In a 2019 issue of the Ffestiniog Railway Society magazine, a brief article described the early days of a project to restore the Dinas branch at the Blaenau Ffestiniog end of the line, thus reconnecting the town centre with the area in the midst of the slate heaps to the south of the Conwy Valley line tunnel (see the above map from Wikipedia which shows the complex FR layout around Blaenau). A useful history of the branch is give here. It was lifted in the 1950s but the trackbed remains visible and accessible to the west of the Conwy Valley line south of the Ffestiniog tunnel. The main driver for the project would have been to provide a connection between the town centre station and the Llechwedd quarry, to the east of the Conwy Valley line near the tunnel portal, which has become a major tourist attraction, both in terms of its mining heritage but also as a mountain cycling and zip line venue. Unfortunately, with the advent of the pandemic, this project seems to have dropped from view, which is hardly surprising. The idea was raised recently once again on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Insider Facebook page, and the large potential costs of re-opening the branch against the potential income was again emphasized as the main barrier to taking this idea further.
Whilst I quite understand why the project has not progressed, it still seems to me that the initial reason for the proposed re-opening still remains. The centre of Blaenau has been transformed in recent years, but it is still an area that requires much investment in its future. To have its major tourist attraction an inconvenient mile and a half out of town with no public transport links, does little to help with the development of the town itself – indeed visitors to Llechwedd have no real need to stop off in the town centre at all. And of course the lack of any public transport connection simply encourages what is being increasingly appreciated as the unsustainable use of the private car. Thus in this brief post I suggest a way in which this project could be taken forward in what might be an affordable fashion (although I present no sort of cost benefit analysis at all).
The basic idea is simple – instead of relaying the former Dinas branch, the existing track formation of the Conwy Valley line should be used instead. With the current level of service provision on the line, in normal times the section from Roman Bridge just north of the tunnel is occupied for only 45 minutes every 3 hour period. With a little imagination in the development of a signaling system to ensure safety, I would suggest that the line between the town centre and Dinas could be used for a shuttle service to take visitors between the town centre and the quarry complex when that section of track is not occupied. This could be done in two, relatively cheap, ways – either through the use of (lung destroying) standard gauge heritage DMUs, between the Conwy Valley line platform and a new platform at Dinas (which could be positioned on the eastern, Llechwedd side of the track and would avoid the need for a foot crossing that would be inherent in the relaying of the FR Dinas branch) and an access road to the quarry. More interestingly, a narrow-gauge track could be laid within the standard gauge track, with switches to allow narrow gauge trains to access these rails from the FT station, and a short station branch at Dinas. This would of course allow existing FR stock to be used.
Both these alternatives should be much cheaper than the relaying of the branch and could provide an attractive link between town and quarry. Realistically however they are likely to meet with strong opposition from the very conservative Network Rail culture, with its massively inflated approvals procedure, and great determination would be required to take forward these or other similar ideas.
At some stage in the future, I will write another blog post on the development of public transport links within the World Heritage Slate Landscape region – there is much to be said about transforming the current private vehicle dominated system into something that could be accessed by public transport. But that is for another day / week / month / year.
Credit: NASA’s Earth Observatory 2002John of Patmos watches the descent of New Jerusalem from God in a 14th-century tapestry
Preamble
The astute reader of my blog posts will know that I rarely post on theological or ecclesiastical matters, even though I am an Anglican clergyman, a role that consumes much of my time. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, most of my church-based output is in the form of sermons, which, being delivered to specific congregations at specific times and places, do not lend themselves to a written blog post format. For those interested in that sort of thing, some videos of my sermons, particularly from the lockdown period, can however be found here, along with those of others. But my main reason for not posting much in this area, is something of a feeling of inadequacy. Whilst I consider myself to be more or less on top of the recent literature and developments in my technical fields discussed on other pages on this site, and also to have a good grasp of the local history issues that I study, I really do not feel the same degree of comfort when considering biblical or theological sources – where my knowledge and reading barely scrapes the surface of what is after all a two thousand year old body of literature. There are however perhaps areas where I can contribute something to theological or ecclesiastical discussions. One of these is in the field of environmental issues, and it is that area with which this post is concerned.
