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Memories
of Ludham
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One of the very important tasks the Ludham Archive undertakes is to collect and record people's memories. Very often people say that they have nothing of any great importance in their lives, but it is the small details of Ludham's past which make their memories so important.
Sometimes people send their memories in the post, but often we record them either as audio recordings or as videos. A DVD of some of the memories is available from our shop.
Here are some examples of memories that people have sent us. They give a fascinating insight into a vanished Ludham
Constance Reeve
Constance Margaret Reeve nee Riches born 27th January 1930 at Church View, Norwich Road, Ludham
GP Dr. Brown Midwife Nurse Leadson, Norwich Road
Christened 2nd March 1930 at St. Catherine's Church
I lived at Church View from my birth to 1936. The two houses comprising Church View belonged to my Uncle Alfred (Tedda) Riches. The house built during the reign of Queen Anne previously belonged to a doctor. Redcot and Lamb Cottage also belonged to Uncle Tedda. The occupants of Lamb Cottage were Miss Lamb and Miss Hagen. Uncle Tedda was the village carpenter/undertaker with a workshop in School Road. He was a bellringer and church chorister. The village blacksmith, Mr. Anderson, worked next door to the carpenter's shop. My early recolection is of the roaring furnace fanned by bellows and shire horses waiting to be shod.
There was no electricity during my years at Church View. Water was taken from the pump in the yard and carried down to the semi-basement kitchen. Used water was carried up to the ground floor, across the shingle yard to be used in the garden. Four 'privies' served the four properties and were located in line at the back of the property concealed under an ivy covered arch just beyond the garage. A climbing red rose grew in that area. A garage had a rope ladder to an apple loft. Just before the garage there was a washroom, with bath and sink. The inside walls of the outhouse/washroom were lined with a composite fibreboard. My recollection is of a traditional tin bath in front of our living room fireplace.
Uncle Tedda kept pigs and chickens. I enjoyed collecting eggs with Aunt Annie from the nest boxes in the large shed across the start of the garden. The chickens scraped amongst the apple trees. There was a flag pole located in the back yard for use on appropriate occasions. I had angora rabbits as pets. Periodically their offspring were sold. My father Harry Riches was employed by M & GN (Midland and Great Northern Railway). He used to cycle to work at Catfield Station. Being on shift duty he was able to cultivate the large garden with a wide variety of crops - potatoes, cabbage, root vegetables, peas, beans, onion, marrow, asparagus, beetroot, Spring onion, lettuce - blackcurrants, gooseberries, rhubarb, pears. Surplus apples were placed in a wheelbarrow at the front of the house, and available freely to the yachting fraternity and others. Onions were pickled, chutney and jam made.
Towards the end of the garden on the left hand side was a bungalow occupied by Mrs. Davey, whose daughter became Head of Nursing at County level.
The Revd. Mohan lived at the Rectory. I used to go through an adjoining fence to play with his daughter Patricia. Fetes and tennis took place on the rectory lawn. Medlars grew in the garden. Sunday school was in the Church Hall. I enjoyed a Sunday School outing to Cromer by train from Potter Heigham and recall drinking ginger beer from stone bottles on the beach.
There were tennis courts at the village hall; bowling green and billiard room at the King's Arms. (Beulah Gowing nee Turner, local historian lived there). We used to play in the upstairs billiard room when the room was not in use.
Mr. Albert Knight kept the harness makers at the corner (now a tea room). Much of the village featured in the film "Conflict of Wings". Village hedgerows in spring contained primroses, violets, hawthorn then wild roses and poppies.
In 1936 after we moved to Norwich, Church View was modernised by Col. and Mrs. Daniel (nee Bush). The Bush family lived in a thatched cottage on Norwich Road next door to Nurse Leadson.
My general memory was that the village seemed isolated although on the Norwich to Yarmouth bus route. We walked or cycled to visit relatives at Catfield. Car ownership was rare. Uncle Frank, a baker/confectioner, at Wroxham visited us by car. Uncle Tedda bought a Ford 8 in 1936. Visits to Wroxham and Yarmouth would be limited to an occasional trip on a holiday period. Mrs. Powell, a village grocer, would collect and deliver our weekly order and would bring a "selection" of items on approval from the Yarmouth shops when required. My first raincoat came via Mrs. Powell. We had no radio but had a cherry wood piano and solid oak furniture. Mother took pleasure in keeping Church View immaculate; the front steps were whitened with hearthstone and the living room fireplace polished black with Zebo. Stairs and front room carpets were cleaned with stiff handbrush and dustpan. Tableware had a weekly polish with Silvo.
In those more difficult days outings were restricted to the traditional annual holiday. We would journey to Felixstowe via bicycle to Wroxham Station. Rail travel for us was free but as holiday time was unpaid, Father stayed on at work. Felixstowe was my mother Hilda Riches (nee Jolly)'s home. She met my father when he was stationed there in the Army (Royal Norfolk Regiment) having survived the Battle of the Somme.
Significantly Uncle Ern and Aunt Kathleen regularly came each August from Lewisham, London by motorbike and sidecar to stay at Church View. My Uncle Ern was extroverted and brought other friends with him. I recall Uncle Ern's love of music. He was skilled with both violin and double bass.On a summer's evening he and other guests would perform open concerts in our front room. This was well received within the village. Folk would dance joyously in the road in front of Church View. Another guest played our piano and one of our visitors fron London brought his drum set. On other occasions they would fish the local water. Uncle Ern was photographer for Deptford Gas Works and took holiday photographs. One of his photographs which I still have is a photograph of the Cutty Sark under full sail on the Thames prior to its containment in the nearby dry dock.
