Wooditton Other Memories

Helping Grandad do his road/path sweeping job and helping him maintain the snowplough that used to be on the corner.
Watching the chickens in the garden.
Catching the bus there for the first time.
Buying lemonade crystals from the village shop run by Mr Wiseman.
Going down the road to look at the Marquis of Granby pub with the British Legion hut alongside both long since demolished.
Turning on one of the big cast iron roadside village taps and not being able to turn it off!
Watching and being fascinated by the sewage treatment plant rotating sprinkler thing that was next to their bungalow, where was all the solid stuff?
I used to stay with Nanna & Grandad occasionally and can clearly remember my first solo bus trip and waving goodbye to Mum and wondering why she had a tear in her eye. I remember my times at Wooditton with great fondness, I always felt comfortable and cherished. When I drive through Wooditton my memory is always sparked. I used to sleep in this huge soft and comfortable bed that had an iron bedstead with real brass knobs that unscrewed with a horrible screeching noise. In the cupboard in bedroom was a big stack of old comics that I used to delight in reading after going to bed, they were the ‘Topper’, the ‘Beano’, the ‘Dandy’, the ‘Wizard’. I think this reading of comics is what started my book reading, especially at bedtime and for that I say THANKS. Nanna once asked if I would like some milk and biscuits when I went to bed, she brought milk and crackers or water biscuits and from the look on my face she said whats the matter, I think I said I’ve never had that type of biscuit without butter and usually had digestives or lincolns. At that moment I thought what a different life I was living compared to my grandparents, much later in life I realised they were used to living a frugal life scrimping and saving because that was what they had become used to, the reason my Nanna brought me crackers was because that was all they had. This next bit is going to sound so weird but I’ll say anyhow. In my Nanna and Grandad’s bungalow, they had an indoor toilet but it was the type with a chain and a high level cistern that was near the ceiling and the tank was cast iron. I was always fascinated by the blisters that formed under the paint on the outside of the cistern and could not resist popping the blisters, on reflection this must have been very annoying to my Grandad because all the paint falling off.

A tale about my paternal great grandfather.

He used to live and work at **Derisley Wood Stud on the road between Newmarket and Wooditton and I think my father lived there as well. Sounds like great grandad was a bit of a character and liked his drink and betting on the horses. He would travel down to Newmarket by horse and cart on market days to get the shopping and do other chores. Whilst there more often than not he would frequent several of the many hostelries dotted about town and on the High Street many of which have long since gone and place the odd bet or two with one of the many illegal bookies in the town. In those days betting was only allowed on racecourses at the racing meetings, off course betting was illegal, but nevertheless was a big industry in Newmarket especially, as time went on the government realised the potential for grabbing more tax and legalised betting. Often the morning after market day my Dad would go out to the barn and there would be the horse and cart with his grandfather sound asleep in the back. The horse and cart would be ‘parked’ outside the back of the Black Horse, a particular favourite of great grandad’s, at the end of the night he would clamber into the back of the cart and the horse would make its own way home. This worked for several years apparently until the horse was retired and replaced by another from Stetchworth another nearby village about 8 miles from **Derisley Wood Stud. The first time it was used to go to market great grandfather woke up in a strange barn in Stetchworth and of course had no idea where he was. From that day on he was not allowed to go to market on his own and his socialising was severely curtailed!
** Derisley Wood Stud used to be at the top of Wooditton Road hill, it is now part of Dalham Hall Stud