That Reminds Me was a weekly column published in the Bletchley Gazette from January 1973 to December 1978.
Originally from Yorkshire, Harold (Heppy) Hepworth had worked on The Gazette for twenty years. He preferred to describe himself as a reporter, though his title was officially Leader Writer or Assistant Editor. Later, we believe after his retirement, he began this series of articles on a wide variety of topics – though mostly about life and the characters in Bletchley. Our volunteers Wendy Williams and Penny Perdue have transcribed these stories and we present them now, as before, in a regular offering.
Creator
Harold Hepworth for the Bletchley Gazette
Place
Bletchley
Reference number
TRM
Records in this Collection
Oh dear, we really are getting into a tucker about Magiovinium, aren’t we? With one expert saying one thing and another apparently saying the opposite, what are mere mortals to think, say and do?
Perhaps we can best begin by getting rid of the idea that Magiovinium is a myth or a legend. The Antonine Itinerary, ...
Many new organisations have arisen in Milton Keynes and some have arisen only to flop. But have you heard of the Sparrow Club? I confess I was totally ignorant about it until two or three weeks ago. Which is not surprising, seeing that its period of greatest activity was the early part of this century ...
I raised an eyebrow at the Gazette’s report that at a meeting of the Milton Keynes Borough’s planning committee, Cllr Charles Head said the piece of land known as Newton Common would make an ideal site for gipsies. Surely, I thought, Newton Common is part of Newton Longville and Milton Keynes can have no jurisdiction ...
I was pleased to see the inimitable Gracie Fields interviewed by Mike Parkinson on tv the other night. Her voice had lost its old range and quality, but its strength was still there and so also was much of the old vigour, which was remarkable in a woman now “pushing 80” as she called it. ...
The firemen’s strike coming immediately after Remembrance Sunday put me in mind of the days when fire-fighters were needed as never before nor since – the days of the last war. The established brigades were heavily reinforced; retained men became full-timers; many thousands of new part-timers were enlisted; and in 1940 or 1941 all were ...
The acquisition and opening of the former Labour Hall in Buckingham Road, Bletchley, by the Salvation Army, will be regarded with satisfaction and approval by many people in the area who are not officially connected with that organisation. For the hall was originally built specifically for a Christian purpose and now it is being used ...
A friend inspired this piece, when the other day, apropos of nothing, he said: “You know, I think it’s about time the Borough of Milton Keynes had some honorary freemen.”
“Freemen, but not freewomen?” I asked.
“All right. Freepersons, if you like,” says he.
Actually, I do not like. Originally a person was a parson, like a clerk ...
When I lived at Water Eaton shortly after the war there was the sound of motor traffic on the roads and of rail traffic on the main line. But behind all that, for all the day and a good part of the night there was the steady chug-chug of diesel engines driving boats on the ...
In Bletchley in the early post-war years the secular aspect of Christmas was heralded by the holding of special stock shows and poultry shows at the market. It was those events which, each year, first brought a Christmassy look to the streets of the town.
As far as the farmers and butchers were concerned, the big ...
To those who might have noticed that my column has been missing from the last two issues of the Gazette, I must explain that I have been enjoying a holiday of practically 14 days among my favourite foreigners in Scotland. They said they were glad to let me in and doubtless they were equally glad ...
Among voluntary organisations which contributed to the people’s health before the inception of the National Health Service in 1948 were local hospital associations and local nursing associations. For a small annual subscription to these bodies your family could ensure themselves of a hospital bed or the services of a district nurse when needed.
Some of the ...
When I was aged about 15 my former headmaster invited myself and a few other past and present pupils to go to the village school one evening and listen to the wireless set that by some magical means had recently been acquired. The set had an ebonite front with two white-marked dials on it. It ...
Our forefathers and foremothers (Oh, that Sex Discrimination Act!) led much more down-to-earth lives than we do, whatever their status. Indeed, they had little option, for their housing and hygiene, though poor by modern standards, were the best that could be had for the money at the time.
They could not be squeamish and consequently they ...
I am writing this piece on Wednesday, February 1. Sleet is blowing in the wind at the moment, which should not be surprising, seeing that February is supposed to be the month that “fills the dykes with black and white,” and sleet is a mixture of both.
What concerns me now, however, is not so much ...
I was much interested in the two photographs of pre-war Queensway, Bletchley, published in the Gazette a fortnight ago, for that was how the road looked when I first saw it in 1946. With one exception. The photographs show the street lighting to have been by gaslamps, whereas by 1946 Queensway was lit by what ...
To my appeal of a fortnight ago for information about what the weather was like on St Paul’s Day, January 25, I received one convincing reply.
As a result, I am happy to tell you it was a bright, sunny day and warm for the time of year. Happy because, according to the old saying, fine ...
I feel very sorry for the people of the West Country and North Scotland who have been snowbound recently. At this time of writing some of them still are. I could not help noticing, however, how much better those who normally lived in the higher, more exposed places, seem to be coping than those who ...
Today the village of Wing seems a nice, quiet, orderly sort of place – as far as the constant passage of heavy traffic between Leighton Buzzard and Aylesbury allows. Yet it has had its moments.
Going far back in time, it is averred that a secondary Roman road passed that way. Coming from the south, the ...
I am very pleased that the Milton Keynes Festival of the Arts has achieved its 10th birthday and is well poised for the next decade. I admit that when the festival was projected 10 years ago I was not very sanguine about its prospects. I believed that such events, so popular at one time, had ...
With two of its biggest buildings being given over to telephone services, Bletchley is becoming the most “phoney” place for miles around – in the best sense of the word, of course. I myself do not have a telephone . This might surprise you. The reason is the same as that which compels me to ...
I suppose one of the most popular pictures ever painted is “The Laughing Cavalier,” by Franz Hals. There he is, in all his finery, the archetype of his kind; hale and hearty, bold and brave, dashing and debonair, full of sauce and swagger, ready to die for his king, whom he equates with his country, ...
We oldies blinked in disbelief when we noted the goings-on at schools just recently. Here were teachers declining to do voluntary work. And here were children posturing and gibbering in front of cameras and generally acting like the object of going to school was not to learn, but to obtain those same dinners at which ...
I was sorry to read recently of the death of one of my oldest Bletchley acquaintances, Mr. Bill Nash.
I met him on the evening of my very first Saturday in the town. I was lodging in Newton Road at the time and, having nothing better to do, I went for a walk in search of ...
Bletchley railway station saw some lively scenes in the days when large numbers of cattle and sheep were transported by rail. Porters then were not just porters in the commonly conceived sense. Often they had to be busy at the cattle dock, helping cattle men to deal with the animals. I have heard many tales ...
No Comments
Add a comment about this page