Great Leighs

A Memory of Great Leighs.

we moved from Borham airfield just across a cornfield to a thatched cottage, the walls were wattle and daub which a farmer let out to farm workers normally, It had no electricity, flush toilet , bathroom, but it had heaps of room and a big garden, surrounded by sugar beet , corn ,and fallow fields, Wild ducks flew over. you could see and hear them. sqawking coypus came on the back cemented area, which now would be a patio, we kept dogs cats a rabbit called monty and guinney pig. also a duck, which the fox got. had oak beams inside..my mum painted the window frames red and white and we had blue shutters. she named it cherry tree cottage, although there was a walnut tree other side. my dad used to cycle to Lt Waltham to get the bus to Chelmsford as he was a bus Conductor .we had open fire and a kitchen range, which we used to crowd round to keep warm, getting red legs For light we used candles and cooked on a paraffin primus stove, clothes used to smell of , smoke from fire or mums cigarettes..sometimes if we found a dead rabbit, by the road, my dad used to skin it for dinner. the smell was awful. coudn't eat rabbit since. In the orchards we found mushrooms. mum used to cook these, but I couldn't stand the smell, but now I love them .we scrumped apples from the orchard, a policeman caught us and we had a ride home in a police car, he put apples in his helmet, we used to walk everywhere as we had no bikes.in the winter of 62, the snow was up to the ditches, my dad had to wheel his bike two miles to get the bus, same as the postman (dicken) his nickname, when the neighbours moved out, my mum made hole in the wattle and daub and a doorway to there place, so we moved in there as well. It was condemned anyway .Thatcher's came to do the roof.one of chewed tobacco and spat it out. thought it was disgusting, they wore sacking round there waists, the farm up the road which our cottages were rented from, we went to ride on trailer as they were cutting the corn, scratched legs and knees. my sister had left home to live in lodgings in Chelmsford. my younger sister and I did the same to the same place pat kings nee redman

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