Barnyard Buzz Dorset February 2024

CAMPSITE NEWS

February has been quiet compared to the other winter months.  Two sets of people cancelled because of the continuing wet weather.  But still there is always plenty of maintenance to do on the campsite with painting [1] in the shower/toilet/handbasin down by the farm house, and washing down the outside of the cabin.  Some repairs had to be done to the fire pit covers.   [2] It was discovered that someone had been sleeping on the floor of the cabin and everything was in disarray.  That person had also tried to use the toilet and kitchen sink but as the water had been switched off both were left in a mess.  It is a pity that I have to keep the cabin locked until just before Easter.  This has meant a delay in opening the cabin for campers.  But it will be ready for the Easter weekend.

FARM

It was disappointing that the eggs in the incubator did not hatch in time for the lesson in my CEVAS course, but at the end of the day only one egg hatched.  Even though the other 7 appeared to be fertile during the “candling” nothing happened [3].  So this poor little chick lives on its own. [4]  It may have companions in the next few weeks when George’s bantam chicks hatch out.

We had another TB test at the beginning of February and here is Sarah, the vet, getting ready to also check how far each cow is on with her pregnancy. [5]  During each internal test we could see through the monitor [6] the foetus growing inside the cow.  Fortunately all cows are pregnant!

It is probable that the animals will have to stay indoors for longer than usual this year because the fields are so wet.  If we send them out too early the ground will get “poached” and ruined. [7]

The kennels were built and the dogs, Roxie, Millie, Nellie and Ruby (two of the puppies) moved in.

[8] [9]  The old stable, which had been completely gutted inside has now been made ready for lambing.  [10] [11]  The “Speckled” bantams [12] are doing well out in the orchard, and are laying well.

Copsing the young apple trees is a never ending job.  [13]  They all need pruning, but you need to book a long way ahead to get this done, (which I always seem to forget) and it is so expensive!   As the winter has been so mild, the daffodils and primroses were especially early.  [14] [15]  As usual the snowdrops, which are all along the river bank, were abundant this winter.  [16]

Many moons ago my husband built a poultry run, but this is now in a state of disrepair. [17]  Renovation have now started and it is hoped that my lone chick and some baby bantams may live in it when it is completely goose proof.  [18]

My house is bursting at the seams with memorabilia, and old files and I have enough to fill a museum.  I don’t seem to be able to face sorting out this on my own, so have to wait for a friend to help me go through the pile.  We must have moved at least 60 of the folders over the past 6 months but the ones in the photo still have to be “set upon” and burnt on a bonfire.  [19]  I usually save plastic wallets and treasury tags.

PILSDON

My friend continues to take photos of the local countryside around the Marshwood Vale.  These photos are taken from the top of Pilsdon, an iron age fort, and an area where the Celts used to have horse racing.   [20] [21] The following two photos are showing a view of Lewesdon, the highest hill in Dorset. [22] [23]  The views are just as attractive in winter as they are in summer.

CEVAS (Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme)

Park, Eype, near Bridport at the end of January.  The tutor, Jo Hatton, had a lot to cover in this first session to explain what we needed to know to get the above qualification and how we were going about it. [24]  Everyone who attended lived within a 20 mile radius of Eype.  The main aim of the course is to give a qualification that will be suitable for us to have school children visit our farms, centres, etc with all the paperwork in place and the boxes ticked.  As usual I was the oldest “student” attending.

Later on that day Isabel showed us around the area close to the Holiday complex.  This involved two alpaca boys, called Alf and Trovan, whose main job is to guard the sheep with new-born lambs from foxes and other dangers.  [25] As Highlands End has a high elevation we had some wonderful views of Bridport, [26] and Eype. [27]  The next photo shows our tutor Jo and Isabel looking over at the Nature Pond with Bridport in the distance. [28]  On the other side of the main building we met some more alpacas, [29] and witnessed one being particularly amorous! [30]

Isabel who was actually on the course with us, is part of the Business and Farm Development section of Highlands End.  She explained that they have the alpacas on the farm primarily as an attraction for the holiday park guests but also to supplement the farm income through their breeding programme, as they look to establish the herd.  They sell the fibre from the alpacas and in turn receive alpaca fibre socks to sell in their on-park shop.  They also collect the manure to produce good quality compost for our flower beds.

