•
MAURICE
CHIDGEY
Born:
Williton,
Somerset, 1933
Lived:
Williton, Watchet
Recording made: 1999
Length of recording:
1 hr 35 mins
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Maurice Chidgey was brought up in Williton. His mother worked in a munitions factory in the war, coming home every other weekend. At school they had some scary moments, diving under their desks when they heard German planes being chased back across the channel. He was always reading, and keen on English and grammar, and became an apprentice compositor at the West Somerset Free Press when he was 15.
He was there for 50 years, from hot metal to computers. In the early days the front page was auctioneers and estate agents advertisements, they covered every council meeting and court case in full and when someone died people paid to have the floral tributes listed. His most memorable editions are those covering the Lynmouth flood and the coronation, when they worked through the night to get the paper out.
He says there's less stress in his life now.