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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 161)

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Nightingale poignancy; a lost necklace; an invasion of Habs; Squirrels at Formby; “greatest admiration and respect”; Great Reed Warbler – an unexpected treat; plates for Katie; an Archdeacon visits; unwelcome changes at Beaulieu, and high class athletics by a grandson.

Book 185

On May 9th 1980 Gran, as always, working in Fahrenheit, records that it was:

… the coldest May night this century (according to the television weather man) with a minimum temperature here of thirty degrees, this morning was clear and sunny though still cold.

Post brought “Athletics Weekly” which informed me that Julian had a good run in the 3000 metre race in the southern Counties A.A.A. representative match at Crystal Palace on April 30th.  His time was 7:58.9 seconds, only just over one second outside Sebastian Coe’s best time of 7:57.4, which he achieved the week before.

“Bird of the week” on radio this morning was the Nightingale and records were played of Beatrix Harrison playing her ‘cello in a wood with a Nightingale accompanying her, of a Nightingale singing with enemy aeroplanes droning overhead, and of the bird on its own.  I was reminded of the war days here, when, after an air raid, the “all  clear” siren sounded and we rushed upstairs to hear the Nightingales singing down by the Lake.  Alas, present day disturbance there has driven these lovely birds away from this neighbourhood.

The recording of a “Nightingale singing with enemy aeroplanes droning overhead” did not, in fact, involve enemy planes; it was one hundred and ninety-seven British Lancasters and Wellingtons departing on a bombing mission to Mannheim.  The recording is incredibly moving.

Gran has been taking part in a Sponsored Neighbourhood Birdwatch for the R.S.P.B. and has raised about £15 with her list of locally seen species.  She writes on May 11th:

I rang Bushey this evening to tell Barry that I had forty-six species in my bird count and would include his sponsorship money in my cheque [to the RSPB].  Robin answered the phone (his voice has broken!) and told me that Barry was at Hilfield where he had earlier seen a Red-rumped Swallow, and ambition bird for him, and Geoff was away with the school geographic trip to Swanage!  I am green with envy and Geoff will be mad at missing it.

Dad (Barry) clearly remembers that he did not see a Red-rumped Swallow at Hilfield, but he may have been looking for one that was reported there but Gran’s note gives me an excuse to include a photograph of this species, below.

Red-rumped Swallows – annual in the UK in very, very small numbers.  Image by Sergey Yeliseev via Flickr.

On May 13th she remembers, “My dear Jane’s forty-sixth birthday.  I can only wish her good health and pleasant days ahead.  God bless her”.  And later, having walked past the Lake to the Tuesday whist drive:

… my whole day was spoiled when I discovered that I had lost my turquoise necklace which had been Aunt Em’s.  I came back the same way and asked some little girls if they had found it but, of course, they had not.  But they recognized me from the talk I gave at the Merdon Avenue Junior School on Wild Flowers, and said they would tell Miss Wyngate, the teacher, and ask her to enquire of the other pupils.

And two days later, she is again at the whist drive, saying, “… I was lucky in the draw and also won third prize, in spite of my mind not being wholly on the game.  I am still worrying about my lost necklace, for sentimental reasons”.

Gran does love unexpected visitors, who break the monotony and perhaps, loneliness of many of her days, so on the 18th she is delighted when she looks up to see Barry pearing through the dining-room window:

He had Geoffrey and thirteen Haberdashers’ boys with him, gasping for a cup of tea after being in Denny and Bishops Dyke since eight o’clock this morning.  Of course they were all welcome and sat all over the dining-room floor whilst I collected all the cups and saucers and mugs I could find, and they were soon quenching their thirst.  They had seen two Red-footed Falcons, four Hobbies, Dartford Warblers, new to the area, and discovered a large colony of Gladiolus on the edge of Denny Wood.  All the boys phoned parents, who have been anxious about forest fires, to tell them they would be home about half-past seven.  It had been wonderful to have them all and they seemed so at home.  I am so glad Barry feels he can bring them here when he likes.  I saw them all off on the minibus and came in to clear up the debris.

Denny Wood in the early 20th Century. Image courtesy of Alwyn Ladell via Flickr.

