Visitors' Book

Trip to Kelmscott Manor

A fascinating day out was had by 27 members of the Society who visited Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire, a Grade I listed manor dating from around 1570.  In the late 19th century, it was the home of the textile designer, William Morris, who was associated with the Arts & Crafts Movement.  We had exclusive access to the Manor and grounds and were guided round the Manor in three groups.  In welcoming us to the Manor, the guide gave particular praise to the Badsey website which he said he could have spent hours reading.

DEWEY, Percival Saxby (1898-1983) of Wickhamford – Analytical Chemist and Author

When the 1939 Register of the population was made, at the outbreak of World War Two, the vast majority of the adult population of Wickhamford were engaged in horticulture or agriculture.  One of the exceptions was Percival Saxby Dewey, who was living at 1 Manor Cottages, Wickhamford Lane, with his wife and small daughter, Jane.  He had married Elena Mary Relf in 1936 and their daughter, Jane, was born in November of that year.

Family Background

KNIGHT, Ada Winifred (1898-1973) and Daisy May (1899-1971) – inmates of an orphanage in Bristol

In May 2023, Paul Foreman contacted the Badsey Society concerning his Knight ancestors.  Paul’s father, Malcolm Foreman (1931-2010), by the time of his death, had accumulated a vast amount of material relating to his mother, born Ada Knight in Badsey in 1898, and his aunt, Daisy Knight, 19 months younger, who had both been sent to an orphanage after the death of their mother.  Using documentary sources provided by the orphanage that the girls were sent to, combined with information from Badsey records, this is the story of Ada and Daisy Knight.

Badsey & Aldington QR Trail

On a hot and sunny Friday evening, 24 people set off from The Wheatsheaf in order to explore the new QR trail set up by Alan and Shirley Tutton.  The participants included Mike Tennant, parish councillor, and Andrea Evans, parish clerk, representing Badsey & Aldington Parish Council who kindly funded the project.  The youngest member of the group was a teenager with her grandmother, the oldest was local historian, Terry Sparrow.  Despite not having a smart phone, he found the trail very informative.

COLLETT, Ruby (1900-1990) – Assistant Inspector of Horticulture, Ministry of Agriculture

The surname Collett is a common name in Badsey records.  Ruby Collett, who is the subject of this article, was not from a Badsey family, having grown up in Huntingdonshire.  But, as she spent a number of her working years based in Evesham, she would undoubtedly have visited Badsey, Aldington and Wickhamford in her role as an inspector in the Ministry of Agriculture.  Thus, her story is told here of this pioneering woman.

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Coronation of King Charles III, 2023

On Saturday 6th May 2023, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were crowned in Westminster Abbey.  Like his mother’s coronation 70 years earlier, rain fell for much of the day, but this did not detract too much from the spectacle.  Sadly, some of the coronation events planned locally could not take place because of rain, but some events went ahead and were much enjoyed.  Click on the images below to see what went on in Badsey and Wickhamford - and, for one lucky person, in London.

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