An Experiment - A nearly complete history of Whatlington and Vinehall Street

As you may have seen, last week's posting was not added, this was due to some research into the next stage of this blog.

I have decided to try and write a complete history of Whatlington and Vinehall Street, this does however mean going back at least 13.7 billion years. It is hoped that a short description of an event will be published every day (for at least December and then once a week) and that will take us from that very first event of the expanding universe until the year 2012.

I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

Remembrance Sunday and the Village Hall

As you may have guessed, if you are a reader (avid or not), this post is late but I give you a recollection of last week's Remembrance Service.

The service was held in Whatlington Village Hall, next to the River Line, as the village church is still out of action due. But seats were arranged in a semi-circle with the table acting as an altar near the stage. Some of the congregation members would have remembered the Second World War, one patrolled the cliffs at Fairlight (near Hastings) with the Home Guard.

The service sheet for Rememberance Sunday had a list of the dead from the Whatlington War Memorial for both World Wars. The first person on the list will be familiar to those who have read Charlotte Moore's book about her family house - Hancox: A House and A Family.

1914 - 1918
Gillachrist Moore
Alfred Foster
Arthur Hyland
David Hyland
Frederick Potter
Edward Brooman

1939 - 1945
Anthony Cundy
Charles Masters
Leonard Masters

But can anyone tell me anything about the other people on this memorial. I hope to add a picture of the memorial at some point, does anyone have one.

After the service, I got talking to a couple of the parishioners and started to ask questions about the village hall. How long had the original building been up? There is a sepia photograph of the hall as well as the mill and the mill house. This photograph is found above the service hatch. So let's try and find out when the hall was built.

There is a wooden plaque hung on the wall that lists the Whatlington Parish Council Chairmen:

L. Welstead 1894
H. L. D. Overy 1898
W. W. Adamson 1905
H. F. Buller 1907
J. H. Pound 1909
W. M. Goldsmith 1910
Rev. F. J. Browell 1945
W. W. Deeprose 1949
W. L. T. Lane 1958
W. W. Deeprose 1965
D. J. C. Elliott 1972
R. J. Fuller 1987
R. K. Fisher 1995

I know a reasonable amount about three people, on which I will add later posts, and I possibly know two other names and potentially one name in the late 1800's. But what do other people know.

One last thing about the village hall, for the meantime, by the door leading to the kitchen door is a tray wired to the wall. On talking to one of the parishioners, I was told that it could be described as a tray that may have a design similar to work of Romany Gypsy origin. Does anyone know what the significance is for this tray?

Who works in the Church?

Apologies for the delay in this week's offering; for which there is a potted history of the Parson's nomenclature and a poem on what to call the parish priest.

It is said that the term of rector or vicar goes back to Mediaeval times. If a parson of a university college or a cathedral chapter is employed by a living patron then the parson is said to do the job "vicariously" and thus the term vicar appears. The vicar may get tithes of a lower value compared to the patron.

However if the patron was a Bishop, the parson was then appointed in their own right and being known as the Rector gained the major tithes as a stipend. The tithes may have gone with history but there is a possibility that the local church may have the title to some property. Land that has the word "Glebe" in its name often refers to property that has a church living connected to it.

The Vicar may live in a vicarage and the Rector may live in a rectory, but hopefully neither live in the local churchyard...yet!

A past vicar of Goring gave rise to write a poem on a priest's names.

Call me 'Brother' if you will
Call me 'Padre' better still
Though plain 'Mister' fills the bill.
If that title lacketh thrill
Even 'Father' brings no chill.
Pastor, Rector, Vicar, Friend,
Titles almost without end
Do not grate nor yet offend.
But how that man my heart doth rend
Who merely calls me 'Reverend'!

I am sure that some readers of this blog will recall past vicars of Whatlington who were often tied with Sedlescombe, a later post will recall these figures of the church. If you are reading this post the week when it was written (the 9th of November 2011), a new series of Reverend is being shown on the BBC.

With thanks, more about the Renegades and Philadelphia Turner

You may have noticed if you are a regular reader that there was no posting last week, I apologise for this.

Secondly, if you are an avid reader of the Whatlington News edited and compiled by Steve Turner, you will have noticed a double page spread on this blog. Thank you Steve, this has already prompted a reply to Steve with regards to the piece on the Whatlington Renegades.

