Ken Hall. An Old Spot regular.

Baby and Toddler years.

Ken was born in Mill Hill, northwest London, in May, 1924. He is one of a minority who can easily recall being in a high pram, looking up to see poplar leaves rustling in the wind and people peering over the side. He had a sister, Joan, 4 years his senior. They were very fond of each other, but never very close. He was more into sport and she into books. The nearest they got to doing sporty things together was cycle trips and the odd, very odd, game of tennis.

Ken's next door neighbour and best pal was a David Evans but their future lives could not be more different. Ken was set on farming but Dai had a clean canvas. He was in the Tank Regiment and as a tank commander was one of the first to cross the Rhine. After the war he joined Colgate-Palmolive and using all his obvious skill and charm rose very high up. He and Tisa, his Swedish wife, finished up with a house in Portugal and another in Florida. Ken envious? Never! For one thing Ken has outlived him.

Joan and Ken were glad to be closer in more recent years when she and her husband Peter the Great of the Daily Mail came back to live at Lammas Park, Minchinhampton. Sadly Ken has out-lived her too.

Their parents both came from Slimbridge in Gloucestershire and they spent many happy holidays there. Joan spent hers at Churchend Farm with the Morgans. Ken clearly remembers picking up apples (and slugs) in the orchard of Moorend Estate Farm and leading a horse (Captain?) and cart down to The Tudor Arms at Shepherds Patch to make cider. It was taken back to the barn at grandfather William Hill's farm and sampled very freely by all and sundry. On one occasion the farm workers persuaded a thirsty Ken to try some. It was rude to take only a sip and the result was that his mother (Queenie, named as the only girl in a family of 8) sent for Doctor Roberts, who took no time in diagnosing drunkenness- the top of the slippery slope! It is always alleged that rats would get into barrels and be dissolved, adding flavour to the scrumpy.


Grandfather - William Hall at Moorend Farm, Slimbridge He can still see in his mind's eye a side of home-cured bacon hanging in the kitchen, lovely and fat and going green. Also the semi-rotary pump he used to raise water from a well to the attic, and the earth closet in the garden. Also Sunday evenings spent round the piano singing hymns by lamplight, and grandfather Hill smoking a pipe of Players No-name. He was a wonderful shot into a spittoon. He was churchwarden at Slimbridge Church and Queenie played the organ. It is believed that she and Bob, the son of Canon Carter, were an `item' but he was killed in the war. A feature of the house was a monkeypuzzle tree in the front. All milk went to Cadbury's at Frampton at rockbottom prices, so nothing is new. At least they got a large box of chocolates at Christmas as sweeteners, which is more than supermarkets do now nowadays.


  Baths were interesting; hot water had to be carried upstairs from the boiler and the cold water contained squiggly midge larvae, all done by lamplight.

Long before anything told here Ken's father (Will or Willy from Malthouse Farm) stayed away from Dursley Grammar School in Woodmancote to see the first car come down what is now the A38. That was at the beginning of the century.

It is also known that he did voluntary work in the 1926 General Strike, possibly not as a bus driver!

It was in the canal that Ken learned to swim together with the two sons of Canon Sutch. Tugs and their barges on their way to Gloucester had to be avoided.

Another memory was of travelling by horse and trap into Dursley stopping at Darkes the butchers in Chapel Street, Lower Cam, on the way to Wintleis in Long Street, Dursley, for the main shopping. This was thirsty work so Ken had to wait a long time at the back of the Old Bell Hotel (the Ayliffes were relations). On the way back one had to keep an eye open for Bob Cox, who drove down Moorend Lane like the clappers in his new car.

Ken did a lot of shooting of rooks out of the very abundant elm trees and on one occasion nearly shot his Uncle Evan instead of a rabbit!

He attended a cub hunt at Cat's Castle, a nearby copse, without any particular pleasure or guilt.

Other happy holidays were taken in Painswick with Uncle Harry and Aunt Flo Herbert. They had a milk round in and around Stroud. Again much time was spent waiting outside pubs. How he longed for the time when he was old enough to go in. That feeling lasted the rest of his life and he yields!

The family came from London to Slimbridge in an Austin7 and it took nearly all day. The journey to Painswick was by steam train, smuts included, and the thrills came on emerging from the Sapperton Tunnel into the Golden Valley, the sight of Hill Paul's clock and the smell of brewing in Stroud. The Painswick `bus left from the station yard.

