General Chat

Thanks Bridget, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the Santa Maria Gateway and also found the fact that the Church has the jewels which belonged to previous popes interesting.

Just two more things I will write about Grahamstown before you are all bored out of your minds!!!

THE PROVOST - The Provost Prison derives its name from its association with the Provost Marshall who was the officer responsible for maintenance and order in the military camps as well as the punishment and custody of deserters and military offenders. The Royal Engineers built the Provost Prison, which was completed in 1838.,. The original building consisted of an outer circle of cells and exercise yards which could be constantly observed from the windows of a two-storey guardhouse. The Old Provost was declared a National Monument in 1937. The Cape Provincial Administration restored it and handed it over to the Albany Museum in 1982. It is opened only on request.

Grahamstown hosts THE NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL (often known as the Grahamstown Festival). This is the country’s largest and most colourful festival. .For ten days the town is taken over and every nook and cranny is filled with artists, posters, vendors, writers, performers and of course tourists. Festival goers or as they are known locally Festinos take over the town, thousands of visitors arrive and there is an atmosphere of keep-going-till-you-drop. There is something for all tastes – opera, drama, music, art, lectures , tours and exhibitions. The streets in the centre of town are all turned into one way streets for the duration of the festival and finding parking is always a problem but this does not put anyone off. The pavements are filled with vendors selling their goods. This year the traders were moved from the Fiddler’s Green venue in the town to the University’s Great Field which is much bigger. One certainly sees some very strange attire during this time. I think the atmosphere at festival time is really great although I am the only member of the family who thinks so.


Today has been very hot again and it hardly seems possible that summer is once more upon us. I have found another game called Worddrop which I spend a lot of time playing instead of Bejewelled, I actually have to think!! Obviously too much time on my hands!

A cup of tea sounds like a good idea right now.

Take care.



Val.

THE SANTA MARÍA GATEWAY THE FINAL PART OF THE CASTEL ROUTE IN PENISCOLA
On the final leg of the route, still following the line of the medieval walls (some sections of which were built in the 18th century), visitors will pass by La Batería Alta del Maset, La Batería Alta del Boctoglio, La Batería Baja del Maset and El Polvorín in the Artillery Park, right where the Renaissance wall begins. The Baluarte de San Fernando, Baluarte de Santiago and Baluarte del Calvario bastions lead to the Batería del Olvido, or the Battery of Oblivion, so called as legend has it that French troops left a wounded soldier here by accident as they scaled the castle.
A little further on, after the Portal Fosc, the route leads to the Santa María gate.
The city route ends at this gateway, through which visitors can access the beaches and admire the vision of the fortified Peñíscola. Thanks to its history, to the silver screen and to the landscape which offers spectacular journeys between the Mediterranean and the Serra d’Irta mountains, this has become an eternal city.
The lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper’s cottage mark the halfway point along the route. Precipitous, winding steps lead down from here to the sea. Now blocked off, legend has it that this stairway was constructed by Pope Luna in a single night.
After skirting the castle that figured so prominently in Anthony Mann’s film El Cid, the route returns to the white squares such as La Plaza de Armas and La Plaza de la Ermitana.
The Portal Fosc is a gateway attributed to Juan de Herrera that is built from white stone and adorned with military motifs. Leading to the guardhouse, the Portal Fosc was the main entrance to the city up until the 18th century and still bears the shield and cartouche of Felipe II to this day. The Portal Fosc leads straight onto the Town Hall Square which is dominated by the parochial church.
Constructed following the Reconquest, this church has a single nave and still boasts its Romanic facade. It houses jewels that belonged to Benedict XIII, such as the processional cross, a Gothic piece made of silver and rock crystal with carved images and the coat of arms of Pedro de Luna and the Pietà, and the Chalice of Pope Luna, made of gilded silver with limousine enamels. It also holds Clement VIII’s Lignum Crucis reliquary and Felipe II’s processional cross.
THE SANTA MARÍA GATEWAY
On the final leg of the route, still following the line of the medieval walls (some sections of which were built in the 18th century), visitors will pass by La Batería Alta del Maset, La Batería Alta del Boctoglio, La Batería Baja del Maset and El Polvorín in the Artillery Park, right where the Renaissance wall begins. The Baluarte de San Fernando, Baluarte de Santiago and Baluarte del Calvario bastions lead to the Batería del Olvido, or the Battery of Oblivion, so called as legend has it that French troops left a wounded soldier here by accident as they scaled the castle.
A little further on, after the Portal Fosc, the route leads to the Santa María gate.
The city route ends at this gateway, through which visitors can access the beaches and admire the vision of the fortified Peñíscola. Thanks to its history, to the silver screen and to the landscape which offers spectacular journeys between the Mediterranean and the Serra d’Irta mountains, this has become an eternal city.


