63889 total results

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains tracks: Voice of the Guns, Portsmouth, Any Dream Will Do, Rippy Dance, Super Trouper, The Middy, Cavalcade of Martial Songs, Fleet of Hand, True and Trusty, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Mouldy Old Dough, Jamaican Rumba, A Bridge Too Far, Legga, Swing Safari, Slaidburn, Fascinating Drums, Viscount Nelso, Top Malo-Wagstaff, Portsmouth Chimes, Love Changes Everything, North Star, Willey's Dilemma - W E Mack, Skye Boat Song, Sousarama, Stupid, I Don't Know How To Love Him, Standard of St George, Memory, Aces High. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1344/5/17')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette. Contains reminiscences about life at 'Summer Hayes', the Sanderson family, North Ferriby during the Second World War including the Womens Voluntary Service, air raids, emergency plans in the event of enemy invasion, German and Italian prisoners of war who worked at 'Summer Hayes' and evacuees. Duration: 30 min, 7 sec Timing: (00:10) Mrs Sanderson came to North Ferriby in 1922 having been born in 1900. (00:50) For her wedding she wore a Honiton lace veil which may have been worn by brides in William Wilberforce's family. (02:18) Mrs Sanderson called each of the four houses she owned in North Ferriby 'Summer Hayes'. (02:43) They only had gas when she and her husband first moved to North Ferriby. The streets were gas lit. (03:13) A year later, electricity came to the area. (03:28) Mrs Sanderson's wedding was announced in the 'Hull Daily Mail' as between [Geoffrey] Ernest Sanderson and Eva Dorothy Summerhays at St Mary's Church, Oxon. (03: 55) They were married by three clergymen. (04:40) The Sandersons gave seven-course dinner parties and lived in great style. People called, left visiting cards, and she returned their calls. (06:30) Mrs Sanderson remembers the Misses Turner who gave the allotments to North Ferriby. Mrs Sanderson and the Misses Turner liked to speak French to the onion sellers on bicycles who came to this country via Hull Docks. (08:28) At the outbreak of the Second World War, Mr Horace Wright of Tower House held a meeting to organise the Home Guard and air raid wardens. Mrs Sanderson was an air raid warden, a girl guide commissioner, and organised the WRVS in her area. (09:30) Mrs Wright was the head of the first aid post at North Ferriby. (09:48) Air raid wardens met in the old school. There was a course on poison gases with an exam. (10:25) The wardens had lectures on first aid and home nursing. The girl guides acted as patients. (10:57) North Ferriby had rest stations in the Church Hall, the Methodist Church Hall and the British Legion. These had supplies of tea, coffee, sugar and blankets. (12:51) The WRVS went to the Estate Hall to supervise the issue of ration books, identity cards, clothes and food ration books. (13:19) At the start of the war children under 5 were given rose hip syrup and orange juice. (14:25) In the early part of the war they had 'FAGS' which stood for 'Ferriby Anti-Gloom Society'. FAGS held concerts every Saturday evening. Mrs Sanderson sang 'Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye'. They also had a magician and community singing. (16:28) These concerts stopped once the first air raids started and the shelters were opened. (17:31) North Ferriby Church Hall was used as a shelter by people from Hull. People came in all through the night. (20:05) Air raid wardens patrolled in twos and her partner was Colonel Howlett, a retired army officer. (22:36) Mr Sanderson was in charge of the special constables. Mrs Sanderson remembers Mr Jackson and Mr [Hare] were special constables. (23:18) The Home Guard were initially issued with broom handles to parade with, and only got their rifles later. (23:42) There was an empty train in the sidings at North Ferriby Station, in case of a German invasion, so that the people of the village could go inland quickly. (25:29) Parts of a Mulberry Harbour which was eventually used for D-Day was stored on the Humber Foreshore. (26:01) Mrs Sanderson managed her house and garden with virtually no help and kept up her work with the Girl Guides and Brownies during the war. (26:36) Eventually she had an Italian prisoner of war to help in the garden. They could not speak each other's language and there were some misunderstandings. She was not allowed to pay him. (28:57) Evacuees went to the Church Hall for a medical examination before they were sent off to people's homes. Some of them had very bad nits. People had to take in the evacuees if they were instructed to do so. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1178/2/3')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains songs from The 'Humberside Folk Songwriting Competition', 1988. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1887/1')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains an oral history recording on the life of Snowden Dunhill who was deported to Australia in the early ninteenth century as punishment for his crimes of stealing wheat and later selling on. Includes mention of early agricultural life around this time in villages of Spaldington, Holme on Spalding Moor, Bubwith, Swinefleet, Market Weighton and turnpike roads Note: Parts of sound recording appear muffled and of poor quality, especially on side two Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1646/14')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette. Contains oral history recording about Langtoft made for BBC Radio Humberside. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1902/1')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains a movie music montage for the Hull Lords Mayor's Parade on 3 Jun 1989 Themes include, 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', 'I Wanna Be Like You' (Jungle Book) 'Tara's Theme' (Gone with the Wind) 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' 'Oom Pah Pah' (Oliver) Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1887/3')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains the third songwriting competiton promoted by the Arts Unit of Humberside Leisure Services in conjunction with BBC Radio Humberside and the North East Night Network Folk Programme. Songwriters were invited to write songs reflecting attitudes of the new decade. They include a wide variety of topics such as environmental concerns, freedom issues and personal relationships affecting everyone in the last decade of the millenium. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1887/4')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains an afternoon of dialect verse and prose by the Yorkshire Dialect Society. Founded in 1897, the Society have held regular meetings with talks mainly on the origins and characteristics of dialect. The first such 'Christmas Crack' took place in Leeds in 1961 and has been held every year ever since. The first 'Crack' in York was in 1965. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1646/15')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains folk songs for the Great Northern Folk Songwriting competition The finals were held at Beverley Folk Festival on the 17 Jun 1989.Born out of 'Folk Song 88' promoted by the Humberside Folk Development Project for folk songwriters in East Yorkshire. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1887/2')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains the recording of the official opening of the Kiplingcotes Derby in 1974 at the beginning of the cassette tape, also further into the recording gives details of household/family life, with taped music in between. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1646/16')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contains part of the ' 'Rawcliffe People' oral history project with contribution from Mr.J.W.Leake reminiscing with stories regarding local people and places. Includes mention of him starting school at the age of three, other siblings were born in the local school house. His father served in the First World War. He joined the navy in World War Two and trained at Shotton, also mentions the air raids Mr Leake was the eldest resident in Rawcliffe at the time of the recording, born 11 Feb 1913, died 29 Mar 2002 Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1646/19')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette. Contains reminiscences of life in North Ferriby in the late 19th and early 20th century. Timing: Audio on tape (00:32) Misses Penson's grandparents came to Ferriby in 1882. Their grandfather was to be the bailiff for Mrs Turner. (00:41) They moved into a new cottage. (00:59) As a bailiff their grandfather looked after Mrs Turner's land. (02:09) At that time Mrs Turner lived in Ferriby House. She owned the whole village and was a very stern woman. (02:30) The Misses Penson came to the village in 1910 when they were 6 and 10 years old. They lived at no 7 Marine Avenue, which had just been built. (03:19) A lot of the area was still just fields. Miss Penson describes the village in 