大象传媒

Billets and Parking Lots.
Although the army already owned a number of properties in Headley, others were requisitioned in order to accommodate the hundreds of troops coming into the village. Grace Barnes (n茅e Snow), who lived then as now down Glayshers Hill, remembers: 鈥淢y husband had been called up in 1940, so I was here on my own, and they wanted to billet troops on me 鈥� I wasn鈥檛 having that, so I went down the road to my parents鈥� home and lived there.鈥� Her house was let to two different families during the war, and suffered cracks in the ceilings due to the constant tank traffic up and down the hill.
Generally the Canadians were moved into empty houses rather than sharing with the local householders. Some of these were up Barley Mow Hill, and others mentioned were Belmont, Hatch House Farm, Kenton House, Windridge, The Mount, Beech Hill House, Walden (now Heathfield) and Pound Cottage. Jim Clark鈥檚 father worked for the army during the war as a carpenter, though he was a wheelwright by trade, and he used to go round these houses doing repairs. Sometimes the damage was substantial; Sue Allden recalls that Sunnybank (by Arford Farm) was almost torn to bits by Canadians billeted there.
Church Gate Stores in the High Street was used as a squadron orderly building, and Canadian troops there added to the wealth of graffiti already in the attic from domestic servants of previous generations (see photo). In addition, Nissen huts were erected all over the place: in the Rectory Field beside the hedge from the school up to the Holly Bush, on the Village Green, on Openfields, in gardens along Barley Mow Hill, in woods behind The Mount, in Crestafield (now the Windmill estate), in fields now occupied by Hilland estate, on Cricket Lea in Lindford, and on the edge of Ludshott Common next to Seymour Road. Erie Camp, of course, was a special case 鈥� the 66 wood and brick buildings there were for the exclusive use of the prisoners and their guards.
Pat Lewis recalls the NAAFI on Ludshott Common and the two ladies who ran it with great affection: 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have much money and our regiment felt, to some extent, like outcasts 鈥� we were the new guys brought into the Division. That was the reason we used the NAAFI so much, and these ladies were marvellous, absolutely marvellous 鈥� the army food was pretty good, but we never liked it, and they would supply us with sandwiches and souffl茅s and things.鈥�
Harvey Theobald, in 鈥楢鈥� Squadron of the Garrys, also tells of the joy of supplementary provisions: 鈥淭o add variety to the monotonous army rations, we were indeed grateful for the greens, in season, provided by the fforde鈥檚 farm (Coolgreany); the green spring onions from Rogers store 鈥� devoured by the troops like candy bars; and milk products from the dairy (The White House) run by Percy and May Wilcox.
Grace Barnes remembers there was a cookhouse behind The Mount. She had two Labrador dogs which she kept in a big run in her garden, and when they caught the scent of cooking they tore holes in the netting to get out 鈥� however, she always knew where to go and find them. The sign 鈥淩egimental Butcher鈥� is still to be seen painted inside the door to the garage at Headley Mount Cottage, as are the blue lines painted on the wall outside to separate the bins for 鈥渟will only鈥� and 鈥渁shes only鈥�.
For young Canadian men seeing life in rural England for the first time, Headley seemed to take on a magical quality. Pat Lewis recalls: 鈥淲e were amazed at how tidy the people were, how they looked after their environment in those days. You had the guy with the wheel-barrow, the shovel and the brush, and he kept the gullies along the road clear, and he swept up the leaves. You looked out of the window in the morning in Headley and saw flowers all over the place, and what impressed us most was the tranquillity 鈥� you鈥檇 do guard duty, and from 2 to 4 o鈥檆lock in the morning you鈥檇 hear all kinds of bird songs as the false dawn came in.鈥� Harvey Theobald noted that the sound of the cuckoo was first treated by them as a novelty, but very soon wore out its welcome.
Al Trotter recalls a different sort of attraction: 鈥淥ne evening an NCO and I went for a walk along one of those nice footpaths. The flowers were blooming all over the place. The trees just about covered the path in areas. It was beautiful. Anyway, we came across this tennis court. Two real pretty girls were pushing a lawn mower and they were having a hard time as the grass was pretty high. This NCO volunteered him and me to cut the grass for them. I wasn鈥檛 keen on the idea, but nevertheless went along with it. We cut grass and trimmed flowers for about an hour, then, lo and behold, a couple of young officers came upon the scene with their tennis gear on. They thanked us, but I had the feeling we were being had. All the rest of the evening I gave this Corporal a hard time, and asked him what we were trying to prove, as we didn鈥檛 even know how to play the game.鈥� Now then, you Headley locals 鈥� own up, who was it?
When the tank regiments received their tanks, these were often parked near to the troops. Mrs Warner remembers: 鈥淵ou would sometimes find a tank in the corner of someone鈥檚 garden 鈥� they just put down a slab of concrete under overhanging trees, and drove a tank in there.鈥� There were tanks parked up Barley Mow Hill and Headley Hill Road, down Beech Hill Road where the scout hut is, along the Grayshott Road opposite Ludshott Common, at Crestafield where the Windmill estate is now, along Liphook Road where Hilland estate is, down in Lindford by the cross roads, in Openfields where the school is now, and behind Rowley House in what was known as 鈥楻ogers Field鈥� (see map opposite and Appendix I).
Jim Clark, who was a schoolboy at the time, lived then as now in Church Lane and remembers the tanks just at the top of his road in Openfields. 鈥淭hey used to take us on the tanks 鈥� it was one big adventure 鈥� they sat us in the seats. We had Churchills here and then Shermans, and some small tanks we called 鈥楲ittlies鈥�. He also recalls being in school one afternoon when the Canadians decided to have a grenade-throwing practice in the Rectory Field: 鈥淥ld Amos sent us home from school early that day, saying there鈥檚 no point in trying to teach us with all that noise going on.鈥�
鈥淨uite an exciting time for us鈥�, he continues. 鈥淲e used to wander round the tanks up there 鈥� they had everything all laid out 鈥� I remember seeing a load of revolvers and Sten guns beside the tanks. They were very irresponsible in a way 鈥� they used to leave ammunition all over the place, and you could go along and just pick it up 鈥� take the bullets, knock the heads off, take the cordite out and make rockets of them.鈥�

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