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Compton Bassett
Compton Bassett photos
Displaying the first of 3 old photos of Compton Bassett. View all Compton Bassett photos
Compton Bassett maps
Historic maps of Compton Bassett and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Compton Bassett maps
Compton Bassett area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Compton Bassett and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Compton Bassett
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Compton Bassett.
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This And That Concerning my Short Stay in Compton Bassett
My memory of Compton Bassett is not extensive - to say the least - as I spent roughly a year in married quarters before my husband was posted to Bordon in Hants. He was with the REME and worked at Lyneham. My immediate memory is of greeness and drizzle! And being without friends - I don't think being a member of the khaki set helped! I took my son, who was a year old, into Calne some afternoons just for something to do. I recall the bus service was pretty non-existant and so it was the pushchair for him, and shanks' pony for me! Sometimes we did a recce closer to home instead, and I enjoyed looking at the pretty cottages (we had arrived directly from Germany where cottages were not something one encountered). I recall one cottage which, although not so different from the others in the road, did have a name which has remained with me all these years: 'All That.' I would seek it out whenever our... Read more
Somewhere is This Photo is A RAF Camp Where The Sgt Barraclough Family Lived
Where was the RAF camp site?
Re Story of Tales From my Father
I still hear all the tales of those days from my father,who spent his holidays at Number 37 with the Offer family and was sent there during the Second World War as a child, he also knew your father Reginald . As a child I spent my holidays in Compton Bassett, staying either on Barnetts Farm or the White Horse pub field in our caravan or in a tent at the back of 36 or in the orchard of 37, even in the 1970s and 1980s it was fun, there is something still special about the place now.
Tales From my Father
My father grew up on Compton Bassett, his name was Reginald Hooper and he lived with his parents and brothers and sisters at No 36. I remember well the stories he told me as a child about his childhood growing up in the village, his friends, how they played in the street and roamed all over the fields, sang in the church choir and went to school in the village. It all seemed so idyllic but I suppose life was quite hard for most village people in those days. When I read 'Cider with Rosie' it all seemed so familiar, as if I had already been there. They are all gone now but the memories live on.
Telephonist Course
In March 1946 as an18 year old I was called up to report to RAF Padgate, and do 2 years National Service in the RAF. After a few days there, being kitted out with uniform etc, I was posted to 11 GRP Uxbridge in July 1946 and was given training to operate the 12 position switchboard which were down in the bunker, at fighter H/Q. In around August 1946 I was posted to RAF Compton Bassett for a 3 week course to be trained as a telephonist, we trained on 10+50 switchboards. The strange thing was I did my 6 weeks' basic training at RAF Yatesbury during April-May 1946 - square-bashing, firing rifles, throwing a live hand grenade, LIFE CERTAINLY WAS VERY EXCITING. After 9 months I was promoted to LAC and received £3 every fortnight on pay parade, of course most of us smoked but did not have much money for beer, we used to get our fags in the NAAFI at a reduced price. Happy times.
Memory of Compton Bassett
I was adopted with my 3 sisters by a RAF couple who was stationed in Hong Kong. Our parent came back to the UK in 1957. My father was stationed at Compton Bassett in 1960 for 2 years. Our story of the Barraclough family was printed in the Daily Sketch 1961. The title was On Wheels of Joy. I remember going to a village school 2 miles from the camp.
Lovely Friendship at RAF Compton Bassett
When I was posted to Compton Bassett in 1951 I was feeling rather low, and remained so until I formed a friendship (just friendship) with a lovely girl, a member of the WRAF known as 'Woodie' My abiding memory of Compton Bassett will always be walking down a country road to The White Horse Inn, with a beautiful girl by my side, on warm, sunny evenings in May. After sixty years, I remember everything so clearly. The Spring flowers in the cottage gardens, the Church, and the cosy interior of the inn. We had a mutual interest in poetry, and I know that she particularly admired the works of the Great War poets, especially Wilfrid Owen and Rupert Brooke. The mind has a way of blotting out the saddest times, so how we finally lost touch is far too hazy to be sure of how it happened. My course at the station was a short one, and although our paths crossed once more when we were both... Read more
Living in The Village
We moved to Compton Bassett in 1957 when I was 11 and lived there until my father died in 1986. My parents were George Edward (Ted) Jones and Lucy. First we lived in Dugdales Farm house with Mr and Mrs Monck, and then moved to what we called Hundred Acre Cottage which was specially built for us by Mr Monck. After they sold Dugdales we moved to what was then known as Alley Cottage. My father was an agricultural engineer and was self-employed. I went to the Bentley Grammar School in Calne. I used to cycle through the village and leave my bike at the post office in the care of Mrs Rogers. I then caught a bus to school. I spent many happy hours walking in the fields and up the hill with our dogs. I left in 1964 to go to Teacher's Training College in Weymouth but went home every holiday. I finally left and moved to Spain where I met and married a Spaniard but continued... Read more
