Newsletter February 2008

16 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008

bereft of social conscience and this enterprise, the first of its kind, has Sir George White VC been referred to as the origin of the welfare state. ention in the December issue of General Sir George White VC, as a sitter for the artist Henry Chamen Lintott, was coincidental, One of the most splendid ‘Absent-minded Beggar’ souvenirs, which I Newsletter Mbecause I had only recently first come across the general in a different recently acquired, is an approximately two-foot square, full-colour silk context. In 1899 the Daily Mail proprietor Alfred Harmsworth (later handkerchief (below), incorporating Woodville’s figure, four Boer February 2008 Lord Northcliffe) persuaded Rudyard Kipling to supply a four-verse War army leaders, and Kipling’s four verses. I had recognised Field patriotic poem: ‘The Absent-minded Beggar’, for the purpose of raising Marshall Lord Roberts VC, of Kandahar (top left), who was funds to aid dependents of reservists fighting in the Boer War. (The commander-in-chief of Allied Forces until 1900. (He also appears, chorus ends: ‘Pass the hat for your credit’s sake, and pay, pay, pay’). together with Queen Victoria and a map of South Africa, on a smaller and more common cotton Boer War souvenir handkerchief), but I In order to exploit the project to the full, a prominent war artist, Caton consulted a Boer War expert in order to identify positively the soldiers Woodville, was commissioned to provide an illustration, and as the title at the other three corners. Top right is Field Marshall Lord Kitchener of AGM – new venue for his figure of a defiant wounded British Tommy in battle, he took, Khartoum, who took over from Roberts as commander-in-chief, lower o please make an early note in your diary: the AGM this from Kipling’s first verse, the phrase ‘A Gentleman in Kharki’ left is Lt Col Percy Ricardo CB, chief of staff of the Queensland Light year is on Thursday evening, 13 March, 7.00 pm for a start (Kipling’s spelling of khaki). Sir Arthur Sullivan, of Savoy Opera fame, Infantry (the first Australians to go into action in the Boer War), and Dtime of 7.30 pm. There’s one change this year, in that the venue was then approached to set Kipling’s lines to music. The resulting song lower right is is the aforementioned General Sir George White. White, will be the Barn in the Causeway, and not Royal and Sun admirably captured the jingoistic mood of the nation, and was greeted who had won his VC twenty years earlier in the Afghan War, was hailed Alliance. The latter have been good to us over the years, and we as ‘the hero of Ladysmith’, although his reputation is said to have been with wild enthusiasm. Mark Twain wrote of Kipling’s poem: ‘The thank them for it, but sadly their presentation theatre is no clarion-peal of the lines thrilled the world’, and Kipling described somewhat tarnished by a longer available. Not to worry – the Barn is an old friend of Sullivan’s stirring tune as ‘guaranteed to pull the teeth from barrel- suggestion that the siege, organs’. the relief of which ours, and while it may not be high tech, it does have excellent involved heavy Allied beams and a great atmosphere. See you there! The poem, the ‘Gentleman in Kharki’ figure, and the song were all made casualties, had only available for commercial use by anyone who paid royalties to the Daily come about after the Mail Fund, and this arrangement spawned a huge variety of garrison had become cut Down with squirrels memorabilia estimated to have realised a third of a million pounds (over off as a result of White £20 million at today’s values) for the Fund. Wars had previously been disobeying an order. ast year there was a heated debate in the letters column of the WSCT about squirrels. Some held them to be charming Farlington girls (1929). See page 13. Llittle fellows, while others put them at the top of the pest league. John Cannon I’m firmly in the latter camp, and would be delighted if I never Log lore Comptons Lane saw one again. We’ve had them nesting in the attic, chewing he season of log fires is upon us, and there are plenty of good sup- Horsham through the roof (twice) so that the rain came in, and one even fell down a chimney so that our drawing room ended up coated pliers in the Horsham area. Bob Phillips is but one, but what makes him a little different is that he has produced a neat little leaflet, The Horsham Society is an independent body supported by members’ in soot. T subscriptions, a registered charity (No.268949), affiliated to the advising on the dos and don'ts of logmanship, and telling us, in an Campaign to Protect Rural England and registered with the Civic Trust. In the end we’ve resorted to a squirrel trap, which when baited engaging little poem, which are the better woods for burning (Beech It is a member of the English Historic Towns Forum. with tasty peanuts proves irresistible to the blighters. But I wood fires are bright and clear/If the logs are kept a year... ). PRESIDENT: Dr Annabelle Hughes By The Way haven’t the nerve to put them down, as you are supposed to do, Let me quote his advice on seasoning and storing logs: Because trees and so, armed with a stout pair of gloves, I take them deep into contain a lot of water, freshly cut logs will contain around 50% water VICE-PRESIDENTS: New members Oliver Palmer, Francis Maude MP, Nigel Friswell the Forest, far from human habitation. and are difficult to burn without some drying or seasoning taking A big thank you for joining to Mr and Mrs Lighter, Springfield place. Wood felled during one winter should be seasoned over the Last year I must have ‘relocated’ over 25 squirrels in this way, CHAIRMAN VICE CHAIRMAN Road, Horsham and Mr Griffiths, Worthing Road, Horsham, and following summer and burnt the next winter when it should have John Steele Ian Dockreay also many thanks to Roundabout Talking News for their gener- but still they keep on coming. As I write there’s one up in a tree, around 33% moisture. If possible, two years seasoning is best to bring 2 Old Denne Gardens 24 Wimblehurst Road ous donation to the Society. chattering away defiantly. Here we go again..... it to 25% moisture content. Horsham RH12 1JA Horsham RH12 2ED Tel: (01403) 272814 Tel: (01403) 241582 Some trees contain naturally less water than others. Freshly felled ash, Email: [email protected] for example, contains only a 33% moisture content while fresh poplar Hon SECRETARY Don’t Dress for Dinner Hon TREASURER Sandie Brittain Theatre 48 are staging this well known French farce by Marc has one of 60%. A reputable firewood merchant should only sell you Roy Bayliss 2 Fairview Camoletti between Thursday 13 March – Saturday 15 March in seasoned logs, unless you specifically ask for fresh or green wood to 15 Patchings Horsham RH12 2PY season yourself. Horsham RH13 5HJ Tel: (01403) 260915 the Studio at the Capitol. Tickets are £9.50 each and the box Tel: (01403) 262262 office number is 01403 750220. Logs are best stored outside but under cover, where air but little rain NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION can get to them. If possible bring your next week’s supply into the MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY ORGANISER house and store it somewhere warm like near but not next to the fire, Pat Gale Kathy Gleeson Personal & Professional Service stove or boiler. 