Page 8 - link magazine

The Link Magazine • May 1996
8
Captain's log stardate: Moving in - 1980 style
20 June 1980.
Mentally, we moved in the mo- Pam Pixton, right, reports on landing on a Freshbrook building site
ment we put the deposit down on
our plot of land. Almost every Newbury Heights. As time went other people came to swim in 'our'
week we came out to see how 'our' on more people moved in and at pool.
home was progressing. One day dusk, the street echoed to the sound 'The Builders 2' seemed to ar-
we found that the builders had put of the squeaky barrow. We were rive when Cable TV was installed.
a plank through the space where a lucky as our carpet was muddy They marked the pavement for
window was to go, and were brown; when it rained it blended utilities, but still cut off the 'phone.
barrowing stuff in/out of 'our' liv- in with the area beautifully. We came back from holiday and I
ing room. Later Asda, or Carrefour as it opened the car door to be inter-
Being one of the first to move was then, opened the largest su- viewed by a local pressure group
into our street, most of it was a permarketin town, with checkouts (CACTUS), only to fall into the
building site. The road was very stretching as far as the eye could builder's trench.
rough and only bits of pavement see. As time went on, the develop-
existed. As the builders were on The beauty of living herein those ment filled up and everyone parties and a smashing do in the
site tiny problems, like blocked pioneer days was that after my seemed to make friends, possibly evening at the temporary commu-
drains could be easily overcome. second child was born, we'd often because because most of us had nity centre in Freshbrook. Profit
Unfortunately, they regarded go to Lydiard Park for the after- little children and so similar prob- was made and everyone talked of
the area as 'theirs', and we were noon, and have it all to ourselves. lems. having a another one, but we never
the intruders. One afternoon when Likewise, when we went to the This culminated in some royal did. Perhaps this is what 'gentri-
I went to drive out of the street, I Link, we were most put out when wedding/anniversary with street fication' of an area means.
couldn't as they had dug across it
entirely. Fortunately, they quickly
put a steel sheet over the trench for Wild West Swindon - the good old days?
me and off we went. This illus-
trated the cavalier attitude the By Matt Holland, a one-time rural resident
builders had. Often their lorries Looking back is a tricky business. Your eyes get misty. They go out of focus. The haze in your gaze
would block the drive or road. can distort your view of the past, make the ordinary look exceptional, the terrific tawdry. The sifting
Bewildered and apologetic, they process takes hold. You see what you want to. So, here goes.
always moved their vehicles, but
looked at you as if you were an Ah yes, I remember it well. 1979, experience on North Wiltshire and things were never quite the
alien. or was it '69? Sane cows grazing in dairy farms. There was a yawning same again. They were neater and
Until we got a street name and green planning-free fields. Dead sense of space and a predictable had sharper edges. There were
house number, we were a plot of elms standing brown and leafless kind of freedom. Yes, even for the new mowers, shiny cars, and lots
land. This made it difficult to di- along dense and rambling hedge- young, country life had pattern and lots of children. Even we
rect deliveries to: no one other than rows. The Hunt galloping by, a and predictability. started having them and enjoying
the utilities had ever heard of tractor, muck-spreader in tow, And when I went to live and the child-friendly centres and
chugging up the lane. These were work at Lower Shaw Farm, at the parks that were sprouting up eve-
PETS AT HOME the scenes where now stand vast end of the seventies, Shaw still had rywhere.
car showrooms, ever-open super- that country village feel about it. Suddenly, instead of knowing
Worried who will look stores, glitzy computing centres, Houses were of distinctly differ- 57 locals in 57 village houses, you
after your pets whilst and a maze of suburban closes and ing types and ages, plenty of space know hundreds from all over the
you're on holiday? cul-de-sacs. in between, with old sheds in the place. But you could not walk to
This past decade and a half has gardens, weathered tools, battered Lydiard over open fields. But you
Pets At Home seen 'development' well and truly wheelbarrows and often a handful could get a paper and a can of lager
could be your answer take hold on the west side of Swin- of happy animals scratching about on a Sunday evening. But you
Pets At Home is a service don. What do we really make of it? somewhere. Things were well- couldn't get free firewood from
I, for one, have mixed feelings. worn and well-used, and seemed the hedgerows; but you could 'go
which cares for all your pets
(except dogs) in their own In the sixties I lived in Purton to know their place. People too, to the movies' without going into
and went to school in Malmesbury. nicely weathered and worn, knew town. But you couldn't kick a ball
home anywhere in the
Life revolved around a big family their place; and, true to village on any green patch; but you could
West Swindon area only.
and a handful of neighbours; while form, were inclined to know yours! play tennis indoors! But your
Telephone Sheila Mitchell evenings and weekends were spent But then the earth movers came couldn't ... but you could ... still
for further details on messing about along cow parsley in and moved a lot of earth, see the sun rise, see the sun set.
873062 lanes and getting real-life work changed the shape of the fields You bet!

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