Toys were chiefly handed down from within the family. I recall a doll's pram, home-made cot and doll's house made from an orange box, a wooden cart, wooden engine and a clockwork train set which ran on a circular track. Rupert Annual was a regular Christmas present. (Uncle Tedda read the Daily Express and I was thus introduced to Rupert). I learned to ride my first bicycle, which did not have pneumatic tyres, on the long garden path. Cousin Phyllis Riches who lived next door at Church View was my mentor. We spent hours cutting and pasting in scrapbooks in her father's office which was above their kitchen.
I enjoyed my one year at the local school, conveniently sited in School Road, which I reached via our garden path. The head teacher was Mr. Kitchener. Other teachers were his wife and Mrs. Mattocks. A highlight of school was an outing to How Hill. On the occasion we were conveyed on a hay wagon. I recall the daily delivery of bottled milk for each child. The classroom was heated by a large open/guarded fire and the milk was thawed out as necessary. I learned to read and recognise fractions in the first year. I still recall the smell of plasticine. There were a number of dolls and I recall a caterpillar track toy. I was perplexed by the singing in the adjoining classroom of a "foreign language" - the tonic-sol-fa! We staged Babes in the Wood at the village hall. I was a fairy in white paper dress decorated with tinsell made by Mrs. Mattocks; the dark haired little girls wore pink! We had wands made by Uncle Tedda in his carpenter's shop. A huge tin of sweets kept us quiet while waiting to make our debut. Education was to a good standard. I was able to integrate well when I later attended school in Norwich. My cousin Helen (Nell) Skillern who lived in School Road was awarded a scholarship to North Walsham High School.
Birthday parties were a significant event attended by school friends and my cousins Nell and her brother Bob. Favourite games were Hunt tthe Thimble and Blind Man's Buff. An artificial Christmas tree had candles which were lit for a very short time and watched carefully! Party food I recall was jelly, blancmange, egg and cress, marmite.
It was usual for us to spend time pre Sunday lunch in next door Church View when father and uncle would enjoy warmed bottled beer. Walls ice cream vendors visited the village by tricycle. Their slogan was "Stop me and buy one". We could put a card in the window for vendor to call. Bread was delivered by Mr. Nicholson of Stalham. Local milk arrived by pony and trap in a churn to be measured out. I enjoyed buying chocolate toffees, 5 for half-penny at Cooke's shop conveniently situated at the corner of School Road. Father bought our first tinned produce (peas, raspberries, fruit salad) at Woolworths, Norwich circa 1935 when he began working at City Station, Norwich and returned to Ludham at the weekend.
My cousin Madeline Newman maintains a family tradition of reuniting the family on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday at Catfield, well attended by relatives from other counties. Inevitably concersation centres round our formative years.
Helen Watson
I came to Ludham with my family in 1926 at the age of 3, from South Wales where my father was a miner. Due to the miner's strike in 1926 my mother and father decided to come to Norfolk to look for work. My mother's family lived in Catfield and Mum and Dad met during the first world war when Dad was stationed at Mundesley. There were thirteen children in my mothers family and one of her older brothers lived in Ludham at Church View. He had offered us accommodation in a cottage at the back of his house and possibly a job for Dad with his building firm, Dale, Riches and Clarke. Mr. Dale was the building man, Uncle Fred (Mr. Riches) was the Carpenter, and Mr. Clarke was the painter and decorator.
I cannot remember anything about the journey except that we arrived in the dark at Wroxham station and were met by another uncle who had a bakery and tearooms near Wroxham Bridge. We were bundled into a small van with our few belongings and taken to Ludham. There was a big yard shared by the neighbours and a very big garden to play in. It must have been early in the year as on Valentine's Jack Valentine came after dark and left small presents on the doorstep. These were attached to a long piece of string and when you went to pick them up they were pulled away. This went on until you were quick enough to snatch them. Another trick was to tie door handles together, knock on both doors and hide around the corner to watch the tug of war. My Uncle was great fun.
We later moved to a semi-detached cottage on the Norwich Road next to a big white house, which stood back ftom the road and was sheltered by a high laurel hedge. I think it was called Eversley House and a very posh lady lived there. A blind lady, Mrs. Knights, lived next door and I used to run errands for her and read to her when I was older.
We had an outside bucket toilet which was emptied into a big hole in the garden. There was a ditch running alongside the garden and under a low bridge over the Norwich Road to the marshes beyond. It was fed by water from a spring on School Road and another spring near the little bridge. My brother and I often fell in when we were getting frog spawn, catching tiddlers or gathering watercress. We gathered mushrooms in the early morning from the fields next door.
My mother cooked on a big black cooking range which had to be blackleaded at least once a week and the fender was polished with 'spit' and newspaper. The big black kettle was always on the hob ready to make tea when anybody called. There was also an oven in the wall which had a large black door and three brass knobs, and a small fire was lit underneath especially for the baking of bread. In the summer a double Valor oil stove was brought in for cooking. It gave off fumes which discoloured the ceiling. My mother made wine from parsnips, nettles, dandelions, damsons, and elderberries in a big brown pot which stood on the pantry floor for weeks with toast and yeast floating on the top. It was bottled and corked and left on the pantry floor for Christmas and special occasions. Sometimes the corks would blow off and the wine was everywhere. Mother also used to preserve eggs using isinglass in a large crockery pot in the pantry. They kept for months and came out covered with a thick white coating. She also preserved beans in kilner jars with layers of salt, which was washed off before cooking.
