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Box in 1940s and 50s: Genevieve Brunt's Memories Genevieve Horne (nee Brunt) Newspaper photos courtesy The Wiltshire Times September 2018 I was born in 1944 as the war was coming to a close and people were trying to return to a civilised, normal life. Growing up in Box, I had the run of the central village with many relatives and family friends that I could visit. It was an ideal childhood and I still regard Box as my home, even though we left when I was eight years old. Left: Me as a nineteen-year-old My sister, Edwina Ernestine Brunt was born in 1932 and Mrs Shaw-Mellor agreed to be one of the god-parents, such was the respect they had for the family of one of their employees. My parents had many hobbies: for my mother it was the family, the church and producing theatrical events: for my father there was sport, especially cricket. My mum was told not to have more children and they adopted my brother Tim before the war. I was born in 1944 perhaps by mistake. Childhood Memories I was entered for various childhood events, a coster (street seller) in the 1945 Peace Celebrations, Bonny Baby contests at Box, Kington St Michael and Corsham in the Welcome Home Fundraising events and in the chorus of the Box Pantomime of Aladdin as a two-year old in 1946 and performing as a solo dancer in 1950 at the Box Methodist Church after we attended there as a family. I did enjoy classical ballet but ultimately, I followed a different route to my sister and often performed in Speech and Drama Contests often with recitals from the bible or verse readings and was fortunate to be given a role as a 19-year-old in a BBC radio series At the Luscombes, playing Judy, the village shop girl in 1964. |
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The years before the 1948 National Health Service were a mixture of domestic common sense and well-meaning attempts to improve the health of the nation's children after years of rationing. Much younger than my sister Edwina and brother Tim, I grew up largely on my own as a single child. My mum Mildred and I would regularly queue up in the Methodist Church schoolroom for our rations of cod liver oil and orange juice with added vitamins which were dished out by Nurse Challinor, whose physical frame and authoritarian attitude terrified me. She was helped in midwifery matters by elderly ladies of the village including our neighbour Mrs Bow at 4 Valens Terrace.
When I caught measles aged about four my mum took me immediately down to Mrs Bow for diagnosis and a cure to the blood in my vomit. The authoritative lady looked carefully before giving her opinion, That's her liver been and came up. Thankfully, I survived. Right: Edwina and me posing outside the Bingham Hall in 1947 |
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Phyllis Johnson who later married Gilbert Sawyer
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As youngsters we formed a gang of children who often played around Box Church. We had an initiation ceremony for children to join our gang, the Gooly Gang, which we had named in imitation of the Girl Guides. To be accepted as a member you had to have your head dunked in the water trough outside the gate of Box Church. It was for our friends including Phyllis Johnson (left), a wonderful girl from the north of England who never lost her accent and later married Gilbert Sawyer. I knew the area well because my grandparents had lived at Springfield Cottages, with our family friends, Emmy Phelps on one side and Leslie and Louisa Mary Hinton on the other.
Box was a small village in the 1930s and rumours and village gossip abounded, especially when people were seen to be different or rising above their station. Mildred attracted opposition partially because of her desire for the success of her children and the publicity she used to great effect in promoting theatrical shows. It started when a rumour concerning their small daughter was circulated particularly amongst residents of Market Place, Blue Vein and Box Hill. Mildred threatened legal action. Mildred continued to have a high profile and in January 1936 she produced the entertainment at a tea for Box Old Folk involving an amusing sketch Apartments to Let.[1] Her energy and creativity were prolific; at the end of that year she organised a play by Box Church Sunday School children Granny's Picture for a show in the Bingham Hall.[2] |
Life at Valens Terrace
Until I was 8 years old we lived at 2 Valens Terrace, Box. In number 1 was Elizabeth Sawyer, widow, with her son Hubert; number 2 us, including my grandmother Kate Garland; number 3 Augustus and Florence Perren, number 4 brother and sister Rummings; number 5 the Bow and Smith families; and number 6 the Johnsons who were replaced after the war by the Goulds.
Until I was 8 years old we lived at 2 Valens Terrace, Box. In number 1 was Elizabeth Sawyer, widow, with her son Hubert; number 2 us, including my grandmother Kate Garland; number 3 Augustus and Florence Perren, number 4 brother and sister Rummings; number 5 the Bow and Smith families; and number 6 the Johnsons who were replaced after the war by the Goulds.
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As now, it was a very close community because the back gardens of the houses were long, thin strips of land so that neighbours knew each other well. Gus Perren was a carpenter who had lost a leg in the First World War and his wife was the long-time organist at Box Church. They shared the house with their daughter Marjorie and their grandson Robert. It was a rather crowded area where several evacuee families were billeted on the residents. For many years my parents had a young evacuee boy from Budapest, George Steiner, and later took in child evacuees from London. At number 5 Ken, Dorothy and their daughter Sandra Hillier lived with the Smith and Bow families. The Brunts lived at Valens Terrace, three doors up from Edwin Bow and several prominent Methodist families. Their long association with Box Church gradually came to an end and the family started to attend Box Methodist Chapel in 1936. By 1944 Mildred became involved in the Methodist Sunday School and assisted in a children's concert organised by Dora and Alec Smith in December that year. It comprised nursery rhyme scenes featuring Adrian and Francis Cook, Norma Dancey, Sheila, Marcia and Fay Cleverley; and the Brunt children and their friends and neighbours Valerie Smith, Audrey Moules, Janet Hinton, Glenise Hulbert and Rosemary Cope. Left: George Steiner, evacuee child |
My mum continued to produce plays and shows in the 1950s; the difference being that the productions included me and my brother Tim instead of Edwina.
