An every day story of ordinary folk who lived in Summervale Ilminster in the 1940's and 1950's.
John Satchell has sent me his thoughts -
1 plumridge,
2 kearney,
3 beard,
4 wakeham,
6 hooke,
43 hudson,
46 lester,
45 ward,
48 NOT chown, (they were down on the green),
39 bishop.
40 duke
46 peters
49 lester
pretty sure these are right!!
John.
ANY ADVANCE SUMMERVALIANS?
JJ
We currently have our friends Lynne & Barry staying with us in between their trips aboard and yesterday I mentioned Ilminster. They attended the funeral of Barry’s cousin’s father in law on Monday and and I was told he came from Ilminster.
Apparently it was Reg Forbes – brother of Irene Forbes, who was in his eighties.
Irene is sitting in the middle between Shirley Hewitt on the left and Margaret Mason on the right.
I don’t remember him as Irene is about 10 years older than me and he would have been 10 years older than her but some of you may remember him.
Sad that another Summervalian has gone to join so many others but what a legacy these people have left us.
STC really was a family affair – Irene’s father, her brother and herself all worked there and I believe Reg’s son Stuart and his son Christian continued the family tradition.
I also bumped into Jessie Satchell in town looking amazing as always.
Here is a photo of Jessie -“Digging for Britain!”
Her grand daughter Dani came over recently from New Zealand to get married
and I believe Tony is in the UK until January.
If you read this Tony, it would be great to hear from you.
Good morning Jean
Thanks for bungalow list. We lived in 10 and not 8 as shown. I think Drivers were in 8. I was sure that Kearneys lived at number 4 and not 43 as shown but I might be wrong. I always thought they were on the same side as Wakehams. What do you think?
Regards
Peter
HERE IS THE LIST : -
1 BEARD
2 CHAPPLE?
3 PLUMRIDGE
4
5 NEWLYN
6 WAKEHAM
7 CORNFORTH
8 DRIVER
9 ROGERS
10 WESTMACOTT
11 JOLLY
12 RICHARDS
13 SMITH
14 HUMPHRIES / EVERSON
15 CHICKS
16
17
18 TRUDGEON
19 SIMPSON
20 MASON
21 WILLIAMS
22 WREN
23 RALPH
24 LORD
25HODGESON
26 DURHAM
27 BOYCE
28 SYMONS
29 CHAMBERS
30 HEWITT
31 STOCK
32 LEOH?
33 DIXON
34 FORBES
35 WHITING / MOTHERSELE
36 POWELL
37 HARGEST
38 BROWN
39
40 HOOKE
41 LAUGHTON
42 FOULKES
43 KEARNEY
44 PELL/ SATCHELL
45 HUDSON
46 WARD
47 VANE
48 CHOWN
49 LESTER
50 MACEY
CAN YOU HELP WITH THIS ??
JJ
Hello Jean
When my family settled in Summervale permanently in 1954 - we had been there many times before on holiday at our grandparents, Reg and Ethel Durham - some of the first music I remember hearing was on the radio on Saturday mornings. "Children's Favourites", with the friendly Uncle Mac, at 9 o'clock, started our week-end off. How many of you remember that programme? We were avid listeners and I can remember some of our favourite songs : The Runaway Train, the Laughing Policeman, I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly, and, of course, Teddy Bears' Picnic. I'm sure there were many others, but these are the ones I can most easily recall. Uncle Mac always ended his programme with: "Good-bye children, everywhere" . How different it all is today!
MY BIG HATE WAS SPARKY’S MAGIC PIANO IT USED TO SCARE ME FOR SOME REASON – LISTEN TO IT HERE -
One of the first songs I remember hearing around the estate in 1954 was 'O Mein Papa', a German song usually played by Eddie Calvert on his golden trumpet, or sung by Eddie Fisher. I remember hearing lots of Summervalians singing or whistling it. Yes, you as well, Jean! I can certainly remember Vic Noad pretending to play the trumpet to the tune!
My brother, David, wrote recently about how John Rogers was a big Slim Whitman fan, always singing his songs. Another big singer then was David Whitfield, and I recall trying to imitate him when singing 'Answer Me O My Love', usually in the bath!
The Billy Cotton Band always seemed to be singing 'Friends and Neighbours' on the radio and another great favourite was 'I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me' from The Stargazers. There was a silly song called 'Close the Door ,They're Coming through the Window' in about 54-55, but I can't recall who sang it. Anyone remember? I think we usually heard it on the Billy Cotton show on Sundays.
We used to sing 'The Happy Wanderer', a German folk song very popular in about 1954. "I love to go a wandering along the mountain track ....val-de-ree-val-de-rah.... Dickie Valentine was a popular crooner
at about this time, and I remember singing 'Mr Sandman, bring me a dream', one of his big hits. Another one was 'The Finger of Suspicion Points at You', which I would sing and point the finger at one of my brothers' if I suspected them of any wrongdoing!
There were lots of songs about the American West at that time. We often played cowboys and Indians, of course, so it wasn't surprising that we liked the cowboy songs. There were some memorable ones about Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, and Roy Rogers with his 'A Four-legged Friend'. There was 'The Yellow Rose of Texas (who sang that one?) and 'The Man from Laramie', which I remember Jimmy Young singing. This was well before he became a DJ. Then there was 'Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Riding through the Glen', but I can't remember who sang it. The same is true for 'Running Bear', a song about an Indian brave.
