Swindon in the Past Lane

If you are dreaming of a White Christmas, spare a thought for the folk of 1881. In January 1881 Britain witnessed hitherto unparalleled weather conditions and The Times reported 'a walk across London suddenly assumed the dimensions of an Alpine adventure.' After several days of intense cold and black frost, blizzard conditions swept across southern regions of the country during the evening of Monday January 18. The storm raged for thirty six hours, at the end of which the death toll numbered twenty people within a 20 mile radius of Swindon. One casualty was George Cook, a farm labourer at Walcot Farm. George had brought a consignment of milk from the farm for despatch from Swindon junction. Returning home via Old Swindon, he stopped off to collect medicine for one of his children who was unwell. Travelling down the precipitous hill on Cricklade Street, George passed Christ Church where he suddenly plummeted into a snowdrift and became trapped. Fortunately residen...

What better subject for a 'nearly' Christmas post than tales of ghostly happenings in Lydiard House. Like any self respecting ancient property Lydiard House boasts a spectral presence or two.  But like a thing of beauty, could the Lydiard House phantoms be just an imaginative figment in the eye of the beholder. There have been the occasional sighting of a 17th century gentleman roaming the grounds and giving directions to lost visitors, supposedly Sir John St John, first baronet, who died in 1648. Sir John is depicted in portraits in the house and in St Mary's Church he can be seen recumbent on the magnificent Bedstead Monument and portrayed in the St John polyptych he commissioned in memory to his parents. Now I'm not saying that Sir John wasn't a thoroughly nice man, but my feelings are that he would be more likely to point a musket at visitors wandering about his estate rather than give them a guided tour. In 1996 Margaret North contributed an article to Th...

St. Mary’s Church Lydiard Tregoze, which lies on the western edge of Swindon in historic Lydiard Park, has received initial support* from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to conserve its gorgeous interiors. The project aims include conserving the buildings extensive medieval wall paintings, 17th Century monuments like the famous Golden Cavalier, ancient carved woodwork and star spangled ceiling. The grant of £131,700 towards this £186,700 phase will enable the church to complete its development plans and progress to applying for a full grant of £746,700 in 2017/18. The project aims to rescue the church from deteriorating further and improve public access, re-open the hidden south porch and create a welcoming interpretation and activity area. The church plans a wide range of educational activities and events as well as offering training and volunteer opportunities for local people, families, school children and higher education students. These will include hands on conservation works...

Alongside the work of the Friends of Angel's Orphanage supporting the 21 orphaned or abandoned children under their shelter, the charity also creates projects to empower women, to increase their skills base and to give them independence so that they can support themselves and their children. In April 2015 nearly 9,000 people were killed and 22,000 injured when an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.8 hit Nepal. Eight million people were affected and many remain homeless a y ear on in what has been described as 'a country of tarpaulins, tents and tin roofed shacks'. We are supporting the Friends of Angel's Orphanage at the Women's Exhibition and Craft Sale. Please visit their stall and if you have some spare coins, please drop them in the collecting boxes. Thank you. The Book project and the women it helps. Himalayan Adventure Girls  is a non-profit organisation with the unique purpose of encouraging young Nepale women to participate in th...

Women's Exhibition and Craft Sale takes place this Saturday, November 12 at the Christ Church Community Centre, November 12, 1-4pm. Our final seller (unless we've mis-counted or forgotten anyone!) is Skyblue Blankets who said: Colour inspiration for my first blanket, made for my granddaughter, came from Lower Shaw Farm where we would visit the Wednesday Cafe and feed the animals and sit on the big red tractor. Since then I have been inspired by sunsets, country walks and the Walled Garden at Lydiard House. Larger blankets fit a single bed while the baby blankets are buggy size. All blankets are made from Acrylic/Nylon or Acrylic yarn, machine washable at 30 degrees.

Women's Exhibition and Craft Sale next Saturday, November 12 at the Christ Church Community Centre 1-4pm. Members of the Kennet Decorative Fine Arts Society will also be exhibiting and selling at our craft sale, they are part of a national registered charity for anyone interested in art. They told us: You do not need to know anything about the arts to enjoy our varied programme of talks from Lord Byron to pub signs! The original society was started by Patricia Fay in 1965 and became a national Registered Charity ‘NADFAS’ in 1972. As well as talks, visits and days of special inter est we also volunteer to help heritage areas, locally that is St Mary’s Lydiard and The Merchant’s House Marlborough. We also support young people in art. We meet at The Ellendune Centre, Wroughton on the third Monday of the month, September to June; December is the second Monday. Refreshments are available from 10am, talks start at 11am. More information on our website:  www.kennetdfas.co.uk ...

We are on countdown to the Women's Exhibition and Craft Sale, now just six days away. Meet our 18th seller Dona Bradley with her cards featuring hand-drawn landmark views of Swindon celebrating the 175th anniversary of the town. Printed without colour detail so it can be coloured by either the sender or recipient. Dona also takes commissions to commemorate events such as a graduation, a wedding, moving into a new home or another big event in life: a hand-drawn architectural portrait of the building where it happened. Dona creates the drawing by hand from photographs or sketches, colours the drawing digitally for a modern finish and adds a beautiful hand-watercoloured sky. You can then add personal elements, including text of your choice and a photograph of you, your family or your friends. See her website for more information:  http://www.dona-b-drawings.co.uk/ Women's Exhibition and Craft Sale Saturday November 12 1-4pm Christ Church Community Centre, Old Town. ...