I wonder if I could throw this topic out there in the hope that those people who have lived (or whose families have lived) in the Chandler’s Ford area for more than half a century may be able to contribute.
I was born in the 1950’s and my parents were at the time living in a development called The Hutments.
This was a collection of pre-fabricated, single storey temporary dwellings on land at the corner of Hook Road and Hursley Road, which I believe was constructed specifically to house workers at the Vickers Supermarine Works based at Hursley Park (now IBM).
Vickers relocated to Hursley Park in the 1940’s when their Woolston works suffered bomb damage. I think that there were around 60 pre-fabs on the site but this is where my knowledge gets hazy!
I have tried from time to time to find out more details about The Hutments but have not been very successful. Sadly my own parents and any of their friends who also lived there are no longer with us and my searches of documents at local libraries etc have yielded very little.
I am particularly interested to get hold of photographs, first hand (maybe second hand now) accounts of life there and any other information that might help to build a more complete picture of this small part in Chandler’s Ford’s history.
Hi Nick,
I commend your efforts to find out more about the Hutments on the corner of Hook Road and Hursley Rd and I may be able to offer some advice which will help you with your research.
Last year, I co-wrote a book about the history of the hutments on the Velmore estate to the south of Chandler’s Ford (Velmore: From Huts to Homes, available from the Velmore Community Centre Café on Falkland Road). These huts, like the huts on Hook / Hursley Road, were built to house displaced war workers from the Southampton Docks area. After the war ended, they were converted into basic homes to stem the housing shortage until new council estates were built in the 1950s.
Similar to your experiences, our explorations of local records (mainly council minutes from the 1940s) did not yield much information, but our research really opened up when we visited the National Archives at Kew. The Housing Camps in the Chandler’s Ford area were arranged as part of a wider logistical response by the Ministry of Health and the information you are looking for may be found in their archived records. A good place to start would be records beginning with the prefix HLG/7/____. These can be searched online here: Discovery | The National Archives.
I wish you all the best with your quest.
I lived in the hutments on Hook Road. My father was a draughtsman at Hursley. We moved with Vickers Armstrong to Swindon in 1956.
There is an abundance of fascinating information available at the National Archive in Kew. I went one day to search for the crew of a ship sailing to India and found the handwritten cargo manifest, the crew list with their wages and notes about repairs and maintenance of the ship. It was the only written proof left that my brother-in-law had served in the Merchant Navy.
Hi Nick,
I had just been enquiring of my Aunt, Ann Carter (now nearly 89 but very ‘with it’), about where she lived when she first married, as I live in Oliver’s Battery now and know my uncle worked at Vicker’s, Hursley in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She has sent me a long letter about her time at ‘The Hutments’.
Their actual address was 72 Hook Road, Ampfield. My cousins Eddie, Helen and Rowena Carter were born there in 1950, 1952 and 1954. Eddie went to Hursley School for a year. Rowena was christened at Ampfield Church, where Auntie Ann played the organ occasionally. They moved away in 1956. Auntie Ann says the hutments were initially erected (during the war, I assume) for bombed-out employees of Vickers Armstrong, but later on (certainly for Vickers staff) you could obtain one of these prized homes if you were a family or expecting one, which is how she came to live there, coming down from Berkshire.
I googled The Hutments, Hursley to see if I could learn anymore as soon as I received the letter this lunchtime, and came up with your enquiry! Auntie Ann writes of the Jones’ bus into Winchester (out at 10, back at 4), and the monthly church services held in a small hut.
Best wishes, Alison
Mike, Emma and Alison – thank you all so much for taking some time to research and comment on this thread. The additional input and suggestions are really helpful.
There is a slight confusion about whether the homes were provided only to workers who were bombed out of their homes (my parents had a bungalow in Spring Road, Sholing, Southampton and a bomb fell through the roof fortunately failing to explode) or because the Vickers Supermarine works in Woolston were bombed extensively and workers needed to be located closer to the new site in Hursley.
I was born there in 1952 and lived there until 1956 when we moved to Bitterns Park.
Alison – some surnames that your Aunt may know of who I know lived at the Hutments; Johnstone (Madge & Johnny), Savoury (Ron & Betty), Stones (Helen & Fred). Those are the only ones I can remember.
Hi Nick,
My parents were Ron and Betty Savery. My elder brother Brian was born in 1943 and Dad worked at Vickers – was your Dad Viv John?
I have two rent books from that time. In 1944 the rent paid was 17/6 a week and the book identified Hook Road as belonging to the Ministry of Aircraft Production Estate. My parents lived at no.64 In 1947 it had become the Ministry of Supply Estate and the rent seems to have been reduced.
I also have the first copy of The Bungalow Bulletin produced by the welfare committee to create “interest and amusement” among the residents of the Hook Road Estate.
I have been meaning to collect together information about my father for some time and write a short biography for all the offspring and as he was born in 1915 this year would be the perfect time to do this.
I would love to know if you manage to find out any more about their life there as despite the war my mother particularly looked back on the friendships they made there with great affection.
Cath
Hi Nick
My parents were Madge and Johnny Johnston who lived opposite you at 79 Hook Road. Our families moved in 1956 to Ferndene Way Bitterne Park. Don’t know why we both moved to the same road! Do you remember me coming to watch The Grove Family twice a week on your TV as we didn’t have one.
I remember well your Mum and Dad Vera and Viv and your brother David.
Back to Hook Road next to us were the Broomfields – an older couple and next to them were Kena and Stuart Mosey and their children Pam and Graham. I also had a friend called Jean Fawcett who lived on the other side of the estate. I remember where the Savorys lived.vThey may remember bonfire nights. I think your Mum made toffee apples.
My Mum worked as a secretary to R J Michell at Hursley Park and my Dad was in the Drawing office. They got married in Hursley church in 1940. They must have both worked at Woolston as my Mum lived in Sholing and Dad lived in Bitterne before they were married but they never mentioned it.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards Pauline
Hi Pauline,
I’m Peter Russell and my family lived at 42 Hook Road, 1947-55 – see my earlier posts in this thread, mainly 12th May 2016.
My mother Ruth is still alive at 95+, living near Wimborne, Dorset, and she has a very clear memory. Some of the names you mention could be a useful prompt, as I’m trying to build up a table showing who lived at which number at various stages. If you could remember which numbers the families you mention lived at, that would be a great help – Broomfields (77 or 81?); Moseys (75 or 83?); Fawcetts? Savorys? etc. I’m looking for an estate map showing the house numbering, but no luck so far. Did you attend Hursley Primary School?
Best wishes, Peter
Hi Peter,
Was checking some old notes and noticed another reference to the Hutments. This was from Patrick Dee who moved there in 1942 (unfortunately he didn’t say which number) just he lived there for around 12 years and that his neighbour was Mr Perry. Frank Perry was the manager of the Experimental Hangar at Hursley and had been Ossie Bell’s neighbour in Bitterne before the bombing forced the move.
Hope that helps … I’ll keep my eyes open for more.
Cheers
Dave
Hi everyone,
I’ve just been talking with the daughter of Eric (Bill) Fear, Ann, who remembers moving to no.84 in the Hutments in about 1947, having previously been lodging in the village.
Her father was one of the draughtsmen at Hursley (working with ‘Alf’ Faddy). She was a teenager at the time and started to work for Supermarine at Hursley as a Tracer in the early 1950s.
Does anyone remember the family?
Hi Pauline,
Thanks for posting. Like Peter I’m very interested in some of what you have said, albeit from a slightly different angle, in my case that of Supermarine and Hursley Park.
I would be very interested in anything that you would be willing to share with regard to your mother’s and father’s time with Supermarine. My contact email should be available by clicking on my “gravatar” (picture) … if not let me know here.
Please do get in touch as you’d be surprised how important the seemingly little details can be, or what turns up … we even managed to find a couple of pictures of Peter’s father! Also, there is a list of the people who worked in the Drawing Office on the Spitfire, but this list was made in the 1980’s from very incomplete recollections and doesn’t include many of those who joined later and worked on planes like the Attacker, Swift and Scimitar, so it’s really important to try and make sure the record is as complete as it can be and anything you can add would be fantastic.
The wedding in Hursley in 1940 sounds like a story in itself!
I hope we can chat soon, thanks again for posting
Dave
Hi Dave
Didn’t read this on first!
I remember the large photo outside Hursley Park when l was young!
Have pictures of 1 my Mum and Dad outside Hursley church 2 a tennis team either Hursley or Hursley Park and 3 my Mum and Dad outside their hutment
Happy to send them if you think they could be of interest
My Dad later went to work for IBM at Hursley Park about 1960.Have a photo of me as a teenager at an open day one Sunday at IBM. Dad was there until he retired in about 1970 Have no other details
Regards Pauline
my family, the houghtons – and me! lived at 82, next door to the fehers. remember anne who used to do some dressmakingg for my mum.
Hi Pauline,
I wondered if you knew what your father did in Drawing Office, when he joined or who he worked with? I only ask (apart from my general interest!) as I was looking at a photo of some of the Spitfire design team from the 1930’s and one was labelled as “Johnston” so I wondered if it might be him?
Regards
Dave
Sorry Dave but I don’t know what he did but I don’t think it would be him.Are you able to email a copy of the photo?
Regards Pauline
Hi Pauline,
Thanks for getting back to me. If you can send me an email ( hursley.park@gmail.com ) I will send you a copy ( and there are others we can check) Also you never know, we may be able to find out more other ways too.
So I’d love to have a chat about it all, especially since your dad went on to work for IBM, he may have known my dad, Brian Key, who was one of the first 100 IBMers at Hursley!
Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best
Dave
Hi Nick
You mention Helen and Fred Stone (I don’t think there was an ‘s’ on the end, but can’t be certain) from the Hutments … seem to remember going in to the Hutments from Hursley Road along the path by the phone box to their hutment, but can’t remember the number … Helen and my mum used to work together at Vickers when they took over Percy Hendy’s in Bournemouth Road … all hush hush stuff in those days of course, but I since believe it was ‘parts assembly’ for Spitfires … Helen and Fred became good friends with my parents, Harold and Dorothy, and I clearly remember a Christmas present from them of a ‘full-size’ bike and another of some Meccano … I have a photo which has Helen in it if you are interested, but none with Fred I’m afraid.
Janet Williams would possibly be happy to supply you with my e-mail address.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for helping to add to the story!
If you don’t mind me asking I’d be very interested in chatting about what you know of your family’s links with Supermarine, Hursley and Hendy’s etc.
Bit by bit we’re putting together a much better picture of not only the Hutments themselves but the people who lived there and how this helps tell the story of Supermarine in a way never told before.
