The care of costume course.
Sometimes there are advantages to being situated within a council depot. Unfortunately, an attendee on the care of costume course car refused to start. Luckily, the mechanics swung into action and the lady was soon on her way home with her head full of knowledge on how to care for costume and that CHAC can help to start a motor.
The Heritage Team were invited to a Local Food Producers Event at the newly refurbished Haynes International Motor Museum at Sparkford, Somerset on Wednesday 17th September. One member of staff and a volunteer went along with a display reflecting historical food producers from Yeovil and linked to the First World War. Two workers from Aplin and Barrett from Newton Road and Major R.H. Brutton from Brutton Breweries all died in the First World War and their obituaries were published in the Western Gazette newspaper. These were printed and placed alongside images of Aplin and Barrett cheese making facilities, St. Ivel Advertisements and Brutton Breweries in Princes and Clarence Street, Yeovil. We also took along bottles and flagons from our handling collection to further illustrate these companies, including Trasks of Vicarage Street, Yeovil together with a copy of a photograph of Vicarage Street from 1939, before the Quedam Shopping Centre was built.
The Food Producers Event was also an opportunity to highlight the Heritage Team’s 2015 Yeovil in Living Memory Calendar, which people found an interesting contrast to today. 44 people visited our display between 10.30am and 1.30pm.
There was also an opportunity to peruse the locally produced food, which included bread, cheese, ale and beers; plus a filling flapjack from Bruton Bakery!
On the way back through – there may have been time for the AC Cobra; Ford Mustang and the dainty emerald green Austin Seven.
45 people visited the Community Heritage Access Centre for our Open Day as part of the Heritage Open Weekend. This was particularly good as we did not know what response we would receive or how many people would come. Four staff were kept constantly busy during our advertised times of 10am-3.30pm, with visitors arriving right on the point of 10’O’clock. Thanks to the Heritage Open Days Marketing Pack we had balloons and bunting on our Depot Gate, which attracted people in.
It’s hard to make a depot look inviting – but I think we did a good job!
Our theme was a simple ‘taster tour’ of our collections with the invitation to return if visitors wished to see more specific aspects of the collection. One lady had already telephoned in advance requesting to view items related to Slade Gloving Company. Fortunately, we had building planning applications in alphabetical order and located two plans straight away. With such a constant stream of visitors, we put up our First World War Banners for additional interest and explained about our new 2015 Yeovil in Living Memory Calendar.
We made our inside look inviting too!
The four staff that helped on the day were greatly impressed by the number of visitors and the support from the Heritage Open Days Website – where many people had seen our event advertised. Our comments book even revealed a visitor from Lyme Regis, in Dorset.
Image from Imperial War Museum. © IWM (Art.IWM PST 2763)
The popular wartime propaganda of “Women of Britain say “Go!” came quite close to home at CHAC this week. In the last few weeks CHAC has received two donations relating to the Luffman and Jesty families. The staff were shocked to discover that one Yeovil boy, whose name is sadly inscribed on the town’s war memorial , was encouraged to sign up to fight by a young woman on a train.
The Jesty Family. Edgar George on right with his mother, father, four sisters and their cousin
Ernest George Jesty (pictured on the right) was just 17 when he enlisted to fight in the “Great War”. His family had recently emigrated to Canada but following the outbreak of War he and his father returned to England. They found work “doing there bit for the War Effort” at the Woolwich Arsenal. Working in a “Reserved Occupation” (i.e. Essential to the War Effort), meant that Edgar George was spared the horror of the trenches.
One day however, whilst passing through Salisbury on a train Edgar George Jesty was handed a white feather by a female passenger. The white feather was a sign of cowardice and young women handing them out to men in civilian dress to shame them into joining up became a common practice. Government propaganda targeted women to encourage men to join the armed forces. Edgar George was so convicted by this act that he left his job on the Home Front and volunteered for war.
The photograph above was taken in June 1916, not long after Edgar George signed up. Unfortunately, this is most likely the last family photo to feature Edgar George as he was listed as Missing on the 1s of July, The First Day of The Somme, and his death was confirmed some weeks later.
We don’t know how many other men from Yeovil or South Somerset were encouraged to sign up by the white feathers, but it would appear that had Edgar George not received the white feather that day he may never have signed up for war.
Community Heritage Access Centre 