Chandler's Ford Today

You are here: Home / Community / Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 131)

Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 131)

By 6 Comments

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”.

St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where Julian is offered a place. Image by Simon Q via Flickr.

Christmas Eve brings snow and a “most hectic morning!” Gran says.  She has made Christmas flower arrangements for Mary Harding and another friend, Mrs Monkhouse:

Julian departed after breakfast, a run and a cup of coffee, and I took Mrs Monkhouse her flowers… Shopping was rather a nightmare with long queues, but the ham was on, boiling and other preparations under way.  Jill (Harding) and her husband Bob Andrew called in and brought me “Selected Poems of John Betjeman” and stayed a while.  Julian was still here, having his coffee, and Bob was very interested in all his doings and prospects.  After that, the morning was a real scramble.

December 25th:

A white Christmas, and I cannot clearly remember when we had the last one!… A quiet Christmas on the whole, since Jane a family do not come until tomorrow, but Julian and Ricky came in this morning and brought me a very welcome box of notepaper bearing the message “with best wishes and thanks and love from Julian and Ricky”.  Such from the young warms a Grandmother’s heart.

The Brenans arrive on Boxing Day and leave Chandler’s Ford two days later, taking Julian with them, to Pattingham.  Their places are taken by Barry, Jane Elizabeth and their boys, Geoffrey and Robin.  No sooner have they arrived than Jane Elizabeth insists Gran and Barry make haste for Beaulieu Road to look for Norris’s two “special birds”.  Gran, rarely out with her son these days, has a wonderful time and describes it thus:

A Kestrel was seen hovering as we walked down the snowy track towards Bishop’s Dyke.  We went over the old bridge over the railway where we watched a beautiful cock Stonechat flitting among little pine saplings and a flock of Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests in the tall trees above them.  Suddenly, against a line of trees beyond the bog, I saw a grey bird momentarily and called to Barry, but neither of us could get binoculars focused upon it before it went over the trees.  We were sure it was not a gull… Barry said he had a hunch it was the harrier we were seeking.   It did not appear again so we got in the car and went on towards Beaulieu, stopping just beyond the line of trees.  We walked across the snow-covered heather, which was hard enough going, but, when Barry, who was ahead of me reached rising ground and called, “There it is!” I ran to join him, and arrived stumbling and breathless.  But it was, indeed, a most beautiful male Hen Harrier and we had a wonderful view of it as it flew low along the edge of the bog by the railway.  It really was a most magnificent bird and made the whole expedition worthwhile.  We did not find the Great Grey Shrike.

“…it was, indeed, a most beautiful male Hen Harrier”.  Image by Steve Herring via Flickr.

Before the family departs on December 30th, Gran records that, “Barry went to Eastleigh to see his friend Tibby and brought him back for coffee.  It was nice to see him again – he has always been a favourite of mine”.

Of all Dad’s friends, Tibby was also my favourite, and Dad adds the following: “Tibby (Roger Tobia), together with Paddy (now Air Chief Marshall Sir Patrick) Hine were my two best friends in my ‘teens. Tibby went to a Technical School in Southampton, joined the RAF and flew first Meteors then helicopters before retiring as a Flight Lieutenant and setting up his own ironmongery business in Eastleigh”.

Joan Adelaide Goater - her journal about Chandler's Ford.

Gran’s summing-up of her year on the evening of the 31st, gives some small clues about the eighteen months covered in her missing journals:

It has not been an easy year for me and I have not been as well as usual, neither have I had a glorious holiday as I did last year, but the children and grandchildren have been my joy and are doing well, Julian in particular, but he is the eldest, and the others progress well in their turn.  Ricky is my great but friendly rival in the world of birds and has become very knowledgeable.

I had a wintry week with each family during March and much enjoyed it, but Winter is not like a Summer for a holiday.  Perhaps this year’s highlight was the Gilbert White bicentenary celebrations at Selborne, though we have known and loved Selborne for many years.  Exciting new birds for me were Honey Buzzard, Scandinavian Lesser Black-backed Gull, Shore Lark and Water Pipit, and I have enjoyed some good outings with Brother and Phoebe Yule, who has become my very good friend.

I have added a few more paintings to my wild flower collection and was pleased that three were sold at the Selborne Exhibition and remained in the village, where the depicted flowers are still found.

A Shore Lark – new to Gran in 1970.  Image by Dave Curtis via Flickr.

