More favourite memories including thoughts about my boats and bikes……
1964 – The year that Radio Caroline started broadcasting! [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Passions for Power Boat, Bike, and Lambretta (Part 13)
history
Chandler’s Ford School Days: 1970s – 1980s by Betty Brooking
By Betty Brooking
When we lived on the Oakmount estate in the 70s, our son first went to Mrs Vincent’s nursery school at the Methodist Church Hall Fryern Hill.
He then started infant school in the annex with Mrs Moye at Kings Road School Chandler’s Ford (She always ran the sweet stall at the school’s annual fete, held at Merdon Avenue School). [Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford School Days: 1970s – 1980s by Betty Brooking
Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: the Joy of Powerboat Race and Cycling (Part 12)
It is worth saying how different commentating on powerboat racing was then to how it is nowadays.
As the boat [competitor] of a personality raced past, the commentator would show a degree of deference. [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: the Joy of Powerboat Race and Cycling (Part 12)
Mission Impossible Accomplished
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I have a note in my diary for Thursday 5th May 2016 indicating that is Ascension Day.
This day easily goes without noticing, in fact many diaries don’t even recall it. It’s not one of those major events in the Christian calendar like Christmas or Easter, however it is worth just considering what this day signifies.
Let’s just go back a couple of thousand years. [Read more…] about Mission Impossible Accomplished
Watching the Detectives
I had the great joy last week of going to see An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley with a friend at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton.
My friend had seen the film which was why she was keen to see the play version. I love detective fiction and thought seeing one in a play format would be interesting. I was right – it was!
[Read more…] about Watching the Detectives
Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 3
In the third and final reminiscence from the late 1980s, Chippy tells us his memories of transport and travel at the time.
Strange as it may seem, I think there was more traffic coming through Winchester Road / Bournemouth Road in those days. I often drive that way on a Friday now, and the queues are nothing like I remember. A lot of local traffic would use that route rather than the notorious A33. [Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 3
Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 2
Chippy Minton moved to Chandler’s Ford in the late 1980s. In this second instalment of his memories from the time, he writes about some of the shops that were around Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh at the time.
The Chestnut Avenue hypermarket had been there for some years. In those days it was still trading as Gateway (having recently changed from Carrefour – and many people still referred to it as Carrefour). Asda took over the store fairly soon after I moved to the area – though continued to sell Gateway branded goods for several weeks. The store closed over an Easter weekend and reopened as a fully Asda-ised store. [Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 2
Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 1
Peter Shuttler, Doug Clews, and Martin Napier have contributed some interesting posts about their childhood experiences of Chandler’s Ford between the 1930s and 1960s.
I thought I would complement these by writing about some of my memories from more recent times and see how much has changed – and how much has stayed the same. [Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford from the 1980s – Part 1
Easter Message 2016
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You know what it’s like, a bank holiday weekend’s coming up, so how are you going to amuse yourself?
Are you into conspiracy theories?
Maybe you like a thriller, action, international intrigue, even a little of the supernatural.
Easter has it all! [Read more…] about Easter Message 2016
Easter at the Parish Church of Chandler’s Ford
The Passion of Christ: Sunday 20 March (Palm Sunday) 2016 at 6.30pm – a selection of readings, hymns, and anthems sung by St. Boniface Choir.
Easter Praise: Sunday 27 March (Easter Day) 2016 at 6.30pm – readings, hymns and an anthem for Easter Sunday evening. [Read more…] about Easter at the Parish Church of Chandler’s Ford
Celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the Spitfire
Tomorrow the air will be filled with pride and excitement. March 5th 2016 marks the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the Spitfire.
The Supermarine Spitfire prototype Spitfire K5054 first took to the skies in 1936 from Southampton Airport.
Want to know where you could see the Spitfire 80th anniversary flight on Saturday? Read on. [Read more…] about Celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the Spitfire
Producing a Local Legend: Sir Bevis of Hampton
I love history. Always have done. Always will do. I suppose this is because history is another form of storytelling. It tells the story of where we come from.
I believe there is a great deal of truth in the saying that a nation which forgets its history is destined to relive it.
