THE recent sad events have rekindled my memories of the early 1950s when with my parents we would set out for a Sunday afternoon drive taking grandparents around the countryside surrounding Cirencester.

I would have been about 4 or 5 years and the drive would often finish with a lemonade and a packet of crisps for me in the car park of a favourite hostelry.

If the drive should include the A 429 Cirencester to Stow road, it was always pointed out that we were passing the place where the, by then, Duke of Edinburgh put his car through the hedge.

The place was around three miles from Cirencester towards Fosse Cross in the area of Hollow Fosse farm. The road in those days used to leave the straight Roman route and divert in a couple of places to avoid the Andover to Andoversford railway line.

This involved several sharp bends and bridges under the line.

It was apparently on one of these bends that the Duke lost control of his MG Sports car and ended up in a field. This would have happened in around 1946 or early 47 while he was on his way to visit the then Princess Elizabeth who was staying with family friends in the vicinity. At the time Philip was stationed with the Royal Navy at Corsham. Few people seem to be aware of the incident as in those days some things did not get printed in the papers. I may not have known about it myself had not my father just started working at a garage in Cirencester who may well have recovered the car. It would be very interesting if any older readers have any recollection of the event.

Roger Broxton

Ashton Keynes