1910. (04:18) The Brick Yard Cottages were already there and the kiln often had bricks baking in it. (04:45) There was a proper landing stage at the end of Humberside Road. The water there was about 6 feet deep. Bricks, sand and coal were landed there. (06:18) The railway station had a bridge built over the line in 1904. The station had a general waiting room and a ladies' waiting room. You could order your coal from the station master as there were coal yards by the station. (07:09) The railway cottages were nearby. (07:49) It cost 1/3d to get to Hull by train. (08:25) There were three teachers at the school. Mr [Hornby] was the headmaster, Miss Denton and Miss [McCarthy] were teachers. (09:05) The big boys and girls had separate playgrounds. (09:35) There was a great difference between the social classes in those days. (11:13) Rich people had their shopping sent back on the train from Hull. The maids picked up the parcels from the station. (12:15) The Miss Jacksons had their groom trained to drive a car for them. (12:48) Miss Penson lists the gentry and which houses they lived in. (13:56) Sir Thomas [Talbot ]of Ashton Hall lived with someone he was not married to. (14:16) The Misses Penson have their Mother's notebook which has recipes and shopping bills from 1911. (14:52) Miss Penson describes the shops on the High Street. A grocer used to do deliveries from a cart. He knew, for example, what kind of butter a particular housewife preferred. He wore a straw hat, and would take orders for groceries. Sacks of flour were purchased from a local mill for 3 shillings. (16:53) The notebook shows that their rent was 5/3d. (17:16) There is an entry for coals which were ordered from the station master. These would be delivered by horse and cart. (17:49 The butcher also came around occasionally and milk was also delivered. (18:42) Their father got up early, at about 6 o'clock to cycle to his job on Victoria Dock in Hull. In later years he caught the train. (19:50) They remember wash days with the copper, the dolly tub and the mangle. (20:21) Another entry in the notebook mentions Lily getting her boots mended for about 1/3d. (22:36) Soldiers from the East Yorkshire Regiment were billeted in the village during First World War. They stayed in houses which had not yet been occupied. (23:36) Miss Penson remembers going to the soldiers' concerts in the Estate (Village) Hall. (24: 02) On a Friday they used to wave off the soldiers who were leaving at the railway station for the Front. The band played and the Misses Penson had tears in their eyes. (24:49) The officers' mess was one of the houses in Parkfield Avenue. Once a week the regimental band played outside the officers' mess while they ate their dinner. The Misses Penson could hear it in their bedroom. (25:25) The solders were trained to do things like digging trenches while they were in Ferriby. (25:47) When peace was declared the school master told the children that they would have a holiday and they cheered. (27:06) Their father was the equivalent on an ARP warden in the First World War. (27:20) After they left school at 14, most of the girls went into service. Boys worked at the railway station or at the big houses. (28:37) The Pensons seldom went into Hull as their mother preferred the countryside. (29:08) As children they played games like Klondike and hop skotch. (34:48) The brickyard ponds were where they dug the clay from. (35:10) In the evenings they played ludo, simple card games, tiddlywinks and had sing-songs and played out in the street. (38:00) At Christmas they did not have big presents. There was always a Christmas tree and they went to their grandfather's on Christmas Day. They had a Christmas stocking. (30:04) The children went up to the Robinsons to sing carols at Christmas and they all got an orange and a 3d bit. (40:11) They were taken for a walk on a Sunday evening in their best clothes. (41:12) They attended Sunday School twice, morning and afternoon. (46:42) Although the village was quite small, there were some people (i.e. the gentry) that they had very little to do with. (47:47) The girls who went into service at that time were daily maids. They did not 'live in'. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1178/2/4')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contributors Mr Billy Harrison of Millington and Mr Eric Scaife of Pocklington. Mr Billy Harrison (00:11) Mr Harrison made a one-string violin from a cigar box over 60 years ago. (00:36) He got the instructions for making the violin from a book in the school library and made his own improvements on the design. (01:37) Mr Harrison plays 'Amazing grace' on his one string violin. (02:25) He plays 'Just a Song at Twilight.' (03:30) Part of his violin is made from a broom handle. (04:22) Mr Harrison was living at Nunburnholme and working in the gardens at Warter when he made the violin. (04:27) He worked in Pocklington 43 years ago for Mr English, at Lyndhurst. (05:02) Mr Harrison recalls some of the shops in Pocklington when he was a lad. (06:23) He got married in 1959. The house they lived in was in Union Street, [Pocklington], and belonged to Ernest Witt, a lawyer, who lived next door. (08:09) The rent was 5s 6d a week and his wife had to clean a nearby guardroom used by soldiers. Mr Harrison earned £2 a week as a gardener at the time. (08:58) Mr Harrison recalls [Will Proud], a lad who worked with him. Unfortunately Will was killed in Italy during the Second World War. (09:25) He also mentions Eric Grey, who is also dead. (09:47) Mr Harrison played in a brass band in Pocklington at one time. First he played the three valve trombone. The bandmaster at the time was Jim [Willison]. Then he went onto the tenor horn. After this he played the euphonium and then the E flat tuba. (11:37) They played in Pocklington at Christmas time. (11:47) The [local jeweller] and his son played slide trombones. (12:09) Mr Harrison remembers the Vessel Cuppers coming to Pocklington. They dressed like Morris dancers, but with black faces, and came at Martinmas and at hiring time. (14:09) Mr Harrison has created tunes for 6 hymns. (14:40) He plays a tune he composed on the cello. (16:07) Mr Harrison plays 'Abide with Me' and another, unidentified tune. (21:11) He lists some of the churches and chapels he has played in. (21:48) Mr Harrison and his friend played lead violin. This was when Mr Smith was the vicar, before Canon Christie. (22:26) It is over 40 years since Mr Harrison played in the Pocklington Church Orchestra. He was also in the special choir at the church. (22:34) [Arthur Dean] discovered that Mr Harrison could sing, and asked him to join the Methodists. (23:26) There was a pub at Warter called 'Creeping Kate'. (23:49) Mr Harrison connects this pub to a story his father told him about a farm at Methill Hall where a servant girl was practising witchcraft. She used to go to the plantation at night dressed in a white sheet, to practise chanting. Many folk thought she was a ghost. Mr Harrison's father and his friend, who had been drinking in Warter, 'Found her out.' (25:11) Mr Harrison has been told that there was a lot of witchcraft in Pocklington. (26:15) He tells the story of a shepherd who came to their house. He had the D.Ts, and had hallucinations about rats. (27:32) Mr Harrison tells an amusing story about a farmer called Albert Richardson and a miller. (29:14) Mr Harrison talks of the rumour of an underground passage between Nunburnholme Nunnery and Warter Priory, and of one from Manor Farm at Numburnholme, to Warter Priory. (29:56) He was once playing music at Stillington, [North of York], and a farmer showed them a priest's hole in his farmhouse. (32:50) Mr Harrison tells of how he once visited someone who had an old photograph of Mr Harrison's grandfather with his traction engine. (35:44) He remembers the Maypole in their paddock in Nunburnholme. (37:45) Mr Harrison plays what he describes as a 'Christmas tune' on the cello. (38:22) He plays 'Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush.' (38:52) Mr Harrison plays some unidentified tunes which they danced around the maypole to. (40:15) He plays a tune called 'Drinking'. (42:41) He plays the hymn 'All People That on Earth Do Dwell'. Mr Eric Scaife of Pocklington (00:41) Mr Scaife says one of his family, Edward Scaife, has compiled a family tree. (02:20) His earliest recollections were from 1914. His father built Ebor House in Chapmangate. His father married in 1905 and moved into the house. Mr Scaife was born in 1907. There was a serviceman's club next to their house in 1914. (04:02) Mr Scaife went to the Pocklington Grammar School in 1918, and left in 1926. He had been the Head of School for 2 years and had joined the Old Boys Committee after he left. At the time of this recording he was the Chair of the Governors. (05:08) Mr Scaife tells us that he gave a talk at Lyndhurst School about the Pocklington Canal. It was built by some rich landowners in 1818 for the transportation of farm goods. (06:00) In 1847 the railway company purchased it, and the last boat came through in 1932. It was