My family arrived in Malmesbury late 1939, moving from London after being subjected to bombing raids where we lived near Dagenham Docks. We lived in a cottage in the middle of a field at Backbridge, which is still there to this day. I remember it was very primitive, no running water or proper toilet. Waste was emptied into a 'swamp' in the field. Dad was working at the Ekco factory and used to cycle there daily. I went to Cross Hayes School and my mother used to walk me in and collect me. While at Cross Hayes School I recall at times having to go to a shelter in the cellar of a large house on the corner of Cross Hayes and Silver Street when the air raid sirens sounded. Our teacher used to read from Winnie the Pooh to us. It was here that I first met Maureen Jobbins who was much later to become my wife.
Some time later my parents moved to a council house in Pool Gastons road. The council built these but a certain number were allocated to Ekco employees. Dad was a sheet metal worker and also a member of the works fire service. Later he moved to Linolite and he was also a member of the Town Auxiliary Fire Service.
When I was seven I went to the Boys' school in Gastons Road. The Head was Mr Ingram, known as the 'Boss'. I can recall that every Thursday morning he would send one of the elder boys up to 'Lees' shop in the Triangle for cigarettes and the local paper, which he would proceed to read in front of his class while they answered Scripture questions from the blackboard.
In 1945 I went to the Grammar School staying until I left in 1948. During this time I did a paper round for W.H.Smith and a delivery round for Bert Redman. who had a butcher's shop in the Triangle. When I was 15 The manager of W.H.Smiths, (Mr Guest) offered me a post in the shop which I readily accepted. I worked there on the newspaper stall outside the shop for a couple of years. I then went to work at the Silk Mills. They had been taken over by a London company called H.Dryden and Son. They imported rabbit pelts from all over the country and Ireland. These were sorted into various grades and sold on to buyers from other companies who used them to make anything from fur coats to felt and gelatine.
It was a very demanding job, as we as trainees had to get the grade just right to please 'the boss.' There were seven different grades of fur in the skin. The business eventually collapsed due to the myxomatosis which virtually wiped out the rabbit population.
I can remember that as children we used to fish and swim at Backbridge and at the Figure Eight At Backbridge the river was on a bend with various depths on either side of the bend. The apex of the bend was, to us very deep and great for diving into. There was a tree with a rope attached for swing out over the river before dropping off. A local man (Mr Rogers) who ran the boxing club chopped the tree down and made a proper diving board and steps into the river.
For many years I was in the 1st Malmesbury Scouts and eventually became Troop Leader before starting a Senior Scout Troop. We had several Scout Masters, Mr Ingram, Mr Foster and a Mr Tucker. I was also a member of the youth club, which in its early days used to meet upstairs at the Boys' School in Gastons Road before we found new premises in Ingram Street above the British Legion. We all worked together under the directions of Mr Cartmell to furbish it and I remember we varnished the upstairs hall floor the night before the official opening and on the night it was still sticky and a press photographer got stuck to the floor.
In 1952 I joined the regular army serving in the Wiltshire Regiment. In August 52 some of us in the Regiment were sent to Lynton to assist with the disaster caused by the floods. (August 1952) I later joined the Metropolitan Police serving at the Famous Bow Street Police Station before my marriage, and then moved out to Uxbridge, near Heathrow. On my retirement I became a Driving Examiner working at different centres in London and around the country before settling in Boston Lincolnshire.