After the First War there was a depression in farming, families were large (no pill, no TV.) so uncles emigrated to Canada (2), South Africa (2), Rhodesia, New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. Many of those relations have visited here, but no return visits there, unfortunately. Two of Ken's cousins, Tom and George, still farm in Slimbridge. In his semi-retirement Tom used his welding skills to make a pony trap---a blast from the past- seen by Ken in the Kingshill area.

His education started in a kindergarten in Mill Hill run by Miss Webb. A notable fellow pupil was Patrick Troughton who later played the part of Dr. Who among several major roles.

Teen-age Years.

From there he went to Belmont, Mill Hill's Junior School. The Chairman of both schools was Dr. Nathanial Micklem. He was also President of the Liberal Party, significant in a later context. Mill Hill was the first public school to take pupils from state schools. Another near neighbour was Judge Sellars, another notable Liberal. Ken's father was a staunch Conservative but his mother was a Liberal without proclaiming it! His father was Treasurer to the local church and was in the City of London Yeomanry, riding horseback, his great love, until he got thrown, injuring his back. It never fully recovered.


1937 - Destination Berlin One Easter holiday Ken went to Berlin with good friend, Robert Rawacj. The journey from Cuxhaven, near Hamburg, was unforgettable travelling at 100mph on an Autobahn in a chauffeur-driven Packard car to Berlin to stay with his parents in Nowawes, where they had a carpet factory. They were Jewish so there was tension. Amongst other attractions, Ken was taken to the Unter den Linden, the Brandenberg Gate, and the 1936 Olympic Stadium where Jesse Owen had won so much, to the annoyance of Hitler. Panzer tanks were seen training in woodland near Potsdam.

On Hitler's birthday Swastikas were hung from every one else's house, but their employees were very sorry when they had to flee to Hampstead and thence to America. It is a great regret that contact has been lost.

Come in the Internet! His hosts were keen philatelists and sent a letter to Ken's father with stamps of all denominations on with a frank especial for Hitler's birthday. Sad to say, it was later stolen at Downhouse.

Other memories include digging caves in the school woods, rolling-skating on the playground, trying to learn the violin and, nearly as painful, being caned. At that time he was in the Crusaders, along with the Laing brothers of building fame. He used to go with his father to Mill Hill cricket club and retrieve balls. The field was next to Hendon Aerodrome and he was watching the Air Display when an aircraft crashed into the crowd. The ground was overlooked by a railway line where the Flying Scotsman and Golden Arrow and Mallard were often seen.

He was at a Crusaders camp at Deal in Kent in September 1939, and had to rush home. On the 3rd the sirens sounded and they went into the fields opposite to get in the ditches!

From Belmont he went to Aldenham School in Hertfordshire. A clear memory was of skating every winter on Elstree Reservoir. The ice was always thick enough to take hundreds of people of all ages.

Another feature was his keenness on cricket. He won a cricket bat for one innings. Spare time in summer was spent bowling to John Dawes, who went on to play for Middlesex and England. He also acquired a liking for hockey, being coached by VA.Cox, a famous England winger, but a bullying master.

Because his father suffered a nervous breakdown at the beginning of the War (he felt he had helped start it with his role in international banking with the Bank of England and he had an awful First World War in the 2"d battalion of the Gloucester Regiment) Ken had to leave early at 16. His father spoke little about the war, but it is believed part was spent in Mesopotamia, now S.Iraq, fighting the Turks. As often happened because of casualties he was commissioned in the field. His 2nd Lieutenant's binocular case is in the regimental museum in Gloucester. (Likewise his top hat from work is in the Bank of England museum).

Blitz Days.


1943 at Mill Hill He had to find work until he was old enough to join his choice of service, The Royal Navy. He worked on The Daily Sketch in Greys Inn Road, Holborn, in the Blitz. The building was Kemsley House. It was hit by a bomb, but working in the basement no-one knew until morning. Nearby Theobald Street was almost flattened and St. Paul's Cathedral was surrounded by fire but was almost unharmed. A miracle!

Many Londoners were sleeping in the Underground in bunk beds and all over, and Ken could not go home to Mill Hill until the trains ran in the morning but Lyon's Corner Houses, with their Nippies, stayed open. One night he was a copyboy on the teleprinters when the news came through that H.M.S.s Prince of Wales and Repulse had been sunk off Malaya--he was one of the first in the country to know.

He was sent to Withy Grove, Manchester, to do some sub-editing and visited Warrington, which made him glad he lived in London. Now he is even more pleased that his family returned to Gloucestershire, of which he has become increasingly fond.

