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storytelling

Hand Gestures

April 1, 2022 By Mike Sedgwick 2 Comments

Pont d’Avignon seen from the Palais du Papes gardens – Mike Sedgwick

Of the many hand gestures, from the encouraging thumbs-up to the vulgar V sign, there is one that drew me to the history of the Popes; the sign of benediction. With the hand held aloft, palm forward and the thumb, index and middle fingers extended, and the little and ring fingers curled into the palm, the priest intones the benediction and blessing. See the diagram below.

Jean-Marc Rosier from http://www.rosier.pro, CC BY-SA 3.0
Jean-Marc Rosier from http://www.rosier.pro, CC BY-SA 3.0

The three-fingered sign of benediction and of damage to the ulnar nerve.

 

Strangely the same hand posture is also a sign of damage to the ulnar nerve. The ulnar is one of two main nerves supplying the skin and muscles of the hand. It is usually damaged the elbow. Most of us have banged our ‘funny bones’ and experienced unpleasant tinglings in the ring and little fingers. That is a temporary bruising of the ulnar nerve. [Read more…] about Hand Gestures

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Tags: history, literature, memories, storytelling, writers

Brickmaking in Chandler’s Ford

January 9, 2022 By Christine Clark 3 Comments

Brickmaking in Chandler's Ford

It won’t come as a surprise to any local gardener that brickmaking was a big industry round here 100-150 years ago. Our heavy clay soil, as well as the local chalk downland, made this area an obvious site for several brickfields over the centuries. In fact, in the late nineteenth century in Hampshire there were 100-150 works producing clay products such as bricks, tiles and pipes.

Chandler's Ford Community Halls, Hursley Road.
Chandler’s Ford Community Halls, Hursley Road.

It was in around 1870 that it was discovered that our clay soil was particularly suitable for brickmaking. There were three brickfields in Chandler’s Ford. The biggest, which was also one of the largest in the country, was Bell’s, which occupied the land now taken by Chandler’s Ford industrial estate. The position of the railway no doubt helped its success as this was the main means of transporting the finished bricks. A short single-track branch line ran through the brickfield, joining the Eastleigh-Romsey line at the station near the signal box. The whole process of clay extraction, moulding to shape and firing was done on site. This last was not always popular with local residents due to the fumes emanating from the kilns. This brickfield had the honour of providing 35,000 bricks for the construction of the Royal Courts of Justice in the 1870s.

Brickmaking in Chandler's Ford
Brickmaking in Chandler’s Ford

[Read more…] about Brickmaking in Chandler’s Ford

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, community, culture, Eastleigh, education, history, local history, local interest, memory, storytelling, war memorial, writing

The Animals’ Christmas

December 18, 2021 By Christine Clark Leave a Comment

The Animals' Christmas - by Aileen Urquhart (Author), Emma Repetti (Illustrator)

Imagine you’re a bystander, just happening to be there, watching the nativity story unfold. Not a convenient passer-by but … an animal. The Christmas story is full of animals, from donkeys and oxen to sheep and camels, so – why not?

Sarah the spider, resident of Mary’s home in Nazareth (note: Mary doesn’t sweep away Sarah’s web because it catches the flies) observes Gabriel and the Annunciation. Daniel the donkey carries Mary and Joseph to the stable in Bethlehem where he also finds rest. Obadiah the ox, who lives in this stable, grudgingly makes room for the interloper and then is present at Jesus’ birth. Lilah the lamb comes with the shepherds, having seen the angel with the amazing news, and Khalid the camel, along with his mates Kanika and Keb, are the transport for the wise men as they follow the star.

The Animals' Christmas - by Aileen Urquhart (Author), Emma Repetti (Illustrator)
The Animals’ Christmas – by Aileen Urquhart (Author), Emma Repetti (Illustrator)
[Read more…] about The Animals’ Christmas

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Tags: books, Christianity, Christmas, creative writing, reading, stories, storytelling

The Reunion

December 7, 2021 By Mike Sedgwick 5 Comments

We gathered once again for the 65th anniversary of our first meeting in the university’s Anatomy Department. Eight of us are left, but another eight are still living in the far corners of the world. We were like a copse of trees, saplings, whips and small shoots to begin with. We needed to be nurtured and trained in our respective careers.

