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FORDHAM RECALLED
Fordham Recalled is an oral history project, started in 2003 with the aim of placing on record the personal stories of people's lives; especially (but not exclusively) of those who have a connection with the village of Fordham, near Colchester, Essex, England.
Inspired by the work done by a similar (but much larger) group, known as Colchester Recalled, this project differs in that it uses audio/video media, instead of the simple audio recordings done by the Colchester group. We felt that they were missing out by not having a picture of the interviewee as they spoke. Modern technology allows us to use a video camera with excellent sound and picture quality, at a reasonable cost, with the added advantage of providing digital data that can be stored and re-formatted as technology changes, all the more safely. We were concerned that audio tapes have a limited shelf life and, as such, may not survive over a long period of time.
Those people who have given us interviews (so far) are as follows:
Angela Church 22nd March 2003 Angela moved to Fordham as a girl
in the 1940's and was very much involved with village life.
1 hour. Margaret Playle 21st April 2003 Girly has lived in Fordham for all
but two years of her life and still (she was 100 in May
2008) lives in the house where she was born. She become our
most celebrated villager since she had become a centenarian.
Girlie died in 2009. 1 hour. Dorothy Kettle 29th November 2003 and 22nd October
2005 Dorothy was born in Fordham (she is
now in her 90's) and still lives in Fordham. She was in
service in London as a girl and has been very much involved
with village life. 2 hours. Arthur Edward Harman 27th March 2004 Arthur grew up in Wormingford, an
unhappy childhood living with an aunt and uncle. Served as
an engineer in WW2. His poetry is marvellous and his
interview a delight. 1 hour. Marlene Boyle 10th April 2004 Marlene moved to Fordham as a girl
and has been very much a part of Fordham life ever since. 1
hour. Pat Lewis 1st August 2004 Pat has ancestral ties with
Fordham, having grown up in London and retiring with her
husband Clayton to Frinton. She is president of Fordham
Local History Society. 1 hour. Arthur (Jeph)
Jephcott 2004 to 2005 Jeph was born in 1915 in Birmingham
and lived in Dovercourt until his death in July 2007. He
fought in Burma during WW2 and worked at Woods of Colchester
until his retirement. Almost 8 hours
recorded. Richard Gregory Dec 2005 and Jan
2006 Richard was born in London in 1923,
was apprenticed with Smiths Industries, working in
Cheltenham during WW2, joining the RAF in 1946, ground crew,
becoming a pilot flying Spitfire, Harvard, Vampire, Hunter,
etc. aircraft. Later became an instructor. Now living in
Woodbridge. Almost 4 hours recorded. Frank and Pam
Horspool 10th March 2007 Their son Roger arranged for this
interview at Frank and Pam's home in Barn Hall, Colchester.
Both Frank and Pam grew up in Colchester and have spent most
of their lives there. 1 hour. Geoffery Thorpe 20th January 2008 Veronica Doughty, a Fordham
resident, arranged this interview with her uncle. Geoffery
grew up in Priory Street, Colchester and worked all his
working life at the Colchester Lathe Company, a highly
successful engineering company that closed its doors in the
1990's. 1 hour. David Cannon 26th January 2008 20th May 2008 David came to Fordham in the 1950's
and lived with his wife Nancy at Watercress Hall, Fossetts
Lane. With tales of his origins in Hertfordshire, being
descended from a line of blacksmiths and well diggers,
together with David's stories of his time as a borough
councillor and one time Mayor of Colchester, this interview
is very varied and interesting. David is another of
Fordham's celebrities. 2 hours. Reg Jones 3rd May 2008 ...and talking of celebrities, we
have another in Reg. He and wife Barbara came to live in
Fordham when they retired from the pub trade and Reg is
famous for the lecture circuit that developed as a result of
the occasional talks that he used to give on the subject of
his life in the Royal Horse Guards cavalry. 1
hour. Pip Pennefather July 2008 Pip is a Wormingford girl who now
lives in Fordham. She has had a very interesting career and
her story, as far as she is able to tell us (due to the
limitations of the Official Secrets Act) is quite different
to most. She holds an MBE. 1 hour Harry Parratt 2nd August 2008 A highly entertaining chat with a
man who was born in Stanway and worked at Markham's
pawnbrokers and then the Co-op, went to the Bluecoat School,
was a quartermaster during the war working at a prisoner of
war camp in Wales. 1 hour Grahame Page 18th October 2008 Grahame is the son of one of the
founders of the well know motor car dealership in
Colchester, Page and Scott. He was born in Colchester in
1925 and spent some time in the Home Guard during the war.
This interview complements another recording done by Bernard
Polley concerning the Page and Scott business for which
Grahame is very knowledgeable. 1 hour. Doris Beard November 2009 Doris was born in Fordham and has
spent all of her life in and around the village. During the
course of the interview, we discovered Doris' large
collection of old, Fordham related, photographs. 1
hour. Alan Farrant December 2009 Alan was born in Walthamstow and
came to Fordham in 1968. He served with the RAF during the
war, a WAP AG (aircraft gunner) mainly connected with
Warwick aircraft on search and rescuse duties. After the war
he became an accountant. 1 hour.
Most were recorded at Ditchling, Quilters Green, Fordham. All were recorded by Jess Jephcott.
We are always looking for people who are willing to be interviewed, especially those with a local upbringing and of an elderly age.
We are all mortal but this project brings a kind of immortality to a few of us. The record that is left behind will be enjoyed by family and by history researchers alike.
To volunteer to be interviewed, please contact us here, or by writing to
Jess Jephcott
Ditchling, Quilters Green, Fordham, Essex CO6 3LZ
or by telephone on 01206 242228 or 240788 or 07714 250949
There is absolutely no charge for this. We do it for the enjoyment of hearing an old'un talk about the past and for opportunity to make a record of a fragment of our country's history. A copy of your interview will be put onto a video cassette for you to keep. Further copies can be made but we would like you to provide the tapes for this purpose.
PRESERVATION
With ever changing technology, we need to make sure that the data is stored for posterity in such a way that it can be used by future generations. Our current procedure is as follows:
