A Date For Your Diary

Oxgangs Memories by Pat Rafferty

Hi Peter,

I saw your blog and read your book - I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I grew up in 22 Oxgangs Farm Drive and Anne Duffy (6/8) of ‘The Stair’ was my best friend at secondary school. 

Her mum helped me out when my father went a bit berserk with me - she had a kind heart. 

Like you, my brother also had a crush on Laura Duffy (6/8 Oxgangs Avenue)) as did a lot of other boys at school. 

Joyce Colbron, who you mention, lived below me and I have an old photograph of us on the old waste ground - we were the Raffertys and the others, the Colbrons. It was taken at Oxgangs Farm Drive where the self-build houses go round Oxgangs Farm Grove. If my memory is correct the house which was built where we were playing belonged to a lad called Ewen Macleod’s family, but the photograph was taken before they moved in. Going there today it looks as if these new houses have been there as long as ours - it’s hard to imagine it all formerly being wasteland.

My brother Mike trying to look invisible; my sister Cath behind him; also Sheila; Margaret; and Joyce Colbron. Ann my other sister is behind.

We were the Raffertys and there were seven of us in total.The photograph was taken where Ewen Macleod's house was going to be built on the waste ground at the end of where several bungalows were to be built all the way along to the woods entrance near the NAAFI slope possibly as self build houses. 

Oxgangs Farm Grove

We were friendly with the Colbrons for a short time and then who knows what happened, but for years the two families didn't speak and later we moved away from Oxgangs. I think our family was the first to move in to our stair and the Colbrons the last; and I don't have many good memories of that time.

Oxgangs Farm Drive

You also mention the Andreettis; what a sweet lady Mrs Andreetti was. Freddie, one of her sons, was in my brother’s class at St Marks and he was a nice kid. I used to have to go to their shop (at Colinton Mains) in the morning before school for groceries and if Mr Andreetti wasn't there Mrs Andreetti would sometimes give me a Milky Bar. We didn't get sweets often and this was a real treat for me; so much so, I used to save it, but had to hide it in my jumper where it always melted - I can't stand white chocolate now! It was a kindness I’ll never forget.

Colinton Mains Shops

I must have been very shy because I used to hate walking past the bus stop at the dentist’s on Oxgangs Road North, as there was always a big queue; so instead, when going for the groceries, I used to walk by the self-build houses at Oxgangs Farm Grove to the path at the side of the woods and go the back way through to the lane next to the Colinton Mains shops; it was actually very scary, but I was able to go back home along the main road and past the bus stop because it was maybe a bit quieter going back if the busses had been.

I was best friends with Anne Duffy (6/8) at secondary school; they were a very nice family and once when my dad was really berserk (I now know that he had a bad fall from a high height and damaged his back and my aunts have said his personality could transform from being pleasant to being the father from hell in one breath) - anyway one day I couldn't take anymore; I must have been about thirteen or fourteen and ran out of the house; however one of my slippers got caught in the door and I was too scared to go back for it. I shouted ‘I’m going to the police’ and I remember running past the dentist bus stop with only one slipper on and tears running down my face; however as I got to Dr.Motley’s surgery (situated next door to Mr Russell the dentist) I thought, They will just take me right back home - so I decided my next stop was to the Duffys (6/8 Oxgangs Avenue). 

When Annie (Mrs Duffy) saw me she was so kind. She went up to my parents and when she came back said it is all sorted and you’ll stay here tonight and no school tomorrow; and when you go back nothing will be said. I don’t know what she said to my dad but when I did go back nothing was said. Annie could be very strict and give a good tongue lashing - did my dad finally get a bit of that? And did it make him think? Who knows, but that was a very good thing which she did for me.

Mrs Annie Duffy and Mr Duffy

When I was older and we went dancing, I usually went back to the Duffys to stay the night and Mr Duffy was also a good man. I would hear him pop himself around the door just to check we were all home safely and then leave; I loved that, as we never grew up with caring from our parents and I always felt wanted when I stayed with the Duffys. The only downside was that I was expected to go to church with them on the Sunday - a small price to pay for feeling so secure. 

St Mark's Church, Oxgangs Avenue

I just thought I would give you a little insight into the folk I knew (The Duffys, 6/8) that you didn't know much about. I hope it was of interest.

