Q: Maura, could you start off by telling us one or two things that you can remember?
S: One thing that I can remember, when I was a child and up to the age of 21 I lived in Oak House in West Street, and my mother and father, Molly and Tom Lunn. had a shop and garage with petrol pumps there. During the war when I was about four or five, the Americans used to fill their lorries with petrol at our pumps and one day one of the lorries caught fire while it was being filled. I can remember standing in the shop with flames coming in the open door – the flames were going along the ceiling. Mr Jerram, who was a builder, and who was returning to his yard in West Street, very bravely jumped into the lorry and drove it away from the pump. I believe he was quite badly burned, but he certainly saved a disaster.
Q: My goodness, what a horrendous accident to remember.
S: I am still terrified of fire.
Q: Are you really, I am not surprised. You must have been very young then?
S: I think I was four or five.
S: (Harry) Well the Americans came in 1943 I think it was.
S: (Maura) So this was either about 1944?
S: (Harry) You were four then weren’t you?
Q: It must have been a tremendous experience for you. Well thank you very much Maura. I think Harry is going to do the next one because, obviously Harry, has lived in the village a lot longer, how long have you lived in the village Maura?
S: 53 years.
Q: That’s quite a long time isn’t it?
S: We moved away for thirteen years from 1982 to 1995, but I was born in the village and have been back here since 1995 until now.
Q: Well I am going to address the rest to Harry, so I am going to stop now.
S: (Harry) You have always been interested in the band.
S: (Harry) I have. (Maura) But you can say about the band because you can say about James. Your father was in the band, your grandfather was in the band, you were in the band and now our son James is in the band.
Q: Four generations?
S: My grandfather, you see was conductor so James has got it on both sides of the family.
Q: No wonder he is musical. Well, Harry, I am going to address you now, so this is the contribution of Mr Harry Sheppard, reference 139, 7th April 2006. So Harry, how long have you lived in the village?
S: Well, of course, I was born in the village and, apart from two years National Service, which I didn’t have to do because I was working for father on the farm and at that time farm workers were exempt from National Service, but I had never really been away from home, so I thought it was good chance to do so. So, I was two years away and, like Maura said, we lived 13 years when we sold up here at Little Acre Farm and moved down to Somerset to a farm down there on the Mendips and lost a daughter down there because Vicky, she met a local farmer, a dairy farmer down there and, so when we came back to farm, though not in the village (we farm on the edge of Marlborough now) we left her there and she has got three children down in Somerset now. So, we were down there for thirteen years, so I was away, in the army, for fifteen years. But, both my parents were Dabchicks and my grandfather was born in the village, so I can really claim to be a Dabchick. I think really, when I was brought up, there was a time when you had to find more of your own interests than now and that’s why the band was a great interest. My father played in the band for years so I followed suit, and a lot of local lads did play in the band then, and the football team was nearly all local lads then. We had two teams at the time, including a reserve team and there were very few outsiders played at all. At that time about three quarters of the people in the village played in the band and, with the band, like all things, the better you get (and some youngsters were coming on) so you get higher, you have got to then try and get better players. When players retire you have got to go outside to get them and this started happening in the sort of late 50s early 60s, because then by that time, there were quite a few players from Swindon and that area and so, there is nothing new having outside players in the band, because we were doing it then.
Q: But not so many
S: Not so many, no, it was a great interest, I was in contests from Exeter right up to Manchester so I mean, what was great about it, especially for a younger person, I started when I was 13, and probably, in the first couple of years I didn’t do contests, but then I did afterwards and the beauty of it, because travel was so much different then, we used to see more of the countryside in part by belonging to the band because we used to go places we wouldn’t have gone to before, seeing parts of the country, that was a great interest. It was thoroughly enjoyable, that it was, we enjoyed it and
Q: And you said your father and your grandfather
S: Grandfather didn’t play a long time in the band though, I think he started to have go at it but, again, he was quite a busy man and I think he found the times a bit of a problem, because he was one of these, I think I’m right in saying, he was one of the first non-Conservatives ever to represent the RDC for Aldbourne because he stood for Liberals and he got in, that was back in the early 1900s wasn’t it. He was that sort of chap really and so I think the band took too much time. But my father was very keen and became President and he played, I don’t know how many years, of course when he took over, it was a natural thing to do really, but when I got caught in the war, there was chap called Ralph Bridgeman who wasn’t fit enough to go in the army but was a very good cornet player and so he actually taught quite a few of us while the war was on – he had a little band himself, about eight of us played, about six or eight played, which was great really, because by the time the band started after the war, a few of us then were to go in, you see.
