Contributor: Gareth Owen

Memories of growing up in Ringwood

An oral history interview with Jill Jackson.  Interview Date 05/06/13

Jill Jackson was born in Derbyshire in 1941 but following bombing raids the family moved to Ringwood. Her father had a reserved occupation job as Southern Area Officer for the Rural Industries Bureau. She mentions the use of coupons, food rationing and what they did to supplement their food supplies. As a small child she was terrified of the tanks that rumbled past their house. Occasionally soldiers were billeted on them and would return her mother’s hospitality by returning with a packet of tea or some sweets, but she has few memories of the war itself.

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Interviewed by: Colin Gibson
Transcription by: Leander Johnson
Checked by: Gareth Owen
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

 

Memories of growing up in Totton

An oral history interview with Miss Anne Biffin. Interview Date 27/12/2013

Anne Biffin was born in 1934 and living in the Totton area at the outbreak of the war. Her father was a steel erector, a reserved occupation, and worked on aircraft hangars, the Mulberry Harbours and occasionally in the docks area. She recalls food rationing and what they had for Christmas and her school days, including carrying her gasmask, writing to the soldiers and the disruption caused by air raids. Anne remembers the bombing raids over Southampton and going into the air raid shelters. Also the Italian POWs working in the area. She also provides a description of the build-up to D-Day and the Americans they encountered.

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Full transcription of interview recordings.

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Interviewed by: Dave Larder
Transcription by: John Martin
Checked by: Gareth Owen
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

Memories of HMS Mastodon, Exbury

An oral history interview with Ian Gordon.  Interview Date 02/08/13

Ian Gordon was born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, a suburb of Manchester in the 24th June 1925. He was at school when the war broke out and was evacuated for six months to Lytham St Annes before returning home. Ian left school at 16 to work for the Daily Telegraph’s Manchester office as a copy boy before moving on to a local newspaper, where he also spent two years volunteering in the Home Guard. Ian was called up a week after his 18th birthday to fight in WWII and opted to join the Navy. A medical examination showed he was colour blind so roles were limited, but Ian decided to become a coder on the Navy’s recommendation. Following his training, Ian was assigned to Combined Operations Unit, Group 1, Force J based at Exbury and was part of the D-Day landings on board HMS Lawford, leaving Cowes Roads for Juno Beach at 9pm on the 4th June 1944 to assist with the invasion. After HMS Lawford was sunk by the enemy two days following, Ian was later assigned to HMS Waveney at Lepe Hard and back patrolling the anchorage.

 

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All material is ©2019 New Forest National Park Authority.

 

Full transcription of interview recordings:

Interviewed by: Colin Gibson
Transcription by: Leander Johnson
Checked by: Gareth Owen
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

Memories of laboratory assistant at Millersford Range

An oral history interview with Jean Crow.  Interview Date 17-11-13

Jean Crow left school when she was sixteen at the end of 1942 and following a 3 months training course in physics and radio, she was sent to the Millersford explosives research unit to work as a laboratory assistant. She describes her role as such and the daily routine and operations carried out there. She mentions the limited choice of entertainment at the time and going to the ‘War Workers Club’ in Salisbury. Along with others on the site, Jean also attended part-time education courses at Southampton University on Sundays and half days during the week. She describes her digs in Downton, but admits that in many instances the war did not affect their lives all that much and that working at Millersford had isolated them from some of the wartime shortages and experiences of those elsewhere.

Interview Quick Clips:

All material is © 2019 New Forest National Park Authority.

Full transcription of interview recordings.

Interviewed by: Sue Jackson
Transcription by: Leander Johnson
Checked by: Gareth Owen
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

Memories of Linwood and isolated living

An oral history interview with Barry Clarke.  Interview Date 03/03/14

Barry Clarke lived with his parents originally in London, but just before the war started they moved down to a ‘holiday cottage’ in Linwood. When war was declared, his father who was an army doctor was posted to Palestine and Barry’s parents thought that it would be better to stay in Linwood rather than go back to London. Their cottage was very isolated and had no facilities and they had to depend on wells to obtain their water. Barry describes what it was like living in Linwood at that time and the various social activities. Due to their location, his mother had a car and could get petrol to take his sister to school, attend church and do the shopping in Ringwood. He recalls food rationing and what they had to do to supplement their rations. When the Americans occupied nearby Ibsley airfield, some of them paid visits on occasions. They were mainly from the southern States and felt very lonely in a strange land. His mother was a physiotherapist treating military personnel as well as working in a local hospital and that was how they kept themselves informed about what was going on. When he was old enough, Barry was sent to boarding school, but he remembers wonderful holidays riding his pony across the Forest and the country shows at Burley and Ellingham held just after the war. He also recalls visiting the Ashley Walk bombing range, the Italian POWs working on the local farms, and describes what Ringwood was like in those days and the other local villages he visited.

