Brandon and Margaret

Fairies in the garden ???

2009-05-30T13:45:00.013+01:00

We moved here 21 years ago from Cottingley.
Cottingley is famous for it's Fairies and so we thought we would see if any had hitched a lift when we moved here... a good search and look what we found. You may have to reeealy reeealy look hard but we think we have little friends.

Silver Work

2008-04-09T11:08:00.009+01:00

As a hobby I have been attending the Jewellery and Enamelling Classes run at Fydell House in Boston. The house is an old merchants house built in the 1700s and is part of the Boston Heritage. Next door to the house is the Guildhall where the Pilgrim Fathers who sailed on the Mayflower were incarcerated prior to sailing to the Americas. A very big restoration project has just been completed at the Guildhall which was opened to the public again at Easter.

We students were asked to exhibit our work during the opening. As the security would be a problem it was agreed that we would exhibit our work by photograph. Now that the exhibition is over the photographs which were taken have been given to us. Below are the photos of my work.

The first is of a bangle and under that a pendant and broach

The next a pair of boxes - sorry that the size is not clear but the round box is 5 centimetres tall and 4.5 in diameter - the other box is 7.5 long 4.5 wide and 1.5 high. The bangle fits me.

Thimble - candle stick and spoon with "strawberry forks"

A selection of rings and a bangle and broach which are made from the offcuts of silver from other work. This is one of Margaret's favourites

And finally a pendant which was my first attempt at mounting a stone.

Easter Sunday 2008

2008-03-24T11:45:00.009Z

Both our children aquired a dog at about the same time - both for some reason and unknown to each other called their dogs Max. Robert and Zarah's Max appears in this blog in previous posts so here is Samantha and Jim's Max for R & Z to see.

Easter Sunday dawned to a small blizzard.

Much to the grandchildren's ???????? delight

A job well done apart from him loosing his hat.

Some snow left over for a seat

Wedding Lists

2008-03-16T14:23:00.005Z

We have been ferreting about in the bottom of the old oak chest. There are a lot of carrier bags in the bottom of the chest containing lots of old papers and photographs. One of the many things we have found is the list that Margaret prepared to give to family and friends as a guide to what to buy us for wedding presents. It makes interesting reading

I know that we did not get the clothes line and pegs because that is what we gave to each other for our first Christmas presents - the 6 odd plates and the cheap tea service bemuse me but I think that it shows how much the standard of living has changed in the last 44 years.

Rob asks "What is prestige about a Prestige Whisk"

Here is a photo of the whisk purchased for us as a wedding present in 1964

Still working after 44 years and looking good as new. Over engineered - high quality.

IN MEMORIAM

2008-03-16T10:28:00.009Z

Geoffrey Rushworth died 1962

Dorothy Rushworth (Nee Lockey) died 2008

******************

Photo of their wedding 25th December 1939

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In civilian clothes

Old Family Photos

2008-03-10T15:10:00.007Z

We have been going through Margaret's Mums things and found the wedding photos taken when her mother - Margaret's grandmother - was married at the turn of the century. The photos were taken in the Botanical Gardens Sheffield in 1911 and judge for yourselves the opulence. First a photo of Margaret's grandad

Now a family group

And now the whole wedding group

The wedding breakfast was a quiet affair at the bride's home

Winter 2007/8

2008-03-10T14:17:00.012Z

It has been a quiet time as the weather has not encouraged much outside activity. However the daffodils are now showing and the world is waking up to 2008 so here are a few photographs to see us into Spring.

The new owner of the field around us has been busy ploughing and planting - the field is now covered in Polythene fleece and looks like a series of lakes which have waves on them in the 70mph wind we have today.

The view from upstairs gives a wider angle

The daffodils are out both full size and miniature

We are visited by the cock pheasants each morning so that they can eat our chicken's feed - if one of them catches a chicken will we end up with phicken eggs ??

The Council have spent the winter working on the road outside which has been closed to traffic for 8 weeks - what peace - no cars or lorries. We have of course had the works going on as they widen the road. First the road edge was dug up then the new wider tarmac was laid then rolled and then we got a set of curbs - nothing posh just enough to protect the new telegraph post which has been put just for us !!!!

