Walking the "Devizes Bounds" on New Year's Day 2015.

 Walking on "Park Pale" where once a wooden fence would have stood on the ridge to protect the deer park.  The ditch is to the left of the photo.

We do this walk every year on New Year's Day, a tradition established way back in 2007.  It was a damp and miserable morning, so only 10 walkers turned out to brave the drizzle.  The entire Bounds walk is approx 8 miles long, but today we walked the most interesting half, totalling 4 miles.   The walk took around two hours, and on arrival back in Devizes, we had a well earned drink and meal in a local pub.

 Standing and chatting on the line of the old railway.

Devizes castle, now a Victorian folly, which stands on the site of a castle dating from the 12th century.

Sorting the Music for the Devizes Chamber Choir´s Spring concert.

 Sorting the music for the Sops, altos, tenors and basses.

I´ve been singing again with the Devizes Chamber Choir, and inadvertently offered to be the choir´s librarian!    Not an easy job!   This spring we will sing Vivaldi´s "Gloria"  Nielsen´s "Springtime in Funen" and "Be Still, My Soul" from "Finlandia" by Sibelius.  I have sung the "Gloria" several times, but not the Nielsen or the Sibelius, although I know the tune very well.   I am looking forward to some good singing in the New Year.

Three scores for each of the 50 members of the choir.

Each singer will need three scores, so I spent an afternoon numbering each copy from 1 to 50, and then bundled them into groups of three.   There is always a little chaos at the beginning of each new term, when everyone has to collect their music, and even more when it all has to be collected, and returned to the music library.  Happy Days!

Carols by Candlelight in St Mary´s Church, Devizes

 The Norman high altar in St Mary´s Church.

St Mary´s Church, one of three medieval churches in Devizes, lies redundant at the moment.  It is kept alive with one service a week, and attempts are being made to turn the lovely space into a community arts centre.   The plans for an extension have been turned down twice, which is most unfortunate.  We sang a carol service here in 2013, so hopefully this will become an annual event.  We sang without an accompaniment, and managed to stay reasonably in tune.

 What a wonderful light in which to sing.

My candle and carol sheet, and not easy to photograph with one hand!  

I had problems trying to sing, hold a candle and take some photographs, and in the process I managed to get my right hand covered in hot wax.  Mince pies and mulled wine were served after the service, which were very welcome.

Out Walking near Jubilee Wood, Rowde near Devizes

 Jubilee Wood, near Rowde, where hundreds of trees have been planted to celebrate the Queen´s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

It was a cold day, but well worth the 3.5 mile walk from my home to the wood and then back up the Caen Hill flight of locks.  Having eaten too much over Christmas, I was in need of a good, fast walk.  I planted six of the above trees, although I´m now not sure which ones.

The Rowde Village plaque.

Rowde village consists of mainly brick built houses, although a number of 17th century buildings still remain in the village centre.   These include the "George and Dragon" public house.   "The Cross Keys" a pub built in 1938, now stands on the site of a timber framed and thatched building, which unfortunately burnt to the ground.  The 15th century church of St Matthew stands in the centre of the village.

Up on the Civil War Battlefield Site on Roundway Down.

 Could this be "Bloody Ditch?"

The Royalists won this battle on top of Roundway Down, and at some point in the fight, the Parliamentarian Cavalrymen were driven off the edge of the Down and into the so named "Bloody Ditch."  There are several ditches, and no one is really sure which one it was.

 A distant "Oliver´s Castle,"  not that Oliver Cromwell was ever there!

This promontory, topped with trees, is the site of a neolithic hill fort.  It must have been very chilly up there on a dark and stormy night!

Oliver´s Castle showing the steep chalk escarpment, that drops down to the lower greensand.

Pond Dipping at Caen Hill.

 Walking to the top of the Caen Hill flight with a party of local school children.

The "Canal and River Trust" run nature courses for children every summer.  I joined a group on Wednesday, and followed them, as they walked from Devizes Wharf to the top of the Caen Hill flight of locks, and thank goodness the sun shone!  

 Catching bugs and butterflies with nets.

Pond dipping at the top pound.

"Canal and River Trust " volunteers work with the children,  to show them the wonders of natural life at the top of Caen Hill

Grubbing About in the Gravel at Moon´s Quarry, Radstock.

 Not just a pile of gravel, and treasure chest for geologists!

 Waiting to climb into the minibus at the Somerset Earth Science Centre.

In Whately Quarry pondering the  problems of draining a quarry pit.