Edwardian Longhope, Memoirs of Arthur S. BULLOCK (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 01:03 (4752 days ago)

A few months back I finished reading a good book I'd generously bought my mother for Christmas.... well I didn't want it to disappoint her..
"Gloucestershire Between the Wars" by Arthur Stanley Bullock, bought to my attention by this review in the Longhope Village website.
http://www.longhopevillage.co.uk/news/Index.aspx?cmd=view&id=10

My mother was born & bred in 1930s Longhope and her family were all very active within the close local community; the village school, All Saint's Church, Constance's sawmills, cricket & football teams, the silver band, landlord of the Nags Head pub, and so on. Hence we both found the first chapters of this book exceptionally interesting describing Arthur's childhood in the village, with all the above being mentioned albeit from an earlier generation. He recalls his piano lessons with Miss Ivy Wright, just as my mother learnt from her elderly Aunt Ivy thirty years later; Arthur's father George working as a woodturner at the mill, conducting the band & captaining the cricket team, all just as my grandfather did as if in his footsteps. I'd hoped the book would bring back nice memories for my mother, but really didnt realise it would be so very close to home, all rather spooky to get such a vivid impression of both their lives.

"I could hardly have chosen a better village to be born in than Longhope", he writes, with great love of the events and people within his small but busy village; 6 shops, smithy, 2 bakers, post office, coal merchant, 4 pubs, choral society, tennis club, etc etc.
My mother echoed his opinion, no doubt with mixed emotions, having recently buried her only surviving sibling in All Saints churchyard alongside my grandparents.

The author was fortunate enough to earn a scholarship to secondary school in Gloucester, before serving with the Army in France in 1918. After the war his technical work took him to South Wales then a long career with Listers albeit in their Dursley HQ, not their Cinderford factory so perhaps not as relevant to the Forest, but still very interesting.

I thoroughly commend this book to anyone interested in Edwardian Gloucestershire life, especially Longhope. It's a shame the County Library only holds a few copies, and none in the Forest or Longhope districts:
http://prism.talis.com/gloucestershire/items/896743?query=gloucestershire+wars&resu...

Record_ID: 136540
Entry_Number: 1218
Year: 1911
Month: Mar
Day: 26
Parents_Surname: BULLOCK
Child_Forenames: Arthur Stanley
Fathers_Forenames: George
Mothers_Forenames: Sarah Margaret
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Hill View Nupend Longhope
Occupation: Woodturner
Officiating_Minister: George Barr M A Rector
Event: Baptism
Memoranda: Born 11 Aug 1899
Notes:
Register_Reference:
Page_Number: 153
Parish_Chapel: Longhope
Soundex: B420

Arthur was the last of seven children, and I see from this site's PRs there were at least eight George Bullocks in Longhope going back to 1763. Prior threads suggest there are still Bullocks in Longhope, I do hope so.