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Probus Comrades Club 100th Anniversary
October 2020 marks the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of Probus Comrades Club.
Richard Puttick, who was born and raised in Probus but now lives in Central Treviscoe, shared the story and photographs of his family's links with the club. It starts with Richard's grandparents, Thomas and Kate Reynolds, who were both heavily involved in the club from the early 1940s for a decade or more.
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Thomas James Reynolds (b.1890) and his wife Kate (b.1894) were from Walthamstow, located close to the East End of London. Thomas was a First World War veteran being severely wounded in Lens, France in 1917 while serving with the South Staffordshire Regiment. His left leg had been amputated and he had several severe wounds to his left side, some that never healed. Thomas also suffered from shell shock, nowadays known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Following the war, he returned to live in Walthamstow. They had four children, Maud, Sarah, Thomas Jr. and Hilda.
In 1940, Walthamstow, being so close to London's Docklands area, was heavily bombed in what became known as The Blitz.
The graphic shows the bombs dropped on Walthamstow area between October 1940 and June 1941. Each red dot indicates the location of a bomb strike.
Source: www.bombsight.org
With two teenage children still at home, Tom and Kate decided to evacuate the family from London urgently. They sent a message to Kate's cousin Ede Hocking who lived in Probus saying 'We arrive from London on the train tomorrow, please find us somewhere to stay'. Ede and her husband George had to act very quickly as Tom, Kate and the two teenagers, Hilda (15) and Thomas Jr. (17), duly arrived the next day. Ede and George found a cottage for them to rent, Hazeldene on Fore Street.
George Hocking was the Secretary of the Probus Comrades Club. Being a WW1 veteran, Tom Reynolds joined as a member on 8th October 1940.
Ede and George Hocking (in 1966)
One of Thomas and Kate’s older daughters, Maud, had married Stanley Puttick. Due to ill health, Stanley had not been conscripted, and it wasn’t long before they also evacuated from London, arriving in Probus with two suitcases and a dog. They recalled having to stand all the way from London on the train as it was so crowded. They also moved into Hazeldene, Fore Street.
On 27th July 1942, Thomas Reynolds was appointed as Caretaker of Probus Comrades Club with a wage of 12/6d per week. A handwritten note (subsequently found in the family bible) indicated his duties were:
Subsequent notes stated:
In 1942 Thomas, Kate and the two children moved into Rockery Villa, Probus.
In 1942, the Comrades Club was significantly smaller than it is now. It comprised a downstairs bar and an upstairs snooker room - this being in what is currently the lower part of the club. Rockery Villa, the dwelling next door to the club, was eventually purchased by the club in 1968 and incorporated in 1970 as a mixed-bar area. The current bar area, toilets and staircase (i.e. the upper level of the current club) was Rockery Villa.
By all accounts, Thomas Reynolds still suffered greatly with his WW1 wounds, and at some point,his wife Kate started to work behind the bar. Kate would have been the only female in the Comrades Club as it was a strict male-only bastion at that time. Clearly, not a job for the fainthearted.
Kate Reynolds behind the bar of Probus Comrades Club
Kate Reynolds standing in what appears to be the current club car park.
After the war ended, Thomas and Kate's other daughter Sarah joined the family in Probus along with her husband, Arthur Beland when they too moved into Rockery Villa.
During the next few years other members of the family, daughter Hilda and her husband Harry Kirkham, Tom Reynolds Jr. and his sister Maud Reynolds all in turn lived for a short time in Rockery Villa.
Thomas and Kate Reynolds with grandaughter Linda Beland behind Rockery Villa.
Thomas James Reynolds died on 3rd March 1951 at Rockery Villa, Probus, aged just 60. His death certificate indicates cause of death as diabetes and wounds received during the First World War.
The next full time Steward/Caretaker Jack Edwards, wasn’t appointed until August 1954 so it’s quite possible that Kate carried on with the role following Tom’s death.
Maud and Stanley Puttick behind Rockery Villa, with daughters Valerie and Dorothy who were both born there.
On 17th March 1954, Kate married Albert Hocking (a widower and brother of George Hocking), at Truro Register Office and they lived in Laurel Cottage on Tregony Road. Kate died on 12th August 1973 aged 79. Both Kate, Thomas and several other family members are buried in Probus Churchyard.
Grandson, Richard Puttick says that one of his earliest memories was his grandfather Thomas lifting him to look at all the coloured balls on the snooker table. One thing that Richard and his cousin Roger Beland can both remember is the smell from the empty beer bottles in the crates by the back door of the club as well as the beer kegs.
Richard remembers his grandfather had chickens in the back yard of Rockery Villa while his father (Stan Puttick) tried to grow mushrooms in one of the sheds in the back yard. That was a complete failure, and the compost was put on Grandfather's allotment in Chapel Street. The next year the area was covered in mushrooms.
Valerie Puttick aged 11 and Dorothy Puttick aged 9 behind Rockery Villa.
Another memory from Richard is his grandmother Kate Reynolds, cooking eggs and bacon for American GIs who were stationed at Trewithen prior to the Normandy Invasion of 1944. The GIs had better access to food than the strictly rationed people of Probus, so that was possibly a treat for both the Reynolds family as well as the GIs themselves. This story also hints that the GIs, may have been allowed to visit the Comrades Club as well as the Hawkins Arms too.
Richard Puttick was born in The Shrubberies above the Fish and Chip shop that was owned (as far as he can recall) by Mr Dyer, the Butcher, but run at the time by a Mr and Mrs Lloyd Neal.
The funeral report for Kate Hocking from 1973.
Source unknown newspaper.
