"Johnny Crow would dig and sow, till he made a little garden"

Dear everyone,

Were you read this funny book? I think it was one of Auntie Olive's favourite. Noel scanned some pages of it for me - I suppose the original is in Bonnebosq - and I laughed again at watching the adventures of the lion, the bear, the goose (which was a goose!) and many other zany creatures which lived and busied themselves in Johnny Crow's garden!

Trouble is, he only sent me a few of the pages, so I decided to look for the complete story, so here's the whole book (click on the HTML link), first written by L. Leslie Brooke in 1903. It was made fully available on The Project Gutemberg website.

The fun of the story is the Alice Caroll-like treatment of preposterous animal habits which are all absolutely out of context, and made to submit to the whims of an ingenious rhyme-master: so for example, the only thing that could happen to the Beaver was to have a fever, and the only dance which the pig could dance was... (if you can't guess, check the book!)

And now for some "goose" documents, because there was a line in the book which gained the status of catchword, probably because there must have been some game linked with it, or a particular childish enjoyment of the fun contained in the animal...

Below is a letter where Auntie Olive reminds me of the famous line!

I also have a birthday card sent (perhaps later, it doesn't have a date) to me by Grandma. This is the front:

And the quack back:

In this letter to Paco, Auntie Olive refers to the goose again, even if I'm not sure whether it's the one in the story (but you'll enjoy her sense of humour!):

There must have been a special reference between Paco, Auntie Olive and the goose!! Check this:

Over the recent months, I had kept some copies of signatures from the family, and then recently Noel has sent me many more, photographed from Mum's books at home, so it clenched it: a post on this subject! We start with Ethel (I presume E.V. Fletcher refers to her...). I'm not sure that her name was actually written by her, though:

this one is a more likely candidate (but I'm not sure why Grandpa would have needed to stamp his name & address on the books):

then a signature which might be attributable to Percy Hughes, Grandpa's father (with the latter's signature above it?):

Here is a mystery dedication - if anyone has any idea? Could it be Percy again? (I suppose I should simply ask mum! after all, it has her [married] signature at the top):

This must be the prize sticker of a book which Grandma was bestowed as a girl back in 1925 in Rothbury (again appropriated by Grandpa!):

An inscription by Auntie Blandine, probably on Cath's birthday:

There are two dedicatory notes from "Auntie Jean and Uncle George", which AB speaks about in relation to the picture of the family on a boat in Cornwall (here): one for Cath's 13th birthday, and one for her 14th:

Then there are naturally a number of little indications bearing Cath's name and signature:

Upper IV was when she was 14. Below is a reference to a prize she must have been awarded for writing an article in the school magazine (?)

This is the inside of the following, but note the inscription "Robin Hood"! - no connection with geography, is there?

Some of her signatures seem to indicate a sort of progression, as when one tries which signature corresponds best:

Look below: she had gone to a St Ignatius Garden party in 1953?! Must have been well chaperoned... 

Forlorn River is a novel by Zane Grey.

Then there's this rather interesting dedication by her "Pseudo-godfather" (Noël indicates he's the Sheed of the top lettering, a catholic publisher - check here too), introducing another dedication by author DB Wyndham Lewis, whom Daddy Cecil would certainly have approved of, since he was a Catholic convert:

Wyndham Lewis's book on Ronsard is dated 1946: Cath might well have waited another 7 or 8 years to begin to be interested in French poetry, but I would have to ask her about the circumstance of this gift.

Here's an autograph by Grandpa about a Christmas competition which took place in 1949, but with Veronica's name this time:

Then we have some later signatures which Hélène had scanned for me from the signature book that she had filled with friends and families' signatures in 1970:

This page contains Auntie Olive's name, alongside some compliant friends! (I wonder if Theresa's horse enabled her to be remembered...)

And to finish, Monsieur Père's pet "Bunny signature", which we all loved:

I hope AB won't mind me celebrating her accomplishments! Here are some recordings which are part of the treasure trove which Noël has brought to light (how do we say for what you can hear?): some English songs, some Latin songs (probably for mass). All of us would certainly need her to tell us in which circumstances they were recorded, and which purpose they had: I believe Grandpa is the piano-player, because he regularly takes part in the singing (especially the Latin songs), but why were the recordings made? And when? Well, anyway, here's a selection (there's more, but so much that it would be too much!):

The following one is sung by Jo, says AB in the note below.