Mr. & Mrs. Stubbington [cont.]
 
We went on to talk about the domestic water supply to Dunford house and how the stream was made to change course and drive a wheel this in turn drove a pump which pumped water to the house and also Oatscroft and Walkers farm. Drinking water however, was drawn from a well close to the ford and men were employed to take the water to Oatscroft and Walkers farm. Mr. Stubbington mentioned that he believed that the Cowdray Estate piped water to their farms in the 1920s.
 
He reminded me that as a boy he had seen me playing cricket on the sports field at Cocking and watched me hit a ball into the trees around the field.
 
Mrs. Stubbington was born at Norfath, and was in service in London. When London was being bombed in the First World War the lady decided to move out into the country and in 1917 rented Hoyle Farm Heyshott. Mrs. Stubbington accompanied her. The gardener was Mr. Richardson from the Unicorn public house. They became friends of Mrs. Richardson and her daughter Ethel.
Other girls in service would meet at the local whist drives and at church on Sundays. It was at these events that May first met Jack Stubbington and his brother. The girls had cycles and would visit various places on them such as Midhurst. But occasionally they would take a horse-drawn carriage and go to church or to shop at Midhurst. This carrriage came from what is now Graffham garage.
The rector of Heyshott was the Rev. Lyne who was very popular and the villagers went to church regularly on Sundays. The carriage was driven by Mr. Boxall and it seemed funny to be driven in a Victorian carriage to church. "Even on a Sunday the girls sometimes declined to go on this sort of conveyance, even 50 years ago!". said Mrs. May Stubbington.
 
Mr. Jack Stubbington married on September 1st. 1935 when he was 42 and May was 43, and they went to live at Cocking in the railway station house. They continued to live there for 31 years while he was working for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway [LBSCR].
His wife bought him an Armstrong bicycle and Jack bought her a wireless set, the first set either of them had had in their lives, and which ran on H.T. batteries and accumulators. A radio man from Midhurst collected them for charging once a week and delivered a charged one at the same time. This was the thing in those days.
He still has his old bike in the shed and he said "When it packs in I'll pack in". It was only a few years ago that he had to buy a new tyre for it - "I've done thousands and thousands of miles on her" he told me. Recently when he put his cycle in the hedge at Moor farm, where he still does a bit of work, Walter Lovejoy ran over the front wheel and buckled it - "Well that's it", said Mr. Stubbington, "I've finished now".
However, a few days later Walt managed to get a wheel for him from Mr. George Goff and he is back doing his job again.
His wife does not like him cycling round the church corner and now he is picked up by car to go to work. Mrs. Stubbington never walks round the church corner but goes through the church-yard when she goes to the shop or up to that end of the village. Mr. Stubbington could remember accidents that had happened at Bex corner in which three people had been killed, A Cornwall girl, Jack Wakeford and one other he could not recall.
 
It was most odd, he said, to see old Julie from Julie's Bottom, up under the hill, walking to Midhurst. She wore a crinoline which was swaying away and made him laugh. When he was a lad he used to walk with his father about Hoe's wood and his father used to cut oak trees and remove the bark and bag it up to send to Chichester, He remembered also the time he went off on a shoot with the head keeper Mr, Riversdale, and Mr. Harris and Mr, Bishop.
It was on these shoots that he recalled the lane off Cocking causeway leading to the head keepers cottage and

 
beyond to foundry pond and the wooden bridge, but there were no buildings. He did remember the old brick works at the north side of Bex Lane - which have long since disappeared.
 
We had a very pleasent evening recalling old times and the people long forgotten and I am only too pleased that Mr. & Mrs. Stubbington have agreed that I may place this conversation on record.
 
Interview with Mr. Richard Goff, Mr. Herbert Miles, & Mr. Charles Kewell.
 
George Goff went to Heyshott school and remembers many things which are of interest in his school days. Before school in the morning he had a job to do for a lady, this was to fetch 3d. worth of rum from the public house, the Unicorn. The bottle would be filled and sealed and George would run back with it to the lady and run off to school so as not to be late.
Miss Martin was the head teacher when he went to school and she was rather strict. He recalls old Jack Alcot who sat in the corner in his old cord jacket. 'The old gel' used to get out her cane and thrash him, so you could not see him for dust. He was often in trouble and put in the punishment book which was kept at the school.
 
