The highs and lows of being a Gran; Lady Wimbledon Champions; a Club holiday in Buxton; Prince Andrew -“a serious young man”; worries about Geoff; 80th birthday celebrations; a rapt silence as Gran reads; recollections passed to the Hilliers; good and bad behaviour at the Olympics; another Royal Prince is born, and a pleasant surprise at the VG.
Book 213
June 23rd 1984 Gran calls “A day of extreme emotions, starting most pleasurably and ending in great disappointment.”
Barry phoned and the Family has been making great efforts for my eightieth birthday celebrations and they can all manage the Monday 23rd July, the day after (except Andrew, who will be in Norway), and Julian and Sue want it at their house, Sue specially wanting to do the catering. Barry and Jane go to France at 6 o’clock the next morning and will stay at Farnham on the Monday night and no-one will actually be here on my birthday. That will not matter…
… but it was athletics that caused my heartache and disappointment. Julian did run, but the 10,000 metres started late and only the early laps were shown and the introducer said the result would be given on the News at 5.55. I became more and more nervous and was shattered when it was announced that Julian again ran third and did not qualify for the Olympic Games. This is the second time he has missed out… I watched Val Doonigan’s [sic] show without my usual enthusiasm and enjoyment and have retired sick at heart for Julian.

Four days later, Gran is at The Club as usual and she says:
The Entertainment was very interesting, a talk by Mrs Hillier, who was born in Chandler’s Ford, about the olden days of the village. Most of it I already knew, but I spoke to her afterwards and she would like to borrow some of my old photographs to have copied. Her daughter is having a book on the subject published in the autumn.
Gran is still utterly dispirited by Julian’s failure to qualify for the Olympics, reading in the Athletics Weekly account of the qualifying 10,000 metres race, which said, she quotes, “… out of the great contestants for the two remaining Olympic places, it was Julian Goater who missed out”, and ‘it has not been my year ‘, he sighed”. “I have felt rising tears all day on his account”, she adds. However, she writes that a phone call from daughter Jane provides her with “a great uplift… giving a more balanced outlook to Julian’s missing out. It has helped me to accept it with more easiness of mind”. And:
Very good news of Andy, who had to take an exam the day after arriving at the Summer School in Oslo, and was awarded the highest grade. He is the only Englishman in a cosmopolitan crowd, which included French, German, Polish and a Chinese who had not arrived when Andy wrote but who is to share his room when he does.
“Rain delayed the start of the tennis at Wimbledon this afternoon”, she writes on July 2nd:
… but when it ceased there was first the parade of seventeen Lady Champions to celebrate one hundred years since women were allowed to compete. There were the present Champion, Martina Navratilova down to Kitty Godfree (McKane) who is eighty-eight years old and still plays tennis twice a fortnight. She was given a tremendous reception as were the other Britains, Virginia Wade, Angela Mortimer, Dorothy Round and Ann Jones.
When play started Jo Durie had everyone on tenterhooks as she played the fifteen-year old Steffi Graf, of Germany, whose tremendous drives to the sidelines on both wings had Jo in trouble and struggling…
On July 7th, Gran rises early to be in plenty of time for her good neighbour Ruth Kingston to take her to the Club to meet a coach to Buxton, in Derbyshire, where she will spend the next week with other Club members. The coach leaves at 9 o’clock and, Gran says it, “is very comfortable”. The journey is described in detail: flowers seen from the window, the landscapes, the stopping places, rivers crossed, and arrival at The Egerton Hotel in Buxton at 4 o’clock, where, “… unfortunately there was some trouble over the rooms, though I was lucky to have the single one allocated to me as expected”, she writes.
A television in her room provides her with much-appreciated Wimbledon coverage and she enjoys watching several doubles matches and learns of Navratilova’s fifth victory in the Ladies’ Singles, and she writes of the Men’s Singles Final that, “John McEnroe, in truly devastating form, destroyed Jimmy Connors in three straight sets, 6-1 6-1 6-2. His behaviour was also impeccable”.
The week is spent, largely on her own, taking local walks around Buxton and its Pavilion Gardens; on several coach tours – to the Northern Peak District, the Southern Dales, the Derwent Valley, the Lake District (where she joins a boat trip on Lake Windermere) the Goyt Valley and several other places of historical interest, Bakewell and Chatsworth included. All is recorded in detail in her notebooks and transferred to her journal each day.
Breakfast television one morning provides her with:
… a very interesting interview with Prince Andrew, which, contrary to press reports, showed him as a very able and serious young man, wholly interested and dedicated to his work in the Navy as a helicopter pilot. He said he does not mind the press reporting about him as long as they stick to the truth and do not exaggerate, distorting the whole picture.
And once, when walking through the Pavilion Gardens:
I went to sit on a seat just as a kindergarten with a teacher came in the opposite direction and, when one very little girl sat on the seat the teacher said, “Come on! You’re like an old lady!” I told her she chose the wrong moment to say that, as I was just approaching, and it caused great amusement!

