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Interview with Barrie and Ted Field

BBB/001/011

Barrie Field recalls the three years that he taught at Denbigh School. He left teaching in 1967 to run Bletchley Youth Centre in Derwent Drive, a New County initiative. It had a ‘membership of nearly five hundred without a building and I used to hire the Labour Club which is now the Salvation Army place ...
Interview with John Christie about farmwork, Bletchley cattle market and the effect of the development of Milton Keynes on farming.

BBB/001/012

John Christie lived in Shenley after the war and recalls Bletchley being very small. There were few amenities, including ‘under the old bridge two or three little tin shops’. He used to go to the Studio cinema in Bletchley where ‘there was always queues’ and occasionally to the County cinema in Fenny Stratford. Socially, dances ...
Oral history audio recordings with residents who moved into Bletchley as part of the London overspill scheme from the 1950s.

BBB/002

This selection of twenty-two oral history interviews were recorded between 1995 and 1996 with residents who were allocated housing in Bletchley, together with employment, as part of the London overspill scheme. The interviews cover the newcomers’ initial impressions of Bletchley and reminiscences about the development of the town.
Interview with Marjorie Clark (b.1916) about moving to Bletchley, local life, the Labour Party and Bletchley's development.

BBB/002/001

Marjorie Clark and her husband bought a house on Bletchley’s Castle Estate in Shenley Road in 1954, moving from Wembley when her husband, a railwayman, was promoted. She joined the Mothers club to make friends, and volunteered at the Welfare Clinic. She remembers mixed feelings among locals about the influx of Londoners, but overall she ...
Interview with Ronald Flinn (b.1923) about moving to Bletchley from London, amenities, employment and the development of Milton Keynes.

BBB/002/002

Ronald Flinn, born in 1923 in Hampstead, London, recalls his early life in a family with ten children. Leaving school at fourteen, he worked for the Express Dairy until the outbreak of war, when he joined the Navy. After the war he married, had children and first lived in a shared ‘halfway house’ in ...
Interview with Wendy Marshall (nee Porter b.1953) and family on growing up in Bletchley, attitude to Londoners, education and employment.

BBB/002/003

Wendy Marshall and her family talk about moving from London to new houses in Bletchley in the 1950s (on Whaddon Way and the Saints Estate). Gordon Ridgeway was born in Great Horwood, later moving to Bletchley, and recalls the building of the new houses in Bletchley, and working as a milkman. The interviewees discuss ...
Interview with Wendy Marshall (nee Porter b.1953) and family about Robert Maxwell, other Bletchley characters, local entertainment, employment and events.

BBB/002/004

Interviewees recall that Bletchley Gazette was where you looked for information. Everyone bought it. They remember local MPs: Frank Markham the Tory in 1964, ‘then along comes Robert Maxwell, ‘Captain Bob’, in a uniform.’ They recall Maxwell’s difficulties with members of the local Labour Party, but they found him helpful with ...
Interview with Patricia Frances Flinn (nee Sharp b.1929) about moving to Bletchley from London, family life and education.

BBB/002/005

Patricia Flinn moved from London to Bletchley in the 1950s, and has lived in Wolverton since 1985. She and her husband had five children, and were living in one room in a halfway house in Neasden, so they applied for London overspill housing. Her husband took a job as a railway signalman when ...
Interview with Patricia Frances Flinn (nee Sharp b.1929) about housing and employment.

BBB/002/006

Patricia Flinn describes life with her husband and children in a halfway house in Neasden.They moved to Bletchley in 1953 on the London overspill scheme. The Royal Naval Association paid for the relocation to St.John’s Road. She recalls their early days in Bletchley when she was a housewife and her husband worked as a ...
Interview with Patricia Frances Flinn (nee Sharp b.1929) about moving to Bletchley, Robert Maxwell and social life.

BBB/002/007

Patricia Flinn remembers an incident involving Robert Maxwell and his henchman at the Conservative Club; in her opinion, Maxwell was ‘not a very nice person’. She recalls going to Christmas ‘do’s with her husband’s firm, High Precision, at Wilton Hall, the raffle and a good meal. She recalls Mr Hapgood and Basil Rose, the ...
Interview with Betty Clifford (b.1930) and Alexander Clifford (b.1930) about settling in Bletchley, attitudes to Londoners, and family life.

BBB/002/008

Betty and Alexander Clifford married in 1951 and lived in rooms in Willesden. They chose Bletchley when offered council housing in a ‘satellite town’. A.C. took a job at Marston Vale Brickworks and they moved to the Saints Estate with their young son. Alexandr Clifford changed job several times, because of low wages; eventually he ...
Interview with Stephen Flinn (b.1949) about moving to Bletchley c.1953, his childhood, education and teenage activities.

