Buddy Robinson

7th March 2006

Interviewed by: Cressida Fforde

BR: They went up to Hergest Croft - you know the Hergest Croft Gardens - well
part of that was turned into the school as well. I tell you where MOST of the
Americans were... Have you heard of Foxley? Mansell Lacy? That's where the
majority of the Americans went, and when they went the Poles came in you see.
And I remember the Polish. 

Well we first went up to Hergest in about 1940, just after the war started in
1929, and Grandma and Grandpa used to live on the edge of Worcestershire,
towards Birmingham way, but right on the edge. Because Grandma had nine children
they were worried that they weren't going to be safe where they were - you know
because of bombings etc. So, Uncle Tommy was by then, he had met his, my
cousin's mother and in Lower Hergest, because two old Aunty Smiths were there
and Uncle Tommy used to go over to see them and he - this was 1940 - and so he
went further along and found said cottage where my Grandma and Grandpa finally
went to live. He brought them over there to live there out of the way. And that
is how we all began to congregate here - because Father was a Derbyshire man.
When he first came out of the first world war he went to India, and my Mother
went over to India where my Uncle and Aunt - her elder sister lived. Because
Uncle John was aide de camp to the Raj of Jaiphur. Then my father surveyed
railways and he was there and eventually he became writer to the same Raj. And
then when Mother went over there of course to stay with them, she met my father
and they were both red-haired and they married. And I have a picture of her and
my father as they were then. He was seven years older than Mum etc. And that’s
where we started out. I was in India until I was about three and a half and my
brother would be five and a half. 

Then we just had a short spell in Canada which Mother hated because it was so
cold. And then that is how we landed back in Derbyshire because Father was a
Derbyshire man - he was a Sherwood man. So of course as soon as Gran landed in
Hergest everybody was over there - we were all there. But we were the ones that
were there the most, and were dedicated to the place, if you like to call it
that. Because Father would take up a house and at times I would go over and look
after Granma. And eventually when Grandpa died, Gran asked Mother if - I would
be seventeen then - if I could stay permanently and look after her. Which I did.
Then she died at 80, I think it was 81. That would be round about 1947 - 46
somewhere around there. And when she died I didn’t want to leave of course. But
I couldn’t keep the cottage on my own, because I was too young, and very naive
in those days. Although Protheros were absolutely gorgeous and I did have a
couple of marriage proposals from the boys (laughs) But the one I wanted married
someone else - Darn it! That was a laugh for the rest of our lives. She only
died not too long ago - Esther - and so of course, I went down to Aunty Nettie -
she offered me a home if I didn’t want to go back to Derbyshire, where the
others were at that particular time. So I went to live with my Aunt Nettie, and
this is where the American Officers were billeted.


CFf: So tell us some more about that. What was her house called - Aunty
Nettie's?


BR: It was called "The Firs" because it had a big monkey tree in the garden, at
the front. It was the first large house on top of the Twt, and that's the one in
seven, from the bottom. And Hergest Court, which is at the bottom of that Twt on
the Hergest road, that was the Uncle of my sister's future husband - you see -
the Morrises. So of course all the history goes back such a long way. Aunty
Nettie had this huge, old cold house - it was it was perishing - I used to go to
bed with all my clothes on and still wake up in the morning with ice on the top
sheet! (laughs) It was frightful. But I suppose they had their own heat in the
offices, and especially. What you remember most about their wives were - they
seemed to have very long. Red painted nails. You know - they were not farmer - I
mean we used to go around in any old things - I mean I used to drive a tractor
for Goodness sake - and things like that. But these ladies were really with it -
long red nails and coiffured, and everything like that. But they seemed very
nice indeed, and I thin they did enjoy their stay. We contacted - I think one
American was contacted sometime ago. He said he remembers travelling from
Kington to Hereford - but what struck him most was the Kings Acre road, where
they were fencing up along there - when they started the nursery and they had
climbing roses. He said you would go along Kings Acre Road and it was all this
rose fenced off. I knew the Williams - because when I married I went to Hereford
to live. 

