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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 178)

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Pulmonaria – not found; an unexpected First Day Cover; trips to Arundel and Lulworth; two creditable performances; Gran crawls downstairs; a Royal Wedding; a kind gentleman; travels in the North; Grampa is taken ill; news from Fin; a day at Marwell Zoo, and difficult times ahead.

It’s May 14th 1986 and more memories are brought to the fore for Gan three days later when she walks to the Club for its usual afternoon meeting:

Miss Wise, late Headmistress of Sherborne House School, who, when an assistant to her Mother, taught Barry and Jane to read, entertained us with poems she had written after her retirement.  I had a chat with her and she was pleased to hear news of Barry and Jane, and quite amazed that their children are grown up and Barry a grandfather!

Barry himself is in Chandler’s Ford at this time and he and his Mother, in spite of wet weather, make the now rather rare journey into her beloved New Forest, to look for flowers and birds.  They have a lovely time there and on the nearby coast, although failing to find a rare plant of particular significance to her upsets Gran:

We went first to look for [Narrow-leaved] Lungwort Pulmonaria longifolia in its usual habitat near Beaulieu but to our horror, there was no sign of it.  Council workers, I presume, had thrown large quantities of thick mud right over the ditch and bank where it had flourished for years.

Narrow-leaved Lungwort – the New Forest speciality that Gran loved and tried to see every springtime. Image by peganum via Flickr.

Book 225

May 27th: “It is ten years today since I had my hip operation at the Masonic Hospital – ten years of physical bliss after forty years of increasing arthritis.  How lucky am I!

And a few days later:

Post brought a letter from Ricky with a very exciting First Day Cover of May 5th 1983, which Ricky’s predecessor has left behind and Rick had found in his filing cabinet.  It was the “Iolaire” one, Britain’s first Emergency support Ship, and the F.D.C. had been sent to Mr P. Childs, Montrose Basin Nature Reserve, 2 Riverside Cottages, Brechin.  The stamps and dates were those of our Engineering Achievements and I had not seen or heard of “Iolaire” before.

 

 

“An exciting First Day Cover from Ricky”.  Images courtesy of Andy Brenan.

June 7th:

Jane Elizabeth rang up this evening to tell me about the pottery programme in which the work of Clarice Cliff was shown.  It did not include the Crocus Ware of which I have quite a lot but her “Bizarre designs”.  I have one bowl of this, which Tommy gave me many years ago.

The Clarice Cliff Bizarre bowl given to Gran by Tommy many years ago.

On the 10th, we feel that all is not entirely lost in terms of interesting local natural history, for she writes:

This afternoon, wanting a film for my camera for Arundel tomorrow, I went to the chemist at the end of Hiltingbury Road instead of going up the hill to Fryern Hill.  I was delighted to have decided to do this because I found four Bird’s-nest Orchids at the edge of the Pinewood.  As they are becoming rare round here, this discovery made my day!  This evening a Spotted Flycatcher alighted on the clothes line and then flew towards the playhouse.

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

Her Club outing to Arundel gives Gran several pages of notes to write up on the evening of the 11th, including this:

We went through Bishop’s Waltham where I saw a Brimstone and beyond we had a lovely view of the Meon Valley.  On the bank of the Meon River Canada Geese were resting.  We passed near the now unused Droxford Station where, in 1944, Churchill and Eisenhower met and decided to go ahead with the invasion of France in the Second World War.

A commemorative plaque at Droxford Station.  Image by Pete via Flickr.

… and then we were  at Hambledon where was the first Cricket Club on Halfpenny [actually Broadhalfpenny] Down and the first organized Cricket match took place and Mr Lord made the first rules and the Lords Ground was inaugurated.  A granite monument marks the place and, on the front, are carved two wickets and a large bat…

Gran presumably meant to write, “A wicket and two large bats”.  Image by Anguskirk via Flickr.

Gran spends her time investigating Arundel Castle while others in the party visit the nearby Wildfowl Trust Centre.

Just four days later she is on another coach trip, this time to Dorset, where she loves the scenery of the Lulworth area – new to her – but, she says, “… very beautiful apart from the overplus of human beings, who were enjoying the extremely hot conditions”.  A ticket within the pages of the journal tells us this is a Buddens Skylark Coaches Ltd “Afternoon Mystery Tour”.  It costs Gran £2.85.