1971

January 1st:

I stayed up late to see “Gala Performance” and the outstanding item for me was the sublimely beautiful dancing of the Russian stars Rudolph Nureyev and Natalia Makarova in a scene from the ballet Swan Lake. These two lovely people defected from the Soviet Union to the West and the wonderful ovation they received must have warmed their hearts.

A letter from Jane Elizabeth on the 7th, includes:

… a delightful colour photograph of Geoffrey, taken at school, and the news that Oxford have agreed to keep Julian’s place for a year so that he can go to America on his Athletics Scholarship.  Barry and Ricky had seen a Glaucous Gull at Cley on January 2nd.

Yes – another birthday “tick” for me.

January 9th brings two family events.  It is Norris’s sixty-ninth birthday: “May he enjoy many more”, writes his sister, who continues:

A day of great delight tinged at the end with some sadness.  We enjoyed a wonderful day out together but heard on our return that dear Aunt Em had slipped quietly away in her sleep at 1 P.M.

They drive through the Forest and spend most of the day at Keyhaven, where, to their immense pleasure, they see a Great Skua – a birthday “tick” for Norris, though as Gran is keen to remind us, “I had seen one before, at West Wittering some years ago”.

The sea wall at Keyhaven – trodden many times by members of the family.  Image by Clara Jordan via Flickr.

“The sadness came when we reached home”, she writes:

…and found a message from Jean… and this was when we learned that our dearest Aunt Em had died in her sleep… It was, of course, the way we hoped she would pass, but nevertheless the sadness was there, for she had been near to us all our lives, and was a very greatly loved Aunt, Great Aunt and Great-Great Aunt.  I never heard her speak badly of anyone or complain of anything and the memory of her will remain fragrant as long as any who knew her remain on this Earth.

Aunt Em’s demise gives Gran various family duties, which necessitate visits to the undertaker, the registering of her death in Eastleigh and, on the 12th (Julian’s birthday and the anniversary of Adrian’s death), a visit “to Southampton to see the Solicitor about Aunt Em’s Will” and, Gran writes:

Norah, Marjorie, Fairlie, Brother and I are the beneficiaries and dear Em left me her personal things.  We had to return at four o’clock to take the oath, so we went up to Bassett to see Em’s oldest friend, Phoebe Fuidge, who lived next door until Em went to Rufus House.  She was pleased to see us.  I went to badminton this evening but I was tired and my heart was not in the game.

Em’s funeral is on January 14th, and Gran, “extremely tired and flat, like a pricked balloon”, she says, is supported by Brother, “through dear Aunt Em’s cremation”:

We did not have flowers, as she loved them so living, and we always gave them to her whilst she could appreciate them, but I tied a spray of Rosemary from the garden with her favourite green ribbon to place on her coffin before the Service.

Six of her friends, including Tommy [Fowler] and Tommy Veal were present and Canon Beech from Netley Abbey conducted the Service beautifully with great sincerity.  I felt momentarily upset, for I hate the idea of cremation, but he made one feel so sure that Aunt Em herself was still living and only her poor weary body leaving us.  And surely no-one can have left happier memories of a sweet and gentle nature which could in no way suffer complete oblivion.

Brother went back to Lyndhurst after lunch and I wrote several necessary letters.  A very nice programme about the wildlife of the Island of Rhum, in the Hebrides, gave me quiet pleasure this evening.

A programme about the Isle of Rúm – gives Gran “quiet pleasure” at the end of a difficult day.  Image by Donald Macauley via Flickr.

January 16th:

I had retired to bed when I remembered that I had put out in the rain my very precious Maidenhair Fern (which Barry brought me from The Burren of Clare when he was a student) and I was afraid to leave it out all night lest there be a drop in temperature.  I have just been down in my nightie to rescue it – I could not bear to lose it.  Now I have finished writing for today…

She needs her mind on other things just now, and on the following morning she writes:

I had another very busy morning during which I had a “blitz” on the larder, why, I cannot think, for I am very tired.  Perhaps to drown my sadness over Aunt Em, whom I adored from babyhood.

And later:

This afternoon I sorted out some of Em’s things and, among them, found a tiny leather-bound book in which my grandmother had recorded the births of twelve of her thirteen children, all of whom were borne within twenty years between 1865 and 1885.  Five of these died in infancy, one was drowned at sea, and six lived on until the ages of 70-odd, 80-odd, and Mother, still at 93.  Granny was in her eighties and Grandpa 95 when they died.  What a family!

