Hi Steve

Genealogy sometimes throws up pleasant surprises and last night was no exception. 

A Google search for Stud Farm, Tickhill, put Tickhill & District Local History Society at the top of the returns. Although I have never lived in Tickhill I do have strong links there and wanted to know exactly where Stud Farm was. 

It wasn’t long before I found the memories of Mrs Betty Hill in relation to the Misses Goodwin’s school and so got sidetracked from my original research. I had met the Misses Goodwin on several occasions after their retirement. My mother was a pupil at the school from c1910 and she had very fond memories of her time there before moving to Doncaster High School. But, as part of the article, to find a photograph of her in the Christmas production of 1913 was totally unexpected. There are very few photographs of her in her younger days and this is probably the earliest I have seen. Her name was Nellie Gleadle (Nellie was her pet name, her actual name was Ellen) and she lived at Stancil Farm with George and Mara Gleadle. My mother died in 1990 just short of her 90^th birthday. 

I notice the name Hancock appears in the list of performers. My mother often talked about her friend Marjorie Hancock and I wonder if the Gladys Hancock on the photograph is related? Also if records exist, it would be interesting to know the exact dates my mother attended the school. 

The interest in the Stud Farm was because my father lived at Stud Farm Cottage with his parents and sisters. His name was James Edward (Ted) Cawser. He too had many fond memories of his childhood in Tickhill and some of the surnames in the various articles are familiar through the stories he used to tell. One of his particular friends was Arthur Whinfrey. 

I was told that on one occasion my father fell into the Mill Dam and was lucky to survive. I believe the incident was reported in the press. Do you know if this article still exists as I have never read it? The earliest date would be 1907, but is more likely to be c1910. 

My father was a choirboy at St Mary’s and in his teens took up bellringing, quickly becoming a very proficient bellringer and for a time was the ringing captain at St Mary’s. After leaving Tickhill he continued bellringing becoming Secretary of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers and his name became very well known and respected in ringing circles nationally. I certainly discovered what it was like to follow in the footsteps of a famous father! 

Reading about the organ at St Mary’s reminded me of a story he liked to tell. One of his young friends – it’s perhaps as well I can’t remember his name – operated the blower in the days when it was hand blown. On this particular Sunday there was a more pressing (or perhaps interesting) event, so he speeded up the rate and hoped that the organ would survive until the end of the last hymn as he made a quick getaway! 

My parents were married at St Mary’s Church and my father’s parents are buried there. In the ringing room at St Mary’s there is a peal board in memory of my grandmother who died in 1928.  

My thanks to all your members for the wealth of information they have collected and shared through the internet. An especial thank you to the person or family who offered the Christmas 1913 photograph.

Kind regards

Beryl Attaway

 

Tickhill Local History Day

Parish Room

Saturday 30 January 2010 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.

 

We are holding another of our Local History Days this January. Do call in and see our exhibitions featuring photographs, documents, activities with schools and Living Memories, along with demonstrations of how we can restore old photographs. Your old photographs can be scanned while you wait. Relax with refreshments in the Parish Room and have a go at a Prize Quiz.

Admission Free