The holiday, much enjoyed, ends on July 13th and Gran tries to note all of interest to her on the journey south. She ends:
We stopped at the Oxford bypass Service Station for lunch and left again at 2.15, passing two canals with their colourful barges. I closed my eyes, being bored with the speed which made observations difficult and “came to” on the Winchester bypass at St Cross. I was pleased to see that the Marsh, Spotted, Fragrant and Pyramidal Orchids were still open on the chalk bank by Shawford Downs.
And she is home in time to see and note, “Zola Budd win a 3000 metres race in the record time of 3:33.75”.
Two days later a brief visit provides her with a pleasurable link to her much-missed friend, the late Gilbert Whitley:
Pam, Gilbert’s sister, over here from Greece with her daughter Thalia, came to see us, rather late, this morning. It was nice to see them – I last saw Pam fourteen years ago and had never seen Thalia.
In recent pages of her journal, Gran has written with considerable anxiety and sorrow of an Ill-advised relationship and marriage by her dear grandson and “young birding rival”, Geoff. On July 18th a phone-call from his Dad, gives her:
… the sad news that Ann has left Geoff. Of course, they were too young to marry but Ann’s Father is very displeased with her and has given Geoff a job in his restaurant in Kendal [actually Keswick] so I hope life will be happier for him. Barry wanted me to get over the initial sadness before Monday.
Jane and her daughter Katie arrive at The Ridge on the 20th, in preparation for the Celebration of Gran’s eightieth birthday. While there, Katie is taken by some of Gran’s belongings, dating from long ago:
When Katie hung some dresses in Mother’s wardrobe she fell for the beaded black dress which Daddy bought for Mother in Italy and it fits her like a dream so I have given it to her. She says the style is all the rage now.
And:
Katie had also fallen for Aunt Fan’s (my Aunt Fan!) pink cotton Kimono dressing-gown so I have given her this also, and this morning washed and ironed it for her.
“I am 80 and I just cannot believe it”, she writes on July 22nd:
Soon after 6.30 I opened four birthday presents, the most beautiful and exciting “Hardy Country” by Gordon Beningfield, all about Dorset and lavishly illustrated by Beningfield’s incomparable paintings. This was from Mary, Frank (Harding) and Granny Pickford. I also received a hand-towel, soap and a photo frame into which I hope to put a celebration photo from tomorrow’s Celebration.
Ruth, from next door, quietly enters The Ridge garden while Gran is upstairs with Jane and Katie, and Gran finds, put through the open kitchen window “… a lovely little Country Diary china pot decorated with Poppies and corn, and a bunch of Sweet Peas…”
The morning of the Party dawns and Gran records it as “an unforgettable, exciting and beautiful day”. Friends Tommy and Bob, drive her and Grampa to Julian and Sue’s house in Farnham, where she receives a “right Royal welcome” and:
We awaited the arrival of Ricky, Beverly, Tom and Elinor before the splendid buffet lunch that Sue had prepared with the help of Jane and Katie, and Sam’s wide smile and moist baby kisses and Anna’s shining smile warmed my heart.
Later:
We were sitting outside, some in sunshine, some in shade, Sam and Tom now divested of all their clothes, playing together amicably, and the baby girls close to their mothers, when clouds gathered and distant thunder gave warning rumbles. We had just got in all the chairs, tables and toys when there was a great storm, lightning, thunder, and torrential rain which was very welcome.

There is more: a blue and white birthday cake provided by Jane Elizabeth; candles, which when blown out, would spark and re-light themselves; a walk, for some, after the rain had ceased, in the nearby Park while others rested at home, and more food and refreshments. Tommy and Bob are the first to leave, “with delight at being invited but now wanting to leave the family on its own”. Finally, Gran departs, driven home by Katie, and “feeling exceedingly well-fed and overwhelmed by everything this lovely day had given me”.
A few days later, on Andy’s twentieth birthday (“and may God bless him”, writes his Gran) she is again at the Club, and impressing the members:
I had been asked by the Vice-Chairman to read my notes about the Buxton holiday by way of entertainment and I was amazed at the rapt silence with which it was received and the call for more after the interval. Mrs Mouton gave a vote of thanks and said she now realized how blind she had been and would not have known the names of the flowers if she had seen them. Many others said they had re-lived their holiday and those who had not gone wished they had.

Book 214
With Gran’s encouragement, young Jamie Kingston next door to The Ridge, has been running a moth trap in the garden and also breeding moths from caterpillars he has collected. Gran is often called round to the house in the morning to see what he has caught the night before and to observe the development of his larvae. She records all he does. On August 8th he has large Pine Hawk caterpillars to show her and that night his trap yields Black Arches, Scalloped Oak, dark and light varieties of Peppered Moth, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings and Copper Underwings, as well as three species that she cannot identify. The whole moth-trapping exercise clearly gives Gran enormous pleasure, bringing as it does, memories of when Barry was younger, still living at home and running his own moth trap in the garden.