left to decay until 1969 when the Canal Amenities Society was formed. (07:27) Mr Scaife describes the annual Martinmas hirings. (09:01) He describes how before his time, there was cock fighting at the Black Bull yard. (09:25) Mr Scaife tells us that in 1657 Pocklington School had only 7 pupils. St John's lodge was a private school at one time. Mr Scaife had two aunts who were pupils there. Dewsbury House on Union Street was also private school. (10:25) Sherbutt House at the corner of Yapham was a private school. (10:55) In 1847, before Mr Scaife's time, the railway was built by George Hudson. It was always hoped that a branch from Pocklington to Driffield would be built, but the landowners would never give permission. (11:42) In recent time the old railway station has been opened as a sports hall. (12:42) Mr Scaife worked for the local authority for 43 years. He was a member of Pocklington Rural District Council from 1934 to 1974 and Chairman for the last 18 years. (13:24) He recalls conducting the negotiations for the purchase of Burnby Hall from Major Stewart. (14:06) Mr Scaife remembers when Major Stewart was a schoolmaster at Pocklington School. (15:22) At one time the RDC had their council chamber in what became Major Stewart's museum. (16:37) The Masonic Hall in Pocklington was built in 1928. The Freemasons began in Pocklington in 1922. (18:04) Mr Scaife was always involved in the Freemasons and was the founder member of two other lodges. He describes his other roles in the Freemasons. (24:23) He remembers a murder at Brass Castle Hill in Pocklington. (25:05) He recalls changes to shops and other business in Pocklington, including the smithy located between Chapmangate and Market Street. (29:16) Mr Scaife remembers when Tom English of the auctioneering family lived at Lyndhurst, before it became a school. (29:28) He discusses the development of the new housing estates around Pocklington. (31:22) Mr Scaife mentions Peter Harrison, the one-legged town crier and Albert Edward [Steele] a local grocer who was considered a 'character'. (32:31) He recalls how Listers had a horse and wagonette, and used to drive around the town scattering coins for the children. (33:31) Mr Scaife recalls horse fairs in Market Street. (34:22) He lived at Warter for 40 years. He can remember when Mr Vesty died and they sold his estate. The Priory was pulled down when it was in the hands of the Guiness Trust. (36:56) Mr Scaife recalls being in the office at Warter Priory when Mr Vesty came in to view it before he bought it. He owned it between 1927 and 1969. (38:09) The house contents and garden ornaments were sold off at the end of the Vesty's ownership of the Priory. (39:11) Mr Scaife says that Nunburnholme was the name taken by Charles Wilson when he was made a baron in the early 1900s. (40:22) Mr Scaife describes how that he organised the transportation of the Wilson family coffins from the garden of the Priory to the church at Warter. (42:17) He remembers when Lord Hotham's estate at Dalton Holme was divided up. Some farms near Warter were previously part of this estate. (43:18) Mr Scaife's life had been devoted to Masonry and public service from 1931 to 1974. (43:54) He says that the population of Pocklington in 1743 was 943. In his lifetime it has doubled to between five and six thousand. (44:25) Mr Scaife comments on the activities of some local housing estate builders. Public access copy available in Audio-Visual room

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contributors Mr and Mrs Wilkinson of Nunburnholme Public access copy available in Audio-Visual room

Originally deposited as an audio cassette Contributor Councillor Jack Buttle (00:10) Introduction to Councillor Jack Buttle. (00:30) Jack says that St Helens Gate gets its name because 'gates' were places in which smallholders could hold sheep. St Helen is the name of one of the springs in the area. (01:40) There was a St Helen's well on Chapel Hill. (03:04) Archbishop Ullathorne was related to Jack. The bishop was born in Pocklington, and was bishop of Birmingham before taking Catholicism to Australia. (04:46) Jack tells us that his family came from Holme-on-Spalding Moor Hall to Pocklington in 1430. (05:01) He remembers Chapel Hill being called Primrose Hill. At one time church services were held there in a temporary building, which is why it is now called Chapel Hill. (05:58) Jack says that the oldest street in Pocklington is Chapmangate. It is named after the chapmen who carried their goods on pack horses and would lay them out for