Spirit of Place: Wolverhampton

Today I have been to Wolverhampton, largely because the Cex shop had in the box set of the Confessions films. Robin Askwith was an early crush of mine, and I just love 1970s sex comedies.
My friend who lives in Wolvo maintains that it's a shithole, but I rather like it. This is not least because it was the scene of several formative memories for me...
Going to a Whimpy bar with my dad (but I don't think either of us had a bender burger.
There was a bookshop in Chapel Ash. At one point it was run by a woman who my mother looked down on because she had concluded she was an alcoholic.
Going to the Grand Theatre, where Dame Hilda Bracket actually spoke to me from the stage on the last time I saw them before she died.
It formed the escape for me as a young gay who had my sights set above a life in Lower Gornal.
Going to Mass at Snow Hill on a Saturday evening so that our parish priest would think I had lapsed from the Catholic faith.
I used to get the bus in from school when I was in the sixth form and go cruising.
So even though Wolverhampton is definitely showing signs of today's economic climate, I am still grateful to it in all sorts of ways.

Gay Men and Their Mothers and Families Again

I have been reading the blog of a man who is Christian and identifies as homosexual rather than gay or queer. What strikes me is that his relationship with his mother is*exactly* like my relationship with my mother and is just the sort of enmeshed, inescapable relationship which I theorise many gay men have with their mothers:

I come from a dysfunctional family. In fact, I think that families that really love each other are a dangerous myth invented by movies and television. To give you some perspective: my mother doesn't talk to her mother, and hadn't spoken to her father for about ten years before he died (and didn't go to his funeral). She doesn't speak to two out of her three living brothers, and the one she is on speaking terms with none of us really like. I cannot be in the same room as my sister, who is, if not my nemesis, certainly the bane of my life and the worst human being I have ever met (an attitude for which my mother ironically scolds me some of the time). My father hasn't spoken to his sister for about fifteen years, and has a cold relationship with his mother who always treated my aunt and cousins with favouritism and who, during the course of my short life, has moved further and further away from us; first to Cornwall, then to France, and now Australia. I wouldn't care if I never saw her again and I don't think my father would either. I barely know my distant relatives; I don't really care for any of my cousins. You can feel the love, can't you.

I seldom, if ever, tell my mother anything of importance. For years growing up I was lulled by her claims to be an unselfish, caring person who was mistreated by her own family, and that her constant comparing my brother and me to other children, her constant put-downs, &c were just my misunderstandings. One parents' evening I shall remember to my dying day. Mrs Wheeler said to my mother: "This boy has produced the best piece of English literature coursework I have ever seen for GCSE." When we got home mother said that Mrs Wheeler obviously hadn't taught English for very long. This was the same parents' evening at which my mother failed to confront my history teacher about her constant bullying, and said afterwards: "well, what was I supposed to say?" Source

Various people responded sympathetically to his post, suggesting various practical things he could do to extricate himself from his situation. The trouble is it actually goes much deeper and is very ambivalent indeed, as the same blogger comments on his other blog:

 By the way, over the years you might have gotten the impression that I dislike my mother. That's a very complex thing but I suppose I could say briefly: don't ever tell me that homosexuals are attached to their mothers. My mother is responsible for considerable emotional damage and from what I can tell she thinks, given her own strained relationship with her mother (for whom I have a lasting affection...strange isn't it?), that that's one of the best things about being a parent. Source

Image source  No judgement is implied of the son's sexuality or his relationship with his mother.

My Lent Book

I have written here before of the practice I have stolen from the Christians of having a Lent book. This is the practice of the Lent book as described in the influential Rule of St Benedict:

During the days of Lent, they should be free in the morning to read until the third hour, after which they will work at their assigned tasks until the end of the tenth hour. During this time of Lent each one is to receive a book from the library, and is to read the whole of it straight through. These books are to be distributed at the beginning of Lent. Above all, one or two seniors must surely be deputed to make the rounds of the monastery while the brothers are reading. Their duty is to see that no brother is so apathetic as to waste time or engage in idle talk to the neglect of his reading, and so not only harm himself but also distract others. If such a monk is found–God forbid–he should be reproved a first and a second time. If he does not amend, he must be subjected to the punishment of the rule as a warning to others. Further, brothers ought not to associate with one another at inappropriate times. Source

