In October 1960 in Chandler’s Ford, the Monks Brook river that ran behind our house burst its banks and many of the houses in Mead Road were flooded, some up to 18” of water inside, but I remember our house staying dry inside because the ground floor was built higher than those around it and stayed just below the floorboards.
In the 1950’s during my teens I had a paper round working for the newsagents on the corner of Mead Road and Park Road. On Saturdays I used to take a tea chest full of old newspapers to the waste land opposite the newsagents and burn them on a bonfire.
Mrs Baily
I also used to do odd jobs for a little old lady called Mrs Baily who lived in a small thatched cottage half way up the footpath that runs from Park Road to Hursley Road opposite Kings Road. She had a small holding and kept a few animals including a pony which she used to pull a small cart around the village. When she used to pay me for the jobs I had done for her she used to take a handful of coins from her pocket and I had to take sixpence from her hand and show her what I had taken.
Chandler’s Ford Station
Some Saturdays I used to watch the trains shunting carriages full of coal into the sidings at Chandler’s Ford Station on a track that ran along the side of Hursley Road.
On Sunday afternoons I would either watch Chandler’s Ford Stars Cycle speedway team whose track was on the land between Hursley Road and the Monks Brook opposite the railway station or watch Chandler’s Ford Cricket Team who played on ground on the corner of Hursley Road and Baddesley Road.
Mead Road bonfire
During the summer holidays the children living in Mead Road used to spend time building a huge bonfire on waste land opposite to where I lived. When built, we used it as a den until it was lit on the 5th November and we would all come out and let off our fireworks.
Two other things I did as a teenager was to join the Chandler’s Ford Boys Club which met in a building in Park Road opposite Tyrrell Road. Getting to the boys club during the winter months was a bit of a journey.
Mead Road had not been made up so was a stony track full of large puddles with small pathways between them and no street lighting so you had to remember where the puddles were. Park Road did have gas lit street lights but were so far apart and did not give much light.
I also joined the Chandler’s Ford Army Cadet Force. We used to meet in a large wooden hut which was behind the Chandler’s Ford Central Club and next to the Rifle Club whose members used to allow us Cadets to use their rifle range to fire .22 rifles for target practise. We also used the regular army shooting range at Chilcolm near Winchester.
We found ourselves surrounded by police
On my first visit to this range, using a 3.03 rifle shooting at a target 100 yards away I hit the bullseye 4 times with my first 5 rounds. The instructor alongside me said I had done quite well as I had closed my eyes each time I pressed the trigger. One evening our Commanding officer had us on manoeuvres in Ramalley Woods during which we were making a quite a bit of noise firing blanks. We found ourselves surrounded by police as people living in the nearby houses had reported lots of gunfire in the woods.
Our officer should have informed the police about us exercising in the woods. We got a good telling off and were told not to do it again. On other Cadet manoeuvres we had weekend camping in Farley Mount. We were usually taken there by transport although we did march once all the way there some 8 miles, not bad for 15 &16 year olds. We also went further afield in small groups and spent the weekend potholing in the Mendips in Somerset.
The weekend after leaving school in July 1957 age 15 I started working for the Kents Oak Building Company whose office and yard was in Bournemouth Road. At 16 I started my apprenticeship as a brick layer and spent the year working for Kents Oak building new houses mainly in Chandler’s Ford with some in Romsey, Otterbourne and one in St. Cross. Later I joined my father’s firm W.M Hammerton & Sons mainly building extensions and general building work.
J&P Hammerton
When my father retired I, along with my brother John set up our own building firm J&P Hammerton for a few years. Later I worked for two other local building firms until I retired on my 65th birthday Friday 9th July 2007 after working as a bricklayer for 50 years mainly in and around Chandler’s Ford.
Coming up next: I In 1963 I met Mandy Fry…
Peter Hammerton: My Family, My Life Living in Chandler’s Ford – Part 1
Peter Hammerton: My Family, My Life Living in Chandler’s Ford – Part 3
Related posts:
Peter Hammerton: My Family, My Life Living in Chandler’s Ford – Part 1
Peter Hammerton: My Family, My Life Living in Chandler’s Ford – Part 3
History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse
Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Bicycle, Bicycle! (Part 5)
Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Bikes, Boats, and Adventures (Part 10)
Hello Peter… I wonder if you knew my brother, Rex Mansell (born 1938), who also apprenticed as a bricklayer at Kent’s Oak?
And thanks for these articles – they bring back many memories (King’s Road school, the speedway, station, paper rounds, and so on).
