West Street, Weedon.

West Street

In many ways moving to Weedon was like returning home for this was the village where my father had grown-up. My grandparents lived a few doors away, two great-aunts kept a drapers and haberdashery business just round the corner and my cousins had the post office; great uncle Bill was the baker. Grandmother played the organ in church and gave music lessons, grandfather had originally been a tailor working with his father in the premises now occupied by my great-aunts but was now a clerk at the army ordnance depot in the village

That army depot was not far away but was never actually bombed by the Germans, Weedon lay in something of a basin with the upper reaches of the river Nene and a canal running through it and was usually hidden by mist from the air. I believe a chicken-coop was hit by a randomly dropped bomb!

What of my memories though? In my quite early days in school I ran into trouble because my two years younger than me brother had come to school with me and I told everyone that my mother knew he was with me. When our frantic mum arrived; Mike and I, sitting quietly at the same desk, were in trouble. Also while I was at school but a little older I remember George Foster being thrashed after he had played truant (and yes, I would be in favour of similar punishment nowadays). My best pal at school was David West, the butcher's son and I saw him many years later after he had taken over the business.

My father continued to work in Coventry for the Armstrong-Whitworth aircraft company and so was not available for military service. However, when Coventry was bombed we were always uneasy until we heard he was alright. Since Dad was working in Coventry, Leamington was within easy reach and twice I was put on a train at Weedon to go and be met by Dad in Leamington so that we could go to the cinema. The two films we saw were "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Fantasia". I can't remember just what age I was but it would have been under eight; imagine putting a child that age on a train and just asking the guard to keep an eye on him nowadays. I really enjoyed both films though.

During World War II my mother's brother, Uncle Pip, was an officer in the Merchant Navy and from time to time would have leave during which he could visit us. There are two things I remember; one was when he tried his hand at fishing in the local canal and caught a bream big enough for our supper - wonderful. The second memory was that he called in at the 'jug and bottle' section of the pub across the road to get a jug full of beer. Despite having sneaked up to the dining table and downing a hearty amount of beer I can still remember the inviting look of the white jug and cream 'head' on the beer.