The cold weather is making me think of home so sent this instead of the second piece about Frinton

Bridget

Have continued reading all your posts ladies. Enjoyed them = = =

Still getting over a busy and tiring week. So off to bed in a short while (with a mug of Horlicks).


Tess

Val,
I have really enjoyed reading your entries, I can now to some extent picture in my mind the places you have described.

I will write some more this evening, after I have cleaned my little flat.When I rented this place for my time in the UK I thought a small place would be easy to look after, but that is not my experience. So out will come tho hover, the polish, the black bags, etc etc this morning and then this afternoon the washing and ironing and then this evening I will feel justified to sit down and come back on here. Has anyone got any tips about how to keep tidy a very small rented flat on the third floor of a building where the lift is constantly breaking down an the wonderful variety of sea birds like my window sill?...

Enough of my moaning.

Is anyone celebrating Halloween? At home we would have a big party and lots of fun, but here everything is deadly silent.

Well bye for now time to do those chores


Bridget

Hello again,

Your weekend sounds absolutely fabulous Ann, and you will have wonderful memories.

I mentioned before about the fun fashion show.put on by our church ladies,one of the Afrikaans churches asked us to do the show for their Seniors meeting, As one of the original "models" is away I was asked to fill in for her. I am a very reserved person so was very nervous but I have just returned from the "performance" and it was not as bad as I had anticipated. I modelled a 9-carat necklace and earrings - my necklace my made up of 9 carrots with goldy coloured beads between then and the earrings were tiny young carrots - what a scream!! Everyone enjoyed themselves.

Some more about Grahamstown.


Among the institutions in Grahamstown are The South African National Library for the Blind, the National English Literary Museum and the JLB Smith Institute the latter has had a name change but I do not know what it is. There is also the College of the Transfiguration - the only residential provincial college of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa.

Then there are the Museums – The Albany Museum complex consists of 5 museums – The Natural Sciences, The History (which includes the 1820 Settler Museum), The Observatory, The Provost Prison and Fort Selwyn.

Something about the OBSERVATORY MUSEUM - A simple double-storey house was bought by Henry Galpin in 1859. Over the years he made extensive changes among which was a rooftop development which included the Observatory from which the building took its name, it houses the only Camera Obscura in the Southern Hemisphere. There is only one other Victorian Camera Obscura in the world and that is in Bath England. One must go up a rather steep staircase to reach the Camera Obscura which mirrors the town reflection onto a circular table, this is really well worth a visit. Galpin trained as an architect, surveyor city engineer as well as a clock and watchmaker. He was keenly interested in optics and astrology, all these skills are reflected in the Museum. The building has been proclaimed a National Monument.

