A Lock Key

 Presented by Ann Young

The object I have chosen to tell some stories about today is a miniature model of a lock key.  First of all, I will explain what a lock key is used for and then I will explain how this little souvenir reminds me about how I love canals and their towpaths.

A lock key is a type of windlass used when operating locks on a canal. A full size lock key would usually be a piece of metal about three feet long, bent into an “L” shape.  At one end it has a socket, which fits over the stub protruding from the lock paddle.  The lock key is attached to this and then turned quite a few times to wind the mechanism to open or shut the paddles.  Paddles are like sluices to let water in or out of the lock.

Why have locks and indeed why have canals?  As you may know, the 18^th century was the heyday for building canals in England.  In those days, transporting goods by water was much more efficient than trying to use the very bad, unsurfaced roads.  A pack-horse could carry one eighth of a ton, a wagon pulled by one horse could carry five eighths of a ton on the old soft roads but a single horse towing a boat could shift a thirty-ton load. So the new canals enabled raw materials to be transported to the manufacturers and the products to be transported to be sold. Eventually the canals fell into disuse, but in the 1960s canal enthusiasts restored many canals and they are now used mainly for recreation.

A horse-drawn barge

Locks enable the canals to go up and over hills and down the other side.  To go downhill in a lock, it must be full of water.  Once it is full, the lock gate is opened and the boat is steered into the lock.  The lock gate is then closed behind the boat.  The lock key is used to wind the paddle mechanism down.  This opens the paddles, allowing water to flow out of the lock. This means that the water level will lower, taking the boat down with it.  Once the water levels are equal, the bottom gate can be opened and the boat can be taken out.

How locks work

Operating a lock is fairly straightforward, when you know how and can keep your wits about you but it can be quite daunting for beginners.  The locks are very deep and the water gushes out with a lot of force. It does require physical effort and agility.  I have never been particularly agile or confident about jumping on and off things, especially if they are moving.  However, I amazed myself (and my husband) by how quickly I got used to running along the top of lock gates, walking quickly along the narrow edge of the narrowboat and hopping on and off a moving boat, my trusty lock key at the ready to wind the paddles up or down.  Some of you may have watched the programme on Channel 4 featuring Timothy West and Prunella Scales on various canal boats.  Having done it myself, I am very impressed by Pru being so agile at over 80 years of age.

I bought this miniature lock key as a souvenir of two canal boat holidays in the 1980s.  My husband suggested that he could captain a narrow boat with myself and my sister as crew.  Wendy and I were a bit dubious as we had no boating experience at all.  However, we agreed to give it a go as John had done some sailing and canoeing and had already cut his teeth as a narrow boat crew man.

Narrow Boat Crew Man using the lock key.

A narrow boat rental was duly arranged.  We were to fly to Birmingham and collect the boat near Wolverhampton.  This was 1981 and in common with several other parts of England at the time, there had been some rioting in Wolverhampton.  I was very tempted to ring the boat company, say I was ringing from Belfast, and was wondering if it was safe to come to Wolverhampton, what with all the rioting.  I resisted the temptation and we arrived safely at the canal side to pick up our four berth narrowboat, called “Windermere”.  In an original narrow boat, most of the boat would have been taken up with the cargo.  The boatman, his wife and usually a large family would have been accommodated in a very small space.  Despite this, they produced the very colourful canal ware which some of you may be familiar with.  In a modern narrowboat, the whole of the boat is used for accommodation and so has room for all mod cons.

A Narrow Boat on the Staffs and Worcester Canal

After a brief instruction session, we were on our way.  Wendy and I had to learn to steer Windermere.  I tried to remember that if I wanted Windermere to go left, I had to turn the tiller to the right i.e. away from me.  Obviously, the opposite is true if I wanted to point Windermere to the right.  It sounds so simple, what could go wrong?  Fortunately, we had only a few minor bumps and none of us fell in, but there were a fair number of scary moments when it looked like disaster was about to happen.  One time, I was steering and observed that the canal was curving to the right and then flowing under one of the small bridges which regularly crossed the canal.  A boat has no brakes and the only way to slow down is to put the engine into reverse.  I got confused about the gears and accelerated instead of slowing. My sense of panic was not helped by the shouting of the other crew members.  I prepared myself for the collision, but somehow the boat turned and we swept under the bridge much faster than I would have liked.  To this day, I am convinced that somehow “Windermere” had managed to get herself safely under the bridge, despite my efforts, not because of them.  It reminded me of what Bob Newhart said to his imaginary pupil in his famous driving instructor monologue “I  reaaaaally did not think you were going to make it.”  I certainly did not think I would make it without hitting the bridge.

