1945 V.E.Day. Local Legacies
From Lacey Green History
click Social Snapshot articles by Joan West which each cover a different subject.
1945. V.E.Day. Local Legacies. WW2 had ended in Europe after years of difficulty for everyone. But before that had been years of severe economic depression. Many little cottages had been condemned. However, these cottages were inhabited throughout the war due to the shortage of materials and need for accommodation. Harry Floyd recalled one property owned by his father, where a new lavatory bucket cost him more than the rent and letters landed indoors in a puddle
Local Legacy. In 1950 the Council built Greenlands. Supposedly to help replace houses lost in the ‘blitz’ in London. The list of the first occupants in 1951, related by Ted Janes (he being one of them), shows the vast majority were local residents, moving into better housing.
Local Legacy. Bomber Command. Established in 1939. The headquarters are just in Lacey Green Parish. Over the years many of the high ranking Air Force officers have retired locally. 1939 saw the officers’ children coming to Lacey Green School – an ever revolving intake of about two years to be fitted in.
Local Legacy. The New Road from Lacey Green to Walters Ash. Previously the road from Lacey Green went left into Slad Lane round in a semi-circle across into Smalldean Lane. Shortly after this it turned left into a road much of which later disappeared under the bunker of Bomber Command. This direct new road was built to speed access from Bomber Command to an airfield constructed on the flat land of Stocken Farm. This necessitated them renting land miles away. Officers’ families were also billeted in Stocken farmhouse (2 rooms, one upstairs, one down).
The Airfield was not to be a legacy of the war, as the land was given back after the war. But it was to leave lasting happy memories for the boys who played football with the pilots and guards of the hanger housing the planes there. Extensions to the school now cover its site.
Local Legacy. Hambe Close. A far cry from 1939 when the site was a famous indoor tennis court. Built by the Revered Robson, then bought by Harold Carter who owned Grymsdyke House. Harold Carter’s business being bombed out of London, he converted the Tennis Court into his offices. This brought many people here. Some lived in the property and some in the villages. Light industrial and warehouses followed until Hambe Close was built.
Local Legacy. May Dell. In 1939 the North Kensington Nursery School, its children and staff evacuated to Loosley House. After VE Day, the children and staff went home. But May stayed here and married Bert Dell. Bert and May ran the much loved Hickmans Stores for many years. Hickmans Stores – locally famous in their day, before supermarkets were invented.
The Legacy of the memories of families whose cottages were full to overflowing is vast. Many children had been sent out of London, land army girls needed rooms, friends likewise, all squeezed in. (The school had about 40 extra children to fit in.)
John West remembered the German prisoners of war who were living at the bottom of Smalldean Lane. They were brought to work on Stocken Farm. They begged to have any hessian sacks that were beyond repair. Unpicked, they were made into espadrilles. These shoes were very popular, clothes being rationed, and the Germans got a little money for them. They craved some crusty bread from Sid Janes’ bakery as that given them was often blue with mould. They gave young John the money to buy them some nice bread. (Bread was not rationed until after the war).
Local Legacy. After the war most of the German prisoners went home, but several opted to stay here. Without exception they all established very successful businesses.
Many memories of those in the Home Guard recalled look-out duty in the semi-derelict windmill.
Also those from the local fire service who were conscripted to fight the Blitz in London.
Details of all these events are to be found on www.LaceyGreenHistory.com To comment or add information about people or places in any era around the area email me on LaceyGreenHistoryWiki@gmail.com
Joan West.