Toby on Tuesday

 'And the award goes to….'

 

My chief reason for wishing to leave the EU has always been a belief that we Brits remain the most original and creative people on the planet and the EU is determined to stifle all that genius. This theory was proved right yet again last week at the Hollywood Oscars, when Eddie Redmayne won the Best Actor Award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”, the Best Adapted Screenplay Award went to “The Imitation Game” with Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as Alan Turing, and the Best Live Short Action Film Award went to Matt Kirkby’s and James Lucas’ “The Phone Call”, starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent.

But in this galaxy of talent, we mustn’t forget that our corner of North Yorkshire has given us another of the screen stars of our time, the excellent James Norton. James is from Marton, outside Pickering, where he spent what he has called “an idyllic childhood.” Recent screen appearances include roles in “Rush”, “Belle”, Happy Valley”, “Death Comes to Pemberley”, “Grantchester” and “Mr. Turner”. And later this year, he will star as the unfortunate Sir Clifford Chatterley in a new BBC film of D.H. Lawrence’s not all that romantic “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” Holliday Grainger plays Lady C and Richard Madden plays the gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors, with whom she has a right old carry on!

I thought of these things last week when the really marvellous National Gamekeepers Organisation, which has over 16,000 members across the country, held a major meeting of gamekeepers from the North York Moors in our house. I can vouch for there not being a single Oliver Mellors among them! And I thought of what our gamekeepers really do. They are out in all weathers, creating the conditions for the harvest of the best, locally-sourced, completely healthy organic food at a time of increasing food shortages, they protect our iconic little birds, our beloved songbirds, from many of those species that predate on them, they patrol and protect our countryside at a time of burgeoning rural crime and they are responsible for bringing literally millions of pounds every year into the countryside, not least in the hills where employment prospects are so sparse. With the number of available farm tenancies now almost non-existent, gamekeepering is a fine alternative career for those from farming backgrounds who want to work in the countryside.

And I was reminded of a press release about our cherished moorland wading birds put out just before Christmas by the North York Moors National Park. What it said was, “The number of golden plovers recorded on the moorland of the North York Moors could be at its highest level for 18 years. The picture looks promising for other wading birds too with no further decline in breeding lapwing and populations of curlew holding steady, bucking a national declining trend. The National Park Authority praised the good work carried out by landowners and gamekeepers to maintain the conditions that benefit these nationally and internationally important birds.” So there was definitely not a single Mellors within this fine group. Rather, this was a meeting of true country people, conservationists who were passionate about their work and the places in which they lived. It is worth remembering all this when Lady C hits our screens later in the year however good the performances, not least James Norton’s.

Now I have always thought that D,H. Lawrence’s novel would have been a better book if there had been a bit less of Lady C’s canoodling with Mellors and a bit more about what our wonderful gamekeepers do to bring nutritious organic food to the pot, to protect our beloved songbirds, to police our countryside and to bring prosperity to rural areas. Just as a fortnight ago, I saluted our farmers, so today I salute those other champions of the countryside, our gamekeepers!

Until next Tuesday!
Toby