A mostly very mild month for the time of year heralding an early welcome for migrant birds from Africa during which the government was forced to make concessions on reducing chemical and sewage pollution of the North Sea.
I was recovering from my serious foot injury, spending almost equal periods of time up in Norfolk at Heronshaw, making repairs and improvements and back home in Paxton coping with the administration, paperwork and political activity.
The Paxton Princess was being well equipped and prepared for a good cruising season ahead, and Di had her first trip. Daniel’s old boat is with a broker for sales and the land, garage, shed and utility room at Heronshaw was cleared and restored for early use as a temporary accommodation by my sister and her family.
Steve Bloom had been a companion and local Jack Edwards also a help. I had my meeting with RYA instructor Tom Phillips about a trip for my RYA Day Skipper Certificate.
My own family had a chequered month: Della and Debbie were doing very well at school and at their riding lessons, though Daniel needed to work much harder at his revision. Earlier in the month, after passing his test, he had a depressing incident where he severely damaged his car and Diana had become very upset and depressed at all this before I intervened.
Fiona , after behaving in an accommodating manner, leading Della on foot for her first hack and planning transport and arrangements for Debbie to go to events on Sundance this Spring, she had fallen out with Debbie at the riding school later when she had let Debbie down once too often. Until Freda could get down to help with my Mum, I took every chance to drop into to see her in Stanton.
Apart from my political work, I was keeping up with my journal, looking after my conservatory fish and plants and preparing for the boating season. My political work was already showed good signs of me getting several more colleagues on the Huntingdonshire District Council soon, with comprehensive leafleting, press stories and interviews and, now, we had started canvassing. I was an active participant in Council meetings and I was also helping the Parish Council and Local History Society.
Nationally, there was a stunning defeat of the Tories in a by-election. Thatcher was in serious political difficulty as new opinion polls over the Poll Tax and the figures on inflation show the government in disarray; the Pound Sterling shares and Gilts fell sharply and there was a full-blown Poll Tax riot in Trafalgar Square as a well-attended peaceful demonstration then deteriorated into a violent protest. Thatcher now faces a rebellion in Parliament. The case of the "Birmingham Six" is to be re-opened with a new police investigation following more publicity proving their innocence.
The Chinese will not recognise the latest British plan to give up to 50,000 Hong Kong families British Passports when they take over the colony in 1997. Nelson Mandela has been elected deputy president of the ANC but political progress there is blighted as South African police open fire on several thousand black anti-apartheid demonstrators with 8 being killed and many more injured.
Despite the Baltic Republics pledge of solidarity to Lithuania in their fight for unconditional independence and the US threatening the Soviet Union over intervention, Soviet troops forcefully occupied party and government buildings. An aid convoy of 11 lorries carrying 120 tonnes of food has at last got through the civil war battle zone to feed starving Ethiopians.
Prolonged turmoil in the Japanese financial markets drove some investors to panic. A New York nightclub fire has killed 87 people and arson is expected.
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Though still windy on occasions, and starting cold and frosty, this was a very mild month for the time of year with a few colder, wetter and windier days but there were also several very warm spells more characteristic of summer than early spring. There was an early welcome for migrant birds who arrived a month early from Africa due to the warm southerly airstreams. Horning had started in flood at quite a high level, with melting snow everywhere and some battled the wind and the high tides as the tide was crashing over the sea wall in Towyn again. Environmentally, the government was forced to make concessions on reducing chemical and sewage pollution of the North Sea ahead of this month's conference at The Hague.
I was recovering from my serious foot injury, gradually lessening the dressings as it healed, spending almost equal periods of time up in Norfolk at Heronshaw, making repairs and improvements and back home in Paxton coping with the administration, paperwork and political activity. All of my efforts in Norfolk achieved the result of the Paxton Princess being well equipped and prepared for a good cruising season ahead; and the land, garage, shed and utility room at Heronshaw cleared and restored for early use. The gales had pulled out the mooring rings of the Paxton Princess and had dislodged some tufts of Heronshaw's thatch. Voluntary caretaker, Jack Edwards, brought his electric chain-saw to help remove the willow trees.
