Age tAvailable on Tape

AgeHereford Lore Reminiscence Newsletter

Vol. 4 Issue 6 November 1996 H e r e f o r d Lore, 26 Quarry Road, Hereford HR1 1SS

This team would have struck fear in the hear t of any opposi tion. Harold Quinsey, founder of Quinsey's shop on the Belm ontr oundabout, i s seated four th from the left. Does anyone have any information about the photogr aph, l oaned by Colin Quinsey?

Present ProblemsWith the festive season drawing near, I

remember with a smile Christmas 1929. Myfather was recovering from an operation so

Christmas had to be extra specialMy sister and h a d 6d each to buy presents. bough tMum a baking t in (2d) a spectacle case f o r myGrandmother (3d) and a comb for my Dad ( id ) A lpractical presents. My sister, who was only six, boughtMum a whipped cream walnut (2d), for Dad a t\ npennypacket of Woodbines and for Grandmother (wt w a sbed ridden) a box of Phul-Nana face powder (20, ' ' ,

Thanks For Your SupportThanks to all of you who supported Hereford Lore

and the Age To Age teams coffee morning andbook launch at the Town Hall in October

Apart from selling over 200 books (see TheShopkeepers Tale, page 3) the event raised over

E700 a sum which will go towards funding ourAge to Age.

Christmas morning my sister had eaten the nut from thechocolate bent all the cigarettes and spilled the facepowderThe presents were received with much joy and laughterI guess my sister and didn 't have enough money to buyeach other presents. Never mind I ' l l buy her somethingnice this year

Vi Thomas

Our next issue of Age To Age will be out in February. Copiesare avai lable fr om C i ty and Bel m ont Librar ies, HerefordTourist Information Centre, Garr ick House Reception, AgeConcern Offices, Ber rows House, Bath Street and HerefordTown Hall.Hereford Lor e Edi tor ial Gr oup ar e Margaret El l i s, Edi thGammage , R oy Kennett, J im Thomas, Vi Thomas, TomWoolaway, Bi l l Morr is and Bi l l Laws. Thanks to The RuralMedia Company and Natalia Silver.

We are grateful for the suppor t of:

1 1 1 1 1 1 11 01 4 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 P

Charity Prolec ts UK

COMICRELIEF

The Great Canny Brook ExlS n i p p e t s

The Missing Man

Is anyone still searching our photograph

of the Villa Street chapel congregationfor a glimpse o f Abbotsfield funeral

director Colin Quinsey, published in ourlast issue? Despit e ou r promise, t hepicture did not show Colin. But Mrs J.Barnett spotted herself in the photo andMrs Edmunds of Hinton has told us herfather helped to build the little chapel.

Have A Heart

Infant mortality is not yet a thing of the

past. The re a r e ov er 4, 000 infantdeaths a year in this country and this

year's Mayor's Charit y hopes t o buymedical equ ipment t o t ac k le t hes etragedies.Hereford Mayor Les Andrews launchedthe appeal f ollowing t he deat h o f agrandchild eight years ago. His daughterWendy remembers: "I arrived in hospitalwith my parents and was examined bymy doctor and given a scan. It was thenthat it dawned on me that something waswrong. The faces of my parents and themedical team filled me with fear. Sheila(the midwife) came and broke the newsthat Jade had died and would be born,stillborn. J ade was delivered naturallyand i t wa s a l o n g a n d emot ionalexperience. She was born at 7.27 p.m,full term." Contact Les Andrews and hisHave A Heart appeal at the Town Hall.

Forty Years On

It was fascinating to see Henry

Sandon's picture on the front page ofyour last issue, writes Duncan Wilk ins

from Hafod Road.Henry was a bass lay clerk on Decani atWorcester. His last Three Choirs Festivalwas a t Gloucester i n 1977, followingwhich he retired from active singing.As t he Decani bass f rom Hereford, Istood nex t t o Henry during t he hourevensongs sung by the choirs f rom thethree cathedrals that week . I hope i twasn't me who drove him to give it all up!Your photo was fascinating. Forty yearson most of us wear tee shirts and shortsapart from concert clothes whereas yourpicture is awash with collars, t ies andsuits.

The sluggish tree-lined stream that

ran west -eas t behind Baggal lymeadows was f illed wit h o ld t in

cans, broken prams and cider bottles. Butto the young of Holy Trinity parish in 1944it might have been the Nile or the NigerAt our Saturday morning meetings in thevicarage loft, the choristers debated theneed t o invest igate t his mys teriouswaterway. There were a great manyhazards and dangers. Apart f rom t hecolossal, ill-tempered Hereford bull thatroamed t he f ields f lanking t he brook,enormous adders were known to inhabitthe long grass (Mrs Tomkins's cat haddied in awful agony after a tussle with oneof the serpents), and the impenetrablebrambles were thickly sown with giantstinging nettles and rusty barbed wire.Now t hat t he likelihood o f t he Hu ninvading Hereford had receded, w eneeded t o face a new challenge andresolved t o launch an expedit ion t oexplore the Canny Brook. Clearly a boatwould be needed and provisions, plusweapons f or defence agains t host ilegangs of scrumpers known to inhabit thelower reaches.So it was in September of that year thatsome ten intrepid boys and girls of thechurch choir lugged a home-made puntacross the fields. Old Mrs White hadgiven us a pot of strawberry jam and wetook half a loaf of bread, some margarineand two bottles of Mr Meredith's specialginger pop.To this my mother added a bag of sweetpears and an hard boiled egg.

The boys made n e w bows f rom thechurchyard yew, and our catapults usedsome rubber found beneath the counterof t he corner shop. Several f emalemembers of the team had generouslyoffered t o c ut t he elas t ic f rom theirknickers, but fortunately this did not provenecessary. A great spear was fashionedform a clothes l ine prop and held inreserve in case we were attacked by thecrocodile that Colin was certain he hadseen lurking in the bushes.At last all was ready and the expeditionmoved off Stores and equipment, plusthe smaller members, went in the punt,now flying the church's flag of St Gcs—ge.The rest, the warriors, marched alkon the banks singing 'Onward ChristianSoldiers' W h e n Fa r me r Raymond'sferocious bull appeared he was driven offby my mother's spaniel, apt ly namedCrackers, which hurled itself with greatcourage at the snort ing monster Theproblem was that Crackers was almostblind and, having savaged a couple offence posts, fell into the stream whencehe was rescued by the punt crew.So our voyage of discovery continuedgathering important scientific data on thefauna a n d f lora, t h e s t at e o f t h eblackberry crop and the location of thebest eating apples.Derek caught a huge minnow which waskept alive in a jar of water and would becooked later, back at base camp. Rayalmost captured a newt but its tail cameoff in his hand. "Never mind, I d•-• '• likenewts anyway," mut tered his . 4 n t

Danger! A crowd gathers to watch the flood waters at Belmont Road in our picture,loaned by Colin Quinsey. Do you have any experiences of being being flooded out?Write to Age To Age, 26 Quarry Road, Hereford HR1 1SS.

Many wi l l remember t he k ios k i n t he Cast le Green, wr i t es Roy Kennett.Renowned for its superb ice-cream, the kiosk was the focal point of the CastleGreen. Believed to have been built by Ernest Gwilliam soon after the First WorldWar, the kiosk was run by Ernie, as he was better known, and his wife, Flo, unt ilthe mid 1930's. In the 1930's, the Green was in great demand. The bandstandstood next to the bowling green and was regularly used for concerts. The BonOptimists concert party often performed to an audience seated on chairs aroundthe bandstand while coloured lights twinkled in the trees above.admirer, pimply Pam. The scrumperswere lying in ambush in the marsh northof Kings Acre, but the cowardly lot madea poor showing when our volley of arrowsand the fire hardened conkers from ourcatapults fell amongst them. With a cry of"Remember Breinton! " ( a prev iousengagement when we had thrashed arivali j r ) our warriors charged into theenemy, fists flying, scattering them overthe allotments. One luckless oik wasseized and dragged screaming back tobe debagged and keel-hauled beneaththe punt by the girls. After one dipping, hesang like Miss Gibson's canary, telling usthe exact whereabouts o f a patch o fedible horse mushrooms t he s ize o fdinner plates.Some wanted to take him back to HolyTrinity as a slave, but he refused to walkand, be ing dr ipping we t , w a s n o twelcome in the boat, so we released thewretch with a stern warning inscribed onhis forehead in indelible pencil "CannyBrook is Holy Trinity land. Trespassersbeware" Alas at this point our faithfulcraft became waterlogged and had to beabandoned, but it was a happy band ofchoristers t hat t rudged bac k t o t hevicarage with a load of looted apples, awet dog, a minnow and a posy of wildflowers for my grandmother"We went all the way to the White Crossto get these for you, Granny," I lied.

International explorer ColonelJohn Blashford-Snell reveals oneof his earliest exploits a forayinto the upper reaches ofHereford's Canny Brook.

"What sweet thoughtful children," the oldlady smiled.

Colonel John Blashford-Snell grew up atHoly Trinity vicarage where his father wasvicar His autobiography "Something LostBehind The Ranges" is published byHarper Col l ins a n d i s available i npaperback.

TheShopkeepers'

Tale0 Id Hereford is disappearing and

sometimes I feel sad about it , "wrote the late Vi Woolaway in The

Shopkeepers' Tale, the latest book fromHereford Lore.Hereford L o re i s a group o f peopleworking s in ce 1989 t o co l le c t a n dremember our recent past. Since our firstbook "Amazing How Times Change", wehave worked with write r B il l Laws t oproduce Age To Age (th is is o u r 21stissue!) and shared your memories in ourtalks to groups across the county.The current team, Edith Gammage, RoyKennett, B i l l Mo rris, V i Thomas, J imThomas and Tom Woolaway is always onthe look out for people who would like tohelp. (Drop us a line at 26 Quarry Road,Hereford if you are interested).Hereford L o r e r e l i e s o n y o u rsubscriptions, sales of the booklets andgrants and donations t o ca rry on thework. Lend us your support by buying abook o r taking out a subscription (onlyS3 a year) for Age To Age.The Shopkeepers' Tale (S2.50) is on saleat the Tourist Information Centre, AgeConcern's charity shop in WidemarshStreet and the Hereford Bookseller inChurch Street.

Sam Blake and his eldest son Arthur s t ruggling to hold the pony and the milk pailat the same time, are pic tured outs ide Sam's grocery shop in St Mart in's Street.The pic ture comes f rom The Shopkeepers ' Tale.

WartimeFire Fighters

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q J t i c e b o a r t ,

enrlefotrallI (ralli

(OPtHepO

Fai r23, 24 and 25 November

Hereford Town Hall10 00am - 5.00pm

- .

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HER EFORD CHORAL SOCIETYpresents

"Orchestra do Camera"Work by Bach, Elgar and Britten

23 November 7.30pmHereford Cathedral

Tickets f 1 I, £9.50 & Unreserved E5

Piano Concertwith Jack Gibbons

28 November 7.30pmShlrehall, Hereford

Tickets L,8 50Secret and LiesDirected by Mike Leigh

Winner o f the •96 Cannes Fi lm Festival

14 November 8 .0 0 p mHereford Ed uca t ion

Centre, B la ckf ria rs Street,E2.90/E1 9 0 concessions

Made in the MiddleCrafts exhibition of work from around

the West Midlands30 November to 4 JanuaryHereford City Art Gallery,

Broad StreetE P L I E I

john Hancock of Tupsley writes

about our picture of fire fightersin the last issue.

The rec en t phot ograph o f f i remenoutside Painter Brothers, taken about1942, wa s not Painter Brothers f i rebrigade, but the firemen of the HerefordCity Aux i l iary F i r e Serv ic e, No r t hDivision, later t o become part of t henational fire service.With t he except ion o f t wo f ul l t imefiremen whose sole responsibility was tokeep the fire pumps and vehicles in goodorder, the rest of the f iremen were parttime volunteers . Th e c ompany wa sdivided int o f our crews, 7,8,9,10 andeach crew took it in turns to be duty firecrew every fourth night f rom 10.00 t o6.00. This continued throughout the waruntil disbandment. Oh happy memories!Some of the people in the picture are stillwith us, but not many. In addition to LesPowell, there is Mr R.A.Painter, Mr Hill(Hereford Brewery), M r Bond (EvansCider Work s ), M r Horac e Sul l iv an(fruiterer), Mr Bert Barton ( t he wel lknown f a i r g r o u n d b o x i n g b o o t hproprietor) a n d t h e t wo Woolawaybrothers, Jack and Reg (father of TomWoolaway of Age To Age).One of the biggest fires that number 8crew ev er at tended was GreenlandsFactory fire in Foley Street. What a nightthat was!Another large f ire was the St George'sgarage fire in Bewell Street.All these men were expected to turn upthe following day a t t heir respectiveplaces o f employment, regardless o fwhether they had any sleep or not t henight before.Best wishes to Age To Age. Keep up thegood work.

EN O F 1 A G EFREESTYLE

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TheAifEvaitColumn1907 - 19

O ti th Christmas and and

election looming, w e l ookback at Alf Evans' notes of

his days as a young lad at the Wyeinn, Bullingham.The W ye Inn served a large area.E3ullingham was cut off by the riverand there was no pub at Dinedor norHolme Lac y t h e l and ow ni ngChesterfields did not believe in drinkfor the working classes. There wasno church school nor village hall atE3ullingham e i t h e r M e e t i n g s ,including inquests, were arranged inthe unl i censed r oom s w hi l e t hestable was used as a mortuary forpeople w h o com m i tted sui c i de,mostly dr ow ni ng them selves u priver.My father m other s i s ter and Iarrived at the Wye in 1912 to takeover fr om m y grandfather H enr yGaines. I t w as a str ange place,people c o m i n g a n d g o i n g ,customers trying to get you to drinkor smoke. I had access to clay pipetobacco, cigarette (Woodbines were2d for 5), biscuits, but after havingthe strap that phase soon passed.Next door to the W ye was BrookHouse, the priest's residence.One Father, a six foot, twenty stoneIrishman, used to come through theopening between our orchard andBrook House for his ration of Ir ishwhisky. I f m y parents were not athome h e would wal k i n andhel phimself. He used to sit in our parlourand t e l l a b o u t h i s exper i encesparring w i t h J a c k J ohns on ,heavyweight champion of the word.The vi l l age postm an onl y dr ankonce a year, at Christmas, alwaysgin a n d t h e n k e p t w a l k i ngbackwards. T he blacksmith agai ngot t i ght onc e a y ear and w asalways t a k e n h o m e i n awheelbarrow.At election time the pol l ing stationwas in the schoolroom of the LowerE3ullingham Cathol i c school . T heWye was full of debates before andafter voting. Liberals would tie theiryellow r ibbons on the Tories' trapsand horses. The Tories meanwhilewould sneak into the pig sties of theLiberals and "blue bag" their pigs.I have seen the locals ply the Liberalwith drink and watch him go and getinto his horse and dray. Unable tomove, h e w oul d g e t o u t a n dexamine the problem only to find thehorse had been taken out of the trapand t he shaf ts o f t he t r ap p u tthrough the yard gates and horsereharnessed.

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