Section:GDN 1J PaGe:7 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 16:58 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
7
A westerly breeze ruffl es the neap
tide as it fl oods upstream, running
slow and low between purple-
fl owering reed beds and shady
woods. Dozens of jackdaws swirl
high above the viaduct just before
the train glides across from Devon.
At river level, coal smoke and
whistles announce the presence
of 13 steam boats. These were
launched at Cotehele, towed up the
river and moored off the pontoon
before leaving for Morwellham –
part of a celebration marking when
the Tamar waterway bustled with
trade and excursion vessels.
Around midday, the little boats
curve quietly away and upriver,
hidden from view beneath the
embankment that protects playing
fi elds and rushy pasture from
fl ooding. Later, in the distance, near
the derelict mine stacks of Okeltor
and Gawton, faint puff s of steam
mark the passage of the craft below
the dark greenery of Maddacleave
and Sheepridge Wood.
Here, on the outskirts of
Calstock, hot sun strikes south-
facing land where new houses
have been built on former market
gardens and terraces once used for
glasshouses growing tomatoes.
On the quayside, onlookers
relax, drinking , eating ice-cream
and admiring shanty singers.
In the parish hall, a display of
archive material includes photos,
cuttings and recorded memories
of industrial days when locally
produced bricks, granite and
agricultural goods depended on
river barges and market boats
for transport towards Plymouth.
Trippers came on pleasure steamers
and, in 1909, competition between
Millbrook and Saltash fl eets allowed
the price of the return journey to
drop from 1s 6d to one shilling.
Today’s enthusiasts steamed
past former boat building yards ;
en route to Morwellham they round
the Harewood meander – site of a
racecourse in 1894, and cultivated
with runner beans interplanted
with melons as recently as the
1950s. Coming back with the
ebbing tide echoes the tradition
of steamers like the Ariel, which
called in at Calstock, where
disembarking visitors were greeted
by locals and taken to “a place for
tea ... along to where I live”.
Virginia Spiers- Mistakes crept into two cryptic
crosswords this week. The clue
for 11 across in number 27,897 ,
“Reincarnated editor reborn as actor”,
was said to call for a 12-letter word.
The solution does have 12 letters, but
they make up three words, with the
letter count being: 6, 2, 4 (12 August,
page 12, Journal). And the words
“over hydrogen” were missing from
9 across in number 27,898. The clue
should have been: ’80s duo rejects
EU over hydrogen and beats science
(13 August, page 12, Journal).
Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to
[email protected] or The readers’ editor,
Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU; alternatively
call 020 3353 4736 from 10am to 1pm Monday to Friday
excluding public holidays. The Guardian’s policy is to correct
signifi cant errors as soon as possible.In light of recent articles regarding
the late Jeff rey Epstein, when will
we desist from using the misnomer
“underage girls”, and use the
correct term, “children”?
Lynne Roberts
Glasgow - How cross I feel after reading Gaby
Hinsliff ’s article ( For women the loss
of looks can liberate us , 10 August ).
Weird isn’t it, but I still have “looks ”
as do all women of every age,
regardless of whether we are “stared
at ” by men, or not. Hinsliff assumes
we all feel a “pulverising loss ”. Could
Guardian writers please step up and
write for all women – we lesbians
have never particularly wanted to
be the objects of the male gaze.
Jane Hoy
Pennal, Gwynedd - Alan Partridge is, we are told,
“inherently wedded to the road”
( Aha! It’s the Partridge must have a
car defence , 14 August). But perhaps
even more comic eff ect could
result from a driving ban for the
character which would force him to
experience the perceived indignity
of travelling on public transport?
Anne Liddon
Tynemouth - I have sympathy with the
caulifl ower growers whose crops are
lost ( Report , 13 August). We grow
our own and have had to abandon
the crop. After a promising start with
good cream curds they suddenly
changed colour and bolted. N ow on
the compost heap. The variety? Boris.
Stephen Read
Kendal, Cumbria - Good to see Lowell George
get name-checked ( Letters , 14
August) but Old Folks Boogie was
written and sung by his Little Feat
colleague Paul Barrere.
Russ Moseley
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Established 1906Country diary
Calstock,
Tamar valley
At the English Folk Dance and Song
Society we dedicate ourselves
to engaging all people, of all
backgrounds, in the rich, diverse and
constantly evolving English folk arts
( The origin of morris dancers blacking
up is irrelevant – it simply needs to
stop , theguardian.com, 12 August).
Although there is not a consensus
on how “blacking-up ” began in folk
arts, a growing body of academic
research points to racist origins. Some
years ago we decided not to engage
“blackface ” morris sides for any of
our performances or other activities.
We are happy to encourage the
increasing numbers of morris dancers
who now use colourful face paint as
an alternative form of performance
makeup and “disguise ”. Folk dancing
does not take place in a vacuum, and
anyone who ignores today’s cultural
context can cause justifi ed off ence.
Katy Spicer
English Folk Dance and Song SocietyOur folk society has
banned blackface
Enough with the
term ‘underage girls’
Healing the damage
done by empire
Sadiq Khan’s support of the Fabian
Society proposal for a new slavery
museum in London ( Report , 12
August) and Kehinde Andrew s’ piece
( A new slavery museum will have no
impact on racism , theguardian.com,
13 August) refl ect the diffi culty in
addressing past injustice. We need
a more ambitious approach to
understand how Britain’s economic
development and racial prejudice
were the direct result of empire. It
literally changed the faces of our own
country, the West Indies, North and
South America. What is required is an
Institute of Empire & Commonwealth
- a combination of museum and
research institute that teaches all
Britons about our imperial past, it s
modern -day impact and the countries
of the Commonwealth ahead of the
75th anniversary in 2024. My father
opened the Commonwealth Institute
with the Queen in the 60s as a
platform for understanding.
We need an institution that teaches
how our country benefi ted off the
backs of people from across Asia,
Africa and the West Indies – and
how religion, education and science
helped justify the situation with
racial theories. If the Home Offi ce had
a better understanding of history,
scandals like Windrush might not
have occurred. Rather than another
slavery museum, an institute that
informs and educates all Britons could
be a fi rst step in true racial healing.
John Armah
London- Property is the foundation
of economic inequality, and its
inheritance perpetuates a past where
one class owned another as property.
As Kehinde Andrews points out ,
the “owners” of enslaved people
“were paid reparations in the largest
... bailout in history ”. It should be
feasible to follow that money, then
reverse and increment the reparations
based on family and corporate wealth
directly accrued from the slave trade.
Peter McKenna
Liverpool
[email protected]
@guardianlettersTwitter: @gdncountrydiary
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