Demelza Val Baker's band African Dance Band ZAMBULA have a website www.zambula.co.uk
Zambula were originally formed as a ten peice in West Cornwall in the early 1980's, when Ugandan singer and percussionists, Tito, teamed up with the Israeli singer Wendy Herman and conga player, Demelza Val Baker. From the start this was an exciting dance band that soon got their audiances moving to original material written by Tito. The band soon progressed to becoming one of the South West biggest drawing bands, playing all the main venues throughout Devon and Cornwall. They became regulars at the regions main festivals such as St. Ives, Elephant Fayre and WOMAD, and have been a perminant fixture at Glastonbury for almost two decades. Recently they have appeared at both the upcoming Ely Folk Festival in Cambridge and have just completed their second year at The Eden Project's Jungle Sessions. Zambula is a high energy, "must-see" cross-cultural seven peice African dance band. The Charismatic Tito's (Titos Muwanga Sembatya) vibrant tribal chants blend with Wendy's haunting Celtic melodies to create a "unique and unforgettable" sound driven by Demelza pulsating congas and enhanced by the incricate and interweaving rhythms of the band. Zambula's triumphant '2000 tour', which included their euphoric performance at Glastonbury "which left the audiance clamouring for more", was a milestone in the bands continued progession.
These days Demelza is the only original member playing wth the band but they are still as good as ever....Zambula's high energy performances and infectious rhythms guarantees that the audiance is swept to their feet from the outset. Here is a unique opportunity to experience the true spirit of Africa, with all its passion, power and mystique contained in the music of this remarkable group In addition Zambula also run an African dance workshop, where they teach the art of true Congalese dancing with tribal chants and Girot drumming. Demelza, in herself a master drummer, also teaches group and single sessions, with a range of drumming techniques in both Conga's and D'jemba.
For more information please visit the website, www.zambula.co.uk
AVAILABLE BY MAIL:
Cornish Review 1949-52 - An Anthology edited by Martin Val Baker - £11 inc p&p
Britains Art Colony By The Sea -by Denys Val Baker - paperback edition 2000 - £11.50 inc p & p
Eighty from the Eighties - edited by Martin Val Baker 1993 - £12 inc p & p
Make cheque out to Rainyday Gallery - 22 Market Jew St, Penzance enq 01736 366077
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Denys in The Forties.................1955 with Jess and family................... ..................M.F.V. Sanu 1965....... .... ........... Jess and Denys
DENYS VAL BAKER (1917-84)
and his father Valentine Henry Baker (1888-1942) (Bottom of Page)
DES HANNIGAN Obituary in Peninsula Voice, Penzance August 1984
In Cornwall where visual artists enjoy the relative security of a supportive tradition, through established galleries, studios and workshops, to be a full time professional writer is to be something of an unsung hero. Denys Val Baker was such a man. There are one or two others of course but what made Val Baker unique was his dedication to the writer's trade and his marvelous and unselfish belief that there should be a 'community of writers' in the same sense that there is a community of artists; that the written word should be as much a part of Cornwall's culture as the visual arts and that both should be extended. Too often of course writers are there own worse enemies. Introverted and subjective, they lack the gregariousness of the painter and the visual evidence of their work while, for those writers who succeeded, total withdrawal seems to be inevitable. Denys Val Baker never hit the Best Seller lists but had he done so, it's a fair bet he would have achieved even more for the Cornish literary world and for that 'community of writers' he so believed in. As it was, he did everything he could until circumstances overcame even his spirited support for the written word and it was ironic that, coincident with his death, opportunities for literature were being further eroded by a philistine National Arts Council.
LITERARY OUTPUT Denys Val Baker's literary output was prodigious. Most people knew that he was a well established author but few appreciated the extent of achievement. In his lifetime, he published 14 novels, 26 autobiographies, 23 short story collections, 18 books on general subjects, 41 edited collections of other writer's work and several hundred short stories. He was a writer from the very start. Born in 1917 of Welsh parentage, his father was Valentine Baker the noted flight pioneer who taught Amy Johnson to fly. (Valentine Baker was later killed in a flying accident while testing a Martin-Baker Fighter in 1942. His partner, James Martin, went on to design the first ejector seat for jet-engined aircraft.) Denys Val Baker began work as a junior reporter on several regional newspapers and worked briefly in Fleet Street where he learned many of the basic skills of the writer's trade. On the outbreak of war he became a conscientious objector (he had been vegetarian since the mid-thirties and was to remain so until his death) and worked with various pacifist groups in London doing voluntary work during the blitz. In 1941 he began editing OPUS, a quarterly literary magazine and it was to this particular literary form that he dedicated much of his energy and skill over the coming years. There followed other editorial stints with VOICES, WRITING TODAY, MODERN SHORT STORIES and INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORIES, all of which featured work by such developing writers as Alex Comfort, Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Taylor, Rayner Heppenstall, William Sampson, Anais Nin, Pamela Hansford Johnson, Krishnamurti and Henry Miller. FIRST NOVELS 1945 saw the publication of WORLDS WITHOUT END, a collection of Val Baker's own short stories followed soon after by his first novel, THE WHITE ROCK, while the end of the forties saw two more novels, THE WIDENING MIRROR, and THE MORE WE ARE TOGETHER, a humorous account of community life.
