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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 168)

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Age Concern chaos; lucky Geoff; a sporting gesture; a good run in Oslo; trouble with bees; troops return; the Fowlers celebrate; peace and quiet at St Cross; Sherborne House School – 50 years old; orchids at Farley Mount; an inscription from 1890, and Spotted Flycatcher – still using the garden.

On Mid-summer’s Day 1982, Gran joins a coach trip to Mottisfont Abbey.  She is not usually one to complain, but the day leaves a lot to be desired in her view, even though she is delighted to find a Southern Marsh Orchid in flower on a grassy pathside when she manages to escape the crowds.  “The outing had been arranged”, she says:

… by Hampshire Age Concern and it was chaotic from the start, far too many old folk having been encouraged to go.  The coaches were not allowed to go into the Abbey car park, so that the approach road was completely blocked by the coaches, and the leading one had to disembark its passengers before the others in the queue could reach that point…  We were received at the Abbey grounds by the blaring of a ghastly hurdy-gurdy but after viewing the small part of the Abbey open to the public, I made for the river.

Mottisfont Abbey.  Gran preferred the riverside. Image by Neil Howard via Flickr.

And later:

It was a mercy it did not rain for the tables for tea were arranged outside on one of the lawns and, in spite of the sunshine, the meal was a shambles!  We had all been issued with tickets of different colours, and the groups collected their food from tables manned by voluntary helpers, and girls were supposed to bring tea to the tables.  The troubles were that early ticket holders went on occupying the chairs and there were not enough girls to bring tea to everyone.  It did not bother me because I so enjoyed the lovely grounds and I had found an Orchid!

And finally, after Gran has visited the Rose Garden, which she loved:

The departure from Mottisfont was complete chaos, so many charabancs trying at once to collect their respective parties and the first arrivals completely blocking the approach road.

At last, after blockages are cleared and frayed tempers soothed, they are on their way, and Gran, with three others are dropped at the top of Hiltingbury Road from where she walks home.  She writes that evening:  “I watched a little Wimbledon tennis and, in the ten o’clock news, it was announced that the Princess of Wales had given birth to a boy.  Great rejoicing all round”.

Gran is delighted by a postcard, which arrives on the 24th from grandson Geoff, now a very keen birdwatcher, working for the R.S.P.B. at Insh Marshes in Speyside.  Its contents leave her slightly envious too:

He started off at Insh by finding a Wryneck, which was a new record for the Reserve and then found a Wood Sandpipers’ nest with five chicks.  He has also seen Osprey, Goshawk, Dotterel (I have not!) Snow Bunting, Ptarmigan (I have not!) Whinchat, Turnstone – 2nd record for the Reserve – Crested Tits, Crossbills, Twite, Red-necked Phalarope and Pied Flycatchers.  Lucky Geoff!!  His work consists of taking people round the Reserve and looking out for poachers and bird robbers.

The RSPB’s Insh Marshes Reserve, where Geoff worked in the summer of 1983.  Image by Gertjan van Noord via Flickr.

Gran enjoys watching Wimbledon tennis on June 25th.  Pam Shriver plays the youngest contestant there, Kathy Rinaldi, that evening:

Pam won the first set 6-4 after a struggle but early in the second set, Kathy was stung on the left arm by a bee and lost 6-2.  A very sporting gesture by Pam, when they changed ends, made a pleasant interlude.  She removed the sting and bathed Kathy’s arm before some ointment was applied.

Athletics too, holds her attention, the Sunday Telegraph of the 27th giving her a flush of pride as she reads the results of a recent 10,000 metres in Oslo:

… the winner, Carlo Lopez, created a European record by over 2.5 seconds in 27:24.39, with Julian Goater coming home in fifth place in 27:34.56, the third fasted ever by a Briton and over 11 seconds inside his previous best.  The “Sunday Express” said Flying Officer Julian Goater from London became Britain’s third fastest 10,000 metres runner of all time behind Brendan Foster and Dave Bedford… I expect Julian was pleased with his performance.

On July 1st, Gran notes that it is the twenty-first birthday of the Princess of Wales, and writes, “I wish her and Prince Charles every happiness with their new baby, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis”.

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

Gran’s neighbour, Ruth Kingston, has been keeping bees in her garden over the last few years but this is about to change, as Gran tells us on July 4th:

Ruth will no longer keep bees in her garden.  Poor Helen was stung once on her leg just as she was going out to drive the car, and, by the time she reached the end of the drive she began to feel ill.  Bill rushed her to hospital and, by that time, she was unconscious.  She was kept there overnight for treatment but was able to come home this morning when Bill went to fetch her and Ruth came to tell me.  I went to see Helen later and she gave me such a hug and kiss, bless her.

