Hildenborough Memories from Carol Miller (nee Owen)
I was born in 1944 and lived in the flat above the butcher’s shop on the corner of Riding Lane, Hildenborough. The shop was owned and run by my grandfather, Albert Owen and my father William (Bill) Owen.
The flat had a small garden which adjoined that of Mr & Mrs McIvor in the next door grocer’s shop (Rex Tea Stores). According to my late mother, I would be deposited in my pram underneath the holly tree for a sleep. If a dreaded doodle bug was approaching, the McIvors’ cat, Tommy, would streak to the top of their apple tree, prompting Mrs Mac to shout up to mother “Ada, Tommy’s up the tree!” Mum would swiftly then retrieve my pram and take me indoors. Once, the windows of the butcher’s were shattered by shell cases from the fighter planes engaged in a scrap up above.
Having survived such things, I can just remember bits of my first few years. For instance, checking on how many wasps were caught in the McIvors’ jam jar traps suspended above the wooden vinegar barrels at the rear of their shop. Going into their shop to watch the bacon slicer in action and seeing Mrs Mac or Mrs Wills weighing out various groceries which today are all pre-packed. Sometimes, I would just go in for a chat or sing!! I would also “help” my granddad by sprinkling the new sawdust on the shop floor at the end of the day. Dad was conscripted into The Royal West Kent Regiment during the war, stationed at Maidstone Barracks and then over to France and Holland. I’m told that I didn’t know him when he returned!
The highlight of my week was being taken by Dad to Ernie Quinnell’s shop in Riding Lane to buy my sweet ration. I posted my coupons down a slot in the counter and was rewarded with a 1/4lb bag of sweets. I always chose Sharps’ toffees. (At the time, Sharps had a sweet factory in Maidstone). The toffees were devoured quickly, even though I knew there would be no more for a week! Ernie’s shop was always crowded with eager customers and the Vimpto drinks were very popular.
I can just remember the bad winter of 1947, looking up and seeing the huge icicles hanging from the flat’s guttering. With the war being over, a great event was the arrival of bananas, which were a Saturday evening treat. I recall sitting at the table by the window eating the fruit and watching the traffic on the main road.
In 1949 I started my school life at Hildenborough Church of England Primary School in Riding Lane. No pre-school play groups then! We were taken on the first day, not knowing anything about the place and attended full time. Mr Fitz was head teacher and I remember sitting on the floor at the front in assembly and being terrified as he caned a boy in front of me! My infant class teacher, Mrs Griffiths, was much nicer and I was very happy in her care.
With the arrival of Mr Haisell as head teacher, school became more interesting. We had a new school uniform, school Houses (mine was Riding House) sports days and recorder lessons. With the latter, we reached a good standard and Mr Haisell arranged several pieces of music for us. One of these “Trumpet Voluntary” we demonstrated at a secondary school in Tonbridge, but I forget which one! Mr Haisell also took us to a series of Robert Mayer children’s concerts at the Festival Hall. When I reached the senior class, I became Head Girl and Martin Hayward was Head Boy (as in the photo below).
The flat had a small garden which adjoined that of Mr & Mrs McIvor in the next door grocer’s shop (Rex Tea Stores). According to my late mother, I would be deposited in my pram underneath the holly tree for a sleep. If a dreaded doodle bug was approaching, the McIvors’ cat, Tommy, would streak to the top of their apple tree, prompting Mrs Mac to shout up to mother “Ada, Tommy’s up the tree!” Mum would swiftly then retrieve my pram and take me indoors. Once, the windows of the butcher’s were shattered by shell cases from the fighter planes engaged in a scrap up above.
Having survived such things, I can just remember bits of my first few years. For instance, checking on how many wasps were caught in the McIvors’ jam jar traps suspended above the wooden vinegar barrels at the rear of their shop. Going into their shop to watch the bacon slicer in action and seeing Mrs Mac or Mrs Wills weighing out various groceries which today are all pre-packed. Sometimes, I would just go in for a chat or sing!! I would also “help” my granddad by sprinkling the new sawdust on the shop floor at the end of the day. Dad was conscripted into The Royal West Kent Regiment during the war, stationed at Maidstone Barracks and then over to France and Holland. I’m told that I didn’t know him when he returned!
The highlight of my week was being taken by Dad to Ernie Quinnell’s shop in Riding Lane to buy my sweet ration. I posted my coupons down a slot in the counter and was rewarded with a 1/4lb bag of sweets. I always chose Sharps’ toffees. (At the time, Sharps had a sweet factory in Maidstone). The toffees were devoured quickly, even though I knew there would be no more for a week! Ernie’s shop was always crowded with eager customers and the Vimpto drinks were very popular.
I can just remember the bad winter of 1947, looking up and seeing the huge icicles hanging from the flat’s guttering. With the war being over, a great event was the arrival of bananas, which were a Saturday evening treat. I recall sitting at the table by the window eating the fruit and watching the traffic on the main road.
In 1949 I started my school life at Hildenborough Church of England Primary School in Riding Lane. No pre-school play groups then! We were taken on the first day, not knowing anything about the place and attended full time. Mr Fitz was head teacher and I remember sitting on the floor at the front in assembly and being terrified as he caned a boy in front of me! My infant class teacher, Mrs Griffiths, was much nicer and I was very happy in her care.
With the arrival of Mr Haisell as head teacher, school became more interesting. We had a new school uniform, school Houses (mine was Riding House) sports days and recorder lessons. With the latter, we reached a good standard and Mr Haisell arranged several pieces of music for us. One of these “Trumpet Voluntary” we demonstrated at a secondary school in Tonbridge, but I forget which one! Mr Haisell also took us to a series of Robert Mayer children’s concerts at the Festival Hall. When I reached the senior class, I became Head Girl and Martin Hayward was Head Boy (as in the photo below).
