• About my Blog
  • GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and This Site
  • My Life in a Suffolk Lane

A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: wedding

Wedding and Weaving

03 Wed Oct 2018

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, Rural Diary

≈ 114 Comments

Tags

Brighton Pavilion, family life, Humphries Weaving, restoration work, Suffolk, weaving, wedding

I have been thinking for some time that I ought to let you know something of what we have been doing this year but I haven’t been sure where I should start!  I will begin by telling you of our recent big family celebration, my brother Andrew’s wedding to Helen on the 12th of May.

Helen and Andrew – my brother and his lovely wife

This photo and the one below I ‘obtained’ from Facebook and they were taken by Andrew and Helen’s friends.  I didn’t take any photographs that day and am very grateful to those who did.  Don’t they look a happy couple?

Helen and Andrew

Richard and me – taken by Elinor

Alice and Elinor – taken by Richard

The day was a little chilly but fairly bright and it stayed dry until we were all at the reception, which was very lucky.

I had spent quite a bit of time during the preceding months helping Mum find a new outfit for the occasion.  I visited many shops, on my own, in a number of towns looking for something she might be happy to wear.  The shops had to have easy access and be near to a car park.  The clothes had to be suitable in design and price.  I eventually got together a plan of campaign and we had a shopping trip just ten days before the wedding.  We were very fortunate in finding just what Mum wanted but I am disappointed in not having a photograph of her in her finery.

It was good to see Andrew’s children Natalie and Robert and Natalie’s partner Adam.  My sister Francesca managed to take the day off work but her three children weren’t able to attend.  Mum was very pleased to see them all.

oooOOOooo

My niece, Natalie specialised in weaving when studying for her degree in Art in London.  I thought, as I hadn’t been able in an earlier post of mine to include any photos of the embroidery and textiles I saw at an exhibition, I would mention the work Natalie does and include a few links.

Natalie works for Humphries Weaving based in the town of Sudbury in Suffolk.  Here is a short video produced by that company and in it you will be able to see Natalie and her colleague and listen to them talk about the work they do.  Natalie is the woman with her hair up and she doesn’t have a Scottish accent!

One of the projects Natalie has been working on for the past few years is helping to conserve the Saloon in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, that wonderful building commissioned by George IV.

Here is an article from the Guardian newspaper about the restoration work.

I also include another film made by Humphries Weaving which explains the work they have had to do and all the detailed research that has been carried out.

I am looking forward to visiting the Royal Pavilion and seeing this beautiful room!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Highlights from 2016 – Spring

27 Sun Nov 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in art, Days out, music, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, wild flowers

≈ 58 Comments

Tags

bluebells, flour, mill, mill pond, Minsmere, Pakenham Watermill, sculpture, The Albert Memorial, The Royal Albert Hall, The Victoria and Albert Museum, This is How it Feels Inspiral Carpets, wedding, wild flowers

This, as promised in my previous post, is the first of my ‘highlight’ posts in which I will let you know some of the things we managed to do this year and will provide photos and links when and where necessary.

Just after Easter we went to the wedding of my dear friend Wendy and her husband John’s daughter Jennifer to her fiancé David.  The wedding took place in the lovely church of St David in the village of Groes Faen in south Wales.  We were delighted to be included in their family celebration, just as we had been when Jen’s older sister Vicky (my God-daughter) was married a few years ago.  The reception was at the Pencoed House Estate, a beautiful manor house in lovely grounds.  I was fortunate to be seated next to Wendy’s mother-in-law, Rene; she and her late husband Don had been so kind to me and Alice when my first marriage broke up.  I was so sorry to hear that she died just a few weeks ago.  I had been unable to take any photos at the wedding so was very pleased to receive a thank-you card from Jen and David which had photos from their wedding on it.  I have scanned it and chosen one of the photos but it hasn’t come out very well.

scan_20161124-2

ooOOoo

This next gallery of photos is just a reminder of what we have to look forward to in the  spring!

Bluebell wood
Bluebell wood
Bluebell wood
Bluebell wood
Bluebell wood
Bluebell wood

I love bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) so I took a little detour on my way home from my mother’s house at the beginning of May so that I could see the flowers just outside the village of Withersdale Street.

ooOOoo

I have mentioned Pakenham Watermill before in my blog.  It is where we go to buy the best wholemeal flour which I use to make bread.

p1000225pakenham-mill

Pakenham Watermill

p1000215pakenham-mill

The rear of the building.  We visited on a perfect morning in May.

p1000213pakenham-mill

The mill with mill-pond

p1000216pakenham-mill

There are lots of House martin (Delichon urbica) nests under the eaves

p1000209sculpture-at-pakenham-mill

Bird sculpture in the garden

p1000211pakenham

The mill pond

ooOOoo

At about this time I visited Minsmere RSPB Reserve as I wanted to buy something from their shop.  While I was there I thought I would quickly walk through the woods to see what I could see.

p1000226bluebells-at-minsmere

Bluebells again!

