This site has now been renamed: Chandler’s Ford Today. When the site was set up in March 2013, the domain name was Eastleighnet.
Please note that this site will use the spelling Chandler’s Ford consistently. Chandler is a singular noun, so it has to be followed by an apostrophe plus s to show possession.
Thank you for my passionate readers who asked me to keep the apostrophe for ‘Chandler’ yesterday. You have won the debate. The apostrophe is here to stay.
You only have to walk down Hursley Road to the Central Precinct Of Chandler’s Ford to find two spellings: Chandlers Ford; Chandler’s Ford.
I took these pictures on the 4th of February 2014:
Chandler’s Ford: St. Boniface Church, and traffic signpost at the Chandler’s Ford Central Precinct.
Chandlers Ford: Chandlers Ford Central Club, bus stop signs, Chandlers Ford Community Association, and Nigel Guilder Funeral Directors.
Here are more examples from yesterday’s post. Chandler’s Ford people are confused.
Now let me update the list above:
Chandler’s Ford: St. Boniface Church; traffic signpost at the Chandler’s Ford Central Precinct, Chandler’s Ford Library, Chandler’s Ford Train Station, Chandler’s Ford Infant School, Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church Coffee Room.
Chandlers Ford: Chandlers Ford Central Club, bus stop signs, Chandlers Ford Community Association, Nigel Guilder Funeral Directors, Rotary Club of Chandlers Ford & Itchen Valley, The Mall Shopping Centre, Chandlers Ford Snooker Club, Chandlers Ford Age Concern Centre.
Significantly, Chandler’s Ford Parish Council uses an apostrophe plus s.
Local historian Barbara Hillier also keeps the apostrophe for her books.
Some organisations do not make up their minds and they use both Chandler’s Ford and Chandlers Ford. The most obvious example is Chandlers Ford Methodist Church.
On the outside wall of the church and the large noticeboard, Methodist Church uses Chandlers Ford.
On another blue display board (currently with Slimming World advert underneath it), and the Coffee Room, the Methodist Church uses Chandler’s Ford.
Result: I received 11 votes in a few hours. Some of the votes were high quality votes filled with comments. Ten people asked me to keep Chandler’s Ford. Only one person voted for Chandlers Ford. This voter did not leave his comment.
The Chandler’s Ford Debate of the Apostrophe
The first comment before 8am came from Jackie Porter, Liberal Democrat Councillor and prospective MP for Winchester and Chandler’s Ford. Jackie is passionate about Chandler’s Ford, and she also blogged about my survey in her Should we keep the Apostrophe? post.
“The use of apostrophes seems to be fading – but it is a unique feature of the English language. No other European country has it as far as I know – so keep it please!
By Jackie Porter
The votes were anonymous. Below here are the comments left by other voters:
It is correct English, there are not numerous Chandlers!
Use of the apostrophe should be defended. We are already besieged on all sides by corrupted “English” versions of our mother tongue. Dreadful liberties have been taken with our language and there are those on the other side of the pond who would doubtless pat themselves on the back with hearty, self-congratulatory cheer if they could somehow infect us with their interpretations – theater, color, aluminum . . . . good grief!
We must stand united and defend our proud heritage, not least, the beleaguered apostrophe!
With the apostrophe it tells the history of Chandler’s Ford.
About 15 years ago, Eastleigh Council decided to put in the apostrophe. The historical basis for this was tenuous. I can’t remember exactly, but I think there was supposed to be a chandlers or caundlers business or farm roughly where the Central Precinct is today. It always seemed unlikely to me that there was a chandlery business located up a small, non-navigable waterway! It could have been a caundlers which I think was associated with making candles. Or it could just have been the farmer’s name, which would justify the possessive apostrophe. If Chandlers Ford = the ford by/belonging to the chandlers, the apostrophe should, in my opinion, go after the s, if anywhere! Local Councillor John L Caldwell may know more about this.
It is stupid not using the apostrophe for Chandler.
The comments above informed me that it would be unwise to drop the apostrophe for Chandler’s Ford on this site. Actually, my future, reputation, and integrity depend on this punctuation mark. Here is the most passionate message, which was sent to my email:
Use of the apostrophe is grammatically correct and is a sign of a well-educated individual. It is pure class.
Drop it at your P E R I L !!!!!