46 Bedford Road 13 Millthorpe Road from a company established Horsham RH13 5BJ Roffey RH12 4ER Tel: (01403) 253946 Tel: (01403) 210511 over 30 years Bob clearly knows his stuff. He can be contacted on 01293 (Rusper) Horsham goes global 871498. Horsham Society website: www.horshamsociety.org Business Stationery • Brochures • Leaflets n the last two issues we have, of course, drawn attention to Envelope Printing • Folders • Design • Mailing SUBSCRIPTION RATES Horsham Football Club’s stunning recent run of success – Editor’s note Individuals: £5 per year Single Pensioner: £3.25 per year Digital Printing in Colour and Black & White Ione which has, apparently, brought an extra £200,000 into the Family Membership: £7.50 per year Family Pensioner: £5 per year club’s coffers. Not only that, but our dear old Queen Street Businesses: £10 per year Single Life Membership: £100 All major credit cards accepted Family Life Membership: £150 ground has, in the twilight of its life, found world-wide fame This month we take a look at Lower Beeding in times gone by, £2.50 postage is added to the above rates for out-of-town members 7/8/9 Newhouse Business Centre, Horsham Press for the very first time. An old university friend noted in his and there’s also a good selection of readers’ letters. If anyone Old Crawley Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 4RU Christmas card this year that, thanks to the magic of cable TV, has reminiscences to share about their own locality, do please E-mail: [email protected] www.horshampress.co.uk he was able to enjoy the match all the way from down town write in; we would be delighted to hear from you. All correspondence should go to the Hon Secretary in the first instance. Horsham, in the comfort of his home in the splendid and historic The Newsletter is published monthly except for August. Letters and 01403 265608 articles to be considered for publication should be sent to the Editor, city of Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. All a bit mind-boggling. Copy date for the March issue is 8 February. Brian Slyfield, Arun House, Denne Road, Horsham RH12 1JF. Opinions in the Newsletter, whether Editor’s or contributors’, are not necessarily © Individual contributors 2008. No material may be reproduced, copied or stored in a the policy of the Society. retrieval system without the prior consent of the relevant contributor, which should be sought via the Editor. OUR CONCERN IS THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE TOWN 10 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 15

From the Committee Letters to the Editor Do please write in: letters for publication to ancient summer house provided cover for Swans to come home Grand mansion to farm cottage: Brian Slyfield, Arun House, Denne Road, Richardson’s: some old garden chairs, a sand pit was dug, a Horsham RH12 1JF t has been reported that the two the saga of two stone slabs wooden swing made, and lastly we acquired swans in Swan Walk will now, after memories from Lower Beeding Parish Magazine our item on Richardson’s jam and sweet chickens and two pigs. Iall, be replaced in their original posi- by Brian Slyfield Ernest Kittle: factory in East Street (November issue) When the pigs went off to the slaughter house Yreminded me of the saga of the two stone tion. This is good news all round, and if the line continues in Springfield Road you were allowed to keep any Society members take the view was lucky enough some time ago to be given sight of a fascinating collection of parish slabs on which they rolled out their rock. After half and the government had the other half. I have just read with great interest the article the firm’s closure, which you say was in 1925, that the surrounding cafe area is too magazines from Lower Beeding. Such publications are often an excellent source of cannot recall what happened to our ‘half pig’, local history and reminiscence, and so it proved in this case. They dated back to the mid- in the December Newsletter about my grandfather, who was John Gumbrill the as there was no fridge in the tiny kitchen in intrusive, they should perhaps write to I Lieutenant Ernest Kittle – my grandfather. stone and monumental mason, bought these the WSCT to express their views. 1960s, and had originally been set aside by the wife of the then vicar, Rev A E Grey, who I our flat and certainly no freezer anywhere at two heavy slabs and took them to his yard in all in Horsham. in his time presided over Holy Trinity, Lower Beeding as well as that peaceful chapel in In answer to the question: but what of Nelson Road, thinking, no doubt, that they the Forest, St John’s, Coolhurst. Later the magazines were rescued by Sheila Mayo, and Kathleen Kittle? I hope I can fill in some gaps. might come in handy. Well, they never did, In 1944 my brother Peter was born in the bed- Bishopric planters it is thanks to her that I can now bring this group of parishioners’ memories to a wider My father, Jack Kittle, was Ernest and and there they lay just inside the gate for 50 room overlooking the Carfax and so after that audience. Kathleen’s only child. After the war they spent years. pram and baby joined my sister Rosemary and he committee has agreed to donate quite some time living in Brighton, I think the sum of £500 towards winter myself in the garden. What a pity this won- The magazines feature a number of personal recollections, from both extremes of the with Ernest’s parents. From 1922-1928 my After my father died in 1975 and the yard was derful garden was finally sacrificed for a park- planters in the Bishopric, by the T social scale, and all from elderly members of the congregation, so we are taken right father Jack was a pupil at Christ’s Hospital. cleared, my mother and I thought it a pity that ing area for delivery vehicles. I will always Shelley fountain. This donation is in back in time. We learn something of a life long gone, around the 1880s-1890s – only a He loved his time there, eventually becoming these relics of a bygone Horsham should just remember it with much happy nostalgia. disappear, so we offered them to Horsham keeping with the Society’s policy on hundred years or so ago, but an absolutely different world, no doubt about that. So let us a governor and also sponsoring several pupils. such matters, and the site will be mon- Museum. The museum accepted them and Paula Lamplough listen, on the one hand, to the memories of Edith Godman, daughter from that grand Kathleen and Jack then moved to Surrey, first itored over the coming months to make decided to set them up as picnic tables in the Irwin Drive, Horsham house, South Lodge, and on the other to the likes of Frank Worsfold from Willis Farm, Sutton then Banstead. In the 1950s Kathleen garden. I assume that’s what happened, and, sure the investment is properly man- Plummer’s Plain, Alice Comber (later Marshall) of Mill Lane, Lower Beeding, and moved back to Sussex to live in Storrington aged. At the moment the planters as they are not easily portable, that they are others. where she stayed until she died at the good still there. There should be a notice some- appear a little unkempt, but hopefully Horsa supporter age of 96. where to say that those ordinary-looking this may be a temporary state of affairs n reply to Alastaire MacArthur’s letter Frank was born in 1881, and his father died four years later, leaving his mother to bring My father married my mother, Dorothy, in monoliths are no less than survivors from the due to long term storage. up four young boys and run the farm at the same time. As back up, the grandparents (November issue), I for one would like a 1945. They had two daughters; I am the great Richardson enterprise. statue of Horsa. It conveys a certain romance moved in, and they also had a carter to help with the work. Later Frank’s mother I younger one. We all lived in Banstead. When John Snelling to the place. How about one similar to the Petition power remarried, this time widower and local builder Frank King, who in turn had five Dad retired in 1972 he and Mum moved to Warnham Road, Horsham memorial to Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in daughters from his previous marriage – so there were then nine children of various ages Sussex, first to Crossbush then to Maltravers Llandovery? nder Hazel Blear’s (the around the place. Street in Arundel. Frequent trips were made to Thanks also to Sylvia Standing, who called in Communities Secretary’s) propos- Horsham and Christ’s Hospital. He had very to tell the same story. Sylvia, of course, is the Pamela Perkins Ashleigh Road, Horsham Uals, councils will be forced to take It was common practice in those days for farmers to make their own butter and bread, fond memories of both. lady who created that wonderful garden and of course they killed their pigs on the premises, with little concern for such modern behind the museum, so she must be pretty action on local petitions that have as Sadly my father died in 2005 just before his niceties as accredited abbatoirs and the like. Mechanical equipment was well on the way familiar with its stonework: ed. few as 250 signatures. At the moment 93rd birthday. He would have been so proud councils are free to ignore petitions, to revolutionising farming methods, and wonderful great traction engines puffed and to have read this article; he was certainly very however many people have signed, but lumbered their way through the narrow lanes, with a man in front with a red flag, scaring proud of his father. The family name of Kittle A Carfax garden under the new plans they will have to the life out of oncoming horses. A steam roller from Horsham also used to make a has now gone from this side of the family. respond if this number or 1% of the regular trundle to and from Blackstone’s stone quarry at Mannings Heath, and it also However the family line still continues as I remembered local electorate signs a petition. They collected flints from Crawley station for building up the way along Grouse Road. have two daughters and my eldest daughter n the December Newsletter mention was don’t have to fall in line with the peti- has a baby boy, so Ernest would have been a made of Alicia Hemming’s memories of the tioners’ views, of course, but they do great great grandfather. Imulberry tree in their garden. I too fondly remember the splendid tree behind the have to react to them. Hope this is of interest and fills in some gaps. Lintott’s family home in the Carfax. It was If the council ignores the petition or Mary Peeters Sterling Estates that demolished the house and responds unsatisfactorily, the commu- Meadway, Aylesbury, Bucks factory to build the block of shops on the west side of the Carfax, which remains there today. nity can trigger a scrutiny committee hearing where an action plan can be Above the shops there were comfortable flats decided. Apparently this is part of Military Medals on two floors and my family moved in here Gordon Brown’s attempt to increase our report (December issue) that 122,000 when my father opened Peter Dominic, the local democracy. Military Medals were awarded in WW1 wine merchants, in the very uncertain days at Yis a sober comment on the hard-to-grasp scale the start of the war in November 1939. Behind of the bravery shown. All the harder when the the block of shops there remained the stables Dulcima House number asked for may well have been double and the garden. Before long the stables were the number awarded. For example one unit used to store and bottle wine, but the garden he Society awaits an update from asked for four MMs but was awarded just two. remained unused. HDC Planning Department regard- Ting intended improvements to the Cards were cut for them and it was no surprise Paul Dauthieu approached all the other fami- unsatisfactory facade that has been cre- that the two ‘winners’ were notorious card lies in the block suggesting we share the rent players (not to put too fine a point on it!). My and enjoy the use of the garden for mutual ated at Dulcima House in the Carfax. It father told me this and he should know – no pleasure. No one else was interested and even- was doubted whether a computer gen- card player himself he was inevitably one of tually we rented the garden as well as the sta- erated mock up would be accurate the two losers – but he seemed to bear no bles. What a cornucopia of fruits and vegeta- Llywelyn ap Gruffydd memorial enough to judge any improved colour grudge. bles it gave us! As well as the huge, almost at Llandovery Castle. effect, and we will ask for physical Oliver Palmer black mulberries, there was a fig tree, cordon samples to be sent in addition. Causeway, Horsham pears, peaches and many other fruits. A small Letters continued overleaf Frank and Annie Worsfold 14 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 11

Farlington Educational Trust had been formed under the curriculum expanded to provide a broad educational spectrum. Writing in 1964, Frank Worsfold went on to tell how he married (Such initiative was no longer a hanging or transportation chairmanship of Bryn Smyth-Tyrell, the father of three Farlington is still thriving and improving, and following Trina’s a local girl, Annie, and they had three sons and one daughter, to offence). Farlington girls. This put the school on a firmer business footing retirement in 2006, is now in the competent hands of Jonnie be followed in due course by two granddaughters and one and allowed development in response to the new demands for Goyer. grandson. Frank died in 1975, but I am pleased to say that the There was always the chance of some fish as well, up from Brighton on a ‘trotting pony and two-wheeled cart’. Jerry Collins girls’ education. Another innovation was the formation of the Rita Monk family is still flourishing locally. Farlington School Parent Teacher Association, raising money for was the man, and he would sell you between twenty and forty herrings for the price of one shilling. Mackerel, at 1d each, were school equipment and organising social events. Effie Simpson This information is taken from the Farlington School Centenary A lady called M Sayers remembers her early schooldays in the more of a luxury, but winkles and shrimps were also on board. continued as Head until her retirement in 1971. Book, compiled by Elizabeth Garrett. Copies are available from village, when the children used to bring their lunch with them in Jerry could be heard shouting out his arrival as his cart rattled up the Farlington Association, Farlington School, Strood Park, little baskets, and she and her sisters were dressed in black the road from Cowfold – and let’s hope the word ‘fresh’ was part Following this, Farlington entered a period of instability, not Horsham RH12 3PN (price £10 plus £2 postage and packing). stockings and lace-up boots on weekdays – but button boots on helped by a serious fire in 1975. It was not until 1977, when Mrs Sundays. School dress was a white starched pinafore over a of his patter. On winter days the village was also visited on foot Olive Peto arrived from Christ’s Hospital to become Head, that frock, with the starch feeling particularly stiff on scripture by the muffin man, from either Handcross or Horsham, with a it began to regain its status. In spite of the setback of another fire examination days. tray covered in green baize cloth on his head, and a big bell in his hand. in 1979, by 1981 there were 240 pupils and the curriculum had Alice Comber was born in Mill Lane in 1883, and her account of expanded, the first computers were bought and Work Experience a typical Sunday dinner makes remarkable reading. Apparently Alice goes on to tell how her father helped to butcher sheep and introduced. Mrs Peto retired in 1987 leaving a healthy and her father used to suspend a big pot over an open fire, into which pigs for the South Lodge estate, and as