I am so grateful to have a nose. Without having a nose and its scent detecting abilities, I would, for example, be unable to take in and fully appreciate the delightful, fragrant odours of hyacinth blooms in springtime.
But more importantly, without a nose there would be no way of easily homing in on hot dog stands with their alluring onion- and sausage-based aromas filling the air, acting as a huge smell-flag for me and my stomach to notice and then act upon.
Whilst we’re thinking about enticing food smells, one cannot fail to mention the ever-pleasurable sizzling bacon. Or the homely and comforting freshly baked bread. Recently brewed coffee too, that must be given plenty of consideration.
Actually, put all those three together, preferably into my stomach – bacon, fresh bread and coffee – and me and my nose will be satisfied for the rest of the day.
But what are the best smells in the world? That, of course, is a highly personal opinion. Some people love the smell of cut grass because it reminds them of hot and sunny summer days, whereas others dislike it because it’s a sign of impending hay fever doom.
For me though, one of the best scents ever, in the history of my nose, is when cutting open a fresh grapefruit…
…I’m sorry, but I just had to pause typing at that point to wistfully recall and enjoy the scent-memories of New Grapefruit. The epitome of freshness. That sharp, crisp, clean scent. It evokes bright and warm early summer mornings, even in the deepest, miserably cold and dark days of winter. Thank heavens then, for grapefruits and noses.
The memories attached to smells is a powerful one, and we all have them. It’s not just citrus fruits that create memories, although I do have another citrus based smell memory which involves oranges: whenever I smell a fresh, newly peeled orange, my mind is always diverted to… Airfix glue.
That’s right, the glue that comes with those small plastic kits of self-constructing goodness. Or rather, the glue that used to come with them when I was a lad. These days, the glue is a pale imitation of the strong concoction of brain altering solvents that were wilfully handed out to children with every Airfix kit in the 1980’s.
However, the point is, I recall the glue stinking of strong orange fumes. It was as if someone had broken into a Jaffa Cake factory and set off a Terry’s Chocolate Orange bomb.
(Editor’s Note: other brands of Jaffa Cakes and Chocolate Orange probably aren’t available, but have a look anyway).
So now, whenever I unpeel an orange, I think of Airfix glue and relive all the pleasant childhood memories of inhaling headache-inducing fumes whilst sticking bits of plastic together in an attempt to make a battleship or fighter aircraft actually look like a battleship or fighter aircraft and not a large sticky mound of unidentifiable plastic gunk.
Thankfully though, the glue that is included with the model kits these days is a lot more nostril friendly and doesn’t generate anywhere near the amount of orange-based nostalgia as it once did. I know this because I recently had a go at constructing a modern-day Airfix kit of a WWII Hawker Typhoon fighter aircraft in contribution to an art installation at the Heritage Hub with the aim of promoting how the County and Parish Councils have contributed to the lives of local residents over the years.
1:72 scale Hawker Typhoon Mk.1B. Complete with scary shark’s face!
For example, Gloucestershire County Council contains departments that are responsible for Highways, Libraries, Registration Services, Social Care, Education and Information Management/Freedom of Information amongst many other vital services.
So for each department of the council, Archive staff were asked to create a visual representation of various council services. But each creation had to fit inside a long and narrow wooden index drawer, the style that used to get used extensively years ago in libraries and archives around the country to hold masses of information on little paper slips before computers came along to steal their bulky glory.
This way, with all the Council’s departments having drawers assigned to them and artwork completed, the whole drawer unit will become a visual representation of what councils have offered – and continue to offer – the public.
Enthused by a chance to display their creative sides, Gloucestershire Archives staff, along with Heritage Hub partners, have been working away in their spare time at home coming up with artistical drawer-based interpretations of Council services in their own unique way.
So where does my model of a Typhoon fit in to all of this? Well, apart from it being a fantastic excuse to indulge in some model aircraft construction in a worryingly over-enthusiastic and excitable way, it represents the Local Government’s role in organising civil defence, particularly during WWII.
Another reason for using a Typhoon to highlight this subject is because every one of the 3317 Typhoons that were made during the war were constructed by the Gloster Aircraft Company at their factory in Brockworth, between 1941 and 1945.
Also, it ties in nicely with a bit of my own history, as I was born and raised within a few hundred meters of the airfield and factory in Brockworth where the aircraft were made, albeit 34 years after the end of the war.
So put all that together and what happens is this: an old index drawer is not just filled with a model Typhoon, but thanks to my creative co-pilot colleague Helen, also contains sky, clouds and a mini wartime bunker too, complete with desk, bakelite telephone, cup of tea, invasion plan files and a bundle of bombing raid maps. One can almost feel Churchill reaching for a cigar and writing another inspiring and rallying speech.
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- The war room’s planning desk.
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- The Typhoon in exciting banking action!
There is plenty of action happening in the other drawers too, containing a classroom, a library, a strongroom, fire brigades, emojis, poetry, a narrowboat, cows, flooding, a skeleton (not a real one), a quarry, a nature reserve, a clay Shire Hall and a giant spider…
It really is a feast for the eyes. Talking of which, my nose seems to be detecting another kind of feast, and this time it includes hot dogs and grapefruits instead of Hawker Typhoons.
Anthony Phillips, Archives Assistant.
The drawers will be making their public debut at the Heritage Hub on Saturday 6th April as part of the “Our Corporate Memory” event, celebrating 135 years of local government in Gloucestershire. More information about the day and to book yourself onto one of the talks about councillors or education, see our website: https://www.heritagehub.org.uk/events/our-corporate-memory/
So come along and be one of the first people in the world to see our fabulous Cabinet of Curiosities!
Gloucestershire Archives 