Village past brought to life in new book

2:56pm Friday 16th May 2008

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A LOCAL football team that played in a premiership stadium and an orchestra that appeared in an early TV broadcast are tall claims for a small Herefordshire village – but Fownhope has proof.

A new book documenting all elements of village life ‘in living memory’, including the youth team’s finest hour representing Herefordshire at Everton’s Goodison Park in a 1983 youth tournament, has been published by Fownhope Local History Group.

The team’s success was a long way from its 1920s origins, when the farmer’s hay crop dictated whether they could play or not, and also established its comeback after 1972 when the team re-formed after a lengthy break.

Starting in 1919, the book covers every aspect from population numbers and public services to bellringers, bowlers and ballet classes and highlights the changes, and the constants, of rural life over the past 80 years.

Helped out by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the group has produced 184 pages outlining early struggles to get mains water, sewerage and better housing in a village that has since expanded six-fold and now has more community activities than ever.

As the years progress, issues such as whether the main road should be ‘tar-sprayed’ in 1922 or the installation of mains electricity in 1953, make way for more familiar problems such as the formation of a local traffic group in 1993 following several serious accidents in the area.

The book also looks at some of Fownhope’s biggest characters, including vicar Wilf Chignell, who was responsible for the village orchestra appearing in the 1952 TV broadcast, and postmistress Dora Grant who recalls how, in 1972, an attack of claustrophobia resulted in her holding hands with the Bishop of Hereford.

In return to all who gave their memories, and for those too young to remember, the group has delivered a copy to every parish household.

It is now selling the book for £10 and accompanying CDs of residents’ memories for £5 in local shops or on order from Pippins, Capler Lane, Fownhope HR1 4PJ.