Em and Greaty’s elder brother, who was “drowned at sea” was Charles Wise, who, at the age of 25 in 1891, lived at 81 Northam Road in Southampton. He was a Marine Engineer. By 1904, the year he was lost, he was a Refrigeration Engineer aboard the Nelson Line vessel Highland Lassie, which left Swansea on December 10th, bound for the River Plate.  The ship disappeared without trace, but in July the following year, a bottle containg a message was washed ashore in the mouth of the River Mersey.  The message read, “Highland Lassie.  No hope.  Out in a boat off Tuscar – Smith.”  Tuscar is a set of rocks off the southeast coast of Ireland.

Gran records seventeen of her much-loved  Iris stylosa “tips showing in the garden today”, and also that, “Two pairs of Blue Tits were squabbling over the nesting box while we were at lunch”.  And she receives a welcome letter from Jane telling her news of herself and other family members, including that:

…her teaching of backward readers is going well, all are fit at the moment, and Katherine has already got two badges at Brownies: Dancers and Collectors.  Julian finished second out of two hundred in the Inter-Counties Cross Country at Leicester on Saturday.

A postal strike is due shortly, which will frustrate Gran considerably, since she relies so much on her mail, but for now:

Today’s last post before the strike brought a letter from Gilbert, from Greece, and he arrived in England on Saturday and hopes to come to Chandler’s Ford soon.  Of course, with this wretched strike starting tomorrow I cannot get in touch with him so must expect him when I see him.

She adds next day: “Later I phoned Barry to ask him to give Gilbert Jean’s telephone number if he rings, as he has the Bushey number and I cannot reach him by letter”.

Still no telephone at The Ridge!

“A deplorable day weather wise”, Gran tells us on January 23rd. She has agreed to lead a group of young people on a visit to Selborne, and she recounts the day, including this:

…[the Reverend] Brian Chambers picked me up in his car and took me to Fairthorne Manor at Botley where the Youth Camp Training Centre now is.  It is in a magnificent setting, the grounds going right down to the bank of the River Hamble… A coach came to take a party of the young people (led by me!) to Selborne and I was shattered at the start to hear that neither the driver, nor the people from whom the coach had been hired, had ever heard of Selborne or Gilbert White and could not find the place on their maps.  However, I told the driver that, if he could get us on the road to Alton, I could direct him to Selborne!

She decides to show the group St Mary’s Church, the Lime trees planted by Gilbert White, the Bookshop, the Wakes and the Plestor.  And she continues:

I took them through the Lythes, ankle deep in mud and water and dripped upon with rain, and drips from the trees… they were a game lot and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it… We arrived back at the coach thoroughly drenched but quite undaunted.  I suggested a trip up the Hanger, but a voice from the rear of the coach said they would hang me if I tried to drag them up there!  I did remind them that they chose the day and it was not my fault that it rained!

They didn’t want to go there!  Image by Andrew Bowden via Flickr.

Article series

^

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.


Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 54) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 74) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 94) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 100) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 108)
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Young Brian Chambers would be very bemused to be described as ‘the Reverend’ – he was the Youth Leader at CF Methodist church but wasn’t ordained. He ran a print company for most of his life and is still in retirement at CF.

    Reply

    • Oh – that’s interesting Paul! Gran calls him “Reverend” a bit later on in her journal, and that’s why I added it in square brackets, as a way of introducing him. Gran is a great one for mentioning people’s names without any kind of intro. Many thanks for the comment.

      Reply

  2. Roger Tobia I remember well … known to his friends and all in the ‘Lake Gang’ as Tibby,
    He was the proud owner of, what was to me, a Maroon Triumph 500cc Speed Twin Motorcycle (The official colour was AMARANTH RED), often, I believe, the subject of attention by the Traffic Police between Chilworth and Bassett …
    I remember purchasing a 2nd. hand ‘Hoover Lark’ upright vacuum cleaner, with attachments, from Roger, not long after he opened his shop in Eastleigh … oh, memories … where would we be without them ?

    Reply

    • Great to read that comment Doug. Dad will be interested to see it too – they were the greatest of friends…

      Reply

      • As a matter of interest and (I think) pure coincidence, there was another motorcyclist in the 50’s, who became a subject of interest to the Traffic Police on the same stretch of road, who travelled from Southampton somewhere, to Pirelli’s in Eastleigh on week days …
        His name was Eric Goater (Known at Pirelli’s as ‘Ric’) … not knowingly related to your family Rick.

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.