Tom Cowell (left in 2002) who immigrated to Canada in 1955 writes :-
Tom Cowell (left in 1942/3 ?)
I started school in 1931 at Ethelburga Street and very early on struck a friendship with an older boy named Charlie Sammonds. I think he went to BCS in ’37 and I followed in 1938.
I was on holiday when the war started and my parents decided that Suffolk, between Beccles and Lowestoft, was as safe as anywhere was and so I stayed. 1939 was my third summer with a family friend who was a poultry farmer/market gardener.
My hosts were in their seventies and were not really able to cope with a twelve-year-old on a full time basis. After a weekend with six grandchildren I think I know what noble creatures they were. Arrangements were made for me to rejoin BCS for the fall of 1940.
I was billeted with Corporal and Mrs. Potter in Snailing Lane. Mr. P. was in the RE stationed at Longmore. There were two boys living at home, Billy and David plus two older girls one in WAAF and the other in service. At the time of my arrival one other evacuee lived there and that was Jim Booth. He returned to London shortly after. On one side of the Potters were the Checkley brothers, Jim, and Bill and on the other was Dennis Goodson. Further along the road D.G.Lewis boarded with the Legges. The initial problems of school accommodation had been resolved by that time and so while I returned to very confined facilities, classes were more or less normal.
There was the morning walk to school that included Tiddlers Hill. This was renowned for its 1 in 4 gradient. It was unpaved and I believe that a steamroller came DOWN once a year to pack the gravel.
Later that year Michael Bryant joined me at Potter’s. I had known him for a number of years, as our parents were friends. Subsequently he moved on to attend Battersea Grammar and I changed lodgings to
Hawkley Hurst (shown left) at the end of 1942/3.
This was the domain of T C Davies and his wife. In a different world it was also the domain of George Hudson the butler and May Hudson his wife who was the cook. Other fixtures were Miss Harris who was variously described as companion and housekeeper and Lizzie the housemaid.
The head gardener was Mr. Sutherland and he and the Hudson's had adjoining cottages beyond the garage. One of the gardeners, a Mr. Harvey came in to clean the shoes first thing every day and when I left to join up he presented me with a pair of bristle brushes, which are still in use. The estate also employed a gamekeeper-Mr. Goddard, a chauffeur Mr. Norris and a crazy Irish dairyman who on my morning visits would always ask the question ‘and how is his honour at the castle’ in a brogue one could cut with a knife.
Mrs. Davies took me under her wing and enquired about my reading preferences. I don’t think she had heard of the Wizard or Hotspur and was not overly impressed with the limited popular classics that I had completed. From late 1942 until I left I was given guidance and encouragement to extend the range and appreciation of a wide variety of literature. The house library was fairly well stocked and in latter years was added to if it was felt it would be useful to me.
Tom in his Army Cadet uniform on the front garden entrance of Hawkley Hurst, photograph taken by Mrs. Davies.
I was encouraged to work. I collected the milk daily from the dairy and worked in the garden. Additional chores on Sundays were to stoke the boiler and Aga stove and walks to the village and escort Lizzie back to the house following her afternoon off. It was a great life. Mrs. Hudson worried that I was too thin for my height and tried, unsuccessfully, to fatten me up. At 17 when I entered training camp in Inverness I was almost 6’2" and still only 154lbs. Mr. Hudson too was very kind and treated me like one of the family. The Hudson's had two girls, one was a ‘special’ child and helped her mother in the kitchen, and the other was a serving WREN. The household gathered for morning prayers at 8:30 but for me it was only at weekends as at that time I was on my way to school. Mrs.D played the piano and often on Sunday evenings we would gather round the piano in the main hall for a sing along. She gave me my first piano lessons but foolishly I did not pursue them. I was more interested in the billiard room.
The Kings, E.C. his wife, and daughter had an apartment on the ‘nursery’ floor and Mrs. King tried to teach us dancing to the Victor Sylvester radio programme. Arthur Govus was my constant companion during this time, and Charlie Sammonds in addition to his leadership in the cadets was viewed with some awe over his academic accomplishments.
Some of you may recall the approach to the Hurst. From the Hawkley end it was a basic driveway. From the Greatham end the drive went through fields with unique gates. Apparently they were seen in Argentina and replicated for the Davies’. A car would drive over a metal hoop that was attached to a chain that lifted the gate off its hook allowing it swing open. The car drove through, drove over the hoop on the other side causing the gate to lift and swing shut. A great idea particularly if it was raining and muddy
The river Rother ran through much of the estate. There is not a lot to see at this stage of its journey but I have fond memories of the watercress beds down by the Mill and of the primroses and violets that grew in the river’s banks.
There were lots of wooded areas with wild orchids and varieties of fungi and in the spring daffodils. There was Hazel a trees-and nuts, Horse Chestnut trees and conkers, cow pats and mushroom. There was space. Space for recreation, space for contemplation especially on the terraces below the house where there were benches with folding backs covered with metal that protected the seats from rain and dew.
Under the leadership of Mr. King assisted by Charlie Sammonds we had a successful Army Cadet platoon. A youth club emerged and there were the village dances. Most of the dancers came from various army camps but primarily from Borden a staging camp for Canadians. We callow schoolboys attended for the refreshments although I recall a couple of the older ladies trying valiantly to introduce us to the waltz and Valetta.
One local girl married a Canadian. Her family name was Chapman and she served in the WRENS. When my family was en route to Canada in 1955 Mrs. Chapman was on the same boat on her way to visit her daughter.
I look back with fond memories of my years in Hawkley. I am grateful to the masters whose dedication gave us such a great start, to Cliff Douthwaite for the web site without which I would not have recalled some of the names that are there. I would also like to acknowledge the outstanding tenacity of Charlie as a correspondent. For years he kept us in touch and informed. Arthur, Charlie, and I were a formidable trio after the war and we enjoyed our return trips to Hawkley and Empshott.
Charlie of course, became much more involved in the years after I came to Canada. We managed to get together during my infrequent visits to the UK and I always made my pilgrimage. Arthur is not renowned for his writing but did perform admirably as Best Man when I married my wife Lynn in 1951.
The three of us go back a long way. With Chas it’s over seventy years and the ones spent in Hawkley represent a fascinating interlude in our extended friendship.
footnote:-
In my memories of Battersea I recall an ice cream shop at Clapham Junction named Notarriani. The owner had lost part of one arm as an Italian ally in WW1 and one of his sons lost part of an arm inWW2 while in the British forces. I think the son's name was Aldo. There was also a daughter, Maria. The business continued during the war and Sammonds, Govus and Cowell were regular customers in the late forties and early fifties.
