| Wickham Market, Ipswich - 8 |
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| Wickham Market Colony |
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| The children were housed in Wherstead Park from 8 June 1937 until 19 April 1938. In 1938 they were moved to Plomesgate House in Wickham Market. We have three pictures and we would like to know which of the buildings housed the children during their stay at Plomesgate House. |
| In 1938 Miss Cloe Vulliamy, a Republican sympathiser living in Woodbridge, organised for a party of Basque children, refugees from the Spanish Civil War, to come and live in the old Workhouse buildings for about a year, until things settled down in their own country. There were about 40 boys and girls with one teacher. Local people donated furniture, toys, etc. The memory of these children and teenagers is still vivid amongst local people, but not all agree about their frienliness or behaviour. Some say that there were frequent fights with the village boys; 'the place was wrecked', 'they got on the roof and stipped slates off'; 'they covered the walls inside with graffiti'. On the other hand, some remember them as very colourful and artistic. Their national dress was brilliant and they sometimes gave shows in the village. They roller-skated in Chapel Lane - wonderful dancing figures. They painted attractive murals on the walls of their rooms. In the day-time there were lessons. The local school mistress tried to teach the English on Saturday mornings and some evenings. One Chapel Lane lady gave them apples from her garden and they would sit in her front garden eating them and causing no trouble at all. Taken from 'Wickham Market Workhouse' by E. P. Cockburn, 1991. |
| Children from the various colony would often put on shows of song and dance to help raise money for their keep. |
on the left is a picture of Aurora with a young Basque boy from the colony. |
Ninety-seven of the Basque children housed at Wherstead Park... On arrival at Felixstowe the children, who travelled in Eastern Counties motor-buses, were taken to the co-operative cafe, Langer Road, where they had milk. They spent the rest of the morning at Manor House bathing pool. The dull morning had caused them to abandon all hopes of a bathe, but the pool was an irresistible attraction; the management kindly produced the costumes, and the children were soon splashing about yo their hearts' content. Lunch was served at the co-operative cafe, when Mr. Lewis introduced the Mayor of Ipswich, who thanked our society for providing the treat... Awaiting source... |
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| ...on arrival |
| As the traveller approaches Wickham Market along the magnificent new by-pass, he will note to the right of the Church spire a many - chimneyed building in mellow brick. It is plainly some kind of institution. If his curiosity leads him to turn aside before reaching the market square (now a market no longer and deserted save for the cars that pass along the main road) and explore Chapel Lane, he will come upon dark-faced, bright-eyed children in very shabby clothes gossipping by the roadside or pedalling ancient bicycles furiously along the lane. Through open gates he will catch sight of an avenue of pollarded limes very like the plane-bordered boulevard or Rambla of any little Spanish town, where the whole population will take its stroll after the heat of the day. |
| Basque Children at Wickham Market |
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| There is a clattering of heels along the stone floor and three girls come dancing down the passage singing lustily a song about a beautiful basketmaker for whom someone is dying of love. But beneath the gaiety and the laughter is the echo of the now so tragically futile "If Viscaya were burning, I would quench the flames with my blood..." Viscaya has been burned, Guernika of the Sacred Oaktree has flamed under the rain of incendiary bombs, and neither blood nor tears can wipe out the offence, or bring back the town and its dead. From 'East Anglia through Spanish Eyes' by Cloe A. Vulliamy published in the East Anglian Magazine,1938 |
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| A group of twelve girls and young women of from Wickham Market colony. |
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| We do hope that we can get a photograph showing all the children from the colony, but in the meantime we'll use the above picture. Help us to name the above children and Senoritas etc. |
| A bigger picture of the above to follow soon |
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| Plomesgate House |
| At Wickham Market. Basque children wearing their national dress. (Click here to see larger picture) |
| The building itself is not without dignity when looked at from the entrance court; it is agreeable in design and the pear trees and creepers on its walls add considerably to its charm. But inside there are grim reminders of the time when it housed 200 paupers. Downstairs the men's dayrooms were divided from the women's by a sort of No-man's land of boardrooms and offices, and at either end of the long passage is an iron grill surmounted by spikes, through which an inmate might catch an occasional and distant glimpse of someone of the opposite sex. The upper passage was bisected by a door dividing the women's entrance from the men's. Now all these doors stand open. There are sounds of laughter and young voices and from the staircase, where vigorous scrubbing is going on, a girl is singing : "If Viscaya were burning I would quench the flames with my blood For Viscaya comes first." From 'East Anglia through Spanish Eyes' by Chloe A. Vulliamy published in the East Anglian Magazine,1938. |
| Basque children at Wickham Market. |
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| ...with my blood... |
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"I remember the children being at Wherstead. They were self contained. They were stubby in appearance." Miss E. Joslynne "I was 15 years old and madly in love with one of twins - her name was Maria. I used to cycle to Wherstead and Wickham Market to see her. A lot of boys went." Bob Moyes "When there was stealing from the shops, the Spanish boys were blamed. Vernon Taylor From a small magazine by the Ipswich Co-operative Society and The Suffolk Education Business Partnership. |
| Oral History of Basque Evacuees |
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| A group of Wickham Market boys with a master sitting in the middle of the boys. |
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