Web Page No 2472

5^th May  2018

First Picture: Building a childhood  den

Second Picture:  Platform in a tree

Third Picture:  Rhododendron bush great for tree rooms

The Den

Did you have a Den when you were a child? I was lucky we had a long garden and the very top that backed onto Solent Road School playground (this has since been sold to the school and is a nature area). Here I had room not only for a den but also for underground hiding places and also a tree house or platform. I have two other friends who at that time were also lucky in their play areas, one had an orchard to play in and another a whole market garden. But the area at the top of our garden was left fallow when my father was away and was a glorious wilderness for us to play in.

Where to start? The tree platform I suppose. The tree was a large beech tree which grew up against the school playground wall. Hiding this part of the garden from the house was a whole line of hazel nut trees making this area very quiet and private. With some searching around in one of my fathers sheds we managed to find enough timber that we could nail together to form a sort of platform about 12 feet up in the tree and from here we could sit and look right into the school playground. Why we should want to do this I cannot remember especially at weekends and holiday times, why did we want to be reminded of school? The platform was a great vantage point to play pirates and solders from. My friends and I spent many happy hours on this platform in this tree and in the land of make believe.

If we were not in the tree we were busy digging a subterranean clubhouse beneath the gooseberry and current bushes a few yards away from the tree. To do this we borrowed my father’s spade and fork and dug a big oblong hole. This is when the corrugated iron from the old dismantled air raid shelter came in useful. Having dug out the hole, the sheeting was put across it with a couple of supports going across the middle and the whole thing was then covered in earth. We, in our own minds, thought that it was fantastically camouflaged and no one knew it was there, but I am sure my parents knew all along. Having got the club house or den completed all it needed was an old carpet to go in the bottom of it, (this got very soggy when it rained), some alcoves dug out of the walls to place short candles in for lighting and we were ready for anything. I do remember that to try to improve the place and keep it warm especially in the autumn and winter we constructed a very basic hearth and lit a fire. The result was a group of boys dashing out of the den as it filled with smoke. We now learnt the hard way, and very quickly, the theory of flue and chimney management and with the help of odds and ends from the old air raid shelter and my fathers shed we did eventually construct a workable chimney and so make the whole thing quite acceptable, fairly water tight and warm. But we could never solve the problem of rain water running down through the doorway and onto the floor of the den making the carpet soggy. But after all we were not the first with that type of problem because practically everyone who had an Anderson Shelter in their back garden during the war years experienced the very same problem!!! 

My wife and her younger sister had a different sort of den in their grandparents garden in Ringwood. Theirs was housed under the branches of an enormous Rhododendron bush outside the cottage back door. The tree put down branches to ground level and made a wide clear space by the trunk as a main room and it also formed little side rooms off to the sides where the smaller branches met the ground. They would drag old carpets and chairs into the ‘tree house’ and play in there for hours. I remember that when we were courting and I went down to Ringwood Pam proudly showed me their old tree house and some of the old furniture was still in there quietly rotting away.

Did you have a den or secret place?

Keep in touch

Yours

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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News and Views:

On this day 5th May 1960-1965.

On 05/05/1960 the number one single was Do you Mind - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 05/05/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 05/05/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 05/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 05/05/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was West Ham win FA Cup.

On 05/05/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was First transatlantic TV programme via satellite.