I don't see the practice of being given a book to read all the way through, as being that different from two of our traditions in witchcraft. The first that when the student is ready the teacher will appear, and the second, the tradition of being given such things as tarot decks, which tends to take our choice out of it completely. Benedict phrases this allocation of books and the obligation to read through them in a rather doctrinaire way, and this will reflect that many of the monks in monasteries in former times would certainly not be old, and this fact is reflected in a need for a more disciplinary approach.
Personally I do value the gift of a book or magical tool from someone else, as an opportunity to see how someone else sees things, and avoid my own bias. Currently I have a Barbara Walker tarot deck I have been given, which I am looking forward to getting to know, to be exposed to a world view different from my own. So far I have never been given a Lent book and instead like to think of the book choosing me.
This year my book is Joe Orton's sister Leonie's memoir of her famous brother, I Had It In Me. I have ordered it online and never so much as set eyes on it but am looking forward so much to reading it.
Orton is a hero of mine, and has been ever since I discovered his plays in my teens. You can hear a BBC production of his play Loot here. And below is an interview with him. Interestingly he doesn't come across nearly as self-assured in reality as Gary Oldman did playing him in Prick Up Your Ears.

There is just one thing I have noticed, which is an anachronism in the literature about Orton. I noticed it in an interview with Leonie where the journalist commented that they ought to have been together still (he was born in 1933), only his murder intervened. This is of course true, and his death was tragic. But the reality is that if he had lived beyond the 1960s and continued his existing lifestyle, the likelihood is he would have died of AIDS in the 1980s. Orton's generation of gays were doomed and one tragedy prevented another getting him.

The List Reinstated

I used to have a List. It lived in a box on the altar. Part of it was an actual list, and part was newspaper cuttings about local rapists and so on. One day I took my list out and found that (I have the word now) redress had happened to everyone on the list. So I threw it out because, frankly, touchy unforgiving old queen I may be, but even I don't want my space cluttered up with a bunch of turds. Recently though I have found the need to start it again. You can go back a couple of posts to see my altar as it currently is. Divine is now sitting on the list, so my spirit persona can work on what I've got going on. Incidentally it is incredible how many object links of ourselves we give out on a daily basis: things we've touched, signed, and so on. If your issue is with a big corporation, just use their letterhead with intent, and let the universe work on your list. My experience is you only have to think of it occasionally.
And here's a song we can all sing while we do so:

A Very Worthy Cause

I have been rather lacking on the blogging front, I'm afraid. I have been ill again, apart from anything else, but I am back to plug a very worthy cause indeed. 'What?' you may say, 'the Hound using his blog about sacred things to advertise?' Well, yes, but you will see it really is a very good cause indeed, and while I am normally resistant to commercial Wiles, I have only heard good things about this law firm. Yes, it is a law firm, this law firm.
Now normally I'd be cynical about any law firm but there is currently a scheme to the benefit of some survivors of abuse:

Some 7,000 vulnerable children aged between just a few months old and 14 passed through Shirley Oaks children's home run by Lambeth Council from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Hundreds of those children were subjected to sexual, mental and physical abuse over that 30-year period by doctors, teachers, priests, sports coaches and other authority figures.

Lambeth Council has now set up a two-part Redress Scheme for people who, as children, were abused or feared being abused at a Lambeth Children’s Home, and/or Shirley Oaks Primary School.

The Scheme will only remain open for applications until 1 January 2020.

Lambeth Council will pay your legal costs if you use a solicitor to assist in making the application.

Lambeth will not raise the issue of limitation while your claim remains within the scheme which would have expired on your 21st birthday, so most claims would be considered out of time and be statute barred.  You would need good evidence to persuade the court to disapply the strict limitation rules.

The Scheme is split into two stages, firstly, the Harm’s Way Payment and secondly, the Individual Redress Payment.

STAGE ONE

HARM’S WAY PAYMENT

You are able to claim a harm’s way payment if you were abused or feared being abused in a Lambeth Children’s Home or at Shirley Oaks Primary School.  The abuse may have been sexual abuse, other physical abuse, ill treatment, neglect or psychological abuse. 

Under this stage of the scheme, successful applicants will receive a payment of up to £10,000.00 depending on the length of time spent at the home and/or school

(i)                  More than 6 months                     = £10,000.00

(ii)                Between 3 and 6 months              = £5,000.00

(iii)               Between 1 week and 3 months = £2,500.00

(iv)               Less than 1 week                             = £1,000.00

If you were in a specialist unit then the award is £10,000.00 regardless of how long you were there.

