Visitors to The Camp

There were many people who visited The Camp in the course of their business. Several come to mind but possibly the one that stands out in my memory is Reg Driver the 'Fish man' from Beer.

Reg visited The Camp once a week, providing weather conditions had allowed the fishing boats to put to sea. He would stop his little blue Morris 8 van close to our dwelling at 14/1 then get out and in a gravelly, Devonian vernacular issue forth an almighty cry of undecipherable meaning except for the word "Fish." There was no mistaking when Reg Driver came to call.

However, on one such visit I understood his words very well when he drove away to his next call forgetting to close the rear doors of his van. He stopped when someone made him aware of this. He then climbed out to see the empty fish boxes, their contents of mackerel, plaice and a host of other species all scattered on the road in his wake.

After seeing this his language contained a lot of words beginning with "F" but they weren't for fish. He came back to ask my mother if he could use our sink. Then he collected all the fish from the road, and proceeded to wash them under the tap before carefully filling the boxes once more. After giving Mum a couple of mackerel for her trouble, he drove off to his remaining customers who were blissfully unaware of the mishap that had befallen their purchase, especially when he assured them "they were straight from the sea"!

Because of its out-of-town situation, and large number of prospective customers, The Camp was never short of visitors selling their wares or services. They came in mobile-shops, vans and lorries. The Frenchman on a bicycle draped with strings of onions for sale. The yell of the rag and bone man with his handcart, buying scrap metal, unwanted articles of clothing and household bric-a-brac. The knife and scissor grinder with a mechanical sharpener attached to the pannier of his bike. The odd job man, prepared to have a go at anything, his tools carried in a canvas bag, slung over his shoulder. They all visited The Camp.

A one-off visit I remember well were the Pipers, probably from a Highland Regiment stationed at Honiton's Heathfield Army Camp. They were headed by Capt. McDonald, (he farmed a small holding in Beavor Lane) and they marched around 'The Camp' in full Highland dress to the skirl of their bagpipes with us youngsters marching behind. Our numbers increasing as we went, eventually growing into a sizeable army. I don`t know why the Pipers were there. Perhaps Capt. McDonald wanted to show off his Regiment to his near neighbours or perhaps trying to persuade some new recruits for the Army. If the age limit had been lowered by a dozen years, he would have had a great success.

I don't know when we started paying rent to the council, although I was informed it was five shillings (25p) a week for our Nissen hut. Joe Frampton was the first Rent Collector I remember. He collected rents for Axminster Rural District Council. He used a bicycle for transport so he must have pedalled a lot of miles in a week. I remember him as a tall, rangy man, always very pleasant and always making time for a chat. He would normally be dressed in a grey suit, white shirt and a tie, but when weather conditions demanded, a long, grey raincoat billowed out behind him as he cycled around The Camp. He wore large black boots which looked even bigger as he never removed his cycle clips when he got off his bike. His leather money bag was hung over his shoulder also containing the ledger in which he carefully entered all the rental payments (or lack of) for the dwellings on The Camp.

Vital supplies

With some dwellings not having an electric supply, a very important visitor to The Camp was Mr. Matthews who arrived in a large brown Austin K8 three-way van which was emblazoned with Matthews Bros in gold lettering on its sides. The rear door opened to expose a large metal tank containing paraffin. In his brown overall he would stand by the brass tap protruding from the tank filling a metal measuring jug with a long funnel so he could then pour it directly into the customer's own container. The price of paraffin at that time was one shilling and five pence per gallon (7.5 p /4.5 litres).

Doors on the side of his van would open onto an assortment of candles, mantles, wicks, lamp chimneys, methylated spirits and other vital accessories necessary for the oil and Tilly lamps, primus and stoves used to supplement the lighting, heating and cooking facilities of the many dwellings on The Camp. Matthews Bros also had a shop in Axminster that carried a large range of ironmongery, household goods and tools.

As most of the dwellings had either combustion stoves or ranges for heating and cooking, another necessary visitor was the coal man. Although a little more vague about this, I can remember Luffs and Bradfords coal lorries trundling around 'The Camp'. Their leather-jerkined deliverymen, flat caps worn back to front, coal blackened hands and faces and slung on their back a bulky hundredweight (50kg) sack of coal. Most times this had to be carried some distance along narrow, uneven paths to the dwellings as access for any vehicle was very limited. Coal at this time would have cost around six shillings a hundredweight (30p/50kg).

Mr. Terry Arnold drove W.J. Harris's green delivery van which called two or three times a week with bread and groceries. A loaf of bread cost around sixpence (2.5p) and I remember Mum's standing order was always two raised tin loaves and, occasionally when she could afford it, some cream buns for a tea time treat.

Mayo's in South Street, then probably the biggest shop for provisions in Axminster, also sold bread and general groceries from their van. Obviously neither of them carried many goodies to tempt me otherwise I am sure I would have more memories to recall. Though I do remember going into Mayo's shop with sixpence to buy a bag of "yesterday`s buns" and eating several before I reached home.

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