Twenty Questions - Janet Fountain
1) Why would people of Benwick know you?
I was born in The Five Alls and grew up in Benwick. My parents Ethel and Cyril Chaplin ran the pub for 39 years from 1936 to 1975. I am now treasurer of the Benwick Forget-Me-Not Club (formerly called the Over Sixties) and I represent them on the Village Hall committee.
2) What is your earliest memory of Benwick?
The Five Alls – it was just a beer house then. The only public room was half of the present front bar and called the Tap Room. Mum and Dad had to draw the beer from wooden barrels and carry it from the cellar to the Tap room. The men would always tell me Goodnight when Mum took me to bed as the stairs were just by the Tap room door. Women didn’t go in pubs until after the war.
3) Favourite Band / Singer?
Daniel O’ Donnell, the Irish Country singer. I have been a fan for twenty years and have met him on several occasions, both in his home village of Kincasslagh, Co. Donegal and at concert venues in the U.K.
4) Marmite: Love it or Hate It?
Hate it – ugh!!
5) What do you like to do in your spare time?
Research local and family history. ‘Benwick Bygones’ has taken up most of my spare time recently.
6) What is the last book you read?
‘Life on the Fen Edge’ by Edward Howard. Ted, as he is known, lived and worked on a farm at Ramsey Mereside. He now lives in Ramsey but interestingly he married a Benwick girl – Mollie Smith, in 1955.
7) Favourite holiday destination?
Madeira
8) What is your favourite hobby?
Do not have a favourite but I enjoy dancing, gardening, photography and just watching quiz programmes and a couple of the soaps on T.V.
9) What is your favourite thing about Benwick?
It’s home to me – My roots go deep.
10) What is the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?
Make sure of the funding for my grandchildren’s education (there are five of them) to avoid student loans, then I would have a spend up on luxuries.
11) What made you get involved with the Benwick Forget-Me-Nots?
I have been involved with the club since my parents were members in the seventies. My friend and I would go on the outings to help fill the coaches a long time before we were sixty. Minimum age is now 55 – hence the change of name.
12) Where is the worst place you have lived?
There isn’t one. I have only ever lived at Benwick, Ramsey Forty Foot and Roadside Farm, between the two villages.
13) If you had £500 to give to charity - who would you give it to and why?
Great Ormond Street Hospital. Two of my grandchildren suffered ecoli food poisoning caught on holiday in Tunisia in 2001, and had to have treatment there. I was so pleased and relieved when they recovered. Even now they still have to go annually for checks on their kidneys.
14) What could you not live without and why?
I appreciate good health – my lifestyle would change with out it.
15) Do you think Benwick has any major problems, if so what are they?
It’s too late now, but I feel we should have fought to keep our Post Office. The nearest one is more than a mile away which I believe would have been grounds for keeping it.
16) Tea or Coffee?
Enjoy both but drink more tea.
17) How happy are you to have got Benwick Bygones completed?
I’m still on cloud nine. The book launch was a huge success and the feedback is excellent. It has been a very worthwhile project. When I started it five years ago it was just a dream. My grateful thanks to everyone, especially Adam.
18) What was the last thing you bought?
A sparkly top to go dancing in.
19) What is your favourite Breakfast cereal?
Frosties really, but Fruit and Fibre when I’m in a healthy eating mood.
20) What would you like to be remembered for?
Having a good rapport with people, which I put down to the fact I grew up in a pub and worked in a bank – a really good mix from all walks of life. Also the two books I have been involved with, Ramsey Forty Foot and Benwick Bygones.