Falmer March

[balloonboy]

I'm sure FFA have everything meticulously planned, and know exactly what they're doing, but could I just ask - when are we going to get told what is going to happen? Surely it's not just "turn up on Madeira Drive and have a march" - not exactly the most exciting invitation. I feel like I want to help/spread the word/think up some ideas, etc, etc - but at the mo information seems very thin on the ground - and it's only just over three weeks away. When will we know more?

 

[Colbourne Kid]

There is a meeting with police next week at which final details will be clarified. Rest assured there will be announcements after that meeting.

 

[FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS]

what is the point of the march everyone knows the point being put across and when they are gonna be more concerned with Alkeydar bombing the place or developing a nuke weapon or the pensioners lost vote or the fuel truckers blockades do you really think they are gonna be bothered by (lets face it how many turned up for the victory parade) maybe 500 or so marching on the conference we cant even totally fill Withdean its gonna look bad, not that im suggesting anyone should invade the conference and grab the mike but lets face it its only gonna be some sorta stupid publicity srunt like that or a streaker getting past security and bearing a falmer for all slogan on his/her backside thats gonna hit the front pages of the news and raise the awareness and then of course thats bad publicity or is it sometiems people say any publicity is good publicity. We have always maintained that the fans of Brighton are decent non trouble makers so what message will this march send out will mite be cast aside like the poll tax rioters and alike and no longer seen as reasoned club with a valid argument. Im not saying we shouldnt march but ive my doubts this is gonna have any effect but annoy those that turn up only to see lower numbers than expected i mean what would be a good turn out? Theres just too many marches these days therre should onlky be say one march a year after all theres 11 other months. With so many arent be gonna be lost with all the others the valentine card to 2 jags was agood idea but did even that have the impact it mite have the march with all its good intentions isnt enough doesnt amyone on here own a helecopter that could dangle a giant sign over the top of the conference with a falmer for all message or sumthing more impacting than a march?

 

[Man of Harveys]

 

[Colbourne Kid]

You'll be there then FG?

Sorry,
yerrl bee their than GF!

 

[sams dad]

FG=

 

[FG aka FOOTBALL GENIUS]

yep with my UP THE TORRIES banner isnt someone else doing a demo the day before?

 

[El Presidente]

ALTHOUGH Scotland has a pre-history of farming that extends back to around 4000 BC, it is unlikely that the skills of making cheese existed to any extent during that period. Certainly, the first settlers appear to have come from Central Europe, up through what is today Yorkshire and along the east coast of Scotland to the fertile areas in the Moray firth. Further settlers used the western seaways to settle in Argyllshire and the Outer Isles, moving on to northern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland.

They brought with them wheat and barley, bred cattle, sheep and goats, and had the ability to clear large tracts of woodland to establish grassland areas and for cereal growing. Nevertheless, the many hill forts and broch towers that remain today show that the communities were far from settled and reflect the uncertainty of the times in which they lived. In effect Scotland was very much on the periphery of things - geographically and culturally.

Cheesemaking as we know it in Scotland today is basically a European development of skills acquired from the 'Fertile Crescent', the area of land between the Euphrates and Tigris in Iraq.

Archaeologists have discovered that as far back as 6000 BC cheese had been made from cow's and goat's milk and stored in tall jars. Egyptian tomb murals of 2000 BC show butter and cheese being made, and other murals which show milk being stored in skin bags suspended from poles demonstrate a knowledge of dairy husbandry at that time.

It is likely that nomadic tribes of Central Asia found animal skin bags a useful way to carry milk on animal backs when on the move. Fermentation of the milk sugars would cause the milk to curdle and the swaying motion would break up the curd to provide a refreshing whey drink. The curds would then be removed, drained and lightly salted to provide a tasty and nourishing high protein food, i.e. a welcome supplement to meat protein.

Cheesemaking, thus, gradually evolved from two main streams. The first was the liquid fermented milks such as yoghurt, koumiss and kefir. The second through allowing the milk to acidify to form curds and whey. Whey could then be drained either through perforated earthenware bowls or through woven reed baskets or similar material.

A few miles from the author's home in Wiltshire,UK, perforated earthenware bowls dating back to 1800 BC have been unearthed on Windmill Hill, an enclosure built by the Neolithic 'beaker people'. These could well have been used for draining cheese curd. To this day woven baskets are still used in India for the making of Surati Panir and Dacca curds.

