Old Pond publishing days

AEC Matador book reprinted and HAC at Nieuwport 1945

AEC Matador: taking the rough with the smooth, Steve Richards. Paperback 280 x 215 mm, 80 pages inc. approx 167 photographs. Published by Japonica Press and available from them at £15.99.

This is a high-quality reprint of the book first published in 2009 by the author.

Part 1 deals with the AEC (0)853 4x4 Matador, armoured command vehicle, Deacon SP gun and civilian adaptations. Part 2 covers the (0) 854 6x6 refueller, Coles crane, mobile oxygen-nitrogen plant. There are also 15 pages of appendices including military colours, AEC types, Irish Matadors and a list of the surviving vehicles.

The photographs below are not included in the book but are from my own family album.

Patrick Doyle, my godfather (seen in the first photograph) accompanied the Canadians in the Normandy landings. After the end of the European war he was at Nieuwport in Belgium. The two images are from August 1945. The late Patrick Doyle was Gnr PD Doyle of the Honourable Artillery Company HAC 1813018. He served with the Royal Sussex Regiment.

Massey Ferguson old boys get-together

We had a very good weekend at the Newark Tractor Show where we were joined on our stand by David Walker, author of Inside Massey Ferguson: a story of service published by Farm Power.

Having signed and sold a good few books, and having had some lengthy meetings of mind with Massey enthusiasts, David (left in the picture) enjoyed a surprise visit from another MF partner in crime John Kirkham (right).

David's 21 years of service with the company was bested by John at 45. Apparently they first met in 1952 when David would have been seven. They met again at Coventry in 1966 but hadn't seen each other since 1987. John was Tractor Service Manager with MF; David a regional service manager. They had a lot of memories to swap.

New information on Frederick Rolfe the King of the Norfolk Poachers

In 1935 Frederick Rolfe - although his name was not revealed at the time - was made famous by Lilias Rider Haggard in her 'Life and History', I walked by Night. In 2009 Charlotte Paton researched the real man, publishing her findings in The King of the Norfolk Poachers.

Charlotte reports that since publication of the hardback "barely a week goes by without someone contacting me about Fred, his book, his life and times". The photograph opposite is one of the new finds, Frederick Rolfe in 1927. It was generously given to Bungay Museum after its owner found it among the effects of her late mother and recognised the name on the back.

There has always been some debate as to whether Rolfe actually wrote the material that was included in Lilias's book. When Charlotte prepared her own account, and subsequently released a DVD The Truth Behind "I Walked by Night", there was little supporting evidence. However, she has recently come across this reproduction of a letter in a 1936 edition of the East Anglian Magazine.

Written by Rolfe to Lilias Rider Haggard in November 1933 (click on the image for an enlargement), it refers to his writing about prison conditions and continues: 'I am shure I can rite some interesting things of how the Labour lived and fared 60 years ago ...' Confirmation that he did indeed write at least the basis of what was to become a classic of rural literature, I Walked by Night.

Irene Grimwood the Land Girl inspiring the BBC television series

The Radio Times issue 5-11 November includes on page 51 a preview of the new BBC1 drama series Land Girls.

Writer Roland Moore says that his inspiration was a photograph he had seen of former land girls returning to their wartime billet and looking over the wall at the rectory that was once their home. He saw the image in one of our books, Land Girls at the Old Rectory, by Irene Grimwood.

The photograph below shows Irene at the Suffolk Show launch of her book in June 2000. We have recently reprinted it for the third time. (Photo: Martin Looker, BHR Communications.)

Four years ago Irene was invited back into the rectory - blog 27 January 2008 – to be interviewed by ITV Anglia. Now approaching her 90th birthday, Irene continues to live in Ipswich.

Old Pond has four books of reminiscences and one DVD in the Land Girls section of our website.

Thank you BigLorryBlog for your rave review of Looking at Logging Part 1

Thank you, BigLorryBlog for today's excellent review of the DVD Looking at Logging Part 1.

"Logging truck videos don't come much better! Martin, Pete and Old Pond have done it again says Biglorryblog!

"Calling all logging fans! They've only gone and done it again? Who has? Well trucking video 'mavins' Pete Connock and Biglorryblog's very own 'Keeper of the Flame'  Martin Phippard  together with the folks at Old Pond Publishing, have come up with another winner!

