Palm Sunday At The English Cotswolds.

By Uncle Monty.
***
From what I could see, the estimated 230,000
racing punters had already left town the day before
at the close of the National Hunt Event at historic
Cheltenham Spa. Yet you’d think they were still all

there with the heavy patrols of motorized and foot

police in their hideous and blinding yellow neon jackets,

large riot-designed white police vans, and their black

billyclubs all at the every ready as I explored for the

first the Regency period town of Cheltenham at the

heart of the English Cotswolds on the eve

of Palm Sunday.

***

***

So as we strolled along The Promenade of the
once 18th century small English market town,
Elizabeth Middleton and I happened upon the
the delightfully worked cast iron characters, shown
above with me, which were six to seven times taller

than the many little kidz that ran upto them and

then stared in pure wonder at the strange figures

and then to “chat” with them, too. Invariably,

always be on the lookout for unusual things when

you travel, and at no matter where you go, for nice

surprises like the cast iron characters tend to add

treats to one’s open-ended travels and one’s always

curious mind and eyes. Enjoy then being surprised by

those unexpected surprises and lovely moments.

***

***

The English have historically and passionately been

into making and publicly displaying stone and brass

statues of various heads of British Royalty over

many years and especially those statues and monu-

ments to and of Queen Victoria that have been widely

scattered arcoss the country at her Imperial Reign and

after her 1901 death. So when I happened upon the

1914 stone statue of George V, I was at first abit

surprised to see him instead of Victroia in all her

usual statue form. It was also the first time that I’d

seen such a statue of him being surprisingly depicted

with a WWI orphan girl and him all grim faced and

dressed in either rolled-up trousers or three quarter

short military khakis at Cheltenham’s Off Rotunda.

Since the early 20th century the statue has stood

there undisturbed, I guess. I decided to also add

my own colour to the sky to enchance the poignant

imagery of the photograph I took of the 15ft. high

statue of George and the war orphan.

(What is odd, too, is that ER is inscribed on the

base of the George V statue instead of his GR.)
**

***

Elizabeth and I also attended the English Concertina
Orchestra’s Saturday evening performance of Vivaldi’s
Introduction and Gloria in D Major and Handel’s
“Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened” under the wings

of the Cheltenham Choral Society, which is celebrating

70 years this year of making classical music since 1938.
Bravo … The steady conductor was Ian Higginson
along with his Soprano Vicki Beauregard and Tenor
George Howarth of whom we both liked. As we also

did with Alto Jennifer Taylor and Bass John Collins.

George Ewart was the good leader of the orchestra.
***
While right here at Cheltenham is the 1874 birth home

of British composer Gustav Theodore Holst at Clarence

Road. I went to his home just before the mentioned

evening concert, but was too late to visit inside the

home-cum-Holst Museum since it was closed by the

time I could get there. He died, incidentally, in the

same year of 1934 has did the two other quint-

essential English composers Sir Edward Elgar and

Frederick Delius. For Holst, his musical fame

rests primarily on his repertory works of

The Hymn of Jesus and The Planets. So came

Jupiter, Mars, and the other planets of Holst's

musical mastery and “We Laid Upon The Altar

The Dearest And The Best …” was also the

classic form of the English Hymn of “I Vow To

Thee, My Country” and that was adapted from

Holst’s celestial composition of The Planets.
***
A couple of other things that stuck me about
Cheltenham Spa was the 1821-built Christadelphian
Hall and the undated old Masonic Lodge and the red
pillar boxes still in use with the emblem VR on them

from the 60+ year reign of Queen Victoria,
who has now been dead over a century.
***
The Christadelphians themselves formed in the

US of A at the time of just before the rise of the

American Civil War at the early 1860’s. A Londoner,

called John Thomas, organised the religious sect there

that was based on the simple apostolic faith of 1st

Century Christianity. They believe, too, that political

events of the day are seen as fulfilments of biblical

prophecies. Socially, they shun others and reject

organizational membership in civil and political

groups. To them, Heaven and Hell doesn’t exist,
states Pears Reference on Ideas and Beliefs.
***
Standing forlorn and empty is the old Masonic

Lodge on Cheltenham’s Portland Street. With

Masonic craft symbols on the outside of what

looks like a mid-19th century structure to me,

the only sign of life were the two locked blue-

painted doors and black iron railing at the front

of the building that stands at three stories high.

Clearly, the building showed a strong and active

Masonic Order at Cheltenham of bygone years.

Masonic membership has been in sharp decline

in England and elsewhere for quite some years

now. And so in order to bring in some new, and

much needed younger blood, the secretive
Masons have recently endeavoured to recruit

students at college and university campuses across

the country. So then they still have a large and un-

used Masonic Lodge to fill-up with some new and

young recruits at least here at the old spa.

***

While outside at the town’s Starbucks, large knots

of all-white youthz had gathered at about 5:00pm
to simply shoot the breeze. They were a motley
group of male and female godless goths, myrmidon

mohawks, punky punkz, and egotistical exhibitionists

of perhaps aged 14 to their early 20’s. They crowded

the sidewalk so that nobody else could move or pass

by them very easily. At a short distance away, I also

noticed a large dark mustard coloured police van full

of Cheltenham’s finest sitting inside their van with
the engine still running to presumably pounce on

the youthz with their black bullyclubs, if need be.

While another police van proclaimed “You Are Caught

On Camera” as its mobile CCTV unit drove by the

knotz of modern day English youthz who are a very

far cry from what I remember when I was a youth

of five decades ago. Whatever, I almost wanted to
wave at the police unit to get myself on its mobile
CCTV … simply for the heck of it …
***
Then nearby Gloucester beckoned Elizabeth and
I today to The Anglican Service of Palm Sunday at

the imposing presence of its renowned Cathedral

that is presented here with the above caption photo-
graph that I shot while we were there to go worship

and to sing His praise. Thus, the start of Holy Week is

now upon us with Eastertide just only days away …
Truly, Uncle Monty.
+Palm Sunday, 2oo8.