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I used to work in the same office as Rowena as the secretary to the then editor of the Gazette and would love to get in touch with her again! I still have some of her cartoons that she drew for me too and I remember going to see the band play (at Knebworth, I seem to remember). If you have managed to find her, please tell her to contact Stephanie.
Dear Detlef Thank you for reply and congratulations for next year’s 140 anniversary. We are delighted that she is the oldest yacht in Germany! We have found an old photo of the Arvon taken at the 1953 Coronation Spithead Naval Review. It is rather grainy but reflects the quality of amateur photography back in the 1950’s. https://jlpmemorystore.org.uk/content/new-contributions/1953-coronation-spithead-naval-review Best Regards Tim
Dear Ladies and Gentlemans, thank you very much for the detailed reply to my letter. I thought this bell wasn’t from Arvon. But it is still very nice to learn more about the history of this really very old sailboat. Next year Arvon is 140 years old, she is the oldest yacht in Germany. I would be interested to know if there are still photos or pictures of Arvon in your Archive.I also tried to get in touch with the Snagge family and the later owner Biddlecombe. Unfortunately without success. It is very difficult to get information about such an old boat, but I am always very happy when I find something in the www. Maybe you will find something in your archive. Best regards from Detlef Staats
Dear Detlef Staats
How nice to hear from you. Firstly a huge compliment on your restoration of The Arvon – she looks splendid and must have taken a huge amount of work; well done!
As to Geoffrey Snagge, who owned the boat from about 1947 to 1957, he became our first Commodore in 1951 when the John Lewis Partnership Sailing Club was formed. As a gesture toward the club he commissioned a ship’s bell with the name of his yacht, ‘Arvon’ engraved on one side with RYS (Royal Yacht Squadron) below and on the other side “Presented to the JLPSC by T. G. M. Snagge D.S.C, Commodore 1951-1962”.
Historically ships bells were used to ring the watches on large vessels so it could be heard around the vessel. His yacht, The Arvon, a much more modest vessel, would not have ever needed or had a ship’s bell. This bell was never part of the yacht.
The bell was used at club meetings to call order and at other sailing club events like dinners and the like.
The bell is now part of the Heritage collection of the John Lewis Partnership and actually on display here in Cookham.
And warm greetings also to you.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have been the owner of Arvon for 31 years. I am overwhelmed to see that the bell of Arvon still exists! I am trying to bring all original items belonging to Arvon back to her. They would make Arvon and me very happy if they could help us. I also found a photo on your page showing Arvon. I am very happy about this discovery right now. Warm Greetings From Detlef Staats
Thanks for your comment, it was mistakenly omitted so I have added it in. The bonus for 1986/7 was 24%
Where is the 1986/87 bonus figure?
Philip, I’m a Young descendent and have just finished writing a family history that goes into the history of Formosa Place. The house was rented out several times, and at one point was run as a hotel. If I can help you track down your great grandfather’s friend then do let me know more! Best, Lulah
Hi Philip,
Thank you for your comment, the Young family owned the property up until selling it to John Spedan Lewis, our founder. It is possible that the property was rented to others, but sadly this isn’t information we hold. It is fantastic to know that you have photographs of the building, as they are sadly fairly scarce.
I have photographs from 1898 or 1899 from my great grandfather of this building – it looks like it was owned or rented by a friend of his. I am interested in findiong out more of the history and ownershiop so I can possibly find out who his friend was as he features in many of their social photographs.
Lovely to see my Nan, Joyce Lucas, up the white ladder picking apples 🙂
The memories of our holidays at Leckford have vividly stayed with me,they were very happy times. Our Mother worked at knight & Lee in Southsea,and being a single parent,she took advantage of the companies ethos to enable holidays for families like ours.
I regularly visit The Waitrose Leckford Farm shop,it’s as though time has stood still….such a relief in this changing world. I remember all the area so well…such wonderful times.
If interested…..I have photos of our holidays at Leckford Camp…..1954-1962
Working in Clearings for the 24% bonuses was fantastic. We used to pile into a van and head to the bank on Sloane Square to get our cash then spend all day working with one hand in the pocket full of £50 notes.
Absolutely Fantastic article. I remember sailing on Ann Speed in the 60’s, when I was at Bon Marche, Brixton, having previously left the Merchant Navy. The crew was Freddie Everard- Bakker, Ian Colquhoun, Stanley Cordell and myself (general dog’s body!!)
Thank you for this interesting account of your memories of Leckford Camp.
I grew up at new farm I was a year old when my parents moved to Leckford in 1961, Leckford holds very special childhood memories for me. Myself and my friends spent every summer playing on the camp in the playroom, we played darts, table tennis there were also 3 old rocking horses from small to large size and an old record player. Every so often they would hold a disco with someone from the village as DJ. We made so many friends from London, Birmingham and Liverpool that we met up them with every year, we went swimming at the Leckford Pool every day during the summer holidays and would stay there all day, the campers were picked up and taken back for their lunch so it was heavenly to have the pool all to ourselves. I went to Sunday school at Leckford every Sunday it was a very important part of village life for some services like Easter and mothering Sunday we would be picked up in the estates mini bus and driven to Longstock for the service. We had a Sunday school outing every summer to either Bournemouth or Boscome stopping of in the new forest for a picnic. At Christmas we were taken every year to the pantomime in Salisbury, on the way home we were all given a sandwich, packet of crisps and a penguin biscuit. I left home in 1976 but also worked on the farm picking Apple’s when my son was a baby, in Later years I worked on the mushroom farm at weekends.
My brother Godfrey is in the middle of the front row looking curiously to the left and my sister Nina is the fairy right at the top of the picture. Both were evacuees from London, with my parents Alwin and Rene. They all lived first in Bridge House, now the Dower House.
In 2017 the 2 year old being held in the left of this image revisited Odney as a special treat for his 80th birthday. He was most surprised to see that his photo had been included in an exhibition about the Odney Club and even more surprised when we told him that we knew this and that a lunch table was waiting for him in the club as a special ‘VIP’ visitor.
Dear Leon, Thank you for your comment, I have updated the page with the correct spelling and checked for further errors but as the link is automatically generated, I am sorry to be unable to rectify this. Our Memory Store sites are run by a very small team of Partners and volunteers and unfortunately mistakes are sometimes missed until they are pointed out to us, so thank you for this. Kind regards, Imogen
The heading to this page is a spelling mistake… “Kitchwen Utensils”
The link to this page is the same spelling mistake.
This is the 2nd page I have read and so far I have found three careless errors.
I’m a professional editor. Would you like to employ me to check your entire website?
I used to compleat for Tyrrell and Green in Southampton at the Skelton yard in Andover My maiden name was Elaine Bell – I have my name on some of the cups – I used to like to dressage the horse Dickens a gray gilding
loved the grey and white blouses and grey a line skirts always looked fresh
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