Jack Tickner

Len Jordan remembered Jack Tickner:

Now to Rose Cottageand to me the greatest character of all on the Green, Jack Tickner, (who lived there with his wife and son Claude) was a jack-of-all-trades! 

Another of Jack's jobs was that of school care-taker.  He was a great entertainer, he would sing a song, and I recall him playing in Claude's dance band just before the war.  Apparently he would do a comic act in the years gone by, either on his own, or sometimes with my father as a double-act.  Dad said his part wasn't too difficult, as he didn't have to say much, but just stand there and be the butt of Jack's jokes while the audience would be rolling about.  Jack made it up as he went along.  No script! It was all in good fun. My dad thought the world of him; they were great friends. As a taxi driver, he was not by all accounts a good time-keeper.

Borough Bridge heading into Brockham - the photo above of Jack Tickner and Miss Lucy Cox is dated 1928

George Sherlock told me that Mr. Anning said to him "You know I always walk to Betchworth Station every morning.  In all those years I have only missed the
train twice.  Those were the two days I asked Tickner to take me."  He was a
lovely old soul, and to me he was Brockham Green. At the other end of his drive, Jack had his garage and workshop.  His garden was at the rear of these.  Part of his workshop was used by Johnson Risbridger, a very well known local carpenter.  He was responsible for building the lych-gate paid for by Mr Poland in his will.  I stood watching him erecting the lych-gate one day, and he said to me - "I have put brand new shiny pennies in all the joints, so in years to come someone will find them and know when the gate was put up".

Reg Glanfield: Jack Tickner had a cottage where the hairdressers now are. He was a taxi driver, chimney sweep, looked after the Green, was the school caretaker, charged accumulators for the radio and cut hair for two pennies. He sold petrol in two gallon cans - Shell was red BP green. There were only about two cars in the village one owned by Dr Arthur.