Hungerford Arcade has some great news!  We are re-opening on Monday, 15th June 2020.

All steps have been taken to ensure the safety of staff and customers as per the Government Guidelines.  There are 2 meter distances marked out with black and yellow tape, screens at the desk, hygiene stations dotted around the Arcade for you to use and much more.

When it is able to open, we will have a new, completely refurbished, in-house coffee shop, “Alexanders”.  This is very exciting,  there will also be an outside area with table and chairs for the first time.  The new cofee shop managers, James and Chez cannot wait to get started.  We will keep you updated. 

We are looking forward very much to getting that Open sign back on the front door where a big welcome awaits you.

Hoping you, your families and friends all keep safe and well.

Hello Again

A few weeks have passed since Boris, quite rightly limited our freedom of movement in an effort to control the spread of Coronavirus and now things are beginning to sink in.  The weather at first was quite warm but soon changed and at present is much cooler and staying inside is not so much of an effort.

My cat, Ike is sitting beside me no doubt alarmed at reading that one of his feline cousins in Belgium has contracted the virus (I wish I had never taught the cat to read).

                                                                   

Stuart’s Very Clever, Beautiful Cat, Ike

It is a normal afternoon in the Big Brother House.  The cat is in meltdown and I am pining for the football results which I know will not magically appear on the television screen.

Enough of this nonsense as it is time for another short article and I have chosen a Daily Mirror cartoon which ran from 1932 to 1959.  The heroine will be well known to the older generations who will quite easily remember Jane and her daily adventures.

I first came across Jane when I was a child as I found some vintage copies of the Daily Mirror which carried the cartoons.  Even though I was quite young, I was already following the adventures of Garth and for some reason, Jane just clicked with me.

Unlike Garth, the saucy innuendos were probably too much for my tender years but there was something about Jane that appealed.  When I asked my mother about her she noted that the adventures of Jane had commenced when she was as young as me.

I did not know that much about Jane unlike my beloved Garth, and was quite surprised when I studied her history.

Jane was actually created by a chap named Norman Pett and made her debut on the 5th of December 1932.

Initially Norman’s wife, Mary modelled for him but later in the 1930s decided to give up modelling and pay more attention to her golf.  To fill the vacancy, Norman recruited a girl called Chrystabel Leighton-Porter who became very associated with the character.

The actual title of the cartoon was Jane’s Journal or, the Dairy of a Bright Young Thing.

This was indirectly borrowed from Evelyn Waugh’s satirical 1930’s novel, Vile Bodies which in part dealt with the Bright Young Things in a carefree London between the wars.

Norman’s cartoon was really just the adventures of a young innocent ingenue who had the habit of losing her clothes (usually through no fault of her own).  She was accompanied on her adventures by her pet dachshund called Fritz.

Jane reached the peak of her popularity during WW2 and although she nearly always ended up in her underwear, she was never seen fully naked (rather like the early Carry On films).  But this all changed one day when Jane was surprised whilst getting out of a bath and fell into the arms of a group of very lucky British soldiers.

My mother noted that this unfortunate accident is said to have vastly improved the morale of troops serving abroad, although I have found no evidence of this.

In 1948, Norman handed over the cartoon to his assistant Michael Hubbard who steered the ship until the 10th of October 1959  when Jane married her boyfriend Georgie and lived happily ever after.

Although there have been attempts to raise Jane, these have not been successful which in way is quite sad as the world needs cheering up.  Just like the wonderful Carry On films, Jane seems consigned to history in these puritanical times where everybody seems to take offence at everything.

If Jane was resurrected, then rather like the kill joys who ended Page Three and the Miss World beauty contests, there would be accusations of female exploitation and in the current correct climate, the Daily Mirror would be forced to drop the cartoon.

Jane was above all an innocent who just managed to get into a lot of scrapes and although things always worked out, she was often in more danger of catching a jolly good cold than getting hurt.

