When War broke out, Max's father was called up into the Royal Navy (although he would have preferred the Army Pay Corps, as his civilian job was a Bank Cashier in the Midland Bank). He was lucky to come back from the War alive. In 1943 he was on board the HMS Trinidad, which had already survived being dive bombed and machine gunned, and which was on its way to Murmansk, one of the main supply port for supplies used on the eastern front. A Commander Heatherpath (from Great Hormead) was in charge of the gunnery on the HMS Trinidad. When they met a German Warship the five torpedoes were fired but one veered off course back into the ship's path, and HMS Trinidad was sunk by one of its own torpedoes. 850 men lost their lives. It became known as "the ship that died of shame".

Max's father went to Scotland on survival leave, and so Max went to school for a time there, but the family moved back to Cuffley and Max completed his education at the Winchmore Hill Collegiate School. When he was 14 he joined the Army Cadets. In 1950 Max's father went to work at Midland Bank in Bailey Street, London and the family moved into a flat above the Bank. However, Max still attended school in Winchmore Hill, travelling from London on a No. 629 trolley bus. He must be the only person to have commuted out of London!

Max left school at 15 and took up an apprenticeship with Henry Atkin, Gunmakers, in Jermyn Street, working for Arthur Hodges (who was a second cousin once removed). Max was 18 when he was called up for National Service and by this time he was a Cadet Serjeant Major. He became a regular with the the First Cadet Battalion of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps (the only Cadet Battalion to have actively served in the Boer War of 1898-1902). He then joined the Kings Royal Rifle Corps 2nd Regiment, and served in various places including Lybia and Trucial Omen States; they were the first troops to honour the Baghdad Pact.

Max recalls one incident when he was serving in the Trucial Omen States at a place called Sharah. They were going out at dawn into the desert on patrol and noticed in the main square an Arab being tied to a large 18 pound brass cannon, one of a pair standing outside the Kaliff's Palace. Max asked their translator and guide what they were doing this for. He was told that the man was being put to death for commit ting adultery. They finished tying him, laying him lengthways under the cannon bare chested.

When Max returned that evening, they came back through the square and the man was dead, having been roasted alive by the sun during the day, the cannon acting like an electric fire element in temperatures exceeding 137 F in the shade, and there wasn't very much of that! Max considered this very rough justice. If anyone was caught stealing, their right hand would be cut off. You were not allowed to feed yourself with the left hand so you either starved or relatives, if you had any, had to feed you.

When the German War Graves opened at Tobruk in 1955 Max was in charge of the transport which took pilgrims to the War Graves, which contained 6,500 names highlighted in white mosaic on black. Frau Rommell (widow of Field Marshall Rommell) was there with her son, Manfred Rommell. Max shook hands with Frau Rommell who said she was very pleased to see British soldiers at their service.

After serving for three years, Max was demobbed but was called up again soon afterwards because of the Suez War. He went to Lybia and then to Cyprus. Max had already done parachute training at Aldershot in 1954/5 but had not actually jumped from a balloon to get his parachute badge as he was always called back by his regiment to shoot at Bisley for the Army Rifle Championships. When he was at last able to do his first jump, unfortunately it was right into the action over Port Said with the French Army, and he was injured by a mortar bomb. Several soldiers were killed and Max lost the hearing in his left ear and has only 30% hearing in his right ear.

In 1957 he came out of the Army on strategic reserve and went back to living with his mother in Tottenham Court Court. He met Beryl Hone at a Square Dance and, to cut a long story short, they married at St Mary's, Braughing, on 20th September 1958. There was a slight hiccup as Beryl had to be baptised because otherwise the Reverend Francis Fraser would not let them marry in Church. Just prior to the wedding, Reverend Fraser refused to conduct the ceremony until Max had produced the very baptism certificate which the Vicar had issued and signed a week beforehand!!

Max had taken the job of chauffeur/handiman at Warren Farm, Braughing, and he and Beryl began their married life living in the Gardeners Cottage. Shortly afterwards Max went to work at the CWS Farm at Stoneberry (where he recalls that he earned £7.50 per week) and he and Beryl moved to Mutfords. Their first son, Robert, was born on 21st July 1959.

In his spare time he joined the Territorial Army, which met at 28 St Andrews Street, Hertford, and became an active member.

In 1961 Beryl and Max heard that a flat was vacant in the Bell House in Buntingford High Street, which was owned by Jocelyn Chapman, and they moved in. Max says it was a lovely flat, situated at the back of the present Bell House Gallery. The back of the shop was their sitting room. At that time, the front was a nursery school run by Zoe Ryder, which their son Robert was able to attend.

When Max and Beryl first came to Buntingford, the Adam and Eve pub was still around and so was the George Hotel (although he says he could not afford to go into it!) Moss's Grocers was in the building occupied by the Library (it was subsequently taken over by International Stores which later became Somerfields). Buntingford still had a railway and Max recalls that on one occasion Beryl was coming back to Buntingford on the train, with Robert in his push chair, and she was carrying a big bag of oranges. As she got off of the train the bag split and the oranges fell down between the platform and the train. The train crew (Les Moule and ticket collector Bob Skipp) immediately moved the train so that they could go down and retrieve the oranges from the lines below!