Bluebells
Bluebells
Blue bluebells and white bluebells!
Blue bluebells and white bluebells!
p1000227minsmere-common-vetch

Common vetch (Vicia sativa)

p1000229minsmere-common-storks-bill

Common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium)

I don’t remember ever having seen this flower before despite it being ‘common’.  The seed-heads can be seen next to the flowers and their shape gives the plant it’s name.

p1000233minsmere-changing-forget-me-not

Changing forget-me-not (Myosotis discolor)

The flowers are tiny and very difficult to photograph.  When they first open they are yellow but soon change to blue.  The plant especially likes to grow on sandy soil.

p1000232minsmere-shepherds-cress

Shepherd’s-cress (Teesdalia nudicaulis)

This is another plant I don’t remember having noticed before, but that is not surprising because it is very low growing and not especially exciting to look at.  You can see a wood-ant (10 mm long) towards the bottom right of the photo which gives you some idea of the size of the flowers which are about 2 mm across – two of the four petals of the flower are longer than the other two.  The seeds are heart-shaped and a few can be seen at the top of the photo.  The leaves in the basal rosette are lobed and can also be seen at the top-centre.  Their shape reminds me of pasta servers.

p1000234minsmere-common-sorrel

Common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) creating red patches on the rising ground. Gorse (Ulex europaeus) can be seen flowering in the bushes on the sky-line.

p1000236minsmere-wavy-bitter-cress

Wavy bitter-cress (Cardamine flexuosa) – so-called because it’s stem is wavy rather than straight!

p1000238minsmere

Rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum)

Rhododendron has naturalised and become invasive in many places.  It is unwelcome as it reduces biodiversity and is very difficult to eradicate because it produces new shoots from its roots.  This link speaks more about the plant.

p1000241minsmere-bugloss

Bugloss (Anchusa arvensis)

This plant is very hairy and has interesting wavy-edged leaves.  The flowers are a lovely intense blue colour.

ooOOoo

Elinor wasn’t able to join her art and design group on their trip to London in April so a few weeks later Richard and I took her there ourselves.  We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and Elinor chose to study the exhibits in the cast works gallery and the sculpture galleries.

Trajan's column - lower

Trajan’s column – lower

Trajan's column - upper

Trajan’s column – upper

Someone took a plaster-cast of the whole of Trajan’s column!  The column is 30 m / 98 ft tall (with the pedestal it is 35 m / 115 ft tall).  Its diameter is 37 m / 12.1 ft.  This cast is now invaluable to scholars because the original column has become very weathered and the figures cannot easily be studied.

p1000255german-medieval-carving

I love this medieval carving from Germany! The details of the knight’s journey are exquisitely worked. There are trees, people and small creatures, buildings, a dragon and a princess to be rescued! It was difficult to get a decent photo because of the reflections off the glass case.  I also forgot to make a note of the artist and couldn’t find the piece when I went on the museum’s website.

p1000256crving

‘A Bishop Saint’ by Sir Alfred Gilbert 1899.  This bishop’s gentle expression appealed to me very much.

p1000257sculpture

‘The Virgin with the Laughing Child’ probably by Antonio Rossellino ca. 1465.  I could look at this statuette for ever! It is so intimate and loving! Look at the way the mother is holding her little boy on her knee with his leg between her forefinger and middle finger, her other hand on his tummy and his hand on hers.

After leaving the museum we decided to walk to Hyde Park and relax there for a short time before catching our train home.

p1000258albert-hall

The Royal Albert Hall – a beautiful building and an excellent concert hall

p1000261albert-memorial

Opposite the Royal Albert Hall is the Albert Memorial

ooOOoo

That’s it for the time being!  I will leave you with my music choice, ‘This Is How It Feels’ by Inspiral Carpets, remembering Craig Gill (drums) who died on Tuesday 22 November 2016

Thanks for visiting!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Here be Dragons!

