Forty Years in Chandler's Ford - a Journal (Part 123)

Roy Lancaster and a rare alien; New Forest Lectures; Katherine’s life plans; more stamps; boys, girls and badminton; frustration in the garden; toys down the trousers, and Mother falls, changing Gran’s life.

Barry is in Chandler’s Ford on August 24th 1966 and that evening he and Gran, “…dashed to Winchester to see Yellow Henbane Hyoscyamus luteus, a rare plant from Czecho-Slovakia, which had appeared on a bank near the new Police Headquarters”. The next day, Gran, very much enjoying Barry’s company, enthuses:

Barry and I went, on bicycles, to Farley Mount this morning, stopping first at Otterbourne Hill for him to see the Hairy Bird’s-foot-trefoil which I found last month and which was new to him.

And:

The post today brought me a first-day cover from Gilbert Whitley in Japan, with stamps issued for the Science Congress at which he is reading a paper. A most interesting cover to have, and of special significance when one has a friend intimately connected with the Congress.

Having packed flowers for a number of ships on the first day of September, and delivering some on the Achille Lauro and the United States, a strange coincidence occurs, Gran saying:

On this latter ship I saw a friend of Barry’s, Tony Ridge, who is Geoffrey’s Godfather, and whom I had not met before. I also saw his mother and brother, all very nice people indeed.

September 5th brings a letter from Barry, who:

…has been in touch with the British Museum Botany Department about the Yellow Henbane, and, as it is unknown there by the name of Hyoscyamus luteus, they want a specimen of it. I have written to Roy Lancaster about it as we do not feel that we should pick any as he told us about it in the first place.

“Andrew has cut all his teeth”, she adds.

Book 114

Another communication from Gilbert Whitley arrives on the 17th – “…an exciting letter from Formosa, or Taiwan as it is now called… the stamps are most colourful”, writes Gran. And she receives a number of other letters from Gilbert on his journey home to Sydney, with the all-important stamps, from Thailand, the Philipines and Singapore.

Harvest Festival is celebrated at Compton Church on the 18th, Gran, as usual, describing the beautiful flower arrangements there, but adding: “I did miss the “Old Man’s Beard”, which is usually included but much of it has been destroyed by road-building in the Compton area”.

“Old Man’s Beard” also known as “Traveller’s Joy”- much reduced by road building in the Compton area. Image by Howard G via Flickr.

More news of the apparent Yellow Henbane is given at this time, Gran writing, after a day in Southampton:

When I reached home I found a card from Roy Lancaster telling me that the plant found in the new Police Headquarters ground at Winchester was not the Yellow Henbane (H. luteus) as he thought but the much rarer Mexican Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica), native of Mexico and Texas. It is new to Hampshire. This was confirmed by the British Musuem.

Both sides of the card sent by Roy Lancaster. Gran was proud to count this famous plantsman and botanist as a friend.

Entertaining words, this time from grand-daughter Katherine, are given on October 1st, in a letter from Jane asking if the Brenan’s can come to The Ridge for Christmas:

…Katherine now goes to Playgroup one morning a week, and, returning from the first session, remarked, “Well, now I’m started at Playgroup. Then it will be school, and then a mummy or a greaty and that’s it.” Then there was, “I’m getting old mummy. I’m going to be a Brownie and be married”. Both children are sprouting rapidly, especially Andrew, who grew a whole inch last month.

The evening of October 10th sees Gran and Norris at Southampton University for the first of a course of lectures about the New Forest. “The course consists of twenty”, she writes, “on Mondays”. She clearly takes copious notes of this and, over the months, the other nineteen lectures, writing many pages of interesting information on Early Man in the Forest, New Forest management, its wildlife, plants, ecology, archaeology and soils.

“This evening’s, by way of an introduction”, says Gran, “was about the geography of the Forest, which is an area of 144 square miles, comprising seventeen parishes whose population, according to the 1951–61 census, is 90,000 people…”

Two of the lectures in the series are given by Arthur Cadman, referred to by Gran as Mr W.A. Cadman, Deputy Surveyor of the Forestry Commission. His subjects are “the present administration of the New Forest” and the “deer of the New Forest”. This is of particular interest to me, as Arthur Cadman, prolific author, well-respected wildfowler, wild boar-hunter and deer-stalker throughout Europe, and great raconteur at the dinner table, became an acquaintance of mine during my years as Senior Ranger, managing wildfowling at the Montrose Basin Local Nature Reserve, some thirty years later.

Cadman’s Pool, on Ocknell Plain in the New Forest, was created by Arthur Cadman entirely for aesthetic reasons. Image by Hardo Muller via Flickr.

