Time to leave Rafborough
My most recent view of 11 Fowler Road (taken in August 1994). On the right (corner house behind the tall privett hedge) is 22 Cody Road where David Edwards lived; my close friend during school days and subsequently best man at my wedding in 1949.
It must have been the mid 1930s when we moved from Fowler Road to Hawley Road [now Fernhill Road]. It was to a cottage further down Hawley Road on the same side as Cove School.
11 Fowler Road, 1994
22 Cody Road, 1994
![Our cottage on Hawley Road [now Fernhill Road], 1971](gallery/fernhillroadcottage1971.jpg)
Our cottage on Hawley Road [now Fernhill Road], 1971
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It was undoubtedly a convenient location for Cove School and St John’s church but quite remote from the Cove ‘metropolis’. Glebe Cottage at the beginning of St John’s Road was where the curate, Rev. Allington lived. The remoteness of the cottage soon became obvious and we returned to live at 14 Elmsleigh road which was in the middle of a group of three. I remember how convenient it was when the ‘fair’ came to the Anchor Meadow. I just had to step over the back fence, and I was ‘in’.
It was another short stay because No. 1 Elmsleigh Road became available when the methodist minister, Rev. Buxton, retired to live at Mychett. This third move was more or less ‘permanent’.
Before we left Fowler Road my father had bought a Morris Cowley, with the registration YV 1366. Along with others we had a prefab timber garage in an open area on the right as one left Busk Crescent. The procedure for getting petrol would not suit the modern motorist. Instone’s ‘dispenser’ had a glass cylinder at the top with gallon markings. The required amount of petrol was pumped up to the cylinder by using the hand pump at the side. The nozzle of the delivery hose was then inserted into the tank and the release valve operated. Gravity did the rest. When the car was sold, the prefab garage was transferred to 1 Elmsleigh Road.
A significant change was taking place in Cove about this time with the construction of St Christopher’s church, and I well remember the laying of the foundation stone in 1934. The vicar, Rev. Alan McNab Watson, was the driving force in the project. Those attending the church will know that the hassocks have a ring at one end for the purpose of placing them on the hook behind the pew in front. What they don’t know is that my elder brother Jack installed all those hooks. All several hundred of them!
No.1 Elmsleigh Road, 1971
The view looking down Elmsleigh Road to Cove Road (in 1971), with Gobey’s (grocer) on the corner. George Instone’s wheelwright’s yard is on the opposite corner but not visible.
The view closer to Cove Road (in 1994). St Christopher’s Church with its remodelled front entrance, and ‘Gobey’s’ old shop now an Estate Agent.
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With the construction of the new St Christopher’s Church in the offing, the old timber church had been dismantled and re-erected at the back of the vicarage grounds where it became the church hall. It was a particularly useful base for the annual church fete. I well remember the array of stalls on the vicarage lawn. Almost exclusively the displays were of handiwork. Various competitions had been set up and in the tennis court area were the coconut shies and similar activities.
Just inside the rear entrance to the vicarage grounds was a stone building which was where the Boy Scouts met. Some time later the Church Lads’ Brigade was formed. Mr Dray did his best to form a drum and fife band.
Around this time some of the shops in the village had changed hands and Rourke’s (grocer) at the end of Elmsleigh road was now Gobey’s. Munday’s newsagency, just along from the Tradesman’s, was to become a fish and chip shop. Munday’s moved to a new group of shops just past the Methodist church. On the corner of Bridge road was Thornton the outfitter (a very amiable and rather eccentric character). To his right was the chemist, Weedon, and post office agency.
Living at 1 Elmsleigh Road I saw George Instone, wheelwright, at work. He was on the opposite corner to Gobey’s. Watching him shrink the red-hot steel rim on to a wooden wheel was quite impressive when the cloud of steam arose as he rapidly dunked it in the circular bath. I also learnt how a wooden wheel is constructed and why - Oak hub (no grain), Ash spokes (straight grain for shock resistance) and Elm rim for moisture resistance.
Southwood Road, with plenty of open space, provided a location for Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus. His ‘flying flea’ generated the most interest. The time came when work started on building the military camps, Morval and Delville, at Southwood and Minley. My friend Wally Arnell had secured a school holidays job in the drawing office, and I found a job as office boy to a Mr Nicholson. I also spent time operating the telephone switchboard.
Although St Christopher’s was just across Cove Road from Elmsleigh Road, my father’s affinity was for St John’s church, where he was organist and choirmaster. He died in 1974 at the age of 76 years, and his ashes are interred in St John’s churchyard. My mother died in 1994 at the age of 95 years, and her ashes occupy the same plot. The organist at St Christopher’s was Joan Maskell and the choirmaster Bill Pascoe.
St. John's cemetery, 1994
Mr and Mrs Dodds grave plot in St. John's cemetery
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3rd September 1939
As the decade of the 1930s ended Cove and Farnborough common with the rest of the country was at war.
Information and image courtesy of James Dodds.
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