Had To Go Back.

A Memory of Great Somerford.

The building to the right of the picture was one of only two shops in the village. From there, whilst waiting outside for my mother who was shopping in there I shot an arrow from my home-made bow straight up. It came down and hit the roof of a car parked outside the pub. All I got by way of reprimand was an "OI!" from the owner. There were so few cars about during the war and I had to dent the only one in the village!
My mother Jessica Morgan and my Dad, Bill Morgan, were regulars in the pub, and in 1959, when I was in the RAF, she made me wear my uniform to show off to the regulars, who bought me a few pints. I went back with my daughter on Father's Day 2007 and I mentioned to the staff that I had last been there when I was 18 years old. They were not impressed. I noticed on the wall a photo of local men taken during the war in presumably Home Guard uniform, and five of them were fathers of kids I used to play with. I felt most strange in the pub, as though old aquaintances were with me. In fact two strange things did happen whilst we were there.