Gunsite Farm

A Memory of Fawley.

Gunsite Farm was at the end of Limekiln Lane, which was a dirt track. On the left were a row of cottages, on the right, bigger semi detatched where the better off lived. The Alan Rutherford family, (loads of them), Brian Cummings, Steve Belcher and I went to Hardley School. My father was the first person to put a caravan on the land directly in front of the end of Lime Kiln Lane, the farmers name was (?), the land had been taken over to build anti-aircraft gun emplacements to defend the various aerodromes in the forest during the war. There were concrete bunkers and ak-ak gun platforms over about 3 acres running down towards the millpond. Used to mess about there. When my old man arrived here to work for a groundworking outfit called Shellabear Price he was driving an earthmover, levelling the ground to build the 7 sisters gas tanks in Esso. He had a 22ft caravan on the back of a World War II ambulance with 2 young kids (me 2 yrs old, my brother Alan, 3). He had a deal with the farmer to put the caravan in the far left hand corner, under an oak tree. It was winter, the field was ploughed, a tractor was used to put the caravan in place - great we had a home. My dad rigged up a shower, nailed a biscuit tin with holes in it to the oak, ran a hosepipe from the farmhouse, banged posts in the ground, put up a tarpaulin (which he got from work ) and that was our washroom. I can remember my old man walking across the field, cracking the pipe to break the ice in it so we could get a wash. Soon after, my mum's sister and her family, Jim Begbour and his family (John, Lorraine) moved onto the field. We used to walk to school, past a little shop on the right, set in a front room of a house, and buy long twirly sticks, sherbert with liquorice sticking out the top. As time went by, more families moved onto the site. I remember Wishey Snell, Shaemus Branigan, John Evans, John the 1 eyed biker, and his mate Jonny Gird - loved Triumph. The Smiths family moved in after the ground was levelled, (all 12 of them), never saw a 2 decker caravan before. Billy Smith taught me to ride a motorbike - never got round to thanking you for that mate!!

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