Continuation of my memories of North End School in Eastleigh.
I recently met up with one of my boyhood friends whom I have kept in touch with ever since.
We met over a coffee recently, and agreed that we must have caused our teachers a great deal of anguish.
Youngsters quickly detect a weakness in others. [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: North End School (Part 4)
Twenty Two year 7-10 pupils from Toynbee School are performing in a production of Little Shop of Horrors on the 8th, 9th and 10th July (Wednesday to Friday).
Directed by Toynbee School Drama and Music departments, Little Shop of Horrors is a comedy horror musical about a strange and interesting plant. [Read more…] about Toynbee School: Little Shop of Horrors
Last week (Thursday to Saturday) Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh performed Les Misérables School EditionTM at the Theatre Royal Winchester.
If you are a fan of Les Misérables and concerned that the “schools edition” might be a dumbed-down version, let me reassure you – it isn’t. The adaptation contains all the passion and power of the original. [Read more…] about Review: Les Misérables by Barton Peveril College
About the writer: Doug Clews lived in Chandler’s Ford between 1938 and 1966. Now living in Perth, Western Australia, Doug shares his fascinating childhood memories of Chandler’s Ford with us.
At age 5 at the outbreak of WW2, I did not have anything to compare life and standards of living with, so the War, as I remember it, did not seem to be such a hardship for us, as it was for many, many, thousands of other people in England.
So many of them lost loved ones, their homes, their possessions, and in many cases, their dignity. [Read more…] about My Memories of ‘The War Years’ in Chandler’s Ford: 1939 – 1945 (Part 1)
Before I relate more of my life at North End Secondary School, I might regale you with some of the other events and things happening in the area back in the late 1950s and into the 1960s.
The area at the bottom of Hursley Road, where the Central Precinct is now, was somewhat different then.
The precinct was built in the 60s, [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: The Central Precinct; Bonfire Night (Part 3)
Players from the Chameleon Theatre Company entertained an audience at Eastleigh Museum with poems, monologues and a recitation of summer songs at a Summer Soirée on 25 June 2015.
The event was organised by the Eastleigh Museum Supporters Club, and the varied programme ranged from Dorothy Parker to William Wordsworth. [Read more…] about Eastleigh Museum Summer Soirée with the Chameleons
I grew up in Chandler’s Ford in the 1950s and 1960s.
When I was about 12 years old, I started my first (part-time) job.
This was as a Saturday van-boy for Mr Smith, a greengrocer, who had a shop opposite “The Hut” on Bournemouth Road. (not to be confused with Mr Smith who had a grocers shop in Hursley Road, opposite the Railway Station.) [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Paper Boy; North End School (Part 2)
I was born, not in Chandler’s Ford, but in Tooting, South London, in 1947.
My father came from Lancashire, and my mother from Tooting.
We lived in Streatham, a mile or two from Tooting, but just before my second birthday, my mother died from influenza. [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s (Part 1)
There’s been a lot of talk on social (and other) media about “that maths question”. A problem in last week’s GCSE Maths paper that stumped a whole cohort of candidates.
I suppose the resultant Twitter storm is the modern day equivalent of sitting outside the school gates discussing the exam that we had just taken. [Read more…] about GCSE Maths Problem: Hannah’s Sweets
Eastleigh MP Mims Davies has vowed to fight for better transport infrastructure and health services in the constituency during her maiden speech to Parliament.
Mims, who made the address on her 40th birthday on the 2nd of June, said she would also work hard to ensure less traffic pollution.
“Eastleigh is very close to the M3 and the M27, which puts pressure on our community, with pollution and other pressures,” she told MPs. [Read more…] about Mims Davies MP Makes Maiden Speech in Parliament
Kids Today!!!!
When I was young, we never behaved like kids do today!
Actually I think we did, or we’d have liked to, except the knowledge that parents, policemen and shop keepers would give us a clip around the ear stopped us going too far. [Read more…] about Exams “Dumbed Down”? View of an Invigilator
Yesterday I taught Chinese in the morning (Open University L197 – Beginners’ Chinese module), and came home to watch Eurovision in the evening.
I must admit it was a wonderful day to indulge myself in languages and multi-cultures for a whole day.
My colleague Fernando Rosell-Aguilar at the Open University wrote this wonderful piece: Parlez-vous Eurovision?. [Read more…] about Did Eurovision 2015 Inspire You to Learn Languages?
A German student is seeking a host family. Are you able to help?
Eastleigh Lions twinned with German Kornwestheim Lions Club in 1995. Both towns are twinned as well.
The towns and the Lions Clubs enjoy a good cultural and social exchanges. The Lions Clubs also carry out joint projects over the many years.
Eastleigh Lions had a request from the twin town to find a host family [Read more…] about German Student Seeking Host Family
The early 1980s.
Telephones were attached to the wall by lines; an international call meant going through the operator – and was very, very expensive; a television remote control meant getting your child to walk over to the set to change the channel; the Intercity-125 was the epitome of modern train travel; Torville and Dean ice skated to victory; Sheffield was famous for its cutlery; children sat O-levels and CSEs – and organised protests to complain about school rules that they didn’t like; people who were out of work were “on the dole” and claimed “social security”; [Read more…] about Theatre Review: Thornden School: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾
Last Friday in Chandler’s Ford, there was a fashion show of a difference.
The Fairtrade Fashion Show brought many residents to St. Martin in the Wood church, where we learnt about the importance of buying Fairtrade products, and had a chance to appreciate and buy a wide range of beautiful Fairtrade clothes, jewellery and accessories, toys, cards, and gifts. [Read more…] about Fairtrade Fashion Show: Who Made Your Clothes?
One of the great joys of stories is that there are so many formats in which to enjoy them. It is far easier now to have stories on demand especially via laptop, tablet or mobile. The Banbury Cross lady had music wherever she went but I’d rather have stories wherever I go!
There are flash fiction stories, standard length stories (usually up to 2000 words) [Read more…] about No Books = No Movies?
One hundred years ago, on the battlefields of Flanders, lay a young officer of the Royal Horse Artillery. He was wounded, presumed dead.
Twice more during WWI he was wounded and recovered. He was awarded the Military Cross.
After the war he was able to pursue his dream and study forestry at Cambridge. [Read more…] about A Hero of Trees – Richard St. Barbe Baker
I’ve loved Doctor Who since I was a child. I was gripped by the stories, terrified by the Daleks (while at the same time enjoying every moment of being terrified!) and couldn’t wait to tune in to the following week’s edition.
As I was growing up you had one story spread over several parts and it seemed an age before I was to find out if Tom Baker, “my Doctor”, was going to pull the leads apart that would lead to the destruction of the Daleks in Genesis of the Daleks. [Read more…] about The Doctor Who Experience by Allison Symes
By Reverend Tim Searle
There’s no doubt about it: the death of Jesus was unexpected, and although he gave quite a few hints that it would happen, the disciples either didn’t believe him, or just didn’t want to.
And when it did finally happen, it left the disciples in a state of shock and dismay that they wouldn’t have recovered from had it not been for what happened next. For if Jesus’ death was unexpected, his resurrection was doubly so … or was it? [Read more…] about Minister’s Letter – Easter 2015
It was a crazy idea from the start. A mixture of the imagery of Vita Sackville West’s White Garden at Sissinghurst and watching Jurassic Park just once too often. Could I have a pre-historic garden like the ones where dinosaurs must have browsed?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger found a lost world, I would create my own lost world.
[Read more…] about A Dinosaurs’ Garden