FORT SELWYN - is situated on Gunfire Hill overlooking Grahamstown. It was named after Captain Charles Selwyn of the Royal Engineers. He was responsible for the design and building of the fort and was stationed in Grahamstoen from 1834-1842. Sir Benjamen D’Urban, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape Colony ordered plans be drawn for a fortified barracks on the Provost Grounds now part of Rhodes University), to house an increased garrison and also to provide refuge for civilians during a time of war. He ordered a redoubt to be built on Gunfire Hill, from where it would dominate the surrounding ravines – this was to protect the approaches to the town and also the town’s water supply. The Royal Artillery occupied the fort from 1836-1862 when most of the garrison was withdrawn from Grahamstown. With the intention of connecting Grahamstown with Fort Beaufort and Fort Peddie a semaphore mast was erected in 1845. This, however, wasn’t a success as very often the masts were obscured by mist. At 9 a.m. every morning a gun was fired from Fort Selwyn, allegedly to remind the town’s Civil Servants that they should be at work. During the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 the Fort was once again manned. It then fell into disrepair and was converted into a domestic residence and tea-garden. During the late 1970s a work colleague lived at Fort Selwyn and ran the tea garden, this was not a successful venture for him and it was then closed. It is necessary to make an appointment if wanting to visit.
Fort Selwyn was declared a National Monument in 1936. The Cape Provincial Administration restored it during the 1970s and it was handed over to the Albany Museum in 1977.


Do enjoy the weekend whatever you will be doing.


Val.

Hi everyone,
as long as not called away, or distracted by anything tomorrow, will be here for a proper chat.
Have enjoyed reading all the recent posts,

Tess

Hi Bridget, yes there is a hard copy, with photos. I have a binder with reports of holidays going back to the early 90s. I will also, when I get time, do a scrap book page of it. Trouble is all me time at the moment is taken up with making my Christmas cards.

Val
Please write some more, I found your description really interesting. Somehow, when having a description about where a person lives or has lived makes such a difference. It seems to me that it is very similar to haing pen-pals.

I am still feeling rather tired, but will be writing another piece in the next few days.

Ann
What wonderful memories you will have of this very special anniversary. Have you kept a hard copy that you can leave for future generations? Whilst I was reading it I thought if only some of our ancestors had written th same, how much more we would know about them.

By for now

N

We had not known what to expect from the show as we had not particularly enjoyed the production of Phantom that we had seen. However, Love Never Dies, to us, was a much better production. This could of course be the difference between a travelling production in a provincial city and a London production. But we thought the visual effects were excellent. The setting is Coney Island this gives lots of opportunity for visual effects. We enjoyed it, not a lot of memorable songs, maybe a couple, the Title Song sung beautifully by Sierra Boggess and The Devil Take the Hindmost which has a catchy tune. As the music is all new to us it may be that if we hear it again there will be more songs that make their mark. The young boy who played Gustave was excellent and got a large cheer at the end but as there are 6 names against Gustave it is hard to know which one he was. All in all it was a wonderful end to a wonderful memorable weekend.
Sunday 24th. Sadly we packed our cases, took a few more photos and made our way to reception to pay. A taxi was procured for us and we set off for Paddington. More road closures and this time he was a strange not quite surly taxi driver who took us all round the back streets of Regents park and other areas over horrendous traffic calming humps. This time the fare came to £17 including tip. We had a lot of time at Paddington before the train. We found a nice little snack bar where I had a bacon roll and Tony a pasty. The train left on time at 1203, we had to change at Swindon but the train was in waiting, the journey again was uneventful and we easily got a taxi at Gloucester, the fare was £11 with tip and we were home by 3pm. It was a wonderful weekend to remember, a lovely present. We are very lucky to have a family who would do this for us.

