Dunsmore memories
Here are memories of Dunsmore and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Dunsmore or a Dunsmore photo.
Dunsmore People And Happenings Remembered
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
In 1995, when the first edition of this history was published, it seemed incredibly optimistic to have had three hundred copies printed for a market which was likely to be composed in the main of the residents of about forty properties. Ten years later the stock has run out and the opportunity arises to correct some of the errors which have become very obvious and to carry out a modicum of up-dating.
It came as something of a pleasant surprise to receive reactions from different parts of the world, from relatives of people who featured in the booklet and from others. Some of the photographs used in the original book are no longer available and of those informants who provided contributions to the original a number have died, reinforcing the view that the history of the common man must be collected sooner rather than later if it is not to be lost forever.
July 2009
DUNSMORE
PEOPLE AND HAPPENINGS REMEMBERED
Memories of Buckinghamshire
Anne Boleyn's Cottages
My late Sister Daphne Hemmings owned No 3 Coldharbour Cottage. She passed it on to her son Jimmy Hemmings. I have fond memories of visiting her and staying awhile in these fascinating dwellings. You wouln't want to be six-foot plus with the low doorways plus the low beams, you would crack your head on the oak beams. If anyone passed away upstairs you would have to be lowered through a trapdoor located in the front bedroom in line with the front door. As a school boy in the Second World War years I used to walk from Aylesbury to Wendover up Coombe Hill to the Monument and in the war years (if my memory serves me correct) there were dummy anti-aircraft guns all around the hills. In 1965 my wife, children and myself emigrated to Australia. In 1993 we decided to have a trip back to the UK, staying with my sister for a short time, and we decided to have a walk up Coombe Hill which I hadn't done... Read more
Spitfire
I recall a huge thermometer erected on the clock tower, it was graduated in pounds sterling with a picture of a Spitfie at the top> We children, and of course the rest of the Wendover community subscribed as much as we could as often as we could in order to puchase our very own Spitfire, as Wendover's contribution to the war effort. I was an evacuee from the bombing of London at the time, I also recall seeing an army tank sliding into a sweet shop on the corner opposite the clock tower. I wonder if any of these wonderful people who made my stay in their village so memorable are still with us today :- Mr Mathews of Mathews Bakery, Willy Swilly, Pig Farmer and Humanist. Mrs Goodson Railway Man whom I was billeted with first. And Mr and Mrs Wright, Policeman 2nd. Avril Brackly, close friend. 'Buck' Alcott, friend. Lady Garner and 'Pinky', and Bruce Hamilton, beautiful people. Mr Pentelope, teacher, and last but not least Father Masters,... Read more
Wenover C of E School
I used to go to Wendover Primary School when it was situated beside the clock tower. The head master was then H. J. Figg Edgington. I began in Mrs Tott's class, then Mrs Connolly's, then Mr Spencer's, then Gertrude Agatha Jones's. It was the best time there. We would walk the Heron Path on nature walks, down through the 'rec towards the church and pond, then back past the stream which had sticklebacks and red throats in. We used to believe that a grey lady haunted the church tower and would pretend that we had seen her and run for our lives. Mr Edginton wore his cap and gown always and was a vicar with a dog collar. He used to spank us if we were naughty but he didn't really. He would lay us over his knee then clap his hands and pretend to. Just to let us know we had been naughty for forgetting our gym kit or whatever. I was in the school netball team and was the... Read more
Two Weddings
My parents were married at Great Hampden church in July 1929, they were Neater Ruth Groom of Prestwood, and Harold Aubrey Hall of Beenham in Berkshire. January 4th 1956 Barbara Hall, their only child, was married to Reginald Frank Ridgley, also of Prestwood. My mother died in April 1994, the wild cherry blossom and bluebells were adorning the Glade as we followed her coffin up to the church, we walked that way so often in the years gone by. Dad followed her in Feb 1995, it was cold and grey, but there were a lot of people, sharing the memories of lives spent in this lovely area, and Rev Phillip Hill who conducted our wedding, and the dear old Vicar who was there in my childhood, walking round his Parish, visiting, always happy to talk.
William Russell Wilson Bligh
William Russell Wilson Bligh came to Australia and was living with his Uncle Sir Maurice O'Connell at Tarmons in Sydney in 1845. I have a copy of a letter written that expresses her concerns about her 18year old son and the way he is neglecting his family duty by not paying his uncle his due from his newly earned wages. He joined the Civil Service and was appointed the 1st Clerk of Petty Sessions in Armidale New South Wales in 1847. He was later dismissed by the Cowper Government in March 1859. He then went to live in Sydney and later retired to his cottage Whiteleaf Cross in the Blue Mountains, said to be named after the place where the children were born in Buckinghamshire. His Mother was one of 6 daughters and 3 sons born to Vice Admiral William Bligh. She married her 4th cousin Richard Bligh Barrister House of Lords. William's Mother gave William, the last remaining copy of his Grandfathers voyage which was later deposited in... Read more
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