Hold on, man. We don’t go anywhere with “scary,” “spooky,” “haunted,” or “forbidden” in the title
From Scooby Doo!
Trick or Treat? A Halloween history Here I am with a bit more linguistic debunking – with some customs and traditions thrown in for good measure. This time regarding Halloween and Trick or Treat?
It amuses, perplexes and irritates me, in pretty much equal measure, that so much is assumed to be an American import. But if you stop to think about it for a moment – how do you suppose so many words and customs and foods got there in the first place?
If a ‘thing’ wasn’t part of the culture of the indigenous population then whatever it might be obviously got there via the multitude of migrant groups that have pitched up on the shores of the Land of the Free – the Germans, Italians, the Dutch and, of course, we Brits. And so it is with Halloween.
Yes! That’s right. Far from being an American export to US – it’s actually an import from the British to America.
All Hallow’s Eve
Halloween is more correctly written as ‘Hallowe’en. That being a contraction of ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ or All Saints Eve – a yearly celebration observed in many countries on the eve of All Hallows Day – the 1st November.
We dedicate All Hallows day to remembering the dead including saints (the Hallows), martyrs and all the faithful departed Christian believers.
Some scholars think that All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized festival influence by Celtic Harvest festivals, possibly with pagan roots – particularly the Gaelic Samhain.
How did Hallowe’en become popular in America?
Due to America’s strong Christian heritage, Halloween didn’t enjoy wide observance until the 20th century. And even then, only in small Irish Catholic settlements.
It wasn’t until the potato famine sent thousands of Irish migrating to America taking their customs with them that the festival took hold. So we can argue that, to some degree, the modern Halloween is an Irish holiday with early origins in the Celtic winter festival.
Hit the road Jack
The Jack-0’lantern – or the carved out pumpkin to you and me – could have originated with the witches’ use of a collection of skulls with a candle in each to light the way to coven meetings.
But among the Irish, who, as already mentioned, prompted the popularization of Halloween in America, the legend of “Irish Jack” or “stingy Jack” explains the jack-o’-lantern.
According to legend, a stingy drunk named Jack tricked the devil into climbing an apple tree for a piece of the fruit. But then he cut the sign of a cross into the trunk of the tree to prevent the devil from coming down. Jack then forced the devil to swear he would never come after Jack’s soul. The devil reluctantly agreed.
When Jack died he found himself turned away at the gates of heaven because of his drunkenness and life of selfishness. He was sent to the devil who also rejected him, keeping his promise.
Since Jack had no place to go, he was condemned to wander the earth. As he was leaving hell (he happened to be eating a turnip), the devil threw a live coal at him. He put the coal inside the turnip. And has, since then, roamed the earth with his “jack-o’-lantern” in search of a place to rest.
At length, pumpkins replaced turnips for the lanterns. For the good reason that they’re much easier to hollow out and to carve. Symbolizing the devil’s coal is a whole lot easier with a pumpkin. And they make great pies. And soup. I’m not sure the same can be said of turnip.
Trick or treat?!
You think that the trick or treat custom has come from America? Well sort of yes – but its origins are closer to home.
A long tradition of going from door to for food existed in Great Britain and Ireland in the form of ‘souling’ – where children and the poor sang and said prayers for the dead in return for cakes. n Scotland an activity known as ‘guising’ – children disguised in costumes going from door to door for food and coins – also predates Trick or Treat.
Guising is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1865 where masqueraders in disguise and carrying lanterns made from scooped out turnips visited homes to get cakes, fruit and money. While going from door-to-door in disguise remains popular among the Scots and the Irish, the custom of saying ‘Trick or Treat’ is relatively new. It probably dates roughly from 1930s America.
There exists a theory that the trick or treat practice evolved as an antidote for the increasingly rowdy and costly Halloween pranks. The idea being, that it provided a healthier activity for the young giving them an incentive not to play tricks. For sure the festival has morphed into a brilliant commercial opportunity for sweet and chocolate manufacturers.
Getting out the dressing up box
The tradition of dressing in costumes and trick-or-treating may well go back to the practice of “mumming” and “guising,” Early costumes were usually disguises, often woven out of straw, and sometimes people wore costumes to perform in plays or skits.