In 1948, following the break-up of his first marriage, Denys Val Baker moved to Cornwall where he rented a cottage on Trencrom Hill and it was from here that the first CORNISH REVIEWS were published between 1949 and 1952. The magazine ran for ten issues and offered the very best of Cornish writing on all aspects of the arts, including articles by Bernard Leach, R. Morton Nance, Peter Lanyon and A.K. Hamilton Jenkin as well as poetry by the young Causley, Clemo, W.S. Graham and the irrepressible Arthur Caddick, who penned this first volumeÕs swan song: 'Its friends, the artists had no cash to spare, And those who should have helped it did not care' -- thus appraising the fate of many a brave literary venture.
SHORT STORIES Over the years, Denys Val Baker sustained his trade as a writer by producing hundreds of short stories, many of which were broadcast by the BBC. He was an acknowledged master of the genre, reminiscent in his more literary creations of H.E. Bates and Lawrence - THE WOMAN AND THE ENGINE DRIVER and THE CLAY POOL being particularly fine examples - and it was a matter of some regret to himself that he had not more time to dedicate to his short story form, his favourite. But life and limb, not to mention a large and flourishing family from his second marriage, demanded a steady output of bread and butter writing in the form of stories, articles and lesser novels. During the fifties Val Baker lived in Penzance, Sennen Cove and St Hilary before moving to St Ives, which later inspired the first of his idiosyncratic autobiographies, THE SEA'S IN THE KITCHEN and THE DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN. There was to follow an inevitable sequence of twenty four more such books by which Val Baker captivated an entirely new public, to whom he brought great pleasure through escapist reading. The books were extrovert and delightfully eccentric and it is by these that many will remember him. His later adventures at sea in his converted Motor Fishing Vessel SANU were outrageously chronicled in such books as THE PETRIFIED MARINER which, in their turn, were guaranteed to harrow the blood of any professional seaman, with those tales of Denys' and SANU's incredible brushes with disaster. Although one guessed that there was more than enough of Valentine Baker's pioneering instinct in his son to keep SANU afloat and on course in the long term. ("...You mean you had the wrong charts Denys, and you headed up channel regardless...?" A quiet chuckle and that self effacing smile, followed by ...Well, SANU knew exactly where she was going...")
THE CORNISH REVIEW AGAIN In 1972 Val Baker began a productive association with the publisher William Kimber that ultimately produced six further novels, nine collections of his own short stories and twenty three edited anthologies of short stories by such writers as Edna O'Brien, Alan Sillitoe, Hammond Innes, Fay Weldon, Winston Graham, Margaret Drabble, Daphne Du Maurier et al... In fact, a definitive listing of major British writers. These apart, he also found space in such collections for new, young writers. Then, midway through the prolific decade of the sixties, Denys Val Baker launched a second run of the CORNISH REVIEW. Those were hopeful times, as Val Baker himself suggested "...There was a new climate abroad and people had come to recognize that artistic ventures such as a regional literary review deserved some sort of practical support from Government..." How far we have regressed from such optimistic times, with the abandonment of regional literary assistance, now followed by a national neglect of literature, is patent, But the second CORNISH REVIEW ran for twenty-seven issues and was never anything less that fulsome. Among poems and stories there were works by such as DM Thomas, now CornwallÕs most prestigious literary son, as well as by Jack Clemo, Charles Causley, Donald Rawe together with such figures of the Penwith literary establishment as Arthur Caddick, Frank Ruhrmund and W.S Graham. There was also substantial exposure of the visual arts with reproduction of work by Bryan Pearce, Jack Pender, Peter Lanyon, John Miller and many more. The rich fund of material contained in the REVIEWS has still to be assessed. Inevitably, Caddick had much more to say about this 'Second Launching', using Denys Val Baker's own nautical connections to good effect: "Three cheers for Cap'un Baker and his craft, The resurrection man who piles his decks, With gallimaufries from the Cornish scene, And brings his poets little Celtic cheques!" And it was those Celtic cheques that made the REVIEW even more authentic, because Denys Val Baker recognized the importance of professionalism in the literary world as in all the creative arts.
