No. 23 Welly Wanging Champions Crowned at Duke of Wellington Event

Winter wheat down Bell’s Lane 9-8-11

Harvest: after the wet weather, wheat is not much harvested, except Derek Thompson got his in early; plenty of hay is baled in the fields

England call: congratulations to Laura Meynell on selection to shoot for England in Ireland next month, following her continued success (see news15).

Weather: Rod Bennington reports from his weather station: “Hottest days of July were 3rd and 4th, with the temperature reaching

27.4 °C on each day. Yet again, the last month, July, was the wettest of the year to date with 72.3 mm of rain – previous wettest month was June with 59.7 mm of rain. We also had the wettest day of the year on 8 July with 16.2 mm of rain. August seems set to outdo this, however, as we’ve already had 53.4 mm of rain from 1-10 August! Total rainfall this year from 1 January to 10 August is 445 mm.”

Mobile Library: the mobile library service (photo in news7) is closing. This month’s Welbury visit will be the last.

Walks: the 12 Welbury Walks in the last 12 wel-e-news are now in a single pdf file (3MB) with a list of official paths in the parish. Let me know if you want a copy.

Local history: Northallerton & District Local History Society has monthly events at Sacred Heart Church Hall [next: a Potted History of Yorkshire, 7pm Tue 13 Sep] and lunchtime talks at County Records Office, Malpas Road [next: 12.30 Fri 26 Aug on Rokeby Park]. http://www.northyorkshistory.co.uk/

David lived here since 1961 and married Wendy in 1963. Their two children Helen and Christopher were born at Summerfield House Farm so are native Welburians. There are three grandchildren, all boys.

David was born in Stockton on Tees in 1939, his father a civil engineer and builder, and was brought up in Stockton area and educated at Glenhow School, Saltburn, and Durham School, followed by Essex Agricultural College, Chelmsford. While the family business was principally in building, David took a liking to farming and expanded with more farm purchases. Years later “the penny dropped” that he could be more profitable in other businesses, so he started selling off. He still has Greytowers Farm at Nunthorpe and land at Ingleby Greenhow.

The family business George Fordy & Son Ltd was founded by his grandfather in 1908 in Stockton and carried on by David’s late father and elder brother Malcolm. Now it is part of the FT Group, made up of Walter Thompson Ltd and the Fordy Company, following Malcolm’s marriage to Pauline Thompson. You can see the signs for both businesses at their HQ on Darlington Road opposite Sainsbury’s in Northallerton.

Other business interests include starting a retail chicken sale business (Farm Fresh Barbecue) which led to 40 shops all over the country before selling to a PLC. There were shops in Skinnergate, Darlington;

Stockton High Street and Albert Road, Middlesbrough. The strategy was to intensify the output from the farm. David also started and operated a mobile farm grain processing company, based at Summerfield House Farm, called North Riding Feed Services, which was later sold to a large feed company.

At Summerfield House 9-8-11

After deciding to retire from active farming in 1988, David ran the family travel company which had offices in Stockton and Northallerton. As a adjunct to the travel business he started a company called Farmers Travel Services. Wendy and David then took farmer groups to the USA, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, France and Denmark to see how farmers operated in those countries, a very enjoyable experience, though the travel business was sold two or three years ago.

Ken was born at the railway cottages down Long Lane, now long gone. His father Alf worked for the railways. They moved to Welbury near Bob Fenwick’s, then to Church View, where his sister Elsie was born. Later he lived in “the long bungalow” opposite the pub, next to the slaughterhouse (still there, roofless), which was used by Chapman the butcher from Appleton Wiske.

At the 1935 Silver Jubilee, see p126 in the Welbury book, Ken was so devastated after winning a prize and finding it was a girls’ perfume kit that he threw it over Mrs Pratt’s front garden, only to be told off and made to take it home to mother.

Railway families had free passage on the trains, so there would be village outings to the seaside from Welbury station. On one, Ken was in a boat on the boating lake at Redcar with Mrs Pratt’s son Alf and other children who were getting boisterous. Alf said if they didn’t stop rocking the boat he would get out – and he did, in the middle of the lake up to his neck, like a football!

All Ken’s school years from 5 to 14 were at Welbury School. Around 1935-6 he lived in Deighton, while attending Welbury School. Then he came back to the village to live in the end cottage, next to the shop, in what is now Greenacres. After he married in 1950, Ken moved to West Rounton, and has been in the same house ever since.

The Wade boys Les, Ron and Lawrence were among Ken’s playmates in Welbury. Ron was best man at his wedding. Rob Fenwick was another. George Gaines who married Thelma Fenwick “went all religious” and became a vicar. Ken remembers Peter Beswick being born.

The best wells in Welbury were at the station and the bottom of Parson’s Bank. Others were at Nunn’s farm (now Shire Garth) and in the vicarage back yard, in Mrs Shaw’s day. Two more were at the back of the pub. One was by Spring Hill and another at the back of Fenwicks’. Spring Hill was always very boggy, rusty

coloured, but the village well by Mount Lawley would run dry in summer.

Ken at work 9-8-11

From 1942 to 1946 Ken served in India and Burma in the army, driving trains loaded with ammo on the precarious Burma railway. He was in Rangoon when the Japs surrendered, then set off for Singapore and Indonesia, called Dutch East Indies, to clear up fighting still going on. He lost many mates in the far east. Dead bodies could disappear in a day or so, scavenged by vultures.

When his mother died, aged only 47, Ken was granted 28 days compassionate leave. After that the CO insisted on sending him out again to Bombay, through Suez, which was more peaceful than when he was chased by U-boats years before. Concerned about Elsie, who was only 13, Ken secured his release three months later, and vividly remembers the first ball- point pen he ever saw, used to sign his release papers.

Now, with businesses in Northallerton and Thirsk, and his wife Violet in Beechwood Nursing Home, Ken is kept very busy, but never too much to share his thoughts and experiences. He says he still feels 18!

Jump! By Jilly Cooper

I make no apology for choosing an unashamedly light-hearted offering this month. The key word is ‘entertainment’ and this book is a good holiday read, whether you are basking on a sun- drenched beach or, more likely, curled up on the sofa avoiding the inevitable rain showers.

In this book Jilly Cooper makes horse-racing the backdrop for her exploration of relationships of all kinds and characters who are sharply portrayed. 

Before: meadow cranesbill 25-7-11

and after: cut down 31-7-11

An official Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal has been commissioned to mark the event. Those in the Armed Forces, emergency services and prison service personnel, are among those eligible to receive it. The medals are to reward those who have dedicated their lives to public good. It is intended to enquire about getting a coin or medal for Welbury children.

This is the official Jubilee emblem, chosen after a national competition for children aged between 6 and 14. It will be for use for all activities including community and national events, publications and merchandising. It is available from the British Monarchy website, together with guidelines for use. It can be freely used, unchanged & with a minimum height of 14mm, on mugs and T-shirts etc.