Introduction 0:10
You're listening to the Highbridge podcast, celebrating the people, places, and history of the Highbridge area of Sedgemoor

Mell 0:18
And a very warm welcome to the Highbridge podcast celebrating the history people and places in the Highbridge Sedgemoor area of Somerset. This season is funded by seed which is a consortium of community organisations in Sedgemoor comprising of Bridgewater senior citizens forum Bridgewater Town Council, Community Council for Somerset homes in central Somerset film, and young Somerset, which is funded and supported by Arts Council England, creative people in places lottery funding and the Arts Council. The main aim of the project is to focus on the people, places, and activities in and around Highbridge. It's important to remember that history is not just about recording the past, but also recording what is happening now as we create history for future generations. If you enjoy what you hear, do tell your friends and ask them to subscribe to hear future editions for free. Sometimes, when you're browsing around the bookshelves within the local libraries, or in secondhand bookshops, you come across a real nugget, something that perhaps not everybody has spotted. I came across a book called Highbridge, A Somerset market town and its people and I managed to track down one of the three people that were instrumental in putting the book together. And it was published back in 2004. So I wanted to get the backstory and find out more. So I was kindly invited by Fay Burston to pop her into her kitchen, where she made me a cup of tea. And we had a chat about the book. How did the project all come about?

Fay 2:06
Well, initially, I had recently retired and volunteered for an awful lot of things, anything going I wanted to join in. And in probably in about 1999, there was this project that was being launched and the adult residential colleges association was trying to encourage people of older, older age, to get involved in things to keep their lives active, have an interest in life. Initially, when I joined in 1999, I think it was in the summer. Initially, I joined the walking group and the cycling group. And they'd made inquiries about all the different activities that people had volunteered. And there was interest shown in the local history. So initially, I think it was probably in the Christmas of 2000. I met Ken, my second husband, and I'd carried on going to these meetings. And it was in about the April, I said to my husband, Ken, there's not really very much happening. It's a waste of time going to that I don't think I've got any more. This is going to be the last visit and I know it was in April. meeting was in Highbridge community hall. And when I went there was this new man that arrived and he was an experimental archaeologist from Glastonbury. A very big man with a beard. And when they had these ancient demonstrations, he always dressed up with his robe with his beard, he really acted the part. And he was so full of information, I immediately got really hooked on the project and carried on for a couple more meetings. And Ken, my husband got a bit interested. So we both belong to this. And we get in a lot of information from lots of local people. We decided we were going to do this show in the community hall in Highbridge different people from this group, finding different things out we're getting more and more information. And the first meeting we had in the community school hall, I think we it wasn't that busy. It was busy during the day. But we probably had about 250 people come in which is quite a quite a fair amount. But then we decided we'd do a second exhibition because it was the end of the two years when the adult programme had finished. And it was the final budget so we thought And that really, I suppose, final demonstration we were doing. And we work together, we've been in contact with the railway people. We got in touch with them. And they said they wanted to do a film show in the evening. So the whole thing lasted all day long from 10 o'clock in the morning till about nine o'clock at night. And I think there were an awful lot of people, it was hundreds went on all day, people were coming in going away and coming back again. And I think in the end that we're about getting on for 800 People went, and we've heard since I don't know about now, but few years ago, it was the biggest demonstration they'd ever had in their community hope, you know, the volume of people that visited. When that finished, quite obviously the people that been at some time, we were talking, you've got all this information? Should we think about writing it down write in a book. So I think initially, there were probably about a dozen people, we came to the conclusion that we would have an A4 book 200 pages, and 200 pictures, photographs, old people's photographs, but non that had been previously printed in any other books. Initially, we had an awful job to get photographs. So you don't want that one I haven't got any photographs. Oh, I threw them away years ago. And the nobody ever read a book, you'll never find enough information. Well, we knew we'd got the information. So initially, after two years of working, how we worked, it was different people did different projects. Somebody would do the brickyards. Somebody would do the railway. Somebody would do. The timber works that were in Highbridge all this type of thing. And do the research on what they could find out the schools. There's another one with a lady called Pearl. She did. She was she had been a primary school teacher. So she wanted to do the schools. Majors was a had been a big firm in Highbridge. And there were two brothers Jack and Rex Major that were also part of the project. So of course they did all the railway transport, the road transport and all the rest of you see because they'd already got the background. And Ken my husband should I say he was doing the editing and everything we did. I was going around and finding out the donkey work. I did the donkey work he did the Yeah, he edited everything that came through. And the lady was secretary, she had originally come from Tiverton. And she knew of printers Tiverton. So the idea was, how do we raise the money to pay for the printing. And in the end, at the back of the book, we said to anybody that paid for their book in advance, which was going to be £10 that had already been decided. We put their name in the back of the book. And I think the first issue is 850 books. And they went in no time. And I know we had another order of 500. But I'm not sure how many we did sell in the end. But in the final decision, we have made with the book that any profit would go back into Highbridge to keep it in the community because it was the community's book about the community. And then any profits should benefit the town. You know, which we thought was fair enough. And people seem to like that idea as well. Distribution of funds, secret world, Highbridge Medical Centre, Sidney Cox, he was a man that was doing something for disabled people Highbridge Festival of Arts, St Johns ambulance, a local football club, girl guides. They all are they all receive money. We were quite pleased with the end result.