24 Tue Jun 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Insects, music, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Aldeburgh Festival, Banded Demoiselle, Black-tailed Skimmer, bouquet, Broad-bodied Chaser, butterflies, damselflies, dentist, dragonflies, Four-spotted Chaser, Greater Bindweed, Hedge Brown, Ian Bostridge, Large Skipper, lavender, moths, Schubert's 'Winterreise', Six-spot Burnet, Small Tortoiseshell, Snape Maltings, Suffolk Punch, The Man of Mode by George Etherege, Thomas Ades, wedding, wedding anniversary

 

Image

Four-spotted Chaser

Our garden is full of dragonflies and damselflies.

Most of the UK was basking in warm sunshine last week; Suffolk was one of the areas which wasn’t.  We spent most of the time under a thick pall of cloud.  There was a strong northerly breeze and some rain, though not much; certainly not enough.  The butterflies and dragonflies only flew when a watery sun appeared through a crack in the cloud, which wasn’t often.  The highest temperature I recorded was 16 degrees centigrade.  The weather started to improve towards the end of the week with the wind changing direction from northerly to a warmer south-westerly.  The clouds then began to disperse.  The weekend was really quite fine and Monday morning was too.  Unfortunately, we had a couple of heavy showers of rain in the afternoon and more of the same overnight.  Today started with thick mist and then it wasn’t too bad until this afternoon when we have had torrential rain and thunder storms.  At least today we have had a good amount of rain which has freshened things up nicely.

Image

Lavender covered in butterflies (mainly Small Tortoiseshells)

Monday 16th was cool and showery and I had to visit the dentist because of a painful tooth.  I had made the appointment a week before when my tooth had been aching for some days.  It continued to hurt until a couple of days before the appointment and then suddenly felt better.  I thought I’d better keep the appointment just in case there was really a problem.  My dentist did her best to find something wrong with my tooth – she x-rayed it and bruised my gum with the x-ray plate.  She poked and prodded it very hard a number of times with that sharp spiky thing dentists use.  She gripped it very hard between finger and thumb and tried to wriggle it and pull it out.  She hit it hard a few times with a blunt metal object but fortunately for me there didn’t appear to be anything wrong.  I left the surgery feeling as though someone had punched me in the face.

Tuesday 17th was a much better day – some sunshine and a strong breeze which dried my washing.

Wednesday 18th was another busy shopping day – firstly with Mum who hadn’t been feeling too well and then some shopping for us. I also collected a quantity of medication from the doctors’ surgery.  Wednesday was also our 20th wedding anniversary and R was due home from working in Gloucestershire that evening.  Quite often he is away from home on our anniversary but this year was nicely different.  He brought me home a bouquet of flowers which was very kind and thoughtful of him.

Image

In recent years we haven’t bought each other gifts but have gone somewhere nice together – a stately home, a beautiful garden – or we have bought something we both wanted – a garden bench, a favourite film to watch together.  This year R suggested we go out for a meal to the place we went to on our first date.  Of course I agreed.  We decided not to go out on the anniversary itself as R would have spent some hours driving and would be tired (as he was).  We booked a table for Friday evening and invited E to come with us.  She is the daughter of our marriage and should therefore be with us to celebrate.  She agreed to come too.

Thursday 19th, Corpus Christi, and though there was a service at church at 9.00a.m. I wasn’t able to go as E had an interview that morning at City College Norwich.  Surprisingly, E was fairly calm and even managed to eat some breakfast before we set off.  I parked in the city centre again and we walked to the college from there as before.  By the time we got to the college E was starting to feel very apprehensive and when I left her outside the interview room she was very frightened and extremely pale.

She re-appeared an hour and a half later having had an interview and done a short maths and English test.  I was so proud of her and pleased that she had been able to go through with the interview and test.

E has had many problems to deal with in her seventeen years.  She has scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and has had problems with her feet.  Both of these problems are now well under control but getting help initially was very difficult.  E had to contend with a lot of bullying at school too.  Always of a nervous disposition and insecure she developed chronic anxiety which brought on panic attacks.  She was helped extremely well in her Middle School but when she went up to High School the problem got so bad that eventually she was unable to attend school and wasn’t able to take her GCSE exams last summer.  Eventually we found a really good therapist who taught her how to control her anxiety.  She still has a long way to go but she has started to make a life for herself.  The City College has a course for young people who have had interrupted education and they know exactly how to treat these young people with kindness and understanding.  Their dignity is preserved and they are not made to feel guilty or odd.  You can understand now why I was so proud of my dear daughter.

