Can
you fill in the missing pieces of Lyneham's History?
In day-to-day conversation, people talk about the British
weather, the way it is always raining, its either too hot,
so humid and freezing. It seems people talk about the extremes
of the weather and its records. But it is suprising,
more and more people are talking nowadays about the way
we used to live, what life was like years ago. Everyone seems
interested in the past. What you do today, where you live,
where you work, all become tomorrow's history.
Lyneham over the past 50 years has been quite transient,
with the changing landscape from agricultural to military
use. The biggest change was when the Air Ministry decided
to take the estate of Cranley Farm and Lyneham Court
in the late 1930's, for the new build of a maintenance unit
for the war effort. Later, with further expansion of the
air base, which required a massive runway extension, more
agricultural land was purchased.
As with most military personnel
and their families their lifestyles were fairly nomadic and
often used to move from station-to-station to meet changing
manning and operational requirements. A small proportion
of the residents who lived in the village witnessed many
changing faces of military life.
The ever-changing map of the community, make it more difficult
to document a permanent record of our village bygones. We
have started to capture as much information as possible,
about the way Lyneham evolved from a small hamlet to one
of the largest villages in Wiltshire. Obviously, the military
prescence has a lot to do with the population growth, but
there are still so many people who have fond memories of
the village and what it was like or even how we live today.
We often hear many questions
echoing around the village, asking about our ancesters
and how we used to live. These searching enquiries are all
small pieces of a huge jig-saw. That jig-saw, aptly named
'A Celebration of Life in Lyneham' has so many missing pieces.
Can you help find the missing pieces.
Following the highly successful BBC's fascinating documentary
series 'Who Do You Think You Are' we are looking for your
treasured memories in a way to record a 'Celebration of Life
in Lyneham'.
We are looking for any pictures on how the village used
to be, any paper snippets of events that was reported years
ago. Your celebrations, any event that occurred in the village,
you might have pictures off or memories, that will help put
together the giant jig-saw of Lyneham's history.
We are compiling an archive of the village,
something that has never been done before, recording lifestyles
and times right back to the early days. Would like you to
help or could you? Do you remember how the village life was
before the airfield was built?, or how the village changed
when the RAF station was being constructed and the many years
after. Can you remember the many ponds in the village, the
old shops, the pig farms or any memory Mum, Dad or Grand
parents have spoken about our village.
What about the White Hart Inn, how it used
to look, we have collated a gallery of pictures
to show you. Who owned or run the local paper shop?
Did you take any photo in the village and or have them
stored in an old photo album? Do you have photos of the
village buildings or landscape before the newest housing
estates were built. Anything you have would be greatly
appreciated, there is no need to worry about the condition,
the majority of the time we will be able to enhance the
image and remove the scratches or blemishes etc. Maybe
some of your memories have not been documented, but you
can vividly remember how the lifestyles were, and what
buildings used to be before the current occupants owned
them This information is so valuable to paint that era
of the past.
So can you help? We need to continue to bring
these jig-saw pieces together, consolidating all those fond
memories and bygones. Your images
memories will be so valuable, as the National
Record Archives has very little on Lyneham village. If
you do have any material, if you would like to share,
we can have them scanned in a matter of minutes, so you
will not be without the treasures for long. We will of course
give you the full credit for the information provided.
Please contact the webmaster either by email webmaster@lynehamvillage.com if you can help in anyway.
Many thanks in advance
Andy
Webmaster
Lyneham Village Online |