There was an obituary in yesterday's Independent. it was for a medical researcher with the name of Bach.he was born in Vienna & he & his brother were evacuated in the Kinder Transport after Kristallnacht. he ended up in the States where he became the man who pioneered the first bone marrow transplants, doing much work on making them acceptable to recipients. he must have been responsible for the saving of hundreds of thousands of lives. yet, according to Nazi ideology, he was not fit to live, and had he stayed in Vienna, he would have perished, like his grandparents in a concentration camp. How come these human beings get to do such terrible acts? They must believe that everyone who is not of their kind should not be allowed to exist.

There is a programme repeated on BBC4 this evening which we saw last week, it is about the first documentaries to be filmed. it is very good and well produced. During the film when the film makers became the GPO Film Unit, a clip came up. I recognised it - Crewe station & I immediately knew what was to come - the story of the making of "Night Mail" - a wonderful film telling the story of the run of the Mail train from Euston to Glasgow & Edinburgh. This was a route I knew so well, as far as Carlisle, that is. I travelled with my parents to & from Euston (then to Kent), & the same to carlisle when my brother lived there.When I was a student, I also rode that line. How tragic that so many trains have gone, though I believe there are more passengers now that there were. recently I posted a message on the Board which was immediately messed up by people who had no idea what I meant. If you see that film & the Mitchell & Kenyon ones that are being repeated, you might know what I meant. Everyone, but everyone is wearing the same clothes. men, flat caps or bowlers, dark suits, ties & waistcoats. Women hats, dark clothes, long skirts. Children hats, the same style dresses for the girls & the same trousers, jackets etc for the boys. it was so boring & suffocating. I really do enjoy watching how people - and their children dress in these less strict times.

this morning, as I was driving to the park, to exercise the dog, on radio 3, they played Voughan Williams "Linden Lea". I was back at school in a music lesson with Miss Eley who taught us that lovely song. i was so lucky to have her as a music teacher, she introduced us to so much music - and the equipment she had was that of the time, a record player etc. Later on, I heard the beginning of the next programme and they played the  Overture to "Midsummer Night's Dream" by Mendlessohn, this time I was back at Haigh hall, with the Little Theatre's  open air production. it was wonderful. I was so fortunate to have grown up with such lovely experiences.

I would like to express my thanks for the wonderful photos that are shown in the Photo a Day, especially the bird ones. I am married to a good photographer, my brother was one. I am just a record shot taker, but I do know a good picture when I see it. I am particularly grateful just now when there is, what to me is an incomprejensible crime, a member of a human subspecies shooting swans on the Somerset levels. There is a lot of upset, especially in that area, and this weekend there are several people who are trying to watch over the swan population in that area. there is also a reward of over £26,00 for anyone who can help to get whoever it is. Terry Pratchett has given £10,000 towards it, & if you heard him speak about it, he is so angry. How can anyone do this awful thing, they are such beautiful creatures? One has recovered but will not be returned to the place, another home has been found for her. it gives me hope when I see the wonderful photos that are taken by WW members,with  such care & love towards the birds.

Today would have been my brother's 90th. birthday - Richard Morris. He was a credit to Wigan & especially Wigan Tech. He did godd service in the war in the R.A.F. Afterwards he was a Technical college lecturer, then Principal - twice. he was a family man, loved his wife & children. Not only that, he was a wonderful brother to me. it is not easy to describe the relationship we had - he was 14 years older and had to lead his own life, yet he still found time to care for me, I spent most of my school holidays with them, he took me places, many of which I still remember. To those who bleat on about asylum seekers  should know this, we are descended from asylum seekers - Huguenots - they also suffered the same castigation as those of today, remember he, and other relatives of ours gave great service to this country, as I am sure today's asylum seekers will. I give my thanks to a fine man of whom I am proud.

Comments under one of the photos in the album have made me go back in time - the discussion was about the Brickcroft pond which used to be near Millers Lane in Platt Bridge. It must have been just after the end of the war, but my brother was demobbed, we were just apporaching the path by the Brickcroft, I can't remember where we were going. An old friend of my brother's met us, I did not know him, but I loved him instantly, he reached in his pocket & pulled out a packet of sweets & gave them to me. I cannot remember the name of them - they were sugar coated liquoice "bombers". They chatted for a while, then my brother asked him about his war time experiences. The atmosphere changed as he told us about something that would probably be with him for ever. He was in the army, retreating in the jumgle in Burma when he was injured. The enemy was coming rapidly, so his comrades hid him, & left him & said they would return when they could. He heard the enemy nearby, & was sure he would be found, but he wasn't. His comrades did return & took him off to be treated. i was not in my teens then, but I will never forget his face & body as he told us that.

