Cakeoma – 15.05.20

Cakeoma

We greatly appreciated receiving some shared memories from clients after our VE Day comments last week. With kind permission, we have included a photo and some recollections.

In this edition, we have updated our HUB information following the Government’s lockdown updates and some practical legal advice suggestions.

For lighter relief, we continue our HarperLees Desert Island Discs and our Ideas series.

HarperLees Wellbeing HUB

We have updated our HUB this week with the following items:

Arranging and reviewing Wills during Covid-19

Social distancing has undoubtedly brought a barrier to the ongoing requirement for legal documents to be witnessed ‘live’. We found two interesting perspectives from two local solicitor firms, with thanks to Backhouse Solicitors and Birketts.   

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Department of Education update to Parents and Carers

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Self Employed Grant Assistance Scheme

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Extension

Read More on Both Articles

Desert Island Discs From HarperLees

Continuing our HarperLees selections, Adrian Quick shares his 8 songs, book and luxury item:

Seeing Steph’s selection has prompted me to put my thoughts down:

Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty – The saxophone makes the music

Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd – The best of its genre and era

Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen – A true game changer

American Pie – Don Maclean – No relation to our Mark, but one of the best sing along songs

Goodnight Saigon – Billy Joel – Haunting reflection on the Vietnam war

I Wish – Stevie Wonder – So upbeat and vibrant

Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield – It just build and builds…

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John – Elton at his best

Book: ‘Shogun’ by James Clavell – I’ve read it at least 8 times

Luxury item: A soft pillow

Adrian NOT working from home!

Post VE Day Memories

It was lovely to receive this photo from an original 1945 VE day party. Thank you to Anne Farquhar.

Prompted by National Trust’s ‘Churchill Fruit cake’ recipe included last week, another client contacted us to share her post war memories.

A cake made to the NT’s Churchill Cake Recipe would have meant a lot of scrimping and going without in wartime. Eggs, butter, sugar, cake fruit and flour amongst other items were all strictly rationed. It was one fresh egg per person, per week. A cake made with 5 eggs would have been luxury indeed. Rationing became more severe following the end of the war when bread went “on ration” with rations continuing until 1954.

During the war and ’til the late 1950s my Dad kept poultry, primarily for eggs. So that he could buy the layers’ mash and grain needed to feed his poultry flock, Dad was obliged to send all but four eggs a week, kept back for his family, to the Ministry of Agriculture. Eggs were marked in pencil with their date of lay and packed into a large cardboard box provided by the Ministry, who collected weekly. 

Dad’s poultry ration book would be stamped so that he could visit the provender mill to buy the birds’ food. We never went without but so that she could keep the fresh egg allowance for a meal, I remember Mum’s regular order for a cake mix called “Cakeoma“; the mix contained flour, dried egg and sugar, needing only margarine and dried fruit to make a fruit cake and saving on precious rations.

Ideas and Assistance

This week’s welcome distraction suggestions are:

Viewing

Hay Festival – The festival goes digital between 18-31 May with an array of authors. This also includes a series of films for primary and secondary school children.

Chelsea Flower Show – The Royal Horticultural Society’s showpiece is also available online between 18-23 May.

Theatre – Showing Alan Bennett’s ‘The Habit of Art’, starring Matthew Kelly and David Yelland and Gwen Taylor’s ‘The Croft’.

Contacts and Advice

Please feel free to contact us for any assistance whether advice-related or simply for a general catch up.