Crockham Hill Jul/Aug 2025 Newsletter - Flipbook - Page 36
The Churchill Globe
Pat Davoll
As a footnote to the article on Churchill and
Chartwell, here is a photograph of a massive
globe on display in the Studio at Chartwell. Its
scale is 1:10,000,000, with a diameter of 50
inches and a 13-foot equator. It is one of a pair
commissioned by the US War Department for
presentation to the Prime Minister (Churchill)
and the President of the United States
(Franklin D Roosevelt) on Christmas Day 1942.
Despite the ongoing conflict (and winter), the
globe was shipped from the US to Downing
Street in 11 days, via South America, St Helena,
1Pat Davoll with the Churchill Globe
Accra, and Gibraltar, and arrived on 23rd
December. Churchill9s reply by telegram said 8... it will be of deep interest
to follow on the Globe the great operation all over the world which will
bring us final victory.9
(See 8How to Make a Very Big Globe9 in 8On the Map9, by Simon Garfield, 2012)
Honeybee Swarms
Nicola Spreckley
Crockham Hill is home to several
beekeepers, all of whom do their best to
keep their bees within their apiaries but
there are times, when however hard we
try, the bees will swarm. This is a natural
process of colony reproduction and
expansion.
It is fascinating to watch a swarm take
place, as thousands of bees take flight
together with the queen to find a new
home. This can be very dramatic and noisy
as the bees fly around in a cloud like
formation and land and settle into a cluster
A swarm in flight Nicola Spreckley
within a hedge, tree or any structure the
bees deem suitable. This flight lasts around 15 minutes, and the cluster can
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