Whittling walking sticks

THE CAST: Growly & Mouse (aka John Elliot Scott Hill & Elizabeth Mary Hallas-Hill) & Islay the labrador

By the front door of Mouse and Growly’s home in Storrington, Sussex, were numerous walking sticks. They were both in good health – or seemed to my child’s eyes to be – but they just liked a good walking stick, didn’t they, for taking on their woodland walks with Islay.

One half-term I remember Growly helping me find a suitable stick in the woods, so I could make my own walking stick. I was about 11 years old at the time. So not especially into the idea of a walking stick, but what I did love was the calm pursuit.

The careful choosing of the stick. Cleaning it, sanding it and preparing to varnish it. Then slowly each layer of varnish going on. Wait. Apply. Until in the end the ordinary woodland stick had become a glossy wand.

The whole experience was and is a reminder to me of Growly He was a careful, particular, person. The dining table to be laid neatly. Hands not to touch the wall when walking up the stairs. Grass not to be walked on until the dew had dried, lest the lawn be spoiled.
But he was also a person, who, presumably was battling his battles and needed this neatness to keep himself in order. Although we didn’t know it at the time, this was just a year or so before he died. And, as a young man he had had, as so many had, experienced very stressful war years – being a Japanese POW in Rangoon in WW2.

Was this a defining feature of his life? No, not at all – he went on to have a really successful year in the RAF. But did it impact him and his person his whole life long? Then yes, I would think that it probably did.

See Chopsticks – in War & Military for info about the chopsticks Growly carved in WW2.