INTERVIEW
REG LITTLE
A KINGSWEAR MAN IS RECORDING HIS MEMORIES ON A BLOG FOR POSTERITY - CREATInG A RICH AND FASCINATING PORTRAIT OF LIFE In THE VILLAGE OVER THE LAST 80 YEARS.
R
eg Little is a contented and happy man – he takes in a beautiful vista from his living room window of the river Dart, directly above the Steam Railway at Kingswear. With his wife Shelia he has lived a full and interesting life and he is
now recording his memories for posterity on a website, with the help of his son Robert. Talking to him about his life, you realise here is a man who loves
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telling stories about the things he has done. To chat to him and Sheila is a joy. “I was born in 1927 in Berkshire, but my father worked for the Great Western Railway and we ended up in Kingswear when I was five,” he says. “I went to Kingswear School, then Dartmouth School and eventually started work for the Urban Electric Company as an apprentice electrician. It’s an interesting fact that Dartmouth had electricity much earlier than much of the country – this is because there was an electricity generator installed for the Britannia Royal naval College which was then used for the rest of the town.” Reg knows so much about the history of
Kingswear and Dartmouth you can see why he has decided to record it for posterity. His early life, like so many, was shaped
forever by the outbreak of World War 2. “When war broke out I was in the
Kingswear Scouts,” he said. “We welcomed the children who had been evacuated here from Acton in London and were asked to take them to their billeted homes. When I was 14 I joined the Civil Defence Force as a messenger. I was then moved on to the rescue party because they thought I was big enough to help!” In 1942 tragic events engulfed Reg’s family. “In 1942 the shipyard at noss was bombed with the loss of 20 lives, one of whom, sadly, was my middle brother, Bert aged 17. Three Focke – Wulf 109s came down through the valley from Hillhead, dropped bombs on noss, sunk ships in the harbour, etc. and damaged several more. My brother’s funeral was the biggest Kingswear had ever seen. His coffin was transported to the church on the
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