Four years after the start of the 2nd World War there was the first sign of optimism in the air with the Americans joining the Allies for the invasion of Europe. The opening lines of the book "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens come to mind - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The Home Front was getting worse of course with petrol & diesel not available and food rationing more severe. Anyone who has eaten Golden Syrup (not rationed) sandwiches after 5 hours in a lunch box on a warm day will know what I mean. Only local scheduled bus services were being allowed and long distance coaches discontinued. The Germans and Italians had been cleared from North Africa and the Allies were poised to invade southern Europe via Sicily and Italy. The Russians were under great pressure in the east and pressing us to open a second front so that all our resources were being diverted to that end.

As I took my bike out of the rack at the rear of the school to start my journey home I looked around at a sight which would become very familiar. The rear of the School House originally named "Richleigh" after the founder of the school, was formerly the separate residence of the headmaster and his family but later merged with the School to be used as his study with secretary and office accommodation etc. In my time the headmaster W. J. Veale lived at 23 Oxstalls Lane, Gloucester.

To the right there was the main building overlooking the playground with the Physics and Chemistry Labs backed by a long corridor and the Assembly Hall beyond which doubled as the gymnasium. Further right a series of classrooms ended with an open entrance to a small two-storey block of classrooms. The toilets and (cold) showers stood by the fives courts. Made of brick there were two courts with high close-boarded extensions. I recall that a small boy died when he slipped on the middle of the three horizontal triangular rails breaking his neck while trying to look over the fence at the seniors playing fives.

Further right was the rear entrance to the school playground from Cromwell Street, later to gain an infamous reputation worldwide following the convictions of mass murderers Frederick and Rosemary West. Completing the view full circle to the right the hut used for the School 181 Air Training Corps and the wall to the rear garden of the School House. Squeezing through an arched gateway I pushed the bike to the narrow main entrance to the School between the Café Bleu and Featherstone's the bakers and confectioners. Narrow enough that the arched sign spanned the entrance over the iron gates from building to building read, "1666 A.D. SIR THOMAS RICH'S SCHOOL 1666 A.D." It will come as no surprise that Featherstone's son attended the School and was always last to arrive for morning assembly and prayers in the School Hall.

Preparing to start my 5 mile cycle ride home I turn left into Barton Street. I am reminded that some 200 yards to the right was the Corporation Public Baths where pupils had their weekly swimming lesson, mainly in the Summer Term. It was a grim affair at that time with no heating and primitive drying facilities. It certainly put a damper on any ambitions I might have had and to this day I still cannot swim. Being an urban School there were no in-house sporting facilities other than the Gym so that football and cricket were played at Sutgrove, Denmark Road (where we also had sessions of vegetable gardening under the Dig for Victory Campaign) and Plock Court, with cross country running up Churchdown Hill from the Gloucester City F.C. ground at Longlevens. No facilities or school transport of any kind were provided except a cold shower at Barton Street if you wished to cycle back into town. Accordingly on a winter's day, soaked to the skin I would put on my overcoat and cycle the long distance back home.

There is always a price to pay for such conditions and eighteen months later in the early summer of 1945 I contracted pleurisy. I spent some weeks in Ward 8 at the Gloucestershire Royal Infirmary, Southgate Street before convalescence at the Children's Hospital at Twigworth on the Tewkesbury Road. The nursing was by the sisters of St. Lucy adjacent to the Hospital set up by Gambier Parry. My time there was made memorable by the nurses rushing into the ward one morning with the Daily Mirror showing that the Americans had dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Monday 6th August 1945.

In all I was away from the school for 5 months and was lucky to be able to return in September and rejoin the same group of school mates. Following my illness I was forbidden to play any sport for a year. In September 1946 I became 'available' for sport but in the January of that year the School had changed from football to rugby. By the time I realised that you could actually pick up the ball and run with it my time at Tommies was over. The School had to vacate the Denmark Road ground when the owner sold the ground to the Civil Service Sports Association.

On the other side of the road from the School entrance was the long established Holloway Society. In the days before the Welfare State most families were members making regular payments for insurance in the event of illness etc. I was later to take advantage of this membership when I was able to obtain a mortgage for my house.

