Events in 2022
November’s Talk
Was by Brian Lane-Smith: ‘Jumping Jo Beryle, the story of the first American paratrooper in Europe’
Joseph R. Beyrle was born in Muskegon, Michigan, on August 25, 1923, to poor immigrant parents. In 1942, after completing High School, Jo enlisted with the parachute regiment and after training successfully, went with his regiment to England.
In April 1944, Joe Beyrle was one of three paratroopers selected from the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment to take part in two covert missions into Nazi-occupied France to deliver gold coins to the French Resistance.
Later he took part in BIGOT (British Invasion of German Occupied Territory), an operation that may have
been the inspiration for ‘The Dirty Dozen’ film. On June 5, 1944, the night before D-Day, he again parachuted behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied France, landing on the roof of a church in St. Come-du-Mont. His mission was to demolish two bridges. Later he was captured by the Germans. Over the next seven months, Beyrle was held in seven German prisons. He escaped twice and was recaptured both times. Beryle’s third escape in January 1945 was successful. Encountering a Soviet tank brigade in
the middle of January, he raised his hands, holding a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, and shouted in Russian, 'Amerikansky tovarishch!’ (American comrade!). Beyrle was eventually able to persuade the battalion's commander to allow him to fight alongside the unit on its way to Berlin. Beyrle began a month-long stint in a Soviet tank battalion, where his demolitions expertise was appreciated.
At the end of the war, embassy officers in Moscow, unsure of his bona fides, placed him under Marine guard until his identity was established through his fingerprints. Beyrle returned home to Michigan on April 21, 1945, and celebrated V-E Day two weeks later in Chicago.
His unique service earned him medals from U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin at a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House marking the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994. Beyrle died in his sleep of heart failure on December 12, 2004.
Oct 19th
Tim Harrold
"Siegfried Marian, Mad,Bad or before his time? The enigma behind Fingle's Memorial Plaque"
Close to Fingle Bridge is a plaque to a Dr Siegfried Marian saying, “This oak tree was planted on 11th December 1952 by his admirers and supporters in memory of his pioneer discoveries in soil science”. But who was he and what did he do?
Dr Marian was an Austrian Chemist, who came to this country as a Jewish refugee in 1938. Initially, he
was interned along with many other ‘enemy aliens’ but eventually the government found a use for his skills, and he was put to work supervising the production of charcoal on Dartmoor.
Post war, the demand for charcoal fell, and Dr Marian developed a range of alternative products from the leaf litter, peat and charcoal that can be found on Dartmoor. He made extravagant claims about his products, ranging from soil conditioners to treatments for a range of illnesses in dogs and humans. His charisma convinced many people of the validity of his claims, and for a time, his business thrived. Sadly, there was never any scientific evidence that any of them worked and after his death in 1955, his ideas became largely forgotten. Today the plaque at Fingle Bridge remains but it is an enigma to many.
Sept 21st
‘The Voyage of the Beagle’ by James Taylor
This five-year long voyage is well known as the inspiration for Darwin’s ideas about evolution. James told the story of the voyage using artwork of the time, giving us a unique insight into the voyage and the voyagers. The captain of the ship was Robert FitzRoy. FitzRoy was a brilliant naval officer and scientist, but he was not an easy man to work with. His voyage with Darwin was his second to South America. Aware of the loneliness and stresses caused by long voyages, FitzRoy requested a ‘gentleman companion’. They were an interesting combination. FitzRoy had fundamentalist Christian views, which contrasted with Darwin’s more open mind. This led to FitzRoy publicly coming out against Darwin’s theory of evolution when it was published many years later. During the voyage, they had a major row about slavery. Darwin was strongly anti-slavery while FitzRoy saw it as a necessary evil. However, they got along sufficiently well, despite FitzRoy suffering several periods of depression.
The voyage took them in a circuit round the world. Although their visit to the Galapagos was later seen to have huge significance, they only spent five weeks there. The main aims of the trip were to survey the coast and seas around South America and to verify the accuracy of the chronometers they carried on board. However, FitzRoy employed a resident artist on board ship to record the various sights they saw.
FitzRoy and Darwin are remembered very differently by posterity. Today, FitzRoy, if he is remembered at all, is remembered as the founder of the Met Office. Darwin lived quietly at Down House for many years before he published his work on evolution but today, his name is now known worldwide.
