Tribute to a brace of Brewis's who knew a flood or two

Henry and William....I salute you. I've done two blogs today because the flood was......well frankly unexpected and yet let's look at the work of diarist William Brewis of Mitford from the Summer 1843 - that must be...about ..165years ago - 'Rain. Tremendous weather, most like Noah's Flood. Never fair.

'Such a disagreeable season never was seen in this part of the country by the oldest person, I cannot recollect since we had a fair day. It is doubtful about the growing crops of corn and grass, the servants are just laying about the place doing nothing, we neither can get on the land or hedges or can even stand out to do nothing. How the turnips will be got in it remains a mystery ...

We need good diarists and the bloggers of today need to see themselves as a reinvention of the something good - the wheel of life keeps turning!...now more about why Henry got me here!

The late Henry Brewis, Britain's greatest 20th century humorist of farming life, is a descendant of William. Henry was an observational writer who knew his community all too well and captured many of them in cartoon and word with exceptional skill.

Henry inspired me to write creativily and for that I say thank sir!

Our family link probably goes back through the centuries past William and beyond. Although in the 1950's my Dad and Mum were in Alnwick Young Farmers Club with Henry as Chairman, my first connection was in 1976 when I wrote a very creative story about coming out my farmhouse into the countryside...it was part of my common entrance exam to enter Ashville College in Harrogate and got me a scholarship worth £300/year, in 1976 a considerable amount of money. Proud parents sent the story in it to Henry, who edited the county NFU magazine...he sent me an encouraging letter and printed the piece for all to see. My mother later wrote herself in the NFU magazine under the pseudonym "Cynical Sue"....I'm saying nowt!

Next Alnwick Young Farmers Golden Jubillee dinner in 1983 and they wanted a young and old member to speak. Henry Brewis spoke and little me...18 years old and at a my first black tie event speaking in the Guest Hall at Alnwick Castle with 250 people and the stuffed wildlife from half an African plain on the wall....it was a nerve wracking but inspiring gig.

Later in Life I asked Henry to do an original cartoon to celebrate 25 years of Alan Beith (now Sir of course) and he was happy to do that with the fee going to his chosen charity. As I'm more rounded to life now he is beginning to inspire me to write more and perhaps to use humour as a way of getting across a serious point.

I end this blog be saying that the rural community has beneffitted greatly from Henry Brewis; I would like to see a display of his work in time for the tenth anniversary of his death in 2010. Woodhorn Museum or the Baltic? I suspect that The Henry Brewis Library at Scots Gap University might have been his choice but please do comment as I'm happy to help make this happen.

Ian

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