interviewee	date(s) of interview(s)	comment	notes
01 Angela Church	22nd March 2003	Angela moved to Fordham as a girl in the 1940s and was very much involved with village life. 1 hour.	Video viewable on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/9EyiWhtyAjA Written transcript of Angela's interview viewable at: www.camulos.com/fordham/AngelaChurchTranscript.pdf
02 Margaret Playle née Beard (DECEASED)	21st April 2003	Girly had lived in Fordham for all but two years of her life and, at the age of 100 (she was 100 in May 2008) still lived in the house where she was born. She became our most celebrated villager, since she had become a centenarian. Girly died in 2009. 1 hour.	Video viewable on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_62u7r6GEjQ Written transcript of Margaret's interview viewable at: www.camulos.com/fordham/MargaretPlayleTranscript.pdf
03 Dorothy Kettle née Cresswell (DECEASED)	29th November 2003 and 22nd October 2005	Dorothy was born in Fordham and was still living in Fordham when we did this interview with her, in her 90s. She was in service in London as a girl and has been very much involved with village life. 2 hours.	Videos viewable on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkgofZlsbM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0tots2Tksg Written transcript of Dorothy's two interviews viewable at: www.camulos.com/fordham/DorothyKettleTranscript.pdf
04 Arthur Edward Harman married to Osborne (DECEASED)	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.	Video viewable on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8lm-WBwiPY Written transcript of Arthur's interview viewable at: www.camulos.com/fordham/ArthurHarmanTranscript.pdf
05 Marlene Boyle	10th April 2004	Marlene moved to Fordham as a girl and became very much a part of Fordham life since then. 1 hour.	Video viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/zDsE86y7kko Written transcript of Marlene's interview viewable at: www.camulos.com/fordham/MarleneBoyleTranscript.pdf
06 Pat Lewis (DECEASED)	1st August 2004	Pat had ancestral ties with Fordham, having grown up in London and retiring with her husband Clayton to Frinton. She was president of Fordham Local History Society. 1 hour.	Video viewable on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/D7AVLZaDQ8A Written transcript of Pat's interview viewable at: www.camulos.com/fordham/PatLewisTranscript.pdf
07 Arthur (Jeph) Jephcott married to Voss (DECEASED)	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.	07 - several recordings at different dates
08 Richard Gregory (DECEASED)	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. GREGORY Richard George. Passed away peacefully at Jubilee House Woodbridge, on October 24, 2017, aged 94. Looking back on this series of recordings, this man was a remarkable fellow, with a remarkable story to tell. His interview is like a book, and we will endeavour to produce a written transcript as soon as we are able.	Videos viewable on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/NEVFqRjf5Lk https://youtu.be/74LYGp_v1aY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdihtpt9qoc
09 Frank and Pam Horspool (BOTH DECEASED)	10th March 2007	Their son Roger arranged for this interview at Frank (known as Bunny) and Pam's home in Barn Hall, Colchester. Both Frank and Pam grew up in Colchester and had spent most of their lives there. An example of how not to conduct a family story interview. The intention was to just interview Frank, so that a controlled set of questions could be presented. Instead, we ended up with an uncontrollable discussion about family, without the structure that we like to adhere to. 1 hour. Frank died in September 2013 at the age of 92 and Pam died in April 2017 at the age of 93.	Video viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/Huad8PbOW4k
10 Geoffery Thorpe (DECEASED)	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 1990s. 1 hour. THORPE Geoffrey Walter (Geoff). Passed away peacefully in his sleep on 3rd February 2018 aged 92 years. Loving husband to the late Rene, much loved dad to Marion and father in law to Michael, devoted grandad to Sarah and a special uncle to Veronica.	Video viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/gGweAenew8w
