Buckland, Oxfordshire

Strange but True

My father was a bank manager in Faringdon in the 1970s and managed the accounts of the Pusey estate and the Hornby family, owners of the estate. On one occasion, during an annual fete, Dad was asked to act treasurer of the fete. He asked me to help him. On that day, two Puseys were in Pusey village.
My Pusey family was based in Oxford, where my paternal grandfather was employed in the University. His father was, I believe, a butcher in the St Clements area of the city.
In my father's family were six children, three sisters and three brothers, of which my father, Frederick was the fourth child. There were five Pusey cousins: John (son of Guy and still lives in Oxford), me, (son of Hugh and now living in Somerset), Michael (sadly deceased), Peter and Anne (sons and daughter of Harold). Peter lives in Malvern and Anne lives in America. There were also two non-Pusey cousins: Mary and Jane (daughters of Vera Heath, the youngest sister - the oither sisters were spinsters).
The second sister, Sybil finally lived and died at a home in Stanford in the Vale, the next village. She had a room next door to the nanny e,mployed by the Hornby family at Pusey House.
Cousin John has researched to an extent but can find no direct connection with the Pusey estate, although the family did own a number of silver spoons marked with the cat rampant, as used by Edward Bouverie-Pusey and probably inherited from the original Pusey family. Sadly, I do not know whether any of these spoons still exist.

Free's - Post Office and grocery, Longworth

Having spent the first seven years of my life in Longworth, I remember Free's shop vividly. The Frees were friendly, welcoming people. Mr Free had curly hair and wore a tan-coloured kind of overall-coat. Mrs Free wore glasses on a chain. They ran the Post Office and sold all kinds of groceries and household goods, but I remember it for the sweets and ice creams – my favourite was a block of lemon mousse that you ate from a rectangular wafer cornet.

The sweets we enjoyed from Free's included Barrett's sherbet fountains and 'Jamboree Bags', which contained a novelty gift, a lollipop and lots of pastel-coloured, powdery-flavoured sweets, plus some toffees wrapped in waxy paper.

Mr Free also did home deliveries. My mum would order her groceries in a red-covered notebook with a little window at the top with her name in it. Mr Free would deliver the order once a week, with all the goods packed into a large cardboard box.

We used to go to the shop after my mum collected me from school. I was one of the first pupils in the new primary school, which opened on 10 June 1963. The old school, which my dad had attended, was behind the spot where the photographer stood to take this picture.

Further along the road from Free's shop is the Blue Boar Inn.

Sue

The Pound

I used to live in The Pound at Goosey. As a pub it seemed massive to me when I was a lot younger, now I realise that in fact it was really small and intimate for a pub. I used to love the huge open fireplace, the smell of the wood smoke mingling with the smell of the beer. I used to spend many sunny afternoons exploring the village green with its ponds and marshes, fallen trees to climb, secret places to explore. As a child it seemed like an extremely safe and wonderful playground and I have never felt the same about anywhere else I have lived since.

The big elm tree.

This is the best picture yet of that great old tree that I have found. I sat on its roots at the age of 5 years back in 1939, and all through the war it was a great place to sit out of the rain.
I have a picture of it when it was young, and a picture of its stump full of flowers. Its branches were held together with chains and very few kids could climb it. I haven't seen it since 1952. It would be great if someone had a picture of the complete tree.