As the Pen4God Global Ministries Websites and this Faithful Memories Site so ably demonstrate, I love to write – indeed, I have always had the desire to write as far back as I can remember. Even as a child I would hardly ever be without a pen or pencil in my hand. “ Scribbler” my mother used to call me. Although I would never claim, as did George Bernard Shaw on one occasion, to be a born writer, for me the urge was always there. It is still the same today.
Even so, as a boy of impressionable years, I did have visions that one day I might become a great author, rich and famous, writing about the world around me. How one changes as the years roll by! Although the old desire to write is still there over seventy years on, there is now no desire to become famous – like G.B.S., for example – nor rich through my writing. I may have had modest success in the literary sphere, with several published books to my credit, but in each of them there has been a desire to communicate a particular message to a particular people, believing the pen is mightier than the sword. That message was to minister the Gospel to the glory of God with a desire to help fellow Christians in their daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. It even used the genre of Christian fiction!
However, looking back, I realised that I have written other things that have never been publicised, not directly associated with the Gospel – although an indirect connection can be made – and that is about my love of history. To be more precise, my personal history. So in the Pen4God Global Ministries Faithful Memories Site only (you will not find it in any of the other Pen4God Ministries Websites) you will find my attempts to branch out into a totally different genre, even though the desire to communicate is still present. Several items will be devoted to this genre, that of seeking to recapture some of the atmosphere of my childhood days through the 1930’s and 1940’s..
What about the indirect connection with the Gospel? All through my life I can see the hand of God upon my life, and this will be revealed from time to time through these writings; at the same time, it will illustrate my love of writing from an early age. This genre written especially for this Faithful Memories Site is a result of my discovery of an old battered notebook that had been hidden away for decades, some holiday diaries of the 1930’s, and a schoolboy’s manuscript of my first unpublished literary masterpiece about Dorset (a southern county in England) painstakingly typed out on an ancient typewriter of suspect vintage.
Tucked away in what must be one of the prettiest parts of Southern England is the county of Dorset, an area about which the widely travelled monarch, Charles II, declared, “I have never seen a finer county in England or out of it.” All right, I admit, I’m biased, but I agree with the King! In the extreme north of the county lies the historic town of Sherborne. What’s so special about that, you may well ask? It is special to me! It is the town where I was born and brought up, the town where I spent the formative years of my life, the town where I became a Christian, the town where I was baptised in the local Baptist Church.
Sherborne is my home town.
In many respects, in keeping with the general pattern of life today, I concede that Sherborne has changed through the years. One would expect that. Yet there is a sense in which there has been very little change in the town of my childhood. There are still places where it is possible to look around and, although a little faded or jaded, wallow in nostalgia as I relive the past, with memories from that past leaping out from every nook and cranny.
On the other hand, a visit to Sherborne today produces the overall impression of change – or does it? Could it be me? My own attitudes, my own outlook on life in the 21st Century, looking at the world through adult eyes, these may have changed more than the town itself, the place where I first saw the light of day. How different things can appear when viewed through the eyes of a child. No amount of wallowing in nostalgia as an adult can make up for that. What if such nostalgia could be tempered with a measure of reality? What a difference that would make.
A question began to tantalise me as I continued to write. It may be a sheer delight for me to journey back through the years, but what value have these memories for others? After all, they are being published exclusively on a global platform. I thought about it for a while and came up with the answer! There is value for any young Sherburnians who may log on to this Faithful Memories Notebook site, the schoolboys and girls of today, who will be able to discover something of their heritage from these writings. There is value for any older citizens of this “city of faithful memories” who may log on to this Faithful Memories Notebook site, because they will be able to relive with me some of the experiences of the 1930’s and 1940’s. There is value for the tourist, from England itself or from overseas, who will find a wealth of background material to make their visit to this ancient capital of Wessex, this county that has been referred to as “the Garden of England”, that much more interesting. And for anyone in the world who is interested in learning about another country (England), is interested in learning about this particular corner of England (Dorset), and is interested in learning about one particular town in Dorset (Sherborne), they may find value in these writings.
The Sherborne, the Dorset, that I know best and love the most is the town and county of the 1930’s and early 1940’s. I left the town to join the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the late 1940’s and never really settled down in Sherborne again when my service days came to an end. Well over half a century living away from the area, many of them in the North of England where the way of life is totally different, may have dimmed the memory of those years, but they have in no way obliterated them completely.
They were exciting days, I recall. Who says the past is dull? If only I could recapture them before it was too late! If only I could share some of that excitement with others today. If only I could record this bygone era before I reach my dotage – a slice of living history!
Before going further, however, let me explain, this is not an autobiography. If it
were, it would have to begin in the mid-
“See that big built girl on the swing-
As a young boy I sought pleasure in the simpler things of life. I enjoyed poking around in odd places, visiting historic sights and buildings, of which there is an abundance in Dorset, especially in Sherborne, and travelling out into the countryside surrounding my town. There would be the occasional trip by steam train or charabanc (an early form of motor coach), generally to the seaside, but when I say “travelling” I really mean cycling or walking.
My old blue cycle with the dropped handlebars and three-
Sherborne is steeped in history, and history, far from being dull, can be very exciting indeed if approached with an enquiring mind in an attempt to discover our heritage and justify our existence. I have always believed, from a very early age, that God put us on this earth for a purpose. For me, studying history, amongst other things, helped me to discover that purpose. I have such a mind, which is probably why I love history. It was my favourite subject at school along with divinity (the study of the Christian faith). We are what we are today because of our history. To recognise this is excitement indeed.
