Viva Lewes Issue #149 February 2019

COLUMN
Lewes Out Loud
Plenty more Henty
What is there not to like about
my favourite colour – yellow
– apart from the fact that it
is the one chosen by Chelsea
FC for their away strip this
season? Normally in blue, the
West London side defeated my
South London strugglers by a
single goal over the Christmas
holidays, and that made me
see red.
Otherwise though, anything
that reflects the sunshine at this
drab time of the year has to be
good news, doesn’t it? Custard
on crumble, mustard on ham and, waiting in
the wings, hopefully, a host of golden (yellow)
daffodils ready to herald the spring.
Why, even Donovan, all those years ago, burst
into song about Mellow Yellow and did you know
that he also helped write the lyrics for Paul
McCartney’s Yellow Submarine?
Famously, he met the Beatles in February
1968 when they all travelled separately to
Rishikesh in Northern India to learn about
transcendental meditation from Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi. It was an extraordinary
gathering, recalled by Donovan in a moving
documentary on television in December.
On a personal note, I have practised TM with
a small group of friends here in Lewes for
over 30 years. I learned the simple procedure
whilst working in Brighton and have found it
so helpful to my creative life in many different
ways. How politicians, both locally and
nationally, would benefit from sitting quietly
for a few minutes before, and after, the business
of the day. School children too.
Town centre ‘silence’ was broken for a short
time just before the Christmas
festivities with the solemn
tolling of Gabriel, the market
tower bell. Unannounced,
it puzzled me at first as I
foolishly imagined, for a
moment, that perhaps it
warned of invasion of our
shores or worse.
However, all was explained by
a charming woman standing
alone outside the Town Hall.
She said she was a member of
the Wratten family of local
bell ringers and the ringing
of Gabriel, for ten minutes, was part of a
ceremony, unique to Lewes.
I learned that the Armistice of 11 November
1918 was not THE Armistice but the first,
which had to be prolonged three times. The
playing of the Last Post followed and will be
repeated, finally, on 16 February at 11 a.m.
Other brief encounters this month? A fellow
I shall call my biochemist ‘buddy’, Derek,
outside the House of Friendship. He prefers
home cooking, he told me, and burnt porridge
was his speciality when a boy scout! On a bus
journey to and from Brighton, fellow Lewes FC
owner, Michael, and his wife, Ann.
Talking of the mighty Rooks, I was impressed
by the public address announcer at the
Dripping Pan recently. I’ve done the job at
several major football grounds myself, so can
imagine his apprehension when announcing
the Lewes ‘man of the match’ against Burgess
Hill. Olumide Oluwatimilehin, a new signing,
had an excellent game.
My psychedelic illustration? A more colourful
me! John Henty
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