Tag Archives: 1930s

Phil Kelsey: Free Time, Yarmouth Football

When Yarmouth played West Wight they used to have a couple of hundred, they come down from Freshwater.  They used to have to pay to go in then if it was a cup tie.  I can remember Dad was always on the gate. He was on the committee.  When he finished work he used to go up there marking it out.   But oh yes, there used to be some grand scraps between Yarmouth and West Wight.

Football at the Rec pre WWII

Football at the Rec pre WWII

The older school kids used to go up there during the winter once a week. We just used the whole pitch, plodding up and down. Anybody who had a football was well in.  You’d see two or three go up after school kicking about, shooting in goal, you know, one in goal, and having a tussle. I mean you never see them now. These days, of course there’s not so many children of that age in the town as there used to be.
Phil Kelsey b 1920

Brian Pomroy: Free Time, Yarmouth Football 1930s – 1950s

:Yarmouth Football Team, with Bill Pomroy in goal 1936

:Yarmouth Football Team, with Bill Pomroy in goal 1936

The best team Yarmouth had was in 1947 when they played in the final of the Hampshire Cup over at Fratton Park. They had George Cleary from the pub, George Kelsey, two masters from the school at Eastmore and two lads from there. One of them, Charlesworth, he was really good, he went on to play for Wolverhampton. Mr. Holding from the shop, he was Chairman, and helped with money. You might get two or three hundred watching.

You should have seen Bun Cotton! He would really get stuck in. The ball would be at the other end and you’d look round and there was Bun, having a real go at someone. Yes, he used to get sent off.

Ted Levey used to referee, but every time he refereed when Yarmouth was playing he got into trouble. He’d be blowing the whistle and getting really queer with people.

My family played; Dad played in goal for Yarmouth and my brothers Derek and Peter. Derek was the best player of the family. I went with him when he had a trial for Southampton when he was 18 or 19, but when he came on the pitch at The Dell and saw the crowd, it was just too much for him. When I was 14, I had to go and see the Headmaster at Freshwater to get permission to play for Yarmouth First Team. My Mum used to have to do all that washing, kit for 3 of us, heavy shirts and all.  Brian Pomroy b 1937

Pat Burt: Free Time, Brownies and Guides 1940s

Pat Burt, Heather Doe, with Mrs Hans Hamilton at Guide camp 1945

Pat Burt, Heather Doe, with Mrs Hans Hamilton at Guide camp 1945

Mrs Hamilton used to take us into Thorley Copse, in the middle there where the paths cross. We used to have fires in there in the copse. It was used by the public then,but it may have been owned by Thorley Manor.  We used it all the time rather than Mill Copse.   We used to pick primroses; just the flowers, we never took the plants.

We couldn’t go camping during the war so the only Guide camp I went to, was in August 1945. Mrs Hamilton took us camping at St Helens.

Annette’s not in the photo, she dropped out of guides because she started work at 14 so she was probably working. Pat Burt nee Adams b 1929

David Biles: Free time, Point-to-Point races at Tapnell

Biles family at 1930s Point to point at Tapnell Farm, Yarmouth.

Biles family at 1930s Point to Point at Tapnell Farm, Yarmouth.

In the 20s and 30s, the Isle of Wight Point-to-Point races, run under Jockey Club Rules were held at Tapnell Farm when Colonel Jennings farmed there. The course had to be over three and a half miles of hunting country, and the horses jumped broad lane as part of the race.

Jack Seely, Baron Mottistone’s, famous horse ‘Warrior,’ which survived active service throughout WWI, was winner in 1921 and 1922.

One year, Harold Biles won on Edamite, a horse he later sold in Southampton for £300 – an enormous price in its day. Edamite went on to take 3rd place in the Foxhunter Race at Cheltenham and was eventually sold for £2000!

Eileen Smith: Free Time 1930s

Horse racing
Before the war, there used to be West Wight Point-to-Point races

Race card for Point to Point 1939 at Tapnell Farm, near Yarmouth

Race card for Point to Point 1939 at Tapnell Farm, near Yarmouth

on the fields up Broad Lane. On the days it was on, Ralph and the chaps who worked at Mills used to cycle up in the lunch hour to watch, and hope they got back in time for the afternoon!
Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921

1933 Douglas Biles at Tapnell

1933 Douglas Biles competing at Tapnell

Phil Kelsey: Trips and Treats – football matches

The trouble with going to Southampton was, if I remember rightly, the boats packed up early and you couldn’t get out of the ground and catch the train in time to get down for the last boat.
It was quite easy to go to Portsmouth because you could get on the train down here, right through to Ryde, over to Portsmouth and walk up to Fratton Park.  We used to do that nearly always on the Bank Holiday.
One the Bank Holiday it was Grimsby Town and they had Tweedy, I can remember him playing in goal, and Glover, the centre forward.  Of course Pompey in those days had the outside right Harris, the nippy little outside right. Phil Kelsey b 1920

Jean Maitland: Trips and Treats at Sandhard

Yarmouth harbour, old bridge with toll house

Yarmouth harbour from Sandhard, old bridge with toll house

Bridge Tolls originally displayed by Toll House on bridge

Bridge Tolls originally displayed by Toll House on bridge

When we were kids, we would be met at church by our parents and then go to Sandhard for our Sunday Lunch, us and all of the Gatrells. Of course there was a toll on the bridge in them days so our dad and the Gatrells used to borrow a boat and row us over. We used to stay over there until about half past six. Jean Maitland nee Levey b 1928 

Eileen Smith: Trips and Treats in the lifeboat

During Cowes Week the families of the lifeboat crew used to have a wonderful treat.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during Cowes Week the Yarmouth lifeboat went to Cowes to take people out to see all the liners and naval boats visiting Cowes, anchored offshore, and all the grand yachts like the ‘Victoria and Albert’. The Bembridge boat did the other days. It raised money for the RNLI.
The families of the crew were allowed to travel in the lifeboat to Cowes, leaving Yarmouth at 9.30 and returning at 3.30. We used to have the first trip out to see all the grand boats. Then we children would paddle a bit and eat our sandwiches whilst sitting on the Green watching all the boats. Sometimes the sea was a bit choppy, but we didn’t mind. We loved our special week. Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921

Phil Kelsey: Free Time at Sandhard 1920s

Sandhard 1950s

Sandhard

One of our trips was to go to Sandhard with my mother and the rest of the family.  We used to get in the boat down by the Mill.

 Sometimes mother got in if it was reasonable but she didn’t often.  George and perhaps the rest of the kids rowed over to Sandhard, dumped them off, then rowed back to the bridge. There used to be a landing stage right in the corner there and we used to get Mother in there and take her across. We used to drop her off there because, probably by the time we were coming back, the tide would be gone out.  It was awkward to get out down the Mill so we used to drop her off there, and one or two of us used to come and scrabble up over the wall down the bottom. Phil Kelsey b 1920