Beestonian Issue no. 32 The Ready for its close-up ovies. They look dead easy to make, don’t they? That’s what we thought: after a few months of watching local filmmakers come to the Beestonian Film Club at Café Roya showing their art, we thought it might be a good idea to have a go ourselves. Surely it’s little more than writing a fairly decent script, finding some people to talk to the camera and then pointing a camera at them? Simple! We grabbed some pens and paper, put some coffee on and got to work. Nearly two years down the line, we now realise how wrong we were. Making films is incredibly difficult, and it’s the skill of the producers, editors etc that make it look easy. We started filming just over a year ago, and swiftly realised how tricky it is: the weather and light conspires against you; things that look good on paper sound daft when spoken; over-zealous Sainsburys security guards call the police on you. Now, a year after we wrote in these, and the Nottingham Post pages that ‘we’ve nearly got it ready to release , we have finished it off and even let it loose on the public. Beestonia: The Movie. A 23 minute rush through Beeston’s past, present and future; a psychogeographic (cheers, Will Self! ) blast through our town with no particular intent other than capture a feel of what the place is like, rather than a dry documentary that neglects to include the real thing that makes Beeston a great place to live: it’s unique oddness. The editing process has been a Herculean task, but our director took up the task with gusto and produced something from hours of footage that is a visual treat, and sounds terrific. He is a professional who doesn’t think it abnormal to spend three hours trying to work out what the sound of a time-travelling bus would be. Melvyn, we salute you. Our presenter, Jamie, bought so much gravitas and talent to his role narrating the script that everyone we’ve shown it to so far assumes he is a proper RADA actor, rather than a bloke I met at college who had a big beard decades before they were hip. We’re now showing the film here and there, and the response is good. We’ve also had some interest from local media, and maybe discussing talks about getting it broadcast. Otherwise, we’re going to continue to show it here and there, and perhaps put it out on DVD at some point. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more details of showings. Now, the sequel. ‘Inham Nook: The Chilwellian Strikes Back’, anyone? LB and CF M Bee Movie
The Beeston Cinema / Prehistoric Beeston / The Beeston Seat; An Appreciation / Bow Selecta / Bears of Beeston / Uni Volunteers /Too Hot to Handel / tons more
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Transcript
Beestonian
Issue no.
32
The
Ready for its close-up
ovies. They look dead easy to make,
don’t they? That’s what we thought:
after a few months of watching
local filmmakers come to the Beestonian Film
Club at Café Roya showing their art, we
thought it might be a good idea to have a go
ourselves. Surely it’s little more than writing a
fairly decent script, finding some people to talk
to the camera and then pointing a camera at
them? Simple! We grabbed some pens and
paper, put some coffee on and got to work.
Nearly two years down the line, we now realise
how wrong we were. Making films is incredibly
difficult, and it’s the skill of the producers, editors
etc that make it look easy. We started filming
just over a year ago, and swiftly realised how
tricky it is: the weather and light conspires
against you; things that look good on paper
sound daft when spoken; over-zealous
Sainsburys security guards call the police on you.
Now, a year after we wrote in these, and the
Nottingham Post pages that ‘we’ve nearly got
it ready to release , we have finished it off and
even let it loose on the public. Beestonia: The
Movie. A 23 minute rush through Beeston’s
past, present and future; a psychogeographic
(cheers, Will Self! ) blast through our town with
no particular intent other than capture a feel of
what the place is like, rather than a dry
documentary that neglects to include the real
thing that makes Beeston a great place to live:
it’s unique oddness.
The editing process has been a Herculean task,
but our director took up the task with gusto
and produced something from hours of
footage that is a visual treat, and sounds
terrific. He is a professional who doesn’t think
it abnormal to spend three hours trying to
work out what the sound of a time-travelling
bus would be. Melvyn, we salute you.
Our presenter, Jamie, bought so much gravitas
and talent to his role narrating the script that
everyone we’ve shown it to so far assumes he
is a proper RADA actor, rather than a bloke I
met at college who had a big beard decades
before they were hip.