a perk the workmen were progressive school to her successor, Mrs Patricia Metham, went maybe a steak pudding, an apple and quince pudding, and allowed to keep part of the offal, together with the odd pig’s although it had taken a while to change the view that Farlington various vegetables – all in separate string bags. (As a special head. Suet was made up and sold to neighbours at 2d per half produced ‘nice girls who would make charming wives for treat he kept by bits of cabbage stalk for the children when they pound, and the family was able to dine on lights, chidlings and successful men’ to ‘charming girls who were capable of being returned from church). When the food was ready the pot was other scraps. But on a less gruesome, more pastoral note, extremely successful in their own right’. moved off the fire and lowered onto boards kept for the purpose dandelions and cowslips were picked from the hedgerows for – the pot was always covered in soot, and the kitchen floor did wine, as well as elderberries, parsnips and marigolds (heaven By 1992, when Trina Mawer became Head, the progress in need a little protection – butter was stirred into the fruit pudding, knows what they tasted like). If any of the local families found academic achievement had been sustained, the school magazine and water was added to the meat to give more gravy. When all themselves short of vegetables, others were ready to help out, had been revived by Mari Wallace and the farm had been started. the food was taken out of the pot, it was filled with water to be and a few swedes would be lobbed over the garden hedge in Trina continued to instigate improvements, both academically heated over the fire for the washing up later. passing. and to the fabric of the school, notably the Simpson Building for Science, the new enlarged Prep School, the Johnson Sports Hall It looks as if father did most of the cooking, and Alice recollects Alice also gives further details about children’s dress. Girls wore and the Sixth Form Centre. The uniform was smartened and the Farlington School, Strood Park, Horsham. that mother was somewhat extravagant with the use of water a calico chemise and drawers, buttoning on to a sleeveless which, remember, had to be drawn by hand from the well. This flannelette bodice, with a red flannel petticoat in winter. was, again, father’s job, and he had to keep the copper full for Pinafores were regularly worn at school, at home and at play, and washing clothes and other household necessities. But mother, to straw hats were also part of a young girl’s dress code. Coats were Review: The Story So Far - London Road Methodist Church be fair, did her bit by fetching further supplies from along the very precious, usually handed down, and carefully looked after. nother excellent local history book has just been published, this time charting the history of the London Road Methodist Church lane in two gallon buckets from a public tap. All this, of course, As we have already seen, boots were de rigeur, and Alice’s from 1832-2007, and timed to celebrate the church’s 175th anniversary in that latter year. The editorial group behind the publi- before mains pipes to individual houses. parents were greatly shocked when her sister came home one day cation consists of Sue Checkland, Audrey Coventry, Judith Parsons, Pam Smith and Margaret White, and much of the work’s appeal wearing shoes, or ‘high-lows’, as they called them. Everyone A Mother may have been reckless with the water, but her daughter was convinced that, even if this young fashion victim had not centres on the fact that it blends personal reminiscences with an interesting and diverse range of pictorial material, much of which is gives her due credit for managing the housekeeping on 13/- per in colour. actually sold her soul to the devil, she was at the very least bound week. This was a time of very tight budgets, when savings to sprain her ankle. It also traces the early history of Methodism in Horsham, and notes that the first written evidence appears in the 18th century diaries schemes with their in-built discipline were an essential part of of John Baker, who rented Park House for a while. His entry for 7 February 1776 records that a minister named Woodgate came from household management. And so there were regular payments set Pennies and half pennies could be earned for running errands, London and preached ‘at a sort of barn near Mr Dawsons’. Also Thomas Mann’s original application to be licenced as a preacher, again aside for the doctor’s club, the clothing club, an insurance and they were all destined for the boot-money box. But each dated 1776, still survives and is in the West Sussex County Record Office. scheme – and 6d was regularly put into a box for extra winter Saturday saw one farthing in pocket money dished out, which coal (with another saving made for ‘cordwood money’). apparently went a long way at the local sweet counter. The book establishes that Mann’s early congregations met at Hamper’s Barn, attached to a farm house of the same name, and still there Leonardslee and South Lodge were the two big local estates, and behind Horsham station. The locality was once part of Horsham Common, but is now, of course, pretty much built up. there were donations from them as well, together with whatever As for the boys, long cotton or flannelette shirts were tucked well fallen timber could be rescued from the surrounding forest. into knee length trousers, and as they grew older they graduated But it was not until the 1820s-1830s that Methodism really took off in Sussex, and in 1832 a chapel was built in London Road, on land to long trousers, held up with braces, together with well- purchased by a supporter named Kate Ireland. Then in 1883, to cater for greater numbers, a larger building was opened on the same buttoned waistcoats, jackets and caps. Turned-down stiff site, and this is the one we know today. collars and bow ties were also the order of the day, while the menfolk sported neckerchiefs and corduroy trousers I have a particularly soft spot for the London Road church, as my grandfather was one of its leading on working days, and if it rained they made do with a lights in the first half of the 20th century. He was a lay preacher and keen athlete, and held gymnas- sack over the shoulders. But stiff collars and long ties tic classes for both boys and girls in the 1920s. The youngsters created elaborate tableaux, and put were the thing on Sundays. Starch must have been an on displays both in the Wesley Hall and sometimes in the gardens of private houses; there are still a essential part of the household shopping list, and good few Horshamites left to reminiscence about those early days, I am pleased to say. apparently it was mixed with borax to give a good gloss The book rightly features lots of group photographs, emphasising the importance of all those people to those unyielding collars. who formed the church’s congregation over the years, but if I had one minor quibble it is that because And what about the games they played? The young ones of the small scale of the reproductions, it is sometimes difficult to make out some of the detail. My delighted in Ring-a-Ring-of-Roses, Kiss-in-the-Ring, trusty magnifying glass was brought into play more than once, in order to identify some of the faces. Hide-and-Seek, Poor Sally, the Farmer and the Dog, I But that apart, this is a most useful initiative by the Methodist Church, and everyone involved deserves Sent a Letter and Nuts in May. As they got older iron congratulations. Copies can be bought, at a very reasonable £6 each, at Horsham Museum. BS hoops ‘with skids’ were popular, as was hop scotch – and for the girls, that good old Sussex game of stoolball, Also note that there will be an exhibition, centred around this book and the history of while the boys enjoyed kite flying and balancing on stilts. Methodism, in Horsham Library between 11-29 February. Not a computer screen in sight – never even dreamed of. Mill Lane, Lower Beeding c.1902. 12 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 13

