INTRODUCTION

The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

Here goes! After a few skirmishes and a bit of research into old diaries – not kept as accurately as I could have wished – plus extracts from a memory which was never one of the best but to my surprise as I have now reached “old age” has stored up some surprising recollections. This will be a recording of the life and doings of one Russell James Sparrow born at Ipswich, Suffolk on 21st September 1908.

It has been said that the Sparrow family can be traced back as far as 1593 when a family of that name, albeit spelt with an e on the end, owned and lived in the Ancient House in the Buttermarket, Ipswich. Mr Hugh Paget who lives at Tudor House, Needham Market and is a great delver into the past has to some extent verified this.

Grandad Sparrow (Eldred) born 1851, who died when I was about 10 years old was as I remember him a short, bewhiskered, quiet or maybe even a little dour sort of man, a bricklayer by trade. Grandma Sparrow, Anna was her name was different. She was a bright and shining lady in every way, clean to the nth degree, hair pulled straight back off her forehead and a face that looked as if it had been polished – rather like one of her own rosy apples – a happy soul with an infectious laugh. They lived in a quaint old house just beyond the Shepherd and Dog at Onehouse and on the road to Buxhall and the church. There was a kitchen with a ‘stick’ oven in which all the bread was baked, a small passage down to the pantry, a rickety staircase and the living room which in turn led to the ‘front room’. I never remember it being used other than to house the geraniums, the smell of which together with apples seemed to permeate the house. I think there must have been three bedrooms and a landing which was used to store the apple crop, fairly considerable as the large garden had numerous trees, most of them were apple. 7

The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

They kept lots of chickens, a pig or two, and of course grew all their own vegetables. The family pet was a lovely white cat which must have been a great age when it eventually passed on. The house was situated on a site rising from the road and from the front windows you could look across the river Rat – a small stream that started at Rattlesden and finished at Stowmarket, in part of Finborough Park and on to the golf course which I can remember as agricultural land. Grandma had wonderful eyesight and could tell you that so and so had just gone in the gate for a round of golf. The ‘mod. cons.’ consisted of a wooden shed adjoining the chickens run and a fair distance from the house, especially on a wild night, and had a two-seater split level box seat fitted over a large hole called the vault. Drinking water had to be fetched from a pump about 300 yards up the road and this water contained all sorts of green squiggly creatures. One day a week was set aside to walk to Stowmarket to do the shopping, approximately 2 miles each way. The church where I was christened almost in the grounds of Onehouse Hall, a peaceful place if ever there was one.

Grandad James Denny died before I was born but I understand he was a gentle kindly type, nicknamed Doctor, a miller by trade whose hobby was breeding Harriet canaries. My memories of Grandma Denny are rather vague because she died when I was about 11 and was an invalid for years. They lived in the row of cottages opposite the Maltings in Creeting Road, Stowmarket next door but one to Auntie Alice’s. I can remember this house mainly because of an accident I had there when I split my head open by falling onto a pail, the scar is still with me in the centre of my forehead and now hidden by wrinkles. Auntie Alice nursed her mother for years before she died. Mother, Maud Mahalia, was number 6 in a family of seven, 3 boys and four girls, apprenticed to dressmaking and spent all her life until she married in Stowmarket. Dad was number one in a family of three, 2 boys and 1 girl, and was

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The Diaries of Russell James Sparrow 1908 to 1991

a carpenter apprentice at Pollards in Onehouse. They met through activities at Stowmarket congregational Church where Dad was a founder member of the Boy’s Brigade and it was at this church that they married in 1902.

Dad believed life was for living! He learned his trade under a onearmed carpenter who had a false arm with a hook for a hand and this was used with great effect on the seat of his pupil. Dad’s job included driving the workmen to and from their

New Stowmarket Congregational Church

jobs in a horse and tumbrel and on one occasion the horse, a jibber, stopped halfway home and refused to budge. “Frank” said the foreman; “I’ll make the so and so go, you just hold on tight to the reins.” He gathered up some dry grass, placed it under the horse’s belly and put a match to it. They were nearly home before Dad could stop the horse and then he had to go back for the foreman! Those were the days when winters were winters and the boys earned a few pence by sweeping the ice on the frozen River Rat and fitting skates for the ladies. Grandad had one spell of 17 weeks out of work because of the frost, no anti-freeze then and no unemployment benefit or Social Security. Provision was made for such an event as far as possible by smoking or salting portions of pig and making up with vegetables. On completion of his apprenticeship Dad went to London to get a broader experience of the building trade and was employed on large contracts including shop fitting to some of the big stores.

During this time he joined the London Polytechnic for evening studies and also became an active member of the sports section, particularly in boxing, weight lifting and cycling, getting plenty of training for the latter by cycling home for weekends. He also did a 9