We’re now showing the film here and there,
and the response is good. We’ve also had
some interest from local media, and maybe
discussing talks about getting it broadcast.
Otherwise, we’re going to continue to show it
here and there, and perhaps put it out on DVD
at some point. Keep an eye on our Facebook
page for more details of showings.
Now, the sequel. ‘Inham Nook: The
Chilwellian Strikes Back’, anyone?
LB and CF
M
Bee Movie
he Student Volunteer Centre at the University of
Nottingham is committed to helping students get to
know and support the areas they come to call their own
whilst enjoying their University experience and we continue to
make efforts to integrate students into Beeston and the surrounding
areas.
You may not be aware but students from the University of Nottingham
have been helping out in Beeston for a while now. Students regularly help
out at various locations in Beeston in a variety of activities, for example at
the Pearson’s Centre students help out running an Athletics Club and a
Dodgeball Club attended by local children at least once a week. During
Student Volunteer Week the volume of volunteers increased for a week
which was appreciate by the young people.
Students also help out in several local schools including Beeston Rylands,
Trent Vale Infants School and Beeston Fields Primary School. Many of the
students who volunteer within the schools are using this to gain experience
to go on and complete their PGCE qualifications and become the future
of children’s education. Kate Harborne a 3rd year Physics and Astronomy
Student and school volunteer said ‘I have been working with
Beeston Fields on a Wednesday afternoon; it has been
wonderful. I've been spending time with the little ones playing
games and being read to. It's really lovely!’
As well as helping the students’ progress in their careers, helping out at
Primary schools enables younger children to interact with University
students and find positive role models in their community that will
encourage them to see the benefits of higher education, as well as having
a lot of fun with a new engaging person in the classroom!
The University of Nottingham Students’ Union aims to enhance the
experience of over 33,000 members, working in partnership with the
University and the local community to make Nottingham graduates the
best they can be. We support students to boost their skills by offering
them the opportunity to run a huge amount of amazing events, sports
clubs, societies and activities - making sure they have the most incredible
time here in Nottingham.
Jenny Gammon; Student Living Manager, University of Nottingham
Student’s
Helping
Beeston
The University of
Beestonia
On 29th November 2014 at 7pm,
Christ Church Chilwell will be the
venue for a rare treat: a
performance of the much-
loved Messiah by one of the
best chamber choirs in the East
Midlands.
The Sinfonia Chorale, conducted
by Richard Roddis, are an
accomplished choir with a varied and
often challenging repertoire, and earlier this
year they went on a successful tour to the
Hamburg area in Germany. For their autumn
concert, they are relishing a chance to sing the
Messiah, which seems to acquire particular
qualities of vitality and meaning when
performed by a chamber choir.
Handel in fact originally composed the oratorio
in 1741 for a relatively small ensemble. He had
lived in London since 1712, and set his music to
an English text.
One of the joys of the Messiah lies
in the highly skilful and melodic
way the music enhances the
meaning of the words, and
the work is often performed
close to Christmas.
A local audience would be
particularly welcome at the
concert as the choir plans to stage
future events in the Beeston/Chilwell area.
Tickets
(£10, or £6 for full-time students under 21).
Available from:
www.sinfoniachorale.uk
Turner Violins
1-5 Lily Grove
Beeston
Nottingham Tourist Centre
1-4 Smithy Row
Sandra Wakefield
0115 9606236
Handel’s Messiah in Chilwell
T
A local
audience would
be particularly
welcome at the
concert...
n the last issue we made Professor Dan Eley the Bestonian
in celebration of his one hundredth birthday. It’s a heck of
an achievement, not only to reach one hundred years old,
but also to mark yourself in that time as one of Nottingham
University’s, and Beeston’s, most eminent and respected professors. So
that’s why we weren’t surprised when the university, presumably deciding
that Eley being named Bestonian in our esteemed mag just isn’t enough,
decided to have a birthday celebration for the great man.
