Mailbag October 21

FOLLOWING your article about the closure of the Oxford Hospital Services Development Trust, to which many Oxfordshire factory workers contributed weekly (Memory Lane, October 7), I enclose a list of some of the equipment the charity provided to the National Health Service.

As you reported, it gave funding to more than 370 items and spent about £1.3m in its 50 years.

Some of items funded are: Apparatus for loan to patients with acute chest problems Postural support armchair Ultrasound gel warmers Wheelchairs for stroke patients Quiet room at maternity hospital Birthing bed for heavy patients Equipment for new Children’s Emergency Department Digital hoist weigher for children's nurses Quiet room for mammography patients Equipment for low vision clinics Mammography biopsy chair Donation towards and support for a sensory garden Wheelchairs for patients with severe postural deformities and complex postural needs Chair and bed sensors to prevent falls Provision of Music Therapy Centre Camera for fluorescence photography

SALLY HEMSWORTH Treasurer Oxford Hospital Services Development Trust (latterly Oxford Hospitals Services Charity)

Rhyme and season reason

WHAT a lovely Memory Lane we had on Monday, September 23.

I was especially interested in Sandra Dagless and her interest in old sayings.

Although not an Oxonian by birth, I have lived here for 57 years so my days as a ‘Gloster All Spot’ are well outnumbered.

My dear old granny often comes to mind when “I put my mind back” as she would say when telling us how it was in her young days.

She went to work at the ‘Big House’ when she was 11 and went from scullery maid to ladies’ maid before she married aged 24.

We grumbled about the war years, but it gave us in the country a look at the outside world, especially when the evacuees from London invaded us.

They were completely put off by ‘Jarge’ instead of George and could never see the funny side of “Where bist thee off to, Jarge” and the reply “I bain’t going nowhere, I be just coming back”.

By the time the Americans had taken over the ‘Big House’ and the beautiful park and land around it (now National Trust), our old habits had changed, but we were still “stripping the hedges” when picking blackberries or elderberries and “spud aching” when our backs were breaking after a day picking potatoes.

Our teachers and my mother spent a lot of time and patience making us speak “your beautiful language – use it!”

My best friend’s father was from the Forest of Dean where he built his own house – “whacked ‘ee up inno time,” he would tell us, and when ploughing a field with horses, he had been “tert and across (there and back) thick medder (meadow) a thousand times a day”.

Naughty sayings in church caused much giggling in the choir stalls.

Dearly beloved, thee scripture Moveth us in sundry places All the way to Yesinton (Eastington) To see the donkey races or Lord, have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us When he comes to smack our bums Lord have mercy upon us Remember, in these remote villages, we had no gas or electricity so we had to make our own fun which I am sure is how all these old sayings came about. They were quite harmless, but would be frowned upon today.

A few other sayings “come to mind”.

Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning Rooks nesting high, good summer’s on the way Rooks nesting low, we be in for a blow (gales) Cock crowing at eventide, death’s about somewhere nigh If the oak’s before the ash, we shall only have a splash If the ash is before the oak, we shall surely have a soak (Watch which tree comes into leaf first – that is, of course, if you know the difference!) Thank you for stirring up the memory pot.

MARY STIFF Corunna Crescent Cowley Oxford

‘We sat in boats and watched bridge build’

YOUR article on the building of the Bailey Bridge over the Thames at Medley (Memory Lane, September 30) brought back many memories.

I have been a member of Medley Sailing Club for more than 60 years (my wife for more than 50). We normally race on a Sunday afternoon.

That Sunday in 1947 we did not. We all sat in our sailing boats watching the fascinating spectacle of the Royal Engineers building the Bailey Bridge across the river in less than two hours.

As you mentioned, the old bridge was damaged in the 1947 floods. A floating boathouse broke away from its moorings, smashed into the old bridge and damaged it beyond repair.

Mr R Foster, owner of Bossoms Boatyard at that time, ran a ferry through the 1947 summer to get people from one side of the river to the other.

He made a small charge of, I think, three old pence for this service!

Sadly, I do not have any photographs of this event. At the age of 17, with a sailing boat to look after, I did not have any spare cash for a decent camera.

I have often wondered if any photographs existed of the building of this bridge.

Now I have yours on the page of Memory Lane to keep.

BRIAN COATES Laburnum Road Botley Oxford

Editor’s note: As we reported, Memory Lane reader Peter Smith, of Arthur Street, Osney, is researching the history of the bridge and is keen to improve its poor condition and get it recognised, with an information board. Did anyone else see the bridge being built and did anyone take pictures?

A queen for Queen’s 

I HAVE a battered and worn photograph of a scene outside Queen’s College in High Street, Oxford, in 1921.

There are crowds in the cupola and on the roof, in front of which Union flags are flying.

Was this the occasion that Queen Mary (wife of King George V) became the first woman to be given an honorary degree by Oxford University?

She would obviously have visited ‘her’ college if this was so.

The ceremony took place on March 11 and people in the photograph are in winter coats. The picture was probably taken by my father, Peter Spokes, a graduate of Queen’s.

ANN SPOKES SYMONDS Davenant Road Oxford

Can you help name the Boys’ Brigade members from 1939 photograph

I ENCLOSE some of the names of members of the 1st Oxford Company of The Boys’ Brigade in the picture you published (Memory Lane, September 30). The photograph was taken in the summer of 1939 in the garden of St Matthew’s Church School.

I write as a former member of the 1st Oxford BB and now as secretary of the Oxford Stedfast Association, an active organisation of former members of The Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Brigade.

We organise six events a year, including a garden party and two lunches. Anyone who might be interested in the association can contact me on 01235 529547.

ALAN BOWSHER Sellwood Road Abingdon-on-Thames

Making a Spooner connection

AT OUR school in the 1940s, we occasionally had music appreciation lessons, provided by two charming elderly lady volunteers called Spooner. It may well be that they were related to the Rev W Spooner, Warden of New College, Oxford, who had been famous for his Spoonerisms, whereby he would inadvertently transpose the letters or words of a sentence to give them an entirely different meaning (blushing crow, instead of crushing blow, for instance).

Then we had a complete change – a young student male teacher, complete with striped scarf and an MG sports car, and we gasped in astonishment when he told us he’d had it flat out at Silverstone at 80mph!

He brought in his own wind-up gramophone and records, some of which were classical pieces as before, but also some of the more popular music of the day.

Our absolute favourite was Harry James, lead trumpeter with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, playing with incredible triple noting and speed his rendition of The Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky Korsakov.

Of course, it wasn’t long before our evil little minds realised the title could be transposed to: The Bumof the Flightle Bee by Rips Her Corsets Off, thus creating our very own Spoonerism!

BOB HOUNSLOW Squires Close Brize Norton