She records more hugs later that day, having described an epic five-set Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon between Connors and McEnroe, won by Connors.  She writes that it was eight years since he had won, and:

When it was over, he went to the edge of the court and beckoned his wife to come down and they hugged each other ecstatically.  Connors was almost in tears when he came to receive the trophy from the Duke of Kent and to hear cheering words form the Duchess.

Jimmy Connors.  Gran was not very keen on American players, however brilliant they were at their sport, but she preferred Connors to McEnroe.  Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr.

July 11th gives us another reference to the recent Falklands conflict.  Gran writes emotionally:

The “Canberra” docked at Southampton this morning bringing Royal Marines back from the Falkland Islands and the scene at the docks was shown on television.  Thousands of people gathered on the quay to welcome husbands, sons, fathers, grandsons and sweethearts and, with the Royal Marines band playing and the crowd cheering and singing and waving Union Jacks, it was a moving and unforgettable scene.  I felt the helpless tears running down my face as I remembered the happy days I had spent delivering flowers on board “Canberra”.

Later in the month she similarly enjoys the homecoming of troops on H.M.S Hermes, the flagship of the Falkland Island Task Force, which docks at Portsmouth to, she says,  “a tumultuous welcome”.

H.M.S Hermes returns to Portsmouth after the Falklands conflict in 1983.  Image courtesy of Tiger 2000 via Flickr.

“My seventy-eighth Birthday!” exclaims Gran on July 22nd.  She is disappointed to receive no mail that day but she does enjoy the good wishes of several friends and family members.  However, the telephone call from Barry is disquieting:

Jane Elizabeth was knocked off her bicycle by a lorry yesterday and, though she cycled home afterwards, her memory was affected and Barry took her to Stanmore Hospital where she is being kept over tonight… They have had to postpone leaving for their holiday in France from Monday until Wednesday.

Jane Elizabeth is “her old self” on the phone two days later; just one of eight family and acquaintances who telephone Gran that day in great excitement having watched, on television, Julian winning a 10,000 metre qualifying race, during which Brendan Foster, commentating, says he “ran a splendid race and thoroughly deserved to win and now is assured of a place for England in the European Championships in Athens in September and in the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in October”.

Unfortunately five of Gran’s diaries are lost at this point and we come to mid-May 1983, missing not only her inevitable excitement as Julian wins a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres but also, in August, the birth of Julian and Sue’s first child, Sam and, in April, the birth of Elinor, Rick and Beverly’s second.

Book 206

A letter from Andy to his Gran on May 18th reveals that he is in Norway, working on a farm:

The farm to which he is going is mainly concerned with fruit growing and the village of Ringøy lies between two fjords and is in one of the most beautiful places in Norway.  There are five cows and ten sheep and Andy started there on May 15th and will be there until August 15th.

Ringøy in Southern Norway where Andy Brenan worked in the summer of 1983. Image courtesy of Andreas zir via Flickr.

Julian’s wife, Sue, collects Gran on May 22nd, in order to take her to Alton where her parents live and to see new great-grandson Sam, and thence to Birmingham Airport to meet Julian, before journeying on to Stafford, where the family is now based.  Gran, as usual, makes notes of flowers and other items of interest seen during the journey, including that, “The Judas tree” (first described very early in her journal) “at Otterbourne was in full bloom”, and that, ”We entered Berkshire at 2.40 and passed Greenham Common, where the anti-nuclear campers were sitting outside the base.  A dishevelled lot, in a sordid situation”.

Greenham Common protestors in 1983 – looking determined but not particularly dishevelled. Image by John Perivolaris via Flickr.

Gran spends five days in Stafford, her time there filled with local walks, enjoying baby Sam’s company, a visit to nearby Isaac Walton’s Cottage, evening games of whist and Scrabble, and watching Julian run at Cosford.  On May 26th she records that “Mother would have been 106 years old today”, and on the 27th, “It is seven years since I had my hip operation and how thankful I am that it was done!”

They all drive north to visit Jane and Katie at Longton, near Preston, where Gran stays for two days before accompanying her grand-daughter on a train journey to London.  Katie, whose twentieth birthday it is, has a party to attend in the City, and Gran catches the 5.45 from Waterloo to Winchester, and home.

June 11th:

Sheila came for me soon after two o’clock this afternoon and we went to Hillier’s Arboretum in Jermyn’s Lane.  I have not been since it was simply Hillier’s Nurseries and Roy Lancaster was in charge.  Now it is very extensive with a marvellous collection of trees and shrubs and the Azaleas and Rhododendrons were making a wonderful display of colour today.

On the following day Gran’s oldest friends, Bob Fowler and his wife Joan (née Tomlinson, and always known as “Tommy”) are celebrating, and Gran and Grampa are included:

Tommy and Bob were having the Celebration of their Golden Wedding today, and, apart from their family, we were the only two outsiders invited.  They had been our Best Man and Bridesmaid fifty-five years ago on the 21st, and Tommy and I have been friends for sixty-nine years!  There were only two grandchildren missing, Jill’s Mark, who is in Canada and John’s Sylvia, who could not get away from school.  It was lovey to see them all again…

The weather is lovely and there is a buffet, which the guests take outside into the garden.  “It was a very gay party and much amusement was caused by old photographs”, writes Gran.  “John and Mary left first (they fly back to Hong Kong tomorrow)”, she continues, “then Jill, Dennis and family, Diana and Susan, and, after a last chat, we came home just after nine o’clock”.

A few days later Gran says:

There was no Club meeting this afternoon as the members had gone on a trip to Bournemouth.  I do not like the place, so elected to take myself to St Cross and walk along the river instead.  It was very lovely and so peaceful.  I went by bus and at Compton noted masses of Ox-eye Daisies in bloom as well as Alsike Clover, Wild Rose, Red Valerian and Mignonette.

And so she goes on, listing all she sees: plants, birds, and also Cricket being played on the College meadow – “and a pleasant sight it made”, she writes.  Home again that evening, she receives a phone call from Jane, with family news, and asking:

… about the Sherborne House School 50th Anniversary Celebrations as she cannot be there but wants to send a card.  Katie has a job as Nanny to a Mayfair family from July to September and Andy is enjoying his farm life in Norway.

“I have been waiting and hoping for a Spotted Flycatcher to put in an appearance in the garden, and today one came and was about all day”, she is relieved to note on June 17th.  This species is unlikely to be recorded in Hiltingbury for much longer – the last of the once common summer migrants whose regular presence Gran so enjoyed in the days when The Ridge was surrounded by heath and woodland.

“… and today one came and was about all day”.  Image by hedera.baltica via Flickr.

Farley Mount, though somewhat changed since her early years there, provides much pleasure on the following day, when her friend Sheila Moody suggests an outing.  They look specifically for Greater Butterfly Orchids along the lane by West Wood.  “There were many beautiful specimens of the Butterfly Orchids at the edge of the lane, and in the adjoining woodland and we also saw Twayblade and Spotted Orchid”, she writes.  And:

We saw an extraordinary number of Butterfly Orchids in West Wood and on the slope by the road where there was a good colony, where I had sometimes seen only one and we must have seen two hundred altogether.  Sheila was finding flowers and asking me what they were and she actually found the first Fly Orchid and we found between thirty and forty of these.

They have a wonderful afternoon together, Gran revelling particularly in the orchids, but also in other chalkland flowers, and newly emerged Common Blue and Speckled Wood butterflies.  “We enjoyed eating an apple after this long and exciting walk and I again felt emotionally and physically drained”, she writes that evening.

The next day is a domestic one and in the afternoon she watches some sport on television, and:

… this evening saw the Archbishop of Canterbury’s wife, Mrs Runcie, choosing her favourite songs of praise and later, Wayne Sleep in the “Hot Shoe Show”.  This last was disappointing as it was modern, rather grotesque dancing instead of ballet.

She does not say why, but on June 26th she tells us:

I wanted to check on “Field and Hedgerow” by Richard Jefferies, knowing that I had a copy which had been Mother’s.  I found that it was a First Edition, compiled by Jefferies’ widow and published in 1890.  My particular copy was given to Mother in 1890, when she was thirteen and Grandpa had written in it: “Nellie from Dad, as a reward for industry and diligence at school, July 1890”.  The book consists of Richard Jefferies’ last essays.

Gran’s Grandfather on her Mother’s side: Richard Wise.

 

… and the inscription he wrote for his daughter in Field and Hedgerow.

July 2nd:

It was the celebration of the Golden Anniversary of Sherborne House School and I went round this morning in time for the opening and tree-planting ceremony to commemorate the event.  The weather was kind and it remained dry.  There were many stalls and entertainments, and other attractions in the lovely grounds, and it was fun seeing pupils who were contemporaries of Barry and Jane, though I found it difficult to recognize most of them after so many years not seeing them.

I returned to Sherborne House early this afternoon and found that Tommy and Diana had arrived.  I found June Helps (Malcolm) who was in the house on the corner of Kingsway when we came here fifty-five years ago and whose Mother was a great friend, even after they moved away, until her untimely death two years ago.

I had sent Miss Wise an arrangement of golden flowers from the family and she sought me out to thank me, being delighted with it.  I had tickets for two draws which Penelope Chamberlayne-McDonald of Cranbury Park, an ex-pupil, made but I was not lucky.

Gran leaves the event at four o’clock, she says, “… to watch Wimbledon tennis.  Martina Navratilova is Champion again…”

July 3rd:  “The Spotted Flycatcher came into the garden, rested awhile on the clothes line with food in its bill, and then flew into Ruth’s garden where it must have a nest.”
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