Student Reminiscences
Walter Lilley
Dear Editor
I thought that it may be interesting to present day students to hear what we felt of things at the time.
The accommodation and lecture building comprised the main hall and the annex both sleeping students all male of course at that time. Day to day control appeared to be in the hands of a Mr Dalgleish, Reg Whalley was a lecturer as were others. Veterinary Science covered by a local vet who came in and if I remember correctly a Mr Wassal who did hens, horticulture and such things, of the latter he related an interesting tale. He was inserting into the necks of cockerals a hormone which caused them to adopt female behaviour and their combs fell off. After some time he began to experience similar symptoms, to us students of course we visualised Mr Whoral without his male appendage and unable to fulfil his filial duties with which we identified fully and sympathetically.
The night of the raid was interesting, why it come about I know not, but it was decided that the annex where I lived would raid the main block at night and scrag the sleepers.
To the end we collected eggs from the incubators which were sterile, buckets of water, fortifying our own quarters against reciprocal attack with hosepipes fastened to taps and laid out to the head of the stairs for action.
The raid went fine, broken eggs everywhere, sliding down the walls and banisters, embryonic chickens caught on pictures and various other protruding features etc. Unfortunately we made rather a lot of noise to be faced during the conflict with Mr Dalgleish, Whalley and Lavanie Orme in dressing gown and curlers in an unhelpful mood and ordering us all to stop. We were then given buckets, mops, brooms etc and told to clean up the mess or else, which we did. I must say that there were no recriminations and the management took it all very well as who knows it could have been serious for us students and the end of our career at a stroke.
Dances, we were fortunate to give and receive many invitations to local Derby Hospitals for these events which went very well indeed. I remember one at the Hall, lots of nurses, the dancehall at 10.30 was virtually empty, everybody having paired off and pursuing other interests, accompanied of giggles, whispers and demonstration of unrequited love all over the campus - happy days.
During this period we built a tennis hardcourt at the rear of the hall, all of us wanting to drive the huge Caterpillar Bulldozer bought in for the purpose but to no avail.
Sports, my interest lay in soccer, we beat the Nottinghamshire Form Institute. I remember we were ourselves firmly thrashed by the army at Chilwell Ordinance depot and another team on the outskirts of Derby, the score being so high we thought they were all professionals. Reg Whalley, unfailingly supportive in all of these endeavours, driving the van, organising the meets etc.
The farms in those days were, Top, Lime, and Home and run we thought extremely well, another gentleman I remember from those days was an ex Wing Commander from the RAF. He and I did our 12 months farm labouring together on a Derbyshire dairy farm and he gave me my first dinner suit, having outgrown it, in the most fabulous midnight blue cloth the quality of which today would be unobtainable.
He must have been forty plus and me eighteen, he never moaned, pulled his weight in all of the physical tasks and was a tremendous example to us all.
Now I am a retired Engineer Businessman but I can still surprise lots of former neighbours with the skills I learned in farming at Broomfield.
In my 12 months farming prior to college I learned hedgelaying, ditching straight as a die, hoeing roots, milking cows and a lot of other practicalities. I remember that members of the staff thought that I wouldn't pass my exams as we used to enjoy ourselves quite a bit on the tiniest grant you ever saw, no help from home, anyway 4-5 weeks from exam time I crammed and crammed and passed with credits, how about that!
The physical tasks were no problem as I had the skills already.
To finish, I enjoyed it at Broomfield, the staff were terrific and in my dotage those 10 months still bring me happy memories.
P.S. If you find this too risque and unprintable never mind it was a pleasant trip down memory lane.
Also my best regards to members of staff present and retired together with members of my year who are still in touch
Kindest Regards to you all and the future Walter Lilley. 1950/51
Mr. Willie Baumgartner
Mr Baumgartner visited Broomfield in 1954.
For all this time he has kept a copy of the 1954 Prospectus, the 1953 BOSA Magazine and a Christmas card sent to him in 1955.
He has now retired from farming but in 2013 at the age of 83 he is described as being as fit as a fiddle!
