< Previous | Index | Next >
Notes from bygone years – May all your Mays be amazing
Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
May 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
We took Donna’s Mum, Isobel, for a weekend break at a Warners hotel; the one we visited is Holme Lacy, not far from Hereford. Donna thought Isobel would enjoy this place, and she was right. In the evening there were tribute bands singing songs that were popular in the 50s and 60s, so music that is still popular amongst the older generation these days. The outside areas are attractive too as you can see from the photo.
JHM: I wrote about the expansion of excavations at Pompeii. – World events: – The WHO downgraded COVID from being a global health emergency to just a pandemic; Charles III and Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey.
May 2022 (2 years before publishing)
I had a suspected cold but needed to be sure it wasn’t COVID as I was planning to be with a group of friends, but as you can see the result was negative.
I don’t think any of us wants to go through another pandemic! It was very disruptive in so many ways.
World events: The Eurovision Song Contest was won by Ukraine; and the Event Horizon Telescope revealed Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole.
May 2019 (5 years before)
Choosing a day with beautiful sunshine, we visited Hidcote Gardens and then Charlcote Park (pictured). The ingenuity, design and construction that went into gardens and houses like these is astounding. But they depended on the work of large numbers of people much less fortunate than the people who lived in them.
World events: An inter-governmental report found more than a million species were at risk of extinction; and Theresa May announced her resignation as Conservative leader.
May 2014 (10 years)
New Frontiers were holding their annual gathering at the National Agricultural Centre at Stoneleigh and I felt I should take my friends Kev and John to one of the sessions. They’d shown real interest in Jesus and we’d been reading through parts of the Bible in a local coffee shop in St Neots. The photo shows them listening to news about church planting in Pakistan.
JHM: I posted about something unexpected that happened at Stoneleigh. – World events: The ‘Luhansk People’s Republic‘ declared independence from Ukraine; and Narendra Modi became the 14th prime minister of India.
May 2009 (15 years)
River Church in St Neots had a day out at Grafham Water on 25th May. Here’s Jim’s giant Jenga being put to good use. Everyone had a great time, but Jim’s Jenga tower is nowhere near the largest. Try this one for size!
JHM: I wrote about the internet; and about a meeting where freedom was the main thing. – World events: The Hubble Space Telescope was serviced by Atlantis; and the Sri Lankan Civil War ended afer 25 years of fighting.
May 2004 (20 years)
Ken and Gayna are good friends of ours. Ken and Donna were both working and I was working a four day week at that time, so Gayna and I visited Ely Cathedral which she’d never seen before. The photo shows the lantern, an astonishing design and structure for medieval times.
JHM: One of our meetings focused on love and kindness. – World events: The European Union expanded, adding ten further states; and the First Battle of Fallujah ended.
May 1999 (25 years)
On 1st May we visited Donna’s parents. Her Dad had a hot air balloon flight for two as a birthday present and this was the day he chose for the ascent, inviting me to join him. In the photo, I’m on the left and Tony’s on the right. It was an amazing experience!
World events: A tornado in Oklahoma involved record-breaking winds of over 300 mph; at the Hague, Slobodan Milošević and four others were indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
May 1994 (30 years)
I replied to a mailing list message about SUPER.EXE, an MS-DOS utility for getting temporary admin rights on a Novell Netware server. It saved logging out and in again (twice) or, even worse, going to the locked server room to perform the same task from there.
World events: F1 world champion, Ayrton Senna died in a crash; the Channel Tunnel opened between England and France; and Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
May 1989 (35 years)
We visited Cirencester and my Mum and Dad took us to North Meadow at Cricklade to look at the snake’s head fritillaries growing wild there. After that we drove up the Stow Road to see orchids and pasqueflowers. It was quite the botanical field trip!
World events: The Soviet Union issued its first Visa card; Hungary dismantled barbed wire fencing along its border with Austria; and the last golden toad (now extinct) was seen in Costa Rica.
