Photographic History of Eton Wick and Eton - Community Organisations and Social Life -Eton Wick Minors FC 1948

 

The Minors were formed in 1946 following the end of the War, when Harry Wakefield and Doug Cooper formed an Under 18's village football club. They played their home games in Eton Recreation Ground. Sports kit was still virtually unobtainable due to wartime clothing rationing, so the boys played in any light coloured/near to white shirt, and Mrs Bill Sibley (mother of two of the team) made black shorts for the team from off-coupon wartime blackout material. Village colours were traditionally amber and black, but here was born the origin of black and white for the boys team. 

In 1948 the team were able to have this photo taken in newly bought kit. They are, in the back row: Doug Cooper, Frank Bond (committee), Jim McDougall, Alan Herd, Ray Haverly, Tony Rodwell, Harry Wakefield and Cecil Thorn (committee). 

In the centre row: Ray Knight, John Grant, John Batt (captain), Dennis Phillips and John Knott. 

Bob Horton and John Newport are in the front row. 

John Grant went on to play in senior league football. In later life he opened bakers shops in Windsor and Eton Wick. 

This article was first published in A Pictorial History of Eton Wick & Eton.

World War 2 - POW's worked on the farms of Eton Wick

Eton College acquired Manor Farm Eton Wick during 1940 and offered the tenancy to  Mr James Kinross Snr., who having  been a long standing tenant farmer of the College but with no farmhouse, took possession of the farm. Until then his farm base had been a double Dutch Red barn on the Slough - Eton road.  This barn was also known as the ‘Tramps Hotel’ having the stabling for all the farm motive power, which at that time was twelve horses.  The enclosed part of the barn was commandeered by a Government  Department for the storage of supplies which at various times included such items as  onions and confectionery, which was not a good idea given the rodent population.  Military stores consisted of such things as Air Force blue shirts and foot powder,( a medicated talc for feet, soldiers for the use of !!). 

Clothes rationing made the shirts a desirable item on the Black Market and a temptation to thieves.  One night, shortly after the end of the war in Europe, using a lorry, thieves smashed through the barn doors and made off with a quantity of shirts. The shirts, all one size, bore the size mark 22. German P.O.W's arriving for work the following morning at Manor farm espied the shirts lying around and proceeded to kit themselves out.  Although Manor Farm must be over a mile from one end to the other, the news that Police, CID, and Military SIB had arrived at the scene of the crime spread like a forest fire.  The P.O.W's aware of the consequences if caught in possession of stolen property, immediately set about disposing of their loot putting shirts down the toilet, into buckets and in any other suitable place.  One German prisoner working out in the field had no alternative but to bury his shirt and carry on working stripped to the waist on a very chilly day.  When questioned by the investigating officers, every one swore that Willie never wore a shirt or coat when working. Was he a tough Willie or a wily Willie  who fooled the  Military SIB?

The fate of the Dutch barn was sealed in 1958 when it was sold to the Slough scrap merchant W.N.Thomas, demolition being in the capable hands of Andy Skeels of the Wick. 

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

Tough Assignment - The Second World War and the 1940's

 

Scholars Scripture Certificate 
presented to Dorothy Banham in 1938

The war years undoubtedly brought change and strain to the chapel as it did to the rest of the village and the country as a whole. But nothing of this is apparent from the minutes of the trustees' and class leaders' meetings, which merely continues to record with monotonous regularity the election of officials and committee secretaries, the annual payments of contributions to circuit and national funds, and the acceptance of reports. Yet the chapel did play a vital, if minor, part in the war effort. The people of Eton Wick, like those of many another village, accepted numerous evacuee children into their homes during the 1940s. Mr and Mrs Chew were the billetting officers. Many of those sent to Eton Wick were Jewish children from London's East End, yet one of the most enduring memories of those days is of the chapel and school room crowded to bursting point with Sunday School scholars - Jews and Christians. There were still only about ten classes, but over a hundred children, and when they all joined together in hymn singing, the sound could be heard at the far end of Alma Road. When they all poured out at the end of Sunday School it was more reminiscent of the closing time at the cinema. In spite of the large numbers, a Summer Outing was still contemplated though all plans to take the scholars to the seaside had to be abandoned. Instead in 1940 the coach took the children to Burnham Beeches, but there were no more outings until after the end of the war. Scripture exams were still held but new arrangements had to be made for prize giving. Attendance prizes were given only to those who came to Sunday School more then ninety times a year, and the value of the prizes was reduced for 'those whose conduct was not good'. A New Year, rather than Christmas, Party was held - but not until February since there were several parties being given in the village and by that date it was thought 'the days would be longer and the air raid alerts later'.

The chapel account book reveals a little more of life during the war. The insistence by the authorities that no chink of light be allowed to alert the enemy can be seen in the purchase of three lots of blackout material whilst fear of danger from bombs and flying glass and masonry prompted the construction of a 'blast wall' in front of the door in 1941.

A Windsorian coach was hired at the cost of £1 to take chapel members and friends to Slough during 'Wings for Victory Week'. Soldiers were billeted for two nights in the Tough Memorial Hall during November 1943 at a profit of 18s (90p) to the chapel. Inevitably, however, the war brought losses. Christian Endeavour petered out soon after 1939 as members, such as Joyce and Clifford Chew and Harry Cook, joined the forces and other members were caught up in other war time activities. In 1943 Archibald Chew died, not as a result of the war but of an illness, and the chapel lost a very able leader. Two years later, and only a few months before hostilities ceased, Clifford Chew died, shot down by enemy action as he flew on a mission to Germany.

