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dairy farms on the estate for testing, separation and bottling of around 1,000
OBITUARIES gallons of milk a day into Grade A milk, butter and cheeses, and pig feed.
The factory had a fully equipped bacteriological laboratory where the purity and
a trainee teacher at the village school. That was the start of what fat content of the milk was analysed. The workers on the farm producing the milk
was to become his mission, to woo and then marry this person. with the lowest bacterial count received a bonus. Grade A milk was on sale in
Parkstone within an hour of leaving Briantspuddle. As demand increased, a new
After the weekend of finishing University, he started back in the family firm, as
the office boy, whilst his elder brother was a carpenter. In the early days work central dairy had to be built at Milborne St Andrew in 1929. This supplied milk
was mainly for the Drax Estate, who seemed to own most of the village and throughout the south of England, including the Cunard Line and the Home Fleet.
surrounding area. It was managed by Ernest Debenham’s younger son, Martin, under the name of
Ideal Dairies, later called Express Dairies.
Eventually, Dad persuaded his dream girl to marry him, and in 1950 he and
Barbara married, At St Mary’s Church Swanage. They started off living with The Old Dairy, behind The Ring in Briantspuddle, was erected to test ultra violet
Dad’s parents. In North Street. Just down past the yard was a plot of land, sterilisation of milk in the 1920’s. The late Bill Poore, one of the last remaining
which they managed to buy. Here they built their first house, now known as villagers who worked at the Bladen Dairies remembers an experiment to test the
Highfield. This was a drawn out build as rationing was still a reality, for building sterilisation of milk. Milk was taken to Cape Town and then to Salisbury, Rhodesia,
materials. where half was opened and found to be fit. The remainder was returned to
Milborne where it too was found be in good condition. Thus was the birth of HT
Eventually they moved in, and started their new life together. After a while milk, packed in waxed cartons, the brainchild of Martin Debenham.
children came along. First Sue, then me, and then Fiona. Mum caried on
teaching, and Dad grew from office boy to become a partner with his father The first twelve cottages
in the business. were designed by Halsey
Ricardo, the architect
In the early 60’s Mum and Dad, moved house. Not too far, to The Cedars, on responsible for Sir Ernest’s
West Street. Still close enough to the office for Dad. This house was fantastic for London residence. By 1929,
us kids to grow up in. Plenty of garden to play in and rooms to get away from forty cottages had been
each other when we wanted our own space. Although at first, was it ever cold built, all with inside baths
during the winter. Getting the ice off the inside of the bedroom windows, and lavatories. The best
dressing under the bedclothes because it was so cold in the winter mornings. examples are in Bladen
The house had a stable building so Mum and Dad converted this into a Valley. They were
cottage, and sold it, which fortunately for us kids, enabled them to install constructed mainly of
central heating into The Cedars. What bliss. airspaced concrete blocks
called the Lean block,
Village life was important to Dad, and in 1949 he was appointed Parish Clerk a n o t h e r D e b e n h a m
to the parish council, then in 1965, after his father left the council to become a innovation, manufactured
Rural District Councillor, Dad became a parish councillor. He served as using a 4:1 mixture of concrete. This innovative method of construction claimed
Chairman from 1970 to 1974. Also, he was a school manager, involved in the to need less materials due to the air spaces, less foundations due to the light
Drax Hall involved in the management of the Cemetery, and for a time he was weight, and to provide good insulation. The blocks were dipped in liquid mortar
also a trustee of the Williams educational trust.
to economise on materials and to ensure that nothing fell into the air spaces. The
Dad was a strong supporter of the Congregational blocks were turned out in two sizes using hand-operated machines.
Chapel in Butt Lane, again following in his father’s
footsteps. Although in later life he also liked to worship James Barrett and Jack Bridle worked on the making of the blocks. Gravel was
quarried from the pit in Smoakham Bottom and taken down to the river by steam
in the parish church, with Mum.
engines to be washed, mixed with cement and formed into blocks. They were
In the 70’s and early 80’s the business grew, and a lot then stacked to dry slowly, and watered every day for a month to prevent their
of the work done was in the farming industry. New drying too fast and developing flaws. More than 60,000 blocks and 200,000 bricks
milking parlours, barns, silage pits and the like. were produced annually.

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