Thimbles

We have featured ‘lost and found’ thimbles before on this blog but today’s collection were never lost so didn’t have to be found. They were essential items at Market Lavington School.

Thimbles from Market Lavington School

This collection is of very standard, ordinary thimbles. There is nothing fancy about them. They date from the first half of the 20th century. They are made of base metal and were designed to be functional rather than decorative. Mind you, many people would find them quite decorative items.

They date back to a time when the male and female genders were treated differently. Sewing was for girls although, oddly enough, being a tailor was a male job. Back in time – it could have been up to the 1970s, girls would have been expected to become proficient at hand sewing. They would have spent time at school practising the craft and learning how to do repair jobs as well as how to make new items.

Pushing a needle through tough material was hard and could be painful and that’s where the thimble came in. They were worn on the end of a suitable finger and could be used to push the needle through. The bobbled surface was intended to make sure the needle did not slip causing injury to the pusher.

We can see from this collection that thimbles came in a variety of sizes to suit any finger. None of these are as tiny as the one featured recently which was found ‘under the floorboards’ at 21 Church Street.

These thimbles are bound to bring back memories for many girls.

 

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The Girls on the Plain

This photo of five young ladies and only one man is captioned as ‘The Group on Salisbury Plain. It comes from the recently acquired album which dates from around 1929.

The girls (and one boy) on the Plain with three identified by Pat Hale.

We never really expected to precisely find the location, particularly as this is not the sharpest photo in the album. The photo is on a page with others which are in Market Lavington so it seemed likely to be very local.

We didn’t expect to name any of the people either. But recently our curator took the album for Pat Hale to see and the instant response was, ‘Well that one’s my mum’. It turned out that Pat was able to name three of the ladies and they are:

On the left is Betty Pike. She married Harry Hobbs and that pair are Pat’s parents.

Next to Betty is her sister, Lily Pike.

On the right hand end it is Alice Gale.

Well done and many thanks to Pat.

A cooking class

Today we look at a photo where we need help. The photo shows girls cooking.

Market Lavington girls at a cookery class in 1920/21

We have it recorded that this is ‘girls in a cookery class in 1920/21.

Attached to the back of the photo is this caption.

Caption on the photo

And from this point on we have no idea. It was over 90 years ago, so the girls in the picture would be amongst the very oldest in the country if they are still alive. But maybe somebody will recognise one of the girls or be able to give some indication of the location.

The aprons and other gear are delightful but we would love to know more about this image.

Do get in touch if you can help.