Bell House (which was formerly the Bell hotel) was divided into three flats at the time that Max and Beryl lived there. I had heard stories of the building being haunted and I asked Max whether he had experienced anything. He said the children in the nursery often saw a coachman on the stairs, wearing a tricorn hat, long coat and boots. He recalled that Mrs Chapman on one occasion looked into the bedroom which was lit up by the street lighting. She heard a door close and heard footsteps and saw a silhouette of a woman dressed in Gainsborough clothing walk into a cubby hole which was once a staircase. However, Max says that the building was exorcised and there are no ghosts now - as far as he knows that is!

Max gave in his notice at Stoneberry and went to work for the English Electric Guided Missile Division at Stevenage (now British Aerospace). They made the blue water missiles and Max was Progress Chaser. Unfortunately he was made redundant and in 1962 he went to work at Trupps in Marsh Lane, Ware, as a welder (his training in the Army coming in useful!)

When he got made redundant (yes, for the second time) from Trupps, he went to work for R.S. Precision Engineers in Caxton Hill, Hertford, which was a very demanding seven-days-a-week job. Therefore when another job came up in Buntingford, who can blame Max for taking it? He became a Scientific Instrument Mechanic at the National Industrial Fuel Efficiency Service at The Red House. This was an off shoot of the Ministry of Fuel and Power. Max worked in the separate Instrument Room in the building at the end of the alleyway which is now occupied by Trimaway. At one time Mr Worledge had his dental surgery in the Red House at the same time, before he moved down to the premises on Market Hill.

Max and Beryl had three more children: Fiona was born on 38th January 1962, Duncan was born on 23rd January 1964 and Paul on 14th May 1969. More room was needed at home and in 1965 the family moved to No. 22 Archers. They moved to their present house at 31 Archers in 1975. The move took place whilst Max was away on an exercise for the Territorial Army in Jersey.

Max played cricket for Aspenden for many years and Beryl played Badminton. Beryl was also leader of the Mothers Union for a time and she worked at Orchard Surgery as a receptionist for about 7 years

Max continued working with N.I.F.E. for about fifteen years but he needed an operation on his spine which meant he was off work for fifteen months and he lost his job in the end because he could no longer be so active. He served as the Clerk of Works for Westminster Council and then managed to get work with Frogmore Investments Limited at Watton-at-Stone. However, the recession of 1990 came along and Max was made redundant (again). It was at this time that he decided to start up Max Hodges Electrical.

For some time Max had done repairs to domestic machines in his spare time and he decided there was a good market for his services. He went on a Government Training Course at Letchworth in electro-mechanical engineering which, together with his experience, has meant that he has built up a good business, with some 850 customers on the books. As well as the Buntingford area, Max has customers as far as Cambridge, Guildford, Woking, Colchester and Potters Bar, and even one ex-Buntingford resident who now lives in Worcester!

I asked Max whether he had any funny or interesting experiences since he has been running Max Hodges Electrical. Well apparently there are so many that he could write a book!! If he does write a book, he has already got a title lined up: "While you're here..." This is something people invariably say to him and Max says that the "while you're here" job turns out to be longer and more complicated than the original job he was called out for!

On one occasion Max was called out to a large country house where he had some work to do in the loft. The family cat obviously took a fancy to Max and actually followed him up the ladder! Max completed his work and went home. At 10.30 p.m. he had a telephone call from the owner of the house to say they could hear their cat calling but didn't know where it was. Max had to go back and retrieve the cat from the loft. Another late call at 10.30 at night was from a desperate owner who had 100 koi carp in danger of dying from oxygen starvation because the pond pump was not working, so Max had to go out and fix that. Ironically, the owner was a fishmonger by trade! Another good time for Max to be called was one Christmas Day when someone's oven did not work!!

Max says he gets very concerned about correct fuses being fitted in houses. He recalled one incident when someone had fitted a 60 amp fuse in the lighting circuit. As a result, when a fault developed the wiring within the wall became extremely hot and was in danger of bursting into flames. He urges everyone to check the fuses on their appliances and fuse boards to make sure they are correct. So many fires are caused by incorrect wiring.

Max now feels that the time has come to hand over the reigns to someone else and he is going to put the business up for sale next year. However, he does not want to let any of his customers down and is concerned that if he cannot find anyone to take over then they may be left high and dry.

Coach for the German National Rifle Team. He goes to Germany to train the Team and has been with them to Canada four times and also to South Africa twice. In 1996 in the U.K. they came fourth out of twelve other teams and in Canada in 1998 they came second.

Max and Beryl are both involved with St Peters Church and St Marys Church at Aspenden. Beryl is Secretary of the Buntingford branch of the Bible Society and also Secretary of the Friends of Orchard Surgery. Max is Chairman of the Royal British Legion and he asked me to put in a plug as they are always looking for new members or associate members.

Their son Robert is an Editor working in the photographic department at B.B.C. T.V. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, who is a successful author of children's books. Fiona, who was in the Civic Service, now lives in Lytham-St-Annes in Lancashire. She has a daughter Holly, aged 8, and a son Andrew, aged 18 months. Duncan is a Graphic Designer and lives with his wife in Buntingford. Paul is a self-employed Carpenter who lives in Borhamwood. He works with Max on various projects, such as fitting kitchens, bathrooms, and building hand made cupboards, vanity units, etc.

I don't doubt that Max's many customers will miss him when he finally does retire. I am sure to some he must rate as the fifth emergency service! I mean, who else could you call out at 10.30 at night to come and help your fish?! I would like to thank Max very much for talking to me.