Blast from the past… 29
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Jan 2025 (3 months before publishing this article)
On 2nd January we visited Batsford Arboretum, one of the places we like enough to revisit several times a year. Before it was an arboretum it was a family estate, the photo shows the interior of the private family church.
The heat pump system we’ve been waiting for was finally installed towards the end of the month, it was all working throughout the evening and night of 31st and it was wonderful to began to feel warmer, the first time our radiators have been warm since the gas boiler failed back in October! We survived with our 5 kW gas fire in the lounge and a couple of electric convector heaters. We had other work done on the house during January as well, repairing a leak around our chimney and making further changes to a window. This completed the work begun in December.
I enjoy following progress in spaceflight – a lifelong interest – and January was a busy month. A Falcon 9 booster launched and landed for a record 25th flight, Blue Origin’s first launch of New Glenn reached orbit but failed to land, and Starship Flight 7 failed to reach orbital velocity, but the booster was caught successfully. The break-up of the orbiter made a spectacular light show over the Caribbean.
One of my accounts on the internet was hacked and several more compromised, it was stressful and took time to recover.
JHM: I described my breakfast; and some notes on John 16:12-15. World events: Bulgaria and Romania joined the Schengen Area; and Los Angeles suffered destructive wildfires.
October 2024 (6 months before publishing)
Donna started running quite seriously, spurred on by her brother, Paul, and his wife Vanessa. She did a Park Run with them in Tetbury on 12th, and then a 10k race at Westonbirt School on 17th. She’s at the run a bit, walk a bit stage, but improving all the time. I’m impressed!
Our garden cabin got painted, we paid a handyman to do it as it’s a big area to cover, and he sprayed Donna’s choice of Dulux Weathershield colour over a primer following pressure washing and sanding all the timber.
On the 5th we drove to Nottingham for a friend’s 80th birthday party, staying one night. It was a lovely occasion and we met a lot of old friends from our days in St Neots.
JHM: I wrote about being outward and integrated; and shared images of the Spelga Dam. World events: Iran attacked Israel with ballistic missiles; and SpaceX caught a Super Heavy booster on the first attempt.
April 2024 (1 year before)
We visited Kelmscott Manor not far from Lechlade, where William and Jane Morris lived for some years and made many of their own furnishings. The wall-hanging in the photo was made by them in 1860 when they lived in Kent. As we explored the house we began to see what a gem this place is, full of original material from the Arts and Crafts movement of the time.
Paul and Vanessa (with the two dogs) came to visit for Donna’s birthday, we always enjoy seeing them. We didn’t go out, but split the time between our house and Isobel’s (Paul and Donna’s Mum), chatting and catching up.
Later in the month we visited another interesting old house, the never completed Woodchester Mansion. This is very unusual, it remained empty and unused when the funds ran out and is a frozen work in progress. The builders just downed tools and walked out!
At the end of April I did a canal walk from Chalford to the tunnel entrance at Daneway.
JHM: I posted about the canal walk; and on Cirencester history sources. World events: Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus; and Iran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel.
April 2023 (2 years)
Early in the month we visited Weston-super-Mare to look after the dogs while Paul and Vanessa explored Dartmoor. One day, Donna and her Mum wanted to shop at Cadbury Garden Centre so I took the opportunity of walking around the village of Yatton where I used to live. It’s changed a bit since I was last there and it was fun to walk around some of the old haunts. We visited Cheddar, Cheddar Gorge and Burrington Combe as well.
Debbie, Aidan and Sara came to visit in the middle of the month and I went with them to Bristol where we visited the SS Great Britain and did a walk around Roman Cirencester. The photo is the best I could manage, I struggled to predict where everyone would be and it was hard to get ahead for better photos! It was an interesting experience, and later Aidan got to visit his favourite football club, Bristol Rovers.
JHM: I posted more on groundbreaking; and on a delayed attempt to launch SpaceX’s Starship for the first time. World events: Finland joined NATO; and Starship launched for the first time on 20th April.
April 2020 (5 years)
Donna’s Dad, Tony, was suffering a lot of pain in the mornings when we had to help him out of bed. But we were able to get carers in from a local hospice, Longfield, despite the COVID precautions. This was wonderful as otherwise he would have had to go into care and visiting was not possible during this time, it would have been an awful experience for him and for us, too. Paul, as a family member, was able to drive up from Weston-super-Mare to visit to see his Dad.
