On a recent trip through the Midlands recently, I managed to slip in a long-promised visit to Burton Dassett Country Park, just of the M40 between Banbury and Warwick.
This was a popular venue for family outings when I was a child, but I’ve not been there for about 50 years. It is still as wonderful as I remember. The hills aren’t particularly high or steep – nothing is in that area – but on a clear day they give fantastic views in all directions.
Of the many hand gestures, from the encouraging thumbs-up to the vulgar V sign, there is one that drew me to the history of the Popes; the sign of benediction. With the hand held aloft, palm forward and the thumb, index and middle fingers extended, and the little and ring fingers curled into the palm, the priest intones the benediction and blessing. See the diagram below.
The three-fingered sign of benediction and of damage to the ulnar nerve.
Strangely the same hand posture is also a sign of damage to the ulnar nerve. The ulnar is one of two main nerves supplying the skin and muscles of the hand. It is usually damaged the elbow. Most of us have banged our ‘funny bones’ and experienced unpleasant tinglings in the ring and little fingers. That is a temporary bruising of the ulnar nerve. [Read more…] about Hand Gestures
It won’t come as a surprise to any local gardener that brickmaking was a big industry round here 100-150 years ago. Our heavy clay soil, as well as the local chalk downland, made this area an obvious site for several brickfields over the centuries. In fact, in the late nineteenth century in Hampshire there were 100-150 works producing clay products such as bricks, tiles and pipes.
It was in around 1870 that it was discovered that our clay soil was particularly suitable for brickmaking. There were three brickfields in Chandler’s Ford. The biggest, which was also one of the largest in the country, was Bell’s, which occupied the land now taken by Chandler’s Ford industrial estate. The position of the railway no doubt helped its success as this was the main means of transporting the finished bricks. A short single-track branch line ran through the brickfield, joining the Eastleigh-Romsey line at the station near the signal box. The whole process of clay extraction, moulding to shape and firing was done on site. This last was not always popular with local residents due to the fumes emanating from the kilns. This brickfield had the honour of providing 35,000 bricks for the construction of the Royal Courts of Justice in the 1870s.
It is June 30th 1991, four days after Jane’s funeral. Gran writes:
I rang Beverly to ask how she is and she said she had recovered from her exhaustion and was very touched and proud that Jane had asked her to be with her during her illness. I thanked her for being with Jane at the last and for her support for me in the Church at Jane’s Funeral Service.
The following day Gran receives a heartfelt and uplifting letter from Julian, based with the RAF in Germany, praising Jane and her “spirit, her values and her bravery”, adding, “… I’d be really proud if I were her Mum”. And with Julian’s communication is a letter from his son, Sam, saying, Gran writes, “Dear Great Gran – we were very sad too”.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 183, the last)
We gathered once again for the 65th anniversary of our first meeting in the university’s Anatomy Department. Eight of us are left, but another eight are still living in the far corners of the world. We were like a copse of trees, saplings, whips and small shoots to begin with. We needed to be nurtured and trained in our respective careers.
Now, in the late Autumn, we are a dying wood. Our abilities fall away like autumn leaves; our branches crack and tumble. What remains creaks with decay and degeneration within. The killing winter frosts will soon finish us all. [Read more…] about The Reunion
On September 10th 1987 Gran’s gas supply is being upgraded, and she writes at the end of the day:
There was still no gas and the men dug up the top part of the drive and drilled a hole through the wall and from the cupboard under the stairs into the garage where the new meter is to be installed. The mess everywhere has to be seen to be believed… The gas was restored at 4.45 and the last man told me that men would return in a day or two to re-lay the drive and level the ground outside the gateway.
