Author: piers

60164 CD16

James Turtle from the Gloucestershire Record Office talks about medicine in Gloucestershire from 1540-1900 covering disease, especially the plague and smallpox and the development of the medical profession with references to Fairford.

60163 CD15

Albert, who has lived in the area all his life, talks about his working life from Godwin Pumps via RAF Fairford, Wootten Bassett, Fairford Cottage Hospital and finally for the council, work he was still doing at the age of 80.

David Pitts lived in Cowley Court Cottages, Coronation St until he was 17 and went to work on the railway. He talks about what life in Fairford was like in the second half of the 20th century.

50326 CD4

This talk concentrated on the history of stained glass, methods of manufacture, techniques of staining and how the windows came in to existence in the Church and the subsequent restoration techniques.

50323 CD3

This programme is about the effect of the reduction in personnel at RAF Fairford in 1990 on the town as 1200 staff and families had to reduce to a few dozen. Almost 200 civilian jobs were lost. The programme also covered the effect on businesses in the town (Leo D’Elia) and on the people who might lose their jobs and have to work away from the town.

Down Your Way visits the Coln Valley, with Brian Johnston. The producer was Anthony Smith who went to Farmor’s School. Interviews were conducted with June Lewis (teacher at Farmor’s School), Sid Jacques (verger), Geoff Payne (rushweaving), Keith Lindley (Dutchford computers), Roger Randall (Godwin Pumps) and Douglas Peters (manager of Bibury Trout farm).

50322 CD2

At the FHS AGM 2005 Brian Routledge, vice chair of Fairford History Society led a reminiscence session with 5 well known Fairfordians:- Peter Egerton, Maurice Jones, Meg Perry, David Perry, and Peter Yells. They cover the topics of schools, shops in Fairford and the war years with audience participation and contributions.

50321 CD1

John has researched the vicars of Fairford from 1273 to the present day as far as are known, with brief biographic details.

50321 CD1

John covers the effect of enclosures on the agricultural landscape and the effect on the social life of the time. Three documents are relevant to enclosures in Fairford: 1748 Draft Bill; 1754 Fairford Enclosure Award, Milton End; 1770 Fairford Enclosure Award, East End. There was no evidence of opposition, expulsion or expropriation. The enclosures were carried out in a sympathetic manner, but they must have altered the landscape around Fairford. However, all the records are only from landowners’ point of view. Minutes books and other records have not been traced. The result of enclosures seems to have been that the total number of farms decreased, sheep farms were improved, the modern landscape was created and the old field system swept away.

90416 CD54

In October 1978 a Son et Lumière production of a ‘history of Fairford’ took place in St Mary’s Church. It was written by June Lewis and produced by Madeleine Teed and was probably the first secular production to take place in the Church. In October 2008, with the help of June Lewis-Jones, FHS organised a gathering of people involved in the play with various memorabilia on display and this CD stemmed from that meeting. This CD is a collection of memories and gives a wonderful snapshot of the event by some of the actors and back stage personnel. It conveys the mammoth undertaking which managed to concentrate the minds of a quarter of the population of Fairford for six months in 1978. Speakers talk about the costumes, lighting and the roles they played in the play, all with very happy memories of the event, which has been often talked about in the subsequent years.

900425 CD57

June Lewis-Jones told the Society something of the fascinating story of Abraham Cowley who left his native Fairford to minister to the indigenous people of Canada. He was the son of a stonemason and left school at the age of 12. He overcame his lack of formal education and with the encouragement of the Vicar, the Rev Francis Rice (later Lord Dynevor), he trained for the ministry and went off to the wilds of Canada. He and his wife coped with the harsh winters and raised a family there. Converts were slow to appear but eventually he made progress and built a church and school house. The original Indian name for the settlement was changed on the suggestion of the Bishop of Rupert’s Land to Fairford in honour of Cowley’s home town in 1851.

June described the warm reception on her visits to Manitoba – that warmth contrasting with the chill of -30°C outside – and she showed pictures of the more recent occasion when in 1997 a deputation came to Fairford for the 500th anniversary of the re-dedication of St Mary’s Church.