On 19 May, over 80 years ago, my father, Eric, recorded my birth in his diary “……….. the baby, which was a son, was born about 1 o’clock, weight 8lbs. 6¾ozs, length 22½ inches”. With no phone service at the farm, mother wrote a letter to Dad advising details “Baby was born somewhere about dinner […]
I commenced school at Bishopsbourne after the September school holidays in 1948 and remained there until the end of the school year in 1954, going onto Bracknell for the 1955 year. The headmaster and only teacher when starting school was Mr. Harry McGuire who was quite young and newly married and had till wars end […]
John Thomas Page (9/7/1872 – 20/6/1961) Our grandfather, John Thomas Page, was born in the Bracknell area on 9 July 1872, the second child and son in an eventual family of fourteen children born to Robert and Ellen Page. Of the 14 children, there were 11 boys and three girls. The first child, William was […]
A reliable supply of reasonable quality water was essential for people engaged in agriculture and living in country areas. With “The Grange” farm property being more than a mile from the Liffey River and no natural storages being located on the farm, the early pioneers had to employ other ways of providing a water supply. […]
Dad (Eric Badcock) made an application to have the phone connected in late 1945 or early 1946 as a reference is made to this in a letter dated 8th. January 1946 from the then Bishopsbourne Postmistress, Mrs. Mollie Chilcott. Bishopsbourne Jan. 8th. 1946 Dear Eric, I’m enclosing your telephone application […]
Dad (Eric Badcock) was always interested in aircraft and flying and often related stories about them and various happenings over the years. A particular highlight for him was his first flight which occurred at the opening of the Western Junction airport near Launceston, Tasmania on the 28 February, 1931, Dad’s 20th birthday, the plane being […]