Regards Les and Ruth Chard, Yvonne and Robert Spratt and family

Yvonne.

Another time I was home in Wrington having a drink in the "Golden Lion" the landlady was Mrs
Puddy, I remember George her son, saying he went to Sexey's School Bruton. So for George Crook and George Puddy I enclose a photo of their very famous school, except now in 2001 it
is probably six times bigger than they would remember.

To George Crook, I remember his father Doug well, he worked on Rydings Farm with me,
expert thatcher and hedge layer. A, at night during the war he was a Special Constable, Mr C.B. Marshall was his "Sergeant".

I hope you get some pleasure thinking back George.

I believe that it may be copyrighted, so we probably shouldn't post the census itself on the web-site, but it would be perfectly okay for interested people to contact me by e-mail and I would look up their ancestors or family names for them and e-mail the information to them.

[This] .. is a description of what I have:

WRINGTON 1851 Somerset

CENSUS No. 1

Part of the Part of the Parish of Wrington , Udley, The Grove, Oatlands, Wrington Hill,
Barley Wood, West Lane,
Pages:           53
Persons:        507 Male; 522 Female; 1129 Total
Enumerator: Charles Noble

CENSUS No. 2

Part of the Parish of Wrington, Redhill Lulsgate. Downside, Broadfield Down, Leigh Cross, Cowslip.

Pages:           33
Persons:       322 Male; 269 Female; 591 Total
Enumerator: James Elworthy

George Crook - Auckland, New Zealand - 28/9/01

Your schmoose pages recall so many happy memories of my childhood in Wrington during &
immediately after the war years. It's almost like now magically re-living those far off English village days once again.

Just been looking at Joe Frappell's photos, the one with the horses in Mr Marshall's farmyard. Duke & Prince are there together with Oliver, Joe and Cliff. Cliff let us run quite freely around the farm, never scolding us. My brothers Paul, Simon & me remember him as a great man & still think he deserves to be made a saint !

Like Joe, I later spent some years in Bruton where I went to boarding school. I met Joe several times down there & wonder if he remembers that Wringtonian homesick 11 year-old !

Thanks again for making a wonderful website.

I have been re-reading Lillian Millard's book on Hannah More which you have posted on your
site. I say re- reading because Lillian gave me a copy of her book some years ago.

My wife Pat and I went to see her last week during one of our flying visits to renew old acquaintances in the village . ... on the subject of Hannah More she is very much the West Country's greatest living expert.

I was interested in your piece by Barry Johnson of him owning a carving of the weeping lady carved from the old gallows tree. There must be many more of these carvings around, so come on Wringtonians, surely there is more than one here in Nottingham and another in Canada!

Regards <gbridges@netconuk.co.uk>

Going to Ashton Gate to see the City play with the redoubtable John Atyeo leading the attack.

Re-enacting a Count Dracula film in Wrington Churchyard. Committing the usual misdemeanors that one would expect ( with which I will not sully the Schmooze File by relating).

It occurs to me that perhaps one should spend some time away from Wrington to fully appreciate the significance of the place. For example ,it was only while undertaking a course
of study at an Australian University did I come to realize what a truly titanic figure John Locke cuts in the world of Political Science.

P.S. There seems to be so many people from your part of the world visiting Australia that I thought that we might return the compliment. Thus, we hope to visit the U.K this time next year.

I attach two pictures which give an idea of what he is talking about. I understand it is only the base that is from the original tree.

I was born at No. 2 Council Houses, Station Road, as it was then known, on the 29th June 1928. Having seen Tony Loach's account of his memories, I thought I, and many more of my generation could also contribute to the History of Wrington.

Educated at the Church of England School. Headmaster LW Bisgrove, who moved to Worle, gave way to Mr G Waite. The teachers whom I remember most are Miss Gunning (infants), Miss Vanessa Pow, Mr A C Turner, he was later called up for the navy, which brings me to the war years.