PUBLIC LENDING RIGHTS Writing is work in the total meaning of that word and Denys Val Baker epitomised the working writer. He was a genuine bohemian, where so many of us are simply self-indulgent, while his record would satisfy the most reactionary definition of the work ethic. It is ironic once more that having fought for so long for the institution of Public Lending Rights, whereby authors receive royalties on their books when issued by libraries, that the advent of PLR established him amongst the top one hundred most frequently read authors, out of the six thousand who applied for the scheme. Denys Val Baker had struggled all his life and had succeeded within hard limits as a full-time professional writer, of which there are very few. Sometimes lonely in that painful trade but always prolific and determined and always a source of great encouragement to others. One always felt that for so long as Denys was around there was a chance to write about Cornwall, about life and that, even without the CORNISH REVIEW, he was somehow still and inspiration. Always ready to discuss, to criticise, to encourage, to wisely reject even, any and every aspect of the written word. In his later years he was often physically unwell and deeply concerned about the way in which the world was edging towards a cultural and political decline. In his own words on the demise of the second CORNISH REVIEW , he encapsulated a problem that has become even more insoluble when he said: "The penultimate cause of the magazine's end is indeed a withdrawal of the SWA grant, but beyond and before that, somewhere there has been a stubborn reluctance among the Cornish people themselves to give that really practical support to what was, after all, their own and only literary magazine. Why this should be, I do not know: Cornish support for numerous local ventures - amateur dramatics, opera, music etc - is often very enthusiastic. Why then, not for a literary magazine? Alas the CORNISH REVIEW bows out still unable to provide the answer to that question... Perhaps sometime in the future a new phoenix will rise and follow a happier flight path..." That was in 1974 and now, without Denys and with the low temper of our day, that time may seem far distant. But at best, his remarkable achievements as a writer and as a highly respected and much loved Editor, together with the memory of his impressive personality remain as an inspiration to anyone with literary ambition, who is also prepared to work for it.
See Also Tim Scott's Biography "The Cornish World of Denys Val Baker" Ex Libris Press 1994.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Published Work by DENYS VAL BAKER ( October 24th 1917- July 6th 1984)
NOVELS
1. The White Rock: Sylvan Press, 1945
2. The More We Are Together:Sampson Low,1947
3. The Widening Mirror:Sampson Low, 1949
4. A Journey With Love: Bridgehead USA 1955.
5.The Titles My Own : (as David Eames) Bless1955.
6. The Faces Of Love : (no 4 revised) 1967.
7. As The River Flows: Milton House, 1974.
8. Company Of Three: Milton House, 1974.
9. Don't Lose Your Cool Dad: Milton House 1975
10. BarbicanÕs End: William Kimber:1979
11. Rose: William Kimber: 1980.
12. Karenza: William Kimber: 1980 (no 1 revised)
13. One Summer at St Merry: 1980 (no2 revised)
14. Frances: William Kimber: 1980 (no 3 revised)
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
1.Selected Stories: Staples and Staples 1944 ?
2.Worlds Without End: Sylvan Press 1945.
3.The Return Of Uncle Walter: Sampson Low1949
4. Strange Fulfillment: Pyramid Books USA, 1959.
5. The Flame Swallower: J. L. Lake, 1963.
6.The Strange and the Damned: Pyramid, 1964.
7. Bizarre Loves: Belmont Books, USA, 1964.
8. Strange Possession: Pyramid 1965.
9. Strange Journeys: Pyramid, 1966.
10 The Face in the Mirror: Arkham House USA 1971.
11.Woman & the Engine Driver United Writers1972
12. A Summer to Remember: William Kimber1975.
13. Echoes from Cornish Cliffs: Kimber 1976.
14. The Secret Place:: William Kimber 1977.
15. Passenger to Penzance: William Kimber 1978.
16. At the Seas Edge: William Kimber 1979.
17. The House on the Creek: William Kimber 1981.
18. Thomasinas Island: William Kimber 1981.
19. The Girl in the Photograph: Wm Kimber 1982.
20. Martin's Cottage: William Kimber1983.
21. At the Rainbow's End: William Kimber 1983.
22. A Work of Art: William Kimber 1984.
23. The Tenant: William Kimber 1985.
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
1. The Sea's in the Kitchen: Phoenix House 1962
2.The Door is Always Open: Phoenix House1963.