I wonder how much you know about hospitals in Chandler’s Ford past? We know of the private Nuffield Hospital in Winchester Road. Many will remember Leigh House Hospital that is gone now, to make way for housing. But there was another, long gone …
In 1835 the Hursley Poor Law Union was officially formed to cover the parishes of Hursley, Compton, Farley Chamberlayne, North Baddesley and Otterbourne. Ampfield and Chandler’s Ford were added to the list in 1894. By 1867 the Hursley parish workhouse, built in 1828, was criticised for its inadequate building (disgusting water closets and a cesspool under the windows of the lying-in and infectious wards, which had been unemptied for twelve years!). [Read more…] about Past Hospitals in Chandler’s Ford
January 4th 1987, Gran writes, is “a dreary and dull day starting overcast after night rain and soon pouring for the rest of the day” but we feel that after a long period of stressful and unhappy events, she has managed to regain some of her equilibrium, as she continues:
… and I have seen no-one, and the front door has not been unlocked. Yet I have been contented and at rest. A thrush was singing when I went to take the temperatures soon after eight o’clock this morning.
The middle of the month is bitterly cold and family and neighbours worry about her keeping warm enough in The Ridge, a house, like many others at that time, with no central heating or double-glazing, and just a gas fire in each of the main living rooms. Barry offers to bring a sleeping bag for his Mother to use when sitting in her chair, and recommends she buy some cling-film to rig up some primitive double-glazing on the windows.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 181)
Difficulties at home continue for Gran. Grampa is increasingly frail and unwell, more or less confined to bed and needing daily nursing care, and, Gran says on November 1st 1986 , “The plumber came and cleared the airlock in the downstairs hot water tap and is coming to deal with the overflow pipe in the toilet and the leak under the sink”. Jane Elizabeth has been a wonderful support for Gran, her Mother-in-law, at this time but she needs to return to Bushey on the 2nd and Gran is sorry to see her go, writing also:
She meant to leave me half of the large brown loaf she bought yesterday but forgot. She phoned from Winchester Station to say she had left it in the grit bin by the Hiltingbury Road bus stop and luckily, Cousin Bill Worsfold came at 11 a.m. so I was able to go and get it while he was here with Bill.
Gran has mentioned several of her husband’s relatives or friends lately, as they visit Grampa at The Ridge, but we are not always enlightened as to their relationships to him. There is not only Bill Worsfold, but also Cousin Ray, who has often provided transport for Grampa; Anthony (a nephew) and his wife Hazel; Joan and Ken Birch (“Bill’s half-sister and her husband”, Gran writes), and Joan and Alastair McKenzie (“Joan is his Cousin”, Gran tells us).
“I made a bad beginning with tummy ache after I had taken Bill his breakfast and was sick just as nurse came to the front door”, she writes on November 4th, continuing:
I called that I was coming but I look so ghastly when this happens, she was very concerned and made me sit down and made me a cup of tea. I assured her that I do this occasionally but soon feel perfectly alright. After attending to Bill she took my pulse and blood pressure, both of which were perfectly normal, which is reassuring! Ruth came in, with a stick, because she saw me looking to see if she were about. She has broken and chipped ribs!
Joan and Alastair came early this afternoon and whilst they were talking to me, we heard a thump and Bill had fallen. Alastair picked him up and got him back into bed!
The following day sees Grampa taken by ambulance to the South Hants Hospital in Southampton, because he has lost all feeling from the waist down. There is much concern throughout the Family and amongst close friends. Bob Fowler and his daughter Jill visit Gran to give moral support, and Gran is delighted to receive from them, “… some very gorgeous red Maple leaves from Tommy’s favourite tree”. She presses them within the journal. Further support is provided by Barry on the 6th, who, given the beauty of the day, suggests a drive up to Farley Mount, where Gran delights in the beautiful colours, especially of the fruiting Spindles there.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 180)
Chandler’s Ford had a population of just over 3,000 people in 1939 and, although only five miles north of Southampton which was badly bombed during the Blitz (57 nights in 1940-41), we escaped lightly. Here’s how …
Two ‘Doodle-bug’ V1 flying bombs fell on Hiltingbury: one landing harmlessly in a field, the other killing the residents of a bungalow in Pine Road (these bombs were presumably aimed at London but, as was the case with so many, they didn’t make it all the way). A couple of ‘breadbaskets’ fell (a Molotov breadbasket was attached to a parachute and so called because it contained both high explosive and incendiary bombs) and a stick of bombs fell in Hursley Road. One German aircraft came over from the north, machine-gunning as it went before flying off towards Eastleigh. As well as the few deaths, structural damage was caused to about half a dozen homes from the bombs. Much more structural damage was caused by the anti-aircraft guns around the area and large cracks in walls and ceilings from ack-ack guns were common.
