VISITS TO RUSPER

My grand parents lived in Rusper for many years and their house was next to the butchers' shop on the same side of the road as the church. I can remember visiting my grandparents, as a school boy and my grandfather was a local builder and decorator and he had worked on both public houses, the Star and the Plough Inn. My father was one of thirteen children that they had raised and he was also involved in the buisness. We used to live in Horsham and often took the only bus to Rusper, they were Mitchells Coaches from the Carfax. I can remember that when we visited Gran and Granpa we had to sit very quietly and certainly make no noise when Granpa was listening to the results for Littlewoods Pools. When Granpa was working on the Star Inn he found on a wall a entire family tree dating back to the 1500s. I can also remember the bucket toilets and Gran doing the washing in a boiler. We often walked in the woods, picking bluebells and blackberries. Quiet times. The butcher often had wood pigeons for sale, and they were great in a pie. I left England for Australia in 1966 but my childhood memories are very vivid.