August 17th
Richard Adams
A Life Surrounded By Dragons
The City of London, also known as the Square Mile, more or less covers the footprint of the Roman City of Londinium and Richard took us through the history of the City from Roman times to the present day, The Romans arrived in 43 AD and built a classic Roman settlement that became a vibrant port. Many Roman
remains still exist under present day buildings, including the amphitheatre which lies under the Guildhall and its courtyard, the outline being marked by paving slabs. The Romans left in 410 CE, and the City fell into decline.
It later recovered its importance when the capital of the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Essex was moved from Colchester to the City. After the Norman Conquest, William I granted the City of London a charter giving it authority “to do as their fathers had done”, which effectively gave the right to self-government that still exists to this day. For example, it was exempt from the Domesday book. In 1189, the City was given the right to appoint a mayor. The City continued to grow as a vibrant trading centre and developed many of the traditions that are still in place today, such as the Lord Mayor’s Parade.
In 1666, the Great Fire of London destroyed 13,000 houses and 80 churches including St Paul’s Cathedral. The fire started in a baker’s shop in Pudding Lane and is commemorated by a monument. Rebuilding took many years. Ironically, many of these buildings were then destroyed in WWII. Today 75% of the buildings are recent additions, with such iconic buildings as the Gherkin, the Walkie-Talkie and the NatWest Tower.
Richard told us many amusing stories about the juggling of priorities that needs to be done to maintain both the history of the site while allowing it to continue to be an important financial centre.
July 20th"
‘Cataclysmic Italy’ by Professor Peter Edwards
Italy suffers from both volcanoes and earthquakes. It’s a consequence of earth’s solid surface (crust) being divided up into sections called tectonic plates. These are ‘floating’ on a semi-molten layer of rock called the mantle. The mantle is constantly moving, dragging the plates on top with it. At the Mid-Atlantic ridge, plates are moving apart, new rock is coming to the surface, pushing the Americas away from Europe and Africa. In other place, plates are colliding. Sometimes the plates pile up to form mountain, e.g. The Himalayas. In other places, one plate slides under another. This is called a subduction zone. The plates do not slide smoothly, and it’s this juddering we feel as earthquakes. As the surface material of rock and water gets pulled under, the rock starts to melt and, when mixed with very hot steam, rises to the surface to form volcanoes. The eastern side of Italy lies on a subduction zone between the Eurasian and the African plates. In fact, the Po valley is part of the African plate that protrudes up the Adriatic Sea.
As the African plate slides under Italy, we get earthquakes in a line running north-south down the centre of Italy. We saw very moving photos of earthquakes in Italy from the last 100 years. Earthquakes are measured on a logarithmic scale, called the Richter scale. An earthquake of 6 is 10x stronger than an earthquake of 5. Earthquakes of 5 will do some damage, but earthquakes of 6 are disastrous. Italy has had at least 11 major earthquakes in the last 100 years and many smaller ones. In 1997 Umbria experienced an earthquake of 6.4. We saw a video that was taken by chance by scientists filming inside the church of St Assisi. The ceiling of the church fell in and sadly some people were killed. Severe damage was done to the structure of the church including the ancient and irreplaceable frescoes.
Down the west side of Italy there is a chain of 30 volcanoes: some live, some dormant and some extinct. There are 3 live volcanoes: Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius. Vesuvius erupted as recently as 1944, but Stromboli and Etna are both very active. There are also other active areas, for example Solfatara di Pozzuoli, the only privately owned dormant volcano. This is a shallow crater near Naples which emits clouds of sulphurous steam.
Professor Edwards asked, ‘Should you be put off visiting Italy by this tale of woe?’ Probably not. There are many places in the world that experience similar geological activity. However, you might think twice before buying a house there!
June 15th
Marcus Paul
"From Ireland to the wild west" Story of immigrants to America
Marcus told us about the lives of James and Agnes Wilson. James was born in Ireland in 1846. He left, aged 17, to go to America. Here he decided to become a minister of the Presbyterian Church and studied in both America and Edinburgh. It was in Scotland that he met Agnes Hately, a talented musician. They married in 1874 and emigrated to America. Agnes was a prolific letter writer, and it is through her letters to her family in Scotland (now held by Yale University) that Marcus was able to piece together James’s and Agnes’s story.
At first, all went well. James took up a well-paid post as the minister in the small town of Cedarville in New Jersey. Agnes’s letters are full of descriptions of setting up her first home and of the neighbours and the friends she made. She had two children: a girl and a boy. In her letters, Agnes shared her experiences of giving birth and caring for young children in excruciating detail. James enjoyed his work and was popular with his congregation. However, in 1878, he decided to take up his ministry in the newly-created state of Kansas. As well as acting as the founding minister for a new church in the ‘Wild West’, James also hoped to be a successful farmer.
