Chew Magna memories
Here are memories of Chew Magna and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Chew Magna or a Chew Magna photo.
Prep School
I started at the Prep School in 1970 and shall never forget the time here. It was a fantastic school and has lots of many happy memories.I left in 1975 due to family moving but shall never forget my time here and the kindness of the nuns. I was then known Sarah Cleaves.
Happy Times
I remember the creepy pasages down past the art room to the cloakroom. I used to grab my coat and run! I also remember being allowed to play among the conker trees which provided a corridor to run underneath. When the leaves fell we would gather them up and make dens around the bottom of their massive trunks. I remember being so cold in the winter that we would take it in turns to sit on the big radiators with our coats on. I also remember wearing the straw boater, going for nature walks.... I could go on forever, the memories are flooding back.......
Wedding
I got married to my husband Paul in this beautiful St Andrew's Church at Chew Magna on Sat August 7th 1982. My maiden name was Tracey Mapstone and my dad Dennis and his parents were born in Chew Magna and I still have my nan there at the age of 98 years old and she is Mrs Mary Mapstone.
Penny Sweets!
I can remember my friend's parents owned this shop .... her name was Lynn Thomas and we used to have penny sweets for free as her parents owned the shop!
My Old School.
I went to the Sacred Heart Convent School from the age of five in 1966 until I was 16 in 1970. My name then was Tracey Mapstone and I lived in Chew Magna at that time, then later on we moved to Stanton Drew. It was a lovely school, you were taught old fashioned values and most of all you were taught respect!
Happy Memories
This photo brought back a flood of happy memories. The only school I actually liked!
I was second year senior when the school closed. Sad day. I remember the creepy tunnel down in the art room by the sink.
My Memory of Going to School in The Manor House
Chew Magna, High School - this was in fact the High School for Sacred Heart High School & Preparatory School, which I attended for 3 years.
I was in my first year senior's when the high school closed, from my memory it was a close-knit family community. People seemed to respect the building which we had the priviledge to go to school in. School sports day that final year was held on the lawns in front of the Manor House and a 'cross-country' fun run was completed in the grounds up to the car park. Teachers and pupils alike joined in and it was an amazing day. Then our day to leave came and it was one of the saddest days, saying goodbye to friends, teachers and The Manor House. I am lucky that my aunt & uncle still live in the village and I have been back a few times to visit the house. The 2nd time in particular, I walked in and... Read more
Sacred Heart High School - Years 1951/1952
Looked up the above on the internet a few days ago. Good to see Ruth Ball's comments re Mother Cecilia. Had to go to her office to play for her in the midst of another class. The school looked just like it did on the photo taken in 1955.
Lovely setting in beautiful grounds tended by other nuns who wore brown and were the gardeners. No swimming pool when I was there but there were tennis courts. Taught by Sister Mary Munchen and took my GCE (School Cert.) in June 1952 (anyone remember her?) I'd love to hear from anyone who was there at that time. I was known as Valerie Green and I lived at Blagdon.
Sad to read about the fire. That was much later.
I've been happily married for 50 years (wedding at St. Andrews Blagdon in 1960) and we live in Edinburgh.
Sacred Heart High School For Girls
I cannot remember when I went to the Convent but the first class I went in was Prep 4. I believe I left school approx summer 1957. Although I was not particulary keen on school I can say I enjoyed my time there. I have at various times had news or even met some of the girls I was at school with, but as I live in Cambridgshire now and do not visit Somerset often I hear less and less. My name when at school was Ruth Yeates. I assume if anyone wishes to contact me then you are able to give them my email address. I learnt to play the piano under Mother Cecelia and after leaving school was a music student
Memories of Avon
Toll Keepers
Thomas Burridge who was registered as the toll keeper in 1851 and 1871, with his wife Ann, was my Great Grandfather
Wedding
On March 21st this year it will be 50 years since my mum and dad, Christine Hole and Islwyn (Eddie) Griffiths, got married at this lovely country village church. This is not a personal memory, but I have seen photos of the day back in 1959. They are still very much together and love each other to bits!
My own personal memories are a little sadder, the last being the burial of my paternal grandmother (Nana) in the churchyard where she joined my grandfather (Papa) in eternal rest.
Flower Family
I live in The Netherlands. My grandfather was born in Pensford in 1858, his name wass Henry Flower. I am looking for his family (there was a lady of the bridge named Flower?).
Moon Family
Although I do not know West Harptree very well, my great-grandmother and great-grandfather are buried here, and there is a memorial to my grandfather William Moon in the church, he died in 1915 in India while in the army. If anyone knows about either the Moon or Bendle families I would love to hear from you.
Hinton Blewett 1945-1946
I first saw Hinton Blewett on a late September day when arriving at my prep school, Colchester House. This was housed in Hinton Blewett Manor, which was its wartime home. Its true home was in Clifton, Bristol but that had been requisitioned during the war so the school was in borrowed accommodation. The headmaster was Mr K A Moresby, a bachelor, but very fond of boys! He liked to have them stripped naked in his study at the beginning and end of term for weighing and measuring. Nevertheless it was a very happy school and I learnt a lot in the year I was there. I remember cycle rides into the nearby country, seeing lots of horse-drawn farm equipment and seeing haymaking the hard way. Pick-up balers did not then exist. I remember the narrow lanes and views of Blagdon Lake.
Regretfully it all came to an end in July 1946 as Mr Moresby couldn't afford to pay for the building in Clifton to be made good and decided to... Read more
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