Tommy up the Chimney

by "arry ut Quorn"

In the years just before the first World War there stood two old houses and each had a built in porch with stone steps leading up to the front door. It was on these steps that a number of Quorn's lads and lasses would gather on a winter's day. huddled together to keep warm and telling tales and waiting for a certain person to pass by.

One day they were sitting there and the man who lived at that house didn't like them using his porch for a meeting place so he poured a jug of water under the door and it crept down the steps and gave all the kids wet trousers and breeches After that they sat on the steps of the house next door who didn't mind so long as they did not make too much noise.

As they sat there one day the person they wanted to pass by came walking down the High Street and as he got to the steps where the kids sat. They all chinned out "sing US a song Tommy". Tommy would sing them a ditty and make funny noises with his mouth which made the kids roll with laughter.

The funny thing about this gathering was that not one of the children knew the old chap's real name so they nicknamed him "Tommy up the chimney". The two houses stood opposite the gate of the "Quorn Court" and between the old saddle shop and Tom Webster,The Baker, but like lots of old Quorn property they were demolished.

Happy Days.

PS My elderly friend who told me this little story was one of the kids who suffered wet breeches. She was a little girl of 8 years at the time and is now nearly 90!