Nick Coleman
Resident of Chandler’s Ford
This website Chandler’s Ford Today is for the Chandler’s Ford Community. Now you have made the choice for me. Thank you for your passion. Thank you for enlightening me and the readers. Thank you for taking part in creating this community website together. In my next posts, I’ll tell you stories of the creation of this site, and the wonderful people behind Chandler’s Ford Today.
Related Posts:
- Chandler’s Ford Today For Chandler’s Ford Community
- Is Chandler’s Ford A Jaguar? Meet Roger Clark.
- Neil Duddridge: The Man Behind Chandler’s Ford Today (With Huskies)
- Lib Dem Joined The Apostrophe Debate of Chandler’s Ford
- Chandler’s Ford Or Chandlers Ford? You Choose.
- Does Spelling Matter? Notes On Chandler’s Ford Library.
- How I love Your Comments
Janet – many congratulations on your new Community website for Chandler’s Ford.
Your tenacity and your quintessential journalistic style have been key to getting to today’s announcement.
Long may the website flourish!
Thank you my friend for using the apostrophe (correctly) 🙂 in this comment.
Thank you for brainstorming with me about this community site, and prompting me to make some swift changes. Thank you for your valuable advice.
Congratulations on your new name!
I’ll advertise accordingly!
Thank you Jackie for your passion for the apostrophe (and Chandler’s Ford)!
Please keep your posts coming. We’d love to know what’s happening in the community. Thank you.
Great post, Janet!
Thank you Hazel. Thank you for voting. You have quite a strong point.
After publishing the post above, people are still voting and leaving comments on Chandler’s Ford or Chandlers Ford? | Polldaddy.com.
Here is one of the new comments:
“(Chandlers Ford) It’s simpler. People can’t agree on the “correct” version, as the origin of the name has been lost. So stick to the one which just uses letters – and works properly on the web.”
My question to the voter: Could you explain how dropping the apostrophe will guarantee the display will ‘work properly on the web’? Please elaborate. Many thanks.
Hi Janet,
Google sees Chandler’s Ford and Chandlers Ford pretty much the same as far as I can see, however most sites refer to it as Chandlers Ford and pretty sure most people will search for it as Chandlers Ford and therefore using the non-apostrophe version makes things more consistent and will ‘compete’ appropriately with other Chandlers Ford sites.
Working properly? – Not sure what they mean. The only thing is, you can’t use the ‘ in the domain name or email address. That is the only thing you can’t do.
FYI – in history Chandlers Ford comes from Chandlersford (all one name) and further back in history apparently was referred to as ‘Charnells Foord’. Chandler’s derived from Chaundler later on. This info is taken from Wikipedia.
As I have said all along I would refer to it as Chandlers Ford.
Dear Neil,
Thank you for being brave to voice your different view amongst some very passionate fans of the apostrophe in Chandler’s Ford.
I have never thought of this issue from the search engine’s point of view. Thank you for taking us onto this new direction. I’ve learned from you.
Through my research, actually I found that many organisations are ambiguous. For example, Churches Together in Chandlers Ford uses Chandlers Ford as their header and sub-heading, yet their logo carries Chandler’s Ford. Chandlers Ford Central Club is the same. Its website uses Chandler’s Ford, yet its large display board outside the Central Precinct uses Chandlers Ford.
Do you think it is important to be consistent within an organisation? Chandlers Ford Methodist Church also disagree within the church — the unique Coffee Room is called Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church Coffee Room.
Thanks Janet. My opinion is based purely on website ranking perspective and how I believe people will search for Chandler’s Ford / Chandlers Ford via Google e.g. ‘Events in Chandler’s Ford’ or ‘Events in Chandlers Ford’ etc. I believe the latter. But like I said I think Google sees them as both the same ultimately.
If the history books are correct, the apostrophe was not used originally as the name was actually a single name ‘Chandlersford’ with the name being split later and the apostrophe added.
Ooooh, this could rumble on and on 😉
Neil,
Two places use Chandlersford as one word. One is the display board of Helen Farrar’s Cat and Kitten Rescue of Chandlers Ford. See the diaplay board here.
Another one is the plaque in memory of Mr Edward Dvgvid (sic) Ritchie on the outside wall of the Ritchie Memorial Hall. “who lived and worked for 15 years at Chandlersford, beloved as physician & friend. 1897 – 1912.”
