Woodborough’s Heritage

Woodborough, a Sherwood Forest Village, recorded in Domesday



Woodborough - By Maureen Brackenbury 1970



The Romans had their camps on the hills adjoining the great marching road of the Fosse Way. One was on Holly Hill otherwise Cockpit Hill from which a Roman road ran along the Mapperley Plains to Nottingham. In the opposite direction, going down what is today Bank Hill, lies the village of Woodborough, in Roman times it housed one of the smaller camps which served as an outpost.


At the turn of the century [19th] it wasn’t all fun and games at Woodborough, especially if you were poor or old. Then you relied on the charity of the lady at the big Hall [Woodborough Hall]. Woodborough is an ancient village, dating as we’ve heard from Roman times – it’s also mentioned in the Domesday Book, under the name of Udeburg – with a total population of under 200. But it was as a centre of the stocking knitting industry that it first began to develop – for the inventor of the stocking frame in 1589 was the Reverend William Lee, claimed as a son of Calverton where he was eventually the vicar, but it fact almost certainly born in Woodborough [no evidence from the birth register].


For a time, in Woodborough and other hosiery centres, the machines brought comparative prosperity. But new and bigger factories led to over production, lower wages and unemployment – which triggered the explosion of unrest culminating in the Luddite riots. Now there was poverty in Woodborough – desperate poverty – but the village found a way to survive.


Woodborough in the past: Exhibition in church – Saturday September 14th. 1974


A church has stood on this sacred spot for the past 1000 years, and the present building dates from the 14th century. It is right therefore that we should house this exhibition of ancient silver, old photographs and documents, because it reflects the fact that the Church has been the centre of community life and activity throughout those years.

The lovely ancient silver comprises:-

Silver chalice – Charles II – 1676

Small silver paten (with stand) – Charles II – 1676

Large silver paten – Charles II – 1675 inscribed with the word ‘Holy’ in Hebrew

Small 19th century silver used for private communion

Silver tankard – George III – 1802

These items are rightly placed on the altar table because this was given by John Wood in thanksgiving for the restoration of Charles II. The whole display represents the faith of past generations, and the hope of future ones. We have tried to capture this theme in the centre piece of the exhibition for floral decorations. St Paul wrote:- ‘There are three things that last forever: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of them all is love’. So the first decoration portrays faith – faith stemming from the shedding of Christ’s blood, here symbolised in red and by a cross of thorns. Our hope lies with Christ who is the Light of the World, represented by the candle in the second decoration. The altar decoration shows the immensity of God’s pure love for us, which through worship and the sacraments can be ours.


Art Exhibition 1976: Our ancient parish church provides the setting for our annual art exhibition just as it should be. The Church stands as a symbol of God’s creative work. It is this creative spirit which inspires many local artists to depict a wide variety of scenes, some of which are local too, and so display their individual talents given to them by God himself. This year we are pleased to say that the number of entries has increased, especially in oils.


Our fine church owes its appeal to the creative genius of our forefathers who built the existing church in the 14th century. Many of the details of the church’s interesting history can be found on a separate leaflet. However, we would draw your attention to the beauty of the stained glass windows, one of which in the East window portrays the patron saint, Saint Swithun, the early English style of architecture, and the wood carvings.


Stacey Blake: Was born at Bradford, Yorkshire, but came to Nottingham as a child and has lived there ever since. He painted chiefly in water colours but also in black and white. Started his professional life as a black and white illustrator and worked for a long time with Tom Browne, the Nottingham artist.


Painting for Stacey Blake became more of a hobby than a profession, and he is chiefly known for his charming water colour drawings of old towns and ancient buildings, shipping, and scenes on the coast etc., all most delicately handled and finely executed. He was a leading member for many years of the Nottingham Society of Artists. Has travelled extensively and has painted in Holland, Spain, France, Belgium, Norway, Morocco, Algiers, etc.


In addition to works exhibited in Holland, he has had them accepted at the Royal Academy, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and also Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham etc. Four of his works are in the permanent collection at the Nottingham Castle Art Gallery, and he has held a one man show of his works at Arnold. He now resides at Gedling Lane, Arnold, Nottingham.