On our first holiday, we travelled down the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal from Wolverhampton and through Kidderminster, passing along the back of the old carpet factories.  Although this section was not as scenic as the rural sections, it was still interesting to get more of a feel of what it was like when the canals were industrial highways.   We then travelled on to Stourport about ten miles north of Worcester. We took a bus to Worcester to avoid going on the River Severn We had been advised to avoid it as the river currents make it tricky to navigate.  We stood on the banks of the River Severn and decided that we had been wise to avoid it.

Example of Canal Art.

On our second holiday, we travelled north from Wolverhampton up the Shropshire Union Canal.  We travelled as far as Market Drayton in North Shropshire. As we travelled along the Shropshire Union we had lovely views over the Shropshire countryside to the Long Mynd which is a seven mile long plateau, which looks like a sleeping dragon.

A souvenir model of a lock-keeper’s cottage

There are peaceful stretches on these canals without locks and therefore no frenetic activity operating locks or nerve wracking encounters with bridges.  The boat glides along with the comforting chug chug sound of the engine.  The overhanging branches make it seem like moving serenely through a green tunnel and the real world seems very distant.  The usual fast pace of life slows down to the speed of 3 to 4 miles per hour, the maximum speed permitted on the canal.  This can be illustrated by the following incident.  After a few days cruising we needed to get some more food. As we walked along a footpath towards a nearby village, a few cars drove past.  I nearly jumped out of my skin.  I had got so used to travelling at 3 miles per hour that the traffic seemed to be going at an incredibly high speed.

We enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow boaters at locks and mooring points.  People were only too pleased to help us as we had a small crew compared to larger boats.  Of course, not only did we meet other boaters at locks but we also met them at the various lock side pubs.  It was great if we managed to time our day’s boating so that we were moored near a pub for the night.  I must also mention the gongoozlers.  They are people, who lean over bridges watching the varying boating skills of the narrowboaters.  In the middle of my steering crisis, I could see some gongoozlers on the bridge I was desperately trying to avoid.  I am sure they were very disappointed when “Windermere” miraculously managed to avoid a collision.

I had stated earlier that I had no previous experience of narrow boats but I did have some experience of towpaths.  I grew up off the Lisburn Road in south Belfast so I was able to enjoy walks along the towpath of the Lagan Navigation, which is part canal and part river. Like most canals, it was eventually abandoned. The summit stretch between Sprucefield and Moira was infilled and used for the M1 motorway – “an unparalleled act of heritage vandalism” – a quote from the book “Ireland’s Civil Engineering Heritage”.

I used to pick wild flowers from under the hedgerows on the Lagan towpath and press them in a flower press in the days before such activities were frowned upon. I especially enjoyed the meadowsweet, with its white frothy blossom and its smell as nice as its name.  There were usually ducks, coots, moorhens and other water birds to be observed as well.  However, it was while walking on the Lagan towpath that I first saw a kingfisher, just a fleeting glimpse.  I will never forget the sudden brilliant flash of blue and orange.

Later, my then boyfriend, now husband and I would do our “courting” along the Lagan tow path.  We have many fond memories of happy walks along the Lagan in peaceful, beautiful surroundings.  As in England we were walking along a path created in the 18^th century for industry and now used for recreation.

The Lagan Tow Path

In fact, my husband proposed to me while we were walking along the Lagan towpath on my 21^st birthday.  Nowadays, young men seem to be expected to set up an elaborate, romantic setting for a proposal, fireworks and/or fairy lights being optional extras.  I was quite delighted by John’s simple request on the towpath and I accepted without hesitation.  We lived in East Belfast after our marriage.  We came to love East Belfast and North Down but still continued to visit the Lagan when we could.

