A contribution from Mrs. Jean Fox FBCS,C.Eng
	15th Century probate charges		Jean can be contacted via the editor
	The charges associated with processing wills are fairly standard but quite a large amount for the time. Amazingly, parts of the charges have not yet been deciphered.		Jean has been working on the wills of Rochester Consistory Court up to 1650 for over five years, and would be happy to hear from others researching similar wills

Over 14,000 wills have survived for the years up to 1650 with the great majority dating from the late fifteenth century onwards. In many cases both the will and the probate copy have survived although there are some where only one or the other is still in existence. These are stored in the Centre for Kentish Studies at Maidstone where the public has access to microfilmed copies of them.

When these wills are studied, the initial paragraph can be expanded but, in doing so, one is led more to questions than to conclusions. First the charges:

On some of the wills the list of charges which had to be paid by the executor (or executrix since many men made their wife responsible for these tasks) are listed, the usual ones being:

 
              probate        3s 6d to 5s; usually 3s 6d
              engrossing     2s to 5s; average 2s 9d 
              registering    4d to 4s; average about 2s 
              ??             20d to 6s 8d 
              off & ??       2d to 2s 6d; usually 2s
              other & wax    4d to 12d; practically always 8p 
         

Then consider the journey to Rochester from, say, Tonbridge, a distance of over 15 miles. How was this journey made? Often the date of probate was only a week or two after burial and, at least in the winter, the roads would be bad. Did women travel such distances by horse - or did they go by cart? Where the wife was the executrix did she assign her responsibility to a man who would find it easier to make the journey?

But a further complication arises. Sometimes the wills were proved locally, for example: the will of John Blatcher of Shipbourne was proved "in Shipbourne church before me, Nicholas Hooper, curate here, by virtue of a commission to me delivered? the 29th day of November 1582" whilst probate was granted for that of William Blatcher in 1585 before John Stockwood, vicar of Tonbridge in the porch of his church. In these cases a copy of the will was still made in the probate register and further research is needed to find out how the date of this copying compares with the date of proving. Also a number of wills were proved before John Stockwood and the dates of these need investigating: did he receive a blanket commission to prove all wills from the parish for a given period or a special commission for each will?

			A contribution from Mrs. Sally Raymond
	Dyslexia Soup		Sally can be contacted via the editor
	Most people come across only a very few cases of dyslexia and from that limited experience assume that all cases are the same when in fact there are many variations.		Sally is a parent and teacher of children with specific learning difficulties (dyslexia). She has written a manual for parents and teachers.

Firstly, we have to understand that dyslexia, like soup, comes in different varieties. Some dyslexics will spell soup as sop. Others will produce a soop instead. Some will read soup correctly, others will break the letters down into so-up (sew up), or guess any word that begins with /s/ to satisfy surrounding contextual meaning.

These performance variations depend upon which processing channels are weak and which are strong. If the visual modality is strong, but phonics are poor, a dyslexic can carry themselves along for a while on a visual memory of whole- word patterns. Providing they are familiar with a word they can read it and can attempt to reproduce the letter patterns when writing the word. For these dyslexics, a word such as squirrel is easier to read than the want/went/what/that combination of letters which are less distinctive. When spelling, these dyslexics will be attempting to reproduce the `look' of words, will prefer letter NAMES to letter SOUNDS and will sometimes ask the most `obvious' of spellings through their inability to co-ordinate spoken SOUNDS with written SYMBOLS.

At the other extreme, we have dyslexic children with phonetic abilities, but poor sight vocabulary. They cannot remember `squirrel' from one page to the next when reading, and when spelling the word, may suggest a `sqrl' as they try to match component sounds with letter symbols.

Then there are dyslexics with weaknesses in both visual and audio modalities, ones with sequential memory deficiencies, organizational problems and physical `clumsiness'. All share a difficulty manipulating SYMBOLIC information.

Soup is merely a collection of symbols. Probably brought over from France (soupe), it would have been spelled in a number of ways, depending on how it was pronounced, until the 18th century when dictionaries arrived to sanction spellings. The word has no connection with the physical qualities of soup (unlike pictorially-based texts such as Chinese).

Nowadays, in order to correctly spell a word one needs not only phonetic ability, spelling-rule knowledge and a varied sight vocabulary in order to accommodate the nature of our alphabet, but also familiarity with a wide range of written words. In order to internalize spellings into our written vocabulary we need to assimilate the international influences upon our language, the variety of sound/symbol relationships of letters, and the spelling oddities that require us to draw upon a variety of skills (mnemonics, over-learning etc) in order to learn. When one of these abilities is weak, it exerts pressure upon alternative skills, progress is delayed, motivation weakened...literacy fails.