In this post I will argue that a consideration of the overarching story of scripture of creation / fall / redemption / new creation, and in particular the eschatological aspects, has considerable implications for how Christians should regard environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate change, and, at least for a portion of our society, is a potentially useful tool for evangelism. In what follows I thus look at the big picture of the biblical narrative, come to what can only be a limited and provisional view about the overall purpose of God in creation, and discuss the implications for environmentalism and evangelism.
The big picture – the scriptural narrative
Although not often emphasized in ordinary church sermons and teaching, scripture as we have it presents a coherent overall narrative, through its multiplicity of literary forms. It begins with the creation of all that there is by God, culminating in the creation of humanity.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters…So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1,1-2,27, NIV)
This is followed by the narrative of the fall and, throughout the Old Testament, the unveiling of God’s “rescue plan” as Tom Wright would put it, through the covenant with Israel, the giving of the law and the message of the prophets. This plan finds its fulfillment in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as outlined in the gospels and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit onto the church. The narrative culminates in the eschatological visions of Paul and in particular of John of Patmos, the writer of the book of Revelation, and his vision of the new heaven and the new earth.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21, 1-3, NIV)
Clearly the core of this narrative is in the events that surround the life of Jesus. Different parts of the New Testament focus on these events in different ways. The earliest gospel, that of Mark, simply concentrates on Jesus’ life and death, his teachings and healings, and of the miracles that accompanied these. For him and the writers of the other synoptic gospels, this teaching is summed up in Jesus’ summary of the law.
‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12,29-31, NIV)
In Matthew and Luke, the field of vision is wider with the story of his birth and resurrection from the dead. Luke expands this a little more in Acts to describe the Ascension of Jesus to heaven, the coming of the Spirit and the outworking of that in the life of the early church. In John’s gospel the field of view becomes markedly wider. At the opening of the gospel we read
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1,1-3, NIV)
which takes the Jesus story back to the creation itself. Later in the gospel we read how Jesus is described as coming from heaven, to where he will return.
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. (John 3.13)
This broader vision is further elaborated by Paul who gives little emphasis to the earthly life of Jesus, but rather views him as the eternal son of God, through him all things were made, who is now exalted with his Father in heaven, and through whom all things will be made new. He writes the following in the majestic words of the letter to the church at Colossae.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1.15-20, NIV)
In talking of God reconciling all things to himself through Jesus, Paul implies that Jesus’ death and resurrection were not just concerned with the salvation of individuals. He also writes in his letter to the Roman church, words that are of considerable importance for the discussion of environmental issues, explicitly including the whole of creation in the redemptive work of Jesus.
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8.19-21, NIV)
Finally, John of Patmos, in the visions of the book of Revelation, describes Jesus at the culmination of the biblical narrative.
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. (Revelation 22.12-13, NIV)
But why?
This overall narrative is a stirring one indeed – but the story stops at the description of the new creation, heaven on earth. Perhaps that is all we are meant to contemplate. But I am left with a nagging question. Put simply, why was the created order, both physical and biological, so important to God that it merited the extreme intervention of the incarnation, death and resurrection of God himself as revealed in Jesus? And this is my starting point on the reflections that follow in this post.
Now I freely admit that my perspective on all this is not the divine one, but it seems to me utterly unsatisfactory that the narrative of scripture should be an end in itself, leaving us with the rather static picture of humanity and God together in the new creation into eternity. I am reminded of my least favourite carol which describes the fate of the redeemed in the words “where like stars His children crowned, all in white shall wait around”. There must be something better than that! I am thus led to conclude that the purpose of God in creation is to bring it, in its entirety, to a point of perfection, as outlined in the visions of Revelation, where it is fit for whatever purpose might follow – not as an end in itself. I am unable to suggest anything further as to what that purpose might be, but it does seem to me to suggest that there is something very, very special about the created order – something that cannot be achieved in any other way than through the physical and biological processes inherent within it.
