Childhood Memories of

By John Ernest Storton (1909-2003)

Written in 1989

I was born 27th October 1909 in a brick built house in the small village of "Hatch". My father was born at Brook End just nearby and my mother in Waterloo Row, Hitchin Street, . The Storton’s father line are old Sandy people, also on my mother’s side the Barley’s are a well-known Biggleswade family. Father’s side worked on the land as labourers, horse keepers, stockmen or small holders. My mother’s, the men worked in breweries and the girls in domestic service.

When I was a small child I had rickets and had a stay in South Wing Hospital, (they say that it is caused by under nourishment), my brother Joe carried me to school for a time, to School about a mile from our home in Hatch, when I was five years old. On May Day we joined in dancing round maypole. They still cerebrate May Day today and the procession still starts from Northill School. In my time they rode on a trolley drawn by Mr Marsom’s horse, which was all decorated up with ribbons and paper flowers.

We left our home in Hatch in 1914 to move to 62 Water End, Cople, because our father went to work as horsekeeper to Mr John Franklin, Hoo Farm, Cople, but he had to go into the army, Beds & Herts Regiment, when the First World War started in August 1914. During the war Mr Shuttleworth, who owned the houses, let the families whose fathers were serving in the forces live rent free and when the time came for them to be demobbed the rent was only one shilling a week.

Our home was a four roomed terrace cottage made of brick and had a tiled roof, it also had a large front room where you had your meals. The fire grate had an oven also a hot water tank on one side with a tap on it. There was a kitchen with a larder cupboard, a stairhold cupboard to keep brushes in, also shoes, cleaning materials and other things you used. The kitchen also had a dresser to keep crockery on, then there was a sink made of yellow stone, it was about 2 feet 6 inches wide, 18 inches long and 4 inches deep. The copper was in the corner near to where the grate was, so that the smoke from each fire used the one chimney. It was all hand washing for the ladies and ironing was done with a flat iron, heated in front of the front room fire. The water was drawn from two wells, with a bucket and well hook, one well was hard water for drinking and cooking, the other was soft for washing and cleaning. There were two bedrooms each big enough to take two three quarter size beds, the back room had a cupboard for the linen and your best clothes. They were warm houses and most had big families in them. There were nine children in ours, but when us boys got to the age of 16 we went into lodgings, also at the age of 14 the girls went into domestic service until they got married.

Our family all went to Cople School. There was an infant teacher who had a learner aged about 16-18. The children in their classes were aged 5 to 7. In the big room there were 4 classes numbered 3 to 6. These were taught by the Head Teacher Mrs Stacey, who had a single lady teacher to help with the lower classes. When we first got to school it

1 was a hymn and prayer before we started lessons, also the register was read and marked each day.

At school we had concerts which we all partook in, sometimes it would be a negro play, or one of all sorts of tradesmen. They were held in the evening so our parents could come and watch.

As a child I ran errands for the neighbours, like fetching milk for them from Barnards before going to school, also taking shoes to the cobbler in Cardington to be mended and fetching coal for people. On Saturdays I went to a house to clean shoes, chop wood for the fire lighting and clean the hen house out. Theirs was a family of grown up sons and they put money in a box for to buy me clothes and-shoes. I remember it so well, also they had me sit at the dining table with them. My favourite pudding was a light steam one cooked in a basin with jam or treacle in the bottom of the basin, so when it was turned out the stuff ran all over it.

On Good Fridays when we were going home we had to pass Cople House which was built in the likeness of Dog Farm, Octagon and Middle Farms, of light coloured bricks and slate roofs. They each had plenty of outbuildings and also lots of acres of land. Old lady Barnard would be at the gate sitting at a table with a tray of hot cross buns also six pennies and if the boy saluted or the girl curtsied she gave them a bun and money.

When I was a child there were about six types of houses in Cople, thatched, tiled and pebble-dashed ones, small brick typed cottages in twos joined together also there were five slate roofed ones in Willington Road, three joined together and the other two. Then there were the Duke of Bedford’s type, brick built with tile roofs, these were in rows of various numbers such as threes, fives and sixes some had porches in the front. The end houses of the rows had three bedrooms but the others had two up and down rooms. The pebble dashed ones were tall with tiled roofs in twos or threes joined together, these were sited in Willington Road and were occupied by, No 1 Mr Jimmy Nott a small holder and hawker of vegetables, No 2 Trot Hart a labourer and No 3 Miss Arms, who kept a shop selling wool, cottons and all kinds of oddments and sweets. Nearly all the thatched ones were in or near Water End, some single ones, twos and a block of three. Several are still lived in.

Mark Young’s estate in our district went from Grange Farm Cople and included Octagon Farm. Both these reached the Cardington boundaries, Octagon joined up with Willington over the railway line. There were crossings at Church Row, Willington, also at Octagon Farm, Cople was divided by a spinney known as Pychle and a hedge which went from the top end of Pork Lane, Cople to the boundary of Octagon Farm up to the River Ouse, near to the Castle Mill, Goldington. Barnard’s estate stretched from Water End Cople to Pychle. Their last field was Fan Close which ran up to Cardington, there is a public footpath which runs through it from Grange Lane to Water End. The Grange Lane end is the sports field with the pavilion backing on to Fan Close. This is the end where the car park is. There used to be a pond in the right hand corner, but has been filled in, this field runs at the back of a lot of privately owned bungalows to the edge of the cemetery with a road parting them that leads to the community hall and playing field area, a change for the better.