In 1798, Mark Baguley was living at Plot 76 (Enclosure Map), a tenant of John Taylor’s. John and Anne Baguley are mentioned in baptism records as parents of a son. John is a framework knitter in the early 19th century, Mark was a shoemaker in 1821 [Trade Directory]. Baptism records show Mark and Mary Baguley had at least two sons, Sidney born 1821 and Granfield. John and Anne Baguley also had two sons, Joseph and William. Joseph’s son Joseph junior was born in 1818, when his father (Joseph senior) was a shoemaker. The Trade Directories of 1832 and 1844, mention Joseph senior as a shoemaker, but Mark is not mentioned. In 1854, Joseph junior has joined his father in the family shoemaking business. Mark Baguley – referring to ‘Chimneys’ at the west end of Woodborough Foundations in garden, I think, are remains of a house in possession of Mrs Mettam, a tenant of Woodborough Manor (Plot 75 Enclosure Map). No further information on Mrs Mettam has been found.


Community Association 1960 to 1980: Woodborough, a linear village about [the parish] 3.5 miles long and 7 miles north east of Nottingham, famous locally as a market gardening area, was until the 1920’s a centre for the stocking cottage industry. Many cottages had long knitters’ windows where the knitting frames would be set up to catch the maximum light. Most of the work was from Allen Sollys in Arnold and the footpath up through Westfields would probably have been the way the goods were taken, by foot, to Arnold.


The actual settlement of Woodborough dates back hundreds of years. There is the site of a Roman camp in Foxwood, and parts of the church date back to 1150. There has been a lot written about the early days in Woodborough but this booklet [article] will try to convey the changes that took over the village in the 1960’s.


The village remained virtually unchanged from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. After this there was a period of very rapid growth and a tremendous increase in population which made a large impact on the lives of inhabitants and was not, at first, a welcome change, the old villagers tending to resent the newcomers. A lot of new housing development took place within quite a short space of time. Ploughman Avenue, Old Manor Close, White’s Croft, Pinfold Close and Crescent and the Shelt Hill development all put added pressure onto the services and utilities. These buildings were followed at a later stage by the development of the Costain site (Small’s Croft) which brought in even more people. The village was changed from a predominantly rural area into an almost suburban community. There was, with the development of new housing, an increase in traffic which brought its own problems.


One of the first things to be noticed was that it was families with young children who were moving into the new houses and it was realised quite quickly that the old Woodborough Woods’ School on Lingwood Lane, with its limited facilities, would not be able to cope with the increase in pupils. It also became apparent that there would have to be new mains drainage laid and the whole length of the village street would have to be dug up to install this. Although this caused traffic chaos it proved to be very interesting, for as the work progresses, the foundations to old buildings could be seen under the road. Up until this time most homes had had either a cess pit or an “ivy covered lodge” up the garden. Cess pits were no problem as these were emptied on a regular by Basford Rural District Council who was then the responsible authority. The “ivy covered lodge” and its bucket however, presented other problems. First a hole had to be dug in the garden and then the bucket emptied into it. It takes no great feat of imagination to imagine two people staggering up the garden carrying a full bucket between them. One slip or a tilt of the bucket could cause a most unpleasant outcome. The unspoken rule was “keep the top of the bucket below the level of the top of your wellies”.


There was also the problem of what was on offer in the way of recreational activities, which at that time consisted of Women’s Institute, Guides led by Barbara Raynor, 20 Club, organised by Mr Charles Foster the Postmaster, a Feast Sports, Liberal Association, tennis club, badminton club, football club, and Over 60’s Whist Drives organised by Mrs Ivy Bramley. The activities were fine and most are still going strong, but it was the problem again of likely increase in numbers of people participating and the provision of extra accommodation to cope with those numbers which created more discussion.


It fell to the Parish Council to resolve the problems being encountered. Mr Reg Cooper, an architect, who lived at Punch Bowl House on Main Street, wrote to the Council suggesting that action be initiated by the Parish Council towards some sort of resolution. Thus it was that a letter was sent round the village signed by Harold Hill, the then Chairman, convening a meeting in the Institute, Roe Lane. Apart from the Parochial Hall on Lingwood Lane, which was an old Nissan hut, and the chapel schoolroom, this was the only other meeting place in the village. None of them were big enough to hold large numbers of people and it was envisaged that what was needed was a hall with about a 250 capacity. The meeting was chaired by Alderman Sir Frank Small who was a market gardener, had been born and lived all his life in Woodborough. He was at that time Vice-Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council.


