Nature

Upsetting paintings; a lovely birthday – and a cake; Butterbur hats; downland farewell; Ospreys; yellow trunks and a new flower on the Isle of Wight; a regretable change of neighbours; pigeon-toed tennis; ungrateful Sparrows and loyal friend Gilbert’s success.

Gran is home from her holiday in Scotland on July 10th 1959, and the afternoon is spent unpacking and recounting her adventures to “Mother and sundry friends”.  She gives herself little time to recoup though:

In the evening I went to a short farewell party at Bassett – the old friends with whom I have played tennis, attended their little fortnightly whist drives and such, have had to sell their home and, owing to ill-health, join their daughter in Ireland, and I found this a little overwhelming after leaving Scotland and travelling all night, but I was glad I went.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 98)

With cousin Fairlie in Kent; alley cricket in Mill Hill; amazing character studies at the W.I.; kissed by Joey; the Old Curiosity Shop and the wonders of Scotland.

Gran, at Fairlie’s house in Kent on May 27th 1959, walks the local countryside collecting flower specimens after “ Fairlie left for Chelsea Flower Show and while Norah had gone to her usual work in the Church”.  Gran witnesses for the first time, a bird “anting”:

…a practise said to be undertaken for cleaning purposes.  A Great Tit was moving rapidly round the rim of the well and assiduously picking up ants which he put beneath his wings, shook himself vigorously and then sprawled with spread wings, sunning himself.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 97)

First Day Covers; a cheeky mouse; Mottisfont marvels; fascinating creatures; Dame Sybil Thorndike – still beautiful at 80; Early Spiders – unbelievable but true!; the beauty of a village community; whist drive prizes, and a Kentish cottage described.

Book 78

Home again from Kingston on April 13th 1959, Gran receives a letter from Australia, which:

…brought me, posted on the day of issue, the first of the new series of stamps depicting native flowers.  This one was the attractive Flannel Flower.  Gilbert Whitley, of the Australian Museum, sent it, of course, and told me that his recently published book on Sea-horses is on its way to me. What a pal he has been, and it is forty years since he went to Australia.  I have seen him only once since – when Jane was three years old – twenty-one years ago.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 96)

Roadworks dismay; farewell to Miss Cope; glad tidings from Jane; renewed acquaintances; remarkable carvings; another little wood destroyed; litter; two impressive sopranos; two active boys, Coronation Walk, and a wedding produces a dramatic moment.

January 21st 1959 is an unpleasantly wet day, but Gran is loth to miss her weekly visit to best friends in Merdon Avenue:

This afternoon I went to see my Harding family.  Mary was surprised to see me in such weather but I regard my “dates” with this dear family as one of my most valued privileges.

On the following day:

This afternoon we noticed that a Yew tree down the road had fallen right across one of the new gardens.  It seems to me that, in excavating for the service road for the shops being built opposite here, the men must have undermined the roots, for it does not seem to me that today’s gale was of sufficient force to bring down a Yew tree that has stood for centuries.  And I noted that there were no spreading roots – it seems they had been severed during the process of excavation.  I am sorry for the owners of the garden, for they have worked hard, and a terrace and the fence must have suffered great damage.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 95)

An unexpected meeting; a new use for the old pram; the new Rector; the Adamson bookplate; the most fabulous order; hints of happiness, but no hope for the New Year; a pleasant surprise; Barry knocked off his bike; Jane kicked by a horse, and great hopes for Speyside next Summer.

I am surprised to discover that Gran even entertained the idea of using a weed-killer in the garden of The Ridge, but on October 23rd 1958, we read:

I squeezed in a little gardening this morning, raking up leaves from the front grass and then putting down a second dose of Fison’s weed-killer and grass fertilizer, which has already much improved the front lawn. Early this afternoon I cycled along to the end of Hiltingbury Road to get some beech leaves to preserve for Winter.  I found that the coloured ones were already very prone to fall, but there were still plenty of green ones, and all go golden brown when preserved in glycerine. Linnets were flying about where the old Polish Camp is being demolished.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 94)

A new racquet; promise of a green belt; a personal triumph; Jill has a baby; a tree from Canada; Mr Burdett retires; “These Americans!”; irritating evangelists; a hedgehog is saved, a visit to Scotland – perhaps, and ravaging beauty, nearly, if not quite, divine.

“This afternoon, I was just finishing painting the Lesser Dodder”, writes Gran on September 2nd 1958, “when Jane arrived home from Scotland.  She had had a wonderful holiday and had a great deal to tell”. Not only had she brought her mother some flower samples from the north, but:

She also brought me a superb new tennis racquet, the best on the market, which I could hardly wait to try.  I did, however, wait till after tea and then Jane and I went up for a game.  The racquet was wonderful and we had some splendid games.  Although I actually won the first set we were very closely matched in spite of the score of 6 – 0, but in the second one the first game took twenty minutes with an uncountable number of deuces, and we were forty minutes playing three games. Jane eventually won the set at 8 – 6 and we had been playing an hour and a half.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 93)

Hudnut’s factory; a trip to Oxford; a famous French artist; Britain wins the Wightman Cup; a strange Bee Orchid; a setback for the Ospreys; Fairsky –  a ship with a past life; at Wimbledon’s No 1 Court; new flowers to paint; a Wild Gladiolus hunt, and a letter from Mr Summerhayes.

