"The Right Stuff!"

Almost fifty years on - we meet again
in a small pub in Suffolk

When Pat and I left home early on Saturday morning the newspapers were still full of the Bob Diamond/Barclay's Libor fixing controversy. When we returned home yesterday and put on the TV news the agenda had moved on – the security company G4S was under the spotlight for its failure to meet obligations in respect of the Olympics security arrangements. It seems that a few capitalist/free market/outsourcing chickens are coming home to roost! Well, I could (and will) wax lyrical on all of these issues - but not today! Why spoil a very pleasant two or three days away by dwelling upon the devious dealings and downright immoral actions of our Conservative government and the higher echelons of the City. Life is too short!

We have been away for a day or two to Suffolk – one of my favourite bits of England. We had been invited to a retirement celebration near Colchester of a friend we were at teacher training college with almost fifty years ago and thought this was a good enough reason to have a day or two by the sea. Elaine spent many years teaching maths  at Colchester Girls’ High school one of the highest performing schools in the country and  we met in a little country pub together with other ex-college friends and spent a few hours reminiscing and catching up with each other’s news over a beer and a pleasant meal. After a pleasant afternoon, Pat and I set off for a short drive to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast were we planned to spend our little seaside getaway.

"Tirah" - our super B&B

We stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast guest house – ( “Tirah” - http://www.tirahguesthouse.com/)   close to the picturesque village of Thorpness and just a short drive from Aldburgh. We have stayed at many B&Bs over the years – this ranked with the very best. The sign outside said it was judged to be four star accommodation - I would give it many more stars!    Beautiful house, outstanding room facilities, welcoming hosts and what must surely be one of the best breakfasts available in the whole of England – and all at a very reasonable cost. Mr & Mrs Lucock, the proprietors, were delightful hosts, made us feel completely at home and were a fund of information when we asked about the area. Pat and I said on several occasions during the three or four days that we were there that when we next visit the area we would not consider anywhere else for our accommodation!

Chuck Yeager - test pilot supreme
and "the right stuff"

Interestingly, on the kitchen wall there hung a signed photo of an elderly, but bronzed and fit looking man standing in front of a U.S. Stealth Bomber. He wore flying overalls and military beret. The signature read “Best wishes from Chuck Yeager” - a name which meant nothing to us. When we asked, Mr Lucock told us that Chuck Yeager was a famous U.S. test pilot who had been stationed at the nearby Leiston airfield as a young U.S. pilot during the 2^nd World War. He was a skilled and highly  decorated pilot. At the conclusion of the war he rose to become a high ranking general, was on first name terms with numerous American Presidents, achieved fame as the first man to break the sound barrier, was involved in the space programme and, so Google tells me, ultimately the subject of the Oscar winning 1980’s film “The Right Stuff”. He had recently stayed at the B&B when last on a visit to the U.K. to visit his old haunts around Leiston airfield – and (wait for it)......... we were sleeping in the same room that he had used! Now, there’s a claim to fame – not at all what we expected when we set off for sleepy, rural Suffolk, that we would be following in the footsteps of war heroes, test pilots and Hollywood superstars! It added a bit of interest and a talking point to our little break. And, over the next two or three days as we enjoyed Suffolk, I reflected on several occasions that just as Chuck Yeager was judged to be "the right stuff" so we too were indeed enjoying “the right stuff”! 

Thorpness Mere - with the
house in the clouds in the background

Thorpness itself is delightful – quiet, pretty and evocative. As with all Suffolk coastal areas there is a certain beautiful bleakness and silence about it. As we stood on the deserted shingle  beach on the Saturday evening the haunting tones of Benjamin Britten’s “Sea Interludes” from his Suffolk based opera “Peter Grimes” seemed very much in place – “the right stuff” again, you might say!  Brittten settled with his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, in nearby Aldeburgh and composed some of his greatest works there. He established the world famous Aldeburgh Music Festival at the Snape Maltings just outside the town. Later on Sunday we enjoyed a cup of tea at the Maltings while listening to the sound of an oboe and cello wafting out of the windows of some of the recital rooms there. Britten and Pears are buried side by side in the local Aldeburgh churchyard and close by lies Imogen Holst the composer and musician daughter of the great English composer Gustav Holst. Holst, of course, composed the “Planets Suite” - one of the movements being “Jupiter” which has become closely associated with the patriotic hymn “I vow to thee my country” – a piece that many (including myself) believe would make a more acceptable National Anthem than the jingoistic "God save the Queen" that we are blessed with. As someone once rightly said "God Save the Queen" is a plea to an entity that doesn't exist to preserve an entity that shouldn't exist". Quite!

