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When Fleet Street Sentenced Lacey Green To Death

Report by the Bucks Free Press, High Wycombe 1934

It was New Year in 1934, when Lacey Green hit the headlines of the national newspapers. It was a notoriety that the village did not want, for Fleet Street proclaimed that seven people had died over Christmas period because of pollution of water supplies during the drought.

The facts pointed that way, because six villagers had died over Christmas and another soon afterwards and there was a severe drought in this part of Bucks. But the seven people had died through natural causes and in any case they were aged 82,81, three just under 70 and one 60; true one man had died in his thirties but he had pneumonia.

Although there was a drought Lacey Green had plenty of water in its wells.

A Free Press reporter toured the "village of death" and found the inhabitants indignant at the Fleet Street stories for there was no serious water shortage at Lacey Green, nor Loosley Row and many villagers still opposed the water scheme being urged upon them by Wycombe Rural District Council because the rain water which ran off their roofs and into the wells, their sole source of supply, was pure when drawn as any water they would wish to drink.

The local merchant, Mr George Floyd, who at seventy could still lift a sack of coal with the next man, stated, "My mother and father drank water from the same well for 70 years and they lived until they were 95."

The water from the wells was crystal clear, and Lacey Green might well be described as an oasis in a land of drought. Most wells in the village were full up. And so they were at Loosley Row. It was just a coincidence that so many villagers had died within such a short time.

The Free Press discovered that no one was in favour of the new water supply, and even the rural council said that there was no reason to suspect that the seven deaths were due to contaminated water. In fact the Medical Officer of Health added that the rumours were completely unfounded.

True, there was a drought and in January 1934 Wycombe Rural District Council was carting 25,000 gallons of water a day all over the area, just for domestic purposes and by March the council had put forward a £66,000 scheme to supply over 80 square miles and 14,000 village people with fresh water - despite the crystal clear wells of Lacey Green.

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Water Pre 1934

by Joan West

Water was an important consideration in the past and it had to be conserved as much as possible, and probably used very economically.

Most cottages would have had an underground tank to collect the rainwater off the roof for domestic purposes. This would usually have provided enough water for the family. These tanks were beautifully made, lined with brickwork which was skimmed over with a thin layer of "cement". Above it would be a pump and the bigger houses would probably have had one into the kitchen and another in the washhouse. The farms would have had a considerable number, mainly because they had a lot of roofs.

There were no dairy cows save for a few families who might have a house cow. Milk was not something to drink but to cook with,- a pudding perhaps. Butter springs to mind but dripping was more likely the order of the day. Many people kept a pig. They got them extremely fat so there must have been vast quantities of dripping. Sheep were kept on the commonland but they need virtually no water, they get fluid from grazing.

By far the most important animals were the horses. A very few were riding horses but the farmhorses were special. Most of the farms up here produced hay and straw and the horses were essential to work the fields. The water for animals came from ponds. These "dew" ponds were capped with clay, which could be puddled-in so they held water. When the enclosures were made in 1823 they were listed for public use.

You may wonder why they produced hay and straw when there were so few animals to eat it. Both products are notoriously difficult to produce in England, even more difficult before the advent of modern machinery. Both rely on good weather particularly the hay. However there was a ready market for both in London. There were a great number of horses kept there for riding and commercial purposes and hundreds of herds of dairy cows. These herds probably consisted of less than half a dozen animals and they were kept inside all the time.

The Lacey Green farmers delivered their goods and brought back the manure for their own land, without which this land would grow very little indeed. A good bit of recycling you could say.

A good farmer had to be very good at predicting the weather for hay takes about four days of hot weather to dry. Also he had to call in as many extra hands as possible, for it involved much labour, tossing and turning, carting and stacking into ricks when it was dry. It must not go mouldy or overheat.

A great many people were glad of extra work so a ride through the village shouting for all hands to the fields was all that was needed. Many children skived off school to the despair of the teachers, but the parents would rather have them working.

