Brighton and Hove

Brighton Pavillion bullt by John Nash for George IV when Prince Regent.He became Prince Regent in 1811 when his father was thought to be mad, and was crowned in 1820. He died in 1830 leaving a rich art collection and an architectural legacy including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion grew over 35 years from a simple farmhouse to a spectacular palace. In 1787 Henry Holland extended the original farmhouse into a neo-classical building know as the 'Marine Pavilion'.
From 1815-1823 John Nash used new technology to transform the Pavilion into the Indian style building that exists today. He enlarged the building and added the domes and minarets that characterise his design by superimposing a cast iron framework over Holland's Marine Pavilion.



Kay and Sunday. a student from Nigeria visiting us via HOST. HOST links oveseas students with families offering hospitality. We have had students from Germany, Gambia, Nigeria,Indonesia, Hong Kong and China.

Lunch on the shingle beach at Hove looking towards Brighton. Brighthelmstone (as Brighton was originally called) was transformed from a small fishing town into a fashionable resort in the mid 18th century through the discovery of the therapeutic effects of bathing in and drinking sea water. The success of this cure, promoted by Dr Richard Russell, drew fashionable society to the town to take the waters.
As Prince of Wales, George IV first visited Brighton in 1783, aged 21, partly on the recommendation of his doctors who thought that the sea water might ease the swellings in the glands of his neck. He also found the relaxed atmosphere of the town a welcome relief from the constraints of the staid and stifling court of his father, George III.

Balloon away

On the trailer.
In the bag.

Rolling up.

To the landing

The eagle has landed.
Approaching our pilot's choice of landing field, part of the Hatfield estate.
We needed to land before we were close to the radio masts.The Brookmans Park station was opened on 14th October 1929 and was the first of the BBC’s high-power, two programme Regional transmitting stations. It now transmits TV and radio, public and commercial.
Hatfield house, estate of the Cecils since the 16th century.Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil family ever since. It is currently the home of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury. An earlier building on the site was the Royal Palace of Hatfield. Only part of this still exists, a short distance from the present house. This palace was the childhood home and favorite residence of Queen Elizabeth I. Built in 1497 by the Bishop of Ely, Henry VII's minister John Cardinal Morton, it comprised four wings in a square surrounding a central courtyard. The palace was seized by Henry VIII with other church properties.

Henry VIII's children Edward and Elizabeth spent their youth at Hatfield Palace. In 1548, when she was only 15 years old, Elizabeth was under suspicion of having illegally agreed to marry Thomas Seymour, the House and her servants were seized by Edward VI's agent Robert Tyrwhit, and she was interrogated there. She successfully defended her conduct with wit and defiance. Seymour was executed in 1549 for numerous other crimes against the crown. After her two months of imprisonment in the Tower of London by Queen Mary, Elizabeth returned to Hatfield. The Queen Elizabeth Oak on the grounds of the estate is said to be the location where Elizabeth was told she was Queen. In November 1558, following the death of her sister Mary Tudor, Elizabeth held her first Council of State in the Great Hall.

Elizabeth's successor James I did not like the palace much and so traded it to Elizabeth's chief minister (and his own) Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury, in exchange for Theobalds which was the Cecils' family home. Cecil liked to build and so tore down three wings of the Royal Palace (the back and sides of the square) in 1608 and used the bricks to build the present structure.

We are being followed.

More of Welwyn Garden City

The passenger.
QE2 Hospital
The graveyard has a surreal look with the colours of the trees.

Hospital and playing fields.

Welwyn Garden City

Welwyn Garden City, as its name suggests, is a garden city, founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City, and designed by Louis de Soissons. Howard had called for the creation of new towns - of limited size, planned in advance and surrounded by a permanent belt of agricultural land - as a role model for lower-density suburban development. Howard believed that such Garden Cities were the perfect blend of city and nature.
Looking over Welwyn Garden City to the north.

Welwyn Garden City centre.

Welwyn Garden City Station.

Trains from this altitude look like toys.

Viaduct and Old Welwyn

Katy and were married in the Evangelical Church, Welwyn, August 1969 and now thanks to her present I can survey Welwyn from above.

The first place familiar to me was the railway viaduct near Welwyn. The Welwyn Viaduct, also called Digswell Viaduct is a famous viaduct over the River Mimram and a locally important landmark. It is located between Welwyn Garden City and Digswell. It is just to the south of Welwyn North railway station.
It was originally opened by Queen Victoria on 6 August 1850.
I do not know it the story is apocryphal but Queen Victoria had a distrust of this viaduct. When going north by rail on this the Edinburgh line, she would detrain south of the viaduct and be taken by coach to rejoin her train north of the chasm.

How we flew

The pilot was in contact with Luton air traffic control which limited us to under 3,00 feat. I was surprised to learn that flying altitude is the one thing still in imperial measurement worldwide. The feet have it.

It was perfect weather and the evening sun, 6 pm, showed our shadow.


The A1 towards London.

One alternates between total silence and the sudden whoosh from the burners, four large propane cylinders. 16 passengers, two crew.

Up and Away!

Leaving Knebworth and Stevenage behind.

Filling up

The balloon was anchored by the Chelsea Tractor.

Fan off, burners on and the pilot is in the basket.


One of the fan heaters providing the hot air is shown.

Inflation

Inflation commences using two large fan heaters.

The balloon is spread ready for inflation.

Katy sees how small is the balloon bag.

The balloon has been pulled out from its bag, Sunday our Nigerian guest helping.

Balloonatic

For my sixtieth birthday last May, Katy, Rachel and Adrian gave me a balloon flight. Katy ruled out my desire to bungee jump. She found that only Virgin will take passengers over 250lb. So Branson has risen in my estimation.

Balloons must be the most weather dependent form of transport. If the wind is over about 8 mph the flight will be off. I experienced cancellations in October and March but on Good Friday afternoon the flight was on from Knebworth, Herts. Here we have the basket about to be lifted from the transport.

Hot air balloons are the oldest successful human carrying flight technology, dating back to the Montgolfier brothers' invention in Annonay, France in 1783. The first flight carrying humans was made on November 21, 1783, in Paris by Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes.

The Iranian Captives

Thank God they are back but it seems the whole episode has been a disgrace.

Whatever waters they were in it is a disgrace that we allowed them to be taken without resistance. Is this a mark of how feminised our navy has become?

I agree with President Ahmadinajad on one thing. Mothers of small children should be looking after them not sailing the high seas in Her Majesty's service.

Media secularisation

I looked at the TV programme guide. No British terrestrial main channel is observing the fact that today is Maundy Thursday and tomorrow Good Friday. We have a mask of secular chewing gum for the eyes.

The Institutes in Summary

The greatest work of theology since the apostolic age condensed to 100 aphorisms. Click on the title.

A daily prayer

Sometimes even a liberal can give us a good prayer.

O God, grant that today
I may not disappoint any friend;
I may not grieve any loved one;
I may not fail anyone to whom I have a duty;
I may not shame myself.
Grant that today
I may do my work with honesty and fidelity;
I may take my pleasure in happiness and purity.
Grant that today
I may lead no one astray;
I may not make goodness and faith harder for anyone.
Help me today
to be a help and example to all;
to bring strength and encouragement wherever I am:
Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
... William Barclay

More from the survey

Nearly 1 million adults attend ethnic majority churches
This is composed of 9% black majority, 1% Asian majority and 2% Chinese or other
ethnic majority. The largest denomination groupings among ethnic majority churches
overall are Pentecostal (23%), Roman Catholic (23%) and Church of England/Anglican
(19%). Regular churchgoing is particularly high among adults of black ethnic origin at
48% - over three times the proportion among white adults (15%). (Sections 2.3, 3.4)
22% of London goes to church
Despite being a multi-cultural city with more people of other faiths (20%) than anywhere
else in the UK, Greater London also has one of the highest numbers of regular
churchgoers (22%), second only to Northern Ireland. (Section 2.3)
45% go to church in Northern Ireland
There are significantly more regular churchgoers than average in Northern Ireland (the
highest at 45%). Scotland has slightly above average regular churchgoers (18%), followed
by England (14%) and Wales marginally below average (12%). In Scotland and Wales
those with a tradition of churchgoing at some point in their life outweigh those with no
experience of church at all, whilst the reverse is true in England. (Section 2.3)
The devoted core
The following are all more likely than average to be regular churchgoers:
• Women (19% attend at least monthly)
• ABs (21%)
• Over 55 year olds (22%)
• Those of black ethnic origin (48%)

6% of UK adults, equivalent to 3.2 million people, belong to religions other than Christianity.
Just over a quarter (27%) of regular churchgoers surveyed self-identified as evangelical,
equivalent to around 2.0 million evangelicals in the UK adult population. Two thirds (66%),
or 5.0 million regular churchgoers self-identified as non-evangelical, whilst the remaining 0.6
million (7%) were unsure. Among evangelicals, conservative evangelicals are the largest
grouping, followed by charismatics then others (Figure 12 in Appendix 1).
The denominational profiles of regular churchgoers self-identifying as evangelical and nonevangelical
are considerably different. Non-evangelicals are predominantly Roman Catholic
and Church of England whilst evangelicals have a more diverse denominational mix (Figure
3d).

Regular churchgoers typically attend churches of between 51-200 members (44%),
with 25% belonging to small churches of 50 or fewer members and 23% attending large
churches with over 200 members. 2% of regular churchgoers attend ‘mega’ churches with
over 1,000 attending across all services – this proportion rises to 5% among Roman
Catholics and 9% among Pentecostals (Figure 13 in Appendix 1).