A few yards on the left was 14 Barton Street (now 58 Eastgate Street) the imposing residence of Dr Harold Cairns Terry. My mother was a parlour maid there in the 1920s and helped in the care of his son John Cairns Terry later to be my solicitor. In 1927 my mother left to marry my father. They had met during the bus journeys she made to her family home at Donnington, Herefordshire where she married my father who was a bus conductor in those days, at Donnington Church 21st June 1927. Before the bus service was introduced she would go by train from Gloucester G.W.R. as far as Dymock with a long walk at the end.

The next building was The Plaza Cinema with art deco façade and shops on each corner. First was a milliner and the other was a retailer of musical instruments, sheet music etc. The proprietor W. J. Thomas sold the lease to my father in 1943 who also acquired one of his 5 cwt Ford delivery vans which I was obliged to use in 1948 to pass my driving test. With a wooden stool instead of a fixed passenger seat the examiner was clearly relieved after hanging on to the dashboard with his clip board during the test and would not wish to see me return. Those were the days! Billy Thomas went on to develop Swanbrook Coaches of Cheltenham. My father carried on the business with the addition of radio & later television sales and repairs. He also rented a lockup shop at 1a King Street (between Eastgate Street and Kings Square) where he carried out radio repairs, lead acid battery charging for radios in the basement with a delivery round, south of Gloucester. He was eventually to move all his Plaza Buildings business there as well and ceased trading altogether in 1960.

The full significance of this particular year now becomes evident when you see that my father retired from bus driving with the suspension of the Government Licence to operate long distance coaches and buried his father (who had died at the Gloucestershire Royal Infirmary, Southgate Street, Gloucester 11th September 1943) at Seagry, Chippenham, Wiltshire, the family home since the early 1700s. There was one other event that an 11 year old boy just starting his new school was barely aware of. My mother was granted a divorce from my father with the Decree dated 24 October 1943 and made Absolute 24 July the following year.

Thomas Rich was baptised at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Northgate Street (now called St. John Northgate) on the 9th August 1601. After Sir Thomas founded the School in 1666 a year before his death, the boys regularly attended services there in his memory. On special occasions Services were also held at the Cathedral. Having been baptised at St. Aldate's Church, Finlay Road (a timber building replacing the demolished original in St. Aldate Street, Gloucester) 12th October 1931 my mother decided that my brother and I should be confirmed. With both of us at Tommies in the year 1944 it was convenient for us to walk to the Cathedral via Eastgate Street, over The Cross, down Westgate Street and turn right into College Street. Presented by the Brockworth incumbent, my brother aged 14 and myself aged 12 were duly confirmed on the 29th March 1944.

Next to the cinema on the left was the large Gloucester Cooperative Shop with the splendid clock on the corner of Brunswick Road. To an 11 year old the ground and second floors were of little interest with expensive furniture, bedding, shoes and clothes. The basement however was an Aladdin's cave of radios, clocks, cookers, pots and pans. Sadly the hands of the Co-op Clock have not turned for many a day and the City Fathers seem unable or unwilling to bring this fine City landmark back to life. I turn right into Clarence Street.

The street had many family connections with Drinkwaters Solicitors at No.7 and Boodles the Dentist at No. 15 on the left. Further on the right on the corner of Clarence Street and Russell Street was the Gloucester District Nursing Society & Nurses' Home at Nos.14, 16 and 18 where I was born on the 21st September 1931. It is now a rather splendid office block. A few more yards on the right was the office of Brunsdon & Tooth, Insurance Brokers and Accountants. They handled my father's business affairs and in 1949 they issued my first car insurance cover note for a week's car hire. The 1934 Morris 10 hired from Haines Motors at 277 Barton Street was a challenge, having noisy big ends and disintegrating fabric universal joints in the transmission. It was just as well that it was the end of the week when I discovered that the two 6 volt batteries mounted under the front seats were being kept in place by the electric cable connections, the steel holding boxes having rusted away!.

A few more yards and I face the Cattle Market with Market Parade to the left and Station Road to the right leading to the G.W.R. and L.M.S. Stations. I recall many times having to call at Orpin & Sons, Coal Merchants at their sidings in the goods yard just off Station Approach to order delivery of our house coal to Brockworth.

