Margaret Hobbiss

My Activity Tracking

153
mi

My target 100 mi

I've created this page because I want to make a difference

I'm inspired by the work of ABF The Soldiers' Charity and wanted to support them by raising money as part of my participation in My Frontline Walk. Please help me help them by giving whatever you can use the 'Donate' button.

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My Updates

Polish Aircrew

Shrivenham parish church war memorial 20th November

Longton church Sunday 19th November

Men from Adlington enlisting in 1914

http://www.learnaboutwarmemorials.org/download/pub/5733 (You will have to copy and paste the link) This link is to a short history of the “Chorley Pals”, part of the Accrington Service Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment.

Sign at Adlington station

A poster from Adlington station depicting old photos. The one, second from the left on the top row is of the men of Adlington enlisting in WWI. See further photo.

Memorial tablets WWI St George's Church, Chorley

Remembrance Sunday 12th November 2023

As usual the service at St George's Church, Chorley was very moving. The uniformed organisations, Scouts, Cubs, Beavers and Guides, Brownies and Rainbows were on parade with their flags. There was an excellent sermon from Rev John Hall, who is now retired but was originally from Adlington. Ian Hunter played the Last Post and Reveille on his trumpet.

On the ends of the central pews were the names of the local men from the parish who had lost their lives in WWI.

Cologne 1945

Cologne Monday 6th November

Cologne

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, abbreviated to CCAA, was the Roman name given by to the city by Emperor Claudius. It was the birthplace of his niece and then wife wife Agrippina the younger (sister of Caligula and mother of Nero). A tangled family history about which much has been written.

Subsequently the name was shortened to Köln (Cologne in English)

During WWII over 90% of the city buildings were destroyed by Allied bombing. Unexploded bombs are still found when building work is carried out. The cathedral was deliberately spared, and only received a few stray bombs. Its large, distinctive size made it a navigation marker for the attacking planes whose navigators relied on maps and visual aids to identify their targets.

Many bridges in Cologne over the Rhine were destroyed by the retreating German army in 1945 (see photograph).

Cologne is a now a major cultural centre, the fourth largest city in Germany. It hosts many museums and galleries plus universities The area has a significant chemical and automobile industry and is a research hub for the aerospace industry.

“Stolpersteine” “Stumbling stones”

These are “Stolpersteine”, or “stumbling stones” which commemorate a victim outside their last-known freely chosen residence. The inscription on each stone begins “Here lived”, followed by the victim’s name, date of birth, and fate: internment, suicide, exile or, in the vast majority of cases, deportation and murder.

The project began in 1992, when Cologne-based artist Gunter Demnig first laid plaques in this format for Sinti and Roma victims of the Holocaust. The Stolpersteine honour all victims of the Nazi regime, including Jewish, Sinti, Roma, disabled, dissident, and Afro-German and “asocial” citizens. There are more than 70,000 of these stones around the world in 20 languages.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190328-the-holocaust-memorial-of-70000-stones

Rebuilt Sankt Jakobus Kirche

Sankt Jakobus Kirche, Rüdesheim

Sunday 5th November Rüdesheim

A quieter day, with the morning spent cruising downstream towards Cologne. This necessitated walking around the top outside deck to keep up my step count. 3 circuits of the deck is approximately 1000 steps / 0.8 kms.

In the afternoon we visited Rüdesheim, a picturesque small town on the east bank of the Rhine. It is very famous for its wine-making.

A major train line runs along the side of the river, which is on a TransEurope route from Rotterdam to Italy. There are over 200 freight trains and passenger trains on the line per day.

St. Jakobus Kirche, in the centre of the town was destroyed on 25 November 1944 when bombs, aimed at supply depots in Bingen on the opposite side of the river, were blown off course in stormy weather and landed on Rüdesheim. From 1946 to 1956, the church was rebuilt church in a simple, modern style with attractive stained glass windows. The church is on the Palatine Ways of St. James, part of a historic pilgrimage route to the town of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. (The blue sign by the church notice on the photo denotes the pilgrims’ way).

