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Miscellaneous research records

Object Type: Folder
In Folder: DDX1178



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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')

7 Oct 1983

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')

7 Nov 1983

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')

16 Oct 1983

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