This chit chat brings people together

Great Ellingham Chit Chat Group and its book Childhood Memories are testimony to the strength of community spirit and friendship in the Norfolk village. Ann Reeve, founder of the group, speaks to Rachel Banham.

- Rachel Banham

Do you remember a time before central heating, mobile phones and computers, when washing in tin baths in front of the fire, rabbit pie, skipping ropes and go-carts made from old pram wheels were the everyday joys of childhood?

Then you have much in common with members of the Great Ellingham Chit Chat Group. The group’s book, entitled Childhood Memories, contains a collection of 30 real-life stories gathered from the villagers.

They include the story of the four-year-old girl who was split up from her sisters when she was an evacuee during the war; a boy left up a tree all day for disobedience; evacuees who were made to work for their keep and others, such as a family who crossed the globe to Australia as ‘10-pound-poms’.

Memories come tumbling back as villagers tell stories of childhood laughter amid poverty, poor health care, street parties and everyday life in the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s.

Ann Reeve, founder of the group, gathered the stories. She recalls how the first one she read was from Maureen Eighteen, which told the story of a 1939 evacuation through the eyes of a four-year-old.

“I cried. It’s an absolutely fascinating story,” Ann says. “That really started me off and then the rest of the stories kept tumbling out. I kept having people bring their stories.”