Community

Hudnut’s factory; a trip to Oxford; a famous French artist; Britain wins the Wightman Cup; a strange Bee Orchid; a setback for the Ospreys; Fairsky –  a ship with a past life; at Wimbledon’s No 1 Court; new flowers to paint; a Wild Gladiolus hunt, and a letter from Mr Summerhayes.

On May 10th 1958 Gran writes:

This afternoon I went with Jean Hockridge to the Open Day at Hudnut’s Factory, where Ken is Production Manager.  Though I do not use cosmetics myself, I found it very interesting, and other drugs and liniments and such are also made there.  It was fascinating to see the various machines turning out tablets, mixing powders and creams, mixing toothpaste and putting it into tubes, filling, corking and labelling bottles of shampoo, and liniments and many other things. A very nice tea was provided and all guests were given various samples of the productions.

She plays tennis that evening and ends her entry for the day: “Tomorrow I go to Oxford with the Fowler family to see Diana and, hopefully, to look for Fritillaries!”  It is not clear what Diana, Tommy and Bob’s younger daughter, is now doing in Oxford.  Is she at the University?  Gran describes the next day at some length, including the journey to Oxford, and includes this:

…through Newtown, Newbury, Beedon and East Ilsley to Harwell, the New Town built round the Atomic Research Station, which, to my mind, should never have existed at all, and the sight of it was the one disquieting feature in an otherwise lovely day.

The day is spent in and around Oxford with the Fowler family, and Gran finds her Fritillaries – in a Thames-side meadow, close to where students are rehearsing Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale.   She says, “…gentlemen in doublet and hose, and ladies in farthingales strolled everywhere”.

Book 72

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 91)

No need for a tirade; a couple of grebes; Woodlark hangs on locally; still cycling distances in search of flowers; promotion for Barry; the Boat Race; a Society Wedding at Otterbourne; old-fashioned toys for the Hockridge girls and a book comes to an appreciative recipient.

We have a revealing insight into Gran’s preferred brand of Christianity in early March 1958.  The Hockridges, the family next-door, active in their faith, are evangelical in their views and have on a number of occasions encouraged Gran to attend meetings at their church and elsewhere. On this occasion, Gran puts into words her thoughts thus:

I went to a film shown by the Chandler’s Ford Evangelical Mission at the local School, entitled “Dust or Destiny”. It was wonderful, showing many of the wonders of nature, all previously known and appreciated by me, who, as a naturalist and, I hope, a Christian, have never doubted the Creation nor the power of the Creator, and I truly did not feel in need of the rather loudly proclaimed tirade afterwards.  But I like quiet things and I like my teaching about God to be quietly proclaimed for I cannot imagine our Lord shouting, and I find it neither more coherent nor more convincing than the well-modulated speech of my own Rector at Compton.  It holds no particular message for me.  I hope I am not wrong about this but I find my own Church’s teaching far more satisfying and much less embarrassing.

The promised flower stamps from Mr Cashmore, arrive on the 11th:

…the beautiful flower stamps of San Marino and Jugo-Slavia, which made me wonder why our Post Office is not more enterprising.  Why should we not depict on our stamps some of our lovely native flowers – surely there are many that would make excellent subjects?

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 90)

Christmas is hectic; Gran blesses the neighbours; the “opposite wood – now occupied; new furnishings for The Ridge; the Festival Ballet in Southampton; an awful lot of marmalade; “science never produced such wonders”; Mistle Thrush observations; a visit to London, and something to look forward to.

Christmas 1957 is approaching and Gran expects a full house, with Jane coming home from Nottingham, and the family also due to arrive from Mill Hill.  Arrangements are made with the Hockridges for Barry, Jock, Julian and Ricky to spend the nights next door.  Jane arrives on December 19th:

I expected Jane home late this evening but when I reached home at half-past six, there she was, cooking herself a meal!  She had been able to catch the through train after all.  It was raining slightly when she went back to Winchester for the rest of her luggage, and it was late when we eventually retired.

On the following day:

…as we were having tea, Barry and the family arrived.  It was grand to see them all again, and how the little boys have grown! Julian tells us he starts school on January 7th, and we all received Christmas cards today that he had coloured and in which he had written his name and Ricky’s.  It seems quite incredible.

Clear though it is that Gran loves the family’s presence, she writes the next day that it was somewhat nosy and hectic.  “If only I were not so deadly tired”, she says. “But everyone is being very helpful and Mother [recently unwell] is able to come downstairs for a little while each day now.  Julian and Ricky are delightful”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 89)

A painful bump; 11,000 stamps; 210 paintings; the sweep leaves a mess; American snobs; a letter from Australia; roosting wagtails; The King and I – again! Tears on Remembrance Sunday; a Coal Tit on the draining board and Dad forgets his toothbrush.

Book 68

Gran remembers with sadness Jane’s late friend Robin de Crespigny Eastwood on September 12th 1957, writing Requescat in pace in her journal.  He died three years ago this day.  “I awoke with the beginnings of a migraine”, she says, “but I had promised to help Bob at the shop and then have tea with Tommy, who is feeling rather down since Jill’s departure”.  Gran is busy at the shop and then goes down to the Docks to help deliver flowers on the Southern Cross.  She continues:

Unfortunately, as I got out of the van on returning to the shop, I hit my head hard on the top of it and, never since I was a child, have I so much felt like weeping with the physical pain!  Diana, however, got me some Veganin and these eased it somewhat, though a large “egg” came up on my scalp.

Next day:

I went to Winchester this morning to see an Exhibition of Bird Photography by Eric Hosking in the Public Library.  The Exhibition was wonderful and well-worth the journey, for, apart from excellent photography the pictures were both interesting and beautiful.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 88)

Hedgehog action; mothing on Romney Marsh; a tour of the Queen Elizabeth; a plague of crickets; 50lb of blackberries; one of the “greats” of British botany, and a moving wedding.

August 5th 1957:

Early this afternoon Jean Hockridge called me in to see a baby hedgehog, which she had found in her drain, soaked by very hot water and soapsuds from her washing machine. The little creature seemed little the worse and was drying off in the warm sunshine.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 87)