I am delighted to say that I have been sent more tales and photographs of the Thompson years, by Barry Thompson (youngest son of Sidney and Hilda Thompson) and by Jane Moseley (daughter of Barry’s eldest brother Cyril).

Hilda Faint was born in Wix, as was her brother Charles. They moved to Landermere in the early 1900s as their father was a shepherd. Sidney’s parents already lived in the cottages.

Sidney and Charles both worked on the farm. Charles later married Daisy and they moved to a bungalow not far from Abbey Crescent and lived there for the rest of their lives but had no children.  

Around 1937 Hilda and Sidney moved from Landermere to a farm at Stanford Rivers. This was relatively short lived, as within a year, the family returned to a different cottage on a farm at Landermere where Sidney was appointed Head Cowman. It was a hard existence as the house apparently had no electricity, and water had to be carried up from the main farmhouse. They lived there until approximately 1943, and then moved to Beaumont cum Moze where he took on a more mechanised farm.

Sidney and Hilda’s eldest son Cyril was born at number 4 Landermere Cottages, second son Reg was born in the cottage half way up the lane on the corner, and Barry was born in the house at the end of Beaumont Hall Lane and is the only one left now.

Barry has many tales of Landermere.  

“During the war, the Army had a big gun sited in the garden of my Thompson grandparents’ garden and wanted to test fire it. They asked everyone to move out that day while they did it. When Granny came back, much of the roof had slid off and windows were broken from the shock wave – but this was ok, the problem she had was that leaves had blown off the blackcurrant bushes and the potatoes had been shaken out of the ground, so she was very angry. The army people repaired the house but the crops were lost and as far as I know the gun was never fired again.”

“As children we would collect winkles at Landermere and take them home, boil them and have them for tea.”

“Did you know there was a prisoner of war camp nearby, all of our toys were wooden and made by the prisoners, some of whom worked on the local farms.”

“Other people from Landermere included Ernest Smith and his wife Elsie who had two children, Dick and Doreen . There was a man called Joe Bearder who in the 50s used to let me and my cousin Tony use his rowing boat to go to some of the nearby islands to play and catch fish.”

I am so grateful to you both for sharing your photos and memories.