Navy Days.

At 18 he joined the Navy and his preference was to train as a Motor Mechanic, being the most useful on the farm he was determined to get. This led to him serving on Motor Torpedo Boats and Motor Gun Boats in the North Sea, sailing out of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, in charge of the engine rooms as a Chief Petty Officer. It meant trips across to the Dutch coast when the sea wasn't too rough for 56ft boats, travelling at 50 knots thanks to 3 1500 h.p. Packard engines. His boats were in 12 actions and two boats were lost. One spectacular event was hitting an ammunition ship in a Dutch harbour. On another occasion they found themselves very near a German destroyer in thick fog and scampered pronto. One night it turned very rough with 20ft waves and they were lucky enough to be able to shelter in the lee of an American Liberty ship, which lowered oranges to them-a real treat.


1943, Lowerstoft On another occasion they had a running battle with some E-Boats and a small shell came through the wooden hull heading for Ken's head. Luckily it exploded in a toolbox which the crew had slung from the deck-head only the previous day to get it out of the way of their feet.

In spite of all the shells and bullets flying around his boat suffered only one fatality, a gunner and a family man, unfortunately.

The outside petrol tanks were kept full as long as possible to lessen the risk of explosion and one day Ken mismanaged them so they limped home on two engines an hour or so after the others.

An abiding memory of East Anglia was seeing American Flying Fortresses returning from their mammoth daytime raids, only to be shot down over England by German fighters attacking out of the setting sun.

Previously he had witnessed dogfights in the battle of Britain while he was playing cricket and was struck by how long it took parachutes to reach the ground from up there, long enough for a couple of overs!

6 days after D-Day his flotilla was sent to Gosport to relieve a shot-up one and they crossed the Channel to Normandy alongside American P.T. boats which were not held in high regard.

It was in the Navy he took up smoking seriously, increasing to 60 a day. He couldn't cut down so just gave up in 1956 when Selwyn Lloyd put them up in an emergency Budget. It was surprisingly easy to do. He just had a sore mouth from eating boiled sweets and dreamed of smoking for about year!

Post War.

When the German war ended Ken wanted yet more excitement and transferred to the Fleet Air Arm to train as a pilot. The training with the RAF got as far as doing a `solo' in a Tiger Moth when the Japanese war ended and he was sent to Colombo in Ceylon on an Aircraft Carrier, HMS Indomitable, in charge of the laundry! He was impressed by Colombo, bar all the betel juice spit on the pavement. He went to a camp inland and played hockey and cricket for ten days before coming back on a converted tramp ship carrying many pregnant Wrens. Being very naive he got one of them to wear an engagement ring ashore to avoid paying duty. She returned it ashore. Phew!

Memories of the trip include flying foxes (very large bats) in Ceylon, flying fish in the Indian Ocean, being sunburned through a shirt in Aden, meeting the French battleship Richelieu, in a lay-by on the Suez Canal, being able to buy Cadbury's Milk chocolate in Malta (but not at home), and going ashore in Gibraltar.

High Days.

On being demobbed he got a place at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, on a 2yr course. There were only 120 students, all ex-servicemen and no girls. The first year he had to live with his parents at Minchinhampton and for 2 or 3 weeks could not make the journey because of the snow. In the second year he lived in the George Wing sharing a room with Wally Clark, who became a well-known Polled Hereford breeder. While there he became secretary of the Students' Union. He had to go to Edinburgh to take the National Diploma of Agriculture and was pleased to do so. He stayed in Portobello, near Leith.

After College, he worked on several farms to gain varied experiences, mostly in dairying with Ben Cooper, a famous Friesian breeder at Shipton Moyne. True to form, he lived in digs only a few doors from the Cat and Custard Pot. This was followed by arable work with the aforementioned Wally Clark at Star Farm in Avening and finally with Uncle Harry at Painswick.

Romance blossoms.


Happy Day! Painswick, Feb 23, 1952 Ken had been told by Paul Ross, an old drinking partner at the Hunter's Hall in Kingscote together with the Jeffes brothers from Hyde, to look out for a smasher, who lived in The Beehive next to the famous Post Office in New Street, Painswick.