We then moved to Portstewart, where we have lived for nearly 30 years.  We rarely visit the Lagan now, but I am delighted that my son and his wife who live in South Belfast, often go for walks along the Lagan towpath.  I still display the souvenirs from our canal holidays.  They remind me of enjoying a totally new experience and learning unexpected new skills, while enjoying a holiday with a difference.

10th January 2017

Map of the Canal System in Central England

Omani Silver Amulet/Koran Box Necklace

Presented by Marlene Reid

This object is basically a necklace but a necklace with a difference.

My husband bought it for me in the 1970s .  We were at the time living in Dar es Salaam, capital city of Tanzania and he bought it from one the many shops that sold many kinds of silverware, mostly Indian.  This necklace however is from  the Oman where silver jewellery was very popular and highly valued.  This one I am sure had come to Dar es Salaam via Zanzibar.

Without going into too much history of Zanzibar suffice to say that until the 1880s when European nations began to take an interest in Africa, in what we know as ‘the scramble for Africa’, Zanzibar had its own Sultanate with close ties to the Oman until 1865 when there were problems with the Zanzibar Sultans’ succession.  All the ruling elite were of Arab origin; traders were mostly Indian and the Africans were the workers and in some cases slaves.  After 1880 this hierarchy came to an end when most of the Sultan of Zanzibar’s territories were broken up and parcelled out between Great Britain and Germany.  This was the beginning of the end for the Arab elite.  “The Europeans were doing the world a favour, by stamping out slavery, bringing Christianity” etc etc.  .  Zanzibar became a British protectorate between 1890 and 1963 when it gained its independence from Britain and became a republic.  Zanzibar is just off the coast (about 10 miles at its nearest point) of what was Tanganyika.  In 1964, just after independence, there was a communist led revolution in Zanzibar when many Arabs and Indians were slaughtered, most of the rest choosing to leave.  Zanzibar then joined with Tanganyika which had become independent in 1961, to form Tanzania and Abed Karume became President of Zanzibar a man determined to perpetrate integration of non-indigenous citizens with the indigenous population forcing some families to marry their daughters to African men.  This was a big embarrassment to President Nyerere of Tanzania and he had to insist that this enforcement was stopped.  Of course this caused the Indian population to make every attempt to leave and they started to sell anything of value that they had to raise the money needed.  Many valuables were brought for sale in Dar and I believe this is how I came to have this necklace.

Oman is the source of much beautiful jewellery.  These necklaces were talismans while at the same time being a statement of the beauty of the Omani jewellery.  They were made from sheet silver, hollow inside and often had an opening at one end in which verses from the Koran or a prayer could be enclosed, so it was in fact an amulet holder which was worn all over the Oman by children and adults alike though children’s necklaces were much smaller.  The verses of the Koran were hidden as it was thought that they kept the wearer safe.    They were often given to brides and put on small children to protect them from the evil eye although this belief was frowned on by the Imams.  Thus they were worn in the same fashion and for the same reasons in Zanzibar.

Here is a photograph of children wearing these necklaces.

The Arabic name for this necklace is Hirza.  There are many different patterns and kinds.  I could not identify one exactly like mine but the pictures are of a couple of similar ones.  Mine is not very decorated nor does it have many dangling ornaments or beads attached and may well be from a poorer person and is probably of a very common kind.  I would think it dates from late 19th or early 20th Century but it could be somewhat older.  It was old and battered like this when I got it.  It is slightly dented on the back as the sheet silver though of good quality dented easily so it would be packed with resin or black pitch to save it from denting if it was not intended to hold a verse.  Although pitch or resin could also be used to increase the weight of the box for the silver dealer! The heavier the ornament the more valuable it was.  I would say because of its rather battered condition that this was used as an amulet and I wonder how many prayers and Koranic  verses it had in it over the years and if they benefitted its wearers.  Did they ward off the evil eye?

Here is a beautifully dressed local lady wearing her Hirza and other Omani silver jewellery..

