Hullavington Memories

by

Mary Bramidge nee Baker

 Mary once lived in Hullavington and,  after finding  our village website,  contacted us with the kind offer of some old photos of  people and  2 amateur dramatic productions  that took place in the "Old Tin Hut".  Mary  also agreed to provide us with some memories of her time in the village and to let us know  a little about her life since  moving away.  I have Mary's contact details, so if any old friends or acquaintances have lost contact and would like to get in touch with  her please  let me know.   What follows now are Mary's own words. I found them a delight to read and feel sure you will too.

I was  looking at the Hullavington website the other day a found it  very interesting, especially the pictures of 'old Hullavingtonians.' My father - Ted Baker - was vicar of Hullavington from 1938 - 1951 and I have 3 photos which may be of interest to you. Two are of plays that were put on, after the war, in the old tin hut ! - the other is of the church choir, including Eric Gough - is he still the church organist I wonder?  If you are interested, contact me at above address.   

 Many thanks,  Mary Bramidge

I could not resist such an offer and contacted Mary  saying yes please. Below are the photos and memories provided by Mary. I hope Eric Gough can put some names to the other  choir members as Mary says. 

The Church Choir
Click on image enlarge

I'm sure Eric will be able to identify the choir members - he's to the left of Dad of course -I seem to remember there were a lot of Goughs and Byes, Wicks and Greenmans - I wonder if any of them are still in Hullavington?

We "made our own entertainment in those days " of course! I well remember the Socials; people would do their turn, singing and dancing; Gloria Purnell had a dancing troupe, Albert Dolman played banjo, Eric of course piano - he was brilliant! And then there were dances, which were always packed - the airmen used to come over from the 'drome of course. The air was thick with dust - and cigarette smoke too I suppose - it's a wonder we survived! Great fun. Refreshments in the back room, and beyond that, the passageway down to "the bucket" - not so much fun!

Does anyone remember when the roof of the hall blew off in a gale and landed in Mrs. Connor's back garden? It might have been 19481 think. Mum and Dad opened the new village hall (I was sorry to hear that one burnt down) but for sure you've got a splendid new one now. I hope everyone has as much enjoyment as we had, that's the main thing.

My sister, Judy, lives in London; she is well, has two children and four grandchildren. Mum and Dad moved up from Bristol in 1984 to be near us in Lichfield, where we were then living. They had a happy few years there; sadly, Mum died in 1991 and Dad in 1998, when he was 88 and getting rather frail, but he managed to keep going in his own home. We moved to Somerset in 1999. It's great to be back in the West Country again.

Our daughter, who lives in Wootton Bassett, told us about our old home (the vicarage next to the church) being on the market again - for £1 million - so I don't think we shall be buying it. We did see round it again, with Dad, in the early 1990s, we were spending the day with Jean Giles when she was living in Mr. Lavington's (the baker) old cottage in ? Gibbs Lane. It was good to see the Vicarage again with its improvements. I also stayed with Jean again after she'd moved into her new house, opposite Hullavington House, and had a wander round the village. The biggest change seemed to be in Newtown - (where was Dolly Neate's shop)? It was good to see you still have a village school, so many villages have lost theirs.

I seem to have waffles on enough so I'd better close.
We have taken copies of the photos so you may keep them if you wish - or others may like to see them.

With all good wishes,
Yours sincerely, Mary Bramidge
 

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