Oops, I’ve just recalled that Laura wasn't a sister; she was in fact a cousin. Her mum died and I think her dad was in the forces or overseas and Annie and John brought her up with their own family - that was the kind of people they were, with big hearts.

Sadly, Anne and I only keep in touch with a Christmas card now. When we had our families because of school etc and at the time neither of us could drive and Anne had moved to Gilmerton and I was at Duddingston, so we never had any time; then we moved abroad and came back and just never really got back together. Yet I know if I bumped into her now it would be just like yesterday again, but I guess we all move on. I did speak to her sister Mary not too long ago and she said Anne still isn't on Facebook - such a shame. She married about a year or so after me and had three boys and a girl. I didn't go to the local school, St.Marks; the only one of us who did was my younger brother so I didn't meet the Duffys until secondary school.

Anne and I used to go ice skating as well as to the dancing together and were very close until our own families went on to school. We also went to Germany together-we must have been only sixteen, so it was a big adventure for us. She was also a bridesmaid at my wedding in 1975. 

I can't really remember much about John or James. I seem to think John got married and lived in Colinton Mains but I’m not 100% sure.I think James was the more mischievous one! Mary went on to become a nurse. Laura was different and always seemed aloof, but she really wasn’t and could be really funny. I remember listening to a Gary Glitter record and Laura belting it out at the top of her voice - I wonder if she remembers that! I do think all the boys fancied her; she too got married, I think to a postman and had children.

I noticed you became Friends on Facebook with John McDonaugh; he also lived in our Stair and I think he had a sister Marion. I remember my brother once playing in their front garden but no other memories of them. 

John McDonaugh (back row middle); Joyce Colbron (third left in row three) with the Author to her right; Ewen Macleod (second from the end of row three).

Unfortunately, Hunters Tryst Primary School brings back some horrid memories to me. Like you we had blue dinner tickets (free school dinners) and for some reason during the summer holidays we had to go to Hunters Tryst for our lunches; although there were quite a few folk in a similar position there, but at the time you felt you were the only individuals receiving free meals. Well, we didn't know anyone and kids being kids, we were made fun of, so of course we didn't go back again but had to pretend to our parents we did. The stigma of standing in a queue for a free meal ticket would never happen now so at least some things have changed for the better.

A boy who you mention who you had some run-ins with must have got around as he used to also wait on my brother coming out of St.Marks where the church is and threaten him for money. He never got any as we never ever had money - you would think he would have picked on someone who could have given him something. My brother would dread coming out of school in case he was waiting.

Funny we moved around 1970 to Marchmont, as our parents never liked Oxgangs as they grew up in the town so it was probably too much of a change for them. However I love going back there now. At the time I loved the openness of the area - the hills, the walks and the hours spent on the Pentland Hills or Hillend and the Braid Hills too. As a family we used to go to Spylaw Park, Colinton with a picnic - soggy tomato sandwiches and a bottle of water which we all shared but I loved it and as there was seven of us we could play rounders too - great fun!

I hope I haven't droned on too much!

Pat Rafferty

'A Moment in Time': A Small Montage of Photographs of Kids from The Stairs circa 1971

Yesterday, I came across these photographs of some of the kids from Stairs 2, 4 and 6 Oxgangs Avenue, circa 1971. :-)

Paul Forbes; Iain Hoffmann (6/2); Brian Hanlon (6/7); and Peter Hoffmann (6/2) at Woolworths, Princes Street

Stephen Westbrook (2/6) and 'Sparky'

The Scott sisters (4/8)-I clearly think their dog is a sheep invited in to save me cutting 'the lawn'!

Anne Hoffmann (6/2); Lynn Steer (2/5); and Gillian Westbrook (2/6)

Keith Robertson (4/2) on a fancier bike than we were accustomed to see (outwith Ali Douglas/Les and Derek Ramage; and Iain Hoffmann Raleigh Choppers)

Hunters Tryst Primary School (Edinburgh Evening News article)

The site of a former school that has lain derelict for eight years is back up for sale amid hopes that developers will snap it up for housing.

