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New Zealand
New Zealand maps
Historic maps of New Zealand and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all New Zealand maps
New Zealand photos
We have no photos of New Zealand, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Bremhill| Compton Bassett| Clyffe Pypard| Calne| Great Somerford| Cherhill| Quemerford| Wootton Bassett| Derry Hill| Broad Hinton| Chippenham| Beckhampton| Avebury| Malmesbury| Lacock
New Zealand area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about New Zealand and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of New Zealand
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Wiltshire memories
RAF Lyneham, 1947-48
My first job, after leaving Chippenham Secondary School in 1947, was in the Met. Office at RAF Lyneham. I sometimes cycled there from my parents' home at Box, between Chippenham and Bath. Airfield security seemed almost non-existent in those days, and one could go straight onto the station from the main road without even going through the main gate. As we were doing shift work at the office, the staff had to live on or near the airfield except on our days off. The senior civilian staff lived in the Officers' Mess, but junior staff members like myself were in the Sergeants' Mess, where I think we were regarded with slight disapproval by a few of the older NCOs.
At that time, RAF Transport Command was operating Avro York aircraft, replaced by the Handley-Page Hastings a year or so later. There were frequent flights from Lyneham to Malta and North Africa, and of course there was the Berlin airlift in 1948.
A Lucky Find Chestermans Farm.
Having started to work with a company in Fleet I needed to find somewhere to live that was commutable both to work and our home in Devon. Having spent a whole weekend looking at various properties in the surrounding area without any luck we had one more left on the list to look at before heading home again. To our delight it was just what we needed, plenty of space, peace and quiet and the dogs were well pleased. We stayed for two years before moving on again but we loved the farm and it still crops up in conversation.
The Village
I was born in the village in 1934, my grandfather Edgar Edwin Budge had Bremhill Grove Farm, we lived in the cottage attached to the farmhouse. I and my sister Janet went to the local school, where Miss Tavener was my teacher, Miss Simper was the head. We used to go to the local Sunday School and events in the village hall. In about 1942/43 my grandfather had foot and mouth on his farm when all his animals had to be killed, it was the last farm in the country to have foot and mouth at that time. During the Second World War my father was in the village Home Guard. We lived in the village until 1943 when we moved to Chippenham.
No 10
My name's David Meacham - When I was very small I used to live in the cottage on the right - Number 10 Bremhill.
It was a wonderful place to be a child - few cars then of course - and the freedom to roam the village without any fear.
The rooms were very small and on a slope - great for playing with Dinky toys.
The Beatles were just starting then - I remember sitting on the swing in the garden singing She Loves You Yes, Yes, Yes at the top of my voice and being told off by the lady next door.
All the kids in the village had 'Dillys' (go carts made from pramwheels and wood) - we used to have races down the hill and end up in the Vicar's garden at the bottom of the village to the right of the village cross.
I loved the school and went every day with Mark Kite and Tony Coward and my sister's friend Kay Frayling.
Happy and... Read more
Tales From my Father
My father grew up on Compton Bassett, his name was Reginald Hooper and he lived with his parents and brothers and sisters at No 36. I remember well the stories he told me as a child about his childhood growing up in the village, his friends, how they played in the street and roamed all over the fields, sang in the church choir and went to school in the village. It all seemed so idyllic but I suppose life was quite hard for most village people in those days. When I read 'Cider with Rosie' it all seemed so familiar, as if I had already been there. They are all gone now but the memories live on.
Re Story of Tales From my Father
I still hear all the tales of those days from my father,who spent his holidays at Number 37 with the Offer family and was sent there during the Second World War as a child, he also knew your father Reginald . As a child I spent my holidays in Compton Bassett, staying either on Barnetts Farm or the White Horse pub field in our caravan or in a tent at the back of 36 or in the orchard of 37, even in the 1970s and 1980s it was fun, there is something still special about the place now.
Somewhere is This Photo is A RAF Camp Where The Sgt Barraclough Family Lived
Where was the RAF camp site?
