History

Sika whistles; various ailments; much knitting; an old doll; birds on a wire; a 25th wedding anniversary; a rude beginning to the day; the Rector retires; a near disaster; kind residents, and new friends at Cranbury Park.

Gran’s restlessness and depression, which characterised her first day of October 1972, lift on the 2nd, after a day out in the New Forest with Norris.  There they search for Sika Deer hoping in particular, to hear the remarkable whistling calls of the males and they have to wait at Ladycross until seven o’clock before they are rewarded, Gran says, with “a sound which I would never have associated with a deer”.

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Three birds new to Gran, and several flowers; a “nice piece” about Julian; Nastase – “the idol of the crowd”; a visit from Gilbert’s sister; the Fowlers retire; Gran is sixty-eight; the Brenans move house; the “ghost of a frustrated artist”; Barry collects things other than moths, and “my life is rushing away”

Gran and Norris spend twelve days in mid-Wales during June 1972, loving the countryside they explore, together, and sometimes in the company of others.  Their host, referred to as “Mac” is knowledgeable about the local breeding birds of prey and he takes them to see the nests of Sparrowhawk and Merlin, the latter, unusually, in a low Hawthorn tree, rather than on the ground, where he has set up hides for photography. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 137)

Happy in Church; Gran’s “Gilbertiana”; plans disrupted by “The Troubles”; pleasure and pride; Oxford or Cambridge?; a new position for Stuart; Gran yelps; Greaty is quite overcome, and a holiday with Brother again.

Book 140

Gran is always very much at home in her beloved Compton Church, and on March 12th 1972 she goes there again, for Matins, and is:

…particularly happy to do so as the new Bishop of Southampton, who now resides in Compton, preached the Sermon and pronounced the Blessing. He took as his theme for his Sermon the vital part to be played by parents during their children’s critical growing period between the ages of eight and eighteen.  This was inspired by two things – today is Mothering Sunday, and next Saturday several of our young parishioners are to be confirmed.

Gran’s collection of her so called “Gilbertiana”; press cuttings, articles, books, drawings and letters concerning Gilbert Whitley, found its way into my hands recently.  A difficult search in Australia for a more appropriate custodian of these items was ultimately fruitful, owing to Gran’s recording of the birth of one of Gilbert’s great-nephews, son of his niece, Pamela Clare Frewer.  Pam married Lazaros Archontides, a Greek musician.  Their son Bernhard, today better known as Panayotis Archontides, is an internationally acclaimed pianist, based in London. Gran writes of the little family on March 13th:

Post brought a First Day Cover from Gilbert in Australia – very welcome – and his letter contained the news that Pam and Lazaros, with baby Bernhard, are soon due in Sydney.  There will be much rejoicing.

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A sad loss; enjoying “The Queen”; a new bird for Gran – and one for  Barry and Rick; Julian runs for England; power cuts encourage good neighbourliness; Geoff does well, and Robin – no longer a baby.

Christmas cards have been arriving at The Ridge, and on December 20th 1971 the contents of one, from her Sussex friend Pauline Muirhead, distresses Gran.  She explains:

A sad note today came in Pauline’s card – our dear friend, Andrew Young, died in his sleep on November 20th. He had suffered much pain and frustration since he broke his hip a year ago, so one could not wish for him to go on, but one does not like to think of the loss of such as he.  But I shall always think of him enjoying the picnics in the New Forest with us, and read again and again with pleasure the books that he wrote.  There is his last to be published in January and I shall hope to get it.  I am glad I was privileged to know him and to call him friend.

Barry, Jane Elizabeth, and the boys, Geoffrey and Robin spend Christmas at The Ridge, and the day starts well for Gran:

I rose at six o’clock and Barry took me to Early Service at Compton at 7.15.  The Church was beautifully decorated with yellow, bronze and white Chrysanthemums, with holly, ivy and pyracantha berries and yellow jasmine added in the small arrangements.  The Service was uplifting and a joy to me.

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Brother on the mend; Gran still playing tennis; countryside outings resume; The Ridge gets a telephone; 100 miles a week for Julian; an extravagence not regretted; a Barn Owl is killed, and small family events.

Book 136

Feeling rather “down” owing to her anxiety over her brother Norris, Gran receives some welcome mail on August 5th 1971:

Post today brought a nice surprise which cheered my soul – a specimen of Grass of Parnassus from Jane, from, I should think, Windermere, where I know she is going to be for the holiday and a wedding…

She is correct; another letter from Jane some days later tells her that:

…the family is staying at a 300 year old farm which once belonged to Beatrix Potter and Jane says the very comfortable kitchen is just like Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’s, but the beds are more up to date!