Hunter’s Tryst Primary School was closed in 2007 and previous attempts to sell the site were thwarted by the recession. The school was torched by fireraisers in 2008 and was demolished, leaving a brownfield site that has been an eyesore ever since.Now it has been put back up for sale by the council, with the 1.4 acre site marketed as being “well placed for easy access to both the city centre and Edinburgh bypass”.

City finance convener Alasdair Rankin said conditions were right to push for a new sale. Councillor Rankin said: “We always seek to gain best value for the council when selling any of our assets and as market conditions have improved, we have taken the decision that now is a good time to put this site back up for sale.”

The former school building became a magnet for vandalism and antisocial behaviour before finally being pulled down following the fire. Locals had branded the school a “death trap” and firefighters called for its demolition following the blaze. £20,000 was spent on reinforcing security around the site before council officials gave up on the building and the bulldozers were called in.

Pupils were moved from Oxgangs to Pentland Primary in Comiston, and developers Dundas Estates had lined up a planning application for new homes before the global downturn torpedoed the scheme.

Separate plans to build 104 affordable homes put forward by the Dunedin Canmore Housing Association, or to build a care home creating badly-needed local jobs, both also fell by the wayside.

Heather Levy, chairwoman of Firrhill Community Council said: “The community would be very pleased if the site is finally redeveloped. Our preference would be for social housing, because there is a strong need for social housing in the area.” Oxgangs councillor Jason Rust also welcomed the news that redevelopment of the site was back on the agenda. Cllr Rust said: “I welcome the fact that at last there is some action and the economy is such that it is now being marketed. While it is important for the public purse that the council ensures it obtains best value for the site, I hope that the views of residents are properly taken into account come any planning application. “The grounds having lain redundant for so long, we want to ensure what comes is appropriate to the amenity of the area. I will be monitoring this closely.”

One interesting comment: 'Given the amount of land that has been turned over to housing around there in the past why not make it a park?'

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/fresh-bid-to-sell-hunters-tryst-plot-1-3758974?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Vignette On Dr Motley By Artist Vicky Mount

When I was 12 to 17 I lived next door to Dr Motley in the Oxgangs area of Edinburgh. He was the first black American to study in the late 1920's in Scotland and then set up a GP practice in the late 1940's. I remember him as a lovely, kind and jovial man. I regularly took his wee Jack Russell a walk up the Pentlands. A vicious little devil. On returning Dr Motley would give me a handful of sweets. My Mum, a district nurse, whom he called 'Angel' occasionally helped bath his frail and elderly wife. 

When I was 15 I did this drawing from a photograph of him. Also, on my wedding day we went to visit him in hospital.  We turned up in full wedding gear and flowers for him. He couldn't come to the wedding so we took the wedding to him. He was very generous. He gave us £100 in an envelope before the wedding. I was so surprised. He died two months later aged 84.

I'd like to thank my Mum for setting a great example and for never saying, 'he's black but he's very nice' in the way I've often heard down the years.

Greenbank Cottage above Braidburn Valley in Late Summer and Mid-winter

Dr Motley-A Further Update From 10 February, 2015

Hello Peter Hoffmann

I was happy to find and read about my grandfather Dr Arthur Motley here on your blog! Amazing to read and see pictures of him. He was a wonderful grandpa. He taught me 'grandpa stick it up yo jumpa' 'I dene kene but canna whackum' He would test us again & again if we remembered who invented the telephone and the raincoat. He was very generous. His daughter Annette married a Norwegian man and they moved to Sweden and adopted me, my sister and brother. Annette died 2000, 69 years old in London. She inherited all from her father but lost it all to men cheating it of her. After Annette and my father divorced she got involved with men of the lowest rank possible unfortunately for me & my sister. She had had a very unhappy upbringing though (in spite of such a wonderful grandpa in my eyes) and never found lasting love in her life due to having severe personal problems much caused by her own mother Annette, Probably why you saw so little of them. His daughter Annette was a very artistic person, she worked back stage on some theater when she met my dad. In my youth she designed clothes and painted on glass. 

All the best
Yvonne Hjertholm 

St John's Church, Oxgangs-Ring Out Wild Bells

Ring out the old; ring in the new.

Ring, happy bells, across the snow.

The year is going; let him go.

Ring out the false; ring in the true.

The year is going; let him go.

Ring out the false; ring in the true.

