My Little Gnudren,

The writer of Psalm 133 says, “How good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” We must of course forgive this writer for not mentioning women working together, but he was probably writing at a time when women had not been discovered. And old Gnu is minded of the celebrated Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson who calculated trajectories at NASA and developed computer programming providing the mathematical tools for space exploration.

Talking of brothers working together, we all learnt at Primary School about Orville and Wilbur, [the Wright Brothers], who pioneered wing warp technology and the like – something to do with flying, and something that Icharus didn’t get quite right.

But what really sticks out in Old Gnu’s mind are the brothers who Romulus and Remus who as we were all told were the driving force behind the building of Rome.

And young Gnu, then in short trousers, was told that Rome was not built in a day – a fact that he pondered for many a year. Probably because he has never had normal hearing [ thank you Mr. Audiologist] and didn’t quite catch the hortatory remarks that followed; and he was also grappling with the niceties of the English Language while sitting at the very back of the classroom. This is where the dunces sat. In those days of the last century children sat in order of achievement – termly test results – to boost their confidence.

Well, the story goes that Romulus and Remus disputed where their new city should be built. The long and short of it was that Romulus thought he was right, and so he confirmed this by killing Remus. So folks, that’s why the Pope lives in Rome and not Reme. This tool for settling disagreements has been used, and is still being used  in too many part of the world today, namely, Mymar, Sudan, Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan & Pakistan, and Haiti, Yemen, Syria, Somalia.

But do you know of the two remarkable brothers of remarkable names, Oddo and Doddo [also spelt Odo and Dodo]?  They lived in the era crossing the 7^thC and 8^thC in the time of the Kings called Ethel – to be exact, Ethelred [presumably because he had red hair] and Ethelbald [presumably no hair] ¹. Well, here they are:

We have this priceless information [and illustration above] from The Founders and Benefactors of Tewkesbury Abbey – a 10^thC volume now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. They were two Dukes of Mercia. But we as 21^st Century Historians know not to take anything that was written too near the time of the events very seriously. What did they know?!

Anyway in the 10^th Century it became a Benedictine Priory. An economic centre and community centre for sustaining both body and soul. And it is because of this side of Monastic life that those in power become interested in the gain they can bring – the Achilles Heel of such medieval monastic institutions. I suppose that it couldn’t have helped the general perception of onlookers when those who lived in monastic austerity climbed to the top and suddenly had plush and luxurious apartments while the brothers or sisters continue to live in monastic austerity. The late Pope Francis left the Papal suite to life in 2 rooms.

And sitting at the back of the classroom in 1959 I thought I was introduced to two more significant brothers: William the Conker and Norman the Conquest. But I later picked up that these were one and the same person. Historiographers have often found this to be the case with a number of figures from antiquity.

Well, when he arrived on our shores William, or Norman, took over everything and gave Tewkesbury to his cousin Robert. The building of the present Abbey Church started in 1092 with Caen Stone imported from Normandy and floated up the River Severn.

In the Wars of the Roses some defeated Lancastrians made the mistake of seeking safety in the Abbey. The Yorkists entered and there was a great slaughter – another different point of view settled. The building had to closed for a month to wash out the blood, after which normal services were resumed.

That is until Henry VIII came along and raised the roof – took all the lead and the bells from the Bell Tower – and took all the money laying around to settle another argument or two.

And here Old Gnu sits in the Abbey Cafe today doing what most people in the world want to do. That is to have a nahrce cuppa coffee with friends, to chat, get on with life and thinking of those who we can help and influence for good.

We really must find a different way to settle arguments, because whether or not we like it, as a global community we need each other. Our future depends on it.

Aah!! Nice coffee!!  Thanks Oddo and Doddo. Smart move.

Vetus Pater Gnu 
Refectorium Abbatia Teokburie
XII Mensis Maius MMXXVI

1. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle there was a Queen Ethelburga. MacDonald’s could make a real meal out of this one. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of the 7^thC refers to the driving out of the Ethelings; presumably used as a corporate noun for anybody who’s name begins with Ethel, whether they were red heads, bald or edible. ↩︎