"'Looking at Logging Part 1' is an absolute belter, filled with great moving images of logging lorries from around the world and there's some real treats in it too including Sisus in wintery Finland, Classic Pacifics, big Kenworths in Canada, Tasmania and New Zealand and bringing it all back 'full circle' a super section on Dai Williams' new FMX logger in action in Wales. There's tidy ... and flipping 'tight' too on some of those roads! There's even a short bit on heli-logging featuring a Sikorsky Sky Crane...how much better does it get?

"All of it backed by an expert commentary from Martin too..."

Colony Xia at the Suffolk Punch Trust

Spent a really pleasant afternoon at the Suffolk Punch Trust today. Good weather, plenty of Suffolk horses grazing and an informative visitor centre. Back in August this year you can see a blog about the orphaned Suffolk foal Colony Xia and her foster mother Lil. Today's visit was so that we could catch up on Xia's progress. She is still suckling and due to be weaned in January at six months of age. The stallion shown in this group of pictures is her sire Besthorpe Achilles.

Room for poetry

Poetry: there are those who were put off it at school and those who are willing to give it some room. Alan Spillett, whose book of paintings Roadscapes II is nearly ready for the printer, falls into the second camp. Among his supporting features , Alan quotes lines from 'Roundabouts and Swings' by Patrick R Chalmers:

For "up an' down an' round," said 'e, "goes all appointed things,
An' losses on the roundabouts means profits on the swings!"

Another person in the appreciative group is Kate, daughter of tractor book author and magazine editor Stuart Gibbard. If you have been to the Spalding model tractor shows you will have seen her helping out on the Gibbard Tractors literature stand. One of Kate's ventures is Book a Poet, 'a comprehensive resource for organisations and individuals to book poets for every occasion'.

When I've been out in the fields with the video filming crew some lines from 'The Breaking of Nations' by Thomas Hardy have been known to come to mind:

Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.

Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch-grass;
Yet this will go onward the same
Though Dynasties pass.

Riotous behaviour among the railway navvies

There are plenty of earlier examples of riots and riotous behaviour in Britain's history. An interesting account I have been reading lately is in Terry Coleman's book The Railway Navvies (first published by Hutchinson, 1965).

The scene was the wave of railway construction in the mid 1840s. The pick, shovel, drilling and explosives work for the great cuttings, embankments and tunnels was undertaken by labourers - or navigators - who were poorly housed, often exploited and worked in dangerous conditions. Their fights and riotous assemblies were fuelled by alcohol and could involve thousands of men. The countryside was terrorised. Exemplary sentences were handed down by the bench.

The Port of Ipswich its shipping and trades - new book published

The Port of Ipswich its shipping and trades, Richard W Smith and Jill Freestone, Malthouse Press, Suffolk. Large-format paperback, 280 x 210 mm, 384 pages inc. approx 400 photographs. ISBN 978-0-9539680-4-6, £30.

Available from Robert Malster, Malthouse Press, 17 Reade Road, Holbrook, Ipswich IP9 2QL. Please make cheques payable to R. Malster and add £5 for UK post and packing.

Also available from the Ipswich Transport Museum.

This is an important book for those interested in the development of Ipswich or more generally in ports and shipping. Although the history of Ipswich shipping dates back to Saxon times, this book deals with the past two centuries. This is a period that saw the town's engineering companies, based around the Dock, grow to have worldwide fame and then decline; a period that started with sail, went on to steam and ended up with a 'Waterfront' jangling with moored pleasure yachts.

Richard Smith has spent twelve years researching this subject. He and his co-author, Jill Freestone, have presented their work under the following headings: the port and its trade - pilotage and other business - towage on the Orwell - the coal trade - grain and animal feed - chemicals and fertilizers - the timber trade - building materials - general cargoes - public utilities - engineering - oil - pasengers and yachting - the port at war.

Throughout the book there are tables giving details of sailings and cargoes; appendices tabulate LNER steamer sailings, visits of Royal Navy ships, deep-sea arrivals 1939-43.

The Port of Ipswich contains a wealth of photographs. It is hard to find a general adjective to indicate just how  impressive this book is. 'Awesome' comes to mind, reflecting the amount of work that has gone into writing and publishing it. I just cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Kind words for the Ford 7000 DVD

In the August/September issue of Ford & Fordson Tractors magazine editor Peter Love writes: 'I thoroughly enjoyed watching this 100 minute DVD and recommend it to you all ... the best DVD of its kind produced in years and a welcome addition to everyone's collection with an interest in Ford tractors.'

The programme Peter is reviewing, The Story of the Ford 7000, produced by Tractor Barn boys Steven Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam, is available at £16.95 from Old Pond Publishing.