feature

Melbourn in the mid-20th century

In 1987, the editor of Drifts, (the Magazine produced at the Village College) Marianne Peer, met Joan Downing (nee Band) on a trip to Lincolnshire and persuaded her to send some memories of Melbourn. I was born at Melbourn in September 1924 at ‘Ormesby House’ in the High Street. This was attached to my father’s shop and was in fact two houses, an older part that was a plaster-walled cottage and a newer brick built part. We therefore had two staircases, back straight stairs, and front stairs that had a bannister - lovely for sliding down!

In my childhood we did not have electricity, or mains water or sewerage. We had a pump in the yard, from where all our water was carried in buckets and jugs. It was awful when it froze; we had to remember to have jugs of water in over night, to heat, to pour down the top of the pump to thaw it.

Our ‘loo’ was down the garden – a wooden-seated privy, often the haunt of rats. I always walked down the path clapping my hands to frighten them away!

We had oil lamps and candles and my ‘toppler’ night-light.

Electricity came first, and I remember the shop being fitted with about six lights and the switches were by the door. I had lots of fun turning these on and off! It was many years before we had mains water etc. – I think it was just after the war because I can remember ‘our’ ‘evacuees’ having baths in the tin bath in the kitchen.

The shop was my delight as a small child. I loved poking in all the drawers and cupboard. The fixtures at the back of one of the wooden counters had lots of little drawers and these held nutmegs, cloves and other spices. So many things were sold loose; sugar was stored in a large barrel and the blue paper sugar bags were stored in these drawers. I used to fill these bags with sugar and others with rice or currants or sultanas. It was a long time before I could fasten the tops of the bags like my father did. And then there were the sweets and biscuits! My teeth were always aching, because I was always eating sweets. I was allowed to help myself to toffees and boiled sweets but not chocolate – I had to ask for that. The biscuits were on display in biscuit tins, opened in a glass case. Sometimes there were tins of broken biscuits, and I loved to find the chocolate pieces in these tins.

We always had cats and kittens, sometimes born in those shop-drawers. There were numerous outbuildings for the cats to roam in and catch those rats. Sometimes they were poisoned by rat poison or caught in rat traps set by a man who owned the orchards at the back of the house – I hated him very much. One of the outhouses was a wash house with a copper in it, which had a fire under it. This was lit on a Monday and, when I was very little, a lady in a cap worn back-to-front would come and help with the washing.

Another barn was large enough to have a swing in it, fastened to a high wooden beam. There was also a warehouse up some stairs over the garage (‘gateway’ – we called it) and this was always warm. It was full of wallpaper and material and – spiders! Bats had their home under the corrugated iron roof of this building.

Both my mother and father worked very hard in this shop and I was often left to play on my own, but I had lots of room to play and pretend.

As I got older I could walk through fields and play by the river very happily with my friends from school. We loved the flowers in summer – the buttercups and dog-daisies and the grasses. I daren’t walk round the village now - I would be too upset at the loss of all that.

The Feast/Fair came once a year and Mr. Stanford sold cherries at the top of the Moor. The Feast was held in a field down the Moor.

I went to the village school when I was 5 and I remember doing sums on slates and then in a book. We learnt poems, and I can still remember bits of them.

I loved copying writing in a copy-book, but did not like sewing; I can remember not being able to thread my needle! My teacher was Miss Dowling and I have a poem and picture that she did so beautifully in an old autograph book.

I went to the County School for Girls in Cambridge when I was 8, nearly 9, and stayed there until 1942. We went on the 8 o’clock bus every morning and at times there were such a lot of school children on the bus, that ordinary passengers got very fed up and complained.

Very often it was announced in school assembly ‘Will all the girls who travel on the 108 bus, go to Miss Dovey’s study.’

We always had to travel downstairs in the bus and wear our uniform and hats all the way home – velour hats in winter, panamas in summer. Later we could wear berets, green ones with the school badge on them. For a while we all travelled by train from Meldreth station. This meant a bike ride to the station, or a run across the Meads. We had great fun on the train! I remember my beret got thrown out of the train window in one of our ‘games’ and a girl from school found it when she went for a walk along the line and brought it back to me. So I didn’t have to explain to my mother what had happened to it.

In the school holidays when 1 was about 10, my cousins used to come and stay and we had a penny a day each to spend. I would never spend it at my father’s shop. I always wanted to get a ‘sherbet dab’ from Mrs. Hinkin’s shop round by the mill on the Meldreth Road. They cost 1/2 d and I could get some aniseed balls too.

We could ride around in safety on our bikes – I learned to ride mine along the A10 with my father running alongside!

I remember falling off my bike on the Shepreth Road; I was taking some groceries to someone there. The road had been newly tarred and pebbled. I cut my eye and my knee, but I rode home with my friend Joan Hale. Then my mother took me to see Dr. Gregor. I had never been in his surgery before.

Flower Festival – All Saints’ Church, Melbourn 2009

Doing it all again...

As I write this it is almost exactly a year since the last Flower Festival held at All Saints Church over the first weekend in February 2007 - so this time last year about twenty of us were busy arranging flowers and preparing for the event. We are starting to think about doing it all again next year. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but the festival will probably be held over the same weekend in 2009 and the theme is yet undecided. If you would like to be involved this time around in any way – flower arranging, serving refreshments, picking some foliage from your garden, making cups of tea and coffee to keep the arrangers warm, sweeping up our mess – etc... please get in touch.

Financial Support

We are particularly keen to hear from local businesses or individuals who would like to support the event financially – perhaps by sponsoring an arrangement or contributing to the publicity costs – any help will of course, if agreed, be acknowledged.

Snowdrops

Finally, we would also like to hear from anyone who has spare snowdrops in their garden which we could transplant into the Churchyard – it would be lovely to have a mass of snowdrops to greet visitors to the festival.

If you can help in any way at all please contact me (Rebecca Gatward) either by phone 01763 261225 or by email, Rebecca.Gatward@btinternet.com.

SOAS

The November draw took place at the SOAS social evening on 24th November. The members totalled 52. First Prize of £17.32 went to Michael Scriven Second Prize of £8.66 went to Brenda Meliniotis

The December draw was made at Coffee Stop (Vicarage Close Community Centre) on Saturday 20th December. The members totalled 52. First Prize of £17.32 went to WA Warden Second Prize of £8.66 went to Brenda Standing The January draw was made by Rev. Andrew O’Brien on 29th January. First Prize of £19.66 went to Helena Ellis Second Prize of £9.83 went to Mavis Howard

Anyone can buy a share in the 100 Club for an annual subscription of £12. Half of the subscription income is allocated to the monthly prizes whilst the other half is set aside for preserving our historic church in the centre of the village. If you wish to join, contact Kersti Llewellyn-Beard on 01763 220703 (Supporters of All Saints’ Melbourn)

SOAS AGM

Year ended 30.09.07

SOAS (Supporters of All Saints’)

SOAS (Supporters of All Saints) will again be organising a ‘Melbourn Open Gardens’ on Sunday 15th June this year. Passports will cost £3 (£4 on the day). Last June 9 gardens were open from 2–5pm but we intend to open about 12 gardens from 11am – 5pm. If you would like to help by offering your garden please contact a SOAS committee member listed below.

All proceeds will go towards the upkeep of the medieval treasure at the heart of our village we know as All Saints (which is what SOAS is all about).

Ann Ford 260661, Peter Dekkers 261144, Doreen Johnston 220197, George Statter 261341, Shaun Coles 260327, Angela Leach 262793, George Howard 260686. SOAS WINTER QUIZ First prize of £10 for a score of 89/90 goes to Mike Scriven at and the second of £5 for a score of 88/90 to Peggy Wright. G. Howard

What is SOAS

SOAS is a nondenominational charity and aims to enlist the support of the Melbourn Community to preserve the village character and heritage. Funds raised by SOAS through membership contributions and cultural events are spent on the upkeep of All Saints’ Church building. Membership subscriptions are discretionary with a minimum of £3 per person or £5 per family per year. Application and/or Banker’s order forms can be obtained by telephoning Shaun Coles on 260327.

Funds Disbursment as at 17/1/2008 Roof £3000 Central heating Porch £11000 £376

Piano Lady Chapel Repairs Total

£500 7684 £22560

Cash in Hand £14984

Funds Raised £37544

24 Hours

God is talking to one of his angels. He says, “Boy, I just created a 24-hour period of alternating light and darkness on Earth.” The angel says, “What are you going to do now?” God says, “Call it a day”