There were daily ministerial broadcasts about the pandemic. It was a strange time, I remember one day a queue of over 100 people was socially distanced all around the Tesco car park with a very long wait to get into the supermarket. Donna and I always looked forward to our one permitted daily walk, but the necessary restrictions were causing serious damage to the economy. I wrote a Haiku of Haikus about it all.
World events: The number of COVID cases worldwide passed 1 million on 2nd April and by 27th it passed 3 million; Donald Trump announced the US was suspending funding for the WHO.
April 2015 (10 years)
We were in Beddgelert at the beginning of the month, visiting Paul and Vanessa in the cottage they were renting for the week. One day we travelled to Caernarvon and back on the Welsh Highland Railway, walking to and from Beddgelert Station.
On our way home from Gwynedd we stopped to visit Wightwick Manor, a Victorian Manor House in Wolverhampton. This is Victorian style at its most intense, nothing here is simple, everything is ornate, the chimneys, the internal woodwork, the plaster ceilings – everything! If you are in the area, this National Trust property is well worth a visit.
JHM: I wrote on love and forgiveness. World events: The WHO declared Rubella had been eradicated from the Americas; and there was a serious earthquake in Nepal.
April 2010 (15 years)
As I no longer had a Unilever work laptop, and my own device was a small netbook, I bought an Acer Aspire laptop at Tesco for use at home and continued with the netbook when I was out and about. I ran Linux Ubuntu on both. The photo shows the netbook with Google Wave active in the Chrome browser.
We took the X-treme Camp children and some of their parents tenpin bowling on 6th and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. And the Duchess of Gloucester came to St Neots to open the new Eatons Community Centre, a grand occasion for what became a very popular local venue for all sorts of social activities and events. Click the image for a larger view of her being greeted by young people on the day.
The Bougainvillea flowered abundantly in our conservatory and I bought a wireless Wi-Fi hub for use when I’m out of the house. It provided Wi-Fi connections for up to five devices at once.
JHM: Jim, Sean and I considered salt and light; and I wrote on science and faith. World events: The first iPad was released; and The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.
April 2005 (20 years)
On 2nd April I flew to Ford Lauderdale, Florida for the Koinonia Life Retreat, oganised at the Duncan Conference Centre by my friend Steph. I spent the first night at the home of her friends, Terry and Bill. On 4th I stayed with Steph and her husband Earl and on the 5th and 6th visited my cousin Jill and her partner Marcia. After that I spent more time with Steph, Earl, Terry and Bill before flying home on 11th. It was a great trip, and many of the people I met at the Retreat had already been online friends for some time. It was very good to meet them face to face.
At Unilever I was now working on the web Portal which seemed to me rather confusing and not well-designed for research teams. I felt I was pushing against the natural flow of a river of information. It was an uncomfortable experience.
World events: Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles; and the first ever YouTube video was uploaded (watch it).
April 2000 (25 years)
The most extreme floods we had seen so far in St Neots were in early April, peaking around the 4th and 5th. The river broke its banks and spilled across the floodplain. That is quite normal, but this year the water was exceptionally deep.
Our new kitchen was finished and we were able to put everything away and make the place tidy at last. This was a huge improvement since early March.
World events: There was a serious plane crash in the Philippines; and a Polish Catholic woman was canonised.
April 1995 (30 years)
Debbie was working hard at the University of the West of England in Bristol. The photo shows her writing up an assignment at home in Yatton.
Judy continued day trips with Debbie and Beth, sometimes I’d go along as well, but often I’d be at work at Long Ashton. The photo below was taken by Debbie and shows Beth and Judy on the beach at Clovelly. I’m glad they were able to spend time with her while she was still fit and well. She lost her hair during a failed attempt at chemotherapy in autumn 1994, but her hair was growing back well by April as you can see.
It was probably in April or May that we began meeting with our friends Tony, Faith, Paul and Jenny again. I don’t know the precise date, but I think it would have been this time of year. They were great meetings when we prayed together and received so much in visions, words, interpreted tongues, Bible readings and much much more.