But when I was first married - well Father had to travel about such a lot, as we
were growing up - so mother decided, beings as her mother was still here at that
time - that she would rent the house. So of course - “Deacons" then it was - old
Ernest Deacons - they owned this property you see, because there used to be old
cottages over this wall, which went to work at the mill - Turner's Mill. That's
why it is called Turner's Mill. And there were all these - you can still see
them - Archways in my garden, which was one whole estate. When they bought it  -
it became two estates.


CFf: This is this house?


BR: When Deacons bought it  - yes.


CFf: This house we are in now?


BR: This house became one estate, because my sitting room there was the
Blacksmith's shop. Across - which is 17A from out my window there - was the
stables. And these - these sheds - some one used to live in there, that worked
in this house. It was all one big house. And then somewhere in the early 1940s,
just before Mother and Father decided to rent so they would be in Kington, near
everybody else, it was chopped - just like a loaf. Rooms were slightly altered,
things built on, doors put back and front. So that it became four homes. We were
in the front part for quite a long time. My eldest son was born there. Doctor
somebody or other lived next door. Then my Aunt and Uncle lived right next door
to me - 18B. And there was a schoolteacher from Lady Hawkins used to live here.
This was the outside wall - that kitchen was built on - to provide a kitchen you
see. The back door was in that corner, and that door went into the next room.
It's all so historical. It's absolutely fabulous really. This is why I never
really wanted to leave. But I had no option when I got married, because my
Husband used to cycle from Hereford to here. It got a bit too much you see. So
we actually had a tiny flat in Hereford first - where my daughter was born - my
only daughter. The I desperately wanted to come back - so we came to live with
Mum and Dad - at 18. That was later used in a film - Dandelion Dead - A
courtroom in a film. Then after all the Polish fellows went - they went actually
a lot of them to Credenhill Court in Credenhill. Where I believe there are still
probably two who might remain to this day. But if you go to the churchyard, you
will find a lot of Polish names, and some married local girls. Because they
could never go back to Poland. It was too dangerous for them and things like
that. I met one - I would be about 18 then. At the dances and we would walk down
with my cousin Margaret and we would walk into the dance hall. These Polish boys
- they were all - had been invalided. They would come and dance with us and that
sort of thing. And you got to know - one particularly - I knew for quite a
little while. His name was Yan Koshkoshki. Then he had to go somewhere and while
he was away he said “You musn't talk to anybody else" Cos that's all we did -
because I was quite innocent until I got married actually! Anyway - the other
one happened to be - which a lot of them didn't seem to get on with so much. His
name was Henri Gruer. I'm not sure whether that was a polish name or something
else. They wanted to marry me which was rather nice actually. Yan said “I will
take you away and we will have 12 children!" and I thought - well that's it - no
way - I don't mind... I thought a football team! (laughs) Anyway - what happened
then? Oh - yes I worked for a solicitor in Kington - I came down to work. And
that is why I saw so many of the Americans. Because they used to be next door
but one - at Alistair's. Just the officers.


CFf: When you say Alistair's - where do you mean?


BR: Sorry - Alistair Donaldson - He's got number 16. Bed and Breakfast- just up
the road. Alistair's used to be a slaughter house and then when we lived here -
when my mother lived here - it turned into Creswell's antique place and that is
where that court cupboard came from - in the 40s. My mother bought it  for the
front of the house, she wanted it to go with all the decor things and the
panelling and  the Gone with the wind staircase. Then it became a pub and then
eventually it became just an ordinary house. And it is on the market at the
moment. When Alistair finishes turning that house that the Americans had in the
yard at the back - because they have all got huge gardens - then it will be sold
- the front part and Alistair will go into where the Americans were.


CFf: What date do you think the Americans were there? Do you remember them being
there?


BR: Yes - I remember them being there. They would still be there - I would
imagine - in about 1946 or 47. I am pretty sure they didn't leave straight away,
unless of course I hadn't noticed and they had gone to Foxley. Because that is
where most of the American camp was - at Foxley.


CFf: So they lived in the house at the back of number 16?


BR: Yes - well it's a workshop now for Alistair - part of downstairs and part
not. But they used to go up a wooden ladder and they lived over the bottom half.
Now that wooden ladder - Alistair dismantled and re-erected at the back of the
house. So if you walked round there - you could see. Actually if you wanted to
go I could take you round and Alistair wouldn't mind you having a look at where
the Americans were.