The making of this traditional Omani jewellery is now endangered. It requires a wide variety of silver-smithing techniques and materials and a high level of craftsmanship which is not extensively documented (previously skills handed on from father to son I imagine) and is in danger of vanishing in the present day;  also silver is no longer so popular as it has been replaced by gold as the metal of preference so there is no longer a market for it.

In 2009 the British Museum acquired a collection of 250 varied items which date back to the mid-19^th century, bought from a collector who had purchased them in the Oman.  They can be seen on line. It is an extensive display of very beautiful Omani silver including a variety of Koran box necklaces!

I wore this as a necklace a lot in the past when I was young.  As I have grown older I can’t help wondering what prayers and hopes were put into this little box.  Did the sick recover?  Was the bride happy?   I wonder just who wore it?

Here is a link where you can read more about Omani Amulets http://www.omanisilver.com/contents/en-us/d124_Omani_silver_amulets.html

10th January 2017

Paris 1963

Presented by Barbara Timlin

 

The earrings and postcard I have brought take me back to the heady days of September 1963 in Paris.

I’d never been abroad, as childhood holidays were spent over here visiting family and since leaving school and going to college I had worked for one summer in the appropriately named ” Grotto Laundry”.  It was such a dismal experience “racking, packing and banging” that I was desperate to get as far away as possible for the next summer’s job.  So I took myself off to Paignton in Devon with friends where I found a job in a beach cafe.  I enjoyed the experience so much and had so much fun that I was determined to go back, but this time I wanted to save enough money to go  abroad -to Paris!

So a friend and I, having discovered that there was a campsite in the Bois de Bologne, decided that at the end of our stint in Devon we would camp there as she was the possessor of a small tent which she would take with her to Devon.

That was it, planning completed!

I obtained my  passport and we arranged to meet in Coventry bus station in July to make our way to Devon, (with tent, of course).  I duly arrived at the bus station to be met by her mother who told me that her daughter was ill and couldn’t come with me.  So off on the bus down to Paignton sans friend and sans tent, but still determined to get to Paris somehow.

I arrived, found myself a job in a large beachside cafe, met up with other friends from college and I spent the next few weeks working, saving hard and making new friends, one of whom  lived locally and just happened to be going to stay with his pen friend in Paris in September.  I made arrangements to travel  to Paris with him, but still hoping to meet up with my friend with the tent; unfortunately that finally fell through.

From my diary “Friday 6th.  Left Paignton for Paris with David.  Had good crossing from Southampton – the boat was absolutely crammed with young French girls – David was in his element!  French chap saw us through the customs – round Le Havre and into Paris.  David’s pen friend Robert and his father met us and drove us back to their fabulous apartment where his mother invited me to stay for a few days”.

Robert’s parents’ business was making costume jewellery for the fashion trade so the earrings were a small gift to me from his mother which I have treasured ever since.

“Saturday 7th.  Robert  took us round Paris this afternoon – down the Seine on a pleasure launch- weather glorious.  Then we walked along the embankment and up the Champs Elysees.  Paris fashion and Paris men!

Robert’s friend came round in the evening and we all went to Montmartre.  It’s extremely tourist conscious, but retains some mysterious quality.  We went into an odd little nightclub with a crummy little band.  Extremely dark.  Champs Elysees 2am crowded.  Missed the last metro.  Had to walk back.”

( Next section of diary censored! )

“Sunday 8th  To stay with Robert’s relatives in Chenay Gagny, a suburb of Paris.  Houses are much more architectural than those in English suburbs.  More marvellous French people.  David and I borrowed Nicole’s mobilette and went for a ride.  Stopped by an agent, made me get off and walk.  I got lost, completely and utterly.  No-one spoke English, but they all understood me.  An Italian drove me to an agent to ask the way and then all round the district until we found the house.  Madame Caillet was there by herself – others searching for me so I had to explain everything to her in French.”

I had a wonderful time in France –  the  view from the top of the Eiffel tower, Sacre Coeur,  the snails, the wonderful  family I stayed with, Gallerie Lafayette – I could go on and on.

January 9th 2017