Looking back, I can remember the Glynis Barber TV series in the early 1980s and the 1987 movie Jane and the Lost City, but I was not aware that Chrystabel Leighton- Porter starred in a 1949 movie called The Adventures of Jane which I am told is available on DVD.

It might be an idea to try to find this DVD on EBAY or Amazon as we all seem to have a great deal of time on our hands.

Although Jane is no longer in the Daily Mirror, my hero Garth is still there and having run initially between 1943 and 1997. he was revived in 2011 and has been a fixture ever since and when I can, I try to keep up with his adventures.

I used to purchase the Daily Mirror so that I could catch up on Garth and the latest football but as it now sits somewhere in the black hole between The Star and The Sun, I no longer risk the damage to my sensibilities and read The Independent instead.

If in a parallel world Jane did return to the Daily Mirror, then I know that I would be tested but that is an abstract question.

But here is the eternal question – What has this got to do with Hungerford Antiques Arcade?

Unfortunately, I cannot show you pictures of Jane or Garth as the Daily Mirror own the copyrights.  You can however, look them up on Google images which will bring a smile to your face.

Well surprisingly quite a lot, as vintage copies of the Daily Mirror (amongst other newspapers) frequently show up in the Arcade and are incredibly cheap to buy.  I tend not to buy vintage newspapers as Ike quite often takes more than a normal interest in them, which is a little worrying.   He is now happily asleep next to me without a worry in the world you will be glad to hear.

How did I pacify him you might ask?  Well that was easy, I just told him that the date was the 1st of April and that newspapers do play pranks on their readers.

I do hope that on the 1st of April this year our newspapers have a little fun away from the doom and gloom.

It is not much fun at present, but things will improve and one must remember that it was far worse for my mother’s generation during WW2.  If only there was another Jane to take us through these unpleasant days.

Do look after yourselves and remember that summer is not that far away.

Be Safe

Stuart & Ike 

Hungerford Arcade has been closed for eleven days now under the Government guidelines, which we completely agree with.  During the closure and to our complete surprise, we have had lots of emails from customers at home and overseas, who wish us well and then go on to talk about how they really miss coming to the Arcade, what it means to them and how they long for the day that we re-open. That is why I am writing this blog for all of you.

The Arcade owners, Adrian and Hazel are looking after each and every one of us during this pandemic.  They, the managers, staff and stallholders together are like a big happy family.  Everyone is in touch as a group on a daily basis through social media where we can reminisce and have some lighthearted fun and at the same time, look out for one another.  We all miss the Arcade and our wonderful customers very much and feel very lost without the daily chit- chat about antiques and the interesting lives of you who come through our door.  It is a big part of all of our lives.

Our March Newsletter has just been published and you can read it by going to the drop-down menu at the top of this page or just click here  There are also articles to read or, you can just take a tour of our website and find other things that may interest you.

I must just say that I have not been out.  I am at home where I can access the Arcade email account and reply to all the emails that come through.

All of us here at Hungerford Arcade would like to say a big thank you to each and everyone of you for getting in touch with us.  Stay safe and healthy and one day in the near future, we will all be reunited back into the world that we know and love.

Rita and everyone at Hungerford Arcade

Hello Again 

As we are all aware, we are all on something of a lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak.  The precautions in the UK, although at present lighter than in other countries, are still a great change to the way we live.

I have always considered that the freedoms we experience here in the UK are the envy of many other countries.  Therefore, the raft of measures introduced by the government have been something of a culture shock and we are taking a little time to get used to them.

These very sensible measures I am sure will take us through the current emergency and out the other side.  There may be further rules that we will have to follow before the desired morning dawns, but it is all for the common good.

We are technically at war, not with another country but with an unseen enemy, so it is quite logical that wartime rules need to be followed.  This is all I am going to say about what is happening at present, but it did set me thinking about whether people will start writing poetry about the situation.