‘after seeing her so happy and full of go at the Fete only the day before’. The Farlington story Edith, the younger sister, was born in 1896, y 1860 women outnumbered men to the extent that one in Rosemary Young joined the school, but later married Alice’s and South Lodge had been entirely rebuilt four was unlikely to find a husband. Men had been lost to widower, the Rev GS Provis, and, as a married woman, could no by her father 13 years earlier, in 1883. The war and emigration, and there were those who preferred being longer work outside the home. Due to worry concerning the Bolderos had lived there previously, in a B bachelors. But if women had no skills, no eduction and no general economic health of the country, school admissions long, low house, and memories of that husbands to keep them, how could they support themselves? suffered – but Farlington relied on its Old Girls. The entire intake earlier time had been passed to Edith by Upper class ladies became governesses, but it was often a lonely for 1933 consisted of daughters, sisters and cousins of former Mrs Cavaye of Birchenbridge, whose step- and poorly paid occupation. Some of these ladies became pupils. mother (a Boldero) had been there before educational pioneers and these women were to form the her marriage. The Godmans thought that backbone of the private school system for girls in the latter part World War II signalled a new era for Farlington. Isabel Moberly an even earlier building on the site of the 19th century. Farlington is just one example of this system. invited Effie Simpson, who had been a pupil at Farlington, to actually represented a ‘south lodge’ associ- take charge of the Junior School and the first air raid precautions ated with St Leonard’s Forest, and another In the 1890s the Buller sisters, Edith and Mary, set up a school began to be taken. The lease on Little Farlington expired and the family tale was that the wife of a one-time in leased premises in Haywards Heath. Then J Longley built building was relinquished. By 1940 it was decided to evacuate to owner of Leonardslee was a lively social- them a school on a greenfield site in 1896, which they named Monckton Farleigh in Wiltshire. This sojourn did not last long as Leonardslee. ite, in contrast to her husband, who was a Farlington House after the village of Farlington near Portsmouth Effie Simpson discovered that the house was sited over an old bit of a recluse, and in order to get some where the Bullers’ parents were buried. It was designed as a stone mine which the Army had been using secretly as a store for William Harrison was born a little later, in the 1890s, and he tells peace and quiet the latter established a base across the road at family school with an emphasis on Christian teaching for a explosives! of the local boot maker, a Mr Pooley, making a pair of South Lodge, slipping over there as often as he could, in order to maximum of 16 girls. Two years later when Edith became workman’s boots for 10/-, which sounds quite a lot, as William get away from it all. seriously ill the school passed to the Moberly family; widowed The return to Haywards Heath initiated many changes. Effie also says that the average weekly wage was between 16/- and Mrs Esther Moberly, her two elder daughters, Isabel and Simpson became vice-principal in 1940. Discipline became But back to Edith and Eva, and firmer ground. From their 18/-. Many of the folk who lived in Lower Beeding’s Mill Lane Charlotte, who became joint principals, and her youngest more relaxed as numbers fell and the relationship between the childhood the girls remembered all manner of animals being kept worked as gardeners at South Lodge or Leonardslee, and lived in daughter Alice, aged 16, who became a pupil. Term began on 22 girls and the younger staff became less formal. Girls were also at Leonardslee. It was, to quote Edith, ‘quite a zoo’. We have all tied houses along the lane, and a whole gang of their children September 1898 with 15 girls. Both the Bullers and the Moberlys required to do domestic work and to grow vegetables as so many heard stories about the wallabies there (and about escaped went to the local school. Classes ran from 9 am to 4 pm, and then were very religious and the school ethic reflected their High staff had been called up. Isabel Moberly retired after 50 years of animals in the woods as well – but has anyone actually seen it was home to help in the garden, but no work on Sundays – just Church views. teaching and Effie Simpson became headmistress. By the end of Sunday school. one?), but apparently there were also beavers, kangaroos, emus, the war school pupil numbers had begun to expand again. By rheas and brush turkeys. Capibaras were stocked to provide fur The Moberlys were capable and dedicated and the school 1948 there were 120 pupils and it began to be obvious that larger There was a strong local cricket team that played at Selehurst, for coats, and around the private cricket ground prairie dogs expanded. By 1901 a junior department, Little Farlington, had premises were needed. and also a good village choir. The organist, a Horsham man, went popped in and out of their burrows. Heaven knows what a been added and the pupils numbered 27 seniors and 18 juniors or by the appropriate and wonderful name of Percy Thunder, and he visiting out-field made of it all. ‘babies’. Charlotte, Mrs Moberly to the girls and Tina to her At the end of 1955 the lease at Haywards Heath expired and it cycled out to Plummer’s Plain twice on Sundays and once during family, was not strong and gradually Isabel took over the running was decided to move the school to the estate at Strood Park, the week for choir practice. But if anyone from the village of the school together with her mother. At this time there was no Horsham. This took a week over the Christmas holidays, but wanted to get to Horsham on a Saturday they generally walked, pretence of being academic. No one was supposed to need a conditions in the new building took until the summer to sort out. of course, and it was worth hanging about the town until the career so there was an emphasis on ‘drawing room’ aspects of However in 1956 the school celebrated 60 years of existence and evening, when the butcher’s was about to close, for bargain cuts education and voluntary good works – although in 1903 Annie Effie Simpson used the occasion to launch an appeal for an of meat. If you got your timing right you could get a leg of Betts passed her London Matriculation and went on to gain a outdoor swimming pool, which was completed in 1957. mutton for just 2/-. B.Sc. from London University in 1906. Isabel Moberly died in 1959 and the 1960s began a greater Produce was also sold by the cottagers, and practically every Due to pressure of applications to the school, the junior school awareness of the need for education for girls. Under Effie Lower Beeding garden had one or more cherry trees. July was a closed in 1913 and Little Farlington became a dormitory annexe. Simpson’s guidance, Farlington embraced this. Although Beaver busy month for picking, and people came from miles around to All pupils were now aged 13 and over. Farlington remained worship remained an integral part of daily life, by 1965 the buy the fruit at 2d the pound. genteel and old fashioned, the essence of Edwardian England, even though conditions Finally, let us turn to Edith Godman, who with her sister Eva was Edith remembered