Mail delivered to The Ridge, we know, is of great importance to Gran, and she looks forward to it and writes about it almost every day.  It, and to a lesser extent, the telephone, keeps her up to date with the doings of her widespread family.  Thus, on June 20th, she delights in this:

Post brought my Domesday First Day Cover and a very pleasing card from Andy and Judy, telling us that they had both obtained Upper Seconds in their final exams, Andy in German and Scandinavian Studies, and Judy in French and Latin!!  A very creditable performance…

News of “a very creditable performance” between the pages of Gran’s journal.

Around this time Gran writes often that she feels unwell, is frequently sick and with stomach pains and feeling “seedy”, as he typically puts it.  She, nevertheless, watches Wimbledon as usual, especially not wishing to miss the Finals – Martina Navratilova’s victory over Hana Mandlikova (the trophy being presented by 90–year old Kitty Godfrey) and “crawling downstairs” to see the Men’s Singles Final – Boris Becker winning against Ivan Lendl (the trophy presented by 88 year old Jean Borotra of France).  She adds:

A charming gesture from the Duchess of Kent, when she took Borotra’s arm and led him off the court.  The 100th Wimbledon has been the happiest and most sporting in the absence of McEnroe and Connors, out in the first round and there were some extremely good matches.  I retired wearily to bed at six o’clock, saw no sunset and did no writing.

After phone calls to her local surgery, a home visit by Dr Godfrey, increased intake of fluids and light meals and tonics, Gran is on the mend by July 11th.  She says, “I went for a short, slow walk round the Lake and through the Pinewood this afternoon but there is little appeal left with all the litter about.  But I felt I should make the effort”.  She watches some international athletics on television later but writes, “I did not stay for the end, as I wanted to try a bath, carefully but successfully in my weakened state.  I have lost nearly a stone!  I have not felt ill today and my back seems easier”.

Book 226

July 23rd:

Today was the Wedding Day of Prince Andrew, newly created Duke of York, and Sarah Ferguson, of Dummer, in Hampshire.  Coverage of the preparations, people who had spent the night at the side of processional routes, began with breakfast television and I saw parts of it from 7 a.m. onwards.

A Ladybird Book brought out just after the wedding.  Image by secretlondon123 via Flickr.

Gran, who had “… rushed out earlier to get ham rolls and ice cream to have with fruit for a picnic lunch”, follows the day’s events and describes them over two pages, including:

The Royal ladies wore lovely dresses, the Queen in a lovely shade of blue, the Queen Mother in a floral dress of pink and blue, Princess Margaret in bright turquoise and Princess Anne in deep cream.  The Princess of Wales wore bright green with black spots and a wide black cummerbund-style waistline.  Prince Andrew in Naval uniform with Prince Edward in Royal Marine uniform, reached the Abbey at 11.15, all in carriages open to the sunshine.

[The Bride] came at 11.30 in the Glass Coach with her Father and looking most beautiful in a gown of ivory satin, low cut bodice embroidered with pearls and sequins, and a long, full skirt and long and wide train and veil with a wreath of flowers.

Late in the afternoon they left for their honeymoon, the Prince now in civilian clothes and Sarah in a simple blue flowered summer dress drove in an open carriage to the Chelsea Hospital as promised to meet the Chelsea Pensioners and then left by helicopter for Heathrow Airport for their flight to Portugal to join the Royal Yacht.

Gran takes the Wessex Scot from Winchester to Preston late in July, to spend time with her daughter in Longton.  She experiences and records some moments of kindness during the journey:

… when I reached my seat, I found a gentleman beside me with his wife sitting opposite to him.  He not only put my small case on the rack for me but said as he would be reading most of the way to Edinburgh, would I like the window seat?  So the whole journey to Preston was perfect.

And on her arrival at Preston:

Here my new-found Edinburgh friend put all my luggage near the door and I thanked him and his wife for their kindness.  Jane was waiting for me and I waved them on their way as the train pulled out.