Mell 9:29
So with the book is it's an imprint can people still get hold of copies?

Fay 9:34
No we had two extra prints and then we thought well, nobody will want it anymore. But I mean, I've still got two copies, one with a few pages missing another copy. And I know they do go around. We we gave one to each local library, things like that. That I don't suppose they're in the libraries now because we're tal king to 20 odd years ago. So now

Mell 10:01
Hopefully, hopefully there'll be a copy in the local Somerset archives.

Fay 10:04
Oh, yes, there is there is in the archives and all the basic paperwork, etc. was distributed into Somerset records office.

Mell 10:14
Oh, brilliant. That's excellent. future historians. That's that's what they need the slide the story behind the story. Yes. Roughly how many people were actually involved by by putting the book together.

Fay 10:26
On average, there was probably about 12 or people, 14 people average, I would say, also through this through these residential colleges Association. Initially, we went to Dillington House, which is the Somerset County Council's main house for education, which is near Barrington court, we did various courses there, sometimes it was just a day, we used to stay there for the weekend, which was beautiful. I mean, it was lovely. It's a lovely old-fashioned house. Beautiful. We did a crash course in Latin so we could read old stuff. It was really, really good. And we didn't know at the time, adult residential colleges Association, they've done 300 of these projects all over the country. In the end of the two years, they picked 16 that are to be exhibited. And we went to the Tower Bridge Hotel in London and did this display in the Towerbridge Hotel. So we were very lucky to be you know, I mean, 16 out of 300 has quite a lot, isn't it?

Mell 11:38
They were always impressed with what you'd actually gathered and what you put together by the end.

Fay 11:42
And also let's face it, Somerset's got a marvelous history.

Mell 11:47
It is I have to agree. Yeah.

Fay 11:48
Because I used to, you know, go to if I belong to the library, and all the local books I used to read, and I'm still reading them now. Because there's still new ones crop up, you know when some of the information you find is absolutely fantastic. I mean, I remember reading somewhere, or another, I never took note of the time that the river Brue, right back in something like 800. And something they'd already put their first defences up in the river Brue. But I mean, I couldn't tell anybody that to write it down, because I've got no proof because I read it somewhere. And whoever wrote the book isn't around to confirm it now anyway.

Mell 12:33
There's that there's a lot of information that, as you say, gets written down in books. And but they never tell you where they got the information from.

Fay 12:41
I mean, I can remember reading a book on the Bristol Channel. And they reckon that with 300 wrecks. In the Bristol Channel, you know, along the seven, have you ever been to Aller church? First time I went with Ken, there happened to be an american lady in there. And she'd only lived here for about a year and she had been fascinated. And she was kind of conducting. Anybody that went in. She was telling you the history. And the bit that she told us that not many people do hear is apparently in the Civil War. The soldiers were in the church, and they took the font, and it disappeared. So the church had to have a new one. And not very long previously to when we went which was probably in about 2010 They had cleared the village pond out and they found the original font and it was then back in the church. And since then, I've been to the church and they've got the two fonts there.

Mell 13:42
How many years have you actually linked it in and around like sort of Highbridge, Burnham area

Fay 13:48
I moved from Bedfordshire in 1968

Mell 13:51
What memories have you got when you came to Somerset? What what was Highbridge like?

Fay 13:55
Oh, it was wonderful. Lots of Somerset accent. In 1968. But it was lots of proper accent. And one of the things I can't remember. And we bought a house in West Huntspill, and within no time at all, we were receiving an electric light bulb from the electrician's shop in Highbridge then we received a duster from the ironmongers all these little things that the traders were introducing themselves to the new people because there were very few and far between in those days. And I couldn't get used to all the people talking on the buses because I mean, I've lived in London where nobody speaks, Luton was much the same. And I can remember my husband coming back and he says I went to so and so and he says I know all about Mrs. Brown's bunion or something silly like that. It's a very, very friendly neighborhood round here exceptionally so. But I think it's caught from Somerset people.

Mell 14:59
So was the industry still going? Quite quite significantly when when you moved in the late 60's?

