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The highs and lows of being a Gran; Lady Wimbledon Champions; a Club holiday in Buxton; Prince Andrew -“a serious young man”; worries about Geoff; 80th birthday celebrations; a rapt silence as Gran reads; recollections passed to the Hilliers; good and bad behaviour at the Olympics; another Royal Prince is born, and a pleasant surprise at the VG.

Book 213

June 23rd 1984 Gran calls “A day of extreme emotions, starting most pleasurably and ending in great disappointment.”

Barry phoned and the Family has been making great efforts for my eightieth birthday celebrations and they can all manage the Monday 23rd July, the day after (except Andrew, who will be in Norway), and Julian and Sue want it at their house, Sue specially wanting to do the catering.  Barry and Jane go to France at 6 o’clock the next morning and will stay at Farnham on the Monday night and no-one will actually be here on my birthday.  That will not matter…

… but it was athletics that caused my heartache and disappointment.  Julian did run, but the 10,000 metres started late and only the early laps were shown and the introducer said the result would be given on the News at 5.55.  I became more and more nervous and was shattered when it was announced that Julian again ran third and did not qualify for the Olympic Games.  This is the second time he has missed out… I watched Val Doonigan’s [sic] show without my usual enthusiasm and enjoyment and have retired sick at heart for Julian.

Grateful memories of Adrian; the death of a favourite author; belated advice for Chris Evert; Julian bids again for the Olympics; Rick, with birds, on the telly; Andy – a scholarship to Oslo; a great day in East Anglia; signs of age; enchanted by a little girl at the Lake; a kind response to a donation; the “guttersnipe”, John McEnroe; Gran meets Zola Budd, and has a fall.

Book 210

It is 1984 and on January 12^th, that most significant day in Gran’s life, she writes:

Julian is thirty-one today and I wish him very many happy returns of his birthday and a long life of happiness and success.

It is also thirty-seven years today since you, Adrian, my dear, passed out of this life and left me desolate but with grateful and happy memories and you have been in “my” life for ever since. You increased my love of nature and inspired me to paint the wild flowers that brought us together in spirit though we never met in person.  Julian is very special to me, not only because he was my first grandchild but because he came on the sixth anniversary of your passing and eased the pain in my heart…  It has been a lovely sunny day…

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 170)

Age Concern chaos; lucky Geoff; a sporting gesture; a good run in Oslo; trouble with bees; troops return; the Fowlers celebrate; peace and quiet at St Cross; Sherborne House School – 50 years old; orchids at Farley Mount; an inscription from 1890, and Spotted Flycatcher – still using the garden.

On Mid-summer’s Day 1982, Gran joins a coach trip to Mottisfont Abbey.  She is not usually one to complain, but the day leaves a lot to be desired in her view, even though she is delighted to find a Southern Marsh Orchid in flower on a grassy pathside when she manages to escape the crowds.  “The outing had been arranged”, she says:

… by Hampshire Age Concern and it was chaotic from the start, far too many old folk having been encouraged to go.  The coaches were not allowed to go into the Abbey car park, so that the approach road was completely blocked by the coaches, and the leading one had to disembark its passengers before the others in the queue could reach that point…  We were received at the Abbey grounds by the blaring of a ghastly hurdy-gurdy but after viewing the small part of the Abbey open to the public, I made for the river.