Charlotte Mary Yonge? Who is she?
She is the woman represented by the new statue of a seated figure in the approach to Eastleigh Railway Station. Yes, but who is she?
Charlotte Mary Yonge is hardly known these days but she was a notable novelist in her time. [Read more…] about Charlotte Mary Yonge in Eastleigh
L A Hally, a local architect, gave an informative talk about some of her work in Chandler’s Ford Today two weeks ago.
She specialises in designing extensions, rebuilds and redesign of houses in Chandler’s Ford. [Read more…] about What Do Architects Do?
We have a friend, let’s call her Betty, who is fit but cannot use her legs so she lives her life in a wheelchair. Many people treat her in a “does she take sugar?” fashion. She can answer for herself, she has a PhD, but she has to put up with being treated as an idiot. [Read more…] about Life in a Wheelchair
On one of those lovely summer days when the sky was clear blue and the air gentle and warm my wife took me to Highcliffe Castle. She showed me where she used to swim as a girl and walked me along the cliff top path through the trees with glimpses of the sparkling azure Solent lying between us and the Needles. [Read more…] about Déjà vu
We have had many reminiscences about WWII. Here is one about the end of it all. The newspaper is dated 1945. At the time I was with my family, on holiday in Filey, Yorks. Picnics and games were organised for us children on some waste ground at the rear of our lodgings. [Read more…] about VJ Day
Some of you may recall an Antiques Roadshow of 1987. An elderly couple brought in a picture of a night scene in the desert with horses, palm trees and a group of travellers around a camp fire. [Read more…] about Genius, Madness and Serendipity
For three seasons of the year we have a stream running through the garden. It is dry in summer so it is really a bourne. The water authority have upgraded it to the status of ‘river’. This gives them control over what we do with it in case we want to dam it, change its course or make a culvert. [Read more…] about A Bridge in the Garden
That most certainly was entertainment. A gala of dance at Thornden Hall on Sunday evening 26th July. [Read more…] about That’s Entertainment – Parkewood School of Dance
After two days driving through France we arrived at our gîte in Provence for a holiday.
It is a delightful place in a 40 acre estate of olive trees and a lavender field. There were no guests in the other gîtes so we had the whole place, including 3 swimming pools to ourselves. One border of the estate was a river and half a mile upriver was a waterfall or cascade as the French call them. [Read more…] about The Waterfall
Are you a tourist or a traveller?
With the holiday season upon us, you have probably already decided. Travelling can be nerve-wracking. What’s the difference?
Shall we say that a traveller decides where to go and arranges it, but a tourist buys a dream sold by a travel company. [Read more…] about Travellers Need Brains
Judging by recent comments on Streetlife about hedges overhanging pavements, I believe many will support my request to have our footpaths returned to us.
If you go for a walk in the evening with a friend, dog or children, you will come across obstacles. Plants escaping from peoples’ front gardens will make your trip hazardous. [Read more…] about Please May We Have Our Footpath Back?
Driving along a country lane in Surrey, I came up behind a tractor with a tipping transport box attached on the back. Therein were some youngsters dressed in their best.
In front of that tractor was another, and another all with people dressed in their best togs. Further ahead we came to the village church, St Michael and All Angels in Thursley. [Read more…] about Get Me to the Church on Time
Excitement for the grandchildren on the day of a visit to Marwell Zoo. Parents primed, grandparents had the tickets but it was raining stair rods. So we went to the Pub for lunch. As the bill was paid, the air cleared and the sun came out.
Many people have mixed feelings about zoos and I am one of them. There is nothing to beat the thrill of seeing a wild animal in its natural surroundings even if it is only a glimpse. [Read more…] about Visit to Marwell Zoo and Animal Conservation
It is said that everyone has a book in them. Some will write one and a few will even publish.
Publishing is changing fast but the constant among the changes is preservation of the magical golden thread that connects the imagination of the writer to the mind of the reader. [Read more…] about Author, Publisher, Reader – A Golden Thread
I visited the National Gallery again. I always feel uneasy about the place and have never worked out why. Do you have a sense of unease?
It is a national treasure and we are proud of it but it is not like Nelson’s Column and Trafalgar Square. [Read more…] about National Gallery and the Prince
Our gliding flights in the Pyrenees were going well. A friendly rivalry arose with the two pilots of another glider and we were determined to outdo one another.
Today was my turn as pilot in command of our 2 seater, Whisky Bravo. The tug plane took us from Santa Cilia airfield on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees towards the local hill where there was some rising air. [Read more…] about Forced Landing
No doubt our parliamentarians are skilled and consummate operators in the Chamber at Westminster, along the corridors of power, in the committee rooms and subsidised bars and when meeting with their civil servants.
Now that they are out on the hustings they are like fish out of water. [Read more…] about Political Party – Political Candidate: The Truth?
One hundred years ago, on the battlefields of Flanders, lay a young officer of the Royal Horse Artillery. He was wounded, presumed dead.
Twice more during WWI he was wounded and recovered. He was awarded the Military Cross.
After the war he was able to pursue his dream and study forestry at Cambridge. [Read more…] about A Hero of Trees – Richard St. Barbe Baker
There was a PACT Meeting (Police and Community Together) at Merdon School on Wednesday evening 25 March. It was attended by many Neighbourhood Watch people.
Previous PACT meeting in December last year had a low turnout (only 11 people) but on this occasion there were about 40 people present.
Perhaps numbers were up because of the recent burglaries in Chandler’s Ford. [Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford Policing: Burglaries and Traffic Problems. Eastleigh Police Station to Close
It was a crazy idea from the start. A mixture of the imagery of Vita Sackville West’s White Garden at Sissinghurst and watching Jurassic Park just once too often. Could I have a pre-historic garden like the ones where dinosaurs must have browsed?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger found a lost world, I would create my own lost world.
[Read more…] about A Dinosaurs’ Garden
