I have many memories of Foxton as it was when I was growing up. In the beginning when I lived at WhitegatesI remember my step-grandfather (Alf Lyons) taking me when he delivered milk in the village. He lived at Foxton House and had a small dairy and delivered milk in the village. I was about 3 then. Whitegates was the poultry farm and Ithink the house was new however the chicken house caught fire and burned down I think about 1939 and we had to move .. I remember going over to The Bury and watching Mum and Daddy play tennis with Mr & Mrs Stevens Their lawn was the tennis court. A short time after we left The poultry Farm we went to live with Granny at Foxton House.That was war time. One of the things that comes to mind more than anything is people getting their water from the pump by your house. There were two pumps that supplied the village the one by your house and the one at the other end of high street. The people had water carts they used to fill. It was all done by hand no motorized ones. Also most of the farming was done with Horses. I think Mr Stevens was the first to get a tractor and Mr Smith was the last to have horses They were beautiful big Shire’sand were in the field across from the Press. There was a blacksmith shop not far from the Black Boy on the other side of the road and when I was growing up the blacksmith came from Harston once a week to shoe horses etc. and would let me work the bellows sometimes I realy enjoyed watching him work and the smell and the fire. As the horses became less he only came once a month.Now the building is long gone. We had a Post office in the cottage across from the War Memorial which was run by Mr & Mrs Cole they had sweets and a few other things also there was a store at the other end of the village with more groceries owned by Mr and Mrs chamberlin. Everthing else was delivered the baker and the butcher from Melbourn and Johnny Hall had a grocery shop at Barrington. He came on Tuesday for the order and delivered it on Friday.
During the war we had films shown in the village hall once a week and we had a youth club which Nicola’s Mum Joan Nisbet ran. we also had a concert party Fred Lowe Johnny Hanes and I cant think off hand who else we went round to other villages and did concerts Fred played the piano.
The seat was a big part of my life and my JG are there somewhere!! the clunch wall and all that was written on it I know is gone I know. The public footpaths were also great are they still there? One of the people that seemed to know a lot was Eileen Looker. Did she pass her knowledge on?
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