Fay 15:05
No, it was on its decline. There were still a lot more shops than there are now. But it was on its decline. I mean, we didn't realise that at the time. Blands timber yard was still there and still very, very busy. I mean, Highbridge station at one time had seven platforms. And all that had gone. But the Brunel station was still there, because it was a Brunels station because it had been the Great Western Railway. And did you know that that disappeared overnight? They station buildings. I can vaguely remember it because I never caught many trains. But there was a latest waiting room with a coal fire. There was a gent's waiting room. There was toilets, ladies and gents, a typical Brunel-type station. And one Saturday night. A certain gentleman was employed by who we don't know. Obviously something to do with planning permission, the whole station disappeared. Just knocked down. Nobody knew none that local people knew about it. Never did find out who it must have been after 1985. After that, you can probably find out somewhere along the line.

Mell 16:26
What are some of your fond memories of the area?

Fay 16:30
Probably the local shops because they were very friendly. I mean, it's still friendly. But I feel very sorry because I belong to Highbridge U3A. And a lot of the local people still belong, or they're very upset. Because Highbridge originally was where the industry was. And if people did well in Highbridge, they moved to Burnham because that was a residential area. And they were that by then they retired people were coming down. But basically, people in Burnham wanted to work they had to come to Highbridge, because that's where the work was, you know, so as to contrast in industrial area and but the local people in Highbridge, I mean some of them have, you know, been here a long time. And I mean, I know quite a few you know, and they're really upset.

Mell 17:20
And you mentioned the U3A and did you have a big involvement with the U3A a or were you just always been a member

Fay 17:29
When I joined Burnham, U3A, which was already going. And I had been with it probably about four years, three, four years. And Ken Hindle who ran that, asked another lady and I who both lived in Highbrdige at the time would we start one in Highbridge. And that was in the must be probably asked us in about the October 1999. And then in the November we hired St. John's Church, their hall and Ken came and he had advertised in the paper and we got to I think it was eight people came within about three or four months. We've got about 40 people I can't remember the exact figures. And it just grew from there. You know.

Mell 18:21
So a lot of the people from the U3A also get involved with this project. I

Fay 18:26
Qiute a few of the did Yes.

Mell 18:27
So what what is it to you that the U3A is so good at doing?

Fay 18:33
The main thing is it keeps people occupied, they've got any interest you see everything's voluntary. If somebody speaks Spanish, and they're prepared to teach other people, they teach them Spanish. Sometimes, if there's a large group, you'll hire a hall. But if there's only three or four people interested in, you could do it from your own home. And you haven't got the rents to pay. I mean, if it's in somebody's house, you probably give them perhaps fifty pence or a pound for a cup of coffee. It gives you the chance to meet lots of people. I mean, this morning, I've been into U3A and there was a new man now he said he goes to the Men's Shed thing. But he wanted more activity because he didn't want to sit at home or vegetate you could always learn something when you go to these different places.

Mell 19:27
Sharing information.

Well, I have to say, you loaned me a copy of the book and it was it was fascinating to read through it and the amount of information that you did generate was was a stunning because like he's just people wanting to gather information put together a book so I just hope that I shall certainly make sure that anyone that shows interest in Highbridge that I point them towards this because there are copies around and and it's worth well worth a read.

Fay 19:54
And you know how many photographs we had in the end,

Mell 19:57
Go on

Fay 19:57
After struggling to get 200 We had 532 photographs with the one of the main people, Jack Foster, and Ken, my husband, they were sitting up here, and they bring him a photograph. And I was down on the floor there with all the books and all the local books already. Yes, you can use this one. It's not in any of these books. And it took all day to decide the ones that went in the book, you see, because we didn't want to encroach on anybody's copyright copyright. And also, let's face it, if you've already seen the photograph you look through and you think, Oh, I've seen that before. I've seen that before.

Mell 20:38
Thank you very much for your time Fay. It's been fascinating to hear. So the backstory of the story of the book. So thank you.

Fay 20:45
That's quite all right.

Unknown Speaker 20:46
Thanks very much there to Fay. And if you do want to find a copy of the book, there are copies around on the internet and you can also find it in some of the local libraries. It's called "Highbridge a Somerset market town and its people" and it's full of facts and bits of information. All to do with Highbridge in Somerset. The Highbridge podcast available on many popular podcast directories distributed as the Highbridge podcast on Apple iTunes, Spotify, podcast Google, Amazon music, and tune in.com It can also be found at Sedgemoor media.com And is hosted and found at Highbridgepodcast.transistor.fm. Also available on your smart speakers just say the wake word to your speaker and say clearly, play the Highbridge podcast.