During the Blitz on Southampton in 1940, the reflection of the fires could be seen in the night sky here in Chandler’s Ford. Searchlights, air raid sirens and anti-aircraft guns made the village very aware of what was happening locally. During the worst of the Blitz, many Southampton families would come to Chandler’s Ford to sleep the night, or for longer if they were bombed out. Several churches and halls were used as reception centres, providing food and blankets. Local residents often offered accommodation and some people made Chandler’s Ford their permanent home.
[Read more…] about World War II and afterwards in Chandler’s Ford
Remembrance Sunday falls on 14 November in 2021. The Chandler’s Ford community came together this morning to remember the service and sacrifice of those who have protected us and defended our freedoms.
Debbie Pearce from Debbie Pearce Photography kindly shares the photographs of the Remembrance Service at the Chandler’s Ford War Memorial with the Chandler’s Ford community. She captured the parade on Hursley Road and the service this morning at St. Boniface Church, Parish of Chandler’s Ford. Thank you Debbie.
[Read more…] about PHOTOS: Remembrance Sunday in Chandler’s Ford 2021
Today we remember and honour those who sacrificed for our freedom in Chandler’s Ford. Locally many people, young and old, observed a national two-minute silence at 11am. By 10.45am there was a large crowd at the Chandler’s Ford war memorial, at St. Boniface Church.
Representatives from local groups laid wreaths of poppies at the war memorial.
The Eastleigh Borough Council wreath was laid by John Caldwell, a previous mayor and an alderman.
You can see more photos from today’s service: PHOTOS: Remembrance Sunday in Chandler’s Ford 2021
[Read more…] about Remembrance Sunday in Chandler’s Ford 2021
On September 10th 1986, after the Nurse has visited The Ridge to check on Grampa, and Gran understanding that things are “somewhat easier”, she goes on the Club outing to Marlborough, having “something of a scramble to be ready…”
Gran describes all she sees on the coach journey, including:
We stopped at Stonehenge at 2.45 for twenty minutes but I did not leave the coach as I have been to the monument many times since my teens when access was freely available with no fences or circling pathways. I did not want a cup of tea or an ice cream at this time.
It’s May 14th 1986 and more memories are brought to the fore for Gan three days later when she walks to the Club for its usual afternoon meeting:
Miss Wise, late Headmistress of Sherborne House School, who, when an assistant to her Mother, taught Barry and Jane to read, entertained us with poems she had written after her retirement. I had a chat with her and she was pleased to hear news of Barry and Jane, and quite amazed that their children are grown up and Barry a grandfather!
Barry himself is in Chandler’s Ford at this time and he and his Mother, in spite of wet weather, make the now rather rare journey into her beloved New Forest, to look for flowers and birds. They have a lovely time there and on the nearby coast, although failing to find a rare plant of particular significance to her upsets Gran:
We went first to look for [Narrow-leaved] Lungwort Pulmonaria longifolia in its usual habitat near Beaulieu but to our horror, there was no sign of it. Council workers, I presume, had thrown large quantities of thick mud right over the ditch and bank where it had flourished for years.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 178)
Christmas is looming and on breezy December 21st 1985 Gran, as always, has made presents for her great friends, the Hardings in Merdon Avenue. She writes:
… I took Mary’s posy and other gift, and calendar for Granny Pickford [Mary’s Mother], and walked through the pinewood to avoid as much of the wind as possible. Both recipients were delighted and especially Mary with her innovation. I did not stay long but met Mary’s brother George, and Frank brought me home. He is able to play some golf again, I was pleased to hear.
