People of interest in the Stour Valley (VA 5/2/1)
Channel: EssexRecordOffice
Date: 2018-07-12

Amateur video compilation, recorded on various dates in 1989. Contains interviews and reminiscences of people from villages on the border between Essex and Suffolk. 

[0:00:00] 8 February 1989: Claud Sergeant and Rosina Sergeant (née Cundy) of Claypits Road, Bures: Focuses on their early life; school – being expelled for hitting a teacher; death of brother in World War I; family.

[0:16:05] 13 February 1989: Reginald "Jack" Slack of Foxearth: Royal Navy career as a stoker from 1925; "HMS Weymouth"; joining the navy; "HMS Carlisle"; service in China and Hong Kong; description of the beheading of criminals in Kowloon; service on Chinese gun boat "Tern"; World War II - "HMS Blanche" sunk by magnetic mine very early in the war; early life in Walworth [London].

[0:48:45] Donald McLean and Helen McLean of Long Melford [Suffolk]: Career in farming; pedigree livestock; volunteered for Royal Scots Greys during World War II; Army School of Agriculture in Westphalia [Germany]; changes in livestock farming; 'Essex pig' breed; the use of fertilizers; showing livestock at agricultural shows; South Suffolk Show.

[1:21:25] 1 May 1989: John "Jack" Cook of Foxearth: Speaks of his father being a drayman; work at Brook Hall Farm; coaches; football club started up after the Second World War.

[1:28:00] 7 April 1989: Leonard Mansfield of Halstead (formerly of Foxearth): Speaks of his work in farming and gardening; the village football team; formed a musical band with his brothers; World War II; local flower shows.

[1:38:55] 22 April 1989: Thorvald "Tommy" Hogsbjberg of Belchamp Walter: Origins in Denmark; farming; arrival in England aged 24 just before World War II; put in charge of large farm during the war; management of farms.

[1:55:15] 29 May 1989: Richard Deeks and Dorothy Deeks (née Moulton) of Cavendish [Suffolk] (formerly of Glemsford [Suffolk]): Apprenticed as a carpenter; National Service with the army in Germany; sons; work for building contractors; interest in local history. 

[2:03:00] Richard Deeks and Dorothy Deeks (née Moulton) of Cavendish (formerly of Glemsford [Suffolk]): Publications compiled and written by Mr Deeks.

[2:11:05] Alfred Hicks of Wickhambrook [Suffolk]: Positions held on local committees; served with NAAFI at Mildenhall [Suffolk]; meetings with royalty; schooldays; centenary of village flower show in 1989; memories of flower show in the past; memories of childhood; first motor car in the village; work in a shop; World War I; description of the village of Wickhambrook.

[2:29:35] 13 June 1989: Thomas Brown of Glemsford [Suffolk]: Early life; school; first jobs while still at school; jobs done by parents; memories of Christmas; work at bakery; domestic service; work at butchers; excursions; radio and dance bands; World War II - army service with Essex Regiment in Sierra Leone, Egypt and Iraq; forced to surrender near El Alamein; prisoner-of-war in the desert and at camps in Italy and Germany - malnutrition, poor food, disease, lice; forced to work in a mine near Dresden [Germany]; prisoners' strike; bombing of Dresden; liberation by Russians; journey home.

[3:53:45] 22 June 1989: Maurice Finbow and Mrs Finbow of Cavendish: Early life; family; shop; tramps; father's first car; schooldays at Culford [Methodist] School in Bury St. Edmunds [Suffolk]; childhood illness; cricket; Glemsford Cricket Club; Glemsford Football Club; World War II - served with Royal Army Service Corps in France and Belgium; Dunkirk evacuation; D Day landings; Cavendish Cricket Club; Sudbury [Suffolk] Hockey Club.

[3:31:25] End

Read more about the recording on Essex Archives Online:
https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=565343

Used with kind permission from M G Hastie

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