Monthly Archives: August 2021

A helicopter on the roof

Posted on 15th August 2021 by Ian

The school would close that summer as the county switched to comprehensive education, the gentle ethos of a bygone age would disappear. But on an afternoon in January 1973, there was excitement among the staff as a teacher at Elmhurst … Continue reading →

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Phones and 42

Posted on 14th August 2021 by Ian

Phones, phones and more phones. Conversations must now be aloud for everyone to hear. Video must be used wherever possible. Every story must be greeted with exclamations of amazement. Every event must be imbued with significance. There is a generation … Continue reading →

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Cromwell charging through a piece of boys’ own history writing

Posted on 13th August 2021 by Ian

An online search for Samuel Rawson Gardiner’s 1886 History of the Great Civil War revealed that the 1886 edition of the three volumes was available for £750. Finding the books on the shelves of the library, I turned to Gardiner’s … Continue reading →

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High Ham in 1939

Posted on 12th August 2021 by Ian

A pre-war record of the parish from Kelly’s Directory. My favourite line is the reference to the production of  “large quantities of cider.” HIGH and LOW or NETHER HAM form a parish, 3.5 miles north from Langport West station on … Continue reading →

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Figures in the fire

Posted on 11th August 2021 by Ian

In childhood years, did everyone stare into the flames in the fireplace and see shapes and figures and imagine tales of long ago or is it a personal eccentricity? My grandmother on the farm lived frugally, but once the latter … Continue reading →

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