John HOLDEN

JOHN HOLDEN’S MEMORIES OF LEIGH

Part 1: Up to the end of World War 2

Earliest Memory

I was born on 16 May 1937 in a nursing home in Tonbridge, the second of five children. You wouldn’t believe it but my earliest memory is of my mother pushing me in a pram along the road from  Leigh to Penshurst airfield, there being very few cars at that time. This was not particularly dangerous as there were regular occurrences of sheep and cattle being driven through the village.

I can also remember the actual planes at the time, mostly bi-planes, and I think the sight of one taking off in 1940, when I was about two and a half, up into a clear blue sky has probably accounted for my lifelong fear of heights.

My Grandparents

My grandfather (on the Holden side) came from a long line of blacksmiths, and they would travel all around this part of the country for work, mainly shoeing of horses. Sadly, my grandfather died quite young (aged 48), in the early 1920’s I think, having been kicked badly by a horse, leaving my grandmother in Tonbridge with, I think, nine children, although I think two died.

Most of the Holden men were involved in blacksmithing and they tended to move around the various estates, following whatever work was available.

The Granny Holden that I remember was rather a stern lady, dressed mostly in black, and she had a brooch round her neck which was a sort of iron-coloured, with a black silhouette head with her hair shaped back – to me it seemed like an ancient Egyptian head.

She also had a big dining table with great carved legs and was covered with a rug-like tablecloth with tassels. (As children we used to hide under it and play games there). To make ends meet she ended up scrubbing floors and taking in laundry, and when we went to visit, we always walked from Leigh to Tonbridge during the war.

Early Years

To begin with we lived at 11 Garden Cottages, although we later moved down to 22, which was one of the bigger houses with three bedrooms.

When the war broke out my father was called up, and later I found out he had been posted to Singapore and Malaysia, however he wouldn’t say much about it except to say it was too horrible to remember, but he did reveal he had been a cook sergeant.

The only story I remember him telling was how they had virtually nothing to cook, and very little means of cooking it anyway although what they did have were very large tins of cheese and bully-beef. He would say that as there was nothing even to heat these on, they would use the cheese to start the fire.

My father had been a football stitcher at the Wisden factory in Chiddingstone Causeway, and my uncle had also worked there as a cricket ball stitcher (although the factory was more like a small sweat shop). My father later made the three balls used in the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Arsenal (in 1979).

He had a dislike for foreigners all his life and I remember a man coming to the door – presumably to sell something – and because he looked brown father chased him down the road with a carving knife.

Kay’s Father

Kay, my wife, her father was killed at Dunkirk, and I go up to the War Memorial on the 11^th November to put down a cross.

Our Evacuation

Looking back, it was a bit strange that we got evacuated when children were being evacuated to Leigh from London, nevertheless Mother, myself, and brothers Colin and baby Barry, together with sister Betty and Aunt Daisy were sent to Castle Carey in Somerset in late 1941.

Colin, being the eldest, was boarded with a Mrs Chivers whilst I was sent to Mr and Mrs Battery who had no children of their own. Aunt Daisy, Mum, Betty and baby Barry were stayed together with another family.

Due to the age differences between us, Colin as the eldest went to one school, while me and Betty being nearly 5 and 3 respectively, went to the village school – years later while on holiday I went back to visit the area and met an old man who had lived next door to the school at the time and had a good talk about everything, including the anti-aircraft gun placement at the end of the playground.

After a few months we were all moved together into a row of terraced houses in the High Street, however this later got bombed which persuaded Mum and Aunt Daisy to decide that we would all go back home because if we were going to die it might as well be at home, so in late summer 1942 we set off home.

This return home turned out to be quite and adventure due to the constant bombing of London and I can remember ending up sheltering in the underground with what seemed like hundreds of other families. We eventually managed to get a lift all the way from London to Leigh in and ambulance, however I have no idea how this was arranged, or by who, but Aunt Daisy could be very persuasive.

Aunt Daisy wasn’t really our aunt but a lodger we had taken in called Daisy Gibbard (I think her house had been bombed) and she was evacuated with us. She was also quite good-looking and that meant with all the American and Canadian soldiers around there was a constant stream of visitors.

The Bomb

Towards the end of the blitz, my mother was talking to her neighbour Mrs Ford who lived at number 12 (she was the mother of Mrs Fautly the butcher’s wife), when a German plane came over and there was a huge bang. A large piece of shrapnel or something came down, bounced off the roof of number 12 (breaking a tile or two in the process) onto the fence between Mum and Mrs Ford and buried itself in the freshly dug garden of number 10 (belonging to Mr Wheeler).

It was buried about a foot deep in the ground and when Mr Wheeler dug it up it was still slightly hot. It was a bit of a shock and could have killed either or both Mum and Mrs Ford – a lucky escape.

German Planes and bombs

The German planes were always over Leigh in the early part of the war. I remember dog fights in the sky and having to run and dive under a hedge when the German fighters came in low and firing, including when we went hopping. Lots of bombs fell in Lealands Avenue and beyond, many of which failed to explode. There was a doodlebug, or part of one, sitting in Ensfield Farm.

Christmas

At Christmas it was nothing like it is today, but it was still marvellous. We didn’t get loads of presents, just an apple and some nuts in our stocking. We spent hours making paper chains, cutting strips of paper then joining them together using flour and water as glue. There was no tree instead we had bunches of holly, and Christmas dinner was mainly rabbit – chicken came later after the war had ended.

Keeping Food

There were no fridges or freezers so food was kept in a larder in the scullery as we had no proper kitchen. This had a metal grille instead of a window so was very cold during the winter but it was not so clever in the summer when it used to get very warm. We used to get milk delivered daily from Barnetts Farm and it used to be delivered by bicycle that had a trailer attached.

Food and Cooking

We had a kitchen range that was used for both cooking and heating, and a small single oven which was often hit or miss depending on how much wood or coal was available. We then had a small gas cooker with 2 rings and an oven that was connected to the gas supply by a rubber tube and the cooker (all very Heath Robinson).

Rationing was in force and made it very difficult, however things were helped when “Dig for Britain” was introduced in 1941 and loads of garden space turned over to grow vegetables. This led to us eating lots of vegetable soups, but other delights included sugar sandwiches, jam sandwiches without butter, but the very best was bread and beef dripping with a sprinkle of salt on top.

Food and Cooking (continued)

The fruit we had was mainly apples and blackberries depending on what was in season, and nobody really knew what bananas were like or any of the other exotic fruits which only became available after rationing had been abolished in 1960.

Fresh eggs were a real treat as most cooking was done using powdered egg, and many cakes were sweetened with carrot or beetroot.

Leigh School

I started school in Leigh in 1942 after being evacuated and there are only a few people left of those who were at school during the war. These include Bernard and Russell Thompsett and Sheila Whitebread although she was a little bit older – I can’t think of any others. Russell and I were friends, and we were always getting into scrapes together.

Mr Gibbons was the headmaster at Leigh school when we were there, and a lot of the lessons took place in the Air Raid shelters at the rear of the school. We thought that Mr Gibbons was a good headmaster although he was tougher on the boys.

When Russell and I finally left school at age 11 we thought we had seen the last of Mr Gibbons but no such luck as he turned up at Sussex Road Secondary school in Tonbridge as our Form Master. He had a son who was a very good cricketer who played for Leigh.

Spare Time

In our spare time we would go fishing and swimming, also play in the ponds in the Brickyards and play conkers. We would also play “knock out ginger” tying cotton to peoples door knocker, pulling it so the door knocker fell and then scarpering as fast as we could.

We liked to go scrumping but would have to watch out for the local bobby – I remember climbing one of the trees on the green one time and he had caught me and given me a whack (as they used to do) I said I would tell my Dad to which he replied if you do he will whack you too.

In the autumn we would go hopping, which was basically our holiday, at Miss Goodwin’s at Pauls Hill for pay. We would be given apples to eat and they were the best I have ever tasted. Mum used to do Pole Pulling mainly pulling the vines down so the hops could be pulled off, and she also did Hop training. Mr Lidlow who measured the hops into the bin was very strict – woe betide anyone who tried to bulk out the picking with leaves, to make up the weight which of course what we tried to do.

Winter

In the winter we would do all the normal things like making slides in the snow and we would go skating on the ponds at the Brickyards down Green Lane (heaven knows what health and safety would make of it now). I can remember the winter of 1947 when my father who was back form the war had to carry me piggy-back through four feet of snow just to get me to school.

Doctors

I used to get terrible boils and carbuncles as a boy – particularly in the winter – and I remember once I had a very large boil so my mother sent for Dr Davidson – who was really the only doctor around during the war – to come and look at it. It cost twopence to call him out, and fourpence for him to actually lance the boil – as you can imagine you didn’t go to the doctor that often, if you could help it.

Telephones

Hardly anybody had a home phone at the time, however there was a public call box opposite the school that people used – it took the old pennies and two buttons, one when your call was connected and the other to get your money back if the call could not be connected. We used to have school lessons teaching us how to use it properly.

The End of War

On VE day there was a big party for all the village on the green

Father’s Return

I was playing football on the green with some of the other boys in the village – it must have been at the end of 1944 or in early 1945 – when we saw a soldier walking down the High Street, pushing a trolley. He looked very tanned and wore shorts and I wondered if he was foreign. He walked straight past and I said to the others “Who’s that?” and one of the older boys told me it was my dad.

He had disappeared in 1940 when I was 3 and I hadn’t seen him again until he got home. Following his return, he was not at all talkative, and was very strict calling me a Mother’s Boy which of course I was in some ways having spent nearly all of my life with just my mother. He used to take his belt off and beat me if he thought I’d done something he didn’t approve of.

I used to walk past Oak Cottage when Mrs Ingram was giving piano lessons and I really wanted to do them but was told at home “we ain’t got money to waste in piano lessons”.

 

(As dictated to Philip Wynn Owen January 2022)