A lot of young men went to war including my two brothers Stan and Sam. We remained to carry on with school. I was in the Boy Scouts then at Redhill, and the Scout Master Dr Buxton lived at a place called "Rockdunder".

Then came the day our way of life would change. Evacuees were arriving from
London (Limehouse), and we as boy scouts were asked to report to the memorial hall to greet them. Thinking back how fortunate to grow up in that era.

Hello to Nancy Thom of Houston Texas. You mention John and Pauline Alvis in your message
on the Schmoose page. Are they the Alvis's who have the dairy in Wrington? I think it was John Alvis whom I met in 1990 when I visited Havyatt Farm. He was the farm manager at that stage, however I believe that he has purchased Havyatt Farm. Is that correct? Hope to hear from you. Best wishes, Lyndley.

It has a listing from a Mark Lodge of Alaska in which he mentions a John Lodge Farmer and Innkeeper of Felton/Wrington.

This John Lodge and his wife Mary were my 3xgreat grandparents and they had the following issue Charles of Felton 1814, Hannah of Felton 1816, David of Wrington 1818, Anthony of Wrington 1820, Daniel of Wrington 1821, Eliza of Wrington 1823, Mary of Wrington 1825, Job of Wrington 1830, Diana 1832.

Hannah 1816 married William Sampson in Bristol 1836 and these were of course my 2x great grandparents. One of their issue was Henry Sampson born Wrington 1842, my great grandfather. Unfortunately Hannah died very young in Wrington in 1853 of peritonitis.

The Sampson family were very strong in number in Long Ashton and Dundry, where a road was named after them.

I would dearly like to contact Mark Lodge but I was unable to find any address for him, can you assist please. [This was forwarded immediately to Mark - Ed]

Re Philip's letter of 20th May, I remember schoolteachers Mrs Green from Blagdon and Miss (Joyce) Gunning. Miss Gunning was a teacher when I was at school in the 30s.

Mr Waite lived in Weston super Mare (after retirement at 60) into his 90s. I believe Barbara Collins told me he had a new driving licence at 90. He captained Wrington cricket for some time and was always involved in the Drama Club. I have a copy of their first programme which Mrs Whitehouse might like 'Young Mrs Barrington', a play in 3 acts, producer Glanford D. Waite.

Col. J.M. Lee enjoyed his retirement on Somerset County Council, Wrington Parish Council (chairman, of course), captain of cricket (he bowled underarm like old Daisy Wood), churchwarden &c, &c. He was a tennis umpire at Wimbledon, I believe.

Lindsey also recalled an event which Philip will remember when I think she said Anthony shut Philip in a shed in the woods and left him."

P.S: Can anyone remember the schoolmaster before Mr G.D. Waite ? There was Mr L.W. Bisgrove 1929-39, and before him Mr Bob Hewitt, contemporary with the then rector, the Rev. Mr Ashdown, 1890 - 1924.

I have three original pencil drawings of Wrington hanging in my kitchen and it reminds me of the happy times we had there. I bought them from the Gloucestershire and Avon Life Magazine in January 1986. There were 5 published published in the Magazine in December 1985. The artist's name is Barry Charles. The Drawings are 8" x 13' and have All Saints Church, Silver Street and Shops (Buglers and the shop next door ). They are beautifully drawn and are my pride and joy.

I still have many friends in the village particularly John and Pauline Alvis and Nick and Carole Baker.

Thank you for your Website.

Here's a remarkable thing (well-I think it is ). My brother Martin entered his name - MARTIN WHITEHOUSE - into his usual search engine, GOOGLE, I think ,and straight away it directed him to the Wrington Website.

This is especially noteworthy when you consider that his name was only mentioned in passing in my submission to the Schmooze file, and then only his Christian name. GOOGLE, or whoever, drew the inference that Whitehouse was his family name from my mentioning that he is my brother. When one considered the millions of pages of text that was scanned to achieve this result it only goes to prove that the Wrington name has IMPACT in the Cyber-world.