Q: Did you play the cornet before you went into the army
S: Oh yes, but I didn’t play in the army because I had to sign on for three years to go in the army and I didn’t want to do three years. I could have got in the band by doing that, but two years I thought was going to be enough. It was, and quite enjoyed it really up to a point, it was a real eye-opener, let’s put it that way and so I carried on playing cornet until I retired about 35, was it, or 36, because, again I started doing more and more on the farm and I just found that I didn’t have the time, but the band really occupies a lot of time.
Q: Maura’s father, was he in the band?
S: No, her grandfather conducted the band for, I wouldn’t like to say exactly, but it must have been getting on for 20 years. It was quite a long time I know and so, in fact he did a lot of good for the band, because they were again, a smaller band, and like all things, it gradually grew, then they used to get professional people in for contests and very often we used to get, like Jo Alder, that was, well, a relations’ husband, Julie’s father, he took over from Wilf Jerram, who conducted straight after the war and then eventually Jo Alder took over and then eventually Bob Barnes took over, but, of course, what happened in those days, instead of having a very good conductor all the times, which cost a lot of money, we used to get a professional in two or three weeks before a contest and then they would take us to the contest and then they would go away until another contest was coming. It worked very well, but it is a very expensive job like the band is at the moment to have these dear conductors all the time, but with standards like they are you have really got to, but, anyway that’s today and this is long ago.
Q: Being a Dabchick, does it mean something special to you?
S: I suppose it is like all these things, if you are born here, it is just natural to be an Aldbourne person, don’t think too much about it I don’t. You sometimes look round and think there’s not many of us left now at our age.
Q: You look around and see that the village has changed?
S: Oh, yes, especially from way back when you are looking at before the 50s. I was born in 1933, but by the time I got, straight after the war in the 50s, of course I can remember very well, and the shops we had then, there is no comparison to what there is now. I think really the biggest change, and it is a big change is lack of shops. I think the biggest change in Aldbourne, really, is the number of farms. I mean, grandfather farmed, father farmed, I took over and James will take over from me eventually, I suppose because I have always been so interested in that side, you notice so much more, you remember so much more. When you think that, well after the war there were probably ten or twelve farms in or around the village and that, to me, is amazing how they have all sort of disappeared. William Brown is the only one who has stayed and his father and grandfather were up there, if we had stayed at Little Acre I suppose we would have been the same because grandfather started that farm.
Q: Which is Little Acre?
S: Which is where John and Christine Hill live now.
Q: Oh yes
S: It was Hillview Farm and then father, it was Hillview from when Grampy Sheppard bought it in 1918 and it was called Hillview Farm then and then when we built the bungalow up there we wanted to call it something else, so we called it Little Acre, where John lives now. We built that back in 1964 and we called that Little Acre so that it was different from Hillview Farm where father was, which was next door and so, eventually, we took over the farm we kept Little Acre and made it Little Acre Farm. That’s how it changed names really.
Q: Where is your farm now?
S: We are at Poulton, just as you go into Marlborough through Mildenhall.
Q: Between Mildenhall and Marlborough
S: Yes, James has a house up there of course. Going back to the farms, when you, the amount of work locally they give you see, because all of them had a little bit of machinery, they all wanted little bits and pieces and therefore, you had Aldbourne Engineering and the foundry which serviced them. But of course now, when you see as you have someone down there now, who would be able to do anything in the village really, you have William, Robert Lawton out at North Farm probably, but I mean Aldbourne Farms, that’s it really and they are all. What they have got, of course, usually lasts a longer time than it used to, that’s what has changed.
Q: Or if something goes wrong you have got to get people from outside the village
S: You have now, definitely, I mean, Nina’s husband you see, McKeon, who ran Aldbourne Engineering, and his boast was he would mend anything from a pram to a crawler tractor.
Q: He was a useful man?
S: Yes, because they sold new machinery, but they would repair a lot of stuff and they would have, I don’t know how many chaps there were there, probably six or eight people wasn’t there?
Q: I know they were down Lottage.
S: That’s right, and when you think of the builders here I mean then, there were quite a lot of building firms and they seem to have disappeared.
Q: We could do with them couldn’t we? So many of these things are handy now.
