Local interest | JUNE 2012
The Story of a Henfield Gardener
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haracters like David ‘Joe’ Blower are stalwarts of our local community. Given time and a cup of tea or a pint or two, they will tell stories of local people and local history which will enchant and entertain us. This is living history – not the dusty facts, figures and dates to be found in books or on Wikapaedia – but knowledge, memories and real life experiences of life in a close-knit and ever changing community.
at Beechcroft Landscapes, their gardening business named after the house in Broomfield Road. Joe’s daughter Annette followed in 1978. His love of nature and natural affinity with all things green, alongside a deeply practical nature, has meant he has never been short of work locally. Joe remembers the village before the new estates were built and when the high street looked very different than it does now. He remembers buying sweets at Mrs Skilton’s sweetshop next to the Clock House, the Dairy Cottages on the corner of Furner’s Lane and Mrs Jeffs drawing the milk for customers at 2d a pint. He remembers taking coupons to the shops in the 1950s because goods were still rationed. Joe’s route back from the school on the Common was through the apple orchards behind Mussens (now One Stop convenience store). During the autumn it was an impossible temptation not to indulge in a bit of scrumping - more than once he had to make a swift getaway, followed by the orchard owner with a stick! Joe remembers helping to prepare a garden in Mill Drive for a swimming pool. As a boy he played in the old house, once lived in by William Borrer, and knew the garden stood where the house was. Digging down to construct the base of the swimming pool they discovered the cellar walls – the pool now sits snugly within the cellar. Joe does not look back on earlier times with rose-tinted spectacles and knows that change is inevitable. He says: “New people often come here to live and say ‘keep it like a village’. However, people were saying that 50 years ago when the estates they live on were just cornfields!” Joe has many memories of the village, too many to fit on this page but they are all of interesting local characters and buildings you will recognise. Thank you Joe for taking the time to share some of them with me.
I was invited by Richard, Joe’s son, to ‘have a chat’ with his dad, who had some local stories to tell. Many Henfield people will be familiar with Joe, who grew up in West End Lane and has been a gardener for as long as he can remember. Salt of the earth and hard working, Joe loves his family and his village. Joe’s grandfather bought Westlands Farm in West End Lane with 10 acres as a market garden and Joe’s memories are of walking to school from the farm come rain or shine. He was a pupil at the school on the Common but at one point, when numbers outstripped classroom places, Joe and three other boys were moved to, of all places, the Girls’ School! As a nine year-old Joe found this the most challenging part of his education to date! When he was a little older he caught the bus for 6d a day to Cowfold School and then later continued to the Grammar school in Steyning, catching the train each morning. When Joe was just 14 he became very ill with a virus, which resulted in him losing all his hair permanently. His father died when he was just 17 leaving Joe, his sister Margaret and younger brother Malcolm. His mother later re-married, a man with nine children, so the family became large and life was not easy for them. The family moved to the rambling Beechcroft in Broomfield Road. Joe quickly found work as a gardener working for Tylers who looked after the grounds at Gatwick Airport. Enjoying working outside he then went on to start his own local gardening business, marrying Heather in 1974. His son Richard was born, the year of the Emma Osman drought, in 1976. Richard now works alongside Joe
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