Letters
Picture of AA box brought back memories Although she could clearly remember these events she had no recollection of the place itself, which was where it all happened nearly 70 years earlier. Richard Kinnibrugh Stalbridge
I was greatly interested in the photograph of the AA box at Blackmarsh Farm in your No.9 issue, and I will tell you why. When they were courting, my parents, who lived in south London, owned a tandem and in 1931 and `32 toured the west country. They were returning from one of these trips, which had been to Honiton and Porlock respectively, when they decided it was time to stop somewhere for the night. They asked an AA man at Milborne Port for assistance, who consulted his wife, who was presumably standing nearby, and for some minutes they were deeply engaged in discussion. Then the AA man returned to my parents and said that he and his wife would be happy to put them up for the night. It transpired 66
that the discussion had been as to whether or not my parents were married; and at that time they were not. So it was agreed that my father should sleep with the AA man and my mother with his wife! And so it was. The next morning my parents set off again for London and then stopped for refreshment at Shaftesbury where my father discovered that he had no wallet. So, assuming that it had been left at Milborne Port, they turned round and went back the way they had come. Having retrieved the wallet, they set out again for Shaftesbury and home. Nor is this the end of the story. Every Christmas for some years now my elder daughter has sorted a dozen photographs appropriate to the ending year and had them printed commercially into a
calandar as a present for me. In 2020, having no suitable new photographs because of the lockdown she thumbed through the family albums to pick out some pictures for the 2021 calandar. Surprisingly, the photo for January is of my parents on their tandem, very probably on one of these tours: it could conceivedly have been taken at Milborne Port, perhaps even by Jack Voss, the AA man! And since 1st January this picture has been loking down on me every day while I eat my breakfast. I had not even seen the BVM article in your mag until a neighbour, to whom I had related the story last year, drew it to my attention yesterday. When I retired we moved to Stalbridge and In 2000 I took my mother, who was then aged 93, to Milborne Port.
n I wish to comment on the two letters in the last edition of the NBV objecting to the Lyndon Wall cartoon of the previous edition. Why do people, when they do not get the joke, always adopt a superior attitude? To fully get the joke you would need to understand that it takes a practice from the past, which you would need to be over 50 years old to remember, or have studied recent history. Also, you would need to be abreast of current affairs on radio and TV. If either writer would like to have the joke explained to them I would be happy to oblige, but don’t criticise what you don’t understand. Meanwhile, please do not think of criticising Lyndon Wall – he is simply brilliant. When I look at his page of the NBV, I always cover up the clues and guess at the characters and so good is he that I usually get them in one. Finally, if they don’t get the latest cartoon, then they must have a sense of humour problem. Name and address supplied n Firstly, it is so great to have you back, the BVM is such an interesting magazine in all aspects, I hope you get all the support you deserve. With the ever increasing population in Stalbridge, together with an increase of dog owners whose dogs need exercising. It is time to bring to people’s attention the amount of DOG MESS left on the ground. This is such a
