Harry & Nellie Rixon
From Lacey Green History
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Harry Rixon born 1902 at Great Hampden was the son of Walter & Mary Ann Rixon
Clara B Ford, known as 'Nellie' born 1902 was the adopted daughter of Rupert & Beatrice May Rixon
Harry and Nellie married in 1924
Harry and Nellie had 1 child as follows:-
For Interview for Hallmark 1974 see below the following -
1974 Bucks Free Press report. Harry and Nellie Rixon of Erith Cottage no 1, Main Road A Lacey Green couple whose marriage has seen hard times as well as good celebrate their Golden Wedding today declaring they wouldn't have missed a moment of it. They are, in fact looking forward to celebrating their diamond wedding together.
Harry and Nellie of 1 Erith Cottages, Main Road have known each other since early childhood. The secret of their happy marriage, they say, is that they have always enjoyed each other's company, enjoyed sharing everything together - although in the early days after their wedding at Lacey Green Methodis Chapel in 1924 there often wasn't much of a material nature to share!
The couple, who can recall when their combined wages barely equalled the cost of two packets of cigarettes at today's prices, have no regrets.
Six Shillings. Harry started work at the age of 13 on a local farm. His days began at 6am seven days a week for which he was paid the princely sum of six shillings a week.
After a couple of years farming he decided there was more future in the furniture industry and went off to join the famous Chiltern bodgers in the woods of Great Hampden. There he was taught the basics of the chair trade, from selecting a tree and felling it, turning a chair leg and transporting a tree by horse-drawn 'Timberbob' into the factories of High Wycombe.
In 1923 Harry joined the furniture manufacturers W Hands and Sons of Dashwood Avenue, High Wycombe serving them as a wood machinist until 1945 when he gave up the chair trade to become a stoker at Bomber Command (as it was then) at Walters Ash, working there for 21 years until he retired.
Celebrations. Nellie prefers to forget the early years when she earned four shillings a week as a 'domestic help'. Instead she is grateful for her 35 years' association with the Methodist Chapel which has enabled her to pursue her passionate love of music. An accomplished organist she occasionally still plays at functions held at the chapel.
At the October meeting of The 81st Club held at Lacey Green Village Hall the couple were guests of honour. The committee and members laid on a Golden Wedding party for them with a specially prepared cake. During a most enjoyable afternoon's entertainment they were presented with a half tea service and a large bouquet of flowers.
This evening Harry and Nellie will hold a small celebration party with their only son Archie at a local hotel.
Hallmark April 1987. Harry Rixon talked to Madeline Cleaver in her series of interviews - "Tell Us About When You Were Young"
Our article this time is about Mr. Harry Rixon and more particularly about one period of his life, albeit a short one, when he was a Bodger. Most of you will know that Mr. & Mrs. Rixon celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary recently and some details of their lives could be read under the delightful picture of them in the Bucks Free Press.
Mr. Harry Rixon was born in Lacey Green next to the Thatched Cottage, in what was then called Warren Row. He left school at 13 to work on a farm, but as all his uncles were "bodging" he decided to try it and went to work for his Uncle Jim who had three or four men working for him in Hampden Woods where at one time there were five or six Rixon families working, all from Lacey Green and Loosley Row; in fact there was a Bodger Shop belonging to one of them, where the Methodist Church Cemetery is now.
Men like Mr. Rixon's uncle as well as buyers from larger concerns would attend the Christmas sales at Hampden and bid for a "fall of wood", the trees being marked and later measured for payment by the foot when felled. As many lots as would last for one year would be bought and might be in a number of different areas so that when one "fall" was used up all the equipment would be packed up and the 'shops" too and moved off to the next area to be worked, so that in the one wood there might be about 20 workshops.
These "shops" were made of thatched hurdles and shavings would be used to stop draughts. The lathe would go through the shop to a pole outside and a string from the lathe came down and wound round the chair leg and down to a treadle so that it could be turned as the tool was held against it. A man would saw the wood to the size, chop to the rough shape, shave it and finally turn it on the lathe before stacking up to dry. They had to be stacked in a particular way to be secure and allow the air to reach all round and when dry they had to be taken into High Wycombe to be sold to the factories but at the time Mr. Rixon was a Bodger there were a great many in the area and not such a great demand for the legs so that they were not always easy to sell and did not bring in much money.
It was necessary to walk in all weathers the various distances to the different areas to be worked with no heated buildings to work in, but a fire could be lighted well away from the workshops and tea made, sometimes with pond water, sometimes in wet weather from rainwater dripping down from a tapped tree into a can or, if remembered, with water from home. The tin kettle would be held by a stick over the fire and sometimes sausages and bacon would be cooked in the same way, quite quickly as woodshavings can produce great heat. Mostly the men would not bother with milk for the tea. Then on Mondays those who drank beer would take a walk through the woods for a drink at "The Plough" in Cadsden, known to them in those days as "Sottshole",
After earning for a while, Mr. Rixon managed to buy himself a bicycle for 10/-d. something of which he was very proud; later he used to cycle to work in Wycombe and still uses a cycle bought for his son in 1939.
The first World War started while Mr. Rixon was with the Bodgers and they eventually turned to war work, making pit props which they had to take to Princes Risborough station on a wagon so he never did become a full chair-leg turner but went to work in High Wycombe as a machinist for chair parts after the war and finished his working life at Bomber Command as a stoker, working there for 21 years, although he never lost his interest in wood.
Hallmark February 1989. reporting the sad loss of Mrs Nellie Rixon.