Reminisces of John Lamb.
I lived in Combe at Dampiers,
opposite the Greeen Dragon, from 1939 until 1943 from
the age of six until I was ten.
There was a baker next to the Co-op at
Wadeford called Owsleys. All our bread came from there and I
remember well going down on Good Friday to collect the Hot Cross
buns. This was the only day of the year that you could get them in
those days.
Fred Tratt, husband of Agnes, had a
farmyard behind Orchard Lea and dispensed milk from the rear of
Drayton House. There were always chickens in the road outside. Orchard Lea was
formally two cottages with steps leading to both in the centre
from the road.
There was also a slaughterhouse set back on the right hand side
of a butchers shop, now Trivetts, two houses below Sam Summers
shop.
Throughout the war Sidney French ran the
council farm in Combe Wood Lane. There was no house at the farm
then. He also had a cobblers business and house two cottages up
from the George Inn opposite the present Post office. All my boots
were repaired there with hobnails all over the soles.
The big house next to the old police
house, now Copperstones, had a big cider press where all the local
farmers took their apples for cider making.