In many ways the war was a watershed separating two very different decades. It had widened the horizons of many village families and the construction of new houses and roads soon after the war in both Eton Wick and Boveney New Town altered the whole balance of the village community. Just before the war in 1934, the parish councils of Boveney and Eton Wick were abolished and both Boveney New Town and Eton Wick were brought within the boundary of the Eton Urban District. There was little space for house building in Eton town, and so the energies of the Council were now directed towards land of the old Boveney Parish. The first houses built were the prefabs on Bells Field, but soon the pink fletton bricks and yellow rendering of council houses transformed the face of the Eton Wick Road and Moores Lane. By the early fifties council houses had spread over much of the Tilston Fields and the name, Boveney New Town, was relegated to that of one of the new roads. The chapel now stood much nearer the centre of the enlarged village, the whole of which was now thought of as Eton Wick.

In 1946, however, the chapel was not in very good shape. Membership had not yet risen appreciably and the Sunday School, with only thirty two scholars, was smaller than it had been for many years. The building itself needed a general overhaul and work started on this in 1947. It wasn't completed until 1950, but by this time electricity had also been installed in memory of Archibald and Clifford Chew. The interior of the chapel was repainted and the old combustion stove replaced by gas heating. These in turn were to be replaced in the 60s by the more even warmth produced by portable electric fires.

The chapel officers also took a straight look at the problems of decreased numbers in the Sunday School. Since the war years (if not before) there had been a Circuit Youth Committee with Sylvia Chew its Eton Wick representative, and now in 1948 Sylvia and Marjorie Morris started a youth club at the chapel. It was a very lively club catering for teenagers. It met weekly and sometimes twice weekly and its varied programme included country dancing, debates, hiking, swimming and dramatics. Even now the success of some of its productions are remembered with pride, but perhaps the most treasured memories of its one-time members are the summer holidays at Llangollen, the Isle of Anglesey and the Lake District.

A Cradle Roll Rose

As yet there was nothing special offered to the junior age children, but in 1949 a Cradle Roll was begun with the names of sixteen babies and toddlers recorded the first year. It was an encouraging beginning and ten more names were added the year after. These were not only the names of the young children of chapel members, but included those of any young child in the village whose parents would allow their names to be entered. The parents were visited and welcomed to the chapel services. A rose bud (blue for a boy and pink for a girl) was placed on the cradle roll tree for each child and contact was maintained until the child could be encouraged to enter the Sunday School, and receive its flower. This simple, but effective, idea was the brainwave of Lily Bye.

The Eton Wick History Group is most grateful for the kind permission given by the Eton Wick Methodist Chapel to republish this history, Tough Assignment on this website.

The Methodist Chapel held it final meeting on 9th January 2022 more than 135 years after its first service in October 1886. 

The Eton Wick Newsletter - December 2017 - `Our Village' Magazine

Ten Years Old - or maybe sixty eight

Yes, this issue of 'Our Village is number 30 and marks the tenth anniversary; but It was born of an Idea In 1949 that this rural, post WWII village should produce a 'one off magazine of Eton Wick news. It was named 'Our Village' and was in fact produced again In 1950. Those two earlier Issues were produced by duplicator and sold at six pence (21/2p today's currency). Articles covered The Village Hall; post war village development; sports; youth club; poems etc., All of course much influenced by the gradual return to normality after the long six years of war and shortages. 

To mark our anniversary we have selected one of those earlier items: 

'Our Heritage' by Florence Ivy Wilson' (1950) 

When I first came to Eton Wick I was told by a man from Windsor that the people of this village were originally those who had flitted from Windsor because they could not pay their bills. I am sure this Is a libel, but if it Is true, then it happened a long time ago, for there was undoubtedly a settlement here in Saxon times, and some Saxon customs are still in use today. Early records are few, but as Canon Shephard tells us in his book 'Old Days of Eton Parish' many of the local names are from Saxon origin. Shot, butt, ward, croft, weir, all these are Saxon terms. 'Wick' is a hamlet, 'ton' a village surrounded by a palisade, (in this case no doubt the river) and leyof is an island. Eton (Ey-ton) therefore means the island town. Bufan means 'above' from which the name Boveney is derived, and Domey comes from 'Donna' which means bumble bees, and Is the bumble bee island (Has anyone been stung lately). 

What was the place like in those early days? We can form some idea, in spite of the scarcity of written evidence. It was certainly much more thickly wooded, for later, when the Domesday Book was written In 1086 it is said that there were woods and copses to feed 200 swine. The river must have been very different then, for there is evidence that the main stream has considerably shifted its course, and in those days it was probably several intersecting streams flowing round a number of islands, on the largest of which Eton itself was founded. Salmon and Lampreys were among the fish caught and trapped, and eels were plentiful. Domesday Book mentions 1,000 eels (in Mill Pool at Deadman's Hole). 

