School Days

We lived at Lower Cranmore Farm, I remeber starting in the village school when I was 5yrs old, it was quite a long walk to school, people were allowed to let animals run loose on the common in those days, I remember the Frankhams having a dun pony that we often used to see, also the Lovejoys carthorses were often seen out on the common too, those were the days ! I stayed at the school until it closed, then we were all shipped off to Grafham school, before going off to Midhurst, my friends included Nancy, David and Peggy Hills, Pat Campbell, who came to live next door with Mr & Mrs Chapman, Alan Taylor, and the Jackson girls. I remember that there was a shop just up past the school, it was a real lovely little village, lots of open spaces all around, there used to be an old man who used to be a mole catcher, he used to wear a big black coat and ride an old bicyle with his mole traps hanging off his handlebars, he was often to be seen complete with bicycle drunk in a ditch somewhere, quite happy quite harmless! Then there was Mr West who kept his goats on the common, which we would visit, but the big attraction to me was the polo ponies that were once stabled near the pond across the common and cricket pitch' from us. Yes those were the days, a lot of water has flown under the bridge since then, but it looks as if people can still enjoy it as much as we did even now, which is great!