Tug of War in 77

There was a Tug of War competition as part of the Jubilee Sports in 1977. This celebrated the queen’s 25 years on the throne and now is some 38 years ago.

After the more formal competition, the kids took over and had fun and here’s a photo of them.

1977 tug of war. Boys v …

The flared trouser fashion of 1977 is there to be seen as these youngsters desperately try to pull a similar team . Except the other team was all female.

…girls

History has not recorded who won this particular battle of the sexes.

Nor, sad to say, has it recorded the names of any participants. Maybe you can help there.

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From the Easterton Echo of October 1977.

It scares some of us to realise that 1977 was 38 years ago.

It was the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and Easterton celebrated it. Amongst the activities in Easterton was a poetry competition and this entry was highly commended.

Poem to mark Easterton and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977

So congratulations to Mr Sainsbury who was running Easterton Post Office at the time.

If you find the poem a bit small to read then click on it to open a larger version.

Fun and Games in 1977

1977 is 37 years ago as we write this blog in October 2014. Getting on for half of us weren’t born at the time and it probably would be half of us who don’t remember events from that year.

Would it be fair to say that events were celebrated in a more social way and, perhaps with more active participation? Maybe back then people expected to get together and have a bit of fun. These days we spend more time, as your writer is doing now, sitting alone with our electronic devices.

Anyway, the big event of 1977 was the Queen’s Silver Jubilee when she celebrated 25 years on the throne. The previous occasion when there had been such an event was 1935 when her grandfather, King George V celebrated his 25^th year as Monarch.

Our Queen’s Silver Jubilee was certainly seen as an excuse for public celebrations, get togethers and general fun. Many areas in Market Lavington and Easterton had quite small scale street parties. For example, Spin Hill had one, Northbrook Close had one and so did The Market Place. There was at least one in Easterton and others elsewhere.

And then there were village wide events. In Market Lavington this included a fete and sports on the Elisha Field. And our heritage photo, from 1977, shows men involved in their sack race.

Sack race for men – a Market Lavington event in 1977

This photo was taken by someone who moved to the village in 1976. He didn’t know the people then and still doesn’t.

So once again we ask our readers for any help possible in identifying competitors and spectators.

We can also smile or even giggle at the fashions of the day. Did we really wear trousers that baggy? Well clearly we did.

Photos from this era continue to arrive at the museum. We do have some ability to copy slides (the photo above was a colour slide) albeit it is a slow process.

 

The Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977

This post is a plain, straightforward, request for help.

Can you name any competitors or spectators taking part in tug of war competitions up at what we now call the Elisha Field?

There are several photos for you to enjoy for what we might call recent history but which is, in fact, approaching 40 years ago.

The name we are certain of is Nancy Cooper – the lady on the left.

 

A Jubilee Tin

2012 might have been deemed our Royal Year as we celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen, Elizabeth II. But royal artefacts still arrive at the museum and are still of interest and value to Market Lavington Museum.

This tin arrived from a family who lived in Easterton and was made to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of our queen’s grandfather, King George V. He came to the throne in 1910 so the tin dates from 1935

A 1935 Silver Jubilee tin – now at Market Lavington Museum

We can see that the tin is not in perfect condition. In particular, Queen Mary’s face has suffered a bit of damage. We can see, below, that one of the hinges has also suffered a bit, but it is still in working order.

The tin was well made but has no information about the original contents, but like many royal artefacts it was clearly regarded as a souvenir item and the family kept it and, no doubt used it. It would be eminently suited to biscuits.

Of course, what we like about this item is that we can attach a family to it – it has its local provenance.

The Silver Jubilee in Easterton

Today we are looking at another photograph which is new to Market Lavington Museum. The original picture is anything but new for it dates from 1935 and shows people in Easterton celebrating the Silver Jubilee of King George V.

1935 Silver Jubilee celebrations in Easterton, Wiltshire

These people are gathered outside what was once one of Easterton’s shops – the one opposite the junction with the road up to the village hall and the sands. It is clear that a celebration was happening, for there is a big bass drum and a cornet to make a noise with.

Musical instruments at the Easterton celebration. The picture can be found at Market Lavington Museum

The children had obviously been given jubilee beakers. Most can be seen grasping one of these items.

Note the children of Easterton holding their Jubilee beakers

Do contact us if you recognise any of the people in this photo

Sadly, we do not know the names of people in the photo. Perhaps an Easterton resident can help us with that.

We’d also love to see one of those Jubilee beakers. Maybe somebody who owns one would let us get a decent, modern photograph?

We say this quite frequently on these pages – everything in Market Lavington Museum is to do with the parish of Market Lavington as it is AND as it was. And that includes Easterton for it was a part of Market Lavington until the 1870s.

