Roy Riches - a life in Starston

[This section reproduces Chapter 8 from Roy Riches book Harleston and gives a fascinating account of the author's upbringing and life in the village during the first threequarters of the 20th century - a period when life in general and that of rural agricultural communities in particular was undergoing significant change.]

MEMORIES OF 70 YEARS IN THE AREA
(1909 - 1980)
An honest, simple account of the author's lifetime

by Roy Riches

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who to himself has never said,
THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND"

After my first venture into trying to record the happenings of this part of Norfolk, I have been asked by numerous members of the public to write another supplement to the two already published namely - My Village of Starston and Oddments, but to include something of my humble life. This I will endeavour to do. Now in my seventieth year I must make the effort before it is too late.

I was born in Chaney's Lane, Starston, on the 25th September 1909, in a farm cottage belonging to the Starston Place Estate, and farmed at the time by a well known farmer Mr. J. B. Dimmock. I was the fifth child of seven born to Frederick George and Elizabeth Jane Riches. My father came from a farm worker's family and was a native of Fressingfield where he was born. After his marriage he moved to Starston in 1904. My mother came from a family who worked on the railways. My grandfather Mr. William Drane was killed opening the railway gates at the Ingate Road crossing in Beccles in January 1909. Life for my parents was always very hard. I can remember my father telling me of a pightle (pightle is a Norfolk word for a small plot of land) of two acres which he cultivated; he planted it one year with a dibber which was a pointed piece of wood to make the hole in the Soil and my mother dropped two kernels of barley into each hole, and that particular year it yielded 18 coombes to the acre (coombe = 4 bushels), some of which he sold and some went to the local millers to be made into barley flour, with which my mother used to make bread.

Father was always a handy man on the farm and was at times shepherd, tractor driver, carpenter, thatcher, blacksmith; in fact he could turn his hand to almost any job. He was much valued by his employer and worked until he was eighty years of age, but by then of course part time.

As the children grew older my mother used to walk to Harleston to do charring work to supplement the meagre wage which was paid to farm workers in those days. As my brothers and sisters grew old enough to leave school they left home to work in London. The exception besides myself, was my older brother Orlebar, who became a full time shepherd at fifteen, but with the Great War upon us he volunteered at sixteen and joined the army under age; he was twice wounded and lost an arm.

During my childhood whilst I attended Starston school, I had to go in the fields at work potato picking, stone picking and singling the cattle beet - very often with my mother doing the same work. My father was often ill at this time with a bad back, and with not much help from the State in those days, and no wages made up as now, we had to apply to the relieving officer for assistance. I can remember on more than one occasion going to the grocer's shop at Harleston with a voucher for 10 shillings and carrying the groceries home in a clean sack, and these groceries had to last a week - sometimes two weeks. The men in the shop were always so kind to me and used to give me something to eat on my long trudge home.

It was during the 1914-18 war that I have my first memories of life; I can remember my mother crying when she heard of soldiers being killed on the Western Front. No doubt she was thinking of her own son out there. On another occasion I can remember being called from my bed in the middle of the night with my younger brother and sister when the German Zeppelins were in this area. She thought that this was almost the end of the world for us. I can clearly recollect that she had put a quantity of food and other household things into bundles of sheets and blankets and transported them by hand into a deep ditch, where we had to lie while the zeppelins were overhead. There was a searchlight at nearby Pulham Air Station and we could clearly see the German ship in the beam. It looked like a giant silver cigar in the sky, caught in the beams and being fired at by anti-aircraft guns. It soon disappeared, dropping its bombs as it went, some landing at Hardwick and some at Earsham. I cannot remember any civilians being killed on this occasion, but some farm animals were.

I have many pleasant memories of the Waveney Valley Railway. When I was a small boy my brothers and sisters went to London to work, and at their annual holiday time they came home on the train. The fare in those days to London was 30 shillings return. The fare to Norwich from Harleston was 2 shillings and sometimes we used to cycle to Pulham St. Mary Railway Station to save sixpence as the fare was only 1/6d from there. I can remember going to London on a Sunday excursion for one pound return. Commercial travellers coming to Harleston to do business used the railway regularly. They used to bring their wares in very large trunks and they would be met at the Station by the Ostlers of the "Swan" and "Magpie" Hotels with their handcarts; each with their respective Hotel names printed on the carts in very large lettering. There was much forelock touching to get the custom, as in addition to a tip, they would obtain business for the hotel since very often the travellers would stay overnight.

I have several happy memories and stories of the Waveney Valley Line that I could relate, one that comes to mind was the day the Guard threw his brass staff (which every train was equipped with) at a rabbit. Fortunately for the rabbit his aim was a poor one and he missed his shot and lost his brass staff into the bargain. This incident happened near the Grove Plantation at Starston; I wonder how the Guard explained that one away!

My friend who has just retired after spending a life time working on the railway, tells me that in the early days discipline at work was very strict and at the smallest of the stations it was customary to call the Station Master 'Sir'. I can also remember the Moore family who lived at Starston railway crossing. They were a large family and being strictly religious they used to attend the Baptist Church at Pulham St. Mary. Transport was scarce in those days, so the mode of travel on this particular day was to get the old Bogy out (this was a four wheeled trolley propelled by a stout wooden rod, and it ran on the metal tracks of the permanent way). The family would dismount at Pulham St. Mary Railway Station and then walk the half mile to the Chapel. Incidentally, I am still in touch by letter with a member of the same family, who has lived in America for some years. I also had the pleasure of meeting her personally last year.

One of the most notable and brave events took place on the Waveney Valley line in the war years of 1939-46. The date was July 6th 1945 when the railway station at Earsham and the nearby sidings were very busy handling vast loads of bombs. On this particular day a lorry load of bombs tipped over on to the permanent way at Earsham crossing. In charge at the time was a former Starston girl who before this had lived at the railway crossing at Starston (now Mrs. Violet Hewitt). She disregarded the warnings of the driver of the lorry, with the knowledge that a train was due to pass at any moment, and grabbed red flags and de tonators which she placed on the track to give the driver of the train warning of danger. She was successful in stopping the train just 175 yards from the spot where the bombs laid on the line. In the following October on the 22nd, she was presented with the Railway V.C. and for her brave deed a Plaque was installed in the Railway Museum in York. It was thought at the time that she was the first lady to ever receive this award.

There was much consternation on the night of June 6th, a Saturday in 1931, when the worst earth tremor for many years was recorded in East Anglia, and at the time of writing there has not been another one as severe in this country. To me personally, it was a great shock, and one that I will never forget. I had been to Harleston for the evening and on my way home had called to visit a friend. Leaving his house I took a short cut home across a field of about 20 acres, when suddenly there was a violent upheaval as though the bowels of the earth were opening and I was thrown to the ground with considerable force. The eruption lasted only a few seconds but after a little time had elapsed I regained my confidence and my feet and rose from the ground very frightened and shaken and went off to my parent's home as fast as I could. I shall never forget it, there were father and mother both with lighted candlesticks in their hands - they were frightened to death as was Mr. Ambrose Page who lived next door. They had almost given me up for dead, thinking that great harm had come to me. In fact they thought it was the end of the world and said so in my presence several times. The floor of the front room was littered with broken ornaments which had been shaken to the floor. The same thing had happened to the crockery in the pantry. A few days before I wrote this I was chatting to a friend of mine in Harleston and he had cause to remember the incident very clearly as he had been married that day. He related this to me and remarked that "he didn't half have his leg pulled!" This earth tremor created quite a stir, so much so that the local paper printed an edition on the following Sunday, the one and only time that this has happened in Norwich.