Since my submission I have had email correspondence with Antony Loach in Canada (another victim of the school dentist) fellow-Aussie Lyndley Havyat, and Bill Crook in New Zealand, with whom I attended Wrington V.C.School forty years ago.

Carry-on Schmoozing !

With kind regards, Philip W. pwhitehouse@vtown.com.au

I heard about this great website from Yvonne Spratt, a friend from New Zealand, who is a former resident of Wrington and who has corresponded previously on this page . I made a visit to Wrington in 1990 to do some family tree research, but being inexperienced in such matters, I discovered just the tip of the iceberg.

In summary, my great-grandparents were George and Rachel Parker of Havyatt Farm who
lived there from 1840"s to 1870's. One of their daughters, Emily Parker, married Harry Spratt from Webbington Farm, Axbridge in 1886 and they emigrated to New Zealand. My father, Harry Spratt, enlisted in the New Zealand Mounted Rifles and fought at Gallipoli. He was shipped from Gallipoli to England in 1915 to recover from illness and whilst there he
visited Havyatt Farm which he knew to be the "family seat".

He was so taken with the name that when he returned to New Zealand he changed his
name to Havyatt by deed poll. Four of the family members from New Zealand have visited Havyatt Farm since 1988.

George, Rachel, Charles and William Thomas Parker are buried in a grave at All Saints' Church under a beautiful beech tree. I didn't find any other family graves there, so presume they are buried elsewhere. Whilst visiting All Saints' church in May 1990, I looked at the register and found that three boys named Spratt had recently been christened there.

The rector was not at the church that day, so when I arrived back in Australia two days later,
I wrote to him to ask for information about them. I received a reply from him in which he informed me that the boys' grandparents were Gordon and Rosa Spratt of New Zealand !

Yvonne Spratt is their daughter-in-law and they are her three sons. I contacted Gordon and Rosa and visited them in New Zealand in 1992. I have been a friend of the family ever
since and have had a close relationship with their eldest daughter Cynthia ( who was also born in Wrington) for 9 years, as we share a strong interest in geneology and she has helped me to gather lots more information about my family. I hope to re-visit Wrington again.

Now for the Lodges who did live in Wrington, I will give you a few names that I have.

John Lodge-B. ABT 1840 Wrington

Samuel Lodge-B. ABT 1842

William Lodge-B. ABT 1844

George Lodge-B. ABT 1846

Hartley Lodge-B. ABT 1849

Anthony Wyatt Lodge-B. ABT 1821

Daniel Lodge B. ABT 1821

Job Nelson Lodge B. ABT 1830 Wrington D. 1853 Winford

That is a few of the names I have, there are more. After reading more of the information I have, I found that quite a few of the Lodges lived in Winford, Felton, Blagdon, and Backwell.

Also mentioned is a John Lodge who was born around 1780 in Winford and died around 1845 in Wrington who had a farm near Broadfield Down around 1836 and was mentioned as being an innkeeper around 1823.

That is about all I have with me right now. I was always told by my father that Wrington was the town James Lodge was from. After looking at what I have here with me on the Lodges, and finding out he came to the States at one in 1857, no wonder no one would know him. As for Kevin Lodge, on one of the list of names there is a Kevin Lodge who was listed as being born on August 4th 1958.

[This has been checked out with Kevin who will now been contacting his long-lost relatives ! - Ed]

Thank You

Brian Creamer - Apache Junction, Arizona, USA

I used to live in Cleeve and spent a lot of time in Wrington. My mother was born in the village and I can remember her taking me and my sister to VJ day in Broad Street. All the tables were lined up down the middle of the street and everyone in the village enjoyed a nice meal celebrating the end of the war.

My mother was Mabel Marshall, her sister is Hilda Coles and my grandfather was Charlie Marshall. He used to run the mill down past the station. Mother used to work there also making ropes etc. They lived in those little cottages opposite what used to be Tincknells hardware store by the railway station.

