As a boy Bruce roamed the Chipstead countryside and has recorded his observations in two papers. Between them they describe a vibrant farming community in the late 1940s existing amidst extraordinarily diverse wildlife.

The village has recently been given a delightful paper entitled ‘A Village Survey of Chipstead, Surrey’. It was written by Bruce Larcombe in 1950 and we were sent it by his daughter, Judith, who lives in Lincolnshire. Judith was going through her parents’ things and mercifully couldn’t bear to throw it away.

The survey is a fascinating account of farming and wild life in the parish of Chipstead in the 1940s.

Bruce wrote the Survey at the age of 25 whilst at Newland’s Park Training College in Chalfont St. Giles.  He became a primary school teacher who specialised in rural affairs. His parents lived in Forest Drive, Kingswood. From here it was a short walk into Banstead Woods and it was here he met Bill Barrett a gamekeeper.  Both loved wildlife and developed a lifelong friendship.

Actually, we already knew a bit about Bruce Larcombe as in the Village Archive there is a copy of a booklet entitled ‘Surrey Killing Fields’. It contains Bruce’s schoolboy diary written in 1942. Rather than being a tale of gruesome warfare in WW2 it is the journal of a 16 year-old schoolboy wandering around the Chipstead countryside in the company of a gamekeeper. The killings involve squirrels, rabbits, badgers, moles and much else beside. Its not for the squeamish. The diary was published by Croydon Natural History and Science Society in 2018 and at the back are extracts from The Village Survey.

Through these two papers Bruce Larcombe has made a major contribution to recording life in Chipstead in the 1940s. The two together portray a vibrant farming community and great diversity with the wildlife. Who for example has heard about red-back shrikers and wrynecks – let alone seen them? It seems entirely appropriate to record a bit of Bruce’s life for the Archive.

Bruce Trevor Larcombe (3 September 1926 – 25 July 2010)

Bruce was the only child of Ted and Eveline Larcombe. Bruce was born on 3 September (the day WW2 was to break out). The family lived in Thornton Heath before moving to Craigellachie, Forest Drive, Kingswood. Bruce was educated at The John Fisher School Purley where he excelled at History, Geography and English. After leaving school he did his National Service in the RAF and then worked as a clerk but this was not for him and, at the age of 24, he took teacher training at Newland Park College, Chalfont St. Giles. While at Chalfont St. Giles Bruce met Hazel and, after qualifying, they were able to secure their first teaching posts near to each other in Kent – in Northfleet and Gravesend. They were to marry on Boxing Day 1951.

Times were hard – Bruce and Hazel were young, newly qualified and rented a small flat. They cycled everywhere and in all sorts of weather, including long distances back to Surrey to visit family at weekends. The long school holidays throughout the 50’s were spent taking their bicycles by train into Europe and cycling as far as they could, finding accommodation as they went. 

In 1954, after three years in Kent, the Larcombes decided to find work in Hampshire to be closer to Hazel’s parents. Bruce found work in Wickham, and Hazel in Fareham.  They worked extremely hard, doing additional jobs such as working on farms and invigilating in exams in order to save sufficient funds to assist with securing a mortgage.  In 1955 they built a bungalow just outside Wickham where they stayed for six years.  

In 1958 Bruce took a year off teaching, to study Rural Science at Reading University and was awarded a Diploma in Rural Education.  Soon after completing the course, Bruce secured a promotion, taking a deputy headship at Scampton RAF School. In 1961 they moved to Cherry Willingham, just to the north of Lincoln.  Just before leaving Hampshire, they adopted Judith, and a few months after arriving in Lincolnshire Bruce and Hazel caught the bus into town and came home with a six-week-old baby boy, “Nick.”

Bruce worked at Scampton RAF School for 21 years. On retirement his hobbies included reading, travel and gardening. Bruce volunteered for Victim Support for many years and was actively involved in Lincoln U3A. He died in 2010 and his wife Hazel died in 2024.

Jon Grant, February 2025