Robert William Saunders
Bob was born on 14th September 1884 to William Robert and Julia Saunders who lived in Aldecar Lane, Benhall Green. Bob attended Benhall School aged 6 on 1st December 1890.
From the written notes of John Pepper :
Bob was the village shoemaker all of his life.
He met Lilian Alice Oxford from Layham, Hadleigh and they married and lived at 87 Aldercar Lane where he continued his work. They had six children, Bill, Joan, John, George, Alix and Jimmy. On 30th August 1930, shortly after Jimmy was born, Lilian died at the age of 42 of tuberculosis and Bob took over the job of bringing up his family.
Bob Saunders working from home
Bob with his sons George & John Saunders
He was a countryman and had many interests, he loved birds, animals and the outside life. He kept bees and made a pond with a water-wheel arranged to feed the pond from the stream at the bottom of his land.
His workshop became a centre where men from the village would gather and discuss village affairs. He made many special boots. Miss Peggy Pepper remembers special ankle boots that Bob made for her when she was small, to help strengthen her ankles. Also, when Gus Woodard had his foot in plaster after an accident (he had been thatching and fell off his ladder) Bob made a special boot to go over the plaster cast to protect it.
Written by Joanna Dunham:
The cobbler was called Bob Saunders and was renowned as one of the world’s philosophers. Some twenty years later the likes of cellist Rostropovitch used to escape from the elitest environment of the Aldeburgh Festival to come and sit at Bob Saunder’s feet.
Bob never actually mended your shoes until you came to pick them up on the appointed day when they were supposed to be ready. My mother would be given a wooden box to sit on, and, after spending a considerable amount of time actually finding the shoes, he would start. He now had a captive audience for as long as it took him to do the job. The back of the shed where he worked was filled with junk; odd bits of things that might come in handy. My little brother, then aged three, loved this and would play for hours.
Bob only cut his hair once a year, which he considered quite sufficient.
From a newspaper article:
I spent a most interesting afternoon with a Benhall man who has extraordinary powers where the taming of wild birds is concerned. Last year he trained a wild rook he found fallen from its nest. A photograph of that bird sitting on his head appeared in The Mercury a year ago. Now it seems he has found another rook which he calls Jim and likewise trained him so that he follows him everywhere and even sits beside the table when the family have their meals.
Bob in his workshop
1940s Bob with Jimmy the rook
Ruby Smith remembers:
When I was in my teens I used to go along Aldecar lane to see Bob Saunders and I used to sit and talk to him. Opposite his house he had a big pond and a wheel that brought the water up from a ditch on the other side that filled his pond up. Once a year I used to get into that pond before the lilies came up, and get all the rubbish out. I did that for several years!
1950s Bob in his garden
Bob and his famous pond
