The VILLAGER Issue 89 - April 2016 and Town Life LOCAL NEWS • LOCAL PEOPLE • LOCAL SERVICES • LOCAL CHARITIES • LOCAL PRODUCTS Inside this issue Win tickets to The Battle Proms The Lace Makers Win £25 in our Prize Crossword Bringing Local Business to Local People in Langford, Henlow, Shefford, Stanford, Hinxworth, Ickleford, Caldecote, Radwell, Fairfield Park, Shillington, Pirton, Upper and Lower Stondon, Gravenhurst, Holwell, Meppershall, Baldock, Stotfold, Arlesey, Hitchin & Letchworth Your FREEcopy 2 Please mention The Villager and Town Life when responding to adverts e VILLAGER Issue 89 - April 2016 and Town Life LOCAL NEWS • LOCAL PEOPLE • LOCAL SERVICES • LOCAL CHARITIES • LOCAL PRODUCTS Inside this issue Win tickets to The Battle Proms The Lace Makers Win £25 in our Prize Crossword Bringing Local Business to Local People in Langford, Henlow, Shefford, Stanford, Hinxworth, Ickleford, Caldecote, Radwell, Fairfield Park, Shillington, Pirton, Upper and Lower Stondon, Gravenhurst, Holwell, Meppershall, Baldock, Stotfold, Arlesey, Hitchin & Letchworth Your Contents FREEcopy Polgara’s Secrets .................................................................................. 48 Go On, Grow Your Own! ....................................................................... 51 True Gents Barbers Gadgets for the Indoor Gardener ......................................................... 52 30 Moles .................................................................................................. 55 Hallelujah! .......................................................................................... 58 Spring Clean ........................................................................................ 60 Golden Years ....................................................................................... 63 Animal Queries .................................................................................... 65 Children’s Page .................................................................................... 66 Range Rover On Test ............................................................................ 69 Pear and Ginger Tiramisu Trifle ............................................................ 70 Beer At Home ...................................................................................... 72 The Lace Makers .................................................................................... 4 What’s On ............................................................................................ 74 Off the Wall - Gallery 1066 .................................................................... 8 Does Your Pet Have an Allergy? ........................................................... 78 Masquerade Ball, Wyboston Lakes ...................................................... 10 Puzzle Page ......................................................................................... 80 The London Marathon ......................................................................... 12 Don’t Be Taken in by the Pension Scammers ........................................ 82 Bedfordshire Young Farmers................................................................ 15 Prize Crossword ................................................................................... 86 Organ Scholarship Scheme .................................................................. 16 Rethink Your Drinking Habits .............................................................. 88 Win Tickets to the Battle Proms ........................................................... 19 Book Review ....................................................................................... 94 Flooded? ............................................................................................. 23 April Fool ............................................................................................. 25 Spring is in the Air ............................................................................... 27 Polgara’s Secrets Fighting Pain and Fatigue ................................................................... 29 48 True Gents Barbers .............................................................................. 30 Sugar: Not So Sweet and Innocent ...................................................... 33 Herts Careline ...................................................................................... 34 Get the Haircut You Want .................................................................... 38 Schönbrunn Palace -Vienna ................................................................ 40 Planning a Master Bedroom ................................................................ 42 Raymond James Investment Services.................................................. 44 Employment Matters .......................................................................... 47 9,500 copies delivered free of charge in the following areas: Henlow, Langford, Astwick, Edworth, Hinxworth, Caldecote, Newnham, Radwell, Bygrave, Shillington, Holwell, Pirton, Upper and Lower Stondon, Shefford, Ashwell End and Stanford (Further bulk drops are made to local shops and busineses in Arlesey, Upper and Lower Stondon, Shefford, Baldock, Letchworth, Hitchin and Stotfold) Editorial - Catherine Rose, Debbie Singh-Bhatti, Louise Addison, Publishers Susan Brookes-Morris, Kate Duggan, Debbie Singh-Bhatti, Villager Publications Ltd Alison Runham, Solange Hando, Katherine Sorrell, Carol H Scott, 24 Market Square, Potton, Bedfordshire SG19 2NP Pippa Greenwood, RSPB, Nick Coffer, Kate Duggan, Iain Betson, Tel: 01767 261122 Kate McLelland and Bruce Edwards [email protected] Advertising Sales/Local Editorial www.villagermag.com Nigel Frost - 01767 261122 [email protected] Disclaimer - All adverts and editorial are printed in good faith, Photography however, Villager Publications Ltd can not take any responsibility for the Alexander Rath and Darren Harbar Photography content of the adverts, the services provided by the advertisers or any Design and Artwork statements given in the editorial. No part of this publication may be Design 9 Tel 07762 969460 reproduced or stored without the express permission of the publisher. To advertise in The Villager and Townlife please call 01767 261122 History By Catherine Rose The LaceThe traditional and skilled craft of lace making Makers the Brussels and Italian tradition which meant to produce trimmings for clothes and household working the decorative elements first and then items was once an important cottage industry ‘grounding’ them in a mesh afterwards. in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Lace was made on hessian pillows, traditionally Buckinghamshire. These counties were the major filled with straw, that rested on a wooden stand or producers for the East Midlands region and ‘horse’. Lace patterns or ‘prickings’ were transferred thousands of men, woman and children were onto paper parchment using pin holes and Indian employed in the lace trade to earn a living, often ink. This paper pattern was then attached to the working out of their homes to sell lace by the yard pillow and the lace was made by working around to local dealers. pattern pins with silk, cotton or linen threads Lace making dates back hundreds of years and which were carried on a large number of bobbins there are many different types with varying styles moved over each other during the process. and methods of production. In Bedfordshire, the Made from wood or bone, Bedfordshire bobbins original handmade lace was old point ground lace were unique in that they had a slim shank and made in the French Lille style. With this type of were weighted with a spray of glass beads. Thread lace, the pattern and (back)ground were worked would be wound, looped, twisted or plaited together and the designs highlighted using a shiny around the pattern pins to painstakingly produce thread called gimp. The lace was intricate and took the strips of delicate lace. a long time to produce. Its delicate nature meant From the 16th century onwards ‘bone’ lace making that it was particularly popular in the fashion was taught in Bedfordshire workhouses. This industry for ladies’ dresses. practice led to the development of Lace Schools It may be that the style of Bedfordshire lace - similar to the Bedfordshire Straw Plait Schools - was influenced by royalty. It is rumoured that during the 17th and 18th centuries. Queen Catherine (Catalina) of Aragon taught the However, these ‘schools’ were no more than early townsfolk of Ampthill how to make it when she sweat shops that exploited children from poor was imprisoned there for a time while waiting for families who would have to supply dealers with her divorce from King Henry VIII to be finalised. large quantities of lace for a pittance of a wage Other parts of the country, such as the well-known handed over to their struggling families. Hours lace-making area of Honiton in Devon, followed were long and the children were often beaten if 4 Please mention The Villager and Town Life when responding to adverts To advertise in The Villager and Townlife please call 01767 261122 5 their lace wasn’t up to the required standard. makers moved to producing Maltese and Torchon In true slave labour tradition, lace ‘tells’ became lace. Maltese lace had been showcased at the popular - a chant by the young lace makers that Great Exhibiton of 1851 and its novel, eye-catching they would call out together as they worked. The design had instantly become the height of fashion tells often incorporated