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All material is © 2016 New Forest National Park Authority.

Full transcription of interview recordings.

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Interviewed by: Colin Gibson
Transcription by: John Martin
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

Memories of living near Hatchet Pond

An oral history interview with Audrey Lampitt.  Interview Date 8/4/13

Audrey Lampitt was born in 1937 and the family moved from Lymington to Hatchet Gate at the start of the war, thinking it would be safer in the country. She remembers the building of Beaulieu airfield soon afterward they moved there. She describes their accommodation and food at that time. She recalls the bombing of Southampton and they had an evacuee family from Portsmouth billeted on them for a short time. They later had five men billeted with them working on the construction of the Mulberry Harbours. Audrey describes some of the war time activities in the Beaulieu area and remembers the build-up of troops and increased activity on the airfield prior to D-Day. She also refers to her school days and a church outing to Bournemouth.

 

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Interviewed by: Dave Larder
Transcription by: Krystyna Truscoe
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

Memories of Lyndhurst and Denny Sawmill

An oral history interview with Donald Bond. Interview Date 24/02/2013

Donald Bond was born in 1928 in Lyndhurst. He recalls being at school during the early years of the war, rationing, evacuees and air raids. He went on to work at Denny Saw Mill, now a camp site. Denny sawmill operated during the Second World War and is said to have been the only one in the Forest capable of dealing with large diameter timber. We have numbered the people in the photos and added some of their names. Click on the photo’s ‘More Details’ to see who we know already. If you can add any more detail about them please add your comments.You can see some more Denny Sawmill photos here: Denny Sawmill Photos

 

 

 

Names:
Here are the names of those people we have managed to identify in the two group photos. Can you help name any more?

Denny Sawmill A – Numbered
1 = Geno (Italian PoW)
2 = Bill Coffin (Head Sawyer)
3 = George Rockley
4 = Gus Anersty

Denny Sawmill D – Numbered
5 = Jim Harris (2nd Sawyer)
6 = Jim Whitehorn
12 = George Rockley
21 = Donald Bond
23 = Jack Ellis
24 = Italian PoW
26 = Italian PoW
27 = Italian PoW
29 = Isabella (Bella) Ley, nee Whiffin (Crane Driver)
36 = Italian PoW

Denny Sawmill E – Numbered
3 = Jim Harris (2nd Sawyer)
4 = Bill Coffin (Head Sawyer)
5 = Jim Whitehorn (Labour)
6 = Jack Head (Foreman)
7= Wilf Wiltshire (Sawyer)
11 = Ron Hatch (Labour)
12 = Bill Night
13 = Arthur Long
16 = Donald Bond (Sawyer’s Mate)
17 = Jack Ellis
18 = Lin Sims
21 = Joe Newman
23 = Isabella (Bella) Ley, nee Whiffin (Crane Driver)
24 = Miss Lane
27 = Miss Burrows (Head Girl)
30 = George Rockley

 

 

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All material is © 2015 New Forest National Park Authority.

 

Full transcription of interview recordings.

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Interviewed by: Sue Jackson
Transcription by: Dru Owen
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

 

Key Words:

Lyndhurst, Fenwick hospital, Emery Down school, school life, Christmas, gasmasks, evacuees, Lyndhurst school, Bartley school, bus, Hants to Dorset bus, air raids, shelters, aircraft, headmaster, Mr Monkton, rationing, butcher, shop, Lyndhurst high street, sawmill, manual workers, bombs, sawdust, explosives, Czechoslovakia, fire brigade, Beaulieu, play, forest, army, billeted, restriction, airborne, Minstead Manor, Compton estate, R.A.F., Stoney Cross, navy, billeted, Grand Hotel, Lyndhurst Park Hotel, army, forest, golf course, French Canadians, British army, Billeted, Bank, Pioneer Core, Compton estate, deliveries, groceries, war, coal, butcher shop, forest, sawyers mate,  pit props, railway sleepers, ban saw, Bill Coffin, flat bed saw, timber, New Forest, felling, Forestry Commission, oak, hardwood, chestnut, fir, Douglass fir, war effort, Germany, rebuild Germany, Denny, employees, Land Army Girls, Land Army, prisoners of war, POW, Italy, Italian prisoners of war, photographs, photograph D, photograph E, allies, Mussolini, dictator, Setley, Bob Only, Gus Anastie, Brockenhurst, Jim Harris, second sawyer, Jim Whitehorn, labouring, cousin, George Rockley, head sawyer, Bill Knight, Ron Hatch, Jack Ellis, Wilf Wiltshire, Bella, Lay, crane, Miss Burrows, Jack Head, foreman, executive, Arthur Long, Don Bond, Joe Newman, Miss Lane, uniform, coloured diamond, guards, transport, lorry, conscientious objectors, National Service, boiler suits, building, structure, aircraft hanger, domed aircraft hangar, building, metal construction, equipment, crane, saws, tractors, generator, diesel, sawdust, burning, bunker, electric, incinerator, ducting, waste, photographs, equipment, ban saw, prisoner of war, Gino, barber, Gus Anastie, cousin, driver, timber, overhead crane, stacking area, saw bench, organisation, Forestry Commission, paid, rations, extra rations, outdoors, tractor, drive, picture C, Saw Doctor’s shop, saw band, corrugated iron, work, winter, accidents, Ashurst, Burley, Forestry Commission head office, professional golfer, sawyer, golf course, regret, Sawmill, reserved occupation, the pits, coal mines, skin disease, Bob Only, Italian prisoners, belts, toys, wages, collecting acorns, Emery Down, farmer, wrist watch, planting, Jean, Forestry Commission, timber, regenerated, chestnut wood, Denny, sleepers, office, administrative work, Miss Burrows, Land Girls, billeted, local area, Lyndhurst, Bella, picture, standard practice, Miss Lane, social life, dances, cinema, Budgens, football, cricket, Goose Green, Brockenhurst road, traffic, travel, bicycle, bus, Hants to Dorset bus, shilling, Southampton, Lymington, Mr White, charabanc, outbreak of war, 1943, R.A.F., bombings, blitz, devastation, shops, Woolworths, carried on, air raids, New Forest, Allum Green, golf course, damage, craters, early 1940s, aircraft, machine gun/ning/ned, White Rabbit, bullet marks, Romsey road, sergeants, direct hit, flares, bad luck, D-Day, Ashurst, French Canadians, Canadians, British, Park Hill enclosure, restricted, lorries, delayed, airfield, film show, tents, Beaulieu, Stoney Cross, no lights, Compton, army, Air Force, National Service, gardening, Germany, Padgate, West Kirby, Waterbeach, Cambridge, station, Berlin air lift, Bolderwood, guards, fingers, cut, manicured, fingernails, parachute, bodies, Luxury Car Show Room, war work, pistons.

Memories of my parents

An oral history interview with Steve Antczak.  Interview Date 23/02/2014

Steve was born in the New Forest but his father was born in Germany and known locally as ‘Klaus’. He was captured by American troops and taken prisoner of war. Although he didn’t like to talk about his experiences, Steve says that his father found his way somehow to the POW camp in Setley. He met Steve’s mother on a bus and was able to stay in England by becoming a volunteer with bomb disposal. He remembers his mother telling some humorous stories about her work in the Transport Corps.

Interview Quick Clips:

All material is ©2020 New Forest National Park Authority.

Full transcription of interview recordings.

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Interviewed by: Dave Larder
Transcription by: John Martin
Checked by: Gareth Owen
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

Memories of Pennington and a Battle of Britain Wedding

An oral history interview with Joan Stephens.  Interview Date 18/11/12

As a centenarian, Joan has an amazing array of memories. She was conscripted into the Ancient Order of Foresters as a Clerk Accountant in Pennington. She remembers many bombs falling on Pennington, mainly so that the Germans were not returning with the extra weight. She also had to ‘fire watch’ with buckets and stirrup pumps all through the war. Her husband worked hard on the land during the day and then was a member of the Home Guard in the evening.

Interview Quick Clips:

All material is ©2019 New Forest National Park Authority.

Full transcription of interview recordings:

Interviewed by: Colin Gibson
Transcription by: Leander Johnson
Checked by: Gareth Owen
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot

Memories of small boy’s adventure

An oral history interview with Bertram Jerrard.  Interview Date 22/3/13

 

Although only very young at the outbreak of the war, Bertram remembers the feeling of concern from his parents as they listened to their wireless. As he grew up, he remembers watching the bombing raids on Southampton from his bedroom window. When the sirens sounded, he and his siblings were sent under the stairs with gas masks on. He remembers it being somewhat of an adventure for a small boy.

 

 

 

Interview Quick Clips:

All material is ©2016 New Forest National Park Authority.

 

Full transcription of interview recordings:

Download transcription (PDF)

 

Interviewed by: Colin Gibson
Transcription by: John Martin
Audio Editor: Cosmic Carrot