We know that the Manor of Eton belonged to Queen Edith who was the wife of Edward the Confessor and sister to Harold who was killed in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. She would probably have had a Steward or Reeve to safeguard her interests. Doubtless many a basket of eels, many a fine pig, horse or sheep, together with honey from his wife's bees, and butter and cheese from their dairy would have had to find their way to the old Saxon Palace at Old Windsor. A Hayward would have been appointed to safeguard the hay crop and care for the cattle, and disputes would have been settled at a Court Leete before an open Jury. 

This Court Leete was revived by Eton College in January 1947, they, having acquired the Manor Farm at Eton Wick and with the rights of the Manor of Eton. The temporary bailiff, Mr Bob Bond, swore in the jury who then confirmed him in his office and Mr John Pass was then appointed Hayward. Various matters of dispute were settled regarding the upkeep of hedges and ditches abutting on the Commons, and the number of cattle to be grazed. Long Common and Little Common and the Common rights which entitle households to graze an agreed number of cattle are still jealously guarded from these early days. 

Lammas rights come down to us from the 7th Century and have undoubtedly saved us from a lot of indiscriminate building. Lammas Day was the first day of the grazing season after the hay crop, and the name is derived from Loaf Mass or Bread Feast. In Saxon times the day was kept as a day of thanksgiving for the first fruits of the harvest. It is interesting to see Mr Tom Bond and his family working their land by the Eton Wick Road and to think that the organisation of the fields retains a link with the past which has been unbroken for the last thirteen hundred years. 

The above article is printed exactly as it first appeared sixty seven years ago, and perhaps reflects the old rural interests of that time, and the more active relevance of Lammas. Probably John Pass was the last of so many Haywards, and although Bob Bond may have been succeeded by other Bailiffs It is not considered necessary for us to know, and we for our part do not consider it necessary to enquire. 

Long Common is variously known as The 'Great' or Eton Common and reaches from Eton's Common Lane, through the village to the two bollards approaching Bell Lane. Little Common is quite separate and approximately 300 plus metres north of Sheepcote Road, (by the Motor Museum). The land worked by Tom Bond was the large South Field opposite the Church of St. John the Baptist. He only had the land In the early post WWII years and used it to grow currant bushes and fruit trees. Neither of course acceptable had it been Lammas designated land. The land was later sold to Eton College and is now mainly mono cropped. 

*Deadman's Hole is perhaps last shown on local maps of the pre 19th Century. It was situated close to the water course we know as Cuckoo Weir and Just north of 'Chinese' or 'Long Bray Bridge'. Often In river terms a 'hole' indicates the area Immediately down stream of Eyots (Islands) or promontories. I.e. Boveney Hole is just upstream of Boveney Church and Andrews Boathouse. 

Florence Wilson was a very good Councillor of Eton Urban in those post war years and helped influence the present day larger 'Eton Wick'. She was on several village committees from Village Hall, Women's Institute and Treasurer of the Youth Club. She also wrote plays using the pen name of Ivy Brides, an adaptation of her maiden name Florence Ivy Briddes. Lammas lands and Lammas law must still be relevant today, but with a much changed residency in old Eton Wick, together with the loss of most active farming, apathy has replaced the diligent adherence to all things Lammas or Commons. 

Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village December 2017.

This article was originally published in the Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village and is republished with the kind permission of the Eton Wick Village Hall Committee. Click here to go to the Collection page.

V.E. Day in Eton Wick

A day long programme of events to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day had been organised by the Eton Wick Village Association. Their Facebook page has details.

Tuesday MAY 8th, 1945.  V.E. DAY.

With the declaration of a two day holiday the nation commenced its celebration with church services which many attended to give thanks for victory and deliverance from tyranny. Flags and bunting appeared on the Tuesday morning in Windsor and Slough giving the streets a look of carnival. Celebrations had started quietly in the early part of the day, the crowds gathering during the early afternoon after the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, had broadcast to the nation that all hostilities in Europe were at an end. Nightfall brought more people onto the streets to cheer and dance. Bonfires were lit at many places, with the Mayor of Windsor lighting a huge bonfire on Batchelors Acre, Windsor, the signal for the start of celebrations that went on into the early hours on Wednesday. Other hastily gathered bonfires appeared onto which went effigies of Hitler and his cronies. Eton College boys had commenced their celebration of victory on Monday evening when the first news of the surrender was heard.

Alma Road VE Day Party held at the Village Hall

The use of buckets of water and stirrup pumps by the Boys did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of revellers who had to run the gauntlet along the long wall and Keate’s Lane. The next day they were given a holiday and immediately set about building a huge bonfire on Fellows Eyot which was lit in the evening. The scene was one of merriment with people dancing around the fire enthused with the excitement of the occasion. As the fire died away many boys linked arms to make a triumphant march up Eton High Street to Windsor where they met another joyous crowd coming from Windsor making their way to Slough. Many of the boys carried on their celebrations with a triumphant march over Windsor Bridge to Castle Hill.                           