Following on from this, I would suggest that the uniqueness of creation lies in its complexity and diversity, and that this could not be achieved in any other way than through what we know as the evolutionary processes. The laws that govern the physical creation are both deterministic and stochastic, and it is this inherent stochastic component that leads to the observed complexity that we see around us in our physical world and its geological, atmospheric and oceanic processes. The stochastic element arises from the essential element of chaos that lies at the heart of creation, chaos being used here in its scientific sense where it refers to the sensitivity of physical processes to small changes in the initial conditions, rather than its theological sense. This same mixture of deterministic and stochastic processes is found in the biological creation, with the main mechanism of its outworking being through the genetic / sexual reproduction process, resulting in the massively wide variety of plants and animals (including humanity) that comprise our biosphere. Taking this further, from the biological genetic variation in humans flows the immense variety of intellectual and cultural achievements that make our society what it is. My suggestion is that it is this very variability and complexity that is important to God – and the created order has been specifically designed to have this characteristic for some future purpose that is yet to be revealed.
Now, however one interprets the story of the fall, it is clear that in some way, the creation has been marred and become less than perfect. How this occurred is a matter for further speculation – through external agency or simply because this was always a possibility through the operation of the stochastic processes within it. The effects of the fall show themselves in what theologically is described as sin – the tendency to selfishness and self-interest, both individually and corporately, that mars our humanity and makes it incompatible with its continued existence beyond the grave. As such, Jesus, through his death and resurrection, can be thought of as removing this incompatibility in some way, through taking the human condition in its imperfect state, into the Godhead (perhaps here I am verging on one of the old heresies!). In doing so it was made possible for humanity to pass through death and to play whatever future role it might have in God’s ongoing purposes.
Sin also of course has wider effects and injures the wider human community and the whole of the created order. The injuries caused to society and to creation at any one place and at any one time, then spread throughout the physical and biological creations through the normal evolutionary and stochastic processes within the physical, biological and social creations. However, through Jesus’ earthly life we were given an example and the moral resources to live the sort of life that is a true reflection of our humanity, based on the love of God and neighbour as outlined in Jesus’s summary of the law. The giving of the Holy Spirit to his disciples was the act by which we are enabled to live the eternal life of our restored humanity in the present. In the verses from Colossians and Romans quoted above, there is the strong suggestion that one aspect of living this restored life is to take the needs of God’s creation seriously and work for its restoration in all its forms. Creation has been badly degraded by the actions of humanity and it is our responsibility to reverse that process – to begin the process of restoring creation in a specific time and at a specific place, that this restoration might then spread more widely, again through the stochastic evolutionary processes, so that the wider creation too might become fit for whatever future purposes God has for it.
A model for evangelism?
I wrote above that the scriptural big picture of creation / redemption / new creation is not often presented in traditional church teaching. However, I am struck how many of the younger generations are quite happy with such “big picture approaches”. Overarching narratives occur time and time again in fantasy fiction (many tracing back to Tolkien’s work of course) and many TV series will have a “series” arc that connects individual episodes. There is also an increasing environmental consciousness of the young, as has been evidenced by their approach to the recent COP talks and to other environmental issues.
Now Christianity has perhaps the greatest and most exciting narrative arc of all, and one in which care for our created world is of the utmost importance. If the argument I made above is accepted, then the physical and biological creations are of vital importance to God for his future purposes and need to be preserved and enhanced in all their amazing diversity. I would suggest that not really using these concepts in our apologetics, evangelism and overall mission is a quite significant omission. Properly presented, they could provide a way into the church for a wide sector of the currently unchurched society in which we live – with environmental concern and activism being used as a way to bring them to Christ, and thus to personal transformation and discipleship. Some would say of course that this is the wrong way round – and that personal transformation should come first, and then lead to service and mission. To counter this, I would simply argue that there are many ways of reaching the same end – and is the disciple who prioritises service to his community and world over his individual experience of God, eternally any less well off than those who experience an inner conversion and transformation that never fully finds its way into a life of discipleship and service?
