| When you went past Crossroads Farm, which in those days we called Pikes Farm, (Mr and Mrs. Arthur Webb and their son Joe were there then), there was an even bigger and deeper double pond, half one side of the hedge and half the other side. They seemed quite big ponds in those days, but you had to climb over the fence and hedge to get to it, it was sissy to use the adjoining gate. This was a good pond as it contained all sorts of rubbish for us to dredge out! And was always good for frogspawn in the summer, carefully lifted out with an old tennis racket. Funny thing though, I can’t remember what mum said when I finally arrived home! I probably wasn’t allowed to listen to Dick Barton on the radio, which finished in 19[51], and sent to bed early, but then of course later I had my crystal set, made by Bob Walding and myself, though that was always a bit hit or miss. Arthur Webb left the farm in 1949. Earlier tenants after Webbs were Tom Ketley then a Mr. Donaldson who only stayed 3 or 4 years.
The pond dried up and was filled in by Gerald Denchfield, who came to Crossroads Farm in September 1965, he purchased the Council owned farm in November 1993 and sold out in April 1994 to Mrs. Dunn and retired to Newport Pagnell.
Extracts from "Haversham Estate And the Parish I Grew Up In" by David C. Brightman April 2000
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