S: Where, as Maura was saying, about Mr Jerram of course, who took the lorry away, that’s where my grandfather’s farmyard was, they actually bought it off my grandfather and then moved it into a builders yard, I think they bought it in 1936/37. I can’t remember exactly, because my father used to tell me and it’s not easy sometimes. We had some wonderful dances and socials, band socials when everybody, grandmothers and children used to join in.
Q: In the Memorial Hall?
S: Yes, it’s well I think it’s not any good saying it’s changed, everything has changed , the whole country, you can’t look back and say that that was a better time or a worse time, it just changes. That’s it and all about it and so we are now living at an age when people just disappear to work 50 miles away today, and don’t think anything of it. Once upon a time, if you moved five miles away, you were thinking you had gone a long way. You can’t think of things like yesterday, because things have just moved on.
Q: Fascinating, because I haven’t spoken to many people, but no-one has spoken about farming. So, some of the questions aren’t really relevant, how often did you leave the village? Well, you probably —
S: I’ve got no idea about that, we wouldn’t have left the village.
S: (Maura) We used to go on Sunday School outings, Bournemouth or Weymouth. It was very exciting.
Q: But you were self sufficient? You could buy everything in the village, you didn’t need to go to Swindon for instance, or Hungerford
S: (Harry) No, you had to for things like clothes, that’s when you would go to Swindon. If you wanted to get a suit, you wanted to get something a little bit special for going anywhere or shoes or anything, although there was someone used to call, with shoes and I think clothes as well.
Q: An outfitters?
S: Yes, but if you wanted a choice you would have to go to Swindon. Actually, the bus service wasn’t too bad, even after the war, you used to be able to get in and out.
Q: Did you still have Barnes coaches?
S: Well, they didn’t do Swindon, they only went to Hungerford and Newbury, so they didn’t ever touch Swindon. But they had a very good bus service into Swindon, that’s the thing. I remember you used to be able to go to pictures in Hungerford on the bus, we had to walk home one night. (Maura), there used to be a cinema in the village.
Q: Where was that?
S: In the Memorial Hall, twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Q: We thought about bringing that back, but I will tell you about that later. There is a possibility of doing that, but it wouldn’t be quite the same as the one that you had. Your family attended Chapel didn’t they? And you are Chapel people?
S: (Harry) Yes and that was round West Street.
Q: How long ago did it move?
S: When did they have the 20th anniversary not long ago? Out Lottage? Again, I am not sure how many years, but I think they had the 20th two or three years ago.
Q: It must have been very small that one round West Street, wasn’t it?
S: No, it’s bigger than the one we have got now, it held quite as many people I say.
Q: Now there are houses there?
S: Two houses
Q: Two houses, and it went back presumably did it?
S: Yes, it went back and the actual run of the chapel was with the road, see so the actual door going in was this end next to Mrs Greasley, who lives next door to the old fish and chip shop, and it went up towards Swindon of course, I suppose it would hold 60 or 70. We had a schoolroom there and a kitchen and it was a very good building. Of course, we were away at the time, when it all happened, I can’t tell you exactly what happened. Mother used to play the organ there, so but it just sort of, there was quite lot debate about which one to shut. Whether to shut the one down Lottage or the West Street one and, eventually, they decided that Lottage was the better site, with West Street being on the main road like that. The parking was better, people coming out of the chapel straight onto the road.
Q: What was your childhood home like?
S: Oh, I can remember, not a very good at memories of childhood really, but I had two sisters, one went to New Zealand, was out there 40years before she died, married a farmer, local chap actually, he went out there and they married out there. The other sister, who used to live in Woking, they were in Singapore for a while. They both became teachers, they were older than me. We all had a very happy life, as far as I can remember. There were a few arguments at times, like all families.
Q: Where did you live?
S: We lived up at the bungalow then up at Marlborough Road, next door to where we farmed on the left going up. You know where Chris and John Hill, there is a bungalow this side, I was born there.
Q: Sue Duck?
S: No this side, not the other side. There is a bungalow there, lays off the road, they doubled the size of it. Grampy used to farm the land up there, that had the farm yard in Aldbourne. He had buildings up there, so he built the bungalow up there and moved up there in 1932 and
Q: That was very convenient wasn’t it?
S: That’s right, and I was born there and basically lived there until I was 21 and that’s when the house where the Duck’s are, father had that built, then when we got married, we eventually had the bungalow built where John and Chris live.
Q: Wonderful view from there isn’t it?