No medical examination is required for this stage of the scheme.  You, or your solicitor will need to fill in an application form describing what abuse you experienced or why you feared you would be abused.  This is then submitted to the Lambeth Redress Scheme to be processed.

Lambeth will firstly verify your time in care, to ensure you meet the criteria for the scheme and make the appropriate award depending on the length of time you spent in one of their children’s homes or Shirley Oakes School.  The time frame for this stage of the scheme depends on a number of factors, including how well resourced Lambeth are at the time your claim is submitted to them.  We will aim to lodge your claim with Lambeth as quickly as possible after taking your instructions.  Lambeth should respond with a decision within 30 days, although sometimes they do take longer than this.

If did not experience any physical, sexual or emotional abuse first hand, just fearing it may happen then it is likely the Harm’s Way Payment will be the only stage of the process suitable for you. 

If you were sexually abused, suffered physical or psychological abuse first hand then, depending in the severity of abuse suffered,  it may be appropriate for you to progress to the second stage of the Lambeth Redress Scheme, the Individual Redress Payment.

STAGE TWO

INDIVIDUAL REDRESS PAYMENT

This is a payment that can be made to you if you were resident at a Lambeth Children’s Home and/or Shirley Oaks Primary School and you suffered sexual abuse, and/or physical abuse, and/or psychological injury.

This part of the scheme is assessed by using a tariff according to the severity of the abuse you suffered and the harm it caused you.  In order to establish the extent of the harm caused, under this stage of the scheme you will need to see a Consultant Psychiatrist who will meet with you and prepare a report detailing the abuse suffered and the effects this has had on your life to date and into the future.

If you received a Harm’s Way Payment and continue onto the Individual Redress part of the scheme then the payment made under the Harm’s Way part of the scheme is viewed as an interim payment on account of compensation generally and will be taken into account when assessing the value of your final compensation payment.  For example, if the full value of your claim is assessed at £20,000.00 and you received a Harm’s Way Payment of £10,000.00 then you would receive an additional £10,000.00 to bring you up to the value of your claim. 

It is possible at the lower end of the scheme that the Individual Redress Payment would provide no further compensation if your claim is valued at the same level or less than the Harm’s Way Payment you received.  If we deal with your claim on your behalf we will advise you in this regard at the appropriate stage.

If you think you would be eligible to lodge a claim under the scheme and would like legal assistance, please contact us to help. Source

Now you may ask what my interest in this is. Redress is a subject which interests me as a witch because it circumvents my issues with the notions of Justice, punishment and reward. While cash cannot repair a wrecked life it nonetheless gives some tangible acknowledgement that what has happened is wrong. As a survivor of clergy abuse myself I am of course aware of the reputation people get in this field and I genuinely have never heard anything bad about that firm. There! You never thought you would hear a ringing endorsement from the Hound did you!
But in the case of Shirley Oaks what makes me particularly interested is that I knew one of the shits that did it.

Spirit of Place: Sheffield

The Hound has finally made it to Sheffield, which has been on my list of places to do for yonks.
The main reason is the terribly blokey one that I've always wanted to see Park Hill, which is Europe's biggest listed building. The tale of architectural optimism, decline, listing, social cleansing and restoration using private funds has been told repeatedly so I won't repeat it again. There were originally two of these monster housing estates in Sheffield, and the council succeeded in demolishing the other one but didn't get to this one before English Heritage listed it. Anecdotes of living there before the listing clearly indicate it was intended to be demolished; for example a bloke would abseil down the outside and just chip off any loose bits of concrete, a procedure which is death to a concrete building. I hadn't realised until now what a poor state the unrestored part is in.
This is what the listing says:

II* ... Flats and maisonettes. 1957-60 by Sheffield Corporation City Architect's Department under J L Womersley, designed by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith with F E Nicklin and John Forrester (artist); Ronald Jenkins of Ove Arup and Partners, engineer. Formally opened in 1961 by Hugh Gaitskell. Reinforced concrete frame, partly board marked, with concrete balcony fronts and brick infill in four shades - a progression of purple, terracotta, light red and cream. Continuous flat roof of even height throughout the estate. 995 flats on 17 acres (total site 32 acres) at density of 192 ppa and a unit cost of £2,800 each (total cost £2,158,591). The scheme includes 31 shops, 4 pubs, a laundry boiler house, Garchey refuse station and garages. The flats and maisonettes were designed on a steeply sloping site (gradient 1 in 10) keeping a constant roof level, so that the height of the blocks range from four to thirteen storeys. A standard three-bay unit with central staircases set in pairs in H-shaped frame is the main unit of construction and design, each containing a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom flat, a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom maisonette, all with balconies. Access decks at every third floor serve maisonettes on and above the deck and one-storey flats set below. The innovatory width of these four 'street decks' was a key feature of the architects' concept; all save the uppermost (Norwich Row) debouches on to ground level at some part of the scheme, and are served by 13 lifts and two large goods' lifts which gave milk floats and other services direct access to the decks, enhancing the image of 'streets in the sky'. Park Hill is formed of four ranges linked by bridges across the upper decks, all cranked at obtuse angles (between 112 and 135 degrees) to maximise the site aspect and panoramic views. Lifts (mainly in pairs), stairs, pubs and laundry are set at nodal points. Shops, boiler house and former garchey station set on lowest point of site to north west. Elevations treated as a regular exposed grid of the board-marked concrete frame. Balconies on those elevations not served by decks give to a rhythmic 2:1 pattern in both directions across facades, varied only at corners. Balconies and decks with vertical concrete balustrading, similar pattern to slender steel balustrading to bedrooms. Timber windows with aluminium horizontal opening sections. Flush timber doors. Interiors. The rigid grid of flats and maisonettes ensures that kitchens and bathrooms are stacked in pairs to facilitate servicing. Interiors not of special interest. The Pavement area of shops. Most shops retain original varnished timber shutters and glazed shopfronts in timber surrounds over concrete plinth with weathering. Many shopfronts - including Neils News and the grocery opposite - have timber panelled dado. These original shopfronts survive behind later security shutters. Linked two-storey block with open stairwell and columns clad in gold mosaic. Housing Area Office later and not of special interest. Public Houses. There are four on the estate, all of which retain most of their original features. All are four-bay units in the ground floor of the block, mostly close to the shopping centre. All have common plan: they face in two directions, with a lounge on one side and public bar on the other, linked by central bar and glazed screen. The Earl George Public House, The Pavement, retains original fenestration of single lights (with applied later latticework) over inset timber panels, with set-back clerestorey glazing. Original bar with later facing panels, and timber boarded surround, set under lowered ceiling with inset lighting. Marble tiled flooring round bar and main entrance. The Link, Gilbert Row. Four-bay canted front, formed of timber panels in concrete bays with mosaic spandrels, with painted mosaic fronts. Public bar entrance on internal court has three projecting canted bays and entrance with original doors. Public bar retains bar and fixed bench surrounds. The lounge has been remodelled. Scottish Queen, Gilbert Row. Brick faced. Tripartite windows set forward, only the large upper lights glazed, the others infilled with timber panels. Clerestorey glazing above level with building line. Original bar counter. Timber columns with bevelled and varnished timber boarding, marble tiled floors. Original doors, screen between bars with glazed tiles and later coloured glass. Fixed bench seating in both bars. Adjacent are public lavatories, clad in grey and gold mosaic, disused in 1996. The Parkway, Hague Row. Fenestration with projecting four bays of timber windows over timber dado and set back clerestorey, the surrounds clad in slate hanging, with two-bay mosaic mural. Original interior with central bar and bevelled timber panelling; fixed seating to both bars. Park Hill Social Centre on two levels with ramp to upper entrance. Brick with concrete cornice, roof and sills; timber windows. Interior with sprung timber floor. Source

Funny how architectese makes such a derided building sound nice. Sadly I went too late. You can only walk round the outside, and the inner courtyards are sealed up tighter than a virgin's arse, so you don't get the truly monumental feeling of the building. Urbexers' reports of the building may be found here, here, and here.
Ok, so I've now seen it. Do I think it deserved listing? Frankly, no, except as an architectural curiosity. I'm biased but IMHO Birmingham Central Library was a more special building.
Witchily, I think a place's character is shown in its witches. Sheffield is known for Patricia Crowther's coven. I see it also has a Goddess temple and the witch shop is called Airy Fairy. For once I'm not passing comment, although in my view the local men seem quite hot! 😚

Turds: Pope's UK envoy fails to give evidence to abuse inquiry

Hello witches. Here is something we really need to work on...

The Vatican’s most senior diplomatic representative in the UK has been accused of “hiding behind his diplomatic immunity” in his failure to provide vital evidence relating to the nuncio’s handling of allegations of child sexual abuse at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s school in west London despite repeated requests from the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA). 

