Miss Pamela Darvill was the Headmistress of the Village Primary School from 1966 to 1990 and lived in a cottage (School House), opposite the entrance to St Mary’s Hill and next door to the school which was demolished in 1996.

These are her recollections of Woodnewton and village life from 1966.

Most people in England would remember the year of 1966 as the one and only time that England won the WFIFA World Cup.  But in Woodnewton during that August the only topic of conversation on people’s minds was “what would the new headmistress be like”? That headmistress, Miss Pamela Darvill, obviously liked it in Woodnewton as she stayed at the school until it closed in 1990.

As Miss Darvill did not drive she would have arrived at the school house by public transport, and that was something that Woodnewton had in abundance: a daily bus to and from Peterborough, five times a day, starting at 7.00am for the workers and the last bus at night was 10pm and 10.30pm., for those people who wanted a night out.  A return fare would have cost 3s 10d (19p).  Two other local towns, Oundle and Stamford also had a weekly bus service on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.  The local Railway Station at Kings Cliffe and Nassington that would have serviced Woodnewton had closed in June that year, so the only other way to get around was to cycle or walk.

The village was not very busy as there were very few cars, occasional delivery vehicles, coal lorry, farm tractors, and of course, the bus. Mr Atkins senior was one of the few men who owned a car.  It was so quiet that Mr Ormerod ‘s ducks (from the village shop) used to paddle in the Main Street and roam about up St Mary’s Hill and onto Back Lane, as it was then called .    The main road through the village was not made up as we see it today, but a rough road with grassy verges and no kerb stones and proper paths.

We know that Police Panda Cars were first seen in rural areas around this period, but Woodnewton still had a policeman on a bicycle, and he would stand outside the school for periods of time.

The school did not have a telephone but the public call box was only across the road outside the former petrol station at 50 Main Street.  The petrol station closed in 1971 and the barn became a workshop for Derek Gunn. This barn was eventually converted into a house in 1982, and the telephone box was re-sited further along Main Street on the north side of the road on a piece of land where the blacksmith shop once stood.

Next door to the petrol station on the west side lived a lady called Esther Bates.  She had lived at Peacehaven for many years and each week she would give over two of her rooms to Dr Preston from Oundle Practice, so that she could hold a surgery for an hour from 9am., every Friday morning.  Later that day Mrs Bates would make a visit to Stamford to see Revd Irwin, the former vicar of Woodnewton.  She always referred to him as ‘The Vicar’.  He being a bachelor she usually took cakes and pies, and also did some of his washing.  Mrs Bates used an old fashioned black range and was a very good cook.  Sponge cakes were her speciality.  Early to bed, early to rise was her motto  –  up by 7.00am and in bed by 9.30pm., every night.

It was a well known fact that the soil in Woodnewton was good and this enabled the village to be very self-sufficient, with several Market Gardeners in business and private plots of land turned over to growing apples, plums, strawberries, radishes, spring onions early lettuces etc.  What people didn’t grow they would swop with each other to get what they needed.  For instance they could buy fruit, vegetables daffodils and eggs from Cherryholt, vegetables also from Hazel View.  Anything else they required was provided by the mobile vans.  This is a list of services and mobile vans that were available.

Woodnewton also had a shop together with a post office at 46 Main Street, next to Gable End Cottage.  The shop sold an assortment of things but you could always find toilet rolls, pencils and cigarettes there.  Although Mr Walker had a delivery vehicle, he still opened his home, Franey House to the villagers.  His goods were mainly greengrocery plus cat food, tinned and bottled goods and sweets.

When the census in 1961 was taken, Woodnewton only had a population of 247, but suprisingly the village had two Public Houses.  However, it was no surprise that Mr Gutteridge of the Horse & Jockey would leave at the end of 1966 and the property was converted into a private residence by July 1967.  Mr Dixon, of the White Swan had been landlord since 1930 and would remain in that position until the middle of the 1970’s.  He and his wife were born locally, so obviously stayed on as they wanted to be near their family.

The people of Woodnewton were either Anglican or Methodist, so you either went to St Mary’s Church or the Chapel.  (The Revd Basil Turner was the vicar at the time and would have been one of the people who had interviewed Pamela Darvill for the headmistress position.  She became a member of the PCC between the years 1967 to 1989 and the secretary of the Council for 16 years between1973 and 1989).  The services at the church would have been in the Morning and Evensong and Holy Communion on Saints Days.  Sunday school took place after the service on a Sunday morning. Victor Walker was the Lay Preacher at the chapel and a service was held every Sunday at 6.30pm.  Cathy, his wife, would play the organ.

At that time there were about 14/18 people in the choir and their leader was Mrs Collins, the organist.  Several other organists would help out at different times.  A tradition at the church would be that the St George’s Flag was flown from the tower on Saints Days.  Many of the village gatherings were organised by the church, and one of the monthly get-together’s for the ladies was the Women’s Guild.  This was run by the vicar’s wife and held at the Vicarage. This is where a lot of the items that they made for sale were produced; Mrs Compton from St Mary’s Hill was well known for her beautiful pillow lace.

So how were the men in Woodnewton employed at that time?  There were five farmers; Mr Whittaker of Conegar Farm, Mr Reed of Manor House, Mr Harry Spademan of Spinney Farm and Messrs Pike of Dairy Farm and Willowbrook Farm.  Most of the farms had dairy herds, and the cows were grazed on pastureland around the village. These farms had herdsmen, tractor drivers and general agricultural labourers, so they were a large provider of employment.

Although, Mr and Mrs Chambers at Cherry Holt had previously employed several people from the village, more and more of the work was being carried out by family members.

Woodnewton has had the luxury of a Saddlery for years as Conrad Wells, the saddler at the time was the son of the original one who started the business in the late 1880’s in Main Street.    As tractors had taken over from horses on farms, the harness making had reduced, but there was still a business repairing kit for farmers and keeping private horse owners supplied.

John Sharman who lived at 41 Main Street, in Walker’s Yard (behind Cairn Cottage)  was a lorry driver, and he used to leave his lorry overnight in Bolds Garage area, but it never caused a problem because he would leave very early in the morning.

Mains sewerage still had not arrived in the village and one of the properties in Parson’s Yard (behind 31 Main Street) was still without electricity.  There were several derelict cottages too, but it was known then that Stone Cottage and Church End Cottages were waiting to be renovated, as a Mr Shooter had put in a planning application into the local council to install a vehicular access into Church End Cottage.

Village entertainment was mostly home produced, fetes, concerts, whist drives, and jumble sales; held either in the school rooms or the Reading Room, which was a prefab hut with a tin roof positioned between the school and Manor Farm Cottage, the home of Mr and Mrs Reed and their son Len.  And of course, May Day, this was always a popular event in the village.

Over the next few years, the village would be heavily involved with raising money for the new playing field, and then much later in the late 1980’s, the village hall.

2017

Since the late Pamela Darvill provided us with her memories, further paperwork has come to light where she compared services and mobile van supplies  between 1966 and 1976.

2020