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• Have you spotted an object associated with Chesham in another museum? If so, we would love to know about it. Chiltern Toys had a factory making wooden and other toys in Waterside, Chesham until the outbreak of WWII. This Chiltern Toys bear is in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

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Chesham Stories

Helen Gooding, 'Chesham Characters'

Chesham, like every other small town, has its characters, some picturesque, others amusing, and in some cases sad.

Old John the stone breaker was a placid old man who sat on an old sack breaking stones form morning until night, wt or fine, with a shade over one eye, and seeing everything that went on with the other. He was a great prophet on the weather. He was always to be seen surrounded by children to whom his knowledge was an ever-increasing wonder.

Next comes Georgie Sills, known as 'Brushy', as he hawked brushes from house to house. He was terrified of dogs and it was an everyday sight to see poor old Brushy flying for dear life, his white hair flying, because several naughty boys had been 'yapping' round the corner.

Goffer the tinker was an Italian complete with ear-rings and a shock of black curly hair, who guaranteed to mend your pots and pans so that they lasted longer than new. He trundled an old grinder that was covered with shiny brass knobs, obtained presumably from old bedsteads.

Mr and Mrs Beaver Stratford were a nice old couple who carried on an old clothes business. Mrs Beaver was very deaf which caused her speech to be somewhat limited. Her house-to-house cry consisted of 'Ain't yer got any old shimmy touls or anything, my dear?'

Billy Brown was as much like Simple Simon as it was possible to be. His mouth was just a wide slit that kept his ears apart. His chief fame was consuming oranges and he would stand open-mouthed while boys pitched them into his mouth whole.

More recent ones are not many. Perhaps the best known was Philip Howard the town crier who was supposed never to wash, or at least did not show any evidence of it. Between spasms of work, getting drunk and sleeping he managed to spout poetry.

Old Tom Moore, by trade a tailor, had a panacea for every ailment under the sun and had effected more cures than all the Harley Street specialists put together.

Helen Gooding

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