The History Group

Leader:  Ronald (Yogi) Godwin - history@ashbyu3a.co.uk - phone 01530 467840

Yogi is ably assisted by Jane Barnett, Barbara Ball, Colin Ellis, Jane Harris and Isobel Salt

Contrary to what you may have heard, the Group is NOT closing but is continuing for at least next year.

All Ashby u3a members are welcome at our meetings.

All meetings with speakers will be held at Packington Memorial Hall on the 4th Thursday of the month.
Doors open for Packington meetings at 2.15pm. Admission £2

Details of visits will be advised closer to the time.
The following dates have been arranged, but may be subject to changes which will be announced as and when they are known.

Thursday 26th June. Frank Bedford. ‘Growing up on a farm with Roald Dahl as a neighbour’

Frank Bedford is an Ashby man, who grew up in Buckinghamshire on a farm. His talk was mainly of farm life and how it changed in the last century when his large family ran the farm, with notes on the presence of Roald Dahl next door.

But first Yogi kept us well informed with his regular ‘Anniversary’ set.

On this day in 1483, Richard III came to the throne; Elvis Presley performed his last concert in 1977; the first Harry Potter book ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ was published in 1997.

Also in June the Normandy Landings took place in 1944, with far fewer casualties than expected except at Omaha Beach, where the American troops faced high cliffs and fierce opposition.

On June 27th, 2007, Gordon Brown became Prime Minister after Tony Blair walked away. On the same day in 1846 Charles Parnell was born, later to head the Home Rule movement in Ireland. The founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, and his brother were murdered. On the 25th of June 1950, the Korean War broke out (anyone remember M.A.S.H.?), and on the same day in 2009, Michael Jackson died.

He then handed over to Frank.

Frank’s farm was in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, in the valley of the River Misbourne, a very beautiful part of England. He says he left the farm because there were already far too many family members involved. He noted his grandparents, parents, cousins and siblings, but seems to have liked the life.

He showed us many photos cataloguing the changes in farm life, machines and practices over the last century. Some of us recognised the horses and the machines they pulled, the pony and trap needed to get to the station 6 miles away, and the look of the fields at harvest time. Your correspondent remembers playing among the tent-like ‘stooks’ and even being given rides on the tractor pulling the harvester. Others were just too young, or lived in cities far from the land, and did not recall the plethora of horses on farms. One of the most modern machines was an early combine harvester. Hired with a driver, it still required men on top to bag the wheat as it was threshed. A striking impression was gained of the sheer numbers working on farms: today you might see a large machine in the distance travelling over a huge field, but usually the scenery is empty of life.

Frank’s photos showed us many details of life on the farm, from huge piles of mangle-wurzels to outside toilets and hand pumped water towers. It seems also that his parents were what he described as ‘racy’! We saw his mother and friend astride a vintage 1940/50 motorbike, and another of his mother on a three-speed pushbike with half drop handlebars. Did our mothers even dare to try these?

There were several photos from the later years (in colour) charting the slow decline of the farm and its eventual sale and redevelopment.

Roald Dahl came briefly into the picture as he lived next door and was very familiar with the family. One of his wife’s books on cooking referred to the farm and Frank’s parents. He is buried in the local churchyard near to them.

It seems that farm life eventually took an early toll of the Bedford family. His father died in 1988, and his brothers also went early in life.

What emerged from the story was the dramatic change in farming life after WWII. From a landscape teeming with workers and horses, to an empty industrialised world, took less than two generations.

We shall not see its like again.

May thanks Frank for such an evocative talk.

Earlier history meeting