When I was seven my father had an accident at work. He fell off a roof and fractured his pelvis and was taken to St. Thomas' Hospital in London. This was a terrible time for my mother and I know she worked hard scrubbing, cleaning and cooking for the lady in the big house and other people to put food on the table for my brother and myself: She went to London once or twice to see Dad in hospital and I think Mr .Dale paid the fare but there was no help from the State in those days. Dad was away for quite a long time and when he came home he was unable to do heavy labouring. When I came home from school I helped with the household chores and learned to cook and at week-ends was left to see to the meals etc. while my mother went out to work.
At this time bread was delivered by horse and cart from a bakery in Homing. Fish was obtained from Mr .Slaughter who lived in the end cottage opposite the Church Room. He had a horse and cart and sold fish around the villages. (Incidentally his eldest daughter has just celebrated her 100th birthdayand lives in Yarmouth) Milk was also delivered by horse and cart in large churns and ladled out into jugs. Mr .England was the main butcher in the High Street. Mr. Albert Thrower had a grocers shop next door, ( he was known as 'Pop' Thrower as he had an old Ford Van which made a popping noise when it started oft). Mr .Fred Thrower had a coal business and was also a pork butcher on the Norwich Rd. near the Vicarage drive. He killed the pigs in a large shed in his yard, by slitting their throats and then scraping off the hairs in their backs with boiling water and metal scrapers. I can remember hearing the pigs squealing and one day went to see what was happening -it was horrible. His wife made very good pork brawn.
Mr .and Mrs. Powell ran another grocer's shop in the High Street opposite Stock's Hill and a Mrs. Clarke had a small sweet shop opposite the Manor gates on Hall Common Road. I cannot remember who kept the Post Office at that time but George Thrower, Fred's eldest son took it over and Mr .Harry Grapes opened a Fish and Chip Shop in one of the cottages opposite. Mr .George Knights had the Saddlers shop (now the Tea Rooms ) assisted by his son Albert. Mr .and Mrs. Herbert Cooke had a sweet shop and general stores at the other end of the High Street on the corner of Catfield Road. Mr. and Mrs. Turner (Beulah's Mum and Dad) ran the King's Arms and Mr. and Mrs. Warren ran the Bakers Arms on the opposite comer .(now the village green).
My brother and I were given l/2d pocket money most Saturdays after we had cleaned the knives and forks, and took ages to choose our sweets at either Mrs. Clarke's or Mrs. Cooke's shop -bulls eyes which changed colour when you sucked them, aniseed balls, licquorice torpedoes (girls liked the red ones to use as lipstick), sherbet dabs, strops of licquorice, coconut icing etc. We played with hoops, tops, skipping ropes and hopscotch on the road Each had a season of the year, but why or how I do not know, it all just happened.
On Good Friday hot cross buns would be delivered by the baker and when the Fair came to the field on Green' s corner a few weeks later there would be 'fair buttons' -large ginger and white vanilla biscuits. At Easter we went from house to house collecting eggs which the school sent to the local hospitals. Everything had a season or time of year, even the fruit and vegetables. There was no pre-packed food. Meat was cut off the carcase as required, cheese was cut from a large slab with a wire on a wooden board, sugar was weighed out from a drawer behind the counter and put into a blue paper bag, biscuits were sold loose and the broken ones were sold at a few pence. There were big bars of Sunlight soap for scrubbing floors etc. and Lifebouy soap for washing.
On Good Friday we would gather primroses from the lanes and hedgerows to decorate the ends of the pews for Easter Day. We went to Sunday School at 10 am. Followed by Church Service at 11 am., Sunday School again at 2.30 pm. and Church again at 6.30 pm. we were not allowed to knit or play games on Sundays. When we were about 8 years old we joined the Girls Friendly Society and later the Young Peoples Union which was a religious Youth Club for boys and girls.
The doctor was Dr Brown, a son of the Rector of Catfield. He had a surgery down Hall Common Road, no waiting room so if you were ill you stood out in all weathers until he was ready to see you. He had a dispensary at the back and his remedy was usually a large bottle of dark brown liquid given to you with the comment "take this and keep warm". He had a brother and two sisters, Arthur, Alice and Fanny, all unmarried who lived at Windyridge on the Norwich Rd. Fanny was a permanent invalid and was pushed around the village in a wicker chair with a high back and a long handle to steer the front wheel. When I was about 8 or 9 years old I was excused evening service on a Sunday if I went to Windyridge to read the Bible to Fanny while Arthur and Alice went to church. They are all buried in the Churchyard near the Church room.
My father and mother worked all their life in the Church. Dad was the Verger. He rang the bells, wound the clock, sang in the choir, dug the graves, showed visitors around and knew almost all there was to know about the church. Mum helped keep the church clean, cleaned the brasses, washed the surplices and jabots, was also in the choir, as was my brother -I didn't have the voice! ! Dad was also Clerk to the Parish Council for many years. He was also Secretary of the St. Benet's Lodge of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, which was a friendly society for men and helped members when they were sick or in distress. They paid a small amount when they met at the King's Arms each month. Members cycled from Potter Heigham, Catfield and Horning. They seemed to have a jolly evening as Beulah and I would go up to the Lodge room. knock on the door, and get the orders for her father to take up. They later held their meetings in the Church Room. Being the Secretary, Dad collected their contributions, collected their sick certificates, paid out their sickness benefit and paid the doctor, so there was always somebody at the door, which was never locked, night or day. The introduction of the Health Service in 1948 took over the work of the Friendly Societies and only a few are struggling to survive today, such as the Oddfellows and the Foresters. There were at the time about 100 Lodges in the Norwich District and now there are only 5. Dad always grew thyme in the garden and a sprig was thrown on the coffin when a member of the Lodge died, to represent time past and time to come.
