A Tour of modern Ilminster by Peter Westmacott

Hello Jean
My wife (Glenys) and I recently spent a few days in Ilminster exploring the town and surroundings. I showed her where Summervale was, we walked down Brewery Lane by the side of our prefab and we strolled through Abbotts Close and Ladymead ,that now stand on the field where the willows were at the back of the gardens at the bottom of Summervale.  Yes, that's where we played cowboys and indians, kiss chase and hiding in the stooks of hay that the farmer laid out. Passing beyond where this field was we met Canal Way, a modern development running alongside the Rec, and which now passes for a major through route in Ilminster. Of course, back in the 1950s, this was Wharf Lane, much of which was a cinder track then. Now, I note ,the top end of Wharf Lane, that used to come out by Mr Giles' newsagent's shop in Silver Street, is now closed off completely to traffic.

 
Still, we did find the footpath that ran parallel to the bottom hedge of Summervale, the one we used to take when walking to the fair in the autumn. Some of the footpath has been metalled but at least it is still there. The fair field is covered in houses now, but it was pleasing to see that its name lives on in Fairfield, the name of one of the new roads. There was also a Carnival Close nearby.  'Summervale' has disappeared and it has been renamed Summerlands Park.

A photo of John Satchell by the kissing gate down by the willows

We managed a walk up to Herne Hill and noted there had been a lot of recent tree planting - probably replacing those that some of the Summervale men, my grandfather included, chopped down for firewood in the 1950s.

I can remember my grandfather dragging home big branches with a rope slung over his shoulder.My grandmother was not too keen on seeing this and she used to reprimand him!

Here is a photo from Lily & Dennis Crockett’s wedding reception.Mrs Durham ( Known as Dunnell to me!) third from the right at the back – between my Dad and Bob Irwin.Reg Durham, Second from left in the front between my Mum and my brother.

 

We walked out of Herne Hill and on to Donyatt. Here we were impressed by  the conversion of the old Chard-Ilminster-Taunton railway line to a cycle/walk track. We followed this back to Ilminster. What struck me on Herne Hill were the very fine views over the town from  here. I don't think I ever appreciated this as a boy in the 1950s!

 
On another day we walked up the Old Road (at the side where Hurlestone's cycle shop used to be) and at the top were rewarded with good views of the town again. Then on to Dillington House and through the park and on to the Long Ponds and out to the road at Knott Oak House. Then a bit further on we passed Bay Hill, at the entrance to Ilminster. As we passed one of the houses, I was sorely reminded of the day a car crushed the wheel of my bike whilst I was doing my paper round. Not a very pleasant memory!!
 
Looking back on these walks around Ilminster made me realise how limited our horizons were as children in the 1950s. Yes, we went up Herne Hill many times and on to Donyatt, but I could not recall ever going through Dillington Park or past the Long Ponds as a boy. And I'm not sure I ever went up the Old Road, an enclosed track near Blackdown View where I did go many times because I had friends there.
 
I'm very pleased to see that my brother, David, has been making several contributions to the blog. I have been amazed by his memory and some of the things he has recalled for us all. Very impressive, David! One thing though.You  thought that the first record you had for playing on our old gramophone was a Lonnie Donegan song. Actually I'm pretty certain it was a Gracie Fields number called Sally.  We used to try and sing at the top of our voices!  Do you remember that?
 
All for now Jean.  Keep up the excellent work; we really do enjoy reading it, I promise you!

Wow, thanks Peter for that – reawakened so many more memories -

The Day I went to the fair and had my arm broken by someone falling on me on the Noah's Ark. When I got home I received a smacking for going to the fair!

Falling in the Canal after Alan Dixon said there was a snake. Losing a shoe in the mud and getting another smack when I got home!

Watching your grandad and my father dragging tree trunks up the garden in their wellies.

Watching a pageant at Dillington House when people were dressed in medieval costume. What was that all about?

More memories please

JJ

NEWS FROM GLORIA

I have received a letter from Gloria telling me that she recently attended the funeral of Eddy Vane who died. aged 96 in Brixham. Eddy and Ron Dixon were great pals and Gloria wanted to pay her respects.

Barry Vane was there with his wife and daughter and they now live in Kent. Gloria says that he had loads of photos so I hope he gets in touch.

