Voices Now And Then

Mrs Walters
Mother Francis Maud maiden name Brooker. She was born in 1906 and worked as a nurse at Tooting Beck. She actually met my father at a model steam railway. Dad was born in 1894

Eldest brother Cyril was born in 1927, myself 1932, LESLEY 1933,Norman 1935, Gordon(Nip) 1942

Finedon Hall

Mrs Maskew was the last owner and she lived there until 1912.

Before the Free French moved into the hall my brothers and I used to cut across the lawn there. They told me that they had looked in the windows of the hall and seen things like guns hung on the walls and things in big jars; it was all a big mystery to us. I also remember that there was a lovely goldfish pond.
The Mulso’s,Mackworths,Dolbens had died out- there were a lot of daughters. You could see remnants of what must have been a lovely garden.

During warmer summer days people would walk down Mill Lane and stop at our house and ask for water from the pump. When we later moved to the grove (which had a thatched roof) our parents would offer them water drawn from the well which was in the orchard.
I left school at fourteen. I first went to work at Wellingborough Co-op first in Newcommen Road where they sold materials from the rolls.. I then worked in what was called a Fashion Salon in Midland Road- it was every bit as like the TV programme Are You Being Served.

Some of the characters I remembered from Finedon included Lizzie Miller who had an ironmongers. She had only one leg and walked with a crutch- she seemed elderly to me.
I remember Doc Halfpenny,Ernie Lowe in the High Street who were cobblers and newsagents. Then there was Mr Walker who worked at Knights fish shop which is where Cheneys antique shop is now. I remember there were lots of higgledy piggledy houses up the entry…many of them hidden right away. We used to ask for a pennyworth of batter bits from the fish shop.

Carnival Days
Lorries all done up; they used to do scenes like Tarzans jungle and there were lots of people on decorated bikes. They must have spent hours decorating the wheels. People used to go round the streets shaking tins for Hospital Funds;
I have very happy memories.

I was in St Johns Ambulance as a teenager.

I went to the Methodist Church on Wellingborough Road first then the Wesleyan Chapel where lots of social activities were held including ourings,table tennis,scripture exams,yearly anniversary teas. Will Patterson seemed to be in charge. I recall that there used to be a Reverend Hesketh.There used to be bible classes .

I did four years in the Airforce in various locations and then at the age of about twenty two went to train as a State Registered Nurse at Paddington.

Marriage
In 1961 I married Patrick McQuire a bank worker and we moved to Coventry. Our son Andrew was born in 1963. He now lives in Atherstone Warwickshire. I moved back to Finedon following the death of my husband in the Millenium year. Mum had lived in Wellingborough for some time before moving to live at Mackworth Green and she died in…….?

Two of my brothers went to Wellingborough Grammar School. My brother Lesley was killed in a flying accident in Jordan in 1954- he was a lovely fellow and it left an enormous gap in all our lives.

I was born in 1932 at Old Fletton,in the fens,Peterborough.

My father came as a young man to England in 1914.Although he was a qualified English/Maths teacher he was employed as a manual worker and had various jobs in South Wales and later London. He used to travel to Finedon from Peterborough and was employed by the mining company Richard Thomas & Baldwin. We moved to Finedon in 1934 when I was two and we lived at the Mill and the property was owned by Lord Vaux at Harrowden Hall and we lived at the Mill until I was six. Our cottage was right by the river and our nearest neighbours were at Furnace Cottages and a lady called Mrs Clinton lived there-it was a little community.
I used to have a long journey walking up Mill Lane with my brother Cyril when I started at the Infant school aged five.

Walking to school was an education in itself with flowers in the hedges etc although murder in the winter. I remember we used to meet a man in the lane called Mr Pettitt. My first teacher at the infants school was Miss Higgs, also a MissHiggs,Miss Johnson,Miss Desborough,Miss Cunningham and Miss Drew.

Children from Allen Road,Oxford Street,Thrapston Road were called TopEnders whilst we from Church Street,High Street,Regent Street were called Bottom Enders. Top Enders would come and play at times down at the grove.

Junior School
I remember that we had to go to church from there three times a week. The Cannon at the time,who I was in awe of, used to come and fire religious questions at us and I remember that he hardly ever smiled.Jack Wells was the headmaster of the Junior school teaching the boys and I went to the all girls juniors.

One day the king and queen came to visit Wellingborough and it was all hush hush until that day because of security.There was a mad rush to find transport and I went in a big black car and two girls went in the boot- we got the smallest glimpse.

We were surrounded by airfields during the war and I clearly remember a Dornier being hit over the grove by by spitfires and it went down later in Thrapston Road. I was never really frightened as I was really too young from a tots perspective it was all quite exitingThere was rationing,no lights, little food. Mothers were marvelous in how they managed to feed their families and clothe them on so little. Nutts factory was turned in a Munitions Factgory.

We had landgirls living on the farms. We had Canadians billeted here before the invasion and I remember once that their cook once gave us a handful of food,sugar,jam

We moved to the grove in 1938/39 and it was owned by Lord Vaux at Harrowden Hall.

It was a lovely day that the war started and I remember a speech by Mr Chamberlain saying that we were at war. We had evacuues flooding into the classrooms although if you had more than four children you did not have to have an evacuee; we only had two bedrooms so we did not have any; some evacuees never returned to London but stayed here in Finedon

Cousins Pattisons,Bob Pattison played on the grass lawn at the grove. When the lawn was mowed we would throw the grass al over. At times somebody would give us sixpence to throw the balls back onto the court.

An avenue of trees were chopped down at Hollywalks for the war effort before that it had been a very pretty avenue.

WE got milk straight from Mr Twelvetrees cows and of course it was not pasteurized it was also rationed-everyone had a ration book. We also used to keep goats for my brother Nip.

Most of the villagers were employed in the boot and shoe industry,on the land or at Finedon Hall as labourers.

We used to sit on the edge of the well and look down.