Christmas in is spent with daughter Jane and family at Longton, near Preston and close to the Ribble marshes. On arrival there, Gran is touched to find that Jane, “… has given me her room, to be convenient for my comfort just across the landing. We were late retiring…”
Dec 24th provides an evening of television programmes, before they attend a local Church for Midnight Service – a new experience for Gran. Gran lists the programmes: The Slipper and the Rose; Benjamin Luxman and Aled Jones in a musical one; and Rush, the Fallow Deer, by John and Simon King. This was followed by Charles and Diana, a Working Year, and then Val Doonigan [sic]. Gran notes that the Church they attend is where Judy usually goes and she adds, “I had earlier met Judy and found her very nice indeed”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 177)
Did you recognise this location in Chandler’s Ford? Tim Deacon from Southampton sent us this unique photo to share with Chandler’s Ford readers.
The photo shows two R.A.F. Launches (built by The British Power Boat Company in Hythe) being transported by lorries through Chandler’s Ford over the road/rail bridge near the station in the 1950/60s.
Tim is a volunteer boat builder at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Part Two: 1913
If we now time-travel twenty years or so to the eve of the First World War, let’s see what has changed on our route. Once again, we come up from Southampton to the Asda roundabout and up Bournemouth Road. Chandler’s Ford now has a police constable who lives at the police house at 5 York Villas, Bournemouth Road. We pass the home of one R. E. Burke, a lounge steward on HMS Titanic who sadly perished when the ship foundered last year. As we pass the Hut Hotel (see image below, forgiving the cars!), we may see Chandler’s Ford United FC training in a field behind, using the hotel as their changing room. The big brickfield on our left is still busy.
[Read more…] about The Main Road Through Chandler’s Ford: Historical Snapshots (Part 2)
Like most schools, mine had inter-house competitions. One year, it fell to me to be House Captain of Music because I was the oldest boy who could play the clarinet. The Housemaster chose the Captain on age, not on ability. Every boy had to sing in the choir, and the performance piece chosen was John Ireland’s setting of Sea Fever by the poet laureate at the time, John Masefield.
Everyone had to sing, from the few with treble voices to the tuneless late-teen tough-guy growlers. We learned about melding music and words, how to enunciate ‘whetted knife’ as if you were cut by a cold wind; how to sound the sibilants to suggest gale and spray and how to prolong the final word – over. The poem was ended, but the feeling and atmosphere lingered on. [Read more…] about Forgotten Letters of John Masefield
Part One: 1895
You probably know that most of Chandler’s Ford has developed in the last hundred years or so and that prior to the twentieth century, there wasn’t a lot here, apart from a few cottages, the brickfields, farm land and woods. I’ve been looking at the history of one important feature of our town: the main road – Bournemouth Road and Winchester Road – stretching from Asda to the Nuffield Hospital. I wonder what you know of its history?
Let me take you back to 1895. Let’s say you want to travel from Southampton to Winchester and for some reason you don’t take the train, preferring to ride your horse / travel in your carriage or cart by road. The road that goes through our town was the most direct route, a turnpike with an improved surface since the early nineteenth century, unlike other local roads.
Before the railway came in 1847, this road would have been heavily used by the stage coaches that plied between Southampton and London. The horses were changed every six miles and being this distance from both Southampton and Winchester, Chandler’s Ford was the obvious place for the changeover. The coaching stage in our town was where the Fryern Arcade is now, but by 1895 the stables had been redeveloped as a house. [Read more…] about The Main Road Through Chandler’s Ford: Historical Snapshots (Part 1)
And with that welcome to October!
Pinch, punch, the first of the month is one of those peculiar sayings most of us picked up on during childhood. And yes it was followed up with the pinch and the punch. (I suspect the rougher the school, the harder the pinch and the punch too).
The idea behind this phrase, and the one that often follows it (”white rabbits”), is that by saying it, we are meant to have good luck for the month in question. Naturally you wouldn’t want to miss out on said good luck so the moment the calendar shows it is the first again, out comes the saying again.
