From The 2nd World War

A Memory of Uppingham.

My grandparents lived at The Cottage in South View, Uppingham for 40 years from 1908 where he was a well known Director of Music at the public school. From a very early age during the second world war I made my first visit. Well down the hill at the front was the railway station, now a small industrial park, and beyond that I could see the Seaton Viaduct. One night there was a big fire at nearby Rockingham Castle where I could see the orange glow in the sky. I have particular memories of grandfather, then in his sixties, in army uniform as he commanded the school OTC and the Rutland Home Guard. He would drive to Leicester on night duty armed with his shot gun and come back early in the morning with rabbits. Something oddly reminiscent of Dad's Army! His 1936 Standard 12 car had a large Local Defence Volunteer LDV sticker on the front window and slit head lights. I remember the metal railings in the front of the house being removed for the war effort.
In 1946 my pride and joy was a new bicycle with one of the very first speedometers on it. In those days you could easily leave it parked unlocked. During the well documented extreme winter of 1947 we would toboggan down the fields parallel to the London Road.
Every time I make a visit now I am struck by the fact the town appears to be completely unchanged and the people so friendly. The family still has many photos and press cuttings of Uppingham covering the past century.

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