3. We ll Go Round the World Tomorrow: 1965
4. To Sea with Sanu: John Baker: 1967.
5. Adventures Before Fifty: John Baker 1969.
6. Life Up The Creek: John Baker 1971.
7. The Petrified Mariner: William Kimber 1972.
8. An Old Mill by the Stream: Wm Kimber 1973.
9. Spring at Lands End: William Kimber 1974.
10. Sunset Over the Scillies: William Kimber 1975.
11. A View from the Valley: William Kimber 1976
12.The Wind Blows from the West: Kimber1977
13. A Long Way to Land's End: Kimber1977
14. All This and Cornwall Too: Kimber 1978.
15. A Family for all Seasons: Wm Kimber 1979.
16. As the Stream Flows By: WmKimber 1980.
17. Upstream at the Mill: William Kimber 1981.
18. A Family at Sea: William Kimber 1981.
19. The Waterwheel Turns: William Kimber1982.
20. Summer at the Mill: William Kimber 1982.
21. Family Circles: William Kimber 1983.
22. Down a Cornish Lane: William Kimber 1983.
23. The Mill in the Valley: William Kimber1984.
24.When Cornish Skies are Smiling: WK1984
25. My Cornish World: William Kimber 1985.
26. Cornish Prelude: William Kimber 1985.
OTHER TITLES
1. Paintings from Cornwall: Cornish Library1950
2. Britain Discovers Herself: Johnson &Co1950.
3. How to be An Author: Harvill Press 1952.
4. The Pottery Book: Cassell 1959.
5. Britain's Art Colony by the Sea: Ronald1959
6. How to be a Parent: T.V. Boardman 1960.
7. The Minack Theatre: George Ronald 1960.
8. Pottery for Pleasure:&Profit (asDEames)1963
9. Pottery Today: O.U.P.1961.
10. Pottery: (as Henry Trevor) Constable 1963.
11. The Young Potter: Nicholas Kaye 1963.
12. Cornwall for the Cornish Porthmeor Press1964
13. Thy Neighbour's Wife: 1964.
14. The Timeless Land: Adams and Dart 1973.
15. Fun With Pottery: Kaye & Ward 1973.
16. The Spirit of Cornwall: W.H. Allen 1980
17. Let's make Pottery: Warne 1981.
18. A View from Lands End William Kimber 1982
LITERARY MAGAZINES PUBLISHED
1. Opus: Quarterly (1-14) in London around 1940-1943.
2. Voices: Opus renamed around 1943-46
3. Cornish Review: Quarterly 1949-52 & !966-74.
EDITED BOOKS
1. Preludes : (Poetry Anthology) Opus Press 1942.
2. Little Reviews: 1914-43 P.E.N. Books 1943.
3. Little Reviews Anthologies: Allen & Unwin 1943, 44, 45, 46, 47/48 and 49.
4. International Short Stories: W.H. Allen 1944.
5. Writing Today: Staples & Staples 43, 44, 45 & 46.
6. Modern Short Stories: Staples & Staples1943,44.
7. Selected Stories: Staples & Staples 1944.
8. Voyage: Sylvan Press 1945.
9. Writers of Today: Sidgewick & Jackson 1946& 48
10.Modern British Writing: Vanguard (NY.).1947.
11. One and All (Cornish Stories) Museum Press 1951
12. London Aphrodite Bridgehead, USA 1955
13.The Moods of Love: New English Library 1960
14.The Tastes of Love: New English Library 1966
15. The Ways of Love: New English Library 1969
16. The Dreams of Love: New English Library 1969
17. Haunted Cornwall: William Kimber 1973
18. Cornish Short Stories: Penguin 1973
19. Cornish Harvest: William Kimber 1974
20. Stories of The Sea: William Kimber 1974
21. Stories of Country Life: William Kimber 1975
22. Stories of the Night: William Kimber 1976
23. Stories of the Macabre: William Kimber 1976
24. My Favourite Story: William Kimber 1977
25.Stories of Horror and Suspense: Kimber1977
26. Personal Choice: William Kimber 1977
27. Stories of The Occult: William Kimber 1978
28. TWELVE: Women's Writing: W.H. Allen 1978
29.Love is for Lovers: (as D. Valentine)Kimber 1978
30. Women's Writing 2: W.H. Allen 1979
31. Stories of the Supernatural: Kimber 1979
32. The Sea Survivors: W.H. Allen 1979
33. Stories of Fear: William Kimber 1980
34. Women's Writing: Sidgewick and Jackson 1980
35. Cornish Ghost Stories: William Kimber 1980
36.Ghosts in Country House: William Kimber 1981
37.When Churchyards Yawn: William Kimber 1982
38.Stories of Haunted Inns: William Kimber 1982
39. Ghosts in Country Villages: Kimber 1983
40. Phantom Lovers: William Kimber 1984
41. Haunted Travelers: William Kimber 1985
Plus hundreds of magazine articles and short stories (SEE LIST BELOW)
See Also Tim Scott's Biography "The Cornish World of Denys Val Baker" Ex Libris Press 1994.