Turning left into Market Parade I was always impressed by the human scale of all the business activity that took place here, mostly within view and certainly within walking distance. The cattle pens, wholesale fruit and vegetables, auctioneers and land agents, etc. were all cheek by jowl. There were many Public Houses in the area which had extended opening hours on market days. Among them on my left was "The Lamb" on the corner of Kings Square and St. Aldate Street. The establishment consisted of one long room of spit and sawdust with the bar at the far end. If you wished to see Tom Goddard the Gloucestershire County Cricket spin bowler it was most likely he would be sitting at the end of the bar. He was a very popular character and never short of pints of beer bought by his admirers. He also had a house furnishing business at 154 & 156 Barton Street.

Kings Square was the terminus for the City bus services but the country services had stops away from the centre. Arrivals from Brockworth for instance would turn off London Road into Alvin Street then left into Worcester Street ending the run a few yards short of Northgate Street outside Purcell & Son, Gunsmiths. The other famous gunsmith in the City at that time was Fletchers (Sports) Ltd in Kings Square two doors from the Head Post Office.

Market Parade curves to the right past Wessex Garage Ltd and F. Norris & Son, Motor Engineers with a very narrow frontage which was distinguished by having a turntable set in the forecourt. Here also was Sandoe & Son, Auctioneers whose services the family used occasionally. They would hold auctions for houses and land etc. in a 2nd floor room at the "Spread Eagle Hotel" further on the left, with its wide imposing arched window overlooking the cattle market.

The next large building was Northgate Mansions (now called Spread Eagle Court). Part of the ground floor was taken by Brazington & Co, corn, hay, straw and animal feed merchants. In common with most families at that time we kept chickens to supplement the ration on spare ground at the rear of the house. I would call regularly at Brazingtons on the way home to buy 5lb of bran in a brown paper bag which would be added to the boiled food scraps, vegetable peelings etc. When I was called to do my National Service in 1953 my medical examination was carried out on the second floor of this building. On the opposite side of the road was the rear of No.2 George Street, the offices of Ind, Coope & Allsopp Ltd, Brewers, famous for their Double Diamond Ale. Further on the right the Northgate Hotel at 2 London Road, was tied to Ind, Coope & Alsopp and being close to the Brockworth bus route was a favourite watering hole of one of our lodgers who enjoyed a Double Diamond there on a regular basis!

Within yards I arrive at the junction with Northgate Street to the left and London Road to the right. Facing me was the famous "Black Dog Inn" complete with a large model dog suitably painted and draped over the top front of the building. In 1956 I availed myself of the talents of Herbert Preece, Blacksmith in the yard at the rear of the Inn. The rear springs of my 1936 Standard Ten were re-tempered in his forge. This whole area has been cleared for Black Dog Way and Bruton Way to be constructed.

Turning right into London Road you are faced with the railway bridge carrying the South Wales G.W.R. railway out of Gloucester Station. The last building on the right against the bridge abutment was the "Horse and Groom" P.H. at No.12 where the landlord was George Corlett the father of my great friend Alan. His bedroom was next to the railway track and at the same level. Fortunately he was a railway enthusiast, as indeed was I and we both spent many years thereafter researching industrial archaeology in north Gloucestershire and the mineral lines of the Forest of Dean. The building has been demolished, the area becoming a car park at the rear of the now disused Post Office Sorting Offices on the corner of George Street.

Passing under the railway bridge and on the left was Taylor's Crypt House Motors Ltd, where in 1957 I part exchanged my Standard for a 1955 Hillman Minx. I felt like the Mayor of Gloucester for a while! Opposite against the railway bridge abutment on the right was a rear entrance to the station and next was the substantial brick built town house which was the G.W.R. District Goods Managers Office. With no prospect of progression to the 6th Form and University I was grateful for the guidance of the headmaster and the Careers Officer. For a period of nine months after leaving Tommies in 1947 I worked there as a trainee claims clerk whilst I waited for a vacancy in the County Surveyors Highways Department in Barrack Square, Gloucester.

On 1st January 1948 the Railway was nationalised becoming British Railways (Western Region). My duties involved tracing and recording invoices and receipts for goods which were lost or damaged. Using my own bicycle I would make regular visits to the Station, Goods Depot in Great Western Road and across town to the Docks and Goods Depot in Llanthony Road adjacent to the Sharpness Canal. The Dock Office Manager was Cecil (Chic) Fowler who in his spare time was a stand-up comedian. On Sunday evenings he appeared on "Variety Bandbox" on the BBC Light Programme using the broad local dialect. A vacancy at the Highways Department became available in late 1948 and my railway days were over.