Having identified whom he meant Ken found himself in the same bus queue going to Stroud, so got talking to her and invited her to a Painswick Show Dance. She thought he was mistaking her for her sister, Elsie-silly girl! Anyway one thing led to several others and they got married in St. Mary' Church on February 23rd, 1952-a slack time of the year on the farm! They honeymooned in Chichester and returned in snow to their first home, a converted dairy on the farm of Stan Jeffes, Brokenborough Farm, near Malmesbury Wilts, where he was working. They found the window in the bedroom had not been fitted but it didn't seem to matter! He had been living in the pub next door, the Rose and Crown. It has changed greatly since then. It is more of a restaurant now.

Slavery Years.


David Evans (in the background). Ken's
best pal & neighbour from his childhood. They were now on the lookout for a farm of their own and were soon offered Field Lane Farm, 88 acres in Cam, thanks to the family connection with the Berkeley Estate. The farm had previously been farmed by a great-aunt Harris with the help of Mr.York as manager. One night a bunch of Young Farmers went to the house, threw stones at her bedroom window shouting `fire' and were not surprised to see York's face appear. The Harris relations also farmed Court House Farm in Cam. It was from there that the Harrises of Calne in Wiltshire came.

They moved in October, 1952, and had no electricity or mains water for a year. What a shock for a town girl like Jean!

Unfortunately, try as hard as they could, they were unable to produce children through the usual channels, but were very happy to adopt three lovely but varied children, Stuart, Fiona and Tim. The boys spent some time in the Army and Fiona in the Police Force. They are now Jacks and Jill of all trades. That follows from a farming upbringing. One job Tim had was helping John Laing from Mill Hill, already mentioned, to erect the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with his crane.

For two years Ken had to milk the twenty cows he got from Ben Cooper three times a day to make ends meet. He had the help of students from the Royal Ag. Yields were recorded and an average of over 1600 gallons was achieved. Under Sir Emrys Jones of the Ministry advisory service Field Lane became a Pilot Farm and several open days were held and visitors from abroad such as Germans and Nigerians came.

He did enter a cow, Janet, in Berkeley Show and won. She was Jean's favourite cow, being so friendly.

Jean was in at the birth of D.O.D.S, when it was the Woodfield Operatic Society, doing the make-up.

Mawdsley's United Hockey Club men's team. Sporty Days.

Ken did manage to find time for sport. In the winters he played as a dead-eye centre-half for Mawdsleys mixed Hockey Club, a good team. He played in his Naval tropical shorts down to his knees. Jean was embarrassed and put them in a jumble sale, only for Roy Phillips to buy them back! The team did very well in a tournament at Weston-super-Mare. It was the hardest day's work for everyone. He is reminded of those `good old days' by Joe Ormston, a fellow cancer widower, in their favourite watering hole, the Old Spot.


Stinchcombe Village Cricket Club in the 50's In the summers he was playing cricket for Stinchcombe Village at Stancombe Park. (Jean was a willing tea-lady). His ambition was to hit the ball over the adjoining road. He did it twice. He also played 2 games for Glos.Gypsies under George Wedel and in a 6-a-side team got up by Maurice Sage called the Bagpath Bashers. It included Dick Rodway and George Wilcox. They won the Malmesbury Carnival tournament and a kiss from the carnival queen made Dick's year.

In 1962 the M5 motorway was planned to run through the farm, but by happy chance Downhouse Farm in Upper Cam became available just at the right time. A stable was converted into a milking parlour. The farm was over 220 acres and the herd increased to nearly 80 cows. The first spring of 1963 was very snowy and the milk had to be taken in churns to the bottom of Springhill for the lorry. Of course it was not all roses _ animals would get out, and they suffered a barn fire while the Cup Final was on, and they had a cow or two electrocuted through faulty wiring. Farms are great but hazardous places to rear children.

There are other hazards in rearing children. Fiona went through the usual clubbing stage. It was pre-Warehouse days, so it meant Gloucester, and twice she missed transport home and Ken had to fetch her from the Police Station. It was in Fred West's active time. Another Phew!

Mishaps included Andy Bullock falling in the sheep dip and a tractor being released to block the road. They had two good motorcycle scramble courses on the farm and had several meetings, much to Tim's joy, as he took part. Also the first National Hang-gliding Contest was held at Downhouse. These events were used for a lot of fundraising for the Liberal Party.

(Not for the squeamish): the farm was overrun with feral cats and Tom arranged a cat shoot. It is alleged that a neighbour's cat went missing at the same time!

Party Time.

