Gwen Bullock’s 95th birthday
PUBLISHED in HICKLING HERALD
Page 1
Many happy returns to Gwen Bullock, a veritable Voice of Hickling - Martin Johns
Wednesday 16 December 2020 will be a special day for Gwen Bullock - her 95th birthday!
We don’t know whether she is currently Hickling’s oldest resident, but she is certainly the oldest resident who was born in Hickling, who grew up in Hickling and who has never moved away from the village to live anywhere else.
Gwen was born in Hall Farm Cottages in December 1925. Her father was Mervyn Gibbs, who worked at Hall Farm for Lionel Borrett. She remembers her schooldays and later working at Jeckells in Wroxham (at first making sails and later flags and going out seeking work from boatyards in the area) for 25 years, finishing up with a team of six machinists working for her.
Many of her wartime memories are still very vivid - especially when she had to jump into a bush to escape a German plane strafing Town Street! She also describes incendiary bombs that were dropped on Mr and Mrs Cator’s house on High Hill, a plane crash in a field beside Stubb Road, and lots more.
Another of her great memories is of Hickling’s Hospital in the old Wesleyan Chapel on The Green - with a 12-bed ward and even an operating theatre. Although Gwen has seen many changes in her long life, she still says of it ‘Hickling’s a great village: I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else’.
Congratulations on your 95th, Gwen: we hope you have a very happy day.
Gwen is one of the ‘Voices of Hickling’ whose memories can be found on this website
Photo by Brenda Ward