Stories can be told in many ways to reach differing audiences and this is true for history too. I’ve recently heard of a new comic book (Blood and Valour) and play (The Legends of Sir Bevis) about local mythical medieval hero, Sir Bevis of Hampton. [Read more…] about Producing a Local Legend: Sir Bevis of Hampton
Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Witnessing My First Powerboat Race (Part 11)
As 1963 started, I found myself more embroiled in preparations for the crucial exams in the spring.
My real energies were directed towards bikes and boats though!
I was never a very keen scholar, and spent far more time studying boats in magazines, than I did revising!
I knew I was poor at maths and physics, so effectively gave up on those subjects, and concentrated on English, History and Geography, where I knew I had hopes of positive results. [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Witnessing My First Powerboat Race (Part 11)
Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Bikes, Boats, and Adventures (Part 10)
I returned to the weekly “Club Room” meets throughout the Autumn & winter of 1961/2, with The Cyclists Touring Club. Their Southampton Section, as it was titled, organised weekly Sunday club-runs (rides), to a variety of destinations, always with afternoon tea booked at a venue.
These venues varied in type, from pubs that provided simple bread, cake and tea, meals, to the few cafes, or even a couple of farmhouses! [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: Bikes, Boats, and Adventures (Part 10)
Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: My Passions with Bikes and Boats (Part 9)
I think that my ‘awareness’ of motor boats probably came from the early days of our little family moving from London to Chandler’s Ford.
Dad used to take us to Southampton, on a Saturday afternoon, and would see motor launches on Southampton Water from the Royal Pier, and also from my favoured ‘window seat’ of Mayes’ restaurant, where we often enjoyed afternoon tea, looking out across the Pirelli factory towards the “New Docks”. [Read more…] about Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s: My Passions with Bikes and Boats (Part 9)
Writing, Blogging, Social Media…What’s Your Favourite Forms of Writing?
What are your favourite forms of writing? Fiction? Non-fiction? Poetry?
Do you ever think when you pick up a pen or put fingers to keyboard we are all following a tradition going back thousands of years? Or appreciate how important writing, in all its forms, is for cultural reasons? Or how dangerous writing can be? [Read more…] about Writing, Blogging, Social Media…What’s Your Favourite Forms of Writing?
Christmas Unwrapped – Christmas Message from Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford
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“She wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger.” Luke 2 v 7
Last year, for the first time in nearly 25 years, we did not have the joy of watching a family dog open his Christmas present.
Our retrievers were clumsy animals, but [Read more…] about Christmas Unwrapped – Christmas Message from Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford
Christmas Then and Now
As a child in Chandler’s Ford, Christmas was a special time for my family and me, albeit mostly during WW2, as I was 5½ at the outbreak.
I was, to all intents and purposes, an only child (my sister, Jean, died from Scarlet Fever aged 7, 4 years before I was born), so, I guess, understandably, I was ‘spoilt’ (so I was often told). [Read more…] about Christmas Then and Now
Oh Happy Days! Fond Christmas Memories in Chandler’s Ford 1950s – 1960s
Reading Andy Vining’s recent article, Farming in the Winter and Christmas at Hiltonbury Farm, sends me back to the 1950s and 60s, when my step-mother, Dad and I lived in the bungalows in the fourth service road (nowadays the third one!), on Hursley Road.
We looked from our back garden across the field to Hiltonbury Farmhouse where, in the 1960s, Andy was milking the cows and delivering milk. [Read more…] about Oh Happy Days! Fond Christmas Memories in Chandler’s Ford 1950s – 1960s
Farming in the Winter and Christmas at Hiltonbury Farm
I am now going back to the 1962/3 before I was married, it was often very cold at this time of year. I used to get up at around 5.00 am to get the cows in for milking as we had yet to build the Cubicle House to keep the cows inside.
Sometimes when it was particularly cold and wet we kept the cows overnight in the cowshed but there was only room for thirty six of them in the cowshed so some had to stay under the lean-too to keep out of the weather, usually about 10 to twelve were the unlucky ones, usually the ones giving the least milk! [Read more…] about Farming in the Winter and Christmas at Hiltonbury Farm