A feature of village and rural life was the local Inn. Most of the villages in Norfolk had at least one, and many of them 50 to 100 years ago, had as many as six. Starston was no exception, and had a very noted one indeed, and for 100 years or more it was known as the "Gate inn. In the last century the landlords names included Mr. White, Mr. Mark, Mr. Moore and Mr. Charlie Osborne. Wayfarers passing by were always interested in the sign which was fixed outside. Originally, the miniature Gate on which were printed the words "This gate hangs high and hinders none, Refresh and Pay and Travel On", was affixed to a very famous walnut tree which grew outside between the Pub and the road; and what a delight that tree was for several generations of lads - early October when the nuts were ripe could not come soon enough. Armed with wooden cudgels we used to attack the tree (mostly under the cover of darkness) and down would come the lovely juicy nuts, and personally, I have never tasted walnuts as tasty before or since. Whilst we were sometimes waiting near the tree the wind would increase and make the Gate sign swing to and fro causing it to make a very weird noise indeed. I might add that we were very often chased off and on several occasions were caught by the policeman, following complaints by the local residents. Once the policeman from Harleston caught me and made me empty my pockets of the nuts; he took them away from me, but I never heard any more about the incident - I expect he and his family enjoyed the nuts themselves. However, in the late twenties as the tree grew older and bigger, and the road traffic increased, it was decided that the tree was a traffic hazard, and down it had to come, much to our sorrow, but to the great joy of the people who lived in the adjoining properties, as it meant no more broken tiles and windows caused by the wooden cudgels that we used to throw up to dislodge the walnuts. After the tree was taken down the sign was repainted and affixed to the "Gate Inn" by means of iron Brackets, and I am happy to state that when the "Gate Inn" was finally closed, the sign was obtained by a local resident and happily is still preserved at "Conifer Hill".

The "Gate Inn" was always a social centre for the village, and more so in the days when there were few cycles and no cars. The only contact with the outside world was by pony cart or by foot. Much is being said on the television and in the local papers about the decline in village life, and the closing of the village pub has proved in many instances to be one of the major causes of this. The lads used to play darts and the older ones assembled for their sessions of domino playing. The busiest night of the week at the "Gate Inn" was usually Saturday when many of the male population of the village turned up. Many of them who lived at the Hardwick end of the village would call in on their way back from Harleston, where they had walked to do their week's shopping; Saturday being the usual payday on the farms in those days. Very often they were accompanied by their wives. One of the features of the "Gate Inn" was the high-backed wooden seats in the bar, on which were round holes which were made for the game of pitching the penny. These pennies were the old fashioned "cartwheel" coins, very large and very thick, and I should imagine that the weight of these was close on half an ounce.

More often than not the evening passed on in a very happy atmosphere notwithstanding the large amount of beer that was consumed by some of the customers. The beer in those days had a bit of a kick in it and some of the old boys used to get a bit excited; many of the old characters, I can well remember, included Ambrose Page, Stout Page, William Weavers, Harry Gardiner, Chris Girling, Javey Girling, Knock Hurry, Dick Nobbs, Frank Neeve, John Leggett, Herbert Frost, Harry Kent, Windy Wright, Tom Webb, John Peck, Ernest Bartrum and many more; those mentioned above were characters in their own right and I fear they will never be replaced. Then there were Bob Gee who was gardener at 'Conifer Hill', Edward Lubbock who was Head Gardener at 'Starston Place', Albert Fenn who was gamekeeper at 'Starston Place' and Arthur Cook who was the village carpenter working for the building firm of Sampsons. Occasionally the village blacksmith, Mr. William Aldis would call in. So you see they were a very varied company and very many topics were discussed.

In those days they were nearly all keen gardeners and the quality and size of their garden produce were topics very much to the fore, and very often things were a bit exaggerated and mild arguments would ensue. Sometimes the Master's crops in the fields were spoken of and the amount of corn that a field would produce was sometimes forecast with a wink, but only time I am afraid could prove who was right. Several of those whose names I have mentioned, were horsemen on the farms, and the merits of their fine horses, of which they were very proud, were commented on. The quality of their Master's farming methods were spoken of and mention was very often made of the quantity of docks, spear grass and thistles growing among the corn crops. I personally knew the men that I have written about and I wonder what they would think of the changes that have been made in agriculture today. I think that they would be shocked at the untidy state of the hedges and ditches, as they were all very good and keen on the way that these jobs were carried out.

I have now come to one of my best memories - that of the landlord of the "Gate" for many years - Mr. Charlie Osborne, known to many people as old 'Charlie'. He was a well known and well loved personality. Besides being a publican he was also a fishmonger and well known for the quality of his fish. In my time he owned a donkey and several fine trotting ponies which he used to carry out his fish rounds, one of which was the south end of the village, Rushall, Langmere, and Dickleburgh. Another round was the north end of the village, Hardwick, Shelton, Fritton and Hempnall. Getting his supply of fish from Lowestoft meant him taking his pony and cart to the Harleston Railway Station to pick up his supply. 'Charlie' would only buy the best and his fish was always of good quality and very fresh and usually came off the afternoon train, having been landed from the boats at Lowestoft the same morning. This was the time when the drifters from Lowestoft were very numerous and they usually landed their catches in the early morning, and after being auctioned on the fish market, the dealers who had bought them and boxed them up had them delivered to Harleston Railway Station less than twelve hours after being caught. I might add that in those days there was no refrigeration, and the fish was usually packed in ice, so speed in delivery to the fish merchants was essential.

Charlie was a dear old soul, very understanding and human, and as a lad I often helped him and I can vouch for the many kind deeds that he did on his rounds. When serving a very poor and large family (there were many of them in those days) he would let them have as many as twenty herring for a 'bob' which was a shilling in the currency of that time, and very often he trusted them if they had no money to pay. One interesting job that I helped with was the preparing and curing of bloaters; only the fat herrings with roes in were picked for this job; we threaded them through the gills on to hazelwood sticks, which he had previously bought from the woodman Mr. Symonds, at Gawdy Hall. We then hung them up in the drying house, which was a tall corrugated iron building at the rear of the 'Gate', and lit the fire, which was always of oakwood and sawdust - this being the kind of fuel that made the best bloaters - and Charlie would use no other kind of wood - he was very strict about this. They usually hung for about a week, and everyone who lived in the district and bought them could always be sure of good quality bloaters. Another of his specialities was the high dried herrings; these were prepared from the smaller herrings and often had no roe in them. They were laid in large wooden tubs filled with water and salt to make a brine, and after about a week they were retrieved from the tubs and hung up to dry; the same method as for the herrings was adopted, the only difference being that they would hang for a much longer period, perhaps a fortnight; and this was how the renowned Norfolk high dried herrings were prepared. Many local people had these excellent fish for their hot tea, and with the large helpings of potatoes which they grew in their gardens or on their allotments, this was always considered a cheap and nourishing meal, and more often than not, this was the only good food that the harassed housewife could place on the table for the farm worker after his hard day's work in the fields.