Earlier this year some of the stories uncovered and retold here featured in the Nuffield Theatre’s community project “Out of the Shadows” when they visited Chandler’s Ford to tell about the Spitfire dispersal and the places they requisitioned, including Hendy’s. They also helped at the Heritage Open Day in Hursley Park where I was able to include some stories and details about the Hutments in the display there.
But I know there is so much more to find out and anything you can tell me would be fantastic.
Also, I do have some pictures of some of the workers in Hendy’s during the war. If you’re interested I can get a copy of them to you, you never know you may even recognise some of the faces!
My contact is on the gravatar, (click on the image) and check my details, if you have a problem let me know.
Thanks again for posting.
All the best
Dave
Hi Alison,
Great to see all the recent postings about the Hutments. I moved to no. 40, together with my parents Graham and Esme Keen in January 1952, having previously lived in Woolston (Southampton). My Father was a draughtsman at Hursley Park. Despite the passage of 60 years, I still retain many pleasant memories of those years, and of some of the people who lived there.
I think that I might have known your Aunt Annie. You mentioned about her playing the organ occasionally at St. Mark’s Ampfield. I used to regularly attend the Sunday School there, and we travelled by Jones Coaches of Hursley. I recall a Mrs Carter playing the organ, and I occasionally used to operate the hand pump for her. This simple activity had far reaching consequences. It fired my interest in the organ, and later on as a teenager I learned to play both the piano and organ, went to Music College, and on graduation, became Head of Music at a Secondary School in Swindon.
We left the Hutments on October 12th 1956 and moved to the Village of Aldbourne, south of Swindon. I finally left there in November 2000, having lost both my parents. I now live in Harrogate.
I wonder if by any chance your Aunt remembers me, and if so I send her my warmest wishes. It would be so nice to have the opportunity to write to her.
All good wishes,
Allan Keen
Hi, I lived at 82 the Hutments, from when I was born in 1950, until we left in about 1955 or 6.
My parents and brother had been there from about 1940? My father worked at Vickers, and our family name was Houghton. I remember the next door’s name was Middleditch, and they moved in after another family, the Hamiltons left. Opposite were a family called Carter, and another called Andrews.
I have a few family photos, and remember the place with fondness. I am very interested in the history of the Hutments, but I have been unable to find out much.
Best wishes,
Cathy
Hi,
I would also be very interested in any of the stories, photos etc. of the Hutments and of the time people spent at Hursley Park with Supermarine.
I am the, voluntary, historian for the site and have be trying to piece together a more complete history of the estate, so personal recollections etc. like this are absolute gold-dust.
If you do have anything that might help with that history (not just Supermarine or the Hutments) and would be willing enough to share it with me I’d love to hear from you. This is my research email.
Good luck with the project Nick, I’ll look forward to seeing the results! I do have some material at Hursley so feel free to contact me. Also there is a little on them in Ampfield through the Ages.
Regards,
Dave
Hi Cathy,
I lived at the Hutments from 1947 until 1959 when the estate was finally closed.
There were two Houghton families I remember those of Ray Houghton and Frankie Houghton.Does either name connect?
Simon Watson
hi, glad someone remembers the Houghtons. My brother was Ray.
Hi Cathy,
Is Ray still alive?
Simon Watson
yes, Ray is still alive
My parents and I moved to Hursley Road in 1954.
I remember the hutments on the corner of Hursley & Hook roads. The lasting picture in my mind is of squared type huts, not the rounded metal huts found off Hiltingbury Road. They had almost Tudor-like wooden outside framework, and I remember one or more had their square panels, between these wooden framed, painted pink. I remember roses growing around at least one such building, near the corner.
My parents and I used to pick the blackberries from the bushes on the opposite side of Hook Road, and also from the area behind Hook Crescent and Hook Close.
We also used to take frequent walks in the area, and from our home, opposite Pine Road, up Hursley Road, turn left down Hook Road, and back home either through the path from the top of the hill in Hook Road back to Baddesley Road, (crossing an as yet unmade-up Beechwood Crescent – paved with large and small sea stones), or, more ambitiously, right the way along Hook Road to The Potters Heron, left to and through Ampfield, and home via Pound Lane and Baddesley Road, turning at the sharp corner near St.John’s Church.
These walks took us, of course, past the hutments.
I also remember that there was a small shop, on the opposite (east) side of Hursley Road, at someone’s gate. This was, I assumed, to sell greengrocery items to those living thereabouts, including in the hutments.
It was while I was at Secondary School (1958-1963) that the area was re-developed by Chilworth Estates Ltd., who built the houses occupying the land now.
Great Site – My name is Martin Vear, formally of “Robin Hill”, Hook Road (1962-80). My late father Brian Vear had a successful building company in Chandler’s Ford (still trading today). I now reside in Guernsey.
Growing up in Ampfield at the age of 13, I purchased a metal detector – the amount of WW2 items I found in our back garden, Hook Woods and the Straight Mile were incredible (I still possess many of the relics).
The top corner of Hook Woods (Hook Road / Hursley Road) were occupied by the US Quartermaster Corps prior to D-Day. I recall finding uniform badges, munitions, and a Vickers Armstrong Supermarine lapel badge locally – probably from someone who worked in Hursley Park. In the late 1960’s I went to the John Keble Memorial (primary) school and can remember two spitfire wings propped-up on the adjacent hanger – I believe the WW2 hanger was used by “Initial Services” – freight company.
There were also a couple of aircraft canopies on Hawstead Farm; I think one was from a Spitfire, the other a Swift.
Hi Martin
This is not related to this post . I am trying to find Laura your sister . I lost touch with her many years ago and have been trying to find her for years with no luck . Do you still keep in touch with her and are you able to help . Thanks Angela
I was excited to come across this website. I was born in the Hutments in 1947 to Rose and Norman Kasper. We lived at 26 Hook Road from 1946? to 1950?….not sure of exact dates. My Dad Norman worked at Vikers and I have some vivid memories of the inside of the Hutments and have a photo taken outside. We lived next door to a couple to eventually emigrated to New Zealand with their daughter and whose name escapes me at the moment.
Hi Brenda,
I’d be really interested to hear more about your time at the Hutments and any memories you might have of your father’s time with Supermarine if you would be willing to share them with me. I think you should be able to get my email off my profile if you like to send a private message, if not let me know.
Thanks,
Dave
Re Brenda Kasper’s post. I lived at No.30 Hook Road and the couple she refers to were Ruth and Forbes Brown, who emigrated to New Zealand with their daughter Heather.
I lived there from 1947 and we were the last to leave in 1959. (We did turn out the lights!!)
I shall be adding some more.
I have come to this discussion thread rather late, but hope it is still ongoing. I too was a child of the hutments in the 1950s. I was just searching the internet for a layout plan or map of the hutments and came across your website, which immediately aroused my interest.
My parents, John Frederick Russell and Claudia Ruth Russell, moved from central Winchester to No.42 Hook Road around 1947. My father worked initially for Supermarine at Woolston, then Vickers at Hursley Park, as a stress engineer. I was born in Winchester County Hospital in June 1950. We lived at No.42 until 1955 when we moved to a new detached house on the opposite (east) side of Hursley Road, just below the Hiltingbury Road junction. My brother Stewart had been born in August 1955 at Rookwood Nursing Home, Eastleigh.
We were all at the new house only until 1956, when Vickers effectively required my father to move to its South Marston plant at Swindon. I gather many other Vickers staff from Hursley followed the same career route via the hutments. Our Swindon stay lasted only until early 1958, when Vickers once again confronted staff with moves to other plants, notably Weybridge HQ or Hurn (Bournemouth). Happily, my father chose Hurn and we moved to Ferndown in June 1958. So I remained a Wessex lad!
I have fond memories of our cosy hutment, the garden and playing in the roadway and over in Hocombe Woods. The hutment walls were apparently made of double-skin panels of asbestos sheet with compressed bracken insulation in between, which retained the warmth inside the house. There were indeed narrow black wooden strips on the outside, whether decorative or structural. Does anyone recall the meeting room hall with its small round stove in the centre, located in the woodland strip between the estate and Hursley Road?
My mother is nearing 95, still living in East Dorset and, while largely housebound, is still mentally as sharp as a pin. I plan to record her memories of the hutments ASAP, which are still vivid.
It’s interesting to read about the other families. My parents were friends with the Carters, Edwin being almost an exact contemporary with me. We met them quite often at Swindon later on, but lost touch subsequently. The family name of the Keens is also vaguely familiar, and they must have been immediate neighbours at No.40. I am currently in touch with another child of the hutments, Katherine Hannaford, whose parents Ted and Joan, followed a virtually identical path from Southampton to Hursley, Swindon and Hurn. They lived somewhere on the north or west end of the hutments estate. Katherine now lives only a short distance from my mother in East Dorset. I have lived in Herefordshire since 1979.
Of special value to me is an outdoor colour photo I have of our hutment, the neighbouring ones and the service road on the south side of the estate. It was taken by my mother’s father when my parents moved in and shows them outside No.42 with my grandfather’s car. I have scanned this onto my computer and am willing to share it if David Key can tell me where and how to send it to the website. It is very clear and sharp, a period classic and a real treasure. My mother also has some small black-and-white prints of home and garden at No.42, although none take inside the hutment, sadly. I shall dig these out.
Dear Peter,
The thread is still very much alive and your post is more than welcome, as are you yourself!
Thank you for all the wonderfully detailed recollections.
If you are still looking for a picture of the arrangement of the hutments there is a sketch in Elizabeth Hallett and Anita Wood’s “Ampfield through the Ages”, published in 2000, which has a chapter on them. If you have a problem getting hold of a copy let me know.
However, you have now let a very big cat out of the bag so please excuse me if I now shamelessly quiz and beg favours from you as this is exactly the sort of information I am trying to collect on Supermarine and Hursley Park!
I would absolutely love to see any and all pictures or memorabilia of your family’s links to Supermarine and to the hutments. Also, I will be very interested to hear your mother’s recollections so please do record them! If you do I would also be very interested in any recollections she might have of your father’s time with Supermarine. I appreciate it’s a bit cheeky asking but personal memories like you have already given for the huts really help to explain what it was like in a way that official company production figures and statistics never can. For example it’s not just the actual work (although I’d still be interested in anything on that front too!!) but also what it was like and how families like yours coped with all the changes and stresses of the war and post war periods. Also recollections of co-workers and management etc., they don’t have to be formal. Quite often silly anecdotes and comic incidents are the most interesting … and curiously also often the most informative!
