| |
| MEMORIES OF CROPREDY IN WARTIME Memories of the Second World War Cropredy's Wartime Position Although we never seemed to be in any immediate danger of the effect of an invasion or a bombing raid, we were really in a very vulnerable area with aerodromes all round, at Chipping Warden, Shenington, Gaydon, Enstone and Heyford. The Aluminium Works and the Ironstone Works carried out war priority work and the 'dummy' aluminium factory was less than a mile away. There was an anti-aircraft gun on Hardwick Hill, a search light battery at Lawn Hill (Porridge Pot) and an Observer Corps point at Chipping Warden. All of these were of great interest to us teenagers at the time, but we cannot remember ever feeling frightened that the war would affect us. Of course we were worried that we might lose the war, and that members of our families might have to join up. Chipping Warden was generally used as a training drome for Wellington Bombers, although, when things got really tough, they did go on bombing raids. There were many crashes in and around Chipping Warden and on one occasion a bomber crashed on top of one that had crashed the previous night. Ken Farnes, the well known English fast bowler, lost his life when his plane crashed on the tennis court of Court House. We got used to seeing the Wellingtons land and take off but it was strange to see a Mosquito plane there. As a memorial to the Airmen who lost their lives at Chipping Warden the tower arch of the village church is filled with plate glass, and has the RAF crest and a Latin inscription etched onto it. The very busy hospital is now the village school and the hangars are used for industry. The tops of Aston le Walls Vicarage and the Manor House at Upper Boddington were taken off by planes coming in to land, with some occupants and the crew losing their lives in the latter. Every evening a mobile beacon used to travel about a mile away from the end of the runway being used on that particular night, depending on the direction of the wind. This beacon used to travel through Cropredy to the high point on Farnborough Road when the wind was due West/East. The Home Guard The Home Guard group was formed as a part-time army for local defence. People from the five villages joined together for training every Wednesday evening and were collected and returned on the back of a builder's lorry. They had a look-out post on the Mollington Hill. They were supposed to be keeping a constant watch, but one night one of the look-outs had his bicycle stolen from the side of the shed, which caused a laugh. One form of defence which the Home Guard or LDV (Local Defence Volunteers) group was responsible for was providing road blocks on the three entrances to the village. These were formed by using a large tree trunk and made to swivel across the road by fixing a wheel on the front end. Later on in the war, when we had seen what tanks could do, we realised how useless these would have been. The army had exercises throughout the area. One night they had a tremendous tank battle at Claydon, which did a lot of damage.
There is a fire service log book of everyday operations during the war. The force started off as the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and finished up as the National Fire Service. During this period we had various types of trailer pumps and towing vehicles. We started off with a Merry Weather Pump painted bright red with lots of brass, but it had to be painted grey. Hook Norton were very annoyed at us having this as it had solid tyres and was their pride and joy. The main reason for the call out of the brigade was to extinguish fires so that they did not draw the attention of enemy aircraft. One of the few fires was in the Brasenose pub garden and the Cropredy brigade had their old pump put into the canal, with hose all the way up to the fire. But help arrived from Banbury and, seeing the old pump, the Chief said "That will never get water up there" so insisted on putting their modern pump in the line. However they could not start their pump so our old machine pumped the water through theirs and onto the fire. Later we went on to a Dennis trailer pump using various makes of converted large cars as towing vehicles. The Government commandeered these cars from their owners, paying £25. We ended up with an Austin, a purpose made towing vehicle with a Coventry Climax pump installed in the rear. These times were very much enjoyed, especially with the younger members and they used to put on comedy exhibitions to raise money for 'Wings for Victory' etc. In fact many of the serious drills turned out to be comedy acts without even trying. On one such demonstration in Lamberts' field by the Old Manor we had a big water dam and one of the evacuees was causing a particular nuisance. So, just in fun, the Chief Fire Officer held him over this dam, but he wriggled so much that he actually fell in. This lad very often returned to the village and reminded us of this occasion. [Full details of the Fire Service are available from Ray Cherry] Air Raid Precautions The ARP group was formed and their major duty was to ensure that nobody showed any light during the blackout time. There were very few vehicles on the roads at the