By Andy Milner
Christmas is a busy time of year for most charities and the Jubilee Sailing trust (JST) is no exception.
Having enjoyed a lovely day at the Chandler’s Ford Joint Charities Christmas Market, we also attended the Romsey Christmas Market and most recently the Winchester Christmas Market in the stunning setting of Cathedral Close. [Read more…] about Sailing into Christmas with the Jubilee Sailing
On October 21st 1955, Gran tells us that tomorrow will be a full day:
…for I leave home …for London where later I visit the British Empire Naturalists’ Association Jubilee Exhibition at Kensington Museum, in which my flower paintings and Jane’s collection of birds’ feathers will be on view. I shall stay at Kingston for the night and go on to the London B.E.N.A. field outing on Sunday…
The journey by train early the following morning frustrates her; to start with, the train is six minutes late, and, she adds:
…throughout the journey, steamy windows within the carriage, smoke from the train without on one side, and the fact that I could not get a corner seat, all contrived to restrict my observations to the very minimum.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 74)
On August 20th 1955, Gran plays tennis in the heat in Eastleigh and enjoys an evening at home listening to a Promenade Concert with much music by Gilbert and Sullivan, which she loves. She records that:
At the end of the concert, after Suppé’s “Poet and Peasant Overture”, which was encored, Sir Malcolm was presented with a Peter Scott bird picture in recognition of his sixtieth birthday in April and his work for the Promenade Concerts, by a representative of all Promenaders, both at the concert in person, and listening in at home. Unfortunately we did not hear Sir Malcolm’s response.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 73)
Gran’s dislike of television seems to have been overcome, and the watching of it more or less normal by July 1st 1955, the word itself no longer qualifying for a capital “T”:
I spent this afternoon glued to the next-door television and saw Tony Trabert of America, win the Men’s singles at Wimbledon from Kurt Nielsen of Denmark… I saw the gold cup presented to the winner by the Duchess of Kent and there was much fun and laughter between the victor and the vanquished which was good to see.
An encouraging and pleasing result of play in the semi-finals of the Women’s doubles is the fact that there will be an All-British final tomorrow – the first since 1936!
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 72)
At 11 in the morning of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 the guns fell silent on the fronts of the world at war. Turn your minds to that event and write a strict 500 words to catch the moment. [Read more…] about Armistice
News from Mr Roseweir on June 4th 1955, is that V.S. Summerhayes, the Orchid specialist from Kew, plans to visit the area the following day. Gran, with Brother and Fin make their way to Steven’s Castle Down, in the east of the County, in order to check on the condition of the orchids he plans to investigate there. Stopping on their way, to check the Farley Mount area also, she notes:
We turned left at the Farley – Sparsholt fork, past what used to be the vast rookery, but today I hardly recognised it, for all the fine old beech trees have been felled and there is now a wide-open space. If it was cleared in the hope of destroying the rookery, the result must be disappointing, for the Rooks are now occupying a line of Pine trees beside the road, only a few yards away!
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 71)
In the second week of May 1955, Gran visits Salisbury with her friend Joan Sheppard, to see an exhibition of floral art at the Guildhall there. She fully describes, in particular, those exhibits that she finds most attractive, noting that there is only one male contributor – Gordon Clarke from Dorchester – and whose work was “truly sensational”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 70)
I walked past Chandler’s Ford war memorial this morning and saw this wreath:
[Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford War Memorial – In Loving Memory of William Joseph Tosdevine
There was a rainbow in the morning and the rain stopped for the Remembrance parade and services.
At the Chandler’s Ford war memorial, a crowd of hundreds – from veterans to youth groups, families, and people of different ethnic groups – all gathered to pay their respects.
Hursley Road looked like this in 1918 (peace day celebration), and 1989. [Read more…] about Remembrance Sunday in Chandler’s Ford 2018
On March 30th 1955, Gran, with Adrian on her mind, writes:
During the evening I listened to a beautiful but poignantly sad play, “Autumn Crocus” by Dodie Smith, and have come to bed dear, with my soul wrung by it and living again its own anguish. But, as with Fanny, the beauty remains and nothing can take that from me even though I grow old.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 69)
In the late spring of 2014 I read with interest of the national plans to commemorate the fallen of WW1. It was accepted that these commemorations would not in any way be an attempt to glorify war but were to be an acknowledgment of the great sacrifice made by so many.
