Looking Back at Linton by Barry Andrews
Sunday, 7th May 2017 - Today I had the good fortune to be in Linton on Ouse and join local residents and RAF Personnel for a Commemorative Service for VE Day, and to honour those who served the Commonwealth during times of War.
I was once a local myself, for it was here, a little over seventy one years ago, I came into the world as the youngest son of Jack and Mary Andrews.
I attended Primary School at Newton on Ouse, under the watchful eye of Miss Burnett and Headmaster Mr. Geoff Robinson, and went to Sunday School here in the Village Hall. So, if I may, let me take you back to the Village I remember in my childhood and the ensuing years before leaving these shores fifty years ago, to live in Australia.
One of my early memories is that of 2nd June 1953 when the Villagers gathered in John Kirby's field to celebrate the Queen's Coronation. Throughout the fifties and sixties there were no fewer than six long-established dairy and cropping farms in the Village, with several more in close proximity. Today dwellings and developments have consumed the Crawford, Otterburn, Harrison, Watson and Almond farms - the latter being also the local milkman - all the life blood of Linton. There was a Post Office run by Mrs. Bridger and a General Store and Garage owned by Nod and Connie Watson, relations of whom are still in the Village today.
In the early 1960s, with the influx of RAF Personnel and their families stationed at the nearby Base, the Village was responding to the needs. The Post Office which was owned by Derek and Stella Corner, became a General Store and the other, still on the present site, was owned and operated for several years by Willie and Mona Tinsley.
But, for a moment, reflect back to the 1950s when Roy the Butcher would call on the Villagers twice a week: Wednesday and Friday. Baldersons the Baker was a little more cunning, dropping by on Thursday evenings when the men-folk had brought home their weekly wage. And of course the week was not complete 'til the mobile Fish and Chip bus rolled into Linton on a Saturday night - that's if it hadn't broken down or caught fire - and as kids we would all be queuing up for a pennyworth of scraps. Of course Television was not yet affordable to most and radio was very much the means of bringing news and entertainment to the people across the British Isles. traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding was enjoyed whilst listening to Jean Metcalfe or Judith Chalmers playing requests on "Two-Way Family Favourites", usually followed by a helping of "The Billy Cotton Band Show", with comedy to follow. Then, of course, there was the yearly ritual late October, just after a two-week school holiday, aptly timed to do some back-breaking potato picking and a chance to earn some pocket money for crackers and Christmas; and early November doing the rounds with a cart - sometimes and old pram - collecting rubbish suitable to build a big bonfire in readiness for Guy Fawkes Night - and not to forget having a little mischief the evening previous!
As the Baby-boomers grew into Know-all teenagers, we had the opportunity to have access to the social facilities on the Base. The brainy ones caught the Pullman Bus into York and the rest boarded the School Bus to Easingwold.
Well, as they say, 'the good old days', and I know those good old days helped I'm sure not just me, but all those like me who spent their childhoold and school years here before venturing to places further afield.
I hope you have enjoyed sharing with me a look back at Linton, the Village where I was born.
Barry Andrews
Hunter Valley
N.S.W. Australia
Sunday, 7th May 2017 - Today I had the good fortune to be in Linton on Ouse and join local residents and RAF Personnel for a Commemorative Service for VE Day, and to honour those who served the Commonwealth during times of War.
I was once a local myself, for it was here, a little over seventy one years ago, I came into the world as the youngest son of Jack and Mary Andrews.
I attended Primary School at Newton on Ouse, under the watchful eye of Miss Burnett and Headmaster Mr. Geoff Robinson, and went to Sunday School here in the Village Hall. So, if I may, let me take you back to the Village I remember in my childhood and the ensuing years before leaving these shores fifty years ago, to live in Australia.
One of my early memories is that of 2nd June 1953 when the Villagers gathered in John Kirby's field to celebrate the Queen's Coronation. Throughout the fifties and sixties there were no fewer than six long-established dairy and cropping farms in the Village, with several more in close proximity. Today dwellings and developments have consumed the Crawford, Otterburn, Harrison, Watson and Almond farms - the latter being also the local milkman - all the life blood of Linton. There was a Post Office run by Mrs. Bridger and a General Store and Garage owned by Nod and Connie Watson, relations of whom are still in the Village today.
In the early 1960s, with the influx of RAF Personnel and their families stationed at the nearby Base, the Village was responding to the needs. The Post Office which was owned by Derek and Stella Corner, became a General Store and the other, still on the present site, was owned and operated for several years by Willie and Mona Tinsley.
But, for a moment, reflect back to the 1950s when Roy the Butcher would call on the Villagers twice a week: Wednesday and Friday. Baldersons the Baker was a little more cunning, dropping by on Thursday evenings when the men-folk had brought home their weekly wage. And of course the week was not complete 'til the mobile Fish and Chip bus rolled into Linton on a Saturday night - that's if it hadn't broken down or caught fire - and as kids we would all be queuing up for a pennyworth of scraps. Of course Television was not yet affordable to most and radio was very much the means of bringing news and entertainment to the people across the British Isles. traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding was enjoyed whilst listening to Jean Metcalfe or Judith Chalmers playing requests on "Two-Way Family Favourites", usually followed by a helping of "The Billy Cotton Band Show", with comedy to follow. Then, of course, there was the yearly ritual late October, just after a two-week school holiday, aptly timed to do some back-breaking potato picking and a chance to earn some pocket money for crackers and Christmas; and early November doing the rounds with a cart - sometimes and old pram - collecting rubbish suitable to build a big bonfire in readiness for Guy Fawkes Night - and not to forget having a little mischief the evening previous!
As the Baby-boomers grew into Know-all teenagers, we had the opportunity to have access to the social facilities on the Base. The brainy ones caught the Pullman Bus into York and the rest boarded the School Bus to Easingwold.
Well, as they say, 'the good old days', and I know those good old days helped I'm sure not just me, but all those like me who spent their childhoold and school years here before venturing to places further afield.
I hope you have enjoyed sharing with me a look back at Linton, the Village where I was born.
Barry Andrews
Hunter Valley
N.S.W. Australia