Memory Lane
A Memory of Lower Stoke.
My name is Alan Mudge, cousin of Valerie Mudge, her father Doll (Arthur) was one of my Dad's brothers.I was born on 15th. Sept. 1940 at The Shant, Grain Road, Lower Stoke, later, in 1948 moving to 12 Windmill Cottages. I went to school with Stanley Fritter.
Educated at Lower Stoke Primary School, Wainscott Secondary School and Chatham Technical School, at 16 years old I joined the RAF as an aircraft weapons engineering apprentice, serving for 31 years and living all over the world. During this time, I did service with the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Overseas service in Malaya, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Cyprus, Malta, Sardinia and Germany gave me a broad perspective of the world that we live in. I've been a photographer all of my adult life and the many albums of photos bring back many memories of my life in uniform.
I now live in Norfolk in a rural village beween King's Lynn and Swaffham.
Headmaster Mr. Godfrey at Primary School was our gardening master, he gave me a lifelong love of gardening. The girls head mistress at Secondary School, Mrs. McMullan, made English literature live, giving me a lifelong love of Shakespeare.
My Dad, Harry, worked at the Royal Naval Armament Depot, Isle of Grain and from 1948 -60 my Mum, Myrtle, worked as a farm labourer. Another of Dad's brothers, Fred, lived at Allhallows as did my cousin Bryan Gillingham, who like myself, served for many years in the RAF.
My sister Iris married Derek Salmons from Strood in 1960 and was widowed in the early 1980s, she subsequently remarried some years later and also lives in Norfolk.
People that I'd like to make contact with if they're still around are Brian Hoare, Astra Rayner, Violet Attwood, Jimmy Broad, Dutchy Harwood and John and Janet Austin.
Those three photos of the village have brought back many memories of my childhood and the way that we lived all those years ago.
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Sorry about the time it took to reply, I'm not often on the site. I remember both May and Daphne Gower at No.8. At No.9 was the Hammond family, at No. 11 the Smith's and at No.6 the Ryans. Brian Hoare was my cousin and John Austin a mate up until the time that I joined the RAF in 1957.
The last time that I was back was in 1997, following 24 years living and working in Germany. I went down Grain Road to have a look at the Shant, where I was born. Moving from there in 1948 into Windmill Cottages was a good move. During the coastal floods of 1953, all of that marshland was under water for around six weeks.
My dad's watering hole was the Nag's Head, Ind Coope sold a good pint of bitter. I had my first sip of beer in that pub before the new licencing laws of 1948 stopped kids from going into the public and saloon bars. I joined the RAF as a 16 year old aircraft engineering apprentice. When I came home on my first leave in uniform, Bill Marsh the landlord, who'd known me all my life, pulled me a pint and said "old enough to wear a uniform, old enough to drink." no worries.
Alan.
Transport to move our possessions from The Shant on the Grain Road was a horse and hay waggon, driven by Bill Amos, the waggoner, Dad rode up front with Bill, Mum, my sister Iris and I in the back with the cat, the dog tied behind on a rope lead.
You could always tell where Bill had been, he chewed tobacco and there were great gobbits of baccy on the road from when he had a good spit.
Primary School was only a couple of minutes walk from the house, when I moved up to Secondary School in Wainscott a school bus was provided for all of us kids from the surrounding villages.
Violet Attwood was my relative by marriage having married my cousin David Kemsley, know as "Whip." She was the daughter of Charlie and Stella Attwood who were close relatives of John Austin and his sister Janet.
I couldn't wait to get away and in March 1956 joined the Royal Naval Armament Depot at Lodge Hill as an apprentice explosives laboratory technician. There were Depots all over the world servicing the ammunition requirements for the Royal Navy and I wanted some of that.
It didn't quite work out as planned as the depot closed and at 16 years old I was to young to move to another depot. So I joined the RAF as a Weapons and Explosives engineer and as stated above saw a large part of the known world with the RAF instead of the RN.
My uncles on my mother's side of the family were all farm labourers and many of my aunts and my mum also worked as farm labourers. Many of my cousins followed their parents into the same job - I wanted something different and couldn't wait to get away.
My Mum Myrtle passed away in Dec. 1972 following a massive stroke and my Dad Harry five months later in May 1973. He just fell apart with grief and finally became so mentally ill that he was taken into care at Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford.
Leaving the RAF in 1980, I worked in Germany for the next 16 years, returning to the UK in 1996 and relocating to Cornwall. From there, in 2004 I moved up to Norfolk and have been here ever since.
Born on 15th. Sept. 1940, later to become known as Battle of Britain Day, perhaps it was pre- ordained that I'd pursue a career in the RAF. I've never had any regrets about my military career, at 19 years old I was in Singapore, spending four years in the Far East including Malaya, Thailand and Australia. Eight years in Germany during the Cold War, plus many other countries and secondment to the RNZAF and RAAF. It was a good career.
