Looking back: Life and times of a fascinating Peterborough woman

Mike said: “Fifty years ago your paper featured an article about a book of poetry I had published especially as I was a prop forward for the Peterborough Rugby Club thus breaking the stereotypical image.’’

His new book , available from Amazon, is called The Life and Times of Annie Williams.

Mike explained: “It is the story of Annie Williams who was the last in line of a 300-year long, family dynasty who oversaw the Borough Fen Bird Decoy near Peakirk, Peterborough.

“Despite living in the middle of nowhere she led an atypical life which saw her attend one of the last Dame schools in the country, in Peterborough, and then onto an all girls boarding school at Kettering which taught her: “to become a snob” as she phrased it.”

While not an active feminist she did claim that she was equal to any man.

Mike said: “She often visited London where she was a regular theatre goer. She balanced this with work at the Decoy Farm where she lived for many years. Eventually she would run the place with her husband, Billy.”

He, too, had experienced an interesting and varied life in the Crowland Fens and in Canada where he worked on a ranch.

Mike said: “ He had to rely on a French Canadian Indian trapper to save his foot after a serious accident with an axe. He served three years in Mesopotamia at the end of the Great War in the Army Service Corps in action with the Arabs and Kurds. He returned to marry Annie in 1920.The wedding and honeymoon are full of incident. She had become a nurse at the beginning of the war and despite a short spell in this work, describes her experiences in a London hospital. She is full of wit and whimsy which comes over well in her story. Her ‘encounter’ with Douglas Haig, the former leader of the British Expeditionary Force from the Great War, is a good example of this.

“Annie met a number of famous and important people, the most notable being Sir Peter Scott, the naturalist and wildlife painter, with whom a lifelong friendship developed from the early 1930s.

“He lived with the Williams family during the winter of 1932 and it was then that he helped her to adapt her painting skills – a hobby which she continued into her 80s. He had spent a lot of time painting outdoors at that time. It is interesting to note that he used to go shooting with the locals before becoming the noted conservator of wildlife in later life.”

Annie witnessed many changes in her days from 1890 until her death in 1986 and comments on them in her individual style.

Mike said: “Her picture of life during the Second World War for both herself and her husband give an interesting outlook on life in the country at that time. She was a committed monarchist and held many strongly grounded Conservative opinions. Things were viewed in black and white – there was little room for grey.”

Annie spent her latter years working at the Wild Fowl Trust in Peakirk which developed out of the Decoy.

Mike added: “The book focuses on the horrific winter floods of 1947 and gives incidental information about Crowland at that time.

“Life in Peterborough too, as the biggest town in the area, is covered making this an interesting social history as well as a biography.

“The book is based on 25 hours of interviews made in the late 1970s and uses her words wherever appropriate in order to give a greater depth into the character of an amazing woman.’’