VE Day Party at Somerfield Road, Eton Wick

The local Windsor and Slough papers reporting on the Victory Revels said that a two day holiday was declared and the joyous population danced, sung, cheered and wept celebrating the news. Church Bells rang out from Saint Georges Chapel and from all the parish churches around. It was a beautiful warm day with the temperature much higher than the average for the time of year. At nightfall the celebrations took off with a bang as rockets exploded in the sky. Men, women and children thronged the streets of Windsor, Eton and Slough in a night of sheer happiness that the war in Europe had ended. No more would there be anxious days when bomb or rocket would bring death and destruction. By late evening many of the pubs had run dry but the festivities continued to the early hours of Wednesday morning. No-one wanted to go home. The only floodlit building in Eton was the College Chapel but elsewhere floodlighting and fairy lights appeared. Among buildings lit were High Duty Alloys on the Trading Estate, Slough Town Hall and the Windsor riverside with colourful fairy lights. Army searchlights added to the illuminations. Villages around the district were also celebrating with bonfires and parties and impromptu dancing on the village greens and in the streets. The sky reflected the glow from the multitude of fires which in some villages were huge. The very large bonfire on the village green at Datchet commenced a night of celebration which continued through until Wednesday night when there was the added attraction of dancing to the music of the Royal Artillery band from the local Ack - Ack batteries.  For many children this was the first time to see lights in shop windows and such an outburst of gaiety.  Informal street parties and celebration teas for the children took place with tables and chairs and often a piano being brought from the houses. Street parties at Brocas street and Tangier Lane were arranged for the children who in addition to the tea were given an orange and one shilling.   

Mr Addaway, driver of the Blue Bus, had a very excited passenger on V.E. Day. Streaming two strong wartime toilet rolls, Mrs Downs, showing the joyfulness of the day, rode on the bonnet of the bus. Celebration parties at Eton Wick were quickly organized at Northfield Road, the Village Hall and on the common adjacent to the Greyhound public house. Precious tin food that had been purchased on points and stored for this day came from the cupboard. The Victory street party in Northfield Road, organized by Mrs Harman and friends, entertained about twenty children and the same number of adults to a celebration tea with fruit salad from the Azores and a special iced cake in the shape of a victory "V". Private Mills, who was home on leave after three years overseas service, was guest of honour. After tea the children had dancing, races and games ending the day with three cheers for the boys still overseas and wishing them a speedy return.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

In 2005 the History Group produced Recall 60 Years On, a book about the lives of the Ex-Service men and women who had made the Eton Wick their home. 52 of the 60 plus veterans provided their biographies and it was published with the support The National Lottery Community Fund.

This photo shows where the veterans of WW2 who were residents of Eton Wick in 2005 saw service. It was taken at the exhibition held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of VJ Day.

World War 2 Eighty Years On - February 1940

    

          

It was with great sadness that the village learned of the death of Mr E.L. Vaughan on 8th February 1940. He had been a great benefactor with his gift of the land on which stands the Village Hall. Over the years he had given his support to many village activities. Highly prized by the recipients were the illustrated copy of the New Testament he presented to each confirmation candidate after the ceremony. To his memory a plaque, erected by the Village Hall Committee, was unveiled on March 2nd. 1942. The unveiling by Mr Hope-Jones attracted a large gathering to whom Mrs Vaughan expressed her thanks for their words of appreciation of her husband.  

The plaque and photograph to Mr Vaughan is located in the village hall. 

February 25th.      

            

To maximize the use of daylight hours, clocks were advanced one hour of GMT for the duration of the war and two hours ahead during the summer months. This re-adjustment of daylight hours allowed farmers to harvest late into the evening, whilst during winter months school children returned home from school in daylight.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

The Story of a Village - World War Two and After

With the war came other changes and new kinds of hardship - air raids, the blackout, rationing, gas masks and men away fighting. Women were drafted into factory work and homes and family life adjusted as evacuees from London were made welcome. The Village Hall was used as a school room for the evacuated children and equipped for use as a First Aid Post and Rest Centre. The Minute Books of the Institute tell of whist drives and dances organised as part of the war effort, especially during ‘Wings for Victory Week’ in 1942 and 'Salute the Soldier' Week the following year. Occasionally the Hall was used for billeting soldiers and, as in every other town and village, uniforms became part of the pattern of life. A gun site was established on Dorney Common close to Eton Wick and the noise shattered many a night's sleep. Eton Wick was lucky, however; a few bombs did fall on the village, but did very little damage, and the explosion which set a field alight seemed quite spectacular at the time. Men on active service were not so lucky; twelve lost their lives as the War Memorial at the church bears witness.

The story of Eton Wick during the war is not much different from that of any English village, but the 1940s mark a watershed in the history of Eton Wick. Change has always been taking place, albeit at times almost imperceptibly; but at this time the changes were to be great and far-reaching. Within a decade of the end of the war the long straggling rural village with its close-knit community had disappeared; its place taken by a larger dormitory village, top heavy with council houses.

The first new houses built were twelve 'prefabs' on part of Bell's Field. They were meant to be temporary, but instead provided good if not beautiful homes for more than twenty years. They were built towards the end of the war, and the first post war houses completed the development of the Bell's Field Site; the pale pink colour of the bricks is a constant reminder of the shortage of good facing-bricks at this time. A year or so later Tilston Field (north of the Eton Wick Road) was bought from Eton College for the first housing estate in the village itself. Great care was taken over the design of the housing and roads; trees, shrub borders and a small recreation ground were included to improve the amenities of the estate. Five fine police houses were built fronting the main road, and the Council were proud enough of the scheme to enter the completed half of the estate for the Ministry of Health Housing Medal in 1951. In the following year Prince Philip officially opened the estate at a small informal ceremony. Meux's Field was also bought by the Council and here were laid out Princes Close and a shopping parade, making altogether over two hundred houses and seven shops.

