April 2022 - The MrT Podcast Studio

History of Farnham Park TH2021 Ep12

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:24 — 26.0MB)

Season 2021 – Talk 12 – The History of Farnham Park

In The History of Farnham Park Pam Taylor tells us the story of the Park, or more correctly Parks, over the centuries.

Click a thumbnail below to view the image gallery that accompanies the talk.

Farnham Castle:

The Park surrounds the site of Farnham Castle. Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester, founds the castle in 1138. He is the brother of King Stephen. The castle is a favoured residence of the Bishops of Winchester for many centuries.

The castle remains a substantial fortress until it is ‘slighted’ during the English Civil War.

The See of Winchester:

The Diocese of Winchester stretches from the Isle of Wight to the south bank of the Thames at Southwark for many centuries. It is an extremely wealthy Diocese through out the middle ages and the Bishops wield a great deal of power.

The development of the Park:

More truthfully this is the story of two parks. The Old Park has largely disappeared and it is the 320 acre New Park that we see today.

The parks were developed to provide food for the table of the Bishop and to provide sport for visitors. There have been many famous visitors over the centuries.

Some of the Bishops had trouble with poachers when times were hard!

Listen to the podcast to hear Pam tell the full story.

Please note:

This podcast is a recording of a talk given on Zoom and, in places, there are a few extraneous noises and sound glitches.

About this podcast:

This podcast is an edited recording of a talk first given to the Farnham u3a World History Group.

The Farnham u3a site is found here.

You can also listen using Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use as the theme music.

We reach Shrewsbury – UKRJ S1 Ep08

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:00 — 13.7MB)

We reach Shrewsbury and head for our hotels – UK Rail Journeys Series 1 – Episode 8

The first day of The Welsh Dragon ends as we reach Shrewsbury and head for our hotels. For the last few hours we’ve been having dinner and travelling along the Welsh Marches line on our journey towards Shrewsbury.

Click on a ‘thumbnail’ to view the photographs that accompany this podcast:

North from Abergavenny:

We leave Abergavenny and soon pass a number of long closed stations. In many cases little still remains of the once thriving stations.

This episode of the podcast starts to sound like a roll call of closed stations, junctions and branch lines.

Hereford:

We stop for a short while at Hereford before continuing our journey. Dinmore Tunnel, a major engineering project in the construction of the line, soon follows.

We reach Leominster where about 20 people are waiting to see us take on water. This is the last water stop of the day.

On towards Ludlow:

We pass another batch of closed stations. Berrington & Eye, Wooferton and Asford Bowdler conjure up thoughts of quiet rural communities.

We pass through Ludlow and see the racecourse. The countryside is stunning and this is a beautiful early autumn evening.

Craven Arms to Shrewsbury:

We speed through Craven Arms and climb to the highest point on this line at Church Stretton.

We then benefit from the gently falling gradient as we cover our last few miles into Shrewsbury.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this podcast. If so, please join me in a couple of weeks time when we continue our journey and leave Shrewsbury for a Sunday afternoon ‘mystery tour’ on the Welsh Dragon.

Links:

To visit the Steam Dreams website please follow this link.

The Shrewsbury Premier Inn, which looked after the passengers and many of the train crew, can be found here. I can thoroughly recommend this hotel which is close to the railway station and across the road from the River Severn.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

Music:

AKM Music has licensed Steam Railway and The 50’s v12 for use in this podcast.

Six characters from history TH2021 Ep11

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:45 — 36.4MB)

Season 2021 – Talk 11 – Six Characters from History – the Burning House Debate

In Six Characters from History – the Burning House Debate six speakers put the case for our historical characters. Please decide which one deserves to be saved.

Click a thumbnail below to view the image gallery that accompanies the talk.

Sir Alexander Fleming:

Margaret Denyer tells us the story of Sir Alexander Fleming. We learn how he discovered penicillin in 1928. The importance of penicillin is described as the ‘single greatest victory ever achieved over disease’. Because of this he shares the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945.

