The Day War Broke Out
Cardall's Corner - September 2019 - Rowan Parker
On August Bank Holiday in 1939 our family were sitting on the beach at Bognor Regis enjoying the sea, sand and sunshine. Suddenly the quiet ...
The 1939 National Register
Cardall's Corner - August 2019 - Linda Doyle
After Britain declared war on Germany on 3rd September 1939, it was announced that ‘National Registration Day’ would be on 29th September. This ...
A Childhood with books
Cardall's Corner - July 2019 - Linda Doyle
Even today, in this technology-dominated age, children are still encouraged to read books, and for many of us books were a big part of our childhood experience. As a 1950s child, I ...
Oral History
Cardal's Corner - June 2019 - Helen Morris
In 2007, shortly after joining the Friends of the Cardall Collection, I volunteered to work on collecting oral history – that is, recording spoken historical memories. It is one of the best ways ...
Summer Exhibition: Toys
Cardalls Corner - May 2019 - Linda Doyle
High days and holidays, birthdays and Christmas, were probably the only times in the past when a child would receive a new toy or book. Here in the Collection we have a few of those very precious toys ...
Speed Records
Cardall's Corner - March 2019 - Bernard Cadogan
Speeding vehicles on our roads is a problem that we are all aware of, and most of us will know of someone who has been ‘caught speeding’. With two of the country’s leading car manufacturers, Jaguar and Aston Martin Lagonda, having facilities within seven miles …
The Great Storm of 1703
Cardall's Corner - December 2018 - by Jill Prime
‘The Great Storm of 1703’ was of unusual, tremendous ferocity, probably passing in intensity all the storms ever known in Great Britain. It was the most terrifying and catastrophic storm ever recorded here. During the night of 26th-27th November 1703, widespread devastation was caused to many parts of the Midlands, East Anglia …
A New Home in Southam
Cardall's Corner - October 2018 - by Pam McConnell
Whilst pondering the impact of the new housing estates that are springing up all around Southam I am reminded of my own family’s move to Southam in October 1960. I was six years old and we moved from an isolated tied farm cottage on the Fosse near Harbury, to a new …
WW1 Centenary Archive
Cardall's Corner - September 2018 - by Val Brodie
People in Britain, across Europe and around the world are commemorating the tragedy that was WWI. As Armistice Day approaches in November, at Southam Heritage Collection we are continuing to develop the Centenary Archive, a permanent record for future generations of ...
WW1 Southam’s Canadian Connection
Cardall's Corner - March 2018 - By Val Brodie
The story of the Bull family of Daventry Street is a complex, courageous and tragic one. Sadly in 1903 Ada Bull, died and her husband George, a baker, was left with four youngsters to bring up: Ida (15), Nellie (13), George (10) and John (8). George senior took the bold step of moving the whole family to Canada. ...
I’ve got some more barrels for you
CARDALL's CORNER - August 2017 by Alan Griffin
Walking the turnpike road towards Fenny Compton on a hot August morning in 1848, James Read pondered some remarks addressed to him months earlier following a case at Southam Magistrates’ Court. The phrase ‘Somebody should pay dear for this’ had stuck in his memory. Read was the Southam Division sergeant in the Knightlow Hundred Police Force and in [...]
Food and Flowers for Free
CARDALL'S CORNER - April 2017 By Linda Doyle
Produce from the Warwickshire countryside has been gathered for centuries both as a supplement to for the diet and to sell. For poor people, free food from the verges and hedgerows was essential, and it came in the form of elderberries, blackberries, crab apples, damsons and much more. Farmers deliberately planted the Warwickshire Drooper plum [...]