The reason for defecting must be explained. From 1952 Jean and Ken had been members of the Conservative Party, but the Election of 1964 convinced them that were in the wrong camp. An election broadcast by Ludovic Kennedy made them certain. The Liberals believe in devolution of power to the lowest practical level, and redistribution of wealth by progressive taxation, a fairer electoral system (proportional representation) and coownership as in John Lewis'. Also they were internationalist and therefore keen on European Unity, as was Winston Churchill. The Union would be much better and more popular if Britain had been a more wholehearted and constructive member in recent years. They were keen for the United Nations to be better supported. . This made them very opposed to the Iraqi War the way it occurred. Jean in particular thought it was madness.

After the war Ken had shown interest in the Common Wealth Party, formed by Sir Richard Acland. He owned the Holnicote Estate on the edge of Exmoor, but gave it to the National Trust because of his beliefs. 2 years ago Ken and Jean spent a lovely holiday in Luccombe, near Porlock, on that estate.

Labour was not, and is not, radical enough.

In Ken and Jean's eyes Tories lacked compassion, social conscience and a sufficient regard for the environment, and encouraged greed and self-interest too much.

They were happy with the preamble to the party's constitution- "The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which they seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity".

Their attitude led Ken and Jean to offer a home to refugees after the Hungarian uprising. Nothing came of that but later, when Ken was chairman of Dursley Shelter Group, they were able to take a family of Uganda Asians into a cottage in Cam High Street for a while. Later still they sponsored a child through World Vision, first in Tanzania and from then until now in Bangladesh (in Cox's Bazaar, south of Dakhar). Son Stuart went to Tanzania to see the family and the poor mother thought he had come to take her son away. While he was there he went up Mount Kilimanjaro.

Promotion can be quick in a small party and Ken was soon Constituency Chairman. In his time J.V. Smith, the rugby star, was selected as Parliamentary Candidate. He had been at Marling School when Jean was at Stroud High School next door but in those days they were never allowed to mix!

John Smith later became the R.F.U. President. During his presidency plans for the divisional leagues were laid and the problems with apartheid South Africa were encountered but John stuck to his Liberal principles in the face of opposition. The outcome was good.

As activists, their holidays consisted of attending Party conferences in Bournemouth, Eastbourne, Blackpool, Llandudno, Torquay and, their favourite, Harrogate. Twice they went with Gerry and Gay Dance, (always popping into churches for Gerry to play the organ) and the rest with John and Jean Wood. One conference led to Ken going to Mondragon in the Basque region of Spain to study Cooperatives, thanks to Jo Grimond. Also on the trip were Stephen Ross, Liberal M.P. for the Isle of Wight, a Pilkington of glass fame, and a team from N. Ireland, and one of the Astors of the SDP. It was started by a priest, who found extreme poverty there. Everything, banks, housing and factories are co-operatively owned and run. It was an eye-opener.

For one conference in Brighton, Ken took Alan Sutton, then a Young Liberal, now a quite well known publisher.

His enthusiasm took him to several bye-elections, the most notable being Sutton and Cheam, which was won and is still held. He stayed with sister Joan and Peter Grover at Chertsey and the other half of their large house was owned by a Liverpool Tory M.P. and after the result was announced Peter the Mischievous put Liberal stickers and leaflets through his door.

The Stirrer.

Ken never feared controversy and had at least two dozen letters published in the Gazette and Guardian. One was a stout defence of foxhunting, as he was certain there would be more cruelty to foxes without hunting. Now it would include the coming of G.M. crops. Hybridisation is not unnatural, but G.M. is. Nature dislikes being interfered with and has a history of fighting back.

In farming, Ken was never afraid to try something new. (Fools rush in where angels fear to tread).

At Field Lane he was the first in the district to make silage, with a finger mower and buck-rake. At Downhouse he was only the 2nd in the county to grow maize. In the drought of 1976 he was the envy of everyone when he had maize 6ft. tall, and their grass had vanished. He became the swede king of the area, supplying shops as far as Thornbury.

He pursued his belief in co-operation by starting a machinery syndicate with 4 local farmers, including good friend, Richard Fayle. This led him to an appearance on a TV. farming programme with John Cherrington from Pebble Mill, Birmingham.

Also a gardening group of 7 used odd corners of fields to produce a mass of wonderful vegetables. The group consisted of the Derek Archer, Editor of the Dursley Gazette, Roger Davies and John Moreton-Cox from the Berkeley Labs, neighbour Pat Nolder, Pete Malpass and Roy Phillips from his hockey days. Unfortunately the cows wanted to find out how good they were, defied the electric fence and that was the end of that dream!

