We should be proud of our heritage

Chatting with our front office receptionist Linda the other day, she told me how, when living in Bedale some 30 years ago, she remembers St George's Day as a day of celebration and ritual, when the local scouts, girl guides and brownies together with the British Legion gathered together in all their finery, marching round the market place, each contingent with its own standard bearer, to the church. There the standards were taken to the front of the church, the vicar placing them in their appointed places, and a service was then held to thank God for all his blessings, and for our beloved country. Wondering if this traditional parade still took place, she was able to check with friends who live there, and found that it seemed to fade away round about 1970.

And of course there was always Empire Day, which, if you were a pupil at either of the Norton schools pre-war, you will recall how this day was the big day of the year. A pageant was put on by the senior pupils, small plays were enacted by each form, and individuals representing their class, sang or recited poetry. This was May 24, which was the day Queen Victoria was born, and the day's celebrations first took place in Britain in 1902. Over the centuries, there have been many empires, India being made so when the title of Empress was given to Victoria in 1876, yet the only empires left in the world by 1918 were Britain and India. By 1959, Empire Day was re-named Commonwealth Day, but if anyone marks May 24 today, then I'm not sure, except perhaps the relatives and the descendants of those gallant sailors aboard HMS Hood who lost their lives when she was sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic in 1941 by the Bismark.

Two years later, to the day almost, the battle appeared to have been won when Doenitz ordered all U-boats to break off operations against our convoys because their losses were getting too heavy. So Empire Day, or whatever, is surely a day to remember.

- My own recollection of Norton Boys' School celebrations were that I had a poem to say because I was the youngest boy in the school, and the 'big boys' put on a show, which included an elephant. Inside were two big lads, the one at the front being Olaf (Larry) Wilson, of St Nicholas Street, Norton. Who took up the rear, I don't know. It was a huge elephant, it seemed to me (a tiny lad), with a trunk made from an opened-up motor car tyre. The head was so heavy that it had to be supported by a specially-made framework whilst it was standing still. A year or two later we put on a play called The Charcoal Burner's Son. He was the lad who married a princess, who, for a crown, wore a fancy Christmas cake paper trimming which looked excellent. I remember Don Pickett, of Park Road, was in this and whether it was he with the crown, I'm not too sure. I seem to think that somehow there was a bit of reluctance on behalf of the boy who had to play the part of the princess for obvious reasons. At that age, boys didn't like to pretend to be girls.

- I always read and enjoyed our poetry corner. Our local poets never let us down and the variety of subjects presented in rhyme are endless, which reminds me of the songs which are classed as 'standards', such as Moonlight in Vermont, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Carolina Moon, Yellow Rose of Texas, Stars Fell on Alabama. In fact, I could name several more, but these seem to outnumber the ones about the United Kingdom by about ten to one, although, having said that, someone is going to sit down with pen and paper and prove me wrong. Could be an interesting survey, but we do seem to have a shortage of songs inspired by this country and I don't recall a Red Rose of Scagglethorpe, Stars falling on Wombleton or Ryedale by Starlight. Now there's a title for a poem if ever there was one.

- Today's packaging can be quite a headache at times, whether it be audio tapes or chocolates, and even the everyday birthday card, cellophane-wrapped, has to be attacked with a pair of scissors, but going back several years I had a problem with sweets. Well, actually Parkinsons Chocolate Toffee Rolls, remembered because I like them, which like many wrapped toffees and such, you simply take hold of each end of the twisted paper, pull and the sweet unrolls, and there you are, instant enjoyment. The reason the sweet unrolls is because the paper ends are twisted both in the same direction. Twist one in one way during manufacture, and the other opposite, and the toffee will not unroll.

I discovered this, I think, in the dark of the cinema one night. I had some of these sweets, and pull each end as I may, they wouldn't unroll, and this made me find out why. I wrote to Parkinsons, and they knew they had a problem because they had had to bring an old toffee-wrapping machine into use which wrapped them in the 'wrong' manner. However, as industry got back on its feet again (this must have been shortly after the war), they were replacing it, and sent me a complementary tin box of these rolls, but couldn't guarantee that every one would unroll when I pulled the ends.

- Quote: She's the best man in England. Ronald Reagan of Mrs Thatcher.

Updated: 14:21 Thursday, May 31, 2001