Between the road works - the earthquake and the gales our brand new chimney has been damaged and I can hear it banging back and forth as I sit here underneath it. Micheal says that he will come and look at it as soon as he can but he is flat out with all the work to repair the damage the earthquake etc has caused.

Roll on the spring and a bit of warmth so that we can get out and garden etc.

R & Z

2007-08-31T10:06:00.000+01:00

At the Registry

The Register

Witnesses

Registrar filling in the book

The Wedding Breakfast

Foooood !!

The Restaurant

Out with the old

2007-06-20T20:08:00.000+01:00

When we purchased the cottage it was in a poor state of repair and we decided to also purchase an old living caravan to use as we "did up" the house. The caravan has given very good service as both holiday accommodation and latterly as a store. However as the years have passed it has become increasingly damp and moldy so as the new shed was finished we took the chance to clear out the unwanted stuff and put the other "wanted" rubbish in the shed. Allan offered to come down for a few days and give a hand to demolish it as the vegitation had grown up around it and it was impossible to move without damaging other things. So out came the wrecking bars and the hammers and off we went

Once the walls were
down and burnt the
floor came up and
thechassis was cut up
into decent size for the
scrapman to shift

Then the area cleared up and left nearly neat and tidy

The next job is to complete the soak away where the blue bag is showing to give good drainage to the shed roof and then get a few tonnes of gravel delivered and make a good hard standing area.

ON A HAPPIER NOTE

As a side to the destruction and mayhem we should tell you that the shed has now been "adopted" by this years influx of Swallows who after a lot of chatter and false starts have built a nest in the roof

We also have a pair of residents who call for lunch each day

We have not seen them for a few days and assume that they are sitting on this years brood.

We have been busy

2007-04-05T19:35:00.001+01:00

It has been quiet here for some time as we have been working hard painting both inside and outside. The Shed has been delayed time after time because of the weather. It has been quite extraordinary the change every time Michael tried to work on it. In the end he gave up and went on to other jobs until the weather improved. Then after a week of summer like weather he came back and it snowed!!! BUT we are now almost finished - only a window to fit.

The wall - to stop the traffic calling in the bedroom - has also been built - block wall and then railway sleeper inner wall with a bed of bricks and broken tiles inbetween. On top of the infil will be soil and then strawberry plants.

Looks good from up the road towards Boston

and the view from the house has been enhanced somewhat from a rusty old shed

An added bonus is that I have at last after 20 years got somewhere to keep all the old 78rpm records which I collected in the 1980s. As I unpacked the tea chests it was obvious that the rats had been using them for a nesting place but with a bit a tender care and a soapy water bath they will come up like new. Pity about the sleaves though. All nibbled and shredded.

As you can see the old paint brushes have taken a good bashing and I recon we have used about 100 litres of paint now and it all needs another coat. The next coat will be a lot easier now that the holes in the blocks have had their first coat.

Shed gets a lid on

2007-01-10T14:51:00.000Z

After the Christmas and New Year holiday work has restarted on the shed which has now got the timbers up for the roof to go on. The wind has also decided to return so it may be a few days before the rest of the work can go ahead. The roof timbers have made a big change to the image and we can now see that the shed is almost as big as the bungalow we lived in on Spring Farm Lane. It is 40 feet long and 17 feet wide with two bays and a workshop. Below are some photos so that you can see the new work.

Above is the view from the South. The walls will be painted white instead of the horrible rusty brown which the shed had become before we demolished and rebuilt.

This next is the view we will have from the yard and house. I will burn off the excess paint from the reused brick leaving only the odd white one.

Robs bike is now dwarfed by the space made after the big clear out which gave us a good garden fire for two days and we spent a whole day going back and forth to the tip with the stuff which would not burn.

Eventually Rob, your bike and trailer will go up in the roof space resting on the ceiling joists out of the way and providing very good nesting sites!!!!!!!