In January 2020 and January 2021, I posted quite lengthy blog posts that attempted to collate all the published papers in train aerodynamics over the previous year – see here for the 2020 post and here and here for the two part 2021 post. . These were intended as supplements to the book “Train Aerodynamics – Fundamentals and Principles” published in 2019. These blog posts have been quite widely read. At the time of writing (mid-January 2022) the 2020 post has had 190 views and the two parts of the 2021 post 129 and 70 views. It had been my intention to do something similar for the papers published in 2021. However, I have changed my mind on this, and instead will take a different approach in this post. My reasons for this are twofold.
The number of papers in the field continues to proliferate and, quite frankly, many of them are of poor quality. This seems to be driven by the need, in some jurisdictions, for research students to publish papers in order to be awarded a PhD. This inevitably encourages a low standard of output. Also, I have noticed an increasingly disturbing trend, whereby when a paper is rejected by one of the higher quality journals, it is submitted in much the same form to other journals with less impact. I have seen a number of such papers sent to me to review by different journals – and on two occasions in 2021 I have been sent the same paper by three journals. Obviously I have little influence on how researchers submit papers, other than through the normal reviewing process, but there seems to me no reason to give such papers the benefit of a mention in any comprehensive annual compilation.
The use of CFD techniques in train aerodynamics, which is proliferating at the same rate as the number of papers, is giving me increasing concern. CFD techniques ranging from RANS to LES are exceptionally useful tools in all fluid dynamics research and the same applies in the train aerodynamics field. But they are as much tools as any physical model tests and need to be used and interpreted very carefully. There are many investigators who do just that, including colleagues in my own institution. However, I fear that that is not always the case Specifically, the use of such techniques is in many circumstances becoming divorced from practical reality. There is a tendency to apply quite high level, but inflexible, CFD methods (such as IDDES) to look at quite trivial problems where much simpler methods could have given equivalent answers over a wider parameter range. And in the consideration of the results from these calculations, there is often little appreciation of the uncertainty that is attached both to the CFD results themselves (for example I have seen the percentage changes in predicted drag given to two decimal places) or in relation to full scale reality, where the uncertainties are multiplied by an order of magnitude or more. Further the results of the CFD calculations are often massively over-analysed. For example, in studies of cross wind effects on trains, I have come across papers where the predicted wake systems are analysed in very great detail, with little realisation that any such systems cannot exist in reality due to the (unsimulated) large scale turbulence in the approach flow field – as of course is the case with many wind tunnel tests. The same can be said of the analysis of many other applications. Again, there is little I can do to influence these trends, but I see no reason to publicise such work any further in blog posts.
In the light of such developments, in this post I will not present a comprehensive compilation of all the train aerodynamics papers from 2021 but will rather choose a much smaller number (ten in total) which I believe are of particular significance and likely to influence the field in the future. These are spread across the range of train aerodynamic applications including train drag studies, trains in tunnels, crosswind effects and emerging issues. The choice of what to include is of course to some degree subjective and mirrors my own interests, but I hope that readers find it of interest.
Very often the effect of Reynolds number on train drag measurements or calculations is broadly ignored provided that the Reynolds number is “high enough”. This is of course not adequate, as the skin friction component of drag must vary with Reynolds number throughout the parameter range – see for example my historically rather crude analysis of the problem from 1991. This paper, drawn from the doctoral work of Tschepe) presents the results of a thorough experimental and analytical investigation into this effect, using the results from water towing tank experiments. These experiments are quite novel and deserving of attention in their own right. The three-dimensional nature of the train boundary layer is clear, and the effect of ground roughness (ie sleepers and ballast) is shown to be of some importance (see also my blog post here). A simple analytical approach, based on flat plate theory, allows a correction method to be developed for extrapolating low Reynolds number results to full scale conditions.