2 COPLE SCHOOL 1914-1923 & 1989

BUILT 1879

The first I can remember about it, there were six classes, one for infants in the room next to the girls cloakroom, this was from the road playground for the girls and infants. A Miss Quenby and an assistant taught the infants 5-7, there was a door that led to the main classroom. Mrs Stacey was the Head Teacher for many years, she had one lady under her who taught classes two and three. A Miss Waggood, from Bedford, then an Irish lady a Miss O'Callagan. The under teachers were changed often, the head taught classes four, five and six.

Rosamond Saunders was the top of class six girls and Walter Hartwell the boys. The boys playground was at the top end of the school a side-road led to it and there was some land next to the playground which the boys had plots to grow vegetables on during the First World War. The girls knitted socks, mittens and scarfs for the troops also we went blackberrying to make jam for them. We were taught to read and write and to do sums, we did history, geography, poetry study, the bible and singing.

Every morning we started with a hymn and prayers.

Just after the harvest holidays we started to practice for our yearly Christmas concert which was held just before we broke up for Christmas holidays. Our parents were invited to it. We received our prizes for our years’ work then, I did get a book named "Noodles". The leaving school age was fourteen years at end of term summer or Christmas. During Harvest holidays most of the older boys got jobs on the farms, like driving the horse and cart from each shock as the heaps of corn sheaves were known, they also helped at the threshing like keeping the cavings clear or with the chaff which was bagged up to feed the horses or cattle.

When I was very young I did bird scaring keeping them away from brussel or cabbage seed by hitting a piece of tin or shouting, this I did for Mr Underwood, Grange Farm, Cople.

When the boys left school most got jobs on the farms some did apprentice to carpentry, engineering or in grocery shops. Most of the girls went into domestic service as housemaids, others into sewing factories or training to be teachers or nurses.

When Cardington Camp started up by making parachutes they employed lots making and packing them. During the First and Second World Wars lots of the ladies worked on the land, hence came the name Woman’s’ Land Army, they did a grand job then. It was through them that potatoes were packed into half-hundred weight bags instead of 112lb sacks as the smaller ones were easier for them to lift and load up for selling.

COPLE VILLAGE - PAST AND PRESENT

Taking a stroll through the village of Cople brought back many childhood memories of over seventy five years. The first place I saw coming into the village was Octagon Farm that was farmed by Mr Charlie Hall in the year 1920. It has changed hands twice, first to Mr Mark Young, then to Beds Council as a smallholding as it is today.

3 Then I came to Dog Farm which, when I was a boy was farmed by Mr Prudden, then by his son, but now has been split up to different people, even the house is separated from the farm.

Next I came to the Toll House, if that could speak would it not be able to tell a few tales as this is where the coaches turned up to go to Shefford, then on to London from Great North Road. They changed horses at Pork Lane, Cople on both ways. The lane is still there but the farm house has been pulled down. The Toll House is the same at the front, but has been modernised at the rear. The first tenant I remember was Mrs Devonshire, a real nice lady, who used to sell mineral waters and wore a black bonnet.

Leaving there I went by a spinney, it looked just the same as when I was a child. On the path side were a lot of crab apples on the ground so you could tell it had been left wild, on the opposite side of the road are a lot of private houses kept very nice. Just by the spinney was a house that was built to house the village policeman, but that is a thing of the past. It is now a private house. Next I came to the council houses I believe there were six, a bit further on there are some more, these were all built at the end of the village before any private ones and even now they are built away from self-owned houses.

All Saints Road on the right is all privately owned houses, the next side road is The Crescent where the other council houses are, including old people’s bungalows where many of my old school pals live now.

Opposite is Mr Saunder’s market garden and farmers house, he must be one of the oldest inhabitants of Cople as he left school in the First World War at the age of twelve to work to work for his dad. He now owns a lot of land in Cople also another farm and houses, even the one I was brought up in down Water End. That part of the Village seems to be kept very tidy and is a mixture of modern and older houses, like the one that had a tin roof, it looks nearly the same, also the Post office houses with its little seats in the porch where the post box was. When I think back it was run by Mr and Mrs Baldwin, whose. son emigrated to Australia, like the Ellis's and two sons of the Keep’s, I hope they progressed well.

The conker trees and wall are still near the Church, also the building where the bier to carry the coffins to the churchyard, and it is still in good condition. Opposite, the school where I spent eight years still looks the same with the iron railings and playground, it is for under tens now, but we finished schooling there at fourteen years of age and all pupils I knew have turned out to be good citizens and hard workers, a credit to their teachers.

On the corner is the Five Bells. It looks quite posh now with a good car park and seems to do a good trade, it being the only Public House in the village now. When I was a child a Mr & Mrs Nichols ran it and he was also a builder and carpenter, they made the coffins for the village. There were wooden buildings on the left and back of the pub. I remember a field at the back with a steam engine to drive a big saw to cut logs into planks. Mr Nichols drove a Ford car with a dicky where two more passengers could ride in, it is a long time since-seeing one like it. The pub has changed hands many times since then.