I didn’t want to complicate my survey yesterday with chandlersford, so I only gave two options.
Well found!
Doing a Google search on ‘Chandlersford’ produces the same results as ‘Chandlers Ford’ and ‘Chandler’s Ford’
I have lived in Chandler’s Ford my entire life (65 years) . It is grammatically correct. Why do we have to dumb down because people cannot be bothered.
Thank you for sharing your view — of course the term Chandler’s Ford is grammatically correct.
I would also love to hear your stories about Chandler’s Ford. I’m sure you know a lot of stories and local history that we don’t know of. Please share them. Please contact me. Many thanks.
Correct English.
Simple yet eloquent answer. Thank you.
I liken this debate to the correct presentation of phone numbers for the area.
Is it 023 80xxxxxx or 02380 xxxxxx ?
Neil,
From the outstanding GDS design principles on gov.uk:
Telephone numbers
Use ‘Telephone: 011 111 111’ or ‘Mobile:’ not ‘Mob:’.
Use spaces between city and local exchange etc. Here are the different formats to use:
01273 800 900
020 7450 4000
0800 890 567
07771 900 900
077718 300 300
+44 (0)20 7450 4000
+39 1 33 45 70 90
When a number is memorable, group the numbers into easily remembered units, eg 0800 80 70 60.
I try to stick to the following rules on this site. When working on this site, my editorial guides are:
1) 023 8026 XXXX (023, one space, 4 digits, one space, 4 digits)
2) 01962 XXX XXX (01962, one space, 3 digits, one space, 3 digits)
There are stylistic issues I need to deal with on this site. I think we’ll need a Style Guide soon as this site is growing, and it’s important to be consistent.
Hi Janet.
I agree. I go all ‘OCD’ when I see Chandler(‘)s Ford / Eastleigh phone numbers being presented as 02380 xxxxxx. Even writing it like this in a post makes me go all shivery! 🙂
On all the websites I design for companies in the local area I use the correct format as you stated above, however, recently I was actually asked by a client when launching their new website to revert 023 80xx xxxx back to 02380 xxxxxx for reasons that people recognise 02380 as being local than 023. I reluctantly agreed, but it does not sit well with me 🙂
There’s an estate agent in Eastleigh that still shows the number as 0703 on its shop sign. How long since that was updated, I wonder.
I would love a photo of this shop. Any more information?
I forget its name – it’s at Leigh Road end of High Street.
I would buy a drink to anyone who would take a photo of this shop and send it to me by email.
I’ll try to remember next time I am in Eastleigh.
The area code is 023 followed by xxxx xxxx When the code was introduced, BT wrote to all businesses informing them of the correct layout to aid with changes to corporate stationery. If you dial a Portsmouth number from Chandler’s Ford you do not need to dial 023 as Portsmouth has the same area code. New numbers being allocated in Chandler’s Ford are now 9xxx xxxx so 02380 definitely won’t help!
Hi Judith,
Thank you for your clear explanation about the area code. After all, Neil doesn’t have to ‘sell his soul’ when sticking to his 023 XXXX XXXX principle! Thanks again.
Dear Janet,
The spelling of Chandler’s Ford has been officially confirmed by Eastleigh Borough Council as being with the apostrophe.
The greatest authority on this is local historian Barbara Hillier who always uses the apostrophe herself. The first chapter of her book “The Story of Chandler’s Ford” is titled “What’s in a Name”. Although probably out of print currently, today I see that there are some copies available on Ebay.
She also co-authored with Gerald Ponting, another well known local author, the book “The Chandler’s Ford Story”.
What is good enough for Barbara and Gerald is good enough for me and I too have always used the apostrophe and would encourage everyone to use it too!!
Hope this helps.
Kind regards
John
Dear John,
When was the spelling of Chandler’s Ford officially confirmed by Eastleigh Borough Council? Thanks.
Hello Janet,
I have it in a letter from the Chief Executive of Eastleigh Borough Council back in 1996.
Best wishes
John
Somewhat late to the debate but here goes…
Back in the 60’s my sister worked as a secretary for HCC roads dept. and one day she spotted that the proofs of some proposed road signs for Chandler’s Ford did not contain the apostrophe. She pointed out the error and the signs were then changed.
May be my sister was spilling her little brother a yarn. But thats my bit of input to the debate.