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Never had it so good !
Memories of wartime infancy and growing up in post-war Box Clive Banks, January 2016 Photos courtesy Clive Banks Right: Newly-discovered group of people, called teenagers, having fun at Weymouth, including Mike Turner, Paul Philips, Sandra Ford, Alan Peacock, Gordon Hall (in hat), Clive Banks, and Elizabeth Ford. |
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My Box story began one weekend in late April 1942 when I was six months old. My family were living in a flat at Lambridge in Bath when the Baedecker air raids took place. After two nights of bombing my mother decided to evacuate to her home village of Box where she had relations. She pushed me in a pram as far as Bathford where we were given a lift.
We took up residence at 1 Rockleigh, the home of my Great Aunts Mabel Vezey and her sister Doll Milsom who was married to Harry Milsom who I came to know as Grandpa. I remember very little of my time at Rockleigh although I understand that I was doted on by my elderly relatives. My grandmother Eugenie (Sarah) Vezey also lived close by at the Devizes Road Toll House.
We took up residence at 1 Rockleigh, the home of my Great Aunts Mabel Vezey and her sister Doll Milsom who was married to Harry Milsom who I came to know as Grandpa. I remember very little of my time at Rockleigh although I understand that I was doted on by my elderly relatives. My grandmother Eugenie (Sarah) Vezey also lived close by at the Devizes Road Toll House.
Clive in 1956 aged 14 with Mel Bush in background at the Rec
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Wartime Childhood
My father was away during the war in the RAF and apparently I used to embarrass my mother by addressing everyone I saw in a blue uniform as Daddy! I remember meeting my dad at Bath Station on his return and being rather confused because he wore a khaki demobilisation uniform. We moved along the road to a little cottage at 1 Queens Square. Like so many young children at the time I had to bond with my new father. It did not help matters that for a prank I locked him in the pantry when my mother was out ! On the first Christmas the next-door neighbour, Mabel Nowell, gave me a stuffed green toy duck which she had made. I loved it and took it everywhere with me. On one occasion my dad took me for a walk through the village and we stopped to look over the wall at the pigs which lived in the field where the doctor's surgery now stands. I dropped the duck into the field where it was eaten by a pig. I was very upset and so was my poor dad who was still working on our bonding. Mabel made a new duck which was red, which I sadly never took to. After the War The years immediately following the war were difficult ones. Furnishing a new home was a hard task. Nothing was available in the shops and if a such a thing as a suite of second hand armchairs was advertised you had to move quickly to beat the competition. |
My father had made the mistake of selling his car during the war and it was a decade before he was in a position to acquire another one. Queens Square now looks quite different. In those days our garden was on top of a high wall which ran all the way to Chapel Lane where we overlooked Browning's Garage opposite. A row of hazel bushes bordered the main road in which I used to make dens. Below the wall on the pavement was the communal Pig Bin in which people put their vegetable scraps. This was probably a hangover from wartime conservation because it disappeared soon after.
My gran realised that what was missing from my life was playmates of my own age so she introduced me to the Gover family who lived opposite her at Creffield. I used to visit there and play with the boys Michael and David. At the age of five I began at Box school. The headmaster was Mr Adams who lived in the school house next door but my teacher was Mrs Fuller. I am afraid that I seemed to have become the teacher's pet as in all the school photographs I am shown standing next to her.
Across the road from us was the Scout hut and I was encouraged to join the cubs. Miss May was the Akela and she was very nice but I was not used to the rough and tumble involved and remember being very confused and isolated. I decided that cubs was not for me and wimped out after a couple of sessions.
When I was about eight years old we moved again to 10 The Bassetts on the other side of the village. Around the same time my parents decided that it would be better for my education if I left the village school and attended St Margaret's Convent School at Chippenham. It was probably the same attitude which made them arrange elocution lessons for me! So off I went on the bus in my smart new brown uniform at a cost of 9 guineas a term. Fellow Box students were Margaret and David Lambert and Rodney Brickell who took me under his wing and told me that I had to ask the bus conductor for two fivepenny returns.