BBB/002/009

Stephen Flinn moved as a young child from a ‘halfway house’ in Stanmore, Middlesex to St Johns Road, Bletchley. He recalls playing out with friends with few restrictions; and ‘mass football games’ locally. There were local ‘battles’ between schools, and between locals and incomers. His dad worked on the railways and his mum at various ...
Interview with Stephen Flinn (b.1949) about employment and a career in the policeforce.

BBB/002/010

Stephen Flinn remembers the smell from brickworks in Newton Road, which made him wheezy. He never smoked, because it was too expensive. Discos were held at pubs like the Crown or the North Western, but he never drank, although ‘there was a lot of drink about’. He remembers a few scraps between people but little ...
Interview with Michael Brace (b.1941) about moving to Bletchley.

BBB/002/011

Michael Brace was born in Southend in 1941. He recounts his early life during the blitz and the family moving back to the London docks area, living with his mothers’ parents. His father worked at a gasworks and was offered a move to Bletchley, where they arrived in 1956. He discusses conditions in their shared ...
Interview with Michael Brace (b.1941) on employment and family life in Bletchley.

BBB/002/012

Michael Brace describes his final year at Bletchley Grammar School and leaving to become a tradesman apprentice at Wolverton Works. He describes the apprenticeship programme and talks of the dangerous aspects; he calls the Works ‘a dump’. But it was difficult to progress in a career there. Socially, the Freeman Memorial Youth Club and ...
Interview with Laura Owen (b.1950) about growing up in Bletchley and education.

BBB/002/013

Laura Owen moved to Bletchley from London in the early 1950s, aged two or three, to the Saints estate. Family life in the 1950s and 1960s was hard, both her parents worked. Her education was at Castles Infants and Saints school. Playing truant was not unusual. She recalls schoolfriends and playground games. At Wilton School ...
Interview with Daisy Doreen Brace (b.1921) about moving to Bletchley in the 1950s, housing, and domestic life.

BBB/002/014

Daisy Doreen Brace moved to Bletchley in 1956 to the Rivers Estate, with two teenage sons and daughter. She talks of her parents and her childhood, then about her working life until her children were born, one with a hole in the heart. Her husband worked for the gas company; patrolling the gasometers at night ...
Interview with Daisy Doreen Brace (b.1921) about fostering children, family life, employment, and living in Bletchley.

BBB/002/015

Daisy Doreen Brace recalls in more detail her family life in London, the period before moving to Bletchley from her mother’s house, moving day, and the difficulties involved. She remembers how thrilled she was to have a house of her own and how she enjoyed domestic life and housework: ‘I was so pleased, singing ...
Interview with Bob Bunn (b.1934) about his washing machine business and mobile greengrocers, playing golf and networking in Bletchley.

BBB/002/016

Bob Bunn talks of his early life and family; living in bed and breakfast places in London with his wife. He and his brother came to Robert Shaw of Bletchley as metal polishers, living in lodgings initially. He was then allocated a re-let council house on the Saints. He later took a job on night ...
Interview with Bob Bunn (b.1934) about moving to Bletchley, employment, racing pigeons and Golf Clubs.

BBB/002/017

Bob Bunn describes his past jobs – doing up and hiring out washing machines to wives on the Saints estate, window cleaning and a mobile shop. He and his brother first came to Bletchley as metal polishers for Robert Shaw; he ignored any nasty remarks made about London incomers. First he lived in lodgings, visiting ...
Interview with Bob Bunn (b.1934) about moving to Bletchley and his subsequent lifestyle.

BBB/002/018

Bob Bunn says he has thrived in Bletchley: playing golf, going to all the Balls, these are things he would never have done in London. The surroundings, like Brickhill Woods, are ideal for taking the kids for walks. When he and his wife first moved to Bletchley they had only suitcases, and bought a ...
Interview with Wendy Checkley (nee Brace b.1953) about moving to Bletchley, education, employment and recreation.

BBB/002/019

Wendy Checkley was born in London, and adopted into the Brace family. They moved to Bletchley when she was three; she has early memories of being pushed to Bletchley in the pram for shopping.She talks of family life, her Mum, visits from her Nan and the routines of family Christmases. She didn’t notice any resentment ...
Interview with Barry Brace (b.1944) about education, being a teenager and employment as a butcher.

BBB/002/020

Barry Brace remembers the early days of his life in Bletchley; few completed houses, and cows wandering about. He was excited about moving from London: ‘to me I was moving out to the country … that appealed to me’. He recalls the new Wilton Road School: standards, the teachers, strictness and punishment with the ...
Interview with Vera Barrow (b.1919) and Iris Whitcomb (b.1926) about moving to Bletchley from London, local life and events.

BBB/002/021

Vera Barrow and Iris Whitcomb talk of their early lives and the struggle to find accommodation in London. They both heard about Bletchley and London overspill; their husbands got jobs on the railway. Iris and her husband were the first London overspill people to move on to the Saints Estate, in 1952. Harold Macmillan came ...