My Life And Times In Benenden

A Memory of Benenden.

I was born in 1938 at Beacon Hall Cottage opposite the windmill on Beacon Hill. A year later war broke out and so I spent my infant years watching the war effort by our troops. In the field in front of the house were the Canadian artillary and in the top field the British guns so life was quite noisy. We used to watch the dog fights and flying bombs above and there was a machine gun post on top of the windmill that was always shooting at the bombers and doodle bugs. When I was five I started at the village school until I was eleven when I moved to Swattenden leaving when I was fifteen, for the most of it school was enjoyable but did have the odd setback.after leaving school I worked for Stuart Low nurseries . I played both football and cricket for the village teams until joining the army as a bomb disposal officer serving in Egypt, Cyprus and the UK.On my return to civvy street I again worked for local companies and again played football and cricket both for the village teams and Benenden Hospital until 1966 when I joined the prison service and moved away from the district but still have contacts with the village and visit when I can but sad to say a lot of my old friends have now passed on and are at rest in the churchyard. After serving 32.5 years in the prison service I found it difficult to retire so took a part time job for nine years at a golf company finally retiring in 2009 but do still manage to play golf on a regular basis.To sum everything up I would say that life in Benenden was a very happy time where everybody helped each other and friends were real friends so I feel quite blessed to have spent a lot of my life in such a lovely place.

---

---