Tennyson

I assume, that at the end of 2014 was the first occasion in fifty-six years that the former St John's Parish Church, Oxgangs did not ring out over Christmas and New Year.

I haven't been out to Oxgangs for a wee while, so I'm unsure what the latest state of play is with regard to the former church and bell-tower buildings; however, I stumbled across a small item of interest at the weekend regarding the bell. The church bell came from the Trinity College Church in Jeffrey Street and previously was one of Edinburgh's town bells, rung out each morn and at evening-tide. It was cast in Holland in 1632.

Where and when will it ring out again?

Comment from Anonymous:  'This bell is now at Bonaly Scout Centre and rings out frequently...' Sunday, 13 September, 2015
smile emotic

Dr Motley-A Fascinating Update!

Dr Motley

Hello Peter Hoffmann,

Dr. Arthur P Motley is my Grandfather. I am jumping up and down with joy. I have been searching for my grandfather for quite awhile. I have done google searches before but all I would get would be old dudes from the 1600 and 1700s. I did it today and up pops your blog. I found a lot of unknown information about my grandfather. Thank you. 

As you might be able to tell I'm from the states. My father Lewie Motley pass on in 2006. He was born in McAlester Ok. in 1925, I think that was Dr Motley senior year of High School. My Grandmother and Dr Motley were never married. My father never talk about his father. So I did not start searching for my grandfather until after my father passed. As a teenager I got a chance to go to high school in McAlester Ok. in 1965 at L'Overture. the schools were segregated white only and Black schools until 1968. Some of the teachers I had at L'Overture tough Dr Motley to, they were always talking about how smart he was. While I was living in McAlester I got a chance to meet Dr Motley's mother my great grandmother and his adopted father Rev. Frank Motley. 

Harold Motley

I would like to find Dr Motley's descendants. It would be greatly appreciated for any information about his daughter you can give me. Peter thank you for the treasure of information about my grandfather. I attached a picture of myself to this email.

Harold Motley     

Harold,

Many thanks for your fascinating e mail-one throws a stone in a pond never knowing where the ripples go! 

I've attached a link to a further update I did on Dr Motley, in case you didn't pick up on that one. http://6oxgangsavenueedinburgh.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/dr-motley-update.html

I've also published a book based on the blog and I've attached that link too; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stair-Oxgangs-Edinburgh-Childhood-1958-1972/dp/149487413X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421922340&sr=1-1&keywords=peter+hoffmann+the+stair

The book includes the blogs and comments on Dr Motley. If you are interested in obtaining a copy I would hold fire, because your e mail is so interesting that I intend to update the book with your comments and additional information. 

It raises many further interesting questions-Did Dr Motley know that he had a son (Lewie) and indeed a grandson (yourself, Harold)? Why did he not marry your 'grandmother'? Did it have any influence on him moving so far away to study in Edinburgh? It's interesting too that both your father and yourself were given the Motley name. Also, that as you visited Dr Motley's parents (your great-grandparents) it begs the question as to whether Dr Motley was actually aware he had a son and grandson. You mention that the Reverend Motley wasn't Dr Motley's real father-I wonder who was? Do you have any memories of his parents-what they were like and what they said about Dr Motley? 

Like you I found it difficult to track down any information on him. If his daughter, Annette, is still alive she must be around 85 years old now. As I wrote, my mother thinks she married a Swedish gentleman. It may be possible to track down information about her through Register House, Edinburgh. My mother was very friendly with Dr Motley and has a lot of information and knowledge about him-they used to meet up for many years each week after he retired until he died. She would be happy to speak to you-her telephone number is 0131 444 0398-bear in mind the time difference in Edinburgh! Her e mail address is j.h.d@hotmail.uk.co 

I would be happy to speak to you too-my number is 07799 673290.

If I can be of any assistance don't hesitate to get in touch. As I wrote, your grandfather was a lovely, remarkable man and a legend in Oxgangs!

All the best.

