For God and The Empire, For King and Country

For God and The Empire
​ For King and Country

Well now that's an opening title for you is it not? This month I have had the greatest honour to be awarded the British Empire Medal also known as The BEM, the title of this article is some of what is written on my medal.

Now I have great pride in being an ENGLISHMAN and I fly this English flag loud and proud as well as being British, I believe in all our home nations as one, but also having their own identities too.​

I am also a passionate Royalist, I truly believe having a Royal Family is one of the very best things about being English and British, my only regret with this hole thing is I did not get to meet our late Queen for she was my Queen, also not meeting The Duke of Edinburgh, both were life life long hero's of mine as they reminded me of my true life hero’s my Nan (Grandmother) and Pap’s (Grandfather) so meeting them had been a dream since I was a boy right here in my beloved Somersetshire.

Well the first stage of my BEM ceremony started right here in Bath that's in Somersetshire by the way, with a ceremony of my peers from the Somerset Lord Leftenant’s Office, I also took along my ole Dad and his wife, Julie and Chippy as my guests, this was a very grand ceremony indeed, I was one of only 6 BEM medals being awarded in Somerset, so this was very elite indeed, my fellow medal awards were extremely worthy holder to get this medal, I felt very humbled and honoured to be alongside such inspirational people, especially one lady who was a teacher, in COVID sacrificed her own family time to stay with her students stuck at university that could not go home, all over Christmas etc she made sure every student got food etc and also completed their Uni work so got passes etc, I really questioned why I was among such worth medal winners, what I do for young people, Country Sports and Conservation is just who I am, I don't do it for reward, medals or payment, but apparently the great number of people who nominated me think otherwise, so for this I say thank you I am truly humbled by all this but remember its always a team effort.

The next stage was to head to London and hopefully meet the King or other Royals, as I was invited to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace no less, I took my ole Dad as my guest, we hopped on a train and headed for London, let the adventure begin.

Well upon arrival in London I was very apprehensive, the reason for this is I am truly a country boy, I really don't like Cities or big Towns or even large Villages, I feel like I am suffocating, too many people, overcrowded and the air smells and breaths funny, there is a funny story where I got lost walking in Bristol and had to call a friend in Cornwall to google map where I was to guide me to a bus station, I will tell that story another time.​

We got a taxi from the train station to our hotel, Dad was like a wide eyed kid he was so excited to be going to the palace, I on the other hand was not, I felt right out of my comfort zone, the pace was disgusting rubbish all over the place, dirty and the people rude, I quickly said this is going to be a very difficult few days for me up the big smoke, Dad was like come on its an adventure, I can honestly say I have been to London three times in my life, once as a boy to see a big house with a flag on it, once about 15 years ago to the 02 to see Brad Paisley live in concert, the concert was amazing by the way and this time, I can truly say hand on heart I hated every moment of my time in London all 3 times apart from the odd bit, hated it as a boy, loved the 02 concert, and grand lodge and the palace.

​A Masonic light in the darkness on the first day was a visit to The United |Grand Lodge building, or UGLE as its known, Masonic history in the making here as a rough ole country boy from Somerset descended on this temple, the building, the history the architecture mind blowing, but the very best bit for me was meeting some brethren and their families from India, we spent the best part of three hours together and had some wonderful conversations, finishing off with a wonder cold beer together in the Grand Lodge Bar, we have struck up quite a friendship and have kept in touch too, Grand Lodge really was a masonic candle in the darkness for this ole boy I telle, for here I felt at home.

The next day we went to the garden party at Buckingham Palace, one thing I really hate is the rain and getting wet, it ok if your inside but I hate being outside in it, all I will say here is I qued up longer to get in than I stayed, my suit was wet through to the skin, I was not impressed and I left not even having a cucumber sandwich of a cup of tea, I was not impressed with the weather at all, I could not wait to get back to my beloved Somersetshire I telle.​

That night Dad and I went to a wonderful Greek restaurant and had a lovely meal and we got chatting to two Dutch ladies who were over hear visiting an art gallery, this conversation was very interesting too, especially as dads wife is half Dutch, I had a nice conversation with the lady next to me as she was going to the Tate Gallery to see the Sargent exhibition an artist I quite like, the meal over we bid farewell to the Dutch ladies on the next table to us and headed bac to our room for an early night, this was actually one of my favourite bits as Dad an I watched TV, Little Britain I think was one of the programmes, but for me we got to spend quality Father and Son time together, chatting, talking of old times, funny stories etc, so for me the best time was actually just being with my ole Dad.

Straight back to Somerset thank God I was counting down the minutes and miles back home on the train journey home, I fell asleep and the next thing I hear Dad saying come on were at Bristol we have to change trains, no wonder The Ole Queen loved Balmoral and hated coming back to London, I don't blame her, if I never, ever go there or any other big city the world over again I will be an extremely happy man, give me Country no matter where I go in this world, the air is cleaner, the people kinder, the food is awesome and the beer tastes better.

The first night back my secretary decided she would treat me and a couple of chums to a celebratory meal at The White Truffle Restaurant in Nailsea North Somerset, this restaurant is owned by one of my old school chums Andy, the second in command is one of my now grown up young sports George, both these men are incredible chefs, this is a fine dining establishment, I will let my video do the talking, but right from the very first mouth full of my starter, right through my main course and the last morsel of my dessert, dear Lord I have died and gone to culinary heaven, the food here is like an explosion of flavour on you pallet with every bite, washed down with some of the finest wine I have every had, the ambience the company, mere words or photos or even my video will do this place the justice it deserves, if you are a person who really and truly loves good food and wine take a look at White Truffle you wont be disappointed I guarantee you
website: whitetrufflerestaurant.co.uk a Michelin Star would be too lowly an award for this place I telle.

