Sutton At Hone

A Memory of Sutton at Hone.

I have fond memories of my childhood/early teens in Sutton-at-Hone. I attended the C of E Primary school in the early 1940s; I remember one of the teachers, a Ms. Rogers, the headmaster was a layman in the local church, I cannot recall his name. The Rev Karl Samson was the vicar. I was a choirboy with David Hill, David Hodge, Harry King (his mother was the church organist), Gwen Mullholland, Mr. Brown, Eric Baylis, a Mr Wilf Evans, Mr Johnson and a gentleman who lived in St. John’s lodge were some of the other members.
A few years ago I revisited the village and was very disappointed, progress has not been kind to the idyllic place of my childhood. I was stopped from walking down to the ford, a frequent route to the watercress beds and Canon Powell’s residence, where he kindly allowed the Scout Troop to camp at weekends; the footpath mentioned is now private property, farm land has been taken up for housing. Nostalgia, Post Office (Mr Bird) The Dairy (Russell Widows) The Greyhound (Walt Harbour) Hardware Shop (George Evans) Café (Wise) and last but not least, the village bobby, Len Beasley