Mornington-By-Mere, is
a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the
Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.
A quaint picturesque
village, a chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th
Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River
and a Mere.
But it wasn’t just a
quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the
Finchbottom Vale.
And although the
village was the hub it was the surrounding farms and hamlets that were its life
blood.
One such Farm was
Manor Farm on the Western side of the village.
The Hargrave family
had farmed the land at Manor Farm since the days when Napoleon was still a
Corporal and they were showing no signs of bucking that trend.
The head of the Hargrave’s
was Bruce though he leant heavily on his wife Karen.
They were in their
mid-fifties and were looking forward to many more years at the helm.
There were three
children the eldest at 32 was Mandy who along with her husband Jason McCabe had
produced the first grandchild.
The second child was Norman
who was two years younger than his sister and two years younger still was Michael
and neither of them showed any sign of producing a little Hargrave.
Michael was a serious
farmer, and a good one at that, but there was more to him than just farming.
Michael was very
active in the church, at St Winfred’s as well as farther afield.
This involved among
other things, being a greeter at the church services, delivering Parish
Magazines, helping at the Christmas Bazaar, you name it and he did it and that
was only in the village.
His wider good works
included the Soup Kitchens in
Finchbottom or Purplemere, who were always desperate for volunteers.
The Christmas Charity Wagon in
Sharpington, which was an old Mornington Brewery dray pulled by two white shire
horses.
The whole thing was bedecked with tinsel and lights and carried
on the back a multi denominational choir.
Michael was not however among those going from door to door, as the wagon
drove around the town, collecting donations in plastic buckets and handing out
sweets to the excited children, no he was in the choir because he had the voice
of an angel.
He was also
volunteered for the Roving Angels which had been in existence for about two
years and was similar to the Street Angels, Street Pastors and other groups
that had sprung up all across the UK in the previous 12 or 15 years.
They had made a really
positive impact on crime and antisocial behaviour in Finchbottom and Purplemere
town centres over the first two years, particularly in the general vicinity of
the bars and clubs.
They provide a calming
presence on the streets late at night in situations where a police uniform
might have the opposite effect.
In the two years since
they began Roving Angels had contributed to a 29% fall in public place violence
on the weekends.
It all began when
Christian Churches in the area came together with the Police and the Borough
Council’s to establish the Angels.
But it took people of
Faith to make it work as with so many things in life.
Michael had been with them since the beginning.
But one of his favourite good deeds
was to help out on the Santa Express,
which was something to behold, and he loved it because it reminded him of his
childhood.
The Boddingtons were pig farmers at Saddleback Farm near
the hamlet of Fallowacres, which was as near as damn it the center point of the
Vale, though only geographically.
But they also had a number of
butcher’s shops in and around the Vale.
The Mornington Estate
heavily subsidised the businesses in the village among them were a General
Store, Farm Shop, Bakers and of course a Boddington’s Butchers Shop.
It was only a small
shop located on the River Brooke side of The Street next to Addison’s Baker’s.
As a result of it
being a small shop located in a small village it hadn’t had a full time butcher
since before RAF Mornington was mothballed at the end of the 90s.
However when the Mornington
Estate exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD it
also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield itself as well as 29 houses in the village formally used
as quarters for military personnel.
Once plans were drawn up to optimize the newly
acquired assets and more people moved to the village all the businesses
benefitted.
So everyone in the family did a stint in
Mornington but no one wanted to make it permanent.
Eleanor Boddington was
approaching her twenty fifth birthday and she was fed up with not having proper
roots.
The longest she had in
one place was a two year stint at the shop in Childean, which ended in disaster
when her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Since then she had
been like a nomad, she would love to settle in Mornington with a particular
farmer she was keen on, providing she could get him to notice her.
Which shouldn’t have
been as difficult as it was proving to be. she was a typical Boddington, good
looking, thick black curly hair and wild gypsy eyes and she flirted with him
for all her worth.
Over the last few years she had had a lot of dealings with Manor Farm
because they were a heritage farm and as well as breeding more exotic animals
like llamas and ostrich, the farm produced quality meat.
And it was during her dealings with Manor
Farm that she first met Michael Hargrave.
She liked that he was
a tall man with broad shoulders and hands like shovels.
Ellie also liked his short
brown hair, neatly trimmed beard and thick rimmed glasses.
But the things she
loved the most about him were his hazel eyes and his infectious laugh.
He seemed to enjoy
their conversations which were lengthy and diverse and she learned a lot about
him and his interests.
And she admired him
very much for all his voluntary work and she suggested she might join him some
time but nothing ever came of it.
Until December came
around and he suggested she join him on the Santa Express.
He had resisted
previously because he wasn’t sure she genuinely wanted to help he thought her
interest might be purely superficial.
“So if you’re really
interested” he said “I will pick you up outside the shop at 1 o’clock on
Wednesday”
“I’ll be there” she
promised
The Santa Express was a renovated steam engine and coaches, which ran
from Sharping
St Mary station
to a secret location where Santa was waiting in his grotto.
It picked up the local children and their parents late afternoon so that
they arrived at the grotto in darkness in order to make the most of the
spectacular lights.
It was one of the high points of his year, he well remembered his parents
taking him when he was a young lad and he liked to see other the kids as
excited as he used to be at their age.
On Wednesday afternoon Eleanor was standing outside Boddington’s at 1
o’clock as promised and they talked the whole way as they drove to Sharping St
Mary and when they got there the kids were going crazy with excitement and the
excitement was quite infectious.
But Michael’s job on the trip was to make sure none of the over excited
little darlings fell off the train.
