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Robbie Sprague

Paperback Writers

August 13, 2021 By Robbie Sprague 11 Comments

The Beatles Image by Maxpinsoo from Pixabay

Did you know that the Beatles have 229 songs to their name? The Fab Four have each contributed brilliant songs to this total but Lennon and McCartney were the most prolific.

The Beatles Image by Maxpinsoo from Pixabay
The Beatles Image by Maxpinsoo from Pixabay

Yesterday, we heard from our neighbours, who were visiting Liverpool, that they were drinking in the Cavern Club, birth place of the Beatles. It gave me the idea of writing a  short story using the titles of some of those famous hits. It took fifteen minutes and I had a little help from my friend, my wife Jill. It’s not going to be a Booker Prizewinner but it contains 29 Beatles song titles (plus one repeat) and it goes like this:  [Read more…] about Paperback Writers

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Tags: creative writing, culture, humour, music, storytelling, writing

A Daily Visit by Royalty – and a Sumptuous Meal for a King

January 9, 2021 By Robbie Sprague 10 Comments

Kingfisher by Mike Lane FRPS

When I built the new Wykeham House in Hiltingbury I got the digger driver to dig out a large pond in the back garden, piling the spoil at one end in readiness to make a waterfall. This was the basis for our landscaping, planting and stocking once the lining and filtration system were in place. The day at last came when we flicked the switch and the water gushed and eddied down the waterfall. This comforting sound has stayed with us for the past fifteen years and it is a joy. When the water had cleared and the balance was right we stocked our pond with twenty golden rudd, some green tench, three black comets and three shubunkin – and the odd goldfish contributed by neighbours.

Herons
Heron-proofing the pond

Over the years, and thanks to the early morning visits from a hungry heron, we lost some fish – usually speared and left on the grass – so we had to find an ingenious way of heron-proofing the pond. At first, we didn’t mind the heron’s visits; seeing that majestic bird landing and taking off was exciting but he was greedy and cruel and had to be deterred. We strung fishing line across the pond and installed a water sprayer triggered by a motion sensor. So far, so effective………..

Every early summer there are a few days of frantic activity when the water froths like a cauldron and a month or so later a large shoal of small fry of mixed variety can be spotted and, over the years the fish population has multiplied alarmingly. [Read more…] about A Daily Visit by Royalty – and a Sumptuous Meal for a King

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, Covid-19, family, Hiltingbury, lockdown, nature, storytelling

Keeping us Cheerful – the Windmills of my Mind

January 2, 2021 By Robbie Sprague 7 Comments

Little windmills in the front garden

On April Fools’ Day 2019, I had the following letter published in the Daily Telegraph:

Sir,

Every lawn in my road has been devastated by crows frantically digging for chafer grubs. The day they started on my lawn I ordered two hundred and fifty children’s windmills and placed them over the entire grassed area of my front garden. That was five months ago and not one crow has ventured into our garden and our grass has flourished. These colourful windmills are a great source of entertainment for families walking up and down the street – one or two have even spread into neighbouring gardens.

Having had success, I decided to harness the potential of each windmill by modifying them to become miniature wind turbines, interconnecting them and linking them to the National Grid. The power that is generated reduces the cost of my electricity bill by approximately 25%.

In these challenging Brexit times when we all have to become more self- sufficient, I offer this simple, yet effective scheme to save your readers money – and to fend off crows.

Sincerely,

We have given away literally hundreds of windmills to little – and not so little – children.
“I ordered two hundred and fifty children’s windmills and placed them over the entire grassed area of my front garden.”

[Read more…] about Keeping us Cheerful – the Windmills of my Mind

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, coronavirus, Covid-19, family memories, good neighbours, Hiltingbury, humour, lockdown, publication, science, storytelling, writing

The Grand Houses of Chandler’s Ford

August 31, 2020 By Robbie Sprague 23 Comments

No 77 Brownhill Road, Chandler's Ford

It’s an afternoon in August and, after the morning’s continuous rain, my wife and I have been out for a brisk walk around the wooded roads of Brownhill, Merdon, Lake and Lakewood. It’s warm and the overpowering sweet smell of Scots pine and Douglas fir pervades the landscape. There are still large numbers of conifers among the mature oak trees where they were once a dominant species.