Norris visits Gran almost daily at this time, “Brother is so nice to go out with, quiet and responsive to all the joys of nature”, she writes, and they take many trips into the countryside together, by car, but none so distant as that on October 11th. And Norris was never a driver in a hurry:

We left home early this morning to motor into Kent to see cousins Norah and Fairlie and covered over three hundred miles by the time we reached home again… We received a very warm welcome from Norah and Fairlie and enjoyed a good long chat and a sumptuous tea before we had to leave again. Fairlie and Norah gave us two-armed waves as we drove off.

It had taken us six hours to reach Elham, with a brief break for lunch and five and a quarter to get home, also with a brief break.

Three days later they drive to Bushey, Hertfordshire, for the day, to visit Barry, Jane Elizabeth, Julian, Ricky and Geoffrey and Robin. They cannot stay the night, and, “We regretted the too brief visit but it had been lovely to see them all and they are such a happy family”, she reports.

October 29th: It is school half-term and Julian and I are staying “round the corner” at 99 Kingsway, where Mum (Jock), and her two young daughters, our half-sisters, have taken up an uneasy residence with her father, her mother having died a few years earlier. We drop in on Gran:

A very pleasant surprise this afternoon when Julian and Ricky presented themselves at the door. They are spending the half-term weekend in Kingsway and came to tea with us after going down to the lake. Nice lads.

Gran plays badminton regulaly through the Winter, and later that day she finds herself in a local but unspecified church:

…with David Dyer to initiate the boys and girls of the Youth Club into the game of badminton. They were a mixed bunch and the boys were much more keen to play than the girls. I must say, all the trappings of a youth club do not seem to me to be easily reconciled with the use of the same hall as a Church, but I suppose I am old-fashioned.

An event occurs on November 16th, which has a profound effect on Gran’s daily routine for the foreseeable future. She delivers flowers on the Andes in the morning, and then writes:

I came home early this afternoon and it is as well that I did, for Mother fell in the garage getting fir cones for the fire and could not get up again. I managed with much difficulty to get her back in her chair in the dining-room, and phoned the doctor who said get her to bed if possible. Jean [Hockridge] and I tried but she could not walk, but two men working on Jean’s boiler came in and carried her upstairs for me. Dr came and suspected a break in her pelvic area and said he would send an ambulance for her to go to hospital in the morning. A disturbed night, but Mother full of courage.

Next morning, Greaty is X-rayed and settled comfortably in the hospital’s Cowan Ward. Gran does not say which hospital. A cracked pelvis is diagnosed and Gran assumes that her mother will need to be in care for some time. Family members are called with the news, and visits are arranged. There is no hint that Grampa is present at this time, but he probably is, because Gran takes what reads like a sideways swipe at him on November 18th, not for the first time being exasperated by his activity in the garden:

I was much saddened to find that my Blue Pimpernel, which had looked so promising, has been pulled up. Really, gardening, unless one is the only person doing it, is the most frustrating and disappointing occupation there is.

Blue Pimpernel – a critically endangered arable “weed”, which Gran tried to cultivate in her garden. Image by Zachi Evenor via Flickr.

Following several days during which Greaty appears to be cheerful and progressing well, Gran, on the 20th, fears all is not well after all. “Brother came to lunch”, she writes, continuing:

We went to see Mother and found it distressing in the extreme. Her mind was wandering and she told us the most preposterous things. Speaking to the Charge Nurse afterwards we learned that this often happens with the old after a fall and when they find themselves in strange environments. She could not say if it would be permanent so Brother and I came home much saddened.

On the following day Greaty has been moved to Fred Woolley House, where, in the evening, she receives visits from her friends Tommy and Nellie Veal, while Gran and Brother attend one of the Southampton University lectures.

November 23rd:

A very busy day, cleaning Mother’s bedroom in case she is sent home soon. The sweep came this afternoon and also Mrs Hillier, to help me with the room. I cleaned pictures and the silver tennis cups and medals, and washed china, and tomorrow should see things finished.

“Mother’s Room” in more recent times. It looks out into the canopy of The Ridge’s oak tree.

The likely change in her circumstances, at least the short term, is fully understood by Gran on December 1st:

In a positive deluge this afternoon Brother and I went to see Mother. I was somewhat taken aback when Sister told us they were sending her home on Saturday and appalled when I realized what this would mean. She can still only walk a few steps with two sticks and will certainly not be able to be left alone.

Next day:

At teatime Tommy Fowler came, bringing a commode and some flowers for Mother. Her room looks nice – I bought her a new yellow lampshade this morning and her flowers are just the right colours. This evening Brother came and he and I went to Fred Woolley House for the last time, finding Mother very bright and looking forward to coming home.

Greaty is back at The Ridge, brought by ambulance on the following day, and by December 8th Gran is feeling the strain, saying, “Mornings are hectic with Mother to look after and I am very tired by midday”.

Next day, Barry drops in to The Ridge, in order to “attend the Old Symondian Dinner tomorrow”, Gran tells us. She learns from him that Julian continues to excel at cross-country, and that “Ricky has played basketball for his school”. This is the first hint we have that Haberdashers’ did not suit me and that I had left there and started at the local secondary modern school. What a life-changing decision that was!