I shared some time with Steve Bloom of Gransden picking up him and his 21ft Fairline from Great Gransden and towing it to Wroxham where we launched it so that he could cruise to Horning and met me at Heronshaw. Steve joined me with his sleeping bag on the Paxton Princess and we took his boat across to the Swan at Horning and had a nice meal in their restaurant and came back to the moorings for a pleasant brandy and chat until we retired After breakfast of toast and marmalade, Steve and I attacked the engine maintenance in earnest, replacing the final fuel filters, and insulating the hot-water tanks and feed pipes before he set off for Wroxham to return his boat to his moorings.
After I had done more work on The Paxton Princess, I returned to Wroxham to collect Steve and brought the boat trailer for the "Jolly-Boat" that had come with Heronshaw, loading it on to his boat's trailer and towing them both back home afterwards. The Bloom family arrived early this morning to collect Steve’s trailer and also to look at The Lady with a view to buying it when I sell it at Easter. I met the Parker family from The Haven and Jack took me to see his house and meet his wife Dolly as I got to know my neighbours.
After some time at home, organising my boats and trailers with Daniel, I was ready to sell one boat and trailer and so loaded up the Range Rover and towed Daniel’s old boat and arrived at Percival’s of Horning and dropped the boat and trailer for sale under brokerage. Once back at Heronshaw I had a right battle with two pike anglers in a boat before I eventually forced them to leave. The Bloom family arrived in their new boat to look around Heronshaw and the Paxton Princess and had lunch and helped me erect the flagpole and "Jenny Morgan" wind vane atop and stayed a while to help as I worked on the boat and then, with the help of Jack and his electric chain saw, started cutting back saplings and trees overhanging my boat dock and roadway and then modified the entrance gate by adding a splay for ease of entry.
I discovered the filters on my 2HP motor were blocked and needed professional attention. I then started work stripping out the old thatched garage, buying materials from Jewsons and starting the process of jacking it up and became troubled with the extent of work needed as a slept on Paxton Princess at the end of the day A then had a disaster as my small thatched shed fell over in the wind just as I had jacked it up to the right height, and I was lucky it did not fall on me; but I then unbolted the sides and used the Range Rover to tug the roof back upright.
I had been chasing the builders with my transportable/mobile phone, which was proving to be very useful and Frank Thorpe of Coopers, the builders of Brundall, came and wanted to have a look round and will return with the owner soon to be able to quote for the work I need doing but builder Arthur Edmunds came later but advised that restoring Heronshaw was uneconomic. Jack and Dolly came by to see my boat and the changes that we had made to the grounds and Jack returned later and helped me to start jacking up the shed roof again, with us using concrete blocks this time, as a lorry load of blocks arrived after it had struggled with the overgrown road. As the roof was raised, and a trip to The Black Horse pub for lunch, I continued to raise the shed with Jack on concrete blocks started renovating the walls after buying more timber from Jewsons.
I welcomed the Jackson family who visited me Heronshaw for a look, being curious after what they had heard. Packing afterwards for my journey home was frustrating, when I would have preferred to stay but during the late drive home to Norfolk, I succeeded in making six phone calls on the way! I was soon back with many more new things to fit on The Paxton Princess before and after starting work jacking up the old shed and replacing its lower walls, jacking it high and repairing it to the standard that my old Dad would have done after staying overnight on the Paxton Princess at Horning. I adjusted its hood supports and then checked on The Little Lady for sale at Percival’s and then tidied the garage, clear out the boathouse and fitted more mooring rings to secure the dinghies as the water rises with the flooding.
After another trip home, I returned with Diana and, after repairing the old utility area floor, I installed a washing machine and tumble dryer and we slept on the boat and made it warm enough for her to rise in the morning after which I cleaned the outside of Paxton Princess which made a great transformation and we had lunch at the Wroxham Bridge Restaurant and then took a trip on the boat for fuel and a pump out and on to St Benedict’s Church, Horning and back.
Once back, I had a meeting with RYA instructor Tom Phillips about a trip for my RYA Day Skipper Certificate and then a visit from Jack Edwards before I resumed working on the shed with Diana polishing the boat. I ended up with the shed very high indeed, pending efforts to raise the rest of the ground. We took a little spin in the Zodiac inflatable before putting boat and property to bed and driving home, collecting Della on the way. This was just as well since the Butterfield family would be staying at Heronshaw from the following Tuesday and would appreciate the space. They had a distressing month being delayed and messed about over the sale of their property, but we were all relieved that things turned out all right in the end.
