Phyllis Cullen (Paget).

I came to Litcham at the age of 6 and to the school there till I was 14. I had very happy days there. We lived in the alley house in Front Street first and then moved next door, these houses were owned by Mr Warnes. We had to get our drinking water from a pump in Mr Warnes yard.

We had our times for playing marbles, skipping and spinning tops, which children today don’t know what we are talking about. We had no Tele and a lot had no wireless. I had lots of friends Fitt, Hilton, Smith, Collison and Carter to name a few. I was also friendly with Sgt Yallop’s daughter Rita. I remember Mr Tom Ewen who lived in back street, he was not quite behind but he used to mend shoes in a shed at the end of his garden. He also had a son Kenneth. We had 2 butcher’s shops, 3 pubs, 2 general shops, a post office, cycle shop and a fish shop. As I got older I used to go with Gordon and Bessie Carter to dances with the two of them playing drums and piano. They also ran the buses to the markets four times a week. In front street we had a basket maker, also a man handed fire engine. The black smith was up Pound lane, I used to go and pump the forge for them after school.
We had three lots of service boys in the village, search light on the common, R.E.M.E in a house in Front Street and the Scotch regiment at Lexham Hall, who marched with pipes every Sunday to church. My mum used to open our door to the boys that were away from their homes playing the piano, we used to have happy evenings. I also played the organ in Front Street chapel.

My music teacher was Miss Comer who’s dad had the garage beside the alley, my lessons cost 6d for a half hour. When I left school at 14 I got a job in Woolworth’s Dereham, which I used to cycle to, 8 miles in the morning and then 8 miles back home at night. When I left Litcham to go to Beeston I had a job in the canteen for the workers who built the drome for the Americans.