Lord Beestonia and I were in attendance, as were a great many people;
Eley’s former PhD students and undergrads, current students, and RSC
(Royal Society of Chemistry) representatives, to name just some. There
were so many people in fact that they filled two auditoriums, and the
second room had to watch everything live streamed from the
first room!
As we sat down, I found myself next to Jan Jones, one of
Professor Eley’s very first students when the building opened
in 1960. A resident of Bramcote, she told me she thought
some in the room had travelled from as far London to attend.
We’d soon find out that it was a huge understatement.
Jones had this to say about Eley: “One of my last memories of studying
here was Dan. He tried to explain to me, very patiently, a one dimensional
square. I think he failed to explain it, and I failed to understand! We both
failed miserably, and fifty years on I still don’t understand!”
It was then that I caught sight of Professor Eley. He was sat in the front row,
next to his son Rod and Rod’s wife. The three of them looked delighted
yet overwhelmed with the turnout, and throughout the proceedings I
caught snatches of Eley’s surprised pleasure as guest after guest spoke
about him and his achievements.
Amongst the speakers was Professor Katharine Reid, current Head of
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, who said of his legacy, “I’m sure
nothing I do will ever quite live up to him.”
Indeed when you look at Professor Eley’s life, you see he has
packed in enough for two. The man was awarded his first degree
in 1934 before he was even twenty, and by 1940 he had achieved
two PhDs. Eley continued to work, being published countless times
up until his very last publication in 1994, 14 years after his retirement.
After Professor Reid, Professor Peter Norton stood up. Norton announced
he had travelled all the way from Ontario, Canada to be here today, and
then proceeded to read out numerous well wishes from esteemed
scientists who were not able to make the event. Notable among them
were Sir David King (the UK’s Special Representative for Climate Change)
and Gerhard Ertl who won the Nobel Peace Prize for Chemistry in 2007.
King, in his message, described Eley as “the quintessential scientific figure;
knowledgeable but forgetful, brilliant but absent minded.”
Eley’s legacy doesn’t just live on through the people he touched, but also
through his work. Eley was frequently referred to as a polymath. He
worked in not just chemistry, but also biology and physics as well. He was
the proponent of the Eley-Rideal Mechanism of gas-surface reactions.
Alongside one Professor Spivey in 1962, he successfully proved that DNA
conducts electricity. The practical application of Eley’s work spans vast
fields, reaching from the chemistry of plastic explosives, to the
manufacture of smartphones. It was this as much as anything, that we were
celebrating here today, not just the man, but also the science.
We had a chance to speak to his son Rod before the event. “Dad told
me that his earliest memory was sitting in his high chair, aged
three or four, and being suddenly knocked down off it by the
force from the explosion at the National Shell Filling Factory
(The Chilwell Explosion)!” The explosion happened in 1918
and 134 people were killed. The explosion was reported felt
as far away as 250 miles. It is a strange bit of serendipity for a
man whose expertise is chemistry, and whose work at one time
even directly involved plastic explosives, to have his earliest
memory as a great, but tragic, explosion. Here is a man who started off
as a bystander to history, but now has gone on to forge it himself.
There was an overwhelming outpouring of love for this man, which reached its
peak when Martyn Poliakoff presented Professor Eley with a certificate
commemorating his fiftieth year as a member of the Royal Society, then unveiled
a plaque for him, and then wheeled out an amazing 100 candle cake. Being
scientists, this was lit with a concocted flammable brew then put out with dry ice.
Finally, Professor Dan Eley himself was asked if he would like to say
anything. The eminent, much loved professor, stood up.“I’d like to say
something,” he said, “but I can’t remember where I put my notes.”
Very happy birthday again, Professor Eley, not once but always a
Bestonian, and a truly inspiring man.
“I’m sure
nothing I do will
ever quite live up
to him.”
BESTonian:Dan Eley’s 100th Birthday
I
There were so
many people in fact
that they filled two
auditoriums...
ommercial sand and gravel extraction
and quarrying by the River Trent at
Attenborough began as early as 1929
and has continued almost to the present day.