Reunion

Now, in the late Autumn, we are a dying wood. Our abilities fall away like autumn leaves; our branches crack and tumble. What remains creaks with decay and degeneration within. The killing winter frosts will soon finish us all. [Read more…] about The Reunion

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Tags: communication, Friendship, history, science, storytelling, writing

Past Hospitals in Chandler’s Ford

December 2, 2021 By Christine Clark 1 Comment

Fryern Hill Isolation Hospital

I wonder how much you know about hospitals in Chandler’s Ford past? We know of the private Nuffield Hospital in Winchester Road. Many will remember Leigh House Hospital that is gone now, to make way for housing. But there was another, long gone …

Hursley Union Workhouse / Sanitorium / Leigh House Hospital

Chandler's Ford Leigh House Hospital
Chandler’s Ford Leigh House Hospital

In 1835 the Hursley Poor Law Union was officially formed to cover the parishes of Hursley, Compton, Farley Chamberlayne, North Baddesley and Otterbourne. Ampfield and Chandler’s Ford were added to the list in 1894. By 1867 the Hursley parish workhouse, built in 1828, was criticised for its inadequate building (disgusting water closets and a cesspool under the windows of the lying-in and infectious wards, which had been unemptied for twelve years!). [Read more…] about Past Hospitals in Chandler’s Ford

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World War II and afterwards in Chandler’s Ford

November 17, 2021 By Christine Clark 6 Comments

D Day and Afterwards in Chandler's Ford

Chandler’s Ford had a population of just over 3,000 people in 1939 and, although only five miles north of Southampton which was badly bombed during the Blitz (57 nights in 1940-41), we escaped lightly. Here’s how …

BOMBS

Two ‘Doodle-bug’ V1 flying bombs fell on Hiltingbury: one landing harmlessly in a field, the other killing the residents of a bungalow in Pine Road (these bombs were presumably aimed at London but, as was the case with so many, they didn’t make it all the way). A couple of ‘breadbaskets’ fell (a Molotov breadbasket was attached to a parachute and so called because it contained both high explosive and incendiary bombs) and a stick of bombs fell in Hursley Road. One German aircraft came over from the north, machine-gunning as it went before flying off towards Eastleigh. As well as the few deaths, structural damage was caused to about half a dozen homes from the bombs. Much more structural damage was caused by the anti-aircraft guns around the area and large cracks in walls and ceilings from ack-ack guns were common.

V1Musee - ByBen_pcc - Self-photographed, Public Domain, Wikimedia
V1Musee – ByBen_pcc – Self-photographed, Public Domain, Wikimedia

During the Blitz on Southampton in 1940, the reflection of the fires could be seen in the night sky here in Chandler’s Ford. Searchlights, air raid sirens and anti-aircraft guns made the village very aware of what was happening locally. During the worst of the Blitz, many Southampton families would come to Chandler’s Ford to sleep the night, or for longer if they were bombed out. Several churches and halls were used as reception centres, providing food and blankets. Local residents often offered accommodation and some people made Chandler’s Ford their permanent home.
[Read more…] about World War II and afterwards in Chandler’s Ford

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, community, culture, Eastleigh, education, history, local history, local interest, memory, Remembrance Sunday, storytelling, war memorial, writing

Photo – R.A.F Launches being Transported across the Chandler’s Ford Road / Rail Bridge in 1950s / 1960s

October 20, 2021 By SO53 News 4 Comments

Chandler's Ford. RAF launches on the move dated 1955...'1599' nearest camera and '1565' behind. Image via Tim Deacon

Did you recognise this location in Chandler’s Ford? Tim Deacon from Southampton sent us this unique photo to share with Chandler’s Ford readers.

The photo shows two R.A.F. Launches (built by The British Power Boat Company in Hythe) being transported by lorries through Chandler’s Ford over the road/rail bridge near the station in the 1950/60s.

Tim is a volunteer boat builder at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Chandler's Ford. RAF launches on the move dated 1955...'1599' nearest camera and '1565' behind. Image via Tim Deacon
Chandler’s Ford. RAF launches on the move dated 1955…’1599′ nearest camera and ‘1565’ behind. Credit: image via Tim Deacon.

[Read more…] about Photo – R.A.F Launches being Transported across the Chandler’s Ford Road / Rail Bridge in 1950s / 1960s

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Tags: Bournemouth Road, Chandler's Ford, history, hobby, local interest, memories, storytelling, Winchester Road

The Main Road Through Chandler’s Ford: Historical Snapshots (Part 2)

October 19, 2021 By Christine Clark 4 Comments

Stone train, Chandler's Ford, pre-Millers Dale, April 1976 (for rail enthusiasts, the loco is D1058 Western Nobleman). Image via Eastleigh and District Local History Society.

