Matching Green memories
Here are memories of Matching Green and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Matching Green or a Matching Green photo.
Schooldays in The 1940s And 1950s
I was born during the Second World War in 1942, the 8th child to my parents at Goose Bridge, Matching Green. My parents were Scottish and people thought they were foreign. My dad worked for Mr Gemmill's farm and drove a lorry for him so he was exempt from call-up for the army till they were so short of drivers that he was called up and went to war when I was six months old, I was three when he returned so I was scared of this strange man who brought this big doll home for me. When I went to the local school, there were just two classes. Major and Mrs Elders were the teachers and if you were very naughty you either got the slipper across youir backside or the ruler across your knuckles or back of your legs. There was an open fire in the winter and also a big boiler to warm us. I remember Mrs Reddington the school cook who cooked lovely dinners and every... Read more
Memories From my Childhood
I moved to Matching Green in 1944. My mother, Gladys Hoxley (nee Curry), ran the village store, called "the Stores" which had previously been run by my grandfather and grandmother, Ernest and Edith Curry. It was lovely with a large orchard full of fruit trees and a stream running through. My paternal grandfather (Henry Hoxley) helped my mother with the shop and I remember the farm workers coming in for their "baccy". The fair came once a year in October which we all looked forward to and my father Leslie Hoxley played for the local cricket team when he came out of the Army in 1945. I attended Matching Church of England Primary School until 1952 where Major and Mrs Elders were the teachers. In November the Essex Hunt left from the Green lead by Mr. Dudley Ward who was then Master of the Essex Hunt. In May all of the children went onto the Green to celebrate May Day and we danced round the maypole. In 1945 Larry Adler... Read more
Matching in The Ealy 1950s
My aunt lived in Church Cottages for many years in the 1950s and for a couple years my family also lived at Church Cottages. When we left I still used to return and stay with my aunt during school holidays. This house had been 3 cottages that were knocked into one. It had (and still does I believe) white snowcemmed walls and a thatched roof. At one time it had two large commercial greenhouses and a field of blackcurrent bushes. Houses were built on the field in the 1960s. The strange assortment of people, made of cement over wire and painted by the maker in the front garden of the cottage were called Horace's Horrors. Horace (I think his surname was Saville) had originally been the village smithy - I can remember watching him make horseshoes etc. He was a very shy gentle man who used to partly hide his face when he chatted to you. It is said he made his own false teeth. The Smithy was located on... Read more
Eccentric Artist
I remember cycling to Matching Green from Harlow in the early Seventies, as a 16 year old, exploring with friends one summer evening and coming across a cottage garden filled with strange but delightful 'art works' made out of domestic ironmongery. There were lots of metal people and devils, all brightly painted standing amid the overgrown garden among the flowers. It was very magical. Someone told us they were made by the eccentric man who lived in the attached cottage which stood on the corner of the Green with the lane leading to Harlow. Everything was grubbed up and vanished in the late Seventies. Can anyone tell me more about this story, is there someone still living who has the whole tale?
My Ancestors
My Grandfather was born at Matching Green in 1879 His name was Charles Pavitt.He had many bros and sisters ,James William Henry Emily .His parents were Joseph and Jane Jane was born 1851 nee Radley Joseph was born 1848. The Pavitt family would have been quite well known . I myself have never been to Matching Green but it is a place I feel I would like to see because of the family connection
Memories of Essex
Tales of Years Gone By!!
Hello! I am Arnold Chapman, my father was the minister of the little chapel (now a private house). I used to play with a lad called I think Ronald Babcock?? who lived in a farm nearly opposite. I think one time the barn caught fire. I recall going to the little school, sometimes getting a ride in a local farm cart!! No cars to worry about in those days. Another person I recall is Mrs Salmon who had bad arthritis. I am in my middle 70s so the memory plays games with you sometimes. My father also looked after a chapel in Matching Green, helping to build a wooden building to use as a chapel.
I can remember watching the doodle bugs going over on their way to London and my mum making us hide under the kitchen table.
The little shop comes to mind, if I remember it seemed to sell everything in those days in spite of rationing.
Pavitt Family
Who-ever was asking about the Pavitt Family please reply.
There is a Jacob Pavitt and wife Ann buried in White Roding church yard buried along with my gt gt grandmother. Havent worked that one out yet.
Please contact.
Fisiting Grandparents
Church Road - there was a row of old ricketty cottages where my grandparents, Thomas and Alice Wilkinson lived. Next door to them was an old lady always dressed in a long black skirt and a hat. She talked to herself and we were half scared of her -but realise now that she was lonely. Miss Prentice used to make lovely home made sweets. The Old Rectory was Edie Talbot's house and the beams were covered up by plaster, I didn't realise it was so lovely.
My grandfather worked on Sweicher's (?) Farm, he was born in Bobbingworth (Bovinger) My grandparents are buried in St, Mary;'s Churchyard but I couldn't find the gravestone last year. My baby uncle Harry is also buried there.
My grandmother used to tell us of the ghost in the vicarage that used to pull up the bedclothes in one of the bedrooms! I think my mother's cousin Peggy, used to run the village shop at one time.
We used to... Read more
Norman Layfield
Not so much a memory for me as I am too young to actually remember Norman. Norman's name is among the list of brave young men that left the Heath and went to fight in the Second World War, he was the younger brother of my grandfather. They were in different regiments but actually ended up in the same POW camp on the famous River Kwai after being captured by the Japs. Grandad had no idea that Nornan was there, up till this point he believed Norman was safe at home in Hatfield Heath thousands of miles away from the disease and squalor and torment that tens of thousands of Allied solders were being worked to death in. On discovering that Norman was there, as the older brother he applied to have his brother transferred to his regiment. This was possible as an older member of the same family is entitled to claim the younger member into his regiment. When Grandad applied he discovered that Norman had died a few... Read more
I Remember The Post Office
This was a large dark place, all timber with a climb up the steps to get in and the floorboards creaking as you walked toward the counter. In them days I couldn't see over the counter but I remember the shopkeeper although I can't remember his name. To the left in the photo, the last building, that's where Brian Sergant started business with his plant hire, it is still running today but it is situated in Bush Fair, Harlow.
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