoon.  There is nothing finer than a cup of coffee and a stack of Scottish pancakes on a chill early morning with views across the waterways.

There was also an internal ferry system within the Loch at Hunters Quay, Ardnadam, Kilmun and Strone Point and as indicated in the letter from Commander Hawkridge, Piers at Ardnadam and Cardwell Bay had become Admiralty property, used primarily by the US Navy who transformed the local transport economy, especially the taxi and ferry services.

Without knowing the participation implications of Committee 100 involvement the hiring of ferries and trains appeared speculative, although on the day, every available ferry was deployed getting people to and from the Loch.

Anxieties about the likely use of hired transport, and participating numbers were overshadowed by a crisis which threatened to wreck the focus of the march as Pat Arrowsmith decided that she was going to walk down Princess Street, Edinburgh despite a long standing ban against political demonstrations in the capital’s main highway. She and the core marchers were arrested and fined with the alternative of prison. Headquarters raised the funds which were wired to me in Glasgow and I set off to get the party released with the instruction that I was to advise Pat that her Committee were not pleased, and she was to remain focused on the purpose of the march. Getting them released would be the easy task, suggesting to Pat that she had been wrong filled me with dread. Those called in to see Lady Thatcher will know what I mean, and I know which one I would have preferred. I need not have worried because when I arrived with the money, Pat, and the others, had already been released with the fines paid by the Scottish Union of Miners and they had been taken to their headquarters in Fife. I decided that I would go in search and deliver the money and the message. Eventually I got to the headquarters, and found the party being entertained by the leaders of union, the famous Moffet brothers, who heaped praise on Pat and the marchers for their audacity, and made everyone honorary members of the union for what they regarded as a great victory over their capitalist masters. I delivered a diluted message, and fled, as clearly the outsider in a group that had walked and campaigned together for nearly six weeks, I was being a killjoy, and better employed back in Glasgow.

My short career as a Direct Action organiser came to an abrupt end in Glasgow when it became evident that unbeknown to me the scope of the demonstration had escalated. In addition to the attempts of the independent canoeists and whose efforts were photographed and filmed across the world’s press, a number of boats of varying sizes were now involved. The Rev Michael Scott was bringing his boat. There was a substantial motor vessel owned by a someone in the film or TV business I think, and Pat had persuaded the Committee to purchase a motor launch which could accommodate several dozen demonstrators.  My concern was that people were being recruited to participate with the minimum of preparation, and I also feared the news that a train load of Committee 100 supporters was anticipated from London.  Some members of the Direct Action Committee also had appeared to have been caught up in the mass protest euphoria and the belief that it was going to be possible to change the position of the government by direct action. I resigned saying I was going to join the other ex-Foulness prisoners at the Lochside. I was back to making a personal statement, although even this turned out differently on the day.

My first intention was to accompany one of the others in a two-person canoe and I did some trials. I remained afraid of water for thirty years until hiring a villa with a pool in the South of France. I decided that I would be putting a colleague at risk and it was not the intention to mar the demonstration with my potential fatality, so I joined the motor launch which attempted to get alongside the depot ship after the action of the canoeists. A pressure hose was used to swamp the boat and put the engine out of action.

A cold water pressure hose has quite a clout and we were all soaked, and there was a risk of sinking, so we called for help to the bigger boat owned by someone in the film or media business. While we were engaged in transferring demonstrators, an Admiralty vessel cleverly manoeuvred a buoy on to us so that the larger vessel became sandwiched and damaged and had to be taken out of the action.

A number of us were left stranded in the motor launch at which point a well-known doctor came to the rescue. She had a first aid boat which I believe was one of those vehicles which could be used on the road and on water. She towed us back, during which time we got into conversation and she gave me her telephone number suggesting that I called in for tea.  This I did sometime later and found that she lived in an impressive Chelsea House (I have this vague memory of silverware, chandelier and candelabra and of cucumber sandwiches and cakes provided by one or two young men who appeared to be in attendance). She was one of the many characters thrown into prominence by the “movement,” although in her instance the notoriety related to other matters. It was only one of a number of situations where I was mothered by older women in the nicest possible way, which on reflection is not surprising given my lifelong search for a mother, and a father.

