Coronation Day

A Memory of Bromham.

My mother took short term housekeeping positions and in 1953 we lived in Westbrook House in Westbrook village, looking after Sir Edgar and Lady Ludlow Hewitt. He was a gentleman farmer and I sometimes drove around his land with him in his Landrover. I remember beautiful fields with so many wild flowers, I would come home with armfuls. Cowslips are still my favourite. They went to London for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, her Ladyship sat up for all of the night before they left so that her hair did not get ruined. I was allowed to see the long blue velvet gown that she was to wear.
There was a cook (she made me the most delicious porridge which arrived at the house in hessian sacks), she lived in a small cottage opposite the pub, then called the New Inn, and a cowman who lived a few doors down from the pub, would sometimes let me go with him to fetch in the cows for milking. I would stay well behind out of the way. I believe the pub landlord's name was Swann and they had three daughters. My mother sometimes played the piano there and we children would stay in the house part and eat hot toast with dripping. It tasted delicious. (Don't tell the food police.)
There was a huge party in Bromham to celebrate the Coronation and my memory tells me that someone had the bright idea of tinting some of the the bread red and some of it blue so that we were offered red white and blue sandwiches. I cannot remember any of us eating the coloured bread. We children were in fancy dress, I was Little Red Riding Hood, my costume fashioned from crepe paper. It rained, so it wasn't just the crepe paper that was red by the time I got home.
I went to school in Bromham and it then had a large playing field where we played weather permitting. When the caretaker cut the grass he would leave the clippings and the boys would mound them up to make 'boats' or 'cars' and we girls would push and shove for pride of place at the front.
Oh happy days. To be eight and that innocent again. If my fond memories decieve me I do hope someone will put me right.

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