Memories
Memories of Firbeck
Yesterday I drove through Firbeck - sad to say that Firbeck Hall has fallen into a terrible state of disrepair. I did work there for the NHS when it operated in conjunction with the NUM. At that time it was a superb building and had an excellent record for the rehab of really serious injuries.
Around 1984 I made friends with an elderly gentleman, Cyril, who I think was in his late 80's early 90's. He was a remarkable old guy who told me all the history of the St Leger and how he used to work at the Hall in it's halcyon days when he had contacts with Amy Johnson, Wallis Simpson and I think he became an equerry to one of the royals etc etc. At that time he wanted to put his memories into print and asked if I'd get his notes typed out for him - I did some copies of this on a primitive word processor and he was over the moon.. Regrettably he died and of course I never kept a copy of his work
There are a good number of people in the village who used to work at the Hall while it was a medical centre but I doubt if any remain who remember the earlier periods.
Another interesting historical building is the village working men's club which was originally the village school.
Something also tells me that there used to be a POW camp in the area. One of these remained after the war and I think the locals called him German Paul. He sticks in my mind because of the awful scarring on his arm courtesy of the RAF.
I just wish I'd written these things down as they were told to me rather than try and recollect 20+ years later.
9th April, 2008
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