Village Entertainment in Wartime

 

The Three Horseshoes, Smallford

Creative Commons, Andy Lawrence's Photostream - https://www.flickr.com/photos/47716665@N02/with/7857313420/

Wartime Entertainment at the Three Horseshoes Hut

The village of Smallford boasted two public houses, the Four Horseshoes and the Three Horseshoes.   The Three Horseshoes was run by Mr & Mrs Joe Latchford. At the back of the Three Horseshoes pub, was a large wooden building, known locally simply as ‘The Hut’.   This was used as a social meeting place, and was also home to the local branch of the British Legion and a Lodge of the Royal Antedeluvian Order of Buffaloes. 

Two of the men living in Smallford, Tommy Keath and Wally Mason, contacted several other people in the village, and together they decided to form a ‘Concert Party’ to provide entertainment and light relief, both for the villagers and for the wounded servicemen from Tyttenhanger House and Barts Hospital.  

With the assistance of the landlord, Joe Latchford, the idea took off very quickly, and Tommy and Wally soon recruited several other talented people in the district.   Mrs. Cynthia Pugh was a good pianist, and her daughter Celia would sing and dance to her mother’s accompaniment.   Wally Mason had a good voice and was also quite a comedian, as was Tommy Keath.   My father had a lovely baritone voice, and he sang songs from the shows and light classical pieces.  

Mrs. Elsie Barnes (a former professional pianist from the London Stage, who lived at Oaklands) was recruited by Joe Latchford.   Her husband, whose name I believe was also Wally, was quite a character.  He played a most peculiar instrument: a one-stringed fiddle almost in the shape of a saxophone.   It had a soundbox with a bulbous opening, from which quite a pleasant sound would come.   

Wally Mason was able to get some remarkable sounds from a musical saw, and this unlikely trio of Elsie, her husband and Wally became a star attraction.   Elsie’s husband also delivered quite a few comic monologues, such as were performed on the London stage at that time by the likes of Stanley Holloway and Jack Warner (later to become a T.V. star as Dixon of Dock Green).  

My mother was a superb cook, and she took charge of providing food, ably assisted by some of the other ladies in the village.   I don’t recall them all, but I do remember Mrs. Keith, Mrs Pearce, Mrs Franklin, Mrs. Carpenter, Mrs. Major and Mrs. King.   I remember especially the wonderful cakes and trifles, as well as proper sausage rolls and various savoury pies. 

Some of the village children, including Sheila and Janet Keath, Dorothy, Sylvia and Olive Major, Michael Pugh and several others attended, because our parents were involved and we couldn’t be left at home.   We were recruited to wait on table and serve food and drink (tea or soft drinks) and carry empties out to the makeshift ‘wash-up’ facility.   We always managed to get ourselves something to eat!   We were also able to watch the entertainment, which we thought was marvellous.  

I remember that the wounded were brought to these social events in various vehicles, complete with wheelchairs, and some with nurses.   Some of the “walking wounded” would arrive on tractor trailers.   I can still recall the blue uniforms that they all wore.   

The concert party remained in being long after the end of the war and continued to provide entertainments for hospital patients and others, all paid for by the regulars at the Three Horseshoes.  

Christmas and Birthday Parties

Although food was scarce, parents in the village used to club together to save a little of their ration so that special treats could be provided at Christmas, and also when any of the children had a birthday.  

Sometimes the Christmas parties were held in Joe Latchford’s hut, but birthdays were celebrated in one of the houses.   Our house was always a popular venue, because my mother would provide excellent fare.   However, I remember parties at the home of the Keaths, the Majors and the Carpenters.   On these occasions the houses would be filled to overflowing with children.   We sat on long, wooden benches at trestle tables, these items being borrowed from the mess room at Christensen’s nursery.  

VE Day and VJ Day Celebrations

I can remember being told that the war in Europe was over, and that there was a small celebration on the meadow beside Christensen’s nursery, but cannot recall much about it, apart from there being games and races among the children.  

I do, however, remember the V.J. celebrations in more detail.   The event was also held on Christensen’s land.   A large marquee was erected, and this was bedecked with Union Jacks.   There were all sorts of races for the children, including sack races, egg and spoon, obstacle and three-legged races and straight running races.  

There was an enormous buffet provided by the Mums, and the highlight was a concert in the marquee, with a band.   I don’t know who provided or made up the band, but it was led by a man from Colney Heath, who played the violin, but not too well!   Celia and Michael Pugh performed a song and dance act to their mother’s accompaniment on piano.  

I recall that one man blacked-up and was introduced as “The Chocolate-coloured Coon”, a title to which not the slightest slur was attached, but which would horrify those subscribing to to-day’s so-called political correctness.   He sang songs made famous by G. H. Elliott, who performed all over the world under that soubriquet. 

Another man (I believe it may have been Tommy Keath) performed a Jack Warner monologue about an “alabaster-plaster-caster’s mate”.   Everybody loved the performance.   In the evening, there was an enormous bonfire on the triangle of land beside the railway station, and I recall effigies of Hitler being burned.  

Finale

So at last the war was over, and several men from the village returned home from war duties to resume family life and work.   The Italian prisoners of war were repatriated, apart from a few who opted to remain in England, and the people of  the small village of Smallford gradually got back to what then passed for normality.