Overseas Pavilion South of England Show

Overseas Visitors to the South of England Show in June are in for a treat. We have a specially designated Pavilion in a prime ringside position where they receive a warm welcome, advice if required on different areas of the Show, a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea and the facility to leave belongings in safe keeping while wandering around the Show. The Pavilion is manned on a voluntary basis by farmers, and their friends, who have have taken part in the exchanges and study visits in Europe and other parts of the world, which have been generously sponsored over many years by the South of England Agricultural Society in Ardingly, West Sussex.

Visitors can meet up with old friends, make new acquaintances and on occasions meet distinguished visitors to the Show, which in the past have included the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip; the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles and Ambassadors to the Court of St. James. In addition, they are entertained by displays of the highest standard in the Main Ring, competitions to judge the very best in British Agriculture, horses, show jumpers, ponies and perhaps most well-known of all: a fabulous display of cattle representing the best in country.

If visitors have a few moments to spare, they may enjoy looking at the many displays adorning the Pavilion walls. Amongst others, they can view photographs of people and agriculture enterprises taken during the annual visits to mainland Europe organised by the Eurolink Agricultural Club, some of the them catching people unawares in unguarded moments, which I leave to your imagination. Most of the stewards in the Pavilion have been active members of Eurolink and are happy to converse with you.

The Pavilion is generously sponsored and these supporters are also in the Pavilion. You will be pleasantly surprised when you see who they are.

Put the dates of next year's South of England Show in your diary: June the 7th, 8th and 9th 2012. We look forward to welcoming you.

A new chapter

To those who read this, I have just come from a meeting at the South of England Agricultural Society Showground with the committee of Eurolink. This online log or blog is to continue, it is to continue in shorter posts, but that will probably mean more postings that I hope will be more relevant to the agricultural worker, farmer or rural professional within us all.

So a couple of short postings, on the Saturday the 1st of October and Sunday the 2nd of October of 2011 from 9.00am to 5.00pm, the South of England Agricultural Society Showground presents The South of England Autumn Show and Game Fair. A chance to  have a go at Clay Pigeon Shooting including High Gun and a Ladies High Gun, Fly Casting, Terrier Racing and Sunday has its own Team Shoot Challenge. There will be activities in the arena including birds of prey, bloodhounds and local packs of hounds. More details can be found here. Are there any other agricultural or rural activities that you think should be mentioned here, they cannot be advertised here, but their presence can be brought to the attention of the reading audience.

The other short post is about agricultural regulations - NetRegs (www.netregs.gov.uk) is a government sponsored site that helps all industries to easily find the regulations that control their industry. The pages for agriculture can be found here and there are clickable links to the left of the screen that give all agricultural guidance,  EP (Environmental Permit) / PPC (Pollution Prevention and Control permit) guidance, Quick Start Checklist for Farmers (split easily into four countries) and an electronic learning tool that helps you to learn how to deal with farm waste. You can even sign up for a free monthly update from the Net Regs team, sign up here. So why am I mentioning this now, just to let you know that NetRegs is going to be absorbed into the Business Link website, information can be found here.

If you are reading this from another country, does your government have a similar service? Is it easy to find on the Internet?

The arrival of Autumn - L'arrivée de l'automne

With this blog making its way into September, some people will think of getting logs in for the fire, which reminds me of an anonymous poem that can be found here.

The Firewood Rhyme - Anon

Logs to Burn, Logs to burn, Logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn,
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodman's cries.

Never heed his usual tale,
That he has good logs for sale,
But read these lines and really learn,
The proper kind of logs to burn.

Oak logs will warm you well,
If they're old and dry.
Larch logs of pine will smell,
But the sparks will fly.

Beech logs for Christmas time,
Yew logs heat well.
"Scotch" logs it is a crime,
For anyone to sell.
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Chestnut scarce at all.
Hawthorn logs are good to last,
If you cut them in the fall.

Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green,
Elm logs like smouldering flax,
No flame to be seen.

Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room,
Cherry logs across the dogs,
Smell like flowers in bloom

But ash logs, all smooth and grey,
Burn them green or old;
Buy up all that come your way,
They're worth their weight in gold.

And not forgetting a version in French, using Google Translate (so do tell me if I have got some of it wrong).

Poème de bois - Anonyme

Bûches à brûler, bûches à brûler, bûches à brûler,
Journaux pour saver le charbon un tour,
Voici un mot à te rendre sage,
Quand vous entendez les cris du bûcheron.

Ne jamais écouter le conte d'habitude son,
Qu'il a produit pour la vente des journaux,
Mais lisez ces lignes et vraiment apprendre,
Bon type de bois à brûler.

Grumes de chêne vous réchauffera bien,
Si elles sont vielles et sèches,
Bûches de mélèze de pin sentira,
Mais les éntincelles voleront.

Grumes de hêtre pour la période de Noël,
Ifs journaux bien la chaleur,
Scotch journaux, c'est un crime,
Pour quiconque de vendre.
Grumes de bouleau brûle trop vite,
Rares châtaigniers à tout,
Journaux aubépine sont bons pour durer,
Si vous les couper à l'automne.