Ken was branch chairman of Dursley and Nailsworth National Farmers Union for several years, because no one else volunteered.

Because of his Christian upbringing and public school education, both of which instilled a sense of duty to serve the community, Ken was an inveterate volunteer.

(Serve ye one another)

Council Years.

In 1972 both Ken and Jean stood for service in local government, Ken for District and Jean for Parish, an ideal combination. It was a surprise to everyone when they beat the past chairman of the District Council and the chairman of Cam Parish Council and another well-known District councillor, who came bottom but who came back and is still strutting his silly stuff.

In the 18 years he served on the council Ken was able to achieve a lot for Cam just because he was in the right place at the right time. He heard from his landlord that Cam Peak and Longdown were about to be sold, but he agreed to wait until the council was able to buy them. This was done with the aid of the Countryside Commission, who paid half the £16,000 needed. Another £1,000 was raised from wellwishers with the help of Pat Cox. A 76acre bargain.

Ken was on an Industrial Sub-committee, which kept discussing Stonehouse and Sharpness until he switched attention to Cam and Dursley. By chance a field at Draycott came on the market, the Council was persuaded to buy it and it is now the very successful Business Park.

Again, he happened to be on the Parking Places working party. Officers had drawn up plans to make all car parks in the district Pay and Display. Stroud town was in favour, to increase turn-round, so Ken proposed a special parish rate on all parishes except Stroud to keep their parking free. This was agreed.

On the Manor Avenue development he and Pat Cox managed to get a self-build cul-de-sac included.

He was rewarded (!) with the chairmanship of the Planning Committee for 3 years, a bed of nails indeed. One interesting matter then was the purchase of Woodchester Park Mansion. It was a liability to the owners, Fountain Forestry, so the council bought it for little money. Ken had the job of meeting Lord Wormsley and the chief executive of the National Trust to see if they were interested in managing it, but without money as well they were not.

Twice he went on twinning junkets to Gottingen near the East-West German border, a frightening sight.

He spent one evening in a studentenkeller, putting the world to rights with students whose English was excellent. It went on through the police hour and Ken found himself walking into the countryside, but he found the hotel eventually!

The chief executive of the Landkreis had been a U-boat commander and felt he had to apologise to Ken for mentioning it. What nonsense!

One outing was to bread museum. It had a waffle machine which you-know-who suggested that it was the Chairman, Robert Smith's, speech writer.

Outside bodies served on: Prema Art Centre Management Committee in Uley and Sports Hall Management (chaired).

C.A.B. Time.

Most rewarding of all, he joined the crucially important Stroud and District Citizens Advice Bureau from the early 70s, staying about 30 years, including 3 years as chairman. In his time as chairman a move to Brunei Mall was arranged, and opened by Princess Anne. And a new manager (Caroline Pymm) was appointed and proved a great success. The acer tree he was given at the end of his chairmanship is still alive and well on Tim's patio. Ken decided that 80 is too old to carry on in an increasingly complex organisation, so called it a day in 2004. He is proud to have contributed to an organisation, which is preeminent in helping the whole community. He did a lot of fundraising for it. One cheque for £1,000 came from a Laing Trust purely because of Ken's connection.

On one occasion he attended a CAB AGM in York University and stayed on to get to know York better. He attended Evensong in the Minster and heard the Archbishop make far more of William Tyndale than in his home territory on his Centenary. Ken told him so.

He caught a train to Harrogate, went up the Stray and watched them play Blackheath at rugby. From then on he became an avid supporter of Gloucester Rugby Club as a season ticket holder, following them to Twickenham twice. They soon became champions!

The Gloucester shirt he still wears was won in a Citizen slogan competition with:

Working for the Community!


1994 - CoJAC Ken was one of only 4 founder members of COJAC, set up to campaign for the opening of a new railway station for Cam and Dursley. Another success and he is delighted to use it, especially on rugby Saturdays.

He was also the co-founder with David Evans of the Dursley and Cam Society. While on the committee he started the hanging basket competition, buying a rosebowl as the first prize. He became a rather poor President of the Society.

He spent a short time on Dursley Town Council but the only thing he achieved was the roundabout at the top of Bull Pitch.

He was also involved in raising money to show that Dursley really wanted a swimming pool. The council agreed to spend £1,200,000 to build it, an architectural competition was held and Ken and Gerry Pierce chose the winner. At the opening by Princess Anne he was the second into the pool after Mike Comock, who had led the campaign. He was also involved in the start of the Community Centre. He regularly served behind the bar with Joyce Woodward. The same applied at the Stroud Liberal Club, of which he was Chairman.