John Cooper and his sister Lyndsey, and Bizzie Lizzie Florist Michelle
Norman among others from the village were also present and at one point Michele
managed to trap him between the carriages armed with a bunch of mistletoe and
only when she had satisfied herself in the pagan ritual did she let him go.
Eleanor witnessed the kiss and she was not at all happy about it but she
did enjoy the day as a whole.
Now if the kids were excited on the way to the grotto then judging by the
decibel level they were even more so on the way back to the station.
When they disembarked and the children and their parents made their way
home Michele Norman kissed Michaels cheek and said goodbye and then Michael and
Eleanor went back to his car.
On the journey back to Mornington Eleanor barely spoke because she was sulking
about all the kissing.
Back in Mornington he drove into Military Row and dropped her off outside
number 7.
“Well did you enjoy the day?” he asked
“Most of it” she replied, kissed his cheek and got out of the car.
He had never believed in love at first sight or in soul mates he thought
them rather fanciful notions the stuff of romantic fiction and sentimental
movies.
That was until he met Eleanor and he was instantly smitten, and he thought
she may have felt the same.
Even his mother had noticed and after she had seen them together she said
“You two are like two halves of a different whole, and that each of them
was the missing piece in the others puzzle”
It wasn’t many months
before when his mum was nagging him about getting a wife he had said
“I’m not looking for a
life partner” well he thought he may have found one whether he was looking or
not.
But after the Santa Express experience he was beginning to think he and
his mother had misread the situation and over the following week that feeling
was reinforced as she appeared to be avoiding him.
On Christmas Eve local
Vet Hayley Gwilym was at Manor Farm to look at a sick Lama and she happened to
mention that her retired mentor Robin
Jeffrey had been bending her ear all morning.
And during her visit she asked Michael if he
would pop up to Dulcets Mill because he couldn’t get the web cam to work and he
needed it functioning for Christmas Day so he could skype his kids and
grandchildren.
They both knew it probably meant that he had disabled it by accident but
she had tried to explain over the phone and failed miserably, she would have
gone up to see him, but she had an
extraordinarily long list of calls so she pleaded with him to go in her stead.
So later that afternoon he had to go out in the cold and trudge across
the village through the snow just to tick a box.
As he suspected Robin had accidentally disabled the web cam so he worked
his magic and went back out into the cold night and by the time he got to the
road it had started snowing again and by the time he reached the Close it was
coming down hard and fast.
In fact it was coming down so rapidly that visibility was reduced to
zero.
It was so disorienting that he couldn’t have even found his way back to Robin’s
despite being no more than 15 minutes away from Dulcets Mill.
So he inched his way along the footpath tucking up close to hedges,
picket fences and garden walls so he didn’t wander off course.
When he reached the end of a row of houses he had to take a leap of
faith, as he couldn’t see the other side of the road.
As he trudged onward he realised he had gone off course because he hadn’t
reached the other side.
He had no idea how far he had gone as he had no point of reference, so he
decided the best course of action was to veer left to try and find the footpath
again.
Unfortunately he had no idea how far left to go or for that matter how
far left he had already gone.
Michael was just beginning to panic when he tripped on a kerbstone and
crashed into another lost soul and they fell to the floor in an untidy heap.
When he had scrambled to his feet he found he was outside Boddington’s
“I’m saved” he thought as he envisaged taking refuge in the shop until
the snow abated, but first he had to help the other poor customer he had left
prostrate on the snowy ground.
“I’m so sorry” he said as he grabbed a handful of coat and pulled the
stricken body to its feet.
The individual muttered incoherently under their breath as they brushed
themselves off and he got the impression his apology was not accepted.
And when they began to turn in his direction he was bracing himself for a
volley of abuse but to his great surprise he found the previously stricken
figure to be Eleanor Boddington and the muttering scowling indignant face
instantly changed to a beaming smile when she recognized the face of her
assailant.
“Michael” she said excitedly then cautiously gave a long look in the
direction of the shop doorway then in a quieter voice she continued
“I didn’t know it was you”
“Are you ok?” he asked
“I am now” she replied and glanced again at the door
He looked her up and down and realised why he hadn’t recognized her
before, she was dressed in heavy duty winter clothes.
Her lovely thick black curls were completely covered by a red woolly hat,
her dainty feet were in wellies and her slender figure was concealed by a puffer
jacket.
She was still looking anxiously towards the shop doorway and then
impulsively she steered him around the side of the building and kissed him as
the snow fell steadily on them, which he reciprocated.
After a minute of mutually beneficial passion he said
“Does this mean you’re talking to me again?”
“That depends” she said enigmatically
“On what?”
“On whether you go around kissing Michelle Norman every five minutes or
not” she said
“I see, you are referring to the mistletoe kiss on the train”
“I didn’t see any mistletoe” Eleanor said
“So you thought it was just a snog?” he asked
“Yes” she replied and looked down at her feet.
Michael lifted her chin so he could see her eyes and then he kissed her.
It was less prolonged than the first however because a voice called from
the shop doorway
“Ellie?”
So Michael released her reluctantly and she called.
“I’ll be there in a moment Dad”
“I have to go” she said and kissed him again
“Perhaps we can pick it up again later” he said
“We’re going to Fallowacres”
“How long for?” he asked
“Until the New Year” she replied
“In which case I’m going to need another kiss before you go” Michael said
and then they kissed one last time
“Happy Christmas Ellie” he said
“Happy Christmas” she echoed and she paused by the door and added
“I’ll bring you a present”
“You’re the only present I want” he said and she ran straight back into
his arms.
Michael watched as they drove away from the shop and then turned around
and continued his journey home as the snow abated.
And he spent all that Christmas looking forward to the New Year.
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