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Weeks Family
Eddie Weeks All photos Eddie Weeks July 2016 My name is Edmund Weeks, now aged 82. I was born in Ashley in 1934 where I lived until 1952, although my parents lived there until their deaths in 1961 and 1966. Len Weeks, the cub master, was my cousin, the son of my father's youngest brother. Sadly he died in Chippenham in 2016. It is interesting that Weeks and Wicks are the commonest names in Colerne whereas in Box there were only three, all my family. I have lived away from Box since 1952 and have lived in Ewell near Epsom for the last 45 years. I now have no connections with the village, having sold a few years ago a field adjoining the A4 and opposite the White Wall which I inherited from my father. My grandfather and his parents were all born and bred in Colerne. Many of the stone masons who worked in the stone yards at Box Station lived in Colerne, walking to and from work over the fields via Middlehill and Ditteridge. The photo right from World War 1 is reputed to be taken in France. It shows Arthur Weeks (my uncle who lived at Estaires, Ashley), Thomas Weeks, seated (my father who was an armourer in the Royal Flying Corps) and Walter Weeks (my father's younger brother and father of my cousin Len). |
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My Family at Box Station Stoneyards
One of the stoneyards at Box station was run by my father from the 1930s until he retired in the early 1960s. Four yards were owned by the Bath and Portland Stone Firms (B&PSF) at Box Station and another at the Wharf. The yards were run by master masons acting as sub contractors to B&PSF. In the early 1930s these masons were H Norkett, Joel Weeks (my grandfather), Mr Lambert and another, possibly Mr Milsom or another Mr Lambert. My father drew wages of £60 per week and had to work out the tax and national insurance from the tax tables, which I used to help him to calculate as a twelve-year old. Mr Chaffey always brought the cash down for the wages.
Many of the people my family knew are seen in the photo below from the 1940s. Seen left to right in the front row is Arthur Weeks (my uncle), Ernie Tye, Jack Bryant (standing), unknown, Harry Ford (who lived at Westford, Ashley) and Mr Chaffey (Bath & Portland representative), Walter Weeks (my uncle who lived in the cottages next to Mill Lane Halt), Wilf Barnett and Thomas Weeks (my father and the boss of the group). In the back row is Jack Bryant Jefferies, Ken Pearce, Len Beer, Jack Moules and unknown (the teaboy?). Note on the right of the photo is the grab, which was used to span the large stone blocks delivered to the yard from the quarries. The span lifted the blocks from the wagons to the yard floor and after cutting up and dressing conveying them onto the rail wagons for national delivery.
One of the stoneyards at Box station was run by my father from the 1930s until he retired in the early 1960s. Four yards were owned by the Bath and Portland Stone Firms (B&PSF) at Box Station and another at the Wharf. The yards were run by master masons acting as sub contractors to B&PSF. In the early 1930s these masons were H Norkett, Joel Weeks (my grandfather), Mr Lambert and another, possibly Mr Milsom or another Mr Lambert. My father drew wages of £60 per week and had to work out the tax and national insurance from the tax tables, which I used to help him to calculate as a twelve-year old. Mr Chaffey always brought the cash down for the wages.
Many of the people my family knew are seen in the photo below from the 1940s. Seen left to right in the front row is Arthur Weeks (my uncle), Ernie Tye, Jack Bryant (standing), unknown, Harry Ford (who lived at Westford, Ashley) and Mr Chaffey (Bath & Portland representative), Walter Weeks (my uncle who lived in the cottages next to Mill Lane Halt), Wilf Barnett and Thomas Weeks (my father and the boss of the group). In the back row is Jack Bryant Jefferies, Ken Pearce, Len Beer, Jack Moules and unknown (the teaboy?). Note on the right of the photo is the grab, which was used to span the large stone blocks delivered to the yard from the quarries. The span lifted the blocks from the wagons to the yard floor and after cutting up and dressing conveying them onto the rail wagons for national delivery.
At the outbreak of WW2 the four Box Station yards were closed down and the employees who were not called up for military service were found work in the stone quarries converting them into either factories or storage facilities for museum artefacts.
My father worked in one of these quarries and, when this work was completed, the B&PSF asked him to set up a smallholding / pig farm on Box Hill, opposite the Moon Aircraft Factory, to supply food to the factory canteen. At the end of the War he reopened the stoneyard with just one employee and his first job was to replace the bay window of the Northey Arms destroyed by an American Army jeep. His business gradually built up until he was employing twelve masons. Much of his work was related to repairing war damage in Bristol. By the early 1960s he decided to retire and the B&PSF cleared the cranes and other heavy equipment.
My father's yard was the only one to reopen, the other three were leased to a scrap metal contractor, Mr Coles, who filled the yards with old Bristol buses, military vehicles and other scrap material. He used a Sherman tank to move the materials around the yards. At the same time, the first yard was being used by the RAF to load railway trucks with scrapped Lancaster and Halifax bombers from RAF Colerne.
My father worked in one of these quarries and, when this work was completed, the B&PSF asked him to set up a smallholding / pig farm on Box Hill, opposite the Moon Aircraft Factory, to supply food to the factory canteen. At the end of the War he reopened the stoneyard with just one employee and his first job was to replace the bay window of the Northey Arms destroyed by an American Army jeep. His business gradually built up until he was employing twelve masons. Much of his work was related to repairing war damage in Bristol. By the early 1960s he decided to retire and the B&PSF cleared the cranes and other heavy equipment.
