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Covid-19

The Pandemic Has Made Us So Much More Neighbourly …

March 27, 2021 By Peter and Maggie Lippiett 1 Comment

The pandemic has made us so much more neighbourly …

… or has it? Perhaps it depends who we think of as neighbours! A famous question rings down the ages – ‘Who is my neighbour?’

houses by Tee Farm by Pixabay

We live on a pretty small planet. Far-off countries come nightly into our living rooms – no longer do we know nothing about them. We know that in Yemen, a civil war has decimated health systems, provoked widespread hunger, and killed almost 250,000 people. It’s a conflict that requires immediate aid. In Syria over 11 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Both war-torn countries are on the brink of severe famine. So is the Sahel region of Africa, and Southern Sudan. Two of the world’s most fragile regions. No wonder the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is appealing urgently. [Read more…] about The Pandemic Has Made Us So Much More Neighbourly …

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, charity, Christian Aid, Christianity, church, community, Covid-19, current affairs, event, fundraising, good neighbours

A year of notparkrundays

March 14, 2021 By chippy minton 2 Comments

running shirt with slogan a year of not parkrundays

Yesterday (Saturday 13th March) was the 52nd notparkrunday. That’s a whole year without parkrun. When Covid-19 caused parkrun to be suspended back in March 2020, Mrs Chippy and I decided we would carry on with our regular 5 km runs at 9 am on a Saturday morning. Originally, we called them Socially Distanced Runs, until the notparkrunday word was created. I don’t think anyone expected parkrun to be suspended for more than a few weeks – there was astonishment when we reached 13.

running shirt with slogan a year of not parkrundays
A new shirt to mark a year of notparkrundays

[Read more…] about A year of notparkrundays

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Tags: Covid-19, Eastleigh parkrun, Lakeside Country Park

Buttercross

February 3, 2021 By Christine Clark 1 Comment

Buttercross image, via Aimee Rivers on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Thanks to Chippy Minton and Mrs Chippy enjoying their walk in Cranbury Park, readers may be interested to hear about another piece of history attached to the park …

I am sure we are all familiar with the Buttercross in Winchester’s High Street. This fifteenth-century market cross stands 43 feet high and is reckoned to be the finest in the country. True to its name, its original function was for market traders to display the butter they had for sale, as well as cheese, eggs and milk. With four statues in niches, only the one of St John the Evangelist is original, the other three having been replaced during restoration in 1865 by Sir George Gilbert Scott (architect of many notable buildings and monuments including the Albert Memorial in London).

Buttercross image via Tim Parker on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Buttercross image via Tim Parker on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

[Read more…] about Buttercross

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Tags: Covid-19, days out, history, walking, Winchester

Another walk in another park

February 1, 2021 By chippy minton 2 Comments

itchen navigtion

After the muddiness of our trek-through Cranbury Park, we looked for somewhere with better paths for our next walk.  We visited Riverside Park in Bitterne Park, parking near the White Swan at Mansbridge (better known to locals as the Mucky Duck) and walking to Bitterne Triangle and back.

map of walk through riverside park

It’s a smidgeon over 3 miles in total, so ideal for a Sunday afternoon stroll.  [Read more…] about Another walk in another park

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Tags: Covid-19, daily exercise, days out, walking

Another Pandemic, A Long Time Ago …

February 1, 2021 By Christine Clark 1 Comment

Virus - image by cromaconceptovisual via Pixabay.

Most of us have heard of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-20 – when ten times the number died of the virus than had been killed in the four years of the First World War. However, I confess I was a bit hazy on the details. So, with time on my hands during the lockdown, I thought I’d find out a bit more. I was quite surprised at some of the facts – but also at how many similarities there are between the earlier pandemic and the one we are currently living through.

questions image by geralt via Pixabay

First of all, some facts about that pandemic

How long did the Spanish flu pandemic last? Just over two years – February 1918 to April 1920. [Read more…] about Another Pandemic, A Long Time Ago …

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Tags: Covid-19, culture, history, Information, news

A walk in a park

January 25, 2021 By chippy minton 6 Comments

Folly - remains of Netley Abbey

Looking to expand our repertoire of “walks withing five miles of home”, Mrs Chippy and I recently explored the public footpath through the Cranbury Park estate.

map of walk through Cranbury Parlk

The Chamberlayne family of Cranbury Park once owned much of the land in what is now Eastleigh town centre.  The names are preserved in the names of Cranbury and Chamberlayne Roads, and the Chamberlayne Arms pub.  I think that Desborough and Nutbeem were something to do with the estate as well, but I forget what. [Read more…] about A walk in a park