This paper presents the results of full-scale measurements of the pressure drag of a freight container during a typical journey. As such it provides a basic benchmark for further studies. The technique is of interest in its own right, but the basic result, that, despite the container not having other containers immediately in front and behind it, the drag coefficient is much lower than that found in other full-scale, physical model and numerical calculations is of considerable interest. The authors suggest that this is because of the container position much further down the train than in other measurements, as well as other modelling issues. The results perhaps give pause for thought about the measurement of train drag from wind tunnel tests or CFD calculations.
The phenomenon of micro-pressure waves (sonic booms) emitted from tunnel portals has been much studied in recent years. These are caused by the steepening of the train nose pressure wave as it passes along the tunnel, resulting in a steep wave at the tunnel exit that is not wholly reflected with some energy being transmitted out of the tunnel in the audible frequency range. The standard method for the amelioration of such effects is through the use of tapering tunnel entry portals, that reduce the initial (and thus the final) steepness of the waves. Such portals can be quite long and extend some way out of the tunnel, and indeed can be quite expensive. This paper investigates an alternative to such portals – the distribution of air chambers along the length of the tunnel that in principle reduces the steepening of the pressure wave. Using a relatively straight forward gas dynamics analytical model, the authors show that suitably designed chambers can remove the dependence of the exit wave on the steepness of the inlet wave. Guidance is given for appropriate chamber volumes and the resistance of the connectors between the chambers and the tunnel. Overall, the method has much potential for future tunnel design.
The standard methodology to investigate the passage of pressure waves along tunnels is to use full-scale measurements to measure the pressure wave system on train entry, and then to use data from those measurements to predict the pressure wave along the length of the tunnel using one dimensional gas dynamics methods. The latter can be run many thousands of times to investigate a range of operational conditions. Clearly the required full-scale tests are expensive and complex. Recently some full CFD calculations of the flow along tunnels have been published using sliding grids, which are again highly complex and computer resource requirements limits their use to just one or two conditions. This paper presents a combined methodology where CFD calculations using a standard fixed grid are carried out to measure the pressure characteristics at train inlet to the tunnel, and these are then used in one dimensional methods. The methodology has been validated against an extensive full scale data set. Its relative cheapness and flexibility means that it has the potential to become widely used within the industry.
This paper looks in detail at the development of internal pressures within train cabins in tunnels. Using a combination of commercial CFD and finite element analysis, together with simple models of internal ventilation flow, the authors looked at pressure changes due to body deformation, pressure transmission through gaps in the train envelope and transmission through the air ducts of HVAC systems. Body deformation has little effect (unsurprisingly in my view) with the balance between gap and duct transmission varying depending on the degree of opening of the latter. Whilst the analysis is complex, the results should be of interest in describing a methodology that could ultimately be applied quite straightforwardly in design.
This paper describes an extensive experimental programme using a moving model facility that looked at the micro-pressure waves that occur as a result of the junction between the main tunnel and large branch tunnels with similar diameter (which would be used for passenger evacuation). The results are skillfully interpreted through the use of analytical models and show that in some instances the micro pressure wave emitted from the branch tunnel can be of greater magnitude than that omitted from the main tunnel. Both the physical and analytical modelling methodology have potential use for the design of complex branching tunnel systems.
I include this paper with some temerity, as I am named as an author – albeit the last one. However, my role was very minor, and mainly involved discussions on some technical details and proof reading the final draft (although they all contribute to my long term aim of getting to 200 journal publications before my demise!). This paper considers the effect of various railway vehicle properties on the overturning risk of a rail vehicle. It uses realistic vehicle dynamic and track roughness models and generates realistic time series of wind speed from wind statistical parameters. It is more rigorous in its modelling than the current method used in the CEN code, which uses a very simplified wind gust model. A thorough parametric analysis of the various vehicle parameters is carried out. In my view the major point to emerge is the lack of sensitivity of the calculated overturning wind speeds and safety risk to variations in the train suspension parameters. In principle this could lead to much simpler models for the CEN safety assessment than are used at present, where full dynamic modelling is required. This is personally satisfying as I have been arguing this very point for the last 10 to 15 years – see the discussion in this post from 2020.
