It's autumn - we've had the woodburner lit; we're drowning!! in apples and giving everyone who visits a bag of them and leaves on several of our trees are going orange and brown.
I have had a busy couple of weeks, trying to organise my collection of local history material and being involved in two exhibitions for heritage week.
The first was in Eastrington church on September 13th in conjunction with my cousin Richard Sellers, a radio amateur who was broadcasting from the church as part of CHOTA [ churches and chapels on air]. I printed out a lot of pictures of the village showing how it has changed and also set up some displays on village history including one about our Nurse family who have lived there since at least 1690.
It was a lovely event - church helpers served tea and cakes and I met friends that I had not seen since I was at school with them over 50 years ago!!
Then a week later the Howden civic society of which I am a member displayed material about the R100 airship and the Burney car both of which were built at Howden. I also took a walk around the town explaining something of the history to visitors who had come to see this sometimes overlooked gem of East Yorkshire.
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| A colourised picture of the R100 in flight. After it was launched in December 1929 it never returned to Howden as there was no mast there. |
And yesterday I gave an illustrated talk to a small history group in the Scholfield memorial hall about the villages of Howdenshire.
In between all that I attended a concert organised by the Hornsea Music Society who are celebrating their 80th birthday this year. The weather was awful - torrential rain and wind - but there was a large audience to listen to my daughter Amy Butler [right] on piano and Boglarka Gyorgy on violin.
When I was at Eastrington a lady brought an old newspaper dating from 1960 which she let me copy. I have transcribed it and thought it would be interesting particularly to anyone who like me lived in Eastrington then.
Times Change and nothing could be more illustrative of this than the village of Eastrington, near Howden.
In keeping pace with progress the village has had to discard much of its traditional way of life, but, thankfully, this has not resulted in a loss of character and charm.
Perhaps the two strongest links with the past are its church St. Michael's (the Vicar is the Rev. Maurice Clarke). and the Nurse family, who have been joiners in the village for over 200 years.
St. Michael's is one of the most historic churches in the East Riding and on its site there has been a place of worship though not the – present one for over 1 000 years. St. Michael's was begun in about 1320. Pieces of Saxon and Norman architecture can be found in the fabric of the church, and this may be evidence of the village's early beginnings.
Mr. Clarke holds the theory. although he has not been able to substantiate it, that Eastrington may have been a place where Saxons held religious festivals, particularly to their Goddess of Spring, who is called Estra.
The earliest records of the village show that the parish was in the Diocese of Peterborough. and was later transferred to the Prior and Convent of Durham by William the Conqueror
The other link is as has been said the Nurse family. Mr. Clifford Nurse owns the business and when he retires it will be taken over by his son, 37-year-old Jack Nurse who already assists his father.
But with Jack the business may end. for, although married, both his children are daughters. Surprisingly. Jack and his father have no regrets about this.
"There’s nothing in the joinery business in the country these days," Mr. Clifford Nurse says. " It's all hard work and very little money. " It became a dying business
We were wheelwrights principally, and joinery was only a branch of the family business. But wheelwrights haven't been wanted for several years."
Jack shares the view of hs father. Like him he was born into the business and is content to stay in it until the day he retires. But he has no wish for his own family to carry on tradition.
For many years Mr Clifford Nurse was in partnership with his brother Robert—the partnership started when their father died —until he retired. Now Mr Robert Nurse, is 78. and his wife live in a bungalow in the village.
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| Clifford and Robert Nurse [ my grandfather] |
The decline in the need for a village joiner is an illustration of the changing attitudes and demands of the village. Another is the absence of any blacksmith working in the village; some years ago there were two.
There is, however. a blacksmith living in the village, Mr. Wilfred Clarke but he goes to Brough to work. He is also the licensee of the Black Swan Inn at Eastrington.
Formerly practically everybody in the village was employed in agriculture, but the advent of mechanisation, which brought about the demise of the wheelwright, has also resulted in a drift from the land.
This drift however has not been total, and one of the principal farmers in the parish is Mr. S. D. White, who is prominently connected with the public and social life of the village.
