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
By coincidence I watched the final stage of the New Zealanders’ great fight-back against England at Trent Bridge with 84-year-old Mr. Ernest Cook at his bungalow home in Buckingham Road, Bletchley.
Nothing much in that, perhaps. Nothing except that it was occasional Yorkshire county cricketer, Mr. Cook, who called the meeting that formed the Bletchley Town ...
A few weeks back I wrote in this column that the only British sport I had not been interested in had been horse racing. I am writing this on Derby Day. I do not know the name of a horse and the last thought in my head is to have anything on. But the day ...
Are your one of those unfortunates who sometimes feel an almost irresistible urge to laugh at the wrong time? If so, you are not alone. I have been plagued by it all my life.
The first incident I remember happened at a funeral when I was a nipper. I was not supposed to be there. Our ...
Once or twice when I walked into Bletchley’s first full-time library at Holne Chase a man sidled up to me with a look of mild surprise on his face and slyly whispered “I see you can read as well as write.” The he moved off before I could reply.
“Next time” I thought, “I’ll be ready ...
You have heard about policemen’s feet – yes? They got that way from pounding the beat for about 20 years. But you haven’t heard about my feet, have you? They got this way from pounding the news beat for many more years than that.
What the policemen’s feet and mine had in common was the road ...
This is mainly for women. Men can please themselves whether they read it or not.
In any case, after a good many years at this job I am convinced that more often than not it is the woman of the house who orders the local rag, whoever pays for it. Men may buy it for some ...
In the first of this series of notes I asked if anyone could tell me more about the solid beer which was made locally for shipment to our troops in the Boer War. I said I had heard of this but couldn’t remember where. I also told how I once met an old man at ...
People looking at present developments in this area may not all be aware that confidence in Bletchley and district becoming a large and important place did not begin with the new city plan, nor with the Town Development Act of 1962, nor yet with the “Bigger, better, brighter Bletchley” sentiments expressed by the Gazette on ...
In 1951 Mr. Harry Beckett, of Poplars Farm, Simpson, father of Mr “Bob” Beckett, gave me a piece of pink cardboard about the size of a railway ticket. On it was printed: “All England Eleven v. Twenty-two of the County of Bucks, at Fenny Stratford, June 10, 1859. Admission ticket, one shilling. Not transferable.” I ...
During my newspaper life it has been my duty to write hundreds, perhaps thousands, of so-called leaders or opinion columns. You might think “Gosh, what power! What a chance to influence events!” and so on. All I can say is that for most of the time I would have been happier to make no comment ...
During my time I have come across a lot of misconceptions about the nature of journalism and journalists. That does not matter except when they are projected by other media. So, for the benefit of lady novelists, script writers and others of that ilk, I will put the record straight by affirming that:
The average journalist ...
No recent news item has evoked happier memories for me than the appointment of Bruce Hardwick as secretary of Bletchley Town Football Club. Bruce was the club’s secretary from 1948-1956 and as I personally covered the club’s activities from their very first league match in 1946 to about 1960 we saw a good deal of ...
One trouble with a rapidly growing town is that it suffers greatly from growing pains. Bletchley has had plenty of them in the past during its expansion under the 1952 Town Development Act and now it is having them again under the Milton Keynes new city plan.
The problem is that of providing essential services for ...
An adequate supply of wholesome piped water is taken pretty much for granted today. Yet history, even mid-20th century history in Bletchley and Fenny Stratford, teaches that this first requirement of any community is the last that should be presumed.
Practically all the towns and villages in North Bucks are where they are because originally there ...
The custom of “elevenses” was one I scarcely knew in my early days in the north. True that millworkers, who began at 7a.m., did have a break between 9 and 9.30. But that those who did not start until 8.30 or 9, especially office workers, might need any kind of refreshment at mid-morning or mid-afternoon ...
The other morning I had to kick my heels in Bletchley town for a couple of hours, so I went to see the ruins. Not that there are any decayed, ivy-clad towers in that quarter of the new city.
But I think you will agree that when some buildings are part-way down while others are still ...
In my first town which is not past its century as a municipal borough, there was a man who could remember when most of it was farmland. Naturally, as a junior reporter, I knew him. One wet and dreary day I met him on the main street. “Good morning, Mr. ________, though it’s not a ...
I arrived at Bletchley in time to attend the last meeting of what could be called its “long parliament”. This was the war-time urban council which by 1946 had reigned for seven electionless years and was due for a change. Politically it had been evenly-balanced, though after the illness and death during that period of ...
A development which has pleased me greatly during my time in North Bucks has been the restoration of the so-called Rectory Cottages in Church Green Road, Bletchley, and in particular the conversion of the attached barn with its rare and ancient hammer-beam roof into a useful and pleasant hall.
My interest was aroused early through coming ...
September marked the 21st anniversary of the arrival of the first “Londoners” in Bletchley under the town expansion scheme.
The Saints Estate was the first to be built for the scheme and early in September, 1952, the key to the door of 3 St. Andrew’s Road was handed to Mr. Arthur Attwell, who had come with ...
One difficulty I encountered on coming to this district concerned local surnames and their spelling – a matter of no little importance where a local newspaper is concerned. To put it briefly, I found I had left all the “royds” and most of the “thwaites,” “bottoms” and worths” behind me and had entered a world ...
An activity now taken pretty much for granted is the greyhound racing at Groveway, Simpson. Hundreds of people from far and near go there twice a week to enjoy the racing and other amenities and the public at large hears little about it.
But it was not always so. Some people were greatly concerned, even alarmed, ...
This is about the proposed coat-of-arms for the Milton Keynes District Council and how I don’t like it very much and why.
I am not complaining about the draughtsmanship, but about what is draughted – presumably on the advice of those who ought to have known better.
First of all, the outstanding historical fact about the district ...
One day, during my first week in my new town of Bletchley, I went to a telephone box in the present Queensway. I found it was occupied. Very shortly, however, the door was pushed open from inside and I found myself face to face with a young man I remembered having been born when both ...
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