Submitted by
Steve Crook
Another Canterbury Tale
Taking John back to the locations
By: Steve Crook
10th October 2001
Well on Thursday of last week I went back to Canterbury. I was due to
meet John Sweet, his wife Barbara, Paul Tritton and a few others at
the old Town Hall in Fordwich. We went there one one of Paul's tours
in August 1999.
See
/Trips/Canterbury/19990829
I set off, driving through the driving rain, listening to how a river
had burst its banks in East Sussex (the county just next to Kent)
and that there were flood warnings all over the South East of England.
All went well though & I got to Maidstone without any problem. In fact I
was well ahead of schedule so stopped for a quick cuppa & a stretch
of the legs.
I went off the motorway just past Maidstone, heading "cross country"
towards Canterbury & Fordwich via Charing & Chilham. But that's when
the problems started. There was a LOT of surface water on both sides
of the road so everyone was driving on the crown of the road & only
getting back into lane when there was oncoming traffic (which luckily
wasn't that often).
Quite a few places had surface water all the way across the road and in
some of the dips in the road it was quite deep. Then there was a bit
of a hold up on the Canterbury ring road - I was wondering if I'd
get there in time.
But I finally pulled into Fordwich at a minute or two past 11 am (when
we'd agreed to meet).
It was still raining quite heavily and I saw there were a few cars
around & that the Town Hall was open - so I dashed inside & there they
all were.
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John & Barbara, Paul, Len Smith (Leslie), John Slater (the boy on the
bricks at the blacksmiths) and his wife, Rodney Meadows (former secretary
of Westminster Abbey Bellringers - "The Music Man" - see ACT book),
Michael Beck of the Fordwich Trust and various others who came & went
throughout the day.
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John and Len Smith
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But NO sign of the video camera & final year student to operate it
that Nick Burton of CCCUC had promised us - Grrr :)
John had never been inside the Town Hall (or if he had he didn't
remember) although he had been to Fordwich. His "Town Hall" scenes
were all filmed in the studio. So we were pointing out the very
few differences between the real Town Hall & that seen in the film.
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John posed for a few shots standing at the bar and sitting in the
chair, like he had done in the film. We all signed the visitors
book & had a good look around.
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John signs in - 57 years late
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Called to the bar
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The reporter & photographer from the East Kent Gazette whom we'd met
at the unveiling turned up for a few more pictures & words. Later
on in the day someone pointed out that some editions (only the
Canterbury edition I think) had a very short piece about the gathering
at the ABC & a picture of John & Sheila.
As we left the Town Hall we noticed that the river level had gone
up noticeably & that it was still raining. A quick look around
Fordwich itself & then to the George & Dragon for a spot of lunch.
They were expecting us and they were all quite interested in the
film (they'd all seen it). Well Micky stayed there while they were
on location & the pub itself had been the "Hand of Glory" in some
shots. The present owners had only been there a year or two but I
was glad they took such an interest.
The local boys, Len & John pointed out things like the pub car park
where the boys play with their new football as the credits roll
and the view to Canterbury across the fields.
A lovely pint or two of Theakston's and a great lunch of sausage
bubble & squeak for me set us up for the rest of the day. So
bidding a fond farewell to our hosts we set off once more.
After my warnings about the condition of the roads John Clark led us
in convoy via the drier (but still quite wet) route to Shottenden
and the blacksmiths & woodyard.
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There we met Myrtle Paton, widow of Bill Paton (Micky's right hand
man ever since they met filming EotW. Myrtle is also the daughter
of Neville Horton, the real blacksmith. I've met Myrtle before at
various other ACT events and Paul, Len Smith & John Clark all knew
her quite well.
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Myrtle Paton outside her cottage
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She kindly invited us in for tea & a chat. There were eight of us by
this time & she's only got a small cottage - but we all found seats.
It's a lovely cottage in Shottenden. Shottenden isn't
so much a classic English village all neatly arranged around a
green but a collection of farms, cottages & other buildings (such
as the old blacksmiths & wheelwright's) in a scattered area.
While Myrtle wanted to meet John & have a few words with him I managed
to get in a few questions about Bill & Micky :)
While we were talking about EotW I mentioned to the others that Micky
had seen the article about the evacuation of St Kilda "some years"
before he made the film. Myrtle thought it was only the year before.
It turns out that St Kilda was evacuated in 1930 - which means that
Powell didn't see the article "when he was young" as he said, he
was 25.
She had lots of pictures of Bill around the room of course. It seems
he was a great one for keeping his back to the camera :)
Just before we left Myrtle got her copies of the ACT book & asked
John Sweet, Len & John Clark for autographs.
So I asked Myrtle for hers !
I said it would be in memory of Bill & her father - so she signed it :)
We then walked down the lane to the old blacksmith's & wheelwright's
yard. We had been warned it was a sorry sight - and it was :(
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Myrtle had said how, for the first time in four generations, there
wasn't a Horton who could run a business from there. The young lad
we see in the film in the leather jacket is Eric, son of Ben Horton
the wheelwright and Myrtle's cousin. Eric's son Graham then took it over
from Eric and ran it as a general builders. But he had a stroke a few
years ago and since then it's fallen into disrepair.
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John and Rodney Meadows
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The buildings were still there and a bit of prowling around revealed
a very well organised woodworking shop (Ben's wheelwright shop) with
a few benches & racks for tools still there. But that's about it.
When the rain eased off a bit we got John to pose for a few pictures
at the doorway to the old woodworking shop - where he talked to "Jim
Horton" about wood - "Plank it out at Christmas".
But I think the state of the place plus the sudden downpour left
us all a bit deflated.
So we retired to Chilham.
A nice chat with the ladies in the Tudor Lodge Gift Shop and a look at
the article about Tuesday in the East Kent Gazette and we were
all about ready to call it a day. We had planned a trip to Chilham
Mill as well but John was getting tired so we let him off :)
Driving back to London I noticed that the floodwaters seemed to be
receding a little - but I was premature. The next day I heard on the
radio that the river Medway burst its banks in Maidstone and
that there's quite a lot of flooding in that area now as well.
Well that was an exciting, if tiring, week.
Great fun though. A lot of new friends & fun times with lots of
old friends as well - what more could I ask for? :)
Steve
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