At the meeting it was agreed to form a committee of fifteen to look into the present day needs of Woodborough and whose terms of reference were to promote and support all aspects of community life in the village. At their first meeting the committee decided to call themselves the Woodborough Community Association and they were, over the succeeding years, responsible in large part for the integration of old and new villagers.


The meeting in the Institute was attending by 55 people, and as well as electing 15 members for the committee, it was agreed that all existing organisations should have a representative on the committee, that all villagers should be members of the Association without the payment of subscriptions. But it was agreed that voluntary subscriptions be asked for to start a “kitty” to organise various events. The first committee elected were (in alphabetical order)

Mrs M. Brackenbury 11 Main Street

Mr E.G. Bunn, 14 Ploughman Avenue

Mr W. Challand, 162 Lowdham Lane

Mrs E. Cooper, 111 Main Street

Mr D. Harrison, 17 Park Avenue

Mr J.S. Jackson, 24 Lowdham Lane

Mr E. Jones, 16 Park Avenue

Mr J.W. Kirkham, Bank Hill Farm

Mr C.R. Marlow, 7 Church Walk

Mr T.M. Mellows, 69 Shelt Hill

Mr T.K. Mitchell, 4 Shelt Hill

Mr A.R. Morton, 18 Ploughman Avenue

Mr E. Richardson, 1 Old Manor Close

Mr D. Rose, 15 Lingwood Lane

Mr G. Simpson, Bank Hill

Mr K.O. Walker, Westfield Lane


The Community Association meetings were held in the dining room of the Four Bells, courtesy of the Licensee Mr & Mrs Jim Leivers. There were many ideas put forward. One of the first of which was how to provide a larger meeting place in the village, a village hall. To this end a meeting was arranged with Mr Gordon Boylin, secretary of the Rural Community Council. There was also a meeting with Mr Crowther, Treasurer to Basford Rural District Council, and a joint committee of parish councillors and Community Association representatives was formed to discuss the various proposals for a hall and the means to achieve it. Visits to various halls in the area took place and at one stage it was suggested that if a new school was built, that the old school could perhaps be used as a village hall. When these suggestions were outlined to the village, both for a totally new hall and the use of the old school, there was a lot of opposition from old villagers and many arguments were held over the pros and cons of the proposed provision, as the old villagers felt that they were being manipulated by the newcomers. It did however generate a talking point and helped people to integrate and mix. It was as result of the Community Association’s persistence and action as a “ginger group” that the village hall was eventually started in 1973, after a lot of negotiation concerning the school.


There was no shortage of ideas for activities and the first one was at the suggestion of Mrs Cooper, of Punch Bowl House, who organised a wine and cheese party at her home to enable the members of the committee to get to know one another and any proceeds would be added to the £10 already received in voluntary donations. Unfortunately the members had to be limited to 50 but this didn’t detract from the success of the venture and it was later agreed to hold another, larger event, later in the year, possibly if it could be arranged in a marquee in the grounds of Woodborough Hall. The Hall was then owned by the Army and tenanted at that time by General and Mrs Mann, who were extremely helpful and organised for the RAF band to play during the evening. It was all a great success and a profit of £70 was made, 3 guineas of which were donated to the RAF Benevolent Fund.


There were three more wine and cheese parties held in the Hall grounds over the next few years. The personnel in charge at these various times were General Gordon Finlayson, General Toler and Brigadier Mayes, all of whom gave their support to the Association. One thing which was always a great attraction at these parties was the attendance of a fortune teller. At the second party there was a long queue outside her tent, everyone anxious to cross her palm and find out what the future held in store for them. One of the people waiting was Charlie Coy who lived on Roe Lane. Charlie was a real character, always ready for a laugh and a joke. He duly went in, had his fortune told and as he came out of the tent was asked the usual question “What she tell you?” “She says I’m going to come into money……daft old b*****, must know its pension day on Thursday”!


A lot of other events were organised by the Community Association over the next three years, some of these events have become village traditions, and others have long since fallen by the wayside.

Some of the major ones are:

1965 first bonfire

1967 first Christmas party for over 60’s

1968 formation of the Wednesday Club

1969 first barn dance

1969 first Street Market

1974 revival of the flower show

1975 summer tea for the over 60’s

1976 pancake race

1979 May Day

Apart from these major events the Association ran smaller events like jumble sales, fashion shows, various dances, all of which helped towards the creation of a healthy bank balance, which was ploughed back into the village to help finance new or old organisations or individuals where there was a recognised need. Many new groups sprang up as a result of the increase in population and the Community Association took upon itself to act as an umbrella group for those organisations.

