Chitterne Now and Then
Blog Archive - July 2012

Tuesday 31st July 2012 - All Change at Chitterne

Last week we all received a copy of the August Chit-Chat, the first to be edited by LL who has taken over from KOD. That was the first thing, then this last Saturday AC became the new webmaster of our village website www.chitterne.com. What a week! All change.

I put an ad in Chit-Chat asking for volunteers to take over the website last year, after I'd completed 10 years as webmaster. LL, the new editor of Chit-Chat expressed an interest, but then the Chit-Chat role fell vacant and she plumped for that job. I thought that was it as regards volunteers, so I was pleasantly surprised when AC emailed and offered to take over recently.

It was a bit scary trying to explain the ins and outs of webmastering when you've never had a computer lesson in your life and you're not sure if you do it all the proper way! But AC must have understood some of my ramblings because by Sunday night he had managed to change the link on the home page to my email address and replace it with his own address. I'm sure he's gonna be a great village webmaster.

I will still be updating the history pages.


Friday 20th July 2012 - Kneeler 21

Just when we thought we'd reached the end of the altar rail kneelers we have more to do! It's like painting the Forth Bridge.

A few days ago the upholsterer came to assess the job of making up the finished (as we thought) canvases into kneelers for the altar rail. The three pieces were spread out in place on the corresponding slabs of foam to see if they fitted.

The sun came out and the colours looked magnificent in the church. We were just feeling mighty proud of ourselves when the bomb dropped. The upholsterer pointed out that if we wanted to avoid "grins" we should add another inch of stitching to the four short edges where the two long kneelers will meet the central kneeler. What is a grin? It's when you can see the bare canvas showing between adjoining cushions.

Heed that old adage: Pride comes before a fall. But the good news is that they did fit.


Tuesday 3rd July 2012 - Chitterne Connections

The long piece I promised about Herm and Chitterne can be found if you click here.

My good friends H & W have drawn to my attention some interesting bits from the internet regarding Chitterne, which I would like to share with you. I hadn't seen them before but you may have.

First up is a reference to the two old Chitterne parishes on page 120 in a book by Dennis Wheatley called: "The Devil Rides Out"

Read the last paragraph on page 120 and see if you can figure out where the action is happening because I can't! It may help you to know that the chapter starts with the characters leaving Amesbury...

Second comes a reference to the supernatural and the practising of the black arts in the 1986 Domesday Survey of Chitterne, which also refers to the Dennis Wheatley book. H wonders who the Miss Adlam was who is said to haunt St Mary's Lodge and adds: "a ghost in the King's Head? How cool is that!"


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