sale on the ground there. (06:49) Waterloo Buildings is named after the battle of 1815. It was a public house that subsequently closed. (11:12) There were hump-backed bridges over the beck at one time. Jack describes the course of the beck before it was covered over. (11:57) Jack remembers living at Brass Castle Hill. (12:45) Smithy Hill had no 'smithy' there in Jack's time. The blacksmith was in Church Lane. (14:38) Jack recalls that West Green ran past where the railway used to be. (16:55) He explains that feast days are registered in the town charter. (17:19) Jack says that he had been a councillor for thirty-one years. (17:59 Vessel Cuppers, a type of mummer, used to come around before Christmas. They were very good male singers. (19:04) Jack's parents and grandparents ran a butchers stall opposite the Feathers Hotel. They gave meat to poor people at the end of the day. (20:39) Jack's father was born in Union Street. He and Jack's uncles were members of the first rugby union club in Pocklington. (21:46) Jack remembers the Star Inn, which is now [Colbeck's] shop. (23:43) Policeman Moody once told Jack that he had seen a female ghost in one of the lanes in Everingham. (24:19) The Feathers Hotel is the third such hotel with that name on the site. (25:09) The old building that is now the cinema was once Hawk House. It had a cockfighting chamber. There was a serving bar at the Black Bull for serving drinks to people in Hawk House. (25:53) Jack is asked about old stone crosses in the churchyard. The only one he can remember was found in the churchyard underneath the church tower. (26:37) Three of his grandfather Bentley's family are buried in front of the pulpit in the Church. (27:15) His grandfather Bentley ran a public house, the Old Red Lion. He also had a butcher's business, and a fellmongers (dealer in hides or skins) business. (28:08) Market Street used to be called Swinegate. (28:39) There was an old pub on that street with 'crooks' in the walls so that working people could hang pens on it as a way of displaying pigs for sale. (29:09) There was a public house in George Street called the Royal Oak. But the oldest pub was in Chapmangate. It was called the Tiger Inn, and was later a fish and chip shop. There was also a pub called the Buck Hotel, which no longer exists. (30:24) Jack says that the Cross keys is a very old pub, but the Feathers Hotel is the oldest pub in Pocklington. (30:40) They discuss church buildings near the Methodist cemeteries. (31:44) Jack says that John Wesley came to Pocklington, riding his horse down George Street. (31:55) He remembers the Masonic Hall being built for the freemasons. Manor Court was a farmyard at the time, and the Hall was built in a field. Jack's uncle Percy [Jewlson] and his brother-in-law Noel [Moore's] father were founding members. (33:33) The [Moores] were one of the farmers on the land where the airfield was built. (34:46) York View was in Barmby Parish until they changed the boundaries. (35:18) Jack lists the people who have owned [Kilnwick] Mansion. (36:41) [Millington] Springs is the water which runs past the church in a beck. The wood nearby is called Ginny [Furkin], named after someone who was cooling butter in the beck and drowned. (37:45) Jack discusses the supplies of spring water in Pocklington. (38:52) He says that Garrowby Hill is a Roman road and the next oldest road is 'the Hodsons' [Hodson Lane], another Roman road. (40:16) Bishop Wilton is named after a bishop. Jack says that gravediggers often found parts of an old building when they dug graves. There was an archbishop's palace there at one time. (41:58) He says that Givendale has a Norman church. The area has been excavated and an old village was discovered north of the church. (43:31) Jack believes that the last witch to be burned at the stake in England was burned in Pocklington Market. (44:09) He says that the Star Inn had a thatched roof at one time and then it had another storey added. At the same time they added a tiled roof and faced the walls with new bricks. (45:12) The shop where Jack worked as a grocer had very thick walls, which were especially noticeable in the cellar. Public access copy available in Audio-Visual room

Running time 45 minutes. Originally deposited as an audio cassette. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'SL245/14/5')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette. Public access copy available in the Audio-Visual Room.

Originally deposited as an audio cassette. Public access copy available in the Audio-Visual Room.

