Hungerford Arcade – Unit 46

Hungerford Arcade send our congratulations to Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and everyone at NASA on the 50th  anniversary of not just landing on the moon, but actually walking on the moon.  I remember it well with everyone excitedly glued to the television screens watching this unique event live, as it happened.  That  also was a remarkable feat as it was beamed live around the world.

After being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V’s third stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and travelled for three days until they entered lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquility. The astronauts used Eagle‘s ascent stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Mike Collins in the command module. They jettisoned Eagle before they performed the maneuvers that propelled the ship out of the last of its 30 lunar orbits on a trajectory back to Earth.  They returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 after more than eight days in space.

Armstrong’s first step onto the lunar surface was broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience. He described the event as “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

NASA/Apollo 11 [Public domain]

Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy:   “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

Hungerford Arcade have the most amazing visitors.  When a very handsome Viking arrived, everyone was in awe of him.  Ben Phillips is a very talented young man.  He was in Robin Hood with Russell Crowe shooting real and explosive fire bow and arrows.

                                                 Lucky Rita with Viking, Ben Phillips

Ben is a Viking through and through, of that there is no doubt.  He is also a weapons restorer from flintlocks to artillery pieces.  At the moment, one of Ben’s projects is working on a WWI Austrian field gun, but before he could start,  had to go on a journey to Austria for the blue prints.

Also, Ben is working at the Covent Garden Opera House on lighting and special effects and when he says “special effects”,  you can guarantee that they will be explosive!

It was great meeting you Ben and hope you come back soon.

Hungerford Arcade woke this morning to the sound of drumming.  Paul Midgley of Twin Wave CIC was conducting a workshop on the Town Hall steps as part of the Hungerford Summer Festival.

Everyone was feeling the rhythm, especially Erin, Hattie and Oscar who are percussion stars in the making!

We look forward to hearing more from them during the carnival procession this afternoon.  Come and help us celebrate all things Hungerford!!

Hungerford Arcade had a nice surprise when Tanya Allen came with her mother.  Tanya owns the Allenova School of Dancing which has several studios in Berkshire.

The Allenova School of Dancing in Berkshire was first founded in 1985 by Miss Tanya Allen and her mother. They opened their first school in Tilehurst, Reading and have since expanded to locations in Thatcham, Earley and Newbury. The school has grown from just two pupils to having over 450 dance students, many of whom have gone on to develop professional dancing careers.   Tanya said, “We have a 100% success rate with the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) ballet examination and many students go on to win scholarships to prestigious dance schools in the UK”.

                        Tanya with her mother and Arcade co-owner Adrian Gilmour (in his ballet pose)

“Anyone can learn to dance.” said Tanya.   “With our experienced and professional dance instructors!  The Allenova School of Dancing in Berkshire has been operating for over 33 years. Our academy boasts some of the most highly trained dance teachers in the area. No matter what your age or skill level we can help you discover the magic of dance!”  

You can find out more about the Allenova School of Dancing and see the wonderful pictures by clicking on this link to their website. 

Small Finds Eight

This is the eighth of a small series of articles in which I will discuss items that I have either purchased or just seen when visiting antique establishments in Hungerford and elsewhere.

Aldermaston Signal Box

Apart from the actual trains themselves what has also appeared to have vanished from our railway network in the last few years?

Signal Boxes

Indeed, there is only one in operation on the Berks & Hants line between Reading and Taunton, or so I am led to believe.  They were very common place up to a few years ago, but as the signalling became automated the need for signal boxes decreased dramatically.  We used to have one or two here at Hungerford but they are all gone (one of these boxes was actually demolished during a derailment in 1971).  I rather like signal boxes as there is something timeless about them.  A kettle always on the stove and the hollow sound of the bells warning of trains and the window boxes full of flowers.   Small gardens could also be found.  These boxes would be manned by railwaymen who had been on the railways for over twenty-five years and knew the line like the rooms of their house.  But whilst I have painted a nostalgic rose tinted picture of signal boxes and the signalmen their job was vitally important.

If an error was made in the box then this could have serious consequences and because of this the shelves in these signal boxes were full of small books noting the companies rules and regulations and working practices as well as other railway related publications.  Ignore them at your peril.  One has only to read about the Quintinshill disaster in 1915 and the Radstock crash in 1876 (to name but two) to see that sloppy working practices and the general ignorance of company instructions could lead to a significant loss of life.

Why am I writing about signal boxes you might ask?  Well, the answer is that I recently picked up a copy of the British Railways Regulations for Train Signalling and Signalmen’s General Instructions dating from October 1972.  As you can imagine it is full of the general working practices associated with signalling from the details of Bell Signals on page 4 to the disciplines required for Royal Trains on page 166.  It was the signalman’s bible and as you would expect, has extra inserts for practices such as single line working added.  I have read some of the detail in my small soft back copy and I can assure you that it is rather heavy going even if you are interested in the railways.  Apart from a general interest in railway ephemera, another reason why I picked the book up was that it at some time belonged to the signal box in nearby Aldermaston.  It was nice to think that this small piece of railway history would have sat in the box whilst trains to and from the West Country roared by.

The book would have been a witness to the general life in the signal box which I find very interesting as it has all but disappeared.  I rather like Aldermaston and the station itself.   It is located not far from the A4 and only a stones throw from the wharf.

