Langham Village History Group
Maurice Cocking was a “private evacuee” coming with his mother, sister and brother to stay with his
aunt, Miss Friel at Old School Cottage (now Old Hall Cottage) where the bow and arrow wars between
“the occupation forces of London and the Langhamites” were fought. Maurice led the
evacuees (the Archers) while John and Charlie Davenport were in charge of the village
forces.
Maurice recalls his journeys to and from the Central School in Oakham (now VCC) with
David (Eb) Nourish, David Burdett and Ben Oldring. “We would frequently stop at a
house in Barleythorpe for a good guzzle of Tizer.” Also in Barleythorpe, Maurice
remembers, there was a tree with a yellowhammer’s nest.
As Ken Hale’s bakers boy Maurice found himself affluent. “It was the dawn of prosperity...
Two memories abide: the toppling of the trade bike propped against a telegraph pole,
spilling a multitude of loaves, higgledy piggledy across the road and, nearby, Miss
Horton... her torso draped about with many cats, climbing, descending and clinging.”
Tony Parrot became “the evacuee who stayed”. Billeted with
Mr and Mrs George Fowlkes, who had no children, Tony had no wish to return to London
when the time came so stayed with the Fowlkes who brought him up as their own. Tony
had many tales to tell of Langham in the war years, most quite unprintable! Apart from his
National Service and a short spell living in Melton Mowbray, Tony became a true Langhamite.
Sadly he died in 1997.
(More about Tony & Maurice can be found in “Looking Back at Langham”. See our publications).
Langham Village History Group ~ © 1996 - 2025
Evacuation to Langham
Back row : Bernard Payne - Rene Bennett - Tony Parrott (Polly) - Terry Weeden - Leslie Dvorkin - Joan Gobbold
3rd Row : Cherry Hughes - ? - ? - John Friel - Stanley Bennett - Charlie Sussex - Ken Broomfield
2nd Row : Peter Homes (Pop) - Pat Wiltshire - Pat Hearne - Ronnie Beck - Phylis Skinner - Wimmie Bennett - Gary Godfrey
Front Row : Pauline Martin (Granny) - Peter Jenkins - ? - Margaret Hearne (Holding Picture) - Sheila Huntley - Pete Sampson - John Carter
Maurice D Cocking
Langham Village History Group
Maurice Cocking was a “private evacuee” coming with his mother, sister and brother to stay with his
aunt, Miss Friel at Old School Cottage (now Old Hall Cottage) where the bow and arrow wars between
“the occupation forces of London and the Langhamites” were fought. Maurice led the
evacuees (the Archers) while John and Charlie Davenport were in charge of the village
forces.
Maurice recalls his journeys to and from the Central School in Oakham (now VCC) with
David (Eb) Nourish, David Burdett and Ben Oldring. “We would frequently stop at a
house in Barleythorpe for a good guzzle of Tizer.” Also in Barleythorpe, Maurice
remembers, there was a tree with a yellowhammer’s nest.
As Ken Hale’s bakers boy Maurice found himself affluent. “It was the dawn of prosperity...
Two memories abide: the toppling of the trade bike propped against a telegraph pole,
spilling a multitude of loaves, higgledy piggledy across the road and, nearby, Miss
Horton... her torso draped about with many cats, climbing, descending and clinging.”
Tony Parrot became “the evacuee who stayed”. Billeted with
Mr and Mrs George Fowlkes, who had no children, Tony had no wish to return to London
when the time came so stayed with the Fowlkes who brought him up as their own. Tony
had many tales to tell of Langham in the war years, most quite unprintable! Apart from his
National Service and a short spell living in Melton Mowbray, Tony became a true Langhamite.
Sadly he died in 1997.
(More about Tony & Maurice can be found in “Looking Back at Langham”. See our publications).
Langham Village History Group ~ © 1996 - 2025
Back row : Bernard Payne - Rene Bennett - Tony Parrott (Polly) - Terry Weeden - Leslie Dvorkin - Joan Gobbold
3rd Row : Cherry Hughes - ? - ? - John Friel - Stanley Bennett - Charlie Sussex - Ken Broomfield
2nd Row : Peter Homes (Pop) - Pat Wiltshire - Pat Hearne - Ronnie Beck - Phylis Skinner - Wimmie Bennett - Gary Godfrey
Front Row : Pauline Martin (Granny) - Peter Jenkins - ? - Margaret Hearne (Holding Picture) - Sheila Huntley - Pete Sampson - John Carter