English Weather

2006-12-22T09:25:00.000Z

After three weeks of gales and horizontal rain which finally saw off the old cherry tree

We now have freezing fog which has closed down the airports all over the country with the resultant chaos just as all the Christmas travelers are not now setting off. For us stay at homes the ice scuptures are very interesting

Even the resident gnome has felt the cold and
has been iced to his post. The fog we are told will continue until after the Christmas holiday and we will not see any breeze until nearly the New Year. Good job we demolished the old shed and have tuns of wood to burn in the stove.

Here is the new garage with the railway sleepers in position to support the pantile roof.

Peter and Genevieve have been to trim up their Christmas Trees outside the back door

But for the forseeable future we are closing down and hunkering up in front of the stove with a good book and hot drinks. This is the view to Boston

So a Very Merry Christmas to all our readers and a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

May your God be with you

There goes that shed!!

2006-12-17T19:46:00.000Z

One of the big attractions when we purchased the cottage was the big shed. Into it went all those things that you kept "Just in case" and all those things that had a value in an urban life but none in this one and vice versa. Here we found the tin bath and the old gas boiler that gave us the hot water and the bath when we first arrived and were doing the old house up. Into here went the eight teachests of 78rpm records which I had collected in the early 1980s when I gave up smoking and used the money saved to purchase something as a hooby. These have not been looked at since we moved in 1988. It has served as a garage - workshop - shelter from the rain while the bus came ( you can see through a hole in the wall to see if the bus is comming) - welding shop - wood store. BUT it is more like a lace curtain of a shed now -

and seems to have be getting shorter as it used to take all the car undercover !!!!!!

So it was decided that it must go to make way for a newer version to be built on the same site but of block and brick with a tile roof. Back came Michael the builder to work his magic again. He first sent his brother, who was on holiday and looking for a restfull job to fill in the time, to dig the foundations.

Then it was going going gone

BUT out of the roots of the old shed a new shed has grown all solid and clean. We have used old bricks to front the building and the rest is building block which will be painted in the spring.

Tomorrow 18th December they will put in place two 14' railway sleepers as door beams and one 9' railway sleeper as window beam. The building is the same length as the bungalow we lived in in Spring Farm Lane Harden and if it was 5' wider it would be the same width. The roof will be of reclaimed tiles to match the barn but we cannot find a second hand window to fit the hole.

Watch this space for the next steps in the build.

All back together again

2006-11-11T11:31:00.000Z

After all the work and stress we are happy to report that the work on both the house and the car is finished and we have - like Humpty Dumpty could not be - put back together again.

Here are a few pictures of the work in progress.

Wall down - house sheeted up against the rain

Part rebuilt with heat retaining interior blocks as per the building inspector

New store doors plastic insulated as per building regs again - note the old carpet full of brick dust waiting to go the the tip.

The police broke into the house on the night of the accident to make sure that no one was injured or dead. So we had to have a new house door again in upvc to meet the building regs

All done and back to normal except that the flowers and bush need to grow back to maturity - but that should come next year.

The impact with the caravan ripped up the flags which we laid Rob and so Michael has relaid them. The gap which is left in the hedge will be closed with a "battlement" of a wall with an inside wall with plants between when Michael comes back to rebuild the shed!!

The Merc came home again today with it's bodywork all repaired and resprayed.

I tried to upload some more photos but Blogger seems to think that you have seen enough so I will do some more next time

Here is another comparison

2006-11-06T13:40:00.000Z

Jan sent me some photographs which she had found in Mothers sideboard which have set me thinking.

Here are two of them taken in 1951. I was 11 and was one of the first Billy Elliots. They were taken for the local paper after one of my successes in the Royal Academy ballet examinations . I was thought to be the only boy ballet dancer in the North of England. We were told that there was no other boy taking the examinations with the Royal Academy in our neck of the woods.

I know that as a lad I used to get some stick from my school friends especially as I got into my teens. My consolation was that I enjoyed the exercise and I was in the company of a lot of lassies in tights - which my friends were not. So I'm not sure who was the sissy - me for being with the girls or them for missing out!!!!!

As I look in the mirror now, 55 years on and see that the wrinkles in the tights have spread to my face I wonder where that bright young lad has gone. I know that he is there somewhere inside because I an always being accused, by those who know me, of being a big kid and I got a lot of pleasure out of letting off the fireworks with the grandchildren on my birthday yesterday. BUT 1951 seems a long way off just now.