Are you also planning on talking to Katherine Hannaford about her parents and any other ex-Supermariners who may know? Maybe it might be possible for you to pass on my details and my interest in Supermarine and Hursley Park to them, as I’d be very interested in hearing their memories if they are happy to tell me them.
You also mentioned that your father was a stress engineer. Do you know who he worked with or which department, or which planes he worked on? If he started at Woolston he must have gone through the whole transition from bi-planes like the Walrus to the jet-engined Scimitar! Quite a transition and stress was one of the biggest problems that had to be solved as the planes moved towards supersonic speeds.
With regard to posting the pictures … I have to confess I have sent blogs and pictures to Janet ( janet@chandlersfordtoday.co.uk ) who has handled that side of things. Otherwise my research email is on my “gravatar”. If you click on my photo you should (hopefully) see the contact email, if not let me know!
Many thanks again for your brilliant post and I await the next instalment!
I’m equally intrigued by these stories. Many thanks for the contribution of all of you.
Peter, yes feel free to send me stories and photos and I’m happy to publish them with your permission.
I’m glad this article has generated so much interest, and the discussion on this thread is historically significant. Once again, thank you for keeping the story alive.
Just a little update ….
Peter and I have been continuing to discuss some of his family’s links with the Hutments and Supermarine. Hopefully we’ll be able to add a little more to the story soon.
However, we’re both interested in hearing from others who have either already commented or who may not have done so yet.
The interest in both the Hutments and Supermarine stories, combined with the number of those who have their own memories of them, or whose relatives have memories of them, made me wonder whether it might be worthwhile having a get together, a “reunion” of sorts, to meet, exchange and record these memories.
I’m happy to do it on an individual basis if people get in touch or I’m sure somewhere like the Library or maybe even Hursley Park could be used and the the results published here.
What do people think?
Dear Peter,
My family lived at 56 the Hutments until November 1954. I’m not sure how long we lived there but I was born in 1948 at Romsey hospital. I have very fond memories of the place seemed so big at the time. My father John Treharne worked at Vickers and my name is Dilys and now live in Shaftesbury Dorset. I was friendly with Kathrine and stayed with her parents when my parents moved to Valley Road Chandler’s Ford. Would love to hear from her.
Dear Dilys,
A warm welcome and thank you for your post.
I’d love to learn a little more about your time at the Hutments and what your father did at Vickers Supermarine.
As you may have seen in some of the previous comments Peter and I are both looking to tell the story of the Hutments and the people who lived there. We’d would love to talk to you if possible?
If that’s OK you can find my email by clicking on my picture. This shows my “gravatar” which if you show the full profile the email is at the bottom on the left. If you have a problem let me know!
Many thanks!
Dave
I will do that but I warn you that I muddle through as I’m not very technicaly minded so pure luck if I manage to get things right , best wishes dilys
Hi Dilys,
Thanks, don’t worry too much if you can’t find it. Your reply to Peter is fantastic and I’ll look forward to hearing any more that you and your sister can dig up!
There are some pictures of the Supermarine team probably from the early 1950s so he might be in one of those if you are interested in checking?
I couldn’t find his name on the list I have of those who worked on the Spitfire (although that list is just those that some of the old Supermariners could remember) but if you were there in the late 1940s he may have been working on the jets like the Attacker and Swift.
I’ll see if I can find anything to add but if you remember anything let me know!
Thanks again for getting back in touch
All the best
Dave
Dear Dilys,
I must apologise for the slow follow-up to your posting on 29.12.2017. I’ve been trying to ask my mother Ruth Russell if she remembers your family, but she’s had awful flu over the Xmas-New Year period and has only just recovered her hearing! Tonight, she says she does indeed remember your family, as your garden backed onto the Honeycombs at No.40, who were our neighbours (later the Keens). She says the Martins were your immediate neighbours at 54(?) in the cul-de-sac part (or 58, depending on which way the numbers ran), and their garden backed onto ours. Can you verify that information? Mother can’t recall your mother’s name, but does remember giving your father John some tea one day when your mother was away somewhere (how’s that for a sharp memory at 96?!). She also remembers you had a brother born about 1955, about the same time as my brother, but we left our hutment shortly afterwards.
I’ve just spoken to Katherine Hannaford, whose family also lived in the cul-de-sac, but I’m sorry to say she can’t recall you or anyone else in the estate, as she remembers almost nothing of the hutments at all, even her family’s hutment number. We both attended Hursley Primary School about three years apart.
With best wishes,
Peter
dear peter thanks for your reply I’m afraid I don’t recall any other names only the hannafords , the name I can recall from hursley school was phillip dennis , he gave me a small doll once and my mother made her a lace dress and she was used for the xmas tree for quite a few years I don’t remember the going of her though, I remember there seemed to be a lot of yellow gorse bushes about and we were able to play outside for hours . my mothers name was ellen and I know her mother was frequently ill needing my mum and aunty to take turns to care for her, my brother was born in 1951 and when we left in 1954 mum was pregnant with my sister who was born feb., 1955 when we lived at valley road. I’m not sure what my father did at Vickers but he used to do technical drawing and on my birth certificate he was a engineer, ill speak to my older sister she may have some names she was born in 1940 they moved to the hutments from the crescent in Eastleigh not sure when though. best wishes dilys
slight amendment to the above we lived at 58 the hutments not 56, I found my mothers ration book and noted the address, also my father was a fitter at Vickers supermarine not any drawing ! ive spoken to my sister and she has memories of the hutments but will get together with her and try to write down what she remembers, she is also fascinated with this site, regards dilys
Hi Dilys,
Thanks for the update!
If he was a fitter up at Hursley for Supermarine I guess he would have been working in the Experimental Hangar, next to the village school?
The Experimental Hangar was a self-container team under Frank Perry who made all of the prototype aircraft. By the late 1940s this would have included the new jet fighters like the Attacker, Swift and Scimitar prototypes. Since they made the aircraft and the tools needed for it they included fitters amongst their number, interestingly including at least two ladies (Ivy Leonard and Eileen Reeves).
I’d love to hear anything else your sister and you can remember or discover about the hutments and your father and what he did at Supermarine.
Thanks
Dave
hi Dave,
I spoke to my sister and she can remember whilst at Hursley school when they tested the engines in the hanger next to the school. Lessons were suspended as the noise was so loud. My father worked at Bristol in the aircraft industry in th 1930s, not sure of exact dates. He was also at Yeovil then I believe. Moved to Eastleigh and worked for Vickers at Woolston before moving to Hursley, and the Huttments. Will try to find out more.
sorry this reply has taken so long after speaking to my sister she said she would jot down what she could remember, unfortunatly she became very ill last year during covid and lockdown and she sadly passed away october 2020 and her notes were i think disposed of so im afraid i cant be any more help. never the less i still enjoy reading about the hutments.
Hi Dilys,
So sorry to hear about your sister. Thank you for all you have already contributed to telling the story and please do keep in touch.
Ironically I was at a book launch this evening for a local writer who has just got her 2nd book published under the title “Treachery at Hursley Park House” and the excerpt she read was set in the Hutments!
All the very best
Dave
Hello, years late in this response but I have only just discovered the site.
My family, Eddie Martin, Vera Martin, and us kids, Alan, Peter, Derek and me…Joyce lived at the Hutments for some years, and in two or more different huts. The first one I remember was up near Hook Road and opposite the chestnut woods in which we used to play and our cat is buried there. The other one was on the Hursley Road. My mother used to take me to the community hut that was there to lay out the tables and chairs and light the stove ready for the weekly whist drive. i remember it was flanked by bamboo and was a bit spooky in the dark evenings. Sadly most of our family are gone now but I have one brother left, Derek who now lives in Devon and I will email him and see if there are any photos of that time in the family albums.
I love that photo with the monkey puzzle tree, I remember walking past it many times, it’s a really great photo of a really great place to live. I will post more memories as they come to light.
Hi Joyce,
My apologies for not replying sooner but somehow I missed your post. May I ask whether your parents worked for Supermarine and if it’s OK whether it would be possible to talk a little bit about them and what they did so I can include it in the research on the men and women who worked for Supermarine, ‘The Supermariners’
https://supermariners.wordpress.com/
All the best
Dave
I have just discovered this site and am amazed at the amount of material and memories about the Hutments. My family lived in nearby Beechwood Close, initially in a Nissen hut erected by my father in 1948 – and later in a bungalow which he built on the same site.
I well remember the Hutments and some of the people who lived there, including children who, like me, attended Hursley primary school. I particularly recall waiting at the bus stop beside the phone box road for the 46 bus to take us to school with Catherine Houghton and John Middleditch and recall, visiting the latter’s home and playing with his Meccano set. There was also a family named Bowditch and my older brother Grant was friendly with the son Sean. For a time Grant did a paper round at the ‘Families’ camp and ‘Polish’ camp in Hiltingbury Road.
We attended St. Mark’s Ampfield (vicar O. P. Joce) where my sister Pat and Grant sang in the choir. Jones’ coaches ferried us to Sunday school and once a month a small service was held in a sort of chapel in the Hutments. There was also a family named Bell, I think, and the daughter Eileen also was a chorister. I also remember the fruit stall at someone’s gate in Hurley Road near the Hocombe Road junction but cannot bring to mind the owner’s name. He was an elderly man with very rosy cheeks; given a bit of time the name will return!
When the last of the families moved out of the Hutments the site lay derelict for a while and we used to cycle round its tarmac roads. A sign on the corner of Hook and Hursley roads announced that the site had been acquired for a hotel but this never came to pass. The whole area was developed with houses and no trace remains.
Dear John, I was so interested in the comments about the Hutments, as I too remember them well as I lived in Baddesley road right next to the little path leading up to Beechwood Close, I also remember your Father well, as he lodged with us (Stocker family) until he was able to start on the Nissen hut, & later building the bungalow.
I used to go up the path & watched him building it.
At that time we had ration books & when they needed to be renewed I collected them from the people at the hutments to save them a walk. I was about 8 or 9 years old.
The gentleman who sold fruit & veg from his gate in Hursley Road was Mr. Warden.
Dear John & Cynthia,
I hope you don’t mind my asking but I’d very very interested in chatting with you about the hutments and your families ties with them and the people living there?
In particular I was curious about how John’s father came to be lodging with Cynthia’s family as I know a lot of Supermarine workers did, some in Hursley etc., but exactly how this was “organised” (if at all) isn’t very clear to me at least, nor what the arrangements were once lodged.
Also, as I’m sure you have seen from my other comments on this thread, anything you can remember about the area at the time and what was going on would be really helpful!
