LEON REC and THE FENNY POPPERS

There truly is a lot of interest in my wanting to follow IN THE STEPS OF SAMMY LEON:

LEON DINOSAUR – Published13^th November – 59 readers

THANK YOU – Published 14^th November – 49 readers

LEON THE NAME BEHIND A SCHOOL – 119 readers

Today I want to share the DRAFT text for LEON REC and FENNY POPPERS

FENNY POPPERS – THE LAST THING THESE DO IS POP !

(Grateful thanks to Peter White Custodian for all his help)

Thursday 11^th November 2021 and a bold sign welcomed me to Leon Recreation Ground.

Sir Herbert – SAMMY – Leon I am sure you would be proud to see you name celebrating the land you gave to the community one hundred and twenty-four years ago.

A minute for Fenny Stratford Urban District Council for Tuesday 22^nd February 1898 reads:

A letter was read from Mr P Cobb, Solicitor to Herbert Samuel Leon, of Bletchley Park, enclosing deed of gift of a piece of land forming until recently part of the Glebe of the Rectory and Parish Church of Bletchley, situate in the Parish of Fenny Stratford, containing by admeasurement nine acres, two roods and twenty-three perches or thereabouts, together with a pathway leading there to and from the Bletchley Road for the purpose of a recreation ground.

The chairman proposed and Mr Thomas Kirby seconded that best thanks of the council be given to Herbert Samuel Leon Esquire for his magnificent gift. Carried unanimously.

As I walked in Sammy’s footsteps I wondered how much had changed within the park since 1898. Society has changed and our community has changed but this gift has changed only in that it is now an important heritage with so many stories it could tell.

I looked at the trees and tried to pick out those which are mature enough to have been alive when the land took on the name of our benefactor.

To one side of Leon Recreation Ground today stands what is Knowles School, Formerly it was Bletchley Road School in the Leon days when Lady Leon was heavily involved with the school. Children were playing happily during their morning break but their sound blended into the tranquillity of Leon Recreation Ground.

That  was soon to change with six deafening explosions as the Fenny Poppers were fired.

I have said it before and I will say it many times again, Milton Keynes has more heritage per square mile than any other town or city in the country. Leon Recreation Ground is a part of that heritage and on the day of this footstep it played host to Fenny Poppers.

Another piece of heritage or should this be considered a legend. Saint Martin’s Church Fenny Stratford is the only church in the country to hold a firearms licence.

Between 1724 and 1730, Browne Willis built Saint Martin’s Church in Fenny Stratford on the old Chantry Chapel of Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine at  Fenny Stratford. He erected the church as a memorial to his grandfather Doctor Thomas Willis who was a noted physician living in Saint Martin’s Lane in the parish of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields London.

Fenny ?  Stratford ?  Stratford, as in Stratford upon Avon and Sony Stratford in North Milton Keynes, originates from the Anglo Saxon meaning the shallow part of a river or stream which can be crossed on foot or horseback.

Fenny ? To quote a line from the Bard of Avon: Fillet of a Fenny Snake. Fenny very simply means mud.

So Fenny Stratford was a muddy crossing.

But back to Browne Willis and his memorial to his grandfather Doctor Thomas Willis. Doctor Willis died on Saint Martin’s Day, Monday 11^th November 1675. In order to perpetuate his memory, Browne Willis arranged for a sermon to be preached at Saint Martin’s Church on each Saint Martin’s Day for which he paid a fee. During Browne Willis’s lifetime (16^th  September 1682 to 5^th  February 1760) he also celebrated the occasion with a dinner attended by local clergy and gentry. The Fenny Poppers date from around this time but no record exists of their first firing.

Saint Martin, who was he ? Born in 316AD and departing in November 397AD Martin of Tours was the third Bishop of Tours and became one of the most noted Christian saints in France. Today he is the patron saint of many communities and organisations. If you undertake a study of this saint you will learn he was a man ahead of his time.

So we have Saint Martin and a church taking his name, a church with a firearms licence, located in an area where there was a muddy for crossing.

But what of our muddy crossing poppers and what of their location in Leon Recreation Ground ?

There are six of them, six poppers which look like tankards but try picking one up and you will find it weighs a heavy nineteen pounds. I have picked one up and trust me, made of gunmetal it was heavy.

Each popper is carefully prepared by Custodian Peter White. First the fuse is inserted then the explosive is added, it isn’t actually gunpowder but Pyrodex but let’s call it  gunpowder, sound better doesn’t it ?. The explosive has been very carefully measured to be just the right amount. Next screwed up newspaper is added and hammered down until the mini-cannon is completely filled.

Fully charged the six poppers are carefully placed along a measured location facing out into the recreation ground. Six volunteers are then honoured to fire a popper using a heated rod. I have been so honoured twice firing a popper and I assure you that even with ear defenders on the sound of the explosion is deafening and frightening.

Tradition says that the poppers were presented to the town by Brown Willis. In 1856 one of the tankardlike cannons burst with a fragment blown on to the roof of the Bull and Butcher public house.

During their long history many different sites have been used to fire the poppers including the Canal Wharf behind the church, Saint Martin’s hall, the churchyard and now every 11^th November at Leon Recreation Ground. There are three firings during the day: 12 noon, 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock.

In 1901 they were fired to mourn the death of Queen Victoria where eighty-one salutes could be heard miles away. I wonder if Sir Herbert Leon fired a popper, he certainly would have been there watching if not firing. On 1^st January 2000 the poppers were fired to mark the beginning of the second millennium. At 2 o’clock on 4^th August 2000 a salute of six poppers was fired to celebrate the one hundredth birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Milton Keynes has more heritage per square mile than any other town or city in the country. Here two areas of our heritage come together with the Fenny Poppers dating from the eighteenth century and Leon Recreation Ground given to the community in 1898.

I began this footstep hoping to find out if Sammy Leon fired a popper but such information is not available. Perhaps he did, perhaps he did not, I tend to think he did. As I left the 2021 firing of Fenny Poppers I suggested to custodian Peter White that we could invite a member of the Leon Family to fire a popper in 2022 but if such an invitation is extended the guest needs to be warned that Fenny Poppers do not pop, they explode with an ear-shattering BANG !        

I have submitted the above to Peter White Custodian of Fenny Poppers for his approval. I want to wander around Leon Recreation Ground again to soak up the atmosphere and to write more about Leon’s footsteps within this special place.

Tomorrow I want to talk about the love the Leon Family showed in so many practical ways to our community.

Remember PLEASE if you want to share your thoughts with me e-mail me dashford566@gmail.com or become a facebook friend and message me.