I started school in September 1927. There were 4 class rooms catering for children from the age of 4 1/2 to 14 years old. Infant teacher Miss Cushion. who later became Mrs. Mattocks, Mrs. Richardson had the next age group, then Mrs. Kitchener, and the headmaster Mr. Kitchener took the older children. Each teacher taught all subjects, concentrating on reading, writing and arithmetic. The girls did a small amount of knitting and needlework in Mrs. Kitchener's class, while the boys played football and we occasionally played Rounders. Once a year a peripatetic cookery teacher came with all her equipment set up in the Chapel school room and a few girls in the older group were chosen to have 2 weeks of cookery lessons. I can still hear her saying in a strong Scottish accent "steaming is cooking by the vapour produced from a boiling liquid". All the teachers were strict disciplinarians and we were punished for any wrongdoing or inattention. I had my knuckles rapped many times with the edge of a ruler for giggling in Mrs. Richardson's class. I vividly remember seeing 2 boys caned before the whole school for smoking in the bushes over the school wall. The school was heated by open coal fires. Toilets were outside across the school yard, three for boys and three for girls, separated by a brick wall. Underneath was all open and was very smelly. Every so often it was cleaned out via a trap door in the back of the building- where nettles grew profusely. One day after it had been cleaned out one of the boys crept into the trap door with a nettle under the girls toilets and unfortunately stung one of the teachers on the bottom, thinking it was me of the bigger girls! ! Every year Mr and Mrs. Boardman sent two horses and carts to take us to How Hill for a sports afternoon, including egg and spoon, 3- legged and sack races. At the end of the afternoon we lined up in front of the terrace for the presentation of prizes to the winners and the distribution of bags of sweets and oranges to the rest of us. We also had a week's holiday at Whitsun to go fruit picking at How Hill, mainly blackcurrants and raspberries so that we could earn a few pennies.
Every year certain 10/11 year olds were selected to take a County scholarship examination. The County awarded scholarships and paid all expenses for one or two children to go to a private fee-paying High School. I took the exam at 10 years old and just failed, but was chosen again the next year and was successful. The exam was in two parts -a written test paper at your own school and an oral exam at the High School. I was the only one to go from Ludham that year and went to North Walsham High School for Girls from 1934 -1939 when war broke out. The days were long, cycling to Potter Heigham Station to catch the 8.20 a.m. train, returning back at Potter Heigham at 5.20 p.m. cycling home, tea and then homework for 3 subjects every night. Norfolk County Council paid my parents £3 a year cycle allowance, £10 a year uniform allowance (very strict uniform -navy and emerald green) and the British Legion paid for my school dinners. My parents had a very hard struggle to pay for any extras and to keep me there until I was 16. My brother left school at 14 and went to a firm at Catfield to learn carpentry. He was always jealous of the opportunity I had. I became estranged from most of my village friends as I had little spare time, and with living so far from the High School with no transport, I was unable to take part in out of school activities and Saturday sports -my season ticket on the railway could not be used on Saturdays.
By the time I was 8 or 9 we had moved to a three bedroomed semi-detached cottage opposite the school so that my brother and I could have separate bedrooms. Still bucket toilets, no electricity and no water except from a pump at the front door shared with the next door neighbour .I singed my hair many times doing homework by the light of an Aladdin oil lamp. There were tubs of rain water at the side of the house, used for hair washing and bathing. Friday night was bath night when a large zinc bath was brought into the kitchen and filled with hot water from large saucepans heated on the cooking range. Everyday ablutions were carried out in the bedroom with a jug of hot water brought upstairs and cold water in a large jug in the washbasin on a wash hand stand with a marble top. Friday night was also the night for senna tea or syrup of figs, and viral or cod liver oil and malt. I hated it, so my nose was held while the medicine was shovelled down my throat. I was in trouble if I gagged and brought it back! !
Monday was wash-day. Dad would be up at 5 o'clock to fill the copper in the outhouse and light the fire underneath to boil the whites, which were then washed and rinsed in the big bath tub, put through the wringer -a heavy iron structure with wooden rollers -and then hung on the line to dry. Extra dirty clothes were scrubbed on a wash board in the bath. Reckitts blue was used in the rinsing water for the whites. Dad's white collars were dipped in starch and rolled in a towel until almost dry ready for ironing. There were usually two heavy irons heating on the range so that there was always a hot one to complete the job when the ironing took place on Tuesday. On Monday we always had cold meat and bubble and squeak left over from the Sunday roast as washing took nearly all day, and on Tuesday we had shepherd's or cottage pie to use up the left over meat, when the ironing was done. Friday was always the day for baking, when Mum made enough cakes and pies to last the week, buns and shortcakes by the dozen, and occasional sponge, apple and rhubarb tarts etc. We had a pantry with some stone shelves and stone floor to everything was kept cool. There was also a small window- no glass -but covered with a perforated zinc sheet to let the air in, and outside was a wooden shutter to close up in cold or windy weather. I cannot remember when electricity was installed, but water was not laid on until after 1955, probably about 1957 as I had left home by then. I cannot remember when the night cart or honey-cart was introduced to empty the toilet buckets -they called either late at night or early morning once a week and we knew when they had been ! !
