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Evergreen Winter 2011

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:11:40 +0000

As winter once more tightens its grip on the countryside, most of us will be hoping for weather a little milder than last year: perhaps just a gentle, seasonal dusting of snow like that which befell the village of Rievaulx in the Yorkshire Dales depicted on the front cover of our latest magazine. However, whether or not you find yourself snowed in this winter, we are confident that Evergreen contains enough delights to see you through the coming months, with articles, poems and pictures to amuse, entertain, inform and inspire.

Short stories read beside the fire are always popular at Christmas, so, when the festive mood takes you, turn to page 52 and enjoy the heart-warming tale of how a much-loved grandfather’s encounter with Father Christmas changed his life. Something else a little different in this issue is a Nostalgia Car Quiz which will give your brains a healthy road test and put you in gear for our “Happy Days Behind the Wheel” article in which a reader fondly recalls his father’s Rover 8 and his own 1948 Armstrong Siddeley Coupe.

Like gifts under the tree, memories come in many different parcels, so in this issue you can also read a lady’s fascinating account of her friendship with George Thomas (later Lord Tonypandy) when they travelled to work in Cardiff together just after the last war, tune in again to popular radio programme “Down Your Way” with Brian Johnston, and enjoy the story of actor Kenneth More whose film credits included “Genevieve”, “Reach for the Sky” and “A Night to Remember”.

It is because of Charles Dickens that ghost stories are associated with this time of year. The author of “A Christmas Carol” is not featured in this issue, but spirits are still much in evidence in our “Literary Pilgrim” feature. We visit The Manor at Hemingford Grey for a tour round the haunted house which was once the home of Lucy M. Boston (1892-1990). She wrote the popular “Green Knowe” series of books in which children, both ghostly and real, enjoy adventures in the house and gardens. Mischievous creatures of a more solid nature make their presence felt in “Countrycall” as we spend some time with Daphne Neville and her pet otters.

Notable milestones commemorated in this issue include the 40th anniversary of the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield (we tell the story of this popular entertainment venue), and in “A Toast to the Orchard” we meet the colourful Grimsby Morris Men who have been wassailing in Lincolnshire since 1982. Our excursions around the UK include a visit to the Seaton Tramway in Devon, an examination of the curious Dodman Cross in Cornwall, and a trip back in time to the day when, to celebrate the Relief of Ladysmith in 1900, the Scottish town of Stirling switched on its first electric lights.

Other items in this issue include “Music Makers” (the Ulster tenor James Johnston), “Rib-Ticklers” (including some favourite quotes from “Dad’s Army”), “Curiosity Corner”, “Scrapbook”, “The Evergreen Prayer” etc.

Merry Christmas everyone! And a Happy New Year!

Preview our new Winter 2011 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.

Evergreen Autumn 2011

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:11:22 +0000

Families and friendships seem to be themes running through the latest issue of Evergreen, which should provide some welcome warmth and cheer for readers as the autumn nights draw in.

The “Music Makers” in this issue are a family of singing sisters from Dublin, The Nolans, who hit the big time in 1980 with their catchy song, “I’m in the Mood for Dancing”, and enjoyed a number of subsequent hit records and successful tours. It has not been all plain sailing, however. They suffered a number of problems but fortunately had the strength to survive.

A family relationship of a very different kind was portrayed in “Steptoe and Son”, the popular television comedy series from the 1960s, and the love-hate relationship between the rag-and-bone father and son played by Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett is the subject of our “TV Memories” article. Far away from Oil Drum Lane, film comedy duo Laurel and Hardy were often at similar loggerheads and a selection of their memorable verbal exchanges is included in “Rib-Ticklers”.

A much-missed member of the Royal Family, Princess Diana, is remembered in a poignant full-page poem in this issue (Diana would have celebrated her 50th birthday in 2011), while another reader’s affectionate tribute to her “Green-Fingered Father” is sure to remind many readers of their own gardening-mad dad. Similarly, the article “Make-Do and Mend” in which a lady recalls the tremendous trouble her mother went to in order to get by will strike a chord with anyone who grew up in austerity Britain before today’s buy-now-pay-later society.

