Sound Advice from Long Ago

Neil Brearley’s Memories of visiting 39 Dragon Lane as a young boy

It is becoming a regular theme to hear words like ‘preparedness’ and ‘self-sufficiency’ when the
possibility of food and energy shortages are discussed in the news. My first lessons on this topic
were given by a Newbold Verdon resident who had had lived through two world wars and the
general strike. So, it could be said he was well qualified on how to cope in difficult times.

My (great, great) Uncle George Statham was born in 1879 and lived most of his life at 39 Dragon
Lane. As a young boy, on hot summers days, I would ask if I could walk up past the school to pay
him a visit. His house was from a bygone era with gas lamps on the walls, a family of cats and a
Bush radio that had relayed Churchill’s wartime speeches. Even Uncle George’s voice sounded
different; the word ‘Hello’ coming across as ‘Edo’.

The door would open and I would be greeted with “Edo, young man, I expect you will be wanting
a cool drink from the well”. In the yard I would be instructed to hold my arms in the flowing
water as he pumped the handle. Then he would produce two mugs to be filled once the water
ran clear.

Next, we would walk up the long narrow garden past rows of vegetables set in perfect lines. I
would be encouraged to sample gooseberries and raspberries along the route to the hen house.
Finally, we would reach the old pigsty which had been converted to a woodstore. At the very end
of the garden, there was a boundary wall with the school playing field behind.

Now he would tell me how he used to watch my mother climb over this wall when she lived next
door and was a pupil at the school. This was her crafty way of avoiding the headmaster, Mr.
Cadle, who would be looking out for latecomers at the school gates.

Back in the house we would go through to the sitting room with curtains half-closed and woollen
drapes over the ancient sofa. After the cats were ‘shooed away’ it would be time for my lesson.

“Now young man, what would you do if you turned on your tap and nothing came out?”

“I would come up for a drink from your well Uncle George!”.

“Very good”, he chuckles, but now his questions get harder …

“How will you keep warm next winter if Mr Preston runs out of coal to deliver? “

“What will you have for tea if all the shelves are empty in Mr Mensley’s shop?”

Faced with all these issues I could only mutter “I don’t know Uncle George”.

Then he explains, “I have my woodstore to keep warm and plenty of fruit, vegetables and eggs if
food is short. Then there’s my gas lamps and candles if the power goes off.”

The lesson ends as we both look up to see a familiar trilby hat gliding past a gap in the curtains.

“Ah here’s young Frank come for you. We’ll stop there but just you remember that nobody knows
what’s round the next corner”.

The trilby hat belongs to my grandad, Frank Hill. Born in 1899 he was indeed a youngster
compared to Uncle George!

Neil Brearley, May 2026