I’m sure many of you will remember the late Barbara Woodhouse, the famous dog trainer whose catchphrase “walkies” has lived on.
Is there a dog owner who doesn’t use that phrase, I wonder?! Certainly all three of my dogs (the bearded collie cross, Gracie; the border collie, Mabel; and now Lady who is a border collie/flat coated retriever/chihuahua mix) all knew the meaning of the word and were/are keen fans of it!
It is April 1971, Easter-time, and Jane Elizabeth, Geoffrey and Robin are staying at The Ridge while Barry visits Scotland. On the 9th, another Good Friday when Gran is unable to find time to attend Church at Compton, she writes that she:
…took them for a walk, first through the Pinewood and past the pathetic lake, and then up Lakewood Road where we watched two Grey Squirrels gambolling about together. We turned into Hocombe Road and came home through the roads which run through what used to be the woods. Certainly the blossom in the gardens at present compensates a little but nothing can really recompense naturalists for the loss of the wonderful natural habitats we once had.
And they are out again on the afternoon of the following day, exposing the boys to a bit of culture! They go to Southampton, she says: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 133)
Although recorded in a surprisingly understated way, January 25th 1971 must have been a day of great import for Gran, for Gilbert Whitley, long-term resident of Sydney, and valued, indeed loved, old pal from her early years appears at the front the door of The Ridge:
I was just preparing towards lunch when a knock at the door revealed Gilbert Whitley and Mr and Mrs Forson, with whom he is staying at Churt. It was marvellous to see Gilbert again after over thirty years… I persuaded them to stay to lunch, which necessitated much scurrying round at the shops but I was able to provide an adequate meal at short notice, which was much appreciated.
I phoned Brother, who was having his lunch and he came early this afternoon… the two old school friends were delighted to see each other again.
The visitors leave after tea and much talk, but Gran adds, “Gilbert is coming to stay for a few days whilst seeing to some business in Southampton so Brother and I hope to go on an outing or two with him”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 132)
I recently wrote about Changing Direction here and a good example of another author who has done precisely that is crime writer, Val Penny.
Now that doesn’t mean Val is leaving her (writing) life of crime (!), but she has turned to non-fiction with the recent release of her Let’s Get Published.
[Read more…] about Journeying into Non-Fiction Writing – Val Penny
Gran’s journal entry for December 22nd 1970 is short but full of small details: Dad and I leave The Ridge early for another trip to look for the Portland Bill Desert Warbler, and:
“Brother came as usual and reported seeing a Great Grey Shrike and a Hen Harrier in the Beaulieu Road area… We went to see Aunt Em this afternoon… she seemed a little better, even showing a flash of humour… Barry brought Ricky back after a successful trip… after tea, Jean ran in with a phone message – Julian has a place at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, so we were all very excited… I played badminton this evening”.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 131)
The Waterloo Arts Festival is an annual celebration across several art disciplines all based on a theme. This year’s one was Transforming Communities. Previous topics have been Transforming Being and To Be…To Become.
For the last three years, there has been a writing competition as part of the Festival and Bridge House Publishing have been the sponsors behind this. I’ve been privileged to have had winning stories in all three ebooks produced. Each ebook is a compilation of the fifteen winning entries in each year.
[Read more…] about Waterloo Arts Festival 2020 Goes Digital – Online Writing Event
In recent years, afternoon tea has become the new decadence, being offered at a number of cafes and tea shops.
The Blackbird Café at Fleming Park’s Pavilion on the Park has come up with a great way to put our love of cake, sandwiches and tea (but mostly cake) to good use during lockdown: offering a takeaway afternoon tea to help fund a lunch club on wheels service for people who are isolated during the pandemic and might not otherwise get a hot meal.
It is June 1969 and Gran and her brother, Norris, are holidaying together in North Wales. We are treated to 78 pages of records, almost entirely of plants and birds seen during a fortnight of daily expeditions into the countryside. Most evenings at their guesthouse, run by Mrs Jones, are convivial affairs, with chat to locals, and to other holidaymakers in the kitchen. The highlight of their time in Wales occurs on June 10th, when they meet Evan Roberts, described by Gran as “the local botanist and Warden of Snowdonia National Park” for a trip up Snowdon itself. The drive to meet him involves, Gran says:
…an enormously steep and rough road to the point where we started our climb. We had allowed a Sunbeam car to go ahead of us and, when we pulled up to park beside it, the driver said to me, “Fancy you getting up here in that thing!”
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 130)
Genre fiction can be described as anything that is not literary fiction. Yes, I know – very helpful, not!
I have nothing against literary fiction though I suspect the only book I have in that category is the magnificent Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I was in a dilemma with her follow up Bring Up The Bodies. I know how the story of Anne Boleyn ends!
When you know there is nothing positive well… having said that, I may well try it at some point. (Mind you, I was like this with the film Titanic. I knew about the iceberg! Didn’t see anything in the film for me!). Okay, call me a philistine then…
I bought a new mobile phone recently. Here it is.
Anything wrong with that? Yes, it’s not a fruit-flavoured smartie phone. Much to the bewilderment and frustration of family and friends, I refuse to own a smartphone. Why? No one has yet convinced me of the need. The phone I have makes and receives phone calls and text messages and that is pretty much all I need it to do. [Read more…] about Smart Phone – No thank you
It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it. The panel game, Just a Minute depends on it. My granddaughter (aged 6) wrote a performance poem about the programme. I have kept the original spelling:-
This is
Cklap, cklap, cklap
A game of
Cklap, cklap, cklap
Consontrashon
Clap, clap, clap
No repeets
Clap, clap, clap
Or hesetaison
Clap, clap, clap
I’ll go first
Clap, clap, clap
And I’ll go second
Clap, clap, clap
Subject is
Clap, clap, clap
Enithing.
