Bocking: Memories shared at Resting Seat House

The sheltered accommodation scheme in Bocking is now home to 10 older people since its complete refurbishment last year.

Ranging from 65 to mid-90s the residents, who all live independently in self-contained flats, get together by choice to talk about old times and discuss the latest news.

Resting Seat House dates from the 18th century and takes its name from the local legend that Oliver Cromwell once broke his journey nearby. The house was also home to a Miss Polly, her name is inscribed in the garden wall, who was reputedly murdered here.

In more recent times Resting Seat was the home of Miss Joan Elliot, a member of the family which ran Lake and Elliot's engineering business in the town.

During her lifetime Miss Elliot, a well known local philanthropist, hosted events at the house, strawberry teas for the WI and dinners for the elderly.

By the late 1950s she decided to give her home to the Braintree and Bocking and district Old People's Welfare Association.

Acknowledging the gift the then chairman Eric Way wrote: "This beautiful old home....has been given by Miss Elliot as an old people's residence. In order to accept and administer this most generous gift, the association has formed the Resting Seat House Housing Society Limited.

"The company of others living in the same house will afford security, while preserving for the old people the independence and privacy to which they have been hitherto accustomed."

ETHOS

Resting Seat House is now run by the Blackwater Housing Association although its original purpose and ethos remains the same today.

Manager Pat Cook organises regular coffee mornings and craft evenings in the house's elegant drawing room.

"Residents are all independent and have their own friends, families and hobbies and we respect that," she said.

"We are lucky here because we have a central meeting place and a crowd who are happy to do things together."

"Doing things" so far has included a shared Christmas dinner, trips to the seaside, a reflexology course and special events, including the recent Dolls through the Ages exhibition.

Pat's mother Olive Trundell is one of Resting Seat's most enthusiastic members, sharing her handicraft skills with other residents.

Mrs Trundle moved to Braintree in the early 1950s, setting up a general store on the corner of Albert Road and Manor Street with husband Ernie.

"We sold everything in those days. I was a member of Braintree WI and we used to come to Miss Elliot's strawberry teas," she remembers. "Local people all used to rally round and help."

Fellow shopkeeper Molly Galpin has also made her home at Resting Seat. With husband John, Mrs Galpin ran a camping and menswear shop in Braintree Market Square for over 40 years.

She has many happy memories of Braintree town centre both before and after the war.

"I remember one year the hops failed, they used to be grown around Braintree and people emptied their hop mattresses - mattresses filled with hops - and they made a very good price. I'm sure the beer was very good that year."

Mrs Bessie Sibley was born in Cornish Hall End but moved to Bocking as a baby. She attended Braintree Intermediate School and found a job in Courtaulds accounts office. She married childhood sweetheart Neville in St Mary's, Bocking, in 1948.

"I remember Miss Elliot starting the over 60s club in Bocking, it was very popular. I used to come to Resting Seat House to make the teas for the old folk," she remembers.

Resident George Hounsell was also married at St Mary's, in 1944. He and wife Jean had the distinction of being the first couple at the church to have bells rung at their wedding, after the threat of invasion had lifted.

"It cost a couple of guineas but it was worth it," George remembers. "The girls working at Courtaulds mill next door all crowded to the window to see what was happening so we had quite an audience."

After Army service George spent his working life at Crittalls and also served as a Bocking north ward councillor on the old Braintree Urban District Council the 1970s.

Mrs Florence Eagles lived in Shalford Green for many years. "I only used to come to Braintree to shop," she says. "After a lifetime spent n the country I enjoy the fact that I can get out in the garden here."

Newcomer to the area is Mrs Evelyn Robinson, who moved to resting Seat House from London. "I really like it here," she said. "I like hearing everyone's stories and enjoy getting involved with what ever's going on. I've made a lot of friends."

For all its residents Resting Seat House is now home.

Mrs Trundell summed it up. "We knew this place years ago so it's a home from home for us. We believe in keeping going and doing something with our time, we don't intend to just sit and get old. We are all busy little souls."

Daughter Pat agreed: "This always was a family home and it's still got that atmosphere. It's a lovely old place."

Dollmaker Brenda Bond visits Resting Seat House.

Taxi drivers Mr L Woodley and Jack Crisp outside The Orange Tree public house in the Market Square around 1930.

Recent pictures: MARK LEES

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.