An agreement is made at this time between Norris and Barry, the latter currently taking driving lessons, that Barry would take over ownership of Norris’s white Ford Consul, registration 458 CFJ, early in 1967 on Norris’s retirement.

Front bench-seat, three-speed gearbox and steering column gear shift – the Ford Consul model passed on to Dad on Norris’s retirement. Image by vauxnut via Flickr.

Book 115

Stamps and first-day covers, mostly from friends with contacts in the Commonwealth, continue to find their way through the door of The Ridge. “The greatest excitement today”, Gran writes on December 15th, “was the arrival of a magnificent first-day cover from Kenya with a set of the new animal series of stamps. They are very beautiful and I specially like a spectacular running Cheetah”.

“A magnificent first-day cover from Kenya”. Image courtesy of Andy Brenan.

The “spectacular running Cheetah”, especially liked by Gran.

With Gran needing to spend much time at home caring for her mother, she enters a long period of relative, and unaccustomed inactivity, with few major events or outings upon which to report. She misses her botanizing and birding companions and is delighted on one occasion when, she says, “Peg came to see me and was I glad to see her! I have so missed being able to go and see my friends”.

Brother though, visits almost daily, being given meals, sometimes a bed for the night, and frequently “sitting-in” for Greaty, his Mother, to allow Gran some freedom to run errands and get some fresh air. She attends the traditional Carol Concert at Compton – “a beautiful and uplifting service as always”; decorates the Christmas tree “for Katherine and Andrew”, and ices the cake – “a snow scene with little Esquimeaux and polar bears, with an igloo”.

The Brenans confirm by letter their arrival time for Christmas, and include more news of the children, including that:

Andrew had fallen in the sitting-room and cut his head on the fireplace, but, though Jane tore up half a sheet to stop the bleeding and rushed him to the doctor, only a small cut was found and there was no concussion. Subsequent restlessness in bed was shown to be not caused by the accident but by the presence of Dinky toys that had been stuffed down Andrew’s pyjama trousers!

Dinky Toys – the cause of discomfort in Andrew’s pyjamas. Image by Andrew Bone via Flickr.

Article series

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Tags: Chandler's Ford, Chandler's Ford Today, family, Hiltingbury, Hiltingbury Road, history, Joan Adamson, Joan Adelaide Goater, local interest, memory, nature, Roy Lancaster, writing

Comments

Paul Flowers says

April 26, 2020 at 10:31 am

The church which the diary did not specify is undoubtedly Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church. Last week the diarist went to a Garden Party at Ambrose Chalk’s home on Merdon Avenue opened by Speaker King – that was the annual Garden Party for CF Methodist Church, I was also there that day.
The Dyer family, Stephen the father being in timber like Jack Chalk, were also members of CF Methodists which then worshipped in the dual purpose building on Winchester Road, used for many purposes as well as Sunday worship. It was therefore the ( very successful then) Youth Club at that Church, of which I was a member.

- Rick Goater says
  
  April 26, 2020 at 4:16 pm
  
  Really interesting Paul. These names often mean nothing to me, but I include them in the hope that a reader, like you, may pick them up and run with them. Great to have a first name for Mr Chalk – Gran was far too formal to ever mention such a thing! I’m assuming that this is also the church that Gran’s neighbours, the Hockridges, were active with. They were certainly methodists.
  
  Very many thanks for your comment and insight.
  
  - Julie Frost says
    
    October 6, 2023 at 7:19 am
    
    This is an interesting find about my grandfather (I have been googling about his work as Musical Director/conductor with the Southampton Musical Society and came across the diary about Chandler’s Ford!).
    
    As you say, his name was officially John Ambrose Chalk (fondly known as JAC). I remember the garden parties at Oakhurst in Merdon Avenue well, even though I was a little girl. Also, I played on the tennis court many times and remember the big roller. Great memories of a great man. Thank you.
    
Paul Flowers says

April 26, 2020 at 6:21 pm

Thanks for your reply.
Jack Chalk was known formally as J Ambrose Chalk, especially when conducting the Southampton Choral Society. All his close friends called him Jack. The family home on Merdon Avenue was vast with very extensive grounds, including the tennis court where your Gran apparently played

- Rick Goater says
  
  April 27, 2020 at 1:47 pm
  
  Many thanks indeed Paul.
  
Janet Williams says

April 27, 2020 at 9:03 pm

Love these comments. Thank you Paul and Rick.

In 2017 I was given a tour to the church. I took a picture of the name, J. Ambrose Chalk Room, and a photo of the room, at the Methodist Church, in this article Jane Archer – A Simple Vision, and 37 Years Leading The Coffee Room at Dovetail Centre.

Scroll to the middle of this article and you’ll find them.

What a connection!