HUNGARIANS fail to remember !

That on 4th November 1956, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. The Hungarian resistance continued until 10 November. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. 

Many of the Hungarians crossed the borders with the help of smugglers, and many arrived without ID papers – but it did not tarnish their image or impede their acceptance as refugees.

The 1956 uprising and its aftermath helped shape the way humanitarian organisations – not least UNHCR – were to deal with refugee crises. The episode also left an indelible mark on international refugee law and policy.

The Hungarian Refugees settled in many countries including America, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, UK and New Zealand,

HUNGARIAN REFUGEES
1,400 Hungarians were given a welcome marked with orchestra, Danish pastry and flowers when they arrived in Denmark after the uprising against the communist regime in 1956. They were the first official refugees and perhaps the best received refugees in the history of Denmark.

HUNGARIAN REFUGEES

"Olga Murphy arrived in Ireland in 1956 as a young girl of 17, one of 350 refugees who came to Ireland fleeing the Soviet tanks after the Hungarian Revolution. Arriving in the midst of an Irish Winter the refugees were housed in Knockalisheen, a former army summer camp in Limerick. Olga was one of the few Hungarians who remained in Ireland after leaving the refugee camp and she continues to live in Limerick. The following is from the story of Dorrit O’Shaugnessy, a Hungarian friend of Olga’s, also living in Limerick, who among many experiences and achievements in her life, acted as an interpreter in the Knockalisheen camp following the arrival of the refugees."

reference 

http://www.unhcr.ie/world-refugee-day/1950s-olga-murphy-from-hungary

"1956. A date, surely, that must be indelibly etched in the consciousness of almost every Hungarian of the modern era.”

No one chooses to be a Refugee

Every minute eight people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror.

If conflict threatened your family, what would you do? Stay and risk your lives? Or try to flee, and risk kidnap, rape or torture?

For many refugees the choice is between the horrific or something worse.

While no one chooses to become a refugee, you do have a choice to help – Even in difficult economic times, it doesn’t cost a single cent to show interest in others, learn, and share your new knowledge and interest.

Is there 1 thing you could do to show your support for a refugee or asylum seeker?

Media have misled you!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

© Barry Malone

Imagine waking your children in the morning. Imagine feeding and dressing them. Imagine pulling a little girl’s hair into a ponytail, arguing with a little boy about which pair of shoes he wants to wear. 
  
Now imagine, as you are doing that, you know later today you will strap their vulnerable bodies into enveloping life jackets and take them with you in a rubber dinghy - through waters that have claimed many who have done the same. 
  
Think of the story you’d have to tell to reassure them. Think of trying to make it fun. Consider the emotional strength needed to smile at them and conceal your fear.

There is no "migrant crisis" in the Mediterranean.

What would it feel like if that experience – your frantic flight from war – was then diminished by a media that crudely labelled you and your family "migrants"?

And imagine having little voice to counter a description so commonly used by governments and journalists.

The umbrella term migrant is no longer fit for purpose when it comes to describing the horror unfolding in the Mediterranean. It has evolved from its dictionary definitions into a tool that dehumanises and distances, a blunt pejorative.

It is not hundreds of people who drown when a boat goes down in the Mediterranean, nor even hundreds of refugees. It is hundreds of migrants. It is not a person – like you, filled with thoughts and history and hopes – who is on the tracks delaying a train. It is a migrant. A nuisance.

It already feels like we are putting a value on the word. Migrant deaths are not worth as much to the media as the deaths of others - which means that their lives are not. Drowning disasters drop further and further down news bulletins. We rarely talk about the dead as individuals anymore. They are numbers.

When we in the media do this, when we apply reductive terminology to people, we help to create an environment in which a British foreign minister can refer to "marauding migrants," and in which hate speech and thinly veiled racism can fester.

We become the enablers of governments who have political reasons for not calling those drowning in the Mediterranean what the majority of them are: refugees.

We give weight to those who want only to see economic migrants.

The argument that most of those risking everything to land on Europe’s shores are doing it for money is not supported by the facts.

A New Arrival!

Late on Thursday night our dog Toby started barking and fretting at the door so being inquisitive I looked out from behind the curtains and noticed that Jimmy M, the Horseman, was parked outside of our north drive.

So I said to Mrs H " I reckon that one of the mares is foaling in Johnnie's field" 
the field that adjoins our northern hedge.

Friday came and we went about our usual shopping routine and then this morning Mrs H heard Jimmy M calling her name, saying 
"Bring the camera, Bring the camera!"
So off she went camera in hand to take photos of Sheila the foal, followed shortly by my self with yet another camera.

Sheila born 20th August 2015

'Togetherness'

Feeding time

A proud and pleased Jimmy

Gently untangling her tail.

This small Clydesdale will be next to foal.

Jimmy M visits and tends to his horses every day by grooming and seeing to their well being. Here on this black mare he is carding her tail and removing the tangles before moving up to comb and oil her mane.

I will keep you informed of her foaling.

Old Ways

The old homesteads in the landscape of Ireland are very distinct and give a hint of the old ways of living, being close to the earth and open to the elements.

