01935 429609
Somerset & Dorset
Family History Society

Sherborne

A Family Tradition of Bakers

When I first tasted the delicious mince-pies on sale at The BakeOut my interest was sparked mainly because of the welcoming smiling face of Marcus, who is a great communicator, and so I asked him a couple of questions and I discovered that the mince-pies are made to an old family recipe and he showed me the machine that is used I found all this very intriguing —the 100 year old machine, the fact that I could buy items in Waitrose with the name Thomas Fudge on them and I was...
more

A Merry Christmas Miscellany

Now what do you think of this magnificent Christmas spread found amongst the festive displays at the local garden centre here in Sherborne While all the smaller kids, having first fought their way through rows of ‘fur’ coats - the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe style - were viewing the little festive trains chugging around a snowy Christmas village, some of us bigger kids were enjoying the skill and ingenuity that went into this ‘knit your own Christmas Dinner’ I laughed as two 30+...
more

Our former home in Sherborne transformed

The base for the Somerset & Dorset Family History Society was in Sherborne for nearly twenty years until the recent successful move to Yeovil Many a visitor will have climbed up the stairs of our last home in Sherborne, to our Research Centre and meeting room, housed in the building at the bottom of Cheap Street, right next to the Conduit There was much evidence of its former life, with old fireplaces, interesting windows and much else besides often partly hidden by the necessary...
more

Christmas Carol Service Train

Many of the trappings of our ‘traditional’ Christmas celebrations had their origins in the Victorian period which also saw the establishment and growth of the railway, so it is not perhaps surprising that festively decorated trains feature on a fair number of vintage Christmas cards Today many railway lines, especially those run by local enthusiasts, have ‘Santa Specials’ where the great man joins excited children for a train ride, often pulled by a steam engine In Sherborne we can...
more

Remembering Bertie and Reg

I would like to tell you about two boys who died in World War One They had both attended Foster's School, in Sherborne, and you can see their names on the Roll of Honour board (now at the Gryphon School) These two boys became firm friends and would have had no idea that their carefree schoolboy games and exercises would be followed by such an abrupt end to both their young lives The first boy is Francis Reginald Palmer, or Reg as he was known In 1907 at the age of 13, an age at which many...
more

Member and Guest Blogs Welcome

We welcome guest and member blog posts on any topic with a family history connection and invite you to send your contributions, which should include photo/photos, to the editor Barbara Elsmore

Archives