The National Forest’s LANDshapes project interview with Francis Geary

The sound should start automatically after a few seconds.

Please note that this is a large file and may not play well if you are using a 56kps modem. For Windows Media Player information see our technical statement

Read transcription of interview

Link to Francis Geary's page on the LANDshapes website

Back to the index

LANt018 Francis Geary
LANDshapes Oral History interview summary

Imagine children playing where cars now scream along the M1, where a horse called 'Captain' used to give 3 boys a lift to the field before ploughing. Francis Geary the ex-'bowser boy' tells us about climbing around Tigermoth aeroplanes until two o'clock in the morning and diving "under the table" when a stray wartime bomb went off nearby ... "all the bums sticking out from underneath this table ... it was quite a laugh really". On his bike as a twelve year old paper boy Francis used to cycle daily from Ratby to Groby, Newtown Linford and Woodhouse Eaves, often delivering telegrams to the WAFF's and WAC's at the wartime airbase. Recalling how Newtown Lane used to be a lonely stretch with no houses, Francis describes for us some of the changes that have happened in the landscape around the Ratby area in the last 60 years. Do you find yourself quoting the age old refrain, 'kids wouldn't have acted like that in my day'? Well perhaps things haven't changed that much as you'll find out when Francis 'confesses' to getting "chucked out the Scouts for fighting".

Interviewers: Roger Kitchen, Lucy Ashworth
Interview Date: 02/03/2005
Landshape Zone: Leicestershire and Derbyshire Coalfield
Parish: Bagworth and Thornton
Location: Bagworth, Leicestershire,
Date of birth: 1929
Location of Original: Originals held with The National Forest Company.
Reference LANt018

Last updated: 15/9/2005
East Midland Oral History Archive Web maintainer
This document has been approved by the head of department or section.