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 SEAVINGTON MEMORIES

From a conversation with Bob and Ivy Ash, and Janice Ash on 25 August 2009 at Farriers, Seavington about Bob’s life in Seavington

Robert Francis Ash was born 20 February 1924 at Gummer’s Castle, in the first one of the two houses.  He had two brothers Ken and Roy; Bob is the eldest, Ken, the middle brother has died but younger brother Roy lives next door. 

The house at Gummer’s Castle had two bedrooms, and no running water – their water was from a well 40’ deep. Bob remembers that the toilet at the house that he grew up in was on the other side of the road – and is still there! They had coal fires which had to be cleaned and the ashes spread on garden or buried.  At home there were no mod cons whatsoever – everything had to be done by hand. The garden of the house was between the house and the bungalow to the right – a long narrow garden.  Bob’s father was a very good gardener, he used to grow a lot of vegetables – there was a lot of rivalry in those days - ‘his peas not as good as mine’!  His father was very strict but his mother mellower.  His father was a carpenter, wheelwright and the village undertaker.  The Carpenter’s Shop was at the bottom of David’s Lane. When someone died in the village, the two of them used to make the coffin then carry it through the village on a bier to the house of whoever had died.  As undertakers, the family was very involved with village life. 

At home, Bob’s childhood chores were mostly gardening; his father would say ‘I want you to turn that patch of ground from there to here before I come home’ and he had to do it – that was the main chore. The boys did the digging and father did the planting.

The family moved to Sunny View (now called ‘The Old Post Office’) during the war. Bob said his mother was a lovely person – she wouldn’t hear a bad word about anyone – she would not allow Bob to run anyone down.  She’d say ‘everyone has their good points’ - one of her favourite sayings.  Never saw any harm in anybody. 

The meals he remembers from his childhood were regularly bread and cheese and pickled onions.  He used to enjoy going ferreting for rabbits, at least twice a week.  His mother used to serve them up either roast or boiled and they were very good.  They used to catch as many as 16-17 rabbits on a Saturday afternoon.  (Wild rabbit is not now eaten because of the introduction of myxomatosis).

Bob remembers the pond in the middle of Seavington St Michael opposite the Volunteer Inn and
throwing stones and paddling there when he was a boy.    He went to school at the village school in School Lane.   Miss Kiddle was the teacher – she was very strict, and did not hesitate to use the cane. Miss Skenfield taught the younger children.

Sport was Bob’s main interest – he loved cricket and used to play for the village team.  His brother Roy was good at football and played for the village football team.  Sport was not really taught at school in those days, it was mostly lessons.  At school, he used to like English – and was quite good at it.  His best friend was John Manley who lived at Fout’s Farm up David’s Lane.  He remembers 35 children in his class, and about 20 in Miss Skenfield’s class – who taught the younger children.  At least 50 children went to the school.  His worst lesson was arithmetic.  He liked sport best – and used to play sport in the field opposite the school called ‘Great Ground’ – the farmer used to let the children go in there to play.  He started playing cricket when he was 12 – most boys played – they used to have a team to play other villages.

Bob and other children from the village used to go on outings with the Sunday school run by Rev. Harry Nash, the vicar.  He was a very generous man who ran the Sunday school and gave the children treats.  He was an ex-army man, quite strict – but a very kind man, well liked in the village.  He did not marry but he had a housekeeper.

Pond Farm, the end terrace (now opposite the car park in Seavington St Michaels) was owned by the Warrys, the Stuckeys, and the Browns lived in other cottages opposite the pond before it became a car park..

Mr Warry was the village butcher and used to do deliveries with his horse and cart. He had a big knife and he used to say to the children ‘Put your fingers there and I’ll chop them off!’ 
Miss Kiddle (village school mistress) used to live at Buckerells after the Pooles.  Bob told a story about how the village policeman from South Petherton – PC White, if he caught the village children getting up to any mischief – would say ‘I’m going to tell Miss Kiddle about this’.  That was frightening enough!  Seavington was part of his patch – he used to be seen often cycling around here. 

Bob remembers the fire at Seavington House – Bob lived up at Gummer’s Castle where the Reylands live now and somebody said the Poole’s house is on fire and he went out to go down there and saw the fire engine coming round the top corner there being towed by a lorry.  It had a pump that you had to pump up and down and he started running and got down to the scene of the fire at the same time as the fire engine.  That tells you what speed he was going!   This was when he was a boy 12-13 years old.  It was not a big fire.  They had it more or less out before the fire brigade got there.  The fire was in an annex and lean to on the side of the house. 


For Jubilee day – a street party was held – people used to do a lot of things in the village.  All entertainment was in the village as people didn’t have cars.  They couldn’t afford to go further.

Manor Farm and Mead Farm were both farmed by the Jacobs family – two cousins Laddie Jacobs had Mead Farm and Sam Jacobs had Manor Farm.

Bob left school at 14 and went to work for a firm called Male Bros in South Petherton  to learn a trade and then came back home to work with his father.  At Male Bros, he learnt painting and decorating. He eventually became a general builder – the Ash family business has been established for 100 years in the village.
 
