St Mary’s Oxted

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Pen Portrait No. 134: BERT AND LILY

by David Cook

Bert lived over his father’s fish shop from 1913 until 1927.  He was a choir boy at St. Mary’s for a while and remembers the Revd. Gibbons who lived in the Rectory on West Hill.  He was at the opening of Oxted Hospital in 1923 and remembers Mr. and Mrs. Taylor who ran the Hoskins Arms.  His father also had a fish and chip shop in Limpsfield Village next but one to the bookshop.  This had to be closed in 1939 due to blackout restrictions.  An early memory is of the severe winter of 1926 when the supply of fish, which came by train from Grimsby to Oxted station, had to be hauled by sledge all the way to Limpsfield.

 

Bert went to Oxstead (note the spelling) School in Beadles Lane leaving in 1927.  He worked with his father in the fish business in Limpsfield from 1927-36 and then the firm opened another shop in Station Road West in 1936 where Bert lived with his parents above the shop.  (The site is now occupied by Plan Shop).  1940 was the year when he met Lily at the Whit Monday dance at St. Mary’s Hall, Westerham – and they were married on 19th October 1941 by Canon Craig at Tandridge Church.  The Church’s bill for the wedding was £2 10s 7d.

 

War Service

Bert had joined up in May 1941 in MT (Motor Transport) for the RAF.  His service took him to The Gambia and Freetown in West Africa where he once chauffeured Bomber Harris.  Bert’s driving skills and local knowledge of Surrey had been in demand as he was asked to drive around Surrey and Kent to plan sites for landing strips for RAF planes in difficulty returning from missions.

Bert had honed his driving skills by having to reverse up Titsey Hill in his father’s Model T Ford – if the fuel in the tank was low there was not enough pressure for the fuel to reach the carburettor unless you went up backwards when the tank was higher than the engine.

 

Apart from Lily, football was Bert’s great love – he helped to start Limpsfield FC in 1930-1, having started off with Oxted FC in 1927.  He has an old photo of an Oxted team in the 1920s which included his Dad.

 

Anniversaries

Bert and Lily have four children – two sons in Australia and a son and a daughter in England.  They have 10 grandchildren and five great grandchildren.  In 2001 they celebrated their Diamond Wedding with a special telegram from the Queen, and in 2003 celebrated 62 years of marriage, as well as Bert’s 90th birthday.

 

Memories

Bert and Lily have many memories – Stony Field was covered in hops – a German parachutist seen dangling from a chimney in Detillens Lane – caddying for a member of the Leveson Gower family at Limpsfield Golf Club and only being tipped 6d! – being a paper boy in Granville Road.

 

Bert and Lily’s garden is an inspiration to all passers by – there is a wonderful display of flowers at most seasons of the year.  Bert and Lily have given service to the people of Oxted and Limpsfield throughout their lifetimes and continue to give pleasure to those who pass their house.