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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 66)

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A bit of London bird news; another friend emigrates; beloved trees continue to be felled; a prolonged period of child-care; Honey-buzzard in the New Forest, a child is born and the young family moves to North London.

November 29th 1954:

Gran completes her last painting of the year with Butcher’s Broom – she has been doing one each month – and her skill appears to be improving. She writes:

I was quite pleased with the result and intend to paint wild flowers seriously next year when I should have more free time.  I feel that I could do better with more practice, for these last are a great improvement on my earlier efforts.

Gran misses natural history and other news from Barry, now that he is away from Chandler’s Ford, so she is pleased when she hears the results of a birding trip he made, with “Brother”, to Brent Reservoir in North London.  She relates that on November 27th they saw four Smew there, together with a range of other diving duck species.  And, arriving early for church on December 5th, and talking to the Rector at the door, she imparts news that he was pleased to hear – that “Barry and Jock now have a home of their own to go to next week”.

Smew – surely one of the most beautiful ducks – these are drakes. The Welsh Harp Reservoir at Brent was a key place for this species in those days.  Image by Sergey Yeliseev vis Flickr.

The following day she seems sadly resigned to the changes she is witnessing in her beloved Chandler’s Ford:

I took Julian out in his pram early this afternoon, through the opposite wood, but, alas, it will soon be a wood no longer, for houses are springing up everywhere and so many of the lovely trees are being cut down.  It saddens me for I have loved every tree for nearly twenty-seven years… Also we shall undoubtedly lose many of our birds in consequence.

Having recently bade farewell to one friend leaving England for a life overseas, Gran finds herself, on December 9th, watching the departure of Mary Milnes, the farm girl friend of Jane’s whose wedding she attended in October.  She delivers flowers to the Dominion Monarch, “and this gave me the opportunity”, she says:

… of bidding Godspeed to Mary, who married David Saunders…she sailed with him today to begin a new life in South Africa…. I was able to shout last farewells to them.  David called down to me that he hoped I would enjoy our Winter, he being on his way to sunshine, but I shouted back that anyway, I should be in ENGLAND!  I do not envy them in the least…

Joan Adelaide Goater - her journal about Chandler's Ford.

Barry is home for the weekend, and Gran writes on December 12th that he and Jock spend most of the day, and the day before, “collecting their property together for their move to Mill Hill tomorrow”.  This is the first mention of the location of the North London bungalow that is to be my first home.  It has not been mentioned in Gran’s writings that Jock has been pregnant with a second child for some months.  In fact, I am due in about three weeks’ time! Gran, knowing that she must be prepared for a life with Barry far away, whose “roots”, she writes, “are deep in this dear place” says, “…but he will be building his own home, and soon there will be a little brother or sister for Julian (D.V.) so he will soon have roots again, and we shall always be good friends”.

Barry is to take the Monday and Tuesday off from school, to receive the furniture at the bungalow, and Jock is to join him there to sort things out, while Julian is to remain with Gran, who worries, “I only hope he will not fret for his mother – apart from this, I shall enjoy having him”.

With Adrian in her thoughts, as ever, and writing to him that evening, Gran recounts a small experience:

…I painted two more gift cards this evening – and I am a little weary.  As I came across the landing to my room, I could have sworn there was someone on the stairs, but as I was about to speak, he vanished.  Could it have been you, beloved?  Just in case it was, I smiled and murmured, “God bless you”, but I cannot be sure.

December 13th is the removal day and it marks a key point in Gran’s life, which she sadly writes up later that night:

I went early to the village and was very surprised on returning to find the furniture van already at home and completely blocking the drive so that I had to enter by going next door and climbing over the fence! It was not expected until this afternoon and Jock was out also, collecting together her few remaining oddments of scattered property, so I had to go and fetch her.  It was a sad moment for me when I saw the last of Barry’s familiar things go away – his moth cabinets, bookcases and such, and the house now seems strangely empty and lonely, though Jock and Julian are still here, and I shall have them all here again for Christmas.  I did not watch the van go.

Gran enjoys a whole week looking after Julian, his other Granny also looking after him occasionally, while his parents settle into their new home and she recounts with pleasure an incident which shows some quick-wittedness on the two-year-old’s part that she thinks is worth recording:

We had seen a big, red lorry whilst we were out, and he was telling Great-Granny about it.  His “red” was a little indistinct and she did not understand that the lorry was a red one.  Julian tried several times, then ran and picked up a red brick, which he took to Great-Granny and repeated “yed yolly!”  A smile of complete satisfaction spread across his face when at last she understood.

On December 20th, the day after she attends a moving carol service at Compton, Gran is back in the village visiting Mrs Durst with a basket of flowers – “What pleasure it is to put one’s heart into arranging flowers when they are so much appreciated”, she writes, and she continues:

I was surprised to see on Mrs Durst’s mantelpiece, the order of service of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hampstead School Carol Service at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church on Thursday, which, of course, Barry attended with the boys, and learned that Miss Flint, her companion, had been there. How small is the world!

Gran’s writings do not give the impression that she had many friends or relatives who would send the family cards at Christmas but on Christmas Day she notes that she has received more than one hundred, “which Jane”, she writes, “strung across the room on ribbons, making an attractive display.  The cards included one from Alan Hill, one of the Irish boys who recently visited, with a picture of Teal in flight, which gave her great pleasure.

Teal in flight. Image by Tony Sutton via Flickr.