Jane drives Gran to a number of countryside locations over the next few days; the Lake District twice, Southport and Formby for Red Squirrels and Dune Helleborines, and the north Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, where Gran is delighted to reacquaint herself with some places familiar to her from holidays long ago.

Dune Helleborine – the finding of which pleased Gran very much as she’d previously only seen ones that were “over”.  Image by David Tyler via Flickr.

In the Lake District, Gran manages this time to visit Beatrix Potter’s Hilltop Farm, “… happily open today” she writes, and also, at Cartmel:

… I wanted to buy Jane Keble Martin’s Flora.  We were extremely lucky to find an original copy signed, and earlier possessed by the eminent local botanist W. W. Robinson, and the proprietor of the shop told us that the book is now out of print.

This well-used book of the late 1960s was always referred to simply as “Keble Martin”.

The Commonwealth Games, hosted by Edinburgh, take place at this time, and Jane and Gran watch the coverage on television each evening.  On July 31st, Gran records with pleasure that, “We watched some Commonwealth Games in which Steve Cram won the 800 metres in record time and Steve Ovett the 5000 metres, slower than Julian’s best time”.

While she is in the North, Gran’s husband, Bill, stays in Bushey with Barry and Jane Elizabeth, but news arrives from Barry on August 1st, that “Bill was taken ill and is in Watford General Hospital and, at present there is no available bed at Winchester”.

Home again in Chandler’s Ford on the following day, Gran learns that Grampa is too unwell to be moved to Winchester, so he is to remain at Watford for the time being, and on August 7th he is moved in to stay with and be cared for by the family in Bushey.

There is rare news of Fin at this time,  Norris’s Irish physiotherapist friend of many years ago, who still maintains contact with Gran, his sister, usually at Christmas time.  Gran reports:

Post brought a card from Fin who has just finished a term at the University of North Carolina where the temperature is 93 degrees and she is looking forward to going home to Dublin to cool off.  Her card has on it a picture of Dogwood and a Cardinal with the Legend of the Dogwood beside it.

This legend, which Gran copies in full, relates to the use of the Dogwood, said to be a large tree in the past, as the timber for the cross on which Christ was nailed.  This caused the tree itself sorrow and the crucified Christ, in his pity for it, said that henceforth, the Dogwood would never be a tree large enough to be used for such a purpose and that its flowers would be in the form of a cross.

Julian’s wife Sue, and their children Sam and Anna, often visit Gran these days, sometimes as a welcome surprise (Gran always said she loved friends and family “blowing in”) and sometimes planned.  On the 11th, Gran joins them on a visit to nearby Marwell Zoo.  Sue provides a picnic, and the children are given sheets of paper on which to write the names of animals in those enclosures with “Postman Pat” characters placed nearby.  Gran writes of the zoo itself:

Not being a zoo lover, I have to admit that this was the best I have seen, with no animal caged except the monkeys and this a large one with plenty of room and trees to climb, and all in large enclosures.  The children enjoyed it all, but I found it rather tiring and towards the end, very trying as most of the very many children, ours excepted, were over-tired and cried and screamed all the time.  It was very hot…

Gran approved of the lage amount of space given to animals at Marwell Zoo. Image by Tom Swift via Flickr.

August 17th:

Barry and Jane Elizabeth brought Dad home at 12.30 this afternoon and he is very frail but has been wonderfully looked after at Reddings Avenue.  After lunch Barry mowed the grass, which badly needed doing and Jane Elizabeth did the edges and I pottered about doing odd jobs.  A Brimstone was flying about the garden.

A few days later we read of plans being put in place for the care of Grampa at home: Dr Charlesworth arranges nursing care, suggests that Gran get a Home Help, and also that “Meals on Wheels” might be a good idea, but concerning these last, Gran says, “I do not want these yet”.

There follows a difficult time for Gran, though helped considerably by nursing and Home Help ladies, and many friends and neighbours.  Family members keep in touch with her and give help when needed.  “An anxious day”, she writes on September 8th:

… with Bill suffering much pain and weakness, and I phoned the Surgery asking the Doctor to call… Dr Charlewood called soon after midday and carried out an examination, apparently finding nothing new but he will call again tomorrow.

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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 161) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 164) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 167) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 171) Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 172)
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