Bussage, Gloucestershire

THE WAR YARS 1939 1945

Hi I am Derek Hyde.  I with my sister arrived in Eastcombe late afternoon on the day war was declared, Sept 3d 1939.  We had been evacuated from Birmingam, we were to live with our grandparents for the duration of the war, we were the lucky ones to be with them, many others who came later did not know who they... [more]

My Grandmother

My Grandmother was born in The Round House, Chalford in 1901.

Early Life in Chalford

I was born in Chalford at "The Little House" in Chalford Hill in 1932 and lived there until March 1940. I was the youngest of six children who all lived in the cottage and have very lovely memories of both the cottage and the local school which I attended. My Mother was a local girl who was a clerk in the... [more]

Caravan Holiday with Mum

We stayed in a small caravan on Ridings Farm, owned then by Mr & Mrs Rand. We travelled by coach from Gosport, Hampshire. Catherine Hackett, my mother,adopted me when I was less than a year old, she was widowed and had 4 children of her own and as you can guess she was very special. Gosport is a naval... [more]

The Potters' Cottage on the hilltop

I knew Fred Potter and his family in the early 1960s - Fred and I dated for a while. Many times we got off the bus on the main road (I lived in Nailsworth), often straight from school - he at Marling, me at High School. We'd then walk past the lake and up that hill - seemed no distance in... [more]

Snow 1963

Having moved into Walls Quarry with my husband in 1961, I too remember the snow. It started to fall on Boxing Day 1962. We had a job to get home from Gloucester by car during theafternoon.
By March '63 it was still thick and frozen hard. The postmen had difficulty doing hillside deliveries out from Brimscombe Post Office. Three of... [more]

The Port Inn, Brimscombe

I first knew Brimscombe in the 1950s. I was brought up between Toadsmoor and Middle Lypiatt. In this starkly isolated location, it took a devoted beer drinker to travel through the darkness to the nearest pub. My Dad was of such a breed, and every evening he would go to the Bottle and Jug of the Port Inn in Brimscombe, more... [more]

Ice skating on the port

In the very cold winter of 1963 the canal port (known as the polly basin) froze over we were able to go iceskating , Brimscombe Hill had deep snow drifts and was shutdown but we still got the papers delivered !!! I was a paper boy at the time aged 11 yrs