The nuns who taught us were mostly very kind but the Irish one who taught my class had an aversion to the English, Protestants and Males – all of which categories I was seen to fall into ! Rodney, whose father ran the ice-cream factory along the Ley, introduced me to birds nesting and we spent many hours in Ley Woods making bows and arrows and building dens. He also had a little box on top of a cupboard in his front room which showed flickering pictures. It was called a television. Most time, especially in the summer, was spent outdoors, also in the Quarry Woods where we village boys explored the caves.
Every Christmas Day the whole family was summoned to attend the annual party which Aunt Doll arranged at Rockleigh. My Aunt Joan played the piano for sing-songs, and we played games such as Newmarket and Housey-Housey. We listened to the monarch's speech and stood for the national anthem. After a year or two of this I decided to speak up. I announced that in my opinion it was proper that people should stand for the anthem at public events but that it was rather ridiculous that we should all stand like this in a private home! Many of the family members were horrified at my intervention but others had secretly held the same opinion but were either too reserved or too polite to speak up. Anyway I think that the practise was allowed to lapse subsequently.
My gran realised that what was missing from my life was playmates of my own age so she introduced me to the Gover family who lived opposite her at Creffield. I used to visit there and play with the boys Michael and David. At the age of five I began at Box school. The headmaster was Mr Adams who lived in the school house next door but my teacher was Mrs Fuller. I am afraid that I seemed to have become the teacher's pet as in all the school photographs I am shown standing next to her.
Across the road from us was the Scout hut and I was encouraged to join the cubs. Miss May was the Akela and she was very nice but I was not used to the rough and tumble involved and remember being very confused and isolated. I decided that cubs was not for me and wimped out after a couple of sessions.
When I was about eight years old we moved again to 10 The Bassetts on the other side of the village. Around the same time my parents decided that it would be better for my education if I left the village school and attended St Margaret's Convent School at Chippenham. It was probably the same attitude which made them arrange elocution lessons for me! So off I went on the bus in my smart new brown uniform at a cost of 9 guineas a term. Fellow Box students were Margaret and David Lambert and Rodney Brickell who took me under his wing and told me that I had to ask the bus conductor for two fivepenny returns.
The nuns who taught us were mostly very kind but the Irish one who taught my class had an aversion to the English, Protestants and Males – all of which categories I was seen to fall into ! Rodney, whose father ran the ice-cream factory along the Ley, introduced me to birds nesting and we spent many hours in Ley Woods making bows and arrows and building dens. He also had a little box on top of a cupboard in his front room which showed flickering pictures. It was called a television. Most time, especially in the summer, was spent outdoors, also in the Quarry Woods where we village boys explored the caves.
Every Christmas Day the whole family was summoned to attend the annual party which Aunt Doll arranged at Rockleigh. My Aunt Joan played the piano for sing-songs, and we played games such as Newmarket and Housey-Housey. We listened to the monarch's speech and stood for the national anthem. After a year or two of this I decided to speak up. I announced that in my opinion it was proper that people should stand for the anthem at public events but that it was rather ridiculous that we should all stand like this in a private home! Many of the family members were horrified at my intervention but others had secretly held the same opinion but were either too reserved or too polite to speak up. Anyway I think that the practise was allowed to lapse subsequently.
Changes in the 1950s
It was in 1953 that things began to change. It was Coronation year and the war was beginning to be something of the past. We acquired a television and neighbours and friends crowded into our small living room to watch the ceremony.
I passed the eleven plus exam without too much fuss and got a place at City of Bath Boys School. The Box bus in those days used to start and finish at the Grand Parade near the Empire Hotel. To get to school I had to get another bus to the Bear Flat. In the evening, in order to get an earlier bus, I used to run all the way, carrying my satchel, down Beechen Cliff steps over Halfpenny Bridge and all up Manvers Street.