James and Agnes, like other young hopeful homesteaders, were told that the land in Kansas was fertile and unoccupied and that the climate was ‘healthy’. They were sold a dream that prosperity would be easy to come by. Sadly, this idyll did not exist and James and Agnes, like so many others, found this out to their cost. Of course the land was occupied! The First Nation peoples (mostly Cheyenne in this area) had lived there for centuries. Their nomadic way of life was a sustainable way of living in an area that was semi-desert. The Cheyenne were driven off the land with great brutality and European farming practices destroyed the delicate environmental balance, eventually turning the plains into a dustbowl by the early 20th century. There were also the cowboys who herded vast numbers of Longhorn cattle from Texas to the railway lines crossing the country east to west. These men spent much of their time living in poor conditions and when reaching the towns, behaved wildly. Alcohol abuse, prostitution and gambling were rife. The cowboys also clashed with the homesteaders as the farm fences prevented the free movement of their large herds of cattle.
James and Agnes experienced all these conflicts, but it was infectious disease that destroyed their dream. The whole family was stricken with a malarial type of fever. Agnes and the children recovered but James died. After six years in America, Agnes returned to Scotland to live with her sister. She remarried after some time and lived to the age of 83.
Marcus gave us a brilliant talk and we had a wonderful insight into the difficulties of life in 19th century America.
May 18th A change to the advertised talk
Martin Pailthorpe
A talk about about the Jewish brothers in Belarus who rescued escapees from the concentration camps and organised them into a partisan group,
Martin’s talk focused on the Nazi invasion of the western USSR(now Belarus), drawing parallels to the current situation in the Ukraine. His story centred on the town of Novogrudokand the resistance of the local Jewish population. It started when twobrothers, Asael and ZusBielski, fled from Novogrudok and hid in the local Naliboki forest. At first their intention was just to hide from the invaders, but they were joined by many other Jews fleeing labour camps and ghettos. Gradually a community of over 1200grew up in the forest. From this a strong resistance force known as the Bielski partisans was created. Martin showed us a map of their extremely well-organised camp deep in the forest. Whilst every person there may not have been a resistance fighter,they provided the skills necessary for reasonable living. Blacksmiths, bakers, butchers, tailors, farmers,cooks,doctors and nurses, all had a role to play. The Partisans had to overcome great obstacles in finding clothing, shelter, food and weapons to keep themselves alive. Sometimes they were able to work with the local population, but often they had to steal. This did not always make them popular. Martin described the survival skills needed to survive in that environment, including making medicines from tree sap.
Martin alsot old us about some of the amazing escapes that the people undertook in order to join the group. For example, shortly after the bombing of Novogrudok, the local Jewish population were sent to forced labour camps. 250 of the men who were held in one camp miraculously dug a tunnel and escaped. 170 of the escapees survived to join the Bielski Partisans. One escapee was Jack Kagan, who was interviewed before his death in 2016 by Martin. Jack lost many of his toes through frost bite before he reached the Bielski group and safety.
The activities of the partisans were mostly centred on survival and protection of vulnerable people. Although the forest was searched many times by the Nazis, their camp was never discovered. But they also undertook sabotage, including blowing-up railway lines. Although there was a big reward for their capture, they were never discovered.
Today,there is no Jewish community in Novogrudok. However, the memory of the destroyed community lives on in items such as the Magen David from the synagogue, which is now in the Jewish Museum in London, and the memories of Partisans like Jack. He told us ‘It’s the only thing that’s left from a whole town that existed for 500 years’. After the war, Jack settled in Britain, married and had three children. He continued his philanthropic works eventually being awarded a BEM.
April 20th
Ian Barclay
"A history of the BBC"
Ian Barclays’s Talk: A History of the BBC, presented April 20th
Ian started by giving us a brief history of communication systems, from fire beacons, the pony express, the postal service to morse code and telegraphy. However, ‘broadcasting’ really only started in 1986 when Guglielmo Marconi took out a patent for wireless telegraphy. Marconi was also the first person to send signals across the Atlantic from Cornwall to Newfoundland.
