Ulceby

ELSHAM IN THE THIRTIES

During the thirties in Elsham, keeping healthy was very important. Yhe health service didnt exsist, all we had was orange juice and cod liver oil. Our cottage was very damp, one of my sisters died from pneumonia when she was
just 4 yrs old. Many old residents also died from pneumonia, it was known as the old mans friend.
The Elsham people were extremely poor. Everybody grew their own vegetables, that was the only way you could survive. All the men worked on the farms for just a few shillings a week, the cottages they lived in belonged to the farmers, and every May Day Thursday they had to cycle to Brigg, report to the Angel Hotel, and ask the farmer who owned their cottage if he would employ them for another year. Very often the farmer wouldn't, and they had to get out of the house, which was known as flitting.
The present residents of Elsham are very lucky people.
REX WHITEHEAD

V E Day

I was born in Elsham 1934. We lived in a thatched cottage, where the village hall stands now. My grandfather was the local joiner, wheelwright, preacher, and clerk to the parish council. My father had milk cows and chickens. In the wartime we had prisoners of war, Germans and Italians. Elsham Hall was occupied by the army. We all had a fantastic time on V E Day. Rex Whitehead

I remember the W.I. paying £50 for a WAAF billet, so they could have their own premises in which to have meetings. I carried the the water supply in buckets from my then home, Bigby Manor. John.

Family at Home

My great-grandparents, named Evison, lived at Riby Lodge about late 1800/1900. This is as clear as I can be, my great grandfather was the gardener for Riby Hall and connected to the church either as a curate or lay preacher. They are buried I believe in the church yard. As a child I visited my Great Aunt Constance who lived at the Crossroads and I attended at least 2 weddings at the church when the family married, once as a bridesmaid, the receptions were held at the school near the church. As far as I can remember, the children of my great-grandparents were George, Arthur, Herbert, Fanny, Alice,and Constance, there could have been one more. Alice was my grandmother.

My Travels With Mom

Market Place c1965
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Travels brought me to my Auntie and Uncle's house above the Beauty Shop looking straight onto the photo. I loved them so much and their daughter, my cousin. I haven't seen them in years...don't know why.  But this was always my favorite spot in England. I loved the Chip Shop. I had a good friend named Colin who lived here, he wrote me a beautiful poem that was so sweet.

My First Visit to Barton-Upon-Humber by Richard B. Taylor

My first visit to Barton-upon-Humber was in the early 1980s when my wife and I were searching for the graves of my ancestors. To our dismay, someone had removed all of the headstones and they were placed in a corner of the church yard in disarray. they were so heavy we could not move one to find evidence of our ancestors.

My next visit was with my youngest daughter, just prior to her marriage to David Dyches in 1987. She purchased a set of beautiful dinnerware at the China shop in the middle of town.

I am proud of the fact that my ancestors lived in such a pleasant town and I have submitted a chart of our family tree to the Barton-upon-Humber library.

Richard B. Taylor

When I Was A Young Girl

I was born in a quaint village in Nottinghamshire called Huthwaite, we moved to a farmhouse in Wrawby when I was 7. My aunt and her family moved there with us. We had great times in the barns, sliding down the hay, watching the cows being milked and feeding the chickens. I remember a winding staircase leading to the bedrooms and half way up the stairs was a cellar, we were afraid of going past there for some reason. I hated moving from there and to a town. I still crave to live in a farmhouse again and hopefully will do one day. The farmhouse still stands, I see it when we pass it on days out, it stands next to the church in Wrawby, it brings back so many memories...