Memories are made of this

Hobby Boddington I was born in Rock Road Finedon. I had four sisters Nellie, Phyllis, Linda Beryl and a brother Ted. My mum and dad were Finedon born and bred .My father worked at Ebwvale pits on Irthlingborough Road apart from the slump of 1926 when he was forced to go and work at the coal mines in Nottingham for about eight months. Mum I suppose was part of the cottage industry closing shoes at home. I remember she used to use her treadle sewing machine and it was in the sitting room set near the window where she could see. She had to fit her work in with housework. Washday then was quite hard. A copper stood in the kitchen with a fire, which needed lighting under it. Washday then was Monday’s when our meal was generally boiled potatoes with their jackets on and a saucepan full of boiled rice afterwards there would have been suet roll. It was plain food quite different from today with all the additives and preservatives. I much enjoyed the food we used to have. I remember lovely crusty loaves. The food was always nourishing and mum used her stores well.

I went to Finedon Infant School, Junior School then the top school on Welling borough Road. I hated school so much that they had to drag me there while I roared. I was a real terror who did not like being penned in. At Senior School one of my classmates was Margaret Remmington. I did seem to get into a fair amount of trouble at school. I recall how one day I crept out of the classroom and into the hall to look at the clock and saw the headmaster Captain Sutton. I hid quite quickly but unfortunately for me someone had decided to throw an apple core at me. I ducked to miss being hit and it hit Captain Sutton in the face I had twelve strikes of the cane six strikes on each hand for that bit of trouble.

Back Row
Richardson, Jackson, Boddington, Pratt, Brown, Greenhalf, Desborough, Ashpole, Goodman, Wiggins.
Second Row
Love, Bollard, Perrill, Sykes, Harris, Greenhalf, Gibson, Tunn, Coles, Minney, Harris
Third Row
Langley, Downing, Hillson, Dickens, Ager, Knowles, Topkins, Barton, Beetson, Cholerton, Nichols,Beetson
Front Row
Ellson, Scott, Brown, Sharman, Clipstone, Wright, Thurlow, Bingley, Warner

I was a bit of a lad though but only things like knocking doors and scrumping at Minney’s Orchard in Rock Road; the Minney’s lived at the large house at Crossways. Tann Road was also an orchard belonging to Lilly’s and Edwin Cooper the undertaker who lived at the top of Victoria Road. I was up a fruit tree one day when Mr. Lilly caught me. I ran away quite quickly I can tell you but I got my feet caught in something or other and tripped dropping my apples as I fell. I broke both wrists but did not dare tell anyone for a good two weeks; I was in real agony.
The Curtains family Nell, Jack, Bill, Raine, Olive, Pearl, and Joan lived next door to us. Bill was an apprentice to Mr. Robinson the baker in Irthlingborough Road. He went on to take over the firm when Mr. Robinson retired.

My father had pigeons so I was interested in them from a boy. We lived next door to Mr. Colson and Mr. Tyler and they were both pigeon fancier’s. When I had been married a few years my wife agreed for me to keep pigeons as long as they were kept clean. Eventually I was able to afford a decent loft and it cost me one hundred and twenty seven pounds. Murray Brudenall was my partner in pigeon racing. At the age of fourteen I went to work for Almarco at the Embankment Wellingborough where I was employed making parts for machinery. I bought myself a brand new bike a Rudge and Whitworth for eleven pounds and I got it from Curry’s in Wellingborough .I of course had to bike there in all sorts of weather. Mum would dry my socks on the little line behind the velvet valance that fitted round the mantle. I earned seven shillings and sixpence and worked from seven thirty in the morning until five thirty at night plus I did an extra half hour every night for sixpence. I worked there for six months and then I got a job at Loakes’ for seven shillings a week. I swept the floor, tacked on insoles etc and I worked at the top shop with Jack Hague and Bill Ward. I remember I could buy a pair of shoes then for eighteen pence. I then went from the top to the bottom shop where I trained as an Edge Trimmer and Dennis York was the Foreman who taught me; I think I got a decent wage and I did piece work.
I remember Gas House in Orchard Road and we used to take a pram down there to get coke. They used to get the gas out of the coal and there were gas offices to buy a gas cooker or if you needed repairs in which case Mr. Ford was the gas man. The maintenance man was Mr. Hodson and he used to go round on his bike with a big black leather bag strapped to him where he carried all his maintenance things. I can remember the gas cylinders being pulled down. We used to play a lot of street games usually outside Dodd’s and Colson’s gas lamp in Rock Road until about ten at night. We played bedlam and ay acky and there was never any real trouble. I played football at school and from there went on to play for Finedon, Burton Latimer, then for Bedford for a short time before papers being served on me to join the army .Soon after this I was ill for two years and my wife had three pounds sixteen shillings and sixpence a week and we never got into debt. Both sets of parents were supportive and this was the time when we really found out who our friends were. I then worked for Pearson’s and then Gammidges where I remained until I retired and the pay was good.