Cardiff Castle and The Big Pit - November 2008

Greeting BISC blog trekkers and associates! What a day and what a trip! Its 11.30 on Sunday morning and I have just got up! Yawn!!! I had a dream last night that I was alone in the Big Pit and there was no light, and that there was a big Welsh dragon coming towards me. When I woke up in a big sweat and I found that I was really in a dark big pit – my bedroom, and Bubbles my Russian Blue cat had just jumped on top of me!!!!! Actually I slept like a baby! Yes I awoke every two hours for a feed! Personally I find that Chinese dragons are extremely friendly and would be willing to be down the Big Pit with one or invite one home with me for tea!

The November day weather wise turned out to be quite nice, particularly as we had to walk some distance to catch up with our coaches, but more on that shortly. The trip into Wales took us over some famous features of geography particularly the River Severn. The Severn is over 200 miles long and its estuary has the second highest tidal mark in the world. We crossed over the second Severn Bridge that opened in 1996. You may have seen the first suspension bridge that was opened in 1966.

Cardiff Castle, yes, it was more of a nineteenth century stately home than a castle. The original Norman castle was the Keep or main tower on a small hillock. This hillock is man-made and was possibly first constructed by the Romans 2000 years ago, who built a wooden watch tower on the top in order to have a commanding view of the docks area. This type of hillock is called a Mott. The Normans built Motts and wooden castles when they occupied England after 1066. They were quick to complete and linked a chain of defences against any opposition that may have occurred. The stone castles took over 100 years to build.

Did you notice the ‘castle’ that the Earls of Bute used as their residence for only 6 weeks every year? Most of this was constructed in the 19th century on the ruins of the original castle. To construct and maintain such a luxurious house was very expensive. Even John’s house is not like this! The Bute family owned a lot of land that had coal reserves, and the profits the family received from coal allowed them to live in such style! The ladies and gentlemen had their own rooms for entertaining; I wonder what the servants living conditions were like? We were not shown these! The walls surrounding the Castle were not the original ones, but had been reconstructed with the Bute’s residence during the 1870s.

Cardiff was a busy place on Saturday. The local University had an open day and there was a Rugby international, where Wales were playing the ‘All Black’s’ from New Zealand. I think the ‘All Black’s’ won! This caused a bit of a problem as we could not pick up our coaches at the usual place. But it was a nice day for a walk! Excellent Welsh fresh air and we were walking away from the crowds. Did you notice John telling you on route that it was only 5 minutes further to go! Xiaomei told you the same thing five minutes (or was it ten minutes?) previously! You must always keep a sense of humour when on BISC trips. Did you notice Lou the driver of the second coach having a friendly chat to a motor cycle police officer whilst she was causing an obstruction at the pickup point? It’s nice to be diplomatic!

What a contrast, the Big Pit. This was an example of how real Welsh working people had to work for a pittance in order to keep the coals owners such as the Earl’s of Bute in their comfortable and extravagant castles. This topic is of interest to John. He completed a thesis on the British coal industry between 1913 and 1947 for a Warwick University Master degree in Business and Industrial History in 1990. If you want any more information including photographs of how the miner’s lived then see John. In the Pit I kept banging my head, thank goodness for the helmet and Xiaomei who came to my rescue on numerous occasions. But many years ago, miners did not wear helmets and had to work either with candles or in the dark. Children as young as 6 years old worked underground to along with their fathers and mothers. Their whole lives evolved around the coal owners, who owned the tools the miners needed for their work, their houses (which were extremely small and cramped). There were no inside toilets running fresh tap water or bathrooms, and the local shop was also owned by the coal owner. It was slavery in all but name!

The next valley to the Big Pit was another coal mine called Senghenydd. An underground explosion there in 1913 killed 439 men and boys. Apparently, the Earl of Bute was more interested in how many of his horses were saved, rather than the lives of his miners! These conditions from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries left a lasting legacy throughout the British coal industry until its wholesale closure during the 1980s. Industrial relations within the coal industry were always bitter.

Perhaps you may have noticed towards the end of our trip to the Big Pit the Davey Lamp invented in 1812 by Sir Humphrey Davey. The Davey lamp can detect methane gas and carbon monoxide through the colour and size of its flame, the flame is guarded so it does not come into contact with the air in the mine, otherwise !!!!BANG!!! and Guy Fawkes Night would have arrived underground early scaring the Welsh dragon! If you want to have a close look at a real Davey Lamp, ask John, he has one which is about 120 years old from the Durham coalfield in the North of England!

The trip home was uneventful, where the answers to the quiz were given. Congratulations Edina who won the quiz on coach no.1. There were 23 nationalities represented on coach one and 18 on coach two. Amazing! So there we are, we of the BISC team hope that you enjoyed your trip and found it rewarding and enriching. Now it’s Sunday afternoon and your Blogmaster has got to go back the ‘Big Pit’ and clean it! I am, of course, talking about my bedroom which looks like a mighty battle has just been fought in it! After that, I think I will go back to bed!
So farewell you beautiful blog trekkers and BISC team until the next event and history lesson when you can catch up on another enthralling episode in the life of BISC and the Blogmaster. In the meantime I am pondering the universal question of the day- I wonder what’s for tea tonight.

The Night of the International Feast and Games - Friday 14th November.

