Wickhambrook Scene began life in February 1969 when
the first Scene was published. It contained twelve pages (half foolscap
size as it was then) and carried seven adverts on the back page
and on the inside pages. One of the advertisers, Alan Farrow, still
takes advertising space with us, as does Thorns Corner Stores, albeit
under different ownership.
The cover carried a picture identified by Alf
Hicks as being Hole Meadow near Coltsfoot Green, and
appears to be a photo copy version of a photograph. This uses the
same technique as the present cover.
Always being a cusker for reading old magazines and newspapers,
having to read all the back covers of the Scene was fascinating
to me. So many names I have come to know of kept appearing prompting
remarks like and he's still doing that
or I never knew he (or she) did that.
In the beginning, a number of jokes appeared which now would probably
bring a storm of abuse down on my my head if I dared publish them,
so politically incorrect were they. So to all mothers-in-law and
Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen. It's not
my fault I didn't live here then!!
The original editors were Derek and Janet Gee who lived at Malting
End. However, they only edited the first four issues as they then
moved away from Suffolk. The editing was then taken over by the
executive committee of the Community Council, a state of affairs
which must have been a nightmare to organise.
Issue number 8 saw the start of a junior section
for the Scene with riddles, puzzles, news of what was available
as entertainment during the school holidays, etc. The first competition
foundered at the first hurdle, when they received not a single entry
for it. However, the junior editor persevered and in the end the
junior section ran for three or four years.
Issue number 8 also carried an emergency cover
as no one had ordered the new ones front from the printers. Issue
number 10's cover carried a wonderful pen and ink drawing
of a village scene, although it is imagined and not of Wickhambrook.
Issue number 9 saw a rise in the number of advertisers
to thirteen, which included both the
village pubs.
Issue 14 saw the weekly
draw winners listed for the first time - I bet they've
spent the money by now - after all it was April 1971.
Issue sixteen sees the first mention of plans to
open HIghpoint Prison. By then we also have another new cover, again
a wonderful pen and ink drawing and the advertisers had risen to
twenty-two.
Issue nineteen carried an article entitled Join
the Hunt and see the World. This tells of the Puckridge &
Thurlow Hunt, having met at Peacocks Farm turning a fox at New End
and running it to Australia, where they lost it. Anyone with no
knowledge of local place names would have been bemused, picturing
a fox, hounds, and riders swimming the Pacific Ocean. The same issue
contained a piece by Jim Mayes introducing his family on taking
over Thorns Corner Post
Office and Stores. At the same time it had a farewell
piece from Jack Woollard as he closed down the business at Commerce
House which his family had run in the village for a hundred years.
Issue twenty-one, September - October 1972 contains
the report on the opening of the new foyer, toilet block, bar room,
kitchen, store-rooms and committee room at the Memorial Hall and
the change of name to Memorial
Social Centre. There was again a new set of covers
which showed the new Memorial Social Centre frontage.
Issue 23, Reverend D H Reeder took over the job
of editor, assisted by Mrs K Webb. Since the resignation of the
last editors, the committee had edited eighteen issues, a remarkable
achievement.
Issue twenty-seven, and another new cover. This
one depicts Brook Cottage drawn by V B Rush (?) This issue was delivered
free to every house in Wickhambrook to encourage membership of the
Community Council and increase its money-making potential. This
issue also saw a change in production methods from the duplicator
to the photocopier.
Issue 36 sees the retirement of Reverend Reeder
as Editor due to ill health and the taking up of the reins by John
Bean. As with everyone else, John took on the editorship
as a temporary measure! He continued as a temporary measure from
April 1975 to September 1993, when I took over.
Issue 40 saw the return to local amateur duplicating
of the Scene due to rising costs of having it done professionally.
The cover for 1977 did carry the Queens Silver Jubilee Logo, as
well as an excellent drawing of Rolfe's Farm.
Issue 42 (June-July 1977) reports that the Amateur
Drama group is now functional and
that their first performance will be at a Cheese and Wine evening
in the M.S.C. So there really is nothing new in Wickhambrook!!
The following issue contains the fist report of escapes from Highpoint
Prison. Unfortunately this was something that was going to become
so commonplace it ceased to be worth mentioning!!
Issue 51 contains the announcement of the introduction
of the What's On.
There was the bright idea to feature a Sales
and Wants page, a bit late really - there had been one in
the very first Scene and it had continued for a couple of years.
1978 was Wickhambrook
School's Centenary year and the new cover not only
contained a drawing of the school, again by V. Rush, but a a logo
of their own to replace the Queens Jubilee one.
So it goes on, the life of a village, recorded for posterity by
its inhabitants. It is history recorded in the words and pictures
by the ones who were living that history. Reporting the highlights
of a lifetime, King George V reviewing his troops and taking tea,
the Princess Royal arriving by helicopter. The highlights of a year,
the Carnival,
the Pantomime.
All is not sweetness and light of course, after all this is real
life. There is more than one letter from an overworked but still
willing helper written in disgust at the carping of those show believe,
quite erroneously, that these people actually get paid for their
work in the community. Possibly some people do, those employed by
local councils or the Social Services do. For the most part however,
these volunteers are unpaid yet still give up time willingly, which
is more than can be said for the moaners.
Throughout the early editions we find that same names appearing
as contributors time after time. E S Golding, H J Burton and of
course A C (Alf) Hicks,
to name but three. Without these and many like them the scene would
not only have been much thinner, but probably wouldn't have survived.
Later, of course, we find newer contributors appearing "messenger"
an apt pen name for our local postman and of course "Barfly"
another apt name for Bernard Young, local raconteur, bon vivant
and occasional prison governor.
Issue 108 goes to great lengths to explain why
the publication was late. Having spent many hours, as others have,
surrounded by inky black paper, torn stencils, and up to elbows
in printing ink trying in vain to get the duplicator to work, they
have all my sympathy.
Issue 117, November - December 1988, saw the report
of the first pantomime performed in the M.S.C. Looking back I cannot
believe how naive we were. What I do remember was the fun we had,
I don't think there has ever been a happier one.
Issue 146 September - October 1993 saw things really
hit rock bottom when, in sheer desperation, they dragged me out
of the woodwork to take over from John Bean as Editor. John, after
almost 18 years in the chair, proclaimed enough was enough and handed
me the reins. I have to admit I did get an awful lot of help from
er-indoors initially, she had been typing the Scene for about two
years by then.
Unfortunately, one of my first duties as Editor was to write the
obituary of Bernard Young - Barfly. Bernard died on the operating
table of Addenbrookes Hospital during a liver transplant operation.
This then brings us up to date, apart from the six years between
then and now. So what's happened in the meantime? Well in December
1994, the Scene became the runner-up in a competition for village
magazines, only being beaten by a flashier "Desk top published"
job from Shotley. 1997 saw the demise of the Community Association
and was expected that the Scene would fold at the same time, however
the Wickhambrook Memorial Social Centre took over the running of
the weekly draw and the production of the Scene as a means of raising
revenue for continued upkeep of the hall. At the same time the typing
and graphic side was taken over by Ron Weir and the whole thing
was photocopied at Clare Middle School. The improvements, not only
to the magazine but to my temper when it came to print it every
month were immeasurable. The typing and graphics are now handled
by Joanne Elers and the printing, folding and stapling done professionally.
You also had the dubious pleasure of reading the load of drivel
that I write, and er-indoors edits every month. Have we got it right?
I hope so, if not you can always write and let me know. If we have,
I drink IPA and can be found in
The Greyhound, usually on Friday evening.
Jim Fieldsend
Editor |