that Plummer’s Plain had little housing on it remained fairly spartan, with no electricity and the daughter of Frederick Ducane and Dame Alice Godman of in her youth, and she tells of the two girls walking with their little heating apart from open fires. The event South Lodge. Dame Alice was famous for her work with the Red nanny up to what she calls South Plain to buy lace for the collars of the Great War did nothing to improve Cross, and her husband was a great naturalist. Neither of their of their overalls. They were fascinated ‘to see Mrs Hobbs matters, bringing strict food rationing. Gradual daughters married, and Eva, tragically, was killed outside the making it on a round pillow with its bobbins dangling from the changes began to take place in the academic Lodge on 15 July 1964, aged 70, while crossing the main pins’. Again she talks of a grand cypress tree by the Plummer’s life of the school, particularly after the Cowfold road to the post office. The whole village was shattered Plain fork in the road, just up from South Lodge and by the introduction of the School Certificate in 1917, by the event, particularly – as the parish magazine reported – Round House; in his time her father used to find it most handy as and by 1924 everyone in Class 1 took the he practiced turning skills in his four-in-hand, with Oxford School Certificate Examination and tighter and tighter circles around the noble trunk. six gained their certificates, one with Honours But we have dipped enough into the Lower Beeding and three with Distinction. bran tub for now. Thanks to all those folk – all now The lease on Farlington House was renewed in long gone – for having recorded their memories: our 1925 and many improvements were made, knowledge of the village in the late 19th century would particularly in the Chapel. (The stained glass be all the poorer without them. window of the Virgin and the Lily, given at this time by Charlotte Moberly, moved with the Special thanks to Jean Black for the photo of Frank school in 1956 and is now installed in the and Annie Worsfold, her maternal grandparents, Studio at Strood Park). Sadly, in 1929 Isabel and for other local pictures. lost both her mother and her sister, Alice. Miss Farlington House, Haywards Heath. Beware of prairie dogs. 12 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 13

‘after seeing her so happy and full of go at the Fete only the day before’. The Farlington story Edith, the younger sister, was born in 1896, y 1860 women outnumbered men to the extent that one in Rosemary Young joined the school, but later married Alice’s and South Lodge had been entirely rebuilt four was unlikely to find a husband. Men had been lost to widower, the Rev GS Provis, and, as a married woman, could no by her father 13 years earlier, in 1883. The war and emigration, and there were those who preferred being longer work outside the home. Due to worry concerning the Bolderos had lived there previously, in a B bachelors. But if women had no skills, no eduction and no general economic health of the country, school admissions long, low house, and memories of that husbands to keep them, how could they support themselves? suffered – but Farlington relied on its Old Girls. The entire intake earlier time had been passed to Edith by Upper class ladies became governesses, but it was often a lonely for 1933 consisted of daughters, sisters and cousins of former Mrs Cavaye of Birchenbridge, whose step- and poorly paid occupation. Some of these ladies became pupils. mother (a Boldero) had been there before educational pioneers and these women were to form the her marriage. The Godmans thought that backbone of the private school system for girls in the latter part World War II signalled a new era for Farlington. Isabel Moberly an even earlier building on the site of the 19th century. Farlington is just one example of this system. invited Effie Simpson, who had been a pupil at Farlington, to actually represented a ‘south lodge’ associ- take charge of the Junior School and the first air raid precautions ated with St Leonard’s Forest, and another In the 1890s the Buller sisters, Edith and Mary, set up a school began to be taken. The lease on Little Farlington expired and the family tale was that the wife of a one-time in leased premises in Haywards Heath. Then J Longley built building was relinquished. By 1940 it was decided to evacuate to owner of Leonardslee was a lively social- them a school on a greenfield site in 1896, which they named Monckton Farleigh in Wiltshire. This sojourn did not last long as Leonardslee. ite, in contrast to her husband, who was a Farlington House after the village of Farlington near Portsmouth Effie Simpson discovered that the house was sited over an old bit of a recluse, and in order to get some where the Bullers’ parents were buried. It was designed as a stone mine which the Army had been using secretly as a store for William Harrison was born a little later, in the 1890s, and he tells peace and quiet the latter established a base across the road at family school with an emphasis on Christian teaching for a explosives! of the local boot maker, a Mr Pooley, making a pair of South Lodge, slipping over there as often as he could, in order to maximum of 16 girls. Two years later when Edith became workman’s boots for 10/-, which sounds quite a lot, as William get away from it all. seriously ill the school passed to the Moberly family; widowed The return to Haywards Heath initiated many changes. Effie also says that the average weekly wage was between 16/- and Mrs Esther Moberly, her two elder daughters, Isabel and Simpson became vice-principal in 1940. Discipline became But back to Edith and Eva, and firmer ground. From their 18/-. Many of the folk who lived in Lower Beeding’s Mill Lane Charlotte, who became joint principals, and her youngest more relaxed as numbers fell and the relationship between the childhood the girls remembered all manner of animals being kept worked as gardeners at South Lodge or Leonardslee, and lived in daughter Alice, aged 16, who became a pupil. Term began on 22 girls and the younger staff became less formal. Girls were also at Leonardslee. It was, to quote Edith, ‘quite a zoo’. We have all tied houses along the lane, and a whole gang of their children September 1898 with 15 girls. Both the Bullers and the Moberlys required to do domestic work and to grow vegetables as so many heard stories about the wallabies there (and about escaped went to the local school. Classes ran from 9 am to 4 pm, and then were very religious and the school ethic reflected their High staff had been called up. Isabel Moberly retired after 50 years of animals in the woods as well – but has anyone actually seen it was home to help in the garden, but no work on Sundays – just Church views. teaching and Effie Simpson became headmistress. By the end of Sunday school. one?), but apparently there were also beavers, kangaroos, emus, the war school pupil numbers had begun to expand again. By rheas and brush turkeys. Capibaras were stocked to provide fur The Moberlys were capable and dedicated and the school 1948 there were 120 pupils and it began to be obvious that larger There was a strong local cricket team that played at Selehurst, for coats, and around the private cricket ground prairie dogs expanded. By 1901 a junior department, Little Farlington, had premises were needed. and also a good village choir. The organist, a Horsham man, went popped in and out of their burrows. Heaven knows what a been added and the pupils numbered 27 seniors and 18 juniors or by the appropriate and wonderful name of Percy Thunder, and he visiting out-field made of it all. ‘babies’. Charlotte, Mrs Moberly to the girls and Tina to her At the end of 1955 