Pest Control this month has gone into full swing, I have been getting called in to one of the prestigious shooting estates, the Tennant farmers are complaining about bird and rabbit damage on the spring drilling's, the keeper teams are so busy getting ready for next seasons game shoot they just have not had the time to help the farmers, the estate owner has called me in as I normally do his pest control on some of his businesses in the town.
Being the location of the first of the crops being hit and it being a lovely sunny bank holiday, the location of estate holiday cottages and people having BBQs etc, I thought it prudent to go stealthily as I did not want loud obtrusive bangs of a shot gun disturbing people in the area, so I decided on the ole .22LR and Eley Subsonic ammunition, deadly accurate and whisper quite perfect for this job, one of the under keepers joined me for a couple of hours with his Air Arms air rifle as he had a few hours off too.

Now I did not try to hide myself, Goose and I sat in the broad open sat quite still, my thoughts were just my visible presence will keep the birds off this part of the crop that's being hit, and if the birds persist to land and attack the crop then I will shoot them at distance at my leisure, plus I could take any rabbits that popped out too from my seated position on the trigger sticks, the under keeper took the woodland and took the birds and rabbits etc that landed in the trees first, he did very well I might add.

Now my original plan of being visible worked to start with, the pigeons and corvids came in then veered off, but then it all changed as quickly as the wind, they must of got used to me bing there and then came in and tried to attack the crop with vigour, I was nailing pest after pest with that old .22LR and Eley Ammunition, this pleased Goose my Cocker Spaniel as he retrieved every shot bird on command, I did not leave them out as decoys, for I just wanted to keep the birds off the crop not shoot a big bag, although I did end up with a pretty impressive bag including several rabbits, the under keep did well too, his lordship came up to see me and congratulated me on my approach about being stealthy as all the holiday cottages were full and he did not want to have to deal with complaints, he also said by golly you have done well keeping the birds off today, oh and congratulations on your medal pop over tonight for a brandy and a choice cigar, I really do love my job especially when appreciated by the clients.

One of the VIP Professional Pest Control Contracts I have under my belt is an Agricultural Education Centre, they have four sites, Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, came highly recommended to them, the one problem they wont let any of the lads who work for me on site, they only want me, as my reputation with dealing well with the public goes before me, plus the general manager said we only want the organ grinder not the monkeys, he is a lovely man a proper countryman so I know what he means, not derogatory to the brilliant lads who work for me but this place is such a high profile set of venues they want me the head honcho and pointy hat wearer.

Well on all four sites they have problems, each with its own individual set of difficulties to be assessed then dealt with, this took some time as each site needed a carefully thought out pest management plan, then there's all the paperwork to do, risk assessments, H&S, method statements etc, oh to be just a hobbyist pest controller again just for the fun of it, well all the documentation etc all signed of for each site and both the general manager and I happy with the management plan it was time to get to work.​

Traps etc set, now for the shooting, the .22LR with the Martin Thermal Scope from Night Pearl for the rabbits in the grazing Paddocks, using Eley Ammunition, I could write a book here about this but the equipment and yours truly behind the butt just makes it look easy and we get the job done in quick time over many visits to each site.

The Air Arms S510 TDR in .22 my favourite calibre using Air Arms Field Diablo Pellets, with the NEW day night NV scope the Fellis from Night Pearl mounted on the Air Arms makes short work of the feral pigeon, rats and other vermin both by day and by night, again I could write a book here on big bags and fun shooting, but again with this quality equipment and me behind the butt now that's a winning combination right there, my highly recommended reputation precedes me as always and why I get these VIP jobs and other companies don't.

I will say I am very impressed with the new line of rifles I have in my gun shop at the moment, as with everything I stock no matter what it is, I try it all out myself first before I will stock it in my shop, for if its not good enough for me, then its not good enough for you my customer, or as I like to say, I want to prove it does what it says on the tin, where the metal meets the meat.​

I took the first one I got in stock out on the vermin jobs with me, of course I had my Air Arms there as back up just in case, but I will say I am very impressed with the New Reximex Prentensis, so much so I have kept this one in the photos and have given it to one of my top Pest Techs to use on some other VIP contracts, this rifle is deadly accurate and whisper quiet with an almighty humane strike on target, if you would like one or anything else for your sporting needs drop us a line via my website www.reallywildadventures.co.uk look for the gun room and one of my team will get back to you.

We recently held a Masonic Fishing Day for a local SEN school, I head up the Somerset branch of the MTSFC www.mtsfc.org.uk or you can read the full article on the day on the news section of Somerset Freemasonry at www.somerssetfreemasons.org plus many other articles for free.

​The Roe Buck Stalking is in full swing, as they sway the early bird gets the worm, but I must say I am torn between morning and evening stalking, I think I like evening stalking the best, although I am very successful at both.

The North Somerset Agricultural Show was awesome too this year, check out the video links below for this whole article.

Well I hope you have enjoyed my latest humble scribbles, my final thoughts are all Country Boys and Girls should avoid cities at all costs​

For God and The Empire
For King and Country
By The Ole Hedge Creeper
www.theoledgecreeper.co.uk