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.
Click on the links below to access each recollection.
Please Note: As some of the recollections are quite long you will need to scroll the bar on the right hand side to access all the content.
| 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 |
I was born on 25th May 1956 to Eileen and Arthur Fraser, my mother’s maiden name was Lake, her mother was Elizabeth and her father was Arthur. My grandmother was a cook at Baddesley School. My mother was a pupil there. During the war, she went to school for just three days a week. In 1967 Miss Cox was head teacher and lived in the school house next door, she was a very scary lady. I can also remember a teacher called Mr Winter. When I was a small child of about five I can remember, all around my house in Crescent Road was heathland, and I would spend many a long hour searching for slow-worms and lizards which were plentiful, I always had a snake in my pocket, even at that age I knew the difference between a slow-worm and an adder (don’t think this would happen nowadays)
All the houses were made of asbestos and wood, my mother and father paid £500 for their bungalow in 1956 which was set on a third of an acre. When I was at school in 1967 I can remember the gypsies who lived at Rownhams under canvas bender tents, being integrated into the schools and placed in houses, where they proceeded to burn anything that was wooden. They also kept their chicken indoors!
At Toot Hill there is a building buried underground. This structure is now almost completely buried under years of leaf mould, I think this maybe some remnant of the war, it would be very interesting to find out what is really under the ground. There are two large bomb craters in the woods at the back of Bracken Road. Heatherbrae Kennels and Croppers pig farm, are now Sylvan Drive, Launclyn Road and all surrounding roads.
During the war my grandmother, who then lived in Church Close had an anti aircraft gun at the bottom of their garden. My mother remembers the American Canadian solders billeted down Castle Lane and Misslebrook Lane. She went out with a catering sergeant, (they never went hungry!) The roads were just dirt when I was a child, and my mother always had two pairs of wellies for me, one on, and one stuffed with paper drying out, as the mud was dreadful and I was always getting boots full of water; on one occasion I had to be pulled out from Upper Crescent Road, the mud had trapped me and was sucking me down. My boots are probably still there! I got a good hiding, as I had been told NOT to go anywhere near there.
There also used to be a shop called Carters Store where the Bedes Lea is now.