I have lived in Yoxford all my life. In some respects life is very different from when I was a
lad, no running water or mains sewage. Mains water not arriving until 1953, & sewage
system in the sixties. Life was harder then but much simpler. Not missing what we never
had, life as a young lad growing up in the village was happy & carefree. I was the second of
five children, three of whom still live in the village & the other two not far away. We all
attended the village school, Darsham pupils coming to Yoxford at the age of 11. In Spring
1957 a new secondary modern school opened to serve the area which everyone transferred
to, unless they passed the 11 plus examination when they would attend Leiston Grammar
School. So we all went along to Saxmundham together with most of our friends. Being a new
School it was attempting to set a high standard, which I think it achieved, we certainly didn’t
think of ourselves as second rate & enjoyed a good all round education. But we had to get
ourselves to Saxmundham, those who didn’t possess a bicycle were provided with one by
the County Council together with waterproof leggings & cape. After a while Buses were laid
on for the younger pupils. If cycling to & from School wasn’t enough I used to go fruit and
Potato picking in season. Also sugar beet hoeing & working on a local farm at weekends &
School holidays. Some things have certainly changed, with regard To employment, they
were still the days of mainly small mixed farms growing a range of crops, each had a dairy
herd together with pigs and some with sheep. Some still used horses although
mechanisation was being introduced, with the result of where a farm of between 100 & 200
acres would employ 3 or 4 workers, it now was down to perhaps 2 per thousand acres.
Likewise with shops Yoxford used to boast a large range of businesses, too many to list
here, but some of them which have been lost include a company making components for tv
& radios, which employed up to 50 women and girls (The Pye Factory), a builder who
employed around 12 people (Martin Brothers), a transport company with around 6 drivers +
workshop staff, another filling station, 2 large grocery shops, 2 drapery shops, 3 butchers, a
watch repairer, a wool-shop, a chemist shop, a fish shop, a bicycle repair & electrical shop, a
post office, a bank & various small shops, 3 public houses, But at the moment we have
none. Also the honey cart man, who mains sewage made redundant.
Horners was a proper shop then with a lot of the dry goods coming in bulk then weighed &
packaged. Coffee was roasted & ground in the shop, i can smell it now, wonderful. Bacon
was a whole side of bacon, called a flitch, & was sliced to each customers needs. On the
death of their Father Jack & his brother Bill took over the running of the shop, along with
their Mother. Apart from the main shop there was also a furniture department just over the
road, at the old Bakery, then a drapers shop, now Mains pottery, selling textiles & clothing.
Back across the street, next to their house, there was a Chemist shop. On top of all this they
had shops in Peasenhall, Kelsalle & Middleton. Jack & Billy were leading lights in Yoxford
Cricket club for many years also the Yoxford Am Dram group.
Yes, village life has certainly changed over the last 70 years. Yoxford was very much a
working village & still is to a certain extent, But just recently not only have the pubs closed
but also our restaurants & Cafes. The makeup of the community has changed with the
population made up of more & more retirees coming in, which is one reason for the decline
in church attendances. That plus there is so much more for people to do these days. When
we were children we all attended Sunday School & Church, sung in the choir, as did most of
our friends. After leaving school most of us stopped attending church. But I came back to the
church in the eighties & have served as a Church warden for a number of years. I just hope
that the village can continue to grow & prosper, so that future generations can enjoy living
here as much as I have done, but the way things are now I doubt it.
John Barrie Davis, aged 76. March 2023