Where have you been all my life Jackie Weaver?



The mysterious “P” in my last post commentated thus
“ Just wondering if any Trelawnyd online meetings can be as entertaining ala Handforth Parish Council and Jackie Weaver. John?”

Well P, first let me explain the above video for those not aware of it. This video is part of a local council meeting in the North of England where old beefs and fall outs between the counsellors came to a head when a local council official , the placid and wonderfully patient Jackie Weaver was sent in to trouble shoot the Egos. 
In Wales, we in the villages of Gwaenysgor & Trelawnyd have an officially elected Community Council which are responsible for generally local and small scale affairs. I was part of this council a few years ago now, when the village was “ run” predominantly by a phalanx of middle aged, white heterosexual men.
My appointment was a small step towards diversity back then  and today I am glad to say that there are several women and younger men on the committee, but back then there was only one delightful troublemaker amid the serious old school members.
The troublemaker was a character I used to blog about a lot in the early days of Going Gently , and that was the Red Faced Welsh Farmer.
The RFWF could be described thus
Think of the classic actor Robert Newton in full pirate voice aka Long John Silver but dressed in an ancient tweed hat, grubby tweed jacket and cardigan and driving an old red Land Rover, with the driver’s window forever open” 
He looked and sounded every inch a farmer pretending to be a pirate.

Now the RFWF was famous for his temper and his no nonsense approach to everything village based. If he liked you , he would bend over backward to help you in anything you asked of him and after a shaky start ( we had a row over a large blue water butt of all things) he proved a godsend when I needed an expert hand constructing my pig pens and eventually taking them to be slaughtered. 
But if he didn’t like you,( and he would be first to say that there were several on the then community council  committee he hated) he was a right old bugger and at every meeting amid the boring crap of building requests and road sign issues, he would challenge the group decision making with points of order, mischievous shenanigans, secret taping of discussions and challenges to the ineffective clerk who, I am sure had to take a Valium before each meeting in order to cope.
It was great fun watching him take the floor. Throw out his conspiracy theories and shout  and bellow over his deafness which made things even more complicated and much more entertaining.
I now realise that I adored the old pirate’s chutzpah and his devilment and his cunning and when he died, I wasn’t surprised that the huge marble church at Bodelwyddan was filled to standing room by hundreds of Welsh farmer types in their black funeral coats standing shoulder to shoulder.
They don’t make them like that anymore



23 comments:

  1. What do you mean they dont make'em like that anymore? They do around here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps they do ... but THE RFWF was a one off ......there are stories I could tell

      Delete
  2. There was a bit of a hoo haa apparently at a village meeting the other year here-There were not many at the meeting but there was quite a bit of unpleasantness reported with one individual insisting on facts being shared which they believed were being hidden-The meeting was narrowly concluded without a murder being committed x

    ReplyDelete
  3. However... "The Egos" were probably right. She probably did have no authority. I am tempted to go all red in the face now and shout "Have you read the standing orders? Do you not know the law!" :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Big breaths Andrew xxx

      Delete
    2. You have NO AUTHORITY to tell me to take big breaths John Going Gently. NO AUTHORITY AT ALL!!!

      Delete
    3. And OUT with Anger In WITH LURVE X

      Delete
    4. The going out of the anger will take a very long time before any of that other stuff that you mention, with which I am not familiar, can get a chance to go in. By the way, I am thinking of making a trip with Lady Scott to the Pembrokeshire coast sometime if we are ever allowed out of our cages. If we do I will stand and shout angry abuse over your wall as I pass.

      Delete
    5. I invite you both to dinner xx

      Delete
  4. I do like salt-of-the-earth approach that some individuals take at meetings and feel it is good for the system. They usually do not tiptoe around issues. Results oriented people are often rare but much needed. Sounds like your RFWF individual was in the end very highly regarded.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember when you used to discuss the Red Faced Welsh Farmer. He was quite a colorful character!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I also remember The Red Faced Welsh Farmer stories.

      Delete
  6. Joan (Devon)11:27 pm

    I'm from Yorkshire and being blunt is the way to go in not being misunderstood with fine speeches. As you say, you know where you stand with people who say it as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was in a Zoom meeting last night. The co-op we live in (Florida, the only state in the U.S. without snow right now), and it sounded a bit like the Handforth Parish meeting. Keep in mind it’s a retirement community where the median age is 72. I think everyone should take a Zoom tutorial before being allowed to join. We had one member who actually fell asleep and snored. Evidently someone in the meeting called and woke him up so we got to watch that whole thing. Then we had members tell people off camera things about their bathroom habits, whether the light bill was paid, and my favorite, how those hemorrhoids are feeling. Talk about out of order!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. A great portrait. I'm sure there are a few of his ilk still round here!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Poor Jackie Weaver, having to cope with that lot!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You paint a wonderful picture of the RFWF, painted with affection and admiration! xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. A man after my own heart. A true Devil's advocate 😉

    ReplyDelete
  12. The Handforth Parish Council meeting was an hilarious expose of the Byzantine world of local councils. Where would we be without life's characters! I wonder John, if the RFWF recognised you as a fellow 'character'- he sounds like the sort of chap who didn't suffer fools gladly and saw through the petty power politics. I especially liked your description of the timorous Valium popping clerk and the secret taping of meetings. There's a comedy sitcom in there somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I do love characters. The world is full of them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ha ha, I did wonder what on earth you were on about.....Jackie Weaver is a very well known, famous actress in Australia. If you haven't heard of her please watch 'Cosi ' it is an absolute hoot, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh I just loved the Jackie Weaver episode at first I thought it was a skit but realized it was real.

    ReplyDelete

I love all comments Except abusive ones from arseholes