Panini and we shared onion rings. We also shared a bottle of wine.
We walked back to the hotel via the law courts and Knights Templar church. Unfortunately the opening times of the latter had been changed so we were unable to go inside. We walked down to the embankment and back to our hotel where we read or watched TV and took yet more photos of the views from our balcony, being very aware that we would never have this wonderful experience again. At 7.30 we went out to eat and found a very nice Thai restaurant where we shared a couple of dishes and a rice. Tony chose a mild (one tick) chicken dish and I chose a prawn dish with no ticks at all. Mine was lovely, in a coconut sauce, very mild spice, Tony’s was a bit hotter (especially if you inadvertently ate a piece of chilli. We went back to the hotel for a drink in the bar and to people watch! The hotel is fairly busy but not many people ate in. Had another restless night. Tony has started a sore throat and cough which kept him awake.
Saturday 23 October. We had a coffee and a breakfast muffin plus a potato cake in McDonalds, one of the few places open before 10am. We then caught the tube, using our
Oyster cards, from Charing cross to Oxford Circus. We didn’t go up to Marble Arch but wandered down Oxford Street and into Marks and Spencer where we each bought a scarf and I bought a top and an umbrella. I thought Oxford Street was looking a bit scruffy but that may have been because the sun was not shining and it had rained the night before, everything looked drab. We walked to Covent Garden again then back to the Strand and had a coffee and sandwich in cafe Nero. We walked down past the Law Courts again and Clement Danes Church then back to the hotel. The wind was very strong and very cold coming off the river.
We read and watched sport until we had a bath at 5pm before setting off to find somewhere to eat before the theatre. As we started down the Strand it started to rain, this was not part of the plan. By the time we got to the restaurants near the Adelphi we were drenched. We just managed to get a table in Bella Pasta, all the places were heaving, we thought we had left early enough but obviously we are out of touch. Still, the restaurants are obviously used to theatre goers and our meal of spaghetti Bolognese soon arrived together with the bottle of red we’d ordered. The meal was very nice and we had plenty of time to eat it. In fact we were still in the theatre a bit early. We had excellent seats in the Dress Circle and the theatre was almost full.

We chose the cheapest meal on the menu which was fish and chips and creamed mushy peas. The fish was in beer batter, the chips chunky and the peas creamy and there was home-made tartare sauce to accompany it. We also had a tomato juice each (Having had a bottle of wine earlier in Wetherspoons we opted not to pay £25+ for a similar one!) The meal came to £47! We could not afford to eat here often! We were not late to bed but I didn’t sleep that well, I rarely do the first night in a strange place.
Friday 22 October. As we were on a room only basis we had a cup of tea then walked out of the hotel and down the Strand to look for somewhere to have something to eat. All the sandwich shops and small cafes were full as people grabbed coffees etc on their way to work. Eventually when we were almost in Trafalgar Square we found a small shop called the breadline, that sold coffees and Danish pastries as well as breakfasts. There were only a few tables and he was doing a brisk trade but we managed to get a table and enjoyed our pastries.
The Square was still remarkable empty, it was quite early still, about 10am, so we spent half an hour taking the obligatory photos of Nelson on his column.
We spent the following two hours in The National Gallery. Tony’s favourites were the Canalettos and mine, as usual Monet, although I did find an artist with whom I was not familiar, called Camille Pissarro whose paintings I liked a lot. Right at the end of our stay there we found a small exhibition by an artist called Clive Head. He is apparently a British artist born in the sixties. He made a great impression on both of us with the three paintings in the style of perspective artists such as Canaletto. Head’s perspective pictures were of London scenes, so realistic that you felt you could walk right into them. Sadly he doesn’t seem to have produced postcards, there was one book on sale which was very expensive so his work has to remain in our heads. (no pun intended).
From the National gallery, after taking a few more photos we walked to Covent Garden stopping to take a photo of a memorial to Oscar Wilde on the way. This inscription was on the memorial. Covent Garden was buzzing as usual with unicyclists and other entertainment artists, but what caught our eye, or more appropriately our ears, was a young man in one of the lower restaurants who was busking, and he was singing opera. He had a wonderful voice, very powerful, you wonder why somebody with a voice like that is reduced to busking? We went round Jubilee Market, lots to see, nothing we wanted to buy. We then made our way to The Shakespeares Head (Wetherspoons where we had been the day before) for lunch. Just managed to find a table as it was again crowded. This is not surprising of course as the prices are the same as elsewhere while most London bars and restaurants are much more expensive. Tony had a ham baguette and I had a ham and cheese Panini and we shared onion rings. We also shared a bottle of wine.