Back Row:- Alan Seal, Carol Eldridge, Rita Mumbrey, John Crisp
Front row:- Carol Miller, Mr Haisell, Martin Hayward
Front row:- Carol Miller, Mr Haisell, Martin Hayward
Away from school, I remember the horrible pond in Riding Lane now replaced by a car park. I can still recall the terrible odour of the floating green slime on warm summer days.
After I started school, we moved from the flat to Riding Park, the new estate down Riding Lane, where, with very few private cars about, we were free to play. I played with all my neighbours, including Carol Eldridge, Sheila Goldsmith, Mike Brown and others. We were usually outside, occupied with many games, i.e. hopscotch, French cricket, marbles, roller skates, whips and tops, skipping, bike rides etc. NOTHING INVOLVED MONEY. At primrose and bluebell time, we walked to Fairlawn to pick the flowers (not illegal then!) the bunches would be tied onto sticks for carrying home, using mother’s knitting wool.
We were always building camps in the field behind our houses, using reeds from a nearby stream to “thatch” the roof and conning my younger brother, Trevor, to sit inside when it was raining, checking for leaks! The field also provided blackberry bushes to plunder and trees to climb at the top boundary. Conkers were found further afield and we ventured to New Road Wood for chestnuts.
Bonfire Night was a big occasion and the fire site was again the field. Wood collection started weeks before and we often collected in New Road Wood, dragging back huge bundles of fallen branches roped together, across the main road!! On the 5th November, we all shared our fireworks at the bonfire.
I was a keen reader, enjoying all the classic books i.e. “Black Beauty” “Treasure Island” etc. My friend, Andra Mitchell and I, used to borrow many books from the Hildenborough Library, eagerly snapping up the latest Enid Blyton, especially the “Famous Five” series.
In summer, with Madeline Kennard from Vines Lane, I would collect species of wild flowers. These were pressed (mine under my bedroom carpet) and placed in albums, carefully labelled, then entered in the Flower Show on the “Rec”.
Our new houses had large gardens, and Dad grew all our vegetables in ours. Of course, we had no central heating, double glazing, fridge, washing machine or television. I was about 14 or 15 before we acquired a television. The nearest public telephone, with its buttons A and B, was in the red phone box by the post office. Washing day was always on a Monday, when Mum would use the gas copper to boil the white sheets etc., rinsing the washing by hand, with “dolly blue” in the water to enhance the whiteness. When I was around, I would help with the wringing out, using the back-breaking ACME Wringer, catching the water in a tin bath on the rack beneath. Sometimes we would overfill the bath, which would slide off the rack, causing a tidal wave over our feet!
The arrival of polythene implements was greeted with great enthusiasm. We could ditch the old enamel bowls etc. for much more user-friendly items, though at first the colour was very dull, until technology enabled the use of the bright colours we now know.
On Sundays, we attended Sunday School at the church in the morning and the Gospel Hall in the afternoon. For this, we wore our “Sunday best” clothes, which were strictly for Sundays, or going out with parents. Each Sunday, we would take money envelopes to church as donations towards the building of a Church Hall at Foxbush. Upon completion of the building, we were shocked to find that the Vicar was only going to allow church activities in the Hall. Guides, Brownies, Scouts, etc., who used to meet in the old hut at Foxbush, were to be excluded. I was a member of Brownies and then Guides. The whole village protested, having donated a lot of money. The Vicar’s decision was overturned and the Hall was used by the whole community.
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2nd was a very special event. School gave us special mugs and we all embarked on the preparations. Our houses were decorated with bunting and flags and our gardens planted with red, white and blue flowers. There was only one television in our road – next door at the Goldsmith’s house. We were all invited to watch the ceremony and bring chairs, which were placed in rows across their sitting room. There we sat, glued to the 12 inch black and white Bush TV, Frank Goldsmith generously dispensing whisky to the guests. Dad, who normally only drank beer, was quite merry at the end!
There were no supermarkets at this time, and very few people had cars. Most food items, i.e. bread, meat, milk and groceries, were delivered to your home. No need to travel and trundle round with a trolley. When the idea of starting supermarkets was becoming popular, I remember my grandfather being very disapproving of such things! However, he did not live long enough to see them, as he died in his fifties in 1956, suffering from lung damage caused by gassing in the trenches in World War one.
At the appropriate time, I moved on to the Girls’ Grammar School in Tonbridge and eventually into the world of work.
In 1968, our wedding was booked at Hildenborough Church for the 5th October. Two weeks before came the great flood, which devastated a lot of Tonbridge and the lower regions of Hildenborough. Water rushed down from the village, covering our gardens and was lapping the doorsteps. We moved anything we could upstairs. Outside, a brick wall was obstructing the flow of water to the open fields. Dad and Bob Brown decided that the wall had to go and sledge hammers quickly demolished Council property and saved our houses!
The week prior to our wedding, I returned from work to hear that Police had called to ask me to visit the Church Warden at Foxbush. Apparently, the Vicar had eloped with a lady of the Parish, leaving his wife in the Vicarage. The Police had to break into the study and filing system to retrieve documents relating to forthcoming services. I visited the Church Warden and was told “Don’t worry, we will find someone to marry you!” Fortunately, everything went well and Mr Patrick Rudland, a teacher, (who we were assured was ordained) conducted the service. We do have a Marriage Certificate! Our reception was held at “The Green Rabbit” (now Orchard Lea).
We soon moved into a house in Tonbridge, on a hill, away from the floods!