The
story of Chris Beer is an interesting one. He now lives in Chard and has
done so for many years. However his story shows that although people
have moved out of the village, often for housing or work reasons, they
still maintain their association with the place of their birth. Chris is
still in the village several days a week, tending his vegetable plot on
Geoff Peacock’s land. Chris
is the son of Nora Beer, the daughter of William and Ethel Beer
(Phelps). His twin sister, Coral lives in Taunton. In
his early years he lived at Whatley Cross and for a while at 2,
Malthouses, at the end of Court Street. The Beer family was one of the
oldest in Winsham, the first record showing a Henry Beere born in
1643.There were probably others earlier than this.
Educated at Winsham School, he became an apprentice tool maker at age
15, at Brecknall Willis, but finished his apprentice ship with
Duoalloys. After a break at Westland’s, he returned, working at
Brecknell Willis until he retired in 2010. He is married to Margaret,
and has three children, Stephen, who lives in Chard, Jayne who lives in
Tatworth and Jacqueline in Bristol.
His
memories of his early life cover many aspects of village life. His
Grandparents, William and Ethel Beer lived in a cottage called ‘Clayplatt’
which is now transformed into a house called ‘Clay pots’, which was then
on Harold Hammett’s land.
Grandfather was Harold Hammetts’s cow man. Sadly William died at age 56.
The cottage in which they lived was a ‘tied’ one, and this could have
resulted in Ethel losing her home, but Harold Hammett agreed that Ethel
could continue living there in return for managing the egg production on
the farm and doing some cleaning in the farmhouse. Chris’s family had
always held Harold Hammett in high regard, and this support at a very
difficult time justified this respect .
Another fond memory is when Chris and Carole ,walking home from Winsham School, found at Whatley Bottom, a package lying in the field. They thought it was a roll of binder twine, but when they got it home, they put it in the shed. Their mother found it later on. She brought it indoors, unwrapped it and found that it was a big cheese. The family lived on cheese for about two months!
William From
his early years, his great Gran (Alice Beer) features large in his
memory. She lived with her husband Arthur in a cottage in Broadenham
Lane. Although the cottage is long gone, there are still traces of their
residence. Hops still appear in the hedgerow; a rose also still
survives-it is known by the family as ‘Granny's Rose’. Alice and Arthur
had ten children.
Granny Beer was quite a character from all accounts: she smoked a
clay pipe filled with a dark ‘shag’. On Saturday evenings she would go
to the ‘Old Kings Arms’ and have a glass of Stout (a dark, strong beer
similar to Guinness). If there was a dance being held in the Jubilee
Hall, she would go across to the hall; the Band would then play a Polka
for her to dance. Satisfied, she would return home.
Chris
has happy memories of his life at Whatley Cross. Always interested in
country life, he remembers helping Graham Strawbridge make ‘spar gads’,
the hazel pegs used for thatching. They were often used in the thatching
of hay ricks, which in those days were thatched with reeds. An area of
farm land, called the ‘rick yard’ was set aside for this form of storage
that has now disappeared. When the rick was nearly all used, down to the
last three or four feet, the base of the rick was surrounded with wire
mesh, with the purpose of containing the vermin that were always
present. When the rick was nearly used , terriers were put into the
enclosure, which became a ‘killing field’. Large quantities of rats and
mice were killed, and the dogs worked to near exhaustion.
Harvest time was another excitement. He loved to watch the tractor
driven wooden threshing machine at work. A team of men kept a steady
flow of wheat or barley feeding the voracious machine, while others
filled large sacks from the side of the machine. Although the filled
sacks weighed two and a quarter hundred weight (115kg), the men carried
them on their backs to load them on to the horse drawn awaiting carts.
School was often missed when the harvest was being gathered. The milling
of the seed was usually carried at local Mills. At one time there were
five mills along Whatley Brook. Chris does not have any memories of any
of these working, and most were derelict. There were mills at one time
or another at Purtington, Hollowells, Whatley Bottom, Guys Mill, and
Ammerham. Chris
often went wandering through the local woodlands. He remembers switching
eggs from Jay’s nests and Blackbird nests, and observing that the
parents still brought up the nestlings as their own. He did the same
with Magpie and crows, with the same result!
Children could wander across the Cricket Estate and the surrounding farm
land without hindrance. He admits to doing some scrumping with his
friends, and recalls when Freddie Saunders (Mrs Pam Hammett’s father )
caught them hiding in one of his chicken houses-he just locked the door
and left them there for several hours. Mrs
Hall, the owner of the Cricket St. Thomas estate, a large employer of
Winsham people, was very popular. Chris remembers that she drove a large
red Mercedes. Sometimes she would invite children playing around the
estate into the garden of Cricket House to enjoy cakes, and lemonade
(made with lemonade crystals). At
this time, the Lawley family owned Leigh House. Miss Lawley, a daughter
of the house used to drive around in an ancient Rolls Royce. In addition
to going to St.Stephen’s for the regular Sunday morning service, he and
his sister would go to Sunday school. Miss Lawley would regularly pick
them up on Sunday mornings to take them to Sunday School in her Rolls
Royce. Chris remembers that the only sound he could remember on these
short drives was the sound of the clock that would tick away on the dash
board!
Despite his love of the countryside, Chris was also interested in
mechanical things, which led him to spend a lot of time in Churchill’s
in Fore Street, where Neddie Churchill encouraged this interest which
indirectly led to him becoming an apprentice tool maker.
Chris
also remembers the blowing up of the cottages down near the River Axe,
adjacent to the old wool mill. Pat Wheadon used the debris for repairing
aerodromes in the Somerset area. John Jeffery, who died in recent years,
and who lived at Beere Farm, was
given the task of pressing the button that detonated the explosion.
Cricket St Thomas Cricket team
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