A Real Community

A Memory of Harborough Magna.

I was born in Harborough Magna in 1943 at Rose Cottage, Main Street. I lived there with my mother and grandparents during the 1940s and early 1950s.
When I was 4 years old I went to the village school which had a headmistress called Mrs Rook and a teacher called Mrs Budd, however Mrs Rook soon left and was replaced by Miss Hunt who was in charge throughout the rest of my time at the school. The school was a Church of England school and obviously very closely connected to the chuch.
All of my early life was dominated by school and church activities, in particular I remember with affection our annual Sunday School trip to Wicksteed Park with Miss Violet Gamble who ran the Sunday School. In those days it was the equivalent of a trip to Disneyland. I also remember the Sunday school parties ,the games of which were run by a Mr Mather in the village hall.
Although my parents moved to Brinklow for a short time we were soon back in Harborough living at no3 Easenhall Road.
When I left school I went to work at A&M Engineering and I stayed there for 13 years during which time I played skittles and darts for The Golden Lion pub, also working behind the bar for the landlord Len Rees, later Les Unwin. These were very happy times when the pub was the centre of village activities, especially at Christmas time (I can still hear the rousing carol singing in the bar in the run up to Christmas). What a shame all of that village community spirit has gone from that pub, the last time I visited it was a lifeless souless place with no trace of the good times that had gone before.
Although I now live in Spain I think about Harborough Magna frequently, unfortunatly when I do come to the village to visit my relatives I cannot help but think that the place is not what it used to be.

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