Hungerford Arcade co-owner, Adrian Gilmour got more than he bargained for when Pirate Mary Oliver came into the Arcade with her mother, Emily and brother Isaiah bearing gifts for him.  For those of you who have not read the Blog, click here and you shall see!

Below, you will see Adrian enjoying the delicious cake that Emily baked which was presented to him with a beautiful card from Mary.

Hungerford Arcade’s wonderful friend and author, Stuart Miller-Osborne has written this wonderful article entitled an American Friend.  Please sit back with a nice cup of tea and enjoy reading it.  I did and it was wonderful!

It has been one of early April days that after the long dark nights of winter showed Hungerford to its greatest advantage even if the wind was still a little cool.

I had been due to travel to Melksham to visit my mother but the visit had been cancelled the previous day so I had a weekend to myself.

After reading the papers and watching my favourite football team win by four goals to nil I decided to wander into town.  Caron was painting the fence (a job that I could not do due to an allergy) in the hazy sunshine and I promised to bring my wife back something special.  I should have guessed that it was going to be an interesting day and to a great extent it was.

 I entered Hungerford Arcade with no great plans, just to look around and purchase anything that took my fancy.  As normal, I gravitated towards the book section near the café and it was not long before I spotted a small blue book which had managed to find itself buried under a pile of travel books.  The book was called Recollections and had been written by a certain George W Childs.  I had vaguely heard of the author as he once generously lent five hundred dollars to the poet Walt Whitman so that he might purchase his Camden house.  The book was only a pound so I decided to buy it along with a rather tired Victorian copy of The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan.  My idea was that I might peruse through the books as I watched the football and rugger scores come in later in the afternoon.

By the time I returned Caron had more or less finished the fence and a lovely cup of tea awaited me.  It was as I was enjoying my refreshment that I noticed the small blue American book that I had purchased had been signed.  A fact that I had missed at the Arcade earlier.  The dedication was as follows;

H Solome

With the kind regards of his friend

George W Childs

Philadelphia

April 7 1893

It was then I thought about the enormity of my random find.  I had purchased a book for reasons aside from the dedication which I had missed.  Here in my cottage in Hungerford I was holding a book which had been signed by a man who in his time had known Walt Whitman.  He had also been a close friend of President Ulysses S Grant .  But who was George W Childs?  As I have noted I had heard of him in connection with Walt Whitman but knew very little else about him.  So I decided to research his life.

George was one of those people that only the nineteenth century could throw up.

He was a man who literally rose from obscurity to become one of the leading names in America in the second half of the nineteenth century.  He was born illegitimate on the 12^th of May 1829 in Baltimore, Maryland and had been raised by an aunt.  When he was twelve began work in a bookstore.  A year later he joined the Navy leaving the service in 1843 to work as a clerk in a bookshop in Philadelphia.  All this packed into his life before he was fifteen.  His employer noted how trustworthy George was and soon he was helping by buying books at auction.

At the age of eighteen he ploughed his own savings in to leasing a space in the offices of the Public Ledger (a daily newspaper in Philadelphia from 1836 to 1942).  He was starting his own firm.  George was quite often noted as saying that he would like to own the newspaper one day.  At the age of twenty-one his firm was joined in partnership by the publishing firm of R.E.Peterson & Co and with this Childs & Peterson was born.

It was a successful partnership and soon the firm grew greatly in size and value.

George who was a born businessman and also a leader in the disciplines of effective marketing.  But there was another side to George which I found admirable.  He was a very generous man and his philanthropy brought him a wide circle of long lasting friends.  A favourite quote of his was;  “Meanness is not necessary to success in business, but economy is”.

In 1864 with Anthony J Drexel he purchased the Philadelphia Public Ledger which was then a loss making newspaper.  In a short space of time he turned the ailing newspaper around and it became one of the leading journals in the country.  He later became involved in the (with Drexel) in the financing and planning of small communities (Wayne in Pennsylvania is an early example of these planned communities).  Although I have not researched this in any depth it shares similarities with Port Sunlight and others in the United Kingdom.  He was a benefactor to many and he erected memorial windows to William Cowper and George Herbert in Westminster Abbey and John Milton at St Margaret’s Westminster.  He also financed a memorial to Leigh Hunt at Kensal Green and a Shakespeare fountain in Stratford-on-Avon.  Along with an Edgar Allan Poe monument in Baltimore he also contributed towards a home for printers in Colorado Springs.

These are just a few of his many contributions in both America and the United Kingdom.

Sadly, George died on the 3^rd of February 1894 a few months before his sixty-fifth birthday and a resolution from his employees at the Public Ledger I think says it all;

“The employees of the Public Ledger, having lost by the death of George W. Childs one who has stood to them in the relation of a kind and considerate father, find it impossible to express in formal resolutions the due sense of their great loss, but nevertheless seek to record in this minute their high appreciation of his character as it has been revealed to them in daily intercourse. He was the embodiment of kindness and benevolence; his broad sympathies made him a citizen of the world, and not merely those associated with him socially and in business, but humanity itself, lost a generous friend and noble exemplar by his death.

The book, which in a way I found almost by accident, will after I have read it find a place in my bookcase with some my other signed (or dedicated) copies.  It amuses me a little to think how this small book found its way from Philadelphia to our lovely little town here in Berkshire.  I could have easily have missed the book as it was at the bottom of a pile and as I have noted, I was dozy enough to initially miss the dedication.

It just confirms to me how important it is to look everywhere.  Whether it be in an antiques shop or an Arcade or just generally at boot or jumble sale.  Always look for the busy piles or the boxes full of almost everything.  These are the locations where you might find something special.  I had not intended to meet George W Childs on that bright Saturday afternoon but fate intervened and I found the book.  It is often the things that you are not actively seeking that you find just by accident and this confirms to me why I find the roaming of the footpath’s of the past so interesting.

