DECEMBER 2005
PRESS RELEASE
WIVELISCOMBE – A HISTORY OF A SOMERSET MARKET TOWN, will be launched on Saturday 17th December 2005 at 3.30pm in the Sports and Arts Hall of Wiveliscombe Primary School.
Everyone is welcome to join in the celebration and buy their copy of this all-encompassing account of Wiveliscombe’s fascinating story. Full of facts and photos, illustrations and anecdotes, the book will appeal to both the inquisitive reader and the most discerning local historian.
‘Wiveliscombe plays an important part in my life …’ Many people, past and present, from Wiveliscombe and beyond have willingly shared their memories including the celebrity chef Keith Floyd who reminisced on his childhood in the town. The family lived next door to grandfather, Harold Thomas Margetts, a boot and shoe repairer in Silver Street. Keith has vivid recollections of the Primary School and an enchanted childhood spent rabbiting, fishing, mushrooming and playing sport on The Rec, often in the company of his uncle Ken Margetts. He earned pennies ‘bottling up’ at the Bear, picking herbs and plucking pheasants at the Lion Hotel and sweeping the pavement outside Vickery’s for Mrs Parsons. Keith says: ‘The funny thing is that Wiveliscombe plays a very important part in my life even though I haven’t been there for over thirty years. I am very privileged to have had such a fantastic time.’ Sadly his busy schedule precludes him from joining us for the launch, however we look forward to welcoming him back to the town in the near future.
Copies of this must-have Christmas present will be available in the town from: Tucker’s News, the Post Office and at Wiveliscombe House or from members of the Book Group: David Bond, Veronica Cole, Brian Collingridge, Bob Croft, Frankie Dransfield, Sue Farrington, Dixon Luxton, Graham Mark, Brian McKinley, Hilary Miller, Bernadette Rowe and Barbara Weston.
AUGUST 2005
Most of the information for the book has now been collected and the project group are in the process of ordering the content with a view to meeting the December deadline for publication.
JUNE 2004
Having completed the first year of our Local Heritage Initiative (LHI) Lottery funded project to record the History of Wiveliscombe by the publication of a book, the following facts and figures will explain exactly what we've been up to. The Group meets every 4-6 weeks and to date we have had 19 meetings. We also held a brainstorming session to analyse the scope of the book and how it should be structured.
Presentations have been made to the Day Care Centre, the Civic Society and at the annual Parish Meeting, as well as a display at the WAVE consultation day in the autumn of 2003. We held an 'open meeting' in the Wiveliscombe House Community Office when much interesting material was brought in. Several Group members have received 'Recording Oral History' training, and others have attended two LHI seminars. In addition to the collection and digital copying of photographs and other illustrative material, research has been undertaken in the Somerset Record Office and Somerset Studies Library, oral histories have been recorded and transcribed, articles from the Wiveliscombe Messenger have been extracted and letters and e-mails offering information have been followed up.
To date forty town residents have shared their memories with us, some in taped interviews, and a total of eleven articles have appeared in the Wiveliscombe Messenger, Wellington Weekly News, Somerset County Gazette and the Parish Magazine. The Book Group also has an entry on the Wiveliscombe website. All the material has been sorted and filed into folders, one for each chapter. These folders will shortly be distributed to those who have volunteered to write up particular topics.
The chapters are to be completed by September 2004, after which the long task of editing, layout and design, proof reading and indexing will begin, with eventual publication in time for everyone to have a solution to their Christmas present buying problems in 2005! But none of this progress would have been achieved without the contributions of around one hundred Wiveliscombe residents, past and present, who have joined in this great undertaking. Thank you everyone!
JUNE 2003
Wiveliscombe has a real reason to celebrate because the Wiveliscombe Book Group has been awarded £13, 788 from the Local Heritage Initiative. The LHI scheme is run by the Countryside Agency and has funds of over £8m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £1m from the Nationwide Building Society which enables people to treasure the aspects of local life that makes many places so special. The money will help fund the preparation and professional publication of a book, which will tell the story of Wiveliscombe's history in photographs, illustrations and words. The Wiveliscombe Book Group has pledged over £6,000 worth of time and skills as 'match funding'. The book will be available to buy sometime towards the end of 2004. Now that the funding is secure the Book Group will begin collating the photographs and other material that has already been collected, there are taped interviews with local people to transcribe and an exhaustive list of subjects to be covered and lots of people to talk to. More volunteers have come forward to help with typing, research, interviewing and there are many opportunities for people who are interested in the heritage of the town to get involved. If you have photographs, illustrations, ephemera, memories, family stories or any information that will contribute to the book of Wiveliscombe.
The group meets monthly.
Information and photographs for the book are requested from residents and anyone who was born or has lived in Wiveliscombe and is now living elsewhere.
