The 1950s could be generous times. For example we loaned our bike - our prefab's only bike - to the charitable cause of the Protters of Downie Combe. In way of celebrating the very first pay cheque the old man received from Derro Enamels my mum bought an all but new pram for Mrs Downhill of prefab number nineteen.
The Protters' own spirit of generosity came to an abrupt end in 1962. Prior to this watershed year - if anyone on our estate was to fall on hard times with their kitchen cupboard being Spam-less and bare - the Protters would be sure to come to the rescue. Who will forget the time when they used one of their free British Railways travel passes to take 'Ossie' oster on a day trip to Devon and buy him ham and tomato sandwiches in Dawlish's famed Black Horse public house!
Perhaps Downie Combe had something to do with the shift in the Protters' mood. Located on a hillside some six miles south-east of Twiverton, Downuie Combe has come to be a cultural weather vane of the shifting Zeitgeist of the age. It was from 1962 on that more and more Downie Combe-ites found themselves residing in two-income households which began to ooze novel amounts of surplus cash. this was even noticed by the editor of the Bath & Wilting: "A spirit of possessive individualism is edging its furtive way intothis community's once fraternal enclaves." A freshly painted sign erected by the International Situationists said "Welcome to Look-After-Number-One-Ville". "It gives a new sense of tone to the neighbourhood" declared a local councillor who was full of admiration for its mix of brown and blue paints.
Iy was in 1962 that Don 'the angler' Protter vowed never again to use any of his free British Railways' travel passes for causes other than his own. Soon he was bragging that "he had never been seen drunk by any of his kids." His youngest son moved to Belfast and joined a group of 'born again' evangelists. "All genocides are the Almighty's way of punishing sinners" was their distinctive ideological line.
Stroll up to the Protters' old abode in Downie Combe and you can still see our old prefab bike rusting away in their back yard.