This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in June 2020
As we missed our planned VE Day celebration in the village hall on May 8th, we thought we would stick with the theme for a few months more for our peep into the archives. We have such interesting records of past and present Thursley residents’ recollections from this time, that it’s worth reminiscing and trying to imagine just how they felt when the announcement was made and the war was finally over.
We start with “Cocker” Keen, who very sadly recently passed away. Here is his story:
Recollections by “Cocker” Keen
“I’ve lived in Thursley all of my life and in this house in Homefield since 1937. At the start of the war I was at school in what is now the Village Hall. I left when I was 14 and started work for Reg Cottle at the Red Lion Garage (still there today but now called X). I stayed there until I was called up into the army between VE and VJ Days. I already had some military experience having served in Thursley’s Home Guard.
I joined the Home Guard in 1942 when I was 16. There were 28 of us in it when it started, 6 of us on duty every night. You had 2 hours on duty and 4 hours off through the night and then you were back to your regular job the next morning. We would meet at the servant’s quarters at Foldsdown; the servants had gone to war and so their wooden annexe building at the back of the main house had been vacated. After D-Day, the night duties ended and we just played around; attacking the RAF pylon up at Gibbet Hill and practising firing live ammunition on the rifle range at Longmoor. In the village at this time was also the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service), based in the studio of Red Lodge and the Air Raid Wardens who were based at the Village Institute (now Prospect Cottage).
During the war the village was always full of troops. The Tank Corps were here when they came out of Dunkirk and were camped up in the trees in Dye House, the Canadians were at Tweedsmuir and the Free French were up at Rodborough. As a result, the pubs were always short of beer! Mr Fosberry, the landlord of the Three Horseshoes, kept the villagers happy by closing the pub but allowing the regulars round the back door and into the kitchen where they could enjoy their cherished pint!
I remember once, a German bomber was being chased and jettisoned his bombs. One landed in the Hall’s barn field where the dairy cows were, killing all of them. A bomb also landed in the folly, the valley below Hedge Farm. Another couple fell on the fields of Upper Highfield Farm but it was only the Halls’ who lost their animals. They reckoned the bombs had been destined for the Armoured Corp, who were up in the woods with the troops.
The Canadians used to drive their Sherman tanks up to the Punch Bowl and it became a desert from all the tank activity up there. They also blew up the remains of George May’s farm, Highcombe Farm, down in the Punch Bowl. Mr Gorringe from Upper Ridgeway Farm cleared up the rubble and used it to convert the barn into the cottage where Malcolm Cole now lives. We would go down to the Moat when the troops were water-proofing their vehicles and watch them drive through. They’d give us a ride; those Canadians didn’t care!
The Canadians were good fun and once the war was over, we had to get back to the quiet life of a rural community. For me, that meant that some of my neighbours had been killed and my sister was married (to a Canadian soldier) and living across the Atlantic.
The Parker’s lived at Foldsdown and their son was killed in Holland. His name is inscribed on his parents’ headstone in the churchyard. A neighbour from Homefield, Ronald Francis, was killed in a Bren Gun carrier (a light machine gun armament) out in France and Bob Sharland who lived at Number 7 Homefield was also killed”.
Fascinating to see the war from a youngster’s perspective. The trauma and horror of the reality, only latterly impacting on the excitement and enthusiasm of a teenage boy.
More recollections next month.
Cocker Keen's Obituary:
Alfred Frank Keen or “Cocker” born to Agnes and Frank Keen on 8th September 1926 at their home The Cabin (now The Well House) next door to the pub. Cocker was the 3rd child of 6 with older sisters Dorothy and Jean and younger brothers John and Don and youngest sister Hazel, ‘plenty to have a fight with’ he would joke! Cocker enjoyed what he described recently as ‘a good childhood with plenty of room to run about’ and displayed early signs of his mischievous character by tying the door handles of cottages together! He attended school just across the road in what is now the village hall. In 1936 aged 9 the family moved up to Homefields where he was to live the rest of his life.
Cocker’s first paid work came at the age of 13 in the form of delivering milk to Cosford House before he left school and became a garden boy at Milhanger. At age 16, Cocker joined Mr Cottle at Red Lion Garage, now Mathwall, where he would work during the war and learn his skills as a mechanic. Village life during the war was tough and Cocker and his younger brothers John and Don used to catch rabbits and poach pheasants, the only time meat was served at home, and every inch of ground would be dug to grow vegetables. After the war in 1947 Cocker was posted to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire to serve his 2 years National Service in the army before returning to Thursley.