Many are the happy memories of my youth of the happy times that we had in the "Gate Inn". I would just like to pay tribute to Mrs. Osborne, Charlie's wife; she was so good humoured and was like a mother to us youngsters; she was also kind and considerate to the general public when they called in the "Gate" for refreshment. She also could be very firm and if she noticed that anyone was getting a bit too merry or troublesome, she would refuse to serve them with any more drink. I well remember one night when several of us were there, Albert Fenn jokingly asked Charlie if he had any sprats for sale, and as there were plenty, we borrowed a grid iron and cooked them over the coal fire, and thus it became known as the only sprat supper that was cooked in the "Gate". Salt was provided by Mrs. Osborne, and my word they were delicious, and Charlie made a comment that it was good for trade as he sold extra fish which made us thirsty, so we had to buy more beer. Many were the old songs which used to be sung in the pub, more often than not without the aid of music.

A feature of the village over the years was the annual Drawing Match. This was performed by a pair of horses pulling a plough and the object of this was to see who could draw the straightest furrow; there was always keen competition for the excellent prizes which had been given by local wellwishers and by some of the shopkeepers in Harleston. All the butchers used to give ajoint of meat and the top prize used to be a copper kettle. There was an open class for people living outside the village. Many expert ploughmen were there to compete for the prizes and I can remember seeing a photo in the local paper of a man who had a table full of copper kettles that he had won at these Drawing Matches. The method of judging who had drawn the best furrow, was by using wooden pegs at intervals. and if there was a difference in width between the two pegs, this would determine whether the furrow was straight or so many inches out. This was called sticking the furrow and was a skilled job. One of the best men in the village and who mostly was one of the stickers, was a Mr. Herbert Fulcher - a great character. Incidentally, he was a bell ringer as well and worked at the Poplars Farm for many years. The prizes were usually given out after the judging at the "Gate" by one of the local farmers of the village, and afterwards there was much beer drinking and merriment. The beer was served out in large white enamel jugs and there was always plenty to go round several times, you just held your mug out and it would be replenished. Someone usually came along with an old fashioned accordian and many songs were sung and old fashioned ditties recited.

The star of the evening was mostly Charlie the landlord and he usually wound up the evening with his song; I think perhaps that it was the only one that he knew. He performed it in his own style with no music, and it went like this:-

Three wimmin to every man
Say boys say if you can
Why can't every man
Have three wives

Three wimmin apiece
Would be very first class
But not for them
Who work for their brass

So say boys say if you can
Why can't every man
Have three wives.

Wise men say there are more wimmin than men
So say boys say if you can
Why can't every man have three wives.

At the finish the whole company would join in and would sing this more than once.

Many tales could be recorded on the happenings that have taken place in our village Inns, and it is a very sad thought that so many of these historic Inns have been closed. In my own opinion some of them match up with the history of our beautiful country churches.

I would like to list a few of the local public houses which have closed during my lifetime.

[Of the closed pubs that Roy Riches mentions, all those in Pulham St Mary are now private houses - the compiler of these pages lives in one of them. The Ram Inn at Tivetshall has re-opened since Roy Riches' time. It is immediately alongside the main Norwich-Ipswich road and does a roaring trade and has a high reputation for its meals.]

These are just a few that spring to mind. As with the village schools they were the places where most of the social activities of the village took place and it is sad indeed that so many of these village institutions are gone.

If we had not been blessed with hard working parents I am afraid that we would not be alive today to tell the tale. In my school days during the hard winters that we had in those days, the Reverend Hopper used to provide us with two pails of hot cocoa and on some occasions we had a pail of soup which was provided by Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Taylor of Starston Place. On more than one occasion I had to go to Harleston on foot with sixpence in my pocket to purchase a sheep's head from the butchers. My mother used to make several lots of broth with this, and very often it was the only meat we had in our household that particular week. At other times the kind butcher would give us a pig's belly which was the intestines of a pig complete with the food and manure inside. Again I used to take a sack and this time I had to tie it up with a piece of string so that the pig's innards didn't jump out, and my word, what a smell! When I arrived home with it, the extensive job of cleaning it took place. Mother used to hold it up, yards of it, and father used to pump water through it; this used to take place in the wash house where the pump drew water from the rain water well in the yard, which was filled up with the rain water from the house. Incidentally this well used to dry up in the summer time and my father together with Mr. Ambrose who lived next door, used this opportunity to clear out the bottom of the well to get ready for the next rainfall. I do not think people of today would have relished the water drawn from the well because the last pailful cleaned out of the bottom contained the bodies of decayed rats, mice, moles and frogs. However, my father, who lived until his mid eighties, used to take a quart of this water to bed with him at night. To get back to the pig's intestines, after much pumping and turning them inside out, they were ready to lie in a bath of salt water, and after 24 hours of this treatment they were ready to cook and mother used to make the most delicious meat patties in the oven with them. I would just like to mention the oven - it was a Dutch type oven and was situated at the right side of the kitchen; the open stove which mother used to cook on was in the centre and the copper was on the left. Baking usually took place on a Sunday morning and sometimes it would not heat properly, so a call went out to father who was usually in the shed mending his boots, and in he would come with a charge of gunpowder wisped up in a piece of paper. He would place this in the fire and quickly shut the furnace door and hold a spade near it to stop the explosion coming into the room, there would be an almighty roar and sometimes a little soot would come out of the flues but the baking soon was resumed to everyone's satisfaction.

I sometimes try to tell the young people of today how lucky they are to be so well off and so well looked after by the State. They do not seem to be as happy as we were in those days and certainly will not believe what I tell them of the conditions that prevailed in my childhood and the days of my youth. However, I have happy memories of some aspects of those days. Sundays used to be a day of rest. No work was done on the farms on Sundays and the harvests used to finish much earlier in those days, sometimes the second or third week in August. It was the same in our household - bath night was on a Saturday night after father had gone to Harleston for a drink. The saucepans were put on the open kitchen fire to heat the water and the older ones had their bath first in the zinc bath which was placed on the hearth in front of the fire. We all used the same water and as fast as the saucepans were emptied they were refilled and put back on the stove to heat. Sometimes I was the lucky one when it was time to replenish the already cooling water and was rewarded with the water being nice and hot. This was the time when we put on our clean underwear for the week. Bathing over, it was upstairs to bed as we all had to be up there before father arrived back from Harleston.

After breakfast on Sundays we put on the best clothes that we could afford and off we went to Sunday school which was held in the Church. After the Sunday school lessons we used to stay for the 11 o'clock Church service. The Rector at that time was the Reverend E. C. Hopper. After dinner we used to go for nice country walks. If it was springtime we would gather bunches of primroses and violets as nearly every bank and ditch in Chaney's Lane was covered with them, and later on in the spring there would be birds nests to discover. There were many kinds of birds in those days as no pesticides were used and there were plenty of large hedges to encourage the birds. Every year we used to get quite a collection of eggs and we would swap with other children. Our parents were strict with us over bird nesting and we were allowed to take only one egg out of each nest.

Like the other members of the family, I started school at the age of three. My elder brother and sisters started at Fressingfield and the four youngest of the family started at Starston. Before commencing to write about my own school days, I would like to tell you what my father told me about his own education; he did not have much of it. He went to Fressingfield school and the fee was one penny per week and he used to take the penny with him on the Monday morning, and if he turned up without the penny he was sent home again so no schooling for him that week.

