| Description | DOB: 1908-1910
DOD: Unknown
Born in a cottage at Clayton Green, near Preston and Chorley, later moved to Clayton Brook Cottage.
Raised in a multi-generational household, with grandparents present.
Attended local Catholic Schools in Clayton Green.
No mention of formal secondary or tertiary education.
Began helping in gardens during school holidays, eventually joined the professional gardening staff at Burnden Hall.
Held various roles: under-garden, greenhouse hand, propagator.
Participation in estate maintenance, flower and produce deliveries, and later trained under multiple head gardeners.
Continued working at Burnden Hall through wartime and estate transitions.
Narrator fell in love with Jessie, a girl from Lostock Hall.
Experienced heartbreak when the relationship ended.
Later dated Lilian, a kitchen maid from New South Wales, though she eventually left.
Scouting: early involvement in founding the St. Bede's troop, proud bugler.
Ballroom dancing at local village halls.
Attended fancy dress balls, paraded in local traditions, and socialised on Sundays.
Passionate about gardening, plant propagation, and hands-on craft (e.g. tool use, greenhouse systems).
Later, joined friends on motorbike road trips around the UK.
Attended first scout camp at Blackpool; remembered its highs and hardships.
Worked through 1925 death of J. R. Sattin, estate owner, memoralised at St. Saviour's.
Saw the transition of Burnden Hall ownership to Captain and Mrs. Sattin.
Survived the introduction of myxomatosis among rabbits and gardening workforce reductions.
Participated in annual events like Burnden Sunday for the Queen's Nursing Association.
Observed and contributed to changes in estate horticulture, including demolition of rose gardens and construction of turkey houses.
Likely handwritten originally, with vivid and immersive storytelling. Style suggests it may have been transcribed with minimal editing, retaining natural speech patterns and local dialect phrasing.
Burnden Hall, Clayton Green, estate gardens, interwar Britain, horticulture, apprenticehsip, carnation propagation, greenhouse work, orchard management, scouting, fancy dress ball, Lostock Hall, working-class rural life, garden architecture, social history, myxomatosis, Sunday parades, motorbike travel, grielf and growth. |