Village Memories
ROD Nickalls was born at home in a cottage in Mill Road in December, 1944. His father was a baker by trade and some of Rod’s earliest memories are of visiting the bakery in Oak Square which is now Tasty Bites. This was owned by his uncle and Kenny Wiles.
His father was born in Suton near Wymondham, but his mother Hazel was also born in Hethersett, just across the road from the cottage where Rod himself first saw the light of day.
“My mother was born in a terrace house in 1912 and lived in the village for well over 70 years until the late 1980s. She died in 2003,” he said.
Rod remembers life at home being pretty hard without the modern day luxuries. Anybody reading this who is of a certain age will have similar early life memories to Rod.
“We had no mains sewer and our waste was collected by the so called honey cart which came round on Friday night. We had an outside toilet and a tin
bath. It was long before the days of central heating.”
Life for Rod as a lad included scraping ice off the inside of windows to see if it was snowing outside. As he grew up, Rod spent many happy hours at the village gravel pit and the surrounding woods.
“I remember Cedar Grange, which was close to the gravel pit, being owned by Robert Richardson who was a well known local Methodist. The gravel pit was used for cycle speedway and we used to play cowboys and Indians or Brits and Germans as the Second World War was still fresh in the memory,” Rod added.
The young Rod also played football on a variety of meadows and pastures: “We used to mark the lines out with soot.”
He also spent time around Kissing Alley, which still exists, or fishing in a lake belonging to Humphrey Back.
When he was old enough, Rod attended what was then Hethersett National School (now Hethersett Junior School) in Queen’s Road.
“We were taught in the old school house which had just two classrooms with a folding partition between them.“
He remembers Thomas Hall as Headmaster. His wife also taught and another teacher was a Mr Catlin.
“The Head and his wife lived on the right hand side of the school building. Eventually I went to Costessey Secondary Modern and we would get there by coach. I enjoyed geography but on the whole hated school.
Rod left school at 16 and stayed in the village for just another five years.
“My first job on leaving school was with Lenny Thraxton, the builder. My parents had separated and one day I was painting my mother’s shed and was
offered work by Lenny himself. “ But the paint, with its high lead content, affected Rod’s health, so he changed jobs and went to work for Ralph Johnson and his company Castle Mouldings.
Ralph had set up his business in his mother’s garden in Mill Road. Rod helped to make coal bunker lids and wooden garage doors, working in the carpentry shop with Ralph’s brother Eddie. He continued to work for Castle Mouldings until it expanded and moved to Silfield near Wymondham.
His father didn’t serve in the Second World War as he had a protected occupation as a baker. He was, however, a member of the Home Guard.
Rod remembers the rationing after the war which went on until the early 1950s. He also remembers Walter Dann’s butcher’s shop on the site now occupied by the village dentist. and a grocery shop run by Kenton Woods in a shop that is now Stratford’s Estate Agents. He remembers the Greyhound Pub which was run by another of Ralph Johnson’s brothers – Eric.
Other memories include the Memorial Playing Field being opened and members of the USAF mounting a display. He was in the church choir and also remembers playing football in the road and making slides in the middle of Great Melton Road in the winter.
His grandmother on his mother’s side used to run a sweet shop which subsequently became a wool shop run by Edna Fiske. This was knocked down and replaced by a brick building which became Bunches and Munches and which is now the Co-op Funeral Home. He also remembers a cycle shop opposite what is now Tescos.
His mother and sister are buried in Hethersett Churchyard.
Rod moved from the village when he got married to Helen. Initially they lived in Queen’s Road, Norwich, then Onley Street, Marl Pit, West Earlham and subsequently have spent 24 years in Taverham. When it came to work, Rod led something of a nomadic existence moving through many jobs before settling down and working for Jarrolds Printing for almost 34 years. Before that he had 13 jobs which included being employed at Thickthorn Farm for a day. He also worked for London Construction Company, Wicklewood Sewerage, and a shoe factory, amongst others.
Rod has thought about returning to live in Hethersett at various points in his life but now says that he is settled in Taverham although he is always happy to seek out the areas of his childhood on visits back to the village. “I would have loved to have kept my mothers house and had it modernised but it just didn’t happen,” he said.
Along with Helen, he thoroughly enjoys the village pantomime which draws him back to Hethersett every year. Rod loves talking about Hethersett and below are just a few more of his memories.
“A man by the name of Baxter used to drop off milk every day whatever the weather. If it was frosty the top of the bottle would come off and the milk would freeze. The milk was dropped off at a garden in Lynch Green. Baxter would pick it up from there and deliver it early morning by lorry.
“Hethersett Social Club acted as the village hall. During the 1950s my father was captain of the Bowls club. Where the library now is was a field owned by
Smith’s Bakery
Wallace Poll. In 1953 in that field we had a Coronation Day fete. We all got a tin of Rolos. It was a cloudy drizzly day. I remember it as if it was yesterday. The whole village turned out.”
“What is now Rowan House was a grocery shop owned by Fred Day. There was a fish and chip shop at the side.”
