Growing up in Elsdon by Bob Keith | Living at Crawford Crescent
Submitted by: Sally Brewis - 20th August 2021
My mum and dad were living in Horsham when I was born . I lived there for four years before moving to Elsdon in 1936.
My dad had been born and brought up in Elsdon. When he moved back to the village, he helped out at my uncle Thomas’s farm. He also had a job as a postman delivering mail around the village and outlying farms. This entailed a walk of around 10 miles – no post vans then.
We lived at 5 Crawford Crescent. Mum was from Aberdeen and had trained as a nurse. She was a Sister at the hospital in Aberdeen and later worked at Rothbury hospital. Our house also doubled as the village surgery which meant we had to store all the medicines.
At the beginning of the war, dad went down to the Durham area to apply for a wireless electrical mechanic (WEM) with the air ministry. Dad already had a lot of experience in this field. At 16 he went to school with the Merchant Navy and worked as a radio operator. This involved working in Cuba and Panama, and in Horsham he opened a radio shop. On being offered the WEM job, he was informed that it was in this remote place called Ottercops . “I just live 3 miles from there” he replied. Having accepted the job he bought himself an autocycle which he used for travelling to and from Ottercops.
Dad later worked for the MoD in Dumfries. Eventually mum and dad moved to Annan in Dumfries to be closer to work. This is where I met my wife Margaret
Elston was a wonderful place for children to grow up. We had a school, a shop (Susie Easton’s next to the Crown), a garage at Low Mote (Vic Familton), a blacksmith, a saddler who used to repair our leather football and a butchers (George Ashford who lived at Pinfold Cottage).
On good days during the summer we would often go swimming. We had two favourite haunts. One was the Mill Linns where we would swim in the pool below the middle waterfall. The other was Anderson’s pool located below Tod’les (Todholes) on one of the water courses that feeds into the Elson Burn. The main thing I remember about Anderson’s pool is not the swimming but having to keep a sharp look out for ants. We were bitten on a number of occasions.
The burn was sometimes dammed below the gardens of Crawford Crescent and rafts would be built. The Castle plantation was also a favourite playground where we fashioned bows and arrows out of hazel.