The physical museum may have shut its doors for this season. It is now nominally closed until May of 2011 but do contact the curator if you wish to visit for he’ll do his best to accommodate requests. However, the virtual museum continues as normal.

The recently ‘blogged’ Rolls of Honour for the first and second world wars have attracted hits and responses. Regular correspondent John in Australia has suggested the following about some names on the Second World War list.

• Tom Gye:  obvious
• Gerald Benson: I think he was the son of Dr Benson local GP
• Thomas McKinnon: lived at Northbrook Council houses – father of Ian
• Harold Kiddle: (Easterton) father of Peter and Harold
• William Elisha: Say no more
• William Little: Shop owner (where Davis and sons newsagents are now)
• Ron Huxtable: Mother lived in Rose Cottage Easterton, brother to Reg. Ron worked for Rolls Royce in London.
• Victor Tucker: I think worked for the railways
• Herbert Mundy:  (Burt) Ken’s brother (Ken the cobbler)
• Stanley Cooper: must be the local football ref
• Earnest Preedy: (Sandra Sadd’s Father)
• Tom Jefferies: (Easterton Builder) shared a house with Gladys Windo
• Fredrick Perry: Stobberts Rd, worked with brother Bill at Lavington Hill
• One of the Huttons lived at the Spring and had horses somewhere near where the new school is now
• Raymond Hussey: had the furniture shop on the x roads. My mother worked for him
• Jack Cartwright: a lot of his family migrated to Australia
• Ron Davis: lived at Lavington Hill then moved to the middle cottage between, as you come down Lavington Hill where it meets White St
• Nelson Andrews: lived in the old Tap Inn (father of Stanley and Ian)
• John’s comments about Tom Gye and William Elisha may need some explaining. Tom is the widower of our museum founder and long time curator, Peggy Gye. William Elisha was very active in the village for many years being, amongst other things, chairman of the parish council. A village playing field, The Elisha Field, is named after him.

Another correspondent, Philip, had this to say about William Elisha.

I notice there’s a William Elisha – Bill Elisha was Mrs. Elisha’s husband as far as I remember.  He was up at the field named after him one summer years (decades!) ago when something or other was going on in the field and we had relatives down from Aylesbury.  He got on the microphone and said in broad Wiltshire something about an item that had gone missing and my relatives fell about laughing at his accent.

Mrs Elisha was for many years the local school’s infant teacher. Philip goes on to say:

On another note, Mrs. Elisha was a stand-in teacher at St. Barnabas Primary School when I was there in the 70’s – I remember her being quiet but very firm.  She never really taught anything as such but was a bit like Jack Hargreaves in ‘Out of Town’ always re-living olden times for us.  I used to go home for lunch and remember not wanting to when she was standing in, in case I missed anything.  Mr Greenwood, the then Headmaster was almost reverential towards her.

And now to those women on active service in world war two – and maybe some more memories will come in.

Market Lavington Women on active service in World War 2

So here we have:

• Violet Davis                              ATS (honourably discharged)
• Lilian Davis                               WAAF
• Violet Burt                                ATS
• Peggy Burt                               ATS
• Betty Morse                             ATS
• Pamela Joan Oram                   ATS
• Honor Fielding                       WRNS
• Edith Sims                                WAAF
• Laura Carter                             VAD
• Bridget Burgess                        ATS
• Marjorie Olivia Fielding            WAAF Discharged through sickness
• Pam Stiles

Do get in touch if you have any information about these people. You can help make the history come alive.