Prestwood Village

A Memory of Prestwood.

I was 12 and lived in Prestwood for about 6 months, Oct 41 to March 42. Lived at Delsyde, Hockley Road with my parents in the house of the Adams family including Isabel aged about 10 and Leslie about2, Mr Adams had a business in Wycombe in the tyre trade.
The landlord at The Chequers was a widow, cannot remember her name but she had a son at RGS Wycombe and I cycled to school with him a few times. At that time there was a brickworks in Prestwood and I went with Isabel Adams to watch bricks made by hand, that works was later used as a storage for war surplus. Great excitement when the greengrocer got a crate of oranges. There was a baker on the road to Missenden, bread made on the premises, he had a gas engine to mix the dough, speed control was by a 'hit and miss' governor. Someone must remember it. An aunt of mine lived in the house Rydgemount, along from the pub and nearly opposite the pig slaughter house, very noisy. That winter was very cold and my 2 girl cousins both got pneumonia, Hilary the younger one died and lies in Prestwood cemetery but I have not been able to find the grave, Christine Sears survived and at 16 or so won a beauty contest in outer London. Across the junction from the Chequers was a grocers shop, either Groom or Gomm, a lot of them around that way. Nothing wrong with the people but overall I did not enjoy my stay in the village.