Last weekend I got back from a school trip to Ypres in Belgium. It was a very tiring two days but it was well worth it to explore a different country and culture.
I was there for a history trip to look at the history of Ypres and its importance in WWI. It was a very insightful trip into how the war’s legacy has affected the country.
The first trip was to [Read more…] about My Belgium History Trip – Ypres and Chocolate
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
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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
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
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
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
Do you know anyone who worked at Hendy before?
Rebecca Hendy from The Hendy Group is updating the company’s History Book. The company is very interested in producing a chapter based on local people who have worked at Hendy or their experience of Hendy over the years. [Read more…] about Share Your Hendy Stories
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)
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)
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)
What do you know about the European Union? Not much, I bet. Yet we are all going to be asked to vote about staying in or leaving.
It will be a decision made of ignorance for what do we know of the EU? Do you know how to contact your representative or even who they are and what problems they may be able to help with? [Read more…] about EU – In or Out?
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?
What is the collective noun for migrants? Horde will not do it seems; swarm, bunch, multitude, gang, flock, there are plenty of words but then there is an army of people who will take offence whatever you say.
The problem is that they are all individuals with the same hopes, fears and desires as you and I. [Read more…] about Migrant Crisis: What’s Your View?
Year 2015 has just flown by.
In the past year, we produced 320 posts, sharing local stories, news, and events with the community.
This ‘community’ is not restricted to Chandler’s Ford. We have readers and writers from Australia. [Read more…] about Ignite Your 2016 with the Best of Chandler’s Ford Today 2015
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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
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
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
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
Two or three times a year, the coconut boy comes around to harvest the coconuts. This year he was delayed as there has been so much rain it has left the palm trunks slippery.
There are six coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) in our garden here and they all have a ‘loverly bunch’ on them. Two of the trees are King Coconut, a variety of large yellow nut found in Sri Lanka. [Read more…] about Dispatches from Sri Lanka: a Loverly Bunch of Coconuts
Did you know that every bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin is made in Hampshire?
Laverstoke, between Whitchurch and Overton, is the home to the Bombay Sapphire Distillery. [Read more…] about Days Out: Spirits from a Hampshire Village