In a letter sent on Monday (4 February) a solicitor from the firm Howe & Co has called on the Prime Minister to expel Archbishop Edward Adams, Papal Nuncio in the UK, from the country “for obstructing this nationally important investigation into child abuse in England and Wales”. 

In the letter, addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May and seen by the Tablet, lawyer David Enright reminds Mrs May of her statement of March 2015 that the national child sex abuse inquiry would “challenge individuals and institutions without fear or favour and get to the truth.” 

He continues: “Our clients now look to you to honour that commitment, and to compel Archbishop Adams to offer up the evidence he holds that is vital to the investigation into child sexual abuse at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School. 

“Should Archbishop Adams fail to comply with the request of the Chair of the IICSA, Professor Alexis Jay, and instead use his diplomatic privileges to avoid providing evidence about child abuse in Ealing, then our clients ask that you exercise your power to expel him from the UK for obstructing this nationally important investigation into child abuse in England and Wales.”

Riel Karmy-Jones QC, counsel to IICSA, in her opening statement to the inquiry on Monday confirmed that a series of letters have been sent to Archbishop Adams. “As part of the investigation,” Karmy-Jones said, “the solicitor to the inquiry has written to to the apostolic nuncio to request that he provide a statement in connection with these investigations”. 

Ms Karmy-Jones said the inquiry had received confirmation from the nuncio that its request was “being carefully considered”.

“Despite a number of further requests for updates the inquiry has not yet received a statement or any substantive responses to its correspondence,” she said. 

Mr Enright, addressing the inquiry, said that the papal nuncio’s refusal to answer questions on pressing child abuse matters was “astonishing”. He continued that the catholic church’s “flagrant disregard” of the national’s inquiry request for evidence “cannot go unchallenged”. 

Addressing the inquiry’s chair, Professor Alexis Jay, he called for her to to issue a “Rule 9 statement” request to the Nuncio, backed by a section 21 notice, advising him that if he did not comply with her request for evidence, that she would subject him to criminal proceedings. The penalty for which is up to 51 weeks imprisonment. 

The papal nuncio’s office had been involved in handling complaints about abuse at St Benedict’s and other Catholic schools and had also conducted their own investigations into the school, Mr Enright told the inquiry. 

Richard Scorer, abuse lawyer at the law firm Slater and Gordon, said: “It is absolutely outrageous that the papal nuncio seeks to hide behind diplomatic immunity to avoid giving information to the inquiry. Yet again it shows the Vatican stalling and covering up scandal and gives the lie to their claims of change.”

IICSA on Monday began a five-day hearing into Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School in the second part of its investigation into the English Benedictine Congregation. The Inquiry previously heard evidence relating to Ampleforth and Downside in December 2017. 

Since the early 2000’s, several clergy associated with Ealing Abbey have faced allegations of historical offences against boys at St Benedict’s School in Ealing. Among them are two former monks Andrew Soper, previously known as Laurence Soper, who was convicted in December 2017 of 19 charges of rape and other sexual abuses against 10 boys at the school, and David Pearce, who was jailed in 2009 after he admitted 11 charges of indecent assault dating back to 1972.

Ruth Henke QC, on behalf of Ealing Abbey Monastic Community told the inquiry: “I offer a sincere, unreserved and profound apology to each and every survivor. For all the harm caused to survivors, we are truly, truly sorry and will never cease saying sorry.”

In a separate statement issued on Monday, Christopher Jamison, Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation (EBC), said: “I am truly sorry for what has happened and apologise unequivocally to all those who suffered and were abused by anyone connected with our abbeys and schools.

“IICSA’s report published in 2018 highlighted how flawed many of our past responses have been. We continue to work conscientiously to ensure our communities are safe environments for young people both now and in the future. We know how important this work is to survivors as well.

“I am not in a position to comment further ahead of my appearance at the IICSA hearing on the EBC but afterwards I will be able to provide an update on the continuous improvement to safeguarding being undertaken by the EBC.

"Whilst the Inquiry hearings will continue to hear from victims and survivors, there may be others whose voices have not been heard and to whom we should listen. If they have not yet contacted the authorities I would urge them to do so.”

Abbot Jamison is due to give evidence to the inquiry on behalf of the EBC on 8 February. 

Contacted by The Tablet, the Nunciature refused to comment. Source

The illustration is of His Eminence Vincent Cardinal Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, and I got it from this blog.