The practice may also be related to the medieval custom of “souling” in Britain and Ireland. With this, poor people would knock on doors on Hallowmas (Nov. 1), asking for food in exchange for prayers for the dead. No doubt Claire’s Accessories and any fancy dress shop you care to think of will be glad of the longevity of this tradition.
Council and pressure group working together towards solution for museum and art gallery
19th August 2021
Pressure Group and Council Liaise SBC has confirmed that they are reconsidering the museum and art gallery’s current home, Apsley House on Bath Road as an option to house the art and museum collections until they find a suitable alternative venue.
Apsley House houses Swindon’s historic artefacts and its renowned collection of modern British art. Like other museums and galleries, this council-owned Grade II listed building closed at the beginning of lockdown, in line with Government regulations. When lockdown restrictions lifted, the council proposed that Apsley House should not reopen. The reason being that they viewed the cost of repairs and alterations as too high. The council has plans to build a Cultural Quarter at Kimmerfields in the town centre at some point in the future. This cultural quarter will include an art pavilion and museum space.
A group of people, concerned at the time-frame involved until the collections have a new home, formed the Save our Museum and Art Gallery (SoMAG) group. They also started a petition to have the building reopened as soon as possible.
SoMAG also wants the collections to remain at Apsley House until SBC finds a new home. One that makes them at least as accessible to the public as they were before the museum and art gallery closed.
Liaison
SoMAG has liaised with Swindon Borough Council officers and with Councillor Robert Jandy. Cllr Jandy recently took over the portfolio for culture, heritage, leisure and the town centre. Together they’re trying to agree a way forward that is best for the people of Swindon and the collections themselves.
Councillor Jandy and a spokesperson for SoMAG, Linda Kasmaty, have now announced the inclusion of Apsley House in their options for the museum and art gallery collections.
‘We made our feelings plain to the council. We’re pleased and appreciative that Councillor Jandy has spent a lot of his time meeting with us and listening. And further that he’s now made a swift response.
Looking forward
We look forward to continuing to work with him and his officers towards getting Apsley House back open as soon as is workable. It’s vital that as many people as possible can go back through its doors. And that the very popular workshops for children in the school holidays resume. Many parents have told us that their children are missing our famous gharial – the Swindon croc. They’re so looking forward to seeing her again.’
Councillor Robert Jandy said; ‘Coming from a strong arts and culture background, I know how important the sector is to people’s health and wellbeing. With what has happened over the last 18 months, we need it now more than ever.
‘To this end, it has been gratifying to meet and work with passionate and knowledgeable individuals. Our aim has always been to ensure that the museum and art collection is not kept in storage. And, further, whatever solution we come up with, we must do all we can to build on the work that’s has already taken place. Thus we can share it with as wide an audience as possible.
‘We want all our residents to have the chance to see our wonderful collection. It is a collection to be proud of – let’s share it far and wide!’
A keen SMAG supporter
South Swindon MP Robert Buckland said: ‘I have worked at close quarters with Culture Cabinet Member, Cllr Rob Jandy and SMAG on this issue. I’m glad that the council are currently considering and exploring all options about the future of our museum. As a keen supporter of SMAG, I have asked them to keep me updated, on behalf of all the local residents who have contacted me. I want to see a stable and bright future for our wonderful art collection and other artefacts.’
Photo by Stuart Harrison
See also the Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery:
COME AND HAVE A GREAT DAY OUT IN EMLYN SQUARE AND THE RAILWAY VILLAGE AREA 11th/12th SEPTEMBER 10-00am to 16-00pm
Mechanics’ Matters Newsletter No 2 Heritage Open Days is England’s largest festival of history and culture. It brings together over 2,000 local people and organisations, and thousands of volunteers. Places across the country throw open their doors to celebrate their heritage, community and history. The Mechanics’ Institution Trust, in partnership with the Heritage Action Zone, are opening up some of its buildings and putting on several events.
It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – and it’s all for free.
The Mechanics’ Institution Trust
The Mechanics Institution Trust is both a Building Preservation Trust and .Charitable Trust. The trust was set up to restore and reuse the Mechanics’ Institute. We’re working with the council to make this happen. Further, we’ve established a financially viable plan along with a report that shows how the Institute could be rebuilt.
