September – SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR)

Windsor Catle - St George's Chapel - A sketch drawn in 1888 by Alfred Young Nutt, Surveyor to the Dean and Canons, of the vault containing the coffins of King Charles I (left), King Henry VIII (centre) and his Queen, Jane Seymour (at right). Upon Charles' coffin is the small coffin of a still-born child of the Princess George of Denmark, later Queen Anne.

Email: The Original & Developed Roman Calendar! (10.8.2026)

10/08/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

. In 1751 the Calendar Act was passed by Parliament – so that in 1752 – New Year’s Day would fall for the first-time on “January 1st” – as opposed to the traditonal “March 25th” (the latter bang the original Roman “New Year” – subsequently adopted by the Christian Church to celebrate “Lady’s Day” – referring to “Mary Mother of Christ” Day – as the UK was now “Protestant” Mary was no longer the central figure she still is in the now ousted Catholic Church). Interestingly, when I worked in an Accountancy firm in the UK, the “Financial Year” legally began on “April 1st” – the retaining of the old Pagan New Year for financial purposes – I am told (a time of “plenty” in the world as Spring has arrived). What happened after the 1752 change is that all the historical dates were altered to reflect the new calendar – with “January 1st” now being “New Year”. Therefore, King Charles I was executed in “1649” and not the actual “1648” – as “January 1st” (New Year) had come and gone prior to the event. Sometimes in UK textbooks, you may find acronyms like “OD” (“Old Date”) and “ND” (New Date) next to differing years – or something similar. So, King Charles died in 1648 (OD) and 1649 (ND) – and so on. As time has gone by, quite often the “Old Dates” have been forgotten altogether – until a particularly efficient historian decides to brush-off the cobwebs.

Surrey: WWII Anderson Shelter – Rural Life Living Museum! (29.5.2026)

29/05/2026 Adrian (釋大道)

The fact that thousands of working-class people in London took to the Tube tunnels for safety demonstrates just how few people possessed these shelters. My mother’s family – which lived in Lewisham – did possess one of these “Anderson Shelters” – and it saved their lives when Hitler’s bombers finally came! During September, 1941, Hitler targetted the working-class areas of London with the intention of either wiping-out the working-class (and preventing them joining the British Armed Forces) or scaring them so much that they would not volunteer to fight Hitler. Hitler destroyed large parts of Lewisham – which included my mother’s family home. They had took cover in the shelter and as my grandfather was piling-up the sand-bags around the door – when the bombs fell that destotyed their house and street!

Sutton: St Nicholas Church – Stones & Stained Glass Exhibition! (8.9.2025)

08/09/2025 Adrian (釋大道)

Sutton is now part of Greater (South-West) London (formerly East Surrey) – and Churches are viewed (rightly or wrongly) as a type of museum, although I think St Nicholas is still in use despite Church attendance being very small across the UK. Our view (as non-Christians) is that these places should be properly and respectfully preserved – and the faithful be allowed to worship in them. On the other hand, as the Church of England is funded through general taxation (regardless as to whether the worker is Christian or not) – ALL people (providing the behave) should be able to frequent the building. We also love the squirrels, pigeons, rats, and mice which live in the graveyard.

Lewisham: Locating the Now Lost “Horton Street”! (25.11.2023)

25/11/2023 Adrian (釋大道)

During September, 1940, Nazi Germany unleashed its ‘Blitz’ attack on London! The Luftwaffe dropped thousands of tonnes of bombs on East London – as Hitler sought to destroy the physical bodies of the British working-class (thus preventing them from joining the British Arm Forces) – and to destroy the morale of those who were left! Not only this, by bombing various targets in the UK – using conventional Bomber-Aeroplanes and unconventional Flying Bombs (the fabled ‘V’ or ‘Vengeance’ weapons) Hitler attempted to rip the infrastructure of the UK from beneath the feet of its inhabitants! In the 18 months of intense blanket-bombing – a tactic Hitler had perfected in Spain during the Civil War (1936-1939) in that country – around 70,000 British people were killed!

Imperial War Museum: How a WWII British Anderson Shelter Saved the Lives of My Family! (26.10.2023)

02/11/2023 Adrian (釋大道)

There were different types of government-provided air-raid shelters issued during WWII. However, the version depicted here – is very close to that issued to my mother’s family (surnamed ‘Gibson’) who lived in Lewisham, South London. During September, 1940, the Nazi Germany ‘Luftwaffe’ blanket-bombed East London and killed and wound thousands of British people. During the entire 18-months of the ‘Blitz’ – the Luftwaffe inflicted 40,000 casualties in London and 70,000 all across the UK! My family lived in a three-storied house in Fordyce Road – with a generation living on each floor.

Yelnya: The Soviet Red Army and the First European Defeat Inflicted Upon Nazi Germany During WWII! (18.3.2023)

18/03/2023 Adrian (釋大道)

‘Nevertheless, the fact that Russia had “allies” – or rather, one major ally, Britain – and that America was going to “help” was of some psychological importance to the Russians, they did not feel entirely alone, and soon after the invasion the thought had become deeply ingrained that the war would be won, no matter how terrible and how long it was. Much was, of course, made of minor military successes, such as the slowing-down of the blitzkrieg at Smolensk (which, curiously, created for several weeks almost a feeling of euphoria, at least in Moscow), and of the small Russian counter-offensive at Yelnya, south of Smolensk in September 1941, when a few hundred square miles were recaptured from the Germans – the first to be recaptured anywhere in Europe since the beginning of the Second World War. At that time, in bombed and half-devastated Vyazna, the future Marshal V. D. Sokolovsky made to the foreign press the significant remark that, fearful as the war was, the Russians were “gradually grinding down” the German war machine, and that in any case Moscow would not be lost.’