Just an old book?

A few weeks ago a cousin of my Dad's said to me 'I've left a few old bits from Aunty Elsie for you with you Dad - chuck them if you don't want them.'

I was intrigued.  Aunty Elsie was my Grandma's sister, I never knew my Grandma but I was very close to Great Aunty Elsie, (I've blogged about her before).

The next weekend Dad gave me the bits which included this book:

It doesn't look very exciting does it.

But, on opening it, I discovered it was meticulously kept accounts from Dec 1954 to March 1964, all recorded my her husband, Uncle Cyril (I know it was him who wrote it and not her as there are many entries referring to 'wife's wages').

Most of their income was from the sale of the fruit and flowers that they grew, on quite a large scale, and from selling eggs - all seasonal of course, rhubarb featuring in May.

Today, whilst I was reading more of it, I found an entry showing that they'd paid my Grandma, Mrs Harris, for casual fruit labour work, in July 1957.

 He also bought a new summer suit in August 1959 from Joshua Taylor for  £17 and 8 shillings.

Joshua Taylor's was a shop in Cambridge that I remember from my childhood, I think it was on the corner where Monsoon is now.

Why did it stop in March 1964?  Because they retired - the last entry of income is the first payment of their pensions in February 1964

It's a truly fascinating piece of my family's history; I can see where they went on holiday, when they built their new house (and who built it and for how much), and the fact that they had an insurance claim for some damage to some gates.

This is them, Aunty Elsie and Uncle Cyril, the man who hand wrote every single entry in the book.  It was taken in the 1930s and is from a book called 'Cottenham in Focus'. They are with their 'Clara Butt' tulips.

One day, I will try and find out some of the answers to the questions that I have about the entries - for example, who or what is 'Soar' - it seems to be a company they sold to but I've never heard them mentioned before.  But for now I'll just enjoy as it reveals more insights into their lives.

Making and Walking

Well here we are, 2017.   I've had a lovely few days off, in the period between Christmas and New Year when no-one knows what day of the week it is.

First of all I build some wooden covers for my wheelie bin.  They used to be hidden behind a screen fixed to a pergola but the pergola was rotting so I decided to take it down before it fell down.

I thought it would be a quick job to put them together but it actually took all day.  They are very sturdy though.

Next I've been making some jewellery.  A few months ago I bought some limo (polymer clay) and yesterday I made beads - it's very therapeutic!

Today I had fun laying the beads out and finding other beads to go with them.

Quite pleased with the finished result - I'm especially pleased with the marbled blue beads.

While I had the beads and bits out I decided to make another necklace with some beads that I'd bought ages ago.

But it's not all been building/making - I've had 2 lovely walks.  One day Celia, her husband and I went to Mersea Island off the Essex coast.  We'd seen a Channel 4 program called Britain at Low Tide a few months ago and they'd shown the earthworks of a tudor blockhouse  which was commissioned by Henry VIII in 1543 to protect the strategically important Colne estuary.

We found it!  The triangular earthworks are all that remain, and eventually, due to the changing coast line here, even these will probably be lost forever.

The other walk I did was on New year's Day, when it was grey and murky but it wasn't raininng so I walked down by the river to the mill on the water meadows.

The reeds were rustling in the wind and I watched a kingfisher darting about for ages.

Finally I walked home through the town, past this little gate, which was open but clearly not used much.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2017!

A Cambridgeshire Feast!

My Dad was born and brought up in a village just north of Cambridge, Cottenham, which is part of the Fen Edge villages.  Every year, on the first Sunday after October 11th, they hold their annual Feast.  On the Sunday there's a parade that starts by the church and processes down the High Street, ending up at the green.  The first parade was held in 1894, so it's been going a while!  When I was little we used to go there every year for it, this is me, my little sister, my Dad and my Grandad in 1969, standing on the front step of my Grandad's house, eagerly waiting for the parade to go past.

Dad hasn't been for years but really wanted to go again, so yesterday we went.  We listened to the brass band play while we waited for the parade.

Then the parade came past - lots of excited children, some of whom had walked a long way, eagerly collecting money for local causes.

Aren't those jellyfish costumes clever!

There were a variety of vehicles towing trailers full of people - Dad was really thrilled to see this one, driven by an old friend of his!

After the parade had passed we all made our way onto the green.  Originally there was a service on the green once the parade arrived and somewhere I have a copy of a very long speech that my Great Grandad made during it sometime in the early 1900s (but I can't locate it at the moment!). There was no Salvation Army band playing like there used to be when I was little, so no hymn singing like we used to do, but lots of people milling about.  

Dad had a long chat with his old mate.

We also managed to find the people who now live in his old house and were thrilled to hear that the small holding behind it, in which my grandparents used to grow fruit for Chiver's and flowers for Covent Garden is still there! Although it's not used as a small holding anymore they still have a productive fruit and veg patch.

We all had a great day out!

A Day Out in London

Yesterday I went to London.  I was going to the theatre but I'd also discovered it was Open House London, which is part of Open City, where buildings not normally open to the public open their doors to visitors.  The first one I tried to visit was 201 Bishopsgate.

It's 2 towers, joined by some amazing diagonal stainless steel work with a roof garden.  Sadly there were about 100 people in front of me and they were only letting 20 people in every 1/2 hour and I didn't have that much time (see the people abseiling on the left tower?).

So I went to 10 New Burlington Street instead; a new build behind the facade of both Regent Street and New Burlington Street.  I was lucky enough to join a tour of 10 people led by one of the architects.  No photography was allowed so I've used the images from this website (which also explains more of the detail if you're interested).

Behind the facades (which were either kept in place and propped up during the build, or taken down brick by brick, stored and rebuilt to level the floors up)

is this - 

not what you'd expect to be there at all!

Inside they'd used limited materials - the ceilings are polished plaster and the walls white oak.

There is a large central atrium to bring in light and the handmade porcelain tiles were the only colour.

We went into the listed vaults underneath, which were originally wine cellars and had been sensitively restored with lime mortar and now store bike racks for the people who work there.

It is an absolutely stunning building,  and from Regents Street the only thing you see is this gate - designed to represent the clockmakers who used to be on the site in the past.

After leaving here, a spot of lunch, and a sense of direction failure that had me walking the wrong way up Charing Cross Road for quite a while, I went here.

Kenneth Branagh was fantastic, as were all of the cast.  His daughter was played by Sophie McShera who is known to many of us as Daisy from Downton Abbey.

It's on for another few weeks and it's worth a visit if you're in London.

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One Historic Tower

Yesterday afternoon, after dropping Mum and Dad off for a history talk in King's Lynn, I set off along the quayside to the antiques warehouse.  As I turned down the lane leading to it I saw this sign.

How could I resist? I love history, I love towers and I suspected it was part of a house I'd longed to see inside for ages.

My suspicions were correct - it was part of Clifton House.  It was just coming up to the end of their opening time, but this worked in my favour.

Each floor of the tower has one room and some of them were set out as they might have been during the tower's history. This room was set out for a merchants' diner - the painted walls are partly restored and are beautiful.

The view from the top was amazing.  

Over the historic town centre to the church of St Margarets with its twin towers

and also over the river to where the merchant ships would originally have docked.

When I came down I was the only visitor still there and I was offered a guided tour of the house by its now owner, Simon Thurley - how could I resist?  A free, personal, tour by an eminent historian who lives in the house? Yes please!

He showed me the restoration work that they'd been doing and work they still needed to do - I didn't take many photos as I was too busy listening.  But I did take pictures of the delicately restored plasterwork on the stairs,

and in the 14th century vaulted undercroft which was originally used to store the wine that was imported by the merchants.

It was a lovely afternoon - if you ever get a chance to visit it's well worth it.  

I did get to the antiques warehouse too - so a pretty perfect afternoon really!

King's Lynn Treasures

Yesterday, Mum, Dad and I had a little trip out into King's Lynn.  It's their local town and one that I went to secondary school in.  I know lots of people aren't fond of the place, but it's very close to my heart.

We parked in Tuesday Market Place.  It's changed a little since I was last there, with some pedestrian areas and tables and chairs outside of cafes, which I imagine would be lovely in the summer.

I did my driving test round this market place, in the snow with the mart (annual funfair) on it!

The reason for our trip was to visit the flea market in the Corn Exchange and we had a good wander round and I bought a few treasures, but before I show you what I bought let me show you some of the treasures of King's Lynn.

This is King Street, I went to secondary school in King Street, yesterday we had a coffee in the building just along from my old school.

This is my old school, now rather expensive apartments.

It has a blue plaque on it saying that it was once the home of the King's Lynn and West Norfolk High School for Girls.  I'd love to go inside and have a look round it now.

This is the Custom House and the statue of Captain George Vancouver  - he was born in King's Lynn and in April 1792 sailed to America and declared the land as British Columbia.

This is Queen Street - see the dutch influence in the gables? That's due to the influence on architecture from the town being part of the Hanseatic league  - a commercial group of merchant guilds and towns in northern Europe from the 14th to 19th century.

photo courtesy of Flickriver

And this is the Guildhall - a pretty spectacular building.

photo courtesy of Lynn News

If you're ever in North Norfolk I do recommend that you pay a visit to King's Lynn - don't be put off by the modern shopping centre, go and find the old part, you won't be disappointed.

What did I buy at the flea market? These 4 treasures:

a glass bottle complete with its marble, a crown derby jug, a 1950's dish and the hand embroidered cloth they're standing on.  Total cost £19 - bargain :-)

Granny's Dresser

When my granny died 23 years ago I was desperate to have her dresser but didn't have a house big enough so it was put into Dad's shed.  About 12 years ago Dad told me they were chucking it out and as I still didn't have a house it would fit into I couldn't really insist they kept it so I assumed it they had indeed chucked it.  But, this summer, whilst moving the swing-boats out of the same shed I found something covered up with a dust sheet and asked dad what it was - it was granny's dresser!

First of all I brought the base home.  In the cold light of my kitchen it looked quite a mess, 22 years of living in the shed as well as many many years of nicotine from her cigarettes had to be cleaned off.

It cleaned up quite well and I could start to see the real 1930's style and shape.

Then I brought the top home.

I stripped off the nicotine stained 1970s wallpaper that my grandpa must have put on the back and discovered some really pretty paper, possibly 1950s, underneath it, but it was too torn to keep so it all came off.

After more cleaning I painted the back boards.

Putting the top onto the base was quite easy as my highly organised Dad had put the original screws (and the key) into the drawer of the base.

Today I put some treasures in it.  Some of my great granny's china,

some Royal Tara china that I bought with the money that granny left me in her will,

and some other bits I've acquired over the years (mainly from charity shops).

It's a little tatty well loved in places, but I'm so pleased to have it :-)