4 Across the road is the old forge house which was owned by a Mr Tiny Hart, the blacksmith Freddy Wheeler was always kept busy, as farms were tilled by horse drawn implements and all crops carted home by them. What a difference today with tractors, lorries and combines using a lot less labour. I remember when a lad taking cattle to Bedford Market, when passing the blacksmiths shop one beast went in and got stuck between two doors as these were on the skew and close together, so I had to climb over a tall fence so to make it back out. The forge has been taken over to make a petrol and car sale garage by Mr Clare a well-known racing driver.

A house next door has changed hands several times in my life time, but has not been altered in appearance, next came some brick and tiled houses like the Duke of Bedford was noted for, these used to be let to Estate workers. The first to a hedge cutter Mr Burridge whose family have lived in it as long as I can remember, the next one was rented by Mr Hartwell the gravedigger who lived to a ripe old age of over 100 years. The end house used to be the village bakers for many years, it is a private one now, but it looks nearly the same as it did. The bakers name was Mr Fitch who delivered his bread by horse and cart.

Across the road is a very big house that Mr Nicholls had built after having an old cottage demolished. Next to his house used to be two wooden places, one a bungalow the other was a storage shed, these have all gone and a lot of very nice private houses have been erected in their place. On the other side of the road are still two more rows of old type cottages, the first house was occupied by a Mr Burr the dairyman for the Barnards family, they had a Jersey herd and sold milk to the locals, next to them lived a man called happy Jack, Mr Hartwell, he was a horse keeper at Middle Farm, I remember one day he had taken a mare and foal to Bedford Show, on his way home he was asked how he got on, he replied "highly condemned" really meaning highly commended it sounded so funny at the time.

A Mr Longstaff was his neighbour. He worked in the next village as a cowman but the whole family has now moved away into Bedford to live. One evening while they were sitting in the living room someone fired a shot through the window, lucky for them no one was hurt by it. Mr Chapman, the Barnard’s gardener, lived next door with his school teacher daughter who taught at School. My brother Joe, stockman at Hoo Farm, lived in this cottage for many years, these have very big gardens at the rear, also a drive in the back. The next three houses, one was occupied by a Mr Bartram, he was the coachman for the Barnards of Cople House. These families have all left these houses.

Then I came to where the Barnard homes were, first was the White House, during the time I can first remember it was let to a Johnson family, while the husband was in the Army, many a time I fetched them coal from Cardington station on a pram. After them Miss B Barnard and Miss Curry made it their home, but since it has changed hands many times, opposite this were two old houses with the tenants a Mr Dix who was foreman for the Barnards. At eleven o'clock he would fetch beer for the men from the off licence in Water End. Next to him lived a Mr H Cambers a small holder. These houses have been pulled down to make room for a modern house for Mr P Burr who ran a car repair garage in the village until recently.

Coming along to the turn into Cople House grounds there is a wire fence to guard shrubs and trees in a five yard space before a walled garden. I was very surprised when

5 entering the grounds of Cople House, only the coach house remained of the house and buildings. The coach house has been turned into houses, it has the face of a big clock with no hands on it. The first person r can remember living there was John Skilliter when he retired from the Off Licence in Water End. He was also the parish clerk, a very clever man.

The area now of Cople House is known as Woodlands Close, there are a lot of very expensive houses built in there. What a difference to what it was when the home of Joseph Barnard the man who had the first bank as you came into Bedford, which was near to Bedford Water Bridge, this family were very well known.

We went stone picking in the grass before the mowing machine did the cutting for the hay making. We had pails and a barrow to put the stones in, a Mr Fred Cambers the hedge cutter was there to look after us, he always had a twiggy stick to hit us if we missed some. Cople House has a mixed history since I can remember, the Barnard family home, then a hostel for the Land Army during the second world war. Many local boys married some of these girls. After the girls left there it became a nunnery for some time, but the outbuildings and land passed to a farmer for some time. Now it looks to me like a separate hamlet, as you can see it from Northill Road.

On the other side of the road is a small holders house and fields with crops on them. As a boy the field was an Army Camp in the First World War with all the horses, mules and equipment that goes with that sort of Regiment, there were buildings to house the things they had. There is a path near to the brook on the right side of this field, it was used by the troops to go to the firing butts, I believe these are still there.

On the Cople House side there used to be a wooden fence from the white gates to Water End, just before the road turns there were tall double doors that opened to a road which came out farther down Water End in from of two thatched cottages which are still in good condition. Just a short distance in the grounds was a very large tree with a house built up in it with a ladder to go up to it.

Passing by Water End to the other end of Northill Road there is a very old thatched house next to the brook, this one was the home of a well-known family of the Sinfields. They were all farm workers, one of the boys won a Military Medal in the First World War, he was one of the first in the village to be set on his feet by being given some land as a small holding and he went on to be a farmer and owner of land. He was once the owner of Elms Farm which later became the Housing Estate of that name. He farmed Middle Farm, Cople for some years until returning to end his days in a lovely home in Water End.