When WW11 came Bob joined the Navy when he was 18. Bob chose the navy because his Uncle was a naval man. He was a chief petty officer – his uncle said ‘If you’re going anywhere - join the navy.’   During the war he went all over the world – quite something for a boy from Somerset!  It was an exciting experience; he really liked being in the Navy.  He served on HMS Victorious, an aircraft carrier, and was in the gunnery division.  Initially he went to HMS Raleigh at Torpoint to do gunnery training.  During the war he saw quite a bit of action; HMS Victorious was hit by Japanese kamikaze planes which skimmed over coming straight for the ship.  Bob’s friend was killed on the gun alongside him.  Kamikazi pilots just dived straight into ship.  HMS Victorious went first to Norfolk, Virginia, then Hawaii and Honolulu.  HMS Victorious was also employed as convoy protection.  In the ports they visited, people were very kind; they took them around Honolulu and Hawaii in their cars.  After Honolulu, HMS Victorious went to America, and Sydney and Perth in Australia.  The Australians too were very hospitable to the visiting sailors.   The sailors had a good time going ashore, they usually got drunk – and did not do much sightseeing!  He didn’t really appreciate it at that age – says he should have done more really.  There were nearly 2,000 people on the ship – it was a big event when they arrived in port.  After Australia they sailed to the Far East stopping in Singapore.  The worst battles were the kamikaze planes because they dived straight on the ship and accidents caused when planes crashing on the ship caused many casualties – and pilots were killed.  Pilots in RNAS had separate quarters and mess on the ship.  Bob found the ship board life ok, although some complained about the food, he thought it was good.  He joined in September 1942 – came out in September 1945.   Bob enjoyed life at sea and made many friends amongst the 2,000 crew.   Some still live locally; Bill Burt, born at Long Sutton,  lives in Street and one in Devon, Don Joslin.  They used to have reunions at Yeovilton but it is getting harder to meet up now as they are all getting older.  Bob is 87.

There was one problem with the navy – discipline! But you had to put up with it.  Bob got into trouble once unknowingly, when he was writing a letter home.  Letters were for private and family matters only, and should not contain anything else.  It was announced over the speaker that they could talk about the recent raid, so he wrote about it in his letter home.  The letter was picked up ashore and he had certified that it was for private and family matters only.    He had 14 days running round the flight deck with a rifle above his head and doing ‘froggy hops’ for that mistake! 

Finally he came home after 3 years away.  He had come home a couple of times during the war and remembers arriving home once hungry and cutting himself 2 or 3 slices of bread. When his mother came home she told him that he had just eaten their week’s supply of butter!  There was more food on board ship than at home. 

The war didn’t have much effect on Seavington.  Most of the men of the right age from the village went and fought and trades and farmers were exempt or if you were doing something for the war effort. The family business kept going though out the war and when he and his brother Ken came back it opened up.  He missed all his friends in the navy and the good times.  HMS Victorious happy and glorious they used to say.

Bob is a member of the Church of England and was in the choir of Seavington St Michael and St Mary for several years.  He used to enjoy going to church – and was a churchwarden for 7 years.  But he married a Methodist!   The Methodist church in Seavington is now closed.

Bob met Ivy in 1946 (they got married in 1948) when Ivy was working at the Seavington post office (run by Mrs Gulliford, now Swan Thatch).   Ivy was from Moor in South Petherton. She helped out at the post office and then stayed for a little while.  She liked it there.  Her family had a small holding in South Petherton and when she got home from the post office she had to milk the 20 cows by hand.  She remembered rats at the Post Office!  When Ivy was working at the post office both Ken and Bob used to make excuses to come and see her.

Bob and Ivy married at the Methodist church in South Petherton and the reception was held back at Ivy’s home.  They went to Teignmouth for their honeymoon.  At first they lived at home with Bob’s family while they saved up to build ‘Luccombe’ (their first home on the right of their current home – ‘Farriers’).  The building site had been given to them as a wedding present.  Son Peter and wife Janice built their house eventually on the left hand side in the original orchard.   The three brothers each had a piece of land – Ash’s Corner it was called!   Bob’s parents lived at Sunny View now called the ‘Old Post Office’ and Ken (the middle brother lived next door).

On The day of the wedding the 15 June 1949 – the registrar forgot, he just didn’t turn up and eventually someone contacted him and he cycled up from Martock.   At the time, Ivy just wanted to go ahead with the church service and then do the signing bit at another time! but you couldn’t do that. Everyone had to wait.  Ivy had borrowed a dress and the veil.  There was no money around in those days.  Neighbour Rosemary married John Dyer and she had a dress and Ivy borrowed it.  There was a marquee at Ivy’s family home – and they made the food themselves – her two sisters helped.  Ivy lost her Mum when she was 16.  Her father very strict – ‘Bout time you went home Bob, he would shout down! 