I remember you....just about. I was born in 1961 and moved to Lower Stoke in about 65 right next door to your Mum. I remember her leaving the house but couldn't recall why until I read your post, I remember her being a lovely lady. She gave me some of your old Airfix aeroplanes, you must have set out on your own by then!
We were from Kent, East Kent and then Chatham, then ,Cliff which I loved. I have many memories growing up there, not all fond.
I remember some of the people you talk about. Violet was a big lady next door to you, my parents didnt get on with her and her parents I'm afraid, mostly because of the nuisance us kids were. There were a lot of kids round there then.
When your parents left a family from Scotland moved in, my parents also didn't get on with them, mind you they weren't very nice!
Going on from there, and the other answer you ve got from Pat Lennon. I remember you Pat or maybe your son, also Pat? Think there was a sister who was older and one called Mandy who was exactly the same age as me on the day! Went to school with her of course and worked with her for a while in Chatham. Either Pat Snr or Jnr? Had a dog called Remus who used to bite people! No, not Remus, some other name and Charlie Driver used to be friendly with it!
We eventually swapped with the Harvey family and moved to Mallard Way where we all moved from as time went on. None of us live there now. Most of us moved to Norfolk Alan or Suffolk, I now live in Beccles but do miss Stoke in a funny way, always a Kent boy.
I knew Nicky Broad from Grain and Jonathan Lesley, Peter Kemsleys boy.
Take care.
My Mum and Dad were Sandra and Dino Fallaize, I'm Richard, lovely to pass the time with you. Incidentally I don't know what became of your aeroplanes, sadly.
By 1965 I had been in the RAF for eight years and would have been home on leave. Mum got on well with Violets's mum Stella, they were both raving wrestling fans. Mum would often go round and on TV they'd watch the likes of Mick Mcmanus, Steven Logan, Johnnie Rocco and the Faulkner Brothers grunting and groaning.
I was a big fan of aircraft plastic kits, when completed they hung from the ceiling in my bedroom, proper dust traps! Today, I do a lot of research for the IWM on vintage military aviation, stops the old brain from freezing up.
In 1970 mum and dad moved from Windmill Cottages to 1 Button Drive into a well designed pensioners bungalow. In Dec. 1972 mum died at home from a massive stroke, dad gave up, totally loosing the plot and died in May 1973 in Joyce Green Hospital, Dartford. I received three weeks compassionate leave from the RAF following mum's stroke and while at home had a blazing row with a number of the relatives, all sitting around in the living room like ghouls while mum lay in the bedroom. Let's just say that they didn't like it and we never spoke again - no great loss!
My 31 years RAF career took me all over the world, it was a great life style, something that many of today's snowflakes would look upon with shock/horror written all over their faces. it's a tough old world out there, as they'll find out one day.
Happily long retired and living in Norfolk with my wife Lesley, we both enjoy travelling around the known world and our joint hobby of vintage military aviation, attend air shows and aviation museums, meeting up with other like minded people and enjoying a pie and a pint together.
I never had a son at that time, I was still single. My daughter was born in a British Military Hospital in Germany in 1972 and my two sons were born in St. Andrews in 1973 and 1975 while I was stationed in Scotland.
A fluent German speaker, after leaving the RAF I settled in Germany for 16 years, my three kids were totally German educated, my daughter came home but my two sons remained. The oldest works for the German government, the younger one runs his own distribution business. I've two German daughter-in-laws and three Anglo-German grandchildren.
My sister Iris, living in Strood with husband Derek at the time had a daughter named Mandy, maybe that's who you remember as they used to visit mum and dad quite often. Iris now lives around six miles from me in a nearby village.
I went to the village school in Lower Stoke from 1945- 1951, then Wainscott Secondary School from 1951 -53 and finally Chatham Tech. up the Maidstone Road from 1953 - 56. A kid from Cliffe named Michael Dockray was also at the Tech. School.
If at a country show today where Shires are involved, I'm there. The smell of horse and chatting with the owners brings it all back. Waggoner Bill Amos was in charge of Mo's horses, he taught me how to rub them down, feed them, how to fit the collars, harness and chains, it was a great experience for a youngster of 14 - 15 years old.
But I couldn't wait to get away. Following a bad time at Technical School my parents let me leave at the age of fifteen and a half. The RAF gave me what I needed, world travel for the following 31 years, that travel bug is still there today. My wife Lesley and I still head for places far away or within the United Kingdom - long may it continue.
The Kemsley's lived on the marshland of the Thames estuary near to St. Mary's, it was pretty hairy there during the winter months. Peter, Whip, Dirk and George were all farm workers after leaving school.
Another message refers to Mary Bradley, she did indeed run the shoe shop, next to her was Reynold's general stores, over the road was a shop and the Post Office run by Mr. Welsh, Universal Stores on the bridge sold just about everything and was the newsagents, so there was plenty of competition. Last time I was there was in the early nineties on a visit home from Germany, I was dismayed to see what a tatty place the village had become although it was much larger with more houses. The Ship had gone, the Nag's Head was a shadow of what it had been, it all seemed rather sorry for itself.