Newish website / blog for Ilminster

Just came across the blog which some of you may be interested in

http://www.ilminsteronline.com/

JJ

HOLIDAYS from Peter Westmacott

Hello Jean
Regarding John Satchell's comments on the new cafe/restaurant in West Street, yes it does look rather smart. My wife and I spotted it when strolling around Ilminster on our last visit in September, but as we had already eaten rather well in the Meeting House Arts Centre (the old Unitarian Chapel) in East Street, we weren't able to sample what Tea Tree had to offer.  Perhaps another time.

WELL, I’M A BIT MIFFED. I SENT THEM  A LINK TO OUR WEBSITE BY EMAIL AND HAVE NOT HAD ANY RESPONSE! DISAPPOINRING THAT! JJ

I liked the photo you posted of the Dolphin pub in Silver Street. The day we walked past, there were several people sitting outside with drinks, quite a contrast to the one you displayed. I suppose back in the 1950s very few, if any, of us children would have ever seen inside any of the pubs.  At least I can't remember ever doing so!  Perhaps other Summervaleans had different experiences.

I REMEMBER THE DOLPHIN WHICH WAS RUN BY THE DUKE FAMILY. ON ONE VISIT TO ILMINSTER MIKE AND I WENT IN FOR A DRINK AND WE COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. THERE WAS A SORT OF BAR BUT VERY FEW BOTTLES AND THERE WERE HUGE BARRELS FROM WHICH THE BEER WAS DRAWN. MIKE SAID IT WAS LIKE THE DARK AGES! JJ

 

We have recently flown back from two weeks on Tenerife.  On the return trip I was thinking generally about holidays and how they have changed in my lifetime. Thinking about Summervale in the 1950s I was struck by our lack of holidays then.  We once had a week in a caravan in Weymouth with my mother, brothers and grandparents (Reg and Ethel Durham). It was a bit cramped, but we loved it and the many visits to the beach. Beyond that I can't recall a lot about it. The only other holidays I can remember were those when we visited relatives in London. These were the same relatives who would annually plonk themselves on my grandparents for a week or two, so it seemed a fair exchange to occasionally dump ourselves on them.
Where did other Summervaleans go for holidays in the 1950s?  I'm sure that some of you must have gone somewhere, perhaps even abroad, although I guess that would have been quite unusual at the the time.  The age of mass overseas tourism - the annual week in Spain - didn't arrive until the 1960s. Perhaps most of you just spent your time around Ilminster.
We certainly did for most of our school holidays!
Best wishes everyone
Peter Westmacott.

WEYMOUTH

Was one of the popular seaside resorts we all visited from Ilminster especially on our Sunday school outings.

Here is a photo of my family and the Symons walking from the coach park towards the beach.

 

I guess Janice is about  3 in this photo being carried by her very proud Dad Charlie. That would mean this photo was taken around 1952 so I would have been 8?? Probably as I can remember that dress; I had one in blue and one in pink and I ruined one of them at school by tipping a whole inkwell over it. Mum was not best pleased.

It also means my parents were in their early forties – they look so much older than that don’t they?

Here are some beach photos but I cannot be certain whether they were taken in Weymouth of Exmouth. Does anyone know?

 

We also went to visit family in London although I think they were duty visits rather than holidays.

My grandmother lived in Manor Park and others lived in East Ham.

My maternal grandmother, who fled Guernsey when the Germans invaded, lived on a houseboat in Poole. Loved visiting there and vividly remember Sandbanks before the millionaires moved in.

We spent several holidays in Lyme Regis in a chalet right on the beach. Used to love it and learnt to dive off the Cob wall. I think someone at STC owned the chalet and used to rent it out.

This is photo of Marie Macey in Lyme Regis

Anyone else got some memories to add?

