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PETER STEER
Born:
Exford, Somerset,
1916
Lived: Exford
Recording made: 1999
Length of recording:
3 hrs 15 mins
To read a summary of the contents of the oral history recordings click CD1, CD2 or CD3.
Listen to an audio clip by clicking wma or mp3. (Click here for information about downloading audio clips)
Peter Steer was a wheelwright and carpenter, working with his father in a workshop which has barely changed in the last 70 years. They were also undertakers, which meant that they often had to drop everything to make a coffin. He went into partnership with his father after the war, trading as H Steer and Son, and later with his own son, keeping the name.
He tells stories about the Home Guard, and wartime. The army took over the White Horse hotel and some of the bigger houses; other troops, camped on Winsford Hill, fired shells over their heads for target practice, aiming at Larkbarrow. Then there was the flood of 1952, when Exford was badly affected and he helped rescue his uncle, the blacksmith.
He was a sportsman, keen on cricket and football, and a fast runner. A parish councillor for 50 years and a trustee of the social club, he was always putting on entertainment and arranging fetes and flower shows.
postscript - Peter Steer died in August 2000
Photograph provided by contributor.