George was very active in the village, involved in the W&S Society and a Parish Councillor and Chairman of the Council.
Below are his memories which were originally published in the Society’s newsletter in January 1994
I was born in Ivy Cottage, Wharf Road, Shillingford on 26th September 1923, the first child of George and Mary. My father was a farm carter and my mother a housewife. The farmer then was Frank Shrubb. Before my mother’s marriage she had been in service with Vicar Poynce at Dorchester Abbey. My sister was born on 12th May 1925, and a second sister on 12th July 1928. We grew up together in Wharf Road next to the then Post Office, and played together at the Wharf and in the grounds of Shillingford Court with our very good friends the Guest family whose father was the gardener at Shillingford Court.
When I was five, I attended the St Laurence School. The teachers were Miss Kirby, Miss Exon and Mrs Pearson. We all walked to school in those days. On some occasions we were unable to reach school because of the flood waters overflowing in the large roadside ditch. Money was poor for farmworkers, so if we got even a halfpenny, we could spend it in Mr Burns’ shop, or in the summer the Ice Cream man with his ‘Stop me and buy one’ card would cut a penny ice lolly in half.
Vicar Caldicott visited the school several times a week. Most of the boys were in the choir, and practice was Friday evenings under the organist Percy Wilson, who was also the headmaster after the First War. The choir in those days were all male, and Sunday School was both Sunday morning and afternoon.
On reaching the age of eleven we had to go to the Abbey School in Dorchester, for which we all had a new James bicycle issued by the education authority. We were joined by children from the villages adjoining Dorchester and we were there until we were fourteen. The headmaster was Mr Jack Busby, the other teachers being Miss Jones (now Mrs Tame living in Dorchester), Mr Munday and Miss Money whom I visited in Cornwall about four years ago. Miss Herring, another teacher use to ride her horse around the village and older residents may remember her.
At the age of fourteen I left school and my first job was a delivery boy for Eustace & Son, 56 St Mary’s Street, Wallingford. I worked a 49-hour week for 10 shillings; 8/- for my mother and 2/- for myself. My James bicycle was wearing out by then so I purchased a Raleigh Sports model from Giles shop in Wallingford for £5-19s-6d, paying 2 shillings a week for it. To supplement my wages, I used to do other part time jobs like mowing the Lampden-Smiths lawn for 6d. My wages increased after 1 year to 12 shillings; 10/- for my mother and 2/- for me.
After two years I left Wallingford to work for Mr. Warburton who had then taken over Shillingford Farm. My wages were 17 shillings per week for the first two years, tending the livestock, chicken, pigs and beef cattle, working a 7-day week with overtime pay at 3d per hour.
The war was now on, so I joined the Home Guard. I began to drive tractors and soon became a regular tractor driver ploughing and cultivating the fields around this parish. Wages were improving and Dick Warburton paid us a little above the rate. In 1943 I met the lady who was to be my beloved wife, Lavinia. She came to work on the farm as a Land Army Girl and we were married in Warborough Church on 2nd June 1945.
At the end of the war, we were living in a little cottage in Wharf Road. As things got back to normal, we both joined in village activities, my wife running the clinic in the Greet Hall for 25 years and I joining the Football and Cricket clubs. In 1948 the Football Club joined the Oxford Football Association and the club was run for a short time by Mr. Tony Hussey with me as his assistant. In 1949 I took over as Secretary, the position I still hold today. Over the years I served on many Leagues and Associations. My proudest moment was when I was elected to the Oxfordshire Football Association to replace Mr. Bob Cobb who had been made a Vice-President. After 25 years I was also made a Vice-President.
Back to my working days. Dick Warburton died in 1959. We were then living in the farm cottages in Thame Road. Life was a struggle for Venie and me bringing up three sons on a farm wage. So, I decided to go to the car factory, which meant of course a complete change, and also having to leave my house. We were due to be evicted on 29th February 1960, and two days before we were offered two rooms and the use of other facilities by Mr. J. Rolfe, the gardener for Miss J. Pott. We stayed there until August when we were allocated 23 Sinodun View where I still live.
My wages when leaving the farm were about £10 per week and in the factory, they were £19 per week. I retired from the factory in 1986 as Superintendent of Materials, Handling, Stores and Trim Shop South. I’m proud to say I went from shop floor through all the supervisory stages to the top management. Who says local boys cannot get to the top!