An unwelcome visitor

2006-09-15T20:36:00.000+01:00

We decided that we needed a good holiday and so we booked in a few days at the Lamb Inn Great Rissington - an old pub close to Bourton-on-the-Water where Grandfather Lockey lived before he left to join the railways as a porter in 1902. Have a look at http://www.thelamb-inn.com/index.html. This is a comfortable hotel with good staff and wonderful food

We had a wonderful few days and found the cottages where the Lockey family lived in the 1841 census and the 1861 census. There is evidence that the family lived in the cottages from may be 1798.

On Thursday morning we received a telephone call from Samantha asking us to cut short our holiday because during the night a gentleman had driven his 4X4 through our touring caravan and into the side of our house.

Here are some photographs of the house and mess we returned to :-

This is taken from the point at which he left the road doing "30mph" and "aquaplained" over the field into the garden - so he says

On the way he picked up the two berth caravan and pushed it across the drive and into the store room door. If the caravan had not been where it was he would almost certainly been killed as the weight of the caravan acted as a brake. I cannot see that he even tried to brake as the tracks are clear on the soil as a moving vehicle not skidding.

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When the car was pulled out the damage was clear

Leaving the whole wall to be pulled down and rebuilt plus all the internal plaster work etc

More photos

Michael has been a real friend in need and supported Sam in getting the house sort of sorted before we came home. The East Lindsey Building Inspector was called out by the Police as the building was considered unsafe so the buildings man sat here from 2am in the morning until the police found Sam and she got Michael to come and put the supports into the wall to hold it up while they pulled the car and caravan clear. When the incident was reported to the police they looked in the window and saw the bed upside down against the far wall and thought that the occupier had been either injured or killed. So they had to smash the back door window to climb in and check the house. Glass all over the kitchen and dinning room. The bedroom door was open so the dust and mess was shot all over the new cream carpet.

We have claimed on our insurance for the building work and the contents and our insurance company will claim it back from his insurance. The caravan was not insured so I have instructed JSP to deal with the recovery of the uninsured losses as our experiance of the loss adjusters is not good and we want to be put in the same possition as we were before the incident rather then be left with what the loss adjuster can get away with.

Once we get the go ahead from the insurance company - Michael says that the wall will be up again in about a fortnight but that all the inside will need to be replastered as the roof will need to be taken off and the walls on each corner rebuilt as they are pushed out of key.

So it looks like it will be Christmas again before all the work is done and redecorated. We have asked Michael to build us a wall on the boundary on the Boston side so that it will give some protection from it happening again. We will post progress reports as the work progresses.

Here's a funny thing

2006-06-16T11:00:00.000+01:00

We went to stay with Jan and John a few weeks ago and Jan was showing us some of the photos which she had filched from Mother's box. One of them is taken outside the shop we used to live in on King's Road Bradford and was taken in 1956 just before we moved to Toller Drive Heaton. By chance we had our photographs taken at David's wedding in nearly the same pose. Just look what 50 years can do!!!!!

1956

2006

Friskney Show

2006-06-16T09:59:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday was the third village show. It was a great event. There were many stalls and exhibits including vintage cars and tractors - air cadets - smoked eels - venison- the usual craft tent - hot dog stalls - ice cream men - doughnuts - the police with car which the children could set the siren off in much to the surprise of passing folk - Bat Conservation had a stall ad did the Parrot Sanctuary which now has 900 parrots flying free - the WI markets selling cakes and jam - all the village organisations had stalls fundraising.

Inside the village hall there was the ususal show of flower displays - photo competion - childrens craft - adult craft - painting - old village photos and a collection of Queen Elizabeth photos and items to celebrate her 80th birthday. Margaret won the Jam competion and Samantha won the photo competion. Sam also came second with her pen sketch of some boats.

