The Shepherd and the Firemen

These extracts, taken from Growing up in Ditchling by Doris Hall, tell two different stories of how change affects local people.

The Shepherd
Shepherd Rewell was one of the last of the Downland shepherds. He spent most of his life walking the Sussex Downs in all weathers - snow, rain-storms or sunny days, tending his flock night and day. He never had a day off from his labours. His wage was small, his working hours long. When at last his em­ployer had no further use for his services in the 1920's he was turned out of his home and put into a cage, namely the Chailey Union Workhouse, where - deprived of the freedom to roam the Downland he loved he soon died and was given a pauper's funeral. He was even denied the handful of wool that would have shown his calling. A just reward for a lifetime's faithful service?

The Ditchlings Fire Service Volunteers
It was on Friday evenings that - their day's work done - those men in the volunteer fire brigade would assemble at the fire station. This was where Glynn's showroom now stands, later at East End Farm, and then at the Sandrock Inn. There two horses that had pulled the coal cart all of the week would be harnessed to the fire wagon and then they would be away at a canter up the West Street and around to the pond. Here they would practice their fire drill and play the pond's water onto the west side of the church, watched by all of us children. It was a sort of weekly spectacle.

Later the fire wagon became mechanized, the money for the purchase of the new machine having been raised by public subscription. It must have been annoying for these men - having got to the scene of a fire - only to find no water available, for there were few hydrants in those days. One such fire was at Coombe Down, a large house to the south of the village. When they arrived the house was well alight, and the lake from which they hoped to pump the water was dry. So they could only watch it burn. Ditchling lost its fire service when it was taken over by local government in 1941 and now we rely on Keymer fire station.