Frecknalls

A Memory of Great Dunmow.

My mother lived in Dunmow from 1932 until 1946 when she left to live in Edinburgh. My mother's name was Rosalind Frecknall and she and her family lived at The Close initially, then The Downs.
Her father, Claud Frecknall, taught woodwork at the local school and was an air raid warden during the war. My mother remembers being in the cinema and when she came out she heard the planes overhead; often they were on their way to Chelmsford to bomb the Marconi factory. My grandmother, Lynette Frecknall, started a local group that held talks above the Co-op shop. She was interested in politics and stood for the local Council. There was a cobbler who was disabled in the town, who was a Justice of the Peace, Claud Frecknall talked to him every day, his name was Arthur Lowe. My grandfather, Claud,was stopped for speeding one day when the family was coming back from holiday.This would have been about 1934. As he was a teacher they would go long holidays,and drove one year to John O Groats, and another to Cornwall. Claud Frecknall,was prosecuted for speeding and Arthur Lowe fined him the next day. He told him later he kept the fine as little as possible! My mother also remembers a family of travellers being housed in the cottage in Star Lane, at the time it had an earth floor. During the war there was a lot of dances in the Hall, every Wednesday and Saturday.On the day war ended all the young people did the Palais Glide around Dunmow to celebrate.