Misery Farm- a Recap

This is the beginning of a recap of the Misery farm Story.I intend to finish it and cover Snowdon and Aylesham in 1929 when I get back.

13/8/06

Strangers in a Strange land- The Story so far

Title is stolen from Arthur Cochlin, an miner, who, at the conclusion to the inquest into his wife's suicide (debt and illness)held in the Greyhound Pub, Aylesham in May 1929 quoted the bible:” I am a Stranger in a Strange Land.

A Family Myth

My Dad’s funeral in 2001 did not run smoothly, Mum’s dementia and my grandchildren’s ADHD/aspergers all happened to be at their loudest and most disruptive.I’d best not mention the shenanigans with Auntie Z and the priest, I have yet to scatter Dad’s ashes because I want to be sure they’re his- but I guess who ever it is in the box on top of my wardrobe deserves a better view.

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In spite of all this was a bit of quiet time for conversation , plus the best gluten free buffet ever, the pace barely interrupted by Mum removing her incontinence pad.

It was then that the talk turned to a tragic episode in dad’s adolescence, a story Dad never told, one the family was so reticent about that my cousin(son of another brother) said he had never heard it.

An incident to which the family ascribed - (without ever mentioning or clarifying the Incident- in that clever way families have), any character defects perceived in Dad; his shyness or forgetfulness -

It went like this-

Points every story teller agreed on (but not necessarily true)-

1/ One night Dad was camping with big brother Reggie

2/ Dad was 13 years old

2/ Reggie, was handsome, cool and Reggie Clark would have taken Hollywood by storm had he survived that night.

3/ Uncle Reggie was shot.

4/ The family had a farm

5/ The shooting was accidental

Where the storytellers conficted

1/ The farm was on Dartmoor .

2/ The farm was in Kent

3/ Or Maybe Devon (Anyway Somewhere South)

4/ The Brothers were on a pleasure trip- hunting, perhaps OR

5/ The brothers were defending their crop from striking miners.

6/ A mine had opened at the end of their farm, or maybe housing for miners.

7/ A dog knocked over the shotgun causing the accident.

8/ The Dartmoor version , was especially touching-it was a dark and stormy night, the brothers were twenty to a hundred miles from help. And poor 12 yr old Dad could do nothing as his brother bled slowly to death.

That year my cousin tracked the farm down to Ackholt in Kent. The mine was Snowdon, adjacent to the farm.The village of Aylesham was built to house the miners in 1927 The year of the accident was 1929 ( puzzling as there was no strike that year.)

Last summer(2005) I returned to this story.(perhaps in an attempt to make up to Dad for the funeral business)