My email should be on my gravatar if you’d like to discuss privately.
Many thanks,
Dave
Hello Dave, I would love to be able to help you, but i have no idea how Mr. Wilkinson came to lodge with us. He came with a gentleman, Mr. Hallam, I believe they were working together. Mr. Hallam was also looking for a house in Chandlersford for his family. I also have “Ampfield through the ages”, There is a photograph of a group of children at a party to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. I made some of the hats they were wearing, & i had a baby sitting on my lap, but as there were so many children around him you can’t see him. I was 15 at the time. I remember quite a lot of the war years, American soldiers living in tents, in the woods opposite where we lived. The bomb that was dropped in Hiltingbury Road,it shook our house so violently that it left cracks on the ceiling & walls. Large convoys of American soldiers used to go along Hursley Road, when they saw us children, to our delight they threw chewing gum & pennies. One night i saw a German coming down on a parachute, to me he looked as if he was going to land so very close. When the German plane came down in Flexford Road, we all ran down to look at it. I seem to remember another plane coming down shooting at us. Also, some time during the war i remember standing on a bank on Hursley Road , & i saw King George walking along that road with a group of other men. I have no idea who they were. I was very young at the time & i was so disappointed that he wasn’t wearing a crown! After the war i well remember the Families camp,& the German prisoners. Then later old buses appearing in woods around Hiltingbury area with families living in them. I’m sorry that i am not very good at writing all this down, but computers & e-mails are all quite new to me, & very tiring ! Good luck with your project. Cynthia
Hi Cynthia,
Thank you for all of that, absolutely wonderful and certainly no need to apologise for anything. It’s all great stuff and really interesting.
Do you know whether Mr Wilkinson &/or Mr Hallam were working for Supermarine or another company? It’s not a problem if you don’t know I was just curious.
Your mention of the US soldiers reminded me that I have a picture of some of them waiting in the grounds of Hursley Park ready to go down to Southampton for embarkation to Normandy on 20th June. The caption reads simply reads:
Awaiting transportation to Normandy
6 a.m. Cold as hell
succinct and to the point I suppose 😉
Thank you again for all your wonderful memories (I wonder when and why the King was there?) and if you happen to remember any more … I’d be very interested to hear them, but only as and when (maybe if) you feel up to it.
Thank you again for all of your comments. Lots of work still to do but the project is coming along.
Regards
Dave
Hi All,
I am Cynthia’s son. I thought I would see if I could find anything else out about King George being in Chandler’s Ford.
I discovered there were 4 D-Day marshalling camps in Chandler’s Ford / Hiltingbury. With a capacity of 11,000 men and 2,000 vehicles they were the largest group of camps in all the marshalling areas.
I found a link suggesting there are photos on display in Cranbury Park from when King George VI, Eisenhower and Montgomery visited Cranbury Park in the run up to D-Day to review Canadian Troops.
Most interestingly of all I found a comment in a blog by ‘Peter’ which said:
“One evening my mother was cycling back from visiting her parents when she saw King George VI and Winston Churchill talking with soldiers at the corner of Brownhill Road and Park Road”. This was in the run-up to D-Day. It was quite a long comment and has lots more interesting detail, I have put a link to this and my other sources below (hope that’s OK).
sources:
Cranbury Park – NGS
Chandler’s Ford History: Chandler’s Ford Dateline
D-Day marshalling area camps C6, C7, C8 and C9, Hiltingbury – D-Day Museum and Overlord Embroidery
Dear Cynthia and Dave
How very pleasing it is to be in touch with others who remember the Hutments and the surrounding area. Particularly the fact that you, Cynthia, remember my father. I was born in October 1949 by which time we were already installed in the Nissen hut in Beechwood Crescent. I had no idea that my father had lodged with you prior to assembling the ‘hut’ as we affectionately called it. And yes he built it with the help of Bill Hallam and together the built two on adjoining plots, thus the Hallams were our next door neighbours. Regrettably they ‘fell out’ over some minor issue and at some later date, probably around 1954 the Hallams moved up north. I believe my sister Pat was in touch with them for a number of years after; I will check with her, since she is nine years older than me she will likely remember more.
And yes, Dave, my dad did indeed work for Vickers Supermarine. As a trained cabinet maker he was involved in making what he called ‘bend blocks’, which l believe were used to shape metal around. I’m a bit sketchy on the technicalities and it is a great many years ago; my dad died in 1982 and mum in 1993 so I cannot elaborate on the work he was involved in. I cannot recall if Bill Hallam was at Vickers too – although it seems likely. Another craftsman in wood who also lived in Beechwood Crescent, Ted Arney, I think also worked at Vickers. Previously dad had worked for J.I. Thorneycroft (shipbuilder) in Southampton on the Queen Mary and possibly the Queen Elizabeth when they were returned to service as liners. This involved much replacement joinery work employing hundreds of craftsmen and was the reason my family had moved south from their house in Balham, south London.
As a coda to the Vickers story, it was a standing joke in our family that my father was a film star. During the shooting of David Lean’s movie ‘The Sound Barrier’, my dad, along with scores of other employees, were used as ‘extras’ at Chilbolton aerodrome where shots of the Supermarine Swift taxiing, taking off and landing were filmed. Many, many years later in my time as a film editor at the BBC in London I had a chance to examine the film carefully. Sadly the views with the ‘extras’ following the plane into the hanger shows only their backs – but apparently dad is the only one wearing a bib and brace boilersuit.
Finally, the name Mr Warden came to me, and it is good to have it confirmed.
With best wishes
John
Thank you all for sharing your memories here. Beautiful!
I truly enjoy reading this thread of stories – so well written, with such precious memories.
These comments are of high quality and have formed a highly meaningful conversation.
Thank you all once again.
The fruit and vegetable stall was in the driveway of Mr and Mrs Warden. He was reportedly an avid Communist (according to my late Mother). Their house was called “Rothville” and is now a small cul-de-sac called Rothville Place. On the opposite side of Hursley Road was a bus stop and telephone kiosk and behind that was The Nursery Hut surrounded by exotic shrubs; all that remained of the large nursery garden that was replaced by the Hutments.
On some old maps the area of the Hutments is called Hocombe Plantation.
Dear Peter,
I have been following with interest the various postings re: The Hutments. I did a posting myself some time ago.
Your posting was very good and brought back so many pleasant memories of my 4 years living in Hook Road.
You mentioned a family called Keen who you assumed lived at no 40. You are absolutely right! I moved there with my parents Graham and Esme in Janaury 1952. I started School at Kings Road Chandlers Ford just a few days before the death of King George VI. I had my happiest schooldays there.
I think it was about 1941 that my Father started working at Hursley Park in the Drawing Office. He lived firstly in digs in Southampton. My Mother stayed in Cheltenham initially as she was a typist at the War Office, on the site of the present GCHQ.
You may be quite surpried to hear that I do remember you and your Mother and Father well I am a bit older than you, having reached 70 in July. (I may be wrong, but did your Father ride a bike to and from work?)
I can remember quite a number of people from the Hutments, but they are by and large families who lived nearby.
I do remeber the Carters who lived next door to us. They had a son Brian who the same age as myself. I seem to recall that Mr. Carter died while we were still living there.
We were also very friendly with a family named Evans who lived opposite us. There was Tom and Iris and a daughter Janet (also of my vintage). Iris died in the erly 90s and we went to her funeral in Stratton St Margaret, and Tom came to my mother’s funeral in 1996. I think the last time I saw Tom and Janet was at a ‘Spitfire Reunion’ a year or so later.
Like your Father, my Father was tranferred to South Marston, and thus we left on October 12th 1956, exactly 60 years ago. We did not want to live in Swindon itself, so we bought a house in the village of Aldbourne. As I say, My Mother died in 1996, and my Father spent the last 18 months of his life in a nursing home. He died in 2001.
I made a sad decision to sell the house, and moved to Dorset (wrong move!). For the last 11 years I have been living in Harrogate, North Yorkshire with Margaret, a friend whom I first met during my College days in Manhaster in the mid 60’s.
I am very pleased to hear that your Mother is still alive and of a great age. (My own Parents got nowhere near that!) Your Mother will probably not remeber me but if she does please give her my best wishes.
With very best wishes,
Allan.
Hi Allan,
I hope you don’t mind me asking but would you be prepared to recount any of your memories of your father’s time with Supermarine and how it affected your family?
As I suspect you have gathered from my replies to other posts, I am the (volunteer) historian for Hursley Park so anything on the people who came to work there for Supermarine is of real interest to me. Also as a result of researching Supermarine from the perspective of Hursley I have become very interested in the whole story of the people involved in the “dispersal” of Spitfire production that brought the company to the area, and how eventually they were moved again to South Marston, Weybridge etc.
It’s a fascinating story but surprisingly little told, so anything would be of real interest. For example did your father work for Supermarine before coming to Hursley (you mentioned digs in Southampton), do you know what he did whilst he was there?
If you would be interested in chatting please either email me directly or reply via this page, it would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks
Dave
Hi Allan,
I took the opportunity to do a little digging and noticed that G. Keen is listed amongst the Technical Office (who did the stress and aerodynamic calculations etc. as opposed to the Draughtsmen of the Drawing Office who did the designs but all part of the Supermarine Design Office … TO, DO etc get banded around alot!) in “The Spitfire Book” which was a list of all those who worked on the Spitfire based on the recollections of some of those still around in the 1980s when it was compiled. So I wondered if that is your father and if it fits what you recall?
Also, I managed to find a 1955 Supermarine Design Office Christmas Meal menu where on of the entertainments is listed as “‘Fatima’ ‘Earl of the Orient’ – E.Keen” Quite what these entertainments entailed is a mystery, and maybe one left in the 1950s?
Anyway if any of this is of interest (there are some pictures of staff both at work and at the Christmas meals) let me know. Maybe you can identify him amongst the staff outside Hursley Park in 1943 that is on my gravatar?
Regards
Dave
Hi Dave
Just came across this site.
My mother Eileen Bell was mentioned in a note from John Wilkinson earlier in the string, and I have just come off the phone to her.
She moved into No8 the hutments in about 1941 when she was about 3 years old and lived there with her family Oswald and Nora Bell and her older brother Leslie for about 15 years.
She fondly remembers the wardens and a special mention for Pat Wilkinson whom she occasionally still corespondes with.
She mentioned that due to bomb damage the family temporarily moved to a farmhouse in Farley prior to being one of the first to live in the hutments.
Grandad was nicknamed Ossie and worked for Vickers Armstrong from Jan 1934 for about 37 years in the dwg office. Son Leslie following in his footsteps.
