Eileen LOCK
Leigh Historical Society: Parish Magazine Articles May and June 2020
Eileen Lock: Family and childhood
Eileen Lock, now aged 94, has lived at 2 Cherry Tree Cottages on the The Green since 1966 – for 54 years – but she was born in the village in 1926 and her grandparents and her own parents lived in Leigh for most of their lives, too. Sarah Maria Woollett had married a Charles Lambert at Penshurst in 1869. Their son, Ernest Charles Lambert, born in 1872, was Eileen’s grandfather and was born at Coppins Brook. Eileen remembers her grandfather, Ernest, well. He was a short man and very keen on gardening. He grew lots of vegetables and everyone knew he was an expert at grafting apple trees. He and his wife, Maria lived at 8 The Square – the house behind the butcher at No. 9. Their son – Eileen’s father – Charles ‘Charlie’ Ralph Lambert – was born on 10 December 1902. Charlie who, as usual, left school at fourteen, went to work as an apprentice gardener at Hall Place; but when he got engaged to Margaret Tomsett, he had to find a better paid job. So he went to work at Wisdens at Chiddingstone Causeway – becoming a ball stitcher. Eventually, he also became the liaison between the workers and the management. Charles and Margaret had married at Epsom in October 1925 and Eileen was born in 1926 at a one bedroomed flat that the couple had rented in Garden Cottages. Fairly soon after that, the family moved to 6 Barnetts Road. One of Eileen’s earliest memories was hiding amongst her father’s rows of potato plants with one of her sisters.
“Before the War, there often used to be dances in the Large Village Hall organized by Mrs Humpherus. At one of the dances – it must have been around 1930 – we had a terrible accident. Mum was dancing with dad and she tripped over. Unfortunately, dad fell on top of her and mum’s back was broken. They carried her home – it was on a door, I think. Then they brought a single bed downstairs. I asked if I could get into bed with her but, of course, they said no. She was in bed for ages – Granny came up from Henfield to look after us and mum suffered all her life. I remember later in her life; she had an X-Ray and Dr Skinner saying that he had never seen such a crooked spine in his life. Weekly dances continued throughout the War and I remember Mrs Humpherus, who lived at upper Kennards, teaching us all dancing – it was useful for when the local troops – often Canadians – came to dances.”
Eileen had been to the village school and made good friends there. Although her parents were not religious, the children were brought up practising Christians and, perhaps unusually, they went to both St Mary’s AND the Chapel – the Chapel on Sunday mornings and St Mary’s on Sunday afternoons. However, as a teenager, Eileen, having learnt about Darwin’s ideas, gave up being a practising Christian.
Eileen Lock: The War Years and After
During the War, Eileen’s father, Charles Lambert, spent four years in the Army as a driving instructor for lorries – even though he had never driven even a car before. The family took in refugees from London – as so many Leigh families did. Eileen remembers one girl, Lucy, who was with them for several years. “She was about my age. Another girl was called Anne but they found that she had TB and she was sent away. But nobody came and tested our family to see if we had caught it. Wartime was not easy. With Dad away, we did not get all the vegetables that he had always grown: we tried to do it but we weren’t very good at it: but rationing meant you always had something. Mum used to make vegetable stew and I remember Dad saying. ‘It’s so good it seems as if it’s got meat in it.’ But there was also a bit of black market and mum used to get something extra sometimes. And the troops helped too. You could get silk stockings from them – you only had to be a bit friendly – not too friendly though! Mum worked behind the bar at The Fleur. The landlord was Guy Glenny. He had a pony and trap and took people for rides”.
In 1939, when she left school at fourteen, Eileen had gone to the Tonbridge Technical College where she learnt shorthand and typing but also other subjects, including French and biology. Then, after the Tech, she went to work for Walter Tibbits, the auctioneer for three or four years during the War. Eileen remembers the constant strain of the war years – particularly the nights. “There were planes going over almost every night and often bombs exploding all round the village. That’s why VE Day was such a relief.” So, Eileen, by now nineteen and a working girl in Tonbridge, explains what she did on the Day. “I had joined a Youth Club in Tonbridge. So, rather than stay in Leigh, I went down to Tonbridge to celebrate. We all joined arms and danced and sang all the way down the High Street, shaking hands with all the people as we went. It was very jolly.”
“I left Walter Tibbits in 1946 when I married Ken Lock from Tonbridge. We emigrated to Canada the following year where we lived until 1962 when our marriage foundered. I then returned with our two children to stay with my parents, hoping to find our own home in due course. It was a very tough time. My parents had moved to 5 The Forstall by then, next door to Eric and Daisy Batchelor but in 1966, I managed to secure the tenancy of No. 2 Cherry Tree Cottages.”
Eileen had gone to work for Crutch Brothers, the big Tonbridge firm at the top of the High Street. It had a shop which sold reproduction antique furniture and a large workshop which had cabinet makers, upholsterers and seamstresses. “It had about thirty staff and I found myself doing the book-keeping – the one subject I’d always disliked at Technical College. There was even a man who came over from what we now call Iran, who sold us Persian rugs. When Crutch Brothers finished, I moved to work with Derek Roberts, the famous clockmakers and repairer in the Shipbourne Road, Tonbridge.
So, Eileen has lived at Cherry Tree Cottages and has been in the village for almost 80 years. While I think that there are one or two people in the village a little older than Eileen, has anyone lived in the village longer?
Chris Rowley (May/June 2020)