Part Two: 1913

Chandler's Ford War Memorial. At that time it stood at the end of Hursley Road on railway company land, only moving to its present site (outside St Boniface Church )in 1973 being re-dedicated on 4th August 1974. Image via Eastleigh and District Local History Society.
Chandler’s Ford War Memorial. At that time it stood at the end of Hursley Road on railway company land, only moving to its present site (outside St Boniface Church ) in 1973 being re-dedicated on 4th August 1974. Image via Eastleigh and District Local History Society.

If we now time-travel twenty years or so to the eve of the First World War, let’s see what has changed on our route. Once again, we come up from Southampton to the Asda roundabout and up Bournemouth Road. Chandler’s Ford now has a police constable who lives at the police house at 5 York Villas, Bournemouth Road. We pass the home of one R. E. Burke, a lounge steward on HMS Titanic who sadly perished when the ship foundered last year. As we pass the Hut Hotel (see image below, forgiving the cars!), we may see Chandler’s Ford United FC training in a field behind, using the hotel as their changing room. The big brickfield on our left is still busy.

Hut Hotel, image by Christine Clark
Hut Hotel

[Read more…] about The Main Road Through Chandler’s Ford: Historical Snapshots (Part 2)

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Forgotten Letters of John Masefield

October 15, 2021 By Mike Sedgwick 2 Comments

John Masefield

Like most schools, mine had inter-house competitions. One year, it fell to me to be House Captain of Music because I was the oldest boy who could play the clarinet. The Housemaster chose the Captain on age, not on ability. Every boy had to sing in the choir, and the performance piece chosen was John Ireland’s setting of Sea Fever by the poet laureate at the time, John Masefield.

Everyone had to sing, from the few with treble voices to the tuneless late-teen tough-guy growlers. We learned about melding music and words, how to enunciate ‘whetted knife’ as if you were cut by a cold wind; how to sound the sibilants to suggest gale and spray and how to prolong the final word – over. The poem was ended, but the feeling and atmosphere lingered on. [Read more…] about Forgotten Letters of John Masefield

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The Main Road Through Chandler’s Ford: Historical Snapshots (Part 1)

October 12, 2021 By Christine Clark 8 Comments

Stone train, Chandler's Ford, pre-Millers Dale, April 1976 (for rail enthusiasts, the loco is D1058 Western Nobleman). Image via Eastleigh and District Local History Society.

Part One: 1895

You probably know that most of Chandler’s Ford has developed in the last hundred years or so and that prior to the twentieth century, there wasn’t a lot here, apart from a few cottages, the brickfields, farm land and woods. I’ve been looking at the history of one important feature of our town: the main road – Bournemouth Road and Winchester Road – stretching from Asda to the Nuffield Hospital. I wonder what you know of its history?

Stone train, Chandler's Ford, pre-Millers Dale, April 1976 (for rail enthusiasts, the loco is D1058 Western Nobleman). Image via Eastleigh and District Local History Society.
Stone train, Chandler’s Ford, pre-Millers Dale, April 1976 (for rail enthusiasts, the loco is D1058 Western Nobleman). Image via Eastleigh and District Local History Society.

Let me take you back to 1895. Let’s say you want to travel from Southampton to Winchester and for some reason you don’t take the train, preferring to ride your horse / travel in your carriage or cart by road. The road that goes through our town was the most direct route, a turnpike with an improved surface since the early nineteenth century, unlike other local roads.

Before the railway came in 1847, this road would have been heavily used by the stage coaches that plied between Southampton and London. The horses were changed every six miles and being this distance from both Southampton and Winchester, Chandler’s Ford was the obvious place for the changeover. The coaching stage in our town was where the Fryern Arcade is now, but by 1895 the stables had been redeveloped as a house. [Read more…] about The Main Road Through Chandler’s Ford: Historical Snapshots (Part 1)

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Chandler’s Ford Races

September 21, 2021 By Christine Clark 2 Comments

Horse Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay

Many people love a day at the races. But can you imagine the roar of the crowd, the thunder of hooves, the cries of the punters here in Chandler’s Ford? Yet indeed, Chandler’s Ford used to have a racecourse. Complete with grandstand and a course length of 2.25 miles, it was located on fields near the railway station (now Valley Park) and was described in the newspaper as ‘presenting a lovely appearance to those who come to drink a draught of nature.’

