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I lived with my mother and father in the middle one of three tied houses on the Gregson Family estate, they were the wealthy owners of Tin mines and Rubber Plantations around Singapore. My father John(Jack)Keech was the head gardener with a staff of 30 or so men. Mr Padwick,A WW1 vet
with gas damaged lungs was the Head chauffer and he and his family lived next door on the right of us and Mr John Foran was the head groom he and his wife lived next door on the left Their children were grown up and lived elsewhere The Padwicks had a daughter who lived with them and was what these days would be considered mentally challenged, I remember her as a pleasant happy young woman who was always happy to play with me and my dog Trixie. I was six years old and up to 1941 had never had the company of other children my companions were Panky Padwick, the two men Groom and chauffer the Horses which I was allowed to water groom(as far as i could reach)and exwrcise them on a long rope in the Paddock at the rear of our houses,I also was taught how to clean the tack after the hunt, I also helped with the feeding etc of the Hounds I think about 30. The chauffer used to give me jobs cleaning and polishing the Two Hispano Suiza Cars one was for Mr Gregson and the other driven by the under chauffer was for his wife, when they went up to London They travelled each in their own Vehicle with chauffers in full uniform. I had no contact with the village children because the school was shut, because it was considered too dangerous to have all the children under one roof, so lessons were prepared by the teachers and posted to parents to teach the children themselves, fortuneately my parents were quite well educated, Dad had been to horticultural college his brother went to Agricultural college his Sister went to a swiss finishing school all three were being groomed by my Grandfathers Employers aFamily
connected with A well known Sugar manufacturers All the fees were paid by the family with the idea that Dad would take over the Gardens and Nurseries on completing
his education Brother Bill would succeed Grandad who was Farm Bailiff sister Amy was sent to the same educational establishments
so she could be the Daughter of the families
companion and chaperone,This pattern of events was an example of the upper and uppermiddle class patronage these estates were a network throughout the south of England. My Mother had a completely different lifestyle she was born and raised along with her younger sister in Bolton Lancashire they lived in a two up two down terraced house near the town centre in the shadow of cotton mills and engineering factories Bolton in period between the wars had a virtual forest of chimneys Gasometers and the like and an atmosphere to match manly a sulphuric fog, it was traditional for girls to leave school at 11 and go into the Mill but Grandparents Sam and Eliza Roberts had different plans for their daughters they would do a combination of Education and work experience on a split week basis when they reached 11 Morna Victoria the eldest and my mother did mornings at school and afternoons in a printers learning how to set type she had always been encouraged to write in formal copperplate style as soon as she was able eventually at the age of 13 She asked Sam if he would pay for her £50 to be Indentured to a Hairdresser and Wigmaker
in the nearby town of Bury, she received no wages until she became an improver after % years she would be kept on for another two years until she was eligible for full pay and then her indentured period was completed
and her employment was terminated with an embargo that prevented her from being employed in another Salon within a 50 mile radius of Bury, She was now quite an independent young woman who had ambitions of becoming her own boss with her own salon,
during her period of trainee wigmaking she had made contact with numerous Theatrical players and companies and whilst talking to them gained an appetite for the glamour of
Londons Salons, She left home caught a train to London found some Digs and made her way to Bond st entered the Largest Salon and presented herself and got the Job Wednesday was the traditional half day closing so she decided to visit the Chelsea Flower show where it so Happened my dad was showing a collection of Alpines for The Rt Hon Sir Vickery-Gibbs his employer dad invited mum to look behind the scenes at the show and Six weeks later they were married.
So back to Ends place although we had been experiencing frequent airraids the authorities in their wisdom decided to Billet two evacuees a brother and sister from the east end of London an area of almost total devastation, Kitty was about 9 or 10 and Leslie her brother was about 12 or thirteen, they settled in quite well and enjoyed Mums cooking and the countryside I was only too eager to share my vast knowledge of the estate and its wonders, two super motor cars several horses that I could put through their paces they loved old Trixie my constant companion a wire haired fox terrier, I showed them how to make a snare and catch rabbits taught to me by Johnny Foran the Groom and unofficial poacher who had introduced me to the wonders of a little pot of sulpher attached to a long pole which when lit and smouldering and strategically placed under the head of a roosting pheasant soon had the bird rocking until it dropped quietly unconcious to the ground and thence into a sack for transport home to be hung in the shed until ready for drawing and plucking, yes I was a skilled pheasant plucker at the tender age of six. so we never really had a problem with food rationing Dad grew every vegetable and fruit including peaches plums
melons and grapes, Hazel nuts blackberries, loganberries and sweet chestnuts grew in the hedgerows and spinneys in abundance early morning expeditions down by the Granary produced a basket of fresh Mushrooms a couple of sacks filled in the autumn with acorns and other sacks filled with Bruised and fallen fruit wheeled in a barrow across to the farm t'other side of the spinney for feeding to the pigs ensured our regular supply of home cured bacon, Johnny Foran kept a few hives of Bees so honey was no problem and he had taught me how to don a Beehat and armed with a smoke puffer remove the frames containing the wax honeycombs filled with beautifully dark honey, another use of elderberries Rhubarb, plums, Damsons etc was carefully turned into
bottles of quite potent wines Jams and fruit preserves were made by my mum and the wives on either side of us they baked their own bread Kitty and Leslie and particularly their dad when he visited thought Ends Place was the promised land of Milk and honey, he always went home with a bag that was twice as heavy as when he arrived, He was a docker and brought Mum and Dad cigarettes and tobacco many were american packs,I used to collect the empty packs and paste them into albums this along with my boxes of assorted spent aircraft ammunition
shells and twisted jagged lumps of shrapnel my ever changing flagpins on my wall maps constantly updated by me listening to Alvar Liddel on the wireless, my aircraft silouette recognition charts kept me busy when the weather was bad.
Pause to finish later

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