Recollections

Walter Reynolds

In her excellent book of recollections (Marlborough Revisited and the War Remembered - a G.I. War Bride Looks Back; Sutton 1987 ISBN 0-86299-318-0), Margaret Wharton mentions Walter Reynolds.

"One young friend of my parents was a classmate of mine in school whose name was Walter Reynolds though he was known to everyone as Bunny. One day he summoned up the courage to speak to me in school - boys even in the same class did not speak to the girls unless there was some attraction. There was none in this case and in fact he was much interested in a pretty blond girl named Denise Smith who came from Aldbourne and boarded at Mayfield [a house in Marlborough used by the Grammar school to board children from outlying villages]. He asked me if he could stop in at my father's workshop which was at that time in Brown's Buildings in Salisbury Road. He said he had heard Dad's lathe running and badly wanted to see what he was doing. I spoke to father and in due course Bunny stopped in to see him. A strong friendship grew between this boy and Dad. In fact Dad I think began to regard him as the son he had never had and I must admit to experiencing a few pangs of jealousy as hitherto I had been very much the apple of my father's eye.

"Bunny came from a remote outpost of Burbage called Ram Alley. His mother was a war widow and he her only child. She was badly crippled with arthritis, always wearing high black boots and only walking with the greatest difficulty. They lived in a tiny cottage and existed on her small government pension. Bunny had won a scholarship to Marlborough Grammar School and received an additional grant from the county. He used to cycle to school, making the twelve mile round trip every day in all weathers. He was a good student, being especially good in maths and all the sciences. He was outstanding in practical subjects such as wood and metal work. For rather more than two years, this boy would go from school to my father's workshop where he would spend a couple of hours helping Dad and learning from him some of the intricates of wood turning, carving, marquetry and cabinet making. A wonderful working relationship grew up between them, father enjoying teaching such an apt pupil. He always came home to tea before setting off on the long cycle ride through the forest and though my mother really welcomed him, she used to complain to me that he was eating her out of house and home. He was a tall raw-boned youth with the insatiable appetite of adolescence and my mother's good food was, I feel sure, far superior to that to which he was accustomed.

"When he left school he joined the R.A.F.. He discussed his future plans with my father and Dad felt that one of the services would present a good opportunity for a boy with such a practical bent. Enlistments were being encouraged with the war drawing near. He had by this time got over his infatuation with Denise and met and married another girl a little later on. He became a rear gunner in the air force and was killed early on in the war in a bombing raid over Germany. His death hit us all hard, especially my father. His poor mother, who never did recover from the shock, becoming quite deranged and finally I think had to enter an institution."

The Burbage War Memorial shows Walter as one of 12 villagers who lost their lives in World War II. The inscription reads: "

Walter F. Reynolds Sergeant R.A.F. May 29/30 1942

For Walter's mother Winifred, life continued to be unkind. In 1952 she entered hospital for an operation and was then sent home to convalesce. As she lived alone, her sister, Mrs. Lock, came from Kent to look after her. One day, as the two ladies sat down for a cup of tea, Mrs. Lock collapsed and died and one can only imagine the distress this would cause to Winifred.

Winifred finally found peace on October 15th 1957 aged 77 and was cremated on the 22nd at Bristol Crematorium. The parish magazine recorded her passing with these words -

"We also mourn the loss of Mrs. Reynolds who dies at St. George's Hospital, Semmington, Trowbridge, on 15th October. We remember her best as the grey haired old lady of Ivy Cottage, Ram Alley, where she lived alone after the death of her husband in the first War and her son, Walter Reynolds, in the second War. She had a sad life but managed to keep a twinkle in her eye even during a serious illness. It is difficult to think of a braver or more loving spirit."

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