Those Were The Days!

A Memory of Great Parndon.

I would like to share with you some of my early childhood memories of my formative years in Parndon, including places and names that might evoke similar memories to myself. I hope you will bear with me, as I will probably go on a bit. I'll start off by mentioning my grandparents, Bill and Daisy Conyard, who lived at No.4 Hare Street. They moved into this house shortly after the end of WW1. They had four sons; Dennis, Stan, Les and Cyril. Les is my father, he married my mother, Mary (nee Irons) and they bore me, John Conyard, and my sister Denise. I was born in 1955 and we lived at 43 Jerounds.
My earliest memories are of when I was about 3 years old, and the excitement of the prospect of starting my schooling. I was to start my school days at the old Great Parndon School, built in 1857, which is situated close to St Mary's Church, around a quarter of a mile from Jerounds. I clearly remember my first day of school and the happiness that was shared between all of us kiddies as we marched our way together to school. The walk to school was always an adventure. At the bottom of our garden was the Three Horseshoes Road, I would hop over the fence, and wait for the children from Linford End and Linford Close to come along with their mums, and I would join in with them as we continued our journey. After a short walk, we would cross the road near to the Parish Room and continue along the lane. The grand old Vicarage was the first place we would pass on our right side, then we would carry on downhill to the bottom where the stream passed underneath the road. We would always take time here to drop sticks in the stream, then rush to the other side to see whose stick would appear first. On the left side of the road, next to the stream, you could claw your way through a few bushes and it would bring you out to the bottom of one the nearby houses. Here we would find a fish pond, where we could amaze at the sight of lots of fishes swimming around. I always liked to spend a bit of time here, I hadn't seen fishes before! When we were called back to the group, we only had a short uphill walk to reach the school as we approached it. There were allotments to our right side; these were used during hard times by the pupils of the school to supplement the shortage of food during the war. At last, the school came into view, what a beautiful building. To the right of the school was the small playground, about twenty metre square. Many a happy memories of playing games and having fun are memorable here, from playing British Bulldog, Hopscotch, Skipping, singing traditional songs like Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses, What's the Time Mr Wolf, and many more. We also had a sandpit right side of the playground, in which more thought provoking games would be enjoyed. The sandpit was covered by a corrugated roof, to the rear of this, were the smelly old outdoor toilets, they were horrible, just a bucket with a seat... and that awful Izal toilet paper! The old concrete wartime bomb shelters stood beyond the loos, we weren't supposed to go near them, but I know I did. If you went inside, it was spooky, you wouldn't stay too long! When the bell rang to start lessons, we had to form two lines, girls and boys, at the main entrance door which was red in colour and was to the right side of the building. When you entered, the cloakroom was the first room that you appeared into, where we hung our coats on our designated pegs. A door to the left took you into the main classroom, which ran the length of the building and was heated by a large open fire. There was not central heating back in those days, and when the weather was very cold, it hardly made a lot of difference unless you were lucky enough to have your desk close to it. The windows of the room were built high up, so that the pupils would not be distracted by passing horses and carts etc. I believe there was another smaller classroom at the rear left side of the building, but my memories of this are vague. A gate that led from the playground led you through to the rear of the school, and as you went past the gate, a small brick built storage cupboard was to be found. This is where the sports and games equipment was kept, these included; cricket, rounders and table tennis bats, bean bags, skipping ropes etc. On a recent visit to look over the school I found the cupboard still had a few of the old desks stacked inside, some of these would be anything from 60-100 years old by now. The Headmaster, was Mr Robert Driver, who was assisted by his wife, Doris. I do not recall any of the other teacher's names. Mrs Peacock worked at the school, I think she was the playground attendant, and her daughter Beryl was one of my close friends at the school. Mrs Peacock used to walk part of the way home with us and I remember how I used to like holding her hand along the way, as she was such a loving, caring lady who gave me the attention I didn't get at home.
Sometimes, we had special days, when we would all be taken to Kingsmoore House, where we would be treated to tea parties on the front lawn, courtesy of of the local squire, Mr Todhunter, and his wonderful wife. He was the owner of the land in Parndon at this time, and he had a great influence over everything that went on in the village. They were kindly folk, and often parcels would be given out to us, as we were always needy. Mr & Mrs Driver, lived a few houses along School Lane, in the former Poor House, coincidently this house was formerly occupied by my other grandparents, Charlie and Rose Irons, when they came to the village after the war, from Hackney.
