| Collection | Winstanley Oral History Collection |
| Description | Mr. L. Coombs, born 1901, interviewed in Ickham. His father was a general store keeper , he is from a family of six children. His first job was a graduate of london University and then teaching.
Track 1 [1:34:56] [First interview: 28 January 1975] [0:00:01] Introduction: Leonard Charles Coombs [LC] born in Ickham, 1901. Remarks on family living there since 1750 working as grocers or bakers. Mentions being born during great changes to country life. Comments on how men worked on hop farms, sheep grazing or growing crops to make money. Remarks that chickens and pigs were kept to supplement poor wages. [0:05:00] Recalls the wealthy gentry giving help to poorer inhabitants. Description of some of the gentry, including the rector, the families Fell, Knight and inhabitants of Lee Priory. [8:28] Short description of church seating arrangement. [0:11:10] Mentions village butcher selling pigs to poorer inhabitants, including LC father. [0:13:38] Mentions presence of bakers and bread being cheap. [0:14:28] Explains that each household kept chickens and had access to a well as there was no water or electricity in the village until 1918 or 1919, and that all lighting was sourced by candle and paraffin oil. [0:15:53] Story about a German man called Schlencker competing with LC father unsuccessfully to sell paraffin. [0:17:40] Description of how the Post Office originated in Ickham. Recalls how post used to be delivered and sorted in Ickham and surrounding villages. Mentions that father was sub Post Master and only person in shop that was paid. Description of aunt and other assistants being sworn in. Comments that assistants were allowed to do limited tasks. [0:24:42] Mentions that father was also a grocer. Short description of what goods the shop sold. Remarks on everything arriving in bulk. Recalls spending evenings dividing up goods. [0:28:12] Comments on remembering the first car in Ickham driven by a man collecting orders for the grocers. Anecdote on the excitement of being allowed to sound the horn as a young boy. Remarks that people collecting orders were poorly paid but kind. [0:30:27] Short description of how paper was used to pack sugar and fruit in shop. Comments on stocking coffee beans. But few vegetables. Comments that stocking vegetables is a modern practice. [0:33:57] Recalls how people used to spend their evenings outside. Mentions how most people now stay indoors at night. [0:35:50] Description of the drapery, haberdashery and hardware sold in the shop. Mentions that underwear was a good trade. [0:37:28] Description of bananas and oranges as a luxury only seen at Christmas. [0:38:14] Short description of goods being bought from different places. Recalls that father was fair in his pricing. [0:42:35] Description of LC brother delivering goods from shop to customers. Remarks on an errand boy being employed in 1910. [0:45:33] Comments on which customers could get credit with the shop.
[Second interview: 14 May 1975] [0:47:15] Description of early school years in Ickham School [IS]. Remarks that school became harder in later years as teachers were strict. Mentions being moved to Payne Smith School [PSS], Canterbury, at nine to get a scholarship. Comments on passing scholarship and going to grammar school Simon Langton Boys School [SLBS], Canterbury. [0:50:23] Remarks on headmaster at IS being well respected. Recalls the importance of attendance numbers at IS and being bribed with sweets to attend. [0:52:46] Notes the importance of the Education Act of 1872 in relation to founding village schools. [0:53:34] Remarks on the importance of religion in school routine, like beginning with prayers and hymns, learning the catechism, visiting clergy. [0:56:24] Description of the health inspector, the district nurse and county-appointed medical officer, coming into school. LC’s father was one of the school’s managers. [0:58:46] Compares PSS and IS in terms of school fees and discipline bordering cruelty. Story about different punishments faced depending on correct spelling. [1:02:43] Mentions girls at village schools learning cookery and boys learning woodwork at Ickham village hall. Comments on the older boys being taught gardening. [1:04:48] Recalls many children left school at 14. Short description of what jobs children would enter into after leaving, boys going onto the land or being apprenticed out and girls going into domestic service. Mentions few children receiving scholarships from Ickham. [1:07:08] Comments on some parents keeping children off school to work on the land. Mentions that families went hop picking during the holidays. [1:09:13] Comments that IS was heated by fireplaces. Short description of various smells in the school. Description of what children wore to school. [1:12:20] Mentions that gentry helped provide poorer children with clothes. Anecdote about gentry providing children with scarves and coats at Christmas. [1:13:35] Remarks there were no eating facilities at PSS but there were at SLBS. Recalls very basic toilet facilities. [1:16:22] Mentions girls and boys played separately but learned together. [1:17:23] Comments on great expense of going to SLBS. Remarks there were no feuds between country and town boys at PSS or SLBS. [1:19:11] Mentions exercise being regimented. Comments on being taught etiquette at school. [1:24:00] Description of LC experience as a trainee teacher in Littlebourne. [1:27:19] Comments that there was little teaching equipment available at IS. [1:28:48] Recalls IS headmaster running a band in Ickham. [1:31:48] Recalls being guided into teaching by SLBS. Mentions that LC father wanted his children to have a better education than him. Comments on LC parents taking interest in his teaching more than other parents in Ickham.
Track 2 [00:48:48] [Third interview: 17 July 1975] [0:00:20] Remarks on the annual pantomimes done by Ickham children. [0:03:45] Profits from pantomimes went to the School Fund and funded annual outings to Margate. Short description of a typical Margate outing day with transport by waggonette and shrimp tea at Munns restaurant. [0:08:12] Other popular outings included going to Crystal Palace by steam train. [0:09:38] Story about a carrier active circa 1850-1920 called Mose who shopped for people or gave them transport between Deal, Wingham and Littlebourne. [0:13:25] Recalls the Wickhambreaux grocer employed a roundsman called Bennett who began his own carriers business in competition with the Deal carrier, Hood. [0:15:28] Explains the carriers put up at pubs in Canterbury, the Sun Inn or Saracens Head. [0:16:10] Comments on their clothing. [0:18:40] Short description of a boatman, Scarden, who supplied the LC family with fish, notably sprats, and had a travelling band in winter. [0:21:30] Recalls IS headmaster forming a village brass band to play in the summer, fitted in proper uniform. Anecdote about the suggestion that the village pond be filled in to create a band stand. [0:23:40] Discusses church music and choral societies involving the IS headmaster and a composer, Tmee Patterson. [0:25:35] Description of the headmaster, Mr Wells, the parson and his wife being important figures in Ickham. [0:27:09] Mentioned that the parson taught classes for adults, and his wife led the treatment of the sick in the village. [0:28:11] Short description of the village vicar being canon appointed. Comments on the servants the vicar kept. [0:28:59] Discussion of school games: hoops, marbles and skipping were played according to season; there was also tops, five stones (for girls) and a raucous team game played locally for which LC remembers an invented Ickham jingle; lastly, rounders or ‘bun ball’ were also played in the school playground. [0:35:40] Discussion of cricket as played between village teams on Saturdays, who took part and what was worn, like flannels. [0:38:10] Considers how games were gendered, then describes further games involving cigarette cards and buttons. [0:42:20] Description of games and toys owned by LC household. [0:43:10] Recalls children's excitement of LC family shop stocking toys at Christmas. The shop managed clubs that people could pay into, the Christmas club (for presents), the doctors club (for medical services) and the school offered a clothing club.
Summary created by Georgia Morris, volunteer, June 2023. |