My Childhood Living In Tilshead

A Memory of Tilshead.

my memories of tilshead ,well i lived there from1953 till 1968[from the age of 2 to 15 years old..every body seemed to know each other in the village ,a friendly small community as i remember .I first went to tilshead primary school [yes 2 classrooms and a big pot belly stove for warmth in winter. .Mrs lambert was our teacher,and a strict but fair lady she was too ,we just happened to live next door to her in the last house in west end .no6.my friends were graham gosney [son of the local copper]paul booth ,dereck potter and more.there always seemed to be things to do ,i remember playing the pinballs and juke box in the canteen at the bottom of imber place,[which i am led to believe is now a pipe factory??]many hours were spent riding our pushbikes around the plains and army camps climbing in and out of the derilect army tanks they used for gunnery practice .many times a frantic pedal home as the RED flag was hoisted which meant GET OUT OF THE AREA ..i remember my first motorcycle riding it over the plains to lavington hill and back at the age of 12 and suddenly a swarm of army guys hidden in the ground in camaflagejumped up and surrounded me ..Guy fawkes night ,all the kids in the village collected wood to make the biggest bonfire in farmer kites field,,WHAT A FUN NIGHT THAT WAS..pushing the stuffed guy fawkes around the village shouting ;penny for the guy ; so we could buy penny bangers and thrupney cannons for the night.what a life we kids had in tilshead and for teenagers the sat night in the hall ,at the bottom of the church listening to the music on the record player ,good ole 60s music,and a social dance..I remember the old house on the roundabout, where the doctor[ashford brown] held his surgery.. I returned to tilshead abut 11 years ago and the best i can describe it ..it was like going back in a time warp -it was not a lot different as i had left it many years ago to live in australia. The real memory for me was that i went for a sunday service at the church for old times sake,and after all those years,the same reverand ,,the REV FRED CHAMBERLAINwas taking the service[over 30 years later],he was retired but as the normal reverand was sick he took over,[he remembered me well.] ....incidently my grandmother edith dunmow played the organ at the church for many years ,before the organ was converted to power it had a large lever on the side to operate the bellows, i remember it was a bit of an honour if you had the chance to pump the bellows by hand as the organ was being played in church[also if you had a chance to pull on the bell ropes ...thank you for taking the time to read this ,and thank you TILSHEAD for being a good place to grow up and giving me many good memories of my childhood..i am now living in melbourne australia, but will never forget TILSHEAD.

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