Some interesting snippets from interviews Location: Devon
Rashleigh’s (Throwleigh Sanatorium)
"Rashleigh Farm was the only farm that was paved out in the shippons, with a drain and that sort of thing, and water to cleanse things down… There were a lot of fir trees opposite, and in there there were these chalets, which were supposed to be the men’s chalets. In the house itself…, there used to be a ballroom there. When you came out there were some nice chalets opposite… They were nicely heated and everything, and the ladies were in there. They were wooden, with separate toilet and bathroom, and all the rest of it."
"In the beginning there were about 15 worked there – gardeners and everything, years ago. It was only the 2nd war that stopped it. There was a proper dance-hall there, and Will Webber up Buttern – he was sitting there, and somebody tickled him, and he put his arm through the glass. And then they filled all those places the rooms with big tubs of margarine, and war stuff – rations in case the Germans came. They use to have a band – Perce Wadman always used to play things, and Perce Tucker used to get up and sing, and they always did little sketches… ‘twas lovely."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emmie Varwell (author of the book about Throwleigh)
"She was very well educated. When the French onion boys used to come round… each year, on a bicycle – these onions used to come into the quay at Exeter from Brittany… – and they used to go down to Miss Varwell, and of course Miss Emmie Varwell could always to talk to them in French! So she always bought two skeins of these onions, although she had plenty in the garden as well. If anybody was sick in the village, she would always go to them… I could remember her telling us when we were children that the Germans were really nice people. There wasn’t any television, and we didn’t go to the cinema very much, and we used to think “How could they be very nice people when they were all coming bombing us?”"
"I knew everybody up the road, because they all used to say “Come in.” You didn’t just deliver papers, years ago – you went in and saw them all. Up Moortown, I used to go in with the Jordans – they used to bring out their babies to show me."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Throwleigh Home Guard
"We also trained with a thing called the ‘Sticky Bomb’. This was not a very nice weapon – something like a coconut on the end of a stick. It was a glass container, filled with nitro-glycerine, very sticky on the outside, and the idea was that you had to go alongside a tank or any armoured vehicle, lob this thing off and it stuck to the armour. It did stick to armour in dry weather, but apparently in wet weather the thing would fall off. One of the worst things was that unless you threw it correctly, this wretched thing had a habit of landing behind you. As it was timed to explode in a few seconds, it caused a few casualties in the war."
"Another ambush I remember – a mock ambush. This was on Ash Hill between Whiddon Down and Throwleigh – a very steep-sided road. The umpire was not so impressed. We had to stop a convoy of enemy cars. This was done by throwing bags of white flour or chalk – I’m not sure what it was – at the leading vehicle. Unfortunately this time the bag of flour went through the open window of the umpire’s private car. He was not very impressed."
"We did get paid, if I remember rightly. For 7 or 8 hours work on Sundays, the sum was 1/6 old money – not a lot."
"Rashleigh Farm was the only farm that was paved out in the shippons, with a drain and that sort of thing, and water to cleanse things down… There were a lot of fir trees opposite, and in there there were these chalets, which were supposed to be the men’s chalets. In the house itself…, there used to be a ballroom there. When you came out there were some nice chalets opposite… They were nicely heated and everything, and the ladies were in there. They were wooden, with separate toilet and bathroom, and all the rest of it."
"She was very well educated. When the French onion boys used to come round… each year, on a bicycle – these onions used to come into the quay at Exeter from Brittany… – and they used to go down to Miss Varwell, and of course Miss Emmie Varwell could always to talk to them in French! So she always bought two skeins of these onions, although she had plenty in the garden as well. If anybody was sick in the village, she would always go to them… I could remember her telling us when we were children that the Germans were really nice people. There wasn’t any television, and we didn’t go to the cinema very much, and we used to think “How could they be very nice people when they were all coming bombing us?”"-paper-rou.jpg "Grandad Osborne delivering newspapers")
"I knew everybody up the road, because they all used to say “Come in.” You didn’t just deliver papers, years ago – you went in and saw them all. Up Moortown, I used to go in with the Jordans – they used to bring out their babies to show me."
"We also trained with a thing called the ‘Sticky Bomb’. This was not a very nice weapon – something like a coconut on the end of a stick. It was a glass container, filled with nitro-glycerine, very sticky on the outside, and the idea was that you had to go alongside a tank or any armoured vehicle, lob this thing off and it stuck to the armour. It did stick to armour in dry weather, but apparently in wet weather the thing would fall off. One of the worst things was that unless you threw it correctly, this wretched thing had a habit of landing behind you. As it was timed to explode in a few seconds, it caused a few casualties in the war."