Hi there! BISC Blog followers

This is your BISC Blog master reporting once again on the activities staged at BISC on the night of Friday 14th November 2008. This was the same day as the national 'Children in Need' and the Prince of Wales 60th birthday. The BISC night was even better. It focused on the International feast and games, and what a night it was of food, flags, games and enjoyment, and by the hilarious laughter that echoed through the hallowed halls (that is the lounge, kitchen, toilet areas and the reception hall) of the BISC Centre, the Team can only assume that a good time was had by all!

Even Oscar the International Owl was ready to go! He was observed at 10am in his usual perch, looking cool and eyeing up the University girls walking by with a rat in his claws!

There were about 50 international students present at the function supported by a contingent from Bristol University CU and the BISC Team. The range of food was amazing. Oh! By the way Joe thanks for the English range of chips! Perhaps less salt next time though ok! The range and talent of our international guests is amazing as was evident from the flags that were produced. There were flags representing every part of the Globe and food to match! I didn't notice any Welsh food or flags though. Perhaps they had their own celebration for Prince Charles and his 60th!

The games were outstandingly fiendish and where could you go except to BISC to see all the academic potential from the universe walking around in a crowded BISC lounge with labels on their foreheads. Excuse my ignorance but who is Bart Simpson? Is he related to Tony Blair? However I did notice an attractive Pavarotti, and an over sized Marilyn Munroe. By the way, whatever happened to Bridget Bardot?

The second game of signs was a little too intellectual for John who was relegated to collecting the empties and returning them to the kitchen. Perhaps this is the time to say a big thank you to the unseen heroines of the night Jacqueline and Hannah who spent their time washing up, putting away and cleaning the kitchen whilst the rest of the party went on with the party as it were! Jacqueline had been at BISC for most of the day. Jacqueline is the lovely South African lady who is a real gem! Next time you see Hannah and Jacqueline just say thanks; they will appreciate it.

Finally on a historical note! Before his curiosity was drowned out by the high powered intellectual activity of the signs game, John's sign was twisting his nose with this hand. No that's right John cannot twist his nose without his hand!!! This was a sign used by Victorian criminals serving time in prisons in England over 100 years ago. You were not allowed to speak in prisons, and a silent regime was the order of the day. So to communicate the prisoners used signs to communicate to each other. Twisting the nose was a sign meaning 'have you any tobacco?' The criminal slang for tobacco was 'snout' which means nose. For this piece of information I must thank my old friend from school days way back in the olden days before the Beatles and Rolling Stones had made the big time! Tim worked for the British Prison Service for 30 years as a nursing officer. He too completed a doctorate late in life with the Open University, but his thesis was far more interesting than mine. His thesis was 'The Victorian Underworld and Silent Separate regime: A Study of 19th century British penal policy'. Thanks Tim and thank you all you wonderful beautiful people who come to BISC and revitalize our City and universities and make the BISC team very happy! The next trip on Saturday 22 November is to a castle and a pit. I cannot wait!!

Bridgwater Carnival - November 2008

The greatest attribute about this year’s Bridgwater Carnival was the weather. After a sunny late autumnal day, the evening was fairly mild and dry with a slightly larger than a half moon shining down on the proceedings. Indeed the Bridgwater Carnival is the largest illuminated carnival in Europe and it is claimed that the Carnival procession can be seen from space. I hope therefore if there are little humanoids on the Moon that too enjoyed the spectacle too.

The BISC Team (Hannah, May and John) assembled the majority of international students on Woodland Road outside the entrance to BISC, and the coach duly arrived; the driver was Lee. We picked up students from Zetland Road Junction and UWE, and proceeded on to a crowded motorway. Beyond Weston-super-Mare the M5 motor way was very much clear and we arrived at Bridgwater at approximately 6.00pm. One problem was encountered with the coach was that it did not have a microphone. Therefore this meant some of the on board coach activities had to be abandoned or modified. Don’t forget to post your quiz competition answer in by email!

Once we had arrived in Bridgwater there was a mad rush to McDonald’s either for fries or the toilet or even both. The demand for the toilets, particularly the ladies toilets was particularly high and the queue was longer for these facilities than for the food! McDonald’s should have charged a £1.00 for these facilities!!!

The BISC team carried two identifying badges. These were bamboo branches with leaves that when raised could be seen over the vast crowds, which numbered over 100,000 according to the local news broadcasts on Saturday. Using the bamboo as umbrellas, the BISC team positioned themselves on the Bath Road and for three hours watched the glittering procession pass by. The carnival cart that won the prize was organised by the ‘Gremlins’. The system of bamboo appeared to work as at the end of the procession and arrival back at the coach park all but one of our party arrived back safely, there was a late comer who just made it!!!

The journey back was made on an almost clear motorway and John and Iwona had a great discussion on the history of the event and the place of the monarchy in British culture and politics. Bridgwater is only a small market town yet attracts much history that has shaped the British culture. The Carnival although begun in the late 19th century to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot some two hundred years earlier, commenced during a major agricultural depression which affected the economy of Somerset. So in order to boost up the local economy and the welfare of the local population the commencement of the Bridgwater Carnival revived local fortunes at the time. There is a lesson here for the economic difficulties faced today perhaps. After all without history there is no today and no future!

To conclude a good time was had by all, the weather was kind (given the weather some 24 hours later on Saturday evening), and we got back to Bristol as Friday disappeared into Saturday. For the BISC team this was our first organised trip for this academic year and Hannah, May and John deemed it to have been a resounding success. We hope that you think the same too.