Crockham Hill June 2025 Newsletter - Flipbook - Page 25
to carry a map due to wartime restrictions so worked out a route with the
help of the farmer at Hurst Farm. She had to commit the villages to memory
and hopped her way there in one day with the aid of Land Girls9 local
knowledge. There were no signposts to go by. She was a bit miffed with
one who sent her completely the wrong way. There was no telephone to
tell her parents she had arrived safely so had to send a postcard.
She told me about how the pub by common practice used to be for males
only, but that was no barrier to a young Freda wanting to collect money for
the Queen Alexander Rose charity. She button-holed Canadian troops who
didn9t heed the warning from their superiors that this cider wasn9t the plain
apple juice they were used to at home, and finished the afternoon
comatose on the pavement outside. She told me how she met Derek when
he was billeted in Crockham House. He came into the shop for a cup of tea,
served from a back room, and their relationship soon blossomed. They
married on 11th May 1946 and honeymooned in south Devon where they
had a riding holiday. They took over the shop from her parents and stocked
pretty much anything anyone could need. She said if they didn9t have it or
couldn9t get it, it wasn9t worth having.
Being so ingrained in village life she was on the committee of many of the
village societies and often had to write a letter to herself in her position on
another committee. Needless to say, things got done! I9m so grateful for
the time I got to spend with Freda. What an incredible inspiration she was.
Crockham Hill in 1939 to 1945
Barbara Mitchell
Life changed dramatically for the people living in Crockham Hill on 1st
September 1939. Immediately, 8,000 evacuee children needed billets in
Sevenoaks rural district, after arriving at Sevenoaks, Otford and Edenbridge
Stations. Then the Armed Forces arrived. Staffhurst Wood housed an
ammunition dump while RAF stations and emergency landing strips were
dotted across the Weald, the nearest at Charcot and Penshurst. Girls in the
Women9s Land Army took over from conscripted farm workers.
Long term residents took on new roles; special constables; ARP (Air Raid
Precautions) wardens; members of the Home Guard and the Women9s
Voluntary Service. Buildings were repurposed. Acremead in Froghole was
requisitioned by the military for its splendid views. With rationing of food
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