the lease at Haywards Heath expired and it cycled out to Plummer’s Plain twice on Sundays and once during family, was not strong and gradually Isabel took over the running was decided to move the school to the estate at Strood Park, the week for choir practice. But if anyone from the village of the school together with her mother. At this time there was no Horsham. This took a week over the Christmas holidays, but wanted to get to Horsham on a Saturday they generally walked, pretence of being academic. No one was supposed to need a conditions in the new building took until the summer to sort out. of course, and it was worth hanging about the town until the career so there was an emphasis on ‘drawing room’ aspects of However in 1956 the school celebrated 60 years of existence and evening, when the butcher’s was about to close, for bargain cuts education and voluntary good works – although in 1903 Annie Effie Simpson used the occasion to launch an appeal for an of meat. If you got your timing right you could get a leg of Betts passed her London Matriculation and went on to gain a outdoor swimming pool, which was completed in 1957. mutton for just 2/-. B.Sc. from London University in 1906. Isabel Moberly died in 1959 and the 1960s began a greater Produce was also sold by the cottagers, and practically every Due to pressure of applications to the school, the junior school awareness of the need for education for girls. Under Effie Lower Beeding garden had one or more cherry trees. July was a closed in 1913 and Little Farlington became a dormitory annexe. Simpson’s guidance, Farlington embraced this. Although Beaver busy month for picking, and people came from miles around to All pupils were now aged 13 and over. Farlington remained worship remained an integral part of daily life, by 1965 the buy the fruit at 2d the pound. genteel and old fashioned, the essence of Edwardian England, even though conditions Finally, let us turn to Edith Godman, who with her sister Eva was Edith remembered that Plummer’s Plain had little housing on it remained fairly spartan, with no electricity and the daughter of Frederick Ducane and Dame Alice Godman of in her youth, and she tells of the two girls walking with their little heating apart from open fires. The event South Lodge. Dame Alice was famous for her work with the Red nanny up to what she calls South Plain to buy lace for the collars of the Great War did nothing to improve Cross, and her husband was a great naturalist. Neither of their of their overalls. They were fascinated ‘to see Mrs Hobbs matters, bringing strict food rationing. Gradual daughters married, and Eva, tragically, was killed outside the making it on a round pillow with its bobbins dangling from the changes began to take place in the academic Lodge on 15 July 1964, aged 70, while crossing the main pins’. Again she talks of a grand cypress tree by the Plummer’s life of the school, particularly after the Cowfold road to the post office. The whole village was shattered Plain fork in the road, just up from South Lodge and by the introduction of the School Certificate in 1917, by the event, particularly – as the parish magazine reported – Round House; in his time her father used to find it most handy as and by 1924 everyone in Class 1 took the he practiced turning skills in his four-in-hand, with Oxford School Certificate Examination and tighter and tighter circles around the noble trunk. six gained their certificates, one with Honours But we have dipped enough into the Lower Beeding and three with Distinction. bran tub for now. Thanks to all those folk – all now The lease on Farlington House was renewed in long gone – for having recorded their memories: our 1925 and many improvements were made, knowledge of the village in the late 19th century would particularly in the Chapel. (The stained glass be all the poorer without them. window of the Virgin and the Lily, given at this time by Charlotte Moberly, moved with the Special thanks to Jean Black for the photo of Frank school in 1956 and is now installed in the and Annie Worsfold, her maternal grandparents, Studio at Strood Park). Sadly, in 1929 Isabel and for other local pictures. lost both her mother and her sister, Alice. Miss Farlington House, Haywards Heath. Beware of prairie dogs. 14 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 11

Farlington Educational Trust had been formed under the curriculum expanded to provide a broad educational spectrum. Writing in 1964, Frank Worsfold went on to tell how he married (Such initiative was no longer a hanging or transportation chairmanship of Bryn Smyth-Tyrell, the father of three Farlington is still thriving and improving, and following Trina’s a local girl, Annie, and they had three sons and one daughter, to offence). Farlington girls. This put the school on a firmer business footing retirement in 2006, is now in the competent hands of Jonnie be followed in due course by two granddaughters and one and allowed development in response to the new demands for Goyer. grandson. Frank died in 1975, but I am pleased to say that the There was always the chance of some fish as well, up from Brighton on a ‘trotting pony and two-wheeled cart’. Jerry Collins girls’ education. Another innovation was the formation of the Rita Monk family is still flourishing locally. Farlington School Parent Teacher Association, raising money for was the man, and he would sell you between twenty and forty herrings for the price of one shilling. Mackerel, at 1d each, were school equipment and organising social events. Effie Simpson This information is taken from the Farlington School Centenary A lady called M Sayers remembers her early schooldays in the more of a luxury, but winkles and shrimps were also on board. continued as Head until her retirement in 1971. Book, compiled by Elizabeth Garrett. Copies are available from village, when the children used to bring their lunch with them in Jerry could be heard shouting out his arrival as his cart rattled up the Farlington Association, Farlington School, Strood Park, little baskets, and she and her sisters were dressed in black the road from Cowfold – and let’s hope the word ‘fresh’ was part Following this, Farlington entered a period of instability, not Horsham RH12 3PN (price £10 plus £2 postage and packing). stockings and lace-up boots on weekdays – but button boots on helped by a serious fire in 1975. It was not until 1977, when Mrs Sundays. School dress was a white starched pinafore over a of his patter. On winter days the village was also visited on foot Olive Peto arrived from Christ’s Hospital to become Head, that frock, with the starch feeling particularly stiff on scripture by the muffin man, from either Handcross or Horsham, with a it began to regain its status. In spite of the setback of another fire examination days. tray covered in green baize cloth on his head, and a big bell in his hand. in 1979, by 1981 there were 240 pupils and the curriculum had Alice Comber was born in Mill Lane in 1883, and her account of expanded, the first computers were bought and Work Experience a typical Sunday dinner makes remarkable reading. Apparently Alice goes on to tell how her father helped to butcher sheep and introduced. Mrs Peto retired in 1987 leaving a healthy and her father used to suspend a big pot over an open fire, into which pigs for the South Lodge estate, and as a perk the workmen were progressive school to her successor, Mrs Patricia Metham, went maybe a steak pudding, an apple and quince pudding, and allowed to keep part of the offal, together with the odd pig’s although it had taken a while to change the view that Farlington various vegetables – all in separate string bags. (As a special head. Suet was made up and sold to