These recollections have been supplied by villagers who have lived or worked in the village during the past. Some of them are are still living here. The earliest recollection is from a Mr. V.A. Dibble, who was the son of the first schoolmaster of Baddesley School and he was born in 1889.
We believe they provide a fascinating glimpse of what village life was really like in the past and I hope you will find them to be as interesting a read as I most certainly did.
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| V. A. Dibble | E. Marsh | D. Peckham | B. Myall | M. Gradidge |
| P. Farmer | J. Hibberd | E. Cosier | J. Fowler | D. Biggs |
| P. Haws | E. Gardner | J. MacKenzie | M. Watts | R. Cobern |
Mary who used to live in Jasmine Cottage on the corner of Castle Lane - recalls during the war my brother came home when he was small, saying look what I found in the field opposite - on looking, we found he had brought home a bomb, still intact, we had to get the army in to dispose of it.
Our summer treat was to get together with neighbours and children and take a picnic to the sand pit in Hoe Lane.
Pat Genge and her husband moved to Rownhams Lane in 1953 and soon became aware of a "settlement " of lorries and caravans on the east side of Rownhams Lane, by Bracken Road. The men occupied their time collecting scrap metal and consequently, although the land was never a beauty spot it was not improved visually.
As the settlement became more permanent, the women began to call regularly at the nearest houses to collect water. They were always polite, I can't remember ever having cause to find them troublesome. But I can remember that those living with gardens backing on to the fields occupied by the gypsies being very upset at the primitive sanitary arrangements which tended to be the bushes nearest their gardens.
The gypsies became a "problem" - H.C.C. Social Services stepped in and decided to deal with the problem practically. Instead of getting the police to "move them on," they installed a social worker in his own caravan on the gypsy site and provided a mains water tap. The social worker having gained the confidence of the gypsies, persuaded them to tidy up the site and arrange the caravans neatly and separate them from the metal dump.
The next step was the provision of prefabricated bungalows on the site. Another social worker was installed in one of the prefabs and persuaded the families to move out of the caravans and into the prefabs, when they were settled the caravans were ceremonially burned in order to mark an important change of life style.
The next step was to "teach" the gypsies how to live in a house and persuade them to send their children to school. Sending the children to school was the cause of more upset to the house dwelling community. They feared terrible diseases and other unspeakable horrors if their children sat next to the gypsies. The final stage of rehabilitation of these folk was their removal to council houses in various villages in the district and the demolition of all the buildings on their site, which is now, as it was, a rather scrubby damp field.