Perfect Day - Sons Visit Barkston, July 2003 Page 2 of 3

Betty recalled that Olga and Bill lived in a house opposite the Plough before taking lease of the Inn - but sadly was unable to recall which house. She also believed that Olga did some hairdressing in the village. During the war, Betty regularly saw Bill at the Grantham brewery where she worked, when he came to deliver his beer orders.

A lost Vice-Sheik from Hats Off Tent Betty & John

At the Plough, some Sons took an opportunity to recreate the 16th March 1947 photo outside the front door.

Members of the Derby Hats Off & Nottingham Beau Hunks Tents

On the day there was much debate on the extent of the Plough Inn during the 1940s. It was thought that the Plough Inn was only a small beer house with limited rooms just to the left of the front door in the red-brick part of the building. Further discussion with some of the villagers since this visit has revealed that the Plough Inn was actually the whole building. On the ground floor, there was a large bar-room to the right of the front door with the bar in the form of a large serving hatch at the back of the room. The dartboard was located at the front of the bar-room near to the two front windows. On the day the Boys came to visit, the children would have peered through the two windows in the stone faced walls to see the Boys playing darts.

On the left of the door was a small lounge bar, this was Olga`s `best` room where she had her piano and would greet guests. This was probably the room most remembered by close family friends and relatives and probably the room where Stan met his father. At the rear of the house there was a private kitchen area and an outside toilet. Upstairs there were three bedrooms, two at the front and a bedroom and bathroom at the rear. `A.J.`s bedroom and windows were on the left of the house as seen from the front. There was also a cellar with a beer barrel access at the back of the house. Today, the Plough is no longer an Inn and has been refurbished into separate upper and lower floor flats.

Mrs Eardley, current owner of the Plough, showed us the gardens and the rear of the Inn. She kindly invited us all into her kitchen to show us a child`s autograph book signed by Stan & Ollie. With 20 of us in the party this did prove to be quite comical and reminiscent of a certain car scene from Our Wife!

The autograph book belongs to a lady who is still living on West Street. She had obtained the Boys autographs during their visit to the Plough on the 16th March 1947, at the age of 12 and was one of the children that peered through the windows of the Plough. At the time, she lived with her mother in a cottage that once stood behind the Plough. Her mother used to work for Olga as a cleaner at the Plough.

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