My father's yard was the only one to reopen, the other three were leased to a scrap metal contractor, Mr Coles, who filled the yards with old Bristol buses, military vehicles and other scrap material. He used a Sherman tank to move the materials around the yards. At the same time, the first yard was being used by the RAF to load railway trucks with scrapped Lancaster and Halifax bombers from RAF Colerne.
Memories of Ashley
In my day Ashley Lane was always referred to as Ashley and the Lane which I knew was the road from Ailsa Craig to the Northey Arms. We lived in a bungalow on Ashley Lane called Looe which is now called Appledore, adjacent to Littlemead, which was then only a field.
My father, Thomas Weeks, was a master stone mason and built the bungalow over a period of about six years. It was one of three built in 1926-27. Westford was owned by Harry Ford and his wife Florrie (nee West, hence the name). Estaires was owned by Arthur Weeks, my father's brother, and is named, I believe, after a town in France where my uncle served in World War 1. Both Harry and Arthur were also stone masons who worked for my father in one of the four Stoneyards at Box Station. The assumption made in your story, Ashley Lane, that these three bungalows were built at the same time by the same builder is incorrect.
My father was a great friend of Mr Peadon who was chauffeur to Miss Emily Skidmore at Ashley Leigh and certainly was still alive in the mid 1960s. We also knew well the Mullins family in Ailsa Craig. My best man, John Mullins, the grandson of WJ Mullins of Ailsa Craig, sadly was killed in a plane crash in 1982.
Ashley Post Office was run by Elsie and Nellie Tye in The Barton during the war. They used to come round collecting 6d per week for people to subscribe for Savings Stamps, then Savings Certificates.
In my day Ashley Lane was always referred to as Ashley and the Lane which I knew was the road from Ailsa Craig to the Northey Arms. We lived in a bungalow on Ashley Lane called Looe which is now called Appledore, adjacent to Littlemead, which was then only a field.
My father, Thomas Weeks, was a master stone mason and built the bungalow over a period of about six years. It was one of three built in 1926-27. Westford was owned by Harry Ford and his wife Florrie (nee West, hence the name). Estaires was owned by Arthur Weeks, my father's brother, and is named, I believe, after a town in France where my uncle served in World War 1. Both Harry and Arthur were also stone masons who worked for my father in one of the four Stoneyards at Box Station. The assumption made in your story, Ashley Lane, that these three bungalows were built at the same time by the same builder is incorrect.
My father was a great friend of Mr Peadon who was chauffeur to Miss Emily Skidmore at Ashley Leigh and certainly was still alive in the mid 1960s. We also knew well the Mullins family in Ailsa Craig. My best man, John Mullins, the grandson of WJ Mullins of Ailsa Craig, sadly was killed in a plane crash in 1982.
Ashley Post Office was run by Elsie and Nellie Tye in The Barton during the war. They used to come round collecting 6d per week for people to subscribe for Savings Stamps, then Savings Certificates.
Royal Air Force Camp
Moving further up the Lane past the Farm owned by Mr Butt there was a small Royal Air Force (RAF) camp being the accommodation for a vehicle maintenance unit. On the opposite side of the lane were two fields in which were parked the requisitioned coaches, lorries and vans. The garage where the maintenance of those vehicles was carried out was next to the Northey Arms having been requisitioned from Mr Freeman, who lived opposite in 2 Ashley Villas.
I am not sure whether this unit was connected to RAF Colerne or to RAF Rudloe Manor although the vehicles bore the number 8 indicating 8 Group. The camp was relatively small although large enough to have a cinema, which the local people could attend.
I think that houses have now been built on the site of the camp.
Garage and Cafe on A4
Moving eastwards along the A4 is now a large car sales site. In the 1940s and 50s this was a tip and site of a transport cafe owned by Mr Jack Bristow known to locals as Drop Anchor Jack. The tip was filled in extensively at the end of the War with bomb damage material from Bath and Bristol, the charge for each load being a half a crown (12½p). Non-ferrous scrap material from Lancaster and Halifax bombers from RAF Colerne was also tipped including large tyres, which in the deep freeze of 1947 decomposed, causing steam to rise from that part of the tip where the snow was melting.
Moving further up the Lane past the Farm owned by Mr Butt there was a small Royal Air Force (RAF) camp being the accommodation for a vehicle maintenance unit. On the opposite side of the lane were two fields in which were parked the requisitioned coaches, lorries and vans. The garage where the maintenance of those vehicles was carried out was next to the Northey Arms having been requisitioned from Mr Freeman, who lived opposite in 2 Ashley Villas.
I am not sure whether this unit was connected to RAF Colerne or to RAF Rudloe Manor although the vehicles bore the number 8 indicating 8 Group. The camp was relatively small although large enough to have a cinema, which the local people could attend.
I think that houses have now been built on the site of the camp.
Garage and Cafe on A4
Moving eastwards along the A4 is now a large car sales site. In the 1940s and 50s this was a tip and site of a transport cafe owned by Mr Jack Bristow known to locals as Drop Anchor Jack. The tip was filled in extensively at the end of the War with bomb damage material from Bath and Bristol, the charge for each load being a half a crown (12½p). Non-ferrous scrap material from Lancaster and Halifax bombers from RAF Colerne was also tipped including large tyres, which in the deep freeze of 1947 decomposed, causing steam to rise from that part of the tip where the snow was melting.
One of Eddie's hobbies is philately and over the years he has collected several items of postal history relating to Box which we are going to feature in a future edition.