Long-term residents of a village near Petersfield have shared memories of their youth and their experiences during World War II.

Buriton Heritage has been collecting information about the history and heritage of the parish since 2001, coordinated by the Buriton Village Association.

On the evening of Wednesday, April 2, locals gathered at the village hall to listen to tales of the past from Mary Owens, Margaret Davis, Mike Attrill and Tony Carter.

Kicking off the event was Mary, who was born in the poorhouse, a group of six houses opposite the school.

She said: “There was no water, we had no electricity and there was no plumbing. A little tiny brick building with a very peculiar wooden door with a wooden seat and a bucket underneath, that was our toilet.

“Every Friday night, a big smelly lorry would come round, with people called ‘lavender men’. If it was a very nasty day, they would take the bucket through the house.

“So you can imagine all the mums hovering behind them, saying ‘please be careful!’”

Comparing her house to modern ones today, Mary described it as not much different, as there was a living room which had everything, with all the cooking, the heating and keeping the house warm.

Elsewhere in the village was Tony, who grew up in what is now The Five Bells pub.

“As you go into the main bar, the far little bit at the end was our kitchen,” Tony described.

“The big room which is where the restaurant is, was stored full of furniture for the people in Portsmouth, because of the bombing.

“We grew all our own vegetables and we'd dig them out of the garden. Mum would say, ‘Go and dig me six big potatoes for lunch.’

“We had a lot of spare room so we were allowed to keep pigs. But when you kept pigs, a quarter you could keep, the other lot had to go to the government.”

Describing himself as the “young one”, Mike arrived in Britain in 1954 and grew up in the Railway Cottage as his father was signalman at Buriton Signal Box.

He said: “One thing I had as a luxury when BBC TV was introduced, Doug Rutter had a television. On Saturday afternoons I was allowed to go down and watch the telly on Saturday afternoon for an hour but not football.

“When I was less than 10-years-old, dad would tell me to go to the shop to get an ounce of old open tobacco and a packet of cigarette papers, and he'd give me money to buy some sweets.

“I think you wouldn't get away with that these days!”

When the Second World War broke out, Margaret’s father was in the reserves and had to serve, so her grandmother moved in.

Sharing stories from what her father told her about protecting the railway tunnel from Germans, Margaret said: “Dad had told me they were on duty with this other chap, who was terrified because it was so quiet.

“They all had rifles which they had after some time and my dad was so proud. He went home to my mum, showed her how you could present arms and fixed bayonets.

“He shot it straight up through the ceiling in the kitchen and the ceiling came down!”

Adding to amusing stories from the war, Tony told the audience how a landmine had dropped into the village pond, and how people were in a panic, except one man.

Tony explained: “Seaman Tilley from the HMS Myrtle came past on his bike, saw the landmine in the pond, waded in and lifted it out. Safe enough, hung it on the handlebars of his bike and rode off to work.”

Finishing off with D-Day, the panel remarked how quiet Buriton became because everyone went off to Portsmouth to celebrate but remarked that they didn’t do anything exciting themselves!