VALENTINE HENRY BAKER was born on August 24th 1888 the youngest son of Mr
and Mrs J M Baker of Llanfairfechan, North Wales. His father died some years
ago ; his mother still lives at Llanfairfechan, and has just celebrated her
96th birthday.
When the Great War broke out he joined the R.N.A.S. (Armoured Cars Section)
as a dispatch rider. On October 27th 1914 he was promoted to the position
of Petty
Officer. Five months later, March 15th, he was on the River Clyde which took
part in the first landing in Gallipoli, and during the fighting on the beaches
he was severely wounded by a bullet in the neck. When ‘Bake’ (as
he was known by all his friends was taken to hospital at Malta, the doctors decided
that any operation for the removal of the bullet might have fatal results as
it was lodged very near the spinal nervous system.”Leave it alone then,” said ‘Bake’;
and the bullet remained in the back of his neck until the day of his death. although
that bullet must have been a source of continual bother to Bake, he never mentioned
it or complained of it, and only his family and a few friends knew anything about
it.
From Malta Bake was discharged as unfit and returned home. However, it was not
long before he volunteered for military service again and he was accepted for
the Royal Welch Fusiliers, becoming a Second Lieutenant on November 5th 1915.
Soon Bake was able to make his eagerly awaited entry into aviation. In the Spring
of 1916 he was posted to the School of Aero Flying at Reading for a training
course. In July he went to the Central Flying School, D Squadron, and on September
25th 1916 he graduated as a flying officer general list, of the new Royal Flying
Corps. A month later at Gosport, he joined the famous 41 Squadron of the R.F.C.
with which he served all his operational war flying.
Bake saw nearly nine months active flying service in France, and during that
time nearly every one of his original comrades of 41 Squadron was killed or badly
wounded.
He crashed himself once or twice but managed to escape unhurt. Leading his own
flight he had many encounters with enemy formations and was reputed to have shot
down between 15 and 20 German planes; he also did valuable work on ground strafing
of troops. It was for his daring and bravery in the latter activity that he was
awarded the Military Cross. the official announcement read- ‘In a large
number of ariel combats he showed the greatest daring and determination. On one
occasion alone he flew at low altitude over the enemy lines attacking and dispersing
enemy artillery, infantry and transport, and returned with a valuable reconnaissance
report concerning the retiring enemy.” Later Bake was awarded the new Air
Force Cross - reported to be the first British pilot to receive the award.
Bake’s impressive reputation as a flyer not unnaturally led the authorities
to decide that he would be a very good man for training new flyers and in June
1917 he was ‘posted to home establishment’. From then until the end
of the war Bake made a very valuable contribution to Britain’s air supremacy
by helping to turn out good flyers. As a flying instructor at Turnbury, Catterick,
and Cramlington he must have trained large numbers of air force lads. During
this period Bake was promoted Flight commander, and later Captain. After the
Armistice he went for a short while with 18 Squadron out to Cologne then back
to Cramlington. In September 1919 he went to Beverley as C.O. to superintend
the winding up of the aerodrome there - and from there he went to Grantham aerodrome.
His final Air Force job of that period was his transfer in May 1920 to the Secret
Codes Department, Air Ministry - a job he held until September 30th 1921, when
he returned at last to civilian life.
Like so many others of his generation Bake had during the war years, passed from
youth to manhood. He had married too - on March 23rd 1916 to an old school friend
Dilys Eames, daughter of a well known Llanfairfechan family. Like so many others
he decided that the time had come for him to make out a career for himself, so
at the end of 1921, Bake with several years of intensive experience as a flying
instructor behind him, ventured on his first civilian flying job.He went out
to the Dutch East Indies as a representative of Vickers-Armstrong Aircraft Co,
and became attached to the dutch Naval and Military Air Forces in Java as a flying
instructor. For three years he taught flying to a great many young Dutch pilots.
Bake liked Java very much and would have been content to stay out there, but
the enforced return to England of his wife, due to illness, decided him to return
home. However a little later he went on another trip for Vickers this time to
chile, South America where he taught flying and demonstrated new Vickers machines.
Meanwhile the growing interest in flying had spread to England. Aerodromes and
air schools were beginning to open. Bake decided that here was afield where he
could be of particular use, and in the middle of the 1920’s he began his
most important phase of flying instruction with the appointment as flying instructor
to the Lancs Flying Club.
He helped to build up this air school and then passed on to the job of Chief
Flying Instructor at the London Aeroplane Club, Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgeware.
He stayed there for several years, then in 1929 took the job of Chief Pilot and
instructor for Air work Ltd at Heston Aerodrome.
