The BNRA has a new committee
Our recent Sunday meeting at Sturdy’s Castle, on 21 January, was successful in establishing that it will provide a suitable new venue for the monthly meetings. This is good news as we chart the way ahead for the association. At the same meeting we held our AGM, which provided an opportunity to refresh and strengthen the committee. John Foreman was thanked for having held things together so effectively over the last five months. We much appreciate all that he has done.
John will continue in his main role as treasurer, as well as continuing to help the association in other ways including aspects of the former secretary role apart from membership. Susan Amos becomes membership secretary and Rob White takes over as Journal editor. These are both very welcome appointments. I have taken the post of interim chair. Later in the year James Walters will take over from me. James will continue with his other roles of Facebook manager and, jointly with John Foreman, the facilitation of Zoom meetings. We would certainly welcome other members to the committee to help share the load. Planning the Sunday talks and the symposium are examples of roles that could be taken up. If you do not want such a role at this stage you could still join as a committee member.
In non-committee roles, Frances Miller will continue to produce Notes & Queries and other members will continue to help in various ways.The committee looks forward to the future with a vibrant and even better BNRA and we hope you will continue to support the association’s activities.
More on Oak Trees
From Nigel Hughes by email: Following Susan Amos’ talk on the bark trade, when she mentioned that acorns were sometimes “planted” by Jays, a couple of years ago I noticed an oak sapling sprouting in our garden under the canopy of a mature tree. I presumed this to be the work of squirrels, but it then occurred to me that, in the summer of 2021, a pair of Jays had frequented our garden and were often to be spotted in the branches of the tree directly above the spot where the oak sapling is now growing (see image).
Maybe a coincidence, but I am unaware of any other oaks in the immediate vicinity, so the acorn must have been “imported” from some distance. The sapling now measures just over 29 inches tall (none of this metric tomfoolery), and since the internet tells me that rate of growth of oak saplings depends on many factors I cannot be sure how old our tree is. One thing is for sure, I will not be around to see it mature, but I will nurture it for as long as I can!
Slinging the Monkey
From Andy Field by email: I’ve just got a new book, Sailors Ships and Sea Fights; Proceedings of the 2022 “From Reason to Revolution 1721-1825”; Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail Conference (Helion 2024) and this image (Image 1 in the composite picture) was in the chapter by Callum Easton, Safe Moored?: Greenwich Pensioners in Perception and Reality. Now, the activity is called “Swinging the Monkey”, where the pensioner attached to the tree is swinging around, trying to mark his fellows with chalk, whilst they ‘haze’ him with handkerchiefs. Anyone marked would then become the monkey in turn, I presume.
Now the puzzle. Could this be the origins of the legend that they hanged a monkey in Hartlepool, during the Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars? I suppose it could be. No one will ever really know. What would other members suggest?
Does this story have any connection to the game? John Foreman did a quick search and found variations for the name – Sling the Monkey; Slinging the Monkey; Swinging the Monkey – and suggests this might be an idea for an article about games with a maritime connection.
Brain Teaser