I went to college with Roy (Tapper) Clements for a couple of years but have not seen him in 49 years. I will be over in England on June 18 through July 15 this year and will be visiting Wrington.

It was sure nice to see your web site it brought back a lot of memories will look forward to visiting it again. It's nice to see what's going on in the community.

Like to say Hi to George and Mary Bond also Brian and Margaret Stokes and Hilda Coles.

Will keep an eye on you guys Thanx!

 Joycelyn (Jo) Lewis nee Edwards - Plymouth Devon

I was born in Wrington in August 1949, moved to Congresbury before I was one then back to Wrington at age seven until I married in 1972. My mother still lives there (Lillian Edwards) and Dad (Jim) is buried in All Saints churchyard.

What a wonderful trip down memory lane. VG Stores, Buglers Off-Licence, Village Newsagents, Richards Garage and Stores and much more!

I don't get home as much as I would like and this site made me feel as if I was there. I found the messages in the visitor's book very interesting especially as I recognised some of the names e.g.Pauline and Christine Mellet with whom I went to school!

I shall certainly be visiting often. Keep up the good work!

 Barry Johnson - Pickering, Ontario, Canada.

Wrington resident 1940 - 1945.

I don't want to repeat any of Gordon Bridges' words which form a part of this Schmoose page 2. So this is some of my memories on the evacuee subject.

One day in June, over sixty years ago, I was heading home, after a hard day, from London’s Carlton Vale school when as one of many I was labelled and loaded onto a bus. The bus took us to Paddington railway station and away we went. We had no idea where.

I remember the train going through what I thought at the time was the longest tunnel on the face of the earth. It seemed as if it would never end. I was four what did I know. In later years the tunnel didn’t seem as long but I vividly remember that first time.

I remember being taken off the train and loaded into a bus. I remember arriving at what I later learned was Wrington’s Memorial Hall. (Which I hope is still standing). I remember crowds of kids in the hall. I remember being one of, or even the last kid to be taken out of the hall. I remember being carried to a house, late at night, and hearing the occupant say there were already too many kids in the house. I remember the occupant relenting and taking me in.

In the house of Mr and Mrs Millard with their daughters Olive and Lillian I lived for the next five years.

What can I say about the loving care I, and later my sister, received in this home. I can’t say enough. Later after a visit to see us my father went off to fight in North Africa. Mum was making ammunition boxes in London. We and thousands of other "Londoners" were being cared for by country folk.

I don't remember it being difficult adapting to country life. "Dad" Millard was off to Marshall’s farm every morning at some ungodly hour to milk the cows. At least I think that’s what he did. He then walked back to the house for breakfast after which he walked back to do more than a regular days work. The highlight of any visit to the farm was riding on those mammoth sized cart horses. At least they seemed that big to us little people.

Another highlight was having a spoonful of malt every morning at the school which had been set up in the Memorial Hall. I always contrived to be last so as I could finish what little was left in the jar. I think this treat came to an end when we were transferred to the village school.

The years rolled by. I remember the downed German pilot being captured. That caused quite a stir. I remember Olive making a tank out of a cardboard box so I could march in some parade. I remember lots of things that made my life and that of my sister Ann very comfortable. As comfortable as it could be in those times of rationing, shortages and other restrictions caused by the war.

One morning I woke up to the sound of pealing church bells. I had never heard them before. They signaled the end of the war with Germany. It was time to go back to London. But that is another story.

P.S. Cybergran (Olive Mellett) now communicates with oldsmiley@look.ca (Me) and it’s great.

Chris & Trevor Parnham - (South Meadows) currently Johannesburg, RSA

Hello from sunny South Africa. We arrived back on Friday having spent five days at Mabalingwe Game Reserve which is in the Northern Province about 120 miles from here. The weather was not particularly good, rain for two days but warm, cloudy and quite cold for Wednesday, but I'm pleased to say has been sunny ever since and got up to 32 degrees in the shade today.