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is situated on the west bank of the River Rhine, opposite the German city of Kehl. The river forms the border between France and Germany. It has changed nationality multiple times through the centuries. In more recent times, following the Franco-German War (1870–71) the Germans captured Strasbourg after a 50 day siege and annexed it. The city reverted to France in 1918 after WWI but was occupied by Germany between 1940–44, before returning to France.

Strasbourg was spared indiscriminate area bombing during WWII as it was not considered an enemy city. However, “precision bombing” was carried out on transportation infrastructures and key factories used by the German war machine. Precision bombing was anything but precise, and Strasbourg suffered a number of Allied bombing raids. The worst raids took place in August and September 1944 when US bombers largely missed their targets and bombs devastated the medieval heart of Strasbourg. The red sandstone cathedral was damaged but funding was made quickly available for restoration of the historic buildings. We enjoyed walking around the city centre and having lunch in a typical French restaurant.

The internationally known sites of the European Parliament, European Court of Human rights and the Council of Europe are on the outskirts of the city and would need a longer visit to see them.

As a postscript, in 1792 in Strasbourg Claude-Joseph Rouget a French soldier, poet and musician composed the anthem of the Rhine Army, now known as “La Marseillaise.”

La Petite France quarter

Strasbourg 4th November

Cathedral of Notre Dame, Strasbourg

The “Physics” window (Physikfenster)

I visited the Heiliggeistkirche Heidelberg (Church of the Holy Spirit) today (3rd Nov) in the centre of the city and saw this startling stained glass window. The “Physics” window (Physikfenster) was designed by Johannes Schreiter and installed in 1984, as part of the replacements for the stained glass windows which were shattered by the blasts from the German troops destroying the Neckar bridges in 1945.

The information about the window states that the design incorporates two verses from the bible : 2 Peter 3:10 ("the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up") and Isaiah 54:10 ("Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken"). The first passage denotes an apocalyptic end to the earth, in which everything created by man is destroyed by fire whilst the second passage offers hope, implying that God will remain merciful despite man's mistakes.

The red colour in the majority of the window represents the Holy Spirit with the white arrow at the top showing the Holy Spirit descending to earth. The blue points highlight the German Albert Einstein's theory of relativity E=mc², (which made development of the atomic bomb possible) and the date when the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 6 August 1945.

Schreiter had been commissioned to produce designs for other windows illustrating music, literature, philosophy, chemistry, biology, medicine, physics, economics, media and traffic. However, the designs were felt by many to be too radical for the church and arguments over the designs became known as the "Heidelberg Controversy"

Heidelbergerfensterstreit Fensterstreit. Nine years after Schreiter was commissioned to design the windows the project was officially terminated on June 23, 1986. The Physics Window is the only work of Schreiter's installed in the church, though other windows from the series have been purchased and displayed by other organisations, including other churches and hospital clinics.

The “Physics” window

Heidelberg

The beautiful university city of Heidelberg (see picture below) is situated on the River Neckar, a tributary of the Rhine. It was spared from any direct bombing during WWII and subsequently became the US army headquarters.

Mainz Thursday 2nd November

In Mainz in 1945, the bridges across the River Rhine were destroyed by the retreating German army to try and slow down the US army. However, the advancing army used pontoon bridges to cross the river but it then took many years before new permanent bridges were built for the population.

Mainz cathedral was spared the explosive and incendiary bombs which destroyed the majority of the surrounding buildings. After rebuilding, facades have been affixed to the front of the buildings in the central square. This covered their utilitarian structure and has returned the square to its historic appearance.

MS Oscar Wilde is moored in Mainz

499 kms to the source of the River Rhine

Koblenz: Sections of Berlin Wall

Koblenz

1st November

A walk around Koblenz which is at the confluence of the Rivers Moselle and Rhine. Koblenz was virtually destroyed during WW2 when the Allies bombed it and its bridges with destructive and incendiary bombs. The bridges across both rivers were main part of the supply lines to the German troops on the Front Line.

The rebuilding has recreated a very attractive town with many historic buildings, churches in small pedestrianised streets and squares.

Thank you to my Sponsors

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Janis Craig

Go Maggie!

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