I include this paper because it contributes to what I believe to be an important emerging issue as railways are developed in arid conditions – sand sedimentation over railway tracks. It is a straightforward CFD study of flow patterns over different railway track geometries that calculates wall shear stresses and used these to define potential regions of erosion and sedimentation. It lays the foundation for future work – possibly to integrate sediment modelling into the CFD calculations.
This paper is a detailed CFD analysis of the flow around vacuum tube vehicles using IDDES techniques. Because of the enclosed nature of the vehicles and the well-defined geometry, this is a case where one would expect good accuracy from such calculations. Also of course the issues cannot be easily addressed by physical modelling techniques. Both subsonic and supersonic flows are considered, the nature of the flow field elucidated, and vehicle drag calculated. The results form a useful addition to the publicly available body of knowledge about the flows around such vehicles that can be used in further development of the concept. That being said, it is my firm view that, fascinating as the aerodynamics of the system might be, vacuum tube systems will not meet with wide adoption due to simple operational constraints – primarily the low capacity in comparison to conventional high speed rail systems.
General
Railway applications – Aerodynamics – Part 7: Fundamentals for test procedures for train-induced ballast projection. CEN (2021)
This is not a paper, but rather the latest offering from the CEN working group on Aerodynamics that looks at the issue of ballast flight beneath high-speed trains. It contains a wealth of information of the issues involved, economic aspects of the damage caused by ballast flight, current national practices and possible ways forward in terms of homologation. It is well put together and forms a very useful basis for further work in the field.
Following the recent Ashes debacle, there has been much talk of why the England cricket team’s performance has been so poor. One of the reasons (but by no means the only one) seems to be the lack of emphasis given to the red ball game in the domestic structure.
Ben Stokes bowled at the MCG
In addition the fact that red ball cricket has been increasingly pushed to the margins of the season to accommodate more and more white ball cricket, and in particular the abomination called the Hundred (and here I let my prejudices show clearly), and thus not allowing the development of batting skills in dry, hot conditions – which are the normal conditions in most other cricket playing countries. Thus in this blog post I set out a possible programme for the domestic season that, whilst allowing the financially lucrative white ball cricket proper exposure, also allows for red ball cricket to be played in the high summer months. I think it would be workable, but, inevitably, others will disagree.
Principles
In setting out the proposal, I adopt the following principles.
The domestic season should have a clear, identifiable structure that allows for each of the three formats to take the limelight at appropriate times.
All formats should be contested by the existing county teams, rather than by multi-county franchises based on the larger grounds, thus allowing for equitable treatment of all counties based on performance, and thus acknowledging the importance of history and tradition.
That there should be space in the high summer months for both red ball and white ball cricket.
New Road Worcester
What I propose is for the men’s game – I am afraid I simply don’t know enough about the structures, resources and finances of the women’s game to be able to make coherent proposals. That being said, it would seem to me that something mirroring the proposals below might be quit feasible, albeit with a reduced number of teams and matches.
Fifty over format
Three groups of six county teams, perhaps geographically based, playing each other twice (10 games) with quarter finals, semi-finals and final.
First round of five group matches to be played in last two weeks in March in southern hemisphere countries, and perhaps marketed as a cricketing holiday to county members and the public.
Second round of five group matches to be played in last two weeks of April in England (which will thus give an interesting variety of conditions overall).
Quarter finals on the Friday before May Bank Holiday. Semi-finals a week afterwards.
Final on Late May Bank Holiday Saturday.
Two innings format
First division of eight county teams, each playing each other twice (14 games) with bottom two relegated to second division.
Second division of ten county teams, split into two groups of five, which may or may not be geographically based. Each team to play the others in the group twice and those in the other group once (13 games). Top team in each group promoted, with play off for the divisional championship.
Games to be played from Sunday to Wednesday from first week in May to second week in August (15 weeks) with some exceptions to accommodate the twenty over format (see below). This would allow games to be played in high summer conditions.