Our work is based in the community and our business is to enhance the area we work with in. As part of this work we are opening up the buildings we manage for the public to visit. You’ll be able to see what we are already managing at the Railway Village Museum. Also, how we’ve developed the Bakers as a Café and currently for Community use. Visit the Community Centre with its attractions and see what we’re proposing for the Cricketers.
This year’s programme offers a recipe for discovery. The festival’s theme is Edible England. On offer is a large range of experiences and activities all in one place including:
Heritage Information
Swindon Society
Books
Story Telling
Historic Pictures
Authors
Bloggers
Wilts & Berks Canal Trust
Swindon Wheelers
The Western Players and other expertise.
Food and drink
Purton Organic Farm
Nutrition Advice
Park Farm
Food History
Hot & Cold Drinks
MIT allotments & gardens
Getting Involved
Join the Mechanics’ Institution Trust at one of the Open Days and enjoy free Membership until 31st December 2022.
The Mechanics’ Institution Trust is a charity and relies on volunteers and charitable funding although we do generate income from the buildings we currently have responsibility for. We have a range of opportunities and are looking for volunteers and Trustees. If interested please use our website’s “contact us” form. We’d love to hear from you!
Contact the Mechanics’ Institution Trust
You can write to us at: Mechanics’ Institution Trust, Central Community Centre, Emlyn Square, Swindon SN1 5BP or visit https://mechanics-trust.org.uk/contact-us/ . You can phone 01793 611277 and leave a message.
Graham Seaman Media Imagine if you will, that you want to launch a book but you’re in the middle of pandemic. So you can’t have an event in the usual way, at a venue with hordes (you hope) of people rocking up to buy copies of the book in question. Well, in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic when I had my Born Again Swindonian’s guide book to launch on an unsuspecting world, I decided a video would be a good thing..
I wanted this video to showcase the new book and my existing publications. And also me – my brand as Born Again Swindonian – to tell my story. And to achieve this I turned to Graham Seaman Media. I’ll put a link to the fab video he put together at the bottom of this page.
Graham Seaman
Tell me a story
Many a business owner will tell you that what lies at the heart of marketing is story-telling. And, with years of broadcasting experience behind him, Graham is better placed than most to help you tell your particular story with video. Besides audio and video production, Graham can put his 25 years of BBC production and presentation experience to podcasting/short-form media and voiceover work. He also can offer jolly useful presentation skills training and mentoring – and more.
But there’s more!
You’d think wouldn’t you that all those years of broadcasting experience would be enough to equip Graham for his new (ish) career in videography etc? Yet Graham’s somewhat starry family history indicates that all such activity is built into Graham’s DNA.
Elsie Randolph
Graham’s paternal grandfather’s cousin, was a well-known-in her-day actor by the name of Elsie Randolph. The actor, comedian, stage performer and singer enjoyed some fame back in the 1920s and 1930s, partnering with singer and dancer Jack Buchanan.
A friend of Alfred Hitchcock, she appeared in a couple of his films and corresponded with him until his 1980 death. Graham’s dad recalls being tucked up in bed by Elsie when she babysat him. See –
Anyone of a certain age will remember Sunday Night at the London Palladium and the Tiller Girls. So I’m a wee bit starstruck to learn that Graham’s grandmother worked as a professional dancer. She took part in several West End productions and also served … drum roll … as a Tiller Girl! Though it’s by no means certain that she ever performed at the Palladium.
But the hoofing connections don’t end there. Graham’s mum, Joan, also had twinkle toes and she worked with ballroom dancer Peggy Spencer for a time.
Backstage
And there’s behind-the-scenes showbiz connections too. One relative, Jack Seaman worked as an electrician in London theatres while another (Percy Seaman), worked at Pinewood studios – occupation unknown.
Then last, but not least, Graham’s dad worked as a projectionist at a few cinemas across London before becoming an industrial photographer for the MOD in the early 50s. A job he did until he retired.
So Graham’s career choice was evidently written in the stars. Both the celestial kind and the showbiz kind!
I’ve surely said enough to convince you that Graham is more than a master of the microphone? And canny with a camera?
But just in case, via the link below from his website, you’ll find the video he made for me. It received hundreds of views across Facebook and YouTube and got lots of super, fab and positive feedback.
In the midst of the ongoing situation with the Oasis leisure centre, my ad-hoc guest blogger Rebecca Davies, shares her memories of the Oasis from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.
