Remembering trips to Newport with his grandfather

Andy Whittle "I am just off out for a stroll, Ethel ". That was my grandfather. That was his hobby and from my time as a baby whenever we were on the Island [there is only one] I was part of it. If my mother wanted a break from childminding, I was loaded into the pram and away we would go. My grandparents Harry and Ethel Saunders lived in one of the bungalows, on St George's Lane, Shide on the way up to Newport golf course, named after J. M. Barrie characters in Peter Pan, the hero himself with Wendy next door, numbers 12 and 10 respectively. On with the mac, cravat and trilby and away we would go. I graduated, from pram to pushchair to Shanks' pony. If I was exceptionally lucky, the first stage was by bus. From the inside pocket of his coat he would draw out his folded and well-thumbed copy of the Southern Vectis timetable, always purchased on the first day of issue and consult routes 9 from Ventnor irregular and always single deck, 17 from Ventnor every hour like the 12 and 22 from Shanklin and finally the 14 from Sandown. I suspect that he did not really need to look but it was part of the fun. We would leave at about the same time the bus was timed to leave Blackwater corner, it always struck me that we were cutting it fine, but we never missed one, we were always there at the Barley Mow stop well before the bus was visible down the Blackwater Road. There were two fare structures one for the winter and one for the summer, so what was a fivepenny ticket in the winter was sevenpence in the summer. He would take out his purse count out the coppers, look at the conductor, give him the money and say I am not buying the bus you know. My mother if accompanying us would try and master the art of invisibility.

There were the other frequent occasions when we walked into Newport, as nothing was running at the right time. Then I suspect that as a lad of around 10 or so, the pleasures were not so obvious, it was not a long walk just over 10 minutes but it could seem for ever. Down the hill of the lane past Ratcliffe's cabbage field on the right past the lodge at the bottom where Peter the old black and white dog lived, sometimes he would follow us home on the return journey to collect the bone from the weekend joint. To my granddad he was never Peter but Scrooger. Over Pan Lane and onto the main road. A peer over the bridge into the waters of the juvenile Medina, over the old Shide level crossing. The railway was closed but the gates lived on, as did the station initially as Rarcliffe's storage yard. And then hard right by the Barley Mow and onto Shide Path as far as the Shide stores. Then Medina Avenue stretched out over the horizon and beyond, the bulk of the walk…. yet to come. Past Cypress and Avondale, past Hooper and Ashbys the builders merchant, past the advertising hoarding by the exit for Church Litten. the then home of Newport F.C. who were then a fairly successful Hampshire League side. Past one exit for Gould, Hibberd and Randall the distribution depot for fizzy drinks throughout the island.

Then onto Church Litten, and though a little boy the park side was not for me. We always walked the industrial side, me staring into each unit to admire the lorries, especially the green and red of British Road Services with the AEC recovery unit always parked at the rear. Then on past the Saturday entrance for the football club and next the Tuesday market site. In my childhood this thrived and it was a treat to walk around the bustle. I never thought about or even considered the end products but just looked at all the animals and imbibed the smells. Firstly there were the small animal cages with the rabbits and chickens I think, the sheep and the pig stalls and plenty of cattle. I may even have seen some of the auction, and finally at the bottom of the site were the cheapjacks, who later on had the place to themselves, as the animal market perished. If it is not market day then we will walk up past the new bus station, although I am just old enough to recall when the buses had stops in St Thomas' Square to look at the buses especially in the summer when the older doubledeck Bristol KSs and KSWs were brought out to meet the demands of a more frequent service. The next treat was the possible purchase of the days main meal from Barnetts the pork butchers, famed throughout Newport for the quality of their homemade pies and the corresponding length of the queue outside their shop. Never before and never since……

Then Woolworths in the days when they had an extensive series of food counters, 6 tins of Tiny Tim for the cat and a perusal of the loose biscuits bought by the quarter pound, direct from their tins either malted milk or sports biscuits each with a different sport design baked thereon. If I had some pocket money it was then for the toy counter, where I can recall buying on one occasion a large red plastic ship on wheels for 2/9d. Now for the cakes Larbys was one such place, usual purchases a Coventry cake, and half a dozen iced buns. No doubt we went elsewhere but those were the places which interested me. I would like to think that he enjoyed it as much as I did since when his own children were growing up, he was away in the Navy…China Station and the Mediterranean fleet… before the war and he missed it, so he was catching up whilst I was growing up.