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JOHN BLACKMORE
Born:
Withypool,
Somerset, 1914
Lived:
Withypool,
Oldways End
Recording made: 2001
Length of recording:
2 hrs 21 mins
To read a summary of the contents of the oral history recordings click CD1 or CD2.
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John Blackmore was the youngest of seven. His family had the shop and post office, and a milk round, at Withypool. They also hired out ponies and ran the local taxi service. One of their garages, cars and all, was swept away in the 1952 flood.
He did the local post round and drove a taxi before taking up farming. His longest journey was a 10 hour drive to Stevenage, returning the day war was declared. He joined the Local Defencew Volunteers, riding out over the moors with a four bore shotgun over his shoulder and made a stand for a horse for Alfred Mullins. Eisenhower had tea with his sister.
He moved to Oldways End in 1967, taking five horses with him. He was still riding at 80 and says he remembers every detail of his first hunt, gateways and all, better than things which happened yesterday.
He preferred not to be photographed.