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The lovely site of a baby’s awakening; tastes in flower arranging; one more year of National Service; a trip to Jefferies Country; new flowers for Gran’s list; a historic Test Match; arthritis in the hips, “but I can still play a decent game” and finding friends of Gilbert Whitley.

It’s the last day of July 1953 – a wet one – and Gran is clearing peas in the Pinewood Gardens, and picking a few loganberries.  She hears:

…familiar footsteps running up the road and knew that Barry was arriving.  He is on leave for the Bank Holiday and was pleased to have done well in the R.A.F. Sports, winning the 440 and 880 yards and the third prize in the sack race! He ran the three-legged with the Squadron Leader but they were unplaced.  His prizes consisted of three useful additions to the home – water jug and glasses, teaspoons and a leather wallet.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 56)

Mouse, Man and other traps; “getting your eye in”; John Keble and the Oxford Movement; Crossbills in Merdon Avenue; times have changed with regard to children’s entertainment; accents; two tennis stars on the Mauritania; Bog Orchid at last!; and Jane’s school days are over.

On July 7th 1953, Gran travels to Earley, near Reading where Adrian’s mother is staying with her sister at the house called “Anathoth”. On the 8th, they visit the neighbouring towns of Goring and Streatley, separated by the River Thames, travelling by bus, via Pangbourne, and Gran is amused, “at a small village whose name I could not see”, where:

…the driver of the ‘bus leant out in passing and accurately threw a parcel of newspapers right into the doorway of a shop.  Obviously it was not the first time he had done this!

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 55)

Coronation Day; up and down for the National Anthem; a civic reception; Swifts at Staines; a night visit to London; orchids and seabirds; Dad gets under two minutes – just; Wimbledon again – and the Americans should enjoy it more.

On May 28th 1953, Jane and Gran go to the Winchester County High School Open Day, and after the school has been inspected, the visitors are treated to a “delightful concert by members of the school”.    This includes ballet by Kay Lardy, “who has recently won a scholarship to Sadlers Wells”; a pianoforte solo, “admirably executed by Mary Sales”, and a violin solo, “played with great sensitivity and from memory, by Janet Ashford. A trio of very talented children”, Gran writes.  They are driven home by the Ashfords as the sun is setting.

There is another minor hint at provisions for a family dinner on May 31st, presumably a Sunday, when Gran is in a tizzy because:

Having lost a day somewhere this week I imagined today was Saturday and had quite forgotten to get any vegetables for dinner, so I had to dash round to Mr Woods in Park Road and see if he had anything.  He had – cauliflowers, which were some of the nicest I have ever had.  On the way to his nursery I heard a Whitethroat singing…

And she is unkind again to Eastleigh, where, that afternoon, she “unfortunately” had to play in a tennis match:

What a deadly, dismal, dirty place is Eastleigh – even the gay flags and bunting for Coronation Week could not disguise its squalor and ugliness.  It never seems to be clean and impressions on emerging from the railway station – itself one of the dirtiest I know – are depressing in the extreme.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 54)

Jackdaws in church; trees are felled but some are saved; Jane is 19; “Wahini Pah”; Mr Southwell has a memorable excursion to Farley Mount; Chelsea Flower show again – and a little girl with painted finger-nails; Greaty has an accident,  and Gran receives a little act of kindness.

There is much activity at the Fowlers’ shop in Southampton, packing flowers for departing ships, at this time, and a strike by French seamen causes a degree of chaos because passengers for whom flowers had been ordered are transferred from the Ile de France, whose departure is delayed, to other ships the following day, and correctly uniting flowers with their recipients is difficult.  Gran delivers some of the arrangements to the United States, sailing on April 30^th, 1953, and writes: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 53)

Mr Sanderson speaks boldly; Hiltingbury is urbanising but the trees are safe; Cranbury Park – little changed in 50 years; a visit to Kew, but some are disappointed; gifts from Switzerland; the Richmond Park Woodchat Shrike; dropping the word “empire”, and Gran finds her first Herb Paris.

Gran writes, as usual during Eastertime, of the deep emotions engendered in her at this period in the Christian calendar, and on Good Friday, April 3^rd 1953, she attends a service at Compton that is very much of its time:

I met Mrs Durst as I reached the Church gate and we went in together.  As soon as I saw the visiting clergyman’s face I knew that the service would be a good one, for his faith shone on his countenance as a lamp in a dark world. He was the Reverend George Sanderson, from All Saints, Alton and the Service proved to be the most moving and beautiful I have ever attended.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 52)

Enjoying the grandson; £40 raised for flood victims; a chimney fire; planting up Hursley Forest; Gran catches flu and is rude to the Doctor; There is a Green Hill Far Away; the Oakwood is being felled; a garralous Scotsman and Julian is Christened.

The presence of her new grandson, Julian, gives Gran considerable and frequent pleasure during February 1953. He and his parents are regular visitors for meals, when Barry is home on leave from his RAF station at Rudloe Manor at Chippenham, and often Gran pushes Julian in his pram around the local roads and woodlands while Barry and Jock have a bit of time to themselves at Cranbury, along the Itchen or up at Farley Mount. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 51)