THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — these Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

I have heard that the school in Findon has always held a Nativity Play at the end of the Christmas term, even in the early 1950s and probably long before.

Toby Long came from a line of shepherds and as a young boy there were always four or five discarded shepherd's crooks stacked in the garden shed at his home at York Terrace in Nepcote.

Each Christmastide, the class teacher called upon Toby to be one of the shepherds visiting Christ in the stable in the school play. He soon twigged there was a reason for his selection for this important role and it was not solely for his acting ability. It was because he could readily supply the vital props for the parts of his co-actors — the authentic shepherding crooks. Each year he sorted out the crooks in his shed and carried them off to school.

He had no problem in remembering his lines each year during the performance. He was asked —

"Have you counted the sheep young John?"

Whereupon Toby clutched his crook and facing the audience replied as loud as he could muster, "Aye, Master, three score and ten".

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.