Having been towed to safety I joined the sit down at Ardnadam Pier which appeared to be a leaderless situation because Pat Arrowsmith had been arrested, with others.  Some US service men attempted to use the pier, but refused to walk on the demonstrators, until they were requested to attempt to do so by higher authorities and this attracted the hostility and screams from those participating. There was no alternative but to do something so I stood up and asked everyone to be calm and remember the focus of our action, and that we were not against the service personnel, or the police, who were only doing their job.

This had the desired affect because when the police started to remove demonstrators to make a passage way, sometimes throw people on each other, not one resisted or retaliated. I was thrown several times but was not hurt although those, on whom I landed, were. Some service men having been able to use the pier, this appeared to be sufficient of a victory for the authorities and the rest of us were left where we were. There was then communication between myself and a member of the Direct Action Committee, and with Pat Arrowsmith, and I found myself back in post, and in charge, and required to persuade everyone at the sitdowns to get together and form an orderly march of support for Pat to Dunoon, and for the ferries homeward.

The problem was those sitting down had no idea who I was, and questioned my authority for bringing the civil disobedience to an end, but reluctantly they agreed and I led them off for part of the way before others took over and I returned to the Lochside camp.

It was not until joining the Ardnadam sit down they I became conscious of the hundreds, possibly thousands of people who had cone to support and watch from the Lochside, or the extent of the media interest coverage. A journalist had accompanied the trek over the full seven weeks and he correctly forecast that the attention would be worldwide, and even some of the right of centre press were more objective than usual in their reporting. When I commenced this chapter the first draft was from memory, and then revised according to my correspondence and records, and then I made some internet searches, and then I decided to read a contemporary version of the event in a faded copy of the Scottish edition of the Daily Express, and was pleasantly surprised at the way the event was portrayed.

The front page headline was “the siege of Proteus,” and a rout for the protestors, with the Depot ship skipper photographed in the front line watching the invasion before ordering the hoses to open fire. The photograph of the canoe flotilla was not dissimilar form our own cartoon drawing, except that we had acquired large boats. I understated our launch which was said to be of 60 feet and there is photo of me and the others being drenched as we’ll as one of the clearing of a pathway at the Pier where I am also in view.

The paper confirmed that there had been 41 arrests with forty being taken to Dunoon Police station and locked up and then released without any bail requirement on the orders of the procurator fiscal. Thirty-nine were charged with a breach of the peace, one for walking underneath the Admiralty Property pier and one for being drunk and incapable. The paper described the 900 marchers comprising bearded men, girls with beatnik haircuts and whole families with young children as policemen marched alongside them. The crowd of watchers was put at 2000 and saw a “fantastic dual in the sun”.

There was also a report saying that the Government had asked the police to take tougher measures because of concern that the US might reconsider withdrawal because of the various protests, particularly as President Kennedy was making his first visit in June. The paper also revealed that in fact the demonstration had helped the Government to reach agreement with the United States that the Admiralty would have more control over the submarines while they were anchored in British waters. This government united front which the media in those days was only too happy to represent was a significant distortion of a situation which as the Journal of Maritime research reveals was not reflected in government documentation now available at the national records office. There were major divisions of view within the British defence establishment, and between the British and American allies (Brian Livery September 2001).

After I had sent the protestors on their homeward way I returned to the Lochside and instead of the usual eerie darkness there were a number of camp fires on the opposite shore. It was a few days before the exodus was complete. Some of the others were inclined to visit the Iona Community, but I lacked the manual skills to pay my way. It was over thirty years before making my first visit to Iona.

One of the manually skilled was the gentle Peter Currell Brown, who had exchanged chunks of rock with one of his loves, and introduced me to a small community in mid Wales, to the world and works of William Morris and John Ruskin after we left Stafford. His novel, “Smallcreep’s Day,” Victor Gollancz describes the realities of being a factory cog. Others became full members of the Committee 100 and the Direct Action Committee, but for me while not the end of my active involvement it was the beginning of the end!

One individual stayed in the area and became a waitress and did a somersault in thinking and approach as she came to understand more about herself, the motives and interests of demonstrators and the reality of government and the role of the armed services. It was several months before I commenced the process of turning myself intellectually, psychological and emotionally inside out.