Here is a photo of Eddy Vane and Harry Everson taken in a boat

I remember Eddy as one of the men who entertained us at the STC parties.

Just in case Barry looks in here – this is a photo of him with his Mum at the Coronation Day celebration

R.I.P. Eddy and join all those who have gone before you.

More from David - Girls, Girls, Girls

Hi Jean, Special correspondent David calling. This next little story is about other girls I remember

apart from yourself. Mary Williams (Clive's sister) Valerie Jolly ( Mick's sister) . Mary Williams
made contact on the internet in 2002, but not having a computer then, a friend took the various
messages I had meant to reply but hadn't a clue really how to do it I'm still stuck in the 70's good years, like many summervalians of our age they may also not have this technology this is possibly why some of the contact we are hoping to get is coming in slow.

Both Mary and Valerie seemed If I can remember back that far, were close friends and spent quite a
lot of time together, I saw them quite a lot with Michael and Clive and the gang when out roaming
as young boys, girls then were around but playing out with them was more of a sissy thing to us urchins
ie: Mick Jolly and myself, we always seemed to have more mischievous pursuits in mind (more about
that later) we knew most of the girls on the estate but the main girls round our age group were slightly
older were the ones I can remember more of, we would go in gangs up to Herne Hill or some country walks
rambling and messing about or watching Fox Hunting below Herne Hill, this pursuit seemed to be a normal
part of country life in those days but looked upon differently now.
When not going on walks, the Summervale green always had something to offer, like cart rides down the main road sloping down to the green, if you could get to the bottom without coming off or hitting the curb, you were lucky!! it seemed to be very steep but was a most exciting ride. I never had a bike at that young age, but managed building one at a later date after getting fed up with borrowing Mike Smith's mums high/stepper. Mary Williams was the first girl to introduce me to bike rides I would be sat on the back and
Mary doing all the hard work, by peddling me round the green it was great fun for me maybe not so for Mary. I can remember most of the other girls joining in on games etc, Valerie and Christine Jolly and the
Richard sisters had tents in the garden below us like ourselves and much fun was had in them. Gloria
Dixon was always round and about like yourself Jean, the Wakeham girls and family we knew but got to
know more about them in Paignton.

June Wakeham became Beauty Queen in Paignton, in the late 50's or early 60's ? Seeing some of the
Summervale Coronation photographs, Jean, brought all the names back and memories of such a lot of good fun that we had. At that point in my life I was still a very shy, quiet young lad when it came to girls, can't
say I had many girlfriends in Summervale, only thoughts about them.

Jean, you must work hard on the jeanjeannie blog, we are always amazed when we see how you plan it and finish it.
Best Wishes DW.
I'm afraid my hard drive packed up the day before I went on holiday and although I have salvaged most of my photos the computer is playing up an d I cannot upload them at the moment.
When it's fixed I will include photos of those mentioned above
JJ
Well. not many photos of the girls mwentioned above but here is one entitled " dressing up" a favourite pastime fro us girlies.

June and Mary are on the right with me next to Mary and Susan Newlyn sitting in the middle. There are also two of the Ralph girls and either Christine or Val Jolly on the left. I wonder who the Golly Wog is ? very un P C now.



More from our Special Correspondent

Dear Jean, Once again you have created for me another fantastic blog on Alan Dixon. The photos were great, couldn't  remember what Alan looked like but the pose on the bonfire made us wonder how he was balancing on the top, this was  very typical of Alan, doing the daring bit again. The other which had people we didn't know, where Alan was stood on  the end, in that "way out" overcoat, brought some of the memories back, and the mischievous look on his face said  it all!! Then how he looked came back to me.
By the way, Mike Smith rang me the other day and we had a 2 hour long  chat, it was brilliant about old times and things he had done up to now, at last we have made contact, so it does  work, and I will phone Mick Jolly next week. 

Mike Jolly standing in front of me waiting for our Coronation money 1953.
Now for the next on my list, this is John Rogers, my next door neighbour, alias "Slim Whitman". John lived  next door in the semi prefab to our family, with his sister Pat and mum and dad,

Above – Mrs. Rogers with Pat in her wheelchair. In front, do I recognise those ears Mike? And right in the front – Bobby Chambers ( Not a brilliant photo but cropped  from this larger one – )

I can't remember much about  his parents and can't say I saw much of them. Maybe just a passing glance at the back door of their house,  when I was scooting out to have fun on The Green. John you could say, introduced me to hearing some of the  more popular music of the day, he was a Slim Whitman fan and played and sang, if I can remember, most days  in his leisure time, I would imagine he would play the records on his parent's radiogram.
Slim Whitman.