On the playing field there was the ususal Tug of War and displays of dancing by the Primary School. The Air Cadets gave a marching display and a Scotish Piper wandered round playing. The sun shone all day and the village hall bar ran out of beer - Peter had to go to the shop go get cans 3 times just to keep the bar open. It was drunk dry. They took £1300 in the period from 12 noon to 4.30pm

The children had a great time on the big slide

Genevieve had a go on the tea cup roundabout

Peter got his hands on the guns

Both of them had a go on the bow and arrows

Genevieve decided to ride on the train. Note the "guard" on the rear seat. There was a bit of an arguament when he asked for her ticket. "No its mine" she said and would not let him tear the ticket.

Going very fast is this train

Peter went early to go to his golf class. So he missed the fire engine

And the parrot from the Parrot Sanctuary

The RAF has spent the last 70 years bombing the salt flats on the edge of the village so it was nice of them to send all the Battle of Britain Flight for a flypast. They flew over three times and it is amazing how the noise of low flying piston engined aircarft can get to you. Even grown men had lumps in the throat.

Snow !!!!

2005-12-29T16:24:00.002Z

They have been promising it for some time and here it is. Even more to come tonight and in the morning!

The grandchildren love the snow but not the cold feet and hands.

So we all retire to the comfort of the fire

Happy New Year to all our readers

Winter has arrived

2005-11-29T19:48:00.000Z

We have been suffering with the cold northeast wind for the last few days. We have a good tonne of coal in the shed and have just had a load of good ash logs delivered but the cold still gets to you if you step out without wrapping up. Here are a few photos of the views around us.

The leaves on the buddlia are like frozen sentries at the gate.

Our hedge has a sparkle to it that is very attractive

Pity the poor landworker who has to turn out to cut veg for the supermarkets. This view was taken of the field over the road and shows a field of cauliflowers.

The Village

2005-09-11T10:36:00.000+01:00

I have added some new links in the side bar which will give you some idea of the village.

The link to the school shows where Peter is learning and where Genevieve will start next year. Peter is in year 3 or Triangles Class so you can see his classroom. There are some nice views of the village on this site.

Mother goes to Batemans Brewery for lunch once a week - click on the visitor centre button to see the eatery.

One of the great characters of the village, when we first came, was Dennis with his heavy hat covered in archery club badges. In the 1950s he and his wife Gladys went by normal bus from Friskney to Sweden for the European Games. Gladys won the Silver Medal for her archery. There were mourners from all over the world at his funeral. Very moving. See him on the Archery site gallery showing Prince Edward how to draw a bow.

Hens

2005-09-08T19:53:00.000+01:00

Margaret heard about a lady in the village who wished to give up her Silkie chickens. As they are such a small bird we agreed to take them on. They arrived today and are very picturesque. One cockbird - four hens - one largish chick and three very little chicks.

They are not used to being pets and will take some time to get used to us. They have not gone to roost in the hut I have built but are squat under the hedge. There is no way we are going to get them away as we have spent all afternoon trying to catch them with no luck.

Very pretty though with the pompom feathers on the top of the head and the feather spats on the legs

Latest news - Margaret crept up on the very tired sleeping hens and one by one snooked them into the hut where they are squat in a pile but safe fron the fox. Three of the grown ups had gone to roost on the back of the garden seat and were easy pickings but the mothers, with chicks, had gone deep into the thorn hedge and needed a bit of coaxing.

Parrots

2005-08-31T17:03:00.000+01:00

Check out this site. It is for one of the village attractions.

http://www.parrotsanctuary.co.uk/

There are parrots flying free and even into our garden over a mile away.

The Grandchildren

2005-08-31T15:13:00.000+01:00

When peter came to stay for a "sleepover" he decided to give himself a foam beard while taking his bath. He was a bit annoyed because he has lost his first milk tooth and we had been pulling his leg about he must have kissed a girl to make his tooth fall out.

Beanie helping Grandma to bake. She had watched Big Cook Little Cook on TV and she just had to make those buns.

This jam tastes good Grandma

Tuesday in Friskney

2005-08-30T15:48:00.000+01:00

Rob has set up this blog so that we can post pictures so here goes

This is the house now that I have finished the painting of the outside walls

The work has taken three weeks on and off - the worst being getting on the roof to paint the chimney at each end.

The garden looks good at this time of the year

This is a test post so now I'll toddle off and see the results of my work!!!!