When they stopped milking after 35 years they had their first fortnight's holiday and went to Jersey for a great time. Celebrations for anniversary of Liberation Day coincided with their stay.

Landowners!


Newlands Farm - Deceased. In the early 80s they were given the chance to purchase Downhouse Farm and they did. It was then even clearer that Ken had followed his father's profession after all, working for the bank!

They had to sell the farmhouse to help pay for it. They tried to farm from a bungalow in Westfield but without the coming of mobile phones they could not. So they designed and built Newlands Farm in Farfield. The architect's panel did not like it, of course, but it got planning consent without pressure from Ken!


The other side of Newlands Farm. When he reached 65 he boasted that he had not spent a single night in hospital -a big mistake. Within 2 months he was in Gloucester Hospital with pulmonary embolism, the first of 4 life-threatening illnesses. The others being a repeat embolism, a stroke and a bad pneumonia, all treated at Standish Hospital, where his mother had nursed in the flu epidemic of 1919 that killed more people than the Great War. He also has fibrous lungs. He is just meant to live a bit longer-- to achieve what? Time will tell but it is running out. 9 pills a day are playing their part and the amber liquid too.

Hazy Lazy Autumn Days.


Noggins Hole, Hopton Road.
Opened to public. Note Solar Panels. Since retiring he and Jean lived in Noggins Hollow, Hopton Road. They made an attractive garden there and opened it to the public yearly, along with 6 or 7 others in Upper Cam under the National Garden Scheme. Money was raised for MacMillan nurses.

They installed solar panels in the roof to supply very hot water. It may not have been economic, but it did help sell the house at a better price, to a man in the nuclear power industry!

From there they moved to 39, Kingshill Park. It needed a new kitchen. Cousin Margaret Hawkins designed a novel 5-sided one and Tim built it. It was greatly admired and they created an interesting garden to match.

They loved Kingshill Park with super neighbours and were glad Nick Dance from way back bought it.

Sad Year.


At Tim's House. 5 Days before Jean Died. In May, 2003 Jean was diagnosed with colon cancer already at an advanced stage and she had a major operation at Gloucester Hospital. It was too late to be a complete success and she wisely decided that they should move into a flat in Champion's Court in Dursley. It is strange to think that the Champions were relations by marriage, that Ken was on Planning when it got consent and there would have been a supermarket on the site had Silver Street provided better access. By good fortune an ideal 2-bedroomed flat on a corner on the 2"d floor was available and the agents made sure it was not sold until 39 had been sold. It has good views of Downham (Smallpox) Hill, Stinchcombe Hill, their beloved Cam Peak and Dursley roofscape. The purchase and move was overseen by Fiona, mainly, but everyone joined in on the day, including Karen and little Pete. Jean was still in hospital, but she did manage to get to see it and give her approval. She had been on chemotherapy and was still optimistic, but abscesses developed at the tumour site, and she had an operation on her birthday (Oct. 4th) to drain them, at Cheltenham Hospital. When she came home in November she had visits twice a day by the district nurses, a wonderful group of people, who got to like her and admire her for her courage. She attended the Cotswold Care Hospice at Minchinhampton and was full of praise for it. She was decorating a clock-face while there.

Ken and Jean's best deed and legacy was the planting of Halls Wood on 11 acres opposite Cam Peak car park. It is now 15 years old with a good canopy of deciduous trees, mainly ash and oak, and is home to 6 or so deer, both Roe and Muntjac, badgers, foxes, rabbits and a. host of birds. In their wills their successors may sell after 2050, but give first refusal to the Woodland Trust.


Hall's Wood. On Mothering Sunday the family had a great day, with lunch at the White Lion, Cambridge, and the afternoon spent on Tim's patio in fine weather. Typically Ken was missing when a photograph was taken, watching a vital rugby match! That is a lovely memory, for within 6 days she had died in Berkeley Hospital, a mercifully quick end to a 75 year life and a 51 year marriage. She left a large footprint in Cam, especially as Chairman of the Amenities Committee. The small garden at the bottom of Cam Pitch, the clearing of the Everlands banks, the planting of several trees and many daffodils and the Robinia tree in the Co-op car park, to name but a few, were down to her leadership.


