Notes from the Past - August 2020
Robert Piper delves into his archives to give us a look into the Southwater of yesteryear.
August of 1895 seemed quite a month in the village. It was reported that the choir visited the Crystal Palace as their summer treat, and on their return Captain Hector offered them a talk on the South Seas. The Southwater Drum and Fife band put on entertainment in the vicarage garden with dinner afterwards.
In 1910, the choir went overseas, to visit the Isle of Wight. They boarded the Duchess Albany from Portsmouth Dockyard, before catching a new electric train to Ryde.
75 years ago marks the end of the Second World War. As mentioned in the VE Day article, the war did not formally end with the surrender of Germany. The war with Japan endured until August 15th, following the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was of great news to the Southwater families the Oulds and the Brumwell’s, both of whom had sons who were POW’s in a Japanese camp, the Pratchai. They had not been heard from for three and a half years, having been captured during the fall of Singapore in February 1942. The POW’s were forced to work on the Death Railway, the Thai-Burma Railway.
It was during an airdrop of food and medical supplies that word got round about the advancing Para troops from the Scots Guard, who were to be the heroic liberators of the POW’s. Bob Oulds left Burma on the 6th October, and arrived back on British shores later in the month. He was formally discharged on the 16th November, before returning to his home Weston’s, in Worthing Road. Bob later founded a Barbershop at 2 Elm Cottage, now the site of Mollycoddles.
Closer to home, Horsham held a street party in the Carfax, and a Church service was held in the park. Southwater held a thanks giving church service on Sunday the 19th. A ‘Welcome Home Flower Show’ was held the following week on the Cricket Field, with pony rides for the children, a tug of war, and even a ladies ankle contest. The show raised over £300, equivalent to £13045.45 today.