By GT
Jan 2020
Two of Gran’s journals are missing since August 1968, and we find ourselves on April 4th 1969. Barry and his family are staying at The Ridge for the Easter break. Gran, apparently unable to go to Church, says: “Good Friday, but I was unable to spend it as I used to do, but I must confess that I enjoyed my day and felt very close to the real Truths of Life”. She spends the afternoon with Barry and Ricky, in Hursley Forest, noting new butterflies for the Spring, and seeing several nice birds, including Willow Tits, unheard of there today, and virtually extinct in the whole County of Hampshire.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 129)
One of the things I love most about writing is it keeps you on your toes. There is always something to learn. For my flash fiction, I am always inventing new characters to write about. So the chances of (a) being bored or (b) running out of things to write about are zilch. I like that!
And for non-fiction work, such as my posts here, there are always topics of interest to look into, research, and write about. It is also a joy to share local author news (and a nice bonus when I can include myself!).
Being stretched mentally, whether you’re writing or what have you, is good for you. It makes you think. You develop much more as a person and I am sure that is one of the unspoken roles of any of the creative arts.
Taking part in any of the creative arts will make you assess where you are, where you might like to head with your chosen form, and so on.
Gran, always keen to be helpful, agrees on June 13th 1968 to act on the contents of a letter:
…from David Glue, of Southampton Natural History Society, asking for bird records for Hythe and Dibden Bay for the 1950s. He is doing an ecological survey but has few records for these years. It means looking through all my nature notes from 1947 to 1959 for I only keep my flower notes separately and this means twelve thousand, three hundred and twenty-nine pages!
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 128)
In these strange and uncertain times of lockdown, it is good to find a story of a man who, by determination, perseverance and skill, managed to break the involuntary lockdown after World War II and get back home.
James Peter Obeysekere, known as Obey, was a law student at Trinity College, Cambridge when World War II broke out. He elected to stay on to complete his studies but then, could not get home to Colombo, Ceylon (as it was). He had learned to fly with the Cambridge University Air Squadron and had done some aircraft ferrying duties and worked for the Royal Observer Corps during the war. [Read more…] about Through Eastleigh Airport to Colombo
Books have been on the radio for a long time. Often they are read through with music played to indicate scene breaks. My favourite novel, The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, was broadcast like this. (It is repeated every so often on Radio 4 Extra so so listen out for it. It’s a cracking story and the music is wonderful).
And of course books make for good adaptations – the right sound effects and music and no expensive sets or location costs! Radio has many advantages over TV here.
Authors of course welcome the chance to discuss their books. The problem though is it is the big name authors who get on to Radio 4 etc so other writers need to focus on alternatives. With the ready availability of podcasting as well now, there’s another avenue for writers to explore whether they set up their own or are guests on them. Oh and don’t underestimate the hard work that goes into running a podcast or preparing well to be a guest on one!
[Read more…] about Books On The Radio – Local Author News – Richard Hardie/Allison Symes
It is Easter-time, 1968, and the Brenan family spends some of the holiday at The Ridge, arriving on April 8th. Gran escorts the increasingly bird-keen Stuart around the Pinewood and the Lake on 9th. She discovers a strange plant:
In the mud at the end of the Lake I saw a surprising sight. Scattered about were about half a dozen Arum Lilies – they must have been garden escapes, but how they got there I cannot imagine. They were inaccessible, streams all round and the mud deep, but I ran home for my Wellington boots and managed to reach the smallest one. They are a clear yellow, faintly touched with green and some very large though the whole plant was quite short. I can find no definite mention of them in any book, except that there are species of African Arums and they may be one of these. But what are they doing here, open in a rather cold April?
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 127)
I must admit the one thing the lockdown has done which I hadn’t expected has been to reduce my reading! You would expect the opposite, would you not?
I’ve found writing to be no problem at all but it is as if my subconscious is saying “you can do one creative activity, Madam, but you’re not doing two”.
December 7th 1967: “I wakened cold this morning”, writes Gran:
…and it was truly a very bitter day. This afternoon I dashed to Southampton to do some Christmas shopping and spent an enjoyable little while at Fowlers’ shop, paying my account and giving my Christmas orders. There have been staff changes in the past year, but it was nice to see one or two familiar faces.
News of Katherine is encouraging later that day, and Andrew is as mischievous as ever:
Katherine is still improving and is quite happy settled in hospital. Grandma Brenan has arrived and is coping well and Andrew is quite back to form! Today he took the handle off the larder door and Grandma could not get things out for dinner. She had to get a neighbour to open the door with a screwdriver!
Six inches of snow fall on the following day, Gran saying the blizzard drives snow into the doorways and packs it against the windows. “Of course, it looked beautiful”, she adds. A knock on the door late that day surprises her but it is: “Barry himself, with Julian and Ricky. He had come by road and found little difficulty until he reached Hocombe Road, where the car skidded on the corner”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 126)
May is a charming name for a lovely month, I think. It was also the name of my maternal grandmother (May Elizabeth).