R and I spent an hour or so cleaning the church again that evening.  There was to be a large wedding there on Saturday and the florist was coming to decorate the church on Friday so we had to do the cleaning first.  We decided to buy take-away fish and chips for our evening meal to save having to cook.  A real treat!

Friday 20th was a brighter day and got gradually warmer until the afternoon was quite summery.  I had a blood test in the morning then did yet more shopping.  The afternoon was spent doing housework – very tedious.  Our anniversary meal was very pleasant.  The inn looks very different from how it was when R and I went there in January 1993.  A large dining area with plenty of glass in the roof and large floor to ceiling glass windows has been added on at the back.

Saturday 21st.  A lovely summers day at last.  We were so pleased for the couple getting married today.  I went to collect some supplies from the chemist and R did some gardening – mainly hedge-cutting – and then went off on his bike to perform his Church Warden duties at the wedding.   The bride had arrived in an open carriage drawn by two Suffolk Punch horses.

Image

The church had been beautifully decorated with flowers.

Image

Image

Image

Sunday 22nd was another fine day and R and I went to church at St. James’ church.  I cooked our main meal as soon as we got home instead of in the evening as we usually do.  This was because I was going with my mother to a concert at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh.  The Aldeburgh Festival is taking place at the moment and this year is its 67th since it was started by the composer Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears.

Snape

Snape Maltings. Photo courtesy of The Daily Telegraph

Tickets for concerts at Snape are not that expensive but it is almost impossible to get them.  If one has enough money to be able to afford to become a Friend of Snape,  and the cheapest annual payment to become a Friend is £300, one can buy tickets earlier by weeks than the hoi-polloi like me.  All the best tickets are snapped up very quickly and us poor commoners are left with the crumbs.  I have decided to pay £15 a year so that I am e-mailed the programme of concerts.  This means I get to see the list of concerts a day before the people who receive the programme by post.  £15 for an e-mail!!

The concert that Mum and I attended was very good and I feel very lucky to have been there.  Ian Bostridge, tenor, accompanied by Thomas Ades on the piano performed Schubert’s song cycle ‘Winterreise’.  We have been to hear both these wonderful musicians before so knew that we were going to have a good concert.  I studied ‘Winterreise at school and grew to love it then so was really looking forward to the evening.  The concert started at 8.00p.m. and the whole cycle was sung without an interval.  We set off for home just after sunset and were home before dark.

Monday23rd was a busy day with lots of washing and shopping.

I took Mum out shopping today instead of on Wednesday as I am going to see A in Sheffield tomorrow and will be staying there for two nights, coming back home on Friday.  A is performing in another play and I am looking forward to seeing her in it.  I decided it might be nice to stay in Sheffield a little longer than usual as I would like to see the Botanical Garden which A says is very pleasant.  I might also do a little shopping!  A is still trying to finish her PhD but everything seems to be conspiring against her.  She recently had a fall and broke one of her fingers which has not made her PhD typing marathon easy.  She is unemployed again and has no income which is very worrying for her.  The play she will be performing in is ‘The Man of Mode’, a Restoration comedy written by George Etherege.

275px-George_Etherege_The_Man_of_Mode_frontspiece_1676

As I said at the beginning of this post, the garden is full of dragonflies and damselflies.  The garden is also full of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies especially, and a few other butterflies and insects.

010Skipper

Skipper butterfly

I think this is a Large Skipper.

011Tortoiseshell

Small Tortoiseshell

070Tortoiseshell butterfly

Small Tortoiseshell

I have included two photos of these butterflies to show the difference between a newly emerged butterfly and one that has been flying for a few days.  The second one is so bright!

002Six-spot Burnet on lobelia

Six-spot Burnet moth on lobelia

050Dragonfly

Dragonfly

051Four-spotted chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

045LLavender with butterflies

Meadow Brown butterfly

056Female banded demoiselle

Female Banded Demoiselle

057Greater bindweed flower with pollen beetle and micro moth

Greater Bindweed flower with unidentified micro-moth and pollen beetle

The Greater Bindweed flower is the largest of our native flowers.

058Male broad-bodied chaser

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

060Male black-tailed skimmer

Male Black-tailed Skimmer

The last photos I am including are of Small Tortoiseshells again.

069Lavender with butterflies (cartoon) (2)

The reason I am including this photo is because…..

069Lavender with butterflies (cartoon)

….of this!!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...
Follow A Suffolk Lane on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 658 other followers

I talk about what it's like living in a quiet part of Suffolk. I am a wife, mother and daughter, a practising Christian and love the natural world that surrounds me. I enjoy my life - most of the time!

