Shapwick was served by two bakers' vans from Wimborne - Cowdrey's green Morris van and Pfrangley's white and blue Commer. Of the two, Mr Pfrangley was the more interesting, in his dark grey workcoat, wicker basket loaded with piping hot loaves in the crook of his arm, and thick glasses on his nose, and a shock of white hair - a remarkable sight as he made his way from roadside to back door in a peculiar quick step with his back slightly stooped.
The Co-op Van came on Thursdays after Rag, Tag and Bobtail. The large red Commercial Travelling Shop had a distinctive sound. Two white-coated men worked the Van. One, a tall distinguished white haired man, and a younger, bespectacled man with dark curly hair, who always packed the vittels into a cardboard box and carried it up the path to the kitchen table. The initials CWS - Co-operative Wholesale Society - were painted on the Van. For some reason, known only to young kids, the Van became the "Cee Wee Ess" Van.
The Royal Mail arrived in a Morris van, the papers also by a small van from the paper shop at Stur. Coal was brought on a Bedford lorry. I cannot recall any other deliveries, although there must have been milk because not all Shapwick people worked the farms.
Once, the Biscuit lorry, having called at the Shop, fell off the road near White Mill into the meadow below and caught fire. With the efficiency of coastal wreckers, the blackened square tins were quickly emptied of the edible contents...
There was never a Doctors Surgery, so a trip to Wimborne was necessary to see the Doctor, although a early call (from the one telephone box near the Cross) would have the Doctor at your house before lunch. I recall Dr Leggett, a young Doctor, and Dr Mallett, an older man with a sterner bedside manner, and always seemed to have cold hands!
Green Hants and Dorset buses ("pants and corsets"), served the Village from Wimborne with the number 25 service. It ran twice daily I believe with an extra midday run on market days. Nearly always a double decker too, with driver and clippie. What service!
Travelling gipsies also moved through the Village each year selling bits and pieces along with the usual clothes pegs.
For some years in the sixties, a mobile Fish and Chip Van visited on Saturday nights and many a fish supper was consumed.
Ann Ross contributes, "There was also Shepherds van, which seemed to carry everything from hardware, pots & pans to oil & crockery. It was like a mobile walk-in shop. Then there was the milkmen Bronco Masterman & Reg Edwards from Stur who carried the milk in churns in the front baskets of their bikes and people brought their jugs out to them."
The Coaches of Summer
The summer evenings were enlivened by the appearance of a long procession of luxury coaches. These came up from Bournemouth loaded with emmets (holidaymakers) enjoying a "mystery" tour through the Stour Valley. The coaches, belonging to a variety of operators, were of many colours, which further brightened up the evening. Some had fabulous "fins" on the back roof, like some sea creature. All looked very swish and posh.
"Charlie's Cars" is one of the names that sticks in the mind, as does "Shamrock and Rambler", "Excelsior" and "Royal Blue".
To add to the experience of the trippers, we lads would ham it up by acting the typical country boys, complete with grass-stalk in mouth, and wellies, like real yokels, which I suppose, we were...
I now wonder what the hell they thought as the classy coach made its way through the village...maybe they thought it truly authentic, and wrote it all down on postcards.
The River
The Stour was probably the reason for the growth of Shapwick, or rather because the Badbury-Dorchester Roman road crossed the river by a ford close by where the church now stands.
To the kids, the river was like a magnet. We swam in it; sat by it; walked along the banks; punted on it.
We were able to borrow a punt from Roger Spooner's step dad. One day, showing off, we insisted on taking the big pole, and wished we hadn't, as it was just too heavy to handle. And so, we ended up on the island, and after a break, had the strength to get back to the bank, but just couldn't punt upstream to the mooring. Small pole after that, boys!
Crayfish were found in submerged cans and tins near the island. Good to look at and then throw back in...
Floods were a normal winter hazard. Most of the village was built just above the floodplain but the church and nearby houses and cottages suffered.
The phrase "floods over Pound" referred to a severe flood that had topped a low rise near the old village pound next to Cross. This led to flooding of the properties around the pub and on up High Street. West Street seemed to climb a little and did not flood, whereas Stewart's Lane always did to greater or lesser extent. The cottage opposite Pound sometimes found itself an island, and once I recall the water running through the front door, along the flagstoned hallway, and on out the back door. Amazingly, the rooms were just a step higher than the hall and remained dry!
There has never been a bridge over the Stour at Shapwick, and the ford was never used in my day. This meant the meadows on the other side were always seen but never walked. To cross dryfoot, the old, old bridges at Crawford or White Mill, each over a mile away, were used. A visit to these structures, hundreds of years old, is a must to appreciate the building work involved.
