Benenden, The Village c.1960

Photo ref: B570009

Not so much a memory, more of a mystery! Sorting through some old papers, I came across a driving license issued in April 1952 by Kent Council to my dad. The address was given as 'Greetings', Benenden, Kent. The mystery is that I was born in January 1952 when we lived on a farm near Fradley, Staffordshire. Dad was a pig breeder and in late1953 was working for Lord Amherst at Foulden in Norfolk, so must have only been ...see more

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 ...see more

Benenden was my home for the first 5 years of my life. We lived in Greenwood, a lovely white Kentish weather-boarded house on the Cranbrook Road, sadly knocked down and modernised a couple of years ago. I was born on February 14, 1940 in a glorious country house in Langley called Rumwood Court, which is still there. It was a maternity home in the War. Of course my mum called me ...see more