Author: Tim Dracup
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This Dracup family history explores the life and times of Ernest Dracup (1854-1931) and his immediate family. Born in Lincolnshire, he joined the Royal Marine Artillery at the age of 18, rising steadily through the NCO ranks. Then, for a further six years, he served as sergeant major in two Royal Artillery volunteer corps, in…
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So I’ve had these Padouk boards for about thirty years now. I’ve used a few of them for fingerboards. I have about fifteen left. I found them in a skip in Manchester. I couldn’t believe it. WTF? I picked up as many as I could carry. There were loads more that I had to leave…
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We returned to Cornwall towards the end of September 2021. The omens weren’t good, as I’d been struggling with a prolonged (but thankfully rare) bout of exercise-induced asthma. Unfortunately this didn’t respond brilliantly to extended mask-wearing or GWR’s aircon. We’d opted to base ourselves in St Ives, at the end of the section we planned…
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We completed this 8-mile leg on August Bank Holiday Monday, meeting Jacqui at Clapham Junction where she was already breakfasting on a bacon roll. We bought pastries which we saved for the Merstham train. Leaving Merstham Station half an hour later, we quickly found our way back to Quality Street, which was named after J…
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We returned to the Thames Path just two months after completing the Lechlade to Newbridge leg. This time we based ourselves in Oxford, travelling there on Wednesday and back home on Saturday. We devoted Thursday to the Path and Friday to Oxford. This leg, from Newbridge to Oxford, is 14 miles long. That’s close to…
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. Only three weeks after completing Shalford to Westhumble, we were back at Box Hill and Westhumble Station to start the next 10-mile leg to Merstham. We arrived by the same route, changing at Wimbledon on to the SWR Dorking service, arriving soon after nine in the morning. . Morning Light rain was falling as…
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. In June 2021, after almost 18 months away, we finally managed to renew our acquaintance with the Thames Path. Back in January 2020 we had completed the second leg, from Cricklade to Lechlade, though with a substantial diversion to avoid flooding. On that occasion we were celebrating Tracy’s 50th. This time round we had…
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. The second stage of the North Downs Way is roughly 13 miles. We began with the intention of completing the stage in one go, but gave ourselves the option of finishing early at Gomshall and completing the walk at a later date. In the event, this is what happened. We walked from Shalford to…
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Sunday 4 July 2021 would have been Kate’s 60th birthday. It was the day she planned to join me in retirement – and we had vague notions of relocating somewhere more tranquil and beautiful. We would have thrown her a huge party of course; given her another special day to remember for the rest of…
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. Covid restrictions meant another eight months had elapsed since we were last able to walk the Coast Path, so this trip was eagerly anticipated. We based ourselves in Padstow this time round, intending to walk at least to Newquay and ideally beyond. We had a full week, from Friday to Friday, though both Fridays…
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. We decided to adopt the North Downs Way as a walking project in winter 2020. Given lockdown conditions, we knew it might be some time before we could return to the South West Coast Path, or even to the farther reaches of the Thames Path. But the earlier stages of the North Downs Way…
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‘ This post encapsulates my further understanding and experience of bereavement, acquired since the third anniversary of Kate’s death. Three Years Bereaved (July 2020) explored my downward spiral into poor mental health, provoked by my father’s death so soon after Kate’s, which somehow extended and amplified my grief beyond my capacity to endure it. I…
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. This is the story of just one of the Dracups who laid down their lives during the First World War. Canadian George Franklin Dracup was a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He had moved westward from Ontario to the prairies of Saskatchewan at the turn of the Twentieth Century and, after a few…
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. According to Ofcom, ‘It’s never been simpler to switch your broadband’. But, for an unfortunate minority, the process is still mired in complexity, confusion and delay. I endured almost five weeks without broadband, at a time when Covid lockdown restrictions made me even more than normally dependent on what has become an essential service.…
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This is the life story of my father, George Henry Dracup. It was quite an ordinary life, given the tumultuous times through which he lived, and he was a very ordinary man. But this is an obituary of sorts, celebrating the small contribution he made to humanity. . Antecedents George was a great-grandson of Eli…
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Regular readers find in me a relentless critic of this Government’s efforts to control Covid-19, because of its scant regard for the inviolability of human relationships. I do not find it acceptable to restrict non-cohabiting couples from pursuing their relationships, even in extremis, because that is a flagrant abuse of human rights. Back in June,…
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. We were last on the Coast Path in March 2020, just prior to lockdown, when we walked from Clovelly to Bude. This trip also felt as though it had been completed just in time. We were fortunate to catch Summer’s last hurrah – and more stringent lockdown restrictions seemed imminent. Cornwall was busy with…
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(Sorry, but this wasn’t the end, merely a brief period of respite from Government Covidiocy. For the next episode in this sorry saga, read: Idiot Wind: A screeching U-turn on relationships under COVID-19, published in October 2020 with an update in December 2020.) …that blows nobody any good. I hope this post will mark the…
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For what is (hopefully) the final part of this campaign, read It’s an ill wind…, which described the English Government’s low-key statement, on 9 September 2020, that ‘established relationships’ would henceforth be exempted from social distancing. . Two months ago I condemned the UK’s failure to introduce household bubbles to reunite non-cohabiting couples. This post…
Eponymous 