But why here at Chandler’s Ford?

Watercolour image by Layers via Pixabay
Watercolour image by Layers via Pixabay
[Read more…] about Chandler’s Ford Races

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Andy’s Story – Part 2 – Stories from Beechcroft

August 23, 2021 By Andy Vining 5 Comments

Photo by Andy Vining

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 sisters’ memories about our Grandparents

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.

The Beattie Family outside Hiltonbury
The Beattie Family outside Hiltonbury

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.

What an achievement! Cycling 15 miles a day for school.

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.

Me aged 2 - Andy Vining
Me aged 2 – Andy Vining

[Read more…] about Andy’s Story – Part 2 – Stories from Beechcroft

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Paperback Writers

August 13, 2021 By Robbie Sprague 11 Comments

The Beatles Image by Maxpinsoo from Pixabay

Did you know that the Beatles have 229 songs to their name? The Fab Four have each contributed brilliant songs to this total but Lennon and McCartney were the most prolific.

The Beatles Image by Maxpinsoo from Pixabay
The Beatles Image by Maxpinsoo from Pixabay

Yesterday, we heard from our neighbours, who were visiting Liverpool, that they were drinking in the Cavern Club, birth place of the Beatles. It gave me the idea of writing a  short story using the titles of some of those famous hits. It took fifteen minutes and I had a little help from my friend, my wife Jill. It’s not going to be a Booker Prizewinner but it contains 29 Beatles song titles (plus one repeat) and it goes like this:  [Read more…] about Paperback Writers

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Tags: creative writing, culture, humour, music, storytelling, writing

Andy’s Story – Part 1: Early Years, Hiltonbury Farm, and… My Old Morris

August 6, 2021 By Andy Vining 7 Comments

A similar car to the old Morris

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.

Mum and Dad's wedding Circa 1938 (Photo by Andy Vining)
Mum and Dad’s wedding Circa 1938 (Photo by Andy Vining)

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

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Cancer Ward – My Story

July 3, 2021 By Mike Sedgwick 8 Comments

Cancer Ward

Half of us will have cancer at some time in our lives. By far the most common is prostate cancer for men and breast cancer for women. These exceed lung, bowel, ovary and testicular cancers by a factor of 2 or more.

I never asked for a PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) test, but I got one anyway when my GP checked me over one day. The result was high, so did I mind if he did a rectal examination. I said it would be OK if he promised not to enjoy it any more than I would.

Image via kaboompics
Image via kaboompics

‘You’ve got cancer there. It’s a decent-sized lump but still in the prostate, hasn’t spread. We’ll zap it with radiotherapy; surgery is not a sensible option. It’s 99% curable for five years, and you might die of something else in the meantime.’ My doctor is a straight-talking man, I was pleased not to be offered surgery. When I was a junior doctor, I assisted in prostatectomy operations and looked after the patients afterwards. I was called up most nights to deal with blocked catheters or excessive bleeding. Later on, many of the men suffered urinary infections and other complications. [Read more…] about Cancer Ward – My Story

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Tags: awareness, cancer, education, family, health, hospital, science, storytelling

It’s All Greek to Me

February 27, 2021 By Mike Sedgwick 4 Comments

The swing

In my head, and probably in yours too, there is a jumble of memories of ancient Greeks — old men, bald and with beards, who did stupid but essential things. There is one who overflowed his bath and ran naked down the street. One drank hemlock, and another lived in a barrel; one married his mother. They fought a lot, invented gods and wrote unreadable books. And they were good at geometry.

I resurrected one of these weirdos from my memory; they all look the same, dressed in chitons or togas and sandals. I first made the acquaintance of this one when I was 12 years old, Pythagoras by name. He died about 500 years BCE, but he was clever with triangles.

‘Pythagoras, please help me. I need a length of rope to hang from a high branch on a tree to make a swing. How long should it be? I can’t get up there to measure the height.’

"Pythagoras, please help me!"
“Pythagoras, please help me!”

[Read more…] about It’s All Greek to Me

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St Valentine – Who, Why and How?

February 11, 2021 By Christine Clark Leave a Comment

Love - via kaboompics

We all know that 14 February is St Valentine’s Day – accompanied these days with its commercialised retail opportunity to buy cards and gifts for loved ones. But do you know how it all began?

