More work in the Sparrow’s Hedge garden next day, March 3rd 1948, when Gran is:
…setting out Early Midlothian potatoes for sprouting, sitting alone in the sunshine with only the sound of hens scratching round me…”
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 13)
By Reverend Christine Whitehead
In a few days Christians all over the world will celebrate Easter. Already the shops are full of a variety of Easter cards, many of which are decorated with beautiful pictures of eggs, bunnies, churches and spring flowers. I offer you instead this lovely photograph of St Martin in the Woods with its lovely Daffodils in the church garden. [Read more…] about Easter Message 2017 by Reverend Christine Whitehead
This afternoon [February 15th 1948] saw me away to the daffodil wood at Chilworth but unfortunately several others had reached the spot also. I really only went to see how they were progressing but the place is getting so well-known that I realised if I wanted any I must pick them today in bud. They open very successfully in water but I wanted to see them open in the woods. By that time I’m afraid there will be none left so I picked a few for myself and some to send to Kingston.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 12)
Editor’s note: This post was sent to Chandler’s Ford Today by Liz Stothard (re: Dee). She grew up at the Hutments.
Could someone help Liz find out some links about her past in Chandler’s Ford please? Below is her article.
By Liz Stothard (re: Dee):
I was born in Winchester 1950 lived at the Hutments. And also I see from looking that my late Father is mentioned…he worked for Vickers and then ATC! [Read more…] about The Hutments: Could You Help Find Old Neighbours in Chandler’s Ford?
Gran writes on January 7th 1948 that a Fox had been busy in the neighbourhood:
…and last night a local smallholder was robbed of nine laying ducks. Proof of the identity of the thief lay in the discovery of three bodies with their heads bitten off.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 11)
Inside the front cover: “Semper Fidelis. Remembering always, Adrian, my friend”. On November 19th Gran writes:
I went to Ampfield just after dusk for a glimpse of Princess Elizabeth as she passed through on her way to Broadlands Park, and was surprised to hear a blackbird in full song.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 10)
On October 7th 1947 Gran copies four pages of Ruskin’s positive views on the human character of the love of nature. She follows this with: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 9)
On the 21st, there is a description of the autumnal bird movements and also of the colourful shrubs around Hursley at that time of year. Spindle is Gran’s favourite shrub, the fruits “just becoming that lovely shade of rose”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 8)
Gran spends August 4th 1947, at Romsey Horse Show. There is no mention of how she got there nor of her company, but they found Broadlands, where the show was held, delightful when they walked around it during the interval. And they made a visit to Pepperbox Hill that day too, returning “towards dusk as the sparrows were chattering in the hedges and the crickets chirping”.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 7)
Gran has made a few visits to the Punchbowl area on the Petersfield Road lately, looking for orchids and other wild flowers. When describing her finds, she always uses the plants’ scientific names – but many of them are well out of date today. For instance, she finds Habenaria conopsea, which must be Fragrant orchid – a plant now recognised as three separate species, and with a different Generic name. When at the Punchbowl, she:
…resented the arrival of noisy, chattering people on motorbikes who were apparently quite unaware of the beauty of sight and sound all round them, which they had so rudely disturbed.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 6)
On May 22 1947, Gran notes Lithospermum purpureo-caeruleum (creeping gromwell) in the garden but, she says, “as this is a rarity I am waiting to verify my identification”.
Presently, the front garden of The Ridge has a large patch of this lovely blue-flowered plant, which was introduced from a small piece collected at Cheddar in 1967, so Gran’s earlier record of it is something of a mystery – though it was surely a garden escape from somewhere nearby. Dad tells me, “It is now a confounded nuisance, its long tough, slender rhizomes getting under paving slabs and amongst other plants, and producing flowering shoots in unwelcome places”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 5)
Henry Ford came up with what, for me, is one of the most annoying and untrue statements of all time when he claimed that “history is bunk”. Err… definitely not.
(And while I know he was focusing on what mattered to him, the there and then as he had obvious reasons for wanting to focus on the progress his cars were making, I still think this statement is rubbish, as recalling history should never mean not making progress. I really can’t fathom his reasoning here.). History is far too important to just be dismissed. [Read more…] about Vital History by Allison Symes
The last day of April and the first of May 1947 give the first hint that I have found of Gran’s constant bitter sadness, which apparently underlies all her writing: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 4)
Gran notes Salix caprea (goat willow) catkins open on March 15th, and a male Early Moth coming to light at a bedroom window the day before this. On the 16th:
The speckled Wood butterfly which I brought home from the greenhouse on March 5th was today spreading its wings to the sun in the dining room.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 3)
It’s dated January 1st 1947 and is headed “A Country Diary”. The inside of the front cover has five or six paragraphs, the first of which goes:
Flowers bring a spirit of comfort and happiness which money cannot buy, and being a spirit, is neither measured nor defined, but only perceived.
This is followed by:
“The tragic beauty of life is revealed nowhere so movingly and so clearly to the spirit as in a wild flower, which blossoms into life and fades into death.”
June 17th 1945 – January 12th 1947
In memory of my friend, “Adrian”, (Kenneth R. A. C. Turvey) who gave me an even deeper appreciation of the beauty and wonder of nature. He died January 12th 1947 aged 34. His brave, wholesome spirit was an inspiration and an example. Semper Fidelis.
I suspect that the words in quotation marks were from Adrian himself, though the journal is peppered with similar rather trite and flowery quotes from all sorts of sources that are not Adrian. And the dates are the period of Gran’s brief friendship with him. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 2)
Introduction
Her name was Joan Adelaide Goater, her maiden name Adamson. She was my grandmother and she kept a journal. Some Three-hundred and fifty hard-backed exercise books covered by a cheap blue paper that fades within half an hour of being exposed to the light. I’ve read small parts of some volumes, which date from January 1st 1947 to the early-1990s. They are written at “The Ridge” – that is number 27 Hiltingbury Road, Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire. It is the home where Gran and her husband Bill (William Cecil), whom I knew as “Grampa” or “Gramps”, lived and where their children Barry (my father) and Jane were brought up. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 1)
Because of my passion for history I’m a sucker for old books and some years ago I was delighted to find ‘Highways & Byways in Hampshire’ by D. H. Moutray Read, first published in 1908. My copy, soft brown leather with a gold embossed title, is an updated version published in 1923. [Read more…] about Old Chandler’s Ford and Victorian Dentistry
By Reverend Peter Hutchinson
So, as the old saying goes, “Christmas is upon us and the goose is getting fat” and, to stay in Dickensian vogue, “Bah, Humbug!” Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest! Seriously, I do find Christmas hugely stressful and have often wished that it would simply go away.
As a Clergyman I find that it is a time of high workload, with many additional pressures (as is also the case for so many in the retail trades). [Read more…] about Some Christmas Thoughts
I spoke with a Sri Lankan Professor called Sunil about who are the Sri Lankans. The guide books say there are Sinhala, Tamils, Burghers, Moors and Veddah. How do you tell which are which? I asked.
“Did you expect Britain to vote for Brexit?” He asked. “And did you expect Donald Trump to be elected President of USA?” I told him “No” on both counts. ” [Read more…] about As Others See Us – Brexit Britain
Last Sunday I had a brief interview with Frank Damerell, the 92-year-old war veteran from Chandler’s Ford.
Frank arrived at the War Memorial on Hursley Road just after 10.30am, accompanied by his son Phil. Frank later laid a RAFA (Royal Air Forces Association) wreath during the annual Remembrance Sunday Service at the war memorial at St. Boniface Church in Chandler’s Ford. [Read more…] about Meet 92-year-old War Veteran Frank Damerell