When grandad was working overtime, mum recalls time playing in Hursley park and seeing the “salt bath” run by a Mr Leigh. Apparently something to do with treating aeroplane metal, although it does not sound a great idea! She also remembers a Mrs Pearce, a bit of a character working in the park canteen.
When my Grandad retired, his workmates produced a scroll which amongst a listing of his working life and a great deal of signatures of old employees there is a poem which contains what sounds like a load of jokes about aeroplane design and draughting.
If you think it might be of interest, I would be able to sort out a copy Dave.
Regards
Steve Fowler
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your post.
I would certainly be very interested in seeing the scroll and poem, indeed anything about your grandfather’s time with Supermarine, or in Southampton and then the family move out of the city during the war, would be really interesting if you are prepared to share them.
If you’d like to chat or send the info privately you should be able to get my email from my account details. If not let me know.
Thanks again. Everything you’ve already written is really interesting and more would be a real bonus! Really appreciated.
Regards
Dave
Hi Steve,
I had a look in ‘The Spitfire Book’ which lists all of the members of the Supermarine Design Team who surviving members of the team could recall when they collated the ‘book’ in the mid 1990’s. Amongst the “Draughtsmen and Drawing Office Staff’ is “O.Bell”.
I assume that you are referring to Farley Chamberlayne? Do you know which farm or who they stayed with? OR where their old house in Southampton was?
I also meant to mention that I would love to hear more not only about Ossie’s time but about both your mother’s recollections e.g. of Hursley and Hursley Park in particular and any of her elder brother’s too. Do you have any idea of the work they did or anything of their colleagues??
The research I’m doing is all about the estate and (increasingly) the village, and Leslie’s time at Supermarine, especially how it differed from his father’s time there would be very interesting.
My apologies for so many questions, I hope you don’t mind but you post has opened so many extra parts of ‘the story’ I’m afraid i couldn’t resist!
All the best
Dave
Just a quick note as a follow on to Steve’s help in tracking down Supermariners like his mother and so others can also hear the answers to my questions.
The Bell family moved to Farley Chamberlayne, probably Glebe Cottage, after being bombed out. They stayed until the Hutments were ready. What is really great is as a result more pictures have come to light including what for me is great are pictures of the family in Hursley Park, but also some very rare pictures of Supermarine before the war!
The poem Steve mentioned is also wonderful as it’s a potted history of his time at Supermarine, which appears to have ended with his work on the Vickers-Armstrongs Hovercrafts back down at the old Itchen Works in Southampton!
So a big thank you to Steve and his family from me!
Hello Allan,
Thanks for your response to my posting. My mother’s memory was pretty accurate. I spoke to her on 28th September. She remembers your family well and occasionally asked your mother to look after my younger brother. Yes, my father did ride a bike to Hursley Park to work, and he fell off on ice one day and was hit by the Vickers works bus, ending up in hospital for weeks. The story is recalled in a book on the history of Ampfield parish.
Your hutment was occupied by the Honeycombs until your family arrived in 1952. Neither my mother nor I recall a Carter family next door (No.38?) but, as I mentioned earlier, we were friends with another Carter family round the corner at No.72 (see Alison Carter Tai’s posting on the website). The father was Brian, but he survived long after the hutments went. We knew Tom and Iris Evans and daughter Janet well, also visiting them at Swindon later.
My mother recalls going with my father to the last Spitfire reunion in Southampton, at the Echo office. She has a commemoration mug, but it gives the date as 1994.
Where did you live in Dorset, as I grew up around Wimborne?
If you can remember more families at Hook Road, I am trying to list them in a table against house numbers, but I have yet to find a large-scale map of the estate that numbers individual hutments.
Best wishes,
Peter
Allan,
I just happened across this fascinating thread by accident (I grew up on Leigh Road), and was most interested to see that you went to King’s Road school. That rang bells, since that’s where I began school, too, and I distinctly remember your name, though after all this time I’m having trouble putting a face to it! I wonder if you remember me?
Apologies to everyone else for intruding on this interesting story, which has evoked pleasant memories for me, having spent many happy hours playing in the area in the years before Chandlers Ford became what it is today!
Ray Mansell
Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread with additional information regarding The Hutments. Special thanks to Catherine Isherwood and Pauline Ferguson because I actually remember them!! (even though I was only 4 years old when we left The Hutments for Bitterne in Southampton (Ferndene Way).
To Peter Russell: I have definitely seen a site layout which showed the numbers of the buildings, I think this was either in my research in the National Archives at Kew or in A history of Ampfield available at most local libraries – maybe others can confirm/clarify this.
I too would be keen to see this completed and will happily contribute whatever I can.
Again thanks to all – I couldn’t possibly have expected such a wealth of memories! 🙂
Hi Nick,
As far as I have found …
– The book “A history of Ampfield” does have a layout but only numbers 1 to 8
– The only online maps (national library of Scotland has many Ordnance Survey maps but not the one we need in close scale … 1938 revision (not built) and 1960s (demolished) but you can see the layout in a couple of them.
– There “may” be a reference in the Cambridge University library Vickers archive … I saw a reference “after” I’d returned from there!! However not sure how much detail will be involved
– Will do some digging for a National Archives reference
If someone has a chance to look in either the Hampshire Records office or maybe the Chandlers Ford Library (?) there may be a map (something like the 6″ or 25″ series of OS maps for the 1950s) that give more information. I’d have thought somewhere there should be planning documents that give details … I’ll look into what I have for Hursley … you never know.
The info must be there … it’s just finding it!
Cheers
Dave
Hello Dave and Nick,
Yes, I checked the Ampfield history book and found the same partial numbering of the hutment layout. I’ve also trawled the National Library of Scotland on-line maps. Southern England has only recently been covered (why Scotland has covered England at all is another matter…..perhaps because the British Library or National Archive hasn’t done the job down here!). Copyright shouldn’t be an issue, as it only applies to maps less than 50 years old and for the hutments we’re talking about at least 55 years ago. The only scale likely to give house numbers is the 25-inch and the NLS coverage only reaches the 1939 revision. Short of buying a relevant sheet 25-inch for the 1940s-1960s period directly from OS at Southampton, I agree that Hampshire RO at Winchester may be the best bet.
My mother says the hutment development was linked to the former Romsey & Stockbridge Rural District Council, who probably handled the planning application in those days. So records may still exist with the RDC successors (Eastleigh DC?), but more likely HCC Record Office. Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Peter
Hi Peter,
I agree.
I’ll do some digging … typically I was down at the Records office last week … looking at the 1812 Hursley Enclosure maps … right place … wrong date. I should have thought to check the maps then. Oh well such is life!
I’ll let you know what I find.
Cheers
Dave
Good day Gentlemen.
I lived at the Hutments from 1947 to 1959. There is a basic flaw in the map in the
book about Ampfield. If you regard the streets south of Hook Road as a figure -of-
8, there was a cul-de-sac inside the lower part which came in from the right side.
It had six homes there and was where the reported Peeping Tom lived.
Simon Watson
Gents,
Simon’s correct about the cul-de-sac. Our garden at No.42 backed onto one of the gardens of a cul-de-sac hutment. Family friends also lived in one of the cul-de-sac properties. I think there was a footpath through from the end of the cul-de-sac to the western arm of the estate road, as I vaguely recall going round that way one day. Great to hear confirmation of the peeping Tom story!
Peter Russell
Hello Peter
Having found a1959 o/s map in our house I was reminded of the figure eight.I remember there was a cul de sac opposite our Hutments No 79 between Nick Johns and the Saverys.Also reminded of the footpath at the bottom of the figure eight that went through to Hursley Rd – there were Hutments along that footpath.
Also nothing to do with the Hutments but I was reminded while looking at the map of the sanatorium along Hursley Rd
Pauline (previously Johnston)
I lived at the Hutments, my name is Lynette Baker, my Father was Keith Baker and my mother was Frances “Fay” Baker, my younger siblings were Kevin and Sherry Baker. My Dad worked for Vickers. We must have been there, at the Hutments for a few years, although I really don’ t know because I was pretty young. When we left the hutments we moved to the Sholing area and lived on Coates Road. It would be wonderful if someone remembers me. I am currently living in the US, as we immigrated when I was 10 in 1958.
This is really just a personal note, addressed to Nick John. I came across the website today when I was trying to recall more about the place where I was born (the Hutments) and first went to school (Hursley). It’s wonderful to see your postings about the Hutments, Nick. We were your next-door neighbours, at number 75. I remember your mother, whom we called “Aunty Vera” and your father well. My mother, Gwen Crowther, and your mother “Aunty Vera” were particularly good friends. Your brother David was about the same age as my younger sister, Glenys, and they often played together. My brother John was born there too, and I think we moved about 1949 or perhaps 1950. Our father, Russell, was a draughtsman at Vickers. I know that my parent kept in touch with yours after we’d all moved away. For many years I used to send Aunty Vera a Christmas card, but eventually we all lost touch. I have often wondered about your family.
From other postings I see other familiar names, in particular Madge and Johnny Johnson and Frank Perry. Everyone seems to remember Mr Warden, who sold fruit and vegetables at his gate. I recall his way of dealing with the wasps that buzzed round his plums (with a firm thumb).
Hi Janet I’m. A bit new to blogging.
So here goes……I don’t want to write pages as not sure all the links are right!!! I was born in Winchester 1950 lived at the Hutments. And also I see from looking that my late Father is mentioned…he worked for Vickers and then ATC!
Until he was relocated to Hamble.
Have some pictures somewhere of me and my brother at the Hutments and also photos of Dad in the drawing Office, in Hamble. Dad was Patrick Dee.
We lived at the Hutments for about four years. Hope to be able to speak to others , that we’re part of that era.
Kindest regards lizzy Stothard re Dee
Thank you Liz for sharing your story about the Hutments in this article: The Hutments: Could You Help Find Old Neighbours in Chandler’s Ford?
(click the link to see some photos.)
“Just reading some of Dad’s letters.
It seems we were at The Hutments, and living two doors away was a man named Harry, but with no surname. So if we can find out who he was, perhaps I can find out the number I lived at?
Harry worked at IBM in 1987? According to his letters.
My brother Christopher Dee went to Hursley infants school in the village.
The dates in his letters are from living at the Hutments from 1946 to 1958.
Twelve years?
Hope we can find someone who knew Harry?”
Hello,
My name is Shelagh Duncan (nee Burns). I have found this to be a fascinating blog and came across it quite by accident when a childhood friend, who now lives in Sweden, emailed me an article about Hiltonbury Farm.
