1945 Wartime jobs for schoolboy Gordon
From Lacey Green History
click May for others in this family
click Wars for local details of the Boer War, WW1, WW2, & The Cold War
Gordon May born 1933 at Darvills Hill, (click Gordon & Vera May for more about Gordon)
20 HALF DAYS OFF SCHOOL
I enjoyed my schooldays during the war. Another job that some of us boys had was to go potato picking, for any farmer who wanted us. We had a permit from the school for this. We were allowed 20 days half days off per year. The only farmer brave enough to employ us was Mr Reg Tilbury (click Reg & Lucy Tilbury for more about Reg) who lived at Parslows Hillock (down the lane from The Pink and Lily). We boys would cycle from Lacey Green to the farm, and had a very enjoyable afternoon away from school.
POT SHOTS AND SCRUMPING
Mr Redrup, who lived at the bottom of the village was to me a little old man, bent double, who used two walking sticks. He used to tell me stories of the First World War when he was detailed to go and find German snipers. He said how difficult it was to hit a man a mile away. I found him very interesting, as he had a no 3 garden gun, which he let me use to take pot shots. He had a lovely apple tree in the corner of his garden, near the school. A lot of boys went ‘scrumping’ there.
A HOLIDAY JOB WITH THE BODGERS
Another job, which I was landed with during school holidays in wartime, was to cycle to Hampden Woods, where the chair bodgers had turned thousands of chair legs over the years. My oldest brother and I would have to work one end of a cross cut saw, while a man was at the other end. This was hard work, which I did not enjoy very much. My brother, being older and stronger than me, was allowed to hold the handle of the saw, while I was a yard away, pulling on the end of a rope.
THE MEDICINE RUN by Gordon May
From the age of twelve in 1945, until I left school, one of my jobs was known as the “Medicine Run”. I had to miss a bit of school to carry out this job. Every Thursday evening, after school, I would travel to some of the outlying districts of the village to collect empty medicine bottles. Some of the homes I visited were the Hickman family (Albert & Sarah Hickman) at Turnip End, Mr. Redrup, a cripple, living at the bottom of Lacey Green, and two families in Portobello Row. I had permission from the school to take time off on Friday mornings to catch the Mr. Farmer’s bus, which ran from the Church end of Lacey Green to Princes Risborough, where I went to Dr Edward’s surgery (Old Cross Keys).
EVERY BOTTLE THE SAME Dr. Edwards always looked out for me, and took me straight in to fill the medicine bottles, as he knew I had to get the return bus back to school. Then on Friday evenings or Saturday mornings, I would have to go round to deliver the medicines to the families concerned. One day at the doctors, when I was collecting the medicine, I peeped through the curtains. It appeared to me that he took some grey powder, mixed it up with some water, and poured it into all the bottles. I thought it odd at the time, that they all had the same medicine!
A PRESENT OF HALF A CROWN. I did this job until I left school. On the last morning, I said to the doctor, “This is my last run, as I am leaving school”. He gave me half a crown (now equal to twelve and a half pence). A few years later, when I was taking a group of children to Sunday school at the Methodist Chapel, he came by in his car. He got out, wanted to know how I was, shook my hand and wished me well
1947. A FROZEN HOT WATER BOTTLE. (click 1947 A Bitter Winter or more about 1947).
Albert & Sarah Hickman lived in Turnip End Cottage at Turnip End about 500 yards down a woody stony lane. The house had no electricity or gas. In the winter 1947 I was detailed, as one of the scouts, to go and live there. It was so cold that it froze the hot water bottle. I always had to get up very early to break the ice and feed the chickens and rabbits, before running home for breakfast and then on to school.
NEAR THE PUBLIC TELEPHONE
In 1953, aged 20, I was sent to sleep at my grandparents in Portobello Row, where I used to deliver medicine. My grandmother was very ill, and if needed, I could run to the public telephone. The back room of that cottage was another place where my hot water bottle froze.