On May 10th 1958 Gran writes:

This afternoon I went with Jean Hockridge to the Open Day at Hudnut’s Factory, where Ken is Production Manager.  Though I do not use cosmetics myself, I found it very interesting, and other drugs and liniments and such are also made there.  It was fascinating to see the various machines turning out tablets, mixing powders and creams, mixing toothpaste and putting it into tubes, filling, corking and labelling bottles of shampoo, and liniments and many other things. A very nice tea was provided and all guests were given various samples of the productions.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 91)

No need for a tirade; a couple of grebes; Woodlark hangs on locally; still cycling distances in search of flowers; promotion for Barry; the Boat Race; a Society Wedding at Otterbourne; old-fashioned toys for the Hockridge girls and a book comes to an appreciative recipient.

We have a revealing insight into Gran’s preferred brand of Christianity in early March 1958.  The Hockridges, the family next-door, active in their faith, are evangelical in their views and have on a number of occasions encouraged Gran to attend meetings at their church and elsewhere. On this occasion, Gran puts into words her thoughts thus: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 90)

Christmas is hectic; Gran blesses the neighbours; the “opposite wood – now occupied; new furnishings for The Ridge; the Festival Ballet in Southampton; an awful lot of marmalade; “science never produced such wonders”; Mistle Thrush observations; a visit to London, and something to look forward to.

Christmas 1957 is approaching and Gran expects a full house, with Jane coming home from Nottingham, and the family also due to arrive from Mill Hill.  Arrangements are made with the Hockridges for Barry, Jock, Julian and Ricky to spend the nights next door.  Jane arrives on December 19th:

I expected Jane home late this evening but when I reached home at half-past six, there she was, cooking herself a meal!  She had been able to catch the through train after all.  It was raining slightly when she went back to Winchester for the rest of her luggage, and it was late when we eventually retired.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 89)

A painful bump; 11,000 stamps; 210 paintings; the sweep leaves a mess; American snobs; a letter from Australia; roosting wagtails; The King and I – again! Tears on Remembrance Sunday; a Coal Tit on the draining board and Dad forgets his toothbrush.

Book 68

Gran remembers with sadness Jane’s late friend Robin de Crespigny Eastwood on September 12th 1957, writing Requescat in pace in her journal.  He died three years ago this day.  “I awoke with the beginnings of a migraine”, she says, “but I had promised to help Bob at the shop and then have tea with Tommy, who is feeling rather down since Jill’s departure”.  Gran is busy at the shop and then goes down to the Docks to help deliver flowers on the Southern Cross.  She continues:

Unfortunately, as I got out of the van on returning to the shop, I hit my head hard on the top of it and, never since I was a child, have I so much felt like weeping with the physical pain!  Diana, however, got me some Veganin and these eased it somewhat, though a large “egg” came up on my scalp.

Next day:

I went to Winchester this morning to see an Exhibition of Bird Photography by Eric Hosking in the Public Library.  The Exhibition was wonderful and well-worth the journey, for, apart from excellent photography the pictures were both interesting and beautiful.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 88)

Hedgehog action; mothing on Romney Marsh; a tour of the Queen Elizabeth; a plague of crickets; 50lb of blackberries; one of the “greats” of British botany, and a moving wedding.

August 5th 1957:

Early this afternoon Jean Hockridge called me in to see a baby hedgehog, which she had found in her drain, soaked by very hot water and soapsuds from her washing machine. The little creature seemed little the worse and was drying off in the warm sunshine.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 87)

A good year for Cuckoos; the Royal Tournament – a bit noisy; Hordle beach – a bit sandy; Christine Truman’s first Wimbledon; the Masonic girls school;  poignancy at the Air Forces Memorial; Prize-giving at Shirley Avenue School; Heath Lobelia, leafy Nottingham and some cricketing greats.

Book 66

Cuckoos are abundant in the Chandler’s Ford area this Summer of 1957, and Spotted Flycatchers, though late in coming, appear to be plentiful, with a pair nesting on the house next door and hawking insects, usually from the gateposts in the front garden of The Ridge.  Gran hears a Nightingale from the house, the first, she says, for several years, but many of the heathland, scrub and birch wood birds, familiar to her in past years, no longer nest nearby as the area is gradually built up.  She records Wood Warblers in the Pinewood still though, and writes on June 3rd: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 86)

Mozart – a tonic for the soul; Gran writes a “bomb”; visits to Regent’s Park, the Houses of Parliament and Chelsea; The Lake and Pinewoods to remain “natural”, a new bird and ten new plants; the Arend-Roland Comet and some black grapes.

