Stan & Winnie Rixon
From Lacey Green History
click Families for other local families
click Rixon for thers in this family
Research by Joan West
Victor Stanley Rixon 'Stan', known as 'Baldwin' to his mates, born 1921 was the son of Fred & Clara Rixon
Winifred J King 'Winnie' born 1923 in London
Stan and Winnie married in 1942.
Stan and Winnie had one child as follows :-
Graham Rixon born 1949
Winnie tells their life story in her own words
I was a Londoner, born in 1923. In1940 my home was bombed and my mother killed and I finished up in hospital with several minor injuries. I was in a state of shock having lost both my mother and my home.
My sister had worked for Carters Merchants Ltd in the City of London, an import and export company.
The Carter family had bought Grymsdyke House in 1922 (click Harold Edward & Eliza Carter). They also owned The Indoor Tennis Court, in Church Lane, built by ex vicar, the Reverend William Robson.
Mr Carter, the chairman of the company decided to transfer the business to Lacey Green for the duration of the war. He converted the indoor tennis court in Church Lane into staff accommodation and offices, dormitories either end for single men and single women, and offices in the middle, also a kitchen and dining room. It was the end of the building’s prestigious life as a tennis court.
Phyllis Adams also worked there and when I came to visit my sister accommodation was found for me with Phyllis`s parents, Fred Adams and his wife Min (click Min & Fred Adams, who was a very friendly person and made me very welcome. I stayed there several weeks. At this time it was difficult for companies to get staff and I was offered a job with Carters. I decided to accept it never thinking that I would still be in Bucks 70 years later.
As you can imagine the tennis court had a very high roof. The source of heat was mainly electric and paraffin oil heaters so most of that rose and went out through the roof. A false ceiling was eventually put in and things improved a great deal.
As time went on the married couples rented houses in the village or rooms in peoples’ houses and the rest of us shared a cottage at the end of the drive. Every room was a bedroom and we still had our food cooked in the tennis court kitchen. Being the junior I was allocated the last room left which was originally a walk-in pantry, just room for a camp bed and it was quite damp. One of the older girls left soon after and I was able to share a room with my sister.
We joined in village activities whenever we could. Mrs.Lou Dell, mother of Bill, Jack and Bert, and her helpers organised a dance once a month in the village hall to raise money for the troops, Christmas parcels etc. Of course the girls went along and there I met Stan Rixon (known as Baldwin), my future husband. Public transport was in short supply, really non existent on a Saturday night, so we had to walk to wherever the entertainment was – Hampden, Princes Risborough, to name a few.
Mr Farmer from Monks Risborough had the local Farmer's Buses service into High Wycombe, calling at Lacey Green, Hampden, Bryants Bottom, etc. He only had the one bus so the service was not very frequent, 2 or 3 trips a day and during the winter the last bus did not run at all. Very few people had cars and those that did were rationed for petrol. The village people used to cycle to Wycombe to work all weathers,- must have kept them very fit. There wasn’t a bus route from Lacey Green to Aylesbury at that time.
We did not find it difficult to fit in with the local people. All those I came in contact with were very friendly. It took me a time to get used to saying “hello” to everyone you met. The only people you acknowledged in London were people you knew. To speak to a stranger was a “no-no”, especially it were dark and a man to boot. Stan Rixon lived with his parents Fred & Clara Rixon at Portobello Cottage no 4. His brother Gerald was the father of Les Rixon and his sister Doris the mother of Gordon May (click Gordon & Vera May). His father, Fred was a chair bodger. The chair legs and spindles were taken to Wycombe to a devout Methodist who got Stan a job with Allen Hanes. He hated it and so took evening classes until he could take a job with Leather and Stevenson, Princes Risborough solicitors in the Market square. One of the things he did was the legal work for the new cinema there, where he also helped as a projectionist in his spare time.
Stan and I married and shared a house with Ted and Ann Saundes in Princes Risborough for a time. It was easier for Stan to get to work from there to Aylesbury. Eventually we were lucky enough to get a house at Risborough in 1951 and there we stayed.
Once the boys were all de-mobbed The Sports Club got into full swing. They were all so dedicated and most of them hardly missed a game all season. Even our holiday had to start on a Sunday and we were up at the crack of dawn the following Saturday in order to be home in time for cricket at 2pm.
I have never regretted moving to Lacey Green. I think it one of the best things that ever happened to me. My in-laws were the best possible people to me and always welcomed any member of my family. They helped me through a very bad time when I first came to Lacey Green. I was so lucky.