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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 120)

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Winston Churchill’s Funeral; Gran cleans her bicycle; woods are cleared and orchids bulldozed; a visit to Chew Valley; “tall beauties in a Kentish Wood”; Pendennis Castle runs aground; a rare visit to Kingston; some fine tennis; The Sound of Music; botanizing with Barry, and the joys of grandchildren.

My [silver] discs for Andrew and Geoffrey arrived from Canada this morning, so, after a hurried lunch, I took my Grandmother’s bracelet to Parkhouses to have them put on, and to have a safety chain added.

On the same day, January 28th 1965, Gran delivers a very expensive arrangement of flowers to Lady Sopwith, aboard the Windsor Castle.  It is made up entirely of pale pink Cymbidiums, Lilies-of-the Valley and Freesias, and Gran is pleased with the Lady’s positive response to their arrival, different, she says, from the often blasé acceptance from many passengers.  Lady Sopwith was very keen on field sports and a skilled user of the shotgun.  Gran would not have approved!

“I did only the most necessary chores this morning”, she writes on January 30th:

…and then watched on Television, the State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill which was most beautifully and reverently presented.  The Queen herself honoured the great man by heading the Royal Family representatives in the Abbey and it was a very notable gathering of Kings, Queens, Princes, Presidents and Prime Ministers ever seen at the funeral of a Commoner.  It was all very moving.  This afternoon I did some knitting and then fell asleep!

Julian, my brother, kept diaries in those days – mostly lists of locomotive and aircraft registrations, but also descriptions of outings such as to watch the passing of Churchill’s coffin.

Meanwhile, that day, Julian and I make our way to Clapham Junction to watch the steam locomotive Winston Churchill transport Churchill’s coffin towards his final resting place at Bladon.

Southern Railway, Battle of Britain class 4-6-2 No 34051 Winston Churchill, designed by O.V. Bulleid, built at Brighton in 1945, withdrawn in 1965.  Image by Sergey Yeliseev via Flickr.

The days of Gran cycling long distances in search of natural history gems seem to be over but early in February she cycles as far as Baddesley Church to look for spring flowers, and she also rides to Flexford Bridge to visit her friend Bee Richardson.  Her bicycle is in need of attention – I cannot imagine her ever oiling the chain –  and on the 8th she writes:

This afternoon I did a job which has long needed doing but which I hate almost above all others.  I cleaned my bicycle and, poor thing, it looks much better for my ministrations!  Afterwards I did a little quiet knitting and soothed my ruffled feelings.

Invited by Peg Eagle to join her on a trip to Farley Mount on the following day, Gran is delighted to accept. But more depressing changes to her beloved countryside await her:

We went up the Standon Road from Hursley, intending to leave the car and walk across wood and downs to the Mount, but, to our horror, we found the wood cleared and the whole area fenced in.  This was particularly distressing because the clearance of the wood means the disappearance of the rare orchid Epipactis leptochila from the station, since it does not tolerate light, and the dense beech wood had been ideal for it.  It was here that we found the beautiful albino.

Chew Valley Reservoir and Blagdon Lake in Somerset are new destinations for Southampton Natural History Society members on February 13th.  John Guningham spends the night before at The Ridge, and he and Gran are joined by Brother, down from London, at a quarter to eight in the morning. George Green also joins the group. The tour party is met by:

Mr King, a local Naturalist, on Herriot’s Bridge… before proceeding to the leeward side of Chew.  It was bitterly cold, the wind shaking our binoculars and starting the tears from our eyes, but we were to have a lovely day.

It is interesting to me and Dad, to see this reference to Bernard King, known to both of us some years later as one of the great birders of his age, intimately involved with Bristol and Gloucestershire ornithology and, later, Cornish bird-watching, after he moved to Newlyn.

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

They have a long and tiring day, seemingly with little of great interest seen, and Gran ends:

We saw the sunset over the Mendip Hills, a lovely sight, and, after a good meal and seeing John away for Aldershot, Brother and I tumbled into bed, and, as he put it, “slept like dead mules”, hearing nothing until next morning.

Brother and sister spend the next day together, “…for our own day’s ‘poddling’ through the New Forest”.  They make for Beaulieu, where:

In a lonely part we saw a very small boy – he looked not a day over seven – on a horse delivering newspapers.  After we passed he flapped his heels on the horse’s sides and it broke into a trot and away they went up the road, a heartening sight in these days of rush and hurry.