When I started school I was a bit of a weakling and the bigger boys used to tease me quite a bit and I was told on more than one occasion that I was not a long liver, but several of those who made these unkind remarks passed out of this world ages ago leaving me still around. I was very often bullied and disparaging remarks were often made about my mode of dress. My clothes were very often handed down from other families and more often than not they were made from old coats into knickerbockers and jackets. The person who did these jobs for mother was an old lady named Mrs. Herwin who lived in the street in a bungalow opposite the 'Croft' but this dwelling has been pulled down now. Boots were always a problem despite father doing the family cobbling. I can remember going to school with odd boots. Mostly made of strong leather they were shod with iron heel irons, toes plated with iron and several rows of large hobnails to save the leather from wearing out too soon. You can imagine how tired out we were after trudging the mile or so home from school. We could hardly lift our feet up they were so heavy. Wearing odd boots was not confined to our family. I can remember a knock on the door one morning about eight o'clock and there stood an elder girl of another large family living not far away. On asking the girl the purpose of her visit she replied that her mother had sent her for a right foot boot for her brother as he only had one boot fit for wear and I can clearly remember mother fixing them up with a boot.

I mentioned conditions of these days of the agricultural workers and their families and once again point out that present day people have no idea of what the conditions were like in those days. In the wintertime I was always glad to get to school as it was always nice and warm there. Iron water pipes ran right around the two rooms and the water was heated by a back boiler of an open coal fire. The Headmaster throughout the period was Mr. George Bannister and his assistant was Miss Ethel Self. While we were in the infant room the teacher was Miss Nellie Rampley. Discipline was very severe in those days and Mr. Bannister was not slow in correcting our misdeeds with the cane. His method, if you were unfortunate enough to be the culprit for any misdemeanour, was to call you out in front of the class, you then had to hold out your hand and he would give you as many as six strokes on each hand. This was a terrible punishment as for some days you would be unable to hold a pencil in your hand. In those days it was no good going home to complain to your father as discipline was just as harsh at home. Here again I would like to make the observation that in the long run it was good for us. Many fine boys were passed out of school when they left and nearly all of them did a good job of work and many of them made a real contribution to the life of the district and of the country. The chance of a higher education in those days was very remote. I can remember no more than six getting to a Grammar school for further education and those were either the school master's sons or the sons of the farm owners. As for myself, I was not very good at many subjects; mathematics was my weakest, but for two of the last years I was top of the school for General Knowledge. Mr. Bannister approached the Governors of the school to try and get me some further education, but there were not many places in the Grammar schools and another telling factor was the poverty of my family; you had to have the means to get the proper uniform and money to travel to Bungay.

When I left school at fourteen the next problem was to get a job but I can consider myself very lucky as there was a vacancy for a garden boy at Starston Place I applied for the job and got it. The careful grooming I got from Mr. Edward Lubbock, the Head Gardener and others, has stood me in good stead ever since. I was always taught to do things properly and when in later years on the Norfolk County Council Highways as Foreman in charge of men and jobs, I put my early training to good practise. I do think that the early days of your working life are very important ones.

After four happy years at Starston Place there was a reduction in staff and I looked out for another situation - saw one advertised in the local paper in London - and wrote off for it and got it. I got on very well but being a countryman through and through the call of the country was too strong and back I came home to father and mother, and much unemployment in the area. For a couple of years it was mostly casual work. There was no dole for farm workers and it was work or starve.
On getting married in 1932 it was essential to get a regular job so keeping my ears open I found out that the County Council was soon to start tarring operations. I cycled to Winfarthing where the Council foreman lived and he instructed me to go to the Labour Exchange and get a green card. This I did and the instructions on it were to report to St. Olaves bridge near Yarmouth, twenty miles away, at 6.30 a.m. on the Monday morning. I got on very well with the foreman; he described me as a very willing worker - it was as well that he did so, as tarring being a seasonal job, it was the custom to finish when the job finished. His good words on my behalf reaped my reward as one other man and myself were placed on the regular staff when the tarring season came to an end.

I soon became adapted to the method of making roads in those days. Most jobs were done by hand and the prime tools of the trade were a wheelbarrow, pick, shovel and broom. I was engaged for some time in widening and strengthening the sides of the roads, as by that time lorries and cars were becoming more numerous. We used to work in gangs of about eight men and one foreman. We would pick the earth out and throw it out and then it was carted away by horse and tumbril, mostly hired ones. The next job was to put huge boulders in the bottom of the trench, these were called rejects and had previously been carted to the site from the nearest railway station. Some of these boulders weighed 1 hundredweight each and all had to be man-handled several times. They were a residue of the Iron works and at that time came from the Midlands by rail. There was a method of laying these always on the edges not flat in the trench. The next job was to consolidate these with hand rammers and then to gradually fill up the trench with a further smaller grade of slag. By this time enough material was in the trench to enable the steam roller to get to work and these ten ton giants soon made a base to work on; further layers had to be added to get the reouired height. If the roller caused any low places to appear these were soon made up. When the road was to the satisfaction of the foreman, there was the next job which was known as 'slubbing in' and this was the method adopted - after we had got the required elevation of the road, the surface was covered with binding silt, several of the local sand pits had a supply of this material. It was carted to the site where we spread it on by hand. It was very well broomed in with stiff brooms. After obtaining a very level and solid base, the next operation was the water cart which sprinkled water on to the silt; more hard work was entailed after this, with the brooms, and after repeated efforts a custard like mixture of water and silt was obtained, and with the surplus being broomed off, it set the stones with a cement-like firmness. I would like to state that whilst all this was going on the roller was operating all the time, going over the area many times; the water jets on the machine were emitting water continuously so as to prevent the wheels from picking up the material. A few days after this the tarmac would arrive from the railway station and would be set out in large heaps on the area to be covered. A gang of six men and a foreman usually did this job. Armed with very heavy forks, the gang was normally expected to lay 100 to 120 tons in one day. There was no allowance made for a wet day; it had to be laid even if it rained all day, and with the wearing of heavy coats and a sack around the shoulders, we were very weary at the end of the day and were often faced with a long bike ride home. The next day the work was inspected, any low places were made up, and the whole area was covered in fine gravel, pea shingle, or granite chippings. These materials were rubbed with the brooms, and this operation was known as 'grouting in'. After a further period it was dressed with hot tar and covered with either shingle or granite chippings. I am pleased to say that after forty years or more these roads made up by this method have, despite the more numerous and heavier traffic, stood up to the test very well.

Of course, being a roadman meant that you had to be very adaptable as the jobs were so very varied. You also had to be skilled in the use of hand tools, including the scythe. I had three different spells at what was known as 'Lengthman', this meant you were in charge of a number of roads in a particular area, mostly all these roads being in one particular village, and this could mean anything from five miles of road to fifteen miles. My word, some of the old boys were very keen! After they had mown the banks and cleaned out the ditches and grups, the area appeared to be very smart and much tidier than many gardens in the villages. Never was there any water lying about on the roads in those days as the lengthman knew every pipe and ditch, and these were regularly cleaned out. Nowadays there is nowhere for the water to get away, as the farmers have been allowed to fill in the ditches and ponds. This also happens in the case of drifting snow, much of which now gets onto the road when a wind gets up, as most of the roadside hedges have been cut down. I have on many occasions gone round my length and put bushes and cut grass along the bottoms of gates and gaps in the hedges to stop the snow and this proved to be very effective. I would like to point out that in my nearly forty years service with the Norfolk Highways I was always interested in my work and I am very sad to see the methods now employed. It appears that it is now all 'Machine-power' instead of 'Man-power'. Nothing seems to be done properly as it used to be, and one other observation is that many of our roads were based with clay and marl, and provided you kept them dry and not waterlogged they were excellent foundations, but no provision is now made to get rid of the surface water, and this being so they are breaking up.

grups - gulleys to allow water to flow into the ditch [I believe this to be the Norfolk pronunciation of 'grip']
marl - kind of chalk very plentiful in the Thetford area of Norfolk.

