Onwards and Upwards

R Pownall Chris

Description

This book is a sequel to Chris Pownall's hilarious autobiography entitled "Funny How Things Work Out". "Onwards and Upwards" recalls more childhood memories generally tinged with humour from Chris' interesting and colourful life. He reveals more intriguing details from his early life, dealing with a wide range of subjects through to his retirement from full-time employment.Some of these stories will make you laugh out loud and some that will make you blush or cringe at some of the antics that Chris and his friends got up to in the 50s and 60s. In this book Chris expresses some of his opinions on the quality and values of life today compared with the period when he was a youth, growing up in a Cheshire village. He shares many experiences ranging from exciting travels to memorable outings taken more than half a century ago, to those occurring in recent times.By the time you have read this book you will have a good idea of what makes this guy tick, what excites him, and what annoys him.This book is a must for those interested in social history and anyone keen to know how life was in the mid 20th century in comparison to the present day. You will be amazed at the diversity of subjects covered in this book and some of the stories will undoubtedly bring back memories to those of a certain age, whilst younger readers will hopefully appreciate the opportunities that Chris has experienced and relished throughout his happy and fulfilling life. The book is rounded off by Chris' experience of retirement, including the changes that present themselves, plus the potential problems to be aware of.You will journey through a period of over 60 years and hopefully at the end you won't feel exhausted, but rather exhilarated and amused at what has engendered this man to regularly express the following saying - "Onwards and Upwards". Book reviews online @ www.publishedbestsellers.com

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Memoir

Informations

• Publié par: Pneuma Springs Publishing
• Date de parution: 05 mai 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781782282112
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Onwards and Upwards







