APRIL 2015
EXTRA PAGES THE NEW PRIEST-IN-CHARGE UPDATE ON PROGRESS
Wylye Valley C of E VA Primary School, Codford, 2015 photo Robin Culver See The Upper Wylye Parish News, Printed Edition, for the central panel
The Team Council met on 9th March to adopt the Profile (a document summarising the rewards and challenges of life as P-in-C of the Upper Wylye Valley Team) and to approve the advertisement that will go in the Church Times on 20th and 27th March. Both will appear on the website shortly. Our recruitment plans are now set, the selection process decided, lists of applicants will close on 14th April and a board will assemble on 5th and 6th May to decide on the new incumbent. Anyone who is interested in more details please go to the website www.upperwylyevalleyteamcom
DIGIT’S DIARY The Dog Blog for February/March 2015
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hese past few weeks have been interesting from our perspective, and especially mine as I am old and wise. The two sometimes do not go together and we have a case in point here. Our much-loved Silver Birch tree blew over in the Boxing Day gales and once the Guv’nor received the go ahead from his wife to remove it, he has morphed into Lenny the Lumberjack and has spent every waking moment armed with loppers and choppers and, much to our horror, a chainsaw to do his wife’s bidding. She realised, too late really as he was into character by then, that this was a rash instruction at best and foolhardy at worst.
With his track record (a total of over twenty stitches, half a dozen packs of steri-strips and loads of bandages behind any physical activity in recent years) she ‘advised’ him to wear his old cricket pads over his wellies as additional insurance. He felt a bit of a prat but had to admit it did the trick as branches fell on him and trip hazards multiplied exponentially. Occasionally he had to admit defeat and employ an expert to help. Jack, the real lumberjack, removed the largest part of the trunk, Paul and Richard brought a large chainsaw and the log splitter and then, finally, Matt arrived the
other day with the stump grinder to obliterate the last, stubborn, base of the tree. Over fifty barrows of logs are now stacked in the barn and, provided the barn doesn’t burn down, means a few warm winters ahead when they have dried out. It could be that long before the Guv’nor’s back recovers and the stiffness of muscles usually only employed to take the rubbish out, ease a bit. As an old dog I watch it all from my bed thinking, ‘what is it about old people that they always overdo it and then fib about how fit they are feeling?’ In the run-up to Lent his friend, the Padre, gave an enlightened sermon advising not to give
Delivered FREE to all households in Boyton, Codford, Corton, Heytesbury, Knook, Norton Bavant, Sherrington, Sutton Veny, Tytherington & Upton Lovell
DIGIT’S DIARY,
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anything up for Lent but, rather, take something up. The Guv’nor chose to interpret this as ‘Carry on drinking red wine and eating chocolates and when you think you’ve had enough have one more of each’. I shake my head in disbelief as this is not even funny although giving up use of his automatic spell-checker for Lint actually is quite amusing. It reminds me of when the children were young and still laughed when he said his excuse for losing at Scrabble was that his speeling was crop. Chocolates are considered ‘not good for him’ by the medical profession, advice taken on board by his wife, but he managed to get himself into trouble the other day when he said, in public, that in his opinion Maltesers had become smaller, Smarties had fewer in the tube and tiny Rolos were even more of a con than Maltesers. His wife asked him how he knew. Finally, there has been a lot of public argy bargy about the 2022 football World Cup to be held in Qatar and the decision to have the matches in November and December as it is cooler, with the final on 23rd December. The DT’s cartoonist has the three Wise Men/Kings discussing how to fit it in before going on to Bethlehem.
ANZAC 100 : Saturday 25 April at 6.30 am, Codford St Mary Sunday 26 April at 3.00 pm, Sutton Veny
Wylye Valley C of E VA Primary School, Codford, 2015
photo Robin Culver
DEVERILLS MINI-FEST 2015 TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
Join us for a weekend of music, comedy and more in the unique rural venues of the beautiful Deverill valley. SATURDAY 2 MAY Kepow!Theatre returns to perform their new show On the Edge! in The Barn Theatre, Kingston Deverill, 7.30pm. £10 adults / £5 under-17s. Wonderful improvised comedy … about all those moments in life when we are On the Edge!” The Times ***** SUNDAY 3 MAY Bath Philharmonia Wind Ensemble with Jacquelyn Bevan, piano, in Kingston Deverill Church, 7.30pm. Programme includes Mozart’s Quintet in E Flat for Piano and Winds, K452 and Beethoven’s Quintet in E Flat for Piano and Winds, Op 16. £15 adults / £7.50 under-17s.
Tickets and information: info@deverillsfestival.com
Accompanying entertainment: Walk and talk with David Stratton - Celebrating 150 years of farming in Kingston Deverill 2 May, The Barn Theatre, Kingston Deverill, 11am, £5 White Horse Morris 2 May, Outside The George Inn, Longbridge Deverill, 2pm St George and The Black Knight with the Langport Mummers 3 May, The George Inn, Longbridge Deverill, 3pm, free of charge. A gripping tale, slapstick, music and general hilarity for all. Traditional mumming with a contemporary twist. Wine/beer and soft drinks will be available at all events.
01985 844385 www.deverillsfestival.com
THE HULBERTS OF UPTON LOVELL CONTINUED
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he family attended church on Sundays and it was my Grandmother’s job to pump the air bellows for the organ. A job which she did not always relish and she used to slow down to get the instrument to make strange sounds which she thought amusing. After church in the summer months, the Sunday evening was finished off by a walk down to the level crossing to watch an evening train go by before going home. Other notable interests of my Great Grandfather were that he was a strict teetotaller in the temperance movement and politics, he was a staunch liberal. However this was not discussed in the home, but from conversations with my own Grandmother I have the feeling she had conservative thoughts even though women could not take part in elections until 1928. Great Grandfather kept a horse and trap for transport outside the village which must have been quite large as with his wife he also had six daughters who all attended the local school next to the church. Some would have been teenagers by the time of his death from Hodgekinson’s disease on 5th October 1901. He is interred in the rear of St Augustine’s churchyard, being the last grave in the higher level. Following his death, his family was taken in by his brother and moved to Southall, Middlesex where he was in business manufacturing bicycles under the brand name ‘Lord of the Isles’, named after the noted broad gauge Great Western Railway locomotive. He was an ex-railwayman. In 1920 the family broke up with my Great Grandmother emigrating to America and taking four of her daughters. She did not re-marry. My own Grandma and one of her sisters who were both married at the time remained in England. Some of the daughters who went to America were also married by then.
The girls details were: Florence Rose Ellen, born 10.11.1884 in Trowbridge, died 21.6.1965 at Southall, Middx. My Grandmother. Bessie Liela, born 24.8.1886 in Trowbridge, died July 1972 at Providence, Rhode Island, USA. Alice Amelia, born (16) November 1888 in Upton Lovell, died Schenectady, New York USA. Date unknown but 1960’s. Possibility of another middle name as Ellis. Lauretta Lily, born February 1891 in Upton Lovell, died Schenectady, New York, USA. Date unknown but 1960’s. Edith Mary, born 6.8.1893 in Upton Lovell, died Exeter (2) November 1974. Ida Kathleen, born August 1896 in Upton Lovell. Died Stratford, Connecticut, USA thought to be in 2001. We are still working on US websites for exact dates. Our Great Grandmother was Rose Ellen Hulbert (nee Farr), and her family was thought to be from Penarth in Glamorgan. Though I have never visited Penarth, I was aware that my Grandmother attended a funeral there when I was about four. It was said that we were related to Tommy Farr the champion Welsh boxer in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s and that part of the family was of Irish decent. Nothing more is known about this branch of the family, but it should be safe to assume there was a connection to railways, shipping or the iron trades due to the industrial developments at the time. Others from Upton Lovell followed the family up to West London soon after 1900; their family name was Blanchard. I don’t know if they were next door neighbours or just lived a few properties away. One member of this family, Tom Blanchard, had an early death as a result of the
Spanish Flu epidemic in 1919. He is buried in the Hillingdon cemetery on Hillingdon Hill which was due to the nearest hospital being in Hillingdon. On arrival in America in the 1920’s the family settled in the Providence, Rhode Island area of the New England states and many still do so. Two daughters moved to Schenectady, near to Albany in New York state and a third to Stratford, Connecticut state. The family home was in Longblock Street, Providence. Initially the women became weavers in a textile mill in Providence. Great Grandmother supplemented her income by the brewing of beer during the time of prohibition and it was said that she was very good at it. Strange to have to believe as her husband was a strict teetotaller and a member of the temperance movement. My Grandmother was too and a member of ‘The Band of Hope’ but in later life underwent a change of mind and used to enjoy a drink. The other daughter who remained in England married into the family of a publican; Fuller’s Brewery tenants in West London. Anon. If anyone knows who sent this to the Parish News would they please let us know?
STARQUEST ASTRONOMY CLUB We have over 20 members but we still need more please. We have a diverse membership and want to attract the wider community. You do not need any equipment before you join, as our members are more than happy to share. Our next meetings in Sutton Veny Village Hall will be on 9th April and 13th May at 7.30pm. For further details contact Pete Lee on 840093