coincidences

[Walter Snowdon]

Almost 42 years ago I was loaned a Readers digest large book with things to make in it, including a large model section with plans and instructions for a "swimhead" Thames barge. I was most impressed by it and for the last five years or more I have been searching bookshops and tinternet for a copy without success. One of our old club members "Old Don" was disabled and i Used to pick him up and bring him  to our club for a cuppa and a chat with the lads. The last time was 8 weeks ago and we chatted about models we regret not building (we had about150 years model building experience between the two of us)! I mentioned my search for this book to him and said I would love to build and sail that barge. Don passed away 5 weeks ago and I went to his funeral yesterday. On my way back I called into my local Morrisons for a cuppa and a look at the free book exchange which they keep in the store. ON THE TOP OF THE PILE AT THE FRONT WAS A COPY OF THIS BOOK which years of searching had failed to turn up. Coincidence or divine intervention?. I will follow this story up with some other strange model making coincidences which have happened in my long and quite eventfull modelling life. Regards, Walter.

[Walter Snowdon]

modelling coincidence number2. When I was a child I lived on a farm with no gas, electric or running water so reading and modelmaking was my main pastime.  in 1949 a mobile library used to tour outlying farms in the Darlington area from Darlington borough Library. I was eight at the time and I asked the driver to bring me a book on model boats which he duly did, written in 1947 by a naval officer. I was fascinated by it (as was my father) and we borrowed it several times. it had three fold-out plans for a destroyer, cabin cruiser and a three island tramp steamer of a ship my father sailed on before and during the war. He carefully traced the plan and on the original in minute pencil writing he made notes as to his time on her. Fast forward fifty plus years and I found the name of the book and author and my son found a copy in cornwall which he duly ordered for me. When it arrived I almost fainted. Inside the front cover was a beutifily engraved Darlington Borough library book plate . I looked inside and on the trampship plan was my late fathers meticulous tiny notes. Sadly I loaned it to a member of my model boat club and went off to work on PS Waverley for three weeks. During my absence he returned it to the club and someone else "borrowed" it and i never got it back. What are the chances that a book with that provenance could arrive back in my own area from the other end of the UK. I am still searching for a copy. Regards, Walter.

[Walter Snowdon]

Modelling coincidence number 3. My son (now 51) is also a very keen modelmaker  When I was sixteen (1957) I worked in an early DIY shop running the model department (drunk in a brewery syndrome)  after leaving I kept in contact with them. and when I joined the police force  in 1964 they opened a shop in my home town. On my days off I helped them with setting up the model section and over time I kept popping in to sort out and price their model kits. This entailed stamping the back of the box with their name and address and writing the price (pre decimal) by hand. Fast forward to 2014 and I told my son all this and said I wouldnt mind building a particular Airfix kit from those days(long out of production). My son duly located the model for me from Northern Ireland. It duly arrived in an almost mint condition. ON THE BACK OF THE BOX WAS THE HAND STAMP AND ADDRESS OF THE SHOP WiTH MY HANDWRITTEN PRICE ON IT. It had traveled right across the UK to ireland and many years later it came back to me!!!FIFTY YEARS LATER. I will never build that kit. It will sit on the shelf unopened for the rest of my days.Regards, Walter

[optima21]

think you've been lucky with events, its a shame though that the book in the second one was has gone "missing" and one day it may turn up again.

a few years ago I leant a book from the 1960's to a fiend and lost contact with him and I couldnt remember the name of the book or the author, so my chances of finding another copy were slim. In recent years I've started volunteering at the local industrial museum, and look on ebay for collectable items from local manufactures to donate to the museum. On of my searched was for Campbell Engine as they were a local company that made gas, oil and diesel engine upto the 1920's......and when I saw the cover of the book in the listing, I eventually got a copy when I found one at a reasonable price.

and speaking of campbell engines, there was a small series of postcards that were made that showed Christmas Decorations in the factory in December 1918 when they were still making war munitions. There has been one of these on Ebay for £19 for a few years now.  I did get one a couple of years ago for £6 but this came from Germany. I think this is more ironic than co-incindence. this was donated to the musuem.