She records little else of the day, except for her customary early visit to Compton Church, and ends her entry for the day with:

…spent the afternoon and part of the evening listening to the wireless, though the earlier musical programmes were rather spoiled by talk and movement, but I  suppose one can hardly expect all members of the family to listen in silence as I like to. The Queen’s Speech came clearly and was, I think, the best she has given.

The next evening she is able to listen to a programme without disturbance:

I enjoyed a broadcast performance of “The Mikado” tonight, given by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, and it was excellent.  How fresh and undying is Sullivan’s delightful music! It is very late in consequence of this indulgence but I am not so tired tonight.

A performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta The Mikado. Image by BDNEGIN via Flickr.

The New Forest has long been the best-known location in the UK for breeding Honey-buzzard, a raptor that is a rare summer visitor, but either it did not nest there in the early 1950s or its presence was kept secret by a few observers “in the know”.  Gran tells the following story on December 27th, heard by Barry from Gordon Wooldridge, a founder-member of the New Forest Ornithological Society:

A gentleman came to see Gordon…and asked him to tell him where he could see the Honey Buzzards.  Gordon, in perfect truth, told him that, as far as he knew, no Honey Buzzards had been seen in the New Forest for fifty years, but the man was not convinced and went away unsatisfied.  He returned a few days later, and tried again, firmly believing that Gordon knew but would not tell him.  So persistent was he that Gordon, picking up a pin, stuck it in at random on a wood on the map and said, “Try here, I think it’s a likely spot”.  To his amazement, the man came back next day in a state of wild excitement and said that not only had he seen the Honey Buzzards in that wood but had watched them all day!

Gordon, rather sceptical, went with him, and lo, there was no doubt about it!  Luckily too, the male bird was indulging in a magnificent display of courtship flight, which is a wonderful sight.  So there were Honey Buzzards, one pair, in the New Forest after all this year!

European Honey-buzzard – there are several subtle differences between itself and the more familiar Common Buzzard. Image by Ron Knight via Flickr.

Book 47 ends on December 28th with the news that Barry has travelled from Mill Hill to Chandler’s Ford, borrowed Gran’s bike and cycled to Beaulieu, and:

…spent an enjoyable time in the New Forest reconnoitring for a camping site for April, when he hopes to bring a party of Haberdashers’ boys down for a week.

Book 48

It is some time since we heard news of Barry’s birding friends from University, but acquaintance with them is renewed on December 29th, Gran writing:

This afternoon, John Crook and Alan Moody came to tea with Barry, and I enjoyed being with these youngsters, both keen naturalists, though Alan is a Physicist by profession, but at present doing his National Service in the Navy.  John is a Biologist, having taken his degree at the same time as Barry, but he took main Zoology and subsidiary Botany whereas Barry’s main was Botany.  John is Julian’s Godfather and was keenly interested in him, not having seen him since his Christening.

As usual on December 31st, Gran completes a “round-up” of the year as a letter to Adrian.  She has much to be grateful for, and she acknowledges this, but there is particular poignancy for her, at this time, “Nearly eight years”, she writes, “since something of me died with you, and nothing, not even Julian, has quite succeeded in bringing it back to life”.  She is delighted that Barry is “well established, thanks to his own efforts”, and of her daughter she writes, “My little Jane will be twenty-one this year and for her I want – – – well, what she most wants for herself – only let her be happy!”

January 2nd 1955:

A cold day with bitter east wind blowing and the early skies were overcast.  Great excitement in the family today.  Julian’s baby brother arrived at six o’clock this morning and of course, Barry and Jane came flying home from Mill Hill.

Gran does not make it clear what Jane was doing at Mill Hill but perhaps she was “house-keeping” there for Dad while Jock, my Mother, was busy in Southampton with other things. Gran’s last entry for the day is that, “When Barry came in just past ten o’clock it was snowing slightly.  He brought the good news that the new babe and mother are well and baby weighed seven pounds six ounces at birth.  He is not in the least like Julian, so his Daddy says.”  Gran looks after Julian for the night.

There is more the following day:

Barry has seen Jock and Rhoderick Dion, as the new babe is to be named, and all is very well.  Jock is extremely bright and happy and I hope to see them tomorrow.  Julian has been wonderfully good today and has been such a precious darling.  I think no other babe could ever quite equal his place in my affections.

I must record here that Gran and I had some great times together and I was never aware of taking second place in her affections – except once, when she did not include me in her list of three “pin-up men”: Julian, Prince Charles and Val Doonican.  I was happy not to be included!

Next day, the 4th, Barry goes birding at Hythe early, seeing a Little Gull there – new for his Hampshire List, but he is at the nursing home when Gran arrives:

I went to Bassett this afternoon to see Jock and Rhoderick, who is to be called Ricky whilst he is small.  Both looked exceedingly well and Ricky is another beautiful baby, slightly rounder in the face than Julian, but with the same dark hair and the tiniest, flattest baby ears!  Though he had seemed somewhat nebulous before I saw him, now he is a real person, and certain of a high place in his Granny’s affections, though I feel that there will never be another quite like Julian and I do not suppose I shall even have the chance of knowing Ricky as well as I know Julian.

Little Gull.  This is an immature like the one Dad saw, showing characteristic upper wing pattern and rounded wing tips.  Image by Tony Morris via Flickr.

Dad leaves Chandler’s Ford for Mill Hill on the 8th:

… to have the home ready for Jock next weekend.  I felt unutterably sad when he said “Goodbye” to me, hugged me and thanked me for “being such an egg” – a strange expression maybe, but a term of great endearment in our admittedly odd family.

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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 48) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 49) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 53) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 61) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 127)
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