I remember quite liking Anne Shelton. She was a big, powerful singer. I particularly liked her 'Lay Down Your Arms ... and Surrender to Mine" . Petula Clark was another popular singer with many hit songs. 'The Little Shoemaker' was one I remember well. Can you imagine songs like this being hits today!!
In about 1956, I think, the skiffle craze erupted and Lonnie Donegan became a big name. 'Lost John' , 'Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O', 'Gambling Man', 'Grand Coulee Dam', and 'Tom Dooley' were all great hits. This was especially true in our house as we tried to form our own skiffle group using our Mum's washboard, pots and pans. My brother, David, was very keen on this and he carried Paul and I along with it. But, like most crazes, it was short-lived.
Some of the other popular singers I remember from Summervale days were Doris Day (I liked Secret Love and Que Sera, Sera), Frankie Laine (liked his Cool Water), Frankie Vaughan - remember Green Door?) and Johnny Ray - but can't remember what he sang.
Can anyone else remember any other favourite songs and singers from Summervale in the 1950s?
Best Wishes everyone
Peter Westmacott
Hello again Jean
Loved your pics and food memories. You certainly recalled a lot.
A few more food snippets from 1950s Summervale:
* Mother sending us off to watch Somerset play cricket at Taunton with a load of beetroot sandwiches in our bags. You should have seen our T-shirts after lunch!
* Mother making a steak and kidney pudding using one of her old stockings!
My mum used to use a square of old sheeting – I still do it that way , Just doesn’t taste the same using foil. A little water in the crust adds a certain – Je ne sais Quoi.
* Fish in milk. Ugh! We had this most weeks. I love fish now but that early experience could have put me off for life!
Yuck!
* Marmite sandwiches. Say no more!!
LOVE THEM!
* Lambs' hearts - mother first gave us these when I was about 12. They were lovely, full of lean meat.
O No – bet you liked liver too!
Up until then so much meat that we ate seemed to me to be full of fat and gristle, consequently I didn't like it much and tried to avoid it if possible!
Peter W
Hello Jean
On a recent half-term visit one of my grandsons (8) asked me what food I ate when I was a boy. This got me thinking about food in Summervale in the 1950s.
I think one of the things that stands out is the monotony and predictability of the meals then. Sundays always seemed to be a roast (beef or lamb), Yorkshire pudding, greens and lashings of gravy, made with Bisto. This was often followed by heavy puddings like Spotted Dick and custard or bread and butter pudding - all designed to fill up active,
hungry children.
My Mum always cooked this in a cloth in boiling water. Loved it and it was just as good next day fried with sugar on top! And I wonder why I’m over weight??
salad and Carnation milk. Lovely!
Very occasionally, tinned peaches and clotted cream appeared on the table. Even better! If our mother had been busy in the kitchen, we might have got some fairy cakes too.
Or those very sticky pieces of homemade toffee!
Breakfast in our house was usually cereal because mother had to work at STC, so there wasn't usually time for a cooked breakfast in the week. Corn flakes, shredded wheat or weetabix and milk were the regulars. In winter the milk was often heated. We were sent off to school with slices of toast and dripping, meant for the morning break. But we usually scoffed them en route to school.
Anyway, our real treat came at break ,if we managed to secure a cream bun off the tray that was on sale each day in the school hall.
School dinners weren't up to much at the Sec. Mod. in Ditton Street. Meat and two veg was standard fare, with soggy cabbage suffering from overcooking. Puddings were typically rice, tapioca or semolina with a dollop of jam dropped in the centre.
I remember occasionally persuading one of the cooks to add an extra dollop. Much of the time we seemed to be quite hungry, so it was always exciting when we were called up for 'seconds'. The very rare 'thirds' were even better!
When we got home from school we were soon out to play. I remember seeing
Mick Jolly one day eating what he called a 'doorstep' - a chunk of bread smothered in jam. This impressed us and we soon copied Mick, taking out a doorstep whenever we could.
In the evenings, before bed, we would have what we called 'supper' For us it was either hot milk (ugh - I hated the skin!) or Ovaltine or Horlicks. The "Ovaltiney Kids" were on Radio Luxembourg at that time, so we often ended up with Ovaltine and a dry biscuit - broken biscuits from the International Stores on the corner of East Street and Ditton Street.
I suppose they were a lot cheaper than whole biscuits. When I worked for Tony White's grocery on the High Street on Friday evenings, I remember Tony would sometimes give me some broken biscuits to take home.
Anyone else got some food memories from 1950s Summervale?
Best Wishes everyone
Peter Westmacott
I cannot remember breakfast. As I could not drink cows milk I guess I had bread and ??
I loved the finger rolls from Tolleys and my favourite on Saturday mornings was a ripe tomato in a warm roll with butter!
Lunch – or dinner as we called it was things like Stews and shepherds pies, meat pies, steak & kidney puddings and rabbit stew – yummy.
Fridays was fish day – which I hated and I was made to sit and eat it. I can remember gagging at the table but was still made to sit there. I still don’t like fish very much.
Sundays, yes a roast and still the tradition in our home. I can remember my mother drawing a chicken and the smell was just awful. We also had lamb and beef and pork if there was an “R” in the month. Pork was considered dangerous to eat in the summer months as it went off. Roast lamb and mint sauce with fresh garden peas still reminds me of Family Favourite with Cliff and Jean Metcalf.
Pudding usually apple pie or perhaps rhubarb – as i did not like pastry I never had any.
Tea – Sardines on toast, sandwiches, salad with cold meat. Cold bread pudding with a cup of tea – lovely.
COME ON MORE MEMORIES PLEASE.
