A Walk Around The Village And A Bit Of History

Great read @steve lovatt (Steve), really enjoyed it. I did some work for the army at Worthy Down when I was Working. I will tell you the story at the GMU.....

 

A blast from the past for me there. My father was a career soldier, reaching the rank of captain before his death in 1965. After a brief posting to Singapore in 1956, we returned to Uk in 1960. Dad would commute to Winchester from our house in Barton Stacey, just up the road from South Wonston. My little brother was born there and we lived there until 1961, when we all went back to Singapore again!

 

I love all this sort of stuff.

Well done

 

That was a really great read and must have been interesting doing the research.

I do hope that the old buildings there get preserved - the corner brickwork on the pill boxes alone is worth saving! - and that the area isn't sold to some property developer (like, e.g., John Bloor!) who will rase the whole area to build a thousand new homes!

Nice bit of history.

 

I’ve played rugby there in the distant past but a mere 20 years ago lived outside Andover and was a regular in that neck of the woods and at the Muddy Duck (Black Swan now closed?) in Monxton. Good roads but too much traffic....... usually.

 

I am amazed it hasn’t been developed yet. That is a lovely and expensive part of the country . Thanks for the quick history lesson . Nice to see the post and for me to the have time to read it !

 

Had a few good nights in the Mucky Duck

 

I am amazed it hasn’t been developed yet. That is a lovely and expensive part of the country . Thanks for the quick history lesson . Nice to see the post and for me to the have time to read it !

 

A lot of history there thanks for sharing it

 

Just read this to Lady Poppy. Believe it or not her aunt, uncle and one of her cousins live in South Wonston and I've been there several times, including a family party at the village hall there. Small world.

 

Interesting stuff and nice pics Steve i enjoy a bit of history story, hopefully not steeling the thread i wish i had gotten some more info and story's about my dad before he died...i was only 19 and like most old soldiers he never really talked about his time in the army i only got snippets from my mum.

Apparently he ran off to join the army as an under age boy back in the first war and ended up in the tank core for a while and then Cavalry i know this because he still had all his military riding gear, i also know that during the first and second wars he and his brother rode at Brook lands both in races and developmental testing for one of the motorcycle brands but cant remember which.
He then when back into the army for the second war and was in the engineering core and had risen to the rank of Captain and was stationed all over the place i was told that he built the dock cranes in Colombo harbor in Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka) and that he was awarded the title of Captain for the rest of his life....but never used it dont know what for and i have tried finding info on line but have turned up nothing....he sounded quite a guy but i only knew the rather self obsessed grumpy workaholic ...shame.

 

Very interesting Steve,it's amazing how much old wartime stuff is still laying about, l was wondering around the old holmsley airfield yesterday, one of quite a few new forest wartime airfields.
They took most of
the runway up years ago and an old girl was telling me that it used to be very popular with people learning to drive!
Another guy said they used it for speed trials on their bikes, one bike at each end and then pass each other in the middle at a closing speed of 200 mph!
"Elf n safety " would have a fit if it was still going on now.