|
To contact us: |
|
Electricity Electricity was starting to be installed, however it was seen as the "devils work" by a lot of the older residents of the village and they resisted it's introduction into their homes for a long time. I think they only started to see it's advantages after seeing the benefits that the bakery and shop enjoyed by it's installation.
Housing Development With the coming of electricity to the village and the other utilities over the past two years, the 20th century had finally caught up with Chelveston. Electricity was the catalyst for development, and developers were not slow in taking advantage of it.
The first new housing to be erected in the village occurred during the spring and summer and was on the site of the charity field behind the Alms houses and enclosed within Water Lane and Sawyers Crescent. These were Oundle & Thrapston Rural District Council (now ENC) houses and were all the same design and configuration externally and internally, being double storey and made of prefabricated sections and put together like a mechano set. It was amazing how quickly they were erected. The first families moved in during late 1949, early 1950.
Farming My grandfather, William Allan, who was a Builder, Bricklayer and Stone Mason and lived with us for about eighteen months, was employed by George Britten to rebuild his stables. The back wall of bricks and stones was collapsing and had become very dangerous. I was only fourteen and did the labouring for him, hand mixing the cement on a 6'x6' board and making sure he had the mortar right where he needed it. After the wall had been rebuilt it was then rendered and plastered with cement which was eventually white-washed with lime. I'll never forget this time because he taught me how to lay bricks and plaster, which held me in good stead over the years.
Alf Carr installed the first milking machine in Chelveston and also a large gas fired drying oven for drying grass. Grass which would have been left under normal circumstances to form hay, was cut green and dried for stock feed. It was placed on a wide travelling belt and moved slowly through the oven, coming out the other end looking very much like hay but not as brown. You always knew when the machine was operating and the wind was in the wrong direction, because this awful smell would waft over the village.
As far as I am aware he was the first to introduce the Combine Harvester to the district, it fascinated everybody to see this huge machine driven by one man, cut the stalks of wheat to about a foot from the ground, separate the corn from the husk, and discharge the unwanted stems out the back. The stems came out in such a way that it was easy for the Baler to follow up and bale it for straw. There was no more following the reaper, picking up the sheaf's and stooking them, etc. The wheat varieties used were tall growing to about four feet in height, modern varieties only grow to about two to three feet and can be cut closer to the ground.
During the winter of 1949/50 the company I was working for was employed to manually dig the trenches for the installation of mains water to the farm. I remember it being very stony and rocky, requiring pick and shovel to dig a trench two feet deep and a foot wide. Can't remember the distance we dug, but I do know it took a week of working in wet, windy, wintery conditions.
The Bakery As soon as the electricity was available dad had it installed to the house and bakehouse. The first thing he did after having lighting installed was to install an electric motor to drive the dough making machine, thus doing away with the manual turning of the handle. It gave him the opportunity to purchase electric mixers for the bakehouse and cutting machines for the shop to slice bacon, etc. With the introduction of these "modern" appliances dad introduced confectionary and cakes to his business. Cakes included meringues, brandy snaps, cream horns, chocolate éclairs and scones, his confectionary included chocolate coated almonds and chocolate coated almond paste as well as other forms of chocolates. |
|
Expansion 1949 |