Thorpness beach

Following our hosts recommendation we ate a superb meal in the local pub in Thorpness, “The Dolphin” – and indeed returned there each night to eat it was so good. Next day, on a sunny Sunday morning we wandered around Thorpness’ quiet streets and alleyways. We sat and read the newspaper and enjoyed a coffee at the side of the village mere – an extensive area of water where people take out rowing boats and every kind of swan and duck glide across its placid surface. We enjoyed the quirky buildings – from tiny fishermen’s cottages to large Tudor style residences and looked at the famous “House in the Clouds” standing above all on the edge of the village. There can be few pleasanter spots.

Harley-Davidson in
Aldburgh

The Scallop on Aldeburgh beach

And on Sunday afternoon we wondered around Aldeburgh – busy with day trippers like ourselves but still peaceful. Even a gathering of Harley-Davidson motor cyclists proudly displaying their magnificent, highly polished machines did not disturb the calmness of the place. We gazed at the magnificent “shell” sculpture – the “Scallop” – which dominates the beach on the edge of the town and is dedicated to the memory of Benjamin Britten. Although the monument has attracted some local criticism we found it wonderful. At four metres high it is meant to be enjoyed both visually and tactilely – and when we stood at its base there were a number young children sliding down its shining ridges. The “Scallop” bears the legend “I hear those voices that will not be drowned” – words taken from Britten’s “Peter Grimes” and  again, just as with Thorpness beach, there was a quiet calmness, dignity and bleakness about it all – no seaside fun fairs, no amusement arcades or fast food joints – just a beautiful calm emptiness, even though there were many people like us quietly wondering along enjoying the sun, the sea and the scenery. We walked along the edge of the beach stopping occasionally to peep at the freshly caught fish and seafood stalls – all with their adjacent fishing boats dragged up on the shingle beach.

Peter Pears and
Benjamin Britten

And then it was on to Snape to wander around the Maltings – a venue for some of the world’s great musicians. The rambling buildings of the Maltings – old nineteenth century structures used for the malting of barley used in the brewing of beer – are now converted into world class concert hall, recital and practice rooms, art galleries, little boutiques and the like – all in all making it a very pleasant place on the banks of the River Alde. We sat in the sun enjoying our cup of tea enjoying the Sunday afternoon. Above us the famous “big skies” of East Anglia whose quality of light had inspired musicians like Britten and artists like Constable looked down on us – it was indeed “the right stuff”!

Aldeburgh

And so to Monday.  A dull start to the day but a lovely morning spent wandering around the nearby picturesque resort of Southwold -  a town with the same quiet, dignified charm as Aldeburgh. Southwold is a popular – and perhaps upwardly mobile – resort, filled with slightly up market shops and hotels. It’s the home of the famous Adnam’s Brewery – one of the best English pints of beer that one can buy.  We wondered around the Adnam’s shop selling beers and wines as well as kitchen items of various kinds. Dutifully, I stood outside a series of  women’s clothes shops and boutique on the High Street as Pat went on a quest for a new “top” – in the end we got two at half price in the sale! And then, as lunchtime approached I sat reading my paper on a rather blustery promenade as Pat went for a walk along the pier. By late morning a drizzle was setting in and we ate our lunchtime sandwich in the car as the rain became more insistent.

Southwold from the pier

So, where to go? We plumped for Framlingham – to visit the castle there. Although the rain scudded down we enjoyed the across country drive through Suffolk’s rolling countryside – along narrow lanes, past vast expanses of farmland and through tiny remote villages and hamlets. One sensed that this was an area that in many ways had changed little in hundreds of years. As when we have visited the area before we noticed that often in the smallest of villages there would be a huge church – quite disproportionate to the size of village or possible size of congregation. This a reminder that in medieval times the area was wealthy on the back of the wool trade Sheep farmers and local landowners  made wealthy by the exporting of their wool to Europe through the nearby ports of Ipswich, Felixstowe and Harwich would fund the building of a great church in their area for the glory of God and perhaps more importantly  for their own glory and salvation! And the great churches remain, standing out against the East Anglian sky and surrounded by the few houses of the village or hamlet.

