Jeremy Benson
LightNews LightNews
banner
jembenson.bsky.social
Jeremy Benson
@jembenson.bsky.social
1.5K followers 2.8K following 3.7K posts
Adviser @aqaeducation.bsky.social, MAT and @RSPH.bsky.social trustee, ex-senior civil servant; classical music, #LCFC 🦊, England⚽️🏏, walks, photos, words (no politics); husband, father, generally curious

https://substack.com/@jembenson
📍 Leicestershire, UK
Posts Replies Media Videos
jembenson.bsky.social
Here is a statue of Latimer on the Martyrs’ Memorial at the south end of St Giles’ in Oxford.
The Martyrs’ Memorial at the south end of St Giles’, Oxford, viewed from the south-west. It is illuminated by the sun with the shadow of a tree grasping it. There are buildings of Balliol College behind with blue sky above. A statue of Bishop Hugh Latimer stands near the top of the memorial.
November 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
Oxford.
The Martyrs’ Memorial at the south end of St Giles’, Oxford, viewed from the south-west. It is illuminated by the sun with the shadow of a tree grasping it. There are buildings of Balliol College behind with blue sky above. A statue of (Leicestershire born) Bishop Hugh Latimer stands near the top of the memorial. A shadow of the lattice metalwork above a door, on the wall of a passage in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, by the entrance to Radcliffe Square. The Radcliffe Camera, Oxford, illuminated by the sun with blue sky behind, from the south west The Parks, Oxford: a large tree to the left, illuminated by the November sun, with brown leaves on the ground and blue sky behind.
November 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
A picture a week for 2025: 47
Two small boats, one white and one yellow, in a still Scarborough harbour on a summer’s evening. They are surrounded by red buoys, with a brown stone harbour wall behind.
November 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
#FingerpostFriday
An short, old-fashioned, three-way signpost on an overgrown verge by the road just north of Nassington in Northamptonshire. It has a black-and-white striped square post, and writing in black capital letters. There are directions to Yarwell, Wansford, Yarwell Mill, Fotheringhay, Tansor and Oundle.
November 21, 2025 at 7:14 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
#AdoorableThursday #notadooranymore
A small bricked-up doorway in the side of the church at Warmington in Northamptonshire.
November 20, 2025 at 7:11 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
The extraordinary church at Fotheringhay. A few minutes earlier the sun had briefly come out and it glowed in the landscape, which I didn’t manage to capture. Even in the greyness it’s striking though.
The C15th church at Fotheringhay, Northants, taken from the south-east. It has an octagonal lantern on top of the tower, vast flying buttresses and pinnacles all over the place.
November 16, 2025 at 4:19 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
A picture a week for 2025: 46
A close-up of a poppy surrounded by green crops in a field, and cloudy sky above.
November 14, 2025 at 5:01 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
#FingerpostFriday
A white three-way signpost with black lettering on the B582 east of Newbold Verdon in Leicestershire. It has directions to Brascote, Kirkby Mallory, Desford, Enderby, Newbold Verdon and Barlestone.
November 14, 2025 at 7:13 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
#AdoorableThursday Elton
The double church door to the church in Elton, Cambridgeshire. They are brown with a curved arch at the top and a light stone surround, and the wall of the porch they are in is whitewashed. The doors have horizontal and vertical strips of wood, so are covered in squares. The right hand door is slightly ajar.
November 13, 2025 at 7:16 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
The basses doing some final practice.
The double bass section of the BRSO alone on the Barbican stage
November 12, 2025 at 7:24 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
Barbican, night.
White lights reflected in the Barbican lake, and the skyscrapers in the distance, contrast with the softer lights of St Giles in the background and the buildings to the left.
November 12, 2025 at 7:08 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
To the Barbican this evening to see Simon Rattle and the Bavarian RSO in Janáček and Bruckner. Anyone else going? #classicalmusic
The Barbican: a fountain in the foreground and the stranded St Giles church on the other side of the water.
November 12, 2025 at 7:29 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
The sky’s veins.
A bare-branched tree against a sky of wispy cloud.
November 10, 2025 at 7:18 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
Autumn walk.