Golden Wedding Anniversary gift weekend 21 – 24 October 2010

The taxi arrived at 09.55 to take us to the station so we arrived in plenty of time for our train. In fact the Paddington train arrived very early having had its onward journey to Cheltenham curtailed as it had been delayed in London. Hearsay said it was signalling problems. We were able to get on twenty minutes before it was due to leave, a bonus as it was very cold on the station. No reserved notices had been put on seats and the guard said there were very few so we exchanged our booked seats for two others which we preferred. The train was clean, the journey swift and uneventful and we arrived on time at Paddington, manoeuvred our roller cases through the crowds going in the opposite direction and quickly got a taxi and were on our way.
There were road works along the normal rout the taxi would take but our driver said he would take us a different way, instead of going through the centre he diverted around Westminster and did his own tour giving us a running commentary as he drove. We saw many places that we recognised from years gone by, it was a journey we found very interesting and we didn’t begrudge the fare of £16 including tip, at all.
At the Swissotel The Howard a very smart gentleman in uniform and top hat came forward to open the taxi door and remove our luggage. We followed him to reception. On checking in we were told that our room was not yet ready but that we had been upgraded to a room on the 8th floor overlooking the river. We couldn’t think why but it sounded good. The nice young man who spoke impeccable English, said that if we left our mobile number he would call us when the room was ready. The doorman took our luggage for safe keeping and we went off to find some lunch. When we walked up the road to The Strand we realised that maybe looking for lunch at one thirty was not going to be an easy matter. Our hotel was in an area sandwiched between the Courts of Justice and Kings College. Pubs and wine bars were full of workers from the former and cafes and restaurants were full of students from the latter. We managed to squeeze into a small table in a sandwich bar and had a coffee and toasted sandwich. Meanwhile we had received a message that our room was ready so we made our way back to the hotel.
We were given the key to room 807 and told our luggage would be taken to our room for us. Not that we had much, just two small roller cases but we were obviously not meant to transport it ourselves. We opened the door to our room and, wow! It was wonderful, a large
five foot bed and a small settee, a large glass topped coffee table, all black marble surfaces, everything sparkling clean. The bathroom, more black marble, snow white very large fluffy towels. There were huge windows with patio doors and a balcony. I opened the door and stepped out. The view was breath- taking, to our left we could see St Pauls and Tower Bridge behind Blackfriars Bridge. To our right we could see the Millennium wheel, Waterloo Bridge, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Directly opposite us was The National Theatre and the OXO tower, and on the river, all the cruise and ferry boats. On the coffee table was a large card with a photo taken at night from room 814 a few rooms along and a square white plate. On the plate, Happy Anniversary written in chocolate and four chocolates. The card wished us a memorable 50th wedding anniversary and hoped our day was fantastic. So that was the answer as to why we had been upgraded.
As soon as we had unpacked we walked out of the hotel and went via Aldwych towards Holborn where we found a huge Wetherspoons and had a bottle of wine and some Nachos. We walked back to the hotel via Chancery and The La Courts. At 4.45pm we found ourselves swimming against a tide of humanity as workers from some building or other fought their way home towards the nearest tube station. We had never seen so many people in one place moving in one direction at the same time. When we got back to the hotel, we took a lot of photos from the balcony, luckily it was a beautiful sunny day although quite cold. Unfortunately Tony was by now developing a sore throat and cough so was feeling the cold. Because of this we decided to stay in the hotel to eat that evening, even though we were aware of how expensive it was. We had a lovely bath then went down to the bar for a pre dinner drink at 8pm. The bar only serves the more expensive brands (Blue Saphire gin for example not Gordons) and only serves doubles. I had a whisky and water and Tony had a G&T, the drinks were served with a bowl of pretzels and another of mixed nuts and the bill was £17. We chose the cheapest meal on the menu which was fish and chips and creamed mushy peas.