Early radio communication systems were used in WWI by pilots to communicate with their airfields, and after the war, some of these pilots took up broadcasting as a hobby. Captain Eckersley started the first regular broadcasts in February 1922 from 2MT station’ at Writtle. His broadcasts were so popular that by the end of 1922, the BBC was formed from this initial station with the famous John Reith at the helm. Reith always maintained broadcasting should be a public service that aimed to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of the nation, an ethos still in place today. The Radio Times, the first radio listings in the world, was launched in 1923.
Ian then went on to talk about television. John Logie Baird developed one of the earliest television systems, although this is not the one we use today. The first regular service in the UK started in 1936, however this was suspended during wartime. Key postwar moments include the start of ITV in 1955. This coincided with the death of Grace Archer in ‘The Archers’. Something the BBC always said was coincidental! In 1967, colour television arrived. Commercial radio also took off, starting with pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline, founded in 1964. Commercial radio was legalised in 1973 and in 1983, Radio Devon started broadcasting. The BBC has diversified over the years with many,many radio stations and TV channels. Since 2007, we have had had digital TV through BBC iplayer allowing us to watch what we want when we want.Ian says today the BBC is under threat and needs our support more than ever.
March 16th
Characters and Creatures at Lanyon Homestead by Lynne Carroll
a look behind the scenes at an Australian historic homestead.
Lynne Carroll was, amongst her many roles, a tour guide at Lanyon Homestead, a historic homestead museum near Canberra, Australia.
She told us about the ancient history of the area and the local Aboriginal tribe, the Nunnawal People who, although nomadic, used Tharwa as a meeting place. The first European settlers at Lanyon, James Wright and John Lanyon squatted on the land before getting full rights to own it.
James Wright remained after his friend returned to England and began the creation of the Lanyon Estate. He was allocated a convict labour team of between 35 and 50 who undertook various roles including shepherding, blacksmithing and even a cutler.
Keeping discipline amongst the convicts was understandably difficult and some underwent punishments which included flogging. When the convict labour scheme was abolished in New South Wales in 1850, Wright was declared bankrupt and the property was sold to Andrew Cunningham, a Scottish banker who had emigrated with his family.
Andrew worked hard and expanded Lanyon into a huge estate concentrating on the lucrative wool market. After a few years, he built the homestead we see today, an impressive colonial style single storey house, built of local stone and cedar, with large verandas and many French windows. Andy, Andrew’s grandson preferred horses, playing sport and spending time with his friends to learning to run the estate.
As soon as WWI was declared, he enlisted. He saw action at Gallipoli and in the trenches on the Western Front and was renowned for his bravery, being awarded the Military Cross. After Andy inherited, the estate deteriorated and in the mid-1920s it was sold.
A cattle baron called Field owned it for about 50 years until it was compulsorily purchased in the 1970s by the ACT Government and the property was reduced to its current size of 100 acres, the exact footprint from the time of James Wright. Lanyon Homestead and parkland has been open to the public since 1978 and the estate is still a working sheep and cattle station, with approximately 2000 sheep and 800 cattle.
Feb Meeting
Colin Andrews on the History of Morris Dancing.
Seen as a descendant of pagan folk ritual, the tradition of Morris dancing has been based on calendar customs and distorted by preconceptions imposed on it by the folklorists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
It may have developed from the time of the Moors (hence ‘morris’). When they surrendered to the Portuguese King Ferdinand & Queen Isabel there were dances in celebration of the Moors leaving; perhaps Morris dances were based upon these dances. There are records of Morris dancing from 1458. It was popular in the royal courts of Europe and there is still some Morris in Spain & Italy.
Morris Dancing was supported by the Church, the Trade Guilds, and the early Tudor kings in the c16. In 1600 Shakespeare actor Will Kemp Morris danced from London to Norwich.
In the c17, under the influence of Cromwell, the church became disaffected with MD. It revived with the restoration but now performed by country folk, not professionals. During 1720 - 50 Morris Dancing was located mainly in the Cotswolds. Morris sides (teams) became popular again during the nineteenth century along with folk music in general.
However, they declined again during the second half of the century. In the c20 leading Morris enthusiasts – e.g. Mary Neal, William Kimber, Cecil Sharp focussed on collecting and noting down dances. 1974 saw the publication of Lionel Bacon’s authoritative 'Handbook of Morris Dancing'.
Colin Andrews is a member of the Winkleigh Morris group. They have a website at http://www.bonnygreen.uk/wmhome.html. During his excellent presentation Colin impressed with his singing and his playing on pipe and drum, and button accordion. Thanks very much to Colin.