If the Invader Comes
“If the Invader Comes” This story is based on fact. It’s 1940 in our imagination and we ask you to accept that, for the sake of the story, we have changed the real date by four years. Bobby was born on 26 January 1944, near the end of the war. That date is now 26…
S I D (Self Isolation Day)
S I D We started a story called “What if”. It’s still relevant and follows later. But, as we all know, the situation is changing so rapidly that by the time this is posted it will have completely changed again. So we are posting an exceptional mid week blog. Today, Monday 16 March, is SID…
Eamonn’s Day Out at Wisley!
Eamonn’s Day Out! Bertie: “Wisley! You must be bleedin joking! It’s taters. Anyway, I thought we agreed that Friday was the one day you rested. You worked all day for the National Trust yesterday. I’m not going.” Bobby: “Fine. I’ll take Eamonn instead!”
Enjoying a Cotswolds Daydream
Cotswolds Daydream Last year the sun shone and we “reveried” in it. This year the sun went as soon as it came. The black clouds gathered. And the weather forecast got more and more alarming. We had left the Surrey Hills slightly battered by Storm Ciara. Only to find that a much bigger Storm was…
Swift’s Hill. A Nostalgic Return.
Swift’s Hill Each year, in February, we make a nostalgic return to the Cotswolds around Stroud. The Friends of the Islands of Skomer and Skokholm always have their reunion at Bishops Cleeve, near Cheltenham, in Mid February. This year’s was on 16 February. We come to re-enact our commitment to Diddley’s ashes on 15 February,…
The Church, Miserden, Gloucestershire
The Church, Miserden Many books have been written about the poet and author Laurie Lee. Back in the 1990s, a television programme was produced based on interviews with him as he talked about his life. The transcripts of those interviews have come to life and been turned into a book.
Diddley’s Story.
Diddley’s Story. This week we have a very special contributor. Diddley herself. In researching the forthcoming Cotswold stories, we found some papers that she had kept and, most importantly, a story she had written. It may be a rough draft? Who knows, but it’s worthy of sharing with you. I am sure she wouldn’t mind….
Yes! I Woz There! (Part 2)
I Woz There (Pt 2) So said Bobby, looking back to fifty years ago on the 24th January 1970. Arguably the greatest day in the history of Sutton United. Not the greatest performance, when you lose 6-0 at home. But the greatest occasion, when a tiny amateur team was drawn against the best team in…
The Strawberry Recording Studios.
Strawberry Studios Back in January, we went to a football match at Meadowbank. The new state of the art stadium for Dorking Wanderers Football Club. It was a cup match, billed as the biggest game in their short history. A game against the relatively mighty Stockport County, from a higher league. This story is not…
Walking to St George’s – Charles Holden.
Walking to St Georges – Charles Holden This is the third and last of our trilogy centred on those weeks of walking to and from St George’s Hospital in the latter part of 2019. Why Charles Holden? Well there is a pub named after him opposite Colliers Wood Underground Station. But who was Charles Holden?…