Stondon Massey - The Place Where I Was Born

I was 5 years old when the Second World War started.  My father Alec Lawlor and mother Thirza Booty Lawlor along with my little brother Brian and myself were living in Bristol, West England at the time. Then my dad joined the RAF so my mother elected to go back to Stondon Massey with her family and to live with my grandparents, Bert and Alice (Brace) Booty. Their home was located about half a mile down from the Bricklayers Arms.  

I remember my grandmother inviting neighbours over to her home during the evening hours and singing songs as the German planes were dropping bombs all around us, and when the Doodle Bugs and V2 Rockets were being launched by the Germans.
  
An American Army/Air Force Base was located a few miles to the north of us called Willingale Airdrome. Most of the American servicemen would make their way to the Bricklayers Arms and to the local dance hall at Allens Corner, called 'The Ex-Serviceman's Club', on Saturday evenings. My grandparents used to help run the dances with Ernie Baines who only had one leg and used crutches whenever he travelled up and down the road to the Club. Just about everyone in the village knew of Ernie, he was a really nice gentleman. Many a American Serviceman would meet and fall in love with one of the local girls and get married. My dad's sister Doreen Lawlor Fesler married her husband Jack in 1944 while he was at Willingale Airdrome.

A lot of the Americans would stop by my grandparents' home after the pubs closed and the Dance Hall let out. The boys, as Grandma called them, were invited to stop for a cup of coffee or tea and a sandwich if they were hungry.  Some of those Americans would often bring some goods from the Camp and drop off booty to Grandma because they knew that there was a rationing going on at the time.

Just after the Second World War ended and my dad was demobbed from the RAF. He came home like all the other men that lived in the neighborhood who had been away during the war years except for some leave time when they would come home to be with their family.  

In 1946 my Grandma Booty passed away, she was only 55 years of age. She was truly a wonderful lady who cared for her family and friends to the end.
 
Stondon Massey had a population back then of less than a thousand people and everyone knew everyone you might say. My old school friends that lived in the village were the late Len Shuttleworth, the late David Parrish, Don Eustace his brother Aggie, Peter Sutton, Gorden Knight, Derek Aspinal, Mushy and his sister Annie Stanford, Hugh Brace, Brian Buttle (both now living in Australia), Marion Jennings, Billy Cornwall and many more.  

My parents left the village in September 1949 and moved the family to Michigan, USA.  It was there that we met many new friends that welcomed us to America. In 1953 I joined the US Air Force and while stationed in North Africa in 1954 I would get to fly in and out of Bovingdon Airport once each month to pick up supplies for our base in North Africa. I visited the village of Stondon Massey every chance I got, calling in on old friends and uncles and aunts and cousins and my best buddy Keith Mills of Kelvedon Common. We maintained that friendship over the years until his untimely death in 2006, and we still keep in touch with his wife Mary and her family.

I got a carry on assignment to RAF Fairford, in Gloucester, in late 1954 and after checking in there I made my way to Stondon to visit my Uncle Jack Lawlor and his family as well as checking in at the Bricklayers Arms, and playing darts with my old mates.

I met and married my wife of 54 years this June 4th, the former Laura Tilzey from Knowle, Bristol in June 1955. Together we raised 3 boys and 2 girls and now have 9 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. We now live in Peoria, Arizona, USA. We get back to England every 2 or 3 years to visit those we know and always call at the Bricklayers Arms in Stondon, and see just how much the place has changed over the years.

I could go on but I do not have many words left to use. I would like to say about the home where I lived was on a nice 2 acre piece of land, and was bought by a local builder back in the 1960s. After getting Council planning permission and after taking down the old house and the barns and all the fruit trees, he failed to start the new homes within the 1 year time frame and was turned down when he tried to get a new permit. The property the last time I visited in June/July 2008 was barren except for overgrown grass and weeds.

Many new homes now adorn the fields which used to have cows grazing from the local farm that was located near the Bricklayers Arms, but that too has gone and houses are built on the property now. I have couple of pix of the Bricklayers Arms as it was back in 1915 when my grandmother Alice Brace Booty's father and mother, Bill and Mary Brace were the proprieters from 1908 to about 1922.  I also have another pix of my late mother and father visiting the old pub back in 1971.

Stondon will always have a special place in my heart. To all that read this, I hope that some are still around and remember me, David Lawlor, and my brothers Brian and Michael Lawlor. Hope to see you again someday.