Bake’s name will always be associated with Heston. He went there to open
an air school which under his expert guidance, quickly became the most famous
in Britain - indeed one of the most famous in the world. It is interesting to
note that up to the time of his death he had flown 15,000 hours, 9000 of which
were done at Heston, and among his more notable pupils were the Duke of Windsor
(then the Prince of Wales), the late Duke of Kent, Lord Londonderry (former Air
Minister) the late Lord LLoyd, and a whole host of others including Amy Johnson.
Just as it seemed that Bake and Heston would go along forever, he sprang a surprise
by announcing his resignation as he wished to join his friend James Martin in
a new company with the assistance of Francis Francis. The Martin Baker Aircraft
Co was launched.
The death of Captain Baker on September 12th 1942 was indeed tragic. He was testing
out a new fighter, in which he had already made some dozen successful flights,
when the engine of the machine seized during a take-off at very low altitude.
and Bake was compelled to make a forced landing in a very restricted space.
The shock of his death was felt sincerely throughout the world of British aviation
and there are many people from all walks of life who will always remember him
with respect and affection. From Funeral Brochure produced by Martin Baker Co
1942
Excerpt from ‘James Martin’ biography by
Sarah Sharman
Baker started the engine and taxied the aircraft down to the end of the runway.
He started the take-off run and began to accelerate down the runway. James and
the flight engineers were standing watching as they usually did. Suddenly the
engine cut out. The onlookers tensed and became immediately alert. It looked
as if Baker would have to abort the take-off run, and there was not much of the
runway left for him to stop on, but almost immediately, the engine cut in again
and the aircraft continued down the runway without stopping. The tension eased
and as the aircraft lifted into the sky, the ground crew began to turn away and
talk among themselves, the moment of danger having passed. But just then, the
reassuring roar of the engine stopped and a deadly silence overtook them. Panic
and disbelief gripped the onlookers. The aircraft was somewhere between 50 and
100 feet above the ground. It had already passed the end of the runway so a landing
back on the runway was out of the question.
As is often the case when disaster strikes quickly, people have difficulty in
recalling exactly what happened, and in this case the aircraft disappeared out
of sight behind a line of trees on the boundary of the airfield immediately before
it crashed. It seems however that Baker tried to manoeuvre the aircraft towards
a safe place to crash land, but that the wing tip hit a tree stump, causing the
aircraft to cartwheel. The onlookers dropped everything and jumped onto their
motorbikes or just ran. They heard the crash of the aircraft hitting the ground,
an explosion and then they saw smoke rising into the sky. When they reached the
tree line it was all over. The top of the cabin was embedded in a bank and the
rest of the aircraft had cartwheeled out. It had lost the rear half, the engine
section and the wings up to the stub, and the centrepiece with about 120 gallons
of high octane fuel was ablaze. Steel tubes and panelling just virtually melted.
There was nothing they could do. James Martin flung himself onto a grass bank
and lay there sobbing.’My dear Val, my dear Val,’ he said over and
over again.
When the heat died down they were able to venture forward to the wreckage. It
soon became clear that Baker must have been killed or knocked unconscious instantly
and had not had to suffer the agony of burning to death as they had feared. His
shoulder harness had been attached to the aircraft fuselage behind him, and it
had ripped through the panelling like a knife and was hanging loose. Baker would
have been thrown forward, and would have smashed his head as he hit the front
of the cockpit. They got stakes of wood out of a nearby fence to try and prise
his body out. His shrivelled and charred remains rolled down the wing stub and
hit the ground. His body had been burned to less than half its size. Many of
the men had seen crashes before, but nothing like this. It was utterly gruesome
and horrific.
They all felt sick and distressed. They talked very little. Eventually they returned
to the hangar as nobody knew quite what to do next. James was there, a solitary
figure, walking up and down, apparently oblivious to what was going on around
him. A young flight engineer nervously took him a cup of tea. ‘Thanks,
boy’, he said as he took it from him.
Baker’s death had an incalculable effect on James. The horror of the crash,
the heat of the blazing aircraft, the stench of burning flesh, were enough to
make an indelible impression on those who only knew Baker as James’s partner.
Fifty years on, the memories of that day are still vivid enough to be upsetting.
But James had lost his dearest friend. And more than that, his dear Val had been
killed flying an aeroplane that James had designed and built with his own hands.
It was of course, the failure of the Napier engine that had caused the crash,
not any defect in the aircraft itself, but it still remained that he had died
flying one of James’s aeroplanes.
