KETTLESTONE AFTER WW2

Joan Jarvis

The photograph shows Joan's brother Ivan in the field next to the Keeley's house

joan jarvis [NEE KEeLEY] RECALLS GROWING UP IN KETTLESTONE

Joan was born at 57 The Street Kettlestone in 1948. She describes her childhood in her own words.

'There was very little traffic in those days so I would play in the street with my sisters or we would play in the stream which ran through the field opposite our house.

Christmas time we would collect clay from the stream and make decorations some of which we would give to some of the people in the village. The stream has now been piped and filled in and comes out in what we knew as Common Lane, now called Holbrigg Lane.

I used to walk all the way down the lane to the railway level crossing and wait and watch for the train to pass on its journey.'

HOLBRIGG LANE

The photo shows the approach to the railway crossing in Holbrigg Lane

Melton Constable railway station

Trains travelled to Fakenham from Melton, passing over the level crossing at Holbrigg Lane

The Old Cattle Market pictured in 1970

Courtesy of Fakenham Community Archive

MARKET DAY

'There was a bus that came through the village on Thursdays so people could go to Fakenham Market, and in school holidays Mum would take us too. In those days Fakenham was a very busy market town with a livestock market so there was always something to take our interest.'

Photo shows Fakenham Market Place 1960 courtesy of EDP

Michaelmas Horse Sale Fakenham market 1940

Courtesy of Fakenham Community Archive

Harold williamson in the street

joan on dolly [left] . nANCY AND GILLIaN ON DUKE

Joan astride Duke, her sisters Gillian and Nancy together with Albert Keeley their father. The horse and cart belonged to Harold Williamson

HELPING ON THE FARM

'As I got a little older I would spend a lot of time on Williamson’s farm, which was Church Farm. Every day after school I would ride Duke across the fields to collect eggs for Mr Williamson from chickens kept at old Nissan huts on Little Snoring road. I have very fond memories of Mr Williamson he was a lovely man and insisted that we all call him Harold, You would find him most days sitting on the milk churn bench on the side of the road or at the entrance of the egg house waiting for the day's collection or selling eggs to a villager. He was so kind there was always a bar of chocolate for me, likewise for other children who happened to play around in the farmyard.

The farm, besides having tractors, also had a cart horse called Duke which I was allowed to ride bare back, he was so quiet and gentle and would always obey a command, I even was allowed the take him to Huggins Blacksmiths at Hempton to have new shoes fitted. What an adventure! I cannot imagine a young girl riding a cart horse along the main road to Fakenham and back nowadays. How things have changed!'

Huggins Blacksmiths Hempton pictured in the 1950s

Photo courtesy of Eastern Daily Press

JOAN AGED 10 DRIVES A TRACTOR

A lot of time was spent at the farm, I was allowed to help with milking the cows after bringing them in from the fields, I was also taught how to get calves to take milk from my fingers when they would not take it from their mothers.

I would also drive a tractor at harvest time while the men threw bales of straw onto the trailer; I was 10 at the time. That would not be allowed these days what with health and safety.

The photo shows a Massey Ferguson 35 tractor, similar to the one Joan used to drive

FRESH BREAD

I must mention the bakery owned and run by the Cooper family, now called the Old Post Office, the smell of freshly baked bread as we walked through the street will stay with me always, also Mr Cooper baked one penny loaves that were available and were enjoyed warm from the oven, the bakery was also home to the village shop and Post Office.

The photograph shows Emma Cooper between her daughter-in-law Eunice on the left, and her daughter Brenda to the right.

Little Snoring School

LITTLE SNORING SCHOOL

Monday to Friday were of course school days. Junior school was at Little Snoring and we walked through the Drift i.e. from the Street via the Rectory grounds onto Snoring road, a path which was used by lots of the villagers in those days, in later years this has been closed off. When I went up into the seniors I would bike from Kettlestone to Fakenham Field Lane school.

THE CORONATION

'The village hall was much bigger then, having a wing on either side and a stage at the far end. On the day of the Queen's Coronation a party was held in the hall and afterwards we all went across to the Rectory to watch the days events on their television. All the children were given a coronation mug.'

The organ in Kettlestone church

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Sundays was church day, my sisters and I would go to Sunday school, one week it would be taken by Mary Cooper from the bakery the following week by Josephine Gotobed from Little Snoring, my sister would play the organ for the Sunday school, there was also the morning service, then at 6pm evening song.

SUNDAY SCHOOL OUTING

Each year there would be a Sunday school outing which would be a bus trip to Hunstanton for the day, spent in the sunshine on the beach, as I think back the bus was a typical style for the time nothing posh, sorry no photo but it was owned by Bunns of Walsingham.

On the beach at Hunstanton

Back row from left: Brenda Colman, Julia Colman, Gillian Keeley.

Front : Gwennie [out of view] Mrs Colman, Mrs Goldsworthy, Mrs Tuck, Kathleen Keeley [Joan's mother], Joan Keeley .

On the beach at Hunstanton

From the left: The Ainsworth children, Ann, Alistair and Catherine. Alan Ainsworth is behind the group. Mrs Ainsworth and the Reverend Ainsworth

Centre group of girls : Joan, Gillian and Nancy Keeley

First deckchair on left Mrs Goldsworthy with her grandson standing behind. Next chair Mrs Tuck, Next chair unidentified woman followed by David Colman [ boy] with Mrs Brock behind him. Last deck chair Gwennie Colman, Brenda Colman is standing next to her.

On Fridays Mum would clean the church and the brasses, we would help her in the school holidays. When I say we that is my two sisters and myself, I also had two brothers but somehow they got out of that duty, but would be helping Dad with the garden as they were older.

Dad used to cut the churchyard grass with a scythe, such hard work, not like today with all the modern equipment.

We had quite a large garden which kept Dad busy, not only did he grow produce for us he grew cucumbers, tomatoes etc and chrysanthemums which he sold to bring in extra income, the chrysanthemums everyone said were fantastic.

To me the 50’s was a lovely time to grow up in Kettlestone.

IN THE SNOW

Joan's mother Kathleen, Joan,Harold Williamson and Nancy [ Joan's sister]

February 1963

in the snow

Joan, Richard Redfearn and Nancy.

Richard became Nancy's husband. He was stationed at Sculthorpe airbase.

They now live in Virginia USA

February 1963

the street in the snow

BERNARD JARVIS

Airey houses in Sicklinghall North Yorkshire

Airey houses were a type of prefabricated house built in Great Britain following the Second World War. Designed by Sir Edwin Airey for the Ministry of Works Emergency Factory Made housing programme, they feature frames of prefabricated concrete columns reinforced with tubing recycled from the canvas tilt frames of military trucks. A series of shiplap style concrete panels form the external walls.

the building of Airey houses in rural areas was seen as a solution to the poor condition (due to the 1930s depression followed by wartime neglect) of much of the housing stock outside Britain's conurbations, due to the ease with which the prefabricated sections could be transported to remote locations. WIKIPEDIA

]

Fakenham West station . Part of the platform remains at Jewsons yard.

BERNARD recalls growing up in Norfolk

I was born in 1945 at number 7 Lyng Road Sparham, a semi detached single story dwelling on the roadside, with the back garden looking down onto the river Wensum, this was home until the family moved to the main village of Sparham into a newly built Airey house.

At the age of four due to family circumstances I then lived with my aunt's mother and father (to whom I will be ever grateful) at Hempton in a house that looked over the green towards Swaffham

Hempton in those years was a very different place, we would walk round the back of Hempton to what is now the garden centre to watch the trains going by after leaving Fakenham West station. Fakenham had two stations the other being Fakenham East also called the Great Eastern.

HEMPTON SHEEP FAIR

Hempton had a sheep fair on the green in September each year until 1969, we would watch the hurdles being put up to make pens and then watch the sheep arriving by lorries and then finally the sale day, when all the sheep were sold then transported to their new homes. Click on the link to watch a short film of Hempton Sheep Fair

Hempton Sheep Fair

1967

There was also the fair on the green each year with rides, stalls and other attractions to take everyone’s interest, a coconut stall where you could throw balls to knock the coconut off a cup filled with sawdust to win, swinging boats to ride in, only to mention a few.

From the house just a few yards away was Heppells bakery, I remember after school some afternoons I would go into the bakery and slice today’s unsold bread for sale the next day, then watch the jam tart machine pressing the pastry and the filling with jam, don’t remember what age I would have been at the time, guess about 10. One weekend a lot of army people pulled onto the Green in front of the house, for a break in their journey. Seeing there was a bakery just across the road, one soldier shouted to me and asked if I would get him some cakes, as he was not allowed to do it for himself. He offered me what I remember was a sixpence, not bad for getting two shillings worth of cakes and this was one of many trips back and forth for the soldiers over the next couple of hours. I don’t think this was classed as talking to strangers and I was being watched all the time.

Around the same age I also spent time down at Huggins the blacksmiths on a Saturday morning just sweeping floors and watching the men making or repairing all kinds of things from horse shoes to the much larger items.

Heppell's Bakery 1976

Courtesy of Eastern Daily Press

Just over the railway line from Hempton to Fakenham on the right hand side before what used to be Collins and Simpsons garage, we had a small piece of garden for growing a few things. This was also the source of the duck eggs that we had, not that we kept ducks but seeing it was next to the river the ducks were happy to lay their eggs there.

As there was not a school in Hempton I had to walk up into Fakenham to attend the Infants school up Norwich Road, I can remember walking home from school on my own sometimes, but this would have been considered normal for the times.

Some weekends I would go up the Green and watch the adults flying their model aeroplanes, some of which were remote controlled, if one got lost everyone would scan the Green until it was found.

There were also chickens kept on the green, who they belonged to I never knew, then there was the village pond and ducks, which are still seen today, that is something that has not changed in the last sixty years when most things have i.e. no longer a bakery, blacksmiths, railway station etc

Hempton Pond and some of its residents

77 The Street Kettlestone [on the right of the photograph]

Granny and Grandad Elmer outside 108 The Street

Bernard moves to Kettlestone

At the age of 11 we moved to 77 The Street Kettlestone (The Old School House).