The friendships forged through membership of the Holiday Fellowship (HF) were frequently as close as family ties, and, as the jokey alternative name (Husbands Found) suggests, sometimes developed to become just that! A reader recalls her happy days with the now-disbanded Medway group in Kent. A much briefer and more fragile friendship is the subject of “The Literary Pilgrim” which concentrates on the meeting between war poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart Hospital, Edinburgh, in 1917.

We always try to include as much variety as possible in Evergreen, so as always there are numerous articles that cannot be grouped together. “Cinemagic” tells the story of the remarkable group of movie moguls who created their own Hollywood empires; “Almanac” examines the strange White Horse of Uffington in Berkshire; “Rural Rides” explores “the other Hampton Court” in Herefordshire; and “Home Town” visits Inverness in Scotland. Elsewhere there is a fascinating interview with Yorkshire legend, cricket umpire Dickie Bird, and Trevor Hill takes us behind the scenes of “Round Britain Quiz” with entertaining stories from his time producing the programme.

Other regular features in this issue include “Gleanings”, “Our Christian Heritage”, “Scrapbook”, “All Our Yesterdays”, “Where Are You Now?”, “Search for a Song” etc.

Preview our new Autumn 2011 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.

Evergreen Summer 2011

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:21:41 +0100

Can it really be summer already? How the year seems to be flying by! Time, therefore, to blow the cobwebs away by getting out and about, and in the latest issue of Evergreen you have the perfect companion to accompany you on your travels.

We start off our quarterly journey with a bracing visit to East Anglia: the introductory poem celebrating the north of Norfolk with its quaintly named settlements such as Titchwell, Cley and Overy Staithe leading into our illustrated “Rural Rides” feature which explores the countryside of John Constable and famous sites such as Flatford Mill and Willy Lott’s Cottage.

The life and work of a very different sort of Englishman are the focus of “The Literary Pilgrim” in this issue which sees us tramping around Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex on the trail of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and literature’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Having uncovered the truth about the Hound of the Baskervilles, one wonders what the deerstalkered sleuth would have made of the mythical “Little People” of the Isle of Man. Stories of these elusive folk are told in an intriguing “Almanac” article, so Evergreen readers can make up their own minds about whether or not the Manx fairies really exist!

Other fascinating ports of call in the summer issue include Launton in Oxfordshire where we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the local handbell ringers, the ancient 500-year-old George and Pilgrim’s Hotel at Glastonbury in Somerset (haunted, of course!), and the Isle of Anglesey where a tragic maritime disaster is commemorated.

A number of well-known personalities both past and present have articles devoted to them, not least HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As he celebrates his 90th birthday we tell the curious story of how, on an island in the South Pacific, Britain’s longest serving consort is regarded as…a god! A couple of years younger than the Duke is that star of radio, television and stage, Nicholas Parsons, and in a special interview with Evergreen he demonstrates that his energy, enthusiasm and love of life are burning just as bright.

Many people’s favourite Miss Marple, Margaret Rutherford, is the subject of our latest “Cinemagic” offering, “TV Memories” recalls the clerical comedy “All Gas and Gaiters”, while a devoted fan of the great ballerina shares his affectionate memories of Margot Fonteyn and her spellbinding partnership with Rudolf Nureyev.

Other regular features in the summer issue include “Rib-Ticklers”, “Music Makers”, “Countrycall” and “Scrapbook”, and if all that isn’t enough we also have a lady recalling the momentous day in 1957 when she was presented to the Queen at a Debutantes’ Court, and the author of a book on the subject describing the historic Victory Tests between England and Australia in the glorious summer of 1945.

Preview our new Summer 2011 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.