CFf: That would be lovely - if we could also take some photos of it. It was the
Cresswells there at that time?


BR: Yes Cresswells were there at that time. Not Alistair - he would be younger -
he would only be a baby at that time.


CFf: Mary Cresswell mentions it in her book.


BR: Yes - Mary Creswell has died now - she used to live down at Duke Street. The
Creswells had the antique shop. They all seem to have died off. Ronnie Smith the
butcher and all those.


CFf: [chat about pictures of Bridge Street in Higginbotham book]



BR: Yes - that's it. It looks different now - because that is no longer there
you see. That is the door to down below where Alistair has now got his workshop.
The loft was commandeered and used for storing chests of tea - later it was used
as a food office - the steps were built by the ministry. Yes that's where they
[Americans] lived - up over the top in what was the loft. Now that stair case is
rickety, but it is still part of the same staircase and Alistair has moved it
down the yard and round the back of this building. So that there is no access up
there from the front. And that is what he is turning into his home. Yes there
you are - that would be the side of it - I recognise that window. You come
through the gate there and this is that part that they lived in.


CFf: Just to go back - there were American Officers also living...Tell us a bit
about your Aunt.


BR: Aunt Nettie - she used to - she and her sister came from Cwmbran farm in
Gladestry - a mile and a half further on. She was retired schoolteacher and she
lived there on her own. She never married. But her sister Louise (Lou) married
my Uncle Tom. They lived in Hergest in the cottage at the bottom. The two
American officers - I can't even sort of visualise - but they kept Aunt Nettie
well supplied - you know - she had things that nobody else did. These stockings
etc. After they got ladders in - I would sit with Aunty Nettie, plaiting strips
of these nylon tights - stockings - not tights - they were always stockings. I
would have to stitch them round until we had a mat big enough to stand on.
Because she was very frugal you know. She taught me how to make toffee and
things - by pulling it. It was really wonderful. But I only have a very distant
memory of the Americans and their wives. And of these just coming and going for
a while. Because my own life was developing then. At 20 I was married.


CFf: So how old would you have been in .. You were living with your Aunt during
the war - is that right? At Hergest?


BR: The later end of the war. I cam to Kington and worked for a solicitor - Mr
Swindles. When he died I had to travel to Hereford. That's was how I met my
husband to be. By then I would be 19.


CFf: So you were about 19 in 1945?


BR: No - I was 12 when war started in 1939. So work it from there. [chat about
age] So 16 in 1943. I was still with Gran then, because - I was 17 when I went
to work for the solicitor. I was with Aunty Nettie then. Then when he died - by
the time I was 19 - I was having to go to Hereford to work. Mother was still
here. Because I used to catch the bus right across the road. There was no bus
stop - no cover - you just went across the road and the bus stopped. Because it
was a shop across there - no BT building. That warehouse wasn't there. Have you
heard about the Craigie house? That was there. Before - I can't quite remember
which year. The Craigie house owned all the state until it was bought by the
Deacons. It was next door - the old vets house - that's all my family as well.
Next door was the big Craigie house - where the warehouse is. It was dismantled
because it was listed and re-erected up church bank before Saint Mary's Church.
On the right hand side you will see this lovely old... Have you see that old
house? It was dismantled and re-erected up there - behind Dr Jacks. He was our
doctor. Behind his place and that is where it is to this day. Then there was a
saddler on the corner down there. And then a garage and eventually it was turned
into a warehouse over the years - J Mart. The BT building was where we used to
get our fruit and veg instead of walking up the road. We just used to pop across
and it was a dilapidated old thing with mice running everywhere and god knows
what. Then of course it was totally erased and they built the BT building, much
to people's disgust. So that was a lot of the history gone. It was fabulous
growing up here. I still meet the people that I knew from years ago because I
actually spent 20 years in Hereford when I was married and then came back to
Credenhill - which was a bit nearer - and my children I always used to bring on
holiday up to Hergest. We stayed in Anchor cottage. Uncle Tom used to meet us
off the bus and he would have his little old van filled up with Army cots. He
put them up for us at the cottage, which we used to rent for half a crown a week
during the school holidays for my children. From Duggan's Farm. By that time of
course it had been empty down in the camp and Betty who I grew up with. She
married Jim Prothero. Betty was a real go-getter. She had her eye on the camp
straight away when they left. I don't know whether they bought the fields or
rented, but the whole one side where - I've missed out the bit where I married
and came back to Mum here for a while - when all the soldiers went. I believe
one or two squatters - according to Alison moved in. I don't remember the
squatters as I wasn't actually acquainted with the camp - only the people in it.
But eventually the council decided that they were going to turn the huts into
living accommodation. To house all the .... As we were growing up - like little
starter homes. I think there is a picture somewhere of a hut and they had these
smelly Nellie's - fireplaces that were cylindrical with a pipe going up through
the ceiling. I think each hut was divided into three. So you would have a couple
of bedrooms at one end. By then I had got my son Stephen, who was born here and
Jenny would have been about 2 and a half, Stephen was 18 months and eventually I
was expecting Michael while I lived up there. He was born in Hereford Hospital.
Then we had a living room, a little loo. But I think... the kitchen; the bath
was in the kitchen and covered so that it was a table. And when you wanted a
bath - it became a bath. 

