About

A little about

the

web page author

I was born in Kingham and spent most of my childhood living in the village. I was educated at the village school and at age 11, like others was sent to Chipping Norton school some 4 miles away. I trained as a Television engineer at the Chipping Norton branch of a company called Leech and Hainge who were a wonderful firm, very 'go-ahead' and treated their employees well.

I married a Kingham girl and started my own business (with my Brother) an electrical shop in Cheltenham which we ran for over 33 years.

Most of my family lived in Kingham for most of their lives and I still have a great affection for Kingham even though I no longer live there. Which is why I decided to create this website to display photographs and stories of Kingham and surrounding area.

My late uncle was Frank Palmer who moved to Kingham as a baby. He spent the rest of his life living in Kingham until he passed away on the 9th of March 2016. His Father Charles Palmer was a soldier in the Guards. Frank never knew his father, something which he regretted all of his life. His grandfather was William Stayt of Kingham, Known as Our Bill. (Our Bill was immortalised in the book entitled "Our Bill" written by Frederick Grisewood)

From a very early age Frank was an enthusiastic artist, a hobby that he pursued for the rest of his life. during the day he was a skilled carpenter working in the Lainchbury factory (he lived in a Lainchbury house next door) in summer evenings and weekends you would often find him sitting in a gateway somewhere with a painting on his easel with a pallette of paint in one hand and a brush in the other. He created many 100's of paintings mostly prized by villagers and visitors to the village.

Young Frank

GF Hewett during WWI 1914

My other grandfather had a shop in Chipping Norton called G.F. Hewett and son.

The shop in Middle Row sold all manner of things including Radio parts and sets, Fretwork tools and general provisions, the shop was affectionately known locally as the Chippy Woolworth's .

Sadly the shop had to close in 1943 as my father was away in the desert during the war.

Son Norman during WWII

The picture to the left shows my grandfathers shop in Middle Row Chipping Norton. it was opened in the year of the General strike 1926. My grandfather was an expert fretworker, fretwork was very popular in the period around 1900-1930, he started his business by giving Fretwork lessons to youngsters. He would buy the equipment wholesale and sell to the boys.

He also made ice cream which he sold at local fairs and fetes. The ice to make the ice cream came from Oxford iceworks and arrived by train at Kingham station where it was left on the platform for sometime before being sent to Chippy by the next train. because there was no refrigeration much of it melted so he had to order twice as much as he needed to make up for the losses. Also if the weather was bad people stayed at home and he had to throw the ice cream away.

His first shop was in New street but the lease was only for two years which is why he then moved to the one in the picture in Middle row. He also opened another shop in the High street again only on a short lease.

It all ended during WWII when my father volunteered to join the army, he was in the 8th army RASC and spent almost six years away from home. GF was unable to keep the shop on his own so sadly he sold up in 1943.