They have applied for the English Woodland Creation Grant and hope to be able to create a new native woodland in winter 2025.  They have also received funding from Farming in a Protected Landscape which will allow them to plant a couple of hundred metres of hedging, introduce a nature hide on their nature trail and restore an area of grassland.

The students met up again at Highlands End at the end of February.  The assumption was that we would have all got at least two-thirds of the coursework done by this time.  We all had to give a lesson lasting about 10 minutes to the rest of the “class”.  I chose to do the life cycle of an egg with china eggs, large photos of a hen, cockerel, a broody hen, a chick and an incubator along with feeding stuff such as chick crumbs, layers pellets and barley.  Other topics covered by students were  wool, [31] a large hen production, [32]  willow basketry, [33] the processing of grain, [34] and separating the seed from the chaff. [36]

The student who went on first, aimed her lesson at older children. [37] We were encouraged to write poems,  and another student had us working with soil to make things – the legs of my creature kept falling off!  Jo duly marked all of our efforts. [38]  We were given a deadline sometime in March whereby we needed to have the rest of coursework handed in by.

Jo will be coming around to each student in the April to see our “farm” set up and give us any advice that is necessary.

JOHN STOCKLEY OF WEYMOUTH

I first met John and his wife Gillian when John gave a talk at Loders Hall to our local Family History group. [39] He had become a local celebrity since meeting Sean Fletcher an American-English journalist and television presenter.  In 2022 Sean was making a documentary about Britain’s Secret War Babies so he got in touch with John.  Sean has a Zimbabwian mother and an English father.

Nearly 3 million American soldiers or GIs passed through Britain during WW2.  It is estimated that 240,000 of them were African American – 8,000 of whom were stationed in and around Weymouth , Dorset.  Around 2000 such children were born between 1942 and 1946 increasing the Black population of the UK by almost 30% and making John part of the first significant generation to be born Black and British in the years before Windrush.  John said that there were 16 mixed race children in Weymouth and Portland when he was growing up.

When the American came over it was a segregated army with the white soldiers living in one camp and the black soldiers living in other camps.

Eva, John’s mother, was born in Burton Bradstock to parents Richard and Annie Stevens. [40]  She had a sister called Mina.  Eva had a relationship with one of the GIs and John was born on the last day of WW2  7th May 1945.  This photo is John, 6 months old,  with his mother in Weymouth.  [41]  John was never told who his father was but he knew from a distant relation that he looked like his father.

When Eva’s husband came home after WW2 John went to live with his step father’s parents.  John tells of his idyllic upbringing with his step-grandparents in Weymouth.  His grandfather was a church warden at one of the churches and the white soldiers came to a service in the morning and the black soldiers came to one in the afternoon.  People would come from Dorchester, Portland and Weymouth to stand outside the church to hear the black soldiers sing negro spirituals and the sound was fantastic!

John is well-known in the county [42] and spent much of his life working in  the area as a chimney sweep after taking over his step-father’s business, Electric Sweep in the 1980s.  John’s pet name was “Sooty” because of the chimney sweep connection.  This firm is still operating today and is now run by John’s son.

John was always very interesting in where he came from so when Sean Fletcher contacted him about doing a documentary on black GI babies the search began.  So filming began in Osmington in 2022 [43] [44] and it was revealed that John’s father was Madison Glover.  His father’s draft card [45] revealed his address as being in San Diego.  At this point John was told there was a brother and niece alive and living in that city and that he was being flown over to meet them.

The first meeting was at College Heights where John met Byron and Tanisha, [46] and where John saw the first and only photo of his father.  [47]  They later went to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery [48]  and found Madison Glover’s headstone. [49]  He spent a week in San Diego.  His relatives did not know about John until contacted by Sean Fletcher.

Just after he returned back in the UK John discovered he also had 3 sisters in San Francisco –
Tina, Sharon and Ilene [50].  John’s youngest daughter made contact with them via Facebook and this was followed by Zoom meetings and many WhatsApp messages.  They also found out that the sisters had a brother, Winston [51] who had died from cancer a couple of years previously.

So John went to the USA as an only child and came back as one of nine, with one living brother and 3 living sisters.  Sadly there were another 2 brothers and 2 sisters who are no longer alive.

All in all a very interesting story!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Mr & Mrs John Stockley,  Isabel Marshall, Jo Hatton and Mark Joynes