Originally deposited as an audio cassette. Contains reminiscences of life in North Ferriby and Swanland during the early to mid-20th century. Timing: (00:05) Mrs Williams was born on 5 Aug 1889. Her father William [Andrew] worked in his father's undertaking business. (00:48) There was no tap water or mains drainage in North Ferriby at that time. The only frequent transport was from the train station. (01:22) The nearest doctor was 3 miles away in Hessle. (02:02) There were two carrier cars that could take anything you wanted into Hull and a little bus which only went into Hull on market day and then came back at 4pm. (02:50) They did not have telephones at that time. (03:14) There were seven children in her family. She was the middle of five girls. The two boys went into the undertaking business. (03:56) Her mother found the children difficult to manage in the school holidays and she asked the father to take one of the girls into the business. They decided to take her as she was the most 'naughty'. (04:11) She helped in the workshop at the undertakers. Her main jobs were counting nail boxes and taking messages. (05:12) Mrs Williams was picked out at age 14 to be a teacher but she began to have violent headaches and was unable to continue with her training. (05:56) The school building was where it is now, the old school by the pond. It comprised one large room and the classroom. Later they built another classroom on the site and used the old classroom as a cloakroom. (06:36) There was no need for a policeman in those days as the school master was 'enough'. He caned anyone who misbehaved. (07:24) Mrs Williams remembers the first water mains being put in during 1909 or 1910. Before that people used wells, the pump, or collected rain water. (09:27) When the mains water came they built a pump house which was run by a donkey engine at first. A big tank was installed at the centre of Queensbury Road. (13:09) People in the outlying farms had to come up to the pond with a water cart and back it into the pond to collect water for their cattle. (14:03) The miller would grind the corn and bring it to each house in sacks. Mrs Williams was about 14 years old at this time. The miller's name was Mr [Clayton]. People would take corn to him, to be ground for making barley and oats for the cattle. (16:07) There was a small general shop, where the stores in the village are now. It had a house window and it sold various products from paraffin to sweets. There was also the bricklayer, Mr Kirby, the butcher, and the tailor, Mr [Proud], who had a flourishing business. (17:02) The farm workers had their clothes made to measure. The tailor did a good trade in riding breeches. (17:30) The old men sat and talked at the blacksmith's shop, which was where the butchers is now located. (18:05) There was also a boot maker and a post office. (18:24) The post office was in Crowther Lane, which is now Gay Road. The tailor's shop was on the site of the present post office. (19:22) The doctor used to come every morning in his carriage. If you needed any medicine, you had to walk to Hessle for it after school or work, or the doctor brought it the next day. He eventually got an assistant doctor, who came on horseback. (21:23) The medicine was just to ease the pain in those days. The doctor also took teeth out. Dr Murray once said that he just used to give people a stiff dose of whisky afterwards. (22:40) Mrs William's younger sister got scarlet fever, but none of the other family members caught the disease. All the children were kept home from school. Her sister recovered. (23:18) Her father contracted typhoid. No one went to hospital when she was a child. (24:40) Mrs Williams was vaccinated against smallpox when she was a little girl. (25:29) Her grandmother died of smallpox in West Derby. (25:35) She remembers that 'St Barnabas' was opened as a mission hall when she was aged 8 or 9 years. The vicar got the land from the local squir, and money from rich members of the community, to build the hall. [It was then opened as a church], yet the parishioners still had to go to Ferriby for burials and weddings. (27:36) The Methodist church is done away with now. It was situated at the back of the stores in the village. But in those days it was the most popular church. They amalgamated with the Congregational church. (29:01) She remembers the outings as the only time the children got out of the village, on outings to Bridlington or Cleethorpes. They had a farm wagon to take them to Ferriby Station and they travelled by train. (29:27) If they went to Cleethorpes, they walked to the pier, took the boat to New Holland, and then caught a train to Cleethorpes. (31:04) She remembers when Sir James Reckitt lived at the manor house. They were not often in the village because they were Baptists. They went to a Hull church. They donated money to the village, but had their own staff. (32:38) The Reckitts had their own farm and a huge garden, which was opened for the flower show. They ran a cricket team in which their sons played. (33:53) Mrs Williams describes where the manor house was situated off Manor Drive. (34:30) The house on Greenstyles Lane is Swanland Hall which was owned by Squire Todd. He was part of the landed gentry, while the Reckitts were in business, although they were the main source of wealth in the village. (35:36) Swanland House at the end of the village was owned by Mr [Allen]. He was well known in the [timber] trade. (36:19) Mrs Williams thinks that this house is now flats. (38:14) There was a boy drowned during Mrs Williams' school days. Three boys were skating on the frozen pond when it thawed. One drowned when the ice gave way. (39:44) The local pond is supposed to be 'bottomless'. There is believed to be a well in it. A horse and trap were once trapped in the pond when the horse panicked and ventured too far. (41:11) Mrs Williams had a sewing machine powered by a foot treadle. (42:14) There was no electric lighting in Swanland until 1930. They used paraffin lamps which were hung from the ceiling. (46:14) Mrs Williams talks about her family and gives us the names of her brothers and sisters. The audio quality decreases at this point and it is impossible to hear what Mrs Williams is saying. Public access copy available on Preservica: https://eastriding.access.preservica.com/ (Search 'DDX1178/2/2')

Originally deposited as an audio cassette