The Francis Frith Collection.
You are here:

Ford in 1939

My parents and I lived at Ford for a few months in 1939, having moved there from north London when my father started work for a building contractor on the airfield at Colerne. We had lodgings with a Mr and Mrs Pearce (or Pierce) at Mount Scylla Farm. It's a long time since I passed that way, but I was delighted to be able to recognise the place recently, on the Google maps and street view. The general layout of the yard looks more or less as I remember it, but of course some of the buildings are different.
As far as I remember, Mr Pearce had a herd of about a dozen cows, and every morning the milk was left in large churns in a pool of water, which seemed to be fed by a natural spring, by the farmyard gate, and was picked up by a lorry, I suppose from the Milk Marketing Board.
There were two working horses on the farm, named Captain and Gypsy. They seemed enormous to me, as I was only eight at the time. One morning Mr Pearce lifted me up onto Captain's back and sent him off up the road to a field where he was working. "You'll be alright", he said; "he knows the way, and I'll be there to lift you off".
I remember being in the farmhouse kitchen, with my parents and Mr and Mrs Pearce, on September 3rd that year, and hearing Neville Chamberlain's broadcast announcing the outbreak of war. Shortly after then we moved to Colerne, where my memories are continued.

Written by John Bunting. To send John Bunting a private message, click here.

A memory of Ford in Wiltshire shared on Friday, 27th August 2010.

Memories Links

Other memories of

See more memories of Ford

Ford homepage

Add a Memory for another place

Tips & Ideas

How does Ford feature in your personal history?

What are your best memories of Ford?

How has Ford changed over the years?

Share memories about your local community, its history and people.

Comments

0 comments have been shared so far in response to the memory "Ford in 1939".

Why not get involved and post your comments using the comment form below.

Post a Comment about this Memory

To post a comment about this Memory, complete the form below. Your comment will appear alongside the original Memory on the website. If you wish to send a private message (not published on the website) to the person that wrote the Memory, click here.

Subject: RE: Ford in 1939
You have to be logged in to be able to post a comment.
If you have a Frith account, then please log in below, if not, click here to create one.
Email:
Password:
Comment:
  Note: There is a 300-word limit - you have 300 words remaining.

© Copyright 1998-2012 Frith Content Inc. All rights reserved.