Ken Creamer here. I really enjoyed visiting your website. My dad Brian Creamer just showed it to me, My grandmother Mable Marshal/ Creamer was married to Thomas V Creamer at the church pictured in Hannah's grave.

My great great grandfather Marshal's grave is pictured in the Hannah-s grave part of the site, he is the second one over from the cross in the lower left of the second picture on the left,
he died in 1946.

My dad's cousin Margret Coles/Stokes is pictured in the site also looking down Kings Road view, she is the daughter of Hilda Coles, my gran's sister.

Thankyou for bringing me closer to my ancestors' roots. If you know Margret or Hilda say hello for me, I haven't seen them since 1973 when we left Cleeve.

My husband's contract out here ends in September 2003. So there will be much celebrating on mine and the children's part when we come "HOME" in June 2003, (I'm afraid he will have to do the last part on his own--the children's school year finishes in June so that's us out of here!!!!!)

See you all in June, we can't wait.

Love to all at Wrington Primary School, Florence can not wait to get back. Elizabeth never went as she was too young but hears about it often from Florence.

Love from Sheryl Yapp.

A couple of ideas have occurred to me and I would like to run them past you for your consideration.

(1) An email address book of Wringtonians and ex Wringtonians (worldwide)

(2) A Wrington World Day. On this day people would send emails telling what they and their families were doing on that day. It could include snippets of information of life in their community and country. Whether it was 28c or -2c.etc It would require imput from some locals as well as ex-pats. What do you think ?

By the way it was 26c in Cambridge today!!

Best wishes Bill

[Well, what do YOU think about Bill's ideas ? They both seem to have a lot of mileage. Of course, before putting up people's e-mail addresses on the website, we'll have to make sure they're happy about that first.

So, if you've ever e-mailed the website, expect a message asking if we can include your e-mail address on the list. And what about the 'Wrington World Day" ? Any offers to take part ? - Ed. ]

Next I looked at the village records and came across the word "dring". According to your researcher this is an old term for alley. My research suggests its meaning is a little more precise and means " from the dwellings to the church". I further suggest it is one of about 15 remaining pure Saxon words left in general usage today. Another is "Combe" as in Goblin and Burrington. Perhaps someone may consider changing "Church Walk" back to "The Dring".

Aranui,

Bill Crook

We thank especially Jennie and Jim, Lindsey and family, and the congregation attending Evensong at All Saints' on 13th October.( and sincere apologies to the kind gentleman who offered to escort me "up the tower" on the following Thursday !).

Much building has taken place since my last visit but the essential character of the village appears the same: Broad Street, the woods behind Barley Wood ,Cox's Green, the Yeo at Iwood, and the undoubtedly- haunted Goblin Combe.

A rare pleasure indeed. pwhitehouse@vtown.com.au

One little anecdote might amuse you. When we were back in 1992, my older son was looking through the register of the church wardens as he wanted to see his grandfather recorded there. He thought of it as being long ago, so turned to the front of the book. He was amazed to see how far back it went, and hastily turned forward to the last few entries. Quite a different perspective on time from an American point of view!

With best regards to any of the old folks I knew, who were my in-laws' generation. I think Olga Kennett must be one of the very few left now. Molly Mansell was always a great favourite of mine, and I find Prof. Hudson fascinating and very kind.

Thank you for getting back to us.

With our deep, heartfelt thanks for your friendly welcome and warm reception,
Jose, Mariela and Irene

Martin Merz

Pam Mulle - 18th September

Louisa England was my great grandmother. In the 1881 Census returns for Wells she was shown as being aged 31, a mother of 5 children, a dressmaker , and having been born in Wrington ( maiden name not known). My grandfather was William J England aged 35 at that time and born in Weston-super-Mare, and he was a brushmaker.

I wondered whether anyone might be able to provide more information from your local records. There has always been a strong belief that one side of the family is directly descended from Bishop John Hooper who was burnt at the stake in Gloucester in 1555.

Many years ago I corresponded with a relative of mine who was then Sue Tinknell of Station Villa, Station Road, Wrington, but I do not know her married name. I was in Rowberrow this time last year visiting the Bisdees, relatives Sue and I have in common.

I tried to make contact with her, unfortunately without success. Should a reader of this know Sue, I would be most grateful if they passed this message to her. I can be contacted at - conrua@bigpond.com.au - should anyone wish to follow up this message.

Previously, we have been working in the University of Madrid. We are coming because Jose has been appointed Professor in the Veterinary School in Langford. Last August we were house hunting in the area and found that Wrington was a quite pleasant, beautiful village.
We were lucky enough to rent a house there, a bungalow in West Hay Road.

We are arriving next 27th of September via the ferry Santander-Plymouth. We are very excited about our future new life in Britain. We look forward to meeting you soon.

Mariela Scortti, Jose A. Vazquez-Boland, Irene Vazquez-Scortti

I was so delighted to find Richard Thorn's Wrington website. I have been away for six and a half years now but I still miss the village enormously at times.

I am living in a small town called Howick in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands of South Africa. I enjoy living here but I lived in Wrington from 1973 to 1995 and 22 years in Wrington means that I have an awful lot of memories of my life there. Both my daughters grew up in Wrington (Catherine is living in Backwell and Sarah is here in South Africa).

I am naturally curious to know what has been happening and who of my old friends and acquaintances are still around and who is doing what. I have gleaned a fair amount of information from the website but there are still questions about various things. I would be delighted if anyone who knew me would like to e-mail me to exchange news. I'm sure that Richard Thorn could give you my e-mail address.

