Betty Barrington grew up in Longborough. In this article,
she has set down her recollections of what life in this village
then was like for a young girl becoming a young woman It is of
added interest, that much of the time of which she writes was
during the Second World War.
One day, not long ago, I answered the phone at home and heard
a voice say " Is that Betty? Do you know that the last time
I spoke to you was 1946?" This started me wondering what
he and his wife would think of the village now and especially
of the farm where they were billeted during the war. Then I went
even further back, thinking of all the changes in the village
there had been in my lifetime.
I thought back to the time when there were four farms - Manor
Farm, Lower Town Farm, Upper Town Farm and Banks Fee farm. All
of them were working farms, with cattle and farm machinery going
in and out to the fields - just imagine the state of the roads.
We had no thought that one day milk would be delivered in bottles.
We were used to leaving empty milk cans out at the farm on the
way to school and collecting the full ones on the way home. We
knew that the cows were milked by hand in the sheds and the milk
brought in large, gleaming pails to the farmhouse, where it was
poured into a large container. The milk ran down the cooler to
be collected in a measure and then poured into our cans. The milk
for our home came from Stokes' farm - Upper Town Farm. Sometimes,
we also had some from Banks Fee Farm -rich, creamy milk from Jersey
cows, which came in very useful during the War, as Mother used
to save some of the cream to make a little extra butter to help
with the rationing.
I used to wish for an excuse to stay at home on Monday mornings,
which was when the "Monday Man" (also known as the "Red
Van Man") came to the village. This large van came rattling
down the Crook road. It had shelves on either side, laden with
household goods and groceries. There were canvas sheets that could
be lowered to cover the sides of the van if it was wet weather.
On top of the van were buckets and baths and a tank of paraffin
at the back, essential because we all had oil lamps then. No matter
what you asked for - cottons, buttons, matches, candles, china,
pots or pans - it could usually be found by the "Monday Man",
in his big red van.
Friday night was fish and chips night, when Mr and Mrs Davies
came from Stow in a van. There was a stove in the van and they
cooked as they drove. When they reached the top of New Road, they
rang a bell, so that if we wanted any fish and chips, we had time
to run to the bottom of the Crook Road and buy the best fish and
chips you ever tasted!
At that time there was no car available for shopping, but your
groceries were delivered from Smith's grocers or from Knight's,
both in the village. Smiths later became Horne's, while what was
Knight's shop is now the Longborough Village Shop and Post Office.
In addition, there was a choice of butchers from Moreton and Blockley,
who usually delivered meat mid-week and took your order for the
weekend. We had our own bakery in the village - I can remember
now that wonderful smell of freshly baked bread as we walked by.
The bakery was owned by Mrs Dolphin and her son, Edgar - later
to be joined by Miss Burford. She did work hard, not only delivering
the bread, but helping run the Post Office which adjoined the
bakery, as well as scrubbing the steps and polishing the counters.
She was always Miss Burford, it was a long time before she was
called by her Christian name, Gladys.
Mr Boddington from Hiatts, who were a big drapers and outfitters
in Stow, used to call once a month, with various suitcases of
linen, towels and other samples and take orders for clothes. We
had a wireless, which required batteries and accumulators, so
Mr Punshon used to come over from Stow, once a week, to return
those which he had taken for re-charging the previous week. If
any wireless repairs were needed, he would do those.
We had a tall pole to which was attached the wireless aerial,
which you needed here if you wanted to be able to listen to the
wireless. Mr Price who brought fresh fish, used to drive from
Moreton in a small van. He always brought his dog, which he to
let out for a run, when the van reached the Crook. One day it
chased my cat, which took refuge at the top of the pole, with
wireless aerial, and we had great difficulty persuading the cat
to come down again afterwards
. Thinking back to when I was growing up in this village, there
seemed to have been a lot of people living in Longborough who
made a great impression upon me. For example, there was Mr Catchpole,
who was the groom at Banks Fee House. One day, I met him coming
along the Crook, exercising two horses - riding one and leading
the other. Seeing him coming toward me with the horses, I clambered
as far as possible to the side of the path, but he stopped his
horses and said: "Missie, always stand the side where the
rider is and never by the loose horse" which I now know was
very good advice. I couldn't understand why he always called me
Missie. He knew who I was, because we often met him when we went
to parties or played with his children.
Mr Davis was the village postman. He used to walk all around the
village delivering the mail and his round included the Nibble
and Condicote. In those days, people could post a letter in the
morning and, quite often, it would be delivered the same afternoon,
regardless of whether it was first class or second class post.
The Reverend Davies was the vicar. On Saturday morning, I used
to play with his daughters, Doreen and Joan. If it was fine, it
was great fun to play outside. The driveway was very dark and
eerie, with pathways and tunnels through the trees and bushes.
If it was wet, the house was large enough for us to play in without
getting in the way, quite often up in the attic. We spent many
happy hours playing tennis on the village tennis court, which
was at the Vicarage. There is now a house where the tennis court
used to be.
The Davies's family used to have a German maid who, I suppose,
was really more like an 'au pair', and I can recall her bringing
in hot Bovril at lunchtime. Sometimes when I went to play there,
I used to bring a little toy stove. Inside this stove was a tray
on which there were two small containers for cotton wool soaked
in methylated spirits. We used to light the cotton wool in the
containers and this produced just enough heat to warm the two
little toy saucepans on the top of the stove. These toy saucepans
were each just big enough for one small brussel sprout or one
small potato and , of course, we children were never prepared
to wait long enough for them to cook properly. I still have that
toy stove at home and my children and later my grandchildren have
played with it, although they were never allowed to use matches!.
It was Mrs Davies who showed me how to decorate hen's eggs for
Easter. You wrapped different coloured pieces of material around
each egg, which you boiled so that the colours from the materials
transferred to the eggshells; it was quite effective.
