Profile Sheila and David Brunsdon My profile this issue is once again about a true Melbourn person. David was born in the June preceding the start of the second World War. He was one of twins although his sister died at birth, but he later had another sister who now lives in Royston. His parents were Henry and Maude. Henry had moved to Melbourn from London in his early years but Maud Woods was a Melbourn lass living in Dolphin Lane. From her early photographs she was quite a beauty. Her father Albert worked for George Palmer as a cowman and also played in the Salvation Army band. Henry always wanted to be a policeman, and passed all his exams with flying colours only to be told at the last minute that he was one inch too short! Although disappointed to be rejected for that reason, he went to work for Theo Wedd at Summerhouse Farm and remained there for 40 years, after which he worked at the Atlas until his retirement. They all lived at no. 4 Wood Way – this is at the top of Water Lane and if you look carefully half way up on the right hand side you will see the old street sign on the wall of a house. Maud worked for George Palmer and in the summertime, like most other women in the village, she worked in the orchards picking fruit. Whilst he was at school, David was very keen on sport, especially running and football and after he left school he went on to play football for the Melbourn team. So it was not surprising that young David’s first job was in the orchards. He attended Mortlock Street school leaving at the age of 15 on a Friday and starting work on the Saturday for Cyril Hagger. He had always done holiday work there and really enjoyed working in the orchards. However, for 3½ years he spent more time helping Cyril to build his house at the top of Water Lane than he did amongst the trees! Turning their hands to all trades and mixing all the cement
by hand, the two of them build Driftways House. Now I do not know who is living there at the moment – but do you know that some of the upstairs floors of your house were stained with coffee! David told me that Cyril made up several pots of coffee in differing strengths until he found the right shade then after sanding the floorboards off, they coloured the floor with the resulting brew! David said that Cyril Hagger was the nicest person he ever worked for. And he worked for quite a few! It was during this time that he married for the first time and, needing more money, he moved to NDS in Royston. He has always had an affinity with cars and driving and had his first car, a 1934 Standard 10 bought from Arch Hale, at the young age of 18. So he was able to drive to work in Royston where he was employed welding silos. Sheila, meanwhile, was living in a children’s home and foster homes in Norwich and knew nothing about her family, although she did meet her mother when she was eighteen. She went to work straight from school to the Christian Endeavour Holiday Home at Overstrand. It was nice to hear that, in these days of horrific stories being revealed about experiences in care homes, Sheila led a very happy and stable life in the home and considers herself to have been fortunate to have been so well cared for. She married and moved to Cambridge and had two sons and later, after divorcing her first husband, she met David. They met on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend. Apparently in those days Sheila had a very strong Norfolk accent and when, on their SECOND date, David asked her to marry him she replied in her broad accent ‘ Don’t be so daft, I don’t even like yer!’ Well, that was a challenge for him and he obviously managed to bring her round and they were married in May 1972. David formally adopted Sheila’s two boys and they went on to have another son. Taking on another job, David passed all the necessary exams and went to work as a driving instructor at Marshalls Garage in Jesus Lane. He told me some rum tales about teaching people to drive, sometimes a risky business – but he did say that generally speaking the young women were the best pupils! I suppose the lads thought they knew it all. Elderly ladies were sometimes difficult, interestingly he said that the hardest thing for people to grasp was the art of steering the vehicle. Moving on from this, but still behind the wheel he drove for Rayners Transport at Madingley, taking lorries full of corn all over the country. Then followed a spell with the Blood Transfusion Service taking the nurses and equipment all over East Anglia. This was an easy job, as once they had unloaded the nurses and equipment there was little to do all day but wait around until the unit packed up melbournmagazine
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