A guided walk; the Church of St Matthew, Otterbourne; the baby comes home, and he has a new bath; Snowdrops gathered for the 15th year; a talk on trees and shrubs; an uncomfortable dinner-dance; Italian nostalgia and sympathy for the flood victims.
On January 17th 1953 Gran leads a group of British Empire Naturalists’ Association members on a walk between Compton and Winchester along the Itchen Valley. They see a range of common wildlife but the most important thing, from Gran’s point of view, is that it boosts her confidence, and she writes:
It had been an enjoyable afternoon and the members thanked me for conducting them, as they said, so ably along a very beautiful and interesting stretch of English countryside. I need not have felt so nervous about undertaking the venture and I now contemplate the trip to Avington Park next month with less trepidation. I am too used to being a lone wolf to relish taking a party on my excursions but today’s number was not overwhelming and they were all very nice and friendly people.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 50)