Around this time I have to confess that I went through a period of train spotting. I used to hang about waiting for trains by Box Tunnel and made occasional trips to Bristol Temple Meads and Swindon. The big thrill was to see what engine was pulling the trials stopping train that week. Engines which had recently been reconditioned at Swindon were put on this route all shining with new Great Western green livery.
The area around my old home at 10 The Bassetts has seen a few changes. When we moved in the road was not made up and it led to Thomas Best's garage which stood at the top of the area now occupied by a timber company. Mr Best was a Bath entrepreneur who had made a lot of money dealing in government surplus goods. His garage was a derelict neglected warehouse which was full of, and surrounded by, rubbish of every description. It was a massive eyesore, a huge fire risk and a home for rats and other wildlife. It would seem to have been a wonderful resource for boys to play in but it held nothing of interest.
Nearby in the grounds of what was then the Bath and Portland Stone Firms, stood a large stone ramp which at times was our castle. It seems in fact to have been the terminus of a gradient railway which carried stone from the Clift Works at Box Hill to the railway wharf now occupied by retired peoples accommodation. The gradient railway apparently ran on the south side of the A4 road, passing under it just above what later became number 9 The Bassetts.
Both these features have long been demolished. Tom Best's rubbish was not missed but the old ramp was an interesting piece of industrial archaeology which might have been preserved. The old stables by the railway were where Bill Peters had his riding school. They have now been converted into mews cottages. Mum wanted me to take up riding but I was not interested.
Somewhere around this time council houses were built on what I dimly remember as the fairground field. It was here that many of my friends now lived: David Gover, Geoff Bray, Mel Bush, Grayston Dancey and Gordon Hall.
It was in 1953 that things began to change. It was Coronation year and the war was beginning to be something of the past. We acquired a television and neighbours and friends crowded into our small living room to watch the ceremony.
I passed the eleven plus exam without too much fuss and got a place at City of Bath Boys School. The Box bus in those days used to start and finish at the Grand Parade near the Empire Hotel. To get to school I had to get another bus to the Bear Flat. In the evening, in order to get an earlier bus, I used to run all the way, carrying my satchel, down Beechen Cliff steps over Halfpenny Bridge and all up Manvers Street.
Around this time I have to confess that I went through a period of train spotting. I used to hang about waiting for trains by Box Tunnel and made occasional trips to Bristol Temple Meads and Swindon. The big thrill was to see what engine was pulling the trials stopping train that week. Engines which had recently been reconditioned at Swindon were put on this route all shining with new Great Western green livery.
The area around my old home at 10 The Bassetts has seen a few changes. When we moved in the road was not made up and it led to Thomas Best's garage which stood at the top of the area now occupied by a timber company. Mr Best was a Bath entrepreneur who had made a lot of money dealing in government surplus goods. His garage was a derelict neglected warehouse which was full of, and surrounded by, rubbish of every description. It was a massive eyesore, a huge fire risk and a home for rats and other wildlife. It would seem to have been a wonderful resource for boys to play in but it held nothing of interest.
Nearby in the grounds of what was then the Bath and Portland Stone Firms, stood a large stone ramp which at times was our castle. It seems in fact to have been the terminus of a gradient railway which carried stone from the Clift Works at Box Hill to the railway wharf now occupied by retired peoples accommodation. The gradient railway apparently ran on the south side of the A4 road, passing under it just above what later became number 9 The Bassetts.
Both these features have long been demolished. Tom Best's rubbish was not missed but the old ramp was an interesting piece of industrial archaeology which might have been preserved. The old stables by the railway were where Bill Peters had his riding school. They have now been converted into mews cottages. Mum wanted me to take up riding but I was not interested.
Somewhere around this time council houses were built on what I dimly remember as the fairground field. It was here that many of my friends now lived: David Gover, Geoff Bray, Mel Bush, Grayston Dancey and Gordon Hall.
Sporting Childhood
I have always had a love of sport which I inherited from my father who used to take me to watch Bath Rugby, Bath City football and Somerset cricket. I used to spend a lot of time at Box Rec. There was nearly always a continuous football game to join in going on during summer evenings and cricket net practice on Friday evenings. Mike Gibbons used to bowl as fast as he could at me, left arm round the wicket into my body and bouncing the ball around my ears. We used little protection in those days but I don't remember ever having any fear, although I did get a few bruises.
I used to watch the cricket as a small boy and help to keep the scoreboard going. Players like Nigel Bence and Ken Boulton used to keep me busy. It was a big day for me when I was asked to turn out for Box 2nd eleven one day when they were short and even better when a year or so later I began to open the innings for them. Old stalwarts of the club had now relegated themselves to the 2nd eleven and I learned a lot from them. There was Phil Lambert, Bunno Sawyer, Alec Benjamin, Jack Tottle and Pete Ody, all of whom had played for Box with my father who no longer played because of his health. When I first starting playing for Box Cricket Club we were unable to play home matches on Sundays because of opposition from representatives of the Methodist Church. However a year or so later they relented and Sunday home matches became possible.
Before matches we used to mark out the pitch on a rota basis. Phil was my partner in this. However all the hard day to day work on the wicket was done by Ted Simpkins who also stood as an umpire. The old cricket pavilion then stood in the south east corner of the field with the tea hut a little further to the west. When I first started playing we were driven to away matches by Browning's Coaches stopping at a local pub after the match. All too soon we changed to sharing private cars and something was lost. Later I moved up to the first eleven and opened the batting for them for several happy years before work took me away from the area.
Another activity with which I got involved was the Box Boys' Club which was held a the old Bingham Hall off Chapel Lane. We used to play table tennis and snooker and even had a go at boxing. Don Newman was the club leader, assisted sometimes, if I remember right, by Charlie Phelps. The Bingham Hall was taken care of by the formidable Mrs Burton who used to appear and jangle her keys when it was time to lock up.
One year we had a table tennis tournament and I got to the final where I had to play Alan Peacock. Alan was also a very good cricketer and a tough opponent. I remember being a bit nervous with everyone watching and did not give of my best and finished runner up. However I still have the engraved silver cup which was donated and presented by Box resident, Mr Marsh, who had a jewellers shop in Bath.
We also had a Box Youth soccer team who played in the Chippenham and District Youth League on the sloping field now occupied by the tennis courts and bowling green.[2] I got the job of secretary and had to inform the selected players and post in the results.
I later progressed to play without any great distinction for Box Rovers under the management of dear old Taffy Boulton. Because of his services to local football he, like many other stalwarts, got a ticket to the FA Cup Final every year, a well deserved perk. By then the new pitch had been levelled in the lower field. I recall that for the first few years it drained very badly and the pitch was very heavy going. Previously there had been a hedge between the two fields with a central gate leading to a sloping meadow going down to the railway. When the lower field was first levelled the exposed banks revealed lots of fossils, mostly ammonites I think. I also joined Box Badminton Club who played at the Bingham Hall on Saturday nights.
Teenage Years
I was now coming into my teens and Saturday night began to offer rival attractions. I often used to walk up to Boxfields to the Community centre which was there amongst the prefab houses. An added attraction was that there were girls there and rock and roll music. I made several new friends with people who lived there, especially Roy Collett who became a particular friend. It seems strange that a whole generation of people grew up in those postwar prefabs, which were built on fields where my mother used to go blackberrying and which have now returned to fields again.
I have always had a love of sport which I inherited from my father who used to take me to watch Bath Rugby, Bath City football and Somerset cricket. I used to spend a lot of time at Box Rec. There was nearly always a continuous football game to join in going on during summer evenings and cricket net practice on Friday evenings. Mike Gibbons used to bowl as fast as he could at me, left arm round the wicket into my body and bouncing the ball around my ears. We used little protection in those days but I don't remember ever having any fear, although I did get a few bruises.