Mr Baumgartner lives in Switzerland in the Canton of Zurich.
If you remember him or have any memories that you would like to share with him, use the 'Contact Us' button on the website home page.
LINK TO FURTHER INFORMATION:
Christmas Card Broomfield Hall to Willie Baumgartner 1955.pdf
Broomfield Old Students Association Magazine 1953
Derbyshire Farm Institute Prospectus 1954
Recollections from Margaret Platts
Part1
It is good news that interest in the history etc of Broomfield is being taken seriously. Of course I have very fond memories as it had a huge effect on my life. Although I was only there for about 6 years it certainly shaped my future and I was very happy there. Naturally I have many stories in my memory, far too many to recount and if Eric was alive now he would be in his element, recounting all sorts of escapades as a student and also during his time as pig man after we married and lived in one of the cottages.
Just as a bit of background; I started work there in 1951 as a shorthand typist and our office was the Nissan hut at the back of the Hall. It was divided into 3, ours being the largest and the other 2 were for the horticultural and agricultural lecturers. It was cold in winter and hot in summer of course. Being the newest arrival one of my jobs was to make the tea for the staff in the hut and we always had our lunch in the dining room, along with the students.
Mrs. Orme was Matron and I still remember her wonderful black currant pie to this day. In our lunch hour we played table tennis in the students' common room when they had left it to go back to lectures, or we played tennis outside in the summer, or just sat on the lawn enjoying the lovely gardens.
When eventually electricity was installed in the cottages and farmhouses one of my jobs was to read all the meters each month, a job I enjoyed, getting outside and walking round the estate.
Part 2
I have just been looking again at the website and interested to see the bit about Willi Baumgartner. I remember him as we had just got married and I think we might have invited him to our home at the weekend. Unfortunately he had to cut his stay short, if I am remembering correctly, as his Father was taken very ill and the family wanted him home in Germany.
During the period we were there Broomfield had several overseas students in the summer holidays, mostly young men working on the farm. Eric would come home and comment that he had had to sort out some of the language they had picked up because the farm workers took great delight in teaching them some words that their mothers would not like to hear! Also we did befriend one or two who were at a loose end over the weekends - one of them was a Dutch boy called Peter van der Duys and we took him out into Derbyshire once or twice in our car. I still have a photo of him with our little Cairn terrier. We got to know his family, too as the next year they came over and several years later his Mother stayed with us for a fortnight. We stayed in touch for many years after that when he moved to Australia and he came to see us here in Devon, becoming friendly with our eldest son who was then studying horticulture. As Peter then worked for the forestry people in Australia he promised to send some seeds to Roger when he got home. Some of these were grown successfully and indeed four of those plants remained in our garden for many years. Another student was Grethe Christensen (her married surname now) from Denmark who worked in the hall during her stay then came to stay with us at our farm some years later, for a month. We still keep in touch, have spent a week’s holiday with her and she has been over here again on a visit. So apart from the farming, student life, etc. we made other contacts that would not have been possible without Broomfield!
When we eventually left Broomfield we still kept in touch with some of the staff. Jim Stockley was an assistant lecturer in agriculture and left, with his wife, Hettie, and young family and moved down to Cornwall. It so happened that Jim's birthday and mine were on the same date so we always exchanged cards and I received a pot of .Cornish clotted cream every year! When we moved to Devon we visited them on several occasions and were invited to their Golden Wedding party. The other ex member of staff with whom I have kept in touch is Mary Hobbs, who started work there on the same day as I did, as an assistant horticultural lecturer. She eventually moved down to Aylesbury but we have met on several occasions, talked on the phone, etc. and exchanged cards and letters.
Other members of staff who were in our Nissan hut were Ken Bassett and Alf Botham (chief clerk and wages clerk respectively), Mr. Nickalls (vice principal), Mr. Tuck in charge of horticulture and, Bob Straughan, his second in command. The rest of the staff were in the Hall but when the new buildings went up we all moved into the Hall and our Nissan hut eventually disappeared.
Anne Poynter (student years 1959 to 1960); Article in Derby Telegraph 2008
