TRH Team

This article follows an interview with long term Long Marston resident, Eddie Clarke and his wife Rose, describing how Eddie’s family’s connections with the village extend back to the 19th century and how farming was such an important part of his life in the post war period.

Excerpts from a transcript of the tape by Arthur Reeve (1907-1989) relating to Marsworth Airfield. The tape was produced in November 1984 by Arthur Reeve of Townfield Farm and Joan Dutton of Vicarage Road, Marsworth.

This story was originally submitted to the BBC People’s War site by Gwilym Scourfield of the County Heritage Team on behalf of Sheila Wood.

Wilstone school ( thought to be 1937/38) Some existing Wilstone residents can be identified.

This interview features David Mead, from the family that have been farming in the local area for many years and established the farm shop that is familiar to us all. David talks about his time as a child during the second world war, the community of Wilstone and his life in farming.

This article describes how Christine Rutter, who lives in Astrope Folly, Puttenham, has become an important source of the history of the village. This has been achieved by collecting documents and photographs and combining these with personal memories of past conversations with the characters who made the community what it is today.

A bureau bookcase was seen crossing the meadow. This particular piece of furniture has been taking up too much room at Simon and Jenny’s for 20 years. In 20 minutes it was on the van and into our sitting room. Luckily it came apart. I noticed that inside the base there were definite signs of gnawing.

As remembered by Mary Ridpath- nee Gregory

This is how Mr. Joe Edwards and Mr. Harry Cartwright described the lane which led from a fork with the Tring Road down to Great Farm.

This is a unique transcript of an interview with Don Winfield, one of the few people old enough to remember our villages before the Second World War. Don has spent his whole life in Long Marston and his directly quoted words tell their own story of the village over time.

This interview with Wally Braginton, long term resident of Wilstone, tells the story of his time there and how the village was saved from terminal decline by the commitment of new residents to creating a vibrant and mutually supportive community.

We follow up the previous interview with Eunice Hall by discussing the bombing of Long Marston school with Neil Dean, also a child at the time. There is also coverage of the growth of Neil’s family business – Deans Eggs – and its impact on the village.

Village News is now in its tenth year as a ‘free to every home’ village magazine, but its origins go back much further than that. Readers have mentioned that various forms of parish magazine have circulated in our villages since the 19th century, and from these Village News is a direct descendent.

The lively social community of Long Marston in the immediate post war period is described through the eyes of Daphne, David and Alan, three members of one of the village’s oldest families, the Winfields.

It seems extraordinary that Long Marston School should have been destroyed by a German bomb in January 1941. Eunice Hall, five years old at the time, recalls her own memories of that fateful day and we discuss the impact on village life

1936 was quite a year for our country. A King died, his successor abdicated and a third King took the throne. Jesse Owens showed Hitler that ‘Black Lives Matter’ in the Olympics in Berlin. Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire and, overseas, Franklin Roosevelt was re-elected as President of the USA.