Winter weather usually posed a few problems, and with the increase of motor traffic, slippery road surfaces meant much hard work. One of the first major attempts to deal with this occurred in 1938, when I had instructions to grit the road from Harleston to Bungay by use of the handcart. Two men were sent to me as in those days large heaps of silt were deposited on the roadside verges, it was our job to fill up the handcart with silt and spread by hand shovel, and we took it in turns to move our cycles along at the same time, and I can clearly remember the first day we got as far as Homersfield Station. After a few years this method was changed and lorries were used. They were loaded up in the local sand pits and the difficult job of balancing whilst moving had to be overcome. I myself overbalanced once and landed on the road and this also happened to one or two of the other men. After the Second World War the County Council purchased some gritters that were towed by the lorries and this proved to be a further improvement. Nowadays, of course, gritters have been brought more up to date and salt is now used on a large scale. These operations are now usually carried out during the night and early morning, but nevertheless I have spent many hours in the freezing cold when the machines have broken down.

As the years rolled by, the district was broken down into areas and I became an area Foreman. This meant that I was made responsible for what took place in my area and in addition to my daytime duties I was often called out by telephone. (The Council had a telephone installed in my house). Sometimes I was called out by the Police as well, to deal with floods, fallen trees or on any occasions when the road had been blocked or damaged in any way. I have one memory when I was awakened by P.C. Mack who was stationed at Harleston, at about 3 a.m. one morning. A tree was down at Starston Rectory completely blocking the road. Having armed ourselves with my cross cut saw and axe, we set about the job and had half the road cleared by 6 a.m. We were both commended for our prompt attention to the problem. It was stated that we were on the job within twenty minutes of its being reported to Attleborough Police Station.

Whilst not being old enough to remember much of the 1912 flood, I can well remember the two days' rain we had in 1938 when Shotford Bridge was washed away. It is generally said that we are in for a dry time when the wind is in the East, but on this occasion this proved wrong, as it rained non-stop for 48 hours and this amounted to severe flood conditions. 1947 was a very bad winter - we had a fairly good autumn and early winter but around January 9th snowy conditions started and it was almost impossible to measure the depth of the snowfall, as for several days strong winds persisted, blowing the snow off the fields on to the roads, with the result that every road was blocked - some to a depth of six feet. I might add that this went on for weeks. There not being much machinery able to move the snowdrifts, it was mostly handwork and most of the available manpower was engaged by the Council to clear the roads. It was my job to get round and give the men a time sheet to fill in, to enable their usual employers to recover the wages; and what a job it was - arming myself with a stout walking stick I found it easier to walk over the fields which were in places barren of snow. The hardest part was crossing an unknown ditch which was level- full of snow, and I would plunge in up to my neck in snow! The area I covered on this operation included Starston, Redenhall, Alburgh, Needham and parts of Wortwell. The worst affected parts seemed to be Redenhall and Alburgh. Isolated farms and cottages suffered the most, the tradesmen being unable to get round with their goods, and there were many cases of people going short of food, paraffin oil and coal. On one occasion Mr. Philip Self who lived at Wood Farm, Starston, set off for Harleston on one of his farm horses and returned with two sacks full of groceries and bread. This was a Godsend for some of these people who lived in that area. This kind of weather persisted right up to the middle of March when there was a sudden thaw accompanied by heavy rain and gales. This happened on a Saturday evening and on going to inspect the roads on the Sunday morning, what a sight it was, floods everywhere, trees blown down by their roots, telegraph wires and poles were everywhere. In my experience this was one of the worst winters. In 1963 quite a lot of snow fell but unlike 1947 there was not much drifting but there were several very sharp frosts. The bird population suffered - many of them died as they were unable to get any food. Where there were colonies of rabbits all the bark was eaten off the hedgerows by them. I would like to say something here about the old fashioned snow plough which was in use for most of the time. It was a very reliable machine when the conditions were right, that was if you could get out with it before the snow was flattened down by the traffic. It was made of strong planks and shod with heavy iron runners. The nose of the plough was made of solid iron and weighed about 2 hundredweight and this enabled you to get down to road level and make a better job of it. The local farmers used to contract to supply a team of horses - two and sometimes three in number, and a horseman to drive them. However, after a few years the number of horses on the farms declined and the tractor was more widely used. This perhaps was a good thing as it was very hard work for the horses and I have seen them on more than one occasion collapse on the road with exhaustion and had to be taken to the nearest farm and given a drink and food to revive them. This happened once when we were snowploughing from Harleston to Alburgh. On this day the further we went the deeper the snow was, in blizzard conditions and before we reached one of Gawdy Hall off-farms, down went one horse dragging down the other two. There we were miles from anywhere with not a single person in sight. The man in charge of the horses was Mr. Albert Adams who worked for Mr. S. C. Askew of Starston. By the time we had got the horses back on their feet again we were exhausted ourselves, so we unharnessed the horses from the plough and went to the nearest farm where the late Mr. Ben Burlingham was foreman, and what a kind man he was - he took the horses into the stable, gave them food and water and then provided us with a hot drink and we [were] able later on to resume our operations. I am very glad to be able to record this incident as it revealed a true case of our love for the poor horses. I might say that the three of us were very grieved at the plight of these poor creatures, as the horsemen of those days thought a lot of their charges. The Norfolk County Council recently presented the Rural Life Museum at Gressenhall with one of these snow ploughs, the like of which I have described, and I have sent a photo of us using one in Harleston for their exhibition of Rural life. I am sorry that this particular one was drawn by a tractor and not horses.

Another milestone in my career was when I was made tarring foreman in 1968. Having been used to applying tar on the roads for many years, it was a job that I took in my stride. I can remember when the tar was heated in large boilers and ladled out into watering cans and from these it was poured on to the road and brushed out with brooms - a very messy job indeed! When I took over however, the equipment used was very much up to date. The tar was obtained from a Tar Refinery by huge tar tankers holding up to 1,500 gallons. These were equipped with heaters to enable the tar to reach the correct temperature. When the road had been passed fit by myself for the application of tar off went the tanker, applying a strip often 300 yards in length and seven feet in width. This was immediately followed up by large tip-up lorries with the granite or slag chippings and these had to be driven backwards - a very skilful job indeed. Rolling the applied material was next on the list and this was usually done by 10 ton iron shod road rollers. When I first started they were driven by steam but after a few years diesel oil took over. Multi-wheeled rubber tyres were used on main roads and these were very successful on level surfaces. Weather conditions made the job a dodgy one. Sometimes we had to cease tarring when the temperatures were too high or when they were too low. Always we had traffic problems and sometimes it was the fault of the motorists who did not like to wait a few moments whilst the hot tar was covered with chippings. I sometimes had amusing incidents whilst tarring, such as the day when we were at work in the village of Mendham. It was harvest time on the farms and the previous day had been a wet one but this particular morning was a sunny one, so we got busy with the brooms, swept the puddles of water off the road and were ready for a start when there was a commotion - up the road stormed an irate farmer demanding that we cease tarring operations as he wanted to cart his wheat. I tried to explain to him that we would be away from the section of the road that he wanted to use in a very short time. However, this did not seem to satisfy him - he waved his arms about and shouted just like a madman, then went storming off saying that he would get his son after me. His son duly arrived and I took up the same attitude with him and in addition I gave him the Surveyor's phone number to ring. Whether he did or not I never knew, but the farmer's criticism was that we should have tarred the day before when it was raining hard. To have done this would have been a disaster as the chippings and tar would not have adhered to the wet surface.

