Ivor was born at Bodenham and was fifteen when he came to Mathon., with his employer who was taking over the farm. They drove the cattle and horses from Upper Sapey, a distance of perhaps 12 miles. Ivor said “They were frisky when we started but they were not frisky by the time we got here” Imagine driving cattle along the road from Bromyard to Mathon nowadays. Gladys lived in the cottage close by. Ivor cycled to Hereford each Saturday afternoon to collect his wages from the owner, Mr. Thomas.
Later he worked for Percy Grundy, a man who was never forgotten by those who met him. He was either a New Zealander or a returned emigrant, and was a man of great strength, even among the farm workers of that time, who were no weaklings and were accustomed to lift bags of grain weighing 2 ¼ cwts. When men assisted each other, as they did at harvest and haymaking, it was an ordeal to keep up with Percy. He was about six feet tall, with rather wild hair, and was held by the village boys with respect and a little fear. The corner near the farm was known for some years as Grundys Corner.
He owned a white bull, which was so fierce that even he took a pitchfork with him when he entered the field. It sometimes escaped and “You could be out for a walk and turn a corner and there was Grundys bull out again.” Once the bull got stuck in the mud so Percy hitched a rope round its horns and pulled it out. We do not know whether he then had to seize the pitchfork quickly. One snowy day, he needed to take some grain to Heathmill Farm to have it ground. It is about a mile away, and he did not want to bring a tractor or horse out so he hoisted the bag on his shoulders, and set off. He had a rest at the bridge then continued to the mill. He brought the flour, in three bags back the same way, one under each arm and one on the back of his neck
In time he bought a tractor, but the locals teased him because he had bought a small one. He replied that he reckoned if it got stuck in the mud he could pull it out. Perhaps he had the episode with the bull in mind. Anyway it did get stuck in the mud so his sister, who lived with him, got behind the wheel, he hitched a rope to the tractor and pulled it out.
One day, his old horse died, and Ivor was given the task of digging a hole to bury it. It needed a large hole, but eventually the job was done, and the horse was in its last resting place. However, it had stiffened up and its legs stuck up in the air, so Ivor asked Grundy what he should do. “Cut em off” was the reply. This story seems sufficiently original, perhaps unique, but surprisingly in one of Fred Archers splendid books about life in the Vale of Evesham, he tells a similar story, but this time about a donkey, and in this case, the farmer proposes to grow runner beans up the donkeys legs.
Everyone who lived through it remembers the great snowfall of 1947. Villages were cut off, trains unable to run and fuel scarce. Mathon was cut off for some time and Mr. Boyce who farmed at Mathon Court at that time was unable to get his milk out so the Mintons had free milk for a week or two.
Near their cottage, at Mill House lived one of two distinguished soldier brothers who owned the house in succession, Brigadier R.H.H.Scott (1900-1972) of the 5th Bttn. (Pathans) Punjab Regt. who gave a standing invitation to the children to watch childrens television in his house any day and to play in the garden with its grass, trees, shrubberies and mill pond so exciting to children.
But then the family had a real stroke of luck. Gladys bought a football coupon, one of the kind where you tear off the milled edge, and open it to see which team you have drawn. She won £587, in todays (2003) equivalent say £8000. They had an Austin Ruby car, a television set and a holiday. They invited the elderly sisters Misses Meek who lived nearby in Clyde Cottage to come and watch the 1953 Coronation., and they sat spellbound. These two ladies had no well, so they paid the Mintons 5s. (25p) a year to share their water supply but they only came to the well after dark. One of them took in sewing, and the other kept a drapers shop in Malvern and was known to the village children (who had a nickname for everybody) as Meek the Antique
After Brigadier Scott died, his brother and his wife came to live at Mill House. He was Brigadier R.B. Scott, D.S.O. Croix de Guerre of the Rajputana Rifles (Outrams), a distinguished soldier, artist, and gentle man, who with his attractive wife spent the rest of their lives here.
Ivor and Gladys have died, having both passed 90 years of age They are remembered with affection, and the family still live in the village..