Russell Crook, Wringtonian 1932-1952
[and see January, 2010 entry - Ed ]

Marlene Shaw (née Chard) Bargoed, Glamorgan, 27th December

I am sending a photograph taken in Wrington of a cricket match. The man third from the left in the front wearing batsman's attire and a black hat there is a cross marked underneath him. There is no name on the photograph of any person at all.
                                                                        
My cousin gave me a copy of the photograph which belonged to my Grt Aunt Elizabeth Ann Rogers (née Chard), and her parents and siblings lived in Wrington. Annie, as she was known, left in 1911 after her husband died, to come to Wales to be near her brothers who had left a few years previously. If anyone can identify him it would be wonderful ( I am on the Family History page there).

Another photograph which, hopefully, someone can identify two men - father and son, I think.
                          
I have another photo with Helen "Nellie" Crook (née Chard) with the same older man pictured here. Maybe it is her husband or brother ? Hopefully someone can identify them and let me know their names. Thank you so much.

[I found the website because of my] family history in Wrington. I have memories of family living in Wrington (Amor) and of visiting for family get togethers, would be great to hear from anyone who remembers me and my family. Regards

His father was also Joseph Frederick Ashley and his sister was Annie May Ashley and his brother was Arthur Henry Ashley whose son was Alroy Arthur Ashley.

I believe Jeff Parsons (Thorne) entry on your pages has my family tree and would like to be in touch with him and Lee Docherty who also has an entry re my family.

I heard about the war memorial today and the service of Remembrance from Rev Maddock today when he called to see my daughter.

My father grew up in Wrington and his family relations also the Spaldings of Silver Street.

I lived in Wrington for 7 years in Siver Street and Ropers Lane.

Trevor keeps me abreast of Wrington people and events, but the people he mentions that I remember are in a time warp, forever, as they were in the 1940s, as is Wrington.

School days with Mr Waite as headmaster, hilarious cooking lessons in the Reading Room, learning to ride a bike, the only transport possible. Picking baskets of primroses with Miss Wilkins to decorate the church at Easter, the Bethlehem Tableaux put on by the Reverend Hook (I was Mary once). Then dances in the hall and Friday night pictures. We knew everybody then and every corner of Wrington.

It sounds idyllic but at 14 I worked every day of the week for the sum of 10/- and deference was required. I was no Pollyanna, I seethed with resentment.

I've wandered far and wide since then but have never forgotten my roots and still have this strong attachment to friends and neighbours and lovely Wrington.

[Following her father's (Les Chard) death last week, Yvonne sent this e-mail - Ed]

Dad's funeral was on Monday 12th October, 12 years to the day that he and Mum arrived in New Zealand. Everything went well, even the weather was kind to us.

Dad would have felt very 'embarrassed' with the amount of people that were there. We had about 100. You know he wasn't one to want a fuss made but I hope he would have been very pleased with the way the afternoon went.

We had the RSA there. Like your British Legion. They called out Dad's name, said his service number, said a few prayers and gave everyone a poppy to put on the casket. Then played the 'Last Post' on the bugle. Well, that was a bit hard to cope with but it was very nice.

Mum's funeral was so nice - full of joy, and a few laughs along the way - and I wanted Dad's to be just as nice as hers, and I think we achieved that.

Dad missed Mum so much he just wanted to be with her. He got so tired he just couldn't hold on any longer. They are together again.

We have a very big gap in our family now but with friends' support and love we will get through and move on.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers,

Yvonne and family

Born in Wrington 1937. Left for New Zealand 1958. Interested reading Trevor Wedlake's contributions. I knew his parents and brothers and sisters

Peggy used to deliver the newspapers, and was terrified of dogs, but apparently got on with the Wedlake's dog, and they had a nice photo of her patting the dog. By chance, whilst looking for something else, Trevor came across her burial entry in the church register just the other day.

She too was older than Trevor, but Ronnie was younger than Trevor.

Trevor recalls during the war, when everything was in short supply, Fred somehow acquired a Ford 8 engine, which he buried for safety's sake. However, someone found it and dug it up !

Fantastic website! I spotted my father, Fred Snell, in the 1926 school photo and would love to hear from anyone who knew him/his family. Now 97 he loves to reminisce to his great grandsons about the skittle teams and teaching himself to drive on the baker's van before driving for the Anson family.

Moved into Wrington in 1993 and left in 2006. Happy times and happy memories, but alas, house prices forced us else where. Have used the website for years, in fact was one of the first to leave a comment on the visitors' book a long time ago.

[I used to live at] 2 South Meadows between approx 1978-1990

[I was] looking for info on my great great grandfather, William Chidzey, born in1848

The website remains a valuable link for us in distant lands because with much of the information it’s our only link. Keep it coming!

[Newer readers may not know that Roger was the son of one of All Saints' longest serving church organists, Howard Biggs, and his wife Irene - Ed]

My family ancestry involves the Bragg, Cook, Bond and Marshall branches. As a child in the 1940's, visiting Wrington from Bristol was always a great treat.

The period of time that Trevor was referring to was familiar to me as we are both about the same age.
I have been trying to pin-point the farm it was that I helped on during hay-making season. That I think
was a farm near Sexey'sSchool at Bruton where I was allowed to ride the hay rake machine when I got to be old enough to handle the horse, (and heavy enough to raise the tines at the end of every row). The head master allowed us bigger boys to work the farms during the season.

Then came the fall, and the thrashing machine brings back many memories but mainly one about a big black horse with a blow fly fistula on one shoulder and the only horse on the farm with enough power to back the thrasher into the shed for the winter. Does anyone else remember the horse ? Ford's farm at Nempnett perhaps ? Although it could have been any farm in the Wrington area.

Larry Cody - Barry, South Wales, 11th March

I have just visited the Wrington website and was interested in the page regarding family history research. Some of my predecessors were born in Wrington - Paul Williams (born 1808), married to Sarah Broad of Dundry and their son George Williams (born 1830).

When George Williams left the parish, he initially moved into Bristol, then Newport and eventually Cardiff. He became a boilermaker and his son (my great grandfather) was a boilermaker/engineer at the dry dock in Cardiff, during the boom years of the coal trade. I now live just along the coast at Barry.

Would it be possible to add my name and those of my ancestors to the page in the hope that someone may have a connection with the family or researching the name.
                                                              [This was done, and we await results ! See also Tom Williams' entry - Ed]

How are things there in old blighty??

We’ve been keeping a close eye on the fire situation in Victoria as there has been some big blazes not far from Bronwyn (my sister) and we also have friends near Kinglake where the worst of the fires were. Fortunately they are all OK.

I’m going to a 40 year high school reunion in Victoria on March 22 and I’ll be driving through where the worst of the destruction was (just to put that in perspective it is an 8 hour drive south of Sydney). I’m not really looking forward to the experience though I expect that they will be well in to the clean up and the rebuilding.

We live not far from the biggest National Park in NSW so the same thing could quite easily happen in our area. The hottest day that we’ve had so far this summer was 45 degrees. Being near the coast we get the cooling sea breezes in the afternoon so it is not as bad as some parts of the state though we're glad now that the weather seems to have cooled off.

I was speaking to my son Rohan last night who is now living back in Adelaide (in South Australia). He is working for a company Greening Australia on revegetation projects and has just come back from a seed collecting trip on the outback where the temperatures were up around the 50 degrees during the day. Hard to imagine!

I noticed that things are starting to warm up in your part of the world. I expect that you are all well over the cold.

Say hi to all of the Cleeves.

I lived in School Road and then Urchinwood from 1956 to 1988. Owned and ran Dewey Waters Company on Cox's Green for 36 years - man and boy !