Mum was also in good shape, having had her garage, garden, pond and bungalow attended-to and would be pleased to see more of Freda. My own family had a chequered month. Della and Debbie were doing very well at school, though Daniel needed to work much harder at his revision. Earlier in the month, after passing his test, he was spending too much time out and about before the depressing incident where he severely damaged his car. Diana became very upset and depressed at all this, until I intervened and put him to rights, after she was very much more relaxed and happier and enjoyed cleaning out and polishing the boat. We looked forward to a good month ahead of recreation in Norfolk alternated with political success at home, before Daniel's all-important "A"-level exams in the summer. Daniel admitted one day that his Physics essay was a formal ‘A’-level assessment and, it was reading so poorly, I sat up until 1.00am marking it and suggesting improvements and had to finish it for him.
I was still going with Di to take Debbie and Della for their riding lessons where Fiona was there and behaving in an accommodating manner for once. Fiona had become much more obliging at the stables, leading Della on foot for her first hack and were planning transport and arrangements for Debbie to go to events on Sundance this Spring. She still had her moments such as when I took Della to her horse-riding lesson at Offord where I had to tack up Muffin and supervise her in the school until Fiona eventually came late! Debbie had fallen out with Fiona at the riding school later when she had been let down once too often. Daniel had crashed his car again, forgotten Mother’s Day. After a very late to bed and settling Debbie down to sleep,
I took Di out to an early lunch and some shopping afterwards the next day as she had been rather depressed and was quite inconsolable at first and was still in tears later, finding it difficult to cope with the children at times with me being away a lot. I decided to take Daniel and his car into St Neots to DAB Autos who generously offered to repair it for £300 and could start straight away which helped. But there was another early morning panic when Daniel’s computer was corrupted until I converted his school GSE project file and open it on mine for him to work on, which he then did.
.Di took him to school with the edited work after he had missed his bus whilst I had a late breakfast in my dressing gown! Daniel enjoyed a succession of visitors on his 18th birthday Debbie seemed to have passed her entrance exam for the Main Kimbolton School. I spent time commissioning the Rolls Royce now that Daniel was using the Escort.
My Mum’s situation needed some thought. Freda did not manage to get down to stay with Mum one week after she had promised to relieve Mum's Home Help for a planned break, and so, after getting Di’s help to pack for Norfolk and dropping the girls off at Di’s parents, we stopped off at Stanton a little late to have breakfast with her and then widened her mobile home doors for her wheelchair and gave her Ford Escort a run out. Upon our return, we had the dash to Bar Hill to join my children to have lunch with Di’s parents.
We drove to St Neots with Diana for some shopping where I bought even more parts and materials from familiar suppliers and with Daniel to Ely by car to the Ely Boat Chandlers for some necessary boat parts, a new outboard motor and anchor. Nigel Smith visited for a chat and, as a nice surprise, presented me with a fine cut glass decanter inscribed with my full achievement of Arms and I helped him with some artwork for his sponsored Fun Run. Apart from my political work, I was keeping up with my journal, looking after my conservatory fish and plants and preparing for the boating season. I called into St Ives for Imray charts and had an early morning conference with family about which outboard motor we should buy for our new inflatable. In the conservatory, I planted up two full shelves of Aster seeds, sowed my flower and salad seeds and I tried to encourage ladybirds to eat the greenfly on my conservatory plants. – a low-key and safe approach to protect my fish. T
he was the inevitable demands of time on investment, correspondence and phone calls. I still had priority of my political work which already showed good signs of me getting several more colleagues on the Huntingdonshire District Council. My plans for election arrangements with the Greens and the Labour Party seem to have come off with our Liberal Democrat candidates being the only opposition to the unpopular Tories in our target wards. We were a bit slow to start active campaigning, but it was well under way by the end of the month.
There was always the rush to get my Focus newsletters out to the deliverers as I was delivering them to remoter parts of Southoe and Diddington. I was also compiling the first election leaflets for Sally and Percy for the forthcoming District Council Election campaign as Sally came around to help complete my Focus artwork. I was collected by Pat and Percy Meyer to go canvassing in Offord and then Great Paxton on occasion. I collected Helen Young and took her to Sally’ house to use the spare Apple Mac for village hall typing. This evening’s Little Paxton Parish Council Meeting which was quite a good-humoured affair. Fellow Liberal Democrat, Jack Taylor, of Warboys came around and we worked together on the election material for Carol Crompton who was standing in Bury.
