Church tribute to Benjamin Banks

An impromptu string orchestra plays Banks instruments under the newly restored Doom Painting in St Thomas’s Church, Salisbury.

ST THOMAS’S, Salisbury’s city centre church, hosted a unique occasion when 17 stringed-instrument players gathered one Saturday morning earlier this month.

They were there by invitation of fellow musician Julie Mettyear because they all play instruments made by Benjamin Banks (1727-1795). Banks’s workshop was in Catherine Street in the city centre and he built up a national reputation for the quality of his instruments.

He also used to be a church warden at St Thomas’s, and he and his wife, Ann, are buried in the little south graveyard there. Their nine children were baptised in the church

The event was flagged as A Celebration of Salisbury’s Violin Maker, ‘The English Amati’ and it happened to be one of the first entertainments held in the church following the restoration of the famous Doom Painting which visitors flock from far and wide to see. Scaffolding to enable the painstaking work to be undertaken was only removed four days earlier.

The ensemble, who played violins, violas and cellos by Banks, chose to play music that had been listed in his advertisements of the time. An appreciative audience gave donations as they left for the church’s ongoing Quest 2020 repair and restoration appeal.

Benjamin Banks, famed stringed-instrument maker, and Ann, his wife, are buried in the churchyard at St Thomas’s.

Give me sunshine . .

THE Happy Moonraker enjoys hot weather. Friends might complain about difficulty in sleeping, about lacking energy and how they long for lower temperatures so it must be miserable if you don’t enjoy blue skies and 30 degrees or more every day.

Salisbury’s parks have provided attractive oases for families. This time last year the Queen Elizabeth Gardens were cordoned off and closed to the public for months because of the Novichok poison that had been found there. It meant that children had no easy access to a water course during one of the hottest summers on record. This summer is different, however, and families have been able to enjoy playing, paddling and picnicking there.

Tilly the terrier seems to prefer cooler weather but a walk in the woods always suits her and she is expert at finding cool places at home.

Families enjoying one of Salisbury’s prettiest public parks, the Queen Elizabeth Gardens, on a hot day.

Tilly the terrier finds a cool spot under a chair on one of the hottest days.

Happy on horseback

Two riders out for a gentle hack one sunny afternoon, on a buttercup- and cow parsley-lined country path near Salisbury.

THE Happy Moonraker’s riding days are over but it is always a delight to see horses and riders out and about.

Vehicle drivers are, for the most part, respectful and slow down until the horses reach the sanctuary of a rural path that can only be reached by walking 150 yards along a busy road.

To my great relief Tilly the terrier has never had a problem with horses, sheep or cattle. Squirrels and postmen are, of course, another story.

Violets for Easter

THE bluebells are not fully out quite yet, in spite of the wonderfully warm weather. Instead, though, the violets are out in force in the woods.

Tilly joins The Happy Moonraker in wishing everyone a happy Easter. She couldn’t hear any squirrels so was quite content to sit when asked while her photo was taken.

Weather beaten!

Tilly after a good clean-up following a very muddy walk.

THAT old aphorism “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing” is all very well but some wet and windy days are just not designed for dog owners.

Tilly the terrier has a wonderfully thick natural coat and I doubt that any amount of rain could penetrate it. The Happy Moonraker, however, is not so fortunate. In spite of wearing good wellies and a fairly long mac over a fleece, plus a waterproof hood, the result after an hour of walking in the wet woods and fields was that my jeans were soaked between knees and the hem of the mac.

When you can see great clouds of rain being blown across in front of you there is no chance of staying dry. I should obviously have been wearing waterproof trousers.

There are Herdwick sheep grazing at Old Sarum these days. They are bred to withstand all the wild weather that the Lake District can throw at them, so they must be quite pleased to be in South Wiltshire’s relatively mild and dry climate, even if today was an exception to the rule.

Herdwick sheep at Old Sarum under a glowering sky.

 

Spring in all its glory

A brave early bumble bee settles on the handle of a basket of pansies at the back door.

IT may just be my imagination, but spring seems be better every year. The intensity of colour after another long, grey winter and the piercing clarity of birdsong can be almost overwhelming.

There are new bright green bluebell leaves in the woods, as well as daffodils, hellebores, japonica, forsythia and grape hyacinths in gardens.

A magnificent magnolia in the centre of Salisbury.