The main road from Moores Lane to Dorney Common was considerably widened and a shrub border planted in front of the estate and, as if to mark the change in appearance, its name was changed from Tilston Lane to Eton Wick Road. There was a zest for rebuilding and not only in bricks and mortar. Many of the clubs which had sunk into the doldrums during the war were revived and new ones founded. The first of these was probably the Youth Club which was started in 1946, followed by the Over Sixties Club in 1947 and a few years later the Parent Teacher Association, the Unity Players and the Young Wives. The Village Hall was still the centre of much of the social life of the Wick and great efforts were made to put it on a sound footing after the war. In 1950 it was redecorated by voluntary help, electricity was installed and in the following year it was enlarged by the addition of a covered forecourt. Two issues of a magazine called ' Our Village ' were published by the Institute as it was still sometimes called, and for several years from 1950 a Village Hall Week was held in the early part of the year. Village football became so popular that a Minors' Club was formed. When this proved very successful a second team of young men too old to stay in the minors' team had to be started. Eventually the club was renamed the Eton Wick Athletic Club and there was even more cause for 'Up the Wick' to be heard each Saturday.

The village was still growing; in the mid- and late 1950s private housing completed the redevelopment of the Wick west of Bell Lane with the laying out of Cornwall Close, Queens Road, Tilstone Close and the northern extension of Bell Lane. There was very little other building land available; the confirmation of the rules and regulations of the commons and lammas lands at the Manor Court held in College Hall at Eton in 1948 made it impossible to use these lands. Instead a compromise was agreed; lammas rights were not extinguished but transferred from land needed for redevelopment to parts of Bell Farm, which had been freed from rights when it became a sewage farm. In this way part of South Field was used to build Hayward's Mead estate early in the 1960s, and part of Sheepcote Field for the flats next to the school some years later. These were both council schemes, but the latter was part of a redevelopment plan for the village which included the demolition of the 'prefabs' and neighbouring houses in Alma Road and replacing them by Bell's Field Court and a row of shops. Castle View Terrace in Sheepcote Road and some of the Clifton Cottages were also pulled down to make way for the dark bricks of the private 'Georgian' style houses, while Sheepcote Road itself was given a new curving line. A few years earlier the Victorian houses of Albert Place and Victoria Terrace had been demolished and new houses and flats built in their place. A few houses have been built behind Bell Farm and the old people's flats of Clifton Lodge now star on the site of Hardings Cottages. Finally - and surely it must be finally for there is now almost no land left that can be built upon without infringing the common rights - Bunces Close has been built on land freed from lammas rights when South View was planned soon after the First World War. 

This is an extract from The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 to 1977 by Judith Hunter.

Our Village August 2011

The way things were — `Le jour du Fair' '

The day of the fair' was indeed the big day of most rural communities before the ownership of family cars. Eton Wick was no exception, although until about 130 years ago the village was probably not large enough to support regular events.

In 1878 some diverse social gatherings did take place and were considered worthy of recording. Firstly a political rally, and a steam circus, were held on the Common. I find this perhaps surprising, as at that time all villagers' were conscious of their Common's Rights and vehemently opposed any misuse. Again, a surprise that the small population was deemed adequate for a steam circus. Perhaps more importantly in 1878 Eton Wick held its first Horticultural Show, which predated the village recreation ground by several years; the allotments by 16 years and was 13 years before Eton Town's first Horticultural Show. Apart from war years the show became an annual event and with time, became ever more successful. By the 1930s it was the August Bank Holiday event held in Wheatbutts Orchard, often with a Guards' band; outdoor dancing, side shows; various pet classes on show: children's competitions of wildflowers, grass collection, mini gardens. needlework etc., and adult cookery entries of cakes, cooked vegetables, dinners etc. The allotment holders have revived the horticultural show in recent years but alas the days when every villager attended with enthusiasm have long since gone.

We will now look at the biggest of them all, the Wicko! carnivals. held between 1967 - 1981, at how they came about, why they stopped and ask "could they have survived?' The origin was certainly unusual and indirectly came about following the end of the Eton Wick cricket club in the 1960s.

The cricket club was long established; it played home matches at Saddocks Farm, had its own wood pavilion and regularly had very popular fixtures. Unfortunately, a possible move to the village recreation ground brought about the club's demise. They gave the mobile pavilion to the Eton Wick youth club, but unfortunately, village children burnt the building and the youth club duly claimed the insurance money of £600. At that time; and after ten years as the 'Club Leader' I was then its Chairman. The Adult Committee decided against a replacement pavilion but opted for a purpose-built Sports Hall to be built behind the Village Hall. The insurance money was inadequate so we decided to raise the money needed with a Recreation Ground based fete. The word 'fete' had been used by the scout movement and also the Village Hall in recent years so we settled on 'carnival'. That year of 1967 Canada had held an International Exhibition. logoed 'Expo! 67' so committee member Andy Skeels said we will call our carnival 'Wicko 67½'. Success came so we subsequently held 'Wicko 68'; 'Wicko 69' and so on. Publicity was pushed way beyond our locality and Mr. Jim Kinross of Manor Farm generously let us have the entire use of South Field as a free car park for the many hundreds of visitors at one event it was estimated a crowd in excess of 10,000 attended.