May 24th sees Gran arriving at Longton to stay with Jane, Katie and Andy, having been driven there by great friends, Tommy and Bob Fowler, via their son John’s home at Brockworth, in Gloucestershire.  She has a “heartwarming” evening there, catching up on news, and saying:

… we saw the latest photographs that the children had taken, programmes of concerts and the syllabus of various training colleges to which Katie has applied.  She favours Roehampton.  A framed composite picture of Stuart, surrounded by snaps in various surroundings, some with Jane, Katie and Andy, is a lovely memory for us all.

On the following day they all visit the National Trust Red Squirrel Reserve at Formby, where Gran:

… had the joy of seeing at least six Red Squirrels scampering about on the ground, which was very undulating, and the little creatures kept disappearing into the hollows and then appearing again… we noted that some were larger and darker than others but all were so dainty and sprite-like compared to the unwelcome grey introduced species.

The Reds can be quite tame at Formby. Image by Steve Higgins via Flickr.

She adds at the end of the day, having returned to Brockworth with the Fowlers, that:

… it had done me a world of good, seeing them in their own environment for the first time since the tragedy of nearly two years ago and added to my deep love for them, the greatest admiration and respect at the way they have picked up the threads of their lives and achieved so much.  Bless them.

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

A phone-call from Barry causes her great excitement on the last day of May:

He was at Fleet where he had seen a Great Reed Warbler, and he wanted to know if I could be ready in three quarters of an hour and he would come and fetch me if I could return to Winchester by train.  Could I just!

Barry, with Jane Elizabeth and Geoff, collect her, and she writes:

We passed through Hook and parked the car in the Station yard at Fleet.  Incredibly the Great Reed Warbler was singing at the top of a reed at the edge of the pond only a few steps from the station and showed itself plainly as we heard it as soon as we approached.  This warbler is a vagrant to England from the Continent.

As warblers go, the Great Reed is huge, and its song is loud.  Image by hedera.baltica via Flickr.

This species has a very loud and strident song. Gran describes the bird’s plumage in some detail, and adds that it “was singing continuously and loudly and remained all the time we were there”.  At home again, she writes: “I love these unexpected treats and it would take much to make me refuse them”.

June 7th:

A heavy knocking at the front door roused me at 6.45 this morning and, to my amazement, it was the postman, with a registered letter for me.  I realized at a glance that tit was the latest issue of stamps from Tristan da Cunha.  Very beautiful and welcome as always, but what an hour for the post to be delivered!

And the arrival of yet more exciting post is recorded two days later.  Gran is collecting a series of decorative plates for Katie. She writes:

Second post brought my May plate in the series based on “The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady” and it is another lovely one, with Bluebells, Red Campion, Hedge Parsley, Broom, Crab Apple, Whitethroat and White Butterfly.  I now have five towards Katie’s twenty-first birthday present.

The May plate – it looks to me like a Lesser Whitethroat!

She ends her entry for this day with:

A busy morning and afternoon preparing for the arrival of the New Zealand Archdeacon tomorrow, and I was glad of the brief rests that were possible… Barry has just phoned.  Ricky has got the job at Slimbridge and starts in September, Julian did run his best 5,000 metres in Belgium and the two Red-footed Falcons at Beaulieu Road are still there and there are three Golden Orioles singing there.  What news!

Typically, there has been no earlier comment on  most of these events, and though we never discover the reason for the Archdeacon’s visit, we do learn his name on the following day, and it seems possible that his presence has been organised by Grampa, possibly as a Masonic visit.  Gran writes:

The early afternoon was spent twittering about the arrival of John Ford, the New Zealand Archdeacon… He arrived about a quarter to five and proved to be an easy guest… I stuck in my American stamps when Bill and John went for a walk round the Lake.

“As John wanted to go to the Beaulieu Motor Museum today”, she writes on the June 11th:

… we took him out to lunch first, going via Romsey so that he could see the Abbey… We went on to “The Old Well”, at Copythorn for lunch at half-past twelve and had a very enjoyable meal.  Cousins Joan and Roy came in after us and we were all please do meet again after a long time.

After lunch they continue into the New Forest to show John the Knightwood Oak, where Gran notes that they found a new tree, which:

… had been planted nearby by the Queen in 1979.  The inscription on a plaque read, “The Queen’s Oak, planted by Queen Elizabeth II on 12th April 1979 to mark the ninth Century of the New Forest, founded by William I, 1079”.

