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Notes from bygone years – Many bygone Februaries
Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
February 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
My shingles rash cleared up. On 16th, three of our grandchildren took part in a school production of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ musical; they all did extremely well and the whole family was proud of them. I had a discussion with a friend about Gumstool Brook issues and then we chatted about possible changes to British parliamentary processes. Encouraged by the conversation, I wrote an article about my my ideas for change.
We explored (and enjoyed) the centre of Marlborough on 19th. It’s a lovely little town, full of interesting shops, cafes and restaurants. We walked into small courtyards off the long, wide Market Place in beautiful sunshine, quite unusual at this time of year.
JHM: I wrote about groundbreaking. – World events: – There was a huge earthquake causing damage and loss of life in parts of Turkey and Syria.
February 2022 (2 years before publishing)
We visited the Rococo Gardens in Painswick, renowned for its abundance of snowdrops.
Also this month, Donna resigned as a school teacher; when she left after completing the school year, she focussed fully on maths tutoring instead.
World events: Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee; Russia invaded Ukraine.
February 2019 (5 years before)
Our friend Kevin and his daughters visited us from Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire. We had a great weekend together, perhaps the highlight was visiting Bourton-on-the-Water and its model village. We also showed them round Cirencester and spent time at home chatting.
World events: A US/North Korea Summit was held in Vietnam.
February 2014 (10 years)
Debbie, Aidan and Sara came to stay for a weekend and we did a day trip to London on the train (an easy journey from St Neots). We packed a lot in, and one of the highlights was a boat trip on the Thames with a visit to Hamley’s toy shop and an open-top bus over Tower Bridge.
A few day’s later Donna and I flew to Madeira for a week’s holiday in a much warmer climate than the one in London!
JHM: I posted ‘Fail to succeed‘ about the value of taking risks. – World events: The Maidan Revolution took place in Ukraine.
February 2009 (15 years)
I went to a meeting in Chepstow to share experiences and discuss house church. It was a friendly and enjoyable session with a small group, mostly from places around South Wales. I was the only person who’d travelled from the East of England and I was made very welcome.
JHM: I wrote about the summer kids’ camp being planned. – World events: 1234567890 seconds of Unix time was celebrated (mostly by geeks and nerds).
February 2004 (20 years)
We visited Anglesey Abbey with some friends. The new winter walk planted by the National Trust was quite new in 2004, but it’s nicely matured by now and is spectacular in February. The old house is interesting too, but the walled garden is one of our favourite places. It was an easy trip from St Neots but a long journey from Cirencester!
World events: Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook for Harvard students, and there was a coup in Haiti.
February 1999 (25 years)
This web page (click the image to enlarge it) was downloaded in February 1999 on my Unilever PC. It was part of Long Ashton Research Station’s website. I set up the web server and created the website in 1996 or thereabouts – very trendy in those days! The ‘Last changed’ date on the page shows it had not been edited since May ’97.
World events: An attempt to impeach US President Bill Clinton failed; and Galtür, an Austrian village, was destroyed by an avalanche.
Febuary 1994 (30 years)
This is a little piece of advice I offered on a mailing list for Novell Netware managers. It’s about a utility I’d found useful while setting up and running Long Ashton‘s Netware 3.11 server. (The server allowed users to login to access file space over the local network from their PCs.)
World events: Edvard Munch‘s painting The Scream was stolen in Oslo; a Hubble Space Telescope photo of Pluto and its moon Charon was released.
February 1989 (35 years)
Here’s our daughter Beth feeding a Macaw during a family visit to the Rode Bird Gardens in Somerset, an easy day trip from Yatton where we lived at the time.
Sadly, the Bird Gardens closed in 2001.
World events: The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ended; and the first GPS satellite was launched.
February 1984 (40 years)
We were living at 22 Rectory Drive in Yatton, between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. Debbie was almost nine at the time, and Beth was four. Judy might already have been teaching biology at Cotham Grammar School by this time and would have started a new term. I was working at Long Ashton Research Station.