I never remember being bored. Up to the time when I went to High School we rarely left the village -perhaps went to Yarmouth on August Bank Holiday Monday as a special treat, but I hated the crowds, so being small Dad carried me on his shoulders. Sunday School Treats varied -sometimes to Caister by coach for a shrimp tea and later by train to Cromer or Mundesley. I spent many hours with my uncle in his carpenters shop with a piece of wood, some nails and a hammer, Uncle Fred had ready made coffins in the basement under his workshop which fascinated me,or in the blacksmiths shop next door watching Mr. Anderson shoe the horses or working the bellows to blow up the furnace, also watching Mr .Knights in his saddler's shop making harness, collars and saddles for the local farms, or sometimes at Mattocks' farm taking the "elevenses" out to the fields or putting the swedes through the mangle machine for cattle feed. Summers always seemed to be hot and sunny. August was spent in the harvest field riding the horses or chasing rabbits with a big stick as they ran out from the corn when the combine harvester approached. Farm workers were paid 30 shillings a week and lived mainly in tied cottages, so when they received the extra money after extra hours harvesting they went to Norwich or Yarmouth to buy their new clothes for the winter.
Winters were very hard. We often had snow 3 or 4 feet deep which drifted off the fields, blocking the roads. Nearly all the farmers had a snow plough in their barn and came out to help clear the snow. Womack froze over and it was frequently cold enough for the river to freeze and for those with skates and enough energy they were able to skate to Potter Heigham and Thurne Mouth. I often woke up to scrape frost off the window and break the ice on the washing water in the jug in the bedroom. We had beef suet puddings, spotted dick, jam roly poly to keep us warm so we did not get cold or obese as most children walked 1 to 2 miles to school what ever the weather. Chicken was rarely eaten during the year it was usually kept for Christmas, but beef, pork and mutton must have been relatively cheap as we had these regularly. Cars were few and far between but there was a regular bus service between Norwich and Yarmouth, every hour in the summer and every 2 hours in the winter. We walked or cycled everywhere and thought nothing of cycling to the villages around when we were a bit older with no fears whatsoever .
The village policeman, Mr. Sissons, was a great force in the village. He lived in one of the tall houses in the Street near England's Butchers Shop. He was greatly respected and we dare not be caught scrumping apples or doing anything naughty as the greatest punishment was for him to tell our parents what we had been doing and the punishment was meted out at home. Together with the Headmaster , the Vicar and the Doctor , these were the most highly respected people in the village and had a great influence on village life. There was another Mr .England (nickname Loney- short for Lionel) who lived in a bungalow next door to a wooden house where his son Albert lived. They were wheelwrights and looked after the windmills in the area. I think the garage now stands on the site. Mr. Brooks had a garage next to the King's Arms and a showroom on the Catfield Road almost opposite the Chapel.
New comers were looked upon with suspicion and it took years before they were accepted. My father was only accepted because he was Fred Riches' brother-in-law and my mother was, of course, local, having been born at Catfield.
As I have been writing this, all sorts of memories have come flooding back, including the Walls and Eldorado ice cream carts on a Sunday afternoon in the summer -one had the slogan "Stop me and Buy one" but I cannot remember which one it was. My friends Rita Newton, (I see her occasionally in Yarmouth), Brenda and Eileen Cullum. Audrey Temple, Olive Watson, Gladys Grimmer, Gladys Gibbs, Dreda Thompson, Helen Sheldrake (died at the age of 36). Although I have been a widow since 1955 and my mother died at the age of 58 in 1954, I am grateful for the life I have had, for my daughter and grandchildren, for my many friends and the ups and downs that God has thrown at me, compared with some, although hard at times, I have had a good life and would not wish to be a young person today.
I was married at Ludham Church. My husband and mother are buried there. My only regret is that my father's ashes were not buried or scattered in the churchyard as he spent so much of his time there. He was cremated at St. Faith's Crematorium and his ashes left there by his second wife.
I hope some of this will help you to understand life in the village from 1926 up to 1939. The War period is another story but, no doubt there are plenty of people in the village who can remember those years.
Mrs. Helen Watson. nee Skillern
Evelyn Whitethread
My Mother (Annie Elizabeth Rice) was born in one of a pair of cottages facing the approach lane to How Hill -in those days I believe a fruit farm, She was the middle of 5 daughters.and her Mother died when she was 4 years of age. Her Father was a fisherman and he brought up the girls, with the help of the eldest until my Mother was 13. He was good to his girls, and they lived off the produce of his small piece of land and the chickens which he kept, plus no doubt some fish.
She told a most interesting story to us when I was a child, that one of his really good layers "went missing" .He could not find her anywhere, but after three weeks he saw her returning across the meadow, followed by a lot of healthy chicks! and weren't they delighted!
After her Father's death, there was nothing Mother could do but to come up to London to her Aunt. She knew this Aunt well, as she visited another Aunt at Neatishead (near Wroxham) and Mother spent a few days there with her when a child, especially when her cousins came down there for their Summer holidays.