Some of the causes which were supported financially over the next 20 years were:

The Youth Club

Card tables for the Wednesday Club

Cricket Club for equipment

Playgroup scheme

Loan to Scouts

Loan to badminton club

Loan to Church for restoration work

Methodist Chapel

Jubilee fund

Mother & Toddler group

Wednesday Club for a coach outing

Donation to the vestry fund

Youth Club

Chess Club & Pavilion

Organ fund

To Michael Thorneywill for Operation Raleigh

To Roe Lane outing

Wednesday Club outing

Ian Warner appeal

Scouts for a drive to the scout hut

As well as these there were other ongoing donations to support the use of the Village Hall when it was later built.

The Association paid for:

Cooker and pots

Cleaner/polisher and Burco boiler

Lighting

Clock

Stage lighting

Decoration and phone installation

Lighting, amplification and dimmer

Curtains

Extra storage cupboards

Floodlights for the stage

Purchase of a hot cupboard


In 1975 the Association bought the old telephone exchange on Lingwood Lane to use as a store; they also bought a duplicator to help with the preparation of posters. The Community Association was to stamp its own identity by hard work and by running at least one event a month during the year, and trying to ensure that there was something for all ages and groups to enjoy. A typical years programme would be:

January Pantomime

February Pancake race

March Dance

April Disco to choose May Queen

May May Day or Over 60’s tea

June Barn Dance

July Street Market

August Footpath treasure hunt

September Flower show

October Band concert or dance

November Bonfire night

December Over 60’s party

 

An annual general meeting was held in January or February each year and a new committee elected for that year. The Committee also held their own dinner paid for by the committee members themselves, mostly somewhere local. A coach would be hired for the evening and dinners were held at such places as The Chestnuts at Radcliffe on Trent, The Green Dragon at Oxton or the Elm Tree at Hoveringham. The most memorable of all these was possibly the one held at the King’s Head at Scalford on an extremely cold and frosty night. It was a very old pub and the food here was superb. The busiest years were between the inception of the Association in 1965 and 1983, after this interest seemed to wane as there were so many new groups doing their own fundraising and at one stage events were reduced to six per year.


Woodborough Woods School and the beginning of the Street Markets:

By 1969 it was realised that the old Woodborough Woods School on Lingwood Lane was reaching saturation level with the influx of new families with children of school age. Because of the pressures of the added numbers of these children being put upon the school, it was agreed by the Parish Council, Notts. County Council and the School Governors that a new school should be built, still with access from Lingwood Lane, on what had been tennis courts and a football field. The sports facilities were to be relocated once the school was built.


Alderman Sir Frank Small, Vice-Chairman of Notts. County Council, offered to put up £1000 towards the cost of the school, if the village could raise another £1000. All organisations in the village were approached to ask if they would help to raise funds in some way. All agreed, some doing small things like jumble sales and coffee mornings, the larger organisation doing bigger events. The Parish Council helped by holding over a weekend an antiques and craft exhibition, the antiques being housed in the old school and the craft section, along with teas, to be in the Parochial Hall on the opposite side of the road. Many fascinating things were loaned by people in the village and it turned into a most interesting show. Some items were actually donated and these were auctioned off, the proceeds going towards the school fund. Unfortunately the weather was extremely wet on the weekend of the show so there was not such a large attendance as had at first been expected.


The Community Association’s contribution to the School Fund was to organise a street market.


This was to be a large event, taking place on Saturday July 19th starting at 2 pm. The venue was the centre of the village taking in and utilising all four points of interest, the Governors’ Field, the Four Bells Inn, the Methodist Chapel, and St Swithun’s Church. There was to be a theme “Olde English”. This involved for the ladies, long skirts, long sleeved blouses with laced boleros over and mop caps. The costumes were very cleverly made by Mrs Mary Gough, ably assisted by Elsie Leafe from odds and ends of old sheets, bits of lace, felt etc. There was to be a Town Crier to open the event and this job was given to Ted Jones of Park Avenue. Again his costume was made from odds and ends, an old fitted coat, lace, shoe buckles, feathers and a school bell kindly loaned by Mrs Shirley Godfrey. As can be seen from the photographs this costume turned out very well and he looked very imposing on the day. Other costumes, for Brian Leafe, a country “yokel” outfit, embroidered smock, long socks and a hat with feathers, again made by Mrs Gough. The other men dressed as farm hands, collar-less shirts, string round the trousers, neck ties and old battered hats.