Twenty over format
To be played in two stages. County teams in first stage to be divided into three geographical groups of six, each playing each other twice (10 games), with games on Friday evening or Saturday afternoons between the start of May and end of July. Games would thus not be spread through the week which might not please broadcasters. There might need to be some slight modification of the schedule for two innings games to accommodate two games on one or two weekends. Top two in each group and two best third place teams to Premier league, and others to National League.
The ECB to give contracts to twenty or more overseas players with different skills, who would be allocated to the Premiership counties at the start of August, based on the county’s requirements.
The Premier league would run in the last two weeks in August and the first week in September, with each team playing the others once (7 games). It would be desirable for their to be no international games during this period to allow England players to compete. A “hundred” format could be used if felt desirable (although I can think of no reason why it should be so). Finals day on the second Saturday in September would consist of a play off between second and third place teams, and a final between the winners of that tie and the first placed team.
The National league would consist of ten counties, play six franchise teams composing those displaced from premiership squads, second eleven, university and academy players etc. over the same period. These would be divided into two groups of eight, and each play each other once (7 games). The franchise teams would be based at holiday destinations, or conurbations normally without top level cricket as a means of widening audiences. The top teams in each group would contests the final, on the same occasion as the Premiership finals day.
Final thoughts
I would suggest that the advantages to such a system would be as follows.
The format would thus give a structured approach to the season, with the three formats contented sequentially, with manageable overlap between the formats.
There would be three high points in the season – the fifty over final on the late May Bank holiday; the climax to the two innings game in early / mid-August; and the short form finals day in mid-September.
The international / domestic structure for the fifty over competition would both be attractive in its own right for at least the more affluent spectators, would give players experience of a range of conditions, and would also take some scheduling pressure off the domestic season
The structure would allow two innings games to be played in high summer conditions. The proposed second division structure would enhance the integrity of the competition with teams only being judge against teams that have played the same number of games against the same opponents.
It would also maximise audiences for the short form game on summer evenings and during the last two or three weeks of the school holiday period.
As a final point, such a schedule would also allow space in late September for a regional championship between, say, teams drawn from northern south eastern and south western counties with three four day matches over a two week period. This would give the players some experience of cricket between county and international level. But this is not an integral part of the proposal.
From the early 18th century until 1867, the clergy at St. Michael’s were “perpetual curates” – appointed by the incumbent of St. Mary’s. These were paid a cash stipend, but had no income from tithes and glebe lands, and were often of lower social standing than Rectors. At the start of December 1867, the then perpetual curate, Thomas Gnossall Parr, who has been in post as a Perpetual Curate since 1831, was made the first Rector of the parish. He was not to enjoy that title for any length of time and fell ill and died shortly afterwards on December 23rd1867.
He was succeeded in June 1868 by the first to actually be appointed to the post of Rector – James Jordan Serjeantson (pictured). Serjeantson was born in Liverpool in 1835, the son of a Liverpool merchant and an Irish mother and attended Liverpool Grammar and Rugby Schools. In 1854 he matriculated at Trinity College in Cambridge and was awarded his BA in 1858 and his MA in 1861. He was a rowing blue and part of the University crew that lost the boat race in 1857 by 11 lengths. There have only been six larger losing margins in the 190-year history of the race, so I doubt it was an experience he relished. He was ordained deacon in 1859 and priest a year later, both at Lichfield Cathedral. He served a curacy at Stoke from 1859 to 1868 before coming to St. Michael’s. He left Stoke in June 1868 to high praise from his incumbent and the Archdeacon, with gifts (including a hall clock) from parishioners and Sunday School children. He married Elizabeth Buckley, a clergyman’s daughter in August that year and they were to have seven children.
It is clear from the records we have that he was an assiduous, hard-working parson, much admired and respected by his parishioners. In June 1877, he notes in the service register that “this is the 1000th sermon I have preached in this church”. In June 1983, he was to write again “this is the 2000th sermon I have preached in this church”. This is an average of around 130 per year! Some indication of his activities can be judged from the activities of Holy Week in 1882 shown below. In total there were 16 sermons or addresses that week, all preached by Serjeantson. His sermons were very practical and he made no claim to eloquence, but were much appreciated by his congregation. It would seem he was quite blunt in his manner, not afraid to call a spade a spade, but was nonetheless admired for his straightforwardness.