'Our Grave' - Ask for Hall's Wood. A very moving funeral and interment service was held at St. George's Church in Upper Cam, where Jean had been Secretary of the Parochial Church Council for several years. The main eulogy was given very ably by nephew, Robert Grover. Others to speak in her praise were Joan Cullimore, another retired farmer's wife, who had got to know her well through her sickness and likened her to a chocolate, firm on the outside but with a soft centre. Vera McCauley also spoke on behalf of Dursley Ladies Probus Club, which Jean had helped to found. Symbolically, Andy Bullock noticed a butterfly trapped in the body of the church, got his net, caught it and released it outside to fly skywards.

It may seem flippant to say but Jean is now pushing up camomile but it is true, and it is very fragrant too.

A cross was made by Caesarcraft of Cambridge from ash out of Halls Wood to mark the grave. It is a beautiful object and true to its origins, made of wood.

A cross Ken has to bear is cold canvassing and mail for Jean. On one occasion a call centre asked to speak to her and when told she was in Upper Cam churchyard they asked when she was expected back. Ken was lost for an answer.

Lonesome Days.


With ister Joan at Lamas Park.
Gatcombe Woods in background. Since his bereavement Ken has coped well enough. He had learned cooking, washing, and housework for a year while Jean was ill, and got all the company and support he needed from family and his home-from-home, the Old Spot Inn, a classless pub of real ale for real people, a short walk from home.

He took Fiona to the Western Highlands for a week, as a reward for her solid help. She enjoyed most of it, but not the sea trip to Eigg and Muck, nor being stranded in the Ben Nevis chairlift in a high wind while a pulley was welded. The train trip to Mallaig was `ace'.

He also took grandson Sam to Canterbury on a Pathfinder train trip. They both gaped in awe at the Cathedral. The Canterbury Tales were `done' at school.

Recently he has become a Friend of Westonbirt Arboretum and hopes a dodgy hip allows him to take full advantage. For several years he has been to the Sculptree Week, which helps the planting of trees in Africa.

He has done a computer course, which is why this story has been written! Also he joined an art class and tried his hand at bowls. The last was new and beyond his capabilities, but in art he had done life drawing, much to the amusement of his pals. He really enjoys watercolour painting.

He is a keen member of Dursley 91 Probus Club, an impressive organisation, which provides excellent company, speakers and outings. He is trying to persuade other members to write their memoirs. Many will have had fuller and more interesting lives to tell posterity about.

`Je regret almost rien'.


Ken Hall
May 2004

4 More blinking years - an addendum.

It is over four years since Ken wrote his `Life and Times. so it is due for updating. But to be truthful, nothing much has happened, because he has become hyperinactive! Sky TV has been a big help in becoming idle. Hours can easily be wasted watching cricket and rugby from around the world. Idleness can be enjoyably addictive.

Painting has progressed well and he has moved on to oiis. For a few weeks there was Life Drawing, but for some reason he is no longer good at dealing with nudes`. And now there is a course in poetry appreciation, exposing his limited education (or lack of attention at school); But it is enjoyable and hopefully delays the onset of Alzheimer's Disease, (no laughing matter).

Rugby still features large, and his support has helped Gloucester to the top of the League. The progress of his arthritis has not made things any easier.

Two anecdotes are worth relaying:
Good friend. Ronnie Goodyer, a poet, tells of the time he was asked in the Kings Head whom he met in the Old Spot. He replied one was Ken Hall to which the inquirer said `didn't he used to be someone?'

On another occasion cousin Tom met someone who had driven past Halls Wood and said `what a lovely sight shame Ken didn't live to see it!'

Ken's second home has been awarded CAMRA's National Pub of the Year. One criterion was the quality of the clientele. Nuff said`

A sadness in 2008 has been the sight of Ken and Jean's baby, Newlands Farm, literally put through a mincer, to make way for a super-modern mansion, which to Ken's mind, will look a terrible intrusion into a beautiful valley when viewed from Cam Longdown, on the Cotswold Way. At least the bungalow was screened.

Ken cannot leave campaigning alone. Mostly it concerns the Littlecombe development. The developers have acquired many acres which cannot be built on (towards Cam House School). Ken suggests the sparse planting of specimen trees to make parkland, for the enjoyment of all. Indications are that the developers would give the land to a body willing to undertake the task of management --- the Stroud District Council?. The trees may be given by firms or individuals wishing to offset their carbon footprint.

Another wish is for odd awkward bits of the site to be given over to allotments.

Lastly (perhaps) a cyber office should be provided to reduce commuting out of the town.

Ken intends to give a further update in four years time! It remains to be seen where from.

Ken Hall
April 2008

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