“This evening”, she writes on August 10th:
Mrs Hillier and her daughter came for my early recollections of Chandler’s Ford for the daughter’s book and borrowed two photographs. They are interested in Natural History and enjoyed seeing some of my flower paintings.
Gran has followed the athletics events at the Olympics closely, recording especially the results of the middle distance running, with Coe, Ovett, Cram and others involved. She describes as “unsporting” the booing by the crowd, and the disqualification of Zola Budd when she and Mary Decker, the American favourite to win the 3000 metres, collide, resulting in Decker’s failure to finish, let alone to win and is pleased when Budd is re-instated after an enquiry. On the day after this, the 12th, she writes of the Men’s 1500 metres:
… Steve Ovett, running against advice, had to drop out towards the end, but there was an excellent race between Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, in which Coe, last Olympics winner, and record holder, retained his title with Cram 2nd and Pascal [Gran means Jose Manuel Abascal] the Spaniard 3rd. When they took up positions to receive their medals and it came to Pascal to receive the bronze, he stepped on to the rostrum and, before getting his medal, he stepped down and went to shake hands with Coe and Cram. A very nice gesture after the unsporting treatment of Zola Budd!
September 15th:
…as the news was broadcast that the Princess of Wales had entered hospital at 7.30 this morning, crowds gathered outside the Paddington and Buckingham Palace to await the announcement that the second baby had been born… It was not until the 7pm News that I heard that the Princess of Wales had given birth to another boy at 4.30 this afternoon. All is well and the Prince of Wales was with her all the time and appeared leaving the hospital and delightedly talking to the crowd who shared his pleasure.
And the following day:
The names of the Royal baby were announced today. Henry Charles Albert David, to be known to his parents as Prince Harry! Not my favourite names but they have good connections.
At the end of the month:
I had an extremely pleasant surprise in the VG Stores opposite here this morning. A young man advanced upon me with a bright smile, called me by name and introduced himself. He was Simon Witts who used to live a few doors away from me in Hiltingbury Road. I had not seen him since he was a little boy and I was delighted to hear about Matthew and Sarah and our pleasure at meeting again was mutual. I was very touched when he kissed me goodbye. Pleasure was shared by the girl at the till and another customer!
Article series
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 1)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 2)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 3)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 4)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 5)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 6)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 7)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 8)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 9)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 10)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 11)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 12)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 13)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 14)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 15)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 16)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 17)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 18)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 19)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 20)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 21)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 22)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 23)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 24)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 25)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 26)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 27)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 28)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 29)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 30)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 31)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 32)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 33)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 34)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 35)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 36)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 37)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 38)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 39)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 40)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 41)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 42)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 43)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 44)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 45)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 46)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 47)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 48)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 49)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 50)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 51)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 52)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 53)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 54)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 55)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 56)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 57)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 58)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 59)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 60)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 61)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 62)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 63)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 64)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 65)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 66)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 67)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 68)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 69)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 70)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 71)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 72)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 73)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 74)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 75)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 76)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 77)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 78)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 79)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 80)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 81)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 82)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 83)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 84)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 85)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 86)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 87)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 88)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 89)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 90)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 91)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 92)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 93)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 94)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 95)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 96)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 97)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 98)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 99)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 100)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 101)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 102)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 103)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 104)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 105)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 106)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 107)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 108)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 109)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 110)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 111)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 112)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 113)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 113)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 114)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 115)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 116)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 117)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 118)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 119)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 120)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 121)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 122)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 123)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 124)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 125)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 126)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 127)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 128)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 129)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 130)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 131)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 132)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 133)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 134)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 135)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 136)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 137)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 138)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 139)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 140)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 141)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 142)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 143)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 144)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 145)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 146)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 147)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 148)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 149)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 150)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 151)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 152)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 153)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 154)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 155)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 156)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 157)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 158)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 159)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 160)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 161)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 162)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 163)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 164)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 165)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 166)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 167)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 168)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 169)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 170)
- Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 171)
I always look forward to another nostalgic Aunty Bunny blog Rick. Thank you so much.
Thank you Jill – aways nice to hear a comment like this.
Love Reading this,will it get published, thank you
Thank you Del – I’m investigating getting it published but want to finish the blog first. Another 10 or so books to go before the 40 years are up, then a few different journals between 1987 and some time in the 90s, which I’ll probably scan and use just the few very best bits, and which should not take many blog posts to cover. It’s been 5 years since part 1 and it feels about time to start winding things up. Then I’ll concentrate on getting it published…