PLOUGHING THE ALLOTMENT WITH A HORSE

THANKS FOR the wonderful site. It has brought back so many good memories. I lived at 47 Woodview from February 1958 until about 1969 when we moved to Camberley, Surrey. As a kid, we would play at Moody's water cress beds where I would frequently fall in the dyke and on one occasion we were caught near the top of the water tower, our excuse being that we wanted to know if it had a lid on. My father, Geoff, was assistant manager at Warners before they were taken over by John Menzies. My mother. who worked for Sellars the florist was one part of the Smith clan from Harrington Street and was one of ten. One of my aunts, Pauline, owned Polly's cafe and one other, Joy, owned Joy of Flower's. However, the greatest pleasure you gave me was the picture you had of Wherry's horse and cart that would deliver grain to the nearby surrounding area. The gentleman who took care of the horse was Frank Bailey and his wife Nellie was a member of the Women's Guild. The lived at 48 Woodview and were like a second set of parents to me. In fact I owe much of what I am today to the both of them. They didn't have any sons or daughters of their own. Frank would very often pick me up during the school holidays and take me on his rounds and if the weather was cold he'd put me between the sacks to keep warm. He also had two allotments at the back of Woodview and he would plough these using his horse with me balanced on the plough. I'd be interested to hear from anyone that knew me, particularly Alexander James (also known as Tom) and grandson of Arthur and Lucy Markham. Finally, if there are any old photos of Frank and Nellie Bailey I'd love to get some copies.

Contributed by Paul Dennis, Grangemouth, near Falkirk, Scotland, 23rd October 2007.

DRIVING WITH RAYMOND MAYS

I WAS BORN in Bourne in 1933 but we then moved to Thurlby until the outbreak of war. We then moved back to 38 TheVillas [in West Road], the end house of that wonderful aray of houses until 1948 when we moved down to the south coast. It was then next to a road leading to the Borstal School. I used to swap our apples for pieces of shrapnel when it was bombed. Thus I spent some six years in Bourne from the age of six to fifteen (I am now 74) and remember many of the people you have researched as if it were yesterday. My father was running the electricity substation at the end of Manor Way as he was in a reserved occupation.
I went to Bourne Grammar School until I was ten but then changed to Stamford School, not appreciated by Mr Pask Matthews [the headmaster]. Cecil Hodgkinson coached me as a seven-year-old to lead an auction in aid of the war effort. We later called on him many years later and have some of his paintings in the family. The Wednesday auctions were a delight and I was always buying some electrical junk to put together. Mr Cunliffe, the barber in West Street near Cliffe's shop (another emporium of junk) wore a wig and even was pulling clients' teeth, a throwback to the barber-surgeon.
The father of a school friend of mine was a storeman for Raymond Mays and Raymond paid for the boy to go to Stamford. When Raymond called from time to time to pick him up, I was lucky also to get a lift back and we whizzed along in a Lancia Aprilla at 83 mph, most exciting. I was also a keen fisherman and I remember cycling out to Mays' manure works to get some maggots. It was in the middle of the fens and was a knackers yard, the smell was awful and it didn't seem to fit in with this worldly racing driver. There was also an abattoir at the end of the road opposite the villas where the old horses were "processed"
I was very keen on chemistry and Edgar Judge's shop with his old father and glamorous daughter were the sources of various compounds which I would be forbidden to buy today. The old boy wore a stiff wing collar and used to sell me them carefully wrapped in paper and sealed with sealing wax. He told me as a young lad he sprinkled iodine crystals outside the Angel Hotel's front entrance and when they exploded it caused great consternation. His shop was nearly opposite Smith's stores which was the grocers. At the back of Tuck's Garage (Billy Tuck also went to Stamford School) there was a small engineering workshop turning out munitions run by a Mr Pickersgill. When the war finished he started making recording equipment from premises in the Station Yard.
I used to go and buy comics from Larry Warner's shop and Gelsthorpe's the butchers was nearby, excellent pork pies. On VE [Victory in Europe in 1945] night my father had bought some crow scarers to let off and nearly blew his hand off in the shelter of Gelsthorpe's shop. I was well used to these devices as I used to buy them from an agricultural place in Stamford. What my father didn't know was that you had to scrape the fuse first to delay the ignition!
E B Horne, gents outfitters, was the other side and I saw that Eddy Horn had only recently died. The Horns were great friends of my parents. Our next door neighbours (and landlords) in the Villas were the Baxters and the old boy, Cyril Baxter, who must have been well into his eighties, used to wear a winged collar. The family firm had a small factory in Bourne making fizzy lemonade. Eddy Moody who lived in a large house with an even larger garden in West Road, ran a large market garden growing watercress and other stuff. One of his sons went to Stamford and he also had two other children, Jimmy and Angela from a second marriage.
I remember Jack Baldock, a carpenter, who made me some tent pegs. I asked him how to make twisted candlesticks as I was in to wood turning at that time. I used to power up a lathe straight from the electric light in the top storey of the villas and when we left I understand that they had to rewire it. One of the workmen said: "I think Mr Wardale has been running one of his Central Electricity Board transformers off it!"
Dr Monteith was our family doctor until he moved away. One of his sayings which I have always remembered is that you bring up children with watchful neglect. How right he was. During the war we had various officers and their wives billeted with us. One couple brought a beagle pack with them another brought a batman called Simkins who was billeted at the top of our house. He took me to the pictures, a great treat. The cinema was near North's shoe shop. Mr Stubley from Toft used to deliver milk from a horse and trap. He then bought a small Austin 7 van and he used to wheel this along as if he was still leading his horse. Old habits die hard.
Because of the various farming friends I had I was going to be a farmer but luckily when we moved that all changed and I finished up as an electrical engineer in the Royal Navy. Thank you so much for bringing so many aspects back of a free and enriching childhood in a wonderful part of the country.