As was the practice in Victorian times, it’s location is some distance from the actual village but it would have been very busy at the time of the CND marches some fifty years ago (and I would imagine might have shown up on some of the newsreels at the time).  The station which was opened in 1847 had for many years rather attractive chalet style buildings (similar to those that have been retained at Mortimer on the Basingstoke line).  Like most stations, it had a goods yard (which closed in 1965) and unlike other local stations, traces of this facility can still be seen.  The actual station buildings were demolished without any thought probably during the 1960s/1970s and the result is the rather scruffy station that can be seen today.  Quite why British Railways engaged in this wanton destruction on this line is open to question, but in a short space of time, we lost some really lovely buildings between Reading and Bedwyn.

As I have noted, the now rare buildings at nearby Mortimer have thankfully survived and the next station towards Basingstoke (Bramley) has also retained its railway buildings.  Recently, there has been some activity at Aldermaston with the replacement of the weakened A340 road bridge taking place at the Reading end of the station.  The construction of this new bridge has actually truncated the goods siding on the Newbury platform which is still prominent today.

As far as I can see, the signal box at Aldermaston where my little book lived, would have been the replacement box of 1920.  But, I cannot say with any certainty when the box was removed but I would imagine that it was roughly at the same time as the nearby Midgham signal box.  It was obviously there in 1972 but for how long it survived after this is unclear.

This said there are a number of excellent railway books on the market and the dates of the Aldermaston box should be easy to find.  The station is a little spartan but has an agreeable atmosphere and the Kennet & Avon is nearby.  I was there last summer waiting for Caron and found the experience quite rewarding especially as the temperature was in the eighties.  Little did I know then that I would soon own a small piece of history from Aldermaston’s long lost signal box which had once proudly served this quiet little station.

Whilst researching this short article, I came across some interesting information about Midgham Railway Station and its signal box as I found out that this station had appeared in a WW2 training film for American soldiers called How to Behave in Britain.  It was shot in 1943 and can be found on You Tube with the station making its short debut some twenty-two minutes in.  I have watched the whole thing and apart from being quite haunting, (the past is another country) it is a valuable social record of the wartime years.

If you have the opportunity to visit either of these stations then do so as I can assure you there are some decent pubs nearby.

Happy Hunting

Stuart Miller-Osborne

Many years ago you were on this very beach with a photographer who captured your likeness on the small rock that lies at my feet

This ancient rock is as sea worn as it was when you were here and the beach has not changed at all

Yet the world has changed beyond all recognition

It has lost what innocence it once had, although you would not guess it when standing here on this wide Cornish beach

Children still play on the expansive sands and the waves are as turbulent as they were in 1914

It is rather dull today and there are not many people here but on fine days it can become quite busy

I was here last summer and watched as many climbed on to your small rock

Each was totally oblivious of its past and few are likely to have heard of you 

Or have been aware of your visit

To this very beach just over one hundred years ago

In the distance a busker is singing a rather soulful song

It starts:

Our freedoms seem to have faded

 If they ever existed at all

 Our lives are now so jaded

 And my world seems so spent and small

The buskers song is now fading into gentle winds

These are the very same winds that caressed the beach

On the day of your last visit

The Olivier sisters were photographed on a beach in Cornwall during the summer of 1914

     Margery, Brynhild, Noel and Daphne Olivier bathing in Cornwall in 1914

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0livier_sisters_Cornwall_1914.jpg

See page for author [Public domain]

Stuart Miller-Osborne

Musee du Debarquement, Arromanches

Hungerford Arcade will be commemorating the 75th Anniversary of D Day (6th June 1944) with a special window and a display of military vehicles on Sunday 2nd June 2019.

My late father, who was in the Royal Engineers and could always recite his Army number,  never voluntarily talked about the War, save to tell funny stories like the time he and his best friend marched so quickly from the railway station to the barracks that they had time for a couple of pints in the local pub before the rest of the troop caught up with them!

I recently spent a few days in Normandy and was able to visit Arromanches.  It was fascinating to see the sections of the Mulberry Harbour still there off the coast after so many years.  Dad was one of the men who built it.  There is a wonderful Museum on the front – talk to Gary on Sunday, he can tell you all about it.

Inland Normandy is beautiful – rolling hills and small fields with hedges and tree-lined ditches (bocages).  You can’t imagine the horror of war in this scenery but we came upon the British Military cemetery at Saint Charles de Percy, where 800 men are buried.  Two of the first memorials I saw were for Royal Engineers aged 18 and 19.  It was a very sobering thought that that could have been Dad.

“For your tomorrow, they gave their today”  It is fitting that we honour all who served and commemorate the milestones in the passage of time.

Hungerford Arcade not only welcomes human visitors, we also enjoy our four legged friends as well.  Very often, with the owner’s permission, they will get a tasty treat and have their photograph taken.  This particular day, I saw a very cute little girl inside a special bag, sitting up and taking in the new surroundings.  

I spoke with her human mummy and she told me that this beautiful, cute little girl was born paralised and couldn’t walk on her back legs so she has always carried her around in a special bag and takes her everywhere.  They love each other very much and you can see that she is really happy and likes to have a fuss made of her, which she certainly got plenty of.  I couldn’t believe it when I was told that her name is Bebe as I have an adorable Springer Spaniel with the same name.  Have a look at their photographs below.

                              Beautiful visitor Bebe looking up at her mummy

My Beautiful Bebe trying to have a nap!