Page 19 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

THE PURCHASE
To ensure a quick sale the house was to be auctioned in a week’s time; the agent had
explained to us that if we wished to buy for the ‘reserved’ price required and avoid the
possibility of having to pay more at the auction, then we would have to find and pay double
the normal deposit to stop the auction.

That would be 20% of the asking price of £5000. We told the Lely family that we loved their
home and would be moving ‘heaven and earth’ to buy it. On that Saturday afternoon
though we had not the foggiest idea where to get the £1000 never mind the remaining
balance.

Fortunately we both had good jobs and a very understanding bank manager. Even more
fortunate, it was in the days when Bank Managers were a power in their own right and
friendly too.
On the Monday morning, I asked our Bank Manager for a bridging loan of £1000, this was
remember, when fantastic wages were £27 per week. He said if we could get the
mortgage arranged in principle with the building society that had loaned us the money for
our ‘Woodside’ house, then he would cover the loan until our house was sold.

I had to work fast and in fact was able to put the whole deal together in time to pay the
huge deposit and make sure the house could be ours. We were both ecstatic.

Because we had paid the extra deposit we could move in just as soon as Peter and his
family left for Spain. The whole of this time was very much like a dream, we loved
everything about Ivy House and the more we explored the more we found.
We knew there was a huge building behind the house and running along the entire north
side of the garden. This was an old ‘Maltings’ a vast building that we soon put to good use
by storing boats for some friends and buses for a continental camping tours company
owned by Cyril Keightley.

Behind the bottom garden wall were three stables and small grassed over yard dropping
down to the navigable drain. There were even the remains of an old barge deep in the
water on the edge of the drain side.

MEET THE NEIGHBOURS
We began to meet our new neighbours in a most unusual way. The day we were given the
keys we took our ‘Woodside’ close neighbours John and Kathy with us to explore. No
sooner had we arrived than there was a commotion just the other side of our garden and
at the side of Globe House.

Behind the Globe lived the ‘Picker’ family, Dad was foreman to Rundle’s engineering
workshops, (the largest employers in the area and based in the village) and with his gentle
wife they were bringing up a huge family. The youngest at that time, a very young girl, had
fallen into the navigable drain and there was huge concern for her life. Ruth and Kathy
were both nurses and duly went across to assist. All was well eventually and we had
crossed the first hurdle with meeting our neighbours!

Buying the house and the inclusive costs while still having the responsibility of 45
Woodside had drained literally every penny we had.

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