The London Road National School was next and then on the corner of Great Western Road was the Church Army Work-Aid Home and Hostel. I appeal to everyone out there please give generously if you are ever offered a collection tin for this group. Some years later during my National Service with the Royal Artillery in Germany I was on a particularly gruelling exercise when out of the sunset a dishevelled and depressed troop of soldiers saw a Church Army van coming through the pine forest on a dusty sand track towards us in the middle of nowhere. It pulled up by our group and a side shutter lowered. A woman who would definitely not be described as a Marilyn Monroe look-alike started serving char and wads. In the eyes of every soldier there she was an angel of mercy.

Past Great Western Road and Oxford Street on the left at 44 & 47 is the Bristol Tramways Depot. This was my father's work place even when in the 1930s and early 1940s he was seconded to Cheltenham Black & White Coaches (later known as Associated Motorways) driving Leyland Tigers and the like across the country until 1942/43 when the service was abandoned as previously mentioned. Almost opposite on the corner of Claremont Road was the Ministry of Food office for the Gloucester Rural District. My mother would call there regularly to arrange food ration books for the family and the many lodgers she was obliged to cater for during and after the War.

I pass Heathville Road and start the climb to the top of Wotton Pitch. Overtaking another cyclist I discovered it was the headmaster Mr Veale. Even his status did not warrant a petrol ration so like everybody else he cycled to Tommies. There followed one of those ghastly conversations with both of us out of breath where he asked how I was enjoying being at Tommies. There is no such thing as "very excellent" he said and proceeded to give me a short lesson in English Grammar. We passed Hillfield House where in 1948 I took my Driving Licence Test and Denmark Road junction. My relief was boundless when we went through the traffic lights and the headmaster peeled off left into the Cheltenham Road towards his home in Oxstalls Lane, Longlevens.

I carried on down Wotton Pitch towards Barnwood crossing the point where Estcourt Road joined on the left. I could see an American military convoy emerging and turning left to go on my route. Late 1943 and early 1944 saw the massive build up of men, equipment, tyres, fuel, etc. ready for the invasion of France which eventually took place on D-Day 6 June 1944, sometimes called The Normandy Landings. As I rode my bike near the kerb just beyond the junction a huge American tank transporter passed me giving me no room and forcing me to fall on the path leaving grease and grime on my right shoulder. The bike and I were lucky to survive and for a 12 year old boy a distinctly unnerving experience.

By this time in the War most of the personal civilian precautions rapidly introduced in 1940 had lapsed. Nobody carried their gas mask for instance but blackout curtains on the windows were still required with A.R.P. Wardens in the streets at night looking for chinks of light. It would be 21 years before Tommies moved to new modern premises in May 1964 at Oakleaze just off Elmbridge Road now on my left. The School was officially opened by Mr Veale who had retired earlier in 1957. Cycling past the Cross Keys Inn and under the railway bridge I go straight on at the roundabout where Eastern Avenue joined from the right. It was a smaller and more primitive affair in those days with a concrete roadway which in winter was very dangerous. The sight of people falling off their bicycles on the ice was common then and I had several narrow squeaks. No gritting then of course. I have now completed half my journey home.

Through Barnwood I remember the mental hospital buildings to the left & right. Built in Victorian times the establishment was self-sufficient with stables (and a large clock) all beautifully built in red brick. To the right were the extensive grounds and gardens for vegetables and beyond that were several farms which supplied milk, meat etc. for the inmates and staff.

Passing into the village of Hucclecote there is Birchers the butchers on the corner of Chosen Way and just beyond is the site opposite Dinglewell where houses were destroyed and seven people killed by enemy bombing on Easter Saturday 1942. After Hillview Road I come to Larkhay Road on the left where I was a pupil at Larkhay Road County Primary School from January 1938. About 1½ miles from home I took my 11 plus exams in the spring of 1943 in the small Wesleyan Sunday School Room (erected 1888) a little further along the main road on the right. Being successful I attended the Shire Hall in Gloucester on the 26th May for an oral examination together with four other pupils from the School. On the 29th July 1943 it was confirmed that I would go to Sir Thomas Rich's, where my brother was nearing the end of his time at the School.