Chris R. Pownall
Copyright

First Published in 2011 by: Pneuma Springs Publishing
Onwards and Upwards Copyright © 2011 Chris R. Pownall
Kindle eISBN 9781907728952 ePub eISBN 9781782282112 PDF eBook eISBN 9781782280798 Paperback ISBN: 9781907728136
Pneuma Springs Publishing E: [e-mail] W: www.pneumasprings.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Published in the United Kingdom. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher.
Acknowledgement
I wish to extend my grateful thanks to the following individuals who have kindly assisted in some of the preparation of this book:-
Mrs Tracey Kirk
Mr David Edwin-Scott
Mr Derek Davidson
Miss Daisy Kirk
Mrs Cynthia Edwards
Mr John Chang
Mr Brian Thomson
Mrs Patricia Pownall
Foreword
Having written my memoirs “Funny How Things Work Out”, there are other memories that I wish to record before moving to another genre. I also wanted to express my opinions on certain aspects of modern life, those I consider to be favourable as well as those I dislike.
I have included my experiences following retirement from full time occupation and how I have managed the changes towards an equally fulfilling life.
As with my memoirs, many of my recollections are triggered by things that have amused me as well as others that I found of great interest. People have been very important to me and I wished to record some of those now departed whom I have found to be most interesting.
Travel has been and still is very important to me and I have highlighted the trips and outings that have given me much satisfaction. I have included two recent trips, one to China and the other to Australia in the belief that others will benefit from this kind of self-organised vacation, which my wife Pat and I found most rewarding.
This will be my last book of this nature as now I wish to move on to other genre, which will not be an easy shift, but one that will challenge my creative skills and hopefully give me considerable satisfaction in the months ahead. I believe retirement should be used to continue the learning process, which for my mind is the main purpose behind the gift of life.
Too many retired individuals vegetate and grow old before their time and it is my intention to keep going for as long as possible as in reality, there are far too many subjects to cover in just one lifetime.
I trust that those who take time to read this book will enjoy sharing more of my experiences from my fortunate journey through life. It has given me great satisfaction recalling some of these memorable times and hopefully, you too will find a little amusement and stimulation from more of my stories and opinions.
1. Childhood memories of Cheshire farms
I have very fond childhood memories of three farms in the Cheshire village of Bosley.
The first one is George Goodwin’s farm named Lymford, and I wrote about this in my previous book “Funny How Things Work Out”. George never married and when his mother died, the place deteriorated quite dramatically. It was sad to see George living under such poor conditions and latterly struggling to make ends meet.
By contrast, the other two farms were considerably more prosperous than Lymford. The first I wish to describe was Frank Shaw’s place named Primrose Bank. I used to visit this farm, very often with my father who did some spare time work such plumbing installations in the shippen's and other outdoor buildings. I particularly recall haymaking time and being allowed to drive one of Frank’s working horses when it was towing a four wheeled trailer; heavily laden with freshly cut and dried hay. I think there were three horses on the farm and I recall their smell and the sound of their feet as the steel shoes clattered across the cobbled yard. These were beautiful animals and their smell was enchanting. I don’t know whether it has ever been scientifically proven but I would imagine that horses working in those conditions really enjoyed their life, which lasted for many years.
The economy of the farm centred on a dairy herd and Frank’s wife ran the poultry side of the business. She had lots of chickens that were free to roam and at night, they were safely shut up in wooden hen cotes. In addition to lots of chickens located in fields some distance from the farm buildings, there were always chickens wandering around the orchard and free to enter the farm kitchen if that’s what they chose to do. This may sound disgusting, but it wasn’t really, because the kitchen floor was covered with red quarry tiles that were mopped clean several times per day.
I remember Frank Shaw generally wore a waistcoat and smoked a pipe. During the period when I was visiting Primrose Bank approximately 1947 – 1952, Frank was approaching his retirement and I don’t recall him doing much manual work on the farm. By contrast, Frank’s wife Ivy who was much younger than him was on the go all the time. Her dress attire was very distinctive and always the same whatever the day of the week or season of the year. She wore corduroy jodhpurs and Wellington boots and very nice, clean looking blouses which I remember being either pink or blue with white stripes.
These were short-sleeved blouses, summer and winter as she was obviously quite accustomed to working in the outdoor environment. Another feature of Mrs Shaw’s attire was her little headscarves which she had tied under her chin. Then of course there was her make up which in this day and age would seem a bit odd but at that time we just took for granted the way she presented herself, each and every single day. She had make-up plastered on her face and always-used bright red lipstick and rouge on her cheeks. I have really clear memories of the various smells on this farm and these include the lovely fragrant odours coming from Mrs Shaw’s clean cotton blouses and her regularly titivated make up.
The farm kitchen was an interesting place with a red tiled floor to which I have already referred. There was a large wooden table that was scrubbed clean on a regular basis and numerous spindle backed chairs where they would sit to eat their meals. At the far end of the kitchen, was a wall mounted sink, which was something like a metre long. It was made from brown glazed clay and there were two brass water taps.
Other smells on that farm included those in the shippen’s at milking time. There was the lovely smell of the animals themselves plus their urine and cowpats, which again were very distinctive, and not in the least objectionable to me. At the bottom of the farmyard there was a large muck midden and even this, had its own personality when it came to farm smells. Chicken cotes, equally had their individual odour, which was a mixture of their excreta as well as the smell coming from their feathers.
Mrs Shaw had an old blue car that she used to transport chicken food around the numerous cotes; twice per day as I recall. This vehicle was very old and it had a large hole in the floor at the back. I can clearly remember sitting in the back seat surrounded by buckets full of chicken corn and looking down at the ground beneath passing by. She was a fast driver and I had to hang on to the seat in front to avoid being thrown all over the place.
I suppose it was due to the chickens having free range that quite often, one would be found suffering from a blockage of fresh grass, stuck in its craw. Mrs Shaw was proficient at remedying this condition and believe it or believe it not, she resorted to surgery with no anaesthetics whatsoever. On numerous occasions, I have seen her prepare the kitchen table as an operating table, by placing several layers of newspaper where she was about to perform the operation. The hen was then placed under her right arm and its head was folded under its wing. This had the effect of inducing either sleep or unconsciousness, and she then laid it on the newspaper, flat on its back with its legs up in the air. The cutting instrument was one of those single bladed razors that most men used to shave with back in those days. She would make an incision in the bird’s neck and then insert her finger to remove a quantity of tangled green slimy grass that had amassed into the size of a golf ball. It was then time for a needle and thread and she would quickly sew up the wound, whilst all the time, the poor chicken lay there with its eyes tightly closed. After the operation was completed, she would pick the chicken up and I don’t know how or why, but it would spring back into consciousness and when lowered to the floor, it would run off making a hell of a clucking noise. I don’t know how common this kind of thing was amongst poultry farmers at that time, but I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
Mrs Shaw had another party piece when she was dressing a bird for the oven. I clearly recall one afternoon, when I was visiting Primrose Bank together with my sister Cynthia; we found Mrs Shaw sat in the kitchen plucking the feathers from a recently slaughtered chicken. When she had removed all its feathers she took a carving knife and made a large cut in the birds back side. She then inserted her right hand and pulled out the entrails, which was the only smell on that farm that I found offensive. Now came the party piece. She asked us to observe carefully as she stuck her hand right into the chicken and some how, she made it crow. Again, if I hadn’t witnessed this myself I would never have believed it possible.
Haymaking was a wonderful time, as we seemed to have better summers in those days. There was always a barrel of cider in the hay field and periodically, each farm worker would approach the barrel and help himself to a drink. There