As presented by Edward Miller to the 2021
Annual General Meeting of the Friends of St James
For over seventy years l have much benefited and
enjoyed so many occasions associated with this church - and a special
enjoyment has been membership of the Friends of St. James the Great.
As one of the ‘foot soldiers’ of the
organisation l recognise the great work they do in supporting the
church with impressive fundraising achievements and offering, too,
very pleasant social opportunities.
Amongst the social opportunities l have
always enjoyed the AGM, for its very informative agenda - keeping us
all well up to speed - it’s very friendly atmosphere, tasty supper
and for most interesting talks given by Bill1.
And l wondered if, before l got too old, I
might make a contribution to our AGM by offering a talk on ‘Growing
up in Thorley’.
The content is something of a random ‘pick’,
certainly not a ‘Reith' lecture and cannot reach the interesting
historical content of Bills talks.
But l hope that there may be something in
what I say which will add just a little more to people’s knowledge
of Thorley.
And l do include names of people who died
long ago and may not be known to you - but names l am pleased to
remember for the part they played in the parish life of Thorley.
Home
I was born at number 22 Park Lane on 3rd
January 1940 and lived in Park Lane in two further houses into adult
life. Until the mid-1950s Park Lane was a rough, un-asphalted road
(as were Thorley Hill, Thorley Park Road and Thornbera Road) and I
have memories of large bonfires burning in the middle of the road to
celebrate VE day, VJ day and on Guy Fawkes nights, accompanied, of
course, by fireworks.
The gardens of the houses in which I lived
backed onto Arthur and Bert Bird's land, part of Hither Farm, the
farm being located at the junction of old Thorley Lane (now
Whittington Way) and London Road. The huge field behind our house was
either laid to barley or as pasture for dairy cows and a ferocious
bull. So, in the late 1940s we would watch the harvest being taken
in; and in the early fifties the building of the Bishop's Stortford
High School, for this was the land on which the school and the
Twyford Gardens estate now stand.
As children the ‘road gang’ would play
endlessly at the end of the gardens where the hedgerows and dry
ditches gave opportunities for building impressive "dens"; and in
the autumn we picked punnets of blackberries from the many
blackberry bushes in the hedgerows. We rode our cycles round the
roads and especially enjoyed riding through the lovely spinney (now
greatly diminished) to the Lodge House in Thorley Lane, and much
time was spent running through the disused gravel pits and climbing
the trees on the land now the site of Mitre Court.
Early Recollections
The war made an indelible impression. I
remember particularly the fear caused by the air raid warning siren
and the relief of the all-clear siren - when we could emerge from
the Morrison shelter; then listening as a doodle bug passed over the
house and seeing in the spring of 1945 a doodle bug heading
westwards to crash at Exnells Farm.
Then there were the tanks awaiting repair
which were parked in the gravel pit grounds, in the area where
Bishops Avenue and Twyford Gardens now meet, before being driven to
Millars Works (a huge factory covering virtually all of the area of
the present Twyford Industrial estate) for repair - ‘ridging' the
road with their heavy tracks as they moved along.
Industry in the Parish
Millars Machinery Works which manufactured
heavy plant and equipment was a major employer in the town,
employing perhaps five hundred staff. Work started at 7.30 am, lunch
break 12.30 to 1.30pm and finished at 5.30pm; Saturday work was
between 7.30am and 12.30pm. A pretty long working week.
Manual workers in the town were warned of the
time by the 7.20am hooter which was heard all over the town and l
think was sounded again to signal ‘knocking off’ time. Millars Works
broadcast ‘Music while you work’ throughout the factory in both
mornings and afternoons and, living in Park Lane, we could hear the
music with ease. When work finished the roads were filled with Millars
staff making for home on their bicycles.
Adjacent to Millars Works were Browns Timber
Yard and the Snap Factory, which made snaps for Christmas crackers.
From Browns Yard would be heard the whine of the circular saw as it
cut through the timber. Many of the workers at the Snap factory were
ladies from London and Burley Road, who might be seen hastening to
work in the morning with hair in curlers covered with tucked in
scarves.
Shops
There were three shops in London Road being
Thurley’s Post Office and grocery shop, now the Mencap building,
Barretts, the grocers at 136 London Road, a well-stocked shop on the
site now occupied by Dawns Stores and Prices, a smaller grocery shop
located between Barretts and Thorley Hill. I didn't often go into
Thurleys. Mr. Thurley seemed a rather solemn man but Barretts, run
by Jimmy and Elsie Foreman was a busy and popular shop. Jimmy and
Elsie sang in the church choir and performed with the Thorley
Amateur Dramatic Society known, obviously enough as the TADS. Jimmy,
who had a fine baritone voice and was the male soloist in the choir,
would sometimes break
into song in the shop.