On the 30th June 1939 Larkhay Road School was closed for the day for a visit by 69 children, 3 members of staff and 34 parents to Portsmouth. We visited the dockyard, H.M.S. Ark Royal and H.M.S. Victory and my only memory is of this 7 year old grasping the side rails of our boat being distinctly unimpressed by the grey sea, the grey sky and the grey ships. We declared war on Germany only 64 days later. I was with a group of pupils visiting Gloucester Cathedral on 4th March 1942 to see the sights and items brought down from London for safe keeping. The only snag was that they were all covered with sandbags and a photograph of the relic pinned to the outside. Very disappointing!

Also on the right opposite "The Waggon and Horses Inn" was the small shop at Manor Cottage. A Mrs Payne was the proprietor and I often called for sweets etc. on my way to School. She had the "we are not amused" expression when I performed my Arthur Askey impressions for her. This is now the site of Glenville Parade. Proceeding towards home I arrived at the Top Shop at Churchdown Lane Terminus. From early days the City Trams came this far out of town and reversed for the return journey. In the early 1920s my mother, in common with other people would take the ride out of town and back on the upper deck as a treat on her half day off once a week from duties at 14 Barton Street, especially in the summer. The family Doctors Lowry and Cookson were in Carisbrooke Road opposite. If you had the temerity to attend one of their surgeries you were most likely prescribed from a range of liquid medicines of different colours in those little rectangular glass bottles. They would make them up and leave them in a wooden box covered with a board weighted down with a brick by the front gate on the steps to a house just before Green Street, Brockworth. You would collect any time after 2pm that day.

A few more yards on the left I passed "Brookfields" the home of Chick Fowler previously mentioned. Besides his radio appearances he visited schools, hostels etc. entertaining the residents. He was much appreciated in those grim days. On the right just beyond was the entrance to the Gloster Aircraft Co. factory. In 1943 there were many thousands working round the clock. At that time among other types they were mass producing The Hawker Typhoon and Armstrong Whitworth Albermarle. Both were used to great effect the following year in northern Europe. Many workers were bussed in every day including hundreds from the Forest of Dean. This side of the River Severn was foreign territory for many of them! At the time of shift change it paid not to be on the road out of Gloucester. In one mass hundreds of cyclists poured out the car park through the gated entrance turning left filling the full width of the road. They were very intimidating and showed no lack of energy.

This is the place on Saturday 4th April 1942 where a German raider made a direct hit on a bus in the car park just on shift change. I am afraid there were many casualties. Past the "Victoria Inn" which overlooked the original G.A.C. "Belfast" Hangars and the airfield I arrive at Westfield Road on the left. The family mostly used Cantellos Grocery Shop on the corner which was made of corrugated iron. I used to help farmer Herbert Metson from West Close, Westfield Road on his milk round in Barnwood and Hucclecote. Horse and cart was the mode of transport and I would struggle under the weight of a milk bucket to the front doors of the houses and ladle out the milk into the large jugs covered with a plate and a brick to keep off dirt and flies. The horse knew the route better than Herbert Metson and always came to a halt outside the "Victoria Inn" without being asked.

I was on the milk round in Hucclecote on the 21 October 1943 when I saw the black smoke rising from a plane crash in Brockworth. As soon as I was able I cycled home to find that an Albermarle on a test flight had been making a landing approach to Brockworth airfield from the North East. Losing height and being unable to make it to the airfield the aircraft crashed into a hayrick in Brockworth Court farmyard, skidded across Brockworth Fields Road into the orchard opposite finishing only yards short of Horsebere Brook. The aircraft was made largely of wood and steel tubes for glider towing and burst into flames. The test crew all perished and the aircraft completely destroyed.

There had been an incident on 9th September 1940 involving a yellow painted North American Harvard which crashed on take-off from the airfield. After an unscheduled landing earlier in the day the pilot was flying out to the North East over the Westfield Estate. The aircraft stalled and nose-dived into the fence separating Westfield Avenue and Boverton Drive missing the houses by yards. The smell of burning fabric and fuel was very powerful when I arrived and although the crew members perished, nobody was hurt on the ground.