time, but those that were about had masks over their headlights to keep light output to the minimum. There was always a lot of discussion about which type of mask produced the best results although they were all very poor. [Details of our ARP duties are still available] Bombs The nearest we came to a bomb in the village was when one was dropped just on the Bourton side of the railway past Cropredy School. This was a very large bomb and made a 20 ft. deep crater, but due to the soft ground we heard very little of it in the village. The bomb demolished the culvert under the railway line and this has never been repaired. It was always a rush to collect the shrapnel from these bombs as souvenirs. We believe this bomb was dropped on the day that they attempted to bomb the Aluminium Works, but this one missed. They went on and bombed the Gas Works in Banbury and the plane was so low over the market that the people could see the crew. I remember hearing this particular enemy bomber go over. I was coming up out of Mollington but it was very low cloud that day and I didn't actually see it. We always thought that we knew the distinct sound of a German plane but I have heard many English planes since making the same sort of noise. The loudest bomb blast that we can remember is when one was dropped at Chacombe, just on the corner of the Wardington Road where it meets the Banbury Road. We were sitting under the dining room table at the time because we had received due warnings of this raid. There was also a bomb dropped in the field opposite Oathill Farm. Several of us remember going up to the Mollington Bridge to see the glow of the tremendous fires raging in Coventry after the main bombing raid in November 1940. Firemen from Banbury had to attend the Coventry raids on several occasions and many of the men were injured. Some of these firemen saw more of the war than many of the people in the armed forces. Evacuees Only a few days after the shock of 3rd September a coach load of ladies with babies and toddlers arrived from 'Bow' in the East End of London. Fortunately for them and the ladies with whom they were billeted, the weather was wonderful with hot and brilliant sunshine. So each morning the evacuees were out sitting on the village greens enjoying a wonderful holiday. However they missed the shops, the noise of ships hooters and traffic and their neighbours. The quietness of village life was not for them. The only time they had ever been in the country was when they spent weeks working in the Kent hop fields. They were gone in two weeks. There was a sigh of relief from their landladies who now had the job of washing wet mattresses etc. where the toddlers had been sleeping. Thankfully September remained dry and sunny. Later when other children arrived it was a sad sight to see the evacuees, without their parents, all standing in the Chapel Schoolroom waiting to be distributed to their various billets. They all had labels attached to their clothing with their names on and they carried their gas masks. In June and September 1940 many evacuees arrived. Many came to stay privately with relations in the village after their homes had been damaged by bombs. A coach load of mainly boys arrived in September and some of those youngsters stayed for many years. Some who were older and had to leave school at 14 years returned home sooner to go to work. One 13 year old had promised his mother that he would look after his two little sisters. But on arrival at Banbury station they were put on another coach with mainly girls. Poor lad -he didn't know what to do. Luckily for him he was billeted with a kind lady whose own children were now grown up, but they had one bicycle. Another lad was sent to a friend and they gave him a bicycle. Together they cycled around the villages after school. This boy didn't know what to write to his Mother. Eventually the sisters were found in Wardington. At first they were with a poor lady who went out to work but she was very kind and the girls loved her. But the authorities frowned on the not too clean home and sent them to live at the Manor. The Lord and Lady lived mainly in London and so the butler looked after them. But the poor little girls had to work very hard and soon Mum came down to see them and finding them so unhappy she took them home to the bombing. At least they were together. The boy remained happily in Cropredy until he had to leave school. He loves to visit now. One or two of the evacuees are still in the area and others make visits occasionally. Village Life in Cropredy There was a good community spirit in the village and no one was envious of their neighbours. Doors were left unlocked and no stealing went on. There was nothing to spend money on, only the cinema or a dance, so money was saved. Connie at the Post Office sold a lot of National Savings stamps and certificates. Sweets and chocolates were rationed and so little money was spent on these treats. Rationing was very strict throughout the war period and to help provide food many people in the village kept pigs and hens. A Pig Club was formed, enabling people to purchase animal feed at slightly reduced prices, although they had to give up some of their food coupons to get flour and