The Great Storm of October 28th 2013

Market Lavington appears to have escaped fairly lightly from the storm which swept across the south of England.

People who were up reported that at about 5:15 in the morning truly astonishingly strong winds swept through the village. Keith, who was out delivering newspapers, said he struggled to remain standing and for a while he just grabbed hold of a wall to give him added support. These powerful winds lasted for ten to fifteen minutes. By six in the morning it was very blustery and there were some heavy squalls of rain, but nothing seemed likely to be causing too much of a problem by then.

Of course, we have not been everywhere in the village, but damage does seem small, all things considered.

A tree between the Drove Lane Cemetery and the electricity substation appeared to be horizontal.

Fallen tree at the Drove Lane Cemetery

This may have been down beforehand. There’s nothing like looking for problems to enable you to spot them!

However, the high level pavement above Northbrook had suffered a very definite problem. It was blocked but the road below was perfectly clear.

Blocked pavement on Northbrook, Market Lavington

The path wasn’t only blocked by vegetation. A wall had also collapsed onto the pavement.

Collapsed wall at Northbrook, Market Lavington

Electricity was off for periods throughout the day. We suspect the engineers have had a very tough day dealing with huge numbers of power cuts.

We’d appreciate any further Market Lavington or Easterton storm damage pictures at the museum.

Storm Damage

The great hurricane of 1987 was certainly fairly wild in the Lavingtons but that exerted its strongest force in the south east of England

It was a storm of February 1990 that caused more structural damage. One building that was felled by the storm was a disused barn at Grove Farm. The barn adjoined the garden of Church Cottage and here we see Harry Greening surveying the damage. We are not sure if the piece of wood Harry is holding is debris from the barn.

Harry Greening surveys storm damage from his Market Lavington garden – February 1990

Harry will be remembered by many people in the Lavingtons and surrounding area, for he was the founding headmaster of Lavington School, the secondary school which took children aged from 11 to 16 from quite a wide area. The school opened in 1962 so that was when Harry and his wife Mary came to the village. And what an impact they made. Apart from leading the school, Harry was an avid gardener. He certainly knew his onions. Other gardeners hoping to compete with Harry knew his onions as well. They were regular prize winners at local shows.

Sadly, Harry’s sight failed as he aged but he still managed to compete in the Lavington show. He died in 2010.

We are pleased to show this portrait of Harry who looks every inch the country gent. He was certainly a gentle man who cared about other people.

But can anyone name his dog, please?