My Very First Memory Of Sudbury Suffolk In 1966

A Memory of Sudbury.

Stepped off the train at Sudbury Station accompanied by my then boyfriend, who came from Monks Eleigh. We went to get the bus from the Market Hill. It was a Rules Coach.
This photo is almost identical to the first memory I have of Sudbury, having been brought up in Kent, and being stationed in London in the Army myself, at Mill Hill Barracks NW7, and working in the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. It was a world away from anything I knew at the tender age of 17 yrs. The Rules Bus seemed to take ages to get to Monks Eleigh, (not realising it was stopping in out of the way villages en-route), and eventually we arrived, to meet his mother for the first time.
When I think about it now, his mother was only 53 yrs of age, which is nothing nowadays, but then, she seemed very ancient to me, and she started bossing me around, and saying, "Well Child, and where do you think you have come from"? "London" I replied, and she said, well you may dress up to the nines in London, but you are now in Suffolk."!! I was wearing a turquoise blue coat, to the knee. A pair of navy shoes and gloves, and a turquoise blue stretchy hat which went over my hairdo which was piled up high as we wore our hair then. "Take her to see KETTLEBASTON DOCKYARD", she told my boyfriend, who duly took me. I was puzzled, I couldn't see any ships, and didn't think there was a huge river or port anywhere near the village, and yet we were visiting a Dockyard??? Suddenly, we came upon a sort of field, full of stinging nettles and I got badly stung, "here, said my Boyfriend, this will cure the stinging", and handed me a dockleaf.!! There were loads of dockleaves, hence the name, Kettlebaston Dockyard, which was the name given by the locals. We got back, with me well stung, and she laughed and said, "now you know you are in Suffolk, you can put on some trews and a jumper." .
They lived in a cottage not far from the Post Office and Stores. His mum had lived there for many years, and used to be the petrol pump attendant in the war and during the 50's . The Bull Hotel was the highlight of the village for entertainment, and that has gone now. We would go for lovely walks around the village and we saw a barn owl once near the river on Back Lane. There had recently been a tailors shop which had gone by that time, and I knew old Jack who lived over the road in a little cottage which he kept spick and span, and he frequented the Swan and sat with his pipe in the corner each night in his own chair. I later married and worked in the Swan as a barmaid when my son was small, and we lived with the m.in.law in the cottage for 6 months, before moving, and later divorcing after 16 yrs of marriage, and I came back to Kent, re married and have just celebrated our 26th Wedding Anniversary yesterday in fact, but I will always remember my baptism of fire when I first went to Sudbury. Carole Buttle 2013