They visit Sowley Pond to look for Otters where Norris had seen them occasionally, and St Leonards, and thence, via Hatchet Pond, to Hawkhill Enclosure, where they hope to find Sika Deer, and are successful.  “Standing there in complete silence and perfectly still we saw two Sika hinds emerge and jump the stream”, writes Gran.  She and Norris were always very keen New Forest deer watchers.

Book 109

We pick up Gran’s story on May 26th 1965, Book 108 missing and no doubt describing the burgeoning Spring of that year.  She is in Sussex for a few days, based at Yapton, botanizing with Pauline Muirhead and Ceres Esplan, sometimes joined by Andrew Young.

She is back at The Ridge on May 28th, and ends her entry for that day with, “I tried to make a start on painting the Lady Orchid but the light was bad and it was rather faded.  I hope to try again”.

Lady Orchid Orchis purpurea, Denge Wood, Kentish North Downs. Image by Smudge 9000 via Flickr.

They must have visited Kent where this species has its stronghold, and this is confirmed later by an article from the Sussex Gazette, written (under the name of Alison Ross) by Ceres Esplan, and kept between the pages of Gran’s journal.  Entitled “Tall Beauties in a Kentish Wood”, it describes a flower- and butterfly-filled expedition to the North Downs.

Early mist and fog disrupt shipping at Southampton on June 4th.  Gran is to deliver early, an “arrival” as she calls it, on the Pendennis Castle.  “But”, she writes, “the Pendennis had not yet arrived, nor did she until mid-day, for not only did the fog delay her, but she ran aground on the mud off Calshot in the dense mist!”

June 6th sees Gran cycling early to Compton Church for Communion and, as usual, she arrives before anyone else, giving herself time to sit quietly before the Service begins:

Stocks in pink, magenta and white were arranged with Beech leaves by the Altar and pink Pyrethrums with Wild Chervil and Copper Beech graced the chancel steps.  By the 1914 – 18 War Memorial were Red Valerian and Chervil – a dainty and attractive combination.  The sun was shining when I came out of Church and I went on to Shawford Downs to collect some chalk soil for some of my chalk-loving plants.  I was saddened to see that the area where the Frog Orchids used to grow has been bulldozed and grit laid down.  How I hate progress!

This afternoon I went to see the beautiful garden at Coles, near Privett, where the Azaleas and Rhododendrons were at their best and made a wonderful show of colour.  The air was full of their perfume and the birds were singing – Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaff among them.

It is two years since Gran last made the journey to Kingston-upon-Thames to see Adrian’s mother and to tend his grave in Kingston Cemetery.  She takes a Royal Blue Bus there on June 17th, noting, on arrival, that “Kingston has changed much since I was last there…with huge blocks of flats, widened roads and one-way streets quite altering its appearance”.  Gran finds “Mum Turvey” “much crippled by arthritis” and they do not visit Adrian’s grave, rather, talking quietly at home, before Gran returns to Chandler’s Ford later in the afternoon.

Tennis on the television draws Gran home early from delivering flowers at Southampton Docks on June 30th, because:

…the semi-finals of the Ladies’ Singles were being played at Wimbledon.  I was just in time for the beginning.  Maria Bueno of Brazil beat Billie-Jean Moffat of the United States and Margaret Smith of Australia beat our Christine Truman, so the expected two again play the final as they did last year.

July 3rd:

This afternoon I watched the remaining Wimbledon finals, in which Margaret Smith became Singles Champion, beating Maria Bueno, and, with Fletcher, the winning doubles pair.  This last was the best match of all.  The Ladies’ Doubles was won by Maria Bueno and Billie-Jean Moffatt.  This evening I played tennis myself, and, inspired perhaps by Wimbledon, played my best game this year.

A mural of Australia’s tennis greats, including Margaret Court (nee Smith) towards the right.  Image by duncan c via Flickr.

Gran and Peg Eagle have a wonderfully botanically rich day at Cheddar Gorge on the 4th, Gran bringing home several flower specimens to paint.  Their homeward journey takes them via Pepperbox Hill, where:

…we saw some people systematically picking orchids so stopped to ask them to refrain, explaining something of their life history and reminding them of the byelaws.  They were quite amenable.