A year or two before I retired I had a very narrow escape from serious injury whilst engaged in the tarring operations. It was at the time when we were tarring between 'Leeders' Mill and Stratton St. Michael Church. I was walking behind the lorry which was spreading the chippings, when suddenly there was an almighty bang. It all happened so suddenly and I could see that the raised body of the lorry had come into contact with the overhead electricity cables, one of these was wrapped around the top stanchions of the lorry and the other was bouncing along the adjoining meadow setting fire to the ground wherever it touched. The lorry was electrified and there were sparks everywhere. I ran to the lorry where the young man David Bloomfield was working the iron handle to regulate the chippings from the lorry and there he was his hand still on the handle; of course he had received a terrible shock - he was blue in the face and unconscious, so I did what I thought was right and pulled him off. It took some doing as it seemed that the electricity was still drawing him tight on to the lorry. Unfortunately for me I was in the same condition as he was as soon as I made contact with him, as the shock went through me too. I really do not remember much more about it until I saw a pretty little nurse imploring me to wake up in hospital. I would just like to quote part of the account of the incident as it appeared in the Eastern Daily Press the next morning - "the man most in trouble was Mr. David Bloomfield who was working from the back of the lorry with his hand on the metal handle of the gravel spreading control. With quick action he was pulled, dazed, to safety by Norfolk County Council Road Manager, Mr. Roy Riches, who it is thought took a shock from Mr. Bloomfield in the process". However, all's well that ends well.

I could go on relating my experiences as an employee of the Norfolk County Council, some of them humorous, some not.
In my time I have been asked to do many kind acts for the public, such as phoning for the doctor, doing some shopping and delivering messages to friends and relatives. Once, together with other members of the gang, I had to undress a lady who had been attacked by a swarm of bees. In 1947 we had to go and dig a passage through the snow to two isolated cottages so that the District Nurse could get through to deliver two babies. One was at Redenhall and the other one at Starston, where we had to bodily carry the nurse since her presence was so urgently needed. I myself made many friends both young and old and of both sexes and have remained good friends to this day.

Being a roadman was a very healthy and rewarding job in some ways but not financially. The fresh air was good for me, the opportunity arose to meet many people in different villages and I was able to see nature at first hand as there are so many things to see in the countryside. The general public in Norfolk were in the main very interesting and courteous but with the passing of the village roadman a sad change was made, as he was regarded by many of the public as a friend and a counsellor.

With the reorganisation of Local Government in 1974, many of the District Councils were made larger with a disastrous effect on the relations between the public and the District Councils. The outside staff became smaller in numbers and the office staff became larger and more remote. The changeover took place in May 1974 and in September of that same year I became sixty-five years of age and I had to retire compulsorily. I can say in all sincerity the last day at work was the worst, and I am not ashamed to say that I shed tears; but if I had my time over again I should like to be a roadman again.

I have probably missed out some accounts of my childhood and working days, but if anything else that might be interesting to future generations comes to mind I will record it for future reference and will now endeavour to write about some of my social and spare time activities.

When at school, I played in the football and cricket teams and I suppose it would be true to say I was a moderate performer in both sports; you can say that I made the number up. From 1920 to 1924, Starston had a men's football team which was successful mainly because a few dedicated people worked hard for its success. Mr. Bannister the village schoolmaster was secretary, Mr. Arthur Cook was Chairman and Mr. Alec Gower was Club Captain. Starston had a very able side and could hold their own with all local teams including Harleston, Diss and Bungay. With economic conditions becoming bad in Starston as in other country districts, it was difficult for many of the players to obtain work locally, so many left the area to find work in the towns. Also it was very expensive to run a team in those days, as now, and we had concerts and Whist Drives in the school to raise money to keep the Club running. By modern day standards it was not expensive when it came to travelling, as when the team went to away matches, a lorry was hired - this had solid tyres and had planks inside to sit on and a cover was placed over the top when it rained. The players never grumbled win or lose and were always very keen to be able to play in the team. They were not made such a fuss of, or supported like they are today. The system of playing was more attractive to watch for the spectators - there were always two wingers to speed up the flanks and always a good centre forward to head in their most accurate crosses.

The cricket team ran for several years up to 1936 and Mr. Arthur Sampson the village builder was umpire for many years. Mr. Tom Sampson his brother was Captain for some years. When Archdeacon T. Perowne was Rector of the village he took an active part in the cricket team, firstly as a player and later on as an umpire. He was also very helpful in transporting the team to away matches in his large Rover Touring car, but before that cycles were the mode of transport.

Bowls was a popular game in the district and Starston had a village side from 1930 until the outbreak of the second World War in 1939. Home games were played at the Rectory for several years and as the game became more competitive it was decided to lay a green of our own. Mr. William Palmer who farmed the school meadow and Beck Hall Farm, gave us a piece of the meadow. It was a very unlevel piece of ground, so with volunteer labour we stripped off the turf, levelled up the ground with soil and then relaid the turf. When completed it was a nice green, large enough for four rinks. A wooden pavilion and hut was made for the Club by the building firm of Sampsons. With the starting of the war, however, for obvious reasons the Club was disbanded. The hut was sold and the bowling green reverted to meadowland again.

Darts was a popular game at the "Gate Inn" and for some years there was a successful Darts Club, but with the closing of the Pub, that was the end of another village pastime.

When sixteen years of age I joined the Territorials, the Fourth Battalion of the Royal Norfolks. I was in the Harleston 'C' Company. The Battalion comprised four companies and our Company was made up from detachments at Diss, Loddon, Long Stratton and Harleston. I have vivid memories of the night I joined up with other Starston lads who included Dick Gower and Percy Youngs; it was at a Smoking Concert held in Club room at the 'Crown' Inn at Weybread. Harleston had a small band, all Territorials, they were Sid Ottoway, Robin Burgess and George Dalliston, and they used to provide the music for the songs which were sung at these Smoking Concerts. One song which has remained in my memory was sung by Mr. William Munnings a local farmer and brother of the famous painter, Sir Alfred Munnings. The song was - "I'm an airman, I'm an airman and I fly, Fly, Fly, Fly, Fly, ever so high, sparrows cannot catch me no matter how they try". This was a very popular song at this particular time, when the aircraft industry was busy building and trying out new types of aeroplanes. When I joined up in the spring of 1926 the annual training had been fixed for the summer of that year at West Runton near Cromer. However, this was not to be as the General Strike occurred and the Company was abandoned and we were posted to a Company at Mousehold near the barracks in Norwich. As the troops that were stationed there were needed for guard duties at the Railway Station and the Gas Works in the area, we were to be used as a standby. Happily though, the strike petered out and after a fortnight we came home again after doing limited training on Mousehold Heath.

