The Yellow bus and the Blue bus fought it out all the way to Braintree
THERE
were no buses to Braintree in our early years. When my sister and I attended
Braintree Grammar School, we were taken with others in a private hire
car. Two bus companies began to have a service from the villages to Braintree.
There were no bus stops and they stopped when they saw a waiting potential
customer.
There was fierce competition between them. Fares were the absolute minimum
and picking up passengers meant that their rival would career past them.
Eventually the Blue Company went bankrupt and the Yellow had a monopoly
and fares went up and the speed went down.
The Hunt usually assembled on The Green, but sometimes at meadows attached
to a private house. The vicarage had a garden, a field and small paddock.
Also, the adjoining meadow was known as the Charity Meadow and my father
had to try to raise money by letting it to farmers who needed new pastures
for a short time for some sheep.
Rev Walter Smith
and family
in the vicarage garden
The Hunt came
several years on Boxing Day and my father was delighted. I thought it
looked rather splendid and as foxes had killed several of our chickens
not just for
eating I was not overly concerned. Nobody questioned its morality anyway.
Deep down I was on the side of the fox. One year, one killed three hounds
before being killed itself. It was cornered in a small brick triangle
and the dogs
Sunday School teas were also
held in the Vicarage garden
Our predecessors, the Rossiters, had built a tennis court at the bottom of the field. When we moved in after the year in the cottage plus the time of the Interregnum it was all overgrown and we did not know it existed. My father set about building on in the field next to the hedge which separated the field from the garden/small orchard. This involved moving a lot of soil to get a level surface. Mr Thorogood did most of this work. We erected a surround of 7ft. green slender iron posts to which was attached string netting. This became a great asset and we had school friends from Braintree to play and enjoy a strawberry tea etc. It also served as a croquet lawn.