It all started as a third-century Christian feast to commemorate some early martyrs, all called Valentine, which must have been a popular name in those days. There was Valentine of Rome, a priest martyred in 269 (he ministered to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire) and Valentine of Terni, a bishop martyred in 273. There also seem to have been another saint called Valentine who was martyred in Africa with other companions, although not much more is known about him.

I love you lollipop - via kaboompics
I love you lollipop – via kaboompics
[Read more…] about St Valentine – Who, Why and How?

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The Mighty Oak

January 30, 2021 By Mike Sedgwick 2 Comments

End product, logs and swing

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.

Tree clipping -  Paul climbed  20 M or so into the topmost branches with his chainsaw swinging from his belt.
Tree clipping – Paul climbed 20 M or so into the topmost branches with his chainsaw swinging from his belt.

[Read more…] about The Mighty Oak

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A Daily Visit by Royalty – and a Sumptuous Meal for a King

January 9, 2021 By Robbie Sprague 10 Comments

Kingfisher by Mike Lane FRPS

When I built the new Wykeham House in Hiltingbury I got the digger driver to dig out a large pond in the back garden, piling the spoil at one end in readiness to make a waterfall. This was the basis for our landscaping, planting and stocking once the lining and filtration system were in place. The day at last came when we flicked the switch and the water gushed and eddied down the waterfall. This comforting sound has stayed with us for the past fifteen years and it is a joy. When the water had cleared and the balance was right we stocked our pond with twenty golden rudd, some green tench, three black comets and three shubunkin – and the odd goldfish contributed by neighbours.

Herons
Heron-proofing the pond

Over the years, and thanks to the early morning visits from a hungry heron, we lost some fish – usually speared and left on the grass – so we had to find an ingenious way of heron-proofing the pond. At first, we didn’t mind the heron’s visits; seeing that majestic bird landing and taking off was exciting but he was greedy and cruel and had to be deterred. We strung fishing line across the pond and installed a water sprayer triggered by a motion sensor. So far, so effective………..

Every early summer there are a few days of frantic activity when the water froths like a cauldron and a month or so later a large shoal of small fry of mixed variety can be spotted and, over the years the fish population has multiplied alarmingly. [Read more…] about A Daily Visit by Royalty – and a Sumptuous Meal for a King

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, Covid-19, family, Hiltingbury, lockdown, nature, storytelling

The Christmas Jigsaw Tradition

January 2, 2021 By chippy minton 11 Comments

partially complete jigsaw - marmite

One of my childhood family’s traditional Christmas holiday pastimes was to complete a jigsaw puzzle (or two).  Christmas presents generally included at least one puzzle.  This year’s Covid-19 restrictions on travel and socialising made it a good time to resurrect the tradition with my adult family.

There is something incredibly relaxing and therapeutic about tacking a jigsaw puzzle.  You can’t rush a jigsaw; it takes as long as it takes.  They are addictive too – once you’ve started you have to keep going.  One evening, Mrs Chippy and I had to remind ourselves that it was 11.30 pm and we really should be going to bed.  I have been known to stay up into the early hours in order to finish a puzzle. [Read more…] about The Christmas Jigsaw Tradition

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Tags: board games, Christmas, Christmas traditions, coronavirus, Covid-19, Eastleigh, family memories, lockdown, pastimes, puzzles, storytelling, tradition
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Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal by Joan Adelaide Goater

Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s by Martin Napier

Growing up in Chandler’s Ford: 1950s – 1960s by Martin Napier

My Memories of the War Years in Chandler’s Ford 1939 – 1945 by Doug Clews

My Memories of the War Years in Chandler’s Ford 1939 – 1945 by Doug Clews

Chandler’s Ford War Memorial Research by Margaret Doores

Chandler’s Ford War Memorial Research by Margaret Doores

History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse by Andy Vining

History of Hiltonbury Farmhouse by Andy Vining

My Family History in Chandler’s Ford and Hursley by Roger White

My Family History in Chandler’s Ford and Hursley by Roger White

Do You Remember The Hutments? By Nick John

Do You Remember The Hutments? By Nick John

Memory of Peter Green by Wendy Green

Memory of Peter Green by Wendy Green

History of Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Hursley Park by Dave Key

History of Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Hursley Park by Dave Key

Reviews of local performances and places

Reviews of local performances and places

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