There were numerous stalls including, plants and flowers, fruit and vegetables, home-made cakes, clothes stall, toys, bran tub, balloons, ices and lemonade, antique and white elephant, hoopla, hot peas and mint sauce. Children sold button holes made from donated flowers, donkey rides, sweet stall and many others including a fortune teller, children dancing and the “Buskers”.

The “Buskers” were a group of men from the village who got together to play, Sam Knowles played guitar, Terry Brackenbury B Flat baritone horn, Chris Mellows trumpet, Sid Jackson accordion. At later street markets they were augmented by Dennis Rosillo playing clarinet. They played as strolling players around the market and were a huge success.


Christmas Party for Over 60’s: The first party was held in 1967 in the Parochial Church Hall on Lingwood Lane (the converted Nissan hut) on December 21st. There were places laid for 130 people and 12 meals were taken out to people who could not attend through illness. Transport both to and from the party was provided by committee members in their own cars, to anyone who wished to take advantage of it. There was a present for the oldest lady and gent and a free raffle prize. Four 25lb turkeys were ordered and cooked by the ladies on the committee. A glass of sherry was given to each guest as they arrived. After the meal a group of members decided to put on a concert, and this became the form for quite a few years and was the forerunner of the pantomimes. The hall was cleared and the chairs were set out round the hall facing the stage. The stage was a very rickety structure, made of wood made over wooden trestles. As there were no front curtains the then vicar, Ross Hayward, cut a length of piping to fit across the stage and curtains were hung from this.


Next on the programme was a song called “Nobody Loves a Fairy When She’s Forty” by Kathleen and Emily Harrison. They had got kitted up in their tutus, wands and wings and were just going on stage when the back door of the hall opened and in came the vicar, dressed as a fairy and beautifully made up and with long blond hair made from straw. He followed the ladies onto the stage, and started to mime to their song. Their faces were an absolute picture when they realised who it was.


Another nice memory of the Christmas parties was the sing-songs, after the tea. Invariably at this Arthur Reavill, of Roe Lane, would get up and sing either “Bless This House”, or “The Old Rugged Cross”. After the success of the 1967 party an Over 60’s Christmas party was held each year. In 1968 two donations were received towards the party, £1 from Mr Foster, Lowdham Lane, and 10 shillings from Mr Poole of Nottingham Road, good decorations for 1968.


During the interregnum in 1970/71 the hall was closed by the PCC from the end of September 1970. The WCA asked to use it for the Christmas party but were refused and then eventually after protracted arguments permission was granted, subject to certain conditions. These were that the Association be responsible for the heating, which meant stoking the boiler, purchasing the coke to do this, removing any coke left over, and draining the system afterwards. These terms were agreed and Sid Savage, who lived on Roe Lane, and who was a member of the Parish Council and probably also a member of the Parochial Church Council, offered to light the coke boiler, which had been out of use since the hall had been closed. When committee members went up later to start setting up for the party, it was to find Sid in a very sorry state suffering from inhalation of fumes from the boiler.


In 1970 Mr Walter Raynor started an annual raffle to help defray the cost of the party, which in the first year made £30 16s. In 1972 the Christmas party was held outside Woodborough at Oxton village hall. 92 people were taken to the hall by coach, and 14 meals were taken to people who could not attend. The Women’s Institute put on a short play and the Buskers provided music after the meal. There was no party in 1973 as the new village hall was being built. There was also a power dispute and emergency regulations regarding the use of heating. In 1974 the event was held in the new village hall, and they were then held there in subsequent years. Although the parties didn’t officially start until 5 o’clock there were always a few people who arrived very early to get a good table. In Woodborough terminology it was always a good thing to be early for the “dog hangings”!


In 1978 the football club donated £50 and this was spent on a present for each person. Presents took various forms, chocolate, individual Christmas puddings, handkerchiefs etc. Because the Christmas parties were such a success it was decided to hold a Summer Tea. A similar format was used but although there was a good start in 1976, with 77 people attending, it had dwindled to 41 by 1978 and in 1979 it was decided to cancel this event for lack of support.