Cannot find a photo of John Rogers – I only remember him as tall and thin.
I was a bit behind  with quality radiograms and was given a windup version from a neighbour, can't remember who, the first record  I ever played on it, was Cumberland Gap by Lonny Donnigan,

the gramophone was very old when I was given it  it had the trumpet for the sound and great big needles, from what I remember, it didn't last for very long  wish I had kept it, even in it's broken down state it might have been worth a bob or two now!!
I can remember me and my brothers laughing on many occasions to the Slim Whitman music John played at that  time in the 50's, as John would try singing like him.  John was a lot older than us being then 21 or so when  we were 11 to 13 years old, any time since those days, when I have heard Slim Whitman sing, it always  reminds me of John and his family back in the old Summervale prefab -
happy days!!  If you see this John  hope you can ring me, you may even give us a song, but it has got to be one of Slim's.
I was not a fan so googled his songs and you will see that he was obviously a very popular artist. Many familiar songs – made me think of Family Favourites on Sundays.

1. 12th Of Never

2. A Fool Such As I

3. Bandera Waltz

4.Birmingham Jail

5. Born To Lose

6. China Doll

7. China Doll Ver. 2

8. Ghost Riders In The Sky

9. I Remember You

10.Ill Take You Home Again Kathleen

11. Indian Love Call

12. Its A Small World

13. Love Song Of The Waterfall

14. Nobody`s Darling But Mine

15. Now Is The Hour

16. Paint A Rose On The Garden Wall

17. Rose Marie

18. Secret Love

19. Silver Threads Among The Gold

20. Stranger On The Shore

21. The Cattle Call

22. Tumbling Tumbleweeds

23. Una Paloma Blanca

24. You Belong To My Heart

       More later  --  Regard, DW.

Alan Dixon – Dare Devil

Hi Jean, Just two or three more friends stories to go !!! Continuing now with Alan and Gloria Dixon   Alan's nickname to us now as I remembered him, is "The Stunt Man" and Gloria was the more quieter,

Gloria’s 8th birthday.

a  girl that we didn't see much of, but we mixed in with various games and would see her often going out with Ron her father, in the car, which seemed to be the only vehicle on
the estate in those days.  The Dixon family lived at the opposite side of the green from us on the corner.

I can remember Ron having his photography business doing weddings and various other work, I cannot remember Mrs Dixon very well are they both still living?  - Sadly both have passed on – Vi several years ago but Ron fairly recently within the last 5 years or so I think.

Alan was always about doing things where ever the lads were

 

A good example of his DARING DO!

He may have been slightly older than myself but everyone joined in with the fun, the swimming sessions in the different rivers were  always sensational the locks above the waterfall behind the Horlick's Factory and further down river  going out of Ilminster over the top road leading to further locks and waterfalls, Alan would do things that us kids wouldn't attempt like diving into waterfalls and off the lock tops into the river below.

There were many more scary stunts in winter when it came to sledging he had the fastest and most well made sledge in Ilminster, that meant another exciting show of going down very steep inclines and through very narrow gaps in hedges, over humps and bumps where he would take off like
Evil Kenival, luckily he managed to always stay on and never come to a sticky end!!!. It was fantastic
to watch, but not for the faint hearted  like ourselves to even try there were so many more daring escapades, too many to mention, Alan stood out in my mind and to a lot of the more younger lads as a hero!

The last I saw of Alan was in Paignton where he had gone one step further and constructed a MONSTER MOTOR now he could drive, this special car which  looked like something out of the film Mad Max, very way out for those days, had been made out of various   models, it had a 6 cylinder engine, was a two seater, they called them hotrods in those days. He asked me  on several occasions if I would like a ride in it, but can't remember if I was brave enough, can only  remember going out in his more conventional car, a Standard Vanguard,

with friends, it had a bench seat  in the front and Alan was never short of a girl sat by his side in it, amazing what attraction bravery is!!
He was as they would say today, "so cool" but then " way out".
Alan, if you're still living, after what I remember of your daring past, get in touch and let us know
how you have been getting along. By the way, did you go to Ditton Street school like Peter and myself
or did you go to the Grammar  School in Ilminster?

That's all for now folks  best wishes DW.

My memories of Alan are -

1. He built a canoe in the passage of his house.
2. We all went to the river Isle and learned to role the canoe over.
3. Once when we went, there were loads of dead fish on the surface. Were we bovvered? Nah!
4. One day on the canal he shouted out there was a snake, I ran, got bogged down in the mud, lost a shoe and got a good hiding when I got home!
5. His Mum used to give him and Gloria Malt extract which I loved.
6. Pretty sure he went to the Grammar school.

Derek Drayton AKA “sweetie”

Hi Jean thanks for doing a good blog on Mick Jolly and Mick Smith love the added touches of The Lone Ranger and Tonto and the classic car, couldn't make out the model but it looked to me like a Riley and looked brilliant.

Yet another little story for the blog!! regarding another Summervale friend - Derek Drayton – nicknamed by us as " sweetie" not meant in the sense that you were "sweet" Derek, but that you were always fortunate to have a packet of sweets on the way to school, and cadging one off you could be an almost impossible task, the movement from pocket to mouth by yourself was very rarely seen but we all noticed that you were always chewing your secret goodies!! Sweets in those days were a luxury and enjoyed more so.

(Derek, please email me a photo of you as I can’t remember what you looked like although I do remember the name……… JJ)

I remember I think, you may have worked at Stan Kearney's small glass shop in Ilminster, along with myself for extra pocket money, is that so?

STAN KEARNEY

We worked part time I think, it was some Saturday's or evenings after school. At the shop we learnt how to cut glass, make test tubes and make insemination tubes for what I thought was for cattle breeding centres, am I right? The first shop was on the main street on the hill behind the church can't think of the names of the streets (Silver street ?)  but then we moved to another shop near to Scrivens TV shop on that parade and went down into a basement to work, I believe your father and Stan Kearney were at that time partners. When I moved to Paignton to live I worked for about a year in the labs at STC, Stan Kearney was my foreman there and we learnt more lathe glasswork, I believe you stayed  on living in Ilminster, is that so?

Being older than myself I think you were more my elder brother's age, that's Peter and may have more memories with him than myself, the school class age difference made this so. I remember you lived in the prefab near the bottom from us above the pathway that cut through to Brewery Lane, your father I remember well but didn't really know your younger brother, who has been mentioned on one of the previous jeanjeannie blogs hope you read this and get in contact to have a chat about old times!!

that's all for now, Jean!! 

Best wishes DW.

MORE MEMORIES BOYS TOYS!

Here are yet more memories of Summervale friends --- Mick Smith -- Mick son of Reg and Dorothy  Smith, was certainly one of our families closest friends with his father being the personnel manager at STC and having quite a great deal of contact with us we were all growing up and starting
work. In Summervale Michael would come to our house many times for tea and his parents would make us always very welcome at his house for watching TV for the very first time Mick's house had the very first TV we had ever seen, programmes such as The Lone Ranger and Tonto,

Cup final football and many more  it was all very exciting in those days and new I remember us all sat in the house along with many other friends who may still remember this. We would all be sat glued to it, and it took some time to get  us out when the shows were  over!! I remember Mick as a good sensible lad and good company, his mum Dot  would quite often lend me her push bike to ride around The Green it was the first larger bike I had   ever ridden, One day I came off it when learning how to ride and I still have the scar on my  right knee to prove it!!

I last saw Mick when we had all moved to Paignton and lived on the Foxhole  estate we were both interested in cars Mick in the garage next to mine, was rebuilding a vintage  MG. and I had started to do work on a car I had bought, a 1947 Austin 12 saloon (a very large car  by today's standards) it cost me the meagre sum of seven pounds and ten
shillings probably a full weeks  wages in those days for a man. Michael was very clever with his hands
and had the MG stripped down to  the chassis to rebuild and make the wooden frame structure before
mounting the outer body panels, he  completed the job himself and I can still remember him driving around the estate with the top down,  looking very pleased with himself having a sports car back in the late 50's and early 60's was something rare to the younger set. Be nice to be able to talk over old times
with Mick again.
More episodes of good friends and Summervale days to follow!!
Best wishes DW.