Strangely nowadays it's nearly all crime stories. A bit more variety would be nice, eh?

Card Games

We sometimes got forced to play cards with Nanna and our Mums from time to time. Nanna with her lips constantly on the move! Apparently, Marion & John’s daughter, Maria, has the same trait whenever she is concentrating on doing something. How weird is that?

There was:-

• • Whist (we didn't play that I don't think but Nanna used to go to her Whist Drives in the Village Hall!)

  • Rummy

  • Sevens

  • Pelmanism

  • Fish

  • Beggar My Neighbour (also known as Beat Your Neighbour Out of Doors)

  • Snap

  • Chase the Ace (a Christmas special!)

Can you remember any more?

"Sevens" was a favourite I thought, but I've just remembered...w a i t for it..... "Donkey!" Each player had to try to add to the suits building up or just keep them face up in a pile but I can't remember the rest of the gameplay. The loser was the Donkey who was left with the most cards I suppose.

Good one! I'd forgotten that game. There must be others. Marion might remember as I think she enjoyed playing cards at the time.

• • Blind Man's Buff

  • Happy Families

  • Old Maid ....and, one she remembered and I immediately recalled was a card game called - Stations.

The cards were fairly small and rectangular and each had a name of a town or city (presumably with a station) on it. I distinctly remember Kettering and Marion remembered Goole!

Yes, I remember all of those...especially that travel game with the Stations! Did she not also have a Horse racing game where you turned a wooden handle to make little lead cast horses move along a material racetrack between little wooden dowels?

Like this (below)?

That's definitely the horse racing game I remembered ...clever bit of kit for its day.

On the Beach!

I just made one chart of the max temperatures in August over that period but not sure what it demonstrates!

Nor me apart from 1986 being damned chilly!

I recall we used to go in the sea whether it was raining or not, apparently according to those figures, even when the temperature didn't reach 20C!

Yes, me too! I remember it being a bit painful getting in when it became deep enough for the waves to lap around your valuables! Plenty of walking on tiptoes with your arms spread out! (see image on Page 14)

Maybe we must put it down to Nanna's huge meals making us particularly tough and hardy (including Spotted Dick cooked in the 30 denier old stocking).

I’d forgotten that but I can smell the heavy pud’ right now!

The wet days seemed to be less intrusive. Is that just because we only remember the good bits? I just don't recall being stuck indoors because of the weather.

Me either. I know when it rained at the beach it was quite a weird sensation and we quite often went in the sea just to experience it. I think the weather plays quite a large part of my memories, especially at Parley Cross. Especially the snowy winters.

I don't know about you but I'm not convinced about climate change per se, I don't think the science is comprehensive enough yet....too many variables to calculate, although we must be affecting the balance. I can't see how you can have perpetual industrial and population growth without ruining our environment anyway; no one dares talk of enforced birth control but, well .......

Agreed. I read somewhere the other day that whilst the ice is melting in the Arctic it is getting much thicker and colder in the Antarctic (might be rubbish though!) I must admit I find it all a bit depressing – and don’t get me started on the rain forests or elephant poachers!

How about the smell inside Pop Mitchell's Austin Ten? A mixture of leather, wood and petrol that I can still conjure up and in fact it is present in most old cars - try sticking your head in one if you're at a car show and it all comes flooding back.

I don't particularly remember whiffing Mr Mitchell's Austin Ten but often got that smell even from my own cars (excluding the leather) in the late sixties..Ford Pop.. or more often the Morris Minor in which the float in the float chamber got stuck once late at night. I eventually hit the carburettor with a hammer which seemed to do the trick except that the fuel pump (electric) unbeknown to me, then started pumping petrol like mad....I drove the three miles home on 5 gallons of petrol! (But it went like stink!).

Talking of smells, how about mothballs in bedrooms, newspaper on wardrobe shelves and drawer bases, lavender furniture polish and bath salts in the bathroom. In fact, that sensation of waiting to get into the bath at Mimosa after a day at the beach is a strong one - steam and the noise of gushing water. I think we always shared it and screeched with laughter when one or other of us created farty bubbles!

There are a few photos here and apparently........"Old Saints' Church - This is the best known historical building in the village and though the nave has mid C12th origins, it is thought to have replaced a Saxon church, which may well have replaced an even earlier church. The porch is 15/16th century, the steeple was built about 1792. The door hinges are C12. Much of the church was rebuilt in 1896 but many of the original window frames reused. The building is listed. Look at the sundial on the approach path to Church. It was part of the post from the gibbet that used to be on East Parley Common. This was the last gibbet in use in the south of England. Also, look at the recess in the east wall. It contains a C14 earthenware vase found in the graveyard in 1895. The lane to the right of the church continues along the edge of the Stour to a former ferry crossing at Riddles Ford that took locals into Bournemouth via Redhill."

I do remember being chased by a farmer or somebody or thinking we were being chased on one occasion. I think that that led to us fishing in the grounds of a bungalow on the other side near the New Road Bridge. We also went fishing once in the field area on the other side of New Road...possibly with Brian? We caught eels which Mrs Mitchell cooked for Mr Mitchell. That’s what gave him that permanent look of distaste on his face methinks. "Bah! Jellied eels, erm, oooh, lovely Mrs M. I'll just go and check if the car's still in the garage."

I also recall fishing in the River Lea and one of us getting the line tangled in a swan's legs. I distinctly remember catching a 1/4 lb Perch on that occasion using only a stick and a piece of line much to your disgust with your expensive kit and all!