Judith Lavalette....Memories
My memories start in the early 1940’s – being held up in my Mother’s arms to enable me to see the glow in the sky from Coventry, whilst it was being bombed. Two of my Brothers were in the RAF and although I was very young, they taught me about the various planes and how to identify them. To this day I can recognise a Lancaster Bomber from the noise of its engine.So many of my early memories relate to the war: service men from the searchlight station at the bottom of the Lion Hill used to visit the pubs in the village. I also remember how sometimes American airmen would drive through the village and throw sweets to us as they passed. These were a real treat as otherwise we rarely had sweets. There was a large bomb crater along Peopleton Lane and we all went along to see this. Of course this area did not experience bombing as such, just the odd bomb dropped as the aircraft was on its way home!
Even in the countryside, fruit was hard to come by and rationed. The fruit would be delivered to Mr Cottrill’s shop and when word got around, we would dash up to get our small ration of perhaps an orange and banana!
Upton Snodsbury School was for ages 5 to 11 and after that, there was Senior School at Pershore. Conditions at Upton Snodsbury school in the 1940’s were somewhat primitive compared with today. There were just two classrooms and the sole heating in the ‘big’ room was a stove that burned coke - it frequently filled the room with smoke and the winters were so cold then! The toilets were in a separate building across the playground and we used to wash our hands in bowls, which were on stands in the cloakroom.
The dentist used to come to the school to check our teeth – I remember his surgery was held outside in a tent!
At school, we all had half a pint of milk every day. I used to love it in the winter when the milk froze and the top was on about an inch of ice – of course it was quite likely to go sour in the summer.
We did not have sports lessons but we had great fun especially in the winter, making long ice slides which stretched all across the playground – think of the health and safety!
One of the main attractions of the year for me was the Gymkhana at Libbery – this was held to raise funds for the Forces. Children and adults from around the villages used to come along to compete. I remember that I used to walk there and back with my Mother from a very early age and how I longed to have a horse and be a competitor myself!
Childhood illnesses in those days were much lengthier affairs, due of course to the absence of antibiotics and limited immunisation, as we know and take for granted today. We were immunized against smallpox and diphtheria, but not for a multitude of other illnesses such as chickenpox, measles etc. Each of which meant an absence of some three weeks off school! Needless to say I had the lot, so ended up missing quite a bit of schooling.
When I was six years old I had my tonsils out at Pershore Cottage Hospital. The anaesthetic used back then was ether! For this trip to hospital, I remember being taken there by Mrs Bullock on a cart drawn by a horse called Jingler.
My mother had the doctor’s surgery held at her house, twice a week, every Monday and Friday, for 49 years. This meant that people from the surrounding area could visit the doctor, as otherwise it would have meant travelling to Pershore. Considering when the surgery started (back in 1920) this would have been very difficult for many people – certainly when you were ill. Mrs Jane Saunders continued to have the surgery for many years afterwards.
Patients used to come from the surrounding villages too. I remember it was quite a meeting place. The doctors used to dispense medicine from home and my mother used to help with certain medicines. Originally the bottles were wrapped in white paper with a ceiling wax seal, but later on they were issued unwrapped. People used to call in to our home for their medicines - my mother used to have to deal with all sorts of really funny requests - such as for “the pink medicine to help my ‘swimy’ head”!
The Church was a great influence in the village in the 1940’s and 1950’s – we all knew each other and the community spirit was very strong. In those days the neighbouring villages had quite a strong rivalry between them – but it was always friendly!
During the great snow of 1947, my sister had to walk to work in Worcester as there were no buses and of course she couldn’t cycle – the snow was far too deep. I remember walking to school and jumping in other people’s footprints, through the snow – there were no wellingtons for me back then!
Several of the girls used to bike to work, including me in the 1950’s. The bus service, (the good old Midland Red) was quite similar to today’s service, only the last bus home was 6.10 pm weekdays and we even had one at 10ish on Saturdays. With such a limited bus service the cycle was our main mode of transport.
The car is the one thing that had a great impact on village life and how it has changed. However, I believe that in the main, Upton Snodsbury is still a happy village, we still have the Church, the school, a village shop and two pubs. Of course in those days there were 3 pubs, The Red Lion, The Royal Oak and the Coventry Arms: The Red Lion has in recent years closed. Mr Richards opened his Garage in 1953, but sadly like so many garages it has now closed, and his house, which used to be the Post Office in the 1940’s will soon be demolished.
