Beginnings
Recently I was on holiday near Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, and saw a sign for the whimsically named village, Heath and Reach. Having spent far too long rootling through the William Alwyn Archives , I immediately thought "William's mother!", for Ada Tompkins was born in rural Buckinghamshire at Heath and Reach, the daughter of farm workers. The village of Heath and Reach, Bucks. The home of William's maternal grandparents. Life on the land was tough, and William's grandfather gave up farm work looking for employment in industrial Northampton. William's father's family were also incomers to Northampton having moved there from London, probably hoping to make money in the shoe business. The Tompkins family bought a grocer's shop in the town, but they had difficulty making ends meet, and by the time Ada met Alwyn's father - William Smith (William's full name was William Alwyn Smith, he dropped the Smith at an early stage of his career)