Summary of Disc 1 (courtesy of Essex Sound and Video Archive)
[1] MD lived at Box Cottage; had box hedges. Once called Wheelwrights, as end nearest to Cracknell’s was a wheelwrights; later used for washing and as a pantry. Rumour of a ghost; somebody hung themselves there. Cottage was very comfortable but no mod cons. Coal fire in the lounge, no running water, outside toilet. Electricity put in when she was three by Sam Turner, who built the first radio in the village. Originally people went to the fountain for water; cold tap put in around same time as electricity. Cottage never had foundations.
[2] Had a lot of cupboards in corners. No fridge; had a meat safe. Grew their own vegetables. Two people came round selling vegetables. Always had lots of bread. Father born in Ashdon, moved to Great Sanford as a teenager. Mother born in Great Sampford, one of seven girls and one boy. Father had a brother and two sisters. Married in Great Sampford Baptist Church. Father had worked on farm with his father, previously in bake house at Ashdon. Mother had been a nanny in Gloucester and for an Eton house master. When MD’s parents married, daughter of housemaster was bridesmaid. Father’s older sister married her mother’s brother. People didn’t travel far then, tended to marry within the area. No transport except pony and trap. Father was first person in the village to have a motor vehicle, a Morris van.
[3] Very simple driving test. Had driven a tractor before. Talks about father’s bake house and other buildings in the area. Also had a car. Needed vehicles because of mother’s arthritis. Either got petrol from Saffron Walden or little petrol station at Steeple Bumpstead, belonging to the Clark family. Learnt baking from his father, had a Master Baker certificate. Heated oven by furnace.
[4] MD helped her father. Could smell father’s bread baking whilst at school and he could hear children in school doing their tables. He also made cakes. Mother used her own oil stove at home to make sponge cakes. Aunt Evelyn took deliveries to Sampford and Hempstead. Also had a round in Radwinter until someone called Spittall took over during the Second World War. People came in to use the oven sometimes, often a chicken or goose at Christmas. Pears were put in hotpots.
[5] A lot of fruit trees around then. Supplies of flour from Clovers in Halstead and Hollands in Audley End. Other supplies from grocery in Saffron Walden. MD’s mother taught her to read. Looked forward to starting school, aged four and a half. Remembers getting measles and chicken pox. Good at reading. Moved from infants’ to bigger room at six. Classroom had six year olds at one end and 14 year olds at the other. Only two classrooms. Five took 11 plus, four passed.
[6] Mother made Mrs Funston give her maths homework. Loved reading, had lots of books. No television then, had a radio. Main building in the village was the church. Went to chapel. Remembers the pub, shop and post office. Remembers another shop, now Draper’s, owned by Mrs Felgate. Forge was next to Forge House, where Anvil Rise is now. A lot of farmers had carthorses. John Hardy used to shoe the horses; had a fire that used bellows, also at Sam Turner’s workshop. Sam Turner’s father Sidney kept cows.
[7] The forge at Turner’s had a cow horn on. Also made walking sticks with cow horns. Talks about her favourite cow called Darkie. Sam’s sister, Dorothea, had some poems published. Butcher, Mr Ward, the uncle of Lynne and Donald. Mill was turned into two houses in wartime. Originally a steam mill run by Nancy Andrews’ father, Walter Harding. Her younger sister, Ivy, married Phil Taylor, who came down from Norwich to rebuild the church tower.
[8] Talks about the old post office and The Crown and The Oak pubs. Remembers the Salvation Army building being derelict. Land was called The Army Hall for years, hall burned down. Recalls a children’s special service mission had a marquee there. On Sundays they attended Sunday School in the mornings, run by Sidney Turner at the chapel; helped by Margaret Haylock, also played the organ. Later, MD’s father took over as Superintendent, for thirty years. Mother and father were members of Plymouth Brethren, Gospel Hall. Had another chapel session in the evening. Speakers came to tea. Didn’t have a resident parson. Had circuit ministers.
[9] They had three monthly plans for services at chapels. Sometimes they went to Hempstead, sometimes to Sampford. Remembers the Sunday School anniversary, learned special hymns and recitations. Also had a summer outings to the seaside.
[10] Occasionally had a sports day. Went to meadow at Great Dawkins, egg and spoon races, tea party afterwards. MD helped father deliver bread on Saturdays. Earned pocket money. Played with dolls. Sewage got pumped into brook, village smelled. Didn’t have main drains. Loos emptied on allotments. Went to guides aged 13, started by Mrs Worth at Radwinter School. Remembers rivalry between church and chapel.
[11] Sometimes had week at the seaside. Played cricket and rounders at the cricket meadow, amused themselves. Talks about Dr Dunlop and Dr Hepworth in Saffron Walden. Remembers having scarlet fever aged six; went to isolation hospital in Saffron Walden.
[12] Talks about the soldiers who had beds in her ward. Stayed there for four weeks. Remembers everything being fumigated, being separated from teddy for a day. Had good district nurses. One visited schools, Nurse Ives. Medical care was very good then. Talks about doctors, medical care, hospital fund.