Nigel England's Seavington
NIGEL ENGLAND’S STORY
From a conversation with Raymond and Nigel England, Ry Coffman and Carolyn Farler at Raymond’s house in Seavington St Mary in December 2009.
Nigel England was born on 31 December 1953 – he is an only child. Nigel has spent 56 years in the village. Nigel has been doing some research into his family; his great grandfather’s family originated from Shepton Beauchamp. Nigel’s mother was a Russell from Allowenshay. Nigel’s mother Christine’s family was very large; she was brought up by an aunt and uncle in Allowenshay who were known as her ‘mother and father’; Christine’s father was head dairyman for the Rutters.
He went to school in the village at the school in School Lane. Peter Ash was there then and members of the Pippin family. He was born when the family were living in Rose Cottage. After that across the road and Southernaway Cottage then St Mary’s Close was built and the England’s moved there.
At that time most people worked in the village. Nigel said that when he was doing his paper round he would have known everyone in the village but now with new houses and new people it was not possible to know everyone. The village shop in Seavington St Mary just was round the corner from where the England’s lived, but there were no other trades in Seavington St Mary other than the Manor Farm. Nigel could remember another family, the Bradburys, selling paraffin when he was a boy – everyone used paraffin heaters in those days.
Nigel liked most things at school. He had a happy time at school and had a happy childhood. He loved science and geography. He found it a big culture shock when he left the village school and went to the secondary modern school in Ilminster. He thought it was particularly difficult for the boys but he did appreciate the wider opportunities that going to a bigger school gave him. He left when he was 15 at Easter 1969. He didn’t get on with some of the teachers too well – he was sent for the cane a couple of times but managed to get out of it and was never actually caned!
Nigel is a Saab engineer and now works at the Saab garage in Yeovil but he spent 28 years working for Hartnell Motors in Chard. Nigel wanted to work on the farm but Raymond wanted him to have a ‘proper job – a trade’ so he became a mechanic. Nigel used to help on the farm at harvest time, baling, when he was 13 or 14. He used to drive the tractor and his father used to be on the back stacking up the bales on the bale sledge. When the potatoes were harvested about 6 people were needed to work the potato harvester with a driver (Nigel at 14-15) and other people sorting the potatoes on the back. He wouldn’t be allowed to do that now – Health and Safety! Nigel got his interest in mechanics from the farm; he still loves driving tractors! He feels that coming from generations of farm labourers it’s in his genes somehow. He’s very proud of his farming heritage. Raymond told him that there was no money in farming, even though they used to get a tied cottage. Agricultural labourer’s pay has always been very low. He didn’t want Nigel to become a farm worker. Nigel had first wanted to be a motor cycle mechanic but unfortunately when he left school, the British motor cycle industry was almost gone and Japanese manufacturers were just coming in. It was not the job to go into so he became a car mechanic. In those days there were plenty of apprenticeships - you could go anywhere, but he stayed at Chard for 28 years.
Nigel has two children, Samantha, born in 1975 who is now a Doctor of Philosophy at Cambridge – working in developmental biology, and Stuart, born 1978, married to Kate with Josh, Ben and baby Harry. Stuart works in the motor trade as well. In fact Stuart helped Nigel get his current job in Yeovil as a Saab engineer where he has been for 12 years now. Stuart has now started up his own motor business. Samantha always wanted to be a doctor; she had a look at being a medical doctor but decided to stick to science. She did her first degree at Bath and then her Department moved to Cambridge and she followed to continue her research into molecular and cellular biology. She is now running a laboratory for a colleague at the Department of Anatomy. Nigel is very close to her, he says they think the same way. He is also very proud of his son Stuart who did not excel at school, but after he left school he just ‘flew’, initially as a Saab apprentice but now runs his own business.
About life in the village, Nigel said that he had never fallen out with anyone in the village; people could take or leave him. Nigel said that in the old days when he used to deliver the paper he used to know everyone in the village – there were 365 people at that time. These days ownership of houses changes so often he does not know everyone now.
Nigel’s wife, Pamela’s family came to Somerset from Devon, and then were involved in the South Wales coalfields during the mid C19th. Nigel met Pamela at school. After school he was always riding or working on motorbikes. His ‘Grandfie’ used to keep a few pigs and they used to hitch them up in a cart and take them to Taunton market every week. They joked that ‘Grandfie’ only knew one speed and that was flat out and that they were the fastest pigs in Somerset! There used to be a cafe at Taunton market where Nigel and his grandfather would go every week, where you could get steak pie with brown sauce and a bottle of ‘Hubbly Bubbly’. After the market he said they needed to go into Ilminster to get some wormer for the pigs, and Nigel must have been driving by then. Pam lived in Ilminster and worked in Boots in those days. Pam’s mum came from Seavington. When he saw her in Boots, they just got chatting and it went from there. The next time he met her again was at the Ilminster youth club. Nigel could remember a youth club in the village at the time held in the old village hall in Upton Lane in the ‘60s.
Pam and he got married in March 16th 1974 in St Mary’s in the village. Pam can’t drive but has always managed to find jobs that she can walk to in the village or people very kindly give her lifts. They’ve lived in the village all their lives and been very happy here. They might move nearer Samantha or Stuart when they retire but that’s a little way off at the moment. When Nigel walks the dog, he goes up along Longforward Lane and sees the view over towards Allowenshay and Hinton and thinks it is hard to find anywhere prettier. Nigel thinks he’s lucky to live here; beautiful lanes, fields and scenery to walk the dog and it is very quiet - you rarely see anybody.
Ry Coffman
4/5/2001
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