Kettlestone has lots of connections for me as my Aunt, Uncle, Granny & Grandad (my Mother's parents) lived there at what was then 108 and 110 the street a single dwelling split into two. (Now a single dwelling called Spring House).

My uncle worked as cowman at Manor Farm for Mr Thistleton- Smith who also farmed and lived at Alethorpe Hall. My aunt worked at Cox and Wymans printing works in Fakenham. Granny and Grandad were retired when I knew them and before they moved into the village they were the railway gate keepers at the bottom of Common Lane (Hollbrigg Lane) I’m told Granddad kept pigs there and that is how they managed to save money to buy 108-110 The Street.

After a while my Aunt and Uncle moved into the new cowman’s house that was built up Fulmodestone hill, then another Aunt and Uncle moved into 110. There were two further Aunts and Uncles who lived in the village, those two Uncles working at Church Farm for Mr and Mrs Williamson, so lots of family.

Cox and Wyman's printing works in White Horse Street Fakenham. The business closed in 1982 and the buildings were demolished, ending an industry that had been in the town since 1803

Schooling

School was Fakenham Seniors in Queens’s Road then Fakenham Secondary Modern up Field Lane. To get there I would walk through the Drift (track from the house round the back of Rectory Farm to the Snoring Road) and catch Eastern Counties bus into Fakenham then walk up to the school. After school, weekends and holidays were spent helping in the garden (that was on the other side of the road from the house) looking after the bantam chickens, some of the eggs being sold for pocket money.

Bernard at school in the third row, fourth from left.

Harvesting in south Norfolk in the 1950's

Church Farm Kettlestone

Helping on the Farm

From time to time I would go to the farm with my uncle and watch the cows being milked and the treatment of the milk before being put into churns for later collection by lorry for delivery to The Milk Processing Plant, from where it was put into bottles for delivery to peoples houses.One experience I remember well was the first time I witnessed a calf being born and how quickly it tried to get on its legs afterwards.

As with several of the youngsters in the village, I spent time at Church Farm owned by the Williamsons, doing odd jobs or just hanging about having fun. Some of those jobs would be to use the horse and cart to clean the tall yellow flowering weed [ragwort] from the paddocks which was bad for the animals, then dump it in the pit at the top of the stack yard. Another job I remember on an odd Sunday I would take the Ferguson tractor and trailer loaded with fodder down to the cattle on the common. To unload it I put the tractor into first gear on low speed then hopped on the trailer unloading as it travelled to the far hedge. Once I had completed the task I would jump back on the tractor before reaching the hedge. What would health and safety think of that today?

Summer was harvest time and then time was spent helping with standing up the shoves [sheaves] that had just been cut with the binder ready to be collected with tractor and trailer, then built into a stack to await the thrashing machine, when that arrived it would be sited next the stack, the shoves tossed into the top, thrashed, corn and chaff being distributed via different outlets and bagged, the straw then going back to making a stack for later use.

Morris 8 saloon car

Sunday School

Most Sundays like so many other children we had to go to Sunday school at the church, One task was to pump the organ while it was being played by one of the girls, just boy like thought it fun to stop pumping while she played, thus causing a little upset at the time, I wonder if she remembers this nowadays.

Then there was the Sunday school outings in the summer which lots of the villagers would go on, Hunstanton beach being one, another was to Great Yarmouth.

During the summer my Uncle would take the family down to Wells beach for the afternoon and a picnic during which time we would collect cockles and winkles. This journey would be four adults plus children in a Morris 8 saloon car with a rack on the back for luggage.

Bingo night in Kettlestone village hall

Bingo in the village hall

Thursday nights was bingo at the village hall which was always very well supported by Kettlestone residents and others from neighbouring villages, Barney, Fulmodestone, the Snorings etc. It was a fun evening with refreshments being available at the interval served by members of the committee. Then the bingo caller was my uncle, a role that I took on later.

An Austin A40 Devon like the one Bernard used to own.

Bernard starts work

The last year before leaving school I worked the harvest for Manor Farm and afterwards was offered a permanent job starting in the October, which I accepted. However, due to intervention by my woodwork teacher, I was offered another job with agricultural engineers Wigg & Plowright in Cattle Market Street Fakenham. Many thanks to Mr Booth that shaped my working career.

Working for Wigg & Pig as it was often called gave a wonderful insight to the workings of the livestock cattle market that was held every Thursday on the opposite side of the road, a very busy day with cattle floats arriving from first thing in the morning and leaving late in the evening, transporting the animals the had been auctioned during that day by Long & Beck auctioneers.Starting work meant cycling back and forth to Fakenham each day until I purchased of a motor bike, which was no fun on black ice in the winter, then at long last a motor car, an Austin A40 Devon. What a joy. With no room to park at the house permission was granted for parking in the drift leading to Rectory Farm.

The Rectory in those days was rented by school teachers, but then reverted back to a true rectory with the Rev Ainsworth and his family. I did spend time there as did several youths. The Rev Turtle came after them.

At the age of 18 we left Kettlestone and moved back to Hempton, into the same rented house that we left seven years previously. This house was owned by Mr Huggins who also owned the blacksmiths.

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