I quote from the email sent to Steve, who sent it to me, from Liz Beeching:

"Hello, 

Beechings here, we or rather John  made a banner to take to Battle Bonfire when the children were small (30)  years ago. As he was told off for not asking, he was then later asked if he could turn up with a "new" society next year and thus a bigger banner was made and lots more of our mates joined in.

The Firework company grew out of the above as they got to do the display by default at Hastings, we are the founder members of this society."

So give them a wave as they wend their way through the High Street of Battle on Saturday evening. I have it on record that Steve may be adding more about the Renegades in later monthly issue of the Whatlington News, but I shall also update you on the adventures of the Whatlington Renegades.

On curiously flicking through Google as one does I came across a Family Tree Maker site with some genealogical data. 

A lady called Philadelphia Turner, who was born in Whatlington (no actual date was given) in 1784, being baptised at Whatlington church on the 5th of December 1784. She was the youngest of eight children of Ted and Ann Turner. She married William Eldridge of Iclkesham in Sussex on the 8th of January 1811 at Udimore church.. She died on the 17th of June in 1861 and was buried at on the 20th of June at Northiam aged 75.

Past "In Memoriam" Notices

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that November is a month to remember, I am still awaiting to hear from you with regard to the War Memorial.

But on looking through some old scrap books, I came across a couple of obituary notices from the Whatlington News (dated Easter 1999). The first is of a long term resident from Whatlington and the other was a familiar figure from the village.

Whatlington bids farewell to Lily

Whatlington has lost a long-established resident. Lily Upton, born in Salehurst, had lived there since 1946 and at Brambles on the Green since 1951. She and her husband Jack, who celebrated their golden wedding anniversary six years ago, moved to Roselands in Brede just before Christmas and Lily died there peacefully on the 7th of January.

It was a great loss to her friends, of whom I must be one of the oldest as I had known her since she came to work for my grandmother at Vinehall in 1936. During the war she served for six years in the Naafi, where she learned her matchless skill as a sausage roll maker! Later, she was housekeeper for my mother in Battle for 25 years, becoming a wonderful carer and a really supportive friend. 

Lily would have made an excellent professional nurse, and it was a great joy to her when her daughter Rosemary qualified as as S.R.N.. Later, she and Jack were thrilled when their grandson Russell passed out top of his year with distinction at Plumpton college; he now farms at Burwash.

Essentially a practical person, neighbours could count on Lily's help. Her cooking was famous and her delicious and generous contributions were welcomed at village events. A lover of the countryside, she was a keen gardener with green fingers as well as a skilled flower arranger. recently she got out very little but she still enjoyed the beauty of the flower festivals in the Church.

Always courteous, she was a splendid letter writer: her friends will miss the notes she made sure of sending on special occasions. 

At her funeral in Hastings on January 21 the Rector spoke warmly about Lily and everyone expressed appreciation of her friendship as well as their sympathy for Jack, Rosemary and Ralph and Russell. 

Benedicta Whistler

Last month we had the sad news of the sudden death of David Frith. David was a popular man who seemed to make friends readily. He was known to many through his work as a postman, and through his keen interests in bee-keeping. Many people were recipients of a jar of David's honey.

A couple of years ago, David married Frances and they moved to live in Polegate. David recently had undergone surgery in Eastbourne General Hospital. 

He died on February 21st and his funeral was at Whatlington on March 3rd followed by his burial in our churchyard. We offer our sympathy to his wife Frances, to his daughter Carol and to all the family. may David rest in peace with the risen Lord whom he loved and served.

Father Colin Pritchard

As I said at the beginning of this posting, both these notices were originally printed in the Whatlington News around Easter 1999. The reason why I posted these past "In Memoriam" notices is that I am interested in what people remember of both of these people and look forward to reading your comments.

Red leaves, what used to happen in the Village Hall and a lot of questions

So another week had arrived and I hope that the shock to the system with the Indian Summer two weekends ago was not too great. However that sudden burst of warmer weather will have helped to create a autumnal rainbow of colours. 