They find changes in Beaulieu that do not please Gran.  They arrive at the turning to the Motor Museum, and she says:

I wanted to be dropped by the entrance to walk down to the estuary and the Abbey as I was not interested to see the Museum again and I thought it a waste of money to go in.  However, in the now commercial climate I could not go to the Abbey except through the Museum, so I walked straight through, as all is included now in the one entrance fee.  In the Abbey ruins I found peace from the crowds and found wild Pink Dianthus plumaricus on the old walls, and Sweet Cicely Myrrhis odorata in a border.

I could not get out by the old Abbey entrance or by that of the Palace House, so, as I had arranged to meet the others by the estuary in an hour’s time, I had to walk all the way back through the Museum to where the car had been left.  Here I sat on the car park barrier, where I was joined by a friendly Robin and saw Jackdaws foraging in a rubbish bin.

This is where Gran tried to get to. The estuary at Beaulieu. Image by Andrew Bone via Flickr.

The Archdeacon departs on the morning of the 12th, for Salisbury, “… seemingly pleased with his stay with us, and gave me a beautiful book about New Zealand”, says Gran.

Athletics Weekly, arriving through the door of The Ridge on the 13th, tells proud Gran that “Julian is listed as the best in Britain in 5000 metres with his recent win in 13:21.9 and is included in “prospects” for the 10,000 metres in the Olympic trials”.

Book 186

The next copy of the magazine continues her grandson’s story with, Gran relates:

… a glowing account of Julian’s 5000 metres in Belgium and said it made him fourth in the World this year, and spoke well of his run in the 10,000 at Crystal Palace last week when he finished fourth”.

And on Midsummer’s Day, she watches sport on television:

… especially the 5000 metres Olympic Trial at Meadowbank, expecting Julian to run but the commentator said he had withdrawn, resting on his best ever time in Belgium.  He was wise, I think, not to flog himself because there was a very high wind at Meadowbank and the time of the race was slow, the winner, David Moorcroft, being nearly twenty seconds slower than Julian’s time and Nick Rose just behind in second place.

That evening Tommy phones Gran to tell her that, “She had collected Diana at Heathrow from her South American trip this morning and Diana is pleased that Ricky has the Slimbridge job.  She thinks there is a cottage to go with it”.

Gran takes a cutting from the Sunday Telegraph of the 22nd:

… which talked about the difficult decision the Olympic Committee has in choosing the Athletics Team for the Games.  It was said that although David Moorcroft won the Trial 5000 metres at Meadowbank and Rose was second, neither of them reached the qualifying time whereas Julian Goater had.  The team will be announced tomorrow.

There must have been tremendous disappointment for Gran, not to mention Julian himself, when the selection, a controversial one according to Athletics Weekly, is announced. This is what she says on the 24th, summing up the situation:

Julian has not been selected for the Olympic Games in spite of being the fastest 5000 metres man in Britain this year, because he did this in fine conditions in Belgium and the three selected on the run at Meadowbank came nowhere near his time.  It had been announced that the selection would not necessarily be made from the Meadowbank result so Julian, having already qualified, did not compete.  Now, because it was windy there, Moorcroft, Rose and Smith have been chosen.  Neither Moorcroft nor Rose have done the qualifying time this year and Smith ran second to Julian in Belgium.  True, Julian might not have gone to Moscow in any case as he thought the Games should not have been allocated there and, with the invasion by Russia of Afghanistan, he was in favour of the boycott supported by so many nations, but it would have been pleasing to be selected.

A Green Woodpecker yaffled from the Pinewood.  There were showers during the morning.

Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, now demolished. Should Julian have run there? Image by Tom Brogan via Flickr.

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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 165) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 169) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 175) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 176) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 179)
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  1. Hi Rick, I have caught up! My ‘two a day’ habit got me there and now that I will only have one instalment a week, I already feel a bit lost. You have captured the ups and downs of family life but Stuart’s tragic death was more than most have to bear and very sad. The destruction of habitats and the subsequent loss of diversity is so well illustrated in your account, it’s particular to Chandlers Ford but applies universally and makes one think about the whole business of planning and development. I am definitely more alert to my surroundings as a result of reading this, I take binoculars with me on walks and have a pair easily accessible to watch the birds from the house and garden. Of the areas of special interest I am more of a botanist and am inspired to actually identify and name the many photographs of plants I have taken, all over the world as well as at home. I really struggle to identify birds beyond the obvious and I am astonished at the lengths you will go to see a particular bird, but it’s fun to read. Thanks again for such an informative and entertaining read. Jan

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