From Biblical sources we learn that when David escaped across the River Jordan he was fed with 'cheese of kine' (cows) (2 Samuel 17:29), and it is said that he presented ten cheeses to the captain of the army drawn up to do battle with Saul (1 Samuel 17:18). Indeed, records show that there was at one time a location near Jerusalem called 'The Valley of the Cheesemakers'. Clearly, skills had been developed to preserve milk either as an acid-curd based cheese or as a range of lactic cheeses, and fermented milks such as today's unsweetened natural yoghurt.

Roman Cheesemaking
Learning these techniques, the Romans with their characteristic efficiency were quick to develop cheesemaking to a fine art. Written evidence shows clearly how far the Romans had changed the art of cheesemaking:-

Homer, ca. 1184 BC, refers to cheese being made in the mountain caves of Greece from the milk of sheep and goats. Indeed one variety called 'Cynthos' was made and sold by the Greeks to the Romans at a price of about 1p per lb. This could well have been the Feta cheese of today.

Aristotle, 384 - 322 BC, commented on cheese made from the milk of mares and asses - the Russian 'koumiss' is in fact derived from mare's milk and is fermented to provide an alcoholic content of up to 3%.

Varro, ca. 127 BC, had noted the difference in cheeses made from a number of locations and commented on their digestibility. By this time the use of rennet had become commonplace, providing the cheesemaker with far greater control over the types of curd produced. Cheese had started to move from subsistence to commercial levels and could be marketed accordingly.

Columella, ca. AD 50, wrote about how to make cheese in considerable detail. Scottish cheesemakers today would be perfectly at home with many of the principles he set out so clearly some 1900 years ago.

By AD 300, cheese was being regularly exported to countries along the Mediterranean seaboard. Trade had developed to such an extent that the emperor Diocletian had to fix maximum prices for a range of cheeses including an apple-smoked cheese highly popular with Romans. Yet another cheese was stamped and sold under the brand name of 'La Luna', and is said to have been the precursor of today's Parmesan which was first reported as an individual make of cheese in AD 1579.

Thus, Roman expertise spread throughout Europe wherever their empire extended. While the skills remained at first with the landowners and Roman farmers, there is little doubt that in time they also percolated down to the local population. Roman soldiers, who had completed their military service and intermarried with the local populace, set up their 'coloniae' farms in retirement, and may well have passed on their skills in cheesemaking.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire around AD 410, cheesemaking spread slowly via the Mediterranean, Aegean and Adriatic seas to Southern and Central Europe. The river valleys provided easy access and methods adopted for production were adapted to suit the different terrain and climatic conditions. Cheesemakers in remote mountainous areas naturally used the milk of goats and sheep.

Tribes such as the Helvetica, who had settled in the Swiss Alps, developed their own distinctive types of cheese. They were in fact so successful in doing this that for a period all export of their Emmental cheese was banned. In Central and Eastern Europe the displacement of people through centuries of war and invasion inevitably slowed down developments in cheesemaking until the Middle Ages. Production was often restricted to the more remote mountainous areas where sensible cheesemakers simply kept their heads down and hoped for the best.

In the fertile lowlands of Europe dairy husbandry developed at a faster pace and cheesemaking from cows' milk became the norm. Hence, the particular development of cheeses such as Edam and Gouda in the Netherlands. This was much copied elsewhere under a variety of similar names such as Tybo and Fynbo. A hard-pressed cheese, relatively small in size, brine-salted and waxed to reduce moisture losses in storage, proved both marketable and easy to distribute.

France developed a wider range of cheeses from the rich agricultural areas in the south and west of that country. By and large,soft cheese production was preferred with a comparatively long making season. Hard-pressed cheese appeared to play a secondary role. To some extent this reflects the Latin culture of the nation, mirroring the cheese types produced in the Mediterranean areas as distinct from the hard-pressed cheese that were developed in the northern regions of Europe for storage and use in the long cold winter months that lay ahead.

However, throughout the Dark Ages little new progress was made in developing new cheese types

 

[Citrus]

 

[balloonboy]

There is a meeting with police next week at which final details will be clarified. Rest assured there will be announcements after that meeting.

Many thanks, CK.....just want to make sure I can do my bit.