Joan who was the younger of the Vicar's two daughters, died at
the age of 23. She was a nurse at King's College Hospital in London.
She developed tuberculosis and for a while lived in a special
hut, on the lawn at the Vicarage. It was awfully sad to visit
her there, where we had all played so happily only a few years
before. Elsie and I helped line her grave with Spring flowers.
During the years while I was growing up in Longborough, it seemed
to me that there was snow every Winter. And when it snowed, the
narrow Crook road, where I lived, soon became blocked with the
snow. Mr Davis, the village postman, quite often fell into a snow
drift and we all had to go out and rescue him. We used to have
wonderful fun then with our sledges; Colonel Godman used to let
us sledge down the sloping banks in the park and along the driveways
of Banks Fee House. And of course in those days, we children could
safely use our sledges on the public roads in the village.
On the subject of snowy Winters in Longborough, everyone will
remember the snow in the Winter of 1946/47. I was married by that
time and my husband, who was the dispenser at the chemists in
Stow, used to cycle from the village to Stow everyday. One evening
then at closing time, it was snowing so hard that his employer
said to my husband that he had better take the car - a little
Austin Seven - home with him. It went on snowing so hard, that
we were completely cut off in the village for days and the little
Austin Seven had to stay in Longborough for two weeks!
There so much snow that Winter, along the top road [between Stow
and Broadway] it was difficult to know where the road stopped
and the fields began, because the top of the snow was level with
the walls alongside the fields. My brother, Cecil Williams, along
with Tommy Dwyer (who worked at Manor Farm) and an RAF officer
who lived at the farm at this time, used one of the farm wagons
to get to Stow to collect bread for the village. Cecil and the
other two had to dig a way clear on the road as they went along.
To me, Banks Fee House, approached by two driveways, with surrounding
gardens, was beautiful, although it was also remote, only visited
by us when the Village Fete was held there. I can picture immaculate
lawns and terraced gardens, but is this just memory recalled through
rose coloured spectacles?
There was a large staff at Banks Fee House then; I can think of:
. Mr Durnford - Butler
Miss Flowers - Housekeeper
Miss Fields - Cook
Mr Burrell - Footman and Chauffeur
Mr Catchpole - Groom
Mr Ellwood - Under Groom
Mr Alf Green - Carter
Mr Charles Shillam - Head Gardener
Mr George Joynes - Under Gardener
Mr Fred Taylor - Under Gardener
Mr Phillips - Under Gardener
Mr Hadley - Farm Manager
Mr Timms - Gamekeeper
Mr Norman Shillam - Farm worker
There were usually two Welsh girls as kitchen helps and chambermaids,
while Mrs Burrell helped the cook. In later years, however, there
was just Mrs Burrell and Mr Phillips to look after Colonel Godman.
Naturally, the village school was important to Longborough children.
Mr Price was the Headmaster at this time. He lived in the school
house, with his wife and his son, John, and a rather bad-tempered
Airedale terrier. Miss Turner was a teacher, who eventually married
George Smith, son of the grocer. Miss Judd, who taught the infants,
was very good at organising plays and other entertainments. I
remember that we always acted a sketch or danced at the Annual
Longborough Village Fete.
The schoolroom was also used for village entertainments - dances
and concerts, with very good local talent. Mr Knight from the
little village shop used to sing some very good comic songs, one
especially which haunts me now, because I just cannot remember
the words and I have asked so many other people too. I know this
song was about a man who wished to buy some lace for his wife.
He goes into a shop and at each floor in the shop, the shop assistant
recites all the different goods sold on that floor but not lace,
so the assistant sends him up to the next floor and so on. The
words that I can remember, go like this:
'So up the stairs I went again. The shopman said: "How
do.
It's been a lovely day today, what can I get for you?"
I said " I want a yard of lace, to match this for my wife…."
I'm a member of a hand-bell ringing group. One evening,
we were entertaining in a building where we had to go up a flight
of stairs. Being in a jocular mood, I began to sing these few
lines of this song and found one of the men in the group joining
in. Unfortunately, he could not remember any of the words either.
How frustrating!
[If any readers know the words of this song or even some
more of them, please contact Mrs Barrington via fishmerlin@aol.com
or penney@cix.co.uk]
The Girl Guide meetings were also held in the Village School.
The Guide Captain was Mrs Jameson from Dunscombe House, with Miss
Peggy Smith (later Mrs Rowlatt) and Miss Joan Phipps (Mrs Williams)
the Lieutenants. There were two patrols, Robins and Bantams. In
addition to the Guides, there was the Girl's Friendly Society
(or G.F.S.), which was run by Mrs Davies, the Vicar's wife.
In the long Winter evenings, with no street lighting, it was not
very tempting to walk down to the village from the Crook. However,
Mr and Mrs Lacey, who lived in a small cottage on the side of
the road just beyond 'Milverton', always used to light a lamp
placed in their window, so that as you came round the bend of
Chapel Lane, we saw this friendly light.
At the beginning of these recollections, I mentioned how every
day, we children used to collect fresh milk for the family. In
those days, we also had to fetch all our drinking water, from
the Ashwell and when we went down to the village, we left a bucket
for Granny Williams, who lived at Hill View, right above the Ashwell.
Mother often told the story of one New Year's Eve, when the church
bells were always rung. My Father had the 'flu and couldn't go
bell ringing, so my elder brother went instead, leaving the bucket
outside Granny's house on his way to the church. However, my brother
was taken ill so he didn't bring back the precious bucket and
on New Year's Day, my Mother had to go to Longborough for the
bucket with the drinking water, before she could make a cup of
tea! These days, we are so used to turning on a tap that we find
it very inconvenient if the water is turned off for even a short
time.