Hello everyone, hope you all enjoyed your weekend. We had a couple of heavy showers of rain last night and to-day is cloudy and overcast, so hopefully we will get a bit more rain. Unfortunately I believe there was no rain in our catchment area

I thought I would write about my home town.
I was born in Grahamstown and went to school there. In those days we didn’t have a motor car and we walked to and from school, about 2 kilometers each way, this included going home at lunch time as school had two sessions. I remember how some farmers would come into town with their ox-wagons to sell wood as many homes had wood stoves then. The shops would all close at l p.m. on Saturday and re-open on Monday. Those were the days when one could hand in a grocery shopping list at the grocery store and the goods would all be delivered.. I also recall the first icecream carts coming into the residential areas, the driver ringing a little handbell, the first icecream I remember buying from them was called a Polar Bar, a tubular icecream covered in chocolate.

Grahamstown is about 60 kilometers from the coast. The town was founded in 1812 by Colonel John Graham and initially it served as a military outpost as part of an effort to secure British influence in the then Cape Colony, against the Xhosas. . The Xhosas raided and looted the Settler farms in the area and many settlers gave up their farms and moved into the town. The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British Colonists settled around Grahamstown by the British Government in 1820. They are commemorated in the town by the 1820 Settlers National Monument which opened in 1974. It is a living monument, hosting plays and cultural events. There is also the Settlers Hospital, so named in recognition of a gift of money by the 1820 Settlers Memorial Association

Grahamstown is known by a couple of names – “City of Saints” as it is home to about 52 churches. There is,however, another story which may be the source of this nickname - It is said that in about 1846 the Royal Engineers stationed in the town needed building tools and sent a message to Cape Town asking that a vice be sent to Grahamstown from the Stores. A reply came back “Buy vice locally” the response was “No vice in Grahamstown”!! Another nickname is “Sleepy Hollow” because during the long summer holidays when the schools and the university are closed and all the students leave town it is so quiet.
.

Grahamstown is an educational centre boasting some of the finest schools in the country. Three of the schools are private schools and the rest are Government schools. There is also a university, namely Rhodes University which was established as Rhodes University College in 1904 and became a university in 1951. This is where my father was employed at the time he volunteered for the Army, on his return after the war in 1945 he went back to his old post, he was the Clerk of Works, where he remained until his death in 1974.

If anyone is interested I will write some more to-morrow .




Val.

The town of Frinton-on-Sea is often in the news, mostly featuring a gentle dig at the strict regulations that govern the town. Frinton was designed in the early 1900s as a seaside resort and has remained unspoiled ever since with some of the finest beaches in the country. 'Progress' is carefully controlled to preserve the original Victorian nature of the town. The decision to open the first pub was long debated until plans were approved in 2000. Sandwiched between the sea and a railway line, there is little room for expansion, which helps retain the charming small town feel.

Frinton Golf Club was founded in 1895 and used a nine hole design by Tom Dunn, on land now occupied by houses in Second and Third Avenue. In 1904, twice Open Champion Willie Park Jnr. designed a new 18 hole course on the present site, an area formerly renowned for hare coursing. On the advice of the famous golf course architect Harry S Colt, various improvements were made to the original design that left the layout largely as we know it today.



These improvements, however, were greatly set back by the coming of the Second World War. Frinton lies on a stretch of coast that was thought to be a possible site for an enemy invasion and so, with the exception of the first three holes, the course was requisitioned by the Army and sown with mines. The resultant damage was obviously considerable and it was not until 1947 that the course began to resume its former shape.

Over the years many famous golfers have played at Frinton, including in the early part of the twentieth century the great triumvirate of Vardon, Braid and Taylor. In 1929 the British Professionals practised at Frinton prior to their first Ryder Cup victory at Moortown. A member of that team, 1923 Open Champion Arthur Havers, was subsequently to return in 1956 as Club Professional, a post he held until his retirement in 1964.

