6 PLAY AND OTHER CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
‘DAD HAD TO TAKE HER COAT OFF AND WRING THE WATER OUT OF IT’
Pre-school I had scarlet fever and I went into Sunnyside, at Hinckley, because I think that was an illness which required isolation. I went to live on my uncle’s farm, Culloden Farm near Twycross, for a year or so. I enjoyed that. I remember, even now, what animals were kept in each shed. Uncle George was a heavy horse man and I just remember my grandfather who lived there, he was one-time champion sheepdog man, Champion of England. I still have one or two of his cups. I have recollections of him trialling sheep. One memory I have got is going on the train from Bosworth Station on excursions to Skegness and Matlock Bath. I was probably one of the last people to go. After school I used to make a bit of money by selling wood, chopping the cases up from the fruit and vegetables and selling it as firewood round the village from a truck. I also had a few Banties which I used to keep at my grandmother’s and I used to do a lot of gardening for her as well, as she was a widow. Olive Hicklin –
While Mum was in hospital my sister had to go back and serve her notice at Prestwold Hall for a month, so I was left on my own. One Sunday, when Dad had gone to see Mum, there was a dreadful storm. It was a cloudburst; I had got the dinner on the stove. We had to brush the water through the house because it came down the lane and through the front door. I have never seen anything like it. It also dislodged soot as it came down the chimney and knocked the saucepan lids off. I got soot in the potatoes and I had to start all over again. Oh dear, it was one of the most dreadful Sundays I have ever had in my life. Madge, my sister, had gone with my dad and they were on their bikes and she was wearing this lovely coat. They went the Bagworth way and came back through Barlestone and Thornton and they were coming along the top road when Dad said, ‘Come on, hurry up. If we hurry up we will miss this storm!’ He had to push her into the hedge because it came down like a sheet. When she came out she couldn’t move, as her coat was that heavy and wet. Dad had to take her coat off and wring the water out of it. Of course, when they got home there was all the mess caused by the rain and soot.
Market Bosworth Station