He is vice-chairman of Howden Rural Council and chairman of the Housing Committee. He is a former chairman of the Parish Council. and chairman of the Eastrington and Gilberdyke Burial Committee.
Mr White is also chairman of the Village Hall. Association, president of the British Legion branch and assistant secretary of the Eastrington Agricultural Society
The clerk to the Parish Council is journalist Mr. W. N. Hains who is also closely connected with public life and village affairs. He was chairman of the Village Hall Association and has been its secretary and treasurer for the past ten years.
He has been a member of the Howden Rural Council for 2 years and is secretary of the Agricultural Society and clerk to the Burial Committee.
Mr Hains's record of service to the parish church is probably unique. He has been a member of the choir 43 years, a bellringer 37 years, a member of the church council 40 years, and was a churchwarden 25 years. secretary and treasurer of the church council for 21 years and a choirmaster for 14 years.
The present wardens incidentally are Mr. Arthur Leadill (vicar's warden) and Mr. John Broader Bradshaw (people's warden).
Mr Leadill has been the stationmaster at Eastrington and North Howden for the past 16 years and through his hobby— gardening—he has brought a certain amount of distinction to the village.
In the annual station garden competition, run by the North East Region, British Railways. Eastrington station—which is on the Hull-Leeds line—has been awarded first certificates every year since 1954.
Working with Mr. Leadill are three porter-signalmen—Mr. J. N. Stephenson and Mr. H. W. Stephenson who are brothers, and Mr. W. Smith.
The past 50 years have brought many changes to the village— piped water, mains. electricity and the telephone. Since the war council houses have been erected in Pinfold Street and older property is now being demolished as it becomes vacant
The name Pinfold provides another link with the past. The site on which the houses are built was once an enclosed space where stray cattle were kept until they were collected by the owner. These enclosures were found in many villages and were known as pinfolds.
The village school—the headmaster is Mr Richard M Thomas a Welshman—is very progressive. Despite the shortage of space the children have shown a keen enthusiasm for extra subjects like photography. weaving and pottery. There are 74 children on the roll and their ages range from 5 to 11 plus.
The school has an advantage over many similar schools in that it has an endowment fund,
During the summer months Mr. Thomas, who has been at the school for only two years, and his wife take groups of children on week-end trips to various parts of the country. The money for this, incidentally, does not come from the endowment fund. The children have to contribute so much themselves.
So far they have been to Derbyshire, the Lake District and several resorts on the East
Coast. Last summer Mr. Thomas and his wife took a small group on a week's holiday to Norfolk.
He strongly believes in helping the children to get out of the village and see the world around them. It helps to broaden their mind, and he has seen the benefit of the trips in the standard of work they do.
Mr. Thomas, who is a member of the village agricultural society, has found the children very interested in astronomy, and the elder members of the school have built their own telescope. school enters the Howden and district Festival of Arts, and the school choir sang in a carol service at the parish church last Christmas. after attending the Howden area carol festival. Every Monday morning the children attend St. Michael's Church and there is an end-of year leaving service. Every Christmas a party and film show is held. This is provided for by the fund. and every year a jumble sale organised by child-ren. is held to raise money. Mr Thomas says he has found the parents extremely helpful in making the sale and other activities a success.
The other teachers at the school are Mrs. D Leadill Mrs. E. White who is also leader of
the village youth club and junior guild and Mrs. J. Watson, who teaches part-time.
There is a school canteen on the premises the cook being Mrs. H.Lilley, and her assistant is Mrs D. Hampson.
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| Eastrington school around 1960. Teachers Mr Thomas, Mrs Leadill on left; Mrs White, Mrs Watson on right |
This blog post has several personal connections and I make no apology for that. In fact I first became interested in local history when my mother explained to me about how long her family had lived in Eastrington.
Although the Nurse family name is no longer represented in the village there are Nurse family descendants all over the globe who often contact me now we have easy internet communication. But try as I can I cannot quite make the connection with Rebecca Nurse who died as a witch in the Salem witch trials. I have visited her home in USA and perhaps some of my relatives have been a bit witch like - but that's as far as it goes!!!!
