Memories of Abington Hall, Cambridgeshire

The four years I spent in Abington Hall (and the Brit.Weld.Res.Assoc.) were just such wonderful magical years (despite the heartaches).
For all sorts of professional and personal reasons.
Ups and downs of course, but so many ups . . . 

One of the things I recall so clearly now are the Saturday evening parties we sometimes held in the ‘Bachelor Flats’ on the top floor of Abington Hall : We (there were five us living in those rooms) would invite lively young friends from the Typing Pool ( and me also from London, and/or Reading ) : and stomp the time away with the foot-twitching, swinging, gyrating music from 10” longplay records  :  magical things like from Humphrey Lyttleton and the like . . .  like Sweet Georgia Brown for instance :

And then the two huge BonfireNightSpectaculars, the Nov.5th Parties I organised in 1960 and 1961 for all 300 of the BWRA staff and their families, in the grounds of Abington Hall at 10shillings a head = in today’s money about about £4,000 worth of fireworks and food and beverages . . .  lighting-up the heavens above the trees and Handel’s Firework Muzik blazing away on homemade outdoor-rigged loudspeakers . . . and the bonfire and the fireworks themselves all Lit By Hand . . . scary . . .  

But nothing like as sophisticated !   And the main fuse blew just as the music started, so Paul hammered a 3-inch Nail across the fuse jaws : that was NOT going to fuse AGAIN that evening !

And the Sunday Sailing Parties I sometimes organised for about 4 carloads of us girls and boys driving in convoy all the way over to Aldeborough and hiring 2 or 3  Sailing Yachts for the day on the River Alde,  bliss . . .  

You can see that I’ve gotta bad onslaught of the "Hormone Therapy recalls "at the moment . . . 

How one morning I shot into Cambridge in my little blue Sprite and bought 24 red roses from the florist near the GuildHall, and went round to every one of the twenty girls in the typing pool and gave one to each, with my love, and four for Mrs Joan Carr who headed the T-Pool. 

And just re-found this letter from the Abington Director Dr Richard Weck to Churchill College in 1962 . . . (below).  And then I was off  for the next 3 years to Churchill College and the May Balls and  . . . .

Ups and downs of course, but so many ups . . . 

 Dear, Lovely, Funny Old World x x x x x
    So much Love
         from JohnnyA