East Hoathly and District - An Oral History
Anthony Rex Warburton, know as Tony
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Born 24th October 1931 in Horsham. His father ran a repertory company and the family moved around all over the country until war broke out, when he went off and wasn’t seen for the next seven years ! Tony and his mother moved to Prices Farm, East Hoathly to live with family. Today the farm is known as Blackberry Farm. Tony left school at 14 and became an apprentice electrician at Kent and Douglas in Lewes, then he worked for a carpentry firm where he made coffins. He had a varied career which included working for Ringmer Building Works, the army and a flax factory.
Tony Warburton and Bill Hazelden married sisters and are still very much in touch and their mothers went to East Hoathly school together.
Today Tony lives with his wife Mavis at Deanland just outside Ripe, where he tends his beautiful garden that looks onto the South Downs.
Audio Clips
Tony Warburton - Dr Orchard and the snake bite
Tony Warburton - School dinner and the Skates family
Tony Warburton - Sir Arthur Sims
Joyce Boulter and her son Ken
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When I interviewed Joyce in February 2008 she was a very sprightly 95, with a wonderfully coherent memory.
Her father was an engineer who ran a large motor company in India. Joyce spoke Hindustani and French and was sent back to England at 5 to attend a convent school.
Her parents retired to The Quadrangle in Graywood in 1928. Joyce married her sisters husbands brother and went out to British Guyana to live on a sugar plantation that had 4000 workers. She returned to Graywood every 3 years and eventually moved to The Little House. Joyce had two sons, Michael and Ken and has lived in Chiddingly since 1986. Ken ran the Six Bells pub in Chiddingly for many years before retiring..
Audio Clips
Rosemary Akehurst, nicknamed Cocker
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Born Rosemary Turner, an only child, born on 10th March 1933 at 13 Mill Lane, East Hoathly, where she still lives today. Her father was a self taught electrician and her mother worked at the Foresters pub in the village. Rosemary left school at 14 and has spent all her life in the village working as a cleaner, a cook at Boyne, at a transport café, a factory canteen, The Kings Head and the Foresters. Rosemary married Cliff in 1967 and they can be seen regularly walking round the fields and lanes and generally enjoying village life.
Audio Clips
Rosemary - carnival and societies
Rosemary - treats during the war
Rosemary - village full of soldiers
Beatrice Rogers, known as Betty
Heard on the clips talking to June Tidswell and Betty Barlow.
Betty was born in 1913 in Waldron. She moved to East Hoathly in 1918 and lived at Mabels House next door to the bakery. Her grandparents lived over the butchers. As a young girl Betty worked in Eastbourne as an apprentice draper for Plummer Roddis. She now lives in Heathfield.
Audio Clips
May Gwendoline Annie Keeley
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Born in Lower Dicker near Hailsham in 1922, she moved to East Hoathly when she was 4 and stayed with her uncle and aunt who owned the shoe shop, which is the house that John and Jill Ford live in today. May was the eldest of five girls. Then in 1946 she moved next door to the house where she now lives in South Street. May met her husband when she was 15 and married at 19. She had two sons and an adopted daughter.
Audio Clips
May Keeley - Her first job at the Rectory
May Keeley - Meeting her fiance at a dance
Bill Hazelden
Born February 19th 1931 in Portsmouth. His father was a sailor and when he was at sea the family returned to live with his grandmother who lived in East Hoathly. His grandfather was a farmer at Whyly, where he was also bailiff. His grandmother had 9 children and Bill’s mother was born in East Hoathly. Bill left school at 14 and worked at Park Corner Garage for 4 years where he earnt £1 a week. Then he was called up for National Service after which he spent 30 years in the fire service. Bill met his wife at a dance in Uckfield. He used to cycle from East Hoathly to Eastbourne every day after work as part of a cycling club. Bill’s memories of his school days were pretty grim – he ran home from school on his first day in tears and hated every moment for the next 9 years. He found the teachers sadistic and violent.
Bill now lives in Hailsham with his wife and is in regular contact with Tony Warburton.
Audio Clips
Bill Hazelden - Picking apples at school
Bill Hazelden - Radio and village pump
Bill Hazelden - school fire and explosions
Joy Brabyn
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Joy was born in Lewes and now lives at 75 South Street. Her grandparents moved from Norfolk to work at Barham House as cook/housekeeper and chauffeur/gardener.
They saved £250 to buy a plot of land in South Street and had a house built by local builders, Nicholls and Shoesmith. Within 6 years, they had worked hard enough to pay off the mortgage. Joy now lives in that house, although it has been much enlarged from its original bungalow status. Joy went to school in East Hoathly and Uckfield and then learnt shorthand, typing and book keeping at Lewes Technical College. She worked in Hailsham for many years. Joy’s father taught himself how to make trug baskets and got a job with the Rich family, where he worked from the age of 15 to when he retired at 68.
Audio Clips
Joy Brabyn - Escapades and emergencies
Joy Brabyn - Leisure Activities
Joy Brabyn - Making trug baskets