World events: The 10th Space Shuttle mission took place; and the very first TED conference was held.
February 1979 (45 years)
Our daughters were growing – Debbie was almost four, and Beth turned nine months. At Long Ashton Research Station I was working on oil palm pollination, training and supporting a biologist before he left for Papua New Guinea, as well as continuing research into pollination of temperate fruit crops.
World events: The Islamic Revolution was underway in Iran; and a shipwrecked Soviet tanker caused a huge oil spill in the Baltic Sea.
February 1974 (50 years)
This was a time when Judy and I were living in our flat at 20 Belmont Road, Bristol, collecting together whatever bits of furniture we could find. My grandmother had given us £60 and told us to buy a really good bed (in those days that was perfectly feasible). Judy’s parents gave us their old 3-piece suite, we bought a second hand dining table and chairs, and two new bar stools to use in the kitchen. It was a big step-up from our previous, furnished bed-sit!
World events: The crew of Skylab 4 returned to Earth after 84 days; the UK General Election ended in a hung parliament.
February 1969 (55 years)
I had a letter from Judy, back at university in Aberystwyth while I was at Bath. We were newly engaged, and in the early stages of trying to fix a possible wedding date; from our point of view the sooner the date the better. But practical considerations introduced a lot of delays; at the very least we needed to be able to live in the same town!
This time, the letter was on the craziest paper I’ve ever seen. It must have been difficult to write on, and it was certainly difficult to read!
World events: The Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo Jet’ flew for the first time; and the Mariner 6 Mars probe was launched by NASA.
February 1964 (60 years)
This is not strictly about my life, it’s about Judy, later my first wife. She and a friend were in the Guides in February 1964, and were planning a trip to Cardiff, this is the first page of Judy’s report on the trip.
She lived in Filton, north of Bristol, at the time. Most of their friends chose Bath as an easy option, but Judy and Val decided on the more adventurous journey to Cardiff.
World events: Fighting broke out in Cyprus between Greeks and Turks; Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston to become the World Heavyweight Champion.
February 1959 (65 years)
I was given a Premium Bond on 24th, here’s a picture of it. I still have it somewhere (not sure where it is, though). As far as I know it hasn’t won me a prize yet, but perhaps I should check! I don’t plan to sell it back, it’s worth far more to me as a memento than the £1 face value. In 1959 £1 would have had the purchasing power of nearly £30 today.
World events: There were two plane crashes in the USA on 3rd, Buddy Holly died in one of them. The first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, was launched from Cape Canaveral.
February 1954 (70 years)
My second term at junior school continued uneventfully as far as I remember it. The daily pattern began with taking off hats, scarves and coats and putting them away on hooks before making our way to the classroom to begin the day. Then our teacher, Mrs Hourihane, would call out our names and we each had to raise an arm when our name was called. The upstairs classroom had a large window overlooking the back garden and play area.
World events: President Eisenhower warned against USA involvement in Vietnam. Crimea was transferred from Russia to Ukraine, both part of the Soviet Union at the time.
February 1949 (75 years)
We were still living with my grandparents while Mum and Dad waited for a council house on the Beeches Estate. It was stormy, wet and cold, with snow around the 20th February. I was 7 months old at the end of February.
World events: President Truman announced that he would only meet Stalin if he visited Washington as a personal guest. The Soviet Union offered Norway a non-aggression pact and warned them not to join NATO.
February 1944 (80 years)
Dad was busy in February and had many interests. There was the Boogie Woogie music world (he bought several more records this month), driving for his parents, the birth of a niece (Susan), the Air Training Corps (ATC), playing football, watching films at the cinema, working on the nurseries (the family business) and card games with friends and family, often Newmarket and usually for small amounts of money.
World events: The Battle of Monte Cassino destroyed the famous, old monastery. A shipment of heavy water is sabotaged in Norway.
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