Prices was visited on the way home from
school for the one penny (a 240th part of £1) drink of
lemonade or cherryade. You simply went in, rang the counter bell and
asked for your penny drink. This was poured into a small glass,
perhaps a sixth of a pint, and enjoyed whilst passing a brief word
with the white-haired Mrs Price. The other thing I remember getting
there were Victory V gums, because they were cheap (but not very
nice).
Transport
As children from the northern or town part of
the parish we went to school at either Northgate or St Michaels
Primary schools. To get there we used the 350 or 351 double decker
buses to Hertford which started their journeys from Southmill Road,
turned round the White Posts and picked us all up at the bus stop in
South Road, opposite where the Shell garage now stands. We paid a
fare of one penny and, if going to Northgate, then located opposite
the present Nissan garage, got off at the stop opposite the old
poultry market in Hadham Road. We used to enjoy seeing the conductor
pull the ticket from the ticket ‘rack’ and ‘ping’ it in the silver
hole punching machine attached to his belt.
When we were about ten years old we rode our
bicycles to school on roads far less crowded than nowadays and with
a two way system through South Street and Potter Street. And if you
lived in London Road or Thorley Street you could catch the 720 Green
Line coach to take you to Aldgate on the boundary of the City.
Sport
The town football ground was in Thorley
parish, bordered by the stream, now covered over, which was then the
northern parish boundary by Rhodes Avenue. Saturday afternoons in
the football season were eagerly awaited. My father introduced me to
the ground in about 1946 and used to take me there for a season or
two, until at about the age of eight I was given my sixpence
entrance money and walked to the ground from home. Crackly records
would be played until the teams came out to the cheers of the crowd
of several hundred who supported the town.
Quite apart from enjoying the football, there
were some notable characters (several from Thorley) among the
supporters who gave vent to their feelings - but in a much
friendlier way than is the case nowadays. At the age of 17 I started
to play for the town football club for some eight seasons.
Our own games of football (coats put down for
goal posts) were played with friends in the field beside the level
crossing in Twyford Road. The field has long since been dug up for
the gravel and sand deposits lying below and is now the fishing lake
beside the railway line.
ln the field we would play football and
cricket and loved watching the trains go past, especially if hauled
by Britannia or another engine of that class or by a Sandringham
class engine.
Just across the field was the boathouse at
Southmill Lock from where very good rowing boats could be hired. The
place from which the boats were hired was actually known by
Stortfordians as Knobby Land. From here my father or uncle would row
the family along the delightful stretch of river to Twyford Lock
where the waterlilies used to grow - just by Twyford Mill (now flats)
then a working mill.
Then, of course, there was the opportunity to
fish for ’tiddlers' (sticklebacks or minnows) and we spent many happy
hours doing this as friends. One of the further enduring memories of
the River Stort as it bordered the parish were the horse drawn
barges slowly moving their loads of timber to Hughes's Timber Yard
in the centre of the town.
The Thorley Amateur Dramatic Society (TADS)
My mother was in the TADS and the shows they
put on gave wonderful entertainment. The company put on plays, an
annual pantomime and variety shows. The annual pantomime was a great
favourite with the parishioners. The TADS had been founded by the
Revd. Sydney Robinson who always played a leading comic role, for
example Buttons or Widow Twankey, in the colourful and laughter
filled pantomimes. The stage in the village school was small but the
cast managed very well. Muriel Newman, the wife of Reggie Newman,
farmer of Butlers Hall and Churchwarden, was the capable accompanist
on the piano.
There was always a very happy atmosphere at
the village shows and we children were very well looked after. So
that we could all see well we were allowed to sit at the front on a
row of cushions and from there l remember watching my mother playing
Cinderella, with Pam Finch (née Wolfson) formerly of Thorley House
and Sparrows Nest, as Prince Charming and the Revd Sydney as
Buttons.
The Church
My parents attended St James from 1946 and
when the Rector formed a church choir, my mother was one of the
number of ladies of the parish who joined. My sister and I were
taken to Morning Prayer once a month and l have realised for many
years now how important that encouragement was for me.
Sydney Robinson was a dedicated and
tremendously popular Rector, tireless in his work at St. James and
one who joined in or set up so many things in the parish. This
included playing for the cricket team on the small ground at Brook
Farm and keeping goal for the village football team.
