Village life by candlelight in the 1920s (From Cotswold Journal)

Village life by candlelight in the 1920s

RECOLLECTIONS of Overbury in the 1920s and childhood memories of living in the School House there have been brought together by Margaret Bramford in her new book Overbury, Queen of Villages, writes Gerry Barnett

Margaret Bramford was born in the School House in the village of Overbury where her father was headmaster of the school, which exists to this day.

The family moved to Pershore in 1931, where they remained for 50 years. A teacher of French and Spanish for most of her life and then a secretary, Miss Bramford has lived in Malvern for 25 years, now enjoying a third career as a writer and speaker.

Along with her own memories, she has collated cherished recollections of some Overbury and Conderton people of other aspects of the village in the past.

Apart from modernisations, Overbury has not changed much over the years, still, as Miss Bramford recalls, one of the quietest, tidiest and best organised of the Cotswold stone villages, nestling against the rolling slopes of Bredon Hill, with Overbury Court presiding benignly over village life.

Overbury did not have electricity in the 1920s. Aladdin paraffin lamps were used downstairs and candles in the bedrooms.

"The candlesticks we used were of china or enamelled metal," she recalls. "I still keep an Overbury candlestick in my kitchen cupboard in case the electricity fails. That candlestick is blue, enamelled and shaped like a bowl with a handle.

"My pride and joy in my present front room is the tall, pink china candlestick which I used in my pink and grey bedroom in Overbury School House all those years ago. The flickering flame would cast leaping shadows round the walls."

In her new book, Miss Bramford remembers such things as her first day at school, the early days of wireless, listening only to the news and in the evenings some dance music and popular songs, visiting Beckford Fair at the age of five and picking snowdrops in the woods above the village.

Her father George was headmaster at Overbury from 1922 to 1931, when he and his wife Meg moved to Pershore with their two children and where he became headmaster of Pershore Junior School. There was no water in the new house at Hurst Park Cottages, but there was electricity

She recalls: "Pershore in the 1930s still had slums - rows of shoddy tumble-down houses, up narrow passages, off the main streets. There were addresses such as Ganderton's Row, Bull Entry, Nash's Passage.

"One ancient pump for water and one or two earth closets would serve a dozen houses with large families. For us it was like moving to a foreign country."

Miss Bramford has dedicated her latest work to the people who shared their memories with her - "I have preserved their lively speech and their cheerful outlook on life" - to produce a book which will appeal not only to older people, who will remember Overbury as they recall it, but also a younger generation interested in learning what village life was really like nearly a century ago.

They have some fascinating tales to tell of flower shows and concerts, carol singing and cricket and the grand Tewkesbury Pageant of 1931.

Overbury, Queen of Villages, which contains 25 photographs, costs £12 and is available from Evesham Book Centre and from Margaret Bramford, 55 Redland Road, Malvern Link, WR14 1LY. Part proceeds will go to St Faith's Church, Overbury.