I first moved into Lakewood Road in 1955 when the woodlands prevailed; the area to the west of the Lake was a pine forest through which I regularly went horse-riding. It is now, tragically, an inaccessible tangle of overgrown species – but that’s another story!

At that time, in the rectangle of land formed by Hiltingbury, Hocombe, Lakewood and Hursley Roads, there was little development, the oldest house being our neighbours’ house,The White House, the land for which had been acquired in 1908. The area was woodland and heathland. I galloped across this land frequently and, like many other boys, rode my bike aerobatically over ‘the bumps’ behind the present Ashdown Road.

As a young boy, I had that wonderful sense of freedom, space and adventure. The land was ripe to be plundered and developed and, from the 1890s, the land from Ford to Brownhill, and Hiltingbury to Hocombe was destined to fall under the woodman’s axe to make way, initially, for exclusive houses.

Kings Court - Imagine a sweeping gravel driveway and gardens where there is now a car park!
Kings Court – Imagine a sweeping gravel driveway and gardens where there is now a car park!

[Read more…] about The Grand Houses of Chandler’s Ford

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Tags: architecture, Chandler's Ford, Chandler’s Ford community, local history, local interest, memory, storytelling

The 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force: Remembering the Vulcan

April 2, 2018 By Robbie Sprague 1 Comment

Yesterday, 1st April, was the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. Some of you may have seen More4’s screening last night of ‘Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber’ when the daredevil mechanic Guy Martin worked at the ‘Vulcan to the Sky Trust with the team of engineers maintaining XH558 The Spirit of Great Britain, the last remaining Vulcan flying.

He learned about the rigorous servicing, he flew alongside the Vulcan in a fly-past and later experienced the incredible thrust of this brilliant aeroplane from the cockpit, accelerating up to the point of take-off (WOW!) [Read more…] about The 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force: Remembering the Vulcan

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Tags: history, memory, news, storytelling, World War Two

Another Turn of the Potter’s Wheel

March 21, 2018 By Robbie Sprague 4 Comments

The Potters Heron has been known affectionately over the years by some as the Potted Herring. I’ve known it for nearly 60 years.

It was indeed a very popular restaurant and bar. It had a thatched roof and was rather more attractive and intimate than the building that replaced it after the fire in 1966, although the hotel that rose from the ashes retained something of the character of the original building. [Read more…] about Another Turn of the Potter’s Wheel

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Tags: community, Hampshire, memory, news, Potters Heron, Romsey, storytelling

Mrs Doncaster

March 5, 2018 By Robbie Sprague 3 Comments

I was interested in a previous article by Rick Goater in which he mentioned his grandmother visiting Mrs Doncaster’s garden in 1952. For some years, I lived three doors away in our (then) new house overlooking the green in Merdon Avenue.

I have in my possession, a Royal Horticultural Society journal, published in 1982, which contains a fascinating article about the garden by Roy Lancaster. Mrs Doncaster, at that time, had collected and grown uncommon and ornamental plants for fifty years. [Read more…] about Mrs Doncaster

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, Chandler's Ford Today, family, Hiltingbury, history, local interest, memory, nature, storytelling, writing

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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal by Joan Adelaide Goater

Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal by Joan Adelaide Goater

Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s by Martin Napier

Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s by Martin Napier

My Memories of the War Years in Chandler’s Ford 1939 – 1945 by Doug Clews

My Memories of the War Years in Chandler’s Ford 1939 – 1945 by Doug Clews

Chandler’s Ford War Memorial Research by Margaret Doores

Chandler’s Ford War Memorial Research by Margaret Doores

History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse by Andy Vining

History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse by Andy Vining

My Family History in Chandler’s Ford and Hursley by Roger White

My Family History in Chandler’s Ford and Hursley by Roger White

Do You Remember The Hutments? By Nick John

Do You Remember The Hutments? By Nick John

Memory of Peter Green by Wendy Green

Memory of Peter Green by Wendy Green

History of Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Hursley Park by Dave Key

History of Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Hursley Park by Dave Key

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Reviews of local performances and places

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