Mother mainly had "living in" jobs as cook and nurse-maid to the Mistress's baby, and loved her work, returning to her Aunt for " time-off" .Here of course, she met up again with her Cousins, one of whom she was truly in love with. So she became Mrs.Annie Jolliffe, and I am one of their children.
To return to Ludham. My Aunt Pamela (next to eldest of the family) married a farm-labourer Bob Watson, (a widower), who had already a family of children, but they had 3 more of their own. We often stayed with Aunt Pamela at The Malthouse then at one of the cottages which backed on to the Ludham Church graveyard, and I often looked out to see the owl at night which was hooting, as Aunt said he would be perched on the Church. (Without success). Lastly she lived in one of the Council houses, where I believe she died.
There was a tiny Baptist Church near the graveyard house, seating about 10 People, so we filled it up. Later I spent my holidays or weekends when I was working at "M.M" mainly with the eldest cousin (Now Annie Slaughter) at 36, Whitegates, or with Cousin Leslie Watson. He had a farm and after retirement a lovely bungalow and large plot of land at"Tanga", Fritton Road. which no doubt is still occupied.
It is sad that after so many years, I have no Cousins to visit there. But I do wonder if you know Cyril Thrower who owned the large Village stores or his Manager (I believe his name was Billy Sloper, who was a resident in a house with a beautiful garden near the village centre). If so, please remember me to
them. I believe they both attend the Methodist Chapel, which we attended after the little Baptist Chapel became a Boot and Shoe Repairer (Probably now demolished).
I loved the Broads, and one of my cousins, Bob Watson, would always take me for a row on the River. Incidentally, my Mother's Uncle Bob Rice owned the Mill which stood by Ludham Bridge. I wonder if it is still there?
Some photographs from Evelyn Whitethread
Mother's birthplace, Rice Family home 1878
Granny Rice's cottage, Ludham Bridge
Ludham Schoolroom
Bullard and Sons Brewery Dray, Yarmouth Road Ludham
From Joan (Pop) Snelling
This is an anecdote from Pop concerning Albert Knights (keeper of the saddlers shop in Ludham) and the Pulk Dyke which was a stream running nearby.
In 1940, when I was 17 and we had settled into Hillview for the duration of the war, my mother needed a clothes prop for her washing line. She asked me to go to see Albert, who was helpful and could usually provide most things.
I set off on my bike for his shop. "Of course my dear" said he, "Come you along to my garden and we'll cut one." His garden was alongside the Norwich Road, where the Pulk Dyke emerges from under the road. There is, or was, a row of poplar trees there.
Albert got a ladder from his garden shed and put it against a tree.
I must say that there were rumours at that time that Albert's wife had tried to kill him in that very garden and I was aware of this.
Albert went up the ladder and was sawing at a suitable branch for a clothes prop. He was quite high up. As he sawed, the branch split and started to break off. It was quite large and the end of it hit him hard under the chin and he literally flew up off the ladder in a beautiful parabola and dived into the dyke....
I was horrified, especially as he took time to surface. his head emerged, mud-covered and with blood from his mouth. "Where am I?" he said, bewildered as I lugged him out of the dyke. I could only think that he must imagine that i too, was trying to kill him.....
he was dazed and bleeding, so I took his arm and led him up the road back to his shop, but I couldn't think what to do for the best. By great good luck we met the District Nurse, Mrs Leadsom, coming down the road. I thrust him into her arms and tried to explain.
Albert soon recovered, but we never did get a clothes prop.
Albert's
Garden in 1937
Memories of Yvonne Boldy
Yvonne Boldy (nee Gower). Memories taped by Christina Pope 15th October 2003 at the Sloper Room.
I have lived in Ludham for all of my 59 years. I was born at No 1 Manship Cottages and moved to 5, Laurels Crescent when I was about 9 years old. In 1965 we moved to the ‘Dairy Café’ in the High Street, we then refurbished the property to a butcher’s shop; at present it still trades as a butchers even though my father A.J.Gower died in 1985 and his wife Joan (my mother) died in 1986).
Wartime.
When we lived in Manship Cottages during the war, I can just remember the drone of the planes coming over, but I was very little, I can remember the soldiers standing by the gates opposite. We used to have to go across the road to get the water from the well, which I believe is now the pumping station. It was a natural well. Sometimes I would go across to the well with my Dad and I would look in the bucket and there would be a frog in there, so I’d make him turn it out and start again. We used to carry it in buckets across the road and the soldiers used to give us doughnuts. We never asked where they got them from, they probably cooked them themselves. I do remember all that area being high wires and that and we weren’t allowed to go in until after the soldiers moved away and the gates fell down through disrepair and we went in there.
Ludham School.
Mrs Mattocks taught the reception class, Mrs Parkinson was for the next age group, Mr Kirby for the next group and Mr Bird (the headmaster) for the ten and eleven year olds-your last class before you went off to Stalham Secondary Modern. I passed the 11+ but I didn’t want to go to Wymondham College, I wanted to go with my friends to Stalham and in the end they relented and let me go to Stalham.
Mr Bird lived in the school house with his wife. I was a prefect at the school and along with the other prefects, we were allowed to go into his sitting room in his house at lunchtime and watch the television. He was one of the first people in the village to have a television. Once we ate some sweets there and we had nowhere to put the sweet papers so we hid them under the cushions of the settee. We were worried that Mrs Bird would find them and it was about a fortnight later that Mr Bird called us together and said that no-one would be allowed to use the sitting room in future as Mrs bird had found them and that was the end of that.