Before I got to Middle Farm there are several council houses, two were built for very large families some years ago. There was two army type bungalows built just after the First World War for a Mr Duncombe for the cowman and a horse keeper. In the first one Mr Woodham was the dairyman. He could not speak very loud owing to his War Service. What I remember about him most is that he brought the first Light, Sussex hens to this district and also budgies and canaries. Mr Giddons was the horse keeper when I left school. The first Methodist meetings were held at this farm before the chapel was built at Cardington in Cople Road in 1873. The tenancy of Middle Farm has changed several times, the owners were the Shuttleworths Estate, so they let it to who they thought fit. After the Duncombes it was let to a Mr Cook who farmed it for a good many years then

6 left it to farm one in Wootton the other side of Bedford. Since then Mr Algie Mayes then Mr H Sinfield rented it until he retired now it is farmed by a Mr Russell who came from the owners of the estate and has been there for a few years now.

The next farm on that road is called Hoo Farm, the same family have farmed it for about eighty years, my father worked on it before the First World War and during it they had the German prisoners lodged in the cottage that went with the farm. Since then two of my brothers have been stockmen at that farm, working there for many years between them. The first owner was Mr John Franklin and now his grandchild farms it, so it must be a long tenancy. After the First World War two fields opposite Middle Farm were let out in acres to ex-servicemen and this was the start of several local men being small holders and then to becoming farmers, but of late years most the land they worked has been returned to the farmer as the tenant got too old or infirm to do it.

The road by Hoo Farm leads to Mox Hill farm. In the year 1914 Mr Astel the timber merchants of Cardington Road Bedford farmed it, later it passed to Mr Sam Vincent of Oak Farm, Northill. This Farm is the boundary of Cople and Northill. It joins Wood End to the right and Sheerhatch Wood on the left. Hoo Farm runs up to this wood also and joins up with Willington boundary at Hill Farm and ends at just by the spinney on the Road. Retracing my steps I came by the field we called the park, we played many hours in there as children, one time it was the cricket field, also football but now part of it has come under the plough. As I wended my way down Water End, the brook on one side, a path and a very tall hedge on the other, I thought how well and tidy it was kept when men did it and not machines, as now it looked so wild and uncared for.

I noticed the first new house that was erected by Mr Janes in the woodland of the Barnard’s their garden looked very nice and colourful and tidy. The British Legion Hall was the other side of the road but has gone.

Just a little way on were two very old cottages with thatched roofs standing back off the road, they looked just about the same as when I was a child. A Mr Rubin Keep lived in the first of them, he was a steam cultivator engine driver, also his eldest son was with him until emigrating to Australia with his brother Percy. Their neighbours were the Burridges. The husband worked at Hoo Farm, they had a large family, one of the sons, Archie, still lives in the same house. I believe he represents the tenant of any cottage in Cople that has not changed hands and is still in the same name. Archie is the only one of the family still living in Cople now, the two girls went to live in Leeds. Some of the boys have died.

As children we went to fetch milk in the mornings at the gate just by these two cottages which Mr Burr brought in large cans from Mrs Barnard’s dairy.

Just a little further on there used to be five thatched cottages a1so, No 1 a Miss Wood a very old lady, No 2 a Mr Burr, he was a mole catcher, there were many of these animals about the fields in those days, old ladies had coats made of their skins, these shone a real bright black and were very warm, No 3 Mr Hartwell and family. He also was a steam engine driver for cultivating, also he was a cycle racer for Mr Arthur Gell of Harpur Street, Bedford. Jack Cole from Fenlake joined Tom as a team, they rode Raleigh cycles. There were three boys and a girl, two of the boys have died, Bernard killed in the Second World War as a soldier, Jack was a cowman for many years but became a roadman before retiring, Bill was a foreman on the council and still lives in Biggleswade.

7 The daughter is 83 and still quite well and lives in , her name is Marjorie, she is a widow. No 4 Emma and Fred Cambers lived there for many years, he worked for Barnards and was the hedge cutter and helped in the garden. No 5 was the home of a Rodiay White, she kept a shop in the front room of the house which was used by people of Water End. The first three of these houses have been pulled down and been replaced by a very large modern house for Mr Horace Sinfield to retire into. The other two houses have been joined to make one large house. It is in very nice condition with a lovely garden and a credit.

Just across the road and brook are six brick and tiled homes with wells, belonging to the Shuttleworth Estate but have since been brought by Mr J Saunders and Mr R Porter. The Bartram family lived in the first, the husband worked for Mr W Porter for many years. There was a big family five girls and two boys, the first boy Jack saw service in the Army in the First World War. When he came out he worked for Mr W Rawlins on the land at Cardington, then on their farm at , Leslie the other son became a farm labourer, but later worked for Bedford Council for some years before retiring, but Jack has died, also four of the girls, the other girl lives in a house off the Willington Road, Cople.

