He once told the legendary broadcaster Fyfe Robertson during an interview for the Tonight television show in 1960…”I would not move if you paid me £20 a week and free board.”
The gentleman Fyfe was talking to was Henry Bumbury Hewitt, known to one and all as “Yoiton,” who could be described as the “mayor” of Berney Arms.
Memories of this extraordinary man and his community have been revived by recent stories about the relationship between the people now living in this isolated and unique Norfolk beauty spot.
Yoiton also told Fyfe: “My father lived here, my grandfather lived here, and they both lived till they died.”
He had a fine sense of Norfolk humour and he became a local celebrity sought after by television companies, radio stations, newsapers and magazines.
In 1958 Ron Carter wrote: “Henry is one of the true gentlemen of the world, a man who can rightly be called the salt of the earth. He is always ready to help anyone and asks no reward except a greeting when you see him next, or, if you have them a couple of pounds of eels.”
Where the nickname come from?
Henry was born at the East Station Cottage, Berney Arms, in 1891. His aunt Emma ran a nursery school in her parlour and the children went there before heading off to Reedham by train.
He got his name when as a young boy of about six years, after he had been looking at a litter of white pigs, he said they were all “Yoitons,” and the name stuck.
We know so much about him, all the others who lived at Berney and neighbouring villages, thanks to his granddaughter Sheila Hutchinson, who has written a whole collection of local history books.
Yoiton left school aged 12, went on to became a fisherman with the East Anglian Fleet before heading back to Berney in the 1920s working as a marshman looking after the Langley Detached Redbrick drainage mill, the animals and a whole host of other duties.
It was a tough job and he was a tough man.
There was one time he had the windmill working continuously for 62 hours to pump the marshes which were flooded during an earlier spell when there had been no wind to turn the sails.
He also had his own herd of cows and sold milk and was the postman and custodian of the old Berney Arms mill. And how he loved having a laugh and a drink or two with the passing holiday-makers on the river.
Sheila, assisted by husband Paul, have now written more than a dozen wonderful local history books with great stories and photographs.
When she lived at Berney Arms it was a busy hamlet with 11 dwellings, station and famous public house.
Sheila loved growing up there…in a very different time.
Her mum and dad were Ellen (Nibby) and Joseph (Paddy) Williams and she had a sister and a brother, Maureen and Derek.
Imagine their life. No gas, electricity or water from a tap. In the winter the water bucket, ready for boiling up on the coal fire, would freeze as it was so cold.
The loo was in the garden and that’s where the refuse was buried. Mind you, the rhubarb grew “bew’ful.”
Her parents would go into Yarmouth to order groceries from Mr Downing. He would put them in a box which was delivered to the station.
They were among the last families living in the cottages at Berney Arms before they were pulled down.
Happy memories of a very special place.
Books still available are:
- Berney Arms Past and Present
- The River Yare, Breydon and Beyond
- Reedham and Berney Arms Railway
- Acle Memories
They are available from City Books, Davey Place, Norwich. More information on Facebook…Sheila Hutchinson Books.
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