From ‘James Martin’ biography by Sarah Sharman
I have been doing some research on the
FAMILY TREE
John Baker -bricklayer
CHILDREN
William BAKER Born Liverpool or poss Monmouth, a mariner ( ?- 1875+ ) married Ann Metcalfe (born Westward, Cumberland (1822 - 1901+) in Liverpool 1850
CHILDREN :
A.John Matthew BAKER (1851 - 17/1/1930 Llanfairfechan) born Liverpool, went to Durham University. Moved to Aber North Wales as schoolmaster at local school before 1875, worked as land agent for Colonel Platt at Gordinniog after 1880 lived at Llanfairfechan. On 28/12/1875 at Aber Married Jane Jones (1851- 6/3/1944 Lanfairfechan) born in Anglesy , daughter of William ( a mason) and Alice Jones who worked at Gorddiniog with her sister.
CHILDREN OF JOHN M BAKER
1. Edwin William BAKER (1876-1959) born Aber - lived and died in Aylesbury, poss a bank manager or worked for Post Office
2. Horace Metcalfe BAKER (1880-1973) born Aber lived in Llanfairfechan, a bank manager married Ann Eirwin (1905- ) in 1944 - she was still alive in 1986 so must have been much younger
3. Valentine Henry BAKER ( 4/8/1888 Bangor - Sept 12 1942) born Aber worked as bank clerk left to join army, injured at Gallapoli then joined R.F.C. in 1916 for a year then trained pilots. After war, flying instructor for De Haviland in Chile and Java and then at Stag Lane and Heston - amongst pupils Amy Johnson, Filson Young (see book 'Growing Wings 1934), and Edward Prince of Wales and his brothers. Left to form Martin Baker Aircraft Co with James Martin - killed testing Martin Baker mark 3 a fighter. The crash inspired his partner to invent the ejector seat. Valentine married Dilys Eames (1889-1963) in 1916 from a well known Llanfairfechan family
CHILD
1. Denys Val BAKER (1917-1984) took name Denys Val Baker as his writing name after his father died.Pacifist vegetarian and writer of novels, autobiographies and short stories also a succesfull editor and journalist - well over 120 books published. Edited literary magazines Opus and Voices in1940's London and The Cornish Review in Cornwall (1949-52 and 1966-74) many adventures on boat Sanu.
married (1) Patricia Mary Johnson (1916 - 2004) in 1942 a librarian from Leeds who he met at pacifist com munity Youth House, Camden Town during the war. Marriage ended 1948
CHILD 1. Martin Val BAKER (1944- )
married (2) Jess Margaret Bryan (1922- ) in 1949 from Cardiff - worked for twenty years as a potter and then, after O.U. and university as a psycologist. She already had two daughters:
1. Gillian Elaine Val BAKER (1945 - ) father , Svendsen a Norwegian Navy Officer
2. Jane Val BAKER (1947- ) father Edward Lewis a Welsh solicitor
CHILDREN
1. Stephen Ross Kelly Val BAKER (1949 - )
2. Demelza Ann Val BAKER (1951 - )
3. Genevieve Dilys Val BAKER (1954 - )
B. William BAKER (1852 - 1938) born Carlisle, Cumbria. Christened Liverpool. With his children ran a bakery in Liverpool
married Florence WHITTHREAD (1858 - 1941) born Liverpool
CHILDREN:
1.John Whitthread BAKER (1885- 1965) born Liverpool
married Mary (1891 - 1970)
2. Violet BAKER (1889 - 1982) born Liverpool
3. Mabel Edith BAKER (1891 - ) born West Derby
4. William Edward BAKER (1893 - 1957) born Liverpool
C. Isabella BAKER (1854 - )
Some Baker Family History
In 1850 William Baker, a seaman or ‘mariner’ married Ann Metcalfe in Liverpool. The couple went on to have threee children. There were two boys, John Matthew and William and a girl, Isabella. William junior had four children, John Whitthread, Violet, Mabel and William Edward all ‘successful in the bakery trade at Mossley Hill in Liverpool - but only one son between them’. John Matthew Baker, was baptised at St Mathias Church, Liverpool on Jan 9th1851. Soon after, at the 1851 census of March 30th ,Ann was living at 96 Kent Place, Stone Street with John Matthew - her husband was marked as ‘at sea’ . She went on to live until at least 1901 (census) when she was registered as a widow living in Llandudno just a few miles from John in Llanfairfechan. Ann was born in Westward, Cumberland in 1822.