In December 1950 the Methodist Church welcomed new minister Rev TW Coleman and his wife (shown centre above) with a Christmas Bazaar. Tim was the young boy seen top right.
Above: Rev Coleman and the Box Methodist members at a Christmas celebration in 1950.
Uncles, Aunts and Cousins
My uncle Victor (Ernest Victor) Brunt married Nancy E Wheeler and in 1939 they lived at Amberley, Townsend, with Nancy's mother, Dora. I remember their house - or rather their toilet, which was an earth closet loo which was emptied in the garden and had newspaper cut up and hung on string for loo paper. Later Dora moved a few doors away when her whole house was a tiny part of Rookery Nook on Hazelbury Hill, no more than one room downstairs and one upstairs (but I was never invited up there).
Victor worked for AK (Alf ) Lambert, stone mason owner who lived at Townsend, acting as chauffeur and handyman for Alf. Victor and Nancy were obviously well-respected and Alf left £250 to each of them in his will in appreciation for all that they have done for me, when he died in 1965.[3] Victor and Nancy had a daughter, Diane, who was married at 17, lived at Bow Cottage, Glovers Lane, Townsend. She died tragically aged 22 with two small children
My uncle Victor (Ernest Victor) Brunt married Nancy E Wheeler and in 1939 they lived at Amberley, Townsend, with Nancy's mother, Dora. I remember their house - or rather their toilet, which was an earth closet loo which was emptied in the garden and had newspaper cut up and hung on string for loo paper. Later Dora moved a few doors away when her whole house was a tiny part of Rookery Nook on Hazelbury Hill, no more than one room downstairs and one upstairs (but I was never invited up there).
Victor worked for AK (Alf ) Lambert, stone mason owner who lived at Townsend, acting as chauffeur and handyman for Alf. Victor and Nancy were obviously well-respected and Alf left £250 to each of them in his will in appreciation for all that they have done for me, when he died in 1965.[3] Victor and Nancy had a daughter, Diane, who was married at 17, lived at Bow Cottage, Glovers Lane, Townsend. She died tragically aged 22 with two small children
Robert Golledge and Diane Brunt on their wedding day in 1962
Family Friends
The neighbours of my grandparents at Springfield Cottages remained close friends of my parents. Emmy Phelps never had children and later moved into Stanley Cottage, Bull's Lane, now developed as part of Gregory Close. When my grandmother died, she became my unofficial granny and entertained me with wooden bricks and a tin full of coloured buttons. She never had children and was a widow by the time I was born.
Leslie and Louisa Mary Hinton were our other close family friends. Louisa (nee Johnson) had worked with my grandfather Edwin Garland at Box House and the friendship covered three generations. Les and Louisa remained in Church Cottage (Springfield Cottages) most of their married lives. Les ran a butcher's shop in the Market Place and was one of the main bell-ringers at Box Church.
The neighbours of my grandparents at Springfield Cottages remained close friends of my parents. Emmy Phelps never had children and later moved into Stanley Cottage, Bull's Lane, now developed as part of Gregory Close. When my grandmother died, she became my unofficial granny and entertained me with wooden bricks and a tin full of coloured buttons. She never had children and was a widow by the time I was born.
Leslie and Louisa Mary Hinton were our other close family friends. Louisa (nee Johnson) had worked with my grandfather Edwin Garland at Box House and the friendship covered three generations. Les and Louisa remained in Church Cottage (Springfield Cottages) most of their married lives. Les ran a butcher's shop in the Market Place and was one of the main bell-ringers at Box Church.
Mildred in background, Janet Hinton left and Edwina kneeling in 1941.
Conclusion
We held a marvellous reunion for family and friends in Box in 2019 where over 50 people attended. Because of distance many family members had never been to the village before but there were many Box residents from the 1950s and 60s who returned for the reunion. It was wonderful and all I can say is: Thank you Box village for so many happy memories and for being so welcoming still.
We held a marvellous reunion for family and friends in Box in 2019 where over 50 people attended. Because of distance many family members had never been to the village before but there were many Box residents from the 1950s and 60s who returned for the reunion. It was wonderful and all I can say is: Thank you Box village for so many happy memories and for being so welcoming still.
References
[1] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 4 January 1936
[2] 27 January 1937
[3] Information courtesy Margaret Wakefield, nee Lambert
[1] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 4 January 1936
[2] 27 January 1937
[3] Information courtesy Margaret Wakefield, nee Lambert