When Clark and Eaton decided to locate in Bracknell thirty-five years ago we decided to come with them. We were not in need of a house, but my husband suffered from claustrophobia on trains after being caught up in the chaos of the Lewisham train crash. Bracknell seemed the ideal situation as he was only happy travelling by bus. He was also a second generation employee at Clark and Eaton – and fifty was the wrong age to start again.
Staff were brought down by coach to look at the area, and we were wined and dined at the Sports Centre. We were shown around in groups. The show house we looked at was on Wildridings. There was no shopping precinct then but I quite liked the house. Then we were left to look around the town centre, which was attractive, with plenty of shops in those days. It was also still rural looking and a typical market town.
Although we were driven along winding lanes to look at the potential factory site, there was no mention of Great Hollands. On the site was a red balloon indicating where the Clark and Eaton factory would stand in the middle of a field! The only factory I can remember was Rowneys, the paint firm.
Eventually we came down to view two houses we had been offered. One was on Wildridings but I was put off by an old cooker with a pan of congealed fat in situ. The other house had never been occupied. It was in a small terrace of six and almost opposite a small wood. It overlooked the main road and down an embankment to the dual carriageway; we were in Ashbourne. I think it started raining when we moved in September, and then stopped when it snowed later that year. There seemed to be mud everywhere. The houses which had been built were roughly from Aysgarth to Yardley. There was farmland at the back with an old barn on it. The area which is now the landscaped green was ploughed up so many times into different shapes that it was named Passchendaele Ridge, because there was so much mud.
The only bus service was a single decker which ran from Camberley to Windsor along the Crowthorne Road. It was erratic and over-crowded often with school children.
The first night we moved in I was delighted to hear a clock chiming from across the dual carriageway; we thought it came from the church. The story goes that the clock at Church Hill House was originally intended for St Michael’s (where there is a bell tower). However, the benefactor-to-be had his top hat knocked off by a branch of the yew tree in the churchyard. When the vicar refused to lop the tree, the clock was donated to Church Hill House. Whether this is fact or fiction I am not sure! [Reference book confirms the story].
As my son had declined to move to Bracknell, I decided to return to work. Employers in the town were wary because lack of a bus service meant timekeeping was a problem. I worked for an agency that collected and delivered me to places like ‘Ponies of Britain’ at Ascot. I used to walk down to the Mill Pond and stand on the island to be picked up (the only mud-free zone at that time of year). It was dark and I felt like ‘Lilli Marlene’ (only I did not sing!) – especially as some of the idiots driving to work would yell, “You waiting for me darling?”
Dr Ewing had his surgery at Ennerdale on Wildridings. It was a long walk and I remember it being unpleasant following in my husband’s footsteps in the snow. However, Dr Ewing had recently bought a dictaphone and I used to go in for a few hours a day to do his referral letters – which solved the employment problem.
The dual carriageway and Old Crowthorne Road path were fenced off, so the only way to get off Great Hollands was a long walk via Mill Pond footpath. Eventually someone broke down the fence at the bottom of the Old Crowthorne Road path. It was then possible to cross the dual carriageway and scramble up a rough bank to come out by the church. At that time a house in Appledore had two rooms converted into a general store. You could actually get a newspaper delivered as well. A home in Aysgarth was used as a meeting place for Toddler Groups and the ‘Merry Wives’. Things were improving!
The shopping precinct was built at Wildridings; it was quite a comprehensive one, so I transported my shopping from there.
Eventually Dr Ewing moved to Great Hollands (Yardley) which was probably to the detriment of the Wildridings shops. We were the only facility (other than ‘the shop’) in Great Hollands and everyone used us in emergencies. Dr Ewing would always come back to the surgery to render first aid (he liked doing stitches) and was not one to refer patients to Accident and Emergency as they do these days. He was also marvellous about night calls.
Dr Gonda was a partner for a while and he reckoned at one stage a ‘baby and a half’ was born every day on Great Hollands. I remember him complaining that “we didn’t have street lamps” and he had had to buy a large torch for night calls. The Midwife (Miss Howard) said “good morning” to every ‘bump’ she met in town in case it was one of her patients! The antenatal and baby clinics were so busy that the clerical staff were pressed into service to weigh the ‘mums’ and new babies. Dr Kremer replaced Dr Gonda but he left too, and set up a surgery on his own at Vandyke. Dr Ewing was meant to take over the Health Centre but he got fed up waiting and went back to Scotland. Dr and Mrs Dhillon replaced him at Yardley. The shops were built much later, long after the surgery moved to Yardley. The ‘pub’ was built before the Health Centre, so were the shops and school. Eventually everything was completed, the only old building being East Lodge. The bus service was improved and I was soon to leave Great Hollands after twenty happy years; my husband was ill and we needed a bungalow. Although I am happy at Bullbrook, I feel a pang of regret when travelling through Great Hollands.
I get angry when people run Great Hollands down. It was always clean and the teenagers there were never much of a problem. The air is so clear there – almost like being on the coast.
Pamela Stratton