We got started again because I visited Tony and Faith first I think, and then Paul and Jenny, and suggested that we should give it a try even though things had been difficult for some years beforehand.
Judy was fully on board with all this too. And although we prayed for her healing sometimes, this was not the focus for us; instead we really wanted to hear what Father had to say to us and it was like drinking from a firehose!
World events: The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people; and the US government stopped funding NSFNET, making the Internet entirely independent of government control.
April 1990 (35 years)
The beginning of April was warm, here Beth has a guinea pig on her lap and Debbie is working. They’re sitting out in the back garden at 80 Stowey Road in Yatton on 1st of the month.
The 15th was much colder, by this time Debbie’s Bordeaux exchange student, Anne, had arrived and one of our trips was to Chew Valley reservoir. Our car at the time (in the photo) was ‘Karen’, so named by Debbie because it was a Volkswagen and karren is German for cart or barrow. This car had belonged to my Dad, when he replaced it he let us buy it at an advantageous price.
World events: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched ; and West and East Germany agreed to merge their currencies and economies.
April 1985 (40 years)
There’s little to say about this month, I haven’t found any photos. We were still living at 22 Rectory Drive in Yatton, Debbie was ten and Beth nearly seven.
I was working at Long Ashton Research Station, and Judy was teaching at Cotham Grammar School in Bristol.
World events: South Africa ended its ban on interracial marriages; and Coca-Cola released New Coke which was not well received.
April 1980 (45 years)
The photo shows Debbie and Beth in their Wendy House. It was becoming a bit the worse for wear at this stage and was held together by tape and clothes pegs! The back garden at Rectory Drive was small, but just big enough for playing in and to grow a small apple tree, a tiny veg patch, two even tinier gardens for Debbie and Beth, and a sand pit.
While the girls were small it was all we needed, and in any case we couldn’t afford a larger mortgage. We were no longer involved at Horsecastle Chapel at this point, an evangelical congregation meeting at the northern end of the village. We’d become friendly with a number of believers from a variety of backgrounds and were meeting in our own homes.
World events: There were riots in St Pauls, Bristol; and terrorists took over the Iranian embassy in London.
April 1975 (50 years)
Debbie would sleep peacefully in her pram and Judy was able to catch up with other tasks and even take a photo or two like this one.
We were living in our flat at 20 Belmont Road in Bristol; ours was the middle flat with a musician (Gwyn) and his wife (Gladys) downstairs with access to the back garden. Gwyn played in the BBC training orchestra in Bristol and had a fine selection of classical music LPs. He copied a selection of tracks onto reel-to-reel tape for us. There was a landing halfway up the stairs to our flat and we kept our bikes there. I rode to work and back every day in Long Ashton.
World events: Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Micro-soft (sic); and The Vietnam War ended with the Fall of Saigon.
April 1970 (55 years)
This is 14 Belland Drive in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham where Judy lived with her brother, Frank, and their Mum and Dad. Judy was back here from University for a weekend in April and the photo shows the house from the back garden.
Also in April, Judy’s Biochemistry year at Aberystwyth made the long coach trip to Cambridge where they stayed in Churchill College and visited biochemistry labs at the university. She was mightily impressed by the size of the student rooms at Churchill, compared to those at Aber! They made a day trip from Cambridge to Unilever’s research lab at Colworth north of Bedford; and strangely enough I would work there much later after Donna and I were married in 1998.
World events: Paul McCartney announced that he had left The Beatles; and Apollo 13 was launched to the Moon.
April 1965 (60 years)
(Wikimedia)
I travelled home from Brantwood in the Lake District, probably on 3rd April. I had a great time, there were people from a number of different schools. I think I was the only one from Cirencester. Dad drove me over to the course organiser’s home in Owlpen where we set off for the minibus journey north. We made several trips, walking to the top of Coniston Old Man and visiting the slate quarry on the way up. The slate quarry is now derelict, but was still working when we were there in 1965. We also travelled to the pebble beach near Barrow-in-Furness where we found seabird eggs hidden amongst the pebbles.
The summer term began after Easter, the final part of my year in the Lower Sixth at Cirencester Grammar School.
World events: Early Bird was launched, the first commercial telecommunications satellite; and The Pennine Way officially opened.