Framlingham castle

At Framlingham we wandered around the castle – walking round the high walls being followed by a crowd of chattering teenagers from, I think, Spain. From high up we could see for miles across the Suffolk countryside – it was clearly a great fortification which, we were reminded, on  reading the various signs was a 12th century Norman motte and bailey castle. The history of the castle is woven into the fabric of English history – Henry of Anjou, Richard the Lionheart, the Wars of the Roses, Bosworth Field, the great families of England such as the Howards and the Dudleys, Lady Jane Grey and Mary Tudor all figured somewhere in its history. In 1553, Framlingham castle was given by King Edward VI to his sister Mary Tudor. She stayed there while waiting her succession to the crown, which hung in the balance.  Mary had proclaimed herself queen whilst at Framlingham and raised her standard and rallied her troops together. Thousands came to the castle. Defections increased in her favour, troops arrived with the earls of Sussex and Bath, and elsewhere in Suffolk, ships in Ipswich harbour mutinied in her support. Her standards were unfurled and military colours were set up. Everyone was armed and ready to fight with pikes, lances and bows. Mary, it is said, rode out from Framlingham Castle at about four o'clock on a Thursday to muster and inspect her loyal army in waiting. Eventually, the Earl of Arundel arrived to inform her she was Queen. Unfortunately, she reigned for only five years until her  early death in 1558 from influenza -  but it is also thought that she may have been suffering from ovarian cancer.  Her Roman Catholic reign was followed  by the  Protestant reign of her half sister Elizabeth 1 and ironically it is estimated that some 280 dissenters to Mary’s Roman Catholic beliefs  were burned at the stake – but during Elizabeth’s reign the situation was reversed and  Framlingham was used as a prison for Roman Catholic priests who defied the Elizabeth’s Church of England!

St. Edmundsbury Cathedral

On Tuesday we packed up our car, said goodbye to our hosts  and set off for a meander through East Anglia – homeward bound. Cutting across country we meandered through Suffolk and eventually into the great flat fenlands of Cambridgeshire – huge expanses of rich farmland. We often found ourselves following slow moving farm vehicles as they moved from farm to farm. We passed though the great race horse centre of England, and indeed the world - Newmarket – past the National Stud and a magnificent racehorse and jockey statue and later we passed close to Ely with its magnificent cathedral standing upright and almost sentry like guarding the miles of fenland around it. But before all this another gem – Bury St Edmunds. We wondered around the great Cathedral of St Edmundsbury – one of the great buildings of England - and around the cathedral gardens. There has been a church on the site since before William the Conqueror -1065  at least - and in 1959 Benjamin Britten wrote “Fanfare for St Edmundsbury” – part of a “Pageant for Magna Carta” held in the cathedral grounds. English history in a nutshell! We sipped a coffee opposite the cathedral and then wandered up the main shopping streets to buy a sandwich for lunch. We loved Bury St Edmunds – another trip seems a good idea and is definitely on the cards

Newmarket - centre
of the horse racing world

And, as we at last got nearer home in the late afternoon, the car radio told us the sorry tale of the G4S Olympic security fiasco – bringing us back down to reality. We hadn’t really followed the news for three or four days – and perhaps felt better for it!  The sights and sounds, the people and the places that we had visited and seen seemed a much better option than the underhanded dealings of the City, bankers, politicians and modern society! 

With its English musical associations, its rolling countryside and seascapes, its tiny hamlets and great churches, its fine food and  good English beer, its reflection of English history and heritage and its strong links with the sea, this part of the world can justifiably claim to be part of John O’Gaunt’s “sceptred isle” as it juts out into the North Sea. And the “Scallop” with its haunting legend seems somehow appropriate – in some way reflecting another traditional English virtue or characteristic – free thought and free speech and a liberal outlook which is strongly rooted in our nation’s history and national psyche from Magna Carta  and the early establishment of parliamentary democracy to today.  Perhaps it is more under threat today than ever before as global economics, power politics, a powerful media and big business threaten to overwhelm the individual - so maybe the words on the “Scallop” on Aldeburgh beach - “I will hear those voices that will not be drowned” -  are an important commentary and a timely reminder not only of what Suffolk and England’s heritage is about but also of what should be our values and what we should all fight to protect and maintain.


It was indeed “the right stuff”!