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www.celtic-connection.com
JUNE2014
'It's a great comfort knowing the British eccentric is still alive...and kicking'
HIS month the political news has been dominated by elections for the European Parliament and the local councils in England.
Throughout history people have fought and given their lives in the cause of democracy, but in an age where trust and respect for politicians seems to be at an all-time low, many people now regard voting as pointless. They feel their vote makes no difference, so why bother.
Back in the 1980s an eccentric rock and rolling, self-proclaimed Earl, calling himself Screaming Lord Sutch', founded the 'Official Monster Raving Loony Party'. He holds a record for losing all 40 elections in which he stood.
He did not exactly have the establishment quaking in their boots, but was an option for disillusioned voters and gave us all a good laugh at the same time.
Sadly Lord Sutch is now ripping it up with the angels and 30 years on, a new extraordinary option for the protest vote has emerged, the United Kingdom Independent Party, known as UKIP
For months Nigel Farage, their leader and by some distance their most charismatic member, has hammered home two points to the electorate.
Firstly, that the UK should leave the European Union, and secondly, that immigration is out of control.
Farage portrays himself as a jolly good chap who enjoys his beer down the pub. He has us believe that he entered politics because the powers that be just aren't listening to the people.
The leaders of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties dismissed him as a racist with no answers to Britain's problems, but the result of the election has shaken the establishment to the core.
UKIP won 150 local council seats and topped the pole in the European elections. If they weren't listening before, they are now.
This month several traditional outdoor events took place in weather conditions which, for a pleasant change, have been mainly kind.
The Dorset Knob throwing competition
If there is anyone who has not heard of, and not yet broken a tooth on, a Dorset knob, it is a hard savoury biscuit.
The knobs are made from bread dough containing extra sugar and are produced in the English county of Dorset by the Moore family since the 1860s.
Rolled by hand and baked three times, these tasty, large, bullets, best eaten with Dorset Blue Vinney cheese, are reputed to have been the favourite food of the author Thomas Hardy.
This year over 5,000 attended the knob throwing competition held in the village of Cattistock and the winner was Dave Morrison who "Tossed his Knob" 21.8 metres (71 feet).
Morrison received his winning biscuit, a plaque and his name is added to a board in the village hall.
The Cheese Rolling Races
POSTCARD FROM LONDON
By
ELFAN JONES
In Brockworth, Gloucestershire, several thousand people turned out to watch the annual Cheese Rolling Races.
This annual race meeting has taken place since the Fifteenth Century. For the last 25 years a selection of the seven or eight pound Double Gloucester cheese used for the races has been produced by 87-year-old Diana Smart.
The cheese is rolled down the hill and the competitors chase after it. The winner is either the person who catches it or is first past a line at the bottom of the hill.
Winner of the first race was 19-year-old local man Josh Shepherd who doesn't like cheese.
There are several races up and down the hill with entrants and winners from all over the world.
This year Sheldon Ronald from Mel-
COMPETITORS tumble down Coopers Hill in pursuit of a round Double Gloucester cheese as thousands of spectators gathered to watch the annual cheese-rolling event near the village of Brockworth in Gloucestershire.
bourne, Australia was a winner and Ann-Marie D'Amico from Canada was third in the Women's Downhill Cheese Race.
A Dutch contingent offered a Gouda cheese for an extra race down the steep 200 yard hill course, but sadly the cheese disintegrated three quarters of the way down the hill.
The Robert Dover Cotswold Olimpicks (Not a spelling error)
This year was the 401st annual Olimpicks held near Chipping Campden
in the heart of the Cotswold region.
Details are scarce regarding its origin but credit for its creation is given to Robert Dover, a lawyer in the early Seventeenth Century.
It appears that the games were given royal approval by King James 1(1567-1625).
This year's events include a five mile race, a tug of war competition, and a static long jump, but the main attraction is the British Shin Kicking Championship.
Combatants wear soft shoes and stuff
their trousers with straw, and then whilst holding on to each other's collar attempt to kick their opponent to the floor.
Apparently it is very painful and winners seldom return to defend their
In years gone by they wore steel capped boots, the thought of which brings tears to my eyes.
I find it a real comfort to know the good old British eccentric is still alive... and kicking.
Best wishes Elfan
'A black day for motor racing in Scotland'
EDINBURGH - Three people have been killed and six more injured in crashes at a motor rally in Scotland on June 1.
Cars hit spectators lining the track in two separate incidents hours apart at the Jim Clark Rally near Kelso.
The most serious accident happened at Little Swinton, near Coldstream, at about 4 PM when a racing car veered off the road into the crowd.
One woman and two men were pronounced dead at the scene and another man was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
In a similar accident two hours earlier, five spectators - four men and one woman - were injured near Crosshall Farm on the Eccles stage of the track. Two escaped with minor injuries but the others are in hospital, including one in intensive care.
About250 competitors had been taking part in the rally, which takes place over three days and is one of the largest in the UK. Thousands of spectators were watching the action but it was immediately abandoned after the fatal crash.
The rally is named after Scottish Formula One driver Jim Clark, who grew up in the area and was killed in a motor racing accident in Hockenheim, Germany, in 1968.
Superintendent Phil O'Kane said. "I'd like to offer my condolences from Police Scotland, Scottish Borders Council and the organisers of the Jim Clark Rally for the tragic circumstances that bring us here."
The rally was cancelled after the fatal crash and the Eccles stage was suspended after the first accident, he said.
Questions remain about where people were standing and how the cars left the road.
O'Kane said responsibility for safety rests with the rally's organising committee. "I do know it is well stewarded, safety is a very big consideration in the planning of it," he added.
Eyewitnesses to the fatal crash described "terrible" scenes.
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, called the crashes "desperately sad and difficult news."
He said, "My thoughts are with all of those involved and the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives. The government is in contact with Police Scotland and we await the outcome of their inquiries.
"The Jim Clark Rally is a long-standing event of over 40 years.
"It is much loved in the Borders and by the rally driving community who I know will share in our sadness at what is a black day for the Borders and for Scotland."
I
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THE SCENE of the crash at the Jim Clark Rally where a racing car veered off the road into the crowd killing three people and leaving one in critical condition. In a similar accident two hours earlier, five spectators were injured on the Eccles stage of the track.