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