Barley, wheat and oats could be grown up here, either sold or used for the horses. Once more lots of labour, but getting it dry enough was not quite so critical. It could be reaped and stooked (stood up in sheaves) until dry enough to bring into ricks. It would then be threshed at a convenient time to make the straw available for sale.

It was a long journey by horse and cart to London and dangerous. William Saunders from Stocken Farm was particularly distressed when he was stopped during the first world war at Holtspur and his best horses taken for the army. And to make matters worse he was left up the A40 with a wagonload and nothing to pull it with.

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St. John's Church Choir

Memories of Phyllis Dell

As a small child, Phyllis (now 85 in 2010) used to sit in the choir stalls with her parents at evensong. They had previously attended the Methodist Chapel and Phyllis can remember that they had very good outings and picnics in the field opposite, where there was a pond.

Her mother, Minnie Adams, told her that her father Fred had a sudden calling telling him to go to church. He felt he had to obey, and Minnie decided that she should go with him. They were to become lifelong supporters of the church. Fred was Vicar's Warden for 40 years. Fred Martin was the People's Warden. Phyllis believes that they may have been founder members of the choir under Reverend Steward. She cannot recall there being a choir in the time of Reverend Gee.

At that time the organ was hand pumped by one of the boys. The organist was Nancy Hawes, and when the organ was running out of air she would wave her handkerchief to indicate that it required pumping. The adult choristers enjoyed choir suppers with games in the vicarage.

Both Fred and Minnie were quite musical. Fred played the violin in Harold William's dance band with Ted Tyrell and one other member. Min played the organ at the Methodist Chapel.

Phyllis remained a choir member until the 1970s. Both her sons were in the choir, and her daughter Linda used to sit with her in the choir stalls from the age of 3. She was on the PCC for 18 years as Secretary. Her mother did all the church washing.

From 1944: by Douglas Tilbury

When I joined the church choir, it consisted mainly of men and boys. Those I can remember were:-
Basses:
Harry Barefoot
John Randall
Mr Hussey

Tenors:
Fred Adams
Mr. Anderson (Ted's father)
Mr Millward from Windmill Farm
Fred Harbour from Loosley Row
(Also Mr "Razzor" Adams and Harold Williams - later organist)

Ladies:
Mrs Flo. Gurney
Minnie Adams
Phyllis Dell (nee Adams)
Maggie Saunders (wife of Cecil)
Miss Hopton

Choir Leader was the Revd. J. Steward.

Basses sat in the back pew on the right, with boys in front of them
Ladies sat in the back left pew, but Revd. Steward preferred a choir of men and boys. During war time, a few ladies were permitted.

New boys aged about 10, like myself and Fred Harbour, had a practice at the vicarage on Wednesday during the school lunch hour, to practice scales and hymns for the next Sunday. Practice for the senior choir was on Sunday evening after evensong from 7.00 to 8.00p.m. The organist at this time was Nancy (Nance) Hawes who had been a pupil teacher at the school. It was she who taught Harold Williams, Phyllis Dell and some other local children to play the piano. She lived in a tin shack in Church Lane, and kept a bad tempered parrot.

At this time, Harold Williams was a Navigator in the Royal Air Force, flying Mosquitoes. During the winter months evensong was held at 3.00.p.m. due to the "blackout", which was strictly enforced here, as Bomber Command was only a mile away.

Regular services were Holy Communion, held at 8.00.a.m. and also at 7.00.a.m. on Festival Days (Easter, Christmas, Whitsun and Harvest).
Sung Eucharist was at 11.00.a.m. (Matins on the 3rd. Sunday of each month)
Sunday School was at 2.30.p.m. and evensong at 6.00.p.m. so junior choristers spent most of the day in church.

Commonly used anthems were: -
This Joyful Eastertide
Come Holy Ghost
Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
The most memorable was the Olympic Anthem - Non Nobis Domine, which Cecil Saunders also taught to the 400 boys at Mill End Road School. The sound was terrific.

Choir robes were black cassocks and white surplices. Boys had to wear ruffs.