Field Marshall Douglas Haig – Earl Haig:

Haig commands the British Expeditionary Force in France from late 1915 until the end of the war.

He has a favourable reputation during the immediate post-war years. It becomes tarnished in the 1960s because of the number of casualties in the World War 1 battles.

Niccolo Machiavelli:

An Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived from 1469 to 1527. In 1513 he writes the political treatise The Prince. It is not published until 1532.

He is a senior official in the Florentine Republic for many years. Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. Also a writer of comedies, carnival songs, and poetry.

Machiavelli often evokes thoughts of unscrupulous acts of the sort he wrote about in The Prince. He claims that his experience and reading history shows him that politicians have always used deception, treachery and crime. Whether the work is about his experience or a manual for tyrants is for you to decide.

Richard III

Lorna Thomas puts the case for Richard who dies at Bosworth and is buried under a car park in Leicester. Admittedly at the time it is the Grey Friars Priory.

Queen Victoria:

We hear the case for the Queen who becomes the Empress of India. She is the mother of nine children. Many of her children marry into the Royal Houses of Europe.

Donald Trump:

Donald rounds off our sextet of characters from history. Richard Thomas tells us about Donald Trump’s successes as president, in this short talk, because of his success in foreign affairs.

Listen to the podcast to hear our six speakers give their light-hearted talks.

Please note:

This podcast is a recording of a talk on Zoom and, in places, there are a few extraneous noises and sound glitches.

About this podcast:

This podcast is an edited recording of a talk first given to the Farnham u3a World History Group.

The Farnham u3a site is found here.

You can also listen using Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use as the theme music.

Along the Severn UKRJ S1 Ep07

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:43 — 15.3MB)

Along the Severn and on to the Welsh Marches Line – UK Rail Journeys Series 1 – Episode 7

Our journey continues as we travel along the Severn and on to the Welsh Marches Line. The first part of our journey is on the Gloucester to Newport line. We pass over Maindee junction near Newport and take the Welsh Marches line.

Click on a ‘thumbnail’ to view the photographs that accompany this podcast:

Along the River Severn:

After we pass Lydney we travel down the west bank of the River Severn and soon reach Chepstow. We pass through this historic town with its famous castle and racecourse.

Just south of Chepstow we then pass the ‘first’ Severn Bridge and continue through Caldicot, passing Severn Tunnel junction.

On towards Maindee junction:

We pass the Llanwern steel works. Steel production is long gone but hot slab and steel coil are brought in for processing. The works first opened in 1962 and was the first oxygen blown integrated steelworks. Known as the ‘Spencer Works’ the oxygen was supplied by the British Oxygen Company.

We reach the junctions at Maindee, to the east of Newport. Our journey takes the east and north junctions as we join the Welsh Marches line.

The Welsh Marches line:

Many of the stations on the line closed in the 1960s following the Beeching report.

Our journey on the line starts just to the east of the river Usk. We soon pass through the disused station at Caerleon, once the site of a Roman fortress. There is a chance that the station at Caerleon may reopen as part of the South Wales Metro.

We pass through some closed stations before we reach Cwmbran station. The station opened in 1986 to serve the commuter route between Newport and Cardiff.

More closed stations before we reach Pontypool and New Inn station. The station remains open but is a shadow of its former self. Gone are the branch lines to Neath and Merthyr, the fifty line marshalling yard, the engine shed and the goods shed.

On to Abergavenny:

Yet more closed stations! Thank you Dr Beeching.

We reach the Grade 2 listed station at Abergavenny. Just to the north of the station we pass over a junction that gave access to the Heads of the Valley line that passed through towns famed for coal mining and steel production.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this podcast. If so, please join me in a couple of weeks time when we continue our journey and reach Shrewsbury on the Welsh Dragon.

Links:

To visit the Steam Dreams website please follow this link.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

Music:

AKM Music has licensed Steam Railway and Fast Lanes for use in this podcast.