FULL CIRCLE

It's always a pleasure to be contacted by a Chronicle reader in response to an appeal for information, but I was doubly delighted recently to receive a telephone call from Mr Dennis Clarke of Droitwich, Worcestershire. Mr Clarke remembers visiting the ivy-covered house on Albert St, Kibworth Harcourt, shown in our January issue, about 65 years ago when he was a small boy. A Mr and Mrs Watson lived there in those days. Mr Watson was chief cashier at the Midland Bank in Granby Street, Leicester and was well known in the area. Their son Richard (Dickie) was a keen member of the Fernie Hunt and became a senior partner at Wartnaby's the solicitors.

Dennis had been sent by his mother to deliver her contribution to a charitable collection that was being organised by Mrs Watson as a consequence of something that had happened in Kibworth Beauchamp. He remembers being overawed by the grandness of the sitting room into which he was ushered and offered cakes and a drink. It was all very different from the house on Fleckney Road where he lived with its green-washed walls, gas range and quarry-tiled floor. However, there was a marvellous view of the cricket ground from the upstairs window and his mam used to make teas for the cricketers.

Dennis went to school in the village and, like all schoolchildren, sought ways to raise his income. From the age of 11 or so he was the paperboy for Kibworth Beauchamp, delivering papers for Hare's shop, which was next to the old Royal Oak (see November's Chronicle). On Saturdays he delivered meat around the villages for Sedgley's the butchers.

When the time came to leave the Grammar School, the headmaster, John Shell, suggested that Dennis go into banking. So, at the age of 16, he joined the commuters as they cycled to Market Harborough to begin work. It was here that he met his future wife and began a career that was to last for over 40 years, with the exception of 42 years in the RAF. His headmaster's advice was very sound: Mr Clarke ultimately became the manager of the Midland Bank in Granby Street, Leicester. And he has a memento of the house on Albert Street. When the furniture there was put up for sale, Mr Clarke's mother bought a small table which he still has in his possession.

© Jean Emeny 1996

[I now live in the house in which Mr Clarke was born and raised and can vouch for the green-washed walls; the view of the cricket ground is still excellent..]

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stephen.poyzer@which.net or jemeny@globalnet.co.uk

 © Kibworth & District Chronicle 1998