Uncle Brian’s sister Auntie
Joyce lives in Tunbridge Wells in Kent. It had been two years
since he had last seen her and Uncle Barry, so a week’s
holiday had been planned. A contingent of our Hug went along too.
Some to visit friends who live with Auntie Joyce, others hoping
for days out especially the "Railway Bears".
Monday
Monday morning dawned, and Dad and
Uncle Brian were busy with last minute packing and getting the
luggage in the car.
Our chief Hug Bears, Fred and Glad
were going of course, and were in charge of organising us.
"Nearly time to go" said
Glad.
Come on lads, get yourselves in the
back of the car and settled down", called out Fred.
"OK" we all called out as
we ran out of the door.
So finally Dad backed the car out
of the drive and the journey began. Soon through Lancaster we
joined the M6 motorway heading south. We heard Dad remark that
the roads were quite quiet, perhaps due to the recession.
Whatever, this meant that there were no hold ups. To avoid
Birmingham, Dad used the M6 Toll Road, which was almost deserted
– seems people do not like the idea of tolls. Eventually we
reached the M25. Although most of us had seen it before we
marvelled at the huge bridge that carries the road over the River
Thames at Dartford. Some of us felt a bit dizzy looking down.
After leaving the motorway it was then just a few miles to reach
Tunbridge Wells and the Royal Wells Hotel where we were staying.
It owes its regal title to Queen
Victoria, who made frequent visits as a young princess in the
early nineteenth century. Later she granted the use of her Coat
of Arms, which you can see are proudly displayed at the top of
the building. Prior to this it was called the Mount Ephraim Hotel,
from the road it is situated on.
Tuesday
After the long drive down yesterday
Uncle Brian said that Dad deserved a rest so they only went into
the town today.
"Come on", said Elmer to
Mario and Elmo. "Time we were getting down to the car".
Uncle Brian and Dad first went to a
shop called Hoopers for coffee and shopping, so we went to the
nice park behind to look at the lovely flowers. We kept an eye
out and as soon as we spotted Dad rushed back to the car. Dad now
drove up to the Victoria Centre, as Uncle Brian wanted to do some
shopping. We waited patiently sitting on a seat and Dad kindly
took our picture.
I am in the middle with Mario on
the left and Elmo on the right. By now it was lunchtime and they
have a favourite café here called The Nutmeg Tree. It is an old
fashioned café where the waitresses wear black and white
uniforms. Just the sort of establishment Dad likes.
Then we went with them to Auntie
Joyce’s and Uncle Barry’s. Our polar bears Polo and
Ranulph with puffins Percy and Peter were staying here visiting
their friends Snowy and Scott, and here we all are.
Wednesday
Hi, I am Scooter, and I will be
telling the story today. I went with my other railway pals
Chuffer, Dale, Dunstan and Higson, to the Bluebell Railway.
I am a member of this railway but
my other pals are members of other railways, so we all had our
membership cards with us to display.
We began our journey from Sheffield
Park Station.
The train was in the station so we
hopped on and found a seat. We were all excited and could not
wait for the whistle to sound.
l-r Higson, me, Dunstan, Dale and Chuffer
For the record my pals are
members of other heritage railways as follows –
Soon the whistle blew, and off we
went on the journey via Horsted Keynes to Kingscote. The line
gets its name from the bluebells by the track and we saw quite a
few as we went along. The train waited a while at Kingscote and
we watched the engine being run round for the return journey.
Props are used to create the
ambience of the station, like these cycles and luggage.
This station is currently the
northern limit of the line but efforts are being made to extend
to East Grinstead, and so link with the main railway network. The
biggest obstacle to this is Imberhorne Cutting that was some
years ago filled with household waste. A large amount of money
needs to be raised to remove this. Dad is helping by buying
shares. A gentleman was selling certificates for £10. This pays
to remove a quarter of a ton of waste. Uncle Brian bought one,
and my pals and I too.
The train was busy so there was a
lot of activity on the platform.
Soon it was time to depart for the
return trip, so we scampered on board. Not surprisingly Dad was
hungry so at Sheffield Park, he and Uncle Brian went for lunch at
the Bessemer Arms. We had brought sandwiches, and ate them while
we looked out of the window watching what was going on.
Later we all went to view the newly
restored locomotive "Sir Archibald Sinclair". It is a
Battle of Britain class Bulleid Light Pacific. Withdrawn by
British Rail in 1966 it was rescued from the Barry scrap yard.
After many years it was finally restored and returned to traffic
in April 2009.
I am sure you will agree that it is
a magnificent sight!
Great efforts are made to give the
stations true authenticity, even down to the gas lighting.
Well our day was nearly over, but
not before we watched the train arrive again from Kingscote.
We all had had a great day out and
maybe next time we visit we will be able to ride all the way to
East Grinstead. We were still reflecting on our day out the next
morning.
Thursday
Hi, I am Winston, and will be telling the story today. I was
adopted in Tunbridge Wells, from a shop on The Pantiles, which we
were visiting today. My pal Jasper came with me, as did Fred and
Gladly our chief hug bears.
Dad found a car park very close, so
this saved Uncle Brian from having to walk too far. To get to The
Pantiles we had to walk through the Corn Exchange. The first
thing we noticed was this huge mural at one end.
Gladly said, "what is all that
about".
Fred replied, " we had better
go and read those information boards as we came in."