I would particularly like to hear news of Daryl and Chris Brown, Mike & Jenny Smythe, Bob & Ginny Sackley, Pat Milne, Teresa Dunstone, Dave & Brenda Warford, Alan & Sue Pearce, Mike & Lilian Dewberry, Mike & Rosemary Hodges , Joyce Smith and many others. There are so many people that I knew through working in the Chemist for so many years. I'd also like news of Peter & Constance Durie and Ann & Tony Vaughan (who I know live at Burrington) and Jinty Lankester, who were my neighbours.

I really do miss the community spirit in Wrington and the familiarity of everything. I miss the beauty of the church and the sound of the bells, no church has bells like that here although the local Anglican church is very pretty. I miss the easy access to the countryside and walks, we do not have the freedom here even though we are surrounded by beautiful country, we always have to think about safety. A walk in woods full of bluebells and the sound of the sheep and cows in the fields.... and even the smell of muck spreading has its appeal !

As Howick is so much bigger than Wrington, it is harder to become involved and to meet people. Over the years I was involved in so many things, the original Wildlife Society, the Playgroup (I was on the Committee for 5 yrs ), the school where I did reading with Rosemary Hodges class and pottery after school, the Youth Club, the Village Association (specifically the Parish Map project) and involvement in the Village Fete. All my years of painting, so many people still have my pictures.

Having said all I have about nostalgia for Wrington, if I have to live anywhere else then where I am comes a close second. This part of South Africa and more specifically this part of the Province of Kwa-Zulu Natal is known to be a landscape that reminded the early British settlers of home. We have beautiful green rolling hills somewhat reminiscent of Wales (only our hills are higher).

This is a major farming area and also an area full of stud farms where beautiful horses are bred including one where they breed Lippizaners. South Africa is the only country outside Austria that has a Spanish Riding School. The rolling hills get higher and higher as you travel east until you reach the Drakensberg Mountains (about an hour's drive from here). The Drakensberg has recently been declared a World Heritage Site. It is the most beautiful range with spectacular scenery and wonderful trails that can be walked and lovely places to stay. Len and Pam Bendall have done some of it.

Howick itself is about the size of Glastonbury and is quite a little Mecca for tourists as we have the Howick Falls which are right near the centre of the town. The falls are on the Umgeni River and are 100metres deep (approx 328ft) and fall into a gorge. There is a viewing platform at the top of the falls and one can walk down into the gorge to view the falls from the pool at the bottom and the river flowing away. There is an area at the top of the falls where there are plenty of places selling curios, art and crafts and there are restaurants, pubs, a museum and an hotel.

Just down river outside the town we have Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve which is a wonderful place to walk, not easy walking down the side of the gorge but the scenery is wonderful and there is plenty of wildlife, zebra, giraffe, warthogs, buck of various kinds, porcupines and a wealth of birds. On the other side of the town about 2 miles as the crow flies is Midmar Dam (a little bigger than Chew Valley Lake) where one can picnic, yacht, waterski, canoe, fish or whatever.

I've only touched on the things to do around Howick. There many more waterfalls in the area, the largest is the Karkloof Falls which are about 350ft deep, quite spectacular. The area is full of very enterprising people who produce all sorts of things from cheeses to handmade shoes and lots of lots of artists and crafts people, the area is known for it.

The town itself has every facility one could possibly want, good shops, doctors, dentists, vets, churches, sporting facilities including a golf course, a flying club, you name it Howick's got it. It is a highly desirable place for people to retire to so there is quite a high number of old people. Howick also has a huge population of expat British people, you hear every kind of British accent you can think of amongst its population. Sometimes I have to do a doubletake and realise where I am.

As far as placing where Howick is for those who are interested and have an atlas. We are about 56 miles inland from Durban, just about 12miles outside Pietermaritzberg (which is actually the capital of the Province but only a small city). The main N3 highway passes by Howick on its route between Durban and Johannesburg.

I am happily married to my husband Michael and we have a lovely home and garden (about 5/8 acre of land). We have a dog and 2 cats and a garden full of trees and wild birds. Michael's father also lives with us. I have a studio in an outbuilding where I am still painting and there are galleries here that will take my work. I have found my animal portraits as much in demand as they were when I was in Wrington, folks here are very doggy orientated.

I really look forward to getting some reponse to this e-mail and hope to hear from some old friends. I shall continue to log-on to the website regularly.

Many good wishes to all.

Diana Richter (formerly Wager)

Do people have any photos of various events during the war years? Perhaps there is enough from Olive and others in the village for a page entitled "Wrington at War" (Suggestion only)

Debra Huzzard (Rickard) - Kidderminster, 10th April, 2002

I have many happy memories of Wrington and will try to find some old photos! [in response to Olive Mellett's - Ed]
However today is the one day each year when I always stop and remember Wrington as I am sure does anyone who was there on 10/4/1973. I just wish to offer my condolences to anyone directly affected by the Swiss Air Disaster and indeed to everyone who was in the village at that time. No-one was left untouched; we all lost dear friends who will always be remembered.

I think I remember being in the "Alice through history," I was the 10 of diamonds. There were other pantomines put on, mostly written and produced by Olive and all involving children.

What fun we had not realising all the effort that went on behind the scenes There are many photos of the pantos that I am sure would be of interest.

A belated thank you to all who planned and organised those wonderful events., especially you Olive (my mum) Growing up in Wrington was the best.