The Bear Inn in 1960s
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Hopper Family at the Bear Inn
Liz Debenham (nee Hopper) Photos courtesy Liz Debenham, May 2020 I lived at The Bear Inn, Box, between 1966 and 1968. I was a girl at the time, but I remember a lot about the village and I'd love to hear from anyone who recalls those times. I was about six when we moved to Box and, although we were only at The Bear for a short time, I loved it. My parents, Freddy and Joan Hopper, ran a pub on the Isle of Wight, the White Horse at Whitwell, in the late 1950s, then up to the West Country in the early 1960s. My father was a tenant with Ushers the brewery and it was the first of many pubs that we lived in. |
The Bear Inn in 1960s
I like to think that we improved the pub and I remember my mum re-decorating the big back room with some very fashionable trends at the time - loud, orange, circle wallpaper! The pub had two bars, the public and the lounge which was rather small with a fireplace. The kitchen was at the back, the gents was outside and the ladies in the steps from the kitchen out into the garden. The garden had low walls and the car park was at the side to the left with the cellar steps to the right. The garden was large and high and the surrounding properties were lower. The bedrooms were a reasonable size: mum and dad had the one with the big window and my nana had the one with a small window. I think there were four bedrooms altogether and a bathroom.
In May 1967 my sister Rosalind came back from Australia where she had been a Ten Pound Pom. We had already agreed to have a new sign to go outside the pub and my mum thought it would be nice to have a koala on the sign to mark the occasion and the sign actually remained for a couple of years after we left.
My mum had paying guests and bed & breakfast in the pub from time to time. The visitors were mostly passing trade until,
in 1968, she put up some archaeologists who dug up part of The Rec near the tennis courts where the quick sand was.
They built the Selwyn Hall on the site. My mum loved having the archaeologists.
I like to think that we improved the pub and I remember my mum re-decorating the big back room with some very fashionable trends at the time - loud, orange, circle wallpaper! The pub had two bars, the public and the lounge which was rather small with a fireplace. The kitchen was at the back, the gents was outside and the ladies in the steps from the kitchen out into the garden. The garden had low walls and the car park was at the side to the left with the cellar steps to the right. The garden was large and high and the surrounding properties were lower. The bedrooms were a reasonable size: mum and dad had the one with the big window and my nana had the one with a small window. I think there were four bedrooms altogether and a bathroom.
In May 1967 my sister Rosalind came back from Australia where she had been a Ten Pound Pom. We had already agreed to have a new sign to go outside the pub and my mum thought it would be nice to have a koala on the sign to mark the occasion and the sign actually remained for a couple of years after we left.
My mum had paying guests and bed & breakfast in the pub from time to time. The visitors were mostly passing trade until,
in 1968, she put up some archaeologists who dug up part of The Rec near the tennis courts where the quick sand was.
They built the Selwyn Hall on the site. My mum loved having the archaeologists.
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Box School
I went to the junior school in Box. As a small child, I'd spent a lot of time in hospital and I was late starter. I was quite over-whelmed by Box School - the class room was large with desks and a blackboard and large widows up high. There were outside loos and the doors had a gap top and bottom. I was attacked by a daddy long legs one day in the loo and I've been afraid of them ever since! Right: Me photographed in 1966 |
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I remember a fete on The Rec with stalls and games to play. After weeks of practice, the older girls did a maypole dance, dressed in their best dresses with a ring of flowers on their heads. Nothing matched, but they got hold of those ribbons and skipped and wove in and out. At the end of the dance, the pole was plaited in perfect colours. Brilliant!
One time, the dinner ladies made me sit until I had eaten all my custard. I sat there for a long, long time. One of the other dinner ladies had a word with my mum and it was soon sorted.
I remember when the school dentist came and we were all lined up to have our teeth checked. I was one of the unlucky ones who had teeth removed or filed or filled. That was the way it was done then. We had milk at school in small bottles with straws.
Around the Village
I remember getting barley sugar from the chemist shop opposite the pub. We went there because the sweet shop was too far down the High Street. The sweet shop was on The Parade and a girl lived in the house opposite called Sofie.
I was friendly with the Wall family who lived in Church Lane in the house set back from the road, called Springfield. It was quite large and had a small stream in the front garden. There were five children in the family: Caroline, Rona, Mandy, lmogen and Wolf.
I was best friends with Mandy as she was the same age as me. We spent a lot of time together as we had easy access to each other over the wall at the back garden of The Bear. Mandy and I spent a lot of time exploring the village, in the bluebell woods, the frozen food depot in The Ley, the railway line which was a long walk for us then, up Box Hill to the tunnel, along Mill Lane and Fairmead View, where a lady used to give us water biscuits with jam on. We weren't brave enough to go into Box House, but we went to a garden fete in a big house at the other end of the High Street.
Mandy’s mum was an artist and her dad an engineer who had a computer shop in Bath. In those days, computers were the size of large filing cabinets. In about 1968, he told me This is the future but I wasn't impressed, neither was my dad. Little did we know! The Wall children all went to school in Bath and they had an au pair to look after them. The family moved to America in the early 1970s.
In 1966 we had a lot of snow, not as much as 1962-63 but enough to block off the village for some time. We slid down Church Lane on trays. It seemed that the village was totally isolated and we were only surviving because people pulled together to support each other.
One time, the dinner ladies made me sit until I had eaten all my custard. I sat there for a long, long time. One of the other dinner ladies had a word with my mum and it was soon sorted.