The first abode is a Rath which was built as a pre Christian settlement complete with a defensive ditch, similar to the Norman motte and bailey but with a lower mound. 

Part profile of a Rath

The defensive ditch strewn with fallen timber, which

the owners are generally loath to remove, for fear of

retribution by the faeries which now inhabit this place.

Part of the top of the Rath which is now scattered with thorn trees.

An old mountain cottage now derelict believed to have been occupied by a forester and his family, consisting of four or five rooms, it has a pathway leading to a stream from where the family would have drawn water.  It is located in a glen between steep mountain sides. As attractive as it looks in sunshine. Living there would have been an entirely different matter for the damp and the cold would have seeped through it's stone walls.

This picture shows a group of New Travellers in their bow-topped wagons camped on the edge of bogland during the winter. Sadly this way of life has now been denied, due to the local authorities closing off the old camp sites. Many are the happy hours that I enjoyed when sitting around the fire drinking tea and yarning on my frequent visits.

Photo taken early 1990's

If you think that your family has never been labelled as a Gypsy then look here
http://rtfhs.org.uk/useful-links-genealogy-sources/
or
http://website.lineone.net/~rtfhs/journal2.html
and here
https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/celtic-traveller/about/background

Dreams can evoke

The morning is slow, the vivid dream still partially with me as I wonder if there is any truth in the experience of being interviewed by a cagey group. 

Then I consciously recall the idiotic, power-over, controlling dickhead of a chairman calling me to a meeting six miles away, which then followed by me rushing past my home in the opposite direction to deliver leaflets. Feeling angry and used because I could have saved time and fuel by meeting them there anyway.

Total consequences of such and similar behaviour resulted in my  abruptly walking out in the middle of another meeting, telling them that I had better things to do with my time than sit listening to liars and gobshites. 

The umbrella organisation has the sort of principles of which I am in
total agreement with and remain loyal to, for it has a generous and strong core that is based upon decency, democracy and sound reasoning.

Today, I am very like the patient Heron above, standing alone, still, silent and with the precious principles that I hold dear.

Isn’t it amazing what dreams will trigger ?

UFO ?

I often look out across the this field at all times of the day because my desk is set cross cornered. So last night I espied the light of the setting sun glowing on these small trees that stand in the East and so I rushed out to take a photo of the scene.

I was not fast enough to obtain the shot that I wanted

This second shot was taken a few seconds later and reveals a small light with a smokey tail on the right of the photo.

Detail of thing

I sent the above two photos to my photographer daughter for her appraisal (it is good to have experts in the family)

Her comments were :-

"Hmmm its too big for a shooting star ... The space station isn't over you at the moment? It does look like something moving! The tail will be the movement from a normal shutter mode, .... Not a plane too bright i would say. I presume it wasn't visible to the naked eye ?"

I replied saying "No it wasn’t to my eye but here is something strange when I first moved here a light such as this was often visible at night and then the farmer had a Mass said and it was never seen again !"

That was until now....

Daughter final reply:-

"Its very odd, well we don't really know what's out there !!"

Now I am sure that some of you folk Following and others who are Readers of this blog

may very well have your own ideas and I would love to hear from you?

R.I.P CILLA

We will miss you

Cilla Black dies, aged 72

Former singer and TV presenter Cilla Black dies at her Spanish home, aged 72 

By Telegraph reporter

1:40PM BST 02 Aug 2015

Cilla Black has died at her Spanish home, local police have confirmed. 

The much-loved TV star and singer is believed to have died of natural causes after being found at her home in Marbella. 

^{Cilla Black's Spanish villa close to Marbella}

“I can confirm the death of British national Priscilla White, aged 72,” police said. 

Cilla Black, the presenter's stage name, was born Priscilla Maria Veronica White on May 27, 1943. 

• Cilla Black dies, aged 72 - latest updates

A Spanish police officer added: “We are still awaiting autopsy results but everything at this stage is pointing towards her death being the result of natural causes.” 

The Liverpoon-born star enjoyed her first taste of fame at the city's Cavern Club, where she performed alongside acts including The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers. 

^{Cilla relaxes at the Liverpool music venue the Cavern Club Picture: John Pratt} 

She went on to release 14 albums but later established herself as a television personality, presenting hit shows including Surprise Surprise and Blind Date. 

In 1968, she became the first woman to have her own prime-time chat show on BBC One. 

In more recent years, despite suffering from arthritis and deafness, she remained in the public eye. Her rise to stardom was recently told in award-winning three-part drama, Cilla, starring Sheridan Smith. 

^{With her husband Bobby Willis taking their first son, 10-day old Robert John home in 1970 Picture: Rex} 

Most of the shutters were down at the entertainer’s house near Marbella on Sunday morning and there was no answer on the door. 

However, a light outside the property was on, a grey Seat Ibiza car was parked outside and the back patio doors appeared to be open. 

Police sources said they thought the death had occurred overnight and they believed Cilla, who suffered from hearing problems and arthritis, had jetted to Spain a few days ago with one of her three sons 

^{Cilla Black receives MBE at Buckingham Palace Picture: Rex}