He presided at the pastoral offices – 1123 baptisms, 1189 marriages and 215 funerals in total over the years of his incumbency and also presented 20 to 30 young people each year for confirmation. One of the more memorable funerals was that of William Corfield and his wife Theresa, his elderly mother and four young children who all died from suffocation in a house fire on Breadmarket Street, next to Dr Johnson’s birthplace in January 1873. The press reported that James Serjeantson’s voice trembled with emotion as he read the words of the funeral service around the grave before the coffins were lowered one by one.
Theologically, he seems to have been very much against the ceremonial associated with the Anglo-Catholic Oxford movement and is recorded as a signatory of a letter of 1875 to the bishops that argued against legalizing the use of eucharistic vestments and the eastward position for celebrating the eucharist. Some aspects of current worship at St. Michael’s would have certainly made him uncomfortable! The service register indicates he was a strong supporter of the Melanasian Mission, formed by Bishop Selwyn, the former Bishop of New Zealand, and indeed one of his curates, Rev John Still (1869-1871), left Lichfield to become a missionary in the South Pacific, at a time just following the martyrdom of Bishop John Patteson in the Solomon Islands.
Serjeantson had gifts other than his preaching and pastoral abilities. Within twelve months of arriving in the parish he was awarded the prize for the best variegated geraniums at the annual flower show (which almost certainly didn’t go down well with some of the more established exhibitors!) and he was also the founder and a valued member of the bell ringing team. His name can still be found on a number of memorial boards in the belfry, that commemorate the ringing of specific peals – for example he was part of the team that rang a complete peal of Grandsire Minor in 1876. He was a very knowledgeable naturalist, who initiated a scheme for replacing dead trees in the churchyard; an amateur astronomer (possessing his own telescope), and as a historian he was well acquainted with the church records. In short he was something of a polymath. He also served as a Workhouse Guardian and took an in various educational initiatives within the city.
In 1881 he and his wife, their two sons, Cecil (10) and Ronald (7), and three daughters, Mildred (5), Edith (3) and Monica (1) lived at the Rectory on Mount Pleasant, with a housekeeper, cook and two servants. Two other children died as babies – Edward in 1870 and Joyce in 1884.
He died on New Year’s day 1886 and was buried four days later, with the funeral being taken by the Vicar of Stoke on Trent and the Vicar of St Mary’s, with the Bishop of Lichfield presiding at the graveside. His passing was very extensively covered in the local press, with full obituaries and even the full text of memorial sermons! His final illness seems to have been short – he was still presiding at funerals two weeks before he died. Elizabeth was to outlive him by 33 years. Their graves, and the graves of their infant children, are, at the time of writing, currently inaccessible in the very overgrown area at the east of the old churchyard. I have not succeeded in identifying them, although I have received many bramble scratches in the trying.
But James Serjeantson does have other memorials. A fountain on Greenhill that was erected in his memory in 1886 contains the inscription
Erected by parishioners and friends in grateful and loving memory of the Rev J J Serjeantson MA, Rector of St. Michael’s, Lichfield.
In addition, a plaque in the chancel at St. Michael’s reads
To the glory of God and in loving memory of James Jordan Serjeantson M.A. for 17 years rector of this parish who by the sympathy and energy with which he fulfilled his ministry on Christ endeared himself to his parishioners and by the brightness of his manner and his cheerful readiness with which he brought out the stores of his varied learning won for himself the esteem and love of all classes. He fell asleep January 1st 1886 aged 50 years.
Both memorials speak eloquently of the high esteem in which he was held in the church and the city and the love that his parishioners felt for him. He perhaps deserves more recognition as the first to be appointed Rector of the parish.
Engineering, history and ecclesiology 
