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Memories of Suffolk

New Beginnings

We visited Gipping in 2003 to try to get a sense of the place our ancestors left in 1859 to start a new life in New Zealand. The flatness of the area was a significant contrast to the rugged coastal lands they farmed on their arrival in Little Akaloa, Canterbury. William Henry Elliss and his wife Sophia Rebecca Davey were resident in Gipping in 1858 when they married at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Stowmarket. Their parents were Frederick and Caroline Elliss (nee Bass) and William and Eliza Davey (nee Fox), husbandmen, whose families had been in Gipping and Mendlesham for some generations. When William and Sophia left for NZ on the Mary Ann, bound for Canterbury, April 1859 they had been living in Haughley, William was a dealer, and they had a 7 month old son who died on the voyage out. Their parents stayed and died in Gipping, and Old Newton, and indeed Frederick and Caroline have a headstone  erected in their memory in St Mary's Old Newton... Read more

Happy Days

this is only one  of  many wonderful memories i went to school in needham market the junior school and lived at darmsden we were picked up and taken to school by a mini bus we lived in three places in  darmsden the 2nd place was right next door  to a strawberry  field one of many owned by tarston farms further up our road .When it  was time for  picking strawberrys a lot of my friends were bought up in a lorry   and  i  was put  in  charge   to  make  sure  they  picked properly and  didnt  mess about  i was  the  first  one  picking  and  the  last  one  to  finish  i  was  as  brown  as  a  berry  and  loved  it .  one  day  my  mum  came  over  and  and  said  shhs she  then laid  this  very  real  looking  grass snake  amongst  the  strawberrys  well you  should  have  seen  my  mates run  they  screamed   with laughter when  they  saw  what  it  was.  mum used to  litTereally  drag  me  of  i  loved  it... Read more

Combs Fords Tragedy

In World War II I attended school in Stowmarket. My home was in the neighboring village of Needham down by the railway station, so I would catch the local bus at the Swan Public House and ride it to the Market Square in Stow. As the bus traveled north there were three other young children who joined the same bus, and on arrival we would walk to school together. (I was about eight years old at the time. One of the girls was about one year older as I remember)
After school we would stand in the Market Square to catch the bus back.
One day we stood waiting for our bus back home and it didn't come. No one seemed to know why. Eventually on our own initiative we decided to walk home to Needham. When we arrived at the edge of Combs Fords the road home was completely blocked. There had been a terrible... Read more

Family Connection to The Shoulder of Mutton

The Shoulder of Mutton c1965
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My great great grandfather was Richard Thurston and I believe that his family lived at the pub about 1845.
They had several children Deborah,John Palmer,Mary Jane,Richard and William Mumford (thurston) His wife was Susannah.
John Palmer Thurston was my great grandfather.
My grandfather William John Thurston emigrated to Australia in 1910 with his wife Agnes Alice Thurston(nee Stillwell) from Sussex.

Childhood

Mendlesham Primary school was wonderful, it is still there but sadly, no longer a school, there is now a new Primary school. My favourite teacher was Miss File, she taught class'B'. Mr Hurrell was also a wonderful teacher. He had small glass files on the wall around the classroom with wild flowers in each one and he carefully had the names of the flowers written close by each one, so that we could learn them. Mr Hurrell's class was 'A' (this was the class before going on to High School, in Stowmarket, on Braybrooks school bus). Braybrook's buses were owned by Mr Braybrook, his secretary was Enid Lambert. Mr Braybrook converted the listed buildings in the Back Street, close to The Kings head pub. I think he wanted to do the same to the whole street, but sadly it didn't happen. I still hold a very dear place in my heart for Mendlesham. My childhood was very happy, I lived at no. 42, Front Street, before the houses were given... Read more

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