Why do they turn different colours in autumn? A relatively easy article to read from How Stuff Works explains that the green leaves, containing chlorophyll, turn carbon dioxide, sunlight and water into energy through photosynthesis. Easy so far.  As stated earlier, the chlorophyll aids the transformation with the assistance of pigments carotene and xanthophyll. These pigments are found in all leaves, the carotene adding an orangey hue, similar to egg yolks, and the xanthophyll adding a yellow colour. However, when autumn comes, the deciduous trees prepare for hibernation in a two step process: primarily the tree creates a cork like layer at the end of each leaf so that it may eject the leaf at some point later in the year and thus it seals off the tree from potential infection; secondly, the production of chlorophyll decreases and this gives the carotene and xanthophyll a chance to add oranges and yellows to the leaf.  

The red colour comes from a different substance that is not present in all leaves, this is anthocyanin. Even if this substance is within the leaf, it may not produce the red colour in autumn as it depends on certain environmental parameters. The tree will try to recover as much sugar and energy from the leaf before it falls to the ground, and this is where the anthocyanin becomes necessary. It is thought that if the weather is still sunny and quite dry int he late summer and early autumn, a greater number of anthocyanins are released from the tree sap to the leaves in order to make more sugars and other nutrients. Some scientists say that other stress events, such as near freezing weather, can increase the level of anthocyanins. It is also thought that the red pigment acts as a protection for the leaf. So with the weather we have had, I expect to see increased amounts of orange (carotenes), red (anthocyanins) and yellow (xanthophylls) in the falling leaves. 

 I had a wonderful chat with the ladies in the Battle branch of Age UK East Sussex recently. There was Sally Davis and Rosemary Gallagher. Rose took over the organisation of the children's party in the village hall a few years after Cyril and Alice Carey had managed it, as Cyril had died and Alice had moved to Hollington; George Sax was the chairman of the committee and a flier had been sent to all the villagers stating that if no-one came forward to take on the running of the party, it would no longer exist. Rose was secretary and Chris Hayles was treasurer in the early 1980s. Can anyone remember these parties and have I spelt Chris's surname correctly?

Rose, came to the village in 1972, also ran the Whatlington Table Tennis Association in the Village Hall in the late 60's and early 70's, does anyone remember this or did you win any prizes there? It ran on a weekday night with the table tennis table being transported down the hill to the village hall. Latterly, a table tennis table was bought, but with dwindling numbers and the rise of Village Hall hire costs, the club sadly closed. 

Not only did Rose run these two clubs, she also organised a Saturday morning club for parents to drop their children off at the Village Hall so that shopping could be done without taking the children to the shops. All sorts of activities used to occur here, especially drawing and painting. At the time, Miss Pratt of Park Lane used to be in charge of the Village Hall. Can anyone remember this was? Sally Davis came to the village in 1979 with her husband, Clive.

November comes

Yes, I know we have only just entered October and what a glorious start to it with balmy weather and the fauna and flora not knowing what to do, I would like you to cast your minds forward to the next month. The month where we remember two days, the fifth and the eleventh.

A few years ago, I wrote an article in the Whatlington News about the Whatlington Renegades. Some of you may ask who are they? Google provides 174 articles about them. They are one of many bonfire societies in Sussex, thirty-nine in fact with seven coming from Lewes. The first Sussex bonfire starts on the first Saturday of September with the Uckfield Carnival Bonfire and ends with the Barcombe and Robertsbridge Bonfires on the third Saturday of November. 

One forum describes the Whatlington Renegades as "in their skins and skulls appear to have escaped from a Conan movie." One website shows a picture of Gerry Glenister's badged tailcoat who used to carry the drum for the Whatlington Renegades, does he still carry the drum? I have found a photo on Flickr with the badged drummer, is this Gerry? 

I have found a photographic blog with some of the Whatlington Renegades making torches for an early bonfire on the 10th of October 1998. Included are John Beeching, Peter Breach, Brian Gasson,  Gerry and Jean Glenister, Eileen LeNett, Min, Roy Robins and Margaret Trowell. This site describes the Whatlington Renegades as a society with no rules or membership usually found drumming at the rear of the procession.

But can anyone tell me who runs this society today, is it still John Beeching? What can they tell me about their history of the society? You never know, we may get something before the fifth of November.

Of course, the other time in November is when we remember the fallen from the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries. Does anyone have a photograph of the War memorial at Whatlington Church? I expect the service will be held at the Village Hall, but can anyone tell me of past Remembrance services?

I have just looked at the audience statistics for the blog, admittedly we haven't got many readers yet, but a waterfall starts with one drop. However we have had five visits to the site from Russia, does anyone have any ideas why Russia may be interested in a small Sussex village?