In more recent years Frinton has been at the forefront of change by being one of the first to embrace total equality of the sexes in its membership.

Well that is the first installment about Frinton. If the Golf Club had not been built the chances of Frinton becoming what it became would most likely never have happened.
In the next installment I will write about the wonderful competition that was held to deternmine who would design and build some of our favourite buildings.
Bye for now and I hope that you are all having a relaxing weekend

Night shifts over and I am tired ! It wasn't hard work, just a long time to be running around and then not sleeping very well during the day. This morning Iwent to bed at 10.00hrs and woke up with a start thinking I was late for work!!!

The sun is just about shining and and the Hastings area looks rather grey from where I am sitting. I am going to have a coffee now and maybe something light to eat and then try to have another snooze for a couple of hours.
So, look out for the Frinton Story

Have a good day wherever you are


Bridget

I am sorry that once again I haven't had time to write my story on here. Went to work this morning and didn't get away until 2pm had a rest and a shower and now going back for 7pm to 7am shift and the same tomorrow night.

At least we have now recruited and scrutinised the candidates and appointed so just waiting for all the checks that are required these days and then the two of them can start, Hip Hip Horray !!!

Well a cup of coffe sits waitning to be drunk so bye bye for now , best wishes to you all and have a pleasurable weekend.

No the telephone call did not take ths long but had a lovely long chat with army son. Not only has ne been promoted as I said earlier but he has been given the honour of leading his men in the Poppy Day march through town. He explained that most of his colleagues have misxed feelings about this as they would have liked to have been leading but are also delighted they haven't because then all army eyes will be on my sons marching technique rather than on them!!
sorry if I am saying to much about my family,

Night night everyone

sweet dreams

Bridget

Mary and Tess

I have enjoyed reading the entries from both of you and it simply shows how evocative our memories can be.

This week is flying past and yet I still have so much to do especially at work, so no change there.

I must calculate how many days left before I should finish work.......

Will try to come back later, phone ringing

Well as promised here are my memories of Yardley village.

Perhaps it is because of my happy childhood in Yardley that it remains close to my heart.

I was born in Church Road, Yardley and lived with my mom, dad, sister and grandparents at the cottage over the road from the church. Next to the church was Yardley park where I had many happy times playing in the playground and my treat used to be on a Sunday afternoon when my dad would take me to play on the putting green.

Yardley is now a conservation area and through traffic is not allowed through the village. So very different from when I was a youngster - although in the early 50¡s traffic was not really a problem.

The cottage was detached and next door was the Labour Club. The village boasted a post office and general store, a greengrocers, a farm and even a blacksmiths - often you would see horses being shoed.

I was not allowed to play in the street but we had a very large garden so had plenty of room to play. My dad used to grow vegetables while my grandad loved to potter amongst his rabbits, budgerigars, canaries and hens. Teatime would sometimes be a fresh boiled egg without the little lion stamped on it !!

The front garden of the cottage was small but I will always remember the hedge of rhodedandrums and the two fushia bushes either side of the front door. Talking of front doors - it was never locked and the postman would open the door and put the mail on the ledge inside. Now, that would not happen today would it ?

I suppose my childhood was idyllic - or so it seemed to me - life seemed to be so happy - long summer days - picnics in Chelmsley Wood - when it was also known as Bluebell wood for obvious reasons. Little did we know that the first place my mom and dad had you could see Chelmsley Wood from the kitchen window. We moved to Kingshurst when I was 9 and it was the first real home my mom. dad. me and my sister had - we could also see Yardley church's steeple from the lounge window - should say it was a second floor flat hence the views- My grandad said that if he needed us he would go to the top of the steeple and wave a flag.

Well I have done enough reminising (spelling ?) today - hope you have found it interesting. Tess I really enjoyed reading about Handsworth park.

Hope you all have a great day

Love Mary xx