Next is the house which we lived in, five boys and four girls, also Mum and Dad. In the First World War Dad went into the Army and saw service in France, he was in the Beds and Herts Regiment, they lost a lot of men, so he was transferred to the Leicester Regimen t. He was stationed at Southwold when the first Zepplin bombed , my Mum was there at the time visiting him. When our Father came home from war he worked as a navvy when the reservoirs were built at the top of Mox Hill near Sheerhatch Wood. Then on the land for Market Gardeners, also he sowed a lot of soot on to the land, he did this sometimes on a moonlight night. He finished his working days at Cardington Camp keeping the toilets clean, also doing odd jobs, he died of cancer after suffering for many years. Three of my brothers served in the services, Joe in the regular army going to Malta, India and China, then the Home Guard, Sam went into the Navy serving on a Frigate protecting convoys, Jim was also in the regulars, he was in Abyssinia when war broke out, we have not heard from him for the last 10 years so don't know what has happened to him and family. All my sisters went into domestic service when they left school, taking jobs in houses in Bedford, all are still living, but Flo the eldest is in Clapham Hospital and has lost one arm through having a fall. She is still happy and contented. Rose Dorothy has had cancer for many years, it has responded to treatment and she lives a normal life not making too much fuss about it. Violet is living in the U. S.A. and is quite happily married with a large family, they have been back here for several holidays, her eldest daughter married a church minister who was first an astronaut but has since died. Now their daughter has wed their superintendent’s son who is also a minister. Sister lvy married John Culshaw who was a prisoner of War in the Far East. Many of our local lads were also with him. Since he returned home they have had a family of four, three boys and one girl. The eldest boy had an army career, one a long distance lorry driver, the youngest boy Andy Culshaw belongs to a well- known band "The Fine Arts Ensemble". They travel worldwide to entertain and they were chosen to play for the Pope when he visited Coventry, also when he went abroad. Andy first played in the Bedford Youth Orchestra so it shows if they put their minds to it they will succeed, it is very often possible from small beginnings.

8 Our next door neighbours were Jacob and Ruth Cambers. He worked as a council road- man, they had two children Annie and Rudder. This boy went in the First World War and was taken prisoner and was shot while he was in Germany. The girl worked as a doctor’s receptionist in Bedford until she married. In the third house Harry Godfrey and family lived. When he came home from the war he was set up as a small holder with several acres of land and buildings. He and Horace Sinfield shared the field which the German Prisoners cleared. They had three sons and one daughter, two boys followed their father to work on the land, but the youngest went to Australia to work. Two of the grandchildren still live in the village, one still farms the land his Grandfather started with, but the other has worked at Wood End Farm for the Porters since leaving school.

Then there was Bert and Kate Sinfield. He also was a farm worker with the horses. He finished up working for his brother Horace, but he was killed when slipping off the cart under the wheel in Cardington. They had two daughters, Winnie and Florence. Both married local boys, Winnie to Harry Hillyard, she died a few years ago. Florence married Bob Wheatly but he is dead, his widow lives in Cople. Both men worked for a Mr Vincent, Oak Farm, Northill until retiring. The end house was the Hartwell’s home, Gran and her son Barber and his family. He worked on the land and also kept his own pigs. His son and daughter still live in the village, but in a house on Willington Road. All these families have moved out and new families moved in.

Next to these were two old thatched cottages. The first, Granny Smith lived there over eighty years ago, she was the mother of three gills who became Mrs B Sinfield, Mrs T Martin and Mrs Parrot. The first two lived in Cople all their lives, the other at Cardington Mill and then Bedford. It was Dick Minney and family that lived next door, he was wounded in the First World War and a lot of shrapnel about his body, but he still worked up at Cardington Camp after his discharge. They had. six boys and they were a very- sporting family playing football and cricket, the grandchildren kept it up. These houses have been made into one and sold several times but on this side of the road it is the same as I can remember, no extra houses being built the brook side of the Water End. On the opposite side stands the house that used to be Off Licence, the first I knew about it was a Wells brewery house and a Mr John Skilliter was the landlord. He was also a small holder, the threshing engine used to come on to his land to thrash his and the other cottages corn.

Many of the people grew corn on these allotments or the wives and children went gleaning then sent the corn to the millers to be ground into flour. They also had the bran back and made cakes and gave some to their rabbits which most people kept to eat.

There used to be a thatched cottage just before the public House but it was burnt down from sparks from a steam engine. Just a small way from this was the Rawlins home, a well-known one of the village. The husband worked for Duncombes. I remember him well as I took his boots size 13, to be mended to a Mr Church the cobbler at Cardington, they were very heavy hobnailed ones. Their younger son Ernest lived on his own for many years, he was a small holder and sold his vegetables locally. He was a regular church goer and a real character. He did a bit of hawking of vegetables on the outskirts of Bedford with a horse and cart. At home he made a pal of a rat that used to live upstairs and when Ernest had his meals he would call it and that came down to eat. Also he had an open fireplace. He used to place a long log of wood on a chair then keep moving it forward on the fire as it burnt. He has passed away now and his house has

9 been pulled down and a very large modern one built in its-place. It stands back in some big grounds and looks very grand.

There are two very old brick houses next, the first years ago was the home of Mr & Mrs Martin the parents of Philip who still lived in the village for some years, he collected very old pieces of bric a brac as a hobby. Neighbours were the Holdaways. The man was a shepherd at Middle Farm, they had three sons and a daughter. One son George, was a very clever chap, he worked at the Igranic in Bedford also he would do wireless repairs for people in the village and charge their accumulators.