Because of the inclement weather it was not easy to spot game, they stay deep in the bush to keep warm. However, it is so relaxing there that it really doesn't matter. On Thursday Chris and I went on a horseback safari. This was just brilliant. Our guide was very knowledgeable and knew the names of every tree and bush as well as calling birds, which answered him.

I have enclosed a couple of photographs which may be useful for the web site.

 Hugh Mellett  - n.e. Lincolnshire

"This is a great site and definitely one for my favourites folder.I see my mum and dad, two of my sisters {Peta Meadows and Pauline Osborn}my nephew Russ have signed the guest book, as has one of my my mums evacuees from Canada; my grandfather Oliver Millard is in one of my Auntie Sylv's photos and my former next door neighbour Edna Wilkins (Auntie Edna) has also left a message so I thought I had better join the family and make an entry!

I was born in the village in 1960 and was taught by amongst others Mr Peerless and Mrs Hodges. I was in the Scouts from about 1970-1976 and played football for Wrington on Saturdays and Sundays for quite a few seasons; I have particularly fond memories of playing for Wrington B on Sundays.

Regards to all Wringtonians; would love to hear from anyone I know at hugh@hmellett.freeserve.co.uk

Gordon Bridges - Nottingham.

"We are told that the evacuation of schoolchildren from London went without a hitch! The children smiling and cheerful, left their parents to board trains for unknown destinations in the spirit of going on a great adventure

Allowing that wishful thinking, one of the earliest schools to start the evacuation was my old infant school Carlton Vale. Forty children aged between four and seven assembled before dawn; each child carried a gas mask, food and change of clothing and wore three labels.

Arriving at Paddington Station a teacher cheerily told my mother "We'll be back in a week, the weather's glorious for a nice holiday." However, I was still an evacuee three years later. The organisation at the station was good and quite quickly we left Paddington Station for the West Country.

The journey lasted a long time, too long for some, namely those who wanted their parents, those who wanted to be sick, and finally those who wanted to run riot. Controlling us were two teachers from our school, two ladies determined to continue our education, wherever the Education Board decided that would be.

Upon our arrival at Weston we the Carlton Vale Infants School contingent were taken to a village called Wrington.

Being five at the time my only recollection of the first evening of my stay with the family of Mr & Mrs Oliver Millard and their daughters Lillian and Olive was a hot drink and a warm comfortable bed.

The daughters Lillian and Olive were put in charge of me and two other evacuees Barry and Ann Johnson, who overnight became my brother and sister. Wrington Somerset was a very unusual place indeed, for it produced instant new families.

School was one side of a curtain that divided the Memorial Hall that was until a few weeks later when we were allowed to attend the village school.

On the journey to school each day I had to pass Sullivans Bakery the window of which even in wartime was attractively decorated with what appeared to be cream cakes. As luck would have it Mrs Sullivan thought I looked like a nephew of hers, therefore the trip to school took a little longer each day as I made sure Mrs Sullivan saw me, for having seen me a cake was always given and gratefully received.

I have many fond memories of the village and on my many return visits, I always feel that I have come home. On these visits some of the villagers who know me greet me with “BE THAT YOU GORDON”.

It is ironic that the village is now home to people who moved down from Nottingham, to take up jobs when Imperial Tobacco centralised its Head Office in Bristol. Some of whom I know from the time I was Players Supply manager.

So my evacuation turned out fine, I was treated as member of wonderful family; given love and affection, which secured friendships to last a lifetime.

For some of us it was a life-enhancing, mind-broadening experience, leaving us with memories we treasure to this day. Namely the generosity of those who took us into their homes.

Gordon Bridges.

Emma - New Zealand

We arrived in New Zealand safy.We will be going to Hamilton. We've got the camper vans the family we are staying with are coming too.

I would like to swim with dolphins but I might not be able to.

from Emma