May 1984 (40 years)
My daughter Beth loved hamsters, so when she was six I wrote a Sinclair Spectrum text adventure for her, starring a hamster. If you use a Spectrum emulator you can still load and run this game. I suggest the Fuse emulator (free). Once installed, here’s the Hamster! download.
World events: The Severomorsk Disaster was an enormous explosion at the Soviet Severomorsk Naval Base; and a gas explosion in Lancashire killed 16 people.
May 1979 (45 years)
We travelled to a Post Green meeting at Lytchett Minster near Poole with our friends Paul and Jenny as we had no car at this time. Tony and Faith also drove down. This was an eye-opening experience for all six of us, we learned so much about community, making music, and the gifts of the Spirit. We camped in a borrowed tent and our one-year-old, Beth, slept in a cardboard box. Beth’s first birthday came in May as well, Debbie was already four, our family was growing up!
World events: Margaret Thatcher became the UK’s first woman prime minister; and Greenland was granted limited autonomy from Denmark.
May 1974 (50 years)
I was still doing a little work on willow growth rates for Ken Stott, the Willows officer at LARS, but Ken had been providing help to the Pomology Group and I was working more and more on that. I’d had a promotion to Higher Scientific Officer (HSO) and was eager to spend more time on microscopy and pollination.
World events: The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) exploded four car bombs in counties Dublin and Monaghan, killing 33 and injuring 300; and India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon.
May 1969 (55 years)
As Bath University Horticulture students, we visited commercial sites from time to time see horticulture in action and ask questions of the managers and staff. The photo shows one of these visits in May 1969. Peter Thoday, one of our lecturers at the time and later a TV personality, is at the back on the right.
World events: An American teenager died of a baffling medical condition, later identified as HIV/AIDS; Apollo 10‘s lunar module flew two astronauts to within 16 km of the Moon‘s surface.
May 1964 (60 years)
Here’s my sister, Ruth, busy with coloured chalks and a little slate. The floor covering is linoleum, bought by my grandparents for the house, now relegated to the garden. In the background is my old scooter from the mid 1950s. Ruth is on the loggia, a covered area in the garden with three open sides.
World events: The first BASIC computer program was run; and large student protests against the Vietnam War began in US cities.
May 1959 (65 years)
May probably brought school half-term, Spring Bank Holiday was 18th, the Eleven Plus exams loomed, and probably came in June; it was strange to realise that at the end of term, my days at Junior School would be over! Uncertainty lay ahead but I don’t remember feeling anxious, nor indeed excited.
World events: North Vietnam implemented plans to invade South Vietnam; and a Jupiter AM-18 rocket launched two monkeys into space from Cape Canaveral, returning them safely to Earth.
May 1954 (70 years)
I had a letter from my older cousin, Jill. At this time she was staying in a hostel in Deptford, London. She had watched the Royal Yacht Britannia returning home with the Queen and Prince Philip on board. The ship was brand new at the time and she wanted to describe the event for me. Click the image to read an extract.
World events: Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than four minutes; and Diane Leather became the first woman to run a mile in less than five minutes.
May 1949 (75 years)
Approaching ten months old, I might have started imitating sounds. I’d have been fairly mobile and no doubt making a nuisance of myself by crawling. Perhaps I had a favourite toy by this time too. We were still living with my grandparents, though Mum and Dad were hoping to move to a home of their own soon.
World events: Britain’s EDSAC, the first practicable stored-program computer, ran its first program; and the Federal Republic of Germany was established.
May 1944 (80 years)
In May, Dad had several firsts during basic training for the RAF. He threw a live hand grenade, went through a gas chamber and removed his mask inside, fired a Sten gun, and suffered a carbuncle on his neck that required a stay in Sick Quarters. On 25th May Dad was moved, with 12 others, to an RAF station at Wilmslow in Cheshire.
World events: In the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, Soviet troops finally drove out all German forces; and on 15th Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, Bernard Montgomery and other leaders met for the final D-Day joint briefing.
< Previous | Index | Next >
Useful? Interesting?
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome! 
Share this:
Journeys of Heart and Mind 
.jpg){kind=link}