Another event springs to mind. In complete secrecy the Gloster Aircraft Company had built the airframe to take the Whittle Jet Engine. Designated the E.28/39 it completed taxiing trials at Brockworth in April 1941 and was taken by road to Cranwell for flight testing. A few weeks later she made a special flight to make several low passes over Brockworth for the benefit of the G.A.C. employees and the locals. I was privileged to be looking out over the factory when she came over and spent some time in the area. The sight of this strange cigar shaped plane with no propeller, tricycle landing gear and a whining noise from the engine was awesome. The rest as they say is history.

I am nearly home now with the shadow factory on my right. This massive unobstructed floored building was needed to expand the production at Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd. I remember the Golf Course on which it was built and the area of water in a disused sand pit in the centre where children from the surrounding area would bathe in the summer. 1938 was the only uninterrupted season I had before the diggers and scrapers moved in to start construction. The considerable amount of excavated material was tipped on the roadside at Fiddler's Elbow on the Painswick Road to enable road widening at some future date. In the event there was a major slip engulfing much of the farm below. That year of 1938 we could walk across from Green Street to Golf Club Lane and stand at the side of the unfenced grass airfield to watch the coming and going of many aircraft carrying Government officials, contractors and materials etc. For the next few years we had many lodgers (mainly Londoners) from the building site. They built a brick air raid shelter at the rear of our house in Green Street and when German raiders came over mainly in 1940 and 1941 they would leave the shelter to bring back shrapnel from bombs and artillery shells. They were still warm and though I eventually threw most away I still have some tucked away somewhere.

I go past the Church Room where the 29th Brockworth Scouts used to meet and turn right into Green Street. On the left corner jutting out into the main road was a reinforced concrete pill-box which had views of the main road in both directions. It completely obstructed the view for traffic exiting Green Street and was removed promptly at the end of hostilities. Next on the left Pound Farm House later to become "The Flying Machine" P.H. (named after the Gloucester to London Coaches of the 18th & 19th centuries - not from the local aircraft factory). The barns and small orchard to the south of the house became the site of Green Way and a row of bungalows. The barns and yards were used in the early years of the century to break in wild horses and prepare them for sale to the military. I was later to know the Gillett brothers one of whom in his youth would go with a group to Leckhampton G.W.R. Station for the journey to Bourton on the Water or Stow on the Wold to collect the horses rounded up in the local area. They would lead strings of horses on foot through Andoversford and down to Brockworth via Crickley Hill. Later the Brockworth Riding School used the barns prior to their demolition.

The factory coal-fired boiler house with extensive brick walled bunkering was built opposite No.17 the house the family occupied from 1937 until 1951. No planning or consultation then. The smuts were horrific and the stokers would pop over to tell us when they were purging the system and making most smoke. The usual remark was "Don't you know there's a war on". It was almost 50 years before they were removed having in the meantime been converted to heavy oil and finally the double option of gas and oil. The use of the shadow factory changed over the years from building aircraft to jet engines, prefabricated houses and various companies involved in nylon spinning etc. The brick coal bunker walls can still be seen.

The defences around the factory were extensive and rarely tested. We had four of the many anti-aircraft guns just behind our house. On the rare occasions when they were fired our securely locked French windows would fly open. There were several brick and concrete surface air raid shelters and large static water tanks for fire fighting in case the mains were disrupted. The latter became a liability and were removed after a short while. Air balloons surrounded the factory and might just have deterred a low flying reconnaissance flight but generally they were more trouble than they were worth. In 1940/41 smoke screen canisters were placed around the factory including some in front of us. Fortunately they were not deployed very often but when they were the acrid smell and smuts were not appreciated. The best defence was lights out, good camouflage and keep your head down.

On a lighter note we had the ceilings down from bombing in early 1941 and some houses were made uninhabitable for weeks. You would be surprised how many local men became jobbing builders overnight, knocking on doors clutching the Government Bomb Damage Claim Forms. The large residential hostels, one behind us and another on the Cheltenham road from the "Cross Hands" P.H. were necessary accommodation for individuals and families under direction of labour legislation. Early in the war the police post at the main road entrance was manned. I was able to get a Pass through a lodger who worked at the factory to go to the state of the art cinema. With little else to do at my age the three different films a week were a godsend. I am not sure whether my social graces were improved though and I was in grave danger of developing an American accent. All these buildings were cleared and the site is now the Abbotswood Estate.

Bryant G Bayliffe, Brockworth, June 2010 (Revised June 2013)

My thanks to Alan Merryweather & Julian Rawes for proof reading