11 David Cannon married to Stratherne (DECEASED)	26th January 2008 20th May 2008	David came to Fordham in the 1950s 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 local celebrities. 2 hours. David passed away in December 2023, at the age of 90 years, and his funeral service was held at All Saints Church.	Videos viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/4sZA-E7m8bs Part One youtu.be/W5w0j6aAgeQ Part Two
12 Reg Jones (DECEASED)	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 Essex pub trade and Reg was 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. Reg died at home on 3rd December 2017.	Videos available on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYt3vdw1UZ8 www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXGWJ-TzqL8 Summary of interview may be seen at: www.camulos.com/fordham/RegJonesSummary.pdf
13 Pip Pennefather not married (DECEASED)	July 2008	Pip was a Wormingford girl who came to live in Quilters Green, Fordham. She had a very interesting career, and her story, as far as she was able to tell us (due to the limitations of the Official Secrets Act) was quite different to most. She received an MBE and moved in Royal circles. 1 hour. Pip was born on 11th July 1924 and died on 8th November 2015.	Video viewable on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iklzeDeBUvg A Partial Transcript of the interview may be seen at: www.camulos.com/fordham/PipPennefatherPartialTranscript.pdf
14 Harry Parratt (DECEASED)	2nd August 2008	A highly entertaining chat with a man who was born in Stanway in 1917 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. Harry died in 2016. 1 hour	Video viewable on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/1bcAIo6i94w
15 Grahame Page	18th October 2008	Grahame was 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 compliments another recording done by Bernard Polley concerning the Page and Scott business for which Grahame was, understandably, very knowledgeable. 1 hour.	Video viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/3bIO_ZS3zd8 Summary of interview may be seen at: www.camulos.com/fordham/GrahamePageSummary.pdf
16 Kevin Bond	December 2008	Kevin was born in Colchester in 1937 and, when we interviewed him, he lived with his wife in Marks Tey.	Video viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/Kot8lZ-4FU0
17 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.	Video viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/0iYAhYdnxzU
18 Alan Farrant (DECEASED)	December 2009	Alan was born in Walthamstow and came to Fordham in 1968. He served with the RAF during the war, a WOP AG (aircraft gunner) mainly connected with Warwick aircraft, on search and rescue duties. After the war he became an accountant. 1 hour. Alan died in June 2012.	Video viewable on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-vPt9GI-Dg also Alan's 80th birthday party. youtu.be/5c9tVoGBdcY
19 Derek Clampin (DECEASED)	November 2011	Derek was born in Ford Street, Fordham and was still living in Ford Street. Fordham, up until his death. He followed in his grandfather's and father's business as a builder and developed a life-long interest in motorcycles, especially trials. Derek brought along some old photographs and talked about these during his interview. 1 hour. Derek died in 2017.	Video viewable on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVaDyF2pMFc
20 Paul Doughty (DECEASED)	October 2014	Paul was born in Aldershot in 1939 but came to Colchester in 1946, his family living in military married quarters in Aisne Road. For all his working life he worked for Colchester hospitals as a microbiologist. When he was married, he and his wife Veronica came to live in one of the new houses in Hall Lane, Fordham. 2 hours. Paul passed away in December 2023.	Videos viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/m-iFqZbSdmo youtu.be/MaAaYJ4L3T4
21 Stan Parker (DECEASED)	January 2016	Stan was born in 1924 and had recently received a commemorative medal from the French government in recognition of his services as a cable layer with the British Army during the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944. Stan died 9th July 2018.	Video viewable on YouTube at: youtu.be/-6iMdRs0lRM Stan's War Video viewable on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT4n65QYPa0

