February with two born on the 29th, a long
wait for their 1st birthday.
The 1st day of March, cow 471 known as Mrs
Jedward (as she had twin bull calves in 2010
named John and Teddy/Edward) presented
us with her second set of twins; the second
calf was breech, so help was needed. Mrs
Jedward and her heifer calves, known as The
Cheeky Girls are all doing well.
THREE
GENERATIONS
AT STATION
GARAGE,
ROPLEY
There is a wonderful film called Waking
Ned, in which the hero gives the eulogy
about his best friend, who happens to be
sitting in front of him. This is my opportunity
to do the same for the Hebberd family.
I’ve said all my life that if I ever had to go to
war, I would like to go with a bunch of
Hebberds beside me. This is rubbish, I want
them in front of me. Nonetheless, we have
been neighbours and close friends for three
generations.
As I write this on the 6th March, two more
calves have been born with two due
anytime, no rest yet for a while!
Sarah Jackson
NGS LOCAL
GARDENS OPEN
The 2012 National Gardens Scheme
(Hampshire) brochure contains details of all
Hampshire gardens open to the public during
the year, including:
The Old Rectory, Swarraton; The Hyde, Old
Alresford; Hill House, Old Alresford; Weir
House, Abbotstone Road; Old Alresford
House; Brandy Mount House, Alresford; Lake
House, Northington; The Down House, Itchen
Abbas; and Abbey Cottage, Rectory Lane,
Itchen Abbas.
Space does not permit all the dates here, but
you can check them at www.ngs.org.uk or
Tel: 01483 211535 for a copy of the brochure.
Fred, the Patriarch, started Station Garage,
Ropley in 1963. In those days he was a
Special Constable and quite a scary figure.
He once caught me speeding and gave me
a well-deserved ticking-off, but I digress,
and his second-eldest son Tony, left school
that Easter to join him.
You would drive up the hill to park on the
slope, usually, of course, behind someone
else who wanted to get out. That wondrous
place, a mixture of Aladdin’s Cave and the
Black Hole of Calcutta, where sparks would
fly from a welder, the tyre pressure machine
would hiss, and where oily rags and tools
lay about in purposeful mode and
somewhere bent over a car there would be
Fred, Tony, their Uncle Jack Hebberd and
Fred’s brother-in-law Uncle Snowy Kent.
No matter how busy, no matter how stupid
your enquiry, these giant, laconic kindly
men always had time to stop and help with
a slow smile and ready wit.
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