Westwood Green 1n 1942

Westwood Green in 1942.

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In 1942 Westwood Green did not exist, for it was large field of maincrop potatoes. How do I remember this fact you may ask? Well, I was one of the boys from the Cookham Rise Secondry Modern School recruited to pick potatoes to help with the war effort. We were split up into two shifts of four hours each. The morning shift was from 8.00 a.m. till 12 noon. The afternoon shift was from 1.00 p.m. till 5.00 p.m.

If you were working the morning shift you attended class in the afternoon. If you were in class in the afternoon you attended the morning classes the next day. This way we covered a 14 day working period over a 28 day harvesting period. We received one shilling an hour for our labours. Which turned out to be £5.12.0 (five pound and twelve shillings) for our months efforts.

This money was paid out at the school by the Headmaster Mr. G.H. Wood after we had finish working for each farmer. We did a lot of days for Jack Gardener, who at that time owned The Mount and Lower Mount Farms. Some time was also spent working for Bob Court.

The green shaded area was a small fruit orchard, but I did not know who the owner was. Elizabeth House was of course the Police Station. The Parade did not exist. There was only a small wood frame building at the bottom of Station Approach which was a green grocers.