Dyslexics find the transposition of symbols into meaning, difficult. To help them out of their difficulties we have a number of approaches to choose from: Identify each strengths and develop those skills to compensate for weaknesses elsewhere. Identify weaknesses and develop those though stimulating, repetitive, rewarding reading/spelling/calculation exercises. Investigate possible underlying neurological reasons for the dyslexia(s) (eg some suggest that as the central nervous system develops from conception onwards, `hiccups' in this staged progression can hamper later performance abilities). Physical exercises are suggested to remedy earlier flaws, correcting the disrupted neurological development progression pattern. At the moment, none of these three approaches have been proved to work although successes have been reported, particularly when the remedy particularly suited an individual's profile. Generally, remedial teaching programmes incorporate a number of learning strategies, based upon a diagnostic assessment of the individual.

In addition, we need to ensure that the child is supported, encouraged, accessed to the school curriculum; allowing them every opportunity to succeed...quite often it is `failure' that brings these children down, not their dyslexias per se. There are ways around many difficulties, but care must be taken not to jump out of the soup and into the frying pan...such as attempting to input support from too many directions at one time.

			A contribution from Mrs. Sabine Fox
	A problematic piscatory poem		Sabine can be contacted via the editor
	This was written for a friend who's husband is a keen angler		Sabine, originally from Sweden, has lived in the beautiful countryside of Ticehurst, Sussex for the last 15 years. She has two horses, and keeps birds of all sorts.

In the Councellor's chair

              "My dear Mrs X, I can tell you're distressed,
              just sit back in my chair for a bit of a rest.
              Then tell me your sorrows; hold nothing back, 
              I'm sure I can put you on the right track.
         

              Are you misunderstood are you lonely or sad,
              are finances short, do the children make you mad?
              Is your marriage a mess; in emotional tatters?
              (I'm very experienced in all sexual matters...)"
         
 
              "Mr Councellor, excuse my tears of desperation,
              indeed I am married though considering separation.
              Our promising marriage made of bricks and strong mortar
              is crumbling as all he does is catch fish in muddy water..." 
         
 
              "Wipe your tears Mrs X, please don't cry my dear,
              your problem with your husband sounds rather severe,
              but not impossible - I'm sure it will mend, 
              just tell me your story from beginning to end..." 
         

              "It began on our honeymoon", Mrs X wiped her eyes, 
              "I expected fourposter, champagne; all things nice, 
              but I got thermosflask coffee and a rather damp fag 
              and spent nights alone in a green sleeping bag. 
         

              - Just one more night, he begged, while he prepared his baits 
              (and had a few more lagers with his fishing mates). 
              I sat under his brolly and read my Mills & Boon 
              and hoped that he would get on and catch our dinner soon. 
         

         
         

              Imagine my delight (just after chapter 9),
              he got a fish; it took the hook, put tension on the line!
              With my veg prepared I went to light a match 
              when he stared at me in horror; - you don't EAT the Catch!!!
         

              At this point I'd had enough and starved of love and food
              I packed my bag and left his ponds in a miserable mood.
              I turned around one last time, my lower lip did pout,
              as I watched the b*****d stroke the beast and kiss it on its snout.
         
 
              Councellor I come to you, I'm in a state of despair,
              to be a course fisherman's wife certainly isn't fair.
              I am a woman, have my needs and very much desire
              a man to give me pleasure; to feed my fading fire...
         
 
              How on earth can I compete with carp or even tench, 
              the reading of tabloid papers on a camping bench,
              the movement of waterlillies, secret bubbles, subtle rings, 
              fins lazily touching the surface and other such things?! 
         

              Only once I got excited as I watched him getting dressed 
              in a pair of rubber pants that went up over his vest! 
              I thought, at last, he wants me!, he will fulfil my needs; 
              ripped off my lacy blacks - to watch him squelch through some pond weeds..." 
         

              "Hmm", the councellor ponders, "let me think, my dear", 
              (but instead he secretly thinks of mud and rubber gear...) 
              Eventually he does look up and with a discreet cough, 
              he smiles and says: "I know how you can get his trousers off...
         

              Next time he goes fishing, pick a sunny day,
              ask him if you could help him, you never know, he may
              take up on your offer - then just follow my lead
              and wait for his mate hook a 20 pounder which then gets stuck in the weed. 
         
 
              I assure you Mrs X, you won't have long to wait. 
              A 20 pounder stuck in weed is plenty as a bait 
              for a husband such as yours; all you need to do
              is take his clothes he's just thrown off and hide them somewhere too.
         
 
              Then after catching monstrous fish he will be quite excited
              and hopefully (if you're quick!) in lust you'll be united. 
              He is bound to realize just what he has been missing 
              and you, my dear, will once again be cuddling and kissing." 
         

