05 October 2002

Winchester Library

So now for something completely different?
I enjoyed the Winchester Cycle Company thread so although it is strictly off topic, please excuse me, maybe someone can swap memories about another Winchester institution, and that is what nostalgia is all about eh?
I was nine years old when the war finished and my brother and I met our father after six years of absence. Our mother had had a rather sheltered life up to that time and we hadn't gone out much, and when my father took us to the library on Jewry Street it was a whole new exciting world. One book that had a very big impression on us was a huge volume, well it seemed like that at the time, one year of National Geographic Magazines bound together, with board covers bound in black leather with gold lettering. And the most memorable articles were about Professor Auguste Piccard's adventures in the stratosphere in a balloon, and in the depths of the sea in what I think is called a bathyscape.  Many beautiful pictures of the weird creatures living there. And another volume introduced us to dinosaurs.
Did anyone else see those books?
best regards,
jim 

9 comments:

  1. The library certainly loomed large for me too, Jim. In the lending section I
    could browse for hours and still not find the perfect books to commit myself
    to for the next couple of weeks. Possibly more important to me were the
    reference room, where I remember looking up the bawdier parts of the
    Canterbury Tales and the Oxford Dictionary, and the periodicals room, where
    I always read the latest New Scientist.

    And when I was still using the children's library, I used to follow 'Young
    Elizabethan' - good wholesome reading ...

    -----Original Message-----
    From: jim wishart [mailto:james@wishart100.freeserve.co.uk]
    Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 8:32 PM
    To: peter symonds, winchester, unofficial nostalgia corner
    Subject: Winchester Library

    -----------------------------------------------------------

    New Message on peter symonds, winchester, unofficial nostalgia corner

    -----------------------------------------------------------
    From: jim wishart
    Message 1 in Discussion

    So now for something completely different?
    I enjoyed the Winchester Cycle Company thread so although it is strictly off
    topic, please excuse me, maybe someone can swap memories about another
    Winchester institution, and that is what nostalgia is all about eh?
    I was nine years old when the war finished and my brother and I met our
    father after six years of absence. Our mother had had a rather sheltered
    life up to that time and we hadn't gone out much, and when my father took us
    to the library on Jewry Street it was a whole new exciting world. One book
    that had a very big impression on us was a huge volume, well it seemed like
    that at the time, one year of National Geographic Magazines bound together,
    with board covers bound in black leather with gold lettering. And the most
    memorable articles were about Professor Auguste Piccard's adventures in the
    stratosphere in a balloon, and in the depths of the sea in what I think is
    called a bathyscape. Many beautiful pictures of the weird creatures living
    there. And another volume introduced us to dinosaurs.
    Did anyone else see those books?
    best regards,
    jim


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    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi There Young Jim !!! ... glad you are back !!! hope all is ok with you now
    !!! ... must apologise cos I have been watching the site, but NOT
    contributing ... GREAT SITE !!!
    The Library in Jewry Street ... yes, I remember it well, but NOT, I am
    afraid, the National Geographic Magazines you refer to ... I DO remember the
    National Geographics, but they must have been the standard monthly issues
    (or whatever) ...

    The Winchester Cycle Company ???????? ... you refer to a "Thread" but I have
    NOTHING on my comp on this site relating to that !!! ... WHAT HAVE I MISSED
    ???

    I remember the Winchester Cycle Company in Jewry Street (opposite the Public
    Library) well ... I purchased my FIRST (and ONLY) NEW bicycle from there in
    about 1948/49 ... I had always had second hand bikes (both of them) until
    that point !!! ... I remember my Mother and I travelling on the Number 47
    Hants and Dorset Bus from Chandler's Ford and getting off at the Library ...
    we walked across the road to the Cycle Shop and purchased a Humber Bicycle,
    with Sturmey Archer 3-Speed gears ... FABULOUS !!! ... NOTHING like this
    before ... 18 Pounds we paid ... a FORTUNE in those days !!! ... Mother went
    home on the bus and I cycled the 6 and a quarter miles back to Chandler's
    Ford !!!!
    "Doc" would have been proud of me !!! ... well, maybe not, we had our
    differences !!!
    Yake care ...see you ... Doug Clews


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    ReplyDelete
  3. This message has been deleted by the manager or assistant manager.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Doug,   The previous references to the Cycle Co that I know of were made by Bob Crocker in a reply to my 'The Tie of the Old School' of 20 April.   Best, Chris  

    ReplyDelete
  5.   Hi Jim   Glad you have recovered and are back at the helm!   I used to go to the Winchester Public Library with John Waygood. I'm afraid we didn't have much respect for the serious purpose of that august institution - they had an excellent "Dictionary of Slang Terms" in the reference section which we would always head for. The atmosphere in that section in particular was one of hallowed silence and many of these "slang" terms would reduce us to fits of the giggles and we would end up being thrown out. One in particular comes to mind. Apparently the slang for tapioca pudding is "cods eyes and bathwater", I mean how could a 13 year old boy remain silent on reading that?   One other recollection. There was a group of five girls from "County" that used to go everywhere together including regular Thursday after-school trips to the Library. this group had two "groupies" - Roger Coombs and I  (Hi Rog.) who would hang around the Library at the same time.   Regards   Churchie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello Doug,
     

    "Hi There Young Jim !!! ... glad
    you are back !!! hope all is ok with you now
    !!! ... must apologise cos I
    have been watching the site, but NOT
    contributing
    .."

     
    thanks for the good wishes, I am getting stronger every
    day, see the consultant on Tuesday and I hope that he will say that it is OK to
    drive again.
     
