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)