I have been going to the Pantomime all my life, we have taken our children, and now we take our grand daughters. For some reason we used to go after Chritsmas, but for a couple of years now, we have gone before. it is a wonderful experience. The atmosphere is electric. Yesterday, we went. We always have a well produced one here in Bath, and since the modernisation, the effects are stupendous. At the begininning, it was announced that anyone who looked at the Princess, would be killed, the little girl in front of us covered her face when she came on!. her Grandfather chatted with us during the interval, and when she went on stage with her brother, he was wiping the tears from his eyes. When aske what did she want for Christmas, the other little girl replied, very defiantly "Headlights".  I was brought up in a time & place where children were loved and cared for by all, we felt safe when we were out playing - which can't happen now. This atmosphere was present there, not to be forgotten.

I am reading a book about the Industrial revolution in Lancashire  "Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives". I found the first chapter quite upsetting. Life in the Industrial parts of Lancashire was horrendous - for ordinarypeople that is. I couldn't help thinking of my Mum's forebears during this time and how they must have suffered. I find it quite shocking even now that I was the first member of the family to have been born in a house with an indoor toilet & with hot water. I remember children with Ricketts & how every summer, there was an epidemic of Polio. The flashes & the canal with dead dogs floating by. of all the progress that has been made, one of my favourites, which I still rejoice in, is the fact that you can wear what you want. I cannot wear a hat except for my woolley cap in this snow, because I had to wear one from when I was 9 until I was 18. I would do away with school uniform as well. I took my dog out late this morning, never again in term time, it was horrendous. There is a boys' school next to the park where I go & it has 2 side entrances in the park. The park & school are at the top of a hill & the boya have to be brought up to the side entrances - having been driven round the park first & I saw queues of cars waiting at these pathways. it isn't as if there were no other entrances - both on roads, I cannot understand it. Thinking of my schooldays, I had to walk to the bus stop, catch the bus, then walk up Wigan Lane - my Dad didn't have a car. I'm being a ranting old biddy, sorry.

I thought I had better expand  a lkittle on what I said on the thread about Left handers  yesterday. First, I was a teacher of children with special needs in  a mainstream secondary school. While on a course once given by Reading University,  I learned quite a lot about this area, and was able to get a set of tests for diagnostic purposes. There was a lad whose parents were very worried about him, he was obviously quite bright, but could not do the work asked of him. So, he became my guinea pig. I gave him the full battery of tests - over a few weeks, and discovered that his problem was to do with laterality. Most people are right eyed, right handed and right footed, some are the same but on the left side. Now he was cross sided, I forget which way. His pqrents were both teachers, and had access to computers , by computers I mean those that we used in those days, no hard drive, & you had to put in a disc to access a programme. We got him a touchtyping disc & most of his problems were solved!  He did rather well from that time on. Now, because of what happened to me, I am left eyed, left footed, but right handed. It has caused me many problems, the worst being that my writing is truly awful & I could never draw as I wished. I had some help when I began to learn to play the organ, because I had to do excercises with hands & feet in different  ways, but the real help came when I got a touch typing course. When at my computer a while back, I thought I would see what was available on line, I found the one I mentioned, it is the BBC course, and I can't recommend it enough, it is so clever, & so funny - it begins with a horse speaking with a Liverpool accent!  my grandaughters love it, whizzed through it & are quite proficient.

Today is the 195th. anniversary of Britain's worst rail disaster. A train full of a battalion of Scots Guards was involved in 2 collisions at Quntishill near Gretna Green. The train doors were all locked to stop deserters leaving and the the lighting was gas. 227 young men were killed. it was hushed up. We only heard of it through a book called "Red for Danger" by LTC Rolt. it was published in today's Independent. I grew up with trains, my Dad was a Goods Guard, worked all hours, but he made sure that he made use of his privelege tickets for the whole family. Until we grew too immobile to travel, we used to take train journeys throughout Europe, and I really miss them, so incidents like this really affect me.