S: Yes, mother always used to say, the bungalow where we farmed from, they have changed it all around now, because the front door faces the road, but the front door used to face down towards Aldbourne and mother would very often say the front door, there would be a traveller there or someone and, when she opened the door he always had his back to the door, in the summer, looking at the views.
Q: I’m not surprised. Was there much crime in those days? Perhaps you didn’t lock your doors?
S: Well, I don’t think there was, again, I suppose being younger, you don’t notice if there is any, but I don’t think was anything desperate. The police were a bit different too, I think, they used to stamp it out really.
Q: There was someone then in the village?
S: The police were here all the time, most children were pretty nervous of the policeman because he was just as likely to come and give you a clout on the ear if you were doing something wrong, and tell your mother or father and, if he did, they would be annoyed about it. It’s something that wouldn’t happen now of course –
Q: Oh, no you can’t touch anybody
S: That’s right, we had a chap here once, he didn’t worry in the slightest and he was always pottering about, you didn’t know where they were really. He would be out at night sometimes, he would be out at day sometimes. There was a different society, no television for children, no children going anywhere, people couldn’t move about.
Q: So, you made your own entertainment.
S: That’s right, it was if you went apple noggin or knocking on doors, that was high dudgeon – that was quite a risk in those days.
Q: What was the employment like in the village?
S: Again, because when the farms, I remember, you know you go bale carting and things like that, moving something at night, you only had to mention it and you had two or three people come up to you and say do you want a hand, you see, which
Q: Was this because they were more willing, or because they
S: Well I think some of it was you used to give them some money and they were quite pleased to have a bit extra and some were quite pleased to go and give a hand, it wasn’t just the money angle I don’t think. They all came along, they were more likely to do it.
Q: Where did you go for your holidays or did you have holidays?
S: Um, I don’t think I went on holidays before I was 18 when I did my National Service and I can’t remember going anywhere anyway. Oh no, that’s a lie, I remember one year my grandmother lived up where the Duncans live, I had a grandmother or grandfather live there on either side for about 60 years; grandfather Sheppard bought the house and then grandfather Barnes bought it off of him and grandmother Barnes died at 93, in 1965 and that’s when she died and that’s when the relationship stopped
Q: Which Barnes was that?
S: It wasn’t related to, I’m not sure where they came from, but let’s face it, people say nearly everyone is related to someone, but I have never really gone back that far. Grandfather was blacksmith here, grandfather Barnes, he was blacksmith here in 1900 and his now I don’t know if you have ever heard of a chap by the name of Alan, no, I think he was gone by the time you got here, the last blacksmith we had was Alan Liddiard, his father was Noah Liddiard. My grandfather, he actually taught Noah to be blacksmith and then Noah taught his son Alan and then that was the end of it. My grandfather went to Hungerford to Oakes, who were about in those days and he was actually apprentice blacksmith there.
Q: Where did he practice his blacksmith here in the village?
S: Oh, he had a blacksmith shop.
Q: And where was that?
S: By the car park, next to the library.
Q: Where they have still got….
S: I expect if you went in there, there would still be some stuff that belonged to my grandfather, it’s an incredible place, it’s just the same as when Alan left it.
Q: So who is living there now?
S: Well, his brother Len lives next door and he was left it all you see, Alan owned it all, the house and the blacksmith and the library and I think Len was left it all and then he never touched the blacksmith shop. If you go in there it’s just, cause I used to go in there a lot, and it’s incredible to go back in there.
Q: So you remember it just like that.
S: Oh, yes we used to go in there and get work done
Q: I thought it was wonderful to see
S: And so my grandfather, see, that was Alan’s father Noah, he taught and it’s amazing really.
Q: So when did it actually fold up as a blacksmiths?
S: When Alan died and I’m not too sure when that was, it was when we were in Somerset, or was it before, before I think, a little while ago, dates like that, I have got no idea, it’s been shut for quite a while.
Q: Well, certainly, we have been in the village for ten years and it was shut then.
S: Oh yes, it’s longer than that, getting on towards 20, but you know with time, it’s very difficult..
Q: And was he the only blacksmith?
S: He was the only one then. You know where Chris Warrington lives, that was a blacksmith shop, a chap by the name of Aldridge had that when I was lad, Harry Aldridge, that was a blacksmith shop then. The blacksmith shop was near the school and when you used to up to school, you used to be able to look in there, because he had a half door, most blacksmiths did, you could see in there.
