Hilary's Diaries - Hilary Townsend President of Stalbridge History Society
December 2020 Hilary Townsend
I have never cast off the excitement I felt about Christmas as the child. The build up was so intense and seemed to last for such a long time. My mother made the traditional Christmas pudding around Stir Up Sunday, cutting up the rock hard candied peel and washing all the dried fruit.
The postman brought parcels, sometimes several times a day, in the weeks before Christmas and my watchful mother whisked them out of sight. The church was a huge part of our lives then, so was the church school. We had a carol service in the church, carols at prayers every morning in school, then carols and a play we elder children performed for the parents in the school classroom. We had decorated the classroom with strings of paper chains stuck together with paste. 
Stalbridge Post Office Staff
One year, it was 1936, I remember my parents discussing very fiercely `that woman` and when I came into the room I noticed that they talked about something else. This bothered me. Who in Stalbridge I wondered could upset my parents so badly with her behaviour? Then one morning Miss Pearse, the headmistress, said firmly that we were not to sing the version of `Hark the Herald Angels Sing` that ran:
`Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson pinched our King` and the mystery was explained. When asked about Christmas presents I said `Books please` and my mother discovered that Mrs Hughie Parsons at the paper shop always knew how to find my requests. She was lovely and all the rest of the year helped me to get the very best value out of my penny a week pocket money for sweets. 
Stalbridge Primary School
We were usually joined for Christmas by Auntie Millie, my mother’s sister, who was a fashion buyer for John Lewis’s store in London. She was beautifully made up and of course fashionably dressed. I loved the way heads turned to look at her at the railway station and as we walked through Stalbridge.
We had roast chicken and all the trimmings for Christmas lunch. It was a fat free range bird and a great treat in those days. This was followed by the Christmas pudding and custard. At teatime I could generally manage just bread-and-butter first of course and a slice of Christmas cake. My mother made the cake, the marzipan and icing herself. My sister Mary decorated it artistically with swirls of icing sugar and a Christmas message picked out with silver balls. These were extremely hard and felt like ball bearings when you first bit them. 
Hunt meet at the Stalbridge Arms
Next day being Boxing Day, in the morning Mary and I always went to see the Meet. This was a large assembly of local huntsmen and hounds, sometimes in Stalbridge Park or at the Stalbridge Arms. It was a very popular social event and we were fascinated by the Stirrup Cup passed round to the huntsmen before they set off. Some local people followed the hunt on foot or by bicycle. Mary and I simply walked home to a welcome lunch of cold chicken and bubble and squeak.
© Hilary Townsend
December 2020 |
Discover Dorset – Blackmore Vale Dovecote Press 2004
|
Blackmore Vale Childhood Dovecote Press 2006
|
One Woman’s Fight for Architectural Heritage 2012
|
Stalbridge to Siberia and other places - Silk Hay Books 2018
|
Titles by Hilary Townsend
Hilary, from a family of yeoman farmers, grew up in Dorset. As a personnel manager in industry, and later lecturer in management subjects, she wrote magazine and newspaper features for UK and North American markets.
Hilary, from a family of yeoman farmers, grew up in Dorset. As a personnel manager in industry, and later lecturer in management subjects, she wrote magazine and newspaper features for UK and North American markets.