My father was Alan Burns and worked in the drawing office at Vickers.( I think). He came to Vickes from Shorts. My mother was Kitty Burns. We lived at 23 Hook Rd, the house with the Monkey Puzzle tree in the front yard. There was large (or so it seemed) cherry tree in the back yard. I have pictures of my brother (Stewart) and myself on the tree. We were friends with a family called Happe. Mum, Ena Dad Ernie and children Christopher and Berry.
I have some pictures of what I think are children’s Christmas parties at Vickers also pictures of more formal dinners for the grown ups but I don’t recognize most of the people.I remember talk of the peeping tom. We moved to Otterbourne in about 1955,56 and subsequently to Avro in Canada in 1957. I now live in the Southern US. Hope this little bit helps. Good luck on your research, fascinating.
Hi Shelagh
Thanks for taking the time to contribute 🙂
I started this exercise having virtually no information about the place where I was born and raised (at least until I was about 4 years old!) and now, as a result of the very kind and fullsome inputs of many people I feel much better informed.
Personally, I would be interested in seeing any photos of the childrens Xmas parties that you were prepared to share with the group.
Anyway, just wanted to say ‘thanks’.
Kind regards
Shelagh, I’m so happy to see your post here. You and your family are part of my very happy memories of living at 18 Hook Road. I don’t know if we can exchange email addresses, or connect in some way through this site, but I would like to be in touch if you’re interested.
Cheers,
Berry
Dear Shelagh and Lynette,
Just to reiterate what Nick has already said, many thanks for both contributing to the story of the Hutments. It really is a genuine pleasure to hear your stories
I’ve been having a few problems posting a reply over the last couple of days so if suddenly you get several posts from me my apologies but I hoped I might ask you both if you’d be prepared to help a little more?
As I suspect you may have already seen from some of my previous posts I am very interested in telling the story of the men and women who worked for Vickers-Armstrongs Supermarine and a very large part of that is what they, and their families, experienced. So I noticed you both mentioning that your fathers, Alan Burns and Keith Baker, both worked for Supermarine and hoped you might be able to help me include their (and your) part in the story.
It sounds like they both were part of the rather sad end to Supermarine. When Vickers, the parent company, decided to close the separate Supermarine Design Office at Hursley Park and relocate the workforce (manly to Weybridge and High Post) it was not a popular action and many became part of what was called “the brain drain” and took the opportunity to emigrate to Canada and the US where their highly sought after skills were wanted.
I would be extremely grateful if you would be willing to share your memories of your fathers’ involvement with Supermarine. How they came to join the company, when they joined, what they did … anything you can remember … maybe we’ll be able to piece together some of the history together. But as I mentioned it’s also about them as individuals, not just as “company workers”, so your own recollections of what life was like, are just as important, maybe more so. It’s why the hutments is such an important part of that story as workers were forced to leave Southampton during the bombing of 1940 and find accommodation, Vickers finally building the temporary hutments for some of those at Hursley. They help people understand in a much more personal way some of the pressure they were under and how “life went on” despite everything. So the pictures of the parties and formal diners and stories both good and bad etc. would be fantastic. Even the smallest thing can make such a difference.
I hope you’ll be interested in helping me tell the story.
Again, my thanks for posting.
Regards
Dave
Hi Dave
Just a little addendum to comment on what you describe as a rather ‘sad end’ to the Supermarine story. My father Viv John had worked for Supermarine for certainly in excess of 20 years. When Hursley was closed and moved to Weybridge he like many others was made redundant because they were unable or unwilling to make the move. From memory, the redundancy rules at the time had a 25 year service minimum as the trigger point for a payment and my father like many others didn’t have this length of service. Although I was only 7 yrs old when it happened, I can distinctly remember the bitterness expressed at leaving with only a few weeks pay as the reward for dedicated service. He was able to get another job and went to work for Mullard ASM (Philips) in Millbrook but many were not so lucky.
All the best with the story.
Regards
Just curious if anyone may remember my parents Leslie and Jean Jones from the Hutments circa 1952 to 1957.
The only Jones I’ve recorded among the hutment families so far was the chap who drove a brown-liveried private bus that ran mainly to Winchester and back once a day, leaving passengers enough hours in the city to do their shopping, etc. As yet I have no given names for that family. Do you have a hutment number for your family, or location within the estate, as this may help separate out any other Jones families?
Peter Russell
My father Leslie Vernon Jones worked at Vickers Armstrong Limited in Hursley Park as a supervisor from 1943 to 1952 and then at Briggs Motor Bodies Limited in Swaythling as a Chief Engineer from 1943 to 1957 when my parents immigrated to Canada with my sister Sandra and me. I will try to obtain the house number from my Aunt who still lives in Southampton. I seem to also recall friends of my parents who also lived in the Hutments. Their surnames were the Bakers and the Rolfs if you have any knowledge or history of them. I am unable to attach pictures to this e-mail but I do have a couple of photos of part of the home also showing the 2 cars in the driveway my father owned. Is there a way to forward these pictures to you as you may recognize more details from them?
Thanks, Terry. Obviously a different Jones family!
If you explore the hutments thread (which is getting very long and tricky to navigate), you’ll see that there are comments from both the Baker family (via Lynette) and very recently the Rolfe family (via John). I too haven’t worked out how to upload photos onto the site, although John Rolfe managed it somehow. I have a wonderful colour photo that my grandfather took in 1948 of my family’s hutment and others beside the southern service road, and several black-and-whte photos around our hutment.
More generally, I have just compared the estate layout from an on-line copy of the 1:25,000 (2.5-inch) OS map for the 1950s with the modern Google Earth satellite overview, and concluded sadly that there is nothing left of the original hutments layout, roads or house positions. I shall attempt to draw an overlay of the current road plan on the old one and upload this at some point.
Thank you Peter. I did a search for John Rolfe’s recent post and found it along with his pictures. The pictures I have are reminiscent to the same home John posted. I have sent him a brief e-mail and also asked him how to post pictures. I have also asked him what house number ours was, they could have been immediate neighbours.
Regards,
Terry
Hi Terry,
I’d be very interested in any detail or stories of your father’s time with Supermarine at Hursley, as well as the hutments.
I hope you are successful in working out how to post images. Otherwise you can email them to Peter or me. My email is on my gravatar (click on my picture next to the top of the comment and the email should be visible at the bottom of the page).
I’m also pulling together some of the Supermarine story, see my post on
History of Vickers Armstrongs (Supermarine) Hursley Park: Can You Help?
http://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/history-of-vickers-armstrongs-supermarine-hursley-park-can-you-help-by-dave-key/
or at
The Supermariners
https://supermariners.wordpress.com
all the best
Dave
We lived in No 49 The Hutments. My father was Albert Lowe. I have a vivid memory of quite a few of the Hutments residents, Liz Fear, Albert Carter, Cyril Noyce, Percy Morris, Etc. School master at Hursley School a Mr Toyer School Mistresses Mrs Cutsworth, Mrs Shorto (Spelling questionable). I walked to school each day and fortnightly to Chandlers Ford to get the accumulator charged to run a very poor radio to listen to the war news for my Dad …not me.
We could see the red sky as Southampton burned after the Blitz. We lived at the very bottom of the “U” shaped estate. The rear of the bungalow facing south. Jettisoned bombs were dropped approximately 1 kilometre away. We played in the crater when it filled with water. This of course was after the pine forest was cut down for the valuable timber for the war effort.
My sisters Irene and Dorothy both worked at the mansion as did my brother-in-law Geoff Davis,
a daftsman. Other names in the Hutments.. Lodge.. Cooper…………..II emigrated to Australia in 1956 to join some of my family….
Irene Davis my sister passed away in Sept 2018 Age 93. Dorothy is 92. Me 88.
Best of luck with writing the history. Got me excited thinking and somewhat nostalgic.
Arthur Lowe Ex Boy Soldier Joined Sept 1944. Army apprentices School. Arborfield Berks
Hello Arthur,
It’s good to see a fresh posting with new surnames, after a quiet spell.
I’m Peter Russell (aged 68) and my family lived almost opposite you at No.42, between 1948 and 1955. I’m attempting to match family names to Hutment numbers on an estate plan, but there are still lots of gaps.
My mother, who died on 28th October 2018 at 97, had an astonishing memory for names and recalled about one quarter of the families among the 100 hutments. Sadly, I won’t be able to question her any more. She thought a King family lived at No.49, but perhaps that was after your family. She couldn’t recall any names from No.47 westwards, but eastwards she thought the family Jordan lived at 51, Evans at 53 (we knew them well), Stone at 55. Numbers alternated across the roadway. Can you confirm any of these, please?
Of the family names you mention, we knew a Fear family at 84, in the middle of the estate; Carters almost opposite you at 38 (not to be confused with Carters at 72 in the middle); but I don’t recognise the names Noyce, Morris, Lodge and Cooper. Can you recall their Hutment numbers? If you can, that would fill some gaps. I too went to Hursley School, but only from 1955-56.
Best wishes,
Peter
Hi Arthur,
I’d like to echo Peter’s thanks for your post and also extend a warm welcome.
Peter, Nick and I have been merrily trying to piece together different elements of the story of the hutments between us. I confess I have no personal connection to the hutments but whilst Peter has been linking the families and the huts I have been trying to learn more about the men and women who were living there and their links to Hursley and Supermarine.
I work up at Hursley Park (IBM these days) and try to tell both it’s history and that of the Supermariners who came there both during the war and afterwards. It all a voluntary work of love and absolutely hearing the stories has been both fascinating and a real education!
So your mention of Cyril Noyce and Liz Fear (to name but two) imediately grabbed my attention, even more so when you mentioned your sisters and brother-in-law working there!
I would love to chat to you all about your recollections of both the Hutments and of working up at Hursley House for Supers’ if that would be possible? Just being able to add names to the Supermarine team is one thing, but being able to put a little about who they really were is amazing, so I do hope you can help.
For example when were your sisters and brother-in-law at Hursley? I can see G. Davis listed in ‘The Spitfire Book’ as a draughtsman but many of the team were never included for whatever reason or were doing jobs they didn’t include in the book, so making sure their part isn’t forgotten is really important to me.
If it’s of interest I do have some pictures of the staff taken in the 1940s and 1950s … maybe we can find them in one of the pictures?
If you would be willing to help, just send me a message, either here or if you’d prefer my email is on the “gravatar” (just click on my picture) or via the website I am using to tell the story of The Supermariners ( https://supermariners.wordpress.com/ )
Again, thanks for posting and welcome!
