Barton Mills, the Village 1925

Friday luncheons at Tillys from Jean Ryder

During the years of 1959-1960 I worked as secretary in the Education Centre at RAF Mildenhall. One of my favourite memories of that time was having lunch at Tillys Pantry every Friday. Another secretary at the air base had just passed her driving licence exam - quite a feat for a young girl at that time as it was a thorough examination and not too many passed on the first attempt, and four of us would pile into her car every Friday at 1p.m. and head for Tillys for a delicious lunch.
I remember what an attractive place it was, sparkling with dark polished chairs and tables with walls lined with many brass jugs, plates etc. The china that was used was in a lovely shade of blue.
Now, some forty odd years later I'm living in Fort Worth, Texas, and wonder if Tillys is in fact still in operation, and hope it is and that people are enjoying it as we did.

Oh for the simple life!

Like my sister Jayne, I also remember many happy times at the Lodge and the farm. My brother, sister and I would spend hours looking for and playing with all the stray cats and kittens on the farm, sitting in warm barns on bales of hay. lovely! I can almost smell the warm summer farm smells when I think of it! Why were summers always long and hot when you were young?
We played with two girls of about our age, I was 7 then. I seem to remember they lived across the road and were twins. Sadly my memory is not what it should be and I can't recall their names.

Childhood memories!

Around about the time this pic was taken, I was 5 years old and my nan used to live in a house to the left of the picture. Her husband was head herdsman at Lord Ivor's dairy farm a little futher up the road. We (my brother, sister and me) used to visit often and I have such wonderful memories of playing around in the farm (no health and safety then!), watching my uncle bring the cows in for milking. I can still hear the sound of the cows in the milking barn and the noise when the pumps went on their udders. I can remember the house, The Lodge, and sitting in the garden on hot summer's days - Nan sitting in the sun and sending us down to the sweet shop for choc-ices. Lovely, happy memories!

THE Bell Inn High Street

Any imformation or photographs would be very welcome please to ReidFS@aol.com.