On the side there was a shop and a hairdressers and a chapel. This chapel was
any denomination really, but I remember the lovely vicar or whatever he was -
called David. He used to communicate with people all the time just to make sure
that they were fine. There would be something going off in there and do you now
what it was really absolutely wonderful because I still was within reach of all
the people that I knew at Hergest. Only up the road etc. And I remember the
vicar coming once and I said to him - he said "Why haven't you got your fire
on?" it was gas or electricity - I have forgotten. And I said "Well I haven't
got the shilling to put in the meter until Jack comes home. I have got
sixpence." "OK" he says “I'll give you a shilling" and so I have him my sixpence
and he gave me a shilling and that was what we did! (laughs) So I had a fire
until Jack came home. It was so tight. You didn't have a camera or anything - so
I don't have pictures of everything. The person who lived next door to me with
her children has been almost a lifelong friend. She lives now up at Greenfields
- she's not well at the moment and her name is Winnie Biss. She used to be
Hancock. When everybody was finding their way out of those places. Like we had a
bungalow in Hereford eventually - she and her Husband Bert moved to a council
House in the crescent in Lyonshall - as you go in. They lived there for years.
One of their sons actually - When Michael brought people in in 2000 - to bring
this place up to date for me. One of her sons was also there working with them.
I couldn't equate this little tiny thing - now a big boy - married himself with
children. And I still get people tapping me on my shoulder as I go by - they say
- Oh weren't you one of the Sabins - my mother's family name was Sabin - My
father was Robinson - They would remember  - even the four of us - the children
- my brother who was a pilot - flight engineer - co-pilot at the end of the last
war. Because he wouldn't have been all that old. He was 17 when he went in and
18 when he was flying. So of course they would say - Aren't you one of the
Sabins or Robinson girls - I remember al these redheads roaming around. (laughs)
That's how it was. 

My sister Jo - she lives up now at Walnut. She was married for 40 odd years and
lived in Longtown. Gerald died the year I came in here. My younger sister
Christine - she married a Kington boy. They went to Derbyshire  - became quite
something with Rolls Royce and spent some time in America. Finally back in
Derbyshire - but now they have bought a house in Pembrokeshire. They come
backwards and forwards.

[Chat about siblings]

Richard had to do his two years in the Army - that was compulsory then. So
Christine went for two years in the Wrens. And eventually afterwards they were
both 20 when they came out. I think they got married then and just went on from
there. But Christine would have loved to have come back and lived again in
Kington. But it wasn't enough for Richard - he needed to expand himself and get
on - which they have done. She is my adored little sister you know. I can go on
and on! I often think that I should sit down and put all my experiences down and
everything that has happened to me. Eventually my husband and I divorced and I
have a young son James who I bought up on my own. He is wonderful and has his
own school of motoring and motorbikes. He is 37 this year. He is fantastic. He
used to coming over - when the others were grown up and getting married - James
I kept on bringing over here. We would go and have tea with Grandpa Griffiths -
Richard - my brother in law's father - and go up to the park then I would take
him all the way up to Hergest to meet everybody else and Uncle Tom. Reminisce
about the camp and what we did. Eventually Betty turned all the living
accommodation into hen roosts - all chickens - a mad chicken farm!