Sporting events were very important in the village.  Seavington had quite a good football team.    Sometimes 200 people would come to watch the football team.  Before the village leased the playing field – sports were played on the top of Easterdown Hill in a field on left hand side and David’s Lane in the field on the left.  When the village had a garage (on current Nissan fork lift site) a caravan used to be in the forecourt selling hotdogs to raise money to buy the playing field.  Ivy, son Peter Ash and daughter Maggie used to work in the caravan to raise money for the playing field selling hot dogs.  Bob could remember being down the field with Don Deacon and someone came running down saying Maggie had put diesel in someone petrol car.

Bob’s favourite treat was going to see the cricket at the county ground in Taunton and he loved village cricket.  The main amusement then was the village cricket and football and the events that went with them.  Bob thought Tony Tolman has the score book of the cricket but Roy probably has the stuff from the football team. 

Initially Ash Bros. Builders only did house repairs, and undertaking.  The undertaking was important as Bob’s father had done it for the village.  Janice used to do it with Bob when Peter and Janice took over the business in 1989 and she carried on with Bob for 6-7 years.  The undertaking business was given up when Peter and Janice’s children were getting older.  Bob and Ivy have two children Peter and Margaret and four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.  Peter sat his 11 + on his own in the village school and Maggie was in the last class of the School when it closed.

The other businesses in the village were mostly farming; the Reylands always had potato business and there was also market gardening, carpentry, and building.  The old blacksmiths was on site of Bob’s bungalow ‘Farriers’.  Bob’s grandfather used to make cartwheels and Bob used to have to trundle them up to the blacksmith to have the iron band put on and trundle them back.  Horses were very important – everyone who needed one had one. Bicycles were the main means of transport.  Ivy used to have a pony; she used to ride it into Yeovil to go shopping.  It’s very different now!

The Ash’s did not have a horse; they used a handcart to take their materials around.   They used to use the handcart to go out to jobs even as far as Lopen – it used to take longer to get there than to do the job! The cart was quite heavy; it is being repaired at the moment.  It was in Peter and Janice’s garden for years.  Martin Symes, wheelwright,  is repairing it – Bob was pleased about this. 

Bob had pictures of some important events in his life.  One picture is of Bob and Ivy at Buckingham Palace – they have actually been twice! The first invitation was to a Garden Party and an award for services to the village – then to lunch on the 60th anniversary of VE Day. Bob was very involved in fundraising first of all to buy the playing field and then for the new millennium village hall.  He thought this had been a very worthwhile project which made a terrific difference to village life.

Reminiscing about fund raising in the village, Bob mentioned Mrs Jack  from Seavington House and the ‘Stitchers’, a group of women who met regularly producing handcrafts to be sold to raise money for the playing field and Mrs Jack from Seavington House. Bob recalls thinking that Mrs Jack was very demanding – if she wanted something done she would interrupt him from a job and insist he came and did whatever it was instantly.  But if she wanted something done it did get done. She was a very good influence on the village.  Bob and Mrs Jack were the two that really got the playing field and village hall off the ground.  Mrs Jack made Bob promise that he would carry on when she was very ill.  She was a marvellous person for the village.  She first lived at Seavington House – then at Middlefield Barn in St Marys.   Ash Brothers did the conversion of Middlefield Barn for her.  She was quite a character – everyone was a bit in awe of her.

Admiral Pizey was another; he used to live in the big house at Abbots Barton.  He came to Bob once and said he wanted some work done because he was coming out of the navy.  Bob told him that he had been in the navy too and he asked what rank – Bob said Able Seaman and asked him what rank he was – he said Admiral!  Every time after that he would come to see Bob and say ‘Hullo Bob from the Admiral to the Able Seaman’!  He was a nice man and so was his wife.  He was commander in chief of the home forces just after the war from 1947-8.    They did a lot for the village and so did Rev Woods.   Abbots Barton then became a children’s home run by the Manders.   Ash Bros. built the two houses there when the home closed and they have been sold.

Bob hopes the new village shop is a success and he will support it. 

Another photo was of Bob playing Father Christmas for the village and his granddaughter Lucy and friend Sophie Carpenter from down the village – but they didn’t recognise Bob as Father Christmas!  Another photo was of carol singing to get money for the hall and other pictures from Bob’s reunion of navel colleagues at Yeovil. 

Bob now wishes that more attention had been paid to older generations - his Uncle Sidney could tell wonderful stories.  Ivy recalls that when she was at school, if your mother went to work you were looked down on now it’s the opposite!  Janice loved being at home with the children for the for the first few years – she recalled that when she had her children there were a lot of children in the village and a lot of young mums at home:  Pauline Parsons, Nicky Tratt, Pauline Long, Angela Tyszka, Barbara Hawkins, herself.    A lot of mums didn’t go back to work until their children were at school.  There were Mum and Toddler groups and she knew all the other young mums.  They used to meet up down at the play area. Mrs Jack had donated the original play area in memory of her husband Alan. 

Sadly Ivy Ash died on 8 July 2010.

The Ash’s family photos can be view here

Ry Coffman 31.3.11.