All the best
Dave
Hello Dave
I’d still love to know how to post photos on this thread, if someone can tell me. I’m fairly computer-knowledgeable, but this has eluded me! I’ve tried copying and dropping an image into my reply, but it doesn’t appear. Other contributors seem to have managed it somehow. I have some lovely images that I’m sure others would enjoy seeing, including a wonderful colour view my grandfather took of the southern part of the estate outside my parents’ hutment (No.42) in 1948. I also have a good selection of black-and-white photos that my father took between 1947 and 1955, with several hutments in the background; also some of Vickers staff activities at Hursley Park. I’m hopeful that these will stir others’ memories. My scale plan of the estate with hutment numbers (known and deduced) is progressing gradually, but might make faster headway if I can post the latest version on the site so that others can contribute. Perhaps there is some way of setting up a connected page to the thread, or to the Chandler’s Ford website, where images can be readily added?
Seasonal best wishes to all contributors,
Peter
Peter,
I manage this website. Please send me the photos – I can add them for you as general readers can only add text, not images.
All the best,
Janet
janet@chandlersfordtoday.co.uk
Peter,
The best way probably is to create a new blog post for you.
You can add your writing, and photos. And, we’ll link that article (with photos) to this thread.
Thank you for sharing. I look forward to hearing from you.
janet@chandlersfordtoday.co.uk
Hi Peter,
It’s your call. Do you want to extend the draft I did on the Supermariners website? I’d be happy to work with you on how it looks and the content.
However, it would definitely make sense to keep it linked to this page as it has proved to be such a wonderful forum for everyone.
Otherwise if you want to follow Janet’s offer that is fine with me too.
I will try to update the The Hutments section of The Supermariners website https://supermariners.wordpress.com/the-hutments-hursley-park/ anyway, so let me know what you would like to do.
All the very best and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all
Dave
Hello Arthur, I met your sister, Irene, several years ago in California. We had a mutual friend who realized Irene and I had common history, having lived at the Hutments, ( we were in number 18, and my Dad worked at Vickers). When Irene and I met we went to a small airplane museum that had a Spitfire in their collection. When the men at the museum heard our connections to Vickers and the Spitfire, they treated us like visiting royalty.
Happy memories,
Berenice (Happe) Iriks.
Hello Arthur, I am Gwyn Morris, son of Purc Morris (Purcell). I was actually born in Wales (my parents, Purc & Lillian, were both Welsh. I came back to The Hutments to live until after the war. We Immigrated in 1948 to Australia. If my memory serves me correctly (it is getting dim ) we visited your father and family in Adelaide ( or a suburb) & think that your father worked for one the car manufactures – is that correct ?)
We kept in touch with Cyril Noyce & Family for quite a while ( they immigrated tp Australia as Well as did Ian Peckham & Family (Dad was John I think) but I have long since lost contact.
From memory, Gillian, was their daughter.
My best friend at The Hutments was Ian Peckham, who I have just recently made contact with. My father (Purc) ended up becoming the Chief Engineer of the Geelong Hospital in Victoria (Australia)
This is a wonderful site and I congratulate Dave on all of the hard work that he has obviously done , and, is still doing.
Well I have just read the next post – Ian Peckham !!! 🙂
Hi Gwyn,
Glad to see you got to the page OK and it is brilliant that you were able to make contact with Ian again. There are definitely times when the research means something that bit extra!
All the best
Dave
My father (John PECKHAM) lived at 27 the Hutments-he was in the Design Team at Supermarines working on the Spifire and subsequently the early stages of the Swift. Nexy door lived Percy and Lilian Morris (and son Gwyn who was my age). In 1948 my father was offered a job as a design engineer in Australia. Many ex supermarine staff also migrated to Melbourne -Percy Morris,Cyril Noyce, Dave Sybley during that time.
Ian Peckham
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the post!
I’ll leave it to Peter and Nick to add the detail on the hutment you lived in … and keep posted as there is an update on the research coming soon.
However, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask a little more about your father and his time with Supermarine.
I trying to record all of the stories and as much as I can about the men and women who worked for Supermarine as part of a project called ‘The Supermariners’
I have John’s name listed as one of the Drawing Office ( https://supermariners.wordpress.com/organisation/design-department/the-drawing-office/ ) but other than a caricature picture of him as one of those facing the unpopular relocation to Swindon (if you click on his name in The Supermariners website you can see it). Unfortunately I had not been able to add any more to his story with Supermarine so your extra detail, and that of some of the other members of the team who relocated to Australia, is fantastic.
If it’s OK with you I’d love to be able to talk with you about your father and his time with Supermarine.
Maybe you will be able to identify him in one of the pictures of the Team on ‘The Supermariners’ site?
Also are you still in contact with any of the other Supermarine families that emigrated to Australia? It would be great to talk to them too!
Please feel free to contact me directly or leave me a message.
All the best
Dave
Hello Ian
My thanks also for a new posting and a new name for me to add to the growing list. I am trying to link family names and hutment numbers to their positions on the estate.
As Dave says, there is an updating coming soon on the research. Through Janet Williams, I shall be adding a linked page to the website with the history I have uncovered, a detailed layout plan in so far as it has reached, my mother’s and my own memories of the hutments, about 20 of my parents’ photos, and a few details of other families we knew. I’m hoping this will stimulate further memories among all the contributors to this thread.
As the plan stands, I have deduced that your No.27 was probably just over halfway down the western service road from the Hook Road end, and possibly on the outer (west) side of the road. You mention the Morris family as next door. As the even and odd numbers alternate across the roadway, was “next door” No.25 or No.29 in their case? Do you also know who lived on the other side of your No.27?
My family knew the Caiger family well, who I think may have lived in No.23, a bit further up towards Hook Road. Does that surname mean anything to you? Although I’ve come across the Noyce name previously, I don’t have a hutment number for them yet. Do you happen to know? Sybley is a new surname to me; do you know that family’s hutment number and any details of family members?
My father, John (‘Jack’) Russell was a stress engineer in the design office and also worked on the post-war improvements to the Spitfire, and then the Swift. So maybe they knew each other.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Best wishes,
Peter
Don’t miss this wonderful series: Hook Road Hutments and My Family by Peter Russell: https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/hook-road-hutments-and-my-family-by-peter-russell-part-1/
Hello Peter,Dave & Janet.
I am the Gwyn Morris that Ian Peckham referred to. We were close friends in the Hutments and also early days in Australia (We migrated in 1948). My father was Purcell (Purc) Morris) who was employed at Vickers Supermarine from 1936 until 1947, as an inspector.
According to his reference from C.(Charlie) Johns, Chief Engineer ( of which I Have a copy), he was responsible for the Final Inspection of all main components of Flying Boats,Land Planes ans Jet propelled aircraft. During his last four years he was carrying out these duties in a senior capacity in the Experimental Department. I have been trying to look at this section to see if I can find any pictures of him but the password given to me by Dave does not seem to work. May be Dave can assist me here.
I note that Ian stated that he lived in number 27 ? Hook Rd and that we lived next door. From Our Families Immigration Application, we lived at Bungalow 19 ! Do not know if this helps or complicates your reconstruction of numbering. We would have lived there until 1948, when we immigrated to Australia where my Father (Purc), became Chief Engineer of the Geelong Hospital in Victoria,
In another document, Dad (Purc) has stated that he worked for Supermarine from 1936 until 1947, at the Woolston Works. I assume that he moved with the “Dispersal” to Hursley Park (Experimental Hanger). I wondered why he did not state that he worked at Hursley Park but ,assumed that it was to simplify paperwork. His earlier address was 60 Bryanston Rd Bitterne, so I assume that he lived here before the move to The Hutments.
We were in contact with Cyril Noyce, Albert Lowe and the Peckhams during our early years in Victoria but, unfortunately, I have lost contact with them over the years although, I recently managed to track down Ian and had a good chat.
I do have some photos of my father but, not at Vickers Supermarine. If it is of any value, I am happy to forward copies to you. I am also trying to track down one or more photos of the Hutments. My daughter is guarding them 🙂
I hope that this helps in some small way to assist with your research.
Sincere Regards,
Gwyn Morris
Brisbane
Queensland.
Hi Gwyn,
Thanks for the post! Will chat more
All the best
Dave
Hello Gwyn,
Thanks from me too for your posting – the first fresh one in ages, I think. You may not be aware of my three-part series on hutment life on this website at: https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/hook-road-hutments-and-my-family-by-peter-russell-part-1/
It’s a bit hidden away in the mass of material on the site. Part 1 includes a layout plan of the hutment estate on which I’ve tried to gather surnames and relate them to hutment numbers and positions, although much of my numbering scheme is based on filling in between those I definitely know.
Morris and Peckham are two surnames that I haven’t added yet at 27 and 19 respectively. As far as I can gauge, these were four doors apart on the same (outer) side of the western service road, rather than immediately next door to each other, but I may be wrong.
I’m sure we would all love to see any photos of the hutments you can retrieve.
Best wishes,
Peter
Hi Peter
I can confirm from Shipping Records that, Albert Lowe lived in 49., Cyril Noyce, lived in 25 & Tom (Thomas Gibson) Stephenson lived in 16.
All were there until 1948, when they emigrated to Australia.
Tom was a toolmaker, Albert a welder & Cyril, I believe was a draughtsman.
I have just been in contact with Tom Stephenson’ s children , who may have some photos of The Hutments.
Regards
Gwyn
Thanks, Gwyn, for that clarification. The shipping records are a really useful, and presumably accurate resource for those hutment residents who emigrated. I’ve checked the estate layout plan I used in my series on the hutments and it’s now way out of date as regards updating names and numbers that have been supplied or amended since I drew it. I’ll try to revise it and get Janet to replace the old one on the site. Unfortunately, the drawing software I used is no longer available, so I need to export the file to a similar programme (preferable to starting again from scratch!). I’ve now got names against more than half of the numbered hutments, even if quite a few have question marks. Best wishes, Peter
Harry Richardson lived Baddesley way. Came to visit us in Swindon. As he did not move family home but stayed in lodgings
Just catching up on this blog. So many memories! Shelagh Burns at 23 Hook Road.
Dear Shelagh
Thanks for identifying your family’s hutment number. I lived at No.42 and have been trying to match family names to hutment numbers on a large-scale map of the estate layout. This can be seen on my separate three-part posting on the Chandler’s Ford Today website. It’s not easy to find this from the home page, but you can go directly to it if you copy this link and do a search:
https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/hook-road-hutments-and-my-family-by-peter-russell-part-1/
My family knew the Caigers (Bernard and Joan), who I had guessed lived at No.23, but obviously that was wrong! Do you remember them at all, and which number they lived at? It was certainly along that western part of the estate service road. The family later moved to Swindon with Vickers, living at Shrivenham, and then emigrated to Ottawa in Canada. Bernard became a top expert on analysing the black-box flight recorders recovered from plane crashes. They have both passed on but I saw them in Ottawa in 1993, and their daughter Caroline (born at the hutments) lives in Victoria BC, near my cousin.
