Tag Archives: Charlie Courtney

Ron Wallis: Thorley 1940s, 1950s

Wellow Institute Darts Champions 1971 - 72

Wellow Institute Darts Champions 1971 – 72 From left: Geoff Bishop, Charlie Courtney, Mike Smith, Ralph Smith – all Thorley men with Archie Pocock, Glad and Vic Whittingham from Wellow

We used to go up to the Wellow Institute playing billiards or cards or whatever, the lads and myself, and I came down one night back with my bike, I must have been fifteen, and it was a dark night, just gone ten o’clock, just a little bit of light. I had my head down looking at the ground, and all of a sudden, there was this shape in front of me and ‘bang’. The front wheel went straight between Charlie Bryne’s legs, Ron Hillier was helping him home.  Yes, they’d had a couple, or several, and I went over the top of Charlie Bryne – didn’t do the bike a lot of good, but it did me a lot more harm, it really hurt.  Charlie got up, the air was somewhat blue.  Apart from bruises up his back he had nothing wrong with him.  I got home and put my bike away and I’d taken the top off one of my ankle bones.
And I thought: ‘I’ve hurt my head’.  There was all blood and went to see Dad, who was listening to the radio and he come and had a look.  He said, ‘Mother, I think you’d better come and have a look at this.’ So mum came out in the kitchen – ‘ Oh, I don’t like the look of that’.
Poor old Gran, who was staying with us at the time, she came out and she put it right. She got the scissors out and then cut my hair away and put a plaster on it.    The damage to my ankle made me limp for a while.  Charlie Bryne, he was fine.
Ron Wallis b 1935

Pam Bone: Thorley 1950s

Charlie Courtney lived in the cottage next door to the Hilliers. He worked at Newclose.  Charlie Bryne, the man who lived in Whitewalls Cottage, the next house down, had an orchard and I remember getting told off a few times, along with other local children, for scrumping apples.

On the other side of the barn in Whitewalls lived Mr and Mrs Frank Squibb and next to them in Woodmans, lived Miss Drake. Further up the road, past the field next to Hilly’s house, in Upper Place, lived the man you would take your tom cat to if you wanted it to be neutered. Pam Bone nee Cotton b 1948

Whitewalls and Woodmans

Whitewalls and Woodmans

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Peter Smith: Thorley, Newclose Farm horses 1950s

Horse drawn binder 1913

Horse drawn binder 1913


Heal’s Farm (Newclose) cart horses Cornel and Warwick used to be kept in the field behind the Church. They were huge shire horses and would often come and look over the hedge at us as we went down Blacksmith’s Lane. The field there was several feet higher than the Lane so it made the horses seem even bigger. The horses were used for pulling carts around the farm and could often be seen with a two wheeled cart full of mangels that were being dropped in the fields for the cattle to eat. Peter Smith b 1946