Part One dealt with homes, shopping and employment. See here. A further part covering childhood and religion will become available next year.
Sport and Leisure
The Regatta attracted a world record (for an Amateur event) 107 entries in 1930 and continued to thrive during the thirties. It wasn't only local teams competing- in 1936 a team from the Tokyo Imperial University stormed to victory in the Grand Challenge Cup with their ultra light cedarwood boat and what was described as an unorthodox even eccentric rowing style. Sadly in just what eccentric way that they were rowing has been lost to history. The crew also raced at Henley Regatta that year, long a magnet for foreign teams, before flying off from Croydon Airport to the Berlin Olympics. Despite the hype around the team before the event no Japanese rower actually medalled at Berlin.
Spectators at each Regatta crowded onto the bridge despite dire warnings that their combined weight exceeded the 5 ton safety limit for this old structure.
Winners at the Regatta carried of solid silver prizes supplied as they had been for decades by Rowe's jewellers in the High Street.
Marlow also had a Rowing Club Regatta until the number of members on anti aircraft duty or military service forced the temporary cancellation of the event in 1939. The Rowing Club wasn't popular with everyone - Marlow's vicar successfully asked for Sunday morning rowing practice to be removed from the club's normal schedule as it coincided with his services. The fury of the nothing but church on a Sunday brigade cannot be underestimated. Some wanted the swings taken out of the playground in Higginson Park on a Sunday!
The Regatta was part of "Marlow Week" which also typically involved tennis tournaments as well as sometimes bowls and putting ones not to mention fireworks and fun fairs.
In Higginson Park there were then two putting greens. As well as the Marlow Week tournaments they hosted a separate annual one. Normal putting cost 6d a round in 1931 including the use of the putter, a score card and the ball. A Putting Club existed in the park and organized it's own small weekly competition for members. Mr R Young in 1932 broke their course record by getting two holes in one! Don't you just wish you could have been there to see it?
Elsewhere in the Court Garden complex were three hard tennis courts which could be hired at a cost of 2 shillings an hour. Thirsty sports people could obtain refreshment from the park pavilion.
Due to a legal tangle part of Higginson Park was run at the time by the Higginson Park Society, and part by the council. Members of the society were asked to pay a minimum subscription of 5 shillings a year early in the decade. They had their own tennis group which organised an annual "American Tennis" tournament, whatever that was.
There was also a Higginson Park Social Club by 1938 which met in a room at Court Garden. Their activities included dances (they had their own swing band), darts competitions and whist drives.
The Football Club reached the dizzying heights of the Premier Division of the Spartan League in 1938. It's Supporter's Club was newly formed at the beginning of the decade.
Marlow Working Men's Cricket Club meanwhile played in the Wycombe and District League and operated from Higginson Park, a near neighbour to the Bowling Club whose new 6 rink Court Garden premises opened in 1931. Marlow's other cricket team the Marlow Cricket Club of Pound Lane was defunct by this time but later revived and still exists in this second incarnation today.
The nearby village of Little Marlow had its own Cricket Club and team of which the residents were very proud.
Billiards and snooker tournaments were regularly held at the Institute billiards room in Institute Road. In fact the fees generated from entries into billiards events and for other use of the billiards table did much to keep the institution going. This building is now Marlow Library.
At Borlase school the boys could make use of a fives court as well as the more conventional tennis courts, running tracks, football pitch and cricket field.
Hockey had been played informally in Marlow since the mid 1800s and the Hockey Club had its inaugural meeting in 1909. Both men's, women's and mixed teams competed for the town in the 1930s and both received coverage in the local press near equal to that of the football team which reflects the enhanced popularity of hockey as a spectator sport at that time. The Hockey Club ground from 1921 was a field near the railway station, with the Gossmore recreation ground also being used at times during the 1930s. The men's team at times struggled to find enough sufficiently skilled players to compete so in some seasons only Marlow's women were able to represent the town.
Hockey and tennis were the main but not only sporting opportunities for female residents in the town. Some of the annual Regatta events were for women as were occasional swimming competitions in the River Thames. Female Marlovians were often mentioned as spectators at Marlow's home football matches. They had been attending regularly since at least the late 1800s. However while Marlow F.C had had a female President in the 1920s, Lady Vera Terrington of Spinfield, there was not apparently any ladies team playing for them.
Darts tournaments in pubs were popular for men but women were also casual players and informal competitors. A Pub Darts League, probably for male players only, was started in Marlow in 1935 involving teams from the Duke of Cambridge, Railway Hotel, Horns, Carpenter's Arms, Ship, Royal Oak at Bovingdon Green, Carrier's arms, Three Tuns, Red lion, Hare and Hounds, Two Brewers, Wheatsheaf and Nag's Head.
The Bucks Amateur Athletic Association formed just before the 1930s and held some events in Marlow. Ladies events began in 1932. More informally athletic sports organized by the Marlow Bottom Residents Association took place at Bencombe Farm at least a couple of times during the decade. The bar may not have been set too high at the latter. As mentioned in a previous posts one of the competitions was "cigarette lighting".
