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We had no sewage system in Long Melford until 1959; we had bucket toilets which were emptied once a week bay two men and a horse drawn metal cart, which was known to all as ‘The Nightcart’. One night during the war the Nightcart and horse were tied up to a lamppost, whilst the two men had a break in the boiler house of the Horsehair factory, next door to where I lived. My bedroom was at the front of the house and overlooked Hall Street the main street through Melford. This was a marvellous observation post for a young boy who was getting interested in all that was going on in the street at that exciting time. Suddenly there was a lot of commotion out in the street; although it was late I had to see what was going on I got out of bed and ran to the window. Some American troops had unhitched the cart from the horse and were riding the poor old horse at a gallop up and down the street. Now the methods of emptying the cart was to back the cart up to the edge of a pit and unhitch the cart, can you imagine what Hall Street in Melford looked and smelt like for several days after? One morning as the war progressed I was awoken by a lot of commotion out in the street, I could not believe my eyes the road was packed solid with military vehicles all facing in the same direction, we were later told it was like this all the way to ‘The Port of Harwich’. It was ‘D.Day’ after this the war which seemed to be an every day part of our lives came to a quick end and we were celebrating VE Day.

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