Mary Green – A Bottisham Girl
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continued in this house until about 1960 when the telephone
exchange moved to the automatic exchange in Tunbridge Lane.
The post arrived at 5:30am and was dealt with by Mary’s
mother. Sunday post was collected by a Mr Taylor, from
Wilbraham. Mary delivered post as far as Nine Mile Hill and
took out the telegrams. She held the local agency for the
Ministry of Labour when help was often needed for those men
who could not write. A day to remember was when the
Government ministers, Mr Ernest Brown and R.A. Butler
called in to see what it was like in the office.
Social life
In the early 20th century, entertainment was what each person
made it. A special treat was when Mr Coleman, the father of
the baker or when the Reverend Uthwatt, who prepared the
young for Confirmation, filled their large cars with young
people and a great day would be spent in the Cromer area.
Some belonged to the Imperial League Tennis Club and played
on the grass court at the vicarage, or at Tunbridge farm where a
pack of hunting hounds were kennelled. It was a stirring sight
as the master of hounds, Mr Johnson, drove the pack through
the village. A rare visit to Cambridge, with Grandma, to
partake of a doughnut in one of the five small rooms of the
Dorothy Cafe, was a treat indeed.
This particular story ends with the marriage of Mary in 1937
and her involvement with farming.