‘Living in Shaw as a boy in the 1960’s Lydiard Park was our playground, being only about five fields away. We messed around in the bog which is now the lake. Brian Carne was Rector at Lydiard at the time we went to youth club at Millicent and he would come to the Sun Inn with us – us being underage drinkers!
By chance a dear friend, Mrs Falconbridge, introduced me to the Friends in 1990, bringing my playground and Brian back together again, and I’ve enjoyed the Friends ever since.
Chris Pocock at preview of the St Mary’s Church exhibition ‘Angels, Buckets & Bells’, Swindon Museum & Art Gallery, Jan 2020
Helping with various projects has been great fun, if not sometimes challenging. One which comes to mind is Sarah (Finch-Crisp) giving me a sale list of huts on the Lydiard Camp (temporary homes for local people after the war) which were sold in 1959, mainly to farmers using them for chicken sheds or storage. I managed to track down a good number. Lots were derelict but I was able to find some still being used, including one at Greatfield Nursery, which was bought on the 27th October 1960 for £5.00.
Others have often said how much enjoyment they have got from speakers at our meetings, well I’m going to have a go myself. I hope I can live up to the standard we are used to. The talk is based on the 1943 sale of the Lydiard Park Estate, fingers crossed!’
Note:
We are hoping to hold Chris’s talk at Lydiard Park in October, subject to any Covid regulations. Chris is a keen photographer and has exhibited his photographs in Swindon and elsewhere. Below is one of his striking images of Lydiard Park
Photograph of Lydiard House & Park, Chris Pocock