Hi Ray …….its been a few years since we’ve been in touch……..just shown my dad the article again online and he’s told me that Rex was just finishing when he started at Kents Oak building company.
Hi Ray thanks for your comment. My Dad Peter isn’t tech savy but I will pass on your message and get back to you. I love looking at all the old photos and info about Chandler’s Ford. I too grew up there and went to kings road school.
Hi Peter and Ray …
Thank you for your article Peter … it brings back many memories …
I was at King’s Road with both John and Freda, but I had moved on when you came through Peter … I remember Don Blythe and Reggie Moore, also from Mead Road … I remember the incident when Reggie was playing ‘Cossies’ with about 3 other groups, in a wet playground, when he slipped on wet leaves near the railings along King’s Road and broke a limb (Can’t remember whether leg or arm, but I can still hear the ‘crack’).
I also remember well the flooding … at the time, I was an ‘Odd Bod’, and we used to meet on a Sunday afternoon and evening at Guy and Genie (nee McMahon) Garrett’s, which was the first bungalow on the left in Mead Road, in from Park Road …
I also remember the name Mansell, but first names don’t jump out of my memory bank … did you have any sisters Ray ?
Looking forward to future episodes Peter.
Hi Doug,
I have no sisters, but our name rings a bell with you because we lived on Leigh Road, just down from Meadow Grove, which I believe is where you lived? Oh, and we exchanged comments here a couple of years ago after you had written some articles.
Cheers,
Ray
Hi Ray … Thanks for jogging my memory … I hadn’t forgotten we had exchanged comments a while back, but I had forgotten Leigh Road … I remember another guy in one of the bungalows down Leigh road from the Grove on the Velmore side … Allan Webster I think was his name (Definitely Allan, but maybe not Webster)
Allan West, perhaps? He was our next door neighbour. I seem to recall he became a postman, and I also recall he had a nasty accident where he went over the front wheel of his bicycle. They eventually moved when his widowed mother remarried, to Kipling road in Eastleigh. His mother, whose first name I forget, was the head cook in the school kitchen at Barton Peveril when I was there.
West it was indeed … I have a feeling you are right about the postman, but I left the grove in 1960, so everything hazy about that end of the village after that
Sorry Peter, but I forgot to mention that I also remember ‘Old Ma Bailey’ as she was affectionately known in the village, with her pony and trap, holding up more modern transport on some of the narrower village roads. I remember her as a lovely old lady, but some kids reckoned she was a witch, possibly, I suspect, due to her hat and clothing, and often brandishing a stick … as a matter of interest, her official address was ‘Old Cottage’, Church Lane Path, Off Hursley Road, Chandler’s Ford … also as a matter of interest, she reached the ripe old age of 92, dying in 1961.
I have lots of fond memories of growing up in Chandler’s Ford. I was born at the end of 1944 (at a nursing home in Pine Road or possibly Cuckoo Bushes Lane). My 2 younger brothers and I also went to Kings Road school. They went on to North End and I had a scholarship to Winchester County High.
We lived at the north end of Park Road and my youngest brother still lives in the family home. My paternal Grandparents. (Wilson) lived at Fryern Hill (Granny was a Passell) and her brother lived next door with his family. Those houses were demolished some years ago and I am not sure what is there now.
I remember the floods when Monks Brook burst its banks, the “Boys Club” in Park Road and Mrs Baillie. I was a Girl Guide, when Stella Neaves was Captain and became a Lieutenant myself. We met at the Congregational Church in Kings Road. When I married at St Boniface, in 1965, the guides formed guard of honour. I have a photograph of them all somewhere. I think maybe I should put a more comprehensive account of my memories together at some stage.
Rosemary,
I was probably in the choir for your wedding at St Boniface! I was there from the mid 50s until going off to uni in 1968. Did you know Peggy Cant? She was also in the choir, and a Guide leader, I think?
Ray
Thanks Ray, I knew Peggy . We used to go to dances at the Church Hall , when we were teenagers. She used to live in Hursley Road and I would walk to her house via Valley Road, to pick her up. I don’t recall a choir at my wedding. I can’t even recall clearly the name of the vicar at the time although it may have been Mr Friar. I do remember being confirmed by the Bishop of Winchester and before that the ‘confirmation classes” we had to go to and the underage drinks (gin and orange in my case) at the pub afterwards
Hi Ray. Correction reference my earlier message. I knew a Peggy Can’t, probably from school, but it was Peggy Crumplin I went to dances with. It was she who lived in Hursley Road.
Did Peggy Crumplin have a brother Peter? I’m sure I went to school with him, or perhaps we were in the scouts together. Gin&Orange at the Railway Inn? Tsk tsk 🙂 We all used to go there after choir practice. If you were married in 1965, it certainly wasn’t by Mr Friar – he was long gone by then. Nor Mr Green. And I’ve forgotten the name of the vicar who replaced Mr Green! Oh, hang on… perhaps it was Laurence something.
Ray
Yes Peggy did have a brother called Peter. I will ask my brother when I speak to him on Saturday what he knows about him. He does keep in touch with a few of his old school pals. I do remember Mr Green , the vicar , and one of them post Mr Friar ended up in Jersey but not in my Parish, where I live now.
“Laurence something” was “Laurence Hibbs”, I believe. It finally bubbled to the surface.
Peggy Cant is now Peggy Marten MBE. She still leads St Boniface choir and is still involved with Guides via the Trefoil Guild.
Thank you, Hazel! I knew she was married (to Len, I think?), but didn’t know she was an MBE – good for her! I moved away from Chandler’s Ford after Uni, and now live in rural New York state, but certainly have fond memories of the village. If you should run into Peggy, please say hello from me.
Hi Folks,
I too remember Mrs Bailey. She used to bring her pony and trap to Kings Road School to collect the churns of waste food and scraps for pig swill. I wished I could have travelled away from the school with her as I loathed, detested and was frightened of the brutal and sadistic headteacher who wielded his cane with impunity. He had his favourites and I most certainly was not one of them!
I was a headteacher for thirty years and his philosophy was the antithesis of all that I stood for.
Was that Mr Mann? Not sure I remember him from King’s Road, but I certainly do from Merdon Avenue. And not in a good way.
I can’t possibly comment Ray – he might come back to haunt me!!
Robbie
He made a lasting impression 🙂
I remember you , Robbie, from the “old” days . I think we all lived in fear of the headmaster of Kings Road School (Mr Mann)I hated him particularly when he threw a dog which had come into the school out of his office window (luckily he was on the ground floor). Both of my brothers had close encounters with the cane!
Hello Ray. Thank you for the information regarding the vicar. It was Lawrence Hibbs who ended up as Rector of the Parish of Grouville here in Jersey between 1975 and 1983. Rose
Good to read these memories of Chandlers Ford. I was a curate at St Boniface from 1970-75 working with the Vicar Lawrence Hibbs. They were very happy years. Two of my children were born there, Rachel (1972) and Adam (1974). Of course I remember Peggie Cant and Hugh Bentham organist very well. I was ordained Deacon in the Church in December 1970. Derwent Mercer and Edgar Barnard were churchwardens at that time
Derwent Mercer died a couple of years before I moved into the parish (pre-1987) but his widow, Sybil, was a leading light in the church for many years. I was on PCC committees with Edgar Barnard in the 1980’s and early 90’s, but can’t remember exactly when he died. His widow, Joy, was a wonderful woman and faithful member of St Martin in the Wood until her death this year. Have a look at the website http://www.parishcf.church to see what we are up to these days!
Hi do you remember the name Burt Cooper. Of Hurley road. ,he was a thatcher gardener. Made hurdle fencing. ,we lived next to graham and terry. Curtis ,
Hi Doug, I`am the nephew of Don Blyth, my mother is Cis Blyth. I have recently met up with some of Don`s family who live in Eastleigh. I had the great pleasure of visiting my Granny and Grandads house (number 5) in Mead Road, the gentleman that lived there allowed me access to the house (boy did that bring back happy memories) and to the back yard where my mum still talks about Donald the duck that swam up and down the river; my dad and my uncles (Don and Walt) and Grandad would drink in the Railway Inn.
Hi John … I was at King’s Road School at the same time as Don, as well as Reggie Moore, John and Freda Hammerton and round the corner in Hursley Road, Peter Smith … good times.
After that, apart from Peter Smith who followed me to Winchester, we all went our respective ways.
Good to see you on here … stay safe and keep smiling,
Doug
Hi Doug , appreciate your response, did John Hammerton Stay in Mead Road, my mum always spoke about a Johnny Hamilton, well, that`s what it sounded like to us, i remember him lending me a bike, i always remember that he lived at the end Villa.
John
Hi John (Peter Hammerton’s daughter)
Sadly my Uncle John Hammerton passed away a couple of years back. Yes he did live in the end house. My Aunti Freda lived there after their parents moved round into Park road. John then lived in Kings Road.
Clare