Community Stories: A Life Crafting Exquisite Furniture

In 2017 the Flourish project recorded stories of the local community, reflecting the multi-cultural heritage surrounding the buildings at Chiltern Open Air Museum. It was supported by Arts Council England.

Voyage into the Unknown and a Life Crafting Exquisite Furniture

As told by Brian McBarnet from High Wycombe

“I was one of seven children, growing up on the beautiful island of St Vincent in the Caribbean. My father and mother left us to seek a better life in Britain and my father dedicated his free time to assisting others arriving from the West Indies to settle and find homes and work. I can honestly say that I never met my father before the age of 10 which is when I had to leave my home and friends and everything that was familiar, to travel to live in Britain. I remember the tears running down my face and the sadness felt at leaving my wonderful home life.

I arrived in the UK on 2nd November in a pair of shorts and a tea shirt - it was 2nd November and -3 degrees. That was when winters were bitterly cold and unforgiving. After disembarking from the boat that brought us to England, we soon arrived at our destination - High Wycombe. I didn’t appreciate it then, but this was to become renowned as the furniture making centre of the country.

Without any real parental guidance, my siblings and I had to grow up fast and I learned early on that in order to escape my strict and hard home environment, I would need to work hard and save even harder.

The education systems of my land of origin and my new home, were vastly different and each subject was taught differently. The history I had been taught in St Vincent for example, had no resemblance to the curriculum I was now exposed to. Further, not only did I look different from most of my new classmates and neighbours, I had to contend with the fact I was dyslexic. Although literacy and writing were incredibly difficult for me, I was good at maths. I also found myself excelling at sport and soon found myself competing at the top amateur level in running and hockey.

For the first time I was exposed to the more dextrous subjects of woodwork and metalwork (my father was a metal worker before me). I found myself receiving top grades, especially in metalwork, but I felt determined to rebel against my father’s wishes to follow him into that trade. And so, almost fatefully given where I now lived, I chose to enter the world of wood furniture making.

My first job (an apprenticeship) was in a low paid, low end factory (part of Chiltern Training Group) making mass produced veneer school chairs. I would get into work at 7.00am with my trusty radio, buy only chocolate digestives for energy, and work on my own all day in my workshop. I became so proficient at it, I was churning out a single chair in less than 2 minutes. Listening to Bob Marley and his contemporaries and munching on digestives kept me going all day. (My neighbours in the next workshop weren’t always impressed with the reggae sounds coming through the walls). Because of my high production levels, (we were paid per chair) I soon found myself earning top wages; sometimes, this fuelled resentment in my peers and even in some cases gave vent to prejudice. I also dated a white girl in my teens, much to the disapproval of her parents. I had to let these negative sentiments go and realised that in order to progress I had to impress my bosses with the quality and quantity of my work; I also needed to save money so that one day I could escape the family home and find true independence.

I decided to leave that company and went next door to Biggs Reed and Rackstraw, making bespoke Regency style furniture for Harrods. I had to start all over learning new skills going from £150 to £40 a week. I worked hard and played hard, travelling to London to go to live concerts and parties. My parents would lock us out but we left a window open to crawl through. To supplement my income, I went from the furniture factory at the end of that working day to another job, initially in a sausage making factory making the meat innards and then to fruit and veg in Old Amersham.

I took my own boys back to St Vincent to see their grandparents who had moved back to the old country some years ago. They loved the food and drink, especially grandma’s recipe for Mauby, which is an indigenous drink made from tree bark and fruit juices. We used to dose them up on it, when they were born, as they were seriously underweight and the drinks fine qualities beefed them up to normal size.

If I had to describe my life, it had been tough but good and fun. I feel at home here at Chiltern Open Air Museum especially in their furniture factory from High Wycombe as it, and all the hand chosen tools, bring back many pleasant memories of my days making all those wonderful and individual furniture pieces. My own home is filled with tables and chairs that I lovingly built.”

Recording the memories of local people connected to the buildings and objects at the Museum has continued through our Heritage Stories project. If you have a heritage story you’d like to add to the Chiltern Open Air Museum archive, visit our Heritage Stories page.