Q: So you went in the entrance where the garage is?
S: No, he had his door, well they made a window of it, I don’t know
Q: It’s part of their house now?
S: Yes, they made it into the living room, but that was the blacksmith’s shop.
Q: They have got a very, very long living room haven’t they?
S: Yes, well that was the blacksmith shop, part of that was the blacksmith shop and, of course, that was when the old school was there, where we both went to of course. Some learnt more than others, you could say I was one of the others!
Q: Well, there’s nothing wrong with your memory anyway. Can you remember much about school?
S: Oh dear, yes I can
Q: You were a very naughty little boy were you?
S: I don’t know about that, but I tell you, we didn’t do a lot of work as far as I could see. I didn’t have the best of schooling because, it was stupid really, because both my sisters were pretty bright, and when I came along, I had no interest in school whatsoever and I started just before the war started and it all sort of went downhill from then as far as I can see. The school got teachers that weren’t that good and I suppose you could say I went to school sometimes, but not very often.
Q: You could just go when you wanted to in those days?
S: No, not really, father would say “Look, I think you had better stay at home haymaking today”, or “you had better help milk the cows”, so that was one of the problems. I regret it really, because I should have learnt more.
Q: We all feel that really, don’t we? There are some lost buildings in the village, one of the ones that is on my list is Butterfield Hall and no-one seems to know where that is. Do you know where that is?
S: I don’t know if I have ever heard of it before, it’s a new one to me.
Q: And the windmill.
S: Ah, the windmill, that was up Baydon Hill. When we were young that had already finished, there was only ruins up there, because the chalk pit, of course, was this side of that, that’s where they used to take the chalk out, that’s where we used to have a bonfire.
Q: That was this side of the windmill? Is that where Windmill Close is now?
S: Yes, Windmill Close is where the windmill was, where Chaddy is really, up there somewhere
Q: They were all built on um…
S: I’m not sure exactly where it was, but the actual chalk pit was this side ,everyone was absolutely amazed when those houses went in there, they said well, they filled it with rubbish really didn’t they?
Q: Is that Chaddy Portlock’s house?
S: No, this side of that, down the hill, that’s where the chalk pit was and that’s where we always had the bonfire and fireworks in there and then, eventually they started filling it up with all sorts of stuff and so then they decided to build on it and then everyone was just amazed because they wanted building in there. There was quite a big hole there really.
Q: Best perhaps not to mention it to the people who live up there.
S: No, better not tell them that they live in the old chalk pit.
Q: Organisations, scouts, that sort of thing.
S: They had the Cadet Force here for some time. (Maura) I belonged to the Brownies and the Girls Friendly Society .
Q: Were they flourishing organisations?
S: They were girls only you see, which was rather nice. The boys had their boy’s club, you know,
Q: What sort of things did you do?
S: Well, we had a library, a little library, this was in the Church Rest Room, at the bottom of Marlborough Road and we used to meet once a week and go on a few expeditions, mostly have a little talk. Mrs Dyett who was in charge and it was very good.
Q: Was that in the last little house on the right going down Marlborough Road, the first on the left going up?
S: (Harry) No, as you are going up, you have got a house and then you have got another building on the right next to it before you get to a house, single storey, that was it there. That was where band practice was as well, we started band practice down in the Lottage schoolroom, then we went up to the stables in the Old Rectory, we played up there for quite a time, and they decided they wanted the stables, and then we moved over to the Rest Room. We were there for quite a time.
Q: Just going back to the Brownies did you say it was led by Betty and Margaret Gentry?
S: (Maura) Yes.
Q: And Maura, you were a church cleaner?
S: Yes, I was, Miss Dibden was in charge of us. My cousin Julie, my younger sister and I, we all used to go up there on a Saturday morning with mops and dusters, every time one of us had to say a prayer to start with, which was the most difficult thing I think, we hated it when it was our turn to try and find something to say.
Q: You could make up your own prayers?
S: Yes, and we used to do the flowers at Harvest Festival, do the windows, put all the flowers in jam jars and put them up in the window.
Q: What was the medical care like? There was a doctor wasn’t there in the middle of the village.
S: Dr Varvill, up at Barn House in Castle Street
Q: And was his practice somewhere where General Cooper was?
S: The surgery was there.
Q: Oh, I see, he lived in Barn House.
S: (Harry) Maura’s aunt lived at the surgery at Neals at one time.
