Update: The market on 02.04.2022 has been cancelled.
Chandler’s Ford Market is back – Saturday 19.03 at the Age Concern Hall, next to Fryern Arcade, (behind Co-Op), from 10am to 1pm. Well done for Steve Allen for organising the local market in the past few years.
Come and meet the local crafters of Chandler’s Ford and the local areas.
You’ll find all kinds of homemade crafts and produce made by local crafters.
Has it ever crossed your mind that a lot of waste is not needed? Well, obviously it’s not needed; that’s why it’s waste! I don’t mean that. What I mean is that it wasn’t really needed in the first place.
Take tea for example. Loose or bags. It comes in a carton, but when we get it home from the supermarket, we pour it into a caddy and throw the carton away. It’s served its purpose; it is of no more use to us. It doesn’t even have cards for us to collect any more.
Or liquid soap – and other cleaning products. When empty, we replace with a new bottle, and throw the old one away. OK, we’re careful to put it in the recycling bin, but that still uses energy. And you can’t recycle the trigger mechanism.
Wouldn’t it be so much better if we could just refill our tea caddies and soap dispensers, and cut out the unnecessary packaging? [Read more…] about Reducing Waste – local zero-waste shops
Chandler’s Ford Christmas Market day is tomorrow – Saturday the 4th of December, at the Age Concern Hall, next to Fryern Arcade, (behind Co-Op), from 10am to 1pm. Well done for Steve Allen for organising the local market in the past few years.
All the stallholders are ready and hand gel will be on the door. Face masks need to be worn.
Come and meet the local crafters of Chandler’s Ford and the local areas.
In the market in November, 135 people visited supporting our friendly stallholders.
In the market on Saturday, you’ll find many high quality items produced by the local people.
Chloe, a jewellery maker from Southamptom, makes gorgeous items. She will be at the market tomorrow as well.
If you use Wikipedia today (24.07.3021), you may find the Featured Article today looks rather familiar:
“The Chandler’s Ford shooting was an attempted robbery on 13 September 2007 in which two men were shot dead by officers of London’s Metropolitan Police while robbing a cash-in-transit van. The Met had been tracking a gang who had stolen an estimated £500,000 from security vans and learned that the gang intended to rob the HSBC bank in Chandler’s Ford.”
Not sure how often Chandler’s Ford gets the global attention like today.
However we don’t think the community is proud to be defined by “The Chandler’s Ford Shooting”. [Read more…] about How do you Define Chandler’s Ford? What does Chandler’s Ford mean to you?
Hello again, thank you for all the lovely compliments I received for my first Chapter.
This is not Chapter 2 as promised but more Part 1: Andy’s Story – Part 1: Early Years, Hiltonbury Farm, and… My Old Morris as I have just returned from a visit to Devon where my older sisters Jennifer and Janet live and in conversations with them I have more to add to part 1.
My Father’s Mother died quite young. Jennifer thinks she died in the Sanatorium, a TB hospital in Chandler’s Ford just off Cuckoo Bushes Lane. It has been knocked down and the area is all houses now.
My Father’s Father was the gardener at Hiltonbury and my Father’s mother married him and it was terrible to marry beneath her. It seems that all the family except her Brother George Beattie disowned her but Uncle George was very kind to her.
Uncle George was the Farmer at Hiltonbury, who took my Father in after both my Father’s parents died and brought him up as his own son, sending him to Peter Symonds School in Winchester.
Father used to ride there every day on his bike all the way from Chandler’s Ford to school, and that’s about seven and a half miles. I agreed there was no traffic in those days but all the same fifteen miles a day and the roads were not up to much either.
I presume he would cycle up Hursley Road to The Pound, go right through Hursley, past his Cousin’s Norman Coopers place – North End Farm, and along through Standon to Winchester, then Chilbolton Avenue to Bereweeke Road and so to College.
What an achievement, rain and shine, hot and cold, along, not roads as we know them today but probably tracks some of the way. Amazing. You would not get the youth of today doing that. It’s even a long way to go in a car, probably take as long today with all the traffic as well!
Now back to Cantley in Wokingham where I was born, there are a couple of fuzzy photographs of me in a pram and sitting on the lawn having something to eat, also a photograph of Mr Watson who was the owner of the farm where my Father was the bailiff / manager.
[Read more…] about Andy’s Story – Part 2 – Stories from Beechcroft
Having been asked to write some articles for Chandler’s Ford Today I thought for ages where to start and what to tell.
My Mother and Father had got married in around 1938 and my sister Jennifer was born on the 6th of Feb 1939, followed in 1941 by Janet, then the son that they craved (or so I was informed) dutifully arrived on 6th April 1943. I am told there were air raids while in the nursing home and I was shoved under the bed in a basket a number of times it seems.
Not that I am into the stars but it reports that people who are born on the 6th of April in 1943 have an astrological sign of Aries ♈. Aries’ life pursuit is the thrill of the moment and a secret desire to lead the way for others. People of this zodiac sign like taking on leadership roles, physical challenges, individual sports and dislike inactivity, delays, and work that does not use one’s talents. The strengths of this sign are: courageous, determined, confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, honest, passionate. OK on most of that but not so sure about the physical challenges bit!! [Read more…] about Andy’s Story – Part 1: Early Years, Hiltonbury Farm, and… My Old Morris
Today I visited the newly opened Suki Asian Shop on Winchester Road. I’m quite impressed.
I asked the young lady Annabelle what ‘Suki’ meant. She told me it meant ‘customers’ in the Philippines. She told me her mum Jemelle ran the shop. [Read more…] about Suki Asian Shop Open – Winchester Road, Chandler’s Ford
The mighty oak (Quercus rubor), the one in the centre of our garden is due for a haircut, we decided. Visitors comment on our lovely garden – but such a shame about the oak tree – all that shade. If they lived here, they would chop it down, except that it is subject to a tree preservation order.