Peter  

Anonymous Comment-'Today's Topic-The Broadway Shops'

Anonymous: Mr McNish had the post office and his wife run the wool shop during the eighties. The wool shop was the third shop in, Ewarts being one and two. Opposite was the butchers Armstrongs. The fruit shop became a video rental shop. If I remember correctly, the wool shop eventually moved to the opposite corner before closing down, and it's original spot was taken by a beauticians, a theme which has stayed ever since. The store became Dennis's, he still runs it today. Hairdressers up top is still there. The chip shop was owned by Carmen, and was family run until he passed away and his youngest son kinda made a mess of the business. Not seen a mention of The Vintry, the off licence that was part of the Good Companions, that finally closed in the late eighties(I think Dennis was taking too much business). Just some of the stuff I remember that may help, although more recent.

Response: Thanks for the comments on The Broadway shops-as you say slightly more recent. You're right about the location of McNish's wool shop-I had forgotten it was three shops in. 

Agree, 'The Vintry' has slipped through thus far on the blog-looking back the concept was a bit of an oddity-a place for people to buy alchohl without having to enter the bar-it always had a timeless, very early 1960s feel to it-a place to buy some 'Babycham'; 'Schweppes' Bitter Lemon'; and I think they were the only retailer to stock the no longer produced 'Tudor Crisps'. 

I assume back then there were no age restrictions either, because I'm sure I must have been sent there to buy a small bottle of spirits as a child. The counter wasn't manned-there must have been a bell on the counter to summon a member of bar staff to come through to the shop.

City of Edinburgh Libraries-The Stair

Pleasing to see (home) City of Edinburgh Libraries stocking #TheStair-trust the local Oxgangs borrower is enjoying it! :-)

Dr Who - An Unearthly Child

"When I am weak, then am I strong."—2 Corinthians 12:10.

Regular followers of the blog will know how much the author enjoys (apparent) paradoxes. Indeed, if you were into deconstruction, if there were such a thing as a format or style to these vignettes, some of them begin with a paradox and end with a cliché, which was often the great Bernard Levin's approach to his Sunday Times articles.

On 22 November, 2012, I posted the blog, Life and Death in Oxgangs and Dallas. It recorded my memory as an eight year old of the assassination of President Kennedy; on the following day, the 23 November, 1963, the first episode of Dr Who was televised.

I missed the first episode, but Norman Noggin Stewart (6/3 Oxgangs Avenue) mentioned it to me.

Many kids at Hunters Tryst Primary School enthused about the programme, particularly about how thrilling and scary it was. 

Although the first episode was shown on a Saturday tea-time on this date, 55 years ago today, most unusually, it was then repeated the following week, immediately before the second episode was aired.

This wasn't to cater for viewers such as myself who had missed it but because there had been some technical hitches with the first screening the previous week.

Thus, on the following Saturday, I arrived back home in the early, but dark evening straight from a Hearts match against Dundee at Tynecastle . And like millions of others I was captivated by the new series. 

In the first episode, The Unearthly Child, Ian and Barbara discover the Doctor and of course the Tardis in 1960s London. Thereafter, we were whisked off to the Stone Age. 

I always used to gulp each time they landed on a new planet and opened the Tardis’ door and hesitantly stepped out. Silently, I said to myself 'Don’t do it!  Don't go out there - stay within the comfort, safety and security of the Tardis.' Or, as Tolkien puts it more eloquently in The Lord of the Rings: 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'

It became even scarier when the Daleks appeared and my brother, Iain and I often hid behind the sofa. 

We would be watching the programme so intently, mouths agape that we wouldn't notice that our father had crept up behind us. Living up to his Germanic last name he indulged in some Schadenfreude as he expertly chose the perfect moment to suddenly grip one of our shoulders and bellow 'WHOA!' We'd leap into the air terrified.

So how could being weak, help make us strong? 

Well, perhaps at a deeper level, when the Doctor and his companions opened the Tardis’ door and stepped out on a new adventure, for some of us it was part of the socialisation process. 

At a subconscious level perhaps we realised that in life in order to grow and mature and take our places in the world, you can only do so by taking that brave step into the unknown - to become an earthly child, rather than an unearthly child.

ps An even scarier thought - many of us thought William Hartnell looked ancient in 1963 - it's dawned on me I'm now actually eight years older than he was at the time - 63 years old to his 55 - oh for a time machine!

The Birth of The Stair and A Christmas Carol

Birth: 'the coming into existence of something'.

