Making an Exhibition

In May 1939, The Times newspaper reported on events at a small village in Berkshire. The rector’s wife had decided to mount an exhibition at the village hall, displaying articles representing local talent, skill, history and originality. In order to curate this event, she went around the 500 or so villagers, seeking their items of local interest.

Apparently, the villagers’ first reaction was negligible. Perhaps they gave a bemused shrug, or perhaps they vehemently denied all knowledge of items of interest residing within their cottages. But the rector’s wife was evidently a tenacious lady. The Times informs us that she “Went into the subject more deeply with them” (muscled her way into their cupboards?) Whatever her methods, some discoveries were finally made. What a relief.

One of the villagers, a Mrs B, obligingly turned out her drawers for the rector’s wife. There, they made the discovery of a small blackened spoon. Mrs B agreed to clean up her family silver and donate it to the village hall exhibition. The spoon bowl turned out to contain religious engravings and it was supposed that its original use had been for the administration of “extreme unction.”

Most of the rest of the exhibition seems to have focussed on bygone fashions and some naval memorabilia…as you would expect in landlocked Berkshire…

Three teaspoons and a dishcloth: A Study

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Woods Ware China at the Serving Hatch - The Book!

I have now put together a book to accompany this blog, featuring all the best bits and much more besides, about the development and use of village halls over the past century. It costs £1.29 for a Kindle download and £3.99 for a printed version. Here's the blurb: "Enter any village hall and look at the noticeboard. The range of activities taking place these days is enough to keep anyone entertained. Cinema evenings, keep fit classes, scouts, Women’s Institute, St John’s Ambulance, lunch clubs, support groups - all keeping the physical and spiritual on the straight and narrow. Where would we be without the village hall? What a marvellous innovation, and one that seems to grow in importance as we realise that we have lost sight of community somewhat, and need to nurse it back to life. You might, if you were in a particularly philosophical mood while hanging around the vestibule, wonder where and how it all began." English village halls have been a fixture of our lands...

Bogarde's Beginnings

Village halls played a part in the early careers of many actors – some of them becoming world renowned. Who knows just how many household names first got a taste for the luvvie life at the local amateur dramatic society. Dirk Bogarde was certainly one of them, because he wrote about his experiences at Newick Village Hall, near Lewes. Dirk’s mother made the acquaintance of a Mrs Cox, whose husband was said to own the village hall. Dirk became good friends with the Coxs’ daughter and the family took to him, allowing him to indulge his teenage ambition of becoming a playwright. He wrote, and starred in “The Man on the Bench”, supported by Nerine Cox. It was performed around the time that Nazi Germany had marched into Austria – but a sparse audience with a lot on their minds nevertheless received it well. Mr Cox offered Dirk his first leading role shortly afterwards with the Newick Amateur Drama Society – Raleigh in R.C. Sherriff’s “Journey’s End”. “It was a tremendous ...

Dixon of Fingers Green

In what could be the script from a gentle BBC comedy of the 60s or 70s, the village policeman triumphed at the horticultural show in a small Kent village. The local bobby walked away from the Village Hall with 11 out of 14 prizes. A cub reporter from the local rag dared to ask the green fingered P.C. if he talked to his blooms, to which the answer came: "No." He was encouraged to elaborate: "Talking to them, singing to them, music, that's all a lot of tripe. There's no substitute for hard work. You have to treat them like children, water them and care for them." I suppose he's right. There are similarities. Both flowers and children are prone to infestations of little creatures. And they never quite turn out how you expect, but sometimes you're lucky. Have a look at my novella for more vintage gardening fun

Woods Ware China at the Serving Hatch

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