She paints the flower on the day it arrives while Brother, still tending to be depressed after his hospitalisation, rests.

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Ballet for the Boys; a full house; “a nasty shock”; the serene Evonne Goolagong; a bus-driver’s kindness; new neighbours; Brother’s rehabilitation, and difficult times helped by friends.

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)

A white Christmas; family visits; success with one “special bird”; 1970 – not an easy year; Norris is 69; farewell Aunt Em; downstairs in her nightie; Charles Wise – lost at sea; hoping to see Gilbert Whitley, and risk of a hanging.

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”.

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Snowdon’s treasures; a long drive home – “all honour to Brother”; Tibby brings tickets; Rosewall and Taylor on Centre Court; the Prince of Wales – “a very fine young man”; the Hockridges return; bulldozing on Farley Mount;  power cuts, and a rare bird on Portland Bill.

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!”

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The Truths of Life in Hursley Forest; guilty picking; birding at Keyhaven; the “abominable feline”; approval of the “QE 2”; sparrow hooligans; to Wales in the “Dagenham Donkey”, and nostalgia in Snowdonia.

Book 124

1969

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.

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Searching 12,000 pages; two Flycatchers; Lizards – still present; an impressive moth-catch; rail travel – no longer a joy; the White Buck – shot, and the Harding family – a wedding and a baby.

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!

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A strange plant; voices recorded for posterity; Ricky “will get every encouragement”; farewell to good neighbours; bad behaviour at Bournemouth; a Glossy Starling; Lady’s Slippers to paint, and monkeys and soldiers.

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?

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A quiet Christmas; a Fox runs by; an old friend dies; spirits lifted by a butterfly; a Presidency for Barry; “21 years of our journal”; the Brenans move house; foot and mouth disease restrictions, and searching for Daphne.

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)

Sherborne House – recalled; a fence triggers a memory; Fair Isle knitting; tennis at Bournemouth, Wimbledon and “Mr Chalk’s lovely garden”; vertigo in Cheddar Gorge; anxiety over a “beastly complaint”; Margaret – a new friend; Ricky does well; plenty of visitors, and some tears.

On April 16th 1967, Gran writes of a kind gesture, telling us that:

…Mrs Dowson, who taught Barry and Jane at Sherborne House School, came to take Mother and me for a drive, mainly so that Mother could see Primroses at their best.  We went through Hursley and Farley Mount… and on towards Sparsholt…

Dad adds a little bit of background:

“Sherborne House School in Lakewood Road, was opened in 1933, shortly before I started there. The Headmistress was Mrs [Eva] Wise. Her two daughters, known as “Miss Dorothy” and “Miss Wise” [Nancy] made up the rest of the staff. “Miss Wise” married soon after I left, and became Mrs Dowson”.

And:

In 2003 the school celebrated its 70th anniversary. Seventy-three-year-old Barry was invited to the gathering at the school and there he found “Miss Dorothy”, over one hundred years of age but still remembering “Barry Goater, the boy who was late for school one morning because he had found a Pine Hawk-moth”.

Gran, Greaty and Mrs Dowson drive on, to Leckford and Stockbridge, and then, Gran continues, “We turned off the main road and came to a wide grassy verge along a lane, which was carpeted with Primroses, a glorious sight.  Mrs Dowson picked a posy for Mother”.

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No Church on Christmas Day; fears for 1967; a wretched rabbit; a new washing machine; unaccustomed boredom; thank goodness for Mrs Hillier; an adorable bundle; a party in Bushey; a new bicycle; a driving test passed; a long session of tiddlywinks, and an anniversary.

It is Christmas Eve, 1966.  The Brenan family arrives at The Ridge for the festivities and, Julian and I, the two older grandchildren, Gran writes, “…came, bringing their little half-sister, Fiona, and Julian took them, Katherine and Fiona, to the Lake before lunch”.

Christmas Day at The Ridge passes as usual, with presents passed out round the tree after breakfast, preparation and enjoyment of the dinner (no doubt with the traditional Woodpecker cider), and enjoyment of the grandchildren’s antics.  Tradition, though, is broken uncomfortably for the first time since Gran began her journal, twenty years earlier, Gran writing of the day: “…I was sorry not to be able to start it by going to Church.  With an invalid and the family to look after I just could not get away”.

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