James Faircliffe

James Faircliffe was born in Burwell in 1933 and has been interested in railways since he was a boy. ‘Our local station was on a branch line, Cambridge to Mildenhall, with three passenger trains each way every day and a couple of goodsers [goods trains]. As a boy I used to go into the signal box, pull the levers, give the drivers their tickets so they could travel on to the next station. I got on engine rides with the drivers and in the guards’ van with the guards. Nobody seemed to worry if a boy of about 12 pulled the levers. They’d just say, are you sure you know what you are doing?’

Time Topics described
00:00:00 Tape Introduction
00:00:28 James Delanoy Saverton Faircliffe born 25 May 1933 in Burwell
00:01:15 Changes in Burwell
00:01:45 Only ever lived in two houses. His parents on Swaffham Road and then his marital home in Mill Close
00:02:15 Early schooling, passed 11+, then went to Soham Grammar School where he stayed until aged 18 to get his higher certificate
00:03:45 Mainly interested in science
00:04:00 Was one of the leaders in the school’s weekly boarding scheme from age 14. Boarded Monday to Friday
00:05:00 Hopeless at all sports apart from cross country running
00:06:15 Father was a fruit grower who owned 6 orchards in Burwell
00:06:30 Description of decline in orchards after war
00:07:30 Memories of fishing from orchard beside Burwell lode
00:08:15 Helping father in orchards
00:08:45 Apple cold storage plant hijacked during war to store cheese
00:09:45 Major interest in railways
00:10:00 Story about operating signal box levers as a boy of about 12
00:14:00 Memories of grandparents who were also fruit growers
00:16:00 Memories of Burwell when he was young
00:16:30 Always had good stores
00:16:45 Many buses
00:17:15 Church has always been large part of life.
00:17:45 Participating in St Mary’s Burwell Church choir
00:18:00 Has know 7 vicars
00:18:30 Learnt piano then moved to Church organ at aged 16
00:19:30 National Service at aged 18, graded two. 26th September 1951
00:20:00 Memories of basic training at Padgate near Warrington
00:21:00 Glad that weekly school boarding prepared him for being away from home.
00:22:00 Was hopeless at drill but recognised as trying his best
00:23:15 After 8 weeks was made a radar operator
00:25:00 Posted to Germany for 18 months. Looking at British planes on radar to ensure within Berlin air corridor
00:26:15 Was able to get home leaves so enjoyed the time
00:26:45 Could have stayed in RAF. However father met a senior Pye manager in local pub who said he could give him a job
00:28:30 Interview with senior Pye manager resulted in starting in September 1953 on the main Cambridge site
00:28:45 Moved after a few months to the Pye Telecommunications site on Newmarket Road
00:30:00 Travelling for work with Pye
00:30:30 Worked for a year near Carlisle, getting home once a month only
00:31:45 Most of working life at Pye was as a system design engineer for PMR installations
00:32:00 Last 10 of 38 years at Pye was a quotations controller
00:33:15 Description of early work as systems engineer
00:34:30 Descriptions of typical jobs
00:37:45 Took up writing after retiral and had non-fiction articles published
00:38:45 Memories of Church life as organist and member of choir
00:40:30 Recollection of writing for 10 years after taking a correspondence course
00:41:45 Had difficult times in his 70s with family members in poor health
00:42:45 Talking about his son born 1972 and remembering railway trips together
00:45:00 How problem with hearing lead to giving up playing organ at Church aged 70
00:45:30 Glad to still have a reasonable singing voice at age 81
00:46:15 Meeting Audrey at Pye and marrying in 1967
00:48:00 Typical day at Pye
00:50:00 Interesting Pye projects including one involving 7 ariel towers
00:52:00 A typical Pye PMR system
00:54:00 Changes in church music over the years
00:54:45 Role of Church in community has got very much broader
00:56:30 Work on the Church council
00:58:30 Recollections of Steven’s Mill
00:59:15 Has his name mentioned on Museum board from school days
00:59:45 Brother and sister
01:00:10 Finish