A Talk with Music given by Beulah Gowing to the Mother’s Union in 1988.

Beulah describes her life and times in Ludham.

My Parents came to Ludham to be Licensees of the King’s Arms in 1922 and I was born in 1923. I lived in Ludham until 1948 when I left Ludham through ill health and lived with my Grandmother and an Aunt at Aldeby. I was then 23 years of age. My Parents retired in 1950 and went to live in Geldeston where I joined them and I married there in 1952. We all returned to Ludham in 1953.

I had attended school for 6 months when it was discovered by the school doctor that I had tuberculosis or TB glands. I was very undersized for my age, and at 9 years old only weighed 3 stone. Looked like one of Russia’s starving children Mother would say.

So I was taught at first by Mrs Monica Mattocks and then progressed to a Miss Grimes of Coldharbour Farm where I learned the usual English grammar, mathematics, geography, history, art and piano lessons. Later we included violin lessons. When I left classes with her at the age of sixteen, I continued violin lessons with Mrs Bird of the school house.

First record: Clair de Lune

When I started work, it was for my Parents at the King’s Arms. By that time it was during the war which started when I was 15 years of age. It was a busy time for us with 1000 troops and the RAF. The supplies arrived on the Thursday and were often sold out by the Saturday or Sunday. We opened for lemonade and minerals on the evenings when there was demand as they would come for the sing song and social gathering.

I was involved with the local concert party. We gave many shows locally and in the surrounding district. By that time, I played a piano accordion which was much too heavy for me and left its effects which took years to recover from.

I was married at Geldeston at St Michael and All Saints by the Rev Dr Horace Marriott, a very elderly and eccentric Vicar. When he Churched me the following year on the birth of our daughter, his boots which had been soled with rubber tyres and tied with string met my gaze as I knelt in prayer.

Derek and I returned to Ludham at the same time as my parents because there was now work in the area.

Second record: Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.

I have been a church member as long as I can remember, first going to church as a toddler. I did not attend Sunday School but did by invitation attend their parties. Later I joined the choir with my mother and sister. My father used to have to wait until we returned before he could open the King’s Arms to impatient customers. I have been on the Church Council since 1974 making a total of 15 years this year. I have always enjoyed being involved with the life of the church and its festivals even though it has been sometimes as a flower arranger or magazine distributor.

I played the organ for my own amusement during the war and when Margaret Keeler was organist for a great many years. I used to play the violin but mostly I played the violin at the chapel anniversary with Donald Wright at the organ. We travelled various churches.

Third Record: Estudiantina Waltz

I have been in charge of the church records since 1974 when Mrs Pop Snelling, church warden, left Ludham to live in France. There is an inventory of the contents of the three church chests and a copy is at the Norwich Records Office. There are registers for baptisms, marriages and funerals dating from 1583. The keeping of records actually began in 1538 under a mandate passed by Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII’s time. There are also rate books for parish rates and tithes. Before the workhouses were built, each parish was responsible for its own poor and homeless. There is an 1841 tithe map showing the parish boundaries, the extent of land owned by farmers and the rateable value they had to pay.

One chest contains bibles and prayer books which have acquired or given to the church, the oldest and most valuable being an Elizabethan book of homilies or sermons.

The third and oldest chest contains minute books, maps, documents of interest, details of the local Emily Clarke charity and the Ludham Ancient Welfare Trust. All these things are examined regularly to make sure they are in good order and to be familiar with the contents. As there have been enquiries from a variety of sources, I try to remember exactly what we have. There are enquiries from people doing family trees for names, dates and relationships. I have done complete trees, especially for people abroad and have had to consult registers in other districts for details. Some are more successful than others. Among the most interesting was an enquiry from the Gravenall Family from a lady in Victoria, Australia and in working on that one I discovered that the origin of the name had been Graver.

Then for a Mrs Goldfinch from Australia, I traced the Grapes Family which was most interesting. I gave a copy to Billy Grapes (who’s name is John) of Catfield and he is still working on it in detail. It runs to several pages now.

A lady from Devon wrote and I completed the Gaul Family for her only to have a relative arrive three years later for the same Gauls, so I put them in touch and we still correspond. The lady from Walmer in Kent travels widely to find out even more about her family and always sends me the results.

A South African gentleman who requested details of a marble slab in the chancel of our church came over for a visit and photographs last summer. He was interested to find out about two brothers who served in the Crimean War. I managed to find the baptisms and relevant dates in the Thurne registers and he is pursuing the military records for those deaths in action. He is coming to England again this year.

A Mr Boult of Middlesex requested the Boult family which again was an interesting one as he was related to our Kemp Family and also because, due to the calendar changes in 1752 when until then the new year began on March 25th, Mr Boult rather thought one of his line was illegitimate when he wasn’t on account of working through nine months from conception and allowing for the new year in March.

As well as working my way through the 15 registers, on occasions, there are also the rate books and old directories to be consulted to find out where people lived and what their trades were.