Of course events in the arena cost money and being held in the recreation ground no admission charge was possible, so as with the car park the event was virtually free to those not wanting to spend. There were, of course, side shows: fairground stalls and continuous arena entertainment. including music by a Scottish pipe band. a Caribbean steel band and a military band. There were go-cart rides: ladies wrestling: boxing: piano smashing competitions (inter pubs). a lively mock American civil war performed by the Civil War Re-enactment Group plus regular beauty queens and fancy dress shows. Also every year expert tug-of-war competitions. Wicko! attracted tug-of-war teams from far and wide - the midlands, west country and the London districts. With no experience of tug-of-war we were much indebted to the long-established Holyport organiser, Mr Charlie Aldridge, who guided us through the necessary 'know how' We were able to offer more attractive prizes to the teams through the good offices of Mr Stout, a villager who at that time had a substantial Reading based business trading suitably priced chinaware.

Within a few years we were able to build the youth club's sports hall and in a year or two, the carnivals were handed over to the Eton Wick Football Club who themselves needed funds to develop their newly built headquarters. The event probably needed much more work input than had been anticipated and it quickly fell into decline. Just one example was an Eton Council Officer giving his usual warning that he would inspect the recreation ground the day after a Wicko!. As usual, the same few cleared the site and with failing light, the crowds all gone: my brother Albert was driving our shop truck on the Rec and by its headlamps my two aging sisters were on hands and knees picking up the rubbish. Looking up we saw the Club customers with pints in hand looking from the clubhouse window and naturally, we mused they were saying "just look at those ..... fools'. Enough for Albert who said 'this is my last and of course his input had been overwhelming - making props, repairing stalls, painting etc., and always giving us new ideas

Like other village ladies my sisters had spent months knitting saleable items and later making cakes and jams. All these village happenings need keen workers and it is no use dreaming up ideas without the will to execute them.

Susan Lunn with Billy Walker

Could Wicko! have survived? I have always thought it may, but probably depended on a more positive initial approach. I always had the old village pre-war shows in my mind and when planning the first Wicko! I asked Mr Harry Cook, who organised the annual Horticultural Show, If they would combine with Wicko! for a Recreation Ground annual event and in return Wicko! would guarantee the marquee and prize expenses of the allotment event. Harry decided to keep his independence, for which I could appreciate. However, if it had joined with Wicko! there would have been permanence to the show that the 'quick fix' need for money may not have brought about the early demise. 

Incidentally, in 1969 the Sports Hall and Wicko! Carnival were opened by the British Heavyweight Boxing Champion 'Billy Walker'. He also judged the many young ladies' Beauty Queen Competition. He chose Susan Lund as the 'Queen' and Kathy Reader as runner-up. Both girls lived in Princes Close, and eleven youth organisations had girl entrants. Some years later both Susan and Kathy were married to the village twin brothers. Tony and Terry Skeels, who were, in fact, the sons of Andy Skeels who had given the first Wicko! its name. 

Frank Bond 

Footnote: To further the family connection, Susan is the Great Niece of Ernie Brown: the 22 year old remembered on the Village War Memorial.

Click here to read Our Village August 2011.

This article was originally published in the Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village as is republished with the kind permission of the Eton Wick Village Hall Committee. Click here to go to the Collection page.

Eton Wick Newsletter: Our Village April 2011

The way things were — Floods 

Seafaring fishermen are quite superstitious and do not like whistling when at sea. They believe it is 'whistling for the wind' which will blow up fiercely. Hopefully, in writing about past floods it will not be tempting providence. 

Eton Wick is reputedly on a flood plain* and I occasionally get asked about past events that I presume is the result of insurance premiums. It would be a comfort to believe the Jubilee River is a definite guarantee of no future flooding locally, but of course, when it comes to weather, nothing can be a certainty. 

As a schoolboy in the early 1930s, I well recall the Eton Wick Road being flooded across the `slads' on at least two or three occasions. This is the first area to be flooded near Eton Wick. The 'Slads' is that grass stretch both north and south of the main road a few yards east of the rail viaduct. On the walk to 'Porny' school we excitedly saw water on the 'slads' south of the road and sure enough on the way home later, the water had risen enough to be across the road and covering both sides of the old grazing land, enough to necessitate the long plank footbridge being erected between the viaduct and the Folly Bridge cattle pound, from where the ground rose suddenly above most flood levels. (See photograph on page 4). The footbridge was quickly constructed by pushing steel handrails through the top of about 30 steel posts permanently in situ across the 'slads' and then fitting planks about 1 — 1½ feet above the ground and secured to brackets fitted to the posts. When not in use, the handrails; brackets and planks were safely stored under one of the viaduct arches. They were not used much after the 1947 flood. Gradually the posts rusted and fell into the grass but the other materials and planks seemed to vanish; perhaps as rumour suggested, were misappropriated. The last of the posts, I understand, went to Windsor as a future item of interest for the local museum. One of the most flooded parts of Eton Wick was along Common Road, although rarely getting into homes. 

