Tom steps out to drive

As a museum we are devoted to the whole of the parish of Market Lavington, past and present. Inevitably some families and activities get well represented at the museum because people give us things. A family who have always been good to the museum is the Gye family. This means we have quite a lot of material that relates to this particular group who have always been active in the village.

Peggy, of course, founded our museum and her husband Tom and his wide family have always been very helpful to us. And once again, here, we have a photo which features Tom as a youngster.

Tom Gye and John King play cricket in Gye’s Yard, Market Lavington

Tom is playing cricket and appears to be stepping down the wicket to play a lofted leg drive.

The equipment is clearly a bit ad hoc and the pitch isn’t quite what you might expect. This is actually the entrance to Gye’s yard with the houses of White Street visible behind. The picture must date from about 1930. 1930 was the year Don Bradman came to England with the Australian team and took the cricket world by storm. Mind you, the England team had heroes a plenty at that time too, what with Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Woolley amongst others.

But here in Market Lavington we had Tom Gye with the bat and behind the wicket we had John King. The wicket itself was a carbide container for making acetylene, according to the photo’s caption.

Now we know about Tom but can anybody add anything about John King?

The lads go to town

There’s nothing like a day out in town – particularly one by the seaside – when you are a young man. There’s the chance to show off and impress the local young ladies – who may also be visitors seeking a bit of fun. This group of Lavington lads were able to line up for a photo at Southsea on a day out and here they are.

Market Lavington and Easterton lads in Southsea in the 1950s

We can name most of these young men. From left to right they are:

Roy Preedy
Not yet identified
David Cooper
One of the Little boys
Geoff Matthews
Michael Ellis
Tom Burt
One of the Stockley lads

They are dressed for the occasion, mostly in suits or jacket and trousers. The shirt collar is open in every case. A tie would have been too formal. The shirt collar is worn outside the jacket one. Trousers are quite baggy and long enough to break over the polished shoes.

The photo must date from quite early in the 1950s when days out like this were a rare treat. We wonder what memories the lads brought home. Let’s hope they had a good time.