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Tags: Covid-19, daily exercise, days out, walking

A Daily Visit by Royalty – and a Sumptuous Meal for a King

January 9, 2021 By Robbie Sprague 10 Comments

Kingfisher by Mike Lane FRPS

When I built the new Wykeham House in Hiltingbury I got the digger driver to dig out a large pond in the back garden, piling the spoil at one end in readiness to make a waterfall. This was the basis for our landscaping, planting and stocking once the lining and filtration system were in place. The day at last came when we flicked the switch and the water gushed and eddied down the waterfall. This comforting sound has stayed with us for the past fifteen years and it is a joy. When the water had cleared and the balance was right we stocked our pond with twenty golden rudd, some green tench, three black comets and three shubunkin – and the odd goldfish contributed by neighbours.

Herons
Heron-proofing the pond

Over the years, and thanks to the early morning visits from a hungry heron, we lost some fish – usually speared and left on the grass – so we had to find an ingenious way of heron-proofing the pond. At first, we didn’t mind the heron’s visits; seeing that majestic bird landing and taking off was exciting but he was greedy and cruel and had to be deterred. We strung fishing line across the pond and installed a water sprayer triggered by a motion sensor. So far, so effective………..

Every early summer there are a few days of frantic activity when the water froths like a cauldron and a month or so later a large shoal of small fry of mixed variety can be spotted and, over the years the fish population has multiplied alarmingly. [Read more…] about A Daily Visit by Royalty – and a Sumptuous Meal for a King

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, Covid-19, family, Hiltingbury, lockdown, nature, storytelling

The Christmas Jigsaw Tradition

January 2, 2021 By chippy minton 11 Comments

partially complete jigsaw - marmite

One of my childhood family’s traditional Christmas holiday pastimes was to complete a jigsaw puzzle (or two).  Christmas presents generally included at least one puzzle.  This year’s Covid-19 restrictions on travel and socialising made it a good time to resurrect the tradition with my adult family.

There is something incredibly relaxing and therapeutic about tacking a jigsaw puzzle.  You can’t rush a jigsaw; it takes as long as it takes.  They are addictive too – once you’ve started you have to keep going.  One evening, Mrs Chippy and I had to remind ourselves that it was 11.30 pm and we really should be going to bed.  I have been known to stay up into the early hours in order to finish a puzzle. [Read more…] about The Christmas Jigsaw Tradition

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Tags: board games, Christmas, Christmas traditions, coronavirus, Covid-19, Eastleigh, family memories, lockdown, pastimes, puzzles, storytelling, tradition

Keeping us Cheerful – the Windmills of my Mind

January 2, 2021 By Robbie Sprague 7 Comments

Little windmills in the front garden

On April Fools’ Day 2019, I had the following letter published in the Daily Telegraph:

Sir,

Every lawn in my road has been devastated by crows frantically digging for chafer grubs. The day they started on my lawn I ordered two hundred and fifty children’s windmills and placed them over the entire grassed area of my front garden. That was five months ago and not one crow has ventured into our garden and our grass has flourished. These colourful windmills are a great source of entertainment for families walking up and down the street – one or two have even spread into neighbouring gardens.

Having had success, I decided to harness the potential of each windmill by modifying them to become miniature wind turbines, interconnecting them and linking them to the National Grid. The power that is generated reduces the cost of my electricity bill by approximately 25%.

In these challenging Brexit times when we all have to become more self- sufficient, I offer this simple, yet effective scheme to save your readers money – and to fend off crows.

Sincerely,

We have given away literally hundreds of windmills to little – and not so little – children.
“I ordered two hundred and fifty children’s windmills and placed them over the entire grassed area of my front garden.”

[Read more…] about Keeping us Cheerful – the Windmills of my Mind

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, coronavirus, Covid-19, family memories, good neighbours, Hiltingbury, humour, lockdown, publication, science, storytelling, writing

What to do in Lockdown

December 31, 2020 By Mike Sedgwick 6 Comments

The gazebo

A Happy New Year to all Chandler’s Ford Today readers. Is there anything to be happy about? The only good news is that I have had the first of my vaccination jabs against COVID-19 (the Pfizer-BioN Tech for the techies, I can even tell you the Batch number if you like). The next one is due on Jan 9th. Then, at the end of January, I shall be free, protected, like a modern-day knight in armour. The vaccine is 95% effective. Does that mean that, if I get COVID, it will only be 5% as bad as expected? Or does it mean one in 20 of us might get COVID? More important is, although I am protected, could I spread the virus to others?

