Polden memories from a World War Two veteran (From Bridgwater Mercury)
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Polden memories from a World War Two veteran
3:50pm Monday 14th January 2008 in Your Say
John Hayes (bottom row, left) with brother Tom (bottom row, right) in a family photograph, taken a few years before his trips to Somerset.
A WORLD War Two veteran who holidayed in the Polden villages from London during his youth has given a moving account of life in Sedgemoor during the pre-war 1930s.
John Hayes, 82, now residing in East Sussex, told the Mercury of the relationships he formed with village residents during his holidays - including one, which ended on the battlefields of Normandy.
John and his brother Tom made two-week trips down to the villages, subsidised as part of the Children's Country Holiday Fund.
He said: "We came up from the West Ham dock area and had to save seven shillings by August to be eligible for our holiday. It was really wonderful to get away from London - for health reasons if nothing else."
Their first trip in 1935 saw them travel to Cossington, where they stayed with the Street family, who lived at The Old Buttery in the village.
John said: "We had a great time in Cossington, the people were ever so kind to us. We had the most wonderful time and they used to feed us up and give up their clean bedrooms."
The London youngsters developed a liking for the freedom of the countryside, exploring their new territory and getting into scrapes.
Their second stay in 1936 saw them living at Landshire Farm in Chilton Polden with the Gilbert family.
During the holiday the brothers formed a close bond with fourteen-year-old William Gilbert.
John said: "He took us under his wing - we were like brothers. He was a good lad and used to do lots of work on the farm for his father."
After the brief meeting the brothers went back to London where soon the onset of World War Two engulfed Britain.
On his 18th birthday in 1942 John joined the RAF and was part of the Normandy landings.
It wasn't until 2005 that John started thinking of his youth in Somerset and made enquiries into the places he had visited.
To his shock he was told William Gilbert had been killed, shot by a German sniper, on the same battlefields of Normandy from which he had successfully returned.
"When I learned he had been killed, I just couldn't stop crying. The news had a profound effect on me," said an emotional John.
John has now built up a portfolio of memories called "From the Green Hills of Somerset to The Battlefields of Normandy" to document the recollections of his youth in Somerset.
