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when she came across a newspaper cutting that Magazine was bought by her and her husband
had been kept by her father. The cutting featured from a man he had met in the Swan.]
our “mystery” photo with a helpful caption, which
tells us that it is of the pupils at Thornhill School in Following contact with Danny, she has been kind
1890. A reader of the newspaper in Gillingham enough to give us some more information about
had sent in the photo, with the useful information Peter Jones - “the man in the Swan”:
that one of the children, a Miss Buffet who lived at
Antioch, was later to become his mother-in-law! I first met Peter Jones in June 1974 when he
Sadly, Miss Buffet is not marked on the photo and advertised for a Secretary for his new Company in
Lesley has no idea why her father kept the cutting. part of the old glove factory in Milborne Port. It
Thornhill School was at Poolestown, and at the was Wayford Lifts and he was into making lifts and
time was known as Lady Parke’s School, after the he also set up Wayford Engineering.
wife of General Sir William Parke, owner of the Unfortunately, when I got to work one morning in
Thornhill Estate. An article in the Western April 1976, I discovered that there had been a fire
th
Gazette of March 10 1893 speaks of an during the night and the factory was no more.
“entertainment given by the children attending The next I knew of him he had moved to
Lady Parke’s School”, which “reflected great Stalbridge and then that he was starting the
credit on the school-mistress”. Could the school magazine. I think this was in 1977. I would have
mistress be the lady standing on the left of our thought there was an original of the first BVM in
photo, and who in the 1891 census is listed at the archives [sadly, not], unfortunately the one
Thornhill School as the 38 year old unmarried person I knew had kept the first one is now dead.
Mary Annear? It seems very likely, since Mary I did a few jobs for Peter and a couple of
Annear was still the teacher there in 1901. interviews with local personalities. Peter then had
another of his money-making brainwaves and
We would be very interested to hear from anyone decided to move to Cyprus, so he sold the
who has family memories of Thornhill School, Lady fledgling magazine to the Chalcrafts and they
Parke, Miss Buffet (later Mrs Frank Shute of turned it into a much larger and very successful
Buckhorn Weston) or even Mary Annear enterprise.

Letters to the Editor The Stalbridge Parish

Magazine 1878
Dear Sir,
I notice in the latest edition [SHS Newsletter June Restoration of St Mary’s Church. February 1878
th
24 , “From small acorns (2)”] the statement that
the Chalcrafts started the Blackmore Vale The work is now thoroughly in hand. The heating
Magazine has been repeated. This is incorrect. vault has been constructed. The old Vestry is
The Blackmore Vale Magazine was started by pulled down, and in a few days the whole Church
Peter Jones, who at the time lived with his wife will be turned over to the Builders.
Jessamine at 6 Gold Street Stalbridge, and I
helped him. However, once started, he lost (More to follow)
interest to a certain extent and therefore sold it to
the Chalcrafts who went on to expand it into the Boy on a bike
very useful free magazine we all got to know very
well. Unfortunately times change and our useful
and informative BVM is no longer with us. Before the war, the town of
Stalbridge was lit by
Yours faithfully Gaslight, very brightly by
Danny Hine current standards. There
was a huge gas works
[Thank you Danny for the details. We apologise beside the station and the
for our oversight. The statement appeared as a two schools and the parish
brief headline to the articles and was only church were also lit by gas
intended as a piece of shorthand to set the then. To switch the street
scene. The claim did not come from Ingrid lights on in the roads a little chain beside the light
Chalcraft, who makes it clear in her article that the had to be pulled down.

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