Best wishes,
Peter Russell
Sorry Peter I do not recall the Caigers. I do know our next door neighbors were named Earl(e)? His name was Jack but I don’t recall his wife’s name. They had a daughter named Valerie who now lives in Wales and is a Baptist preacher. Hope this helps.
Cheers, Shelagh Burns Duncan The Earls were on the left side of us looking at the house.
Many thanks, Shelagh, for your prompt reply and the extra information. It helps that you’ve added the Burns part of your name, as I had recorded that previously, and at No.23, although as I said I also thought this might be where the Caigers lived. That was guesswork based on my mother’s recall of the Caigers living about halfway up the western service road. As you didn’t know the Caigers, I’m inclined to think they were much further away from No.23. My cousin in Victoria is friendly with Caroline Caiger, so I’ve asked her to make contact.
On my estate plan, your hutment is shown as the left-hand of a pair with No.21 (facing the fronts from the road). Much of my hutment numbering was gauged on working steadily around the estate from those numbers that I knew were definitely correct. There were lots of gaps where I’ve had to judge numbers as logically as possible, but I may well have made mistakes on the positions. So far, I have several gaps in surnames on either side of your hutment, so any others you can recall would be welcome. Also, can you recall any of the families across the road – where I currently have the Happe family (pronounced Happy, I think) at No.22, Kasper at No.26 and Brown at No.28?
Thanks for identifying the Earls (or Earles) – a new name for me. Your description of their hutment as to the left of yours would put it as No.25 on my plan, – the right-hand one of the next pair to the south. Does that sound correct to you, or were the Burns and Earl families together in a hutment pairing?
Sorry to tax your memory, but I need to ask before the opportunity passes!
Best wishes,
Peter Russell
Hi Shelagh and Peter,
I took a quick look for the Earls in the Supermarine records I have for the Design Team and there is a J Earl listed … he is in the Drawing Office as the section lead for the full scale layout designs of the Spitfire.
However, that was all I had on him so this is a great clue to see if I can uncover more about another of the Supermarine Team.
All the best
Dave
Hello Peter, this is Berenice Happé Iriks. My parents were Ernie and Ena Happé, and my brother was Christopher. We lived at number 18. We were close friends with the Burns family (Shelagh Duncan) and the Jeavons (not sure of spelling) across the street at number 15, and the Caigers next door to us at number 16. I remember when Caroline Caiger was born, and even embroidered a tiny jacket for her.
This brings back such lovely memories. They were very happy years for my family.
Cheers,
Berenice
Hi Berenice,
Nice to hear from you! Glad you found the site.
All the best
Dave
Dear Berenice,
I am so pleased that you’ve got in touch again and it’s wonderful for me to have a more tangible personal link with the Caigers again. Many thanks also for the other surnames and numbers; what a remarkable memory 70 years on! It’s really good to see the hutment thread in motion again.
I’m now pretty sure it was Bernard and Margaret Caiger (not Joan as I thought). When they emigrated to Ottawa, my family put them in touch with my mother’s sister (Joan, hence my confusion) and her family and they became firm friends for the rest of their lives. Bernard Caiger must have worked closely with my father, John (Jack) Russell, in Vickers’ Technical Office at Hursley Park. I was old enough to remember the Caigers as very kind people. It’s extraordinary that Caroline Caiger later settled in Victoria BC, close to my cousin who is the same age as me (70). It would be wonderful if Caroline has any memory of your Happe family, but I suspect she might have been too young. I wonder if she still has that tiny jacket you embroidered or perhaps passed it on to her children or grandchildren?!
On my plan I’ve now moved your family’s name from No.22 to No.18, but the question remains whether or not I have No.18 in the correct position. That move would put the Jeavons at No.15, directly opposite No.18, which sounds correct from what you say. Also, you were probably almost opposite No.17, which I have occupied by the Rolfe family. John Rolfe has posted on the hutment thread previously. Do you remember the large monkey puzzle tree he mentioned? I’ve added the Caigers at No.16, which is certainly next door to No.18, but part of a separate pairing (14 + 16), your No.18 being paired with No.20…if I have this all correct (no guarantee). Can you confirm from my plan, please?
I’m updating my plan and will see if Janet Williams and Allison Symes can put this version on the website in due course. I can sense my late mother’s spirit pushing the story on; mind you, she probably knows all the names and hutment positions by now!!
Best wishes,
Peter Russell
Hello Peter, it’s been fun digging back in my memories of the Caigers. I particularly remember their kindness too. They would sometimes have Chris and I to visit with them when our parents went out. It was a real treat to spend an evening with them.
You’re right that Caroline would have been too young to remember us. I would guess that she might have been born in 1954 and we moved away in 1956. I was possibly about 9 when I was learning to embroider, and I think the little jacket was one of my first projects. I would sew in the evening while we listened to the radio. The problem was, we listened to Journey Into Space, and it scared the life out of me! I was so scared that my hand would shake and I couldn’t get the needle into the right spot! I had to hide my fright from Mum and Dad or they would not have let me listen.
Hi Peter, Interesting to hear you mention the Monkey Puzzle tree. It grew in our front garden at number 23, or so I’ve always thought. What did John Rolfe say about it? I do hope my memory is correct.
Cheers,
Shelagh Burns Duncan
Berry, I owe you an email, I haven’t forgotten
Shelagh, I’m sure you are correct that there was a Monkey Puzzle tree in your front garden. We walked past the tree, then turned left along in front of your kitchen to reach your kitchen door. When Chris and I visited the site of the Hutments in 1962, all evidence of the houses and roads was gone, and the area had returned to woodland. However we located our road because we could still see your Monkey Puzzle tree. We also located our house site by recognizing the two birch trees that grew in front of our kitchen window.
I’ll be happy to hear from you, Shelagh, whenever you like.
Cheers, Berenice
Thanks to both Shelagh and Berenice for raising this point about the monkey puzzle tree.
John Rolfe posted his story on the website at:
https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/the-hutments-1950s-and-my-family/
(you may need to copy this link into your search engine on the internet to find it)
John included a photo showing the monkey puzzle tree apparently not far into the estate down the western part of the service road. It’s not clear from the photo just how far in the tree is situated. On my plan of the estate, I placed it some way in – see:
https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/hook-road-hutments-and-my-family-by-peter-russell-part-1/
This shows the tree in the garden of No.17, but we now know it should be at No.23 in Shelagh’s front garden, which is even further in if my plan numbering is correct (no guarantee). John doesn’t mention the tree, so the position is entirely my estimate!
Incidentally, I still have the family name Caiger set against No.23 – my mistake, but that was my late mother’s guess, because we knew the Caigers well. I am in touch with Caroline Caiger in Victoria, Canada, through my cousin who also lives there and knows her well. Caroline was born in 1954, so wouldn’t remember the hutments, but she may have some family memorabilia.
Best wishes,
Peter
I am sorry, I was too young to know the number of our house. Lynette Baker lived opposite. My sisters Irene and Carole McCabe are no longer with us to ask. Maybe 29? My father was William Edward McCabe and mum known as Peggy. We kept rabbits and chickens. My father was a Draughtsman at Vickers, my sister Irene was working in the drawing office when we move to Swindon in 1956. I did meet Liz Jeavons many years ago. My sister Irene kept in touch with Sally Watson until 2008.
Thanks, Mo. Nice to have a new hutments posting after a long, quiet period. I don’t seem to have the surnames McCabe or Baker on my map ( see https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/hook-road-hutments-and-my-family-by-peter-russell-part-1/ or use the same hyperlink a short way above this posting). I also have no name currently against No.29 on the map. As regards families opposite No.29, my tentative distribution on the map shows Watson (No.30, presumably Sally’s family) and Brown (No.28) most directly opposite No.29, but this could be slightly out of kilter, as there’s a lot of inspired guesswork until former hutment folk confirm or refute. I’ve come across the surname Jeavons, but don’t yet have it connected with a hutment number. My father – John Russell – was an engineer in the design office and we too moved to Swindon (South Marston) in 1956, only for my Dad to be required by Vickers in 1957-58 to move to Hurn Airport (Bournemouth)…I’m glad to say! Best wishes, Peter
Hi Mo,
A very quick reply to say thank you for the post.
As you have probably noticed from my earlier posts I am particularly interested in recording and telling the story of all those who worked for Supermarine / Vickers so your mention of both your father and sister working there really caught my eye.
I’d very much appreciate anything else you might be able to tell me about them and their time with Supermarine, including the move to Swindon.
If it’s Ok please do get in touch. If you prefer there is a contact on “The Supermariners” website, which also tells a little more about the project.
https://supermariners.wordpress.com/
Depending on what your father and sister did, and when, there might even be some pictures etc. I have that may interest you.
Also, in case you missed them, don’t forget to take a look at Peter’s extra pieces on The Hutments … https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/?s=Hook+road+hutments
All the best
Dave
Concerning the Jeavons family, they lived directly across the road from #18. We (the Happé’s) were in 18 and could look directly from our kitchen window to theirs.
Berenice Happé Iriks
Many thanks for that clarification, Berenice. I’ve obviously got some errors in my estate plan (see Part 1 of my hutments story). I have No.18 shown at the SW corner of the top block of the hutments, which I think is fairly logical numbering when working down the western service road from the known, definite numbers at the Hook Road entry. You may be able to confirm that position…or tell me to move it! I had originally marked your Happe family against No.22. I’m not now sure how I worked out that link. No.22 is shown in the NW corner of the southern block of hutments, just across the junction with the bit of the sevice road that runs east-west across the middle. If my positioning of No.18 is correct, you were directly opposite No.17, which I had marked as occupied by the Rolfe family. I originally put the monkey puzzle tree on No.17’s plot, which I now know is also wrong and should be at No.23, thanks to another posting by Shelagh Duncan. So I can tentatively put the Jeavons surname against No.17 (and move the Rolfes somewhere else). Getting the whole estate and its occupants in the correct places is a gradual process and may never be complete!
My grandparents lived in the hutments Edith and Bert Winter. My father worked at Supermarine on the spitfires. Nick I would be very pleased to hear from you . Susan – Rose and Norman’s (Wally) daughter.