Evergreen Spring 2011

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:32:08 +0000

At last the cold winter is over, and as depicted on the front cover of our latest issue which shows a lovely old black-and-white cottage at Eardisland in Herefordshire, spring has well and truly sprung. Refreshing sights of the bright new season can also be enjoyed in our introductory poem, appropriately entitled “Awakening”, which lyrically captures life’s renewal with beautiful pictures of bluebells, primroses, catkins and crocuses.

If the fairer weather tempts readers to get out and about, the series of country bus journeys described in “Rural Rides” might prove enticing, while in “Countrycall” a member of the Grasslands Trust highlights the wonderful work undertaken at Carmel in South Wales and invites people to visit their nature reserve. Entertainment of a very different kind takes place at Clun in Shropshire at the end of April and beginning of May. This is when the curious Green Man Festival is held. You can read all about it in “Almanac”.

How many people have played themselves in films? Clifton James did, and the remarkable story of how he impersonated General Montgomery during the war and then starred in the 1958 film “I Was Monty’s Double” will have you scratching your head in disbelief. Truth sometimes is stranger than fiction!

As usual we take a lot of journeys down the winding lanes of memory. “Twenty Questions” is remembered with affection in “On the Air”, “The Magic Roundabout” starts turning again in “TV Memories”, and the boyhood joys of fishing for sticklebacks is certain to strike a chord with many. Of course, we couldn’t let the forthcoming royal wedding pass without comment so have included a special illustrated feature of fascinating facts about other recent royal marriages.

Regular features in this issue include: “Hey Diddle Diddle!”, “Home Town”, “Scrapbook”, “Our Christian Heritage”, “Castles and Cottages” etc.

Preview our new Spring 2011 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.

Evergreen Winter 2010

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:51:07 +0000

All the staff at Evergreen would like to wish our readers a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year, and we hope that the latest issue of the magazine will be as rich in fruit as a plum pudding and as packed full of delights as a tightly crammed Christmas stocking!

We don’t want to make you shiver too much, but from our frosty front-cover scene in the Buckinghamshire countryside, through the “Silver Season” poem which introduces the magazine, to one reader’s “Sparkling Memories of Christmas Past” recalling her childhood in Leicestershire, there is a generous dusting of snow throughout the 148 pages. “A Sussex Ghost Story”, recalling a tale told by Charles Dickens, also captures the seasonal mood, as do “Almanac” with its fascinating story of traditional spices, “All Our Yesterdays” with its heart-warming account of the welcome given to homesick American soldiers during the Second World War, and “Rural Rides” which explores the mysterious Coldrum Stones on the wintry hills of Kent. There is even a specially compiled Christmas Food and Drink Quiz “TV Memories” will delight anyone who remembers “The Forsyte Saga” in the 1960s, “The Literary Pilgrim” sheds new light on “The Railway Children” author Edith Nesbit, “On the Air” pays tribute to scriptwriter and producer James Casey, while “Cinemagic” features wonderful anecdotes from a man who spent five years at Shepperton Studios and met many of the greatest stars from the world of film: David Niven, Gregory Peck, Alec Guinness etc.

Other highlights include regular favourites such as “Rib-Ticklers”, “Scrapbook” and “Curiosity Corner” , the intriguing tale of “The Gretna Green of Nottinghamshire”, an exploration of Callander in the Trossachs, and a retired trawler captain’s salty recollections of his first sea voyage as a naïve 14-year-old.

Preview our new Winter 2010 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.

Evergreen Autumn 2010

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:06:35 +0100

In the south-west of the country, Launceston in Cornwall is the subject of our “Home Town” feature within our Evergreen Autumn 2010 issue, which proves to be a place of fascinating history, legend and unusual tales. We also drop anchor at Portsmouth, for an “Almanac” article which has a seafaring theme: 40 years after the practice ceased, a former Commander in the Royal Navy explores the customs and stories associated with the daily tot of rum given to sailors. Travelling north-east to Dagenham there are absolutely no maritime connections in our “Cinemagic” feature – although, coinciding with the release of a new film (“Made in Dagenham”), it does recall a violent “storm” that blew up in 1968 when a group of sewing machinists successfully went on strike for equal rights!

