Memories Of Farncombe, 1930 1949 Sidney Earl.

A Memory of Farncombe.

I was five years old when my parents bought 3, Molyneux Road , Farncombe in 1930. The houses were new, and there was electricity installed downstairs but not upstairs. There was an upstairs bathroom but the pipes were on the north wall of the house and unlagged, so if there was a cold spell the pipes froze. There was no no.1 but an empty building lot which made s great place for us children to play. A few years later the pub was built. At the top of the road was a street lamp, and this was our playground in the dark winter evenings. The milkman came round with his pony and trap and carried a churn to the door to ladle milk into a jug. Mitchell's bakery entrance was just below no.24 and I remember going round and waiting for Mr. Mitchell to open the door and I would be given a hot loaf straight from the oven. Mrs. King's general store was on the corner and the bread and cake shop next to it in Bourne Road. I went to school at the Godalming Junior and Infants School on the main road between the River Wey and Ell Ditch. Later I went to the Godalming British School on Meadrow. Mr. Worthy was the headteachers. In 1938 I went to the County School up Holloway Hill.
I joined the King's Own Bible Class in 1936 and with my brothers made regular attendance's at the Sunday afternoon classes in Mill Road. We also had lots of fun times with the K.Os. As Eddy Leroy was our leader we had canoes or punts from the Farncombe boat-house, trips out to Peperharrow Common where we played " puddox", a cross between cricket and rounders, a cream tea at a farm near Elstead and chain-he in the caves at Puttenham. There were also the summer camps at Swanage. Early in the war we took four punts down river to Ripley and that night the Vicar's factory was dive-bombed. It was a rather scary experience.As well as Eddy ,there were Bert Knotley, Charlie Goatcher, Freddy Jackson, "Jinks" Harrison and others. I was reading the item about Cecily Bidwell ( St. Ives) I remember Dennis Bidwell too. I was not aware of any connection with the Babtist church. I lived in Farncombe until I married in 1949 when I moved to Guildford and lived with my wife's parents.

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