Sound recordings 3
Here you can listen to more recordings of oral history relating to Stanhoe. Most of the recordings were made by current and past residents of the village and collected by Stanhoe Archive.
Unless otherwise noted, all the sound recordings on stanhoe.org are copyright © Stanhoe Archive. Please do not re-use them without permission. All photos are copyright © Rosemary Brown.
Ken Foskett (1920–2009)
(22 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2009)
Ken Foskett was born in Ipswich in 1920. From 1984 until his death in 2009 he lived in Stanhoe with his wife Joan. Here he talks about local history, one of his many interests. Ken’s collection of old photographs was an important source for Stanhoe Archive, and he made what may well be unique copies of medieval charters whose originals were later lost.
Noel Linge (c1929–2018)
(14 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2010)
Noel Linge talks about his great-grandfather John Linge, a prominent Stanhoe character. John Linge was born in 1842 and lived in Stanhoe from 1880 to his death in 1924. From 1880 to 1911 he and his wife Anne ran the Crown Inn as well as farming the land attached to the pub. He was Parish Overseer and a member of the Parish Council from its foundation in 1884 until his death.
Olga Ransom (1937–2015)
(10 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2009)
Olga Ransom was born in 1937 and lived in Stanhoe all her life. Here she talks to Rosemary about her husband Tom’s agricultural engineering business, her father Reggie Chilvers who was church organist for 53 years, and her grandmother Annie Steward.
Penny Snape
(21 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2009)
Penny Snape was born Penny Birch in 1946. Here she speaks about coming to Stanhoe with her parents and two brothers in 1952, school, and village social functions. She tells how her father, Cecil Birch, organised a fund-raising drive to rescue the Reading Room when it was in financial difficulties and threatened with closure.
Roddy Rowe
(20 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2010)
Roddy Rowe was born in 1958 and has lived in Stanhoe for most of his life. Here he describes his apprenticeship in his father’s joinery, building and wheelwright business, and the making of the village sign in 1976. A stint as a photographer took him to New Zealand, where he built what was at the time the world’s largest aquarium tunnel. He followed this with further aquarium work in Australia and the UK, before returning to Stanhoe in 1988 to take over the family business. Roddy then talks about Stanhoe School and childhood pursuits including fishing in the Pit.
Wendy Eckersley
(6 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2010)
Wendy Eckersley was born Wendy Seaman at Barwick. Here she talks about her father, Dick Seaman, who lived in Stanhoe all his life and was known for his skill with horses.
Stephen Ireson
(7 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2011)
Stephen Ireson was born in Stanhoe in 1962. There have been Iresons in Stanhoe since the 18th century; here Stephen tells how Chapel Yard was home to several generations of the family, and describes village life including school, football, the Youth Club and Sunday School.
Photos of Chapel Yard (opens in a new window).
(6 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2011)
Stephen left school at 16 and immediately joined the army. For a lad who had never been out of Norfolk before, this was something of a culture shock. His 12 years in the Royal Anglian Regiment included two years in Northern Ireland as well as tours of Germany, Belize and Gibraltar.
John Ireson (1954–2019)
(30 minutes, recording by Rosemary Brown, © Stanhoe Archive 2011)
John Ireson was born in 1954 and has worked on farms in Stanhoe all his life, first for the Rallis at Stanhoe Farms and since 1976 for the Harrolds at Barwick Hall Farm. Here he explains how farming has changed during his lifetime, with a relentless increase in machinery sizes that allows half a dozen men to carry out work that might previously have taken 30.
