Memories of Heyshott.
 
My father was in the garden at Walker Farm one clear sunny day and he called to me to have a look at something in the sky, I remember walking out of the back door and looking to where he was pointing, I saw a very large silver object, which I was told was the R.100 airship. I only looked at it for a few seconds and ran crying to my mother; to me it was frightening. This is one of my earliest memories in Heyshott.
 
I also recall when Leslie Parry was mending the woodwork on the side of the carthouse and I was playing with his equipment, I got hold of his tar-brush and tarred the inside and the handle of a trug basket before I was caught. The basket was still in use at Berrywood well after the war.
 
I was born at Walkers Farm and lived there until our family moved to Berrywood Farm when I was 5 years old. During the time I was at Walkers a girl living at Oatscroft, alongside Mrs. Fisher Unwin, looked after me and took me for walks. I loved these times; she was very fond of me I am sure. Her name was Flora Berchall. My fondest walks were in the lovely woods between my home and the ford at Dunford; also in the other direction on to the common.
 
My father had a milk-round in Heyshott, he used a horse and float and many times I rode on this down the lane. I was often taken in to see Mrs. Fisher Unwin who would give me cakes and sweets.
 
My father had a Austin 12 car in which we used to go to my grandfather's at Cocking on Sunday evenings to chapel service which was held in the manor farm drawing room, my Auntie would play the American organ and the preacher would come to tea and take the service, beginning at 6.30pm. the sermon would go on for an hour at least. Being a young child I was allowed to go to sleep on the settee.
 
When we moved to Berrywood farm I remember having the smallest bedroom in the house. The view from this window was to the east across the green to Newell's cottages, the back of Blackhorse cottages and the church, the Cobden Club and the school, with a view of the Downs in the background.
 
Going to school one morning in the old car, as it was raining hard, as we turned the drive corner, I fell out of the door and rolled straight into the ditch full of water, I had to return home again to change.
 
It was at about this time that I got to know a man who lived at Newells cottages and every day would walk down the green to his allotment at Coldharbour, I often accompanied him, his name was Mr. David Miles. He would tell me stories and sing songs. He knew all the stars in the sky and I am sure he also believed in astrology.
 
Another person was Mr. Rapson who worked on the roads in Heyshott. He kept them clean, cut the edges, cut the grass verges, dug the ditches and trimmed the hedges. I used to talk to him when he sat in his wheelbarrow with the handles on the ground, the wheel up in the air, eating his dinner of bread and cheese with a flask of tea.

 
One event that took place in the village was the November 5th. bonfire. All the boys used to collect the hedge trimmings and help Wilf Dudley build the bonfire on the green between Newells cottages and the Rectory, It was always the largest one in the area and many people came along and brought their fire-works and potatoes to bake. It had to stop when the war broke out in 1939, after the war it restarted and still goes on today, with a torch light procession and is well supported by people in the surrounding district. The bonfore is now held on the green outside the Unicorn Public House.
 
In the village, when an emergency arose, a general call for help went out and many villagers would come to give their assistance, for example; the time when the church wall was collapsing into the road caused by the higher ground inside pushing it over. The men and boys dug the earth away on the inside throwing it over the wall on to carts, The wall was then rebuilt. Another time was when the village pond was drained and partly dug out to form a water reserve in case of fire in the war.
 
A sight worth watching in Heyshott was when Mr. Arthur Lovejoy, with his dog Bess, were rounding up the cows on the green to take them for milking, or bringing the sheep off the Downs. Mr. Dick Lovejoy also had dogs which did this type of work. He lived at Moor Farm, the closest farm under the Downs.
 
At weekends a common sight in Heyshott were the Autogyros flying over; a fascinating sight, in blues, reds and silvers, flying only a few hundred feet up.
 
It was on a summer evening when we heard that Amy Johnson had crashed her aeroplane at Bepton [two villages west of Heyshott]. My father and brother and I went to see the aircraft, its undercarriage and propeller were damaged, but Amy Johnson was not badly hurt.
 
On a winter's night before the war I recall my father taking us all to Telegraph hill north of Midhurst to see the Aurora Borealis [Northern Lights] which was a sight that I will never forget.
 
In the late 1930s we would watch the motor cycle trials on the Downs by the old chalk pits to the right of chalky road. They would come only for a few days in the year, but it was very enjoyable and how powerful they were to climb the steep slopes.
 
The old 'Stop-me-and-buy-one' ice cream man used to visit Heyshott on Saturday afternoons pushing his three wheeler cycle with its load. On occasions I would have a 1d. one with promises of being a good boy. The ice cream man would go round the village and perhaps get back to the green when the cricket was on, and stay and watch with many other people who would stop their cars and have a picnic by the pond. They would also help to look for lost balls in the long grass or rushes which grew all round the outfield; it was a good summer Saturday entertainment.
 
Many times before the war, when it was Polo week at Cowdray Park, Midhurst, we would stable a team of horses at Berrywood Farm. We had a team once from Finland, the groom with them could speak no English, one morning he picked me up and placed me on a pony, got on himself and we went for a gallop round the field. Being about 7 or 8 I was quite frightened, as it seemed very fast compared to a cart-horse, which I was more used to. I liked this groom very much, when he went home he gave me a polo-stick: I would go to the polo matches on Saturday afternoons and often came home with a few polo balls.