Not poets but ordinary people like you and me, will record our experiences by writing poetry.  I think we will go in this direction.  The reason I am saying this is that during most wars poetry has been written.

In recent memory, the poetry of the Great War stands out with poets such as Wilfred Owen recording the horrors of the conflict.

The Second World War was different to the Great War in that unless you are interested in the subject, not so many of the poets are easily remembered.

Keith Douglas and Sidney Keyes spring to mind, but there were many others and what was also different was that the average soldier was also encouraged to write poetry (usually in the shape of poetry competitions) and the best would be collected and published in anthologies, usually with a foreword by somebody as senior as Montgomery.

I am most probably totally wrong (and apologise if I am),  but I have not really found much evidence of this during the Great War.  Yet, in my collection of poetry books, I have examples of poetry written and collected during the Second World War.

My first book is simply called Air Force Poetry and is a collection of poems written by men serving in the RAF and the FAA.  I am not going to judge the poems, but some are quite fine.

But, what makes this anthology all the more haunting is that it is recorded in the foreword that six of the men who contributed poems were killed in action before the publication.

The other two collections were penned by members of the Eighth Army, some whilst serving in the Western Desert between December 1942 and February 1943 and others whilst serving in Italy and Sicily during the period from July 1943 to March 1944.

Poems from Italy and Poems From The Desert are the simple titles of these Eighth Army anthologies.

The Italian collection has an introduction written by Siegfried Sassoon and the Desert poems a foreword written by Field-Marshall Montgomery.  These are, I believe, just three examples of poetry anthologies of this nature.

It is very likely that the Navy thought it was a good idea and published its own poems (this said I have yet to see one).

Surprisingly, these small volumes are reasonably easy to find and I have picked up each of my books from the Arcade over the last couple of years.  There is an extensive military section in the bookshop under Rafters (facing you to the left as you climb the first set of stairs) and these books are very cheap and a pleasure to own.

I have kept this article short as we have many other things to do, but if this has sparked an interest then I am pleased, as I intend to as long as this current emergency lasts, to pen the odd bite-sized article for you to read (or to help you sleep).

Usually I am bombing from here to there and back again and tend to note my articles up on fag packets whilst travelling around, but although I am not self-isolating (I fall outside of the noted catgories at present) I am finding that I have time on my hands so I thought it would be fun to pop the odd article down the tubes.

Please look after yourselves.

Stuart Miller-Osborne

Hungerford Arcade is a historic building and every now again, a customer will tell us a bit of history about the people who once worked here when it was Alexander’s Grocery.

Sue Chilcott said that a relative of her husband, Dennis Couzens worked for Alexander’s as a baker in the 1950’s and he lived in a flat above the shop.   

Hungerford Arcade still has the original features of the building going back hundreds of years.  Customers are enthralled when they come and visit for the first time so come and take a look for yourself and while you are here, see the amazing stock that we hold.

Hungerford Arcade co-owners, Adrian Hazel, managers, Rita, Wendy, James, all staff and stallholders would like to take this opportunity to thank all our friends and customers for your valued support throughout the year!

Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Hungerford Arcade like to keep up to date with all of our friends and here we have a great friend who is a part of the Vintage Military Vehicles Unit.  George Ralph has been to everyone of the events outside the Arcade, helping raise lots of money for the Royal British Legion over the years with his beloved Willy’s Jeep.

George’s 80th Birthday Cake with his beloved Willy’s Jeep outside the Arcade raising money for the Poppy Appeal!

There was a big party organised for George’s 80th Birthday at the Spotted Dog, Coldash where friends and family gathered to celebrate.  The Birthday cake was spectacular, as you can see, with George’s Willy’s Jeep beautifully decorated on the top.  Below is George cutting the cake.

I can’t believe George is anywhere near 80.  You must tell me your secret George!

Many congratulations George from Adrian, Hazel, Rita and everyone here at the Arcade and whatever you are doing to stay so young – keep doing it!