In the foreground are some berries: I’m not sure what type of berry they are, but they’re dark blue and clustered on otherwise bare branches with thorns, with beads of dew visible on one or two of the closer ones. In the background, out of focus, are grey, cloudy skies and a green field. It looks colder than it actually was.
November 9, 2025 at 7:55 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
If you see this, post an album cover with a vehicle on it.
Album cover of a Signum Classics release of La Serenissima with Adrian Chandler performing Vivaldi. It has two old orange-red Fiat 500s back to back against a stone wall.
November 9, 2025 at 3:37 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
#handwriteyourpost
@mirandakeeling.com
‘This is very beautiful’
November 9, 2025 at 8:39 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
The Year: a new poem.
(I wrote a few words about it here: jembenson.substack.com/p/the-year)
The Year A blank page, time’s pen hovers; nature takes us, glancing back, as still the year awakes… Out of stubborn earth, anticipation Springs like coloured fountains, weaving telling threads from greygrey clouds; life’s trees begin new rings: we gorge our dark sweet eggs and honeyed breads… While waters trickle, chuckling forest eyes watch Summer butterflies, which flutter-roam in yellow fieldscapes, under life’s vast skies: our languid laughing days, late sunsets home… When fruit-red apples fall on misty ground (a-strewn with wistful crunch-leaves), nature stills as life’s Autumnal streams all tumble round: we bonfire, scarfed against the gnawing chills… With branches stark beneath blue Wintry skies, the frozen river holds its breath, and starts life’s shiv’ring dusk, avails the year’s demise: those clearnight carols, frosts that sing our hearts… Time’s page now full of dancing - nature read its steps - but we must turn, and look ahead… (September 2025)
November 9, 2025 at 7:59 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new opera The Railway Children had some lovely music, great acting especially from the 3 children, & real drama & cumulative power - I found the ending genuinely moving. A bit hard to follow the intricacies of the story on one watch, but hope to have a chance to hear it again.
Mark Anthony Turnage and Rachael Hewer take applause with the cast and conductor at the end of this evening’s performance of their new opera at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
November 8, 2025 at 10:43 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
More #London at night.
Looking southwest from Waterloo Bridge with the London Eye lit up in purple left of centre, the South Bank Centre to the left, boats in the foreground with lights reflected in the dark Thames, and the Elizabeth Tower in the distance towards the right. Looking east from Waterloo Bridge with the lights of the City reflected in the Thames, and St Paul’s Cathedral in the distance. Dark trees on the embankment in front of the National Theatre can be seen to the right.
November 8, 2025 at 6:22 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
#London at night….
I moved the phone while taking the picture so the picture is a series of near-vertical squiggly luminous lines of different colours against a dark background.
November 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
Perhaps the saddest thing about leaving Twitter is standing on a random station platform and not being able to tag Ian McMillan into a tweet claiming (wrongly) that Paul Simon wrote Homeward Bound there. (I’m on the very spot here at Kettering where the song was conceived.)
The platform at Kettering station in the pale November afternoon sunshine. Red pillars hold up the canopy, dutifully standing behind the yellow line.
November 8, 2025 at 3:51 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
In my scrawly handwriting I wrote, ‘I don’t normally handwrite posts but I could make an exception for this one!’
November 8, 2025 at 8:00 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
A picture a week for 2025: 45
A sunny autumn day on the Grand Union canal south of Leicester. A tall tree opposite is reflected in the water. An old brick stone bridge to the left makes a Pac-Man shape with its reflection.
November 7, 2025 at 5:16 PM
jembenson.bsky.social
#FingerpostFriday #Bedford
A four-way black signpost in central Bedford with the spire of St Paul’s Church behind. It has a roundel on the top saying ‘Harpur Street - Bedford Borough’ and directions in gold writing to, among others, Bedford College, Riverside Bedford, the Harpur Centre, the Bus Station, Allhallows, Lurke Street, the Corn Exchange and Museums.
November 7, 2025 at 7:08 AM
jembenson.bsky.social
#AdoorableThursday Thurning
A dark brown door to the church at Thurning in Northamptonshire. It has metal studs in a diagonal pattern across the door. The stone surrounding it is light coloured, and makes a pointed arch above which is slightly wonky, suggesting it is old. It has a stone slab in the grass in front of it and a black metal drainpipe to its left.
November 6, 2025 at 6:39 AM