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| My Young Days |
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In early 1940 my Father obtained a position on Legerton's Farm (now known as Bowmans Farm) and my family of Father, Mother, sisters Patricia and Vivienne, myself and younger brother Trevor came from a small village, Harrold in Bedfordshire, to live in 3 New Cottages, Lowbell Lane, a tied farm cottage. Paternal grandfather Alfred, a widower, came too.
How we all managed to live in a 3-bedroomed cottage as well as being told by Government to house lodgers, I will never know but we did and our dear Mother coped. The cottage did not have a bathroom; there was a bath, sink and stone copper in the scullery, a room off the living room, which led into the rear garden. When not in use, the bath was covered by a wooden table, and it was here every Monday morning that Mother toiled with the weekly washing boiling in the copper, the heating of which was done by lighting a fire under the copper and keeping the fire stoked with coal, coke or wood. The fire was prepared by our dear Father before he left in the early hours to work on the farm. My Mother then tackled the ironing on Tuesday.
Our toilet was outside in the garden and housed in a wooden-type shed which was adjoining our next door neighbourıs toilet. It was the local Councilıs job to empty the toilets on a weekly basis! Our toilet paper was newspapers cut into small squares and tied together by either ribbon or string.
As well as working hard on the farm, my Father also managed a wonderful vegetable garden at the rear of our cottage. (He regularly won prizes at the local fete held in the old school opposite the Golden Lion Public House.) We had a lawn and a flower bed in the front of the cottage. The large mangle stood outside the back door to be used on washing day. Looking back, I wonder how our tiny Mother managed to turn the massive rollers!
We kept hens and a cockerel, a vicious bird which often attacked us if ever he managed to escape the run! Our "pets" included ferrets and rabbits; the ferrets being no good for their normal job after we children "tamed" them. Unfortunately we overfed the rabbits and Father said they died of pop-belly!
Our milk was provided by the cows on the farm and we children took turn in getting our can of milk from the dairy, often being allowed to have a quick look at the cows being hand-milked by herdsmen sitting on 3-legged stools. It was always a worry trying to get past one of the dogs whose name was Ajax. It was also a daily ritual to say hello to the bull housed in the bull pen luckily he was always firmly tethered. If the Smithy, Jack Pomfrey, was busily shoeing a horse, we were always welcomed to sit and watch. The smell of the horse being shod is still with me today.
There were wonderful cart (shire) horses on the farm, and I well remember some of the names these lovely creatures had: Judy, Punch, Tubby, Polly and Prince. We were allowed to ride them on occasions, and I always seemed to be on the back of Polly who was slightly lame. My legs never reached the width of Polly's back but she was a sweet natured horse and so docile. These tireless horses helped with harvesting, dung-carting, collecting wood etc by pulling a huge cart behind them. Wherever these horses were on the farm I was there after school! It was always such a pleasure to help groom these horses under the watchful eye of Bill Hearn. I well remember the two retired pit ponies Betsy and Bobby they were more difficult to ride bareback!
As children we watched the sheep shearing and sheep dipping taking place, saw cows giving birth to calves and sows having numerous piglets.
I am sure that Mr Legerton (Senior) was never aware how we children (and there were many living in Lowbell Lane) sat on the backs of the cows put out to grass and the pigs when they escaped their pens and ran around the farmyard. We helped with haymaking, potato picking, brussel sprouting etc. Many a time we assisted the lovable "Pongo" Smith with collecting eggs which the hens laid in many peculiar places.
The winter weather saw the River Colne freeze over which gave us children and many others the chance to skate on the ice. In later years the ice had to be officially inspected to make sure it was safe for skaters. It was easy to approach the ice as the river came up to the lane in some places. In the year of 1947 when there was a very severe winter, the River Colne flooded the fields surrounding Legertonıs farm and also Lowbell Lane. Some of the lower cottages were flooded. If it had not been for the bright suggestion of using a tractor and trailer from the farm we would not have been able to get to school. The ride made up for the disappointment of having to go to school. In the early years there used to be a very long wooden bridge stretching across the width of the river. We children often walked across the bridge from St Peterıs Church. It was pretty dangerous as many of the wooden slats were missing.
While a very young pupil attending the Junior and Infants School in what used to be called Kingıs Head Lane, we were often told by our teachers to sit under our wooden desks when the sirens used to begin, only coming out when they stopped. The younger children were supplied with Mickey Mouse gas masks to wear I can even now recall the smell of the rubber material and how hot our faces became!
Avril Chambers, now Avril Foster
(To be continued)
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