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In mid afternoon the roasting of the hog started, and by early evening all was ready for the arrival of the villagers. Between 130 and 140 villagers relaxed in the early evening sun, and enjoyed the excellent Hog Roast.  The Hog with particularly good crackling was superbly cooked by Mike Walker and the salads and pudding were prepared by the WI. As the evening got colder the disco started up in the barn. The excellent choice of music got many villagers onto the dance floor, and some of their moves have not been seen for years. A great day was had by all with the festivities ending in the late evening.

For 2010, we were entertained by Alton Morris – we even got to join in! In keeping with the atmosphere, the children’s’ fancy dress competition had the theme ‘In an English Country Garden’, with some wonderful imagination in evidence. Under clear blue skies, we wandered from stall to stall, marvelled at the local talent in the Flower Show, and joined in (or cheered on) the various sports, and activities. With ice creams, a barbecue, beer and Pimms and tea and cakes in the rose garden, what more could we ask for…….. another fete next year, please?

As to the purpose of the fete: community spirit is by far the most important aspect of the event. It is eagerly planned and looked forward for months in advance. There is a lot of hard work involved for a significant number of people, but also great satisfaction in working together to create an event that is enjoyed by many more people – not just from our own villages, but from many miles around. The proceeds provide welcome support to a range of village activities, such as family coffee mornings, magic shows for our senior residents and developing a village history archive. It also assists in maintaining our three lovely parish churches.

Please take a look to see what we get up to, and why not join us in 2011?

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Click here to view the full collection.

If you have any photos you would like to add to the site please email low res versions to webmaster@worldham.org

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Thank you to all those who helped out making this a fun morning.

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This is among the findings of local historian Jane Hurst, who joined about forty- five people of all generations to stride across fields on Sunday 25^th October and discover – thanks to Tessa Gaffney and the History Project’s purposeful leadership – how the conflicts of the past affected the lives of the Worldhams community.

There was a time when history was about kings and queens, prime ministers, and international relations.  Now increasingly history is about ordinary people and the impact of large forces on their lives.  It was to the pursuit of this new kind of history that this Worldhams walk was dedicated.  For most of us it was just that, history, but the most evocative and moving moments came from the recollections of those whose knowledge was first-hand.

One of these was Arthur Bone, who led us close to the site of the crater of an unexploded bomb he had come upon as a child in 1944.  He found a bomb disposal person from the army sitting on the edge of the six-foot square, ten-foot deep crater – playing an accordion.  The boy that Arthur was wanted naturally to know whether this didn’t feel a bit unsafe.  The answer gave a stark instance of the choices so many people faced at that time – it was less unsafe than most other postings open to him.

But it was West Worldham that bore the brunt locally of enemy action in the Second World War.  That the village is here at all today is thanks to the failure of a bomb to detonate.  While consuming tea and cakes at Manor Farm, we heard from Thomas Brock of his memories of the enemy plane that had come down close by at 2.25am on 15^th May 1944, of the wall of flame that spread down the road as the spilled fuel ignited, and of the part of the fuselage that ended up against the wall of the church.    

By the end of the afternoon familiar sights were taking on new significance:  East Worldham Manor House, look-out post and headquarters of the local home guard; the village hall, the canteen of Canadian soldiers; the vicarage to which the church congregation adjourned to hear the declaration of war broadcast; the old forge next to the Shoes where the blacksmith worked round the clock – to satisfy local demand during the day and the first world war military, who needed their horseshoes spiked to cope with the ice of France,  by night …  

And, in a sense, as we walked around the afternoon weather added a comment of its own.  Mild and sunny at the end of October, many of the trees still green among the few gold and brown, very little leaf fall:  it was a climate-change autumn day – reminder of how very different already are the problems that hang over us now compared to those of even recent history.

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