The resulting ʻpits', flooded with water, have
produced the wonderful ʻNature Reserve' that
we all now enjoy. Quarrying around the village
of Hoveringham started 10 years later and still
continues, with reserves yet to be exploited.
As well as leaving a legacy of scenic lakes and
environment for wild-life, both sites have
produced some interesting and revealing
archaeology. Perhaps one of the more
remarkable finds came as the result of gravel
extraction of a different kind. In 1938,
workmen from the Trent Navigation
Company were dredging gravel in
the Trent below Clifton Grove and
near to the river banks of Beeston.
Their progress was stopped by
wooden stakes or piles driven into
the river bed. At the same time,
human remains – in the form of a
skull – and bronze spearheads were
brought to the surface.
The foreman of the works, Mr Griffin, had the
foresight to contact the Thoroton Society, a
Nottingham archaeological group, whose chairman
Mr Hind was dispatched to investigate. From the
remains and artefacts, Hind identified the site as
being a 3,000 year-old Bronze Age Pile Settlement.
Gravel extraction and work on the river bank
continued into 1938 and, over this period, more
piles – several hundred – emerged, along with yet
more artefacts. Although the main site was on the
Clifton side of the river, a large number of piles
were discovered on the Beeston bank.
The piles were grouped close together and would
have supported a platform upon which huts
would have been built — a village on stilts. Such
prehistoric sites are known in Europe but this site
is almost unique in Britain.
The settlement proved to extend over 100 yards
downstream and two-thirds of the way across the
river.
This does not mean, however, that the entire
village was over water. With the changing course
of the Trent it is likely that much of village was
over marshy land along the banks. It is evident
that the villagers knew the river well and made
good use of it.
Among the many finds were spearheads, bronze
swords, rapiers, daggers, knifes, a crucible
containing metal, five more skulls and two dugout
canoes each made from a single oak over 27ft
long and between 18 to 20 inches wide.
At first thought it might seem strange that anyone
would want to build their home on a platform
above a river. However, when we look back to
prehistoric times, it makes more sense. The people
living in the village — or perhaps we should call it
a farm or homestead — were agriculturalist.
Building over such a marginal environment makes
good use of valuable land resources and
certainly, with the Trent prone to
flooding, was better than building
directly on the river bank. Evidence
of prehistoric field systems exist on
nearby Brands Hill in the form of a
series of terraces running the entire
length of its northern slope.
Archaeology has moved on a pace
since the settlement's discovery in
1938. Ariel photography of the area is
starting to place it in a wider prehistoric
landscape. One photograph shows where the
villagers might have buried their dead.
In the large field on the right hand side of the
road, just over Clifton Bridge, the shadowy outline
of the old course of the River Trent can be clearly
seen. Along its southern bank are a series of
ʻBronze Age Ring Ditches' — the ploughed-out
remains of tumuli (burial mounds).
More recent photos of the fields along the Trent
by Barton show what is believed to be a ritual site
known as a hendge monument – a circular bank
and ditch. In the same fields are the remains of an
earlier Neolithic (New Stone Age) causeway
enclosure, a communal gathering place.
In the late 1960s when the gravel quarry at Coniry
Farm in Attenborough (at the back of the Village
Hotel) began, a number of large coffin-shaped
stones set upright in the ground were exposed.
These were interpreted by archaeologist Bob
Alvey as the remains of a stone circle.
What do the artefacts discovered at the Pile
Settlement tell us about the people who lived
there? The canoes are self-evident of a mobile
riverside community.
The crucible with its remains show that they were
working metal, if only to repair valuable bronze
tools and weapons. Hind and his contemporaries
believed that the large number of weapons found
at the site were the result of both accidental loss
and warfare.
He substantiated this with the fact that all of the
skulls had sustained the same damage, a hole in
the back of the head. It is not unusual for large
numbers of bronze weapons to be found in
ʻwatery' places — lakes, rivers, wells, springs etc.
Modern opinion is that these are ritual deposits,
valuable objects given to the gods or ancestors.