On returning to Thursley Cocker worked at Pitlands farm (now Punchbowl Farm) and Upper Highfield Farm. He enjoyed playing cricket for Thursley and became a very accomplished vegetable gardener. After farming he moved into livestock transportation with a firm named Keen (no relation) in Witley. It was following this move that Cocker saw the opportunity to become an owner/operator, he bought his own livestock lorry, parked it at Hill Farm Barns and started to transport livestock all over Surrey and beyond.
We met Cocker in 1990 when we bought the barns and that was to be the beginning of a near 30 year friendship. Around this time he retired and seemed to spend all his spare time helping us. He tirelessly worked with us to establish the garden we have today and in doing so became a big part of our family’s life here in Thursley. During his retirement Cocker looked after his mother, who he lived with in Homefields, and spent much of his time helping others around the village.
Cocker will be remembered by his family, friends and all those who he helped in the village. He is irreplaceable and as one villager said to me ‘they don’t make’em like that anymore’. The end of an era.
The eulogy for Cocker Keen written and delivered by Mike Spencer
Alfred Frank Keen or “Cocker” born to Agnes and Frank Keen on 8th September 1926 at their home The Cabin (now The Well House) next door to the pub. Cocker was the 3rd child of 6 with older sisters Dorothy and Jean and younger brothers John and Don and youngest sister Hazel, ‘plenty to have a fight with’ he would joke! Cocker enjoyed what he described recently as ‘a good childhood with plenty of room to run about’ and displayed early signs of his mischievous character by tying the door handles of cottages together! He attended school just across the road in what is now the village hall. In 1936 aged 9 the family moved up to Homefields where he was to live the rest of his life.
Cocker’s first paid work came at the age of 13 in the form of delivering milk to Cosford House before he left school and became a garden boy at Milhanger. At age 16, Cocker joined Mr Cottle at Red Lion Garage, now Mathwall, where he would work during the war and learn his skills as a mechanic. Village life during the war was tough and Cocker and his younger brothers John and Don used to catch rabbits and poach pheasants, the only time meat was served at home, and every inch of the garden would be dug to grow vegetables. After the war in 1947 Cocker was posted to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire to serve his 2 years National Service in the army before returning to Thursley.
On returning to Thursley Cocker worked at Pitlands farm (now Punchbowl Farm) and Upper Highfield Farm. He enjoyed playing cricket for Thursley and became an accomplished vegetable gardener. After farming he moved into livestock transportation with a firm named Keen in Witley. It was following this move that Cocker saw the opportunity to become an owner/operator, he bought his own livestock lorry, parked it at Hill Farm Barns and started to transport livestock all over Surrey and beyond.
Debbie and I met Cocker in 1990 when we bought the barns in Thursley where he parked his lorry.He was always mysterious about his age saying he was ‘as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth’ but he had reached retirement and seemed to spend all his spare time helping us.That was to be the beginning of a near 30 year friendship.Aged 30 and naive we had embarked on a huge project to convert the barns to a home and we really couldn’t have done it without him.He was endlessly resourceful, always had the right tool for the job, strong as an ox and worked tirelessly.Cocker was many things to usA good friendA kind of grandfather to our boysHe was always looking out for us even when we weren’t around. And he was a teacher:
Yes, he was a teacher He taught me everything I know about gardening:When we first moved to Thursley we had nothing but a tumbled down building and 6 foot high weeds and even before we did the renovation and moved in - cocker had established a beautiful veg garden for us. We probably had the worst house in Thursley at that time but the best vegetable garden, we didn’t have a proper kitchen but we ate the best new potatoes ever!Every spring come rain or shine he would come and help plant the potatoes and start off the beans on the bean poles he’d made - and after a couple of years he gave me the flattering title of Head Gardener but clearly I was still the novice and he was the font of all horticultural knowledge. Cocker would say Mike was the labourer who wasn’t much good at digging as the ‘ground was too low’...He had a great sense of humour he liked to tease me - like when the clocks changed in the spring and autumn he would say he’d been busy climbing the church spire to change the sundial. And he would say I should garden at night to prevent weeds and used to say he whoever can grow parsley wears the trousers so I got a new title- Petticoat Government.So when spring comes next year I will think of Cocker as I double dig the veg plot the way he taught me , I’ll sow the potatoes over the Easter weekend, I will plant green beans and courgettes in May , I will be trimming the box hedges on Derby day never before and late summer when I harvest the tomatoes and dig up the potatoes I’ll hope I’ll hear his voice saying- im not doing badly for a Head Gardener!We’ll miss you Cocker but you’ll always be with me in the garden.