Page 12 - link magazine

12 LOCAL LIVES

A life full of experiences
At nearly 93 years of age Bert Lancaster from Toothill must West Swindon's oldest resident
We went to talk to him about some of the fascinating events in his life, including his experiences in the First World War
Bert was born in 1898 in Bright- "I attended Lower Stratton Mixed cruiting sergeant mentioned that the "The following year (1917) we
lingsea, Essex where his father School for a few months and left at pay in the navy was abithigher than were at Cambrai, and the winter
worked as head gardener at thirteen and a half. As my father in the Army soheapplied to join. He was terrible. Everything froze solid
Brightlinsea Hall. worked on the estate, I was taken in was given the traditional shilling for and the snow was very deep. When
One of Bert's earliest memories as a houseboy at Stratton House, joining His Majesty's forces and re- the thaw started, conditions were
was one of the several frightening doing odd jobs for the butler. There turned home to await call up. very bad. All the trenches caved in,
experiences he had before he turned was a lot of (Bert is pictured on the it was like a bog. On both sides,
twenty. "Me and five others were boot polish- left with a friend at British and German soldiers had to
on our way to school about one and ing, and Blandford Training walkout in the open to get out of the
a half miles away and we thought also clean- Camp in 1916). mud. We didn't shoot at each other
we could hitch a rideona wagon full ing the sil- He joined the whilst we set about digging more
of wicker furniture. It was covered ver because Hawk Battalion of trenches to get into.
by this tarpaulin which was flap- the parlour the Royal Naval Di- "1 suffered a bit of frostbite which
ping in the wind. All of sudden the maids vision which was was the only injury I had through-
wind pick-ed up and the noise of the didn't do it lent to the Army and out the war. When you were going
flapping frightened the horses which very well." at 18 years old, he forward in a battle blokes were be-
bolted. The driver was thrown off After found himself in ing hit around you and you could
and there was us hanging on in the three years France preparing to feel the bullets going by. We lost a
back. We could see the school com- of domestic go into the trenches. lot of men in the 1917 advance
ing up and jumped off. We took a service Bert "On my first night at around Cambrai, the one which fi-
few scrapes and bumps, and the joined the the front line, my nally finished the war. Our orders
bolting horse was stopped up the Great West- platoon was digging were to attack the second line of
road by another driver who turned ernRailway the trench, to extend trenches behind the front line. When
his horse and cart across the road. to work in it into 'no man's we got there, the German soldiers
"Another thing I remember was the stamp- land.' We were near were so closely packed in that they
Halley's Comet passing in 1906. It ing shop Arras and we were couldn't use their weapons for lack
was ever so bright in the sky. My where a being shelled. All of of morn.
younger sister thought the world thousand and one different items a sudden one came over and ex- "During that first night I found
was coming to an end." were pressed out on the drop ham- ploded right next to us. The whole that a bullet had passed through my
Justbefore his thirteenth birthday mers. trench caved in burying me in it. I gas mask and had been stopped half
Bert's father took up the position of In October 1916, he was ordered was lucky I suppose, because I was way through the pocket testament I
head gardener at the Stratton Estate to report to the Swindon recruit- able to work myself loose and was Remove the centre page map.
and the family moved to Swindon. ment office. Bert says that the re- able to dig myself out.
Bert's story continues opposite

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