Scouts
One of Rev. Sydney’s great achievements was
the setting up of the Scout troop in the parish with his great
friend Reg Jacobs. He loved his active involvement as a Scout leader
and the troop was hugely successful - as it remains today with
Church members being very committed past and present leaders.
During Rev. Sydney’s time the Scouts would
attend Morning Prayer on a monthly basis - and made a great
impression with their very smart appearance as they entered the
Church in procession behind the Union Jack and Scout Banner.
The Sunday School
Other than at Church we young people in the
parish met the Rector at the Sunday School held in the Mission Room
in Twyford Road, memorable amongst other things for an organ of
considerable age which stopped playing when it thought it would,
rather than when the organist stopped playing the notes. In 1953 a
number of us attended Confirmation classes there before being
confirmed by the Bishop of St. Albans in May 1953.
Youth Club
Shortly thereafter the Rector Sydney formed a
Church Youth Club which met on Thursday evenings (between 7.30 and
9.30pm) in the Men’s’ Hut in Church Lane. This was a well appointed
hut with table tennis and snooker tables and a dart board. Amongst
various activities we were taught ballroom dancing (Waltz, St.
Bernard's Waltz, Veleta, Gay Gordons, The Military Twostep) and in
the summer played rounders in the Valley field or went boating from
Spellbrook Lock. Other popular events were the coach outings to
Walton-on- the-Naze, Clacton and Margate and visits to see the
Southend Illuminations.
Serving at Church
As a member of the Youth Club it was expected
that you would attend Holy Communion at 8.00am on the first Sunday
of the month, and in March 1954, four of us young men from the Youth
Club were appointed as Servers. So, whatever the weather you rode
your bicycle up Thorley Lane, parked it under the yew trees and went
to your duties; and because the stoke hole (below the Vestry) in
which the coke boiler was located was very prone to flooding the
Church could be very cold on a Sunday morning in the winter as the
boiler was put out by the flooding.
.
Festival Services
As youngsters aged 13 or 14, how greatly we
looked forward to the Festival Senvices at Easter, Christmas and at
Harvest Festival. For these services a coach would be run in the
evenings, picking up at the White Posts and at the bottom of Thorley
Lane to help parishioners get to the church, cars being far less
common in those days (1953/54). Harvest Festival evensong was always
full to overflowing and the church decorated from top to toe with
sheaves of corn, vegetables, fruit and flowers was a joy to behold.
The full range of great harvest hymns was sung and the whole service
felt very special. On the Friday evening before the Harvest Festival
a parish harvest supper was held in the old school with a sit down
supper for a very full gathering. Christmas and Easter Services
were 7 & 8 o'clock Holy Communion, 11.00
Morning Prayer and Holy Communion and 6.30 pm, Evening Prayer.
As a younger member of the congregation, the
Remembrance Sunday service always made a marked impression. A parade
of some fifty ex Servicemen, members of the Thorley British Legion,
all wearing their medals, would parade from the school playground to
the church. In a packed church the Legion Banner and Union Jack were
laid on the altar by the Rector. The Rector, Revd Sydney, was an RAF
Padre during the war, before his appointment to St James in 1946 and
his leadership of the Remembrance Service always seemed very
appropriate.
Carol Singing
Youth Club members would join with members of
the Church choir and other folk to sing carols round the parish in
the days before Christmas. A choir of up to twenty people would sing
on four or five consecutive evenings, assembling at 7.00pm to sing
round the Uplands, Thorley Street and Twyford, the Bishops
Avenue/Twyford Gardens estate, London Road and Thorley Hill and
adjoining roads. We mostly rode our bicycles from point to point
whilst some went in cars and we covered a large area each evening,
with the Rector knocking on the doors for donations to the church
funds until 10.00pm. These were very happy evenings and on each
evening we would always be invited into one or two houses for
drinks, sausage rolls and mince pies. I have particular memories of
the
singers being welcomed in by Mrs Wolfson at
Thorley House and by Mrs and Miss Streeter at Thorley Place.
Church Fetes
The venues for these very traditional fetes
were the gardens of Thorley House, Thorley Place and the Rectory in
Church Lane or in the old village school yard or Valley Field. There
were always plenty of side shows including Hoopla, Coconut Shy,
Bowling for the Pig, Crockshy, Bran Tub, Treasure Hunt etc., and
when you had done all this you could have tea, sandwiches and cakes
provided by the ladies. The Church Fete was a highlight of the year
and often opened by a well-known personality perhaps from radio or
television.