History records very serious floods, but in the last 120 years, there were just two that were

really exceptional, the first in 1894 and the next in 1947. In many ways, these were very different in timing and cause. The deeper flood came in November 1894 after heavy rains beyond the river's ability to cope. Coming in early winter made it very difficult for inundated homes to dry their possessions effectively. It was perhaps four months before doors and windows could be opened to the elements. The 1947 flood was quite different. It came in March after six weeks of almost constant snow and rain falls accompanied by hard frosts. The result was a thickness of packed and frozen fall on deeply frozen ground. The improved March weather thawed the surface and, being unable to soak through the frozen ground, found its level on the surface. Perhaps a repeat of the 1947 weather would be beyond even the Jubilee River to cope with. Of course, the 1947 flood did allow for the summer to effectively dry out. This latter flood came about 19 months after the end of WW2 at a time when Eton Wick had no electricity; there was a severe shortage of fuel; food and clothing was still rationed and most of the young (and not so young) were desperately trying to set up home after nearly six years of war service. 

Against this background, I will mention a few particular incidents, but doubtless, those of you who experienced the 1947 flood will have your own favourite memories. My family home was an early 18th Century detached house that stood near the Common Road Jubilee oak tree. In 1894 this house was occupied by a Miss or Mrs Tarrant. In mid-November, the ground floor was flooded and the good lady was obliged to move upstairs. Like many others, she had several chickens and these also went upstairs. The 1947 flood did not get beyond the doorstep but I did see Mother pushing a knitting needle between the living room quarry tiled floor to anxiously measure how much more the water had risen. 

A few homes away lived the village blacksmith, Jack Newell, along with his daughter and her husband, Jennie and Allen Dowson. This was the end house of Hope Cottages which is one side of the lane to Common Road, with Wheatbutts Cottage on the other. Jennie was watching the village policeman coming down the flooded lane to make sure all was well. He suddenly disappeared from sight, so she went through the house to follow his progress. No policeman, but his helmet was being swept away in the flood. The water had concealed a deep hole it had 'washed' in the road and the PC had tumbled into the depths, along with his cycle. 

Wartime shortages were still resulting in food rationing, shortage of almost all goods and building materials, and very inadequate heating. My sister had recently been allocated a house in Eton but was still obliged to get the family food allowance from 'Chantlers' of Eton Wick. To get the supplies to Eton my brother paddled his kayak boat from Sheepcote Road along the flooded Eton Wick Road to the 'slads', then turning right across the Eton Recreation Ground, across Church Meadow and up Brocas Street, where he secured the boat and waded through Eton to Tangier Lane. There was continuous water all the way between Eton Wick church and Windsor Bridge. Many homes, the church and some shops were flooded. The photos we see often did not show the worse or the deepest floods, simply because everybody had too much practical purpose at hand and nobody knew where it was at its worse anyway. When floods are not 'rising' they have turned and are falling. Most roads were flooded and eventually the Eton Wick Road became too deep and hazardous. Workers and shoppers were conveyed to Slough, through Dorney by lorries belonging to R Bond (Contractors). 

A substantial anti-aircraft gun site had recently vacated Donley Common and home seeking ex-service persons had taken over the empty Nissen huts as squatters. Overnight the huts were flooded and women and infants were pushed to safety in a galvanised bath tub, a few by boat. South View residents had food passed up to the bedroom windows by boat. The army used DUKW vehicles to supply small bags of fuel and emergency foods. 

Floods as severe as those have many side effects. When water rises it forces rats to come above ground and there are many more rats than we are normally aware of. Other wildlife is obliged to converge on the remaining dry areas. When floods subside they leave the land and gardens strewn with flotsam —straw, rubbish, wood etc., and after the land is contaminated causing risk of tetanus. A village youngster died after just such an infection in 1947. Hopefully this is the past and we will not see the like again, but doubtless if it comes to it, everybody will do what is necessary — sink or swim. 

Frank Bond 

Above — in March 1947 - using the slads plank bridge. The Willow Tree public house is the higher building. Pub signpost also shown. Willow Tree cottages in the fore. 

Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village April 2011.

This article was originally published in the Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village as is republished with the kind permission of the Eton Wick Village Hall Committee. Click here to go to the Collection page.

The effects of flooding of 2014 were reported on in 15th Issue of Our Village on page 22.

*Note The Environment Agency flood map can be found through the UK Government website.

Flood Planning Map courtesy of the Environment Agency

WW2 Servicemen & Women: How many?

To arrive at an estimated number of Eton Wick and Boveney villagers (130) who served in World War II, we used the total UK fatalities of 400,000 and the total who served — 4,680,000. It will be seen that one is approximately 9% of the other or one in eleven. If Eton Wick had twelve deaths and the national average applied, then 131 people served. A list was then prepared of all those people remembered and this was checked and amended by two other local citizens of that era. We have arrived at 128 — Luck? Guesswork? Or hopelessly adrift with our memories?

564(M) AA. Battery stationed on Dorney Common during 1943/4

There were probably more service people on the Dorney Common gun site throughout the war than the estimated 130 villagers who left to serve elsewhere, so the community was not exactly bereft of young men or women. The Dorney camp soldiers were housed in Nissen huts which they vacated when the war ended. Houses were in desperately short supply and several of the returning service men who were newly married, took unto themselves squatters' rights in the Nissen hits. That first winter was worse than any in the subsequent 60 years and severe floods inundated the common and the huts.

