My Childhood Memories

A Memory of Melbury Osmond.

I was born at Drive Villa, Melbury Osmond in 1938, my parents coming both from London. But my father had a music shop in Yeovil.
My memories of Melbury Osmond are very happy ones, we had a school then infants and juniors, the school's still there as a house now. We had a shop and a post office and a bakery round the back.
The cottages were for the farm labourers who worked for the tenant farmers as Lord and Lady Ilchester owned most of them. Today that is all gone and so is the wonderful community as most of the cottages and farms have been bought or leased to weekenders from London etc.
When the war times came we had Americans in Melbury Park and I used to swing on my front gate waiting for the Yanks to throw sweets to me, I was too young for the nylons. On Sundays we would go to watch them playing basket ball in the park.
My mother who had a lovely voice sang in Des Bond's local dance band and sang at the dances. I was allowed to go and was sat on the side of the stage to watch.
In the school holidays I spent many a day in Melbury Park (that is not allowed now) and I always seemed to end up at the gamekeeper's cottage to see the Labrador dogs. We had a great youth club and we often cycled to local dances at 14 or 15, we had no worries then, life seemed much more laid back and very safe. Every year there was a fete and harvest supper, they still have the fete now.
I lived next to a farm and would love to go haymaking in the summer and sometimes was allowed to help milk the cows or feed the lambs.
At Christmas time we would be invited to Melbury House, owned by Lord and Lady Ilchester, to sing carols for them, and were given a box of crackers each as our present. Mr Portch who had the farm next to my house would get his tractor and trailer out with hay bales and we would go caroling all round the village.
I have many more memories of Melbury and do go back often as my parents  are buried there and up until 2008, when she died, my sister still lived at Drive Villa.
If anyone who reads this knows me - Hi. My name then was Diana Broomhall.