At the side of this house was a short lane that led to an old thatched home which had a big garden next to a grass meadow. The Houghtons lived in this house. There was a large family, five boys and four girls,. two of the girls were twins. After they were born the family moved into a very large council house which were built purposely for big families. These were placed in Northill Road at the far end of the other six council cottages. The Father and most of the boys worked on the village farms but the girls in Bedford Factories. Two of their family still live in Cople, but most have passed away or left the village. One of the boys became a lorry driver for Mr Burr who owned the garage in the village, then in a few years started his own vegetable sales business which his son still carries on.

There were two other thatched houses next to the road. A Mr B Bennett who had greenhouses to grow flowers and plants to sell. His son still lives there doing the same thing. The second house was lived in by the Minney family. The husband had lost an arm through the knife of a chaff cutter falling on him, he used to work with the threshing engines at Cardington. He was known as "file" Minney as he used to sharpen the cutting knives for the chaff cutter. Mr F Bennett has the two houses now made into one.

Then I came to two other types of houses, brick and tiled. The first used to be lived in by a Mr Collins and family of four girls and two boys. None of them live in Cople now. Most of them moved into Bedford and one of the boys was well known local cricket bowler, he worked and played for the Igranic works team. In the house next door were the Godfreys. Small holders they were a very old village family. I suppose the same ground has been cultivated for over a hundred years, as a great grandchild farms it now but does not live in the same house but in a council one. Just at the end of their garden was a lane and footpath that led to Cardington and if you followed the brook it led to .

About half a mile up the road is Pork Lane on the right, it is a well-known road of many years used by the stage coaches to get on the Shefford Road from the Great North Road' This farm was used as a horse changing. station then, as they did that at about every 13 miles of their journey. The first farmer I can remember who farmed and lived in the house was a Mr Jim Rook. My brother lived in with them. The farmhouse, and buildings have all gone now and the Findlays of Cardington till the land.

The Bedford to Hitchin railway ran.to the right side of this farm and there is an archway under where the railway was, for the roadway that leads on to the Southill and Cardington Road. At the end of the Water End Road is Wood End Farm, a very historic one. It goes back many years even before Oliver Cromwell’s time when the Lukes lived there. It had a moat round it in those days but has only part of it left now. The Porter family farm it. When I a child a Mr L W Porter who came from Lincolnshire ran the two

10 farms for some time. He came to Cople in 1906 and the family are the ones who have held the same farm for the most years in Cople. They did mixed farming, corn, sheep, pigs also cattle. These were Lincoln Reds at the time. The son, Ralph, was a well-known breeder of Large White Pigs, he showed and also sold them. Some even were exported to Japan and other countries. His son Charles carries on the farm and lets some of the land grow wild plants. He also has a collection of very old all types of lamps, which he showed to the public for charity. As children, we went up went up to the farmhouse for Band of Hope, when we were coming home we sang “Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, dare to pass a public house and take your money home". The three Mr Porters have all been stewards of Bunyan Meeting, Bedford. The first Mr Porter was a noted teetotaller. They said one day he was ready one Saturday to drive home from Bedford, when there was a Mr George Knight standing near to St Marys Church, he gave him a ride home to Cople. When they arrived at George's gate he stopped the car for him to get out, but George said no take me to the corner, that was near the pub, so Mr Porter said I would not have brought you home if I knew you wanted to go there. He was also the person who came to our school to sign the register.

Coming back into the middle of the village is the church of All Saints, this is the start of the Grange Lane. The first vicar I knew was the Rev Hocken. He was very old then and he wore a beard. People liked him very much. The vicarage was just across the road from the church and was a large red brick house with a tiled roof, there was a nice lawn, garden and buildings at the back of the house. It was next to the blacksmiths forge. The vicarage has since then been replaced by two modern houses and has had many vicars since I was a child. For some years now there has been a new cemetery which is next to the playing field in Grange Lane. The church is still in very good condition and is well attended. They have a good Sunday School class still. There used to be a good choir, also and an organ which had to be pumped by a handle for the wind to play it.

Next to the church is the village stores which is now also a Post Office. This used to be next to the school. This shop has been there ever since I can remember. The first person I knew who kept it was a Mr Henry Green. He sold groceries, also paraffin oil, he did a good trade with this as every household had the oil lamps for lighting. They delivered goods as far afield as with a van which Teddy Burr drove. They also had a Levis motor cycle for going out to get orders. Mr Green was also a member of the church and went round with the collection bag. After they retired from the stores he had a large modern house built near to the old church yard in Willington Road. There were two sons, Gordon and Roy, also a daughter in the family.

It is nice to see that the village has still the same services, when so many post Offices and village stores are being closed down about the country.

This shop is the start of a row of brick and tiled houses, there are four groups of these, two consisting of four houses and two of six. Next to the shop Mr Tom Martin lived 75 years ago, his daughter does still. Tom worked for Mark Young, the same time as I did. His son William, worked for Mr Green at the stores. Their neighbours were Mr & Mrs Teddy Mayes. These were the parents of Algie, William, Arthur and Betsy. Algie was in the First World War and when demobbed he started a small holding then developed into a farmer. He farmed Middle Farm, besides a lot of other land. His brothers worked for him until he died. When he started the small holding he was courting Sally Mathews who lived next door, she was working at the time for Mr Saunders on the land, market gardening, so what spare time she had came in handy to help her boyfriend, Algie. That

11 is where they did most of their courting. They did not have any children of their own, but they did care and help one of Sally’s sister’s daughters and family.