CFf: On which side of the road now?


BR: As you go in towards Hergest Camp on the lower road - the right hand side
was all the billets and the houses eventually and everything. That is the side
there - I can still see the opening. On the other side it was more workish
things - and ammunition and stuff like that. Because that was also used by the
other side if you know what I mean. When the men were billeted there. That was
something else on the other side. Eventually it became a storeroom for things.
And you have read about somebody putting all the paint stuff there.


CFf: Now this is an aerial photograph - it's in 62. We have got an earlier one..


BR: 62 - what was I doing in 62? James was born in 69. I would be in the throes
of getting divorced I think.


CFf: So this is coming from Kington - that's the bridge...[looking over map]


BR: Arrow view  - yes that was built later. That's the continuation of the
houses. Where is the opening? Arrow view wasn't built on any of this site. Arrow
View was built on a separate piece of land. Because as you turned in .. Now -
there wasn't much...there was not a lot to your right as you turned in - except
in from of you with the shop and the hairdressers. And then towards the back -
where my brother actually started his married life - when he came out of the
RAF. We used to walk to the left and our place - and there were still a few more
there. So Trevor my brother was ... We were on a row like this facing the road -
but there were hedges and grass. We would turn in there somewhere - is that an
opening? Yes. Now you see - I don't remember that much - but these must have
been like the shops. No these at the front would be the shops - and we would be
here. 


CFf: So the houses that you were living in - were they parallel to the road. If
you looked out her front door - would you see another hut in front of you?


BR: No - you would see - you didn't see the road but an expanse of grass and a
hedge and then the road. We were going this way.


CFf: So were you near the water tower?


BR: I can't remember. You see this is more like ours would be - going that way.
We were not overlooked by anybody. The huts seemed to be running that way - not
that way. So it may have been one of these. My brother was at the back
somewhere. I don't know where this bridge comes in - there is no bridge from
Kington until you get to Malhollam.

[talk about Hergest Court and bridges]


BR: We walked all the way towards the Huntington Road and just up the road from
Huntington Stately home - there was a gap and you could walk right down through
the wood, over a little bridge where we used to have to bathe. You could go up
an incline and come out at upper Hergest. Because it was all overgrown when I
first took James back there. Then somebody cleared it - our Aunt used to take us
down there and we would have to bathe and wash our hair in that water and also
drink it. I used to have to carry the buckets up there to Gran's cottage and by
the time I got to the top I always took - because they were always half empty by
the time I got to the top! We had no water on tap.


CFf: Here's another plan....[talk about directions and No 33 and direction that
the houses faced]


BR: (Looking at photographs in Higginbotham of 107th) now this is the way our
place went - but we had nothing in front of us. We definitely had nothing in
front of us. A hedge and then a road.


CFf: This is taken from the top of the water tower, looking back towards
Kington.


BR: Yes - My brother was in one that went that way - like that. But I was in one
that ran...There didn't seem to be quite so many when I was there. Either that
or I didn't explore enough - mainly because I didn't have time - not with the
kids etc. But it was definitely running that way.


CFf: I think you must have been in one of these - I shall blow it up so that we
can see better. [looking at map]


BR: I was definitely on one that was divided into three partitions. What was
that one with the 33 on? 


CFf: The 33 is the hospital wards - not the living accommodation. This is when
it was still a hospital. So maybe it is this one - 29 - there is the land and
there is the road.

[Discussion about no. 33's position and the water tower]

BR: It was such a wonderful time. The hut at reception was the Poles shop - I am
sure they must have demolished because I do remember these expanses of concrete.
It happened up at Foxley too. I was in the Mansell Lacy WI when I was up at
Credenhill. We used to go up Foxley with Major Davenport's say so. There were
expanses as they had taken all the huts down there. It was just concrete ground.
..

[Water tower photograph]

BR: Those were the fires we had - you had just one of those in your sitting room
- nowhere else - they weren't over large - but they were still comfortable. So
we just had one of those fires. Whether they would take one out. That is what it
was like.