I remained a member of the Territorials for five years finally coming out in 1931 after completing my stipulated period. I might add that I enjoyed our annual Camps in various parts of the country and also the weekend camps we had. We used to regard these camping periods as our annual holiday - it was a change anyway, as not many of the working people in this area had stipulated holidays anyway.

There had been rumours of a war pending for some time and in 1939 I joined the County Council's Air Raid Precaution Scheme and we had limited training which included First Aid. However, with a man-power problem and myself being of military age, I was called up in 1941 and enlisted in the R.A.F. at Cardington in Bedfordshire. After doing my basic training I was posted to Morecambe and Blackpool but during that time I developed an illness, went into hospital, and was discharged on medical grounds in July 1941. I was told to go home and get a job of National importance and being conscious of the fact that things were desperate in the Country, this I did by getting a job on one of the Airfields that were being built at Hardwick. After a couple of years this was completed and I next obtained the post of caretaker until the arrival of the R.A.F. followed later on by the arrival of the 8th Army of the U.S.A. As the Americans wanted a civilian staff I was engaged by them and I remained with them until they left this country a few days after the end of the war.

The American Provost Marshal at the base was Tyler M. Birch and when the Lindenburgh baby case occurred in America he was at the time the Attorney General of the U.S.A. I still have in my possession my Pass which I used on the base and it was signed by this noteworthy person.

I was not idle in my spare time as I joined the local Observer Corps and often worked all day and sometimes all night on various duties, one of which was to track and identify enemy aircraft. Another movement I joined and served in was the St. John Ambulance Brigade. The Branch that I joined and where I did my training was at Dickleburgh and at that time Supt. J. A. Mumford was in charge and we did our training in the buildings and courtyard of Smith's Mill. [The Mill buildings were demolished in 1998 and the site cleared for the construction of around 65 new houses]. I enjoyed this work very much and after passing the written and practical exams which took three years, I was given the official badge and was awarded a bar for each of the two years that I remained an active member of the Branch. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and in my everyday life as a road-man and a responsible citizen, I discovered how usefully my time had been spent in training. Several times I was able to put my expertise to good use and I do hope that more people will join and help in this organisation which is entirely voluntary and is on call for 24 hours a day.

With the ending of the War and the young men returning home, football became popular once again, and as I was now too old to play myself, I decided to help the younger ones by becoming a qualified referee. As I was friendly with other men who had taken this up with the Suffolk F.A., I was asked to join and after passing written and practical examinations I was accepted and for a few years I officiated at many matches in Norfolk and Suffolk. However, old Father Time caught up with me and my sporting activities were then confined to watching the Norwich City games at Carrow Road.

I might add that after the end of the 1939/46 war I did play a considerable amount of games of Bowls and as we had not been able to restart the Bowls Club in Starston, I joined the Club at Pulham St. Mary King's Head, and also had a spell with the Harleston Recreation Bowls Club, but as my job with the County Council took up my evenings very often, I had to give up, and so far, now that I have retired from work, I have had no inclination to take up the game of bowls again.

In May 1947 I joined the local Lodge of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (the Buffs) and immediately took a great interest in the aims of the Order. It was not a Sick Club but a Benevolent Society and was dependent for its finances on donations and gifts given by its members who meet for social events. Some of the Lodges meet weekly but we were a fortnightly Lodge. There is a system of degrees within the Order - One to Four - and in a very short space of time I had attained the highest degree that is possible in a local Lodge. Some of the aims of the Buffs were very good indeed and appealed to my way of life. We have Convalescent Homes for men and women, and also the children of members who have passed on are taken care of and educated. Incidentally, some of these children have over the years, occupied good positions in the life of the country. We also maintained lifeboats at different ports around the coast. It is very sad to relate that the Lodge which met at the "Cardinal's Hat" Hotel in Harleston closed down in 1973 mainly because of the lack of interest by the younger people. We, who were already members, got older, many passed away, some lost interest, and so the end came, but not due to financial reasons as all the accounts had a substantial credit balance when the Lodge finally closed.

For the sake of posterity I would like to remind readers that there was a previous Buffs Lodge at Harleston. In the 1920's the crews of the giant airships which were based at nearby Pulham, formed a Lodge and called it the "Airship Lodge". They used to meet at the "Swan Hotel" in Harleston. Disaster overtook them however when the Airship R101 crashed in France in October 1931 whilst it was proceeding to India and most of the crew were killed. Only six were saved and most of the crew who were members of the Lodge were buried in a mass grave in Cardington churchyard in Bedfordshire and each year, the first Sunday in October, a service is held near the tomb and members attend from all over the country. I myself have had the good fortune to be able to attend the service on two occasions.

When I was three years old my parents placed me in the Ancient Order of Forresters which is a Sick Club, with members and 'Courts' as they are known situated all over the British Isles and in the Commonwealth countries as well. The sickness benefits paid out to members in years gone by, very often meant that sick people were able to survive until they were able to work again. However, since the coming of the National Health Service in 1947 it has been very difficult to get new young members to join, with the result that existing members are getting old and many have passed away. The greatest tragedy is that most of the Courts that are left have so few members but most have more money than ever, because the money that the old members carefully invested years ago has been reinvested and has grown in value. The Court at Harleston is 120 years old and is known as Court "Earl of Waveney" and meets at the "Cardinal's Hat" Hotel once a month. The funds are under the control of three Trustees who are members and have been chosen by the members at the Annual Meeting. I have been privileged to be the "Chief Ranger", as the Chairman is called, for the last ten years.

Another Sick Club in the area is the "Oddfellows" and the aims of this worthy Society are similar to those of the "Forresters" and they have similar problems.

The Harleston Accident Club is as the name implies solely connected with accidents and only pays out on Deaths and Accidents. This Club was founded in Harleston over a century ago and in that time the membership has varied from 40 to 400 and at the present time it is in the 300 bracket. I have been honoured to be a Committee member for some years.

When I was a lad things were bad for everyone engaged in agriculture and it was at this time that George Edwards was active in forming the 'Agricultural Workers Union'. Unemployment was rife and if a farm worker spoke up for his rights he was victimised - often by his workmates - with the result that he would more often lose his job and worse still be turned out of his tied cottage. As many readers will probably be aware George Edwards rose from being a farm worker to a Member of Parliament. I well remember going to his meetings on a Sunday on Mulbarton Common and Burston Green as well as other places. This poor undersized man was very religious; he was a Primitive Methodist and always opened and closed his meetings with a prayer and a hymn with a local Silver Band providing the music and in this area it was mostly the New Buckenham Silver Band. Many of the men and women who followed George Edwards were also Methodists. I can recall Edwin and Mrs. Gooch from Wymondham who did great work for the agricultural worker; both these and other farm workers later became Norfolk County Councillors and did much to make the lot of the ordinary man much better. I can remember Alderman Coe who rose to be Vice-Chairman of the County Council and many of the officials and members of the Union were District Councillors as well and quite a few became magistrates. Two other great personalities who took up the cudgels to improve the lot of the rural worker were Tom and Annie Higdon of Burston; they were the two teachers of the Council School and were victimized, lost their jobs and house; both were religious and good living people. The majority of the children and their parents backed their sacked teachers and refused to attend the village school. Parents were prosecuted for failing to send their children to school but somehow the fines were paid and eventually the strike school was built on the green and the children continued their education here, under their beloved teachers Tom and Annie Higdon.