If the tree was chopped, there would be an open space. The summer sun would beat relentlessly down, and an umbrella would be needed. I would miss the sturdy black limbs etched against a grey winter sky with the playful skitter of squirrels among the branches. I would miss the birds, there are two magpies in the branches as I write, and hundreds of others birds visit to feed on the myriad of insects living in the nooks and crannies of the bark. Blue tits nest in the attached birdbox and tree creepers and the nuthatch hang, head down, to feed.
Have you got a real Christmas tree yet? Jimmy is back at the Fryern Arcade selling his Chistmas trees in Chandler’s Ford.
Jimmy Peters is a familiar face in Chandler’s Ford each year selling his popular trees. Jimmy has a farm called the Little Ranch Farm in Marwell.
Here are some photos.
Don’t forget – the parking space at the top is now only for ONE Hour maximum stay only. (Behind the shops you can park for 2 hours; Co-op parking is still one hour only.) [Read more…] about Little Ranch Christmas Trees by Fryern Arcade in Chandler’s Ford
The Selwood Christmas tree has been lighting up Chandler’s Ford since 1953. Look at this stunning tree!
Richard Bright, 1st Chairman at Workdry International Limited (Selwood & Siltbuster) said, it’s always a pleasure to bring this tradition to the local community.
To friends of Chandler’s Ford, what does this Christmas mean to you? Please leave a comment below. We wish you all safe and well.
Richard has also given us more details about the tree this year.
Richard said, “The tree is meant to be 35ft but I think it’s slightly taller this year… I usually tell by comparing it with the flag poles 😊. we used to get it from Longleat as part of a forest management scheme but that has since come to an end so we have sourced it from a plantation off the A303 the last few years. We try to get it as local as possible to keep it “green” as I know a lot of large trees are imported from Norway, which I can’t bring myself to do due to the huge environmental impact.”
Yesterday I drove past the Fryern Arcade, and could see lots of people outside Costa Coffee.
At the Central Precinct, I also saw a tent outside Up & Running running shop. I was quite pleased, so went to check if my trainers had arrived. I had ordered a pair of trainers a week before lockdown, so have been waiting for the shop to reopen.
[Read more…] about Shops Reopening – Support Local Businesses in Chandler’s Ford
We are beginning to think of ending the lock-down. How different will it be afterwards?
That little strand of RNA wrapped up as COVID-19 has altered our behaviour. It has shut our institutions; schools, universities, travel, industries, retail and the legal system. Health, policing, food and pharmacy remain active with some local travel.
Some of us have been able to work from home and found it satisfactory. A friend is wondering why he keeps a London office; a weekly meeting in an office hired for half a day may be sufficient. Others strive to work amid the domestic activities of children and housework. The fashion for open-plan living areas in houses has not helped.
This morning, Aaron Joseph, the Fryern Hill gift and stationery shop manager, told Chandler’s Ford Today that the post office will re-open on Monday the 18th of November 2019, from around 2pm.
He said The Post Office team would re-start the system from before noon, and it might take around 2 hours to set everything up. So it’s likely that the post office would re-open from around 2pm.
It’s great news for the local people – though it’s unsure how long the post office will continue to run. It’s a relief for local residents and businesses during this busy Christmas time.
Following the sudden closure of the Fryern Hill Post Office, Winchester and Chandler’s Ford MP Steve Brine has given an update via his Facebook post.
“Thank you to constituents who have contacted me this week after the sudden closure of the PO at Fryern Hill in Chandler’s Ford. Had a confidential briefing from the Post Office this morning to understand what’s gone on here. Suffice to say, while I understand the temptation to grandstand and stir this up, it’s very complex and is extremely unlikely to be resolved this side of Christmas. [Read more…] about Steve Brine MP on the Fryern Hill Post Office: “unlikely to be resolved this side of Christmas”
Aaron Joseph, the Fryern Hill Post Office manager, told Chandler’s Ford Today that Post Office Ltd has decided to close the post office down.
It’s happening on the 23rd of October. They are also taking away the computers, which will make it impossible to re-open any time soon. [Read more…] about Urgent: Chandler’s Ford Residents: Will You Help Save the Fryern Hill Post Office?
Chandler’s Ford Produce and Craft Market is back again – Saturday 7th September, from 10am to 1pm, at the Age Concern Hall, Brownhill Road. [Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford Produce and Craft Market: Saturday 7th September
This morning at the Fryern Arcade I was surprised to see that we now have a Specsavers in Chandler’s Ford. [Read more…] about Specsavers Opticians and Audiologists – Now in Chandler’s Ford
Last weekend I bought some minced pork and local eggs from Charles Baynham, our finest butchers in Chandler’s ford.
I used the minced pork to make some Chinese dumplings for the Chinese New Year (yes it’s the Year of the Pig, as I heard you asked!)
Charles Baynham has run this friendly, traditional butcher for 40 years in Chandler’s Ford. [Read more…] about Charles Baynham in Chandler’s Ford
Dear readers, please be assured that I’m not mad. It’s only January and I’m talking about Selwood’s Christmas tree – their bright, stunning tree that gives us a glimmer of hope on those endless cold, dark evenings.
While I processed a backlog of my Chandler’s Ford Today emails today, I came across an email from Richard Bright, the owner of Selwood. [Read more…] about Why am I Talking about Selwood’s Christmas Tree in January?
Don’t forget the renowned Chandler’s Ford Produce and Craft Market is back on Saturday, the 6th of October, from 10am to 1pm.
It’ll be held at the Age Concern Hall, on Brownhill Road. Thanks to Steve Allen for running the market since 2015, supporting local people and local small businesses.