Recently, about 2 years back, I was asked for information on the Garrett Family from an American lady and her daughter Charlotte Robertson of West Virginia. They had been to Norwich and found much of interest and arrived in Ludham where we found much more in detail. Royal Garrett lived at the former (and now demolished) Baker’s Arms Inn when it was a farmhouse. Charlotte and her mother were pleased to be able to buy a watercolour of the house by a local artist. In fact, because her great-great-grandmother was married in our church in the last century, Charlotte and her fiancée David returned and were married at our St Catherine’s on July 31st 1988 and they have said they will never forget their English wedding and all the kindness they received that day by all present.

There are usually 10 - 12 enquiries a year, and the correspondence goes on for some time. I also gain information from them as they research in other records and come up with facts of Ludham.

In the earlier registers the baptisms for twins was always a note “Gemini” in the margin, meaning twins.

During Cromwell’s time, a vicar had entered his daughter’s baptism and it was written so badly that I had to use a magnifying glass to find that he had written “rebellion” into her name. At the bottom of the page he wrote his signature but a different handwriting stated “Oliverian” meaning he was a follower of Cromwell but I don’t know he was. Clergy had to be very careful during that time.

Forth Record:   I’ll be loving you Always.

My hobbies depend on my energy these days. As you have gathered, I enjoyed the research as I love to read. I enjoy writing letters and have a wide correspondence. I used to like gardening but find our heavy clay soil too much like hard work.

I like the WEA classes and have been attending for 26 years, missing very few classes. I do the library for them and keep a register of all the books. I like good music and would like to indulge more than I do.

The thing I would miss most on a desert island would be toilet soap.

Fifth Record:  Ravel’s Bolero.

For food on my desert island, it would be fruit. I expect with the exception of coconut because I cannot climb up the tall trees. There would be dates and bananas and oranges I hope. I would build a shelter from ferns and papyrus leaves and branches.

Sixth Record:  Tell out my soul.

If I could only take one record, it would be the one I have chosen for my final choice: The Day Thou Gavest.

For a choice of books besides the Bible and Shakespeare, I would like to take a set of Dickens to keep me in touch with humanity.

For a luxury I would take a change of clothing, a comb and a toothbrush. Perhaps these are considered more of necessity than luxury, but luxury they would be if left behind.

Seventh Record:  Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Ludham when I was young was a thriving village of many local trades. The shops stocked all that was necessary and two (and at one time three) fish and chip shops. A corn chandler and local coal merchants. Newspapers delivered, roundsmen with bread, groceries, milk etc. There wasn’t the amount of traffic although, The Eastern Counties ran an hourly service to both Norwich and Yarmouth.

There were two butchers, William England and Ted Hall. Roys of Wroxham also delivered hardware and drapery (on approval).I’ve had many a summer dress for 2/6d and very nice they were too. People were very friendly and they didn’t move far in those days. You knew them, their Fathers and their Grandfathers.

They were employed local too, very few had to go out of the village far to find work. Of course, this limited your choice when you had to take what was available. Entertainment was local, socials, whist drives, occasional concerts and bowls, darts, billiards, cricket, football and tennis clubs thrived.

The war years changed a lot. People moved around more in the forces and for work. Evacuees and the Army and Air Force moved in on our village. We heard accents we had never heard before, especially with the Free French. As each battalion left us, another arrived. The Canadians were very popular and likeable, fond of the local children and with an ample supply of sweets they soon had a following.

Our roads became rutted with the trucks of the Bren Gun carriers, and the guard change took place on Stocks Hill with much shouting and the Nissen Huts sprouted up in several parts of the village for camouflage. There was the occasional sortie by the enemy and a Mrs Powell at grocer’s shop which is now Gower the Butchers was killed when a bullet ricocheted through the window. Her husband, Arthur, died from shock a month later. Further up the Norwich Road, a girl was injured in the leg. Other than that we had bombs dropped hurriedly as their planes were chased by our planes. Two horses were killed in a barn where Rolls Garage now stands.

On a lighter note, we had dances and ENSA concerts. The WRVS done a good refreshment trade in the church room. We met a lot of interesting people and life seemed very flat although we were glad when peace arrived. We missed the crowds of young soldiers and although Ludham was blacked out, I never remember hearing of any serious misbehaviour other than a few skirmishes amongst themselves which the Military Police soon sorted out. But the locals didn’t take any harm from their presence at all.

We had the usual pill-boxes, dug-outs in fields, tank traps and sentries. Of course, I must mention our Home Guard, an enthusiastic band of local men of all ages who were prepared to defend their village. They were a very smart turn out. We also had a First Aid Post and diligently learned to bandage and treat for shock. Having learned the different poison gasses, on occasions of exercises, to test our proficiency, we wore our gas masks. Me being the messenger between the First Aid Post and the Air raid Wardens, I used my present bicycle at great speed and much snorting to the amusement of bystanders.

Eighth Record:  The Day Thou Gavest.