{"id":19360,"date":"2026-09-04T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=19360"},"modified":"2026-09-01T11:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:29:23","slug":"the-new-trafalgar-dispatch-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=19360","title":{"rendered":"The New Trafalgar Dispatch – 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Staines, Sunday 4th September 2005<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The coach carrying the dispatch is led across Staines Bridge by the mayors of Spelthorne and Runnymede.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The New Trafalgar Dispatch<\/strong>: At a protest in Whitehall the previous day, I had “made the mistake of climbing up onto the small wall by the edge of the grass, which produced a nasty snapping feeling in my knee, leaving me in pain<\/em>.” So on Sunday 4th September I didn’t feel up to travelling to cover events in London, and instead went to photograph this local event – part of a wider national event – in Staines celebrating the rapid journey to London after the first ship docked at Falmouth following the battle of Trafalgar and brought the news both of the victory and of the death of Admiral Nelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Actor Alex Price plays Lt John Richards Lapontiere, who brought news of Trafalgar from the battle to London<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite limping badly and painfully I seem to have managed a very full coverage of the event – which you can still view on My London Diary<\/a>. Here below is the text I wrote in 2005 and a few of the pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Shepperton town crier Bill Wright reads out the news while mayors, Lieutenant Lapontiere and coach wait on Staines Bridge<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nelson’s final prayer, on 21 October 1804 [the day of the Battle of Trafalgar] included a plea for God to grant victory “to my country and for the benefit of Europe in general<\/em>.” He continued: “may no misconduct, in any one, tarnish it, and may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British fleet<\/em>.” These noble sentiments were not empty words, and when the battle was over, British sailors would risk their lives to save those of their French counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Lapontiere is greeted by Runnymede mayor, Councillor Frances Barden on Staines Bridge<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I thought about the humanity towards refugees and asylum seekers currently being shown by our New Labour government during the new Trafalgar Dispatch events at Staines on Sunday and felt a sense of shame about my country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Coming into Staines – on a street built between 1828 and 1832, some years after Trafalgar<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But we were celebrating greater times, although 200 years ago the events were also tinged with great sadness. Along with news of Britain’s great victory, Lt John Richards Lapontiere also brought news of Nelson’s death on his rapid voyage to Falmouth and express post-chaise journey from there to London – covering the 271 miles on land in 37 hours. One of the many places his coach picked up fresh horses was the Bush Inn at Staines, then one of the major market towns of Middlesex, and only two stages from the Admiralty in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Lieutenant Lapontiere should have been very surprised to see Mrs Sarah Goad, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, on the wrong side of the Thames in Middlesex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bush is long gone, as also is the bridge across which his coach ran, but Sunday saw actor Alex Price playing the role of Lapontiere coming by coach – from Homebase just down the road (more or less on the old Staines boundary) – into Staines and onto the bridge where he was met by the Mayors of Runnymede and Spelthorne and the Lord Lieutenant Of Surrey (all women.) It was a day full of anachronism, as neither Runnymede or Spelthorne existed at the time of Trafalgar, when Staines was one of the main market towns of Middlesex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Brownies were formed in 1914 as “Rosebuds”, renamed the following year, but the flag does date from 1801.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Trafalgar Way plaque and above it a smaller Spelthorne plaque were unveiled by the Mayor<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a brief ceremony on the bridge, proceedings moved on to Staines Old Town Hall, a fine Victorian building given away at a derisory price recently by the local council to the disgust of most if not all locals to become a [short-lived] pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
A septet from Staines Brass Band, founded as Staines United Temperance Band in 1930, provided the music for the Trafalgar service<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another short performance there ended with copies of the new Trafalgar Dispatch and a copy of the original being officially presented to the Mayors and Surrey, before a plaque was unveiled on the town hall wall and an Anglican service held at a ‘drumhead church<\/em>‘ in the fountains in the Market Square – turned off for the day [and more or less ever since].)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’d stayed in Staines for this event partly because of my painful knee. I was surprised to find how much I had to move around even to cover a relatively simple event such as this. And yes, it hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More pictures on My London Diary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A few days later I added:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A visit to my doctor’s [the following day] produced some [powerful prescription only] tablets that soothed the pain, and the advice that physiotherapy on the national health involves a wait of several months – by which time it would probably be fine anyway. Private treatment of course is available more or less on the spot, and he recommended the physios based at a local sports centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not the cost, but the principle that stopped me ringing them to make an appointment. I grew up with the national health, orange juice and cod liver oil from the clinic, medicines and treatment when you needed them – not just if you could afford them. Prescription charges were a first step in the dismantling of the system, now more and more of it is being privatised in one way or another. National Health dentistry has more or less disappeared (and looks like going completely with government reforms next year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I’m limping on, or rather trying not to limp, but get some gentle exercise without causing more damage and hoping time will heal.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly it did, and after a week’s rest I felt able to take some short walks in London and a couple of weeks later was back covering protests. But it was some months before I could walk without any pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Flickr<\/a> – Facebook<\/a> – My London Diary<\/a> – Hull Photos<\/a> – Lea Valley<\/a> – Paris<\/a>
London’s Industrial Heritage<\/a> – London Photos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photographs on this page are copyright \u00a9 Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Staines, Sunday 4th September 2005 The New Trafalgar Dispatch: At a protest in Whitehall the previous day, I had “made the mistake of climbing up onto the small wall by the edge of the grass, which produced a nasty snapping feeling in my knee, leaving me in pain.” So on Sunday 4th September I didn’t … Continue reading The New Trafalgar Dispatch – 2005<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3],"tags":[5084,25347,25352,25351,25350,25358,25359,1343,25355,25348,3760,4201,6411,13956,25353,25345,1263,3741,3764,83,3757,1464,25357,25354,25356,19287,25349],"class_list":["post-19360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-londonphotos","category-my-own-work","tag-5084","tag-actor","tag-admiral-nelson","tag-battle-of-trafalgar","tag-coach","tag-drumhead-church","tag-knee-injury","tag-london-photos","tag-lord-lieutenant-of-surrey","tag-lt-john-richards-lapontiere","tag-market-square","tag-mayor","tag-middlesex","tag-nelson","tag-nelsons-death","tag-new-trafalgar-dispatch","tag-nhs","tag-nhs-privatisation","tag-old-town-hall","tag-peter-marshall","tag-spelthorne","tag-staines","tag-staines-brass-band","tag-staines-town-hall","tag-the-trafalgar-way","tag-town-crier","tag-trafalgar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19360"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19363,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360\/revisions\/19363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}