Happy Hunting!

Stuart Miller-Osborne

Hungerford Arcade

Happy St. George’s Day

Hungerford Arcade along with everyone in Hungerford is celebrating England’s St. George’s Day.   Co-owners, Hazel Browne and Adrian Gilmour, Managers, Staff and Stallholders wish you all a very happy St. Georges Day.

The Easter holidays is fun for all the family – until you run out of fun things to do. Fortunately for friends Fred and Sebastian, their Mums always have something up their sleeve and this day was no different.

Fred and his Mum Gayle are regular visitors to the Arcade and both love wondering around hunting for interesting things.  So one morning, Gayle decided to draw up a little treasure hunt for the boys to keep them occupied for a few hours.  And it did keep them occupied – they loved it!

  Fred and Sebastian with their favourite item from the list – the soldier!

Fred and Sebastian spent their afternoon searching the building for 16 items and were told to mark their location in the boxes.  With a bit of lateral thinking and a lot of fun rummaging, they managed to tick off everything on the list.  My favourite “find” was the silver camera – a CCTV camera!  

Gayle deserves a pat on the back as well, as she wrote the treasure hunt without even being in the building!  She just chose the items from the top of her head and hoped there might be things that matched here in the Arcade! Well done Gayle!

I would like to thank the children for being so well behaved and obviously their Mums for letting us have a picture.  And also I would like to apologise to Fred for taking so long to put him on our website! He has been nagging me to do it every time I see him! 

Happy Birthday Your Majesty

Hungerford Arcade co-owners, Hazel Browne and Adrian Gilmour, together with Managers, Staff and Stallholders send our very best wishes and congratulations to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her 90th Birthday.

 

               Channel 4 News Presenter Jon Snow with Rita

Hungerford Arcade has a celebrity who has been visiting here for many, many years and I always thought to myself that I would love the opportunity to shake his hand and have a little chat with him instead of the usual, “Hello Jon, how are you?”.

Well my chance came when Channel 4 News presenter, Jon Snow came to the counter.  I greeted him and explained that I watch Channel 4 News every evening and have always wanted to have my photograph taken with him for our ‘Hall of Fame’ which is on the stair-well to our office.

Jon was brilliant and said he would be delighted.  I rushed upstairs and fetched the camera and here is the photograph that I am very proud of.  Jon has a great sense of humour and he certainly made my day.

Jon has a very long and distinguished career.  He is a British journalist and television presenter, currently employed by ITN.  He is the longest running presenter of Channel 4 News, which he has presented since 1989. (I didn’t realise that he has headed Channel 4 News for 27 years and I watch it every evening – is that sad?)  He has reported news from across the world and even found time to write his brilliant autobiography called “Jon Snow Shooting History”, published in 2004.  This is a must read book.

 Thank you Jon for making my day.  Rita

Hungerford Arcade has a long history of helping children with all sorts of things.  Today however, was a little special in that Mary Oliver, a year one student at Hungerford
Primary School came to the Arcade with her mum, Emily and brother, Isaiah and told us that she was looking for a pirate ship and asked if we had any!  Mary explained that her school topic this term is the sea and that the children have been given the task of doing something arty with a pirate theme.

Hungerford Arcade co-owner, Adrian Gilmour presenting the galleon to Mary with the help of brother, Isaiah

Mary could not believe her eyes when she was taken to the big square in the centre of the Arcade and was told to look up.  High up by the timber beams was a beautiful galleon owned by stallholder, Ann Parker.  Mary was so excited and asked how much it would be to buy.  We called Ann and explained Mary’s task to her. She was so impressed with Mary’s enthusiasm and excitement that she told Mary that she can have the galleon as a gift.  Here you can see Hungerford Arcade co-owner Adrian gilmour presenting it to Mary.  

Mum, Emily, Adrian, Mary and Isaiah

Mary was stunned for a few seconds and then said, “Mummy, we have to take the ship home now and make my eye patch!”.

Mary’s mum, Emily is going to send us a photograph of Mary dressed in her pirate costume. I will post it on here for you all to see.

Thank you Ann for your generosity to the pirates.

Hungerford Arcade celebrated Tutti Day with the rest of Hungerford.  The 600 year old custom of the “Tutti-men” is still celebrated in Hungerford every Hocktide and is believed to be the only in existence in England.  The ceremony commemorates The granting of common land & fishing rights to the people of Hungerford by John of Gaunt.

The Bellman (town crier) in traditional  Costume, blows a series of blasts from the historic  Horn.  The High Constable, Bailiff and “Tutti-men” are then elected, after which the “Tutti-men” proceed around the Town dispensing oranges and kisses for the women.

Rita with Mary Berry

Hungerford Arcade gets more than its share of celebrities walking through its doors and today was no different.  Having had a visit from Bear Grylls earlier in the week, in came the lovely Mary Berry with her husband.    Mary has written more than seventy cook books since her first book was published in 1970 and has sold over five million copies. Her best selling ‘Baking Bible’ published in 2009, was rated one of the ten best baking books by The Independent.

Mary has hosted several television series for the BBC and ITV and is an occasional contributor to Woman’s Hour and Saturday Kitchen and has been a judge on the BBC’s ‘Great British Bake Off’ since its launch in 2010.  Mary’s distinguished career was recognised when when she was awarded the CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2012.

I would just like to say a big thank you to you Mary for letting me have my picture taken with you and look forward very much to welcoming you back to the Arcade in the future. Rita

Mary’s autobiography, ‘Recipe for Life’, was published in 2013 by Michael Joseph.

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/430836/Book-review-Recipe-For-Life-by-Mary-Berry