This is what we found out –
The painting was done by Miss Julia
Manning in 1990, and depicts the history of the Corn Exchange
building until its conversion to its present use in the late 1980’s.
The two figures at the top of the picture are Belle Causey and
Beau Nash. Belle Causey was the originator of the Social events
that made Tunbridge Wells famous as a spa during the 18th
Century. It was after her death that Beau Nash made the town the
fashionable resort it eventually became. They are depicted behind
a balustrade echoing the one that exists on the same wall on the
outside of the building.
In 1802 a theatre was built on the
site under the management of Sarah Baker, who was a celebrated
acrobatic dancer of the time. This was a period when Harlequin
and Pierrot entertainment was popular. The costumes and the
arrangement of the characters are taken from an illustration of
that period. The theatre was built astride the river, which
formed the boundary between Kent and Sussex, so that the audience
was in one county while the actors were in another. The course of
the river, now in conduit, still runs below the basement of the
present building. The front of the theatre and the facade to The
Pantiles remains to this day but the auditorium was demolished in
Victorian times, and replaced by The Corn Exchange much as it is
today. Farmers would seal bargains by slapping wrists in the
manner shown in the bottom right. Use as a Corn Exchange declined
and the First World War saw the building used as a drill hall by
the West Kent Yeomanry, and it was here that they paraded before
marching through the town on their way to fight in France. In
more recent times the hall was used as an orchestral rehearsal
room and as an auction hall for antiques and furniture.
"Phew" cried Jasper,
"that was a lot to remember".
Now we exited to The Pantiles and
we asked Dad to take a picture of the outside.
The figure standing above the
building is Ceres, the Goddess of the Harvest.
We crossed the square and climbed
the steps to The Pantiles.
The colonnade was originally
constructed in 1687 and became known as "The Walks". In
1698 Princess Anne donated £100 for The Walks to be paved after
her young son, The Duke of Gloucester, fell over on the slippery
ground near the spring. When she returned the following year to
find the work not done, she vowed never to visit Tunbridge Wells
again.
Belatedly paving was laid, using
square ceramic tiles known as ‘pantiles’. These gave
the colonnade its current name, although stone flags replaced
them in 1793.
We strolled along, and then sat on
a convenient seat to have our photo taken. Left to right –
Jasper, Gladly, Fred and me, Winston.
Close by is the Chalybeate Spring (pronounced
Kali-be-ate). The name is the generic name for a spring with a
high iron content and is derived from the Greek word for iron.
The water also contains many other minerals among them magnesium,
manganese, sodium and calcium. Many claims have been made for the
properties of the water and various conditions are indeed eased
by the absorption of these minerals, including arthritis, anaemia
and hangovers!
It was the chance discovery of this
in 1606 by the young aristocrat Dudley Lord North, to which
Tunbridge Wells owes it existence. He felt so rejuvenated from
drinking the cool, iron rich water, that he declared it to be
health-giving and soon spread the word amongst his aristocratic
friends. Visitors from London and elsewhere flocked to the small
settlement that developed alongside the spring, and which later
became known as Tunbridge Wells. Among those who became regular
visitors to "The Wells", were Princess (later Queen
Victoria), Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe.
The Bath House was built over the
spring about 1804 to a design by J.T. Groves. It originally
contained vapour, shower and hot and cold baths using the spring
waters but fell into disuse by the 1850’s. "Dippers"
served the water for drinking from the basin over the spring.
See how red the basin is from all
the iron in the water. Dad bought a glass and we tried it. Fred
said it had helped to ease his aching back.
This is the lady "dipper"
who was serving the water.
Well that was the end of our visit
to The Pantiles, but not the end of our day out. It was to the
cinemas now. Jasper and I went to see "Angels and Demons"
on the first day of its release. Fred and Glad were not bothered
instead opting to go Ten Pin Bowling.
Saturday
Hi, Winston here
again. This was the last day of
our holiday, and Dad and Uncle Brian decided to go for a drive in
the morning, to visit the town of Tenterden, so I went along with
my pals Jasper and Mario. The countryside was beautiful. We
marvelled at the huge trees that lined the roads in many places.
On arrival Uncle Brian saw that there was a Waitrose store, so he
and Dad and did some shopping, and then went to a nice café
called Mr Bean’s Coffee House, for a drink and snack.
Uncle Brian then decided to rest in
the car, while Dad went for a short walk taking us along too.
The church has a huge tower, here
viewed along a side street.
Dad took our photo, sitting by the
west door.
There are some old buildings,
including the Town Hall,
and this currently the Lemon Tree
Restaurant.
Well that was the last outing. At
teatime Dad and Uncle Brian went to Aunt Julie’s for a
lovely meal. They had a lot of fun and many laughs too. They took
Auntie Joyce and Uncle Barry home, and collected Polo, Ranulph,
Percy and Peter, who all said their goodbyes to their pals Scott
and Snowy, and thanked Auntie Joyce for having them to stay.
All that remained was for Dad to
take the usual end of holiday group photo. Here we are sitting on
the bed in our room.
back row
– Peter, Percy, Elmo, Dale, Mario
middle row
– Jasper, Fred, Elmer, Gladly, Winston front row
– Polo, Dunstan, Scooter, Higson, Chuffer, Ranulph
Sunday dawned and we headed home.
We felt very sorry for Dad, as the weather was atrocious, with
torrential rain for a large part of the journey.