The skulls are however a different matter. It is a
remote chance that six or more individuals would
all receive identical wounds in battle, or
accidently. Could it be that these people were the
victims of ritual sacrifice – an appeal to the river
gods for safe passage?
The hole in the back of the head would then
seem consistent with a Bronze/Iron Age sacrifice
method known as the ʻtriple death'. In thispractice, the victims were first garroted and then
bludgeoned to the back of the head. Finally, their
throat was cut. Is it possible that the four lives a
year that the Trent was meant to claim is a distant
memory of such a practice?
Joe Earp
www.nottinghamhiddenhistory.wordpress.com
Our residenthistorian Joe Earpgets stone-age man
(and we don’tmean theBeeman!)
The
Pile Settlement
Pile Settlement Archaeological Finds
C
Pile Settlement Map
olette Renaud left her home,
the small town of Luc in the
South East of France, in
February of 1837 aged only seventeen,
and arrived in Beeston that April. Why
she stopped here, God only knows. I
like to think she was seduced by
Beeston’s beauty; its golden fields and
luscious rolling hills, its good people. I
like to think that. It doesn’t make it true.
Let me describe Colette. Contemporary
sources called her a buxom beauty, and
I concur. Her figure was hourglass and
every man kept his eye on the time. Her
smile was the kind that could turn even
the curmudgeonliest old bastard to
smile, with full lips that she painted the
colour of the aurorae she’d once seen
above the Alps. Needless to say, Colette
turned heads.
However, what was the first thing this
fiery beauty heard upon arriving in
Beeston? The whole town was ablaze
with talk. Only a few days before the
Great Bendigo had gone seventy five
rounds against his rival Ben Caunt. The
game had been fierce and filled with
underhand tactics. It was still up for
debate who had actually won.
Colette Renaud had picked up enough
English to get by, but she was stumped.
She’d never heard of this sport. “Baerre
neuckel boxine?” Really, she asked?
People actually did that?
Colette was instantly intrigued with the
concept and that weekend she made
the short pilgrimage to Sneinton, the
local hub of the sport. She took her
place in the front row. She waited.
Well, Colette was disappointed. It was
not what she had expected. She’d
misheard, Colette realised, but her
expectations had been built. She
needed to see what she had come to
see.
Thus began Colette’s mission. She
spoke to people, chased up leads, and
only a month later, under a bare-bulb
with a baying crowd, Colette Renaud
unleashed the very first ever Bear
Knuckle Boxing. It took place in what is
now the remains of the Barton bus
station. Colette had imported three
bears, a mother called Esther and her
two boys named Steven and Frazzles.
The fight, between young up and comer
Mathew Lewd and Esther the bear,
lasted only one round, but man was it
good. Lewd really fought valiantly, got
in several good punches before Esther
crushed his face between her big hirsute
paws. Colette bounded in in the thirty
eighth second and wrestled the mighty
brown bear to the ground as punters
dragged Lewd’s body out of the ring.
The next fight, between William
Radburn and Frazzles, didn’t last much
longer. Willie took it to two rounds by
running out of the building and circling
it. Of course he wasn’t fast enough to
outrun Frazzles, but boy did he try.
The next week Colette branched out to
getting people to fight smaller animals.
Foxy Boxing was born. Colette herself
even got involved, taking on an entire
vulpine family in a series of fifty six
rounds.
However the fun didn’t last long. Only
five such events were held before the
constabulary was brought in. Colette
was arrested for animal (and human)
cruelty and was escorted to the nearest
harbour and sent back to her home.
The bears were adopted by Councilman
Peter Fatstard who had secretly been to
see every bear fight, though not for the
sport. Fatstard loved Colette. His diaries
tell us of an unrequited love so intense,
so passionate that frankly it bordered on
pervey. But Peter Fatstard took in
Colette’s bears and looked after them
until his death in 1860. He was found
half eaten. The police were baffled.
That, then, is one theory why there are
three bears on the Broxtowe crest but,
dear reader, there are others.
Chris Fox
C
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