John Hoyles

Born in 1933, John was an only child and grew up in the Brendon valley. He attended Countisbury school and then at the tender age of thirteen had to lodge at Barnstaple in order to attend the technical college where he took a building course. “It was impossible to commute in those days, so there I was, a poor little country-boy living in a big city like that!” On leaving college he worked as a stonemason and with many others helped re-build Lynmouth after the flood. Later he joined the Grenadier Guards, found a wife in London and became a guardsman outside Buckingham Palace. Little did he realise as he stood guard outside that he would one day return to the Palace, but to the other side of the railings – as Mayor of Lynton and Lynmouth – at the Queen’s garden party. They have two daughters Sandra and Nicola.

John Hoyles’ chapter includes the following topics and many more:

• father building a chimney with lime mortar
• bucket toilet and collecting water from the spring
• mother cooking at the Staghunters pub
• drinking, toasting and red hot pokers in the beer
• shoe cleaning and re-setting of snares
• catching cooking and eating rabbit
• ‘tying the road’ at weddings
• helping out the blacksmith
• burning the common
• the Rockford youth hostel
• the Rockford and the Staghunter pubs
• church bells and pig killing
• The Blue Ball pub at Countisbury
• early petrol pumps
• Barbrook petrol station
• pedal-powered pumps in the ‘winter of discontent’