Frequent letters from Barry, Jane Elizabeth and daughter Jane keep Gran up to date with the development of her smallest grandchildren.  She learns on July 8th:

…the rather distressing news that Katherine had been having attacks of Hay Fever and is apparently allergic to, of all things, horses!  Andrew still only walks a few steps unaided but no doubt will soon really go.

This afternoon I actually went to the Pictures, to see the delightful musical “The Sound of Music”.  It was beautiful and I sat enthralled for over three hours.  Julie Andrews is the most naturally lovely film star I have ever seen – one get so tired of the usual type!

On the following day, Barry arrives.  He and his mother take the bus to Bassett where they have tea with Tommy before meeting Peg Eagle who is to drive them to Redlynch in the Fowlers’ van.  They have rare plants in their sights, Gran recording:

…and then looked for Asarabacca Asarum europaeum which was new to Barry.  We found it but its flowers were over… Now came the real object of the expedition – to show Barry his first Lizard Orchid.  It was there again, more fully open then when I saw it last year, and had twenty-eight flowers, the lower ones wide open.  It is a most interesting and impressive orchid and Barry was delighted.

Gran’s painting of Asarabacca, dated 1959.

In a nice example of generational continuity, Dad and I made a similar journey just two weeks ago.  The Asarabacca still grows on the same steep roadside bank, and this time was festooned with its strange flowers.  Wild Tulip grows nearby.  The disused railway cutting, with nearby tunnel entrance, where grew the Lizard Orchid in the 1960s, is no longer suitable for the chalk downland plants which once abounded there; it is completely scrubbed over and heavily shaded.

The dismantled railway embankment and cutting, ending in a tunnel entrance, near Downton, which in the 1960s was lightly rabbit-grazed turf, rich in orchid species.  The tunnel itself is underneath the photographer.

“A letter from Jane Elizabeth today”, Gran writes on August 7th, “contained the glad news that Geoffrey is to have a little companion in February next year.  This will be my sixth Grandchild!”

The summer holidays bring both sets of Gran’s children with their offspring, to Chandler’s Ford.  Outdoor activities are the order of the day, with many picnics, bus journeys and visits to friends, “to show off the grandchildren”.  The Lake and the Pinewood are very important locations for a family intent on exposing its children to the “natural world”, and so is the short-turf play area around Otterbourne Water Tower.  August 27th:

This afternoon, Jane, with Katherine, took Great Granny into Bassett, whilst Jane Elizabeth, Barry and I took Andrew and Geoffrey up to Otterbourne Water Tower. Barry did some botanizing – we saw a white form for common Centaury.  When we reached home we were met by Jane and Katherine and Jane told me that Mrs Freestone had collapsed in the Pinewood, been taken home and was asking for me.  Three other neighbours and myself stayed with her in turn until an ambulance arrived to take her to hospital, and I went with her to Winchester.  It was very late when I finally got home again.

By September 5th Gran’s life has returned to a quiet normality.  She has been sorry to say goodbye to Jane, Stuart, Katherine and Andrew, already returned to Nottingham, and:

This morning Barry and Jane Elizabeth, with Geoffrey, departed for Bushey and I was equally sorry to see them go.  Geoffrey achieved his fifth tooth whilst here, and really is a delightful baby.  Now I am almost alone again, indeed was quite alone this morning, but Jean Hockridge, who returned from holiday yesterday, invited me in to lunch, “to break it gently”, she said, so this morning was not so bad after all… The house seems very empty without the children’s toys about and the little voices around me.

Friends, Jack and Biddy Carrol, who lived in Kingsway some ten years earlier, before emigrating to Australia, have been home recently and Gran has been pleased to renew acquaintance with them.  She spends a final few minutes with them in their cabin on the Southern Cross on September 8th, before they depart once more.  And on the following day she writes, “Rosemary Ashby called in to see me this morning.  She sails for Australia in the Canberra on Wednesday and came to say Goodbye.  A nice girl and I wish her well”.

There seems to me to be a tremendous poignancy in the contrast between these adventurous new lives overseas and Gran’s routine existence in the England, the “Old Country” to which she is so wedded.

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