Strong, enterprising women also appear elsewhere in the magazine: one hundred years after her death we pay tribute to Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp; and in our series of television memories, Britain’s first female newsreader, Barbara Mandell, is remembered. Not forgetting the men who have played an important part in shaping Britain’s history and culture, “The Literary Pilgrim” examines an influential chapter in the early working life of H.G. Wells, “The Legacy of Arthur Lockwood” recalls the man whose name lives on in a Welsh lake, and our “Music Makers” tells the life story of Britain’s first rock and roller Tommy Steele.

Preview our new Autumn 2010 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.

Evergreen Summer 2010

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:23:15 +0100

There cannot be many magazines in existence within whose pages such a wide variety of characters rub shoulders with one another. If grouped together in a photograph they would certainly make a curious sight! But in a fascinating series of articles in the Summer 2010 issue of Evergreen that is exactly what you get: actor and comedian Terry-Thomas, swashbuckling 18th-century pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling (we explore his village of Burwash in Sussex and admire the church), music hall legend Lupino Lane, the cast of television's "Crackerjack" and renowned boy soprano Billy Neely.

We also visit some interesting places for the summer, including Ely in Cambridgeshire with its majestic cathedral, relive a reader's school trip to Derbyshire in 1959, go on a literary pilgrimage around some wonderful bookshops, visit Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness, wonder at the strange Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire, and learn about an old pub deep in the countryside of Berkshire.

For those who like their nostalgia, "Holidays at Home" recalls the days before visits to exotic foreign destinations became the norm, "All Our Yesterdays" takes us back to the war years and a dramatic event witnessed by a boy in the fields of Huntingdonshire, and "A Motoring Milestone" marks the 75th anniversary of the Driving Test.

Other items in this issue include "Curiosity Corner" ("Discovering Odd and Unusual Britain"), "Scrapbook", "Rib-Ticklers" ("Jokes, Puns and Funny Stories") and "Byways", which raises a toast to Somerset cider!

Preview our new Summer 2010 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.

Evergreen Spring 2010

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:21:20 +0100

People's reminiscences of times past always form an important part of Evergreen and the Spring 2010 issue is no exception. Indeed, one of the articles in the magazine, "Rooms Filled with Memories", shows that having such memories reawakened and sharing them with others can actually be a beneficial and healthy experience. So, among the articles that might very well be good for you (!) are recollections of life in the farming community of Sedbergh in the Yorkshire Dales, memories of comic-hero Marvelman ("Mightiest Man in the Universe"), a reader's affectionate tribute to a remote corner of Wales, and an account of the friendship that was forged between a boy and a dog during the war years in Coventry.

Our regular look back at stars from the entertainment world is particularly strong in this issue, with the story of Gainsborough Films ("The Wicked Lady", "The Man in Grey" etc), an illustrated reminder of the popular television series from the 1970s, "Poldark", and a chance to "tune in" again to Tommy Handley and the cast of "ITMA".

Admirers of wholesome, family entertainers will also enjoy reading about the subject of our "Music Makers" feature: Val Doonican, a singer who really is evergreen!

Leaving Val's rocking chair behind, we do also get out and about: "Rural Rides" visits the Devil's Punch Bowl in Surrey, "Almanac" looks forward to the curious annual custom of Cheese Rolling in Gloucestershire, and in "Our Christian Heritage" we marvel at "The Westminster Abbey of Suffolk". Churches play an important part in another feature in this issue, with a contributor looking at some of the grotesque stone gargoyles and green men in Essex. As usual our knowledgeable readers have also provided a lot of lively material for our "Clippings" and "Scrapbook" sections

Preview our new Spring 2010 issue of Evergreen today. Never miss an issue and subscribe here.