Wednesday 2 March 2011

Gill Hunt, nee Frampton writes:

My sister Pat and I were born at 182 High Street Shapwick, my Dad Harry George Frampton died at a very young age, he was 25 when he got cancer, 31 when he died. But I cant remember much about him but I can recall him lying in bed, Pat on one side and me the other, and him telling us he would buy us a pony, of course we were very excited but he didn't live long after that. They were happy times growing up in my beloved Shapwick .

The meetring place was Shapwick cross and the bus shelter we didn't have much to keep us occupied and we made our own fun. I can recall one November the fifth Derrick Waygood had some rockets and decided to let one off in the bus shelter it went up in the thatch roof and started burning we did manage to put it out by hitting it with our coats, very frightening at the time.

We played skittles in a new skittle alley that was built joining on to the school, there were several teams I was in your nan's team ( Milly Wigmore) I cant say I was very good - they called me two handed Tyson because I threw with two hands, but I did win the money sometimes and then go to the bottle n jug to spend it.

Uncle Bob was at that time carter for Caves the farmer, he had three shire horses, Sargent, Blossom and Major, he would platt there tails with pretty ribbons and put horse brasses on there heads , we would go up to the harvest field we would be up there all day and in the evening we could have a ride back and they would go into the river for a drink , they must have been very thirsty. When Cave's barn caught fire we were in the hall and the boys were in the back room playing billiards and somebody came in and said was on fire, about a week later PC George Keynes come to the school at Wimborne and we were asked one by one where we were at the time, we all said the same and I don't think they ever found out who or how it started.

Going back to the shire horses aunty Hild Snook was riding her bike up through Shapwick to see Gran Frampton no lights on her bike and all of a sudden she hit something and got thrown off her bike, it was Blossom and she had escaped from her stable and was in the road, I don't think she was badly hurt but her front wheel was bent. Chunky Large was my step dad - everybody knew him, he would push his old pram round the village gathering any that had fallen down sometimes giving it a helping hand with some rope, he was often mistaken for a tramp, he did support the Pub quite a bit and many times came home in the back of the Coal lorry.

Like you we could go down to the river , Plummer Cave would take us in his boat down to Black water it was very deep he lost the punt down a deep hole and he had to paddle us back with his hands we were very frightened , Plummer still lives at Corfe Mullen.

Mum and me were standing talking to Gran Frampton at her window you and your Mum came down the road just as Mrs Welsh and her Daughter ( i think her name was Doreen ) come up the road with their Collie Dog that looked like Lassie, you went to stroke it and put your face down to it and it bit your face it was a very nasty bite whitch left a scar .


1 comment:

  1. I would love to know more about Sargeant, Blossum and Major. We have heavy horses and live near Shapwick, and we love hearing old heavy horse stories and looking at pictures

    ReplyDelete