This was my attitude all those years ago, I remember, because wherever I went a battered old notebook, packed with personal impressions and scenic descriptions, always accompanied me. What a really useful book that has turned out to be! I have to confess that I have always had the desire to write. Hardly ever would I be without a pen or a pencil in my hand. “Scribbler” my mother used to call me, many a time. Although I would never claim, as did George Bernard Shaw on one occasion, to be a born writer, the urge was always there. It still is today, as the Pen4God Global Ministries Websites and this Faithful Memories Notebook site give testimony.
Even so, as a boy of impressionable years, I did have visions that one day I might become a great author, rich and famous, writing about the world around me. How one changes as the years roll by.
Although the old desire to write is still there, as strong as ever, – witness the Pen4God Global Ministries Website and this Faithful Memories Notebook site – there is now no desire to become world famous, nor rich through my writings. I may have had modest success in the literary sphere, with several published books to my credit, but in each of those books there was a desire to communicate a particular message to a particular people – that of preaching the Christian Gospel through the written word with the aim of helping fellow Christians in their daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this Faithful Memories Notebook site I am, however, attempting a totally different genre, even though the desire to write is still present; here I am seeking to recapture some of the atmosphere of my childhood days in and around Sherborne.
Why such a desire to write about this particular market town and the Dorset countryside surrounding it after all these years, you may ask? Could it be, as already suggested in the previous comment, a desire to record a bygone era before reaching my dotage (some may say I have already reached it!), before advancing years might rob me of the capacity to remember and record. Or could it be the recent discovery of my old battered notebook hidden away for decades, some holiday diaries of the 1930’s, and a schoolboy’s manuscript of my first unpublished literary masterpiece about Dorset, painstakenly typed out on an ancient typewriter of suspect vintage, which has awakened this desire? I rather suspect it is a combination of both.
So perhaps we could say the desire has always been there, but it has lain dormant,
which would account for the fact that in the past half-
Nestling ‘mid the hills of Dorset,
In the Vale of Yeo,
Stands the pleasant town of
Sherborne,
Founded long ago.
Sherborne has, in days gone by, played a very important part in the history of the country, and we will return more fully to this in another article. It was in fact the ancient capital of Wessex, and was then known as scir burne or clear brook, derived from the River Yoe which runs through the southern part of the town. [For a definition of Wessex go to the end of this article.] Having said that, however, my former school friend, the late Gerald Pitman, in his book, Sherborne Observed, poses the question, “Was it the River Yeo or the Coombe stream that gave the settlement its lovely name? The Yeo, flowing over clay, is dirty, but the Coombe stream sparkles and provides the water supply for the Saxon cathedral. It seems therefore that it was the latter that provided the name.”
Be that as it may, whether the Yeo or the Coombe, does not alter the fact that what
has been suggested by a man called Leland, an ancient traveller writing around the
mid-
It is quite normal to think kindly of the one town in Great Britain where I spent all the early and impressionable years of my life, especially as I had a very happy childhood.
Wessex grew from two settlements: one was founded, according to the Anglo-
Only a few incidents of the early expansion are recorded. These include the conquest by Cerdic andCynric of the Isle of Wight in 530 and battles fought by Cynric at Salisbury in 552 and Barbury Castle (Wiltshire) in 556. A victory won by a successor, Ceawlin (who reigned 560–592 and is mentioned by Venerable Bede as the second English king to hold an imperium in Britain), at Dyrham, Gloucestershire, in 577, which led to the capture of Bath, Cirencester, and Gloucester, andCeawlin's battle at a place called Fethanleag, probably in North Oxfordshire, in 584, are also recorded. Ceawlin also defeated Aethelberht of Kent at a place called Wibbandun in 568. Having extended the power of Wessex north of the Thames, Ceawlin was expelled in 592 by his nephew Ceol, who reigned for five years. Ceol was succeeded by his brother Ceolwulf (reigned 597–611), whose reign was followed by that of Ceol's son Cynegils (reigned 611–643). During this period, Wessex was threatened first by Northumbria and then by the growing midland kingdom of Mercia. Cynegils and his son Cwichelm lost the provinces of the Hwicce (Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and southwest Warwickshire) to Penda of Mercia. Cynegils was succeeded as king by his son Cenwalh (reigned 643–672), who married Penda's sister but soon discarded her. For this act he wasdriven into exile (645–648) in East Anglia by Penda. Throughout much of his reign he fought the Mercians and the Welsh, and Penda's successor seized South Hampshire and the Isle of Wight from him. These regions were held by the Mercians from 661 to 686, and, according to the Venerable Bede's Historia ecclesiastica, Wessex was temporarily divided among subkings after Cenwalh's death.
During this period, however, kings of Wessex won victories over the Britons, expanding steadily westward. Ceadwalla (685–688) recovered the Isle of Wight and South Hampshire, and there was aSaxon monastery at Exeter before 690. Ine (reigned 688–726), the first West Saxon king to issue a code of laws, placed a see at Sherborne (Dorset) for the western areas. Mercian dominance over Wessex, which included direct control of parts of Berkshire and Wiltshire, ended with the accessionof Egbert (reigned 802–839). He gained all of Devon and Cornwall, and in 825 he defeated Beornwulf of Mercia and brought Surrey, Sussex, and Kent permanently under West Saxon rule.
The final supremacy of the West Saxon kings stemmed from their successful resistance to the Danes, whose “great army” arrived in 865 and destroyed the other Anglo-
The region figures prominently in legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and the designation “Wessex” was used by novelist Thomas Hardy to represent the region of southwestern England in which he set his works of fiction.
© Taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite