A Chanctonbury connection came about through the name of the Registry where he
married a teacher, Edna Clarke, and where he later registered the birth of his
son, Peter. (In later years, Peter became a director of programmes
at the B.B.C.) THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
PETER SHAYLER ON WARTIME AMMUNITION IN FINDON — AND COURTING COUPLES
Copyright Valerie Martin 2003.
I wonder if anyone remembers a bullet whizzing passed them during their courting days? Walking out with a girl sounds as if it was a dangerous occupation during wartime.
Peter has written to me again with more Second World wartime memories of the village — so read on and be taken back in time ..... also I have made an effort to sort out whether the one-armed rabbit catcher, Shem, was Shem Randall or Shem Wiltshire. I've taken a quick peep at the street directory for Findon for some of the war years and can find neither any Wiltshires or Randalls as yet. I may have to wait for the 1911 census to be released!
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15th January 2003. .......As regards Shem I always knew him as "Mr Wiltshire" but of course this may have been wrong or an alias although why I don't know. The only person I have seen working with him on the door of the Village Hall dance used to be Mr Ted Budd, brother of Fred Budd the grave digger but perhaps he has passed on by now. Although, as this old lady says so, it is very likely correct, even so, Mr. Budd's sister, Mrs Ethel Anscombe (who I believe was the school crossing lady) for many years, must have known him, so I am afraid this is all I can tell you. By the way, this old village dance hall must be internationally famous as I believe I have seen Mr. Jomo Kenyatter there (the Nigerian Prince) I believe, used to come there at one time from Storrington. Also when we were on the Downs with the Canadians, they took a great interest in showing us how to set up explosives with fuses, detonators, gun cotton and electric flashes etc. Also they warned us that gelignite i.e. Nobel's Explosive, was very unpredictable, as it used to sweat in the damp weather — although nothing ever happened to us except I remember it had a strong smell of pear drops or similar amongst many things. They showed us how to set up a demolition device, nicknamed a "Beehive" with which we successfully blew up the remains of a barn at Lee Farm. Also if you used the cardboard carrying pipes for transporting 2 in. mortars (a block of three) taped together by splitting them up singularly, you can actually fire them up in the sky but you have to unscrew the cap from the bottom, to get them to detonate when they land. Also the same system with the flares so they will come down on a small parachute, when fired upward, by driving about a 4 in. nail through a piece of wood and fitting the tube over the point of the nail and dropping the mortar down the pipe, naturally fixing it pointing upward. Anothing thing they taught us (which was very useful in later life) was about the trucks and tanks with the tracks etc. and they used to get us fitters' manuals which taught us a lot more. They were more friendly than the English soldiers as they didn't want anything to do with us, as they seemed to think we were only a nuisance (which perhaps we were). Peter Shayler. P.S. Another hobby we had was firing tracer bullets at courting couples (or close to them) as they just fitted in a gas pipe, also using a similar nail system by hitting it with a hammer. Peter Shayler, Upper Beeding, West Sussex.
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I was rather fascinated by the mention of Jomo Kenyatta the labourer ..... it must have obviously been before corruption set in for one of the world's leaders.
It appears that in 1939, a colleague of Jomo (Dinah Stock a
WEA lecturer and secretary of the British Centre Against Imperialism), convinced
him that London was not the place to be while bombs were dropping during the
Second World War. This is how he came to arrive in nearby Storrington at
the home of Roy Armstrong, a Southampton University lecturer.
Within a few months of moving to Sussex, Jomo took a job as an agricultural
labourer and later worked in the greenhouses at Linfield's Nursery at
neighbouring Thakeham for some four years, moving nearby to a house in Hampers
Lane.
Jomo's main connections in our area seem to have been with the market gardeners,
Linfields, though he is alleged to have been a farm labourer somewhere near
Storrington prior to this.
| 11th March 2005 Dear Valerie, My stepfather was John Turner who was brought up in the
original Kingswood which was knocked down to build the A24. He often
said he used to work with a President when he worked at the farm and I
used to think he was pulling my leg ! They both worked mainly in the
tomato greenhouses I think, John never ate another tomato after leaving
there ! Lawrence May, Antigua, West Indies. |
A Chanctonbury connection came about through the name of the Registry where he
married a teacher, Edna Clarke, and where he later registered the birth of his
son, Peter. (In later years, Peter became a director of programmes
at the B.B.C.)
In 1946, Jomo returned to Kenya and re-married. There was, therefore, no more agricultural labouring in the Sussex countryside for the leader of the Kenya African Union in later in life when on the 8th April 1953, he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to seven years hard labour for his part in the organisation of the rebel Mau-Mau movement.
Continue if you would like to read about the village Home Guard in Dad's Army in Findon.
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — was launched by Valerie Martin in January 1999 and will grow to be a historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
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