Mrs. Cobden Unwin used to give the school children an outing to Bognor once a year, when local farmers wagons would take the children to the railway station at Cocking where a special train was waiting. Then the children were put into the carriage and the doors were then locked and "Off we would go". said Mr, Goff. "when the train arrived at Chichester it shunted the coaches into a siding and a little later an engine would be hitched up and we would be on our way again to spend a lovely day by the sea. We would be very tired after we had travelled back again in the evening".
 
Mr. Herbert Miles, born in Heyshott at Heather View on the common in 1904, who went to Heyshott school, remembers his school number, 120, and stayed at school until he was old enough to leave. He recalls the time he and all the other children would dress in fancy dress and march to Oatscroft, home of Mrs. Fisher Unwin, and dance around the May Pole. As many as 100 children and parents would attend.
 
When Mr. R.G. Goff left school he went to work on the land, and he went on to say that he did not get any holiday; when he married he did have a day off but was back at work the next day. He smiled when he recalled old Walt Holsten of the road, who got married at 10am. and was back mangold picking at 11am.
 
Mr. Richard George Goff was married in November 1931 to Olive Reeves at Graffham but did not have a honeymoon until after the war, in 1945, when they went to London to stay with a cousin. When they arrived the neighbours opposite played 'To be a farmers boy'. "Very appropriate", he smiled.
 
He went on to talk about David Miles 'junior' and the songs he sang; one which I remember is 'The Old Sussex Thrashing Song'- George said that he could tell you how many grains of wheat went into a bushel too; also he could tell you about the stars in the sky.

 
He used to spend much of his time after retirement on his ¾ acre allotment down behined Coldharbour cottages.
 
Mr. Herbert Miles recalls how hard it was to get and allotment in those days. There were nine 1/4 acre plots at Coldharbour, two at Polecats, one in Kentchy field and one at Sandy Lane. He recalls waiting for years to get one. The only other chance was if someone died or would go half share with someone. The rent for ¼ acre for one year 3/6d. and many people relied on them to suppliment their diet. Mr. Miles went on to say how old Mr. Tiller used to walk to Singleton each day to work on the railway and when he got home and had his tea, would load up his wheelbarrow and go to the allotment and he also took a lantern with him on the barrow.
 
"My dad Rowbin" said Mr. Miles, would walk to work to Arundel, where he was a sawyer. Mr. Goff recalls his old grandfather saying how his employers would kill an old sow and cut up the belly part with the tits on and give it to us, "We could not get a bit of back boy".
 
We talked of the pig sties which are in the garden of many of the cottages in the village and about the way families would glean fields and when the thrasher came round, would get it thrashed and take the corn down to the mill for grinding. "Talking of thrashers", he said that "the Weller family had three machines, steam driven they were; one was in the Petworth area, one in these parts and the other around Stedham". They all recalled the horse driven elevators and how the horse walked round and round a 50' circle and never kicked the drive shaft.
 
"You know Jo SHerwin", said Mr. Goff, "we called hom curly". His real name was Arthur. "I recalls how when he were swearing when things weren't going well and your father came along and said, 'Arthur, all them little green flies will come after you' ".
 
Mr. Charles Kewell was born at Fishbourne in 1887. When the family moved to Lurgashell he left school and started work on the land looking after the horses, Milking the cows and making cream by turning the handle of the centrifuge seperator; he also recalls thrashing the hard way with a flail.
 
He was glad to see the horse driven portable thrasher and remembers seeing the first one at Farlies at Petworth Park.
 
"I then went at the top of Cocking Hill in the cottages on the left. This was when I worked for John Hutchings at Manor Farm. I was married at Cocking Church on Christmas Day and had Boxing Day off too. Your father, Ernie Hutchings, was my best man.
I worked as under carter to your father but when he left to go to Heyshott to farm on his own, I was then carter to your grandfather, where I worked for some 12 years. John Hutchings was a good master, but did not like to part with it, you know", said Charles.
 
"When the lime kiln at Cocking was taken over by new people, they built the overhead cable and buckets. some of the lads rode in them too! but not I; too dangerous".
 
Mr. Kewell then went to work for Mr. Woods at Berrywood farm in Heyshott. "I have been in Heyshott village ever since. It's a nice little place!".

 
"One person who comes to mind is Billy Sherwin. When he was playing cricket for Heyshott he was hit on the head with a cricket ball and his accident had a permanent effect. He had a nickname, as most prople do, and we called him 'Cougar'. I have no idea why", said Mr. Kewell.
 
We all spent a very nice afternoon chatting about the old days in Heyshott and enjoyed every moment. I was very pleased that they agreed to my printing anything which was said that afternoon.