The choir vestry consisted of a heavy curtain, partitioning off the same area occupied by the present vestry. Boisterous boys were frequently hushed by the vicar prior to services. Choir pay was sixpence and a bag of sour apples from the vicarage garden at Harvest time.

The church school had services in the church on Saints Days. Ash Wednesday and Ascension were always popular, as the school had the rest of the day off.

The vicar frequently rode his bicycle, and later his Corgi motor scooter around the parish of Lacey Green, Loosley Row and Speen. The corgi was not very powerful, and had to have "foot power" assistance around the "Devil's Elbow" when he went to Speen School to take the Communion Service at 8.45.a.m. on the first Sunday of the month.

He was unmarried, and had a housekeeper, Miss Varney. Earlier in his career he had been a missionary in Africa. The piano which he donated to the church (and is still in use), had been built to withstand the African climate.

A party for choirboys was held on the Vicarage lawn during the summer. If you were lucky, the vicar would allow you to push his new Motor scythe lawn mower across the lawn! The Senior Choir Party was in the vicarage during the winter months. As it was wartime, refreshments tended to be bread and jam, and a cup of tea.

During the morning services, aircraft could be heard taking off from the airfield behind Lacy Green School, as the prevailing wind normally blew from over the church. There were very high conifers around the vicarage, and it was a steep climb to get over them.

At the age of 14, after their voices had broken, most boys left the choir for various reasons. Those that stayed within the church became altar servers or acolytes, until they had to start National Service at the age of 18. Fred Harbour joined the army serving in the Coldstream Guards. I joined the Royal Air Force, and became an engine mechanic, serving in 56th squadron. On demob, many returning young men were asked to serve on the PCC.

From 1953: by Rosemary Mortham (nee Oliver)

My brother, Andy Oliver, joined the church choir about 1953. At that time the choir was entirely made up of men and boys, led by Revd, Steward. He was very musical and trained the choir himself. The organist was Harold Williams. Sadly Harold suffered from epilepsy, and would occasionally have a fit while playing the organ. To this day the organ has the switch to one side, so that the electricity could be turned off if he fell across the keyboard.

There were quite a number of boys in the choir. One of the attractions was being able to play with the train set in the vicarage attic. They practised on Sunday evenings in the church. They were no longer paid.

Andy was never really interested in singing, so the family was really surprised when he managed to sing a solo one Christmas He had extra coaching from the vicar after school. My father always said "he was only there to decorate the choir stalls".

After Stuart's final departure, no one could be found to run the choir, and so I took over the organisation and did my best with musical training. We no longer had a resident organist, and so a roster of organists began. Thanks to everyone's support, we managed to continue until 2009, when Amy Stothard, who had completed her degree in music, took over.

Choir membership has already increased significantly. New junior choristers have been recruited, and also a couple of men. They continue a long tradition at St. John's. I earnestly hope that our choir will be able to serve the church for many years to come.

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A pictorial memory of 1981 when two very similar villages - Lacey Green in England and Hambye in France arranged a cooperative venture known as Twinning.

The Villages took it in turn to host visitors from their twin often providing accommodation as well as organising events.

At the Annual General Meeting in 2002 the then Chairman of the Twinning Association, Mrs Pat Williams, indicated that unless there were volunteers to take over from the long-serving Committee, the Association would have to be discontinued. At the AGM in 2003, there being no volunteers, the Association was 'put on ice'.

Since then, although several approaches have been made to Hambye, there appears to be very little enthusiasm to resurrect the Association from their side and there have been no volunteers to resuscitate Twinning from our side. Now that travel has become commonplace between the UK and France the need for Twinning has become less imperative. Consequently, Lacey Green Parish Twinning Association, in common with many others, is not the only one which has had, sadly, to close down for lack of support.

Under Item 14 of the Lacey Green Parish Twinning Association Constitution any surplus funds that are still held must be transferred equally to the village hall funds of Speen and Lacey Green for specified use. The remaining members of the
old Committee will undertake to wind up the Lacey Green Parish Twinning Association in accordance with the Constitution.

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Click here to open the very first Hallmark which gives a glimpse of life in the 70's here in the village.