Our March AGM covered the years activities, re-election of the Chairman & Committee and overview of the new seasons program of 6 meetings and an outing.
With the annual subscription kept at the Covid reduced rate of £5 for the year, this is a bargain! Contact David Parish to join (07483 276543) with full details on our web page. All official business was completed within 15 minutes allowing plenty of time for the ‘Memories of Hatfield Heath’ conversation with four villagers. The speakers had all grown up in the village in the 40’s and 50’s and have happy memories of events and people. Robin Whitbread was the senior boy, having arrived in the village in 1937 when aged 2 years, his mother having taken up the position of District Nurse. They lived in Mill Cottage with a hand pump in the yard for water, no electricity (so paraffin lamps and candles for lighting) and an outside toilet. During the war, two ladies worked in the upstairs room making ladies stockings for the armed forces. Robin learnt to play the cornet in the village band under Gilbert Hutchin and this ability allowed him to join the Welsh Guards band in 1952 when called up for National Service and he ended up staying for 8 years. His first main parade was the Coronation. John Faulkner was born in 1942 in Ilford* but the family soon moved to Hatfield Heath and lived at Hockleys Cottage with 13 others! His father had employments at Browns Bakery as a Roundsman, which enabled the family to move into the tied cottage adjacent to the Bakery (located between current day The Thatchers and Broomfield). Ill health meant his father died after a few years and the family had to move out – initially to Mrs Whitbread (Robins Mother) before getting a council house. His mother worked in Browns Bakery shop and he remembers they had two Germans working in the bakery post war. John Brown was also born in 1942 at 26 Ardley Crescent before the family moved into a tied cottage in Audley End and finally to 1 Bentley Villas, only leaving the village on his marriage in 1964. He was in the same village school classes as John Faulkner and then on to Stansted School. He remembers helping an electrician who was wiring up Ardley Crescent for mains electricity and this experience caused him to become an electrician. For many years he worked for Emery Electricians in Sawbridgeworth. David Brown is Johns younger brother by 4 years. He grew up playing in the village football and cricket teams, only moving out of the village in 2000. Village team selections were posted up in the Beehive shop for 6d per week but those outside the village received a postcard notification. Selection required you lived in the village, were born here or had married a local girl. He remembered that the Fox Inn as the only pub with a Juke box. The memories of village bonfires ‘was sparked’ by recalling the largest ever built was for the end of the war, with a central air vent that you could walk through. There was intense rivalry between Broomfields and Ardley Crescent for building the best bonfires post war but eventually they combined before the Council stopped them in the late 60’s/70’s. Also punishment for being caught collecting conkers in the Vicarage garden was 4 hours locked up in the Vicarage cellar! With additional contributions from the floor by John Smith and Andrew Passfield the time soon passed with many more comments than I could catch (being a newcomer!). A very enjoyable evening. Our next meeting is on 17th May at 7.30pm at the Hatfield Heath URC Church Hall when Patrick Streeter will be talking about Daniel Quare (1648-1724), a respected London Clockmaker and his descendant farmers of Matching Green. Quentin Spear Panel: David Brown, John Brown, Mark Ratcliff (Chair), Robin Whitbread, John Faulkner. *Correction post meeting. John was actually born in Writtle but the family lived in Ilford. He assumes that his mother was visiting her sister in Chelmsford at the time and was caught out over timings!
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With the ongoing discussions on the future development of the Prisoner of War Camp 116 in Mill Lane, last summer Mark Ratcliff organised some walks around the perimeter of the camp (the developer not wanting to allow access into the camp grounds).
Over several afternoons and an evening, nine groups totalling 90 villagers and locals enjoyed a stroll down tracks few had visited before with a knowledgeable commentary from Mark for 90 minutes. These walks also caused further memories of the camp and its inmates to be aired. Bob French wrote in to say that growing up in Sheering, he remembers that once after his father had returned home following Demob in 1946 (when Bob was about 4 years old), he walked the family up to the camp one summer Sunday afternoon to see the German prisoners from the adjacent field to say that was the reason he had been away fighting in the war. His second memory was at Christmas in 1949 when the 1st Sheering Wolf Cub pack was taken by their Akela (Peggy Austin) one evening to sing carols to the Irish workmen who were billeted there whilst helping build Harlow New Town and could not return home for Christmas. They stayed for about 1½ hours. Jacqueline Jackson remembers her father, Malcolm Jackson, told her that as a young child growing up on Ardley Crescent, he saw the Italian working parties marching off to work at Down Hall. The Italians loved children and used to hand out sweets to them and he was given a woven belt and a ring fashioned out of a coin. One Italian was seeing a lady on the crescent and if he was able to get a pass out for the evening then he would tie a hanky to his stick on his shoulder to indicate to her that they could meet that night! Its good that even now after all the passing years we are able to record new tales of the camp. ---------- |
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