“A Police Officer lived on Colney Road. I remember PC Lines and Johnson. I had a moped but let the tax run out. Somebody dobbed me in. Myself and Helen were having a canoodle at my mother’s when one of the officers knocked on the door I got fined 10 shillings.”
His father was born in Suton near Wymondham, but his mother Hazel was also born in Hethersett, just across the road from the cottage where Rod himself first saw the light of day.
“My mother was born in a terrace house in 1912 and lived in the village for well over 70 years until the late 1980s. She died in 2003,” he said.
Rod remembers life at home being pretty hard without the modern day luxuries. Anybody reading this who is of a certain age will have similar early life memories to Rod.
“We had no mains sewer and our waste was collected by the so called honey cart which came round on Friday night. We had an outside toilet and a tin
bath. It was long before the days of central heating.”
Life for Rod as a lad included scraping ice off the inside of windows to see if it was snowing outside. As he grew up, Rod spent many happy hours at the village gravel pit and the surrounding woods.
“I remember Cedar Grange, which was close to the gravel pit, being owned by Robert Richardson who was a well known local Methodist. The gravel pit was used for cycle speedway and we used to play cowboys and Indians or Brits and Germans as the Second World War was still fresh in the memory,” Rod added.
The young Rod also played football on a variety of meadows and pastures: “We used to mark the lines out with soot.”
He also spent time around Kissing Alley, which still exists, or fishing in a lake belonging to Humphrey Back.
When he was old enough, Rod attended what was then Hethersett National School (now Hethersett Junior School) in Queen’s Road.
“We were taught in the old school house which had just two classrooms with a folding partition between them.“
He remembers Thomas Hall as Headmaster. His wife also taught and another teacher was a Mr Catlin.
“The Head and his wife lived on the right hand side of the school building. Eventually I went to Costessey Secondary Modern and we would get there by coach. I enjoyed geography but on the whole hated school.
Rod left school at 16 and stayed in the village for just another five years.
“My first job on leaving school was with Lenny Thraxton, the builder. My parents had separated and one day I was painting my mother’s shed and was
offered work by Lenny himself. “ But the paint, with its high lead content, affected Rod’s health, so he changed jobs and went to work for Ralph Johnson and his company Castle Mouldings.
Ralph had set up his business in his mother’s garden in Mill Road. Rod helped to make coal bunker lids and wooden garage doors, working in the carpentry shop with Ralph’s brother Eddie. He continued to work for Castle Mouldings until it expanded and moved to Silfield near Wymondham.
His father didn’t serve in the Second World War as he had a protected occupation as a baker. He was, however, a member of the Home Guard.
Rod remembers the rationing after the war which went on until the early 1950s. He also remembers Walter Dann’s butcher’s shop on the site now occupied by the village dentist. and a grocery shop run by Kenton Woods in a shop that is now Stratford’s Estate Agents. He remembers the Greyhound Pub which was run by another of Ralph Johnson’s brothers – Eric.
Other memories include the Memorial Playing Field being opened and members of the USAF mounting a display. He was in the church choir and also remembers playing football in the road and making slides in the middle of Great Melton Road in the winter.
His grandmother on his mother’s side used to run a sweet shop which subsequently became a wool shop run by Edna Fiske. This was knocked down and replaced by a brick building which became Bunches and Munches and which is now the Co-op Funeral Home. He also remembers a cycle shop opposite what is now Tescos.
His mother and sister are buried in Hethersett Churchyard.
Rod moved from the village when he got married to Helen. Initially they lived in Queen’s Road, Norwich, then Onley Street, Marl Pit, West Earlham and subsequently have spent 24 years in Taverham. When it came to work, Rod led something of a nomadic existence moving through many jobs before settling down and working for Jarrolds Printing for almost 34 years. Before that he had 13 jobs which included being employed at Thickthorn Farm for a day. He also worked for London Construction Company, Wicklewood Sewerage, and a shoe factory, amongst others.
Rod has thought about returning to live in Hethersett at various points in his life but now says that he is settled in Taverham although he is always happy to seek out the areas of his childhood on visits back to the village. “I would have loved to have kept my mothers house and had it modernised but it just didn’t happen,” he said.
Along with Helen, he thoroughly enjoys the village pantomime which draws him back to Hethersett every year. Rod loves talking about Hethersett and below are just a few more of his memories.
“A man by the name of Baxter used to drop off milk every day whatever the weather. If it was frosty the top of the bottle would come off and the milk would freeze. The milk was dropped off at a garden in Lynch Green. Baxter would pick it up from there and deliver it early morning by lorry.
“Hethersett Social Club acted as the village hall. During the 1950s my father was captain of the Bowls club. Where the library now is was a field owned by
Smith’s Bakery
Wallace Poll. In 1953 in that field we had a Coronation Day fete. We all got a tin of Rolos. It was a cloudy drizzly day. I remember it as if it was yesterday. The whole village turned out.”
“What is now Rowan House was a grocery shop owned by Fred Day. There was a fish and chip shop at the side.”
“A Police Officer lived on Colney Road. I remember PC Lines and Johnson. I had a moped but let the tax run out. Somebody dobbed me in. Myself and Helen were having a canoodle at my mother’s when one of the officers knocked on the door I got fined 10 shillings.”