“A great story doesn’t have to end with success”

                Liz May, curator of Farnham Museum, launched an exhibition to honor the memory of David Johnstone and John Hoare on the 50^th anniversary of their courageous try to cross the Atlantic in a boat called the Puffin. It was the first attempt of the 20^th century to row across the Atlantic. Last time the men were seen alive was on the 11^th of August 1966. As an adventurous person and a reporter at local newspaper David Johnstone was always looking for a next thing that would interest him. During one of the interviews he said “If we don’t have a go, we shall live the rest of our lives wondering if we might have made it – and knowing that only fear persuaded us from the attempt”.

                 “Most of the locals haven’t heard about that story before the exhibition” said Liz mentioning that a big group of people knew about the successful journey of John Ridgeway and Chay Blyth. Their attempt to row the Atlantic ended with a success. There is a road, school and a bakery in Farnham named after John Ridgeway. Chay Blythe after that journey made a career out of travelling and exploring. As most of the local people knew about Ridgeway and Blythe there was no interest in the tragic history of the Puffin. “It was a story that deserved to be told” said Liz May “A great story doesn’t have to end with success. What is courageous is that they didn’t give up.” The curator of Farnham Museum finds this story particularly interesting  as the men were given plenty of opportunities to stop their journey. From the rescued journal of their travel can be seen that they knew they were probably going to die, that were not going to succeed, but kept going.

                Everything that is placed in the exhibition was donated to the Farnham Museum by David Johnstone’s mother in 1968. The boat itself was found in October 1966. A bottle with pills, a net, a food can, clothes, shoes, a map and technical equipment. Every item that was found on the wreck can be seen on the exhibition, apart from journey journal, which contains of 149 hand-written pages. It is in Farnham Museum, but it is too fragile to be put into exhibition. Last record was written on 3^rd of September, just before hurricane struck the area. The journal was an inspiration for Merton Naydler, Johnstone’s family friend, to write a book about the tragic history of the Puffin.

                Apart from that exhibition, there is no memorial in Farnham, which celebrates the memory of Johnstone and Hoare, two men born in this city who tried to row the Atlantic. Until the 24^th of December visitors  can get to know the story of the Puffin visiting the Farnham Museum. It is opened for visitors from Tuesday to Sathurday, 10am-5pm, free entry.

                In the end the Puffin did cross the Atlantic. A British ocean rower, Graham Walters, set off in 2006 to give the historical boat another chance to row the Atlantic. This time the attempt ended with success. Now the Puffin is a part of exhibition in the Exter Maritime Museum. 

News story - Goldilocks as girl on drugs.

As we do more and more fun stuff during our classes I decided to post some of my works on the blog. Here comes the news story based on the fairytale about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Hope you'll enjoy this little news twist!

Girl on drugs broke into a house

                Young girl from Berlin, Germany, broke into the house of her neighbors few nights ago. On 20^th of October during Bruners’ absence she broke the doors to get into the house. The family lives near local forest so the girl managed to escape unnoticed by their neighbors quickly hiding in the woods when the family came back.

                After the investigation the police assumed that nothing was stolen from the Bruners’ house, but multiple things are destroyed. “She broke most of the plates and cups. Managed to destroy a very old, antique chair which was worth around $1820.” Said the police officer investigating the matter. “The girl also broke one bed, shower, sink, four windows and the main doors. The whole loss is estimated to be around $25000.”

Probably the girl was after high dose of psychedelic drugs as when she saw Bruners’ coming to the bedroom she grabbed a mop and tried to hit the Bart Bruner. “I did not know what was going on. She jumped out of the bed screaming something about bears, wild forest creatures and that she doesn’t want to die.” Said Bart Bruner during one of the police interviews.

                The girl moved into small flat nearby Bruners’ together with her boyfriend. They have been living on the Victoria StraBe for two weeks and since then the police had been at their place for over ten times as the neighbors were complaining about the noise and rude behavior. A week ago before breaking into Bruners’ house local police found five grams of cocaine, two grams of weed and eleven pills of MDMA at the place where the girl, introducing herself as Goldilocks, lives.

                Thanks to the CTV cameras and support of the local neighbors the police managed to catch Goldilocks and now they are still looking for her boyfriend who managed to escape. Local hospital did test if she was on drugs during the misfortunate event. That night she in her blood was high dose of LSD, heroin and probably also other psychedelics, but the sample of her blood is still being tested. The girl is in the arrest waiting for a trial.