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Picture source: Geraldine Donnelly

The Royal Oak was situated at Field Assarts.

When I was young, my family had a bungalow next door to The Royal Oak. We come from Yorkshire, the bungalow was pre-war and belonged to my grandparents and in turn to my parents. Dad adored the place, as we all did. I am talking around 60-65 years ago which is probably the earliest I can remember. As you turned up the path to the pub, you passed the home of Colonel and Mrs Messenger on your right hand side. To the far left hand side of the pub was a small dwelling up some steps ... it was occupied by Mrs Crook or Crooks, a lady who was getting on in years at that time. She regularly baby-sat for me and my sister when my parents went out, usually to The Old Swan at Minster Lovell. As I recall, the pub was run by two ladies - I knew them as Bessy and Grace but don't know their last names. As you walked in to the pub, the tap room was to the right with a stone flagged floor. If you turned left you went into a room containing two pianos, which I used to tinkle about on although I never heard anyone actually play them. They were halcyon days. When the pub eventually closed, it was completely refurbished and turned into a private house for a wonderful gentleman called Geoffrey Webb. Geoffrey contracted polio as a child and was paralysed - he used a wheelchair which breathed for him, he could move only his head very slightly - although I would never use the word 'confined' to a wheelchair as he had the benefit of a large vehicle converted to manage his needs and a live-in nurse, whom he ultimately married. We no longer have the bungalow - it was sold a long time ago. It was demolished and a new, modern house was built on the site.

Val Hickman (July 2024)

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