Salisbury’s magnolias are magnificent too. There is an especially stunning pink one in Harcourt Terrace, and the flowers on the white ones nearby in Mill Road are a wonderful sight. Could this be their best year ever?

Male pheasants strutting across the grass in their handsome plumage, the sound of woodpeckers doing their thing, and tiny blue tits inspecting the nest boxes add up to spring in all its glory. Even the sky larks have joined in.

Tilly and her shadow on a footpath lined with a sprinkling of celandines.

Questions for Fiona

THE Happy Moonraker will be watching BBC Question Time this evening when Fiona Bruce takes charge for the first time. Politics aside, it will be interesting to see how she copes in her new role.

There are sure to be tricky situations, although it should be borne in mind that the programme is normally transmitted, carefully edited, approximately 40 minutes after the recording has finished.

David Dimbleby, in typical pose, during a recording of the BBC’s popular Question Time in Salisbury. Vince Cable, William Hague and Martin Bell were among those on the panel that evening in May 2009.

Question Time chairman, David Dimbleby, was happy to sign autographs before recording began in the City Hall, Salisbury in March 2006.

A quiet farewell to the old year

Tilly the terrier has some thinking time in Salisbury Cathedral on Christmas Day.

AS we left Salisbury Cathedral on Christmas Day, the light was fading fast. Tilly the terrier and I were determined to get some fresh air and get away from people so we went for a late walk round Old Sarum.

We saw no-one after days of seeing rather too many people, and we enjoyed the sunset, with the trees looking like black lace on the skyline above the castle. Long strips of mist lay in the fields on the valley floor on the west side.

Trees silhouetted on the skyline at Old Sarum during an end-of-day walk.

The farmer who keeps sheep and cattle in the fields below the castle was also out late: he could be seen with powerful lights shining from the top of his cab as he arrived with a huge hay bale for his bullocks. They started mooing excitedly as he drove into their field.

The tractor arrives with hay for cattle grazing at the foot of Old Sarum.

Tilly and the Happy Moonraker hope that you haven’t suffered from a surfeit of people and food, and that you will have a happy, healthy 2019. We are not the only ones who will be glad to see the back of 2018.

Moving tributes to a lost generation

Moving in both senses of the word: a Royal British Legion lighting installation that projected huge poppies on the west front of Salisbury Cathedral for three evenings. You had to be there to watch as the poppies appeared to tumble gently down before reappearing at the top.

IT is more than two weeks since it all happened, but the memory is no less moving for that.

Yes, the British do it so well but the organisers still had to do a huge amount of planning to ensure that enough people were taking part, were making poppies, coming up with good ideas, attending events, and joining in the many initiatives across the country to mark the end of the Great War 100 years ago.

Like tens of thousands of other families, the Happy Moonraker lost a family member in the conflict, at Ypres. Almost 70 years later, his older sister couldn’t even look at a photograph of him without weeping.

Salisbury Guildhall adorned with hand-made poppies and cut-out models to mark the centenary.

A close-up of the carefully made poppies on one of the pillars of the Guildhall.

 

Jewellery collection goes under the hammer

Chairman of Woolley & Wallis auctioneers, Paul Viney (left) is pictured with his old friend jewellery expert John Benjamin after the latter’s lecture on the Dr Anne Shannon collection of jewellery. Both men worked together more than 40 years ago at Phillips auction house in London.

THE Happy Moonraker enjoyed viewing all the items that are being auctioned today in the Dr Anne Shannon jewellery sale.

Dr Shannon collected antique jewellery over a period of about 50 years and has now decided to sell the majority of her collection. Almost 300 items go under the hammer in Salisbury at Woolley & Wallis, one of the foremost fine art auction houses outside London.

A retired GP, Dr Shannon began collecting silver pieces by Georg Jensen, the Danish silversmith, from the early part of the 20^th century, but she went on to buy items by many other jewellery makers, including Castellani and Giuliano, as well as a stunning Georgian garnet-set gold necklace with matching brooch and earrings dating from about 1780.

Some of the pieces are in their original boxes which makes them even more desirable among collectors.

The sale catalogue is a work of art in itself and it will be fascinating to see how much each piece fetches and whether the majority of buyers are from abroad.

In his introduction to the sale catalogue, jewellery expert John Benjamin wrote: “The sheer scale and range of Dr Shannon’s collection can be seen as a road map of jewellery design over the past 200 years ….”

Jewellery by Giuliano in the Dr Anne Shannon sale at Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury. His workshop was in Piccadilly.