My Posts

Feb 2021
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
« Dec    

Pages

  • About my Blog
  • GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and This Site
  • My Life in a Suffolk Lane

Archives

Blogs I Follow

Posts I Like

amphibians art Arts and Crafts churches cooking Days out domestic animals family fish Folk Traditions Gardening Historic Buildings holidays Insects Landscaping literature music Norwich plants poetry Rural Diary seashore theatre trees Uncategorized walking weather wild animals wild birds wild flowers

Tags

architecture autumn beach berries birds blackbird blackthorn butterfly church clouds common knapweed cow parsley crocus daffodils Diary dogwood family field maple flowers fungus garden gardening geese greylags ground-ivy Halesworth Hawthorn heather holiday Holy Week horse chestnut Hoverfly insects ivy Lake District Lent lesser celandine lichen Lords and Ladies Mallard mallards Minsmere moorhen moss music Norfolk Norwich Peak District pheasant plants pond ponds primrose primroses Rain rooks Rumburgh Rumburgh Church sheep Sheffield snow snowdrops spring Suffolk Suffolk Wildlife Trust sunset the Beck trees viburnum bodnantense walking weather wild cherry wild flowers winter-flowering honeysuckle witch-hazel

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Goodreads

Blog at WordPress.com.

Writer Side UP!

Waking the Writer Side...and keeping it "Up!"

Meggie's Adventures

Travel, thank you notes and other stories

amusicalifeonplanetearth

Music and the Thoughts It Can Inspire

Love Foundation

Bringing Love Into Your Life

Traveling Tortuga

Simply Living Well

Pakenham Water Mill

Historic watermill in the beautiful Suffolk countryside

Take It Easy

Retired, not expired: words from the after(work)life. And music. Lots of music!

cindyknoke.wordpress.com/

Cindy Knoke

Diary Of A Church of England Vicar's Wife

Public Rights of Way Explorer

PROW Explorer

thanksfortheadventureorg.wordpress.com/

The Beat Goes On

#TBGO

PLESZAK

Frank Pleszak's Blogs

John Bainbridge Writer

Indie Writer and Publisher

roughwighting

Life in a flash - a weekly writing blog

Walking the Old Ways

Rambling in the British Countryside

Shiny New Books

What to Read Next and Why

A Voice from Iran

Storytelling, short stories, fable, folk tales,...

CapKane

thoughts on social realities

SkyeEnt

Jottings from Skye

jodie richelle

embracing my inner homemaker

Skizzenbuch/Blog

Just another WordPress.com weblog

Author Kevin Cooper

Life, Love, Tears & Laughter: Then, Now & Hereafter.

Have Bag, Will Travel

The Call of the Pen

Flash Fiction, Book Reviews, Devotionals and other things.

Book Jotter

Reviews, news, features and all things books for passionate readers

John's Postcards

STADTAUGE

Ailish Sinclair

Stories and photos from Scotland

Art in Nature

The ‘Beauty of the Moment’

The Strawberry Post

Here to Entertain, Educate & Inspire!

You dream, I photographe it !

Smile! You’re in Barnier World......

theinfill

the things that come to hand

Dr. Mary Ann Niemczura

Author of "A Past Worth Telling"

Provincial Woman

Life in Mud Spattered Boots

Creative Country Life

The Pink Wheelbarrow

The Mindful Gardener

The sensory pleasures and earthy delights of gardening.

Luanne Castle's Writer Site

Memoir, poetry, & writing theory

The Family Kalamazoo

A genealogical site devoted to the history of the DeKorn and Zuidweg families of Kalamazoo and the Mulder family of Caledonia

everythingchild

The Book Owl

Canberra's Green Spaces

people, places and green spaces in Canberra

Schnippelboy

Ein Tagebuch unserer Alltagsküche-Leicht zum Nachkochen

Paul Harley Photographer

WALKS WITH PUMPKIN

bowlandclimber

Walks and climbs

M T McGuire Authorholic

Humorous fantasy fiction author... the books are quite funny too... seeking an agent, a publisher and my fortune.

Tails from a Norfolk cottage

Moments from a Norfolk Country Cottage. The furred & feathered & the worn and weathered. A Druid Herbalist with a Passion for Cats, Vintage, Dogs, Interiors, Nature, Hens, Organic Veggie Food, Plants & Trees & a Kinship with The Earth.

Woodland Wild flowers

Of the Wye valley and beyond.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
    %d bloggers like this: