Afternoon tea with Nancy

from I'd Rather Be In Deeping July 23

The timeless elegance of Caudle House

A pile of neatly handwritten envelopes sit on a table. There is tea in china cups and biscuits on a plate. This is because the lady who I am having tea with remembers the Edwardian age when life was so much gentler! She was actually born on 2nd June 1918 and considering she weighed just 3lbs has done remarkably well, having reached her 105th birthday without ever having been to hospital.

Nancy was just eight when Mary Freeman moved to Deeping St James, her father being the policeman stationed here. The two bounded down their respective gardens which ran down to the river in Eastgate to see who they would be living next door to! They made friends immediately and a lifetime of friendship ensued. But not before a childhood creating happy memories; of summers lived out on the river, of cowslip wine made with hot water and sipped out of tiny paste jars, of houses made of orange boxes adorned with scavenged ornaments and knives and forks in a sweet tin.

It was a childhood where the privy was across the garden in a pretty pantile-roofed outbuilding, boasting two seats, a small and a large one, and Nancy was taught to cut newspapers into squares using a darning needle to thread it onto string for toilet paper. Her earliest memory was as a three-year-old holding a piglet from Jonny Boyden, Chairman of the Pig Club, named Princess Mary as it was acquired on its namesake’s wedding day. These were the days of pony and trap rides, when everyone knew one another and an invitation was not required to pop in. George V’s Silver Jubilee was celebrated in the majestic tithe barn, now sadly a hostage to history – it had been cleared of carts and machinery for the occasion and whitewashed throughout.

Characters abounded, such as Mr Tomlin the Miller who always wore a cloth cap, was slightly round shouldered, shuffled and played the organ in church. Sited behind the pulpit the organ was pumped by Fred Patchett. There were the two elderly ladies, the Miss Jeffries of portly proportions who had been employed at the Manor when the Marchioness lived there and would walk their Pekinese dog, unable to see it at their feet.

The Revd John George had passed away in 1898 but was known affectionately by Nancy’s family as ‘the old parson’. He was the first to live in the rectory and lived there for 57 years with his manservant Arthur Pepper and the two are buried in identical graves in the churchyard. Church figured large in village life; there were three services on a Sunday, the vicar being William Payne who came to the parish in 1918, after Nancy had been christened by the Revd Samuel Skene. William Payne was a man of private means and lived in isolated splendour in the vicarage with his mother, a dainty, prim lady. There was a livein housekeeper, a widow, Mrs Washington with her daughter, Joyce. But actually the Revd Payne wasn’t used to children and employed a succession of Church Army Captains to teach in the Sunday school. Even now Nancy sends herself to sleep remembering the words of all the hymns that she learnt, her favourite being ‘He who would valiant be’.

At eleven years old, Nancy and Mary left the Cross School for Stamford High School saying goodbye to teachers who would leave a lasting memory. There was the formidable Miss Panton aka as ‘Dickie’ and Mr Jennings with thinning red hair who worked hard with the more able scholars so they could achieve a career in teaching. When the girls’ double decker bus reached Star Lane in Stamford the girls would form a crocodile to walk to school and then back, and on hockey days their walk would be to and from Burghley Park. At 18 the girls went to St Peter’s Teacher Training College in Peterborough. Nancy started her career in Fulham and for 21 years she taught at Deeping St Nicholas.

At 16, she met Bob when he came from Northborough to the dances at the Vicarage School rooms. The evenings would start with a Whist Drive and then Nancy would stay for the dance with Mrs Long thumping on the piano – the waltz and the foxtrot ( the lancers being her least favourite). Their relationship blossomed; they married and had four children who were all bought up on the riverside, just as Nancy had been.

If you are interested in reading more about Nancy’s fascinating life story her book, Swift to Tell is available at £7.50. Call 07852649464 or email judy.stevens1@btopenworld.com

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