please empty your brain below
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Thanks DG for a wonderful guided walk through my local neighbourhood. St. Nicholas’ is my local church some 10 minutes from my front door. My son sang in the choir there in his younger years. Such a shock this morning to find my locality covered superbly by DG himself.
One interesting but useless fact from me is that the porch shown in your photo of Rowfant station was especially built into the design of the building for the sole purpose of providing shelter in inclement weather for the local wealthy resident of Rowfant House whilst he waited for his carriage. Thank you so much DG.
Terry | 26.11.17 - 8:34 a.m. | #
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I lived in Crawley from the age of seven to eighteen. Not a bad place to grow up then, with tributaries of the River Mole to play in and a very isolated woodland, Oldhouse Warren , not yet bissected by the M23 , where the occasional deer could be spotted.
Just before the Beeching axe fell we took the train to EG to go swimming, but by the time a short-lived jazz club, the Peacher’s Roost, opened in the Rowfant Hotel, we had to go by bike. The impresario, Dave Blackman, called himself The Preacher, channelling Horace Silver, with vaguely clerical outfit. I doubt we fourteen year olds had the cool image he wanted to reflect, but we were the first punters to show up and heard the Jimmy Skidmore Quintet planning On Green Dolphin Street. Shortly after this Dave was promoting rhythm and blues, the Graham Bond Organisation at Northgate Community Centre
Keith | 26.11.17 - 8:48 a.m. | #
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Great memories for you Keith. I spent most of my life living in London. Only lived in Crawley these last 20 years. Still a nice place to live but not the same as it was when I first moved down.
Terry | 26.11.17 - 8:57 a.m. | #
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Fascinating post - and a walk to add to my list. But who knew that unexpected Saxons had their own churches!
Mike Newman | Homepage | 26.11.17 - 9:17 a.m. | #
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A post about a lovely country walk will never have me switching off, but the church and Sound of Music links were definitely the clincher.
Duly added to my list - thanks!
Cornish Cockney | 26.11.17 - 10:47 a.m. | #
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There’s a bungalow on the main road through Crawley Down called “Creepy Up”!
Mike P-J | Homepage | 26.11.17 - 11:20 a.m. | #
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I’ll look out for “Creepy Up” next time I’m in the village Mike. Never spotted that one before 😎
Terry | 26.11.17 - 11:26 a.m. | #
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Nice post, the style of it reminded me of the Connections TV series by James Burke, where he would start off with a set of unconnected things, then show what the links were. The unexpected Saxon Church gave me visions of a building crouching behind a tree, leaping out in front of walkers - but we do live in a country where a government minister complained about badgers moving the goalposts - so anything is possible.
Still Anon | 26.11.17 - 11:29 a.m. | #
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Georg von Trapp's first wife was Agatha. Agathe was their eldest daughter.
dg writes: His first wife was also called Agathe.
The munitions industry is a strange place. It seems somewhat ironic that the British inventor of the torpedo should have married off his grand-daughter to a man who later used his invention to sink six British ships (and another seven of the Allies).
The Sound of Music plays very fast and loose with history - basically losing a decade between 1927 and 1938.
Another connection between (landlocked) Austria, torpedoes, and the film industry is the story of Hedy Lamarr. (Look her up)
timbo again | 26.11.17 - 5:33 p.m. | #
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Austria may have been landlocked but the Austrian Empire wasn't.
Pedantic of Purley | 26.11.17 - 9:54 p.m. | #
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No indeed, which is why Georg von Trapp had dual Italian/Austrian nationality, allowing him and his family (by then including nine children with a tenth imminent) to leave German-occupied Austria in 1938. (by train, not on foot...........!). I say "children", but the oldest was 26 (going on 27)
timbo again again | 26.11.17 - 11:33 p.m. | #
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Before the self-propelled torpedo was the spar torpedo, essentially a mine on a stick.
Gosh, what an interesting bunch Whitehead's progeny were. As well as the Sound of Music connection, one granddaughter married Otto von Bismarck's eldest son, and a grandson was Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia.
Andrew | 27.11.17 - 8:59 a.m. | #
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I'm an EGR resident of ~2 years, and live fairly close to the Worth Way. It's fantastic for taking the kids out for a long, flat, safe bike ride. I also was taken by surprise by St Nicholas' the first time I cycled into Crawley!
I'm slowly getting to know Crawley itself, and see beyond its New Town sprawliness. In particular, I can relate to Keith's memories of streams and woodland. Everywhere is interesting if you look closely enough. Thanks DG.
(Also thanks for that walky/trainy blog you linked to; that's gone straight into my bookmarks)
David F | 27.11.17 - 9:25 a.m. | #
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Lovely post, and nice to see friendly comments about Crawley, my home of 8 years. I enjoy living there, it has a lot to offer beyond its shopping mall, notably 3 or 4 of the best parks in the SE.
Ian Brooker | 27.11.17 - 1:12 p.m. | #
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Hello !
Just came across your wonderful site and this post, interesting to me because I am newly employed 2 hours a week to help with Worth Parish publicity.
We would indeed love some more choir members, so could I direct people to our website particularly, if like Terry's son, above, they have previous choral experience and would like to get back into it.
The church has supported a remarkable choral tradition since the end of the 15th century and Worth Choir are a small group of singers who work hard to maintain this high standard of musical excellence. We have a varied repertoire but particularly enjoy singing music from the Renaissance.
Please visit www.worthparish.org/worthchoir for more information.
Thank you again !
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Whyman | Homepage | 03.01.18 - 11:05 a.m. | #
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