At the time I did not know if I would be prosecuted alongside Pat for our organisation involvement. Pat went to prison again and I did not, possibly because of being the agent of the openness, possibly because of my intervention at the Pier. Pat and I were reconciled in our differences and she surprisingly wrote admitting that I had managed to smooth over the troubled waters that she had left in her wake, although this was not intended as an apology because although, “I must have buggered things up for you” because whatever principles she had governing her decisions she still had them! No one can ever criticise Pat for being a fair-weather or opportunistic, or inconsistent in putting into practice what she preached. Forty years later a 12-year-old girl sent the BBC her impressions of attending the last day of the Aldermaston March in 2004. She wrote, “We listened to a speech from a woman called Pat Arrowsmith. She told us about the first March in 1958 and I discovered that there is a group of people camped outside all the time as a protest. It is a very ugly set of buildings and barbed wire surrounds wire surrounds it.”

I returned to my life at Wallington with occasional forays to London. I had continued to be active locally involved with two penny worth of socialism.  A letter from the Town Clerk of the Borough of Beddington and Wallington reads, “The Borough Engineer has arranged to have warnings clearly marked on all four approaches to this junction and it is hoped that this will improve the position.” My activities petered out, and I failed to turn up to make a declaration of secrecy to attend the counting of votes in the election of County Councillors because of the commitment to be in Glasgow.

I worked at my writing whenever I could. While away in Scotland the English Stage Company returned my play “A time for Action.”  There was a note “however our readers did feel that the play was interesting and consequently we would be very pleased to read anything else you may have written.”  Victor Gollancz having already said similar in relation to my attempt at a novel. John Freeman at the New Statesman did not accept my piece on prison but added “I do think the piece is very good and hope you will quickly try it elsewhere.”   By October Associated Television Ltd returned my script, the Natural Law with a pro forma rejecting. I knew I was not equipped to be a literary success.

On leaving prison I had signed on, concerned at remaining financially dependent on my birth mother and aunts. The Labour exchange was very sympathetic and was surprised at my willingness to undertake menial manual work. The local hospital personnel officer was similarly sceptical when I said I was prepared to do sterilization work which primarily involved tackling dirty hospital linen, and said while I could have the job he could not recommend that I took it, and ought to go for something better. I had to confess that my heart was not in it, so I came off the dole because it seemed to me wrong to accept public money when there was a job available.

Morgan Phillips at the Labour Party arranged for me to see a senior officer who advised on how to become a Member of Parliament, or an agent, or a local authority councillor, but suggested that first I should try to gain entry to Ruskin College who ran a two-year course studying Economics and Politics. I discussed this with the Chairman and Secretary of my local party and they arranged me to speak to someone who had attended Ruskin previously, and acted as referees. I was interviewed and offered a place for the 1961 Michaelmas Term, although it was not until I got there that I realised how much an Oxford College clone, the adult education college had become, and was a gateway to an Oxford degree, in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

I also applied for the post of London region organiser for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and was given every encouragement by those making the appointment. I withdrew before the final decision was made, and the appointment went to another young man involved with CND work at Oxford!

After forty years I discovered three statements which demonstrate how much, and how little, my thinking has changed about fundamentals. All three were challenging to read and even more difficult to reproduce large chunks for others to see. I decided any account of how I became me, had to include the bits which I would prefer not to remember. They reflect my weakness and my strength,

There is one aspect of what was written that I need to talk in this section now that I have discovered further information about the unsolved murder of a friend which occurred when I was on the Child Care Course at Birmingham University in 1963 and where only recently I was able to obtain a copy of the alleged signed statement which I volunteered but which does not match my recollection of what happened. The statement obtained under Freedom of Information from National archives where the documentation is being held until 2063 is a copy of the statement made to Birmingham Police following consultation with the Director of the Child Care Course. However, it was never signed but read over the phone to me. While the statement does make reference that the friend had said she worked for the Admiralty it omits that she appeared to knowledge of events which only those directly involved in the sea operations could have known and it also omits one crucial piece of information which may have helped to solve the crime.  She had disclosed to me having had a child adopted and the name of the father (redacted) in my copy  had been disclosed. There was further information about which I am now unsure. I am still considering the best way to ensure that the authorities have all the information to hand in the event of someone more directly involved making enquiries at some point in the future.

The doctor whose home I visited has now died and there is an interesting Wikipedia article. (Dr Rachel Pinney).