Ann Wardle nee Esson
Memories of Stock

Nativity Play
 

Sunday tea party at the
church rectory garden

Girls of Stock Sunday school our teacher was Miss Baxter
My parents Bill and May Esson lived in Peter street in a house called Violia I was born there 20th March 1934 the largest baby delivered by the village midwife nurse Pashon I was ten pounds,I had two brothers William ten and Peter five.
We moved from there to number one Swan lane I went to Stock school at the top of Stock hills my brother Bill worked at Bakers the butcher , We all went to Billericay school and my father was employed as a groom to Mr and Mrs Dalziel who lived opposite Stock church, the stables and house are still there.
After a short absence from Stock we came back and moved to Peter street two doors from where I was born as it was war time we built an air raid shelter in the garden
 
Our next move was to number two the square next to Miss Watsons shop opposite was the blacksmiths shop and we often watched the horses getting new shoes ,I remember the night the church was bombed and the damage it caused .I was a member of Stock Pilots at the chapel our teacher was Miss Cooper the photo is our nativity play my friend June Springett was Mary and I am the shepherd behind her complete with tea towel.
My brother Bill joined the RAF and was four years in Burma Peter worked at Petersons farm just outside Stock. I was in the girl guides also a member of Stock church choir , I left school age fourteen and worked at Bonds in Chelmsford, we had moved to Britons lane and my father was groom for Mr Mackie this was 1948, the year the Olympics were held in London I watched the games on Mr Mackies tv twelve inch screen in black and white
 
My brother came home from India returning to the butchers and married Kathleen Hodge from the village I was bridesmaid. They have been married for 62 years and still live in Stock, my other brother joined the Army and was a Paratrooper he played football for Stock which didnt last long as he broke his leg playing he married a nurse and moved to West Sussex sadly he died in 2009 aged 78 years
 
I joined the WRAF in 1951 where I met my husband we were married in Stock church in 1954 by the then vicar rev Tatham and went to live in Newcastle upon Tyne I am now widowed and visit Stock often and love to wander round the village my Father and Mother are buried in the church yard, I keep in touch with my life long friend June Springett I hope some people in Stock remember me as sadly I know more people in the church yard than in the village now , this is a very short version of my memories as I have many many happy memories of my childhood in Stock Ann Wardle
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