Speaking of the war, does anybody out there remember the V11 rocket that fell at Cock Green, close to Catherine's? It blew all of the windows in the neighbourhood, and many roofs and doors were blown in, even the Great East Window of St Mary's church was blown out. Luckily, even after all of this devastation, nobody was harmed. In later life, Mr Driver wrote a small book, titled "The Green Wedge", in which he depicts the history of Great Parndon, relating some very interesting stories, and descriptions of the buildings, which is very much worth reading. Unfortunately, there are only a few copies that survive, one can be found at the Harlow Museum, and I have the only other copy, apart from any he may have had. If anybody would like to view my copy, it would be a pleasure to let you have a read, e-mail me, and I'll sort something out with you.
Getting back to the school; I remember a day when all of us kids were told to make sure that we came to school in our best clothes, as it was the 100th Anniversary of the schools opening. There was an exhibition which portrayed the history of the school, Mrs Todhunter, Brigadier Todhunter, And a number of people from times past attended. A thanksgiving service was held at the Church and celebrations continued on the front lawn of the Vicarage, where many other festivals and fetes were also held over the years. The old Parish Room, well there are many happy memories from here also. Though now now demolished many years ago now, it used to stand at the junction of Three Horseshoes Road, and Vicarage Lane. It was a fairly large wooden building and was used by the locals for a variety of things. I recall a Christmas concert taking place in 1957, when I was only just turned 2 years of age. It sticks firmly in my mind as the show was so colourful and warming, with lots of singing and dancing. The Grand Old Duke of York was the best, and one family friend, Connie Boyton, was dressed as a soldier and after the show she gave me her red, shiny hat that she had been wearing. There was a small library within the room, Scouts and Cub Scouts also used the room, and I was a Cub here when aged 6. The room had many wooden seats folded up in the corner for when they may be needed to sit and watch any event taking part on stage. There was always a musty smell in the room, which stays with me still today. Opposite the Three Horseshoes Pub, was Rectory Field where many a fetes used to be held, and at one end of the field there once stood the British Legion Hall. It was at the end of its days when I knew of it, it had a small bar, a snooker table and changing rooms for the players of Great Parndon FC. This also had that familiar musky aroma about it.
I could go on talking for a lot longer, but I'll start to wind down for now, thank god, I hear you say. I will close for now, but before I go, I will leave a list of names of the Parndon folk that I still think of occasionally, a "D" will mean that they are now deceased. I hope a few of these will be known by you, here we go;
Mr Driver "D", Mrs Driver, Mrs Pointer, Pat Hurton, "D", Alice Hurton "D", Kevin Hurton, Tony Hurton "D", Mick Samuels "D", Mrs Samuels "D", Tubby Rickets "D", Mrs Rickets "D", Martin Rickets, Diane Rickets, Les Mead "D", Midge Mead, Patricia Mead, Hazel Mead, Maureen Mead, Joan Mead, Dot Ding "D", Leslie Ding, Sharon Ding, Jack French "D", Mrs French "D", Marion French, Jack Bowles "D", Mrs Bowles, Angela Bowles, Tom McManus "D", Mrs McManus "D", Des McManus, Yvonne McManus, Mr & Mrs Perry "D", Nick Perry, Heather Perry, John Peddar, Mrs Peddar, Vincent Peddar, Frank Vinton, Janet Vinton, Colin Pratt, Janet Pratt, Troy Pratt, Susan Pratt, Harry Shepherd "D", Lyn Shepherd, Dave Shepherd, Johnny Breen "D", Mrs Breen, Tim Tonbridge, Charlie Dawkins "D", Eileen Dawkins "D", Wayne Dawkins "D", Ivor Boyton "D", Connie Boyton, Sharon Boyton, Ann Boyton, Mr & Mrs Bob Rogers "D", Martin Rogers, Mr Wilkinson "D", George Chalk "D", Tommy Chalk"D", Nigel Chalk, Keith Chalk, Dolly & Jim Johnstone "D", Ray Johnston, Bob Johnstone, Bill McLernon "D", Molly McLernon, Sharon McLernon, Ian McLernon, Stewart McLernon, Sid Bolton "D", Eddie Randall "D",
These are just a few of the old names from the past, if anybody responds to this, I will no doubt come up with more stories and names.
Cheers for now, John.