Two little bits of old England.

On Monday evening, just as dusk was falling, the Wessex Morrismen came to our village to dance outside the King's Arms pub and hotel. They danced energetically with both handkerchiefs and sticks, accompanied by a fiddler and accordian. It was a colourful and stirring sight and it was good to see this "little bit of old England". No-one is really sure when Morris dancing started but there are references to it in documents going back to the 1500s.

Also this week we saw a group of Romanies, making their way along the road with their horse-drawn canvas-covered caravans as they have done for hundreds of years. Imagine living in such a tiny van in an English winter. This was near Shepton Mallet in Somerset just a short distance from Glastonbury, where the annual midsummer music festival is held.

Malvern Weekend

This last weekend we met up with six friends who we first got to know more than 20 years ago when we all lived in Hertfordshire - none of us were Hertfordshire people but we all lived there for quite a few years when we commuted to London. In the last 8 years some of us have moved again but we still get together from time to time. This year we met in the Malvern area of Worcestershire, where the great English composer Sir Edward Elgar lived (1857 - 1934). We talked, enjoyed some superb meals, talked some more and generally had a great time. On Saturday the rain relented for several hours, allowing us to enjoy a sunny hike through the glorious countryside of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. How did our kind hosts arrange this unexpected break in the weather? The photo shows us dining at the Yorkshire Grey pub/restaurant, near Upton-on-Severn. We can recommend it for friendly hospitality and cuisine.

Photos from Benin

I had some difficulty attaching the photos to my previous blog but here they are. The dental clinic ones are not of good quality as they were taken from the inside of a Land Rover which had to negotiate the flooded road, turn sharp right, cross the ditch and shoot up a slippery slope over big lumps of rubble and a 6 inch concrete sill before skidding into the clinic - a marvellous performance by the young American lady driver, who does it every weekday. The other photos show the agricultural college under construction and a student spraying the crop with a natural aphid deterrent derived from a local plant.

Mercy Ships talks

Staying with our family on the Africa Mercy each year enables us to keep up to date with information and photographs which we use for the Mercy Ships talks we give to groups throughout Dorset and Somerset. This year we spent a day "assisting" the Mercy Ships dental team in a temporary clinic they have established in Cotonou. There are very few dentists in Benin and when we arrived at 9am there was already a queue of over 70 people, some of whom had been there all night. The five volunteer dentists (from Norway, Australia and the UK) treated them all before the end of the day. David spent a morning watching eye surgery on the ship whilst Jenny went to an orphanage. We also visited a reception centre set up by Mercy Ships in a warehouse in the city where patients from up-country can be prepared and sleep the night before their operation and then wait for someone to take them home the night after their operation. This frees up more bed space on the ship, where there are 78 beds for patients. Finally Olly drove us 30 miles into the bush to a site where Mercy Ships is paying for and managing the construction of a residential training college for 25 agricultural students. Nearby a Mercy Ships volunteer from the Congo had already established plots of maize and beans and was teaching students pioneering ways of getting nutrients direct to the plants, rather than to the entire field.

Birthday boy and SCUBA diver

It was Olly's40th birthday whilst we were on the Africa Mercy and we enjoyed watching him opening the cards and presents which we had taken out with us (see photo). One present (from his brother Ben and family) which he particularly appreciated was a SCUBA diver's watch. Two or three times a week Olly and his diving buddy have to go deep down beneath the ship to remove polythene bags and other waste from the grill of the water intake. If they did not do this the engines would overheat and the whole ship would grind to a halt. The water is filthy and visibility almost nil so they have to clean the grill by feel. The photos show Olly proudly pointing to his new watch and the divers in the filthy water. Nothing could persuade me to go into that water and under the ship - they are very brave.

My mistake

In my last item I should have given Olly's blog as www.peetfamily.org.uk Sorry!

The Republic of Benin, West Africa

We've just returned from our annual trip to West Africa to see our son and his family who live, work and go to school on the Mercy Ship, Africa Mercy, the largest non government hospital ship in the world. This year the Africa Mercy is in the port of Cotonou in the Republic of Benin, a French speaking country which used to be called Dahomey. We stayed on the ship for a week and had a great time, talking, playing with our three grandchildren, more talking, visiting places, having meals out together, playing board games and doing the things that families do. It was also a great opportunity to see our son, Olly, his wife Sally, and all the other crew of 400 or so volunteers working hard to bring help and healing to the poor of the world. Despite the average income being less than three US dollars a day we found the people of Benin, like most West Africans, cheerful, friendly and welcoming. It was the rainy season and many homes were flooded with several inches of water, an annual occurrence which the people accept with a shrug. Fortunately for us the rain fell mainly overnight or early in the day, then the sun came out, but on our last day it poured torrentially for 8 hours - for more details and photos see Olly's blog http://www.peetfamily.co.uk/