I used to watch the cricket as a small boy and help to keep the scoreboard going. Players like Nigel Bence and Ken Boulton used to keep me busy. It was a big day for me when I was asked to turn out for Box 2nd eleven one day when they were short and even better when a year or so later I began to open the innings for them. Old stalwarts of the club had now relegated themselves to the 2nd eleven and I learned a lot from them. There was Phil Lambert, Bunno Sawyer, Alec Benjamin, Jack Tottle and Pete Ody, all of whom had played for Box with my father who no longer played because of his health. When I first starting playing for Box Cricket Club we were unable to play home matches on Sundays because of opposition from representatives of the Methodist Church. However a year or so later they relented and Sunday home matches became possible.
Before matches we used to mark out the pitch on a rota basis. Phil was my partner in this. However all the hard day to day work on the wicket was done by Ted Simpkins who also stood as an umpire. The old cricket pavilion then stood in the south east corner of the field with the tea hut a little further to the west. When I first started playing we were driven to away matches by Browning's Coaches stopping at a local pub after the match. All too soon we changed to sharing private cars and something was lost. Later I moved up to the first eleven and opened the batting for them for several happy years before work took me away from the area.
Another activity with which I got involved was the Box Boys' Club which was held a the old Bingham Hall off Chapel Lane. We used to play table tennis and snooker and even had a go at boxing. Don Newman was the club leader, assisted sometimes, if I remember right, by Charlie Phelps. The Bingham Hall was taken care of by the formidable Mrs Burton who used to appear and jangle her keys when it was time to lock up.
One year we had a table tennis tournament and I got to the final where I had to play Alan Peacock. Alan was also a very good cricketer and a tough opponent. I remember being a bit nervous with everyone watching and did not give of my best and finished runner up. However I still have the engraved silver cup which was donated and presented by Box resident, Mr Marsh, who had a jewellers shop in Bath.
We also had a Box Youth soccer team who played in the Chippenham and District Youth League on the sloping field now occupied by the tennis courts and bowling green.[2] I got the job of secretary and had to inform the selected players and post in the results.
I later progressed to play without any great distinction for Box Rovers under the management of dear old Taffy Boulton. Because of his services to local football he, like many other stalwarts, got a ticket to the FA Cup Final every year, a well deserved perk. By then the new pitch had been levelled in the lower field. I recall that for the first few years it drained very badly and the pitch was very heavy going. Previously there had been a hedge between the two fields with a central gate leading to a sloping meadow going down to the railway. When the lower field was first levelled the exposed banks revealed lots of fossils, mostly ammonites I think. I also joined Box Badminton Club who played at the Bingham Hall on Saturday nights.
Teenage Years
I was now coming into my teens and Saturday night began to offer rival attractions. I often used to walk up to Boxfields to the Community centre which was there amongst the prefab houses. An added attraction was that there were girls there and rock and roll music. I made several new friends with people who lived there, especially Roy Collett who became a particular friend. It seems strange that a whole generation of people grew up in those postwar prefabs, which were built on fields where my mother used to go blackberrying and which have now returned to fields again.
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Rock-and-Roll, and everything that went with it, was an important part of the sense of identity of those of our generation born in the war. It seems incredible now that there were arguments with parents about the width of our trouser bottoms and the length and style of our hair. The local barber, Les Bawtree, would ask when you requested a certain style of cut Are you sure your mother would approve. It was particularly difficult for me as the only son in a respectable old-established Box family.
Somewhere around this time the Bristol authorities decided that Rock-and-Roll was too dangerous for their city and the Bristol bands had to look elsewhere to perform. The result was that they started to offer their services to the surrounding towns and villages. |
At Ryde on the Isle of Wight with Terry Swan, Paul Philips, Gordon Hall, Alan Peacock and Clive Banks
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We began to have gigs at the Bingham Hall. All the top Bristol bands came. I remember the big star was the wonderfully-named Johnny Carr and the Cadillacs. These were exciting times for the teenagers of Box.