My grandmother used to make lemonade and sell it from Bull Cottage all those years ago and coincidentally I make marmalade and jams and sell from the same cottage.
|
|
Alice Greene... Memories of Upton Snodsbury, as told to me by my Mother – born at Bull Cottages in 1893.
Mother had scarlet fever when she was five years old and had to spend weeks in an ‘Isolation Hospital’ - which was just a large tent in a field! No one could visit them, but parents were able to talk to them from the other side of the barbed wire fence surrounding the hospital!
The village school in those days was for pupils from the age of 5 to 13. After schooling, there was no choice for the children – service for the girls and mainly land work for the boys.
On one occasion, a teacher hit a pupil with a blackboard pointer. My mother was sitting next to the girl who was struck and as a result had to attend court in Worcester to give evidence against a teacher. The teacher was found guilty.
Sir Edward Elgar visited the School in the 1890’s, to return a piano, which had been repaired by his father. My mother remembers the schoolmaster at the time telling the children to take notice of him “because one day, he will be famous”.
The main amusement for children was spinning tops in the road. There were no dolls or toys unless you made them yourself. However, once a year there was a Forresters’ Fair which was held in the field opposite the Coventry Arms (now Bants). There were swings and roundabouts etc and the Forresters’ Band played – this was a great occasion for everyone.
Back then there were many more black and white cottages. Urmston Lodge (now the village shop) replaced an old cottage.There were several more in School Lane (in those days it was known as The Square); down Pershore Road (known as College Road); and at Cutts Pool, all of which have now been demolished.
Very few houses were on the main Worcester Road. So few in fact, that children were afraid to walk down to Bull Cottages because they were afraid of ‘ghosts’. These ‘ghosts’ appeared in many parts of the village according to legend – the Churchyard, the Vicarage (now of course the old Vicarage) and the Royal Oak – all these places have been haunted within living memory.
All roads were hard tracks, so you can imagine you were either covered in dust or mud! The first car to be driven up the main road was a Renault, which belonged to a Doctor Rusha who I believe lived at Bleak House, Crowle. People had to walk there to see him, or pick up a prescription at his residence in Crowle. Medicines were collected from Pershore – people had to walk there to collect them, unless they were lucky enough to have a lift by a horse and cart!
A visit to Worcester in the carrier’s cart was a big occasion. Usually the person going would bring back shopping for other villagers. All manner of things were tied on the cart upon its return – poor horse! Of course back then there was no village shop but a man did at least come around the village with “fresh” herrings and other provisions were at times brought by various tradesmen. Another man even used to visit the village and sharpen knives, scissors etc.
The main work in the village was farming for the boys and men because back then fields of wheat were cut by hand with scythes and tied together in bundles. Of course there were no tractors then, and horses were used for all farm work.
The Royal Oak used to brew its own beer in one of the outbuildings known as The Malthouse. This was demolished in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.
Butter was made at Holy Oak Farm, my mother used to turn the churn and then help pat it into squares with special butter pats.
Most cottages had huge gardens filled with vegetables, there were very few flowers and many villagers had allotments too. My grandfather used to grow an acre of wheat in his allotment, this was milled and used for bread and cakes, which were baked in an old bread oven. Many people would also keep a pig and fatten it up – this was then killed and the meat and bacon (when cured) would last a family many months. This practice continued well into the 1940’s as I can clearly remember this happening.
Ladies of the village used to stitch gloves. These were supplied by glove manufacturers in Worcester. The Prince of Wales came to Worcester and it was my grandmother who was chosen to make him a special pair of lilac leather gloves.
My grandmother and a few other ladies from the village, used to pick strawberries at a farm near Pinvin. They had to walk to Pinvin and start work at 4 am in the morning so that the fruit they picked could be put on the train at Pershore for Covent Garden.
The First World War had a huge impact on the village many young men were killed (see the War Memorial Tablet in the Church). The women at home used to knit items of clothing and send to the troops in the trenches.
My mother, who was born in the cottage returned with me and my family and died 7 years later in 1989.
|