In 1953 when I was nine and we had a television ourselves then, but not many others did. Lots of neighbours came in to watch the Coronation on the telly then we had a massive street party in the High Street with dancing down the Street, I’ll never forget it. One of our neighbours took her husband’s dinner into the Kings Arms and threw it at him as he wouldn’t come out. It was a very big occasion and the only street party that we had ever had at that time, it was lovely, lots of fun. Neighbours also used to collect at our house to watch the Cup Final.
When I went to school in Stalham we went on the Neaves Coach. Mr Wilson was a teacher at Stalham school and he lived on the Yarmouth Road in Ludham and used to travel on our coach to keep us in order. That was the only school for a long way and it was before the Broadland school was built in Wroxham, so the catchment was very big. Ludham school had children coming from Potter and Catfield and there seemed to be more children around then anyway. The children came from Catfield on the Neaves coach to Ludham school, then the big children got on to go to Stalham.
Church.
I went to church at St Catherine’s and I was in the choir. Mr Sheldrake was the choirmaster. I can’t remember us singing for weddings. I spent a lot of time living with my grandmother and four of my cousins and we used to go to the morning service at 11am without fail, and in the afternoon we went to Sunday School and in the evening we went to Evensong. We did that regularly and we loved it. We always went. The vicar was the Rev Ainsworth and there was no curate. He lived in what is now the Old Vicarage Nursing Home. The new vicarage was built about 20 years ago. He only did St Catherine’s church, no other churches.
My brother was a bellringer and my husband was a bellringer later on, but I was a handbell ringer at Stalham. I also played solo and French horn in Stalham Brass Band.
Groups.
We didn’t have Guides or Brownies, but we did have the Girls Friendly Society (or on bad nights it was the Girls Fighting Society!) run by Mrs Anderson. One year my name was pulled out of a hat and I was sent on a holiday to the Isle of Wight for a week and I went with Margaret Woods. She was homesick and they wanted me to go home with her, but I wouldn’t be persuaded so I stayed and she had to have someone sent home with her. It was a lot of fun. Mrs Anderson took us on the train and across London to hand us over at Southampton to a lady who took us on the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Mrs Anderson got cross with me for putting my head out of the train window and because it was a steam train I got smuts all over my face. I remember her damping her handkerchief with spit to wipe it over my face…you could never do that today…and of course it didn’t come off. It was the first time I had been on a train, but I had been to London with the school on a coach. It was wonderful. I was very lucky to win it. Other girls went on other years. She was a wonderful lady, Mrs Anderson. We used to mimic her a lot behind her back, but she gave us a lot of her time.
The Girls Friendly Society (GFS) did things like knitting and sewing and drawing which I loved. We played games too, a bit like the Guides and Brownies are today, but no camping. It was held in the Church Rooms on a Monday evening for about an hour and a half. I have two certificates in my possession in the original frames, but you can barely read them.
We used to take it in turns, two at a time to take the Church Room key to the Vicarage. Mrs Ainsworth always offered us sweets from her tin.
There was no Boys Friendly Society, the boys used to just play football. We did a lot of plays at the school and the lady at the Manor, Mrs Brookes, who was at one time Mrs Armitage invited us there; we had plays and dressing up, very family orientated and everybody took part in it. Every Christmas she gave a party and usually a small gift each to take home.
School outings were very rare, only London once, not to the seaside or anything. We went out more with the GFS and the Sunday School. I loved the Sunday School. The Church room was packed with children and there were about 4 or 5 teachers. My teacher was Peggy Lumbard (nee Grounds) who lives near Ludham Bridge, she was very very good.
There were no school activities after school, we used to go and play at Womack in and out of the brick kilns, and we used to go for walks, it was so safe for us to walk round Ludham. We used to do a lot of birds’ eggs collecting, which seems awful now, but everyone did it then. We never went on the river, but did a lot of fishing with my Dad at Little Holland and at Hunters boatyard. We never ate them, but we had relations living on the coast, at Eccles, Sea Palling and my Dad used to do a lot of sea fishing and my brother, cousins and uncles. Also fresh herrings and cod were enjoyed.
Home.
At home we had a wall oven and my mother had to stoke up the fire for it to function and we had an electric oven later on and did a lot on the fire. The kettle was always singing. Saturday night we had the water heated for the tin bath off the wall outside, ready for Church on Sunday. I’d be first then my brother would go in after me and my mother would then wash my white socks at the end ready for church.
My father worked at the butchers shop all the time, for other people at first and then for himself. My mother used to help him and she worked at Ludham School in the kitchens. She used to look through one of ten panels in the kitchen door and if she could see me not doing what she thought I should be doing, she’d tap on the window, so I’d have one eye on the window when I was having a mess around.
In the playground we played hopscotch and the grid for it was two, one, two, one just drawn with chalk. Not the one that was 6 squares or the spiral. We skipped with a big rope ‘salt, vinegar, mustard, pepper’ with two people turning it. We used to play rounders as a team game and a lot of stool ball. I loved the school sports and I was a fast runner then (not now) and I was captain of the greens. We had marbles and conkers. I remember being at my grandmother’s and we had cut out a hole for the marbles and my mother’s aunt (who never married and was always picking on us and thought we were a terrible nuisance) caught her heel in the hole and we all scarpered and ran away. We used to swap a lot of things, cigarette cards from parents, not bubble gum cards, not allowed bubble gum. We had a whip and tops and hula hoops and I remember the twist coming in. We had a youth club in the Village Hall, I forgot that, run by Mr and Mrs Waite, every Friday night. You went every time it was on, not like these days. You didn’t have to bribe them (like Sunday school) if you didn’t feel like it, you were expected to go and everybody went and we loved it.