It was also decided that these commemorations would continue until November 2018. It was suggested that researching the names on local war memorials could be an appropriate way of doing this. [Read more…] about Margatet Doores: Love’s Greatest Gift – Remembrance
On February 10th 1955 Gran is in Southampton. She has an appointment there for a chest X-Ray but does not enlarge upon this, preferring to record that:
I had drawn an unexpected fifteen shillings overtime for Christmas week, and, having also a book token to spend, I went to Smith’s bookshop and gave myself a book for which I had longed for many months. It was “Wild Orchids of Britain”, by Summerhayes, of Kew, and I also bought the latest edition of “Hampshire Review”, in which an article of Barry’s on birds of the coast appears. It is a good article and reveals depths in Barry’s character, which may not be apparent to those who only know him superficially.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 68)
If you have ever walked past the war memorial outside St Boniface Church in Hursley Road, you may have wondered about those named on it. Perhaps you wanted to know a bit more about them and how they died in the Great War. Or maybe a bit more about the Chandler’s Ford they left in 1914. [Read more…] about Book Review: Margaret Doores’ Love’s Greatest Gift – Remembrance
Gran is still looking after the two-year-old Julian while Jock recovers from my birth, and she finds it a tiring business, “…in spite of Jane’s help”, she writes, on January 9th 1955. She continues:
Jane took Julian for a long walk this afternoon whilst I did some cake-making. They saw several Grey Squirrels, which ran up the trees and Julian gave me a graphic description on his return. He also stroked the nose of a horse but withdrew in alarm when it snuffled at him, and this, too, was described to me with much drama.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 67)
November 29th 1954:
Gran completes her last painting of the year with Butcher’s Broom – she has been doing one each month – and her skill appears to be improving. She writes:
I was quite pleased with the result and intend to paint wild flowers seriously next year when I should have more free time. I feel that I could do better with more practice, for these last are a great improvement on my earlier efforts.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 66)
Empty nest syndrome; fun collecting crab apples; flowers for a Queen; a dockers’ strike; a farm wedding; “Goodbye Mary”; and another wedding.
September 21st 1954:
Jane left early this morning to return to college at Eastbourne and Jill Fowler, who joins her there tomorrow, arrived just before she left, with some things which Jane had promised to take for her. Our farewells were brief, for even when we feel our best, we dislike these partings but today with the shadow of Robin’s tragic accident hanging over us, neither of us was fit for prolonged speech.
“Poor little Jane”, Gran continues, “it is the first time tragedy has so nearly reached her and she is being very brave”. Later that day, she cycles to the top of Otterbourne Hill “to get some blackthorn upon which to feed a Fox moth caterpillar which I am looking after for a youngster while he is on holiday”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 65)
One that got away; enjoying Barry’s and Julian’s company before they leave the district; quiet reflections in Compton Church; goodbye Mary Robinson; news of a tragedy; another wedding, and a hedgehog knocks over a milk bottle.
Jane encourages Gran, dogged this day and regularly at fortnightly intervals, by her debilitating headaches, to accompany her on a walk along the Itchen, downstream from Brambridge, on the evening of August 16th 1954. Few people are about, apart from a lone fisherman and a single dog-walker. A Kingfisher flashes past, and a family of Mute Swans is on the water. Gran and Jane observe the fisherman, whom they saw: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 64)
Have you ever walked past the war memorial outside St. Boniface Church and stopped and wondered about the lives that lie beneath the names? Where did they live? Were they born here in Chandler’s Ford?
What sort of work did they do before joining up or were they career soldiers? And who was Margaret Caswell? She’s the only woman who is remembered here.
Well, now’s your chance to find out. [Read more…] about Love’s Greatest Gift – Remembrance, by Margaret Doores
Gran, we learn on July 18th 1954, is Godmother to John, one of Tommy and Bob Fowler’s children. On that day, she, with Jill and Diana (the other two Fowler offspring), and Tommy, drive to Cheltenham, where John is at what Gran describes as “the famous school”. The journey is, typically, described in some detail, Gran enjoying the Cotswold villages with, to her, unusual names: Warborough, Stratton St Margaret, Blunsdon and Cricklade. She is impressed by the verges near the last named, “massed with Meadow Cranesbill”, some of which she collects for planting in her garden at The Ridge. And she recounts an amusing incident:
… a boy emerging from a side road was so startled by the sight of an approaching car that he promptly fell off his bicycle and disappeared into a ditch, though we were nowhere near him!
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 63)
Book 44
On June 19th 1954, Gran is delighted for Barry, who:
…came in very late, straight from Uxbridge, where he had been running in RAF Fighter Command Championships, and was delighted to have won the half-mile race in his best ever time – 1min. 56.7 sec. This gives him next week at Uxbridge, undergoing training and running in matches – a very enjoyable way of spending one of his few remaining weeks in the Royal Air Force!
And the next day is recorded by Gran as “a very beautiful and enjoyable one!” She arises early because she is going to Eastbourne with the Fowler family, picking up Jane and spending much of the day with her. Many pages of detailed botanical observations follow, including from the downs above Eastbourne, where, Gran writes: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 62)