At the same time we formed a kind of band of our own. There was Mel Bush on drums and Dave Gover on a washboard arrangement and me and Geoff Bray strumming guitars. Geoff had had guitar lessons and to be honest he was the only one who knew what he was doing. Out of this shambles Geoff went on to form a fairly successful semi-professional group called The Four Specs and Mel went into the pop management and promotion business and became a millionaire. I did continue to sing with the band for fun from time to time. My speciality was a kind of karaoke version of the song Garden of Eden. I had a brief moment of nostalgia many years later when Geoff asked me to sing it again in front of a reunited Four Specs at his 50th birthday party at the Selwyn Hall.
At the same time we formed a kind of band of our own. There was Mel Bush on drums and Dave Gover on a washboard arrangement and me and Geoff Bray strumming guitars. Geoff had had guitar lessons and to be honest he was the only one who knew what he was doing. Out of this shambles Geoff went on to form a fairly successful semi-professional group called The Four Specs and Mel went into the pop management and promotion business and became a millionaire. I did continue to sing with the band for fun from time to time. My speciality was a kind of karaoke version of the song Garden of Eden. I had a brief moment of nostalgia many years later when Geoff asked me to sing it again in front of a reunited Four Specs at his 50th birthday party at the Selwyn Hall.
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Outings
Another highlight of our teenage years were the summer Sunday coach trips which were arranged by Gordon Hall and driven by Johnny Miller of Miller's Coaches. The formula was an early morning pick-up in the village, a trip to a seaside resort such as Weymouth, and a stop in a remote country pub where no questions were asked about whether we were over 18 (we weren't). After the pub stop a bit of pairing up would then inevitably take place ! Miller's Coach Outing with Alan Peacock, Clive Banks, Gordon Hall and Tony Ford. Can anyone name the others please? |
I must have missed one particular trip for some reason, but the story I heard was that, when the coach was due to leave, Mel Bush was missing. Johnny drove round with a full coach load to Mel's house in Bargates and blew his horn. Mel peered out of the window in his pyjamas and rushed out hurriedly adjusting his clothing. I like to think that this was a true story. Hopefully someone who was there can confirm it. Other trips arranged by Gordon were to see shows at Colston Hall and London. Thanks Gordon !
On Saturday nights we usually met up at the Queens Head for a drink and a game of darts or shove halfpenny. We would then go off to Bath to a dance at the Grosvenor Club or the Regency Ballroom. I remember seeing Acker Bilk there. Usually we would catch the last train home to Box Mill Lane Halt. If we missed it, we had to walk. One day we got on the wrong train and had to get off at Bathampton. Luckily our cricket umpire, Alec Smith, was on duty in the signal box there and he pulled a few heavy levers to stop the Box train for us to get on.
Leaving Box
With the end of the fifties my teenage years were coming to an end. I got a job in Swindon and eventually moved there. I never lived in Box again but it will always be my spiritual home where I spent my formative years and where my roots remain. I now live in Larkhall, Bath, so I am not far away !
On Saturday nights we usually met up at the Queens Head for a drink and a game of darts or shove halfpenny. We would then go off to Bath to a dance at the Grosvenor Club or the Regency Ballroom. I remember seeing Acker Bilk there. Usually we would catch the last train home to Box Mill Lane Halt. If we missed it, we had to walk. One day we got on the wrong train and had to get off at Bathampton. Luckily our cricket umpire, Alec Smith, was on duty in the signal box there and he pulled a few heavy levers to stop the Box train for us to get on.
Leaving Box
With the end of the fifties my teenage years were coming to an end. I got a job in Swindon and eventually moved there. I never lived in Box again but it will always be my spiritual home where I spent my formative years and where my roots remain. I now live in Larkhall, Bath, so I am not far away !
References
[1] We hope to include another article from Clive called The Longest Day in a later issue.
[2] See Clive's article The Hungarian Revolt.
[1] We hope to include another article from Clive called The Longest Day in a later issue.
[2] See Clive's article The Hungarian Revolt.