Profile Colin Charter Colin was born in Arrington in November, 1934 – his father was a farm labourer working for Mrs. Bambridge on the Wimpole Farm estate, dealing mainly with horses and then latterly with tractors. The young Colin loved nothing better than going out into the fields with his father at harvest time. He has two brothers, one still lives in the old family home and the other lives in Thriplow. His sister married a G.I and lives in America. Their mother had been in service, but sadly died at the age of 42 of tuberculosis and the children were largely brought up by their grandparents. Mr. Albert Charter was the miller at Arrington Hill windmill, he frequently used to take the young lad out to show him the Northern Lights which were often visible in those days. It was a happy youth, despite the loss of their mother and the deprivations of the war years, with a freedom which today’s youth cannot imagine. Colin has vivid memories of having been allotted a holiday task of cutting down thistles in a meadow, when he was distracted by the sight of a bird’s nest up a tree. Naturally he clambered up to see if there were any eggs in the nest when a clear, aristocratic voice said crisply ‘What do you think you are doing boy, come on down at once!’? It was Mrs. Bambridge – she didn’t quite box his ears but certainly he got back to work pretty smartly. I had forgotten that during the war a huge and very well equipped US army hospital was built just inside the Wimpole Hall gates. Colin reminded me that at the end of the war this became a teacher’s training college and later a school. Because of the shortage of housing after the war, many families were housed by South Cambs R.D.C. in the hutments around the hospital and were later transferred into the council houses built in Melbourn. During the Cold War the building reverted to an American Airforce hospital and that is where Colin’s sister met her G.I. husband. The buildings have now been demolished, of course. Attending the Church of England school at Arrington until he was 11 and then going to the Bassingbourn school until the Wimpole Hall school was opened, Colin left school at the age of 15 and went to do an engineering course at Cambridge Technical College. In 1951 he got an apprenticeship with Weatherheads in Royston and thence went
into National Service, two years in the Royal Artillery spent in Scotland, the highlight of those years was being seconded to London to be one of the troops lining the route for the Coronation. Colin did not pursue his engineering training when he returned to Weatherheads, instead he became a lorry driver until 1973 when he went to work for Shell UK in Orchard Road, Royston delivering petrol to garages throughout the south of England. By now Colin was married to Pauline, whom he had met whilst he was working as a part time barman at the Hardwicke Arms, and had two children Carol and Glen. They moved to Melbourn in 1984. Pauline is several years younger than Colin and is still working in Royston as a secretary, Carol is marketing manager for the Cambridge Building Society and Glen works for Marley Eternit. When the Shell depot in Royston closed, Colin transferred to their base at Hemel Hempstead and worked from there until 1994 when he retired. However, retirement didn’t suit him, and he got a job as a van driver for Enfield Electrical where he stayed until a short time ago. We spent a long time talking about Colin’s passion for cigarette cards. He has an amazing collection of cricketers, film stars, animals, flags, uniforms – you name it, there is an appropriate set of cards. Apparently, the original packs of cigarettes were sold in flimsy paper packs and an oblong of cardboard was put in to support and strengthen the packet. One day someone had the bright idea of putting a picture onto the card and a whole new hobby was created. I well remember small boys collecting cards and doing ‘swopsies’ continued on page 30
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