As a “tonic to the soul”, burdened by the removal of her much-loved Yew, and other trees opposite The Ridge, Gran, on April 8th 1957, attends the Covent Garden Opera at the Gaumont Theatre in Southampton, where she witnesses the talents of John Lanigan, Geraint Evans, Joan Sutherland and other wonderful performers in Mozart’s Magic Flute.  “The theatre was packed”, she writes, “and terrific applause again and again testified to the enthusiasm and appreciation of the crowd.  It was late and bitterly cold when we came home…” [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 85)

Kindness to a bee; to the cinema – again!; high praise for her flower paintings; birds should build their own nests!; the wonders of the Universe – already understood by naturalists; dancing The Gay Gordons!; the healing gift of flowers and a “sad and bitter day”.

It’s February 17th 1957, and Gran attends a B.E.N.A field meeting at Pagham in Sussex.  Apart from describing the whole day’s findings, she is, as she says,:

…both surprised and pleased to find that we had in our party, Bruce Campbell, the well-known author-ornithologist and broadcaster, and his final decisions upon matters of identification were invaluable.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 84)

A small boy at a Carol Service and a small world; nostalgia for Chandler’s Ford past; “Goater Bros” garage; petrol shortages; Gran buys trousers; waste oil – a menace to our birds; Mrs White has died; something called “Rock ‘n’ Roll”; a local link with top class ballet and farewell to Tom Jenkins.

“I promised last year”, Gran writes on December 20th 1956, “that I would take Mother to Haberdashers’ School Carol Service at St Martin-in-the-Fields this Christmas, if possible, and today was the day!”  The two ladies, together with Gran’s daughter Jane, travel by coach, meeting Jock and Julian in the Church.  There is less room for visitors than there was last Christmas because, Gran says, “…the school numbers had increased to eight hundred boys…” She writes much of Julian in her journals, including on this occasion, during the Service, that he: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 83)

Suez weighs heavily on the mind; life settles into a routine; Jill Fowler is engaged; a visit to the Masonic Hospital; Hoopoes in Hampshire; a film about Minsmere; a new hat and coat; mouth-watering Scottish birds; some Compton history and farewell to Fin.

On August 16th 1956, Gran writes, “The London conference on Suez commenced today and I can only pray as I do every night”. She then offers up a long prayer, including these words, still appropriate today, “Send thy light into our darkness and guide the nations as one family into the ways of peace.  Take away all hatred, prejudice and fear…”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 82)

Farley Mount butterflies declined; the Blackbirds fledge; Pyrola minor – gone; Jane departs Chelsea College; failing to shop in Bournemouth; an unexpected meeting; cricket with Julian; Smarties from Ricky; Adrian’s Day, and how that Yellowhammer sings!

July 10th 1956.  “Just before two o’clock”, Gran writes:

…Alan Hill, the young naturalist from Ireland, who is again in England on holiday, came over to see me, and we took our tea to Farley Mount. Alan was on a motorbike, so he went on and waited for me there.

Among the commoner plants and other wildlife they note there, Gran describes passing a “flowery corner, teeming with butterflies, among them several lovely Silver-washed Fritillaries”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 81)

Union Castle ship interiors; a window is unveiled; a male Blackbird sits; a Jaguar at Noar Hill; a Gannet and a murder in Dorset; a bird’s identity unresolved; unsporting behaviour and a long day across the border in Sussex.

On June 20th 1956, having first checked her Blackbirds’ nest, the progress of which she is following in the garden, Gran says:

Later I went to Southampton, where it was Visitors’ Day on board the “Winchester Castle”, and I was shewn over the ship by an official of the Union Castle Line, who entertained a small party to lunch in the dining room afterwards. I have, of course, been over several Castle boats before, when delivering flowers for Fowlers’, but today I saw the lounge, swimming pool and smoke-room, and enjoyed an excellent lunch on board as well.

The woodwork throughout is of a delightful golden-yellow, and the furnishings in pastel shades, which tone together beautifully. The pictures are in good taste also, and in one suite there hung one by Russell Flint, R.A. depicting a mountain scene of great charm and colour. All the draperies, such as bedspreads, cushions and eiderdowns, are of different colour in each cabin, but all are in keeping with the golden woodwork. An orchestra was playing during lunch.

Samples of the chef’s art, in the way of dressed and decorated meats, were arranged on a table outside the dining-room, and the sight of them made the mouth water in advance! The sun was shining and the gulls constantly circled round the ship.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 80)

A reduced evening chorus; Furzey Gardens; Jane’s last half-term; the Chelsea Flower Show – again; flowers from Hazel; migraine medication; five essays; St Mary’s re-dedicated, and a Blackbird builds a nest.

Book 58

On May 19th 1956 Gran tells us: “As always at Whitsun I recorded the evening chorus for the Glanton Bird Research Station, and, for the purpose, went down to the Lake.”  She notes the times of the day’s last songs and calls of a total of nineteen species, including Cuckoo and Wood Warbler, the only two species on her list unlikely to be heard there nowadays.  No Nightingale is heard, nor a Nightjar, so it appears that these summer visitors no longer find the habitats suitable in their old Hiltingbury haunts. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 79)