I was born in Woodnewton in 1937. On the corner between Main Street and Nassington Road, there were three terraced thatched cottages (now demolished); I lived in the middle one.

One of the things that I remember well is that one night there was a terrific thunderstorm and when we got up in the morning, we found that the large Sycamore Tree that was on the village green in front of the house had been struck by lightning and there was a deep gash down the front of it. The tree was unsafe and had to be demolished much to the sadness of the villagers.  It was from this tree that Sycamore Close was named.

I went to school in September 1943. The head teacher, who had just started was Mrs Florence (Fanny) Hughes and she lived in the school house with her son, Peter.  The other teacher, who taught the infants, was Ethel Black and she lived in Nassington.  She cycled to school each day.

Living at the vicarage was the Reverend Cecil Preston; his wife was a doctor and she took a weekly surgery in the end room of Mrs Esther Bates’ house, Peacehaven, which was opposite the school.

I remember there were a lot of trade’s people in the village; starting from the west end, Mr Jack Collins ran the shop and post office which was in the middle of the three cottages next to the petrol pumps.  When Jack retired Major Ormerod took it over.

Further down the road on the same side was Barfield’s Yard.  To get to this you had to go through an archway.  Mr Barfield was a wheelwright, not only did he make and mend all sorts of things; he also had a store of bicycles that he hired out for a 1s. a week – very necessary to the villagers as there was only one bus a week.  Next to him on the left, lived his sister.  His sister never married and during WW2 she housed an evacuee.  The young lady never returned to her family, and when Miss Barfield died the house was left to her.

On the opposite side of Main Street near the Methodist Chapel was Victor Walker’s house.  He had a shed behind his house from where he ran his greengrocery business.  He also had a van that he took around the villages selling fruit and vegetables.

Just below the White Swan, where Mr Dixon was the landlord, the bakery stood and Mr Doughy Wade lived in the house behind the bake house (Rosedene).  I remember him baking his produce very early in the morning and when we were youngsters, passing by to school, he would often hand out a freshly baked roll or bun.  Delicious!

The row of houses on Sycamore Close which were built in 1950 was the first development to take place in the village. The first one is where Mr Atkins lived; he worked for the Milk Marketing Board and was one of only a few men in the village who had a car.  In the next two houses lived an old lady named Mrs Jane Compton, and next door a Mr and Mrs Britton.  In the fourth house lived Mr and Mrs Bellairs, and Mr Bellairs played in the Nassington Brass Band.  A former landlady of the White Swan, Mrs Dixon, lived in No 5.

The road we now know as Orchard Lane was nothing but a dirt track with large ruts.  There were three houses along it: Cherryholt, the house on the corner where Mr Chambers and his family lived.  He ran the local Boys Brigade. Further along the track on the south side, another Mrs Compton lived in a cottage.  Past the allotments on the north side lived the Watkins family.

Behind where the village hall is now situated there was a large hole and it was in here that the villagers would dump all their rubbish.

2013