Church Socials
These were very popular and were held in the
village school. One of the best would be on New Year's Eve when the
Rector, the Revd Sydney, would be Master of Ceremonies conducting an
evening of party games and dancing, with a plentiful finger buffet
for refreshment. These were evenings for all ages and entered into
with great enthusiasm.
Imagine, if you will, the Rector calling for
twenty or so men to volunteer for an unspecified game. Having
volunteered you were then told to take your shoes off and place them
at the far end of the hall - whereupon the Rector would mix up some
40 shoes and then invite the participants to race to the pile of
shoes and be the first to return wearing their own shoes; It was
mayhem but created much laughter.
Bell Ringing
Several of the girls and boys from the Youth
Club were taught to ring the Bells by the Tower Captain, Tom Camp, a
hugely dedicated member of the church and very long-standing member
of the choir. He had endless patience and got us to the stage of
ringing quarter peals of Grandsire Doubles. The great bell ringing
family of the parish was the family of Gladys and Frank Warboys.
Sons, Frank jnr., Peter and Cecil and daughter Barbara were all
accomplished ringers, with Peter leading the way, his knowledge and
ability and conducting being extremely impressive. Peter’ s wife
Jean (née Lee) and their family carried on the family tradition.
So, the sound of Bells at St. James has been
almost a lifelong pleasure - although l only rang as a teenager. lt
was felt to be a considerable honour to be included in the band
ringing a quarter peal (taking about forty minutes), quarter peals
being rung regularly before festival services.
On the Farm
At the age of twelve (1952), I went to work
at harvest time on Reggie Newman's farm, Butlers Hall, and worked
for him in harvest time for five years. These were tremendously happy
times, although hard work. At twelve years old the pay was one
shilling per hour, going up a bit each year. My first” pay packet”
was £l.16s.0d. (36 shillings), and I will never forget the thrill of
receiving it. It seemed an enormous sum of money.
Reggie was a farmer of the older school and
some of the farm equipment was rather dated. No combine-harvesters;
the corn was cut by binder and Albert Clarke (first world war
veteran), Claude Mitchley (Master of Northgate School), Brian
Sampford (choir member) and l followed round setting up the
thousands of sheaves into stooks to ripen off. This was back
breaking work and the secret was to set a steady pace. Then, perhaps
in the middle of August, came the ‘carting’ phase, with loads being
brought from the fields to the farmyard for making into stacks.
After first being on the stack as middleman,
the one who turned the sheaves the correct way for the stack maker,
my regular job became that of unloading the cart loads of sheaves
into the elevator. I loved this work. High on the load, throwing the
sheaves crossways into the elevator to avoid damaging the ears of
corn at the head of the sheaves, this was happy work; and the aim
was to try to unload the trailer before the next load arrived from
the fields. If you managed this you could get a few minutes rest. I
shared these happy years with friends such as Reggie himself, a true
gentleman and Church Warden at St James, Claud Mitchley, Cecil
Warboys, Brian Sampford, Albert Clarke, Pimp, Ben and John Hammond
and the Foreman, Tom Seabrook, who was Muriel Newman's nephew. At
other times, I assisted on the potato setter and on one occasion at
‘thrashing’ time in Dec/Jan. What industry there was then. I was on
the stack and asked why the stack men tied string round their
trousers, just below the knees. Tom and Albert laughed greatly and
said I would be wise to do so. I leave you to guess the answer but
suffice to say many rats and mice ran out from under the sheaves as
they were unloaded from the stack to the ‘thrashing‘ machine.
Thorley Lane, just beyond Rumbles Farm, as it
ran towards the Green Man pub was surrounded by high hedgerows,
partly of hazelnut. This area was a haven for yellowhammers and to
walk along there on a summer’ s morning was a joy.
So growing up in Thorley during the 1940s/50s
was a happy time. Life was simpler then - we rode our bicycles until
well into our twenties, relied less on television, made our own
entertainment or joined in activities in the parish, all greatly
enjoyed. The parish had, of course, a much smaller population then
and people perhaps identified more closely with their parish than
they do in the fast moving world of today; and it was of course a
far more rural parish and this gave much pleasure.
Now thinking back on growing up in Thorley I
feel very grateful for all the opportunities there were in living in
the parish. Essentially a rural parish there was much space for
recreation. But particularly it was St. James - and all that was
associated with the Church - which offered me so much opportunity
and has left me with very happy memories.
And how good it is, still, to be a member of
this lovely Church family.
Edward Miller
September 2021
1Bill Hardy – church historian of St James
From the Archives