Z1205/136

Female. Farmer's wife. b. 05.11.1932 SIDEA (00 mins)One of twin girls from Maulden. Grandmother, who was in domestic service, lived to 92 yrs. Her husband, who worked on a market garden, died aged 65. (05 mins)Everyone grew their own vegetables in their gardens. Her twin sister went to live with grandmother when mother was ill for 3 months. (10 mins)Grandmother was a chapel-goer but grandfather wasn't. Witnessed an adult baptism by immersion. (15 mins)Attended Christian Endeavour (non-conformist children's club). Uncle ran it and the Sunday school. Mother did hat-making at home, as an outworker for a Luton firm. (20 mins)Straw hats, machined to fit a block. Father was a carpenter, working with his brother at Clophill. Made coffins and also did funerals. Cycled to work. Keen cricketer. (25 mins)Attend the cinema in Ampthill, as children. 6d (2 ½ p) on Saturday mornings. She was 7 when the Second World War started. She was stuck in Worthing on holiday when war was declared. Took a month to get home. Green Line buses stopped. Attended Maulden High School and then passed 11+ and went to Luton High School. There were 4 in village who passed to Luton or Dame Alice School, Bedford; only 2 in her year. (30 mins)Evacuees from London attended village school. Some tried to go back to London. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Evacuees had a class of their own. Brother, 9 years older, was a volunteer in the Fleet Air Arm on aircraft carriers. Father was in Home Guard. Practised on recreation ground. Numerous amusing incidents. (05 mins)Home Guard guarded Ampthill railway tunnel. German prisoners of war in Maulden, used to help on local farms. POW camp at Ampthill Park. Harry Woodward had two POWs living in until the end of the war. (10 mins) Uncle in 8th. Army in desert warfare came back shell-shocked. Was sent to a mental hospital but got over it. Another uncle was discharged with tuberculosis and died, aged 32. (15 mins)Grandfather's body laid to rest in coffin in front room, when he died. Women worked seasonally in the fields, hoeing and picking. (20 mins)Her brother brought some silk stocking for his mother during war. And some Turkish Delight for the sisters. Food parcels from Canada. Family debated whether to send the girls to Canada but decided not to. (25 mins)Remembers convoys of lorries and tanks coming through Maulden. One knocked the village smithy down. Also watched a "dogfight" in the air between a German plane and a British "Spitfire", and a plane being shot down over Maulden. Watched the red sky when London was being bombed, and search lights in the sky. (30 mins)Germans bombed a factory, Kents, in Luton behind her school, when she wasn't there. Remembers the Women's Land Army and a Polish camp at Elstow. (32 mins)End of Side B.Continued on ST136C2 Side A (00 mins)Disliked school. Mother worked to keep the two sisters at the school. Daily travel routines. Lighting fire at home and getting own tea. (05 mins)Left school before "O" Levels, to work at E. P. Roses (department store in Bedford; now Debenhams). 30s (£1.50p) per week at 16. 16s (80p) spent on bus fares. (10 mins)Got married at 18 in 1951. Cycled to dances in Ampthill, Marston, Lidlington & Silsoe. Post-war food & clothes rationing. (15 mins)Husband's father bought a ruin at Wootton Green and they started doing it up. Lived with parents at their farm. Took 2 years to renovate the bungalow. (20 mins)The farm was in Stewartby (site of present old people's homes). First child. Mixed farming but mostly arable. Became involved in animal husbandry. (25 mins)Loved the pigs. Had to leave the farm, owned by London Brick Company. Moved to bungalow. (30 mins)Father-in-law built a place in Houghton Conquest in 1960s. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDEB (00 mins)Had to fight to have electricity supplied to new property. (05 mins)When father-in-law died, son able to adopt modern farm practices and improve efficiency. Reflections on passing of the brick industry and the introduction of large industrial warehouses, such as Asda. Always felt that Elstow Storage Depot was ideal for houses. (10 mins)Would prefer to move to another area. Thinks tree-planting is good, on unsightly sites in area. Tried to replace their own Dutch Elm trees after the disease. (15 mins)End of Side B END OF INTERVIEW. Original Interview 105 mins.

28 May 2002

From: 1930 To: 2002

item

Woodward, H,
Roses, E.P.,
Debenhams,
ASDA,
London Brick Farms Limited

farmer, domestic servant, market gardener, vegetables, chapels, baptism, Sunday Schools, hat maker, carpenter, coffin, cinema, World War Two, Maulden School, Dame Alice Harpur School, evacuees, Fleet Air Arm, Home Guard, Germans, prisoners of war, shell shock, tuberculosis, mental illness, DEATH, employment of women, silkweaver, sweets, air raids over UK, Women's Land Army, Polish, rationing, Sir Malcolm Stewart Trust, arable, cattle, pigs, electricity, trees, Dutch, MAULDEN, LUTON, CLOPHILL, AMPTHILL, Worthing, Africa, Canada, ELSTOW, LIDLINGTON, Marston, SILSOE, Wootton Green, HOUGHTON CONQUEST, Elstow Storage Depot, STEWARTBY