My Memories of the Oasis, by Rebecca Davies BSc (Hons).
I thought I ought to write down my own personal memories of the Oasis, though they are faint. I didn’t go much – it wasn’t a regular swimming venue for me – instead I went to Wootton Bassett pool instead. So I shouldn’t think I went to the Oasis more than a handful of times.
I went with Dad – never with the school. How old I was at the time I do not know. We used to use the family changing rooms.
The pool
The pool entrance was always an appealing experience to me. To walk from the slightly grotty changing rooms, through the tiled annexe with the foot bath and the showers – not having showers at home that was also a novel experience – into the wide open area of the dome.
And inside that dome, the pool was like no other I had seen.
It was a swimming pool – yet shaped like a pond – that you walked into rather than climbed in. In those days of less than efficient pool heating climbing in was often an endurance exercise in cold water. As soon as I learned to swim I always started in the DEEP and so WARM end.
Surrounding it were plantations of tropical plants, real ones I hasten to add, growing much bigger than most houseplants.
The pool was generic blue tiles of course. But there were also mosaics, a dolphin, and I think, also an octopus.
More than only a pool
There were other facilities, a small toddler’s pool, and a deep diving pool with round windows in the side, often unused. Though I do recollect once seeing a diver in it. There was also slides -at the time I went they were orange plastic. How brave I felt when I first dared to go down! The slide might have been my most favourite part, even more so than the wave machine.
There were other facilities, a small toddler’s pool, and a deep diving pool with round windows in the side, often unused. Though I do recollect once seeing a diver in it. There was also slides -at the time I went they were orange plastic. How brave I felt when I first dared to go down! The slide might have been my most favourite part, even more so than the wave machine.
And yes, this pool had a wave machine which they turned on every so often. When it worked – it didn’t always. Being unused to the sea, the waves were a new experience. This was a pool which was so much more interesting that the standard swimming pool and offered so many more experiences.O
Extract from original plan for the Oasis showing the now long-gone diving pool
Inside the Oasis
I don’t remember much about the rest of the Oasis. You went in the main door and there was the booking desk in front of you, a gym and squash courts to the right and the cafe and pool to the left. I recall watching (and listening, the sound is fascinating) to the squash courts.
The Oasis cafe was very modern and fast foody. My favourite was the Hot Dogs – not that easy to get back then. I am a great lover of Hot Dogs.
Trouble at the Oasis!
One memorable Oasis session did not go at all smoothly.
We were swimming about as usual when the tannoy went, asking us to exit the pool as fast as we safely could. The lifeguards ushered us out of the pool, and through the fire exits to wait outside. This was in February! At length, staff let us back in. But not to resume our swimming but to get dressed and leave. Passing the pool there was an odd, chemical smell in the air and a strange bubbling on the surface of the water.
Out in the lobby were paramedics. Me and Dad saw a young man stopped and given oxygen. Parked by the main door was an ambulance. It turned out there had been a gas leak. No wonder the staff were so concerned.
The event made the front page in that night’s Evening Advertiser. There had been a chlorine leak in the Oasis forcing the evacuation of the public. The story had accounts of people panicking, fainting and all. If there was panicking and other tremulous events as described in the Adver … I for one did not see anything too worrying. Which is not to say it didn’t occur – only that I did not see it.
This was a very good lesson in the trustworthiness – or otherwise – of the press!
Condition of the Oasis
The Oasis, though well-patronised and well-built, to my mind always had this element of sleaziness. But in fairness, looking back, that was my youthful perceptions rather than reality.
For a start, its location by the railway tracks in a busy industrial estate didn’t seem salubrious to the youthful me. It seemed to be on its own, and not connected with other parts of town. This notion I think came from driving in. Because in fact it is within convenient walking distance of several districts and the railway station.
By the period of my last visits in the early 1980s, some of the panels on the dome had begun to look faded and had moss on them in parts.
The Domebusters
When these slides opened they were very popular for a while. I always meant to try them out, at least when they became less fashionable, but I never got round to it.
As far as I can recall I never went to the Oasis when the Domebusters were there, so I assume that I have never visited since. I am not that enthused on swimming and didn’t swim from my early teens until about a year back when I went in a friend’s pool.
So you have a Terminus ante Quem for my visits – Literally, Latin for the ‘time before which’.