CFf: Maybe they divided the ward into three leaving one stove in each house.


BR: Mine must have been towards the centre because the walls were thin - where
they had divided them. They hadn't built brick walls or anything. It was lathe
and plaster. I now because hear - and unfortunately our bedrooms went back to
back you see. It's just that you could hear them talking and that. Winnie lived
next door with her children and Bert. He would come in - he was a lorry driver.
When they went to bed they obviously had cocoa every night. I heard her once and
Winnie and Bert must have gone into bed and I heard Winnie say “I'm sorry Bert
you can't have your cup of cocoa tonight as I haven't got any left.". So I just
sat up and I was just about to knock on the wall and my husband grabbed my wrist
and he said “What are you doing?" I said “Well we have got cocoa - perhaps
Winnie would like some." He said “You can't do that - they would be so
embarrassed!". I never thought - I was just being generous. My husband used to
call me Lady Nuffield - I would give my last penny away. That was it.


CFf: What was it like in those little houses? Tell us what you remember.


BR: I do remember... You know - when you are first married and you are allowed
to stay in the place that you thought was your paradise. I don't know how any of
the others felt - it never worried me. But I wouldn't worry to this day if I was
still there. To me it was absolutely marvellous - walking through my door with
33 on it and my two children at that time there - until young Michael came
along. It was pretty lovely. Mother used to come and visit - especially with
Michael. It was so comfortable. In the winter it was cold, but you could light
this thing if you had the money to buy the coal. You tried to be so independent,
but you parents did help a lot. This meter thing you had to cook by as well. It
was a bit grim at times having to find ways of bathing the kids and all that.
But we managed fine - it didn't worry me. It worried my husband - he didn't care
for it. But I thought it was absolutely super. The one thing I missed the most
was my own garden. You didn't have a garden - you walked straight in. Because at
the back of you - I can't actually remember but my brother must have gone the
opposite way to ours. He was there - I don't remember his number as he wasn't
there as long as I was. But I remember everybody seemed to care for you and the
shop sold actually everything and of course they catered for the hair cutting
etc. Which my boys never had a hair cut until they went to school because I used
to do it all. As I say we had the chapel. But I thought it was an absolute
wonderful way to live. I have always liked camping and what not anyway. I used
to take my children up the road a little bit and we had the Malhollam stream and
they used to paddle and bather a lot of the time in there - remembering my young
days, bathing down the bottom of Gipsy Lane. I had photographs of them there all
in the nuddy - but I can't find them. Because it was very rare - I don't
remember having a camera - so my husband must have borrowed it. It was all so
nice.

[Talking about Michael being born and the nurse not wanting to go in the
ambulance]

I used to think back after we left there about Betty's chickens and I wonder how
many are in my little abode - you know. When I used to take the children back
for holidays in Anchor Cottage. I have pictures of them somewhere but I still
can't find those. Betty used to deliver us trays of cracked eggs that she
couldn't sell. SO we lived on fried eggs, omelettes, scrambled eggs everything
all through the holidays. The kids got absolutely sick of them. No more eggs! It
actually put me off a bit. 

There were so many happy times. It was so wonderful. We used to feel so sorry
for - not the Americans who seemed to have everything - but we were so sad for
the Polish people. Because Yan the one that I knew used to limp. They had been
very nastily wounded some of them and we had to walk the 3 miles from where we
were into Kington to go to St John Hall and you felt quite safe with them. Then
they would walk us back, only as far as the bottom of the Twt. We would say
thank you very much and we would go home and they would go back to the camp.
This would happen every weekend. This was before Gran died, because I remember
Yan and his friend coming and saying “would you like to go on a walk on Sunday"
And we did and walked all the way round and Mum was at the cottage when we came
back at Grans and we offered them a cup of something to drink. [needed the loo].
Soon after that she died of course. Then I had to move on and then my life
started all over again back at the camp.


CFf: What dates were you living up there in NO. 33?


BR: I was there.. Michael would be a month old. He was born in 1951. So I was
there from almost 1948 until 1951.


CFf: And before that it was used by the Poles?


