Page 28 • The HERALD • 13th March 2025 v BRINGING THE GOOD NEWS TO YOU SINCE 1994 v Professional installers of Fascias, Guttering, Cladding, PVCu Windows & Doors Composite Doors • 10 year labour and product guarantees Repairs, cleaning and advice also available Tel: 023 8086 9715 or 07888 705455 enquiries@aztecfascias.com • Airport & Seaport Specialists • Highly Competitive Fares • Friendly, Reliable Service • Comfortable 6 Seater MPVs • Any Distance - Minimum Fare £10 Before booking your journey please call us for a free quotation 07770 967198 or 023 8194 8754 www.kazcarz.co.uk New Forest Scaffolding All aspects of scaffolding undertaken • Extensions • Chimneys • Re-Roofing • New Builds etc For a friendly, local, reliable service and a free quotation Telephone: 07734 476855 www.newforestscaffolding.co.uk Full Liability Insurance Lychette Cottage, Roughdown, Blackfield SO45 1XG To advertise your business in The Herald, contact Sue on 023 8084 0815 or email: sjones@herald-publishing.co.uk LEN DREW AND MY WOOD SHED by Robin Somes, Fawley and Blackfield Memories So many people remember Len Drew, his smallholding on Blackwell Common, and his menagerie of animals, so it would be hard to do him justice in a short article. However, as it’s almost 28 years since he died, and having just watched the 1993 episode of “Country Ways” in which he appeared, I nd he springs to mind as I write. One of the rst times I encountered Len, I was standing in my driveway quite innocently – although it may have appeared to the casual observer that I was chasing a pheasant. As he cycled past, he called out “Just don’t ‘ave too many, nipper!”, with a grin. Later, around 1984, I bought a saw bench from him, for a tenner. No doubt the cash came in handy, but I think he was still a bit sore about the deal, as the bench was embedded in the hedge around his eld, and it meant casting around for something else to close o the gap. In the summer of 1996, we had to have a large oak, rotten and hollow, but still standing, cut down in our garden. It was a long and arduous day, but many came to lend a hand in return for a share of the rewood, so by the end of it, the tree was more or less down, and cut into manageable logs. ere then arose the problem of where to store it all; with luck there was an old chicken run, le behind by someone who had once rented a portion of our land. Sca old boards, some corrugated iron roo ng sheets, a length of sheet piling from who-knows-where, and various bits of scrap timber were added on, the whole lot held together with old nails, screws and baler sorry, they couldn’t pay for it, and could we just store it for them for 3 or 4 years? In short; no. Into the wood shed it went. Once all of my share of the wood had been chopped up and stacked, I found I had around 360 cubic feet – more than enough to keep us going the following winter. I also came to appreciate the glorious smell of freshly-split oak, which I recommend to anyone. e wood shed is still standing; though superseded by another, it still serves a purpose, and still looks ramshackle. I’d like to think that Len would glance at it, cock his head on one side, and say with a grin “That’s a handy ol’ job there, nipper”. twine, bits of fertiliser bag, and wishful thinking. Some of the wood turned out to be “chocolate oak”, the very first stage of heartwood rot, which turns the wood a beautiful dark brown colour. It’s much in demand, apparently, by wood turners. Alas all the wood turners I contacted – expecting to make my fortune – were very happy to have it sometime – but The wood shed (Photo: Robin Somes) Digging Deeper on Sale Published in December, ‘Digging deeper: more Waterside stories’ is the follow-up to Robin Somes’ 2023 book, ‘Digging up the past: A collection of Waterside stories’, featuring articles rst published in e Herald. is volume comprises 30 tales, published in 2023 and 2024, of historical events, family connections, and personal recollections of life around Fawley and the Waterside villages. e book is on sale for £6 (cash only) from e Herald o ce or via Robin’s online shop: shop.robinsomes. co.uk
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