			A contribution from Gill and Mike Harvey
	Ye Olde Cherry Tree		Gill and Mike can be contacted by e-mail:gillmike@argonet.co.uk
	There are some good pubs left. Pubs are not all about specific gravity and dry hopping, more part of every-day life. A living heritage, changing by little degrees.		Gill and Mike are champion Fuschia growers and champions of pubs in the Tendring district of Essex.

Ye Olde Cherry Tree - Little Oakley

Imagine my surprise therefore when I walked into the pub on the night of the meeting to see two complete strangers behind the bar one of whom seemed to take an age to pour a pint of beer. I immediately deduced that Mai and Alan had quietly ridden off into the golden sunset of a well deserved retirement - and life on the other side of the bar. But there was consolation in the form of a firkin of Jennings sitting on the bar and we had the best beef sandwiches we had eaten in any pub since we had joined CAMRA - real bread and real beef! Mike and I made ourselves known to the new owners and I am afraid to say we gave them about six months at the most which was very unkind as all we could find fault with was the speed of service. As this was their initiation into the mysteries of being publicans they were, in fact, doing an excellent job by not selling short pints and taking the extra care which is not required after one has learnt all of the job skills. Julie, Steve and Leon Chandler were on an upward learning curve as they set in motion a number of significant changes.

Over the next six months we were to make many visits to the Cherry Tree as we returned from surveying the myriad of pubs in the labyrinthine streets of Dovercourt and Harwich and those of the surrounding countryside as part of our contribution to the forthcoming "Ninth Essex Beer Guide" 1996. The first change we noticed was that there was no hesitancy behind the bar when one ordered a pint and the second was that the regulars were still there; there were also newcomers .and that there was an ever improving convivial atmosphere. Then came the shock of the night when Mike and I walked in and found four handpumps facing us. This was make or break as far as Mike was concerned and he breathed a sigh of relief to see his beloved Adnams Bitter and Broadside still there accompanied by Charles Wells IPA. Steve explained that it was his policy to have three regular real ales and one guest each week. We muttered warnings about what happens to pubs which stock too much real ale and he said he had no intention of overstocking and that he would reduce the number of beers the moment it was not possibly to maintain optimum sales.

We are now into the following May and still he is still selling four beers a week and they are in perfect condition. Perhaps the final and even more amazing feat is that Julie has turned the pub which did the best Sunday lunch in Tendring into the pub which does first rate meals every day of the week and even on some evenings. I saw her just a week or so ago and she had done twenty three meals on a November Wednesday lunchtime ;- people are driving out of their way to eat there so quickly has its reputation spread. But perhaps the surest sign that Julie, Steve and Leon have succeeded almost beyond belief is that you can still find Bill Cattermole, the best fuchsia grower in the Tendring Peninsula and a long time regular at the Cherry Tree, sitting on a barstool of an evening , a beaming, beatific smile on his bearded weather beaten face, a pipe blowing smoke like an old steam train- a man at peace with the world in a pub where he feels completely at home. And what is he dreaming about as the gun-grey smoke coils its blue way ceiling ward? What else but Best in Show 1996! But I digress. This pub's popularity is more easily explained by touring the vast Victorian pubs of Dovercourt with their predictable Flowers Original and Greene King IPA. Good beers you might well say but it is not much fun to drink in empty, cavernous and decaying public bars. The Cherry Tree is cosy and always gives a sense of liveliness even if only occupied by a few people in midweek. That is why we drive so far. There is the beer choice too. At present Adnams Southwold bitter and Broadside are regulars along with Charles Wells's IPA and all on handpump. The good news is that a dedicated python is to be attached to the real ale lines - we prefer our beer to have to warm up to room temperature and not arrive at it. Better still Steve told us on 10/07/96 that he is also enlarging the hole for the lines so that it can take two more to increase the range of beers at peak times. At present he is selling 20 firkins a week it will be interesting to see if demand will warrant more real ales. The bad news is the promised beer festival has been sidelined this year though not for good.

			A contribution from Mr. Peter Fox of Essex
	Washing brushes
	What is the most efficient way to wash paint brushes,clothes, filters or anything else?		Peter is a general whizz, editor of the journal, computer expert, and beer buff.

What is the 'best' (defined as you want) strategy for removing paint from a brush. I'm particularly keen to know if the amount of solvent used per rinse should be varied as the level of contamination drops. If I have a fixed amount of solvent should I try lots of little rinses or a few big ones?

One would have thought that there would have been sayings or traditional guides to rinsing methods as it is a fairly basic process that has been going on for thousands of years.

Once we have the 'answer' to the brushes problem it might be useful to apply it to another field, that of learning. For example is it better to have one six hour course or two of three hours or six one hour sessions?