SAM CORDLE
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Surname
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Cordle
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Forename
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Samuel Herbert
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Date of recording
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March 2008
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Year of birth
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1913
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Place of Birth
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Holbrook
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Occupation
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Retired farmer
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Fathers occupation
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Farmer
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Present Address
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Orford
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Location Interview
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Aldeburgh
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Interviewer
Summary |
Jane Allen
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Duration
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56 Mins
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No of tracks: 3
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This recording consists of 3 tracks. Interview conducted at Mr Cordle's house, The Randalls, Front Street, Orford on Thursday 13 March 2008 from 3.00pm to about 4.20pm. Interviewer Jane Allen. Notes: (1) Mr Cordle's son-in-law, Canon Norman Davis, sat in throughout. His voice can be heard making occasional interjections. (2) Mr Cordle is rather deaf so I had to speak up, with the result that my voice is very loud (3) Extensive building work is being done at the house, so there is some background noise of hammering and drilling. Track 1 (2 mins 17 secs) 00.05 Date of birth and circumstances of arrival in Orford. Track 2 (44 mins 46 secs) 00.40: Father's purchase of Chantry Farm in sale of the Sudbourne Park estate in 1918. Didn't actually view the farm before buying it. A keen Baptist family, was told there was a chapel opposite the farm but found after the sale that it was a Methodist, not Baptist, chapel. 00.42 - 02.32 Sam's baptism in the river Ore [02.32 - 03.01 JA explains about John Anderson's scrap books - irrelevant to interview] 03.08 Number of farmworkers at Chantry Farm 03.52 First tractors on farm 05.01 Description of Jim, last Suffolk Punch horse on farm, and his eventual slaughter 07.34 Shoeing horses 08.31 The marshes, drainage and use for summer grazing 09.52 Description of the river walls 10.18 The 1953 floods Cattle swimming to safety 12.49 Calves being rescued, taken into kitchen and given whisky 14.06 Calves being warmed by 'Esse' solid fuel cooker 14.24 Machinery and cars spoiled by flood 15.18 Lord Mayor's flood relief fund 15.39 Gypsum spread on fields to neutralize effects of salt water. Slow recovery of land. Trees killed 17.55 Farming on Orford Ness 18.20 Drainage problems 19.18 Airfield on Orford Ness [at 19.52 refers to 'the island' which is what the locals call Orford Ness] 20.38 Era of Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Shooting large numbers of hares on Orford Ness 22.21 Keeping livestock on Orford Ness 23.14 Combine harvester going over on ferry. Crops on the Ness; state of the land 22.45 Government land drainage grants in World War II 26.00 Schooldays 27.00 Love of sports 27.46 Headmaster of school Mr J W Petley 31.13 Love of shooting, game shooting and wildfowling 31.34 Wildfowling at harvest time 32.25 'Havergate Drift' 32.32 Sisters, one in 'WAAF' (Women's Auxiliary Air Force), another going to live at 'Wetheringset'(village in mid-Suffolk) 33.44 No holidays, just visits to relatives. Train spotting when staying in 'Willoughby Road', Ipswich 34.55 Member of Middle Alde Drainage Board other local landowners: 'Sir Peter Greenwell', 'Mr Tom Arkle'. 'Gedgrave Hall' and 'Richmond Farm', combined acreage of 900 acres - same as that required for expansion of Stansted Airport. [Pretty good for a 94-year-old!] 37.01 Butley River. Oyster shed near Orford Quay. 'Tom Brinkley'. 'Macfisheries'. [38.51 - 39.27 References to Richard Pinney - irrelevant to interview] 39.29 Wallmen (labourers who kept river walls in repair) 40.48 'Havergate Drift' 41.20 Alder wood used for piling. 'Alder Carr' at 'Sudbourne' 42.45 Secretary to Sir Bernard Greenwell and Sir Peter Greenwell acted as secretary to Drainage Board. As the recommended hour of interviewing for over 80s was up, I stopped recording. Mr Cordle then started talking about World War II so I resumed recording, but not quite at the beginning. Track 3 (9 mins 3 secs) 00.29 Description of being on duty with Home Guard, watching for enemy aircraft from observation post just north of Gedgrave Road. Very long and tiring periods on duty in early part of war. 01.25 Fires from Dunkirk visible 02.25 Italian air raid. Plane coming down on Orford Beach. 03.19 Description of fighter planes attacking enemy bombers 05.00 German air raid on Orford October 1942. 13 fatalities. Was milking cows. 07.47 Help given to John Macdonald, scientist working on Orford Ness, whose house was damaged in the air raid. |