corn for the hens and the pigs. Pig killing usually took place in the winter, and what a treat it was to have all that succulent food such as ham, pork and chittlings. All parts of the pig were used in one form or another, The bladder was the only part which wasn't eaten, but this was very useful when blown up and used as a football. Such food was a delight for village people but it didn't suit the stomachs of the evacuees from London and other big towns. They were more used to fish and chips, although they did eventually get used to our food. Cropredy was very fortunate to have a baker and a Co-op store in the village. Mrs Godson's excellent currant buns and bread were delightful. The W.I. purchased a canning machine, and several ladies would get together to prepare fruit and vegetables and take turns to can them. Plums, pears, blackberries etc. were all canned and proved very acceptable. Everyone helped their neighbours and if there was a wedding rations were pooled so that a little treat was forthcoming. Timber was in very short supply and you were only allowed £1's worth of timber per month (about enough to make a door in those days). All building work was under licence, except for buildings such as air raid shelters, but we were not reckoned to be in need of these in the village. Due to the shortage of iron and steel for making war equipment the Government came round and cut out railings around properties, paying only scrap value. Village properties which surrendered their railings included the Chapel, the churchyard, The Green, Fairview (now Peartree House), Constone and Holtwood. Petrol was in short supply and only available on ration coupons, which allowed enough to cover approximately 50 miles a month. Later in the war, or it may have been during the Suez Crisis, red petrol was introduced for commercial vehicles, which included vans and pick-ups only. This put small vans in great demand. It was amazing how farmers travelled about with the same bale of hay in the back, and how many builders did likewise with a bag of cement, in order to make their journey look essential. For a time with so many children in the village, the Village Hall (ex. Servicemen's Hall) had classes, and they were also held in the Church Rooms. We had a cobbler, a proper harness maker, a blacksmith, an engineering works making castings, three builders who all did undertaking and a milkman who brought milk from his own cows round in churns. Public transport was provided by Dawson of Banbury, with their chocolate coloured buses which loaded by their office in the Market Place in Banbury; that was until the Midland Red pushed them out. The wharves were put to full use mainly for coal delivery by boat and sometimes by big lorries direct from the mines. Frank Bott ran the old coal wharf and was a jovial chap. Mr Welford used the other wharf and was followed here later by Albert and Muriel Bradley. Coke was a popular fuel in and around the war years and was purchased from the gas works in Banbury as it was a by product from the manufacture of gas. Canal barges also delivered building materials. There was a large poultry farm run by Walter Hammond of Beech House using land and buildings off Backside. Chickens were hatched and bred for mainly egg production, although a few were probably used for human consumption. The eggs had to be washed and packed before being sent to the Egg Marketing Board. Mr Hammond was a director of that board. He employed several girls, some of whom were in the Land Army. The fowl were fed mainly on waste from the canteens at the aerodromes and large works such as the Aluminium factory. They were also fed on second grade potatoes. Householders fed their poultry on food waste which would be mixed with bran and boiled up; my, that smelt good enough to eat. The Great Western Railway station was a busy place, with the goods yard receiving coal, building materials, farm food and fertilizer. Silcocks had a large shed to distribute cattle food. There was a Nestle chocolate machine on the side of the booking office, but this rarely had any contents. Various passenger trains ran south to London on the 'up line'. The 'down line' ran north to Birmingham, with a return fare to Birmingham being 3s 6d. Village Entertainment The pubs would be open when they had any beer. The piano would be played non-stop in the evenings when airmen and anyone on leave would join in with singing all the wartime songs. The river was a very popular place for swimming, with diving off the bridge. Skating on the canal was popular in the 1939/40 winter which was extremely cold causing the canal to be frozen for a couple of months. Local boys who were stationed at Marlborough Farm Camp, near Kineton, would bring friends over in the evening to skate. Albert Boote gave a fortnightly film show, and a fortnightly dance was held in a packed Village Hall. A band of three or four players from RAF Chipping Warden played from 8 p.m. until midnight, but often there was an extension of one or even two hours. Allotments Although many people had big gardens there was a demand for allotments. Some existed on School Farm land near to the school, one being used by the school children. There were allotments in a small