neighbours at 2d per half produced ‘nice girls who would make charming wives for treat he kept by bits of cabbage stalk for the children when they pound, and the family was able to dine on lights, chidlings and successful men’ to ‘charming girls who were capable of being returned from church). When the food was ready the pot was other scraps. But on a less gruesome, more pastoral note, extremely successful in their own right’. moved off the fire and lowered onto boards kept for the purpose dandelions and cowslips were picked from the hedgerows for – the pot was always covered in soot, and the kitchen floor did wine, as well as elderberries, parsnips and marigolds (heaven By 1992, when Trina Mawer became Head, the progress in need a little protection – butter was stirred into the fruit pudding, knows what they tasted like). If any of the local families found academic achievement had been sustained, the school magazine and water was added to the meat to give more gravy. When all themselves short of vegetables, others were ready to help out, had been revived by Mari Wallace and the farm had been started. the food was taken out of the pot, it was filled with water to be and a few swedes would be lobbed over the garden hedge in Trina continued to instigate improvements, both academically heated over the fire for the washing up later. passing. and to the fabric of the school, notably the Simpson Building for Science, the new enlarged Prep School, the Johnson Sports Hall It looks as if father did most of the cooking, and Alice recollects Alice also gives further details about children’s dress. Girls wore and the Sixth Form Centre. The uniform was smartened and the Farlington School, Strood Park, Horsham. that mother was somewhat extravagant with the use of water a calico chemise and drawers, buttoning on to a sleeveless which, remember, had to be drawn by hand from the well. This flannelette bodice, with a red flannel petticoat in winter. was, again, father’s job, and he had to keep the copper full for Pinafores were regularly worn at school, at home and at play, and washing clothes and other household necessities. But mother, to straw hats were also part of a young girl’s dress code. Coats were Review: The Story So Far - London Road Methodist Church be fair, did her bit by fetching further supplies from along the very precious, usually handed down, and carefully looked after. nother excellent local history book has just been published, this time charting the history of the London Road Methodist Church lane in two gallon buckets from a public tap. All this, of course, As we have already seen, boots were de rigeur, and Alice’s from 1832-2007, and timed to celebrate the church’s 175th anniversary in that latter year. The editorial group behind the publi- before mains pipes to individual houses. parents were greatly shocked when her sister came home one day cation consists of Sue Checkland, Audrey Coventry, Judith Parsons, Pam Smith and Margaret White, and much of the work’s appeal wearing shoes, or ‘high-lows’, as they called them. Everyone A Mother may have been reckless with the water, but her daughter was convinced that, even if this young fashion victim had not centres on the fact that it blends personal reminiscences with an interesting and diverse range of pictorial material, much of which is gives her due credit for managing the housekeeping on 13/- per in colour. actually sold her soul to the devil, she was at the very least bound week. This was a time of very tight budgets, when savings to sprain her ankle. It also traces the early history of Methodism in Horsham, and notes that the first written evidence appears in the 18th century diaries schemes with their in-built discipline were an essential part of of John Baker, who rented Park House for a while. His entry for 7 February 1776 records that a minister named Woodgate came from household management. And so there were regular payments set Pennies and half pennies could be earned for running errands, London and preached ‘at a sort of barn near Mr Dawsons’. Also Thomas Mann’s original application to be licenced as a preacher, again aside for the doctor’s club, the clothing club, an insurance and they were all destined for the boot-money box. But each dated 1776, still survives and is in the West Sussex County Record Office. scheme – and 6d was regularly put into a box for extra winter Saturday saw one farthing in pocket money dished out, which coal (with another saving made for ‘cordwood money’). apparently went a long way at the local sweet counter. The book establishes that Mann’s early congregations met at Hamper’s Barn, attached to a farm house of the same name, and still there Leonardslee and South Lodge were the two big local estates, and behind Horsham station. The locality was once part of Horsham Common, but is now, of course, pretty much built up. there were donations from them as well, together with whatever As for the boys, long cotton or flannelette shirts were tucked well fallen timber could be rescued from the surrounding forest. into knee length trousers, and as they grew older they graduated But it was not until the 1820s-1830s that Methodism really took off in Sussex, and in 1832 a chapel was built in London Road, on land to long trousers, held up with braces, together with well- purchased by a supporter named Kate Ireland. Then in 1883, to cater for greater numbers, a larger building was opened on the same buttoned waistcoats, jackets and caps. Turned-down stiff site, and this is the one we know today. collars and bow ties were also the order of the day, while the menfolk sported neckerchiefs and corduroy trousers I have a particularly soft spot for the London Road church, as my grandfather was one of its leading on working days, and if it rained they made do with a lights in the first half of the 20th century. He was a lay preacher and keen athlete, and held gymnas- sack over the shoulders. But stiff collars and long ties tic classes for both boys and girls in the 1920s. The youngsters created elaborate tableaux, and put were the thing on Sundays. Starch must have been an on displays both in the Wesley Hall and sometimes in the gardens of private houses; there are still a essential part of the household shopping list, and good few Horshamites left to reminiscence about those early days, I am pleased to say. apparently it was mixed with borax to give a good gloss The book rightly features lots of group photographs, emphasising the importance of all those people to those unyielding collars. who formed the church’s congregation over the years, but if I had one minor quibble it is that because And what about the games they played? The young ones of the small scale of the reproductions, it is sometimes difficult to make out some of the detail. My delighted in Ring-a-Ring-of-Roses, Kiss-in-the-Ring, trusty magnifying glass was brought into play more than once, in order to identify some of the faces. Hide-and-Seek, Poor Sally, the Farmer and the Dog, I But that apart, this is a most useful initiative by the Methodist Church, and everyone involved deserves Sent a Letter and Nuts in May. As they got older iron congratulations. Copies can be bought, at a very reasonable £6 each, at Horsham Museum. BS hoops ‘with skids’ were popular, as was hop scotch – and for the girls, that good old Sussex game of stoolball, Also note that there will be an exhibition, centred around this book and the history of while the boys enjoyed kite flying and balancing on stilts. Methodism, in Horsham Library between 11-29 February. Not a computer screen in sight – never even dreamed of. Mill Lane, Lower Beeding c.1902. 10 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 The Horsham Society Newsletter February 2008 15