Olive Willis.

Most of Wendling’s land was Parish land or Tythed land. The Lord’s land, some acres behind Lords Meadow, was Oxford College pasture land (now arable) hired for many years by the owners of Abbey Farm (then a Mr Walker). It was off Swaffham Rd, down The Drift, to The Loke, which led to “The Pickle”, meadowland, which was entered by latch gate, exited by wooden stile, to the common. The common was for many many years the playground for the whole village, which was much larger than it is today. Horseracing was held there on Whit Mondays, the last in 1915. Cricket teams of some note, played there for many years. 1st and 2nd eleven teams won silver cups and shields. Cricket season was a must for all the families on Saturday afternoons. Tennis, football, children’s sports, camp meetings all assembled there on Wendling Common, although all had to be shared with the bullocks of Wilson’s (Grange Farm).
Along Swaffham Rd in acorn season it was a boy’s occupation, on Saturdays was to go pig keeping there when the 14 oak trees shed their crop of acorns whilst the boy would be whittling his elder bough to make his popgun.
Most of the wetland, Carr Lane to Wendling School and beyond, to Abbey Farm was Parish land, let out to different folk for grazing in the summer. There were elm trees there then. “The Pound Piece”, top of Abbey Farm so called as from the days when stray animals were kept in” The Pound”. Up at High Street, by Dick Fools Lane, there used to be 6 cottages of mud and wattle.
Wendling’s water was all supplied by wells or hand pump wells. I have counted 40 wells in the village. Most cottages shared their wells, but all had their own water butts, and saved their rain water for washing etc. The Railway Tavern had the best well spring water I know, always crystal clear, and never went dry.
The Railway, now, whoever thought Wendling, would ever be without a Railway, the hub of the village. A busy regular passenger service and even greater transport service. It had five sidings, large Granary and coal yard and facilities for cattle. So they had cattle trucks, coal trucks (for house coal and steam), grain trucks for corn, cattle feed, linseed cake and cattle cake, pig feed, bran and supers and oats for horses etc. Later came sugar beet trucks and always a spare engine in the sidings. Wendling Railway served the country well during the two World Wars. In the Ist World War I remember a cavalry of horses arriving by train to be fed and watered at the stables close by (my dad fed them). In the 2nd World War the Americans with their thousands of tons of food and equipment for the village airbase kept Wendling Station busy day and night. In about 1922 Joe Taylor who ran the station made the first generators in the village to charge up your accumulators for the first radios at 6pence a time at this price we could only afford to have the wireless on at special times. I remember when Wendling Station took prizes for the Best Kept Station and when on the railway banks grew primroses and violets, cowslips and wild strawberries in their season and tethered goats, beehives and bantams made their home on Wendling Railway banks. I saw this on walking to church with dad on Sundays.
Wendling School, how you will soon forget there ever was a school at Wendling. The first one on Swaffham Rd, a Dames School, built on the side of a house on the main road through (well road, it was more a dirt track compared with to days standards) the village where education cost 1’d a week, with big families sadly usually only one of them could afford to go. Then the main school was built in 1877, in the 1920’s there were 100 pupils on the register, but it was very rare for all the children to be in school as many families where so large, such as Mr Wright’s family with 14 children they couldn’t afford to buy enough school clothes for all the children so one child would go to school one day and another would go the next wearing the same clothes.
At the age of five, I was sent to my dad’s school at Wendling, with the same Head Mistress, so it was the old fashioned way of schooling, and the cane was the rule. We girls were in constant fear of it, but of course there were a lot of big unruly boys, we were scared of them. They would far rather be out in the fields, helping their dads. This cane, a heavy long stick, served a dual purpose. A pointer to the blackboard from which we counted numbers, or repeated spelling words in unison, -the more noise the better. On this day, the Governess was particularly upset. She had hauled a young boy from his seat, to the front, to give him the cane. The reason, I do not know. Maybe for a blot on his exercise book, but who could help a few blots, with powdered black ink, mixed with water, by the “Monitor”, and perhaps a crossed J pen nib that had previously been used for a dart by the older boys,- no wonder there were a few blots! The young lad was hauled to the front, for all to see, and the cane welded. Then a big scuffle!! Two big brothers scrambled to the front, shouting – Don’t you lay a finger on my brother!! And they meant it, but the Governess proceeded, much to her dismay. The big brothers grabbed her and her stick, - she tumbled, but much more embarrassment, - her wig fell off. Well, who would have thought, this massive “beehive” hair do, was a wig!! Never in our school history, shall we ever forget the day, when the Governess’s wig fell off!
There was a headmistress and 2 or 3 pupil teachers. Most teaching was done by rota. There were seldom any games, music was by tuning fork. Children made up their own games to and from school. There was also a Sunday school with over 100 children, it was so popular when we had a trip to the seaside we would have to book a special train carriage to make sure there was room for all of us.
When you left school most of the men went to work on the local farms and there they would stay until they could not work no more, then their greatest fair was being sent to the work house at Gressenhall as there was no pension or state benefits in those days,
Wendling village shop and Post Office, alas how could you do without it? It was central to village living. Telegrams were received and sent via Post Office. 1d for letters then 1 and a half d and half d then 1d for postcards. I’ve sent many from Wendling Post Office and General Shop. Folks couldn’t have managed without it. There was anything from paraffin, candles or matches, pins, needles, cotton, elastic, anything for sewing. Your cheese and bacon, lard and marg, suet or 1d blocks of salt or for washing, soap, soda and blue bags. Your bicycle repair kit, protectors for your boots and sweets for the children your medicines, you had to pay to go to the doctors. Good old camphorated oil and syrup of figs often did the trick and plenty of cough lozenges and of course the Dereham and Fakenham Times, though you didn’t need a paper. The Village Shop had all the news. Who was getting married? Who was expecting yet another baby? Whose horse had run away? Whose cow had died? All from the village shop.
There were 14 farms including smallholders of varying acreage. Dairy farms from which we fetched our daily fresh milk and homemade butter. Each cow had its own name, as did the horses, be they heavy horses or ponies for the pony traps, all very necessary before the car. There were two butchers, black smith/wheelwright, and a baker who with his 5 or 6 pony carts delivered daily bread to all the village as well as too many surrounding villages. A carpenter and undertaker too, whilst bicycle repairs, haircutting and shoe mending were all done in the village. The farms, arable and pasture land, for there were many animals, which needed pasture. We had real harvests then when all the family took part. The binder, drawn by three massive horses, the stookers, carters and then the wagons for carting the corn to the stack yard where haystacks and corn stacks were built until later in the season when it was threshing day and the huge steam engines arrived. Farming, as now, is a whole years business, ploughing, sowing, reaping. Perhaps we forget this when we queue up at the supermarket. Wendling now has a new life. May all the new citizens enjoy living in Wendling.

All best wishes Olive Willis.