Houx bûches brûlent comme de la cire,
Vous devriez brûler verte,
Elm journaux comme le lin qui couve
Aucune flamme à voir.

La poire and la pomme journaux,
Ils vont parfumer votre chambre,
Journaux cerise sur la chien,
Sent comme des fleurs en fleurs.

Mais les journaux en cendres, tout lisse et grisse,
Les brûler verte or vieux,
Achêter tout ce qui viennent à votre rencontre,
Ils valent leur pesant d'or.

An experiment

For the first time in the history of this blog, I shall attempt to add a French translation of this blog underneath the English version. I will be using the Google translate machine and translating each sentence at a time as I am not a successful translator. I apologise in advance if it does not translate literally, but if you would like to supply some translations, it would be very kind of you.

This entry includes some advice from past writers to the situation we find ourselves in today as well as a brief explanation of past measurements used by English farmers. I would very much like to know if our continental farmers used such a similar set of old measurement systems.

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living public assistance." Cicero 55 BC

It would have been good to think that Cicero had indeed said this, however a search on the Internet finds that it originated from a book called, "A Pillar of Iron" published in 1965 and written by Taylor Caldwell as a fictionalised account of the life of Cicero. John H. Collins wrote in a letter to The Chicago Tribune on the 20th of April 1971 that the above quote was written by Caldwell without documentation to the original quote. More information can be found here. Although maybe some of the politicians should take some of the advice.

"Guidelines for bureaucrats: 1) When in doubt, mumble. 2) When in trouble, delegate. 3) When in charge, ponder", James H Boren.

Mr. Boren was a political scientist, humorist and teacher who died in April 2010. He worked with the presidential campaign for John F. Kennedy and was given the Governor's Meritorious Honor Medal for his economic work in Peru and Latin America. 

Why is it that we get useful information from all walks of life that seems to be unheeded or not listened to by the politicians?

So onto an old form of measurement. The chain was used a form of length measurement and being 66 feet or 22 yards. 10 chains made a furlong and 80 made a statute mile. The concept of the chain was first used by a clergyman, named Edmund Gunter, in 1620 who wanted to find a low-tech version of recording lengths and distances for surveyors. Gunter's chain was still used in English legal documents until 1960. The distance between two wickets on a cricket pitch is one chain.

Pour la première fois dans l'histoire de ce blog, je vais tenter d'ajouter une traduction en français et en allemand de ce blog au-dessous la version anglaise. Je vais utilise Google translate la machine et traduire chaque phrase à un momentque je ne suis pas un traducteur de succès. Je m'excuse d'avance si elle ne se traduit pas littéralement, mais si vous voulezfournir des traductions, ce serait très gentil de votre part.

Cette entrée comprend quelques conseils d'écrivains passés à la situation que nousnous trouvons aujourd'hui, ainsi qu'une brève explication des anciennes mesuresutilisées par les agriculteurs anglais. Je voudrais bien savoir si nos agriculteurs continentaux utilisé un tel ensemble similaire de systèmes de mesure anciens.

"Le budget doit être équilibré, le Trésor doit être rempli, la dette publique devrait être réduite, l'arrogance de la bureaucratie doit être tempérée et contrôlée, et l'assistance aux pays étrangers devrait être réduite de peur que Rome fait faillite. Les gens doivent réapprendre à travailler, au lieu de vivre l'assistance publique." Cicero 55 BC

Il aurait été bon de penser que Cicéron avait en effet dit cela, mais une recherche surl'Internet estime qu'il provenait d'un livre appelé, "une colonne de fer", publié en 1965 et écrit par Taylor Caldwell comme un récit romancé de la vie de Cicéron. John H. Collins a écrit dans une lettre adressée à The Chicago Tribune, le 20 avril1971 que la citation ci-dessus a été écrit par Caldwell, sans documentation pour la citation originale. Plus d'informations peuvent être trouvées ici. Bien que peut-être certains des hommes politiques devraient prendre quelques-uns des conseils.

"Lignes directrices pour les bureaucrates: 1) En cas de doute, Mumble. 2) Lorsquedes ennuis, délégué. 3) Lorsque la charge, à réfléchir", James H Boren.

M. Boren fut un politologue, humoriste et professeur décédé en avril 2010. Il a travaillé avec la campagne présidentielle de John F. Kennedy et a donné la médaille du gouverneur d'honneur pour son travail méritoire économique au Pérouet en Amérique latine.

Pourquoi est-il que nous obtenons des informations utiles de tous les horizons de la vie qui semble être ignorés ou pas écouté par les politiciens?

Donc sur une ancienne forme de mesure. La chaîne a été utilisé une forme de mesure de longueur et 66 pieds étant ou 22 mètres. 10 chaînes de fait une Furlong et 80 a fait un mile statut. Le concept de la chaîne a d'abord été utilisé par un ecclésiastique, nommé EdmundGunter, en 1620 qui voulait trouver une version low-tech de longueursd'enregistrement et les distances pour les arpenteurs. Chaîne de Gunter est encore utilisée en anglais de documents juridiques jusqu'en 1960. La distance entre les deux guichets sur un terrain de cricket est une chaîne.