 

HOW DO WE DO IT? This project aims to record the lives of elderly (usually aged 75 and more) people with a Fordham or local connection. Candidates are invited to sit in front of a video camera and to tell the story of their life. The product serves two main purposes, one to create a historical record for future generations to learn from, the other to create a family history record for the candidate's family in perpetuity. This project is not unique. There are many other social history projects like this in the UK, mainly simply audio recordings of people talking about their lives, perhaps in relation to a specific area of the country. A few, like this one, use the additional medium of video. The resulting video recording becomes the copyright property of the interviewee and the film maker. Whilst the ultimate aim is to use the record for social history purposes, the film maker pledges that the film would not be published without the interviewee's permission or during the life of the interviewee. The recording will be made using basic technology of the time, the data recorded in .avi format. The produces a high quality film of size around 13GB for a one hour recording session. A copy of the recording will be presented to the interviewee, free of charge, on a SD computer disk, or similar medium, according to current technology. No monetary charges are made by either party and the interviewee is free to do as he or she wishes with their recording. After the passing of the interviewee, the film maker will add the recording to an existing archive that, in this project's case, will be deposited with others, at the Essex County Record Office, in Chelmsford, Essex, England. A written transcript of the recording will also be made to enable searching by other persons or researchers. How does it work? When a candidate requests to have their life story recorded for this project, a suitable time and place (usually the candidate's home) is agreed and the filming is done, usually over a single one hour session. Further interviews may be required if there is sufficient material to talk about. What information is typically recorded? This is at the discretion of the interviewee. Some aspects of their life may be sensitive or subject to secrecy laws. However, a standard format of questions are normally answered to give a structure to the interview. Starting with a brief introduction by the interviewer, stating date, place of recording, name of project, name of interviewee, name of interviewer, these questions would typically take the following order. Please prepare for these. 1. What was your full name at birth? 2. On what date and where were you born? 3. What were your parents' names? 4. What are your earliest memories? 5. Tell us about your father. When was he born, what did he do for a living? Who were his parents, your paternal grandparents? Where did they live? What can you tell us about your father's life? Did he serve in the military for instance? When and where did he die? Who, when and where did he marry? 6. Tell us about your mother. Follow the same line of questions as for the father. 7. What can you tell us about your grandparents, or perhaps great grandparents? 8. Where did you grow up? 9. Did you have brothers and sisters? Names, ages, etc. 10. Where did you go to school, primary, secondary, further education, university? 11. Courting. Are you married? If yes, who did you marry, where and when? Where did you meet? 12. Do you have children? Names and ages? 13. What were your hobbies and interests as a child? 14. What career did you choose? How did your working life pan out? 15. Did you serve in the armed forces or were involved with the nation's defence? 16. What is your philosophy or philosophies on life? Any other anecdotes or stories. Did you ever meet the king or queen, film stars, etc? 17. Do you have any old family photographs that we could look at? Hold up or zoom in on photographs/documents and talk about the pictures on camera. 18. If an interesting story or topic presents itself during the interview, expand on it.   Interview ends. The aim of course, is that the interviewer is only a prompter. We don't want to hear the interviewer, so a flowing story is preferred.

FORDHAM PHOTOGRAPHS

We started a new project in 2011 to make copies of people's Fordham related family and local sights photographs. The method that we have adopted is to scan each photograph to a high quality and then to insert them into a Microsoft Powerpoint presentation file that can easily be annotated with identification details and other information. So, if you have any Fordham related photographs and would be willing to let us scan them and have you identify the people and places, please let us know. We hope to build a Fordham picture file for posterity.

Languedoc Recalled is the project that has been created in France (from Summer 2018), due to the emigration of key personnel. It operates on the same basis as the Fordham Recalled project, except that it seeks out people that live in the Languedoc region of France, be they English or French speakers. The following table gives information of those people who have been interviewed so far.

F1 Roy Arscott	October 2018	Roy was born in Hornchurch in Essex in 1935. From an early age, it was clear that his future was with music. He became a music teacher in schools and, after retirement, he emigrated to live in the Languedoc, where he and his wife Jill became two of the prime members of the English Speaking Church of Mirepoix. Roy was one of the organists. 1 hour.	F1 - MP4
F2 Karen Millns	October 2018	Karen was born in Maltby, South Yorkshire in 1937. She became a teacher, raised two children with her husband Leslie and, later in life, they decided on making a life in horticultural pursuits in Brittany, France. When they retired, they moved to the Languedoc. Karen had a fascinating story to tell about her ancestors, where there was a case of two very different classes of people marrying, against their families' wishes. Leslie died in 2017. 1 hour.	F2 - MP4

 

OUR AIM

Our aim is to link up with other projects like ours, so that our information can be shared with a wider audience.

 

Site first established December 2005

updated 010922

 

 

 

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