It was in 1931 that I decided to join the Union and I have been an active member ever since. I have represented the roadmen of this area for many years and used to come in contact with the County Councillors and the County Surveyors. Very often we argued a bit round the table over wages and conditions of work but I do think that this was the correct way to deal with the conditions prevailing at the time. We used to meet in the Old Shirehall in Norwich and latterly at the New County Hall in Martineau Lane, Norwich.

After the end of the second World War I began to get interested in village affairs and when we had our first meeting to elect a Parish Council I became a candidate and was elected in 1945. After the Representation of the People Act which was passed in 1946 we had another election for Parish Councillors; this time it was by ballot box and I was fortunate enough to be elected a member. I am pleased to say that each succeeding election for the Parish Council, more candidates have applied than seats available, so we have had a democratically elected Parish Council ever since 1946. In 1962 I was made Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council and on the death of Mr. Lombe-Taylor in 1968 I became Chairman and have now held that position for ten years. I have also been a Charity Trustee since 1946 and at the present time I am the Chairman and Secretary of the Trust. I do not have any regrets about the time and energy I have been using all these years as I have always had only one thing in mind and that was to work for the welfare and betterment of my village of Starston. At the end of my service to the village I am more than satisfied at the way we, as a Council, have improved things. When I was proposed as Chairman of the Parish Council I made one proviso- that no politics should enter into Council affairs and this has been so all the ten years during my office as Chairman. I earnestly believe that if politics were kept out of District and County Councils, we would be better able to tackle the immense problems that confront us today. I would like to mention here that in 1978 we achieved a long standing want in Starston - our own small village hall which we have called The Jubilee Hall. We purchased a disused Cow House at the Rectory and it now stands in all its glory in the centre of the village. This was made possible by the dedication of the people of Starston and some of the friends of Starston who live outside the village.

Another job which I voluntarily carried out was that of member of the Norfolk and Norwich Youth Employment Committee, but when I became Foreman on my work, and as these meetings were held in Norwich, I had to resign from this Committee.

In recent years I have taken a great interest in my village Church of St. Margaret and I have been a Sidesman for several years. Time and space prevent me from mentioning all the good causes and other interests in which I have been involved, but I can truthfully say that I could wear a different lapel badge for each day of the week and not have to wear the same one twice. I have been local correspondent for the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Mercury for some years and I have always tried to report all news in a fair and unbiased manner.

I have only one regret and that is I wish I could have done better. One thing which I can never understand is that people, particularly young people, say that they are bored and fed up - goodness me, there is plenty to be done in this troubled world of ours; much to be done on a voluntary scale, and if, as I said, I have any regrets, it is I have not done all that I wished.

Conclusions

I have mentioned some of the changes that have happened in rural Britain, but in conclusion, I would like to point out some of the changes during the last sixty years. It is remarkable how some of these drastic changes have taken place without one noticing them happen. One way of bringing this to one's notice is to look up old newspaper cuttings and collections of old photographs.

Sixty years ago in Norfolk, where I have been privileged to live all my life, the country sounds mostly heard were the sounds of cows mooing, pigs squealing and the sound of the horseman giving his quiet commands to his horse, which were "Cubby-wish-woo" and "Hub Back". This is now replaced by the noisy (not to mention smelly) sound of the tractors which, although reducing the number of men working on the farms, were a good thing, being faster (and easier for the horses). The farm worker is now better paid and better housed and his outlook on life is now much broader. Today he is entitled to longer holidays, and instead of a day's outing to Yarmouth, he is now able to take his wife and family much further afield, for a fortnight or longer, and some even take a flight overseas - such is one major change that has taken place in the life of the rural worker.

I have previously mentioned the decline of the village pub, but some of this is attributed to the financially better-off rural workers, most of whom now have television sets for their evening's entertainment. Also, many of them have motor cars and as a result of this, church attendances have become very small. Another sad feature of the country villages is the closure of small shops and Post Offices. A day out in the car to visit the towns and do the week's shopping in a large supermarket is very appealing to the country housewife.

A further sad feature of the changes that have taken place is the disappearance of the village Smithy. His heyday and busy life went with the change-over in farming style from horses to tractors. It was a custom in this village that when a very bad spell of weather occurred, the horseman would take three or four horses to the blacksmith to be re-shod with shoes, which the blacksmith in those days made by hand. It often happened that two or more men from other farms were there at the same time and many and amusing were the yarns which they used to spin. The quality of the horses and the general conditions of the farms were often discussed and sometimes the poor old boys used to get quite het up when describing these.

The moving to a more centralized form of education has meant the loss of many village schools. I would not like to judge if a higher standard of education is obtained in these ugly glass and concrete buildings, which are mostly known as Secondary Modern schools, but one thing I am sure of, is that the children are not so well behaved. When the village schoolmaster was in charge he knew each child individually, and he also knew their scholastic abilities and he was always a much respected person. But now the children are transported away from the villages by buses, at a great cost to the ratepayers who have also to pay for subsidized lunches. Make no mistake about it, the heart is taken out of a village when the children are away, and their manners in the absence of their parents at lunch time, are deplorable. As most villages had a small shop, this has in turn, meant a loss in takings and many of them have had to close. The schoolmaster was always a great personality and used to be an asset to the village; he was quite often church organist, choir leader and secretary to the cricket and football clubs, which flourished in most villages.

Another person missing from the country scene is the clergyman. Owing to the shortage of these gentlemen, very often there is only one for three or four parishes; thus another leader in rural life is lost.

With the introduction of the patrol car, the village policeman is no longer seen on his beat, and this has allowed many more petty offences to be carried out. The disappearance of the village squire is also very apparent and no more forelock touching is now carried out. However, these people were very often natural leaders of the community and this again is a great loss.

With the changing face of agriculture, many of our lovely hedgerows are gone; pulled out by the roots, to make way for the large machines which now cultivate the land. The effect of this, together with the use of chemical sprays, has killed off the natural food of the birds, and the bird population is getting smaller each year. With the large amount of pesticides being used, our streams are quickly becoming polluted and fish are being killed in their thousands, as well as frogs and other forms of wildlife. In this part of Norfolk, the countryside is fast becoming a wilderness, whereas in my youth, two or three fields distant was all you could see, but now you can see for miles, with the scenery desecrated with large corn silos and ugly asbestos broiler houses (such is progress!). Some farm owners are much better than others and do make an effort to landscape these ugly buildings. It is a good thing that there are these people in all walks of life and they do help to maintain country customs.

The Ramblers Association and some Parish and County Councils do make an effort to keep open some of the essential footpaths and it is quite a good thing that many of us do still take a pride in our countryside. In the main, country folk love their way of life and are very proud of their villages. I suppose if people do have the chance to read this short essay, I shall be accused of being a bit sentimental - well, I am, and very proud of it, and in summing up I would like to point out that with so many changes taking place in a short time, I would like to give my own personal opinion and that is - we have gained some advantages, but we have also lost a lot!

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who to himself has never said,
THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND".

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