Flower Show: In 1968 the Community Association were invited by the church flower show committee to provide extra interest at the show by organising side shows. Suggestions put forward were a fancy dress parade, a pet show, darts, lucky dip, treasure hunt, cake weight guessing, noughts and crosses, photograph competition, tombola, knobbly knees contest, Punch & Judy. All these were to be held in the Vicarage garden and Mr John Taylor’s field, with the main part of the show, the competition, being held in the Parochial Hall next to the Vicarage.


These extra attractions proved to be a successful formula and the Community Association was asked to help at future events. By 1972 the interest had waned and a very much small show was held. In 1973 it was decided that the Community Association should run the flower show, the prime movers in this decision being Bill Taylor, Chris Mellows, Terry & Maureen Brackenbury. To be somewhat different a marquee was sited on the Governors’ Field and the show held in this instead of the Parochial Hall. Timmermans of Lowdham Lane put on an exhibition of roses, and the cups were handed over from the previous committee. Judges were contacted and after judging on the day were treated to lunch at the Four Bells.


At this first event in 1973 Len Harrison won the Horticultural Society Gardener’s Cup and the Carnill Cup, Mrs Potter won the Tomlinson Rose Cup, James Robson the Taylor Cup for the children’s section and Frank Dunthorne the Sir Frank & Lady Small Memorial Cup for market gardeners. To add to the interest teas, side shows, darts, skittles, tombola, wheel of fortune, raffle and treasure hunt with various other bits of entertainment going on around to stimulate the interest until it was time to auction the horticultural entries. Competitors were asked to donate their entries to the raffle, but those who didn’t want to donate were asked to remove them by 4 o’clock when the auction started. In 1974 an interesting display of old photographs was put on in the church, a collection was taken and the proceeds donated to church funds.


Pancake Race: In 1976 the Community Association started the custom of holding pancake races in the village on Shrove Tuesday. This was to be run on Roe Lane, as it was judged to be much safer than trying to use Main Street. The starting time was 11 a.m. and prior to the race the Pancake Bell was rung in the Old Vicarage bell tower. In the years when Shrove Tuesday clashed with school half-term there were more runners and extra races had to be run to accommodation the different age groups. Usually there was a race for the toddlers from the play group, and races for adults. Everyone had to supply their own pancakes and frying pans. There were tossing events as well. In 1978 coffee was served for the first time in the Methodist Chapel school room which proved to be very welcome as Shrove Tuesday was usually very cold.


Village Films: At the formation of the Community Association it was decided that it might be a good idea to film the various village events. David Rose and Norman Tyler, both keen photographers, offered to do this, if the Association paid for the films. This was agreed and the outcome was that most village events were captured on film, Feast Sports, pantomimes, Street Market, silver jubilee etc. These films have been preserved and are kept by either Norman Tyler or David Rose and shown to any group wishing to have an evening’s entertainment.


Bonfire Night: The first village bonfire was held in November 1965 on the waste ground on what was then the end of the old playing fields behind Church Walk. It was always held on the Saturday nearest to November 5th. Rubbish was collected from around the village on the Saturday afternoon, taken to the site and the bonfire built. Initially there was no charge for the evening’s entertainment and at the first event coffee and hot dogs were served. The cost of the fireworks was £10.


As the first event was such a success, and because it was felt to be much safe to have an organised event, the village bonfire was held annually. Unfortunately the cost of fireworks rose each year until the cost became prohibitive. The Saturday collection of bonfire rubbish remained a feature for many years and gave people the opportunity to ride themselves of garden rubbish and household refuse. At later bonfires there were Guy Fawkes contests for the children to make guys and bring them down to the field. A competition was held and a prize given for the best guy, and for the two runners-up. After the judging the guys were burned on the bonfire. In 1976 about 400 people attended and adults were asked to pay just 10p each towards the cost of fireworks. By 1979 adults were asked to pay 25p and in 1984 the charge went up to 50p because the cost of fireworks had risen to £385. In 1984 about 500 people attended.


There were various venues including the Little Sic, and latterly Mr Taylor’s field, The Leys on Lingwood Lane. For many years a horse box was borrowed from Mr Taylor to keep the food in and to serve from. There wasn’t much room in the box and there was a lot of good natured grumbling. Most of the helpers never even saw the fireworks as they were too busy cooking, serving and clearing up.



Acknowledgement:



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