BULL INN - THURGARTON

From Mr H Davey, 2007 (CH B1-3-19a)

RJJ: But you had stepdancing in the bar sometimes?

HD: Yes, yes. 'Cause the old bar place; the floor was covered with rather large flagstones, and two of them would be dancing, and they'd pass each other in the middle, and there'd be sparks coming off their hobnailed boots. Off these hard floor flags. One who came from Sustead was called 'Corns' and another one was Davey Turner. And one or two others would attempt to take part, but they're the two chief stars.

HD: Well, you probably know, during the war, most nights there were German aircraft over, looking for the many aerodromes. Or even waiting for our planes returning. But every so often the windows and doors would shake; of course some bombs would drop somewhere round about. And one night, I think I was in bed because of a bit of a cold, and this would be around 10 o'clock, and we could hear these drones. Sometimes you could tell whether they were ours or theirs by the sound of the engines. And there was terrific explosions, so I paused, and there was an even bigger one, and the tiles and the windows flew out, and the doors flew open. The ceilings came down on me in bed, and I got up and ran downstairs over all this ceiling rubble and broken tiles and things, and I got down near the bar, and there was a huge coal fire in there, and the bomb had taken part of the chimney breast off, and the soot come down, and lots of people were hidin' under the tables; and they come out from under there and they were all as black as night!

Davey Turner, he was then on his way out to see about the first lot when the door blew in, and the old Suffolk latch pierced his hand and whoever dealt with it had to get his hand off this thing, with this iron part of that latch stuck in it. Another woman, she got cut by flying glass. We had an Air Raid Warden; he was the local harness-maker but unfortunately he was almost completely deaf, but of course he heard this one. And he came out and was sort of wandering about and really didn't take part in helping matters, but quite often he would be about and say, 'Is there something about,' if there was a slight vibration or windows rattling.

		Memories collected by Chris Holderness of Rig-a-Jig-Jig for the East Anglian Traditional Musical Trust. The CH numbers refer to Chris's Archive on eatmt.org.
	From Mr H Davey, 2007 (CH B1-3-19a) RJJ: But you had stepdancing in the bar sometimes? HD: Yes, yes. 'Cause the old bar place; the floor was covered with rather large flagstones, and two of them would be dancing, and they'd pass each other in the middle, and there'd be sparks coming off their hobnailed boots. Off these hard floor flags. One who came from Sustead was called 'Corns' and another one was Davey Turner. And one or two others would attempt to take part, but they're the two chief stars. HD: Well, you probably know, during the war, most nights there were German aircraft over, looking for the many aerodromes. Or even waiting for our planes returning. But every so often the windows and doors would shake; of course some bombs would drop somewhere round about. And one night, I think I was in bed because of a bit of a cold, and this would be around 10 o'clock, and we could hear these drones. Sometimes you could tell whether they were ours or theirs by the sound of the engines. And there was terrific explosions, so I paused, and there was an even bigger one, and the tiles and the windows flew out, and the doors flew open. The ceilings came down on me in bed, and I got up and ran downstairs over all this ceiling rubble and broken tiles and things, and I got down near the bar, and there was a huge coal fire in there, and the bomb had taken part of the chimney breast off, and the soot come down, and lots of people were hidin' under the tables; and they come out from under there and they were all as black as night! Davey Turner, he was then on his way out to see about the first lot when the door blew in, and the old Suffolk latch pierced his hand and whoever dealt with it had to get his hand off this thing, with this iron part of that latch stuck in it. Another woman, she got cut by flying glass. We had an Air Raid Warden; he was the local harness-maker but unfortunately he was almost completely deaf, but of course he heard this one. And he came out and was sort of wandering about and really didn't take part in helping matters, but quite often he would be about and say, 'Is there something about,' if there was a slight vibration or windows rattling.