EARLY VILLAGE LIFE

Well, that about sums up the factory and the railway, now a little about early village life.

I was brought into the world late on Christmas night, (so Mother tells me and she should know, as she was there) and so was Aunt Selena, this was Selena Singleton, my Mother's Aunt, who was the recognised, though not certified, midwife for the village, and at that time she was very much in demand, as while she was delivering me someone came to ask her to hurry up as Bill Long was on the way.

Aunt Selena then had to rush off to deliver Bill and come back to see to me later, and when she did, she is reported to have said that she had never delivered a baby with such a head of hair as it was Bill's fortune, or misfortune, to possess. It has been said in later years that the Barber was in attendance four days after he was born, and if he hadn't been born when he was, he would undoubtedly have tickled his mother to death. Now I shall dwell a little on Bill, as he is one of the Characters of the village, and affectionately known to us locals as "Gammel". I have no idea at all from where this nom-de-plume originated but he has been known by this name for a very long time. Being born at almost the same hour, Bill and I, have grown up to be very close and we usually exchange greetings on Boxing Day, which was the day our births were registered. Although we were born at the same time, we turned out to be of entirely differing characters. Bill stayed at home, and became very much local, while in later years I travelled away from the village. In stature, we were extremes, and whereas Bill generally kept at a very modest seven stones in weight I have topped a record twenty two, yet despite the difference in size and weight, we have both reached our measured span of three score years and ten, and are now enjoying a bonus. To Aunt Selena a big thank you from both of us. Before fading Aunt Selena out of the picture entirely, I might add that we still have a link with her now, as I regularly meet her son, at Chard. He is over ninety years of age and looks but sixty five. He worked until he was past seventy, and Major Cull once told me, that even at this advanced age, he was one of the best workmen he ever had. His mother came from good stock, she was, before marriage, a Butler, sister of my Grandfather, Daniel Butler, whose wife was a really wonderful woman, standing over six feet tall, and who bore seventeen children, who all grew up to be fine men and women thriving on work.

My Grandmother told me wonderful stories of the life of my Grandfather, who died when I was still very young, so I didn't know much about him. Apparently he was a very fit and well made man. Granny would relate the stories of after he had been down to the George Inn, on a Sunday dinnertime, he would challenge all comers to a fight for anything up to half-a-crown, bare knuckles of course. Granny used to say that he often came home with blood all over and the shirt torn off his back. This will tell you the stuff the Butlers were made of. Granny could neither read, nor write, but had a large family Bible with the birthday of each of her children entered. In later years I used to visit her regularly and each time the Bible would have to be brought out and I would read the name and dates entered. 

These were typical of the people living in the village at that time, all as strong as nails and fit as fiddles. A lot of these people worked on the land, Lord Bridport of course gave employment to quite a number, and I have heard it said, that one of the main crops around here at that time was flax. This was probably used in the factory, as were the whole fields of teasels, that were used for brushing the cloth, to bring up the nap. My own Mother told me she did quite a lot of flax pulling.

Now going back to when I was born. My parents were living in the house adjoining Churchills, which in those days were two houses, so I first saw the light of day in Fore Street, next door to the family, who in my opinion have done more for Winsham than any other family I can think of. Churchill's yard was once a part of Manor Farm, and what was the Blacksmiths shop, was previously the cow-stalls, and the part that was the office and stores, was the stables. We did in fact, stable our own pony, Tommy, there for many years.

I shall have more to say about this later, but it is from here that I start my school days at two and a half years, and continue to do so until I am five. It is from here my memory begins to pick up things that I personally remember, as it is at this point I remember, we move to the top of the village, into the house opposite Stuckeys Farm. I have a vivid recollection of this as I go home thinking in my little mind our home is still with the Churchills, but I finally settle in and continue school life as before.

I shall now start to describe village life as I remember it from this point, I would add that the school teacher who taught me in those far back infant days is still with us today, and her mother, who only passed away relatively recently, lived to be over one hundred and two years, and by a very strange coincidence, it was her niece who brought my own son into the world, in London many years later. The village at this time is a very prosperous and lively community with a population of around the one thousand mark. Today I would guess there are less than thirty, so we seem to have gone backwards in some respects, and the following statistics will bear this out, as from the lively young village of before the First World War, we have gradually become a dormitory for old people to end their days. Unfortunately I am in this category myself.