I was born in Aston Abbotts in 1934. My paternal and maternal ancestors had lived in the village since the very early 1700's, that is as far as my family history research has so far revealed. You will appreciate that during WW2 I was still quite young but I do have some memories from that era, and have put together a few details of my early life and memories.
I attended the small village school from 1939 until 1944 at which time I transferred to Aylesbury Grammar School. I do however remember the globe that President Beneš gave to the village school.
Naturally as young lads we were at times mischievous and daring. I remember on one occasion we climbed through the hedge where the Czech guard huts were and "borrowed" one of the duck boards that formed a walkway between the huts. By carefully reshaping the lower part it provided us with a fine toboggan during those times of snow.
But on the other side of the coin President Beneš was held in respect by the village people, and I'm sure that he equally respected the village people. I have no memory of any individual member of his staff or guards but do remember them walking out in the village.
President Beneš, although working in London and in his office at The Abbey always liked to take a walk and as young lads we would frequently see him walking along Lines Hill (the road between Aston Abbotts and Weedon) This would be on Sundays. He would be accompanied by his wife and I believe his nieces. He would have his dog Toga with him as well as his bodyguards. He would always acknowledge us whenever he met the youth of the village.
Some days his staff would come from The Abbey carrying huge joints of meat on equally large baking trays which they took to the Bull and Butcher pub. The pub landlord was also the village baker and his large oven was used to cook the joints. As young lads it looked to us as though those joints were covered with maggots, strange we thought! but we eventually learned that the maggots were in fact caraway seeds.
I remember the three "defence logs" strategically positioned at the three approaching roads into the village. They were large elm tree trunks suitably fixed to be swung across the roads during invasion. We spent hours sitting on these trunks just talking but also carving our names with our jack knives. I suppose today it would be classified as graffiti.
Your website mentions the bus shelter at Wingrave Crossroads. I remember before this was kindly donated by President Beneš waiting for busses whatever the weather. You may be already aware that it was built by a local Wingrave firm of builders, Fleet and Roberts. My father was working for them as a bricklayer at that time and was involved in building the bus shelter. It is so sad that it has been the target of vandals so many times.
My father served throughout The First World War in The Infantry, but during WW2 was in the Home Guard in Aston Abbotts. I remember that quite often he was out on village guard duty during the night. Their headquarters was in the Church Room , and during the night they were joined by members of President Beneš's guards, so I'm sure he would have known quite a few of them. Sadly he died shortly before my eleventh birthday so I never learned of any friendships formed.
With kind regards and good luck with your website
Peter
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