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Mrs Winifred Playford (nee Spinks)
Published 2009 
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Miss Jacobs, a kind neighbour would often take us with her when she went to take her father his 4 o’clock tea in the harvest fields (‘Fourses’ the villagers called it) It always seemed to me looking back that it was a hot sunny day when we picnicked under a shady tree and watched the reapers busily cutting the edge of the field with their sharp scythes. Then the reaping machine would go round and round throwing out sheaves of corn (which were quickly put into ‘stooks’ to dry) until the whole field was cut.

When the corn was ready for threshing it was carted away to the farmyard, and then finally the lovely, dry, golden grains of corn were put into sacks and stored for winter use or sold. Nowadays in 1986, it is all very different and done in one operation.

Before winter came we always had a big load of ‘turves’ from the fen. These were really dried roots and grasses and were cut into long oblong shapes about the size of a brick. They were cut from the top layers of the fields and stacked until they were quite dry and black. Almost every villager bought them for lighting their fires, and often when one re-lit the kitchen range in the morning, the turf from the previous day would still be glowing red and bright. The range was used for cooking, heating the kitchen and for all the hot water needed for domestic purposes. The first thing that the housewife or servant did in the early morning was to light and ‘blacklead’ the range, and then put on the big black kettle for hot water, and a large saucepan of porridge oats for the breakfast.

If one needed a hot oven for cooking the midday meal, or for making cakes and tarts, it was sometimes quite hard work to get a really hot glowing fire so as to heat the oven, which was of course by the side of the glowing fire.

The housewife had to work very hard in the early part of the twentieth century, for in many families there were eight or ten children. So that of course they had to make big milk or steamed puddings and pies to feed them all. Then there was the cleaning and washing to be done chiefly by hand for there were no Hoovers or washing machines around then, but just mops, and brushes, and a washboard and scrub brush and a bar of Primrose soap for use on wash day. The polish was, of course, homemade and consisted of beeswax and turpentine and it really produced a lovely shine with plenty of elbow grease. In spite of all this hard work every one looked happy and the children looked well fed and nobody seemed in a desperate hurry, but had time to stop and pass the time of day.

So many old customs have died out and one hopes that one day some of them will be revived.

On Valentine’s day children got up early and before school time went out from shop to shop singing "Good morning Valentine, tie your locks as I tie mine, two before and two behind, Good morrow Valentine". Most kind shopkeepers or bakers threw out sweets or small coins, which the children eagerly scooped up. One baker at ‘The Mills’ heated his coins by putting them in the oven on a long shovel, and then they were thrown out on to the road while still hot!

Another custom in which I took part as a small girl was dancing round the Maypole. Miss Knight, the Infant Head Mistress arranged all this and it usually took place on the Oak Meadow. Woe betide any child who made a mistake and tangled up the brightly coloured ribbons. As far as I can remember we were well rehearsed beforehand, and delighted all the parents and onlookers.

I just remember the Lamplighter, Mr Harry Pryer, so I think it must have discontinued when the First World War commenced in 1914. These tall standards were placed in the main streets and had an oil lamp on top. Mr Pryer went from street to street with his long ladder (and oily rag sticking out of his pocket) refilling and cleaning and lighting the lamps when it grew dusk.

Some of the Sunday School Teachers arranged Magic Lantern Shows for their pupils and they were usually held in the Mission Hall. The equipment was just a black tin box (a little larger than a box camera), with an aperture in the front. Inside was a lamp, and when coloured slides were passed in front of the opening, the light from the lamp threw the pictures on to a large white screen. Usually these slides were brightly coloured pictures of the Holy Land, or of Bible Stories, and were very much appreciated by the children.

Later on, during the 1914-18 war in fact, there were picture shows on the Aerodrome, in a large hangar, and village people were allowed to see these film shows. Some of the early Charlie Chaplin and cowboy films were shown, I believe.

Whist Drives were held in the Y.M.C.A. hut and they were always well attended. Occasionally a travelling theatre company gave shows (such as ‘Maria Marten’) in the Coronation Hall, and of course a Punch and Judy Show was always popular, or a Magician at Christmas parties.

All these events that I have described happened many years ago. In the early part of the twentieth century, in fact, but they are still very vivid in my memory.

I stayed on at the village school for about eleven years, and enjoyed being with the children very much. The time passed by so quickly, and I found it a great wrench when the time came for me to leave the village in 1936.

However, I found Herefordshire a beautiful county in which to live and we stayed there quite happily for nearly 50 years. Now, we have come back to Feltwell to end our days, and have been so fortunate in finding a house (Forge Cottage) in the middle of the village that suits us admirably. The school where I used to teach is almost exactly opposite, but now, there are no sounds of children laughing and playing in the playground for it is empty and unused.

It was always considered to be a large village, but in the past fifty years, the population has increased considerably and many people have come here to retire and live in one of the very nice housing estates that have been built on the outskirts of the village.

On our daily walks with the dog, we invariably encounter one of my friends or acquaintances of fifty years ago, and chat about old times or perhaps, I meet up with one of the girls or boys that I used to teach. Now they very often have children, and grandchildren of their own. But all agree what happy days they were. Very often the ‘unforgettable’ Easter concerts come up in the conversation, and schooldays, and the long distances to and from school that children had to walk. Fifty or sixty years ago the Fen roads were very rough and stony and not very good for children’s small feet and often the girls wore ‘hobnailed’ boots like their brothers. They did not have bicycles and of course there were no buses to pick them up.

But in spite of all these hardships I believe that the boys and girls received a good, all round education under the supervision of Mr Fassnidge, the Headmaster, and Miss Addison, Mr Davidson and my humble self.

I have already mentioned Miss Knight, the Infant Head Mistress, but she had a wonderful way with her small pupils, and when they came up to us they could all read and write however ‘slow’ they were.

So the boys and girls that I grew to know and love of the early part of this century have grown into useful members of society.

Someone once said to me that when I married and left Feltwell, I should have a lot to learn. Looking back, I think that it was quite true, for I had led a sheltered life here, with everyone being kind to me and none ever saying cross or harsh words, but of course, in a business world things were very different, and one has to learn to take the hard knocks, and above all learn to survive.

But of course, there were good times too, when you were a small boy Christopher, and we lived at ‘Tuck Mill’ it was lovely by the River Wye, and we loved walking through the woods, and enjoying the peace of the countryside. Then, later on when we moved to Tarrington House, where we lived for over twenty years it was a busy, but happy time and I believe that you still think of Herefordshire as home.

But I do not intend to write about Herefordshire days here. That is another story, but last of all to mention my parents again, for I realize more and more what devoted and caring people they were. My father died nearly fifty years ago (1938), but I still remember his last day with us, and how, when we were all sitting around the bed, he expressed the hope that he would go to heaven, and also hoped that he had been a good father to us all.

Now that we are back in Feltwell again after an absence of nearly 50 years we regularly visit St. Nicholas churchyard, and tend the graves, and I think of our loved ones, long since departed this world. It is good to see that the graveyard is so well kept.

I love to talk to some of my childhood friends who have stayed in the village, and have led a useful, happy life here, and it gives me great pleasure to talk to some of the girls and boys that I taught so many years ago. Now, of course, they are middle-aged men and women.

I am sure that I shall think of many interesting incidents I should have included, but I conclude by saying that I have enjoyed reliving these memories and hope, Christopher, that you will enjoy reading about some of your fore-bears, simple honest people, so typical of their age and times.

Your Mother
Winifred Playford

Forge Cottage
Feltwell
Norfolk

July 1986.

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