April 1960 (65 years)
I was in Form 1B at Cirencester Grammar School. Here’s a section from my maths exercise book at the time. I remember the maths teacher was Mr Dyer, a kind and gentle person who was always helpful and positive.
World events: The USA launched the first weather satellite; and Brasilia became the new capital of Brasil.
April 1955 (70 years)
We were living at 17 Queen Anne’s Road in Cirencester; the Summer term began at Querns School, the final term of my second year. Comics were the thing that occupied children in those pre-computer days. Instead of games and other apps on a phone, I was spending hours reading Swift or playing in the garden. Cindy was probably not yet quite old enough for a comic.
We spent time with the neighbourhood children too, especially our next door neighbours, the Watts. Linda was more or less my age, and Graham about Cindy’s age; I think we played well together, either in the house or in the garden.
I had a Tri-ang pedal-power American Jeep (the image is similar, but not identical) with a little, khaki jerry-can on the back. Cindy had a pull-along roundabout with four wooden figures with arms that swung out when it was revolving.
World events: Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister at 80; and the Salk polio vaccine was approved in the USA.
April 1950 (75 years)
When we moved to our new home in Queen Anne’s Road, the garden was an area of rough soil, topsoil mixed with underlying layers, bits of concrete, and scattered building rubble.
Dad, of course, made a start on turning it into a proper garden, but before he had time to get very far with this, I was out there at the age of two in my little blue coat with its fur edged hood. One of the things that I found was a poker. Everyone had a poker by the sitting-room fire, essential for moving coal and logs around when necessary. Mum and Dad didn’t have a poker, so I was very pleased to find one.
Years later I realised what it really was. It was a fence-wire strainer. It was made of galvanised steel with a loop at one end and a long section of screw thread on the other (a bit longer than in the photo). It would have been passed through a hole in a concrete fence post, fence wire attached, and a nut tightened on the thread to pull the wire taut. Mine had lost its nut and been discarded. It served as a poker for at least 25 years until I was quite grown up and had left home.
World events: The British comic Eagle was launched; and Britain formally recognised Israel.
April 1945 (80 years)
Dad spent time with family and friends in and around Cirencester at the beginning of the month, travelling back to Skendleby by train on 7th. The constant exchange of letters with Mum in Coagh continued.
On 12th he noted that President Roosevelt had died but made no comment on the news. At the end of the month Dad learned he was to be billeted out in Skendleby and wrote in his diary that he had mixed feelings about it.
World events: Dietrich Bonoeffer was hanged; and Adolf Hitler committed suicide in Berlin.
April 1940 (85 years)
There’s not enough information to write something for every month in the 1940s. Dad’s diaries start in January 1943, so for January 1940 to December 1942 I’ll write about things I know, or draw on dated photos and documents. Sometimes I might use a photo or document with a guessed date.
Although my grandparents, Ted and Nor, usually went to the Parish Church in the Market Place on a Sunday morning, Watermoor Church was a similar distance to walk and it’s clear they sometimes went there instead.
They lived at Churnside, 37 Victoria Road. To reach the Parish Church they would walk north on Victoria Road, turn left onto Dyer Street and continue into the Market Place. To reach Watermoor Church they would cross Victoria Road, follow The Avenue, and turn left along Watermoor Road.
World events: German ships set out to invade Norway; and The Faroe Islands were occupied by British troops.
1930-1939 (95 to 86 years ago)
Here’s another experimental new section. It will contain material that I believe fits this range of dates.
This is a back-of-the-envelope pen and ink drawing by my grandfather, EA Jefferies (Ted or Guv), he made it for my Dad when he was a young child (five-years-old in 1931) and the colouring-in looks like the work of a child of that age, or maybe a year or so younger. The picture shows the Mop Fair that takes over Cirencester Market Place in October each year, so it might date to October 1930 or 1931.
This picture is very typical of the drawings and stories Grandpa produced. The characters are animals. Notice the smoke rising above the roundabout on the right, it was steam-powered, no diesel generators in those days! The Parish Church is clearly recognisable on the left of the picture. My Dad was given the nickname ‘Tigger’ (or just ‘Tig’ for short) because he was so bouncy when he was little.
World events (April 1931): The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in Madrid; and Porsche was founded in Stuttgart.
(No earlier info) 1930s >>
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