Choir practice on a Thursday night. Mr Sheldrake the choir master used to wear a trilby hat and he left it in the church porch and we filled it with snow and he was busy talking and put it on his head. We just played pranks like that, it was nothing nasty at all.
I got married at St Catherine’s (walking through the rubble on the floor of the butcher’s shop in my wedding dress) and I had my son Kevin christened there, both events taken by Rev F.Smith. My wedding was at 9am on a Sunday morning so the reception went on all day until 11pm at night; it was held in my parents’ house over the butcher’s shop.
Free Time.
Another pastime was swimming in the river at Ludham Bridge. Also watching Ludham play football; going on the coach to away games.
The yearly village fete was always well attended. We always entered the fancy dress competition at the Village Hall.
A very popular sport of the day was ‘Speedway’. We went every Saturday night to ‘The Firs’ at Norwich. The coach was Neaves and Mr Harry Bensley organised the pick up of supporters en route. I was taken by my mother aged 6, my father, brother and cousin Brian used to cycle there. Sometimes we would go to Yarmouth Speedway during the week, but not as regularly as Norwich. Norwich team was called ‘The Stars’ and Yarmouth ‘The bloaters’. I continued going to Norwich until it was sold for housing about 1963; we were always promised an alternative site would be found, this unfortunately has never happened.
In my teens I went to dances in Ludham Village Hall, Potter Heigham (where the fish and chip shop now stands-same building) and The Oaks at North Walsham.
Christmas.
When I was young we always spent Christmas Day, afternoon and evening at my Grandmother’s. We looked forward to her airing the front room for about two weeks before Christmas; there was usually a dampness in the air but we didn’t care. We didn’t have a lot, but we played games and had a lovely tea and always a Christmas Cake and crackers with coloured paper hats.
Memories from Kathie Jones
COLDHARBOUR FARMHOUSE
My husband and I moved to Coldharbour Farmhouse in 1969 with our two teenage daughters. The house was owned by Edward Seago and had, I gathered, been used to house his guests when he was entertaining. According to Charles Fielding Marsh’s presumably fictional story, Shelter, based on Coldharbour Farmhouse, it got its name from the local farm-workers who did indeed think of it as a harbour from the cold. Whether this is true, I’ve no idea but it’s a nice thought.
The drying barn opposite did not at that time exist and the silence and the views from the windows were wonderful. From the front bedroom windows, one could see the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey whilst from the side window one could watch the sails go along the river Thurne and see the two windmills farther along the river. On the marshes, cows, sheep and horses grazed at various times and in the fields, potatoes, sugar beet and corn were, and still are, rotated.
At the bottom of the yard, there was a large, very old sycamore tree which had done a very good job of spreading its seed and the garden was overrun with saplings of varying ages and wild cow parsley. One of my early memories was of the beautiful hedgerows and verges with particularly large specimens of red campion and stitchwort among other wild flowers. These have largely disappeared, with the exception of the cow parsley, due to the constant grass cutting and possibly, weed-killers although the poppies have now reappeared. Blackberries grew in abundance, as indeed they still do.
The lane was, at that time, bordered by substantial hedges but, to enable the farmers to grow more produce, these were severely uprooted. This had a dramatic effect when, in 1979 a gale blew after a heavy fall of snow. The snow from the fields piled up on the roadway completely cutting my family off from civilisation. A tractor attempted to get through in order to attend to the cows in the dairy, down by the river, but got stuck and further snowfalls completely covered it and there it had to stay until the thaw. We were able to send for supplies by tramping across the fields, only to find that the village of Ludham itself was cut off for the same reason and supplies were getting very low. When eventually the snow thawed and a tractor was able to get through, we stood at the gate and cheered as the driver waved majestically.
A rather alarming practice was usual in those days of burning the stubble in the autumn, after the corn was harvested and it really was quite frightening when you saw those massive flames slowly creeping nearer even though common sense told you that the farmers knew what were doing and were in control. You did, after all, occasionally hear tales about the Fire Brigade having to be called out when stubble-burning got out of control.
The coypus apparently were causing a great deal of damage to the river banks locally and one day we had a chat to the Coypu Catcher who was employed to eradicate them and he showed us one in his van, in a long cage in which it had been trapped. It was quite large with vicious-looking yellow teeth and although I felt sorry for it, I would not like to have met it in the open. They were supposed to have been successfully eradicated in 1987 – the last one being seen in 1989 – but I gather that they have been seen again recently. I can only presume that the odd one seen in 1989 had a wife and they have been busy ever since.
When Edward Seago died and various things happened. The field opposite the farmhouse was sold and the drying barn erected and at the same time, the barns behind the house were sold and converted into a residential house, Coldharbour Barn.
The date on the barn at the back is 1871 and I have seen the Census Register for that year and it shows that a Robert Dawson, his wife and grandchild were living in a house in Coldharbour Road and was a farmer of 56 acres - this entry was not on the previous Census Register in 1861. In 1881, a boarder is shown, James Moy, who is described as an indoor servant. However, by 1891, James Moy has married the grand-daughter and they have five children. The farmer is now aged 80 and his sister is also living with them.