Q: Oh really
S: (Maura) Her name was Mrs Alder, she is dead now. At Neals. They used to have a dentist come there too then when I was a child.
Q: Very useful, having them both in the village.
S: It was, Dr Varvill used to come and visit all the family, never went anywhere, if you were ill, he always used to come.
Q: Where did he come from, oh you said he lived here?
S: Yes, Dr Mills lived at Ramsbury, it was a very good service. And of course, you didn’t have to make appointments then for the surgery, you just went and queued up and you saw somebody and the doctor went on until he finished seeing everybody, which was quite a long time sometimes.
Q: So, there weren’t any times laid out for appointments?
S: (Harry) The medicine used to go there to be picked up, left on the table, you helped yourself. Just look for your own medicine and pick it up.
Q: Just imagine that happening now, if you took someone else’s medicine, they didn’t think of that did they?
S: No, nobody thought of it did they, you went in and picked your own up and that was it.
Q: And what about special events and celebrations in the village?
S: (Maura) Feast was a big event, just wonderful to have all those swings and roundabouts and Noah’s Ark, there were quite a lot of people coming back, people who had left the village and you very often used to see them potter back. (Harry) Of course, you would have the usual thing, sort of VE night or V whatever it was, a bonfire that sort of thing, (Maura) We always used to go in the Carnival as children, every year we were dressed up and would walk round in the Carnival.
Q: Were there a lot more floats in those days?
S: No, not a lot more floats, hardly any floats, mostly walking.
Q: People still go to a lot of trouble don’t they? Harry, you said something about football and cricket? Was there a football team?
S: (Harry) Yes, at that time there was enough local lads, you could run two teams and there was a lot interest in the village. You used to get a lot of people down there watching matches.
Q: Where was it played?
S: We started up West Street, we played up there and eventually, by the time they sorted out the football field, because that was all troops and huts there for a camp. They took quite a long time to get that sorted out, take them down, disband the camp; it doesn’t go overnight; and then they had to get a field back together again, and eventually we moved back down and played there. That was in the 50s some when I would say. We were in the Swindon premier league at that time, so it wasn’t a bad team we had really. I think the first team might have had a couple of people from outside the village. (Maura) He’s got an awful lot of cups and medals.
Q: And what about the cricket?
S: I mean I was never a wonderful cricketer, but I used to make the numbers up.
Q: And where did they play?
S: Again they were up West Street.
Q: When you say up West Street?
S: Well, you know
Q: Was it where the new school is?
S: You know where the Brown’s have got the tennis court, it was farther back in the field there, it was all grass then. There was a football pitch down there, and then they built a camp on it and so, I imagine it was Anthony or his father, who said why don’t you come up here and you can have it – it was always grass up there for the sheep and so he used to let the sheep run it and then finish it for a bit while the football season was on. The actual cricket pitch itself they used to let the square, as they call it, they used to let us fence that off, so that it wouldn’t have anything on it. You don’t want any cows on the pitch. We remember, there was a clump of trees and that’s where you used to do your changing, it could be a bit tricky.
Q: No changing rooms in those days?
S: Oh no, we had some amusing times up there. There was chap who came to live at Aldbourne who got his blues at Reading for cricket and then we had another chap from Baydon, who was a very good cricketer, he played for Somerset later, and do you know he could not hit any runs up at that pitch, because of course they played where they thought the ball should be but, because the pitch wasn’t very good, it wasn’t there. It was hilarious because you realised these chaps were very good cricketers, but they could not just get – we had a chap who worked for Mac, Charlie Underwood, he hardly took any guard at all, but he had a good eye for the ball, he would come in and hit four nearly every time and he hit about 30 or 40 in five minutes and they were trying to hit the ball where they thought it should be. They were good sports though. We had some fun and we used to go about to different places, and it was good too because there were some good teas too.
Q: The wives supplied those I suppose?
S: We used to play Marlborough College quite a lot, if we ever wanted a game we only had to call them and they would send a team over and they used to love coming over, they used to cycle over and then, of course, they had permission to stay out a bit longer. In fact, they used to drop in the pub really, on the quiet.
Q: Did you ever go to the College?
S: Yes, we used to go over.
Q: Their sports facilities are rather better than they were
S: It was a scream sometimes. All made the game.
Q: Is there anything else you think you would like to add to your words of wisdom?
S: We have always had a happy time here, living in Aldbourne, we have loved living in the village.