Edwardian Idyll

A Memory of Farncombe.

My mother, Eileen Keith, was born in Farncombe in 1908 and her brother Ben in 1912. She often spoke with pleasure of her childhood there, and of her teachers (Miss Alexander and Miss Kate Gresham) and the vicar, Canon Bowring. She also used to speak of the beauty of the water meadows and the wild flowers, daffodils and bluebells , and of the River Wey, along which she and her mother Mary once walked from Guildford to Godalming.There was no electric light then and they used oil lamps.Two friends she used to mention were Keithie Gorringe and Ursula Attwater. The children with their mother (Mary Keith) used to go to London by train occasionally to visit Mary's sister Betty, and as few villagers ever went to London in those days Mary was known as "The Lady from London". They hated the electric lights of London, thinking them very harsh. In 1920 when my mother was 12 they emigrated to Australia but always used to talk of her longing to go "home". I'd love to hear from anyone who knew them or has any memories of that period.

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