Seaford Museum and Heritage Society

If you have visited Seaford Museum you will have met at least one of the friendly stewards. There are three stewards on duty whenever the Museum is open. They are all volunteers and get a great deal of satisfaction from the time they put in. Talking to visitors is often fascinating. Not only do visitors appreciate the extra information the stewards can give them but the stewards also learn snippets of information from visitors. We are looking for new volunteers to add to the stewarding team. Don’t be put off by thinking that volunteering as a steward is a huge commitment. Stewards typically put in one or two mornings or afternoons a month but some do more or less. If you would like to find out more about what being a steward involves, please come down to the museum when it is open, have a chat with one of the stewards on duty and, if you want to take it further, leave your name and contact details, and we will get in touch with you. Alternatively email us on info@seafordmuseum.co.uk.

A couple recently donated a piece of brown paper they had found under their floorboards. The paper had been wrapped around a food parcel sent from Canada to a Canadian soldier based in Seaford. The parcel was dated November 1942 and a series of stickers suggest that it was a Christmas present. It must have been very welcome as the contents included a tin of peaches, a can of tomato juice, soup and a fruit cake.

The happy recipient of this parcel was Private John Ernest Colclough. John Colclough was, in fact, English. He was born, out of wedlock and in poverty, in Warwickshire in 1907. His mother sued his father for child support. His step-father was killed in France in 1917 and his mother, Nellie, died in the workhouse during the 1918 flu pandemic. By then John had been taken into care because of his behaviour. John’s sister went to live with an aunt and his younger half-brother was sent to an orphanage. John was sent to Canada through the Middlemore Homes as a child migrant. He went to the largely rural state of New Brunswick. Like many of the children he was fostered by a farming couple, but was moved after a year as they were said not to have been strict enough. His next home was with another couple, also farmers, with whom he stayed for some time. He helped around the house and farm and went to school while he was there but he was not close to them.

John was in the Canadian Army by 1940 and survived the war although details of his service remain a mystery. He later became a labourer. John never married but kept in touch with his sister Elsie until she died. His great niece Melanie, now in New Zealand, thinks he was happy to be solitary. He died in 2001.

Photo: John Colclough (left) with his siter, brother and aunt.

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