It is not clear exactly where William came from - though in the 1861 census there is a William Baker a mariner aged 33, married but living on his own in lodgings in Liverpool who was born in ‘Lanton’ in Somerset. This could be our man, maybe ‘Lanton’ (there is no such place) could be Lanbourn or even Taunton. Perhaps by then Ann and William had separated. Their son John Matthew Baker set out to be a schoolmaster and in the 1871 census we find him as a twenty year old teacher in lodgings at Northowram in Yorkshire. He may well have then gone to Durham for the University. A few years later he arrived in North Wales - reputedly ‘from Durham’. The job he got was in the little village school at Aber just outside Llanfairfechan probably in 1873/4 and most likely as he was the only teacher there, he moved into ‘The Schoolhouse Aber’. Two possibilities now apply. At that time the Welsh language would have been very strong in that area - was John Matthew a Welsh speaker (and thus probably from a Welsh background in the beginning) or was he in fact an English speaker brought in to try and discourage Welsh speaking .
On December 28th 1875 at Aber Church John Matthew Baker (of The School House Aber) married Jane Jones (of Gorddinog Lodge) the youngest daughter of William (a stonemason) and Alice Jones who were from Beaumaris on the island of Anglesey - just across the Menai Straits from Aber. Jane and her older sister both worked for Colonel Henry Platt at Gorddinog House a fine manor house at Llanfairfechan. Witnesses at the wedding included William and Alice Jones and also the grooms father William Baker but not his mother Ann which would seen to suggest a separation. The first of their three sons Edwin William Baker was born at The School House Aber on 24/9/1876 as was the second Horace Metcalfe Baker on 6/7/1880 but the third, Valentine Henry was born at The Oaks, Gwylt Road, Llanfairfechan in 1888.
By then John Matthew Baker had left his job as a teacher and moved on to become the Land Agent for the Gorddinog Estate so we can suppose this happened around 1885. On the 1901 census he is rated as a ‘Secretary to a gentleman’ and he seems to have worked in one capacity or another for Colonel Platt until 1914 at least. As the three boys grew up they would probably have gone to Aber school although there is a reference to Valentine attending Llanfairfechan National School and then a private school ‘near St James’ Church in Bangor’. Edwin, Horace and Valentine all seemed to have joined Lloyds Bank locally as young men. Horace eventually ended up as manager of the Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr branches in the twenties and thirties whilst Valentine worked at the Bangor and Caernarvon branches before joining the R.NVR in 1914. Edwin seems to have left North Wales by the 1901 census, moving first to London and then Bucks, in 1918 he was in St Albans, perhaps he transferred to a LLoyds Bank branch there. When he died on 20/1/1959 aged 82 (61 Worlds End Lane, Weston Turville, Bucks - buried at Aber) he was described as a retired ‘Postal and Telegraph Officer’.
By the 1920’s John Matthew and Jane had retired to Grove Cottage, Aber Road, Llanfairfechan. Colonel Platt had died in 1914 so maybe John had retired then. A Sydney Platt, son of Sydney and Bertha Platt, (a grandson or nephew of the Colonel ?) of Gorddinog died flying for the R.F.C. in the Spring of 1917 - probably he would have been a friend and contemporary of Valentine - and perhaps the reason he joined the R.F.C.
John Matthew died on17/1/1930 aged 81 but his widow Jane remained in Grove Cottage with her Bank manager son Horace keeping an eye on her until her own death at Dolerw Llanfairfechan (probably a Nursing Home ?) on 6/3/1944 at the age of 97 - the oldest person in the village. Apparently Jane Baker was a bit of a tyrant and this may be one of the reasons why Edwin and, later, Valentine left Wales at a relatively young age . Horace was a ‘respected member of the community, yet he never took an active part in the community..in other words he kept his own counsel. As manager of Lloyds Bank he was always immacuately dressed and drove a smart top of the range Wolsely car which was always spotless. He was courting Anne Eirwin Jones (from Glasinfryn) for years before they married, it was said that the old lady would not agree to the marriage hence the long courtship and so they were not able to marry until after Jane Baker’s death.’ Perhaps Jane did not want her son, a bank manager, to wed the daughter of a quarryman and his wife (Owen Edward Jones and Ann Ellen Lewis from Tregarth near Bangor) ! Soon after the wedding at Aber Church on July 31st 1944, with Edwin as best man, Horace and Annie built a new house just over the road called Wern Newydd, and despite the twenty five year age gap lived very happily for another 29 years until Horace’s own death there on 23/1/1973 aged 93. Anne Eirwen Baker lived on until 1986 (?) at 10 Parc Henblas, Llanfairfechan.
From a local obit:
Valentine ‘will be remembered with deep affection, especially in Llanfairfechan. He had a charm of manner which made him popular and despite his brilliant career in the flying world he never forgot the freinds of his youth in his native village’IF ANYONE HAS ANY FURTHER INFO I WOULD BE GLAD TO HEAR !
Click here to continue the story of Denys's father Valentine Henry Baker
A LIST OF MOST OF DENYS VAL BAKER'S SHORT STORIES