Herry's Archives

'[Your photograph] was a happy reminder of days fishing at the Mill when Gavin was about 10 years old. Piper came with us each day armed him some breadcrumbs (grandfather's suggestion) to drop in the water and provoke a 'rise' so the boy would not be disappointed and turn into a keen fisherman - which he did. Grandfather left him the Mill and its bit of fishing in his will. Unfortunately living so far away it became impossible to keep after a few years. Gavin could tie a number of excellent flies and was so keen' Extract of a letter from June Gracey , Sir Alfred's granddaughter, to Herry Lawford 25th July 2010 Click the heading for more photos of this stretch of the Test and of the Mill

Stocks and Harvestgate Farms lie under Old Winchester Hill  It would seem very strange to my children, but life in the fifties and sixties was very different in a thousand ways to today and much more similar to that lived by previous generations. There is a marvellous book called 'Scenes from A Hampshire Childhood' by Gerald Ponting in which he describes growing up in a Hampshire village in the 40s and 50s, and which is similar to my own early experiences. Life then hadn't changed that much in the preceeding 100 years. It was only since the late 60s (ie when I was in my early 20s) that the huge changes that are still with us today began to be felt. Stocks , which we moved to 1950 from Danegate , lay almost two miles outside Meonstoke  and had no mains water, electricity or drainage, though there was always a telephone (Droxford 135) which connected to the 'exchange' in Droxford. You could dial 'local' calls, but 'trunk' calls had to be placed th...

My Mini Cooper S outside Stocks, with Annette and a Fiat 2300 Cars played an enormous part in our youth; wanting them, getting them, driving them and looking after them. They probably occupy the same part of boys' minds as ponies do in girls'.... I was incredibly lucky in that I could drive on the farm at Stocks at an early age. I expect I drove cars before tractors , but tractors were an early source of fun and as they were far heavier and more difficult to control, one leaned a lot from them. But when I was about ten, Patrick got an old Willis Jeep which was used to run all over the farm. Naturally, we drove it too and loved it. It was started - as in sporting cars today - by pushing a button on the dashboard. I don't think it even had a key. It had four-wheel drive and heavy-duty tyres which mean it could go anywhere - even straight up Old Winchester Hill or along the muddiest tracks. It was open and had no doors and the windscreen could be laid flat on the bo...

John Spreadbury ploughing in the early 1950s For a boy, growing up on a farm in the 1950's and 60's was heaven, as it meant having access to all the farm machinery - and being allowed to drive the tractors.* Before the arrival of tractors, all large farm implements such as ploughs or binders were horse-drawn; the only machine capable of moving being the enormous and extremely heavy steam engine, which was generally used in a stationary location to power thrashing machines and mechanical loaders. Tractors only appeared on British farms in the 1930s, and Patrick recalled going up by train from Litchfield to collect one and drive it back to the estate, where the many men then employed to work the land with horses must have eyed it with some apprehension. My earliest memories of tractors was of a dark-blue Fordson which arrived at Stocks when we did in 1950. It had to be started by hand, with a swing handle which could whip back viciously if left engaged after the e...

There has been an incredible change in spending and consumption habits since the 1960s. In our teens in the 60's we hardly ever ate out. Almost all meals were taken in our own or other peoples' houses. There were few restaurants and they were only used for special occasions. Pubs only rarely served cooked food. A 'ploughman's (a bread roll, cheese and pickle) or a scotch egg was about the only thing available to eat. So if one didn't meet at someone's house, you ate first and then met up at the local pub and had a couple of beers (pubs didn't then serve wine). I didn't like beer or any other alcoholic drinks, so I drank coke.....but as there were no drink-driving laws in those days, drinking in any event wasn't a problem. In our late teens our main expense was petrol, but that was cheap and our cars were in any case small - almost always less then two litres (see The Cars of our Youth ). My Mini and later Cooper S used relatively little petrol ...

Gladys Hollick (Sir Alfred's eldest daughter), Arthur Hollick, June Vapenik (nee Hollick), Gavin Vapenik, Ian Hollick, Lady Nina Herbert and Sir Alfred Herbert. June Gracey, nee Hollick, formerly Vapenik, was born in Leamington in 1920, the eldest daughter of Arthur and Gladys Hollick. Gladys Hollick was Sir Alfred Herbert's eldest daughter by his first wife, Ellen Ryley. June had a younger brother, Ian, who died in 2004. June married Capt Milo Vapenik in 1941 and had two children, Gavin (1943) and Jane (1950). Capt Vapenik died and June was married to Dr Nigel Gracey. They lived at Swalcliffe Manor, Banbury before moving to Jersey. June was very close to her grandfather and has kept many of his writings and effects, including a large bronze bust presented to him by the Institute of Engineers.