I remember when the school dentist came and we were all lined up to have our teeth checked. I was one of the unlucky ones who had teeth removed or filed or filled. That was the way it was done then. We had milk at school in small bottles with straws.
Around the Village
I remember getting barley sugar from the chemist shop opposite the pub. We went there because the sweet shop was too far down the High Street. The sweet shop was on The Parade and a girl lived in the house opposite called Sofie.
I was friendly with the Wall family who lived in Church Lane in the house set back from the road, called Springfield. It was quite large and had a small stream in the front garden. There were five children in the family: Caroline, Rona, Mandy, lmogen and Wolf.
I was best friends with Mandy as she was the same age as me. We spent a lot of time together as we had easy access to each other over the wall at the back garden of The Bear. Mandy and I spent a lot of time exploring the village, in the bluebell woods, the frozen food depot in The Ley, the railway line which was a long walk for us then, up Box Hill to the tunnel, along Mill Lane and Fairmead View, where a lady used to give us water biscuits with jam on. We weren't brave enough to go into Box House, but we went to a garden fete in a big house at the other end of the High Street.
Mandy’s mum was an artist and her dad an engineer who had a computer shop in Bath. In those days, computers were the size of large filing cabinets. In about 1968, he told me This is the future but I wasn't impressed, neither was my dad. Little did we know! The Wall children all went to school in Bath and they had an au pair to look after them. The family moved to America in the early 1970s.
In 1966 we had a lot of snow, not as much as 1962-63 but enough to block off the village for some time. We slid down Church Lane on trays. It seemed that the village was totally isolated and we were only surviving because people pulled together to support each other.
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My Family My half-sister Carole Ellis married Geoff Twigger in Box Church in October 1966. Her father had died on D-Day 1944 whilst serving in the RAF. Tony Fry became the bar man for the day, so that we could all get away to the wedding. I'm sure he was something to do with scouts in the village. Tony Fry in the lounge bar of The Bear, 1966 |
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My mum used to help in jumble sales to raise money for the scouts. I think the scouts went down the bore on the By Brook in 1967-68 to launch a canoe and I remember that my mum christened the boat at the brook. I loved the brook and the field beyond behind Box House, where there were crayfish and water voles. I used to play with a girl, whose father worked at Box House who had Pelham puppets. I was very impressed with them and I remember the high wall to the House. I think her name was Jill.
My grandmother came to live with us. She was a very Victorian lady, dressed in high-necked blouses, long skirts, ankle-boots and with her hair up. She had enjoyed a full life but suffered with dementia (not that we realised at the time). She was often confused and took herself off on the bus but with no idea where she was going or how to get back. Once she dug up the daffodils in the garden below us and the owners of that part of the building were not happy. One winter she fell down the cellar steps at The Bear and broke her arm. She hid it for a few days and wouldn't let my mum see what she had done. My sister Viv was called for as nana had spent much time bringing Viv up in her early life. Nana went to hospital where they gave her a general anaesthetic to set her arm. My mum was beside herself but the doctor in the village came to her rescue and recommended a home where nana was far more settled and lived out the rest of her life.
We left Box in mid-1968 to go to the Abbey Wine Vaults in the centre of Bath. This was a hard-going pub on four floors. My mum liked to move and we lived at The Bear, The Abbey Wine Vaults Bath, Camden Road Bath, The Salt House in Clevedon, The Hope and Anchor in Midford Bath, Downhouse on the Upper Bristol Road Bath, a cafe at the top of Victoria Park, dad was the barman at Bailbrook College and then we moved to the Isle of Wight, where we had four different houses. But this didn’t suit me and I've lived in my married house for over 35 years. I wonder why!
My grandmother came to live with us. She was a very Victorian lady, dressed in high-necked blouses, long skirts, ankle-boots and with her hair up. She had enjoyed a full life but suffered with dementia (not that we realised at the time). She was often confused and took herself off on the bus but with no idea where she was going or how to get back. Once she dug up the daffodils in the garden below us and the owners of that part of the building were not happy. One winter she fell down the cellar steps at The Bear and broke her arm. She hid it for a few days and wouldn't let my mum see what she had done. My sister Viv was called for as nana had spent much time bringing Viv up in her early life. Nana went to hospital where they gave her a general anaesthetic to set her arm. My mum was beside herself but the doctor in the village came to her rescue and recommended a home where nana was far more settled and lived out the rest of her life.
We left Box in mid-1968 to go to the Abbey Wine Vaults in the centre of Bath. This was a hard-going pub on four floors. My mum liked to move and we lived at The Bear, The Abbey Wine Vaults Bath, Camden Road Bath, The Salt House in Clevedon, The Hope and Anchor in Midford Bath, Downhouse on the Upper Bristol Road Bath, a cafe at the top of Victoria Park, dad was the barman at Bailbrook College and then we moved to the Isle of Wight, where we had four different houses. But this didn’t suit me and I've lived in my married house for over 35 years. I wonder why!
Family Tree
Frederick William Ewart Hopper (23 January 1919 – 1995) ran The Bear Inn in the years 1966 to 1968. The pub had five different tenants in the 1960s. In 1939 he was a clerk and shorthand typist, the son of Ewart William and Minnie Hopper, who lived at East Ham. He married Joan L Ellis at Westminster, London in 1950.
Frederick William Ewart Hopper (23 January 1919 – 1995) ran The Bear Inn in the years 1966 to 1968. The pub had five different tenants in the 1960s. In 1939 he was a clerk and shorthand typist, the son of Ewart William and Minnie Hopper, who lived at East Ham. He married Joan L Ellis at Westminster, London in 1950.