In the bleak mid-winter, Dickens' Christmas stories give the reader images of hope and light; warmth and joy; as well as transformation and resurrection. However, the light is tempered by the darkness and cold too which makes it even more life enhancing. 

The hope comes from spring, surely following winter and the renewal of life as Scrooge is restored to the good values of his boyhood and youth. 

Six decades ago in the deep mid-winter of 1958, the Hanlon family moved into the newly built Edinburgh Corporation flats at 6 Oxgangs Avenue to take up residence at ‘The Stair’; Charlie and Hilda were full of hope at the beginning of the exciting adventure ahead and novelty of bringing up their family in a new home.

Like the other young families at ‘The Stair’ they had their dreams and aspirations of the good life and raising their children as well as they could, with all the fun, joys and worries inherent.

At this time, only Michael, the eldest brother had been born; he would only have been around one year old; Brian, Colin and Alan would come along in the following years.

When the family took up their tenancy at 6/7, like the other seven families in residence at ‘The Stair’, they were issued with a rent book. It records their rent as being eighteen shillings a week.

Most remarkably, Hilda, the last remaining original member at ‘The Stair’, still has the family's first rent book. It records their date of entry as 15^th December, 1958.

In a way the document records the birth of ‘The Stair’, when one of the original inhabitants first took up residence there and is perhaps a unique document of its type. 

 

Brian speaks humorously about the family's first experience. Hilda recalled the Hoffmann family had already moved in downstairs to 6/2 slightly earlier. The coal-man was delivering coal to our family - Ken and Anne Hoffmann, the author (Peter aged two) and my brother, Iain (aged only a month).

Hilda wanted to buy some coal in too, to heat their new home. However, the coal merchant turned down her request as she lived on the top floor and he mustn't have fancied walking up another three flights of stairs. Given it was mid-winter and Michael, the eldest brother was still only a baby, the stone-hearted coal-man clearly wasn't full of the Christmas spirit.

He reminds me of Ebenezer Scrooge to Bob Cratchit, that '...there will be no coal burned in this office today...'  

Hilda must have found a way forward, not only to heat their new top flat home with its fantastic views to the hills and the sea, as well as the prominent Edinburgh Castle, as she and Charlie went on to successfully raise their four boys in a happy household, throughout the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. 

'Edinburgh in Snow' William Crozier

Spring and indeed summer followed winter. 

Swanston Reunion-'Boo-Boo'; Iain; and the Author

Iain Hoffmann; Brian 'Boo-Boo' Hanlon; and the author, Swanston Golf Club, 12 November, 2014

Lovely to meet up with Iain Hoffmann and Brian Hanlon, two of the stars of The Stair for a fun filled lunch at Swanston Golf Club today-first time we've all met up together for over 35 years when we used to walk the Pentlands as kids; sneaked up to Swanston to get our neeps from the farmer's field for our Halloween lanterns; visited Edinburgh Castle or a wild trip to the old Woolies on Princes Street! 

Oxgangs Library

Delighted to hear from Oxgangs Library that they intend to order a copy of 'The Stair' for their stock!

Edinburgh and Lothians Life Magazine Book Review

Very surprised and happy to see the November/December, 2014 issue of Edinburgh Life and the Lothians magazine list 'The Stair' 'As A Good Read This Christmas', not to mention it being on the same page as Alexander McCall-Smith, giving the great man some much needed publicity! ;-)

'Neep!'-An 1960s Halloween Boo-Boo and Iain style.

Iain Hoffmann and 'Boo-Boo' Hanlon

Back in the 1960s around Halloween passersby would get a musical surprise when walking past the sheds at the back of The Stair. The startled neighbours would glance up to see Boo-Boo Hanlon and Iain Hoffmann perched on the middle of the shed roof singing 'Once in China there lived a great man...! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tiuwMxre-8

They had just returned from a visit up to Dreghorn Mains Farm Supermarket where they had acquired a couple of neeps. If you looked a bit closer, they were sitting cross legged preparing their lanterns and clearly practicing their harmonies for going out guising later in the evening. According to Boo-Boo they used to eat the insides of the raw turnips, to get rid of the evidence!

Abandoned Dreghorn Mains Farm buildings close by the Edinburgh city bypass. The site has been cleared recently, probably pending some development.

  © Copyright Callum Black and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence