HANDS AND FLOWERS FOR FLOWER FRIDAY

First of all, apologies for not commenting much - or at all - yesterday but after a couple of really busy days, I was so “cream crackered” that I was in bed early but I have written out 100 lines “I must do better” - so will try harder.  However, I am grateful for all your comments, stars and hearts for my Community Fridge Blip for yesterday.

We had decided to go for a walk this morning, but because we were both tired - and Mr. HCB’s “excuse” is that he worked in the garden all day yesterday, we decided to go for a coffee at Jack’s instead - and met some friends in there, so we were happy about that.

I have seen these hands - a bronze veneer sculpture by Mark Amis, dated 2003 - many times whilst walking in Old Town, Swindon.  The name on the plaque is “Applause” but I always think of them as “praying hands” and I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that.  

When we passed them this morning I decided to take a shot of the hands together with the beautiful pansies that were on the walls and fences around the “Arts Centre”, where this sculpture stands in the forecourt of what is now primarily a small and intimate theatre in our town.  It was built in 1900  as a public hall and known as “The Bradford Hall” but in 1919, was converted into a dance hall and school.  Then in 1956 it was refurbished and enlarged into a 228-seat Arts Centre and reopened in September of that year by Pam Ayres at a cost of £665,000.  

Today it has a varied programme of live theatre, film showings and also houses the Old Town Library - so is well used - and there have been many famous names who have “played” there including Jamie Cullum, Billie Piper, Edward Fox, Brian Blessed, Sylvia Sims, to name but a few as well as many local Amateur Dramatic groups. 

Now I know from what my Mum and Aunty have told me in the past that they both liked to go dancing there and probably the attraction for them was that it was frequented by lots of American servicemen, known as G.I.s.  

Many thousands were billeted in and around Swindon in private homes just before the end of the Second World War, in the run-up to D-Day - June 6, 1944. Apparently, the local people had no choice as they were ordered by the authorities under wartime regulations, and in some cases appear to have been given very little advance warning of the Americans' arrival.  However, from articles I have read online, many developed excellent relationships with their hosts, who were mostly more than happy to help their allies, once they had got over the initial shock.  Swindon Council were obviously expecting an influx of American visitors so they produced a booklet, published in 1943 and called “America Gets Around: Starting From Swindon”, which was intended as a guide to the area, which servicemen could utilise during their spare time, and they were encouraged to explore beyond Swindon.

It may even be that my Mum met my real father here - perhaps on one of the nights she and my Aunty went dancing - who knows - and sadly now that both Mum and Aunty have died, there is no-one I can ask.    No doubt many of them enjoyed dancing - something they could do whilst separated from their families and friends and I’m sure that this helped take their minds off the War being fought.  I must admit, I did feel a little emotional thinking that my Mum and Aunty must have spent time here all those years ago.

Hope you all have a great weekend - it’s been sunshine and showers here so far today - in fact, when we got home the window cleaner was here doing our windows - he comes every 3 months, and told us that he can’t remember the last time he worked a full week because of the awful weather.  When I was chatting to him, he told me he uses “ionised” water, so even if it rains after he has cleaned the windows, they don’t streak!!  I told him I have obviously been cleaning windows with the wrong water all my life, which is why they always looked so awful!!

P.S.  You might be interested in this:

“GI Joe” is a household name. Originally, GI, used to describe a member of the United States Armed forces, stood for “Galvanized Iron”, the primary material used to make military items, i.e., buckets. However, as the military grew and evolved over time, GI took on multiple meanings, including “Government Issue”, “General Issue”, and even “Ground Infantry”.