Leisure swimmers could enjoy the official bathing place in the Thames at Marlow and another at Hurley both with their own attendants. Council hopes to go one better and build a lido in Higginson Park where the football pitch is now were dashed when the Ministry of Health refused the necessary funding.
Those who wanted to learn to ride were fortunate in having a riding school at Field House Farm on the edge of town complete with a show jumping arena. Occasional gymkhanas took place at the farm. These were quite informal- with events such as "mop polo" where instead of the usual stick the ball was hit with mops.
Special coach services were laid on so equine loving Marlovians could attend Newbury horse races and during Ascot week a roaring trade in hire cars was done thanks to all the Marlovians who wanted to go there.
Greyhound racing at an informal level took place at meets in nearby Booker. Coach trips were organized every year from Marlow to greyhound tracks in London and elsewhere. Pigeon racing was popular and the town had its own pigeon racing club for those involved.
The worldwide political situation inevitably meant that some leisure hours were spent not in relaxing but in urgent political discussion. Marlow had a branch of the League of Nations Union a pacifist organisation which held that disarmament of all countries and membership of the League of Nations was the only way forward for the world. Captain Liston of New Court was one of the members of the Marlow Branch. As it became apparent to many that a second war with Germany was inevitable nationwide membership of this organization dwindled. Those Marlovians who did not hold with the notion of pacifism urgently encouraged the participation of the town's adolescent and young adult males in leisure activities which would see them transform themselves into better soldiers when their time came. Gymnastics was promoted because it fostered strength and self discipline, while shooting at targets was encouraged for obvious reasons.
The less energetic could enjoy films (the new County Cinema opened in Station Road in 1938, replacing the Spittal Square cinema). Or perhaps they preferred to sit back at home and listen to the radio or gramophone. Both Platts in Quoiting Square and Compton's Cycle Agents in West Street functioned as radio dealerships alongside their other trades. Mr Platt proudly advertised that he was the sole agent of both Murphy and Bush radios in the town. A Murphy radio would set you back a minimum of £6 10 shillings. Sounds cheap doesn't it? Consider this- a plot of land on Marlow on which to build a bungalow cost from £15-16 in the same era. Leo Ryan and J.G Mackey both in the High Street were two other men who sold radios. J.G Mackey was the Philco brand stockist. This company also made early televisions but it is not known if Mackey in Marlow sold these too.
Photographer Norman Greville offered the Patheoscope for viewing short reels at home, which doesn't seem to have caught on.
The Masonic Centre in St Peter Street was sometimes used for dances in the 1930s and the George and Dragon in the High Street held them fortnightly from 8pm til midnight- tickets 2s or 3s 6d for a couple. Bargain hunters with their own transport could find cheaper dances held every so often in local village halls. At Lane End in 1937 entry cost just 1s 6d for one person. Frieth village hall was cheaper still at a round shilling. In many of these dances spot prizes were given to those whom the judges deemed to be the best dancing couples. These prizes might be in cash so that a talented pair could hope to win back their cost of entry and even make a profit from their night out.
Hilda Bailey of High Street Marlow taught dancing in the town as well as in High Wycombe and Beaconsfield. She could teach you ballroom and ballet as well as a bizarre array of fancy moves -"Comic dancing", "Character dancing", "Greek Operatic Dancing" and "Acrobatic Dancing". I think we'd all like to have been a fly on the wall during those classes. Hilda also held a ladies fitness class every week. Other keep fit classes, for both men and women, were held at the Domestic Science Centre rooms off Wethered Road.
In Marlow Bottom a "Witches Barn Club" is listed in Kelly's Directory 1939 edition. On their website the current Barn Club date their existence only from 1948 so the nature of this earlier club is unknown to me. A few years before this 1939 mention there was in existence a Witches Barn Tea Garden And Motor Service in Marlow Bottom. The barn used for this was originally at White Hill outside Marlow, was taken apart bit by bit and re-erected in Marlow Bottom.
Another initially unexplained aspect of Marlow in the 1930s was what exactly the "Marlow Players" were doing when they competed in "Drama League" competitions. Competitive acting?!? Upon research I find that yes that really was a thing in this period. In each area of Britain local teams of amateur actors took to the stage one after the other and their performances were ranked by an adjudicator who then gave prizes to those in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The Marlow Players formed in 1937 and were competing in the League from the next year. They weren't the first amateur team from Marlow to be involved however, one called the "St Martins" team was competing from 1936.
Readers could enjoy a part time library and newspaper reading room in a portion of what is now Liston Hall thanks to the generosity of Nesta Liston who helped the town to buy this former chapel.
Marlow had a small museum in Court Garden opened in the former billiards room there in 1934 whose exhibits included a mammoth tusk and skull bone found there at the Folley Brothers pit at Well End, Little Marlow.