BR: Before that. I don't remember the Americans there - because we never went
down as children. We weren't allowed to go. We were allowed the run of all the
country lanes around us but we couldn't go down to the camp. I don't remember
the Americans at that camp at all. I only remember them being billeted with Aunt
Nettie and in Alistairs/Cresswells loft area. I don't ever remember like Alison
- she can remember as a child - because she is younger than I. Being offered
chewing gums and goodies and things like that. I don't remember any of that. I
never accepted anything like that because I don't suppose - well I was growing
up more. It's not the sort of thing that you would offer to a growing girl. It
was a Polish Camp. I remember the Poles - I don't remember anything about the
Americans being there - only the Polish Boys.


CFf: Did you go into the camp when the Poles were there?


BR: No - I never went down then. I was invited. Some of the girls did. Yan said
if you would like to come to the camp you would be most welcome. I didn't - I
never went anywhere near the camp. I would only see it if Uncle Tommy drove past
some time if we were going somewhere or anything. That is it. I never had any
contact with that camp until I was in married quarters there.


CFf: So you met the Poles because they were coming down to town?


BR: Yes. We actually met them at the dance hall sort of. Because we used to go
there and then gradually as the Polish men - they must have gone even before we
did possibly. That was where we met them and danced with them and then they
would walk us home to Lower Hergest or upper Hergest. But if I went dancing  and
Gran was still alive I knew I could stay the night at Lower Hergest with Aunty
Nettie and then go back up to the cottage the next day or whatever. Even when I
started working for the solicitor I still had to walk all the way to work. When
I went to Hereford I had to walk all the way to the square for the bus until
Mother moved. I actually only had one pair of shoes you know all that time. I
used to buy those soles and glue and tack them on. That one pair of shoes I had
for donkey's years. I think that is why as you grow up you have a fetish for
buying shoes and clothes that you never had because you couldn't afford it. But
it was still wonderful times. It was extraordinary when you think about it. Yes.
It's sad. I don't even know. I presume the huts are still there because I
haven't been down....


CFf: I think the ones that you lived in have gone as there is a big turkey farm
there now. There are some huts up still.


BR: That was a chicken farm - I wonder if it is still the Protheros. Part of it
was built on Alison's parent's farm.


[Discussion about turkey farm]


BR: I would live it all again if I could. I would - No comfort, not like this.
Nothing on the floor - those shiny floors that you had to keep on mopping over.
Things like that. 


CFf: What was it like meeting the Poles?


BR: Very gentlemanly indeed. The ones I seemed to meet. They could still be
around somewhere - or their descendants more than likely. The girls would learn
Polish. Yan tried to teach me some, but all I can remember is something like
“Sprebashum" or something. I think it means excuse me or please or something
like that. I could never pronounce anything. They were all very courtly. There
was only one thing they were horrified about - was - I remember this one night
going to the Saint John Hall in the square, dancing. The music started up and it
happened to be a German anthem type of thing. It was too us a dance tune - it
didn't matter who was the composer. It was used as a dance tune. They all sat
there really stiff and really put out. You wondered what had gone wrong.
Eventually Jan asked me to dance and he said “Why do you play this tune?". I
said “Well it's a dance tune" and he said “It is German - part of a German
anthem." They were really hurt about that. Because I suppose they had suffered
so much you see from the Germans. I remember those that went down to Credenhill
Court when that was turned into a rest home for them. There were quite a few
then at first. As they began to dwindle - they could never return to their own
country fro some reason or another. You would see them walking down into
Credenhill Village. I remember the one especially - he would have a long stick.
On the end of it he would have a beer bottle with the stick going into the neck
of the bottle. He would be walking along and he would be rolling this alongside
of him. The stick never came out. He would walk down the middle of the road.
Just going a little bit. It was very sad. As I said the cemetery there has got a
lot of Polish buried in there. Last I heard there were either one or two still
living there. I don't know whether they have gone by now. You do remember them.
I find it all terribly sad - you know.


I think you have just about got that. I can only just think. I just loved
walking into my little part. I always remember no. 33, because when we had a
bungalow that was 33 as well in Hereford. Yes! From 33 to 33.


CFf: Can you think of other people that I could chat to?


BR: It's no good me saying Winnie - she's rather ill at the moment. [talk about
Winnie]