Woods Ware China at the Serving Hatch

In December 1960, things turned nasty at Kineton Village Hall in Warwickshire.   The Scouts Christmas Carnival Dance was invaded by a bunch of lairy soldiers from a nearby army camp at 11.25pm, and all hell let loose.   Girls screamed as a Scoutmaster from Hampton Lucy got his nose broken and the local bobby also got a punch on the hooter. He sent for 10 reinforcements from Leamington and Warwick, although by the time they rolled up things had calmed down a bit. One of the windows of the village hall was smashed, and several chairs with one chair leg being used as a weapon. A dozen soldiers were taken into military custody. Kineton Village Hall Today

The fun of WI membership in Wiltshire, 1955 The following village hall based WI activities were reported on in the Wiltshire Times, March 1955: Monkton Farleigh WI were an avid audience when Miss J Blick of the Southern Electricity Board demonstrated various sandwich fillings. Both hot and cold stuff suitable for shoving between two slices of bread were displayed. Apparently, “the results were soon disposed of” and a vote of hearty thanks was given. Hearty enough to cover up the sound of belching, I hope. The members then moved on to their home-made apron competition, but unfortunately only one member had pulled her finger out and cobbled something together, thus winning the prize by default. Mrs Taylor, Miss Williams and Miss Lewis were the hostesses for this meeting, so they had to dish out the tea. The evening ended with a bring and buy sale, which soon sold out and raised £2. The scene of the action - Monkton Farleigh Village Hall Meanwhile over in Li...

No exploration of village communities would be complete without reference to the “Miss Read” books. The two series of Fairacre and Thrush Green novels contain the observations of a village school teacher and were published in the latter half of the twentieth century. Perhaps at first glance, some might view these works as twee escapism, but they do have a good dose of reality in them. Rural poverty, family strife and characters that one might refer to as a bloody nuisance all make an appearance. Miss Read was the pen name of Dora Saint, herself a schoolteacher with wide experience of working in small country schools. Although her work contains fascinating observations of the old country way of life that can send one misty-eyed with nostalgia, these are not the stories of someone who lived in an ivory tower.   Of course village halls made several appearances in her books. I’m currently reading “Over the Gate” which was published in 1964. In the section entitled “Mrs Pringl...

The Circle  Five ladies and one gentleman Meet at the village hall Set out the Woods Ware, Beryl green At the hatch in the wall One fills the tea urn, jug by jug Another unpacks bags Bringing leaf tea, milk and biscuits A box of small name tags Others set out red plastic chairs Clanking metallic legs They put them in a tight circle Next to empty coat pegs The table in the middle holds Tissues in a card box Amidst the Beryl green china A stop clock steadily tocks Five ladies and one gentleman Sit and begin to chat They share tea and their own dying Among jumble sale tat          Sarah Miller Walters I have a new poetry collection available to download from Amazon for 99p. 'The Wooden Spoon Under the Bed' is a collection of 15 poems inspired by problem page letters of the 1940s and 1950s. Click the link below to find out more: Click here

In September 1937 the Dover Express newspaper reported on proceedings at Dover Juvenile Court. Two ten year old boys stood accused of breaking and entering a parish hall and stealing a thermometer, a padlock and four door keys.   The combined value of these items was 6 shillings and 6 pence. After this little warm up, the boys then went on to their big job. They broke into Timothy Whites’ shop and stole a truss and a bottle of oil. Both boys admitted the charges, and to making a terrible mess in both sets of premises. One of them had been cautioned previously for trying to trick a stamp machine into giving him free stamps. They were bound over for two years. Twitter @peel_anna

The scene is a local WI meeting in the fictional village of Bishop's Wallop, sometime in the late 1940s. The two women walked in gladly and were faced by six rows of grey tubular framed chairs. Five were taken by warm hats and coats that had not been removed from the persons held within them. Alice sat alone at a table placed across the front of the chairs, looking through a pile of thin sheets of paper. She looked up and smiled at Marigold and Mrs Bidder as they circled around the seating area. Alice stood and walked towards Marigold, her hands outstretched. “Thank you for coming, both of you. I do hope you’ll enjoy it.” “I’m sure I will. This is Mrs Bidder, who has come to stay with me for the weekend.” “How do you do, Mrs Bidder, I hope you like Bishop’s Wallop. Pity you’re not staying longer, we could have taken you up Paddlebury Rings, eh Marigold?” “Not with her ankles. Come on Mrs B. Let’s get you sat down. We’ll see you afterwards, Alice.” Marigold steered Mrs...