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Woodchester Village Fete
Sep. 12th, 2009 10:02 pmToday my mother and I decided to go to the village fete in Woodchester, which is where my mother grew up. (It's not a big place, but you might have heard of the Woodchester Roman Pavement or know it as the place where some of K9 and Company was filmed. ;-D)
We no longer have any very direct connection with the village, since my aunt moved away in the late 1980s but obviously it brings back a lot of memories, as my mother's family lived there for several generations. Part of the fete was held at one of the big houses in the village, where my mother's aunt was housekeeper for many years. More was in the local primary school hall, the school grown almost out of all recognition from when my mother went there in the 1940s, but still with familiar features.
There was also a local history exhibition in the church, where I was surprised to see a table with an inscription in memory of my grandfather. He died when I was under 2 years old, so I never really knew him, but he was very much a village stalwart - captain of the bell ringers and a parish counsellor - so it shouldn't have been a surprise that he was remembered. I had nice conversation with one of the local history group present, a much more recent resident of the village, but one of the current bell ringers, who'd seen my grandfather's name on a number of plaques in the bell-tower and was pleased to meet his granddaughter.
There are no Garlands left in Woodchester now, but somehow it's nice to have somewhere where we have those kinds of roots, though Cheltenham is very much my home.
We no longer have any very direct connection with the village, since my aunt moved away in the late 1980s but obviously it brings back a lot of memories, as my mother's family lived there for several generations. Part of the fete was held at one of the big houses in the village, where my mother's aunt was housekeeper for many years. More was in the local primary school hall, the school grown almost out of all recognition from when my mother went there in the 1940s, but still with familiar features.
There was also a local history exhibition in the church, where I was surprised to see a table with an inscription in memory of my grandfather. He died when I was under 2 years old, so I never really knew him, but he was very much a village stalwart - captain of the bell ringers and a parish counsellor - so it shouldn't have been a surprise that he was remembered. I had nice conversation with one of the local history group present, a much more recent resident of the village, but one of the current bell ringers, who'd seen my grandfather's name on a number of plaques in the bell-tower and was pleased to meet his granddaughter.
There are no Garlands left in Woodchester now, but somehow it's nice to have somewhere where we have those kinds of roots, though Cheltenham is very much my home.