area of land on the Bourton side of the railway, now a pony paddock, but these were for Bourton people. Cropredy's allotments were down the Mollington road (in part of O.S. 517) and there were approximately ten adjacent to the roadside hedge. These were doubled by another row into the field with a cart track between, and there was talk of them extending into the Charity Field to the west. The only water available was from the ditch by the gate but this was usually dry when water was needed most. There was excitement when a Wellington bomber crash landed onto one allotment after grazing a tree in the field opposite. Nothing grew on that allotment for a long time after. The pilot walked up to the village to use a phone. The Aluminium Factory Quite a number of local men and women worked in the factory and the offices of the Northern Aluminium Company (often abbreviated to 'NAC' and later, in the 1960's, known as 'Alcan'). Most worked on shifts -6 a.m. to 2 p.m. ;2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The Ali, as it became known, provided transport throughout the district for the workforce. The pick up point for Cropredy was by the Plantation. George Owen provided the coaches and had to purchase an extra one for this contract -Licence number TER 1021/6. Buses were only provided for shift workers and so the office workers had to cycle, to avoid waiting hours for a bus home. Remember though that there was a black-out and cycle lamps only had a glimmer of light. This mostly shone on the front tyre which was awful on foggy nights. One young teenager riding home on a foggy night and not sure where she was fortunately stopped; another moment and she would have been in the canal. Cycling from Banbury was a hazard as there were no other people around, except on occasions when there were mile long convoys. During the 1940's cycling home was scary as one got to Little Bourton and the ride along the lane. Overhead were many German planes and at Little Bourton they would drop flares so that the countryside was brilliantly lit up. This was on the nights when Coventry and Birmingham were bombed. The canal and the railway line could be seen and the bomber crews could follow them into the industrial towns. The morning after Coventry's big raid people and children were asleep on the seat in Station Road. They had caught the early train which stopped at Cropredy station. Wartime Events 'Wings for Victory' weeks were great occasions when most people went to town on the train or bus to cheer the parade which included troops, Home Guard, firemen, police etc. Money was collected to buy a plane or maybe a ship. One of the special days we celebrated was when the Battle of Tobruk was won. On the Sunday Cropredy, like other churches across the country, had to find someone to ring the church bells. How lovely it was to hear the bells once more. During the summer months of 1940 a platoon of soldiers were under canvas in the field at the back of Andrews Farm. They were there for recovery after being rescued from Dunkirk. They were from many regiments; one we remember was 'The Buffs' who were newly named the 'Pioneer Corps'. A YMCA was set up in the Chapel Schoolroom where tea and biscuits were sold in the evening. In the autumn they were transferred to Aynho Park where barracks had been built. Some of these men returned to Cropredy during the winter to attend services in the Chapel. The officers were billeted in several houses in the village. On D Day we had a very noisy sleepless night with so many planes overhead carrying troops. The next morning there was a lot of chatter at the bus stop about a German plane and a parachutist in the trees on Williamscote Road. One injured man was picked up by Owen's Alcan bus and taken to the Horton Hospital. It turned out that they were some of our troops on their way to France. Something was wrong and they had to parachute out of the Dakota. Some parachutes got tangled up in trees and one man had fallen on the road and was injured. Another parachutist landed in the big beech tree in the Vicarage garden -with the parachute later being used to make some nice silky underwear! This was the last turn out for the Fire Service who recorded the incident at 17.30 on 7th June 1944 with firemen Hobbs, Slaney and Cherry in attendance. When the European War came to an end in May 1945 many ladies who had been saving sugar, fat and flour made some lovely little cakes and jam tarts. Races were also quickly organised in the field behind the Ex-Servicemen's Hut (Village Hall). During the following days people and children collected wood to build a huge celebration bonfire in the field behind Bott's Wharf. There was great excitement with dancing around the fire and singing songs. This plan backfired as we all made our way to the field and news came of a plane crash. The son of the landlord at the 'Brasenose' had been killed. The event continued as the many excited children could not be disappointed, but the evening was soon over. At the end of the war several German and Italian prisoners did not return to their homeland. Instead they remained in Cropredy working for local farmers. ******************** Note: Names of people have purposely not been included |
 |