Hungerford Arcade is having a really festive time.  Customers love the relaxed atmosphere  and the very helpful staff and stallholders.  On Saturday we dressed as elves much to everyone’s delight – the children were so excited, counting every sleep night until that special night when Father Christmas arrives with Rudolph leading the way (I remember it well.  I can still feel the excitement that Christmas brings).

L-R: Ann Parker, Ian Spuffard & Chula Bishop

Today, we held a special Carol singing event that we do each year to raise money for our charity (The Mary Hare School for Deaf Children).  Unfortunately, due to the bad weather conditions, we only had three singers, Ann Parker, Ian Spuffard and Chula Bishop, but never mind – they were brilliant.  Have a look at the video below and listen to the song that Ian and his neighbour wrote two days ago.  I loved it!

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Some delightful Christmas carol singing in the arcade today from Ian, Ann & Chula with back up dancing from a cheerful David Pym! A merry Christmas from all the dealers @hungerfordarcade1 #christmas #carols #christmascarols #singing #retro #vintage #antiques #arcade #arcadehungerford

A post shared by Hungerford Arcade Antiques (@hungerfordarcade1) on Dec 22, 2019 at 1:11pm PST

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Hungerford Arcade dealers have many wonderful, unusual and rare items and The Predator is one of them.

THE PREDATOR

The Predator is a fantastic work of art.  The detail and care taken by Jason in sculpting this piece really needs to be seen and it can be in Don Greenslade’s unit 46S here at the Arcade.  Don bought this sculpture a few years ago when he was on holiday in Whitby.  I remember him bringing it into the Arcade to show us and I can tell you, it caused quite a stir.  He could have sold it there and then, but no.  He purchased it for himself and took it home where it has stayed until now.  

(L-R) Don Greenslade (U46S) with Arcade co-owner Adrian Gilmour

Unfortunately, Don has now had to put The Predator in his unit as he and wife Jane have young grandchildren, one of whom is 6 years old and very curious. So, to avoid mishaps, Don is making this great sacrifice!  Read on to find out more about the sculptor, Mark Heppenstall.

Jason Heppenstall was born and brought up in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire on a typical post war council estate, pre- playstation and computer days.   When Jason had any free time, he and his friends made straight for the woods,  and there they would set about making tree houses and building dams. Kids at one with nature even at a young age, he was always creative.  At school he started his love of working with steel;  enjoying the metal and woodworking classes more than the academic stuff.

After school Jason took an apprenticeship in sheet metal at a local firm where he learnt his trade and has now been working with steel  for almost 30 years.  He said that the trade has taught him a lot about how sheet steel behaves, can be manipulated, and how it reacts to different treatments.

Jason started making sculptures as a hobby quite a few years ago, tinkering in the garage with random pieces of scrap, enjoying it more and more, making presents for family and friends.

Jason was invited to take part in an Exhibition in November 2012 with 3 other artists. The exhibition was a great

 success and as well as good sales, it led to lots of commissions for me.

Jason was so busy at the start of 2013 that that he took the plunge and became a self-employed, full time artist/sculptor.   Leaving a secure long term job was very daunting, but  said, “I knew I had to give it my best shot”.

2013 turned out to be a very busy year, full of great opportunities and working alongside some very amazing folk!

“I love looking for items I can use, we live in a disposable age and the things people no longer want become the building blocks of my art. These often include the tools of trades that now seem redundant. To use them to create wonderful sculptures from our industrial past gives me a great sense of wellbeing.  Because most of my sculptures are created from the very bedrock of industry which is being forgotten, they mean more to me, particularly as they are grown from the fusion of my art and trade.

The rural environment I was nurtured in really inspires a love of nature, free from the constraints of the rat race we are trapped in!

Combined with my love of art and the desire to use other ‘scrap’ I will endeavour to create sculptures that are appreciated for their aesthetic appeal as well as the fascination aroused from the eclectic components used!”