The Sam Mathews family lived in the end house, they had three girls, Sally, Leally, and Bertha, also two boys Charlie and John known as Jack. He was a good footballer. I remember when they were playing Great Barford, he said to a chap who fouled "What you doing Friday I have not got the ball". Charlie used to go with my father rabbiting with a ferret. He used to stutter and one day said you keep watch for the farmers, but before he could get the words out the farmer caught them. They were in a ditch at the time with the ferret in a hole. The gardens of these houses are very large, I remember going to the Sam Mathews house to fetch celery for Sunday tea. It was very nice and big.

Along the path to the next block, the first one was where Mr Sharman’s family lived, he was foreman at Dynes steam engine yard at Cardington. He sometimes drove an engine himself, mostly a threshing one, so he was near at hand if wanted. They had two girls and two boys. The daughters lived in Cople for many years. Violet married Tommy Holdaway. Dora went to keep house for some lady in Bedford. One son joined the Police Force and was once at Blisworth. He worked his way up in position. The other boy worked for a time with his father with engines then left Cople to work and live away. This house has just been sold again for a very high price.

The Hartwell family lived next door, the father was named Fred. His wife was an invalid for many years and was pushed about a bit in a wheel chair. They had two children, Ivy when she married lived at Fenlake, the son Walter worked at Greens stores for some years, then when he got wed went to live in Bedford working at a cinema, then at Fosters men’s outfitters in Silver street.

Mr and Mrs Throssel came to live next door after Mark Young finished with South Mills Farm at , as he was horse keeper there, so he went to work at Cardington Camp, as his son Eric did also.

Then next to them was the Cambers. The wife was Annie Rawlins, a sister of Ernest from Water End. They had several girls who married local boys, one to Victor Minney and their son Cyril who was a very good cricketer in the family tradition. Victor was an Umpire for the Cople team for some time. There were three boys of the Cambers family Reg, Cyril and Douglas. Cyril went to school at the same time as me, also worked at Octagon Farm helping rear calves for Mark Young. He had a varied life but successful. As a lad he went to Canada on the Salvation Army scheme to work on a farm, but returned home after a while to work for Mr A Hart the Jersey cow dairyman. After some time he went to Algie Mayes at Middle Farm, but for many years he was a small holder in his own right at Cardington and he supplied shops in Bedford with fresh vegetables. He returned to live in Cople where he was very well liked person. He was in the Church Choir and his wife Dolly played the organ, she was the daughter of Joe Minney from Chapel Lane, Cardington. When Cyril was young he was a good footballer and loved all sort of sport, when he died the Cople Church was packed. He was well respected and will be missed by many. Douglas the younger brother worked for Mr Godber at the Nurseries in Willington, but was ill for many years and did no work for a long time, he lives in Harrowden Lane Cardington. Mr Charlie Hammond and his wife Liza were the Cambers neighbours. When Charlie came back from the 1914-8 war he worked for Mr Rawlins at Cardington Home Farm, he also rented some land to do in his spare time. He

12 grew brussels and potatoes on it, when they were ready to harvest he asked for a few days off work at the farm and was told he could have it all off, so he bought some more acres of brussels and that was the start of him working for himself. He rented some council buildings at Cardington to keep a horse in and to store implements also goods. I worked for him in the evenings and he was a good friend of my family. I always remember once when my daughter Betty was ill, he said give her some Horlicks. He bought a jar for her, she called it Charlie’s milk. Liza was the daughter of Mr Samuel the first foreman at Grange Farm, Willington belonging to Mark Young. I have heard he was a very good man to those who worked under him and straight in all his dealings. Mrs Hammond worked for many years serving in the shop at Cardington Camp and after that a Greens Stores. Two of her sisters married market gardeners at Willington.

John and Sarah Bartram lived in the end house. They were brother and sister. He was horse keeper at Octagon Farm. I worked with him, sometimes he would give the horse potatoes to eat to put a shine on their coats. There was a horse they called Slippery Dick because he would go faster backwards than going forwards. Sarah worked at Grange Farm, Cople on the land. I remember someone telling her to take her hook, she replied I can’t I have not a bag to put it in. There is a cart road up to and at the back of these house so today for people that have cars it is handy to park them.

In the first house of the next two lived the Knight family, George the father of Fred, Lottie and Abraham, George was a cripple for many years getting about on crutches he used to get up to the Five Bells for his drink and company. Fred was only a small man, but he was nicknamed Giant because he would always make out things were always bigger than they really were, you were sure to hear a good tale if you met him.

Lottie was a hard working lass, she was post lady round Cople for some years. Abraham married and lived in the smallest house in Cardington. He had a large family of two girls and five boys. He worked for Mr Findlay until an accident at work while hedge cutting. A piece of Blackthorn poisoned his thumb and was the cause of his death, by blood poisoning, they said it was a painful way to go.

