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
The demolition of the Spurgeon Memorial Baptist Church in Aylesbury Street, Fenny Stratford, must have saddened some local people, especially the elderly. From the day it was opened in 1892 up to its closure it was the most commodious place of worship in the district. True, the Baptist community are now carrying on the good ...
As becomes a former regular Yeoman of Signals in the Royal Navy, my long-time acquaintance, Ken Fuller, is a forthright sort of chap. So it is not surprising when he bluntly declares in an interview with the Gazette:
“I was with the old Bletchley UDC for six years (1953 to 1959) and Bucks County Council for ...
A book to be treasured has been compiled by members of the Bucks Federation of Women’s Institutes. It is entitled ‘’A Pattern of Hundreds’’ and is published by Richard Salder Ltd, of Chalfont St Giles.
In it, people like 97-year-old Mrs Eliza Gladwin, of Old Bletchley, recall the days of their childhood and youth, and in ...
This Christmas most of us must perforce cut our expenditure on greeting cards and other forms of good cheer. Lest we should grouse too much at the decrease of affluence, however, I invite you to read part of an article which appeared in the old North Bucks Times at Christmas, 1946. Its writer was born ...
On the whole, 1975 has been a depressing year. It has, however, had its lighter aspects, one of which we are still undergoing. I refer, of course, to the design for an ornamental fountain for Stanier Square, Bletchley, put forward by Milton Keynes Development Corporation and to the reactions to it.
Milton Keynes Borough Council called ...
When John French came a-courting Eleanor Selby-Lowndes at Bletchley in the 1870s, he could not have imagined that his name would be nationally prominent a hundred years later through 99 letters written to another woman.
John was an Irishman, born in Kent in 1852. He was short in stature, but what he lacked in inches he ...
The Tombstone Epitaph is dead. It died in 1975. It is a pity it did not last to 1976. For this is America’s Bicentennial Year and the Epitaph was the local newspaper for Tombstone, Arizona, where part of what has been called the Great American Myth was born.
The Daily Express, reporting the death, said: “The ...
I see that Tickford Bridge is in the news again. This time it is not directly threatened with demolition, as it was in 1967. Apparently the authorities are merely examining the advisability of strengthening it further, in case the cast-ironwork should crack under ever-increasing road loads.
In fact, it was wonderful how the bridge stood up ...
I sympathise with Gazette columnist Joy who complained recently about the length of addresses in these parts. It’s the place-names that are the main cause of the trouble. As she says, Milton Keynes itself is a bit of a mouthful. But no doubt she is thanking her stars she doesn’t live in Newton Blossomville.
She would ...
What do you think of the price of potatoes, missus? Shocking, isn’t it? I don’t wonder you don’t see kids playing with potato guns these days. The cost of the ammunition would be prohibitive.
I am not a very old man. Just going on for 68, in fact. But I remember visiting my grandmother as a ...
No doubt many Bletchley people have been startled to learn how close they have been to sudden death or injury during the past 15 to 20 years. I refer, of course, to the recent discovery that the concrete beams in parts of Wilton Hall were in far worse shape than was suspected when the hall ...
I am interested to read of the intended retirement from the Milton Keynes Borough Council of Mr Arthur Snaith, of Loughton, and Mr Bill Caldwell, of Bletchley. I suppose that after the elections on May 6 there will still be many on the council who served on the old local authorities which the borough took ...
In July, 1948, the local butchers’ association issued a poster. This stated that “owing to the recent reduction in the fresh meat ration and the lack of publicity from official quarters in regard thereto,” they felt it necessary themselves to announce to the public that:
“The total ration per adult book per week is: fresh meat ...
My fancy is tickled by the Fenny Stratford traders’ idea that a royal charter dated 1608 gives them the right to hold a weekly market on Mondays. I rather approve. I do not know whether the claim could be made to stick, but I would be delighted if it could, even if the traders then ...
Having been brought up with the sound of the Black Dyke Mills Band in one ear and that of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band in the other, so to speak, I have been very pleased to note the resurgence of brass banding in Milton Keynes, for there is nothing like a brass band for bringing ...
It is now nearly two years since local government reorganisation. During that time we have become just a little more used to living in a city within a borough, both of which are named after a tiny constituent village – a village which otherwise never did anybody any harm and would never have dreamed of ...
Currently we are being reminded that this year sees the 25th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. It was quite an event, but my memory of what went on in Bletchley is somewhat mixed with the coronation celebrations which happened only two years later.
I know that nationally by 1950 we had had about 11 years ...
I was strolling along the arcade the other day when an acquaintance sidled up to me and whispered:
“Psst! Do you know it’s now as cheap or cheaper to ride in Concorde, with all the trimmings, than in a United Counties bus, with no trimmings at all?”
I said “Really? How do you make that out?”
“Well, it’s ...
One of my old bosses died a week or two ago. He was the only public figure I ever felt like wearing a black tie for. His name, or rather his nickname, was Monty.
Since the war Monty’s reputation has been much nibbled at by military historians and others of that ilk. So far as I ...
I like the idea of May Day becoming a public holiday again. For many centuries May Day holiday and merry making were customary throughout the land. Historically speaking, the custom has only recently died out, and country children continued to celebrate the day up to living memory.
Even I, comparatively young as I am, can remember ...
The first item of police court news I ever wrote was written in the 1920s. It ran:
“Borough Court, today, Friday. Thirty two Sunday traders were each fined 5s.”
It had to be the first. The court was always held on a Friday at 10.30am. The paper, a weekly, went to press at 1pm. The cases were ...
When writing about Monty three or four weeks ago, I was struck by the resemblance between his early military career and that of a former Bletchley county councillor, the late Brigadier E G Earle, of Walton Hall – now the seat of the Open University.
At the time of Monty’s demise, writers and broadcasters pointed out ...
Here’s a belated Health unto Her Majesty on passing her 50th birthday. May she have many more birthdays and on them be able to let her hair down, so to speak, more than on this occasion.
There was a time when I would not have been so enthusiastic. As you know, I spent the early part ...
“Law and order is on trial and is being assailed by the forces of disorder. The country has got to decide whether it will be governed in future by the House of Commons, that is, by chosen representatives, or whether it prefers to hand over that government to the TUC.”
Does that sound familiar? Actually it ...
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