JJ

Message from John Satchell

“We stopped in Ilminster and found a new cafe/restaurant has opened in what was Scrivens, the old hardware shop "up the top"!

it is charming and the girl who owns it is lovely, even though she's not from the town!

its called "tea tree", and the address is 11 west street, tel 01460 559 58, and solves the problem of where to go eat tastefully when in lminster!!!

i told her i would pass on this info to you for inclusion on your blog, and she was delighted!!”

 

Here is the link to the website and the yummy menu -

http://theteatree.co.uk/menu.htm

HAVE A WALK AROUND ILMINSTER

If you’ve time to spare and want a walk around Ilminster click on this link which takes you to West St where the restaurant is and you can “walk “ around the town with Google Earth.

http://theteatree.co.uk/findus.htm

Whilst doing this I found myself in what was Summervale – here is a picture with Herne Hill in the background. The layout of the estate is different but it is H O M E !

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Just popped in to wish all my Summervale  friends a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Here's to another year of memories and reminiscences of the past combined with perhaps our thoughts and wishes for the future.
See you in 2011
JJ

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM PETER WESTMACOTT

Hello Jean
With Christmas coming up I have been thinking about making a contribution to the site. Then I realised I couldn't recall a huge amount about my Christmas experiences in Summervale from 54-57, that is until I read your piece on Christmas Is Coming.  So thanks for writing it; it stirred my slumbering memory!!
It was a great collection of photos you posted from the STC Christmas parties, although most of them were before my time. I think I went to three of the parties, the first being in 1954 and the last in 1956. After that I was probably too old! Of course, I recognized several of you from the 17/12/55 photo, and yes it was definitely Peter Symons in the fairisle jumper. Some of the unamed faces looked familiar but I couldn't name them now.
The thing I remember vividly from those parties was the blancmange we got. It always seemed to have a hard skin/crust on it, and I never really liked that. Ugh! The jelly we usually got might have been a bit like that too!  But they were very happy occasions, because in those days we didn't seem to go to many parties, unlike our grandchildren who seem to get invites all the time.  The presents we took home from STC were always very welcome too. Along with other items we always seemed to get an orange, chocs and some nuts!
In number 10 (our home) my abiding memory is the waking up at ridiculously early hours on Christmas morning to raid our stockings.  Yes,  we were still putting those out at 14 and 15 years old!  Well, if you didn't believe in Santa you might not get the pressies!  Our grandsons do just the same; they are also up well before 6, eager to see what's in the stockings.
In some ways things don't change much!
A very Happy Christmas to you Jean and all |Summervaleans, wherever you are.  Thanks, too, for another great year of fascinating reading on the Summervale site.  Well done!
Best Wishes
Peter Westmacott

CONGRATULATIONS FRIENDS

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE

1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's

First, we survived being born to mothers who drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer..

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle...

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubbies and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films,
no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

 

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
Lawsuits from these accidents.

 

Only girls had pierced ears!

 

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

 

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...

 

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

 

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

 

FOOTBALL and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
MERIT

 

Our teachers used to hit us with straps and sand shoes and bully'salways ruled the playground at school.

 

 

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

 

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

 

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL !

 

And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

 

 

PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Remember the parties we used to have at STC. Great entertainment, food and rounded off by a present from Father Christmas.

STC certainly knew how to look after their employees and their

families.

Here are some of Ron Dixon’s photos ………‘

I can see David Chambers and Mike Jolly  in the middle of  the front row aged about 8??

Not so sure it is a Christmas party. Could be the Coronation as the Union Jack is displayed.

Here is a closer look at half of the photo

 

Here is one of me singing for my supper

Here  we are waiting for the bus to take us to the factory

Me in the middle sucking my thumb which I did ALL the time. Mind you it never did drop off! I’m holding Shirley Hewitt’s hand.

This one is a Christmas party lets do a close up

Who do you recognise above?

Here are some of the X Factor contestants circa 1955

Joan Wakeham and me in the back row and Gloria Dixon and Christine Jolly in the middle row. Possibly Peter Symons in the fairisle jumper – front row.