I chaired a campaign meeting of the Liberal Democrats and prepared a long statement on the Budget statement, which was being televised for the first time. I had a rush one evening to get ready for my Southern Area Consultative Committee meeting which had been convened at my request after a journalist, Vanessa Munnings, a lady features writer with the Herald and Post, arrived to interview me. I also tried to liven up a rather dull Environmental Services Committee of HDC in Huntingdon one evening. Away from party politics, I helped Helen Young edit her Village Hall Committee work, gave my speech this evening to the St Neots Branch of the Young Farmers Club and I then had an unexpected visitor who carried me off to Colne, near Earith, to look at a site for possible planning!
The best news of the month for me was the stunning defeat of the Tories in the by-election result. Thatcher government's popularity has finally cracked, and she is in very deep trouble - probably too deep to pull out of the dive in support before the next election. In fact, we in the LibDem party want her to stay in power until then rather than give way to a new leader such as Hazeltine as she is fast becoming a real electoral liability! Long-term Tory cabinet minister, Peter Walker, resigns, which is another morale blow to the Tories. Both Michael Heseltine and Norman Tebbit are sending out coded signals about standing for the Conservative Party leadership if Thatcher stands down as she protested very loudly that there are no vacancies for the Tory leadership at the moment but is very much under pressure from all sides.
The government is in serious political difficulty as new opinion polls over the Poll Tax and the figures on inflation show the government in disarray. the Pound Sterling shares and Gilts fell sharply as city financiers began to realise that the Tories could not get the economy right before the next general election. Sterling is also falling as consumer spending soars and there was much speculation about Chancellor John Major ahead of the budget and then worry afterwards as the Treasury spending targets for 1991/2 outlined in it were immediately undermined by inflation and the new poll tax reliefs. There was rowdy and violent behaviour by. some crowds at council meetings up and down the country about the Poll Tax and a full-blown Poll Tax riot in Trafalgar Square as a well-attended peaceful demonstration then deteriorated into a violent protest with buildings and cars burnt, shops looted, and hundreds injured in a running battle between police and protesters. The Tories had to make a very embarrassing climb down on the Poll Tax, agreeing grants for the Scots and Thatcher now faces a rebellion in Parliament.
The DTI report into the Harrods takeover castigated the Al Fayed brothers with minister Nicholas Ridley coming in for criticism from both sides of the House for his lack of action on the matter. Lloyds of London have done well to avoid underwriting losses after London's largest U.S. liability underwriter has been banned by the DTI due to having overcommitted assets. At a Cambridge meeting of Thatcher with West German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, they agreed to differ on the need for a closer form of European integration but found compromise in a plan for air-based nuclear weapons. The case of the "Birmingham Six" is to be re-opened with a new police investigation following more publicity proving their innocence.
Nelson Mandela will address a concert crowd at Wembley next Easter Monday. The Chinese will not recognise the latest British plan to give up to 50,000 Hong Kong families British Passports when they take over the colony in 1997. Five Iraqi agents are arrested in a Heathrow sting trying to buy electronic triggers for nuclear bombs. The Forth Road Bridge completes 100 years of existence, England beat Brazil in a friendly 1-0 and only rain stopped us beating the West Indies in the second cricket test. Nelson Mandela has been elected deputy president of the ANC and the organisation is to move its headquarters back to Johannesburg, in South Africa, from its exile in Lusaka without delay but progress is blighted as South African police open fire on several thousand black anti-apartheid demonstrators and 8 were killed and many more injured.
Gorbachev and the Soviet government did everything they could to prevent Lithuania from seceding unilaterally without negotiation, Soviet troops were sent on manoeuvres on the Lithuanian border as the Baltic Republics pledge solidarity in their fight for unconditional independence and the US threatens the Soviet Union over Lithuanian intervention. Relations then deteriorated in Lithuania as the fate of an estimated 1000 Red Army deserters is disputed and finally Soviet troops forcefully occupied party and government buildings. An aid convoy of 11 lorries carrying 120 tonnes of food has at last got through the civil war battle zone to feed starving Ethiopians. Prolonged turmoil in the Japanese financial markets drove some investors to panic. A New York nightclub fire has killed 87 people and arson is expected.