Transport
Car ownership was increasing significantly in the 1930s. By 1939 there were 3 million motor cars in Great Britain. Marlow had at least four motor garages by the end of the decade - two in the High Street, one in Station Road and Platts in Quoiting Square. Secondhand cars, vans and trucks could be bought from a dealership at no. 19 York Road while cars could be hired from the Three Tuns in West Street, a business in Little Marlow Road and the above mentioned Witches Barn Motor business at Marlow Bottom. Pubs such as the Two Brewer's were quick to advertise the fact that they had safe lock up garages available for guests.
Houses with their own garage were still quite a rarity but Suffolk Lodge off Station Road had one, The Sycamores had two and Quarry Wood Hall boasted four!
Despite the growth of motoring the majority of local travel was still done on foot, by bicycle (single or tandem), by bus or by train. Buses to High Wycombe took 25 minutes from Marlow and left every half hour in 1930. Buses also served Maidenhead via Bisham and Reading via Henley. The Maidenhead service went over Marlow Bridge despite the fact that this caused the structure to wobble! And that was with the passengers getting off and walking across separately. Plans to knock down and replace the bridge with a new one in 1930 were abandoned due to the expense involved. Thank goodness- the replacement was to be of utilitarian concrete!
Some of the bus services were run by the Marlow and District Motor Company. They also offered special excursion trips to the seaside and elsewhere. Tickets for those as well as season tickets for the everyday routes could be bought from the company's town centre office. The other Marlow bus service, at least in the early 1930s, was Crooks which ran a single bus back and forth to High Wycombe. Thames Valley Coaches laid on special services to events like the horse races mentioned under leisure above.
In an extraordinary case at the start of the decade Marlow bus conductor Mr Stacey (Thomas?) was fined for, as a joke, letting off a firework in a bus owned by the Marlow and District Motor Company. The vehicle was then on a journey from Wargrave to Henley (and presumably then on to Marlow) on Guy Fawkes Day 1930. The firework startled the driver who swerved, drove into a ditch and then overturned. One of the passengers was killed. Others received injuries. The police deemed driver Walter Newell ultimately responsible for what happened on his bus and as well as charging the conductor they charged him with failing to prevent the discharge of fireworks on a public vehicle. Charges against Walter were dismissed in court. If he was keeping his eye on the road he couldn't really be watching his conductor's every move and it is reasonable to assume that the conductor throwing a firework en route wasn't high on Walter's list of probable events he might experience that day! It landed by the driver's seat, fizzed, but I think did not fully explode. Stacey did not give evidence in court so that we can't know his take on the events. The cab window was open at the time which may indicate that he intended to throw the firework past the driver and out through it. Hardly less risky though!
Road accidents were relatively common despite lower vehicle speeds. Motor bikes were seen as glamorous but dangerous and accidents involving them appeared regularly in the local press. Most of these were not fatal but in 1930 Alice Budd of Chapel Street, a pillion passenger on her boyfriend's motorbike, was killed in a smash. Lionel Evans of York Road suffered two broken legs and a fractured skull in a motorcycle accident in 1939.
Both motorcycles for the glamorous and cycles for everyday transport could be bought from Comptons and Baileys, both in West Street. Even more glamorous was of course air travel. In 1934 during the Whitsun holiday an aircraft owner offered short flying trips from a field in Wycombe Road, Marlow. Understandably there was a long queue of Marlovians who wanted to take to the air for the very first time.
Leisure trips on the River Thames were available for those that wished to visit Windsor Castle or cruise past Quarry Woods. Boats could also be hired at Marlow riverside. Heaven help anyone who wanted to go through Marlow Lock while scantily clad however. In 1934 a bye law to prevent anyone passing through wearing less than "full rowing costume" or "full university bathing costume" was proposed due to complaints that that wasn't always the case. Was rowing in your undergarments a thing in the 1930s?!?
A more unusual form of water transport from the usual rowing boats and steam launches was owned by Mr Vivian Simon of Stoneyware, Bisham- an electric canoe!
For all that electric modernity, Marlow was still a place where horse drawn transport certainly wasn't over with and the council used a horse drawn cart for the town's rubbish collection. At least one of the town milk floats was continued to be pulled by horse in 1934. The Pinches at Field House Farm still did a ready trade in farm and other cart horses.
Written and researched by Charlotte Day
©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research with credit to this blog.
Selected Sources=
Marlow Town Guide 1931/32
Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire etc 1939, Kelly's Directories.
Bucks Herald Feb 20th 1931 (Marlow regatta record breaking), 8th April 1932 (defunct cricket club). Both British Library Archives.
Reading Mercury 26th Aug 1939 and Saturday 25 November 1939 British Library Archives in this case via the BNA.
Sheffield Independent 6th and 26th November 1930. British Library Archives via the BNA.
Bucks Free Press August 17th 1934, March 10th 1933 and 19th August 1932. Bucks Free Press archives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations_Union
Regatta Programmes
Crown Hotel Marlow guide. 1930s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_at_the_1936_Summer_Olympics
Historic advertising literature, personal interviews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Theatre_Association
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