Of the twelve service fatalities from Eton Wick in World War II, all were men, nine from the Army and three from the Royal Air Force. Their places of burial or commemoration were — three in the U.K., two in France, two in Italy, one in Burma, one in Libya, one in Egypt, one in Syria and one in Luxembourg. The youngest was 21 years old and the oldest 58, being someone who had volunteered for service and died of T.B.

This is an extract from Recall 60 years on.

Dorney Common anti-aircraft battery 1940-45.

Dorney Common anti-aircraft battery site plan. 

The first territorial anti-aircraft (ack-ack) unit arrived on the Dorney Common site in June 1940. Other local sites included the tower mounted 40mm on the Brocas, Eton. This photograph is of the 564(M) AA. Battery stationed on Dorney Common during 1943/4. The troop manning the 3.7 heavy ack-ack guns shot down a German ME 410 on the night of February 23/24th 1944. The raider crashed in High Wycombe. A number of the service personnel, male and female, married local villagers and set up home in Eton Wick. 

The Nissen huts of the Dorney Common anti-aircraft battery.

When the army left in 1946, the acute shortage of domestic homes caused demobilised local men to 'squat' and set up home in the disused huts. Their new homes and furniture were almost immediately ruined by the 1947 floods, when the residents were evacuated by boat. This picture was taken in March 1947. The huts were still occupied in the 1950s. 

Three of the war-time ATS girls in front of their Nissen hut home on Dorney Common. The camp and the 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns were located along the brook, starting immediately adjacent to the south side of the Eton Wick cattle grid. 

The Armoury 

This was the only building of the wartime Dorney common ack-ack site 1940-45 that was within the boundary of Eton Wick. It stood in what is now the garden of No 22 Tilstone Close. After the army vacated the camp in 1945 this building was taken by Eton Urban Council for accommodation, the residents being Mr and Mrs McGill. 

The vacant huts of Dorney camp became squatter residence before coming under the control of Eton Rural Council. The camp buildings were removed in 1950 having been damaged by the 1947 flood and also having deteriorated beyond use, the land was then restored. 

THE EARLY HISTORY OF 24, VICTORIA ROAD, ETON WICK,

EARLY HISTORY, IN OUTLINE, RELATING TO 

24, VICTORIA ROAD, ETON WICK, SL4 6LY.

Photograph above of Thames View Stores
and Eton Wick Road taken in 1913

WILLIAM HEARN : Apprenticeship in saddlery; employment in harness making; more interested in the motor car, driving in 1903; returned to Eton Wick, married in 1906; bought Thames View (by 1991 was Thames View Aquarium), opened a shop and started in business; had some arrangement with 'General' Hill who had a Wheelwright business at the premises now known as 24, Victoria Road; outline plan of area used by Hill before the first World War and taken over by Hearn during the War for engineering.

This plan shows what I remember in 1920. My father purchased the land from No 18 to 36 (present numbers), down to the brook; divided into three plots and retained the centre plot, 24 to 28/30.


Early in the 1920's he phased out  engineering and engaged employees only on a casual basis. Later he discontinued repair and exchange and concentrated on car hire, driving and maintaining his own cars until the end of his life.






In 1924 Thames View was sold and a bungalow erected as shown for our family. A store was made for reserve petrol supply (2 gallon tins) etc. below ground level.

By mid 1930's the bungalow was extended and a new house was built on the adjoining property. A small tank and hand pump for petrol (not for re-sale) was added other changes made as shown.











The Second World War came and the premises not again in use until 1946. Electricity (3 phase) was laid on and the property was connected to the main drainage. Tanks and equipment was installed for petrol for resale. Full motor engineering service was started. The was questioned by the Borough Engineer (Mr Smith) and his Dept. but finally permitted as there had been light engineering industry at the premises well before 1937 so permission not required.

Victoria Road was a cul-de-sac and stopped off at Shepherds Hut Field (now Princes Close). In 1948 this leaflet was distributed to every letter box in the area to make our presence known business card at that time.













My brother soon left working for Hearn Motors to run a business of his own. A small holding keeping pigs and poultry in the field along the back of properties 24 to 36. The plan shows the promises as they were when I sold Hearn Motors in 1952 to B.A.Nuts Ltd. who had rented part of the property for about a year before for their automatic machines. A 21 year lease was granted for the whole premises; an income for my sister who lived in the bungalow.

My sister (3 years old in the photograph at the beginning of this article, outside the shop) sold out to J.T.Ireland for housing development that became Queens Road. The bungalow extension was immediately removed to make way for the entrance to Queens Road from Victoria Road;. She moved out when her new chalet in Slough was finished in 1960. Ireland paid higher rate for premises with light industrial use (leased to B.A.Nuts Ltd.). He appears to have been disregarded it and made application for more houses, but this was not granted and the lease not renewed. I visited the property with Jim Ireland on 11th June 1974. It was empty and not in a good state of repair he offered the premises back for £20,000.



This history was prepared for ASTEEL ENGINEERING SERVICES Ltd of 24, Victoria Road, Eton Wick By J.W.E.Hearn in 1991.