Contributed by Tony Wardale, Fareham, Hampshire, England, 1st October 2007.

ESTABLISHING THE HERITAGE CENTRE

I KNEW Raymond Mays as a boy and spent many happy hours playing in the yard around the workshops. Raymond was a popular sight in his later years, walking his boxer dog on the Wellhead fields. My Dad was the local bobby for many years and he was responsible for all the arrangements when Raymond died at home [in Eastgate].
As for all the local photographs he had of Bourne, he says he left them to the Bourne Civic Society many years ago. The water mill which is now the Heritage Centre, was originally going to be a museum to Raymond Mays which my Dad wanted when he was the society chairman. I can remember being down there on many a cold night with him making it safe and all the events to raise money for the project including a grand day when the Bugatti owners club stopped off on the way to Cadwell Park. They spent the Saturday afternoon in Wherry's old station yard off South Street. All the millions of pounds worth of cars racing up and down the old yard was a sight to see.
There were also some ERAs among the hundreds of cars that turned up for show. I think this was just as good as the BRM memorial day in 1999 when the streets of Bourne were closed for those magnificent racing cars which were going up and down North Street. Dad still goes on about that day and what memories they brought back to him.

Contributed by Mark Paddison, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, 30th September 2007.

GROWING UP IN A VILLAGE

I was born and bred to these parts and come from the marvellous village of Thurlby, near Bourne, where much later in life I realised what a fantastic childhood I'd had with the freedom to roam to go with it, be it on foot or in a convoy of bikes, a whole gang from the village setting off to find how far we could cycle and be back in the village before dark or cycle, walk or be wheeled down the River Glen for the day with a picnic and about ten other children in the school holidays, to lark about and enjoy the freedom of being outdoors.
The river was full of wonderful weird insects and everyone used to look out for everyone else. At the end of the day, we used to wind our way back up the fen and home with a few fish and eels ( my dad loved eels). Nature walks straight out of the classroom up to the old railway line and heaven awaited, an hour's walking in the wood finding interesting things to paint back in class.
I felt like the whole village was my family, I knew everyone and we all regularly met up at chapel, village functions, fund raising, harvest suppers, bazaars, Christmas fayres and so on. Everyone was so nice, they all pulled together and nothing was too much trouble for anyone who needed a hand. Local dances were brilliant. School friends would come and stay the weekend, we would help clear the tractors, implements and other stuff out of the barn, sweep up, put out the bales to sit on, help with the bar and food for the evening and still be barn dancing at midnight. Wonderful times.
There are a lot of people in Thurlby to thank for the tremendous times they made possible for us kids. Sadly, there are only a few left but without these people in our village it would not have been the same. Mr and Mrs Roebuck, Mr and Mrs Sid Wade, Mr and Mrs Cyril Wade, Aquilla Peasgood (Hi Qill), the Cappitts, Fytches, the Grays, the Stevensons, the Sharmans, the Courtons, the Wards etc. What a time we had. I bet there's a lot more folk out there that can remember some of the great shows we used to put on, Harvest suppers we hosted etc. Trips that were planned. Thank you all so much.

Contributed by Mrs Helen Powell, Westwood Drive, Bourne, 4th March 2008.