Life

Pembrokeshire ploughing match

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Lockdown has meant that the seasons ploughing matches have been cancelled this year and for many, what are usually annual fixtures on the calendar have been crossed out. These pics were from last year at Pointzcastle Farm, just down the road from where I live in Pembrokeshire for the 96th Annual Ploughing Match of the St Davids and District Ploughing Society. A ploughing match is fairly odd concept for most people but they’re a regular fixture for parts of the rural community. Competitors are divided into classes based on the type of plough and tractor used and the aim is to produce straight and even furrows in your allocated plot. Much fettling takes place between and during a pass to make sure the depth of the furrows is even and the plough is piling the soil as neatly as possible. What was a large stubble field at the start of the day becomes a row of neatly ploughed patches that are judged when all are finished.

From the County Echo 16th March 2019

Early-morning mist did not deter the eager ploughmen from arriving at Pointz Castle on Sunday, 24 February, for the 96th Annual Ploughing Match of the St Davids and District Ploughing Society.

A fabulous day’s ploughing was furrowed in the February sunshine on stubble ground and the senior champion of the day was awarded to Roland Glanville, who had travelled from Cornwall, and the junior champion was local competitor James George.

In the crops section, Dafydd Cornock from Fishguard was awarded the perpetual trophy for the highest number of points.

The committee, under the chairmanship of John Evans, expressed sincere thanks to the Raymond and Lawrence family from Pointz Castle for hosting the event and to all the ploughmen and ploughing judges. They were Edwin Ellaway, Monmouth; John Tucker, Newport; Ken Davies, Tenby and Aled Morgan, Newcastle Emlyn. The crop judges were Richard Lawrence and William Lawrence.

The president for the day was Leslie Raymond, who presented the prizes and also selected the winner of the prize for the turnout that caught the judge’s eye. Mr Raymond presented this award to Jeremy Jacobs-Roberts of Pontyclun with his David Brown tractor and Ransomes TS86 plough who competed in the classic class.

Black Lives Matter - Haverfordwest

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Despite the rain, several hundred people gathered in Haverfordwest yesterday to take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. For a small town in West Wales it was an impressive turnout and testament to the strength of feeling that has grown internationally since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. As the global reaction has gathered pace, many people are starting to re-examine both their national and local histories and with the dramatic toppling of the Colston statue in Bristol, other towns and cities are looking to their own memorials and questioning their validity. Haverfordwest has its own questions to ask as the past deeds of Sir Thomas Picton are coming under scrutiny. Thomas Picton was born in Haverfordwest and went on to become governor of Trinidad, a role to which he brought a brutal approach. His career was almost derailed after he was tried for authorising the torture of a 14 year old girl but he wasn’t sentenced and resumed his military career before being the most senior officer killed at the battle of Waterloo. He was celebrated for his bravery and career. Yesterdays demonstration was quickly followed by the removal of the blue plaque that marked the house in the town where he was born. In Cardiff the future of the statue that stands in City Hall is being discussed and the Picton memorial in Carmarthen is also under review. A widespread re-examination of Britain’s colonial past is overdue and hopefully this is the time when less well known parts of our story begin to be taught in history lessons as these dark chapters are echoed in current attitudes and events.

A side note on the photography aspect of yesterday: Due to the continuing Covid situation, attendees were asked to respect social distancing and to wear face masks and I realised how important the face is when establishing a quick relationship with someone you’d like to make a portrait of. Not being able to use a friendly face when approaching someone made me feel slightly awkward and in the end, with the sombre mood and rain, I chickened out a bit and used my long lens to get this image.

Pinhole experiments

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I had a play experimenting with a pinhole lens the other day. Sometimes it’s fun to go lo-fi with technology and when all you have is the very simplest of ‘lenses’ and the results are unpredictable then you are forced into a simpler way of working and it can be an interesting process. I wrote about similar low tech adventures here a little while back.

There are lots of articles and videos with instructions on how to make a pinhole lens and you can even buy one ready made. Most techniques involve piercing a body cap but I didn’t have one spare and didn’t want to waste too much time watching videos to tell me how to make something so simple. The first attempt was simply a bit of cardboard that I pierced with a cocktail stick. I used insulation tape (I told you it was low tech!) to attach it to the camera body and off I went. Results were fairly poor! Blurred is fine but this was a bit too myopic! But what I did find was that it was a reminder of those kind of images I took on my first cameras that would invariably come back from the chemist with an advisory sticker. Something about using a crap camera on a sunny summer day produces images that best match the hazy memories I have in my head of long hot school holidays of childhood.

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For the Mark II version I used a Pataks pickle jar lid which was just the right size. I put a pinhole in the middle of the lid and attached it again using tape. The results of this one were a bit better. Obviously everything has to be done manually so if you’re used to working on auto or semi auto then you have to get to know your way around working manually. The smaller and more defined pinhole (because it was through metal rather than cardboard) made the images a little clearer.

Conclusions? I took the camera down to the beach and waited in the van as a rain shower crossed the bay. It was a bit of fun making the lens and it was an interesting way to use the camera; a contrast to having the usual high tech piece of glass and motors on the front of the camera but at the end of the day, the results are predictably terrible as you might expect from a hole punched in a pickle lid! Still, it was a bit of fun for a lockdown day and the images maybe conjure something of the atmosphere of a showery afternoon at the beach.

Visitor

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We had a short visit from a young corvid the other day. A jackdaw chick had caught the unwelcome attention of a cat so came for a short visit before being returned to where it was found after reading the advice online. Baby jackdaws will live on the ground after leaving the nest and remain under the watchful eye of their parents who will fend off predators and feed them until they’re strong enough to look after themselves. At this young age they are easy to handle and although tempting to keep the little thing a bit longer, after a couple of pics, back home it went, happily riding down the road on the handlebars of a bike!

Baking bread

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Just some slicing of a loaf. Lockdown has meant plenty of home baking for lots of people and with sourdough being a time consuming process; it’s been a good time to try and perfect it. My partner has more patience for it than I but I’m enjoying the experiments topped with butter and jam and in exchange I am able to offer my constructive feedback :)

Interlude

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I thought I’d share this as it feels appropriate at the moment. It seems that Lockdown has given everyone a chance to stop and look more closely at the world around them which, hopefully, has led to an appreciation and a raised awareness about the need for the conservation and preservation of what we are lucky to have here on Earth.

I enjoy Rob Auton’s musings on life and this one really touched me. A reminder to appreciate the beautiful things that surround us and to share these delights with others. More from his podcast here.