I heard he was once having a fight with another chap on Bedford Market Square, when a policeman went to stop them, when Abe struck him, so that led him to appearing in court. The policeman said he was hit with a blunt instrument, it turned out to be a stick of celery. All their boys worked on the land, the eldest for Bedford Town for a while. He was also known as pop after his Granddad.

The second house next to where Lottie lived was occupied by the Houghton and Rawlins families. When I was about sixteen I lodged with Dick and Lizzie for a while, it was a very happy time, before Sunday dinner we always had a glass of ginger wine, it was nice, Dick for many years worked as a stockman for Mark Young at Grange Farm, Willington, the beef cattle were kept till they were four years old and very often weighed over a ton, they were kept more for the manure for the land than for profit.

Dick finished his working days working for the Ouse Drainage Board helping to keep the brooks and ditches tidy and clear. Several men worked together at it.

In the next house lived Fred and Agnes Brown. The husband came from Lincolnshire to work at Wood End for Mr Porter. His wife was the daughter of Mr Rawlins of Water End, she worked in service as a girl. They had a large family, four boys and two girls. The

13 boys, two worked on the land and the others worked in Bedford in factories and lived there when married.

Living next door at Cople were a Mr & Mrs Eastwell. They had a daughter Gwen who was ill for a long time and who died in her teens, her friends missed her very much. Her Father and Mother both worked at Cardington Camp for a number of years.

In the end house of that block a Mr & Mrs Bendall lived, he was an ex-policeman, so he did the same job at Cardington Camp being related to the Abbot family so they had their son Aubrey, to live with them, he lost an arm but he still worked at a jewellers shop in Bedford, then lived in town.

Along the pathway was the house of the Worrall family with four boys and four girls. The father worked at Dog Farm for Mr Prudden, the wife delivered the weekly Times, also the family doctor called at the house for messages left for him. Two boys, also girls married. and went to live in Bedford, but the others also married and stayed in the village, the boys worked in market gardening. Don the youngest son is retired now and lives in Rye Crescent under the council, after living in the same house as his parents for many years and bringing up a family of girls.

In the same row of houses Mr and Mrs Alfred White and daughter Ivy lived. He worked for Mark Young on the farm just nearby. Whenever there was a football match at Cople or Bedford Town playing at home, he would be there to watch it.

On Sundays the family went to the Methodist Chapel in Cardington. Ivy married a Willington boy Cecil Swannel and lived along the Bedford Road.

Mr & Mrs Pocock came from away to live at the end of the row, he worked on the farm for Mark Young, there were two girls and a boy in the family.

The boy and the youngest girl worked in town and settled away from the village when they married, but Kathleen wed a local boy and they lived for a start at Mox Hill Farm where her husband worked. They later moved to a house in Chapel Lane, Cardington under Mr Whitbread. Mr Pocock was Union Secretary for the Land workers, since Kathleen’s death, her husband Archie has gone to live in Rye Crescent Cople.

Next there is a pair of houses. In the first one lived a Houghton family and in the second lived Fred and Sarah Goodwin. On these houses is an estate owner’s crest.

On this right side of the road is the farm that was owned by a Mr Underwood until it was sold to Mark Young. This is where I started my working life under the foreman Mr Cecil Tatman, who came from Roxton to live in the farm house. Mr Sydney Sinfield was the horsekeeper he was a very kind man and liked his horses also he was good at his job and would be willing to show one how to do things.

When there were big jobs to be done like setting plants which was done by men using dibbers and potatoes .to be set by hand in furrows, then ploughed in and at the time of digging them there would come several gangs of piece workers from the other farms that Mark Young owned to do the work. After his death all his farms and houses were sold to different people. Mr J Sanders bought this farm and still owns it.

14 MY IMPRESSION OF COPLE NOW

There are three ways you can enter Cople and you cannot be mistaken where you are, as each end of the village has not changed, the same farms and houses are there. But as you come into the village there are so many new houses and it has grown a great deal in the last few years.

What I liked about it most is that most of the houses are of several different types and are mostly on the opposite side of the road to the older ones.

It used to be just an ordinary village with many of the families with long tenancies of estate owned houses, but now most of the houses are self-owned.

Now all the older children have to go further afield to school, so that now you only would see them at weekends, evening or when on holiday.

The pleasures of life seem to have improved since I was a boy, as then most of the entertainment such as dances, whist drives and concerts were held in the school, also the parish council meetings and Elections Polling in it.

But today the village has a very nice playing field, a community hall, a pavilion and a corner of the field set aside for the entertainment of the children, they even use it in school time.

It is the same field that Mr Saunders kept his horses in when I was a lad and watched the Cople football and cricket teams play in. Then the teams used the Five Bells Pub to change their clothes in and after the matches have their teas there. But now everything is laid on in the sports field, a great improvement for all concerned.

What I missed most of all, were the horses and cattle in the fields, the only things you see are farm implements and cars, progress has its advantages, but also its drawbacks.

You can walk through the village today without even speaking to a soul, whereas years ago you would see someone you knew or a pal to pass the time of day with.

Transcribed (plus corrections) by Gerard Peeke, March 2013

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