Silver Jubilee Lady

As usual, we are re-dressing our ‘people’ at Market Lavington Museum, in readiness for the new season. We have three people. Two of them are dressmaker’s dummies. These have no legs – they have a stand – but they can sit on our settle quite well. Their heads are papier maché.

In this, our Queen’s diamond jubilee year, we have decided to dress each of our people in a costume that suits an event in royal history associated with our queen. One is dressed as a smart lady on an evening out in 1937 – the year of the coronation of George VI. He was the father of our queen and she would have been at the coronation, maybe wondering when it would be her turn to be the monarch.

That came in 1952 and our shop mannequin is wearing a smart suit to represent this era.

But the one we’ll look at today dates from 1977. Here, in Market Lavington and Easterton there were big celebrations that year for the silver jubilee. So one of our dummies has clothes from that era. Here she is – in the course of construction.

1977, Silver Jubilee lady at Market Lavington Museum

Our lady has a very ordinary T-shirt and over it a Laura Ashley dress. We do not know who originally owned the dress, but it was bought at a village jumble sale in the late 70s or early 80s and has belonged to a local lady since then. It has been donated especially for this occasion.

Maybe this is the point to put in a plea. We can have difficulty finding appropriate and matching clothes for our people. It is easy to forget that people like to see ordinary clothes that they might have worn themselves as well as the special items that the rich folk wore to their balls. If you have items of clothing that might represent the norm of an era, then do consider the museum as a home. Of course, we’ll need to know that they have a parish connection.

But back to our 1977 lady. She’s very proud of her Laura Ashley dress (they were all the rage then) so she has donned her silver jubilee PVC apron to offer some protection. This was donated to the museum by a White Street woman.

As you can see, our 1977 lady still needs arms, hair and a hat but we are sure she’ll look just the part.

Silver Jubilee Fancy Dress Parade

We have looked, in the past, at various entries in the 1953 Coronation fancy dress parade. Let’s move on 25 years to 1977 and see what entrants wore for the Silver Jubilee parade.

Celebrating the 1977 Silver Jubilee in Market Lavington

Here we seem to favour historic costumes, with a bit of red white and blue.

Silver Jubilee Fancy Dress, market Lavington

There may be fancy dress, but the fashions of the 70s shine through. Look at those flared trousers and the tank-top. And there’s a pair of platform shoes there as well. The baby in the royally coloured babygro does not look entirely happy.

Having fun at the 1977 Jubilee fancy Dress parade in Market Lavington

Here we have a Dick Whittington, a fine farm worker or yokel character, Derby and Joan, perhaps and a couple of patriotic waitresses

Three more photos below give an idea of how much the village took the Silver Jubilee to its heart.

As ever, we’d be delighted if anyone out there could name people.

The 1935 Silver Jubilee Committee

Yesterday our Queen, Elizabeth II became the second longest reigning monarch of our country. She only has her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria to beat now having overtaken George III and we all look forward to Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee next year.

Back in 1935, King George V celebrated his silver jubilee after 25 years on the throne. Market Lavington saw this as an excuse for a big party. Britain was in the grips of the depression so the Royal occasion was seized upon. A committee was set up to organise village events. Today we bring you a photo of that committee.

The 1935 Silver Jubilee Committee - a photo at Market Lavington Museum

This is a photo which has been well captioned so we can name the people.

 

• a Bert Oram
• b Mabel Cooper
• c Bill Little
• d Mrs Phillips
• e Mr Cullimore
• f Milly Hiscock
• g Jack Hoare
• h Mrs Clark
• I Sid Mullings
• j Mrs Colman
• k Emmy Mullings
• l Ed Potter
• m Mrs Rainbird
• n Fred Bishop
• o Mrs Ed Potter
• p Harry Rainbird
• q mrs Razey
• r Mr Francis
• s Mrs Fred Bishop

The Market Place

Celebrating national events has always been a part of village life. We have recently seen, on these pages, the planting of a tree for the present Queen’s coronation in 1953.  Here we see people celebrating the Silver Jubilee of our Queen’s grandfather, George V, in 1935.

Celebrating the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935 - a photo at Market Lavington Museum

Let’s zoom in on the people first.

Market Lavington people in 1935

Sadly, the only caption we have for this photo is ‘a group of inhabitants’. Can anybody out there name any of the people, some of whom will still be under 80 years old.

For many present residents of Market Lavington, the location will be a mystery – or would be if the title of this piece didn’t say, ‘Market Place’.

Market Lavington’s marketplace was completely rebuilt in about 1960 and nothing of the old buildings shown here now remain. This is the northwest corner of the market place where the bungalows behind the Co-op now stand. Behind the people we look at a separate, smaller square, which was called St James’ Square.  At the right hand side of the picture we can see the entrance to the bus yard. This is where the bungalows at the top end of the market place now stand.

If you have photos of events or places in the parish which, remember, includes Easterton, the museum would be happy to make a copy for itself.