    "I remember the Winchester Cycle
    Company in Jewry Street (opposite the Public
    Library) well ... I purchased
    my FIRST (and ONLY) NEW bicycle from there in
    about 1948/49
    "

     
    funnily enough, I did the same, a Humber Clipper that I had
    for many years until it was stolen from the Civic Centre car park in about
    1967.
    And yes I used to use the 47 bus frequently to travel to the
    Ordnance Survey at London Road Southampton, and later to get to the Technical
    College on Albert Road when I was doing my Civil Engineering studies.  I
    used to cycle down Stanmore Lane and park the bike at the Bell Inn on St Cross
    Road and wait for the bus there.
     
    best regards,
    jim

    ReplyDelete
  7. thanks for the kind thoughts Chris, I lived in Battery Hill, just above the Keble Street junction.  Kilham Lane?  I did the 'improvement' alongside the Crouch Estate in about 1959 when I worked for the City Engineers department.  I was amused by the deristriction signs that remained in place after the road works which authorised unlimited speed just as the road narrowed from a 24ft carriageway to a 10ft windy lane!
    best regards, jim  

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Young Jim Wishart !!!

    I trust all went well with the visit to your specialist on Tuesday !!!

    You indicated that you moved to Chandler's Ford ... Where exactly and When
    ??? ... I don't unfortunately remember you on the 47 !!!! ... very remiss of
    me, no doubt, or was that AFTER your PSSW years ??? ...

    Interesting to know that you TOO purchased your Humber Bike from the
    Winchester Cycle Company in Jewry Street ... Sturmey Archer Trigger Control
    3-speed !!!!!!!! Dyno-hub lighting !!!!!!!! ... oh my goodness, out of this
    world !!! ... we had never had it so good !!! ... I also remember Jack
    Oldham, another Chandler's Ford'ite, puchased his bike there too, but HE
    bought a RUDGE !!! ... didn't speak to him for weeks !!! ... anyway, mine
    went FASTER !!! (probably only because I pedalled faster than he did) ...
    had mine right up to coming to Australia in 1966 ... what were you doing at
    the Sports Centre in 1967 ??? ...

    In passing, there has been discussion about School Hockey ... I was actually
    a member of the FIRST EVER School Hockey Team in 1949/50...
    (I am not aware of a Hockey team prior to 1949, but I could of course be
    wrong) ... can't remember now whether it was Hetty Hammond or Tom Pierce who
    asked for volunteers !!! ... whichever, I was delighted to put my hand up,
    because here was a sport that we didn't HAVE to play !!! ... I can only
    remember four other members of the team and they were Podge (Roger)
    Wheatley, Peter Cox and Phillip and Alec Lovegrove... I remember Peter,
    Phillip and Alec because we all went on to play hockey after leaving School,
    and became the nucleous for the "Chandler's Ford Young Conservatives" and
    "The Odd Bods" teams ... I eventually ended up playing for Pirelli General
    Cable Works (Eastleigh) and finally, the Adastrians, a Southampton Team and
    played against the School for both Pirelli's and The Adastrians, right up
    til 1966 prior to emigrating to Western Australia ... (I think the School
    beat us on ONE occasion ... NOT SERIOUS !!! ... well, there just MIGHT be
    someone out there who remembers the scores !!!) ...

    Take care Guys and PLEASE keep those memories coming in !!!... the more you
    send in, the more I remember !!!

    Cheers for now !!!

    Doug Clews ... September 1944 - 1950






    >From: "jim wishart"
    >Reply-To: "peter symonds, winchester, unofficial nostalgia corner"
    >
    >To: "peter symonds, winchester, unofficial nostalgia corner"
    >
    >Subject: Re: Winchester Library
    >Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 04:22:39 -0700
    >


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    ReplyDelete
  9. hello Doug, thanks for the good wishes, it is this coming Tuesday that I see the old doc, I am expecting to be told that I am dangerously healthy! No, I didn't move to Chandlers Ford, I think that was two other fellows! I stayed in Winchester till 1960 then moved to Leicester City Engineers department. The only names I remember that you mention are Tom Pierce, Hettie Hammond and Roger Wheatley, the old grey matter is getting a bit tired. best regards,   jim     

    ReplyDelete

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