Here is an extract from the memoir of George Sheldrick. You can read the rest of his article and see a photograph of him in uniform in volume 6.1 (1997).
GEORGE SHELDRICK
Sheldricks are known to have lived in Thriplow as long as anyone can remember and there are documents that give the family name for at least three hundred years.
I was born in Bassetts, Lower Street, today the home of Hugh Byrne. At that time this large house was divided into three cottages: we lived in one and the other families were the Chamberlains and the Fullers. The rent over a period varied between 6d. and 2s 6d per week and the tenants met these charges usually in the autumn after they were paid for harvest work.
My father, and his father and grandfather before him, was a stack thatcher and so very busy at harvest; he was also the village chimney sweep. My mother who had worked in a shop before she was married came from Pampisford. They had six children: Alf, Grace, Frank, Edie, May and myself the youngest. In 1933 the house was restored to a single dwelling and we moved to live on the Green in the part of the house where Tony Airey now lives which was then divided into two. The other family was the Grasbys. I used to collect the milk daily from Jack Neaves’ dairy next door in what is today John Augar’s garden. Of course at that time the village had no mains water nor sewage. We relied on water from a pump outside the cottage. Our main supply of groceries came from Jacksons of Fowlmere who collected the order each week and delivered on Thursdays. There was also Deans of Fowlmere and within Thriplow general goods were sold by the Softleys at the village stores, and a small range of items such as sweets inside the homes of the Fullers at Anno Domini and at Mr Cox’s at Honeysuckle Cottage. We were able to get most of what we needed very easily.