More important still is that the AstraZenaca vaccine is now approved and is more robust in that it is easier to store and distribute.

Vaccine Image via Kaboompics
Vaccine Image via Kaboompics

Party Outdoors

[Read more…] about What to do in Lockdown

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, coronavirus, Covid-19, family memories, Hiltingbury, lockdown, publication, science, storytelling, writing

Life in a Pandemic: Who am I?

October 31, 2020 By Mike Sedgwick 6 Comments

Knight by GraphicMama-team via Pixabay

There is a story of a pompous man pushing into the front of and airport check-in queue. The check-in girl tells him to go to the back of the queue. ‘Do you know who I am?’ asks the man. The check-in girl asks the queue, ’can anyone help? This man does not know who he is.’

I sympathise with this man, not because of pushing into a queue, but because I am not known by my name any longer. The days when I heard people say, ‘Hello, Mike, nice to see you,’ have gone because, in COVID protection mode, no one sees me.

kaboompics - man working on a computer
Image via Kabookpics

Reduced to a Binary Digit

I am known to my computer but only as a string of digits. The screen wants to know my ID number, password, authentication code, admin password, username, wireless key, PIN, account number or registration key. Then there are numbers and codes sent to my phone which last only an hour or so. If I go to a bar or restaurant, my phone communicates with a QR code. I can text my order and someone brings drinks. [Read more…] about Life in a Pandemic: Who am I?

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Tags: Chandler’s Ford community, community, Covid-19, Eastleigh, news, reflection, science, storytelling, technology

Pandemics and Epidemics – I have been locked-down for 100 days

June 15, 2020 By Mike Sedgwick 2 Comments

Lockdown for 100 days

By the time you read this, I will have been locked-down for 100 days, from March 9th in fact.

This is not the first epidemic or pandemic I have experienced. The first, in 1961, amounted to nothing very much but, without prompt action, it could have been even more serious than the present one.

I returned home to my student flat late one night to find the door locked and bolted. I rang and banged and shouted and eventually my flat-mate, Taffy, appeared on the balcony.

‘You can’t come in, mate.’

‘Stop messing around, Taffy and let me in.’

‘Can’t, it’s smallpox.’

‘There’s no smallpox here. Let me in.’

Lockdown for 100 days
Lockdown for 100 days

‘But there is in South Wales and in Bradford. We are possible contacts because we spent the weekend in South Wales. We are in quarantine for 10 days and must have no contact with anyone. Public Health sends someone around with food which they leave at the door.’ [Read more…] about Pandemics and Epidemics – I have been locked-down for 100 days

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Tags: Chandler’s Ford community, community, Covid-19, Eastleigh, medicine, science, storytelling

Prosody

June 7, 2020 By Mike Sedgwick 3 Comments

handwritten poem by a 6 year-old

It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it. The panel game, Just a Minute depends on it. My granddaughter (aged 6) wrote a performance poem about the programme. I have kept the original spelling:-

This is

Cklap, cklap, cklap

A game of

Cklap, cklap, cklap

Consontrashon

Clap, clap, clap

No repeets

Clap, clap, clap

Or hesetaison

Clap, clap, clap

I’ll go first

Clap, clap, clap

And I’ll go second

Clap, clap, clap

Subject is

Clap, clap, clap

Enithing.

By GT

Jan 2020

[Read more…] about Prosody

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Tags: books, Covid-19, news, reading, science, writing

Music in Chandler’s Ford during Lockdown: “Love thy neighbours is so true”

May 9, 2020 By SO53 News 1 Comment

Steve Allen has shared these videos, in which he captured some happy moments in the neighbourhood of Chandler’s Ford during the lockdown. These included music on Thursday evenings, and a piper playing for a neighbour’s birthday.

With Steve’s permission, we are sharing these on Chandler’s Ford Today.

1 – Malcolm the Piper was playing for a Scottish lady on her birthday.

Malcolm and lovely neighbours in Chandler's Ford - supporting key workers and sharing community spirit.
Malcolm and lovely neighbours in Chandler’s Ford – supporting key workers and sharing community spirit.

[Read more…] about Music in Chandler’s Ford during Lockdown: “Love thy neighbours is so true”

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Tags: celebrations, Chandler’s Ford community, Covid-19, family, good neighbours, local interest, music, news, storytelling

Care in a Time of COVID

May 7, 2020 By Mike Sedgwick 5 Comments

We are beginning to think of ending the lock-down. How different will it be afterwards?

That little strand of RNA wrapped up as COVID-19 has altered our behaviour. It has shut our institutions; schools, universities, travel, industries, retail and the legal system. Health, policing, food and pharmacy remain active with some local travel.

Some of us have been able to work from home and found it satisfactory. A friend is wondering why he keeps a London office; a weekly meeting in an office hired for half a day may be sufficient. Others strive to work amid the domestic activities of children and housework. The fashion for open-plan living areas in houses has not helped.

Coronavirus image by Karolina Grabowska

[Read more…] about Care in a Time of COVID

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Tags: Chandler’s Ford community, Covid-19, local businesses, medicine, memories, news, science, storytelling, travel

Can you help? Making Mask Extenders to Help the NHS

May 3, 2020 By SO53 News 4 Comments

Calling all knitters & crafters!

Southampton District Methodist Church has had a direct plea from one of the hospital chaplains for mask extenders.

Recently some mask extenders were taken to a particularly hard-hit ward and they were very well received. This is a plea district-wide to help all our local hospitals. Below is a poster with instructions.

Can you make some mask extenders for frontline NHS workers?
Can you make some mask extenders for frontline NHS workers?

[Read more…] about Can you help? Making Mask Extenders to Help the NHS

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Tags: charity, Covid-19, crafts, good neighbours, hobby, how-to, Methodist Church, news, Winchester Road

26 Songs Medley – Fundraising for Methodist Homes (MHA)

May 3, 2020 By SO53 News Leave a Comment

Why not listen to a medley of 26 beautiful songs, guess their titles, and donate to support Methodist Homes (MHA)?

MHA is a charity providing care, accommodation and support services for older people throughout Britain.

Rev Eric Renouf’s daughter, Joy Blake, leads Singing for Wellbeing groups for two MHA Live at Home Schemes in the north of Hampshire. As a fundraising challenge for MHA, she has put together a medley of 26 songs with titles for each letter of the alphabet (with a bit of ‘cheating’ on ‘X’).

Most of the songs are taken from the repertoire she uses for the Wellbeing groups. You are invited to have a go at identifying the 26 song titles. A list of the answers can be obtained from Marilyn Pack (mjpack@renpack.co.uk).

[Read more…] about 26 Songs Medley – Fundraising for Methodist Homes (MHA)

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Tags: Covid-19, entertainment, fundraising, good neighbours, Methodist Church, music

How to make the daily exercise more interesting

April 18, 2020 By chippy minton 13 Comments

street name we

Taking our COVID-19 permitted daily period of exercise is good for our health, but the restrictions on “keeping it local” can make it  bit monotonous.  So why not add a bit of variety and adventure to your walk by finding a route where you can spell out a word or phrase with the first letter of street names.

In true Blue Peter fashion, here is one I made earlier. [Read more…] about How to make the daily exercise more interesting

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, coronavirus, Covid-19, daily exercise, local interest, quiz, travel

What Do You See Around You?

April 12, 2020 By Ray Fishman 5 Comments

In the country

Have you been out taking your daily exercise during the current lockdown? Maybe walking around your local area a touch more than usual?

Have you realised that you have taken just a little bit more of your precious time on these local walks too? No need to rush. After all you have got all day every day for the next few weeks!

The weather has been very conducive too.

Blue Skies
Blue Skies

Did you think to look that bit closer than usual at some of the things you would normally not even notice? Maybe you were just rushing from A to B. before. Probably driving! [Read more…] about What Do You See Around You?

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Tags: adventure, Chandler's Ford, Covid-19, days out, education, nature, Otterbourne, walking

What could the Covid-19 legacies be?

April 11, 2020 By chippy minton 15 Comments

Social Distancing Markers

While queuing outside Tesco, I thought that the tape marking the 2-metre social distancing spaces should be replaced with brass (a bit like the brass studs that mark the boundary of properties in shopping streets). They can then remain as a legacy after the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

Social Distancing Markers
Social Distancing Markers outside Tesco, Eastleigh. Photo by Chippy Minton

Why?  So that in 20 years’ time when our grandchildren ask what they are there for we can tell them about the great lockdown of 2020.

So, what other legacies might the crisis give us? [Read more…] about What could the Covid-19 legacies be?

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Tags: coronavirus, Covid-19, lockdown, shopping
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