Family Memories Cinderford

The First World War

During the period 1914 - 1918 - the First World War up to the age of between 2 and 3, I remember little, but thereafter happenings and events and impressions became part of my world.

We kept pigs on brick styes built by my father in his garden. At feeding time I would go with him and remember the squealing and general uproar when the swill was poured down the shute into the feeding troughs. The pigs in due course were killed by the professional slaughterer on a bench in the lane outside the sale-room. Afterwards a fire of straw was made and the bristles burnt and scraped off. The pig's bladder was extracted and was then used for fun and games. The carcase was hung on hooks in the sale-room, salted and eventually consumed.

We kept poultry. The eggs were collected each day from the outside hatches and some used and others preserved in isinglas in stone jars. Ducks were also kept a pond having been constructed for this purpose.

I remember the anxious times endured by those who had members of their families serving in the armed forces. Casualty lists were issued and awaited with sombre anticipation. Bagott, the watchmaker's son from a few doors away was a trench digger and returned a gazed and demented young person suffering from shell-shock. I remember the worry of my own parents when Lionel, my eldest brother who had enlisted under age in the R.Wore's Yeomanry who himself had become a casualty, suffering bad neurosis from his experiences in Egypt. Their concern was heightened as he was in a War hospital at a distance and did not return home to Cinderford. On recovery he married and commenced family life, a factor which I remember did not help with his own family relationships.

Although misery was pronounced, miners at work were earning well and business to us was not a problem.

Before starting school, Grandmother Smith from Gloucester came to live with us. She was a widow and a diabetic, and was nursed in her last days by my mother, her only daughter. I can remember her in bed in one of the front bedrooms and also the occasion of her death; the impression of that occasion and the dislike of that front bedroom never left me. On occasions I remember how we went to Gloucester taking flowers for her grave in Fredworth cemetery.

It would seem that wandering was an early failing of mine. I can recall being stuck in the mud of deep cart-tracks when I ventured alone up into Haywood. Also there was the occasion when I followed my father into the centre of Cinderford, and continued through to St. Whites, a distance of at least two miles. The alarm was raised and identification and recovery took place.

A well favoured remedy for coughs and colds was the oil of eucalyptus. Aware of this and knowing no better I discovered the bottle and drank some. Fortunately Mrs Davies the buxom lady who helped my mother with her washing was at hand, and gave me immediate attention. Upside down over the sink, fingers down throat, back slapping and so on. It was an unforgettable and unrepeatable experience.

Another escape was when I was placed in front of our shop with a large basket of plums for sale. Wandering this time was my salvation. I was bored, wandered off into the lane and then a car crashed into the spot where I had been sitting.

Other minor and incidental